DEV BLOG - #003 - Colony Cruiser

Welcome back, Marauders.

Welcome to our Third Dev Blog! First of all, we would like to welcome all the rookie Space Pirates that have joined the galaxy over the holidays, we hope you have been enjoying Marauders! Secondly, we appreciate everyone's patience whilst we implemented a patch and a hotfix after the red baron update. We will continue to do so until we get those pesky bugs squashed. Now let's have a look at what's coming in the next content update!



[h2]Boss Mania[/h2]

We received so much positive feedback on our first boss implementation, and we are glad it landed in a place where the Red Baron can simultaneously be frightening, and provide a strong difficulty challenge. However this is not the end! We will continue to develop new boss encounters that represent every faction in-game, each with a fresh twist. That being said, in the next update we will introducing U.A. faction enemies in order to lay the groundwork for their boss commander in the near future. Here are some concepts showing this new foe and their faction troops…. And it goes without saying, they will have fully unlockable cosmetics!



[h2]Colony Cruiser[/h2]

The next raid location is a unique one, the U.A. (United Allies) have sent massive frigates built for deep space colonisation throughout the galaxy known as Colony Cruisers, on board are sedated labourers ready for deployment and an experienced military force known as the U.A. Space Battalion. What makes this raid special is its our first moving “colossal” ship that can be docked by other ships, allowing for the choice to breach or enter with your own frigate. It also has a set of defensive turrets protecting it’s dock ports so make sure to approach carefully. Here is a sneak peak.



[h2]Grenades, Incoming!
[/h2]

Those of you who were with us before the Early Access launch, will remember experiencing Grenades, and they will be returning soon! This includes the scrap bomb, smoke bomb and flash bomb (which will be craftable). We are aiming for them to be in the next content update! Along with the return of the previously mentioned ‘Nades, we have started development on new grenade types including a napalm and “sticky” type. They’ll do exactly what’s said on the tin, one creates a small area of damage effect over time (fire) and the other will stick to any surface and then explode after a few seconds. We hope this creates another layer to engagements when dealing with other pesky marauders.



[h2]Mini-Mine[/h2]

The Mini-Mine previewed in the last dev blog is also making great progress, this being a new “breach only” location. It’s an exciting blend of a ship interior, industrial drill machinery, and dark cave systems. It has a simple but dangerous layout, starting at the top (ship segment) with a deadly race to the bottom (storage rooms). Much like the merchant ship you have multiple paths to attempt when returning to the escape pods! Here are some previews of the interior:







[h2]“Noob” Tube[/h2]

We will always try to implement new weapons every update to continue to grow the content in the game, and the next update with the Colony Cruiser is no different. This will include a sawed off M79 grenade launcher (Pistol Slot) and the China Lake (Rifle/Primary Slot) however we know weapons like these can be considerably overpowered and we are trying to implement them carefully much like the scrap bomb, they will not be easy “one shot” weapons and have a tight blast radius BUT if you land a headshot then we see that as fair game…. Here is the sawed off M79 in all its glory, nicknamed the “Mini Thumper”, which we find very suiting.



[h2]Any last words?[/h2]

As many of you know, there is currently an issue with Traders. We are aware that people are losing their hard earned Rep levels. Our goal is to resolve this issue with a Hotfix as soon as we possibly can (along with a couple of other issues that popped up with the last Patch). Thank you to everyone who is experiencing this, your patience and understanding helps us get through issues like this that crop up in Early Access.

That’s it for today’s Dev Stream, thanks for watching and stay tuned in Discord and on Twitter for more news on the upcoming Update!

- The SIG Team