Space Reign News

Dear Players,

As you may have already noticed, Space Reign is quite a complex game (especially development-wise for our 2-man team) with several different ways and perspectives when commanding your fleet:

• First-person direct control for small ships
  
• RTS-like fleet command
  
• Upcoming Third-person direct control for large ships
  

With the large ship direct control on the roadmap and some initial experimentation with its third-person view already done, we thought of an alternative way to connect these experiences - making the direct control of any ship from the third-person perspective as the new default , including small ships like fighters and drones, which would consequently also bring a lot of benefits, such as:

• One default ship perspective for all ship types - easier to comprehend and navigate around when switching between different ship types
  
• Faster implementation of new ships (no need to make a cockpit first before they are added to the game)
  
• All ships already in the game could potentially be playable, regardless of having a cockpit model for them ready or not (e.g. Low-cost ships used by the Marshall Gang)
  

[h3]What would happen to the Cockpits?[/h3]
First person cockpit perspective for small ships would still be an option, but implementing new cockpit models for new small ships would not be a development priority while working on additional features and content. New cockpit models could also be chosen via community polls - making sure that they get implemented for the ships preferred by the community first.

This poll and its results do not change the current course of the development, we just want to know what the community thinks first before committing to any possible changes.

[h2]VOTE HERE:[/h2]
https://forms.gle/e1QpQ8NRvE45Suy8A

Thank you for your answers.

Adam & Daniel

Hello Pilots and Commanders, It's time for some work in progress news. With the initial Early Access launch hassle now over, we would like to keep you updated on our progress between the individual updates more regularly. Let's start!
Currently, we are in the process of making two updates:

1. A smaller update consisting of additional bug fixes and player onboarding improvements, as well as some much desired quality of life additions.

2. A major content update with new sectors and reworked sector map, which will allow for more expanded mechanics to be implemented later on.

[h2]In this post, we will be talking about the first update to come and some of the progress made, let's start![/h2]

[h2]QOL and Onboarding update[/h2]
Since the initial Early Access release, we have been able to fix a lot of bugs and address numerous issues with your helpful feedback. (keep it coming!) Initial experience and base gameplay is really important to us, and even with some changes already made, we believe that the introductory experience still needs some work.

That is why we have decided to do at least one more update related to this before adding more content and expanding the game with new mechanics. Here are some of them:

[h3]Weapon Gimbals will be optional[/h3]

So far we are very pleased with the feedback regarding recently implemented weapon gimbals. Players struggling with weapon accuracy are reporting the game to be much less difficult and more enjoyable, which is awesome to hear.

However, we know that players more experienced in cockpit space-sims have found the game more rewarding without them. Therefore, you will have the option to set up your preference before starting a new game and then change it anytime in the game settings.

Based on your feedback regarding the weapon gimbals, we are also thinking about the possibility of making different weapon variants, making the weapons with gimbals less powerful than those without them, which could increase the player's motivation to play with fixed weapons, trading easier accuracy for increased damage.

On the other hand, this requires more work and time for implementation, so we are keeping it as an option to be decided later on as we gather more feedback.

[h3]Weapon reloading and magazine count[/h3]
Smaller but a much wanted feature, manual reloading and live magazine ammo count is finally making it to the game.

[h3]Targetable control points and Navigation Beacons[/h3]

For even better navigation in the cockpit, all controls points and navigation beacons will be targetable, allowing you to target them both in the Tacview and directly in the cockpit, making them visible on the HUD and the target camera.
[h3]Fleet roster, Shipyard and ship loadout editing mode upgrades[/h3]

We are working on improving the UI clarity, implementing new hangar model to replace the current black background and adding features such as the community requested "ALL" ship filter and ship sorting by cost.
A number of additional bug fixes are being worked on as well, but more on that in the patch notes once the update is out.

Stay tuned for more updates and don't forget to check out our discord to leave suggestions and hang out with our active community!

Good hunting!

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• Improved overall projectile point-defense accuracy
  
• Modified doppler effect values of missile and ship engine sounds to prevent them from triggering a huge change in their pitch.
  

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]

• FIXED Player large ships not playing their secondary engine sound
  
• FIXED Cockpit mouse controller not having a deadzone
  
• FIXED Controller subsystem targeting triggering the action multiple times
  
• FIXED 2 simultaneous music tracks playing during the last wave in the Combat Practice mode
  
• FIXED Combat practice mode wingman not having weapon gimbals enabled
  

Update 0.12 is here! Take a look at whats new and what are going to work on next.
[h2]Update preview video[/h2]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Controller support is finally here! Since the beginning of the development, we have always wanted Space Reign to support controllers for the cockpit gameplay, compatible with both gamepad and stick setups. Thus, it was never a question of if, but when. With Space Reign being a mix of strategy and a space-sim, we repeatedly have to decide where to put the current development focus, especially with us being a humble 2-man team.

Basically any standard controller should be compatible, but should you find an issue, feel free to let us know. It is possible to have multiple controllers active at the same time and assign different actions to them during any stage of the game. Just open up the in-game settings and follow the UI in the controls tab.

Controllers only support the direct unit control from the cockpit, but we are still exploring a few ideas to allow at least some basic functionality for the tacview like controlling the camera and moving around, so that you can at least get some sector awareness without the need for switching to keyboard and mouse.

Besides assigning controllers, Space Reign now features basic keybinding for mouse and keyboard as well. Do not forget that the control scheme images in Database only show the default key mapping and do not update once you change them.


Immediately after the Early Access launch, we have received a ton of feedback and bug reports to work with, especially regarding the early difficulty of the game. With several hotfixes released,We have already made improvements to address this, but a lot of players still struggled with one particular element - weapon accuracy.

After thorough consideration, we have decided to upgrade all fixed weapons with auto-gimbal lock, which will make the guns automatically align with the target leadmarker if the center crosshair is within the max gimbal angle of the active weapons. This makes flying and aiming your ship a lot easier while still having the room for some balancing, specifically for more powerful weapons like the autocannon, which should not be as easy to use as the repeaters, especially against small and nimble targets.

Once aligned, the target leadmarker will change its size so that you know when to fire.

Since this is a major change affecting a lot of gameplay, we are still open to suggestions for fine tuning and balancing. Looking forward to your feedback about this.


Our plan is now to continue working on bug-fixing while addressing some requested quality of life improvements. Then, we will focus on the next update with new content and upgraded player onboarding, which is scheduled to release at the end of August, just in time for the Steam strategy festival.

As always, feel free to join our discord to discuss the new features or let us know what would you like to see in Space Reign.

Good Hunting! 🫡

[h2]Update 0.12 changelog[/h2]
[h3]Updates:[/h3]

• Keybinding
  
• Controller Support (Cockpit gameplay)
  
• Weapon Gimbal Assist
  
• AI Accuracy upgrade (AI ships with fixed weapons are now more precise in more difficult cases - especially against other small ships during a dogfight)
  

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• Lead marker animation now dynamically reacts to weapon gimbals being in range
  
• Damage to missiles launched by their parent ship is now turned off
  

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]

• FIXED Another case of cockpit missile warning sound getting stuck in a loop after exiting direct control
  
• FIXED AI Large ships crashing directly into Neutrals, especially during Contracts
  
• FIXED Launchers not repairing correctly after resupplying
  
• FIXED Taking supplies in combat practice mode causing an error
  
• FIXED Hostile Ares not behaving properly in combat practice mode once spawned
  

Fixes:

• Possible FIX for Ships getting stuck in place and not moving even after a direct command
  
• FIXED Mashar hangar bay visual glitch
  
• FIXED Clicking on Logistic Drone bay module not triggering a sound + deselecting the selected ship
  
• FIXED Salvage not being saved after exiting a sector
  
• FIXED Logistic Drones having a weird behaviour when pausing/unpausing the game while they are active
  
• FIXED Ship info panel in loadout editing mode displaying some wrong ship parameters