Astra Protocol 2 News

Attention Captains,

Patch 1.4 is now live! This is possibly the biggest patch we've released to date with over 120 tasks and bug-fixes involved.

This patch brings in a mix of new features, improvements and bug fixes:

• Ships can dock with space stations
  
• Ships now have a life-support you must manage
  
• New failure state - loss of life support
  
• Science missions
  
• Animation when reading transmissions from the Scientific Division
  
• New life form - Crystalline entity
  
• New life form - Rift worm
  
• New life form - Shield mites
  
• Speedometer in the Helm Module
  

• Space stations now have expanded scientific details
  
• Target locked objects show their trajectory in the Science Module
  
• Survivors detected on ships are displayed in the expanded scientific details
  
• Ship reactor temperatures are displayed in the expanded scientific details
  
• Expanded scientific details can be multi-page
  
• Transmissions can be multi-page
  
• Can press RETURN to load the current HELP page immediately
  
• Stars and planets display summaries of the number of planets and moons scanned
  
• Tweaked chance of space-time anomalies occurring
  
• Tweaked layout of scientific details
  
• Additional biological matter can be detected on asteroids
  
• Updated user documentation for new commands
  
• Fighters with no fuel no longer expire
  
• Space stations prevented from spawning too close together
  
• Heliosaur swarms of a certain size appear on the combat radar
  
• Tweaked collision meshes for better improvement
  
• Tweaked the effect that noise has on the missiles homing
  

• Fixed rendering issue with doughnut meshes
  
• Fixed issue with heliosaurs sometimes not registering hits on a ship
  
• Fixed issue with minefields sometimes not registering hits on a ship
  
• Fixed text issue with recharging shields
  
• Fixed graphical issue with the laser targeting appearing outside of the laser range
  
• Fixed issue with spaces in the PLOT ROUTE command causing a syntax error
  
• Fixed issue with the computer not reporting target loss
  
• Fixed issue with destroyed ship count not saving
  

Thank you for the time and patience, this patch took a while to get out.

As with the other patches, the previous version is available as its own branch.

If you have any comments, feedback, or suggestions, please post them here or via the usual channels.

We hope you enjoy the changes and have fun with the work we've done on Astra Protocol 2.

Attention Captains,

Patch 1.4 is nearing completion - all new features have been implemented, but some tweaks, refinement, and bug fixing remains.

As this patch has been in development for a while, we've decided to give you a preview of what is to come and upload patch 1.4 as a beta.

To opt in to this beta, go to the Astra Protocol 2 properties in the Steam client, select Betas and opt into the beta named beta.

As this is a beta, we must stress that it is not a finalised product so bugs and issues are highly likely. We strongly recommend you backup and store elsewhere any save files. Additionally, some of the remaining tasks involve updating the documentation to account for the new features.

This beta is likely to change as we perform more updates and fixes, but if you're happy to have a look at what we've been working on, feel free to dive in!

We would also appreciate any feedback around the new features - Does something not work? Does something look odd? Is something occurring too often?

As usual, we can't provide a date for when the patch will be made public, but watch this space!

Minor patch to allow users to enable logging to a dot matrix printer.
Disabled by default. Enabled by selecting External Log in the config menu and entering LPT1: in the text box

Attention Cadets,

We've received reports that a few users could do with some assistance in getting to grips with the core concepts of Astra Protocol 2.

As one of the key design pillars of the game is discovery, we had made a conscious decision to have the user manual be relatively vague and unhelpful - the idea being that players would learn by trying and feel powerful once they gained full control of their ship.

However, we have received multiple feedback that some users could use a little helping hand in getting started, and therefore we have created a Getting Started User Guide.

Getting Started User Guide

This guide is deliberately separate from the User Manual and Quick Reference Guide to keep that element of discovery alive, whilst still providing help for those users who need it.

So if you're struggling with Astra Protocol 2, or just want to know a little more about some of the underlying mechanics, give it a read! If there's anything else you'd like to see included or want any more details, let us know in the comments or discussions.

See you among the stars soon!

Ahoy Captains,

We're working away on Patch 1.4 (as well as some unrelated projects), however we've had a few requests for a cheat sheet or 'quick reference guide' to aid Captains, both new and experienced, in piloting their craft.

As this doesn't tie in to any code build, we're able to release it straight away!

You can access it via the store page (next to where you'd access the manual) or via this link:

https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2026750/manuals/Astral_Guidance_Operating_System_Quick_Reference_Guide.pdf

Hopefully this might also help clear up some confusion around the syntax that the Astral Guidance Operating System uses too.

As usual, please let us know your thoughts either via this post or in the dedicated forum thread (along with any other feedback you may have) https://steamcommunity.com/app/2026750/discussions/0/5789982181540189847/.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the skies!