Astra Protocol 2 News

Ahoy Captains,

Work has now commenced on the next feature patch (1.4).

This will be a content patch, mostly along the same theme.

Without spoiling too much, here's a peek.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Plus a few other changes regarding user feedback.

Should you have any comments or feedback, please let us know in the comments or via the usual channels, and remember that feedback can also be left via our dedicated feedback discussion thread - here.

Watch this space for more news!

Attention Captains.

Patch 1.3 is now live. This patch was focused mainly on improvements to the AI, quality of life improvements, and additional features

• Player can enable Signal Jammers to increase the noise experienced by a ship
  
• Players and AI can recharge their shields back to full capacity
  
• Ships can toggle tractor beams between repel and attract
  
• Autopilot can be set to follow the target
  
• Can automatically target lifeforms command to target living objects
  
• Can automatically target the object detected as an imminent collision
  

• AI ships are given an Experience level which determines how aware they are and how they behave
  
• AI confidence algorithm tweaked
  
• The noise generated by moving at speed has been reduced
  
• Noise level shown on transmissions
  
• Missiles are fired / loaded in the order specified rather than the order they appear in menu
  
• Option to adjust the AI spawning algorithm to be based around player rank, preventing powerful ships from appearing until later (turned off by default)
  
• Ship's noise level determines chance of detecting player
  
• Space-time anomalies can close sporadically
  
• Laser array range, active, and target show on ordnance screen
  
• Warning when ship is under a tractor lock
  
• ETA removed from Navigation screen
  
• Tweaked the spawn event to keep something interesting happening nearby
  

• Can override all configuration variables via a config file
  
• Can define joystick configuration
  
• Can specify secondary joystick (to allow partial HOTAS)
  
• Can run the game in a window
  

• Fixed an issue where the autopilot overshoots
  
• Moon orbits based on distance from planet not star
  
• Fixed exceptions when running under WINE
  
• Can specify the computer voice
  
• Can turn the computer voice off at config
  
• Ships shouldn't drop all mines in one go when retreating
  
• Thrusters apply the correct load to the reactor
  
• Fixed issue where high radiation broke the survivor system (making them 100% chance of detection)
  
• Fixed issue with end-game event spawning prematurely
  
• Fixed issue with ships doing nothing
  
• Fixed issue with SCAN SPACECRAFT detecting fighters
  

Numerous save files have been tested, but if you want to keep the data, backing them up is recommended. As per the previous update, the previous patch 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.

Ahoy Captains,

We're starting work on the next feature patch (1.3).
The focus of this patch is mainly gameplay and quality of life improvements.

The main themes we're looking at improving and changing are:

• Additional ship commands
  
• Improvements to how objects are spawned, which should make long distance travel more interesting and reduce the frequency of certain ships appearing early in a run.
  
• Tweaks and improvements to the AI
  
• Additional terminal configuration
  
• Additional documentation
  
• Quality of life improvements
  
• General code fixes and performance improvements
  

As with the previous patches, we have no current timescale to when the patch will release, and the content of the patch may change during development.

Should you have any comments or feedback, please let us know in the comments or via the usual channels, and remember that feedback can also be left via our dedicated feedback discussion thread - here

Ahoy there Captains,

Its been a while since patch 1.2 has launched and feel it is now time to start focusing our attention on the next feature and content patch.

We're planning on a change in strategy for patches moving forward, ideally they will be smaller and more focused.

Our feature backlog is quite long, and thought it would be better to see what you, the players, would like to see so we can work on prioritising features (unless you really loved the surprise drop of the new Captain's Log feature?)

To aid with this, we've created a discussion thread to give you a place to post your feedback, along with any features or improvements you'd want. We can't guarantee that it will be included in the patch, but it will help give us a direction in where to go next.

If you want to provide us with feedback, you can do so here: Community Feedback Thread

or via the usual channels.

We hope to hear from you so we can make Astra Protocol 2 a great experience for everyone.

Attention Captains.

Patch 1.2 is now live. This patch was focused mainly on making space travel more dynamic and adding in new features and improvements.

• A new sector is generated if the player flies outside the known bounds of space
  
• Minefield - Static clusters of explosive mines
  
• Rift anomalies - tears in the fabric of space-time that can appear spontaneously
  
• Heliosaur swarms - sentient migrating space reptiles that can appear on planets and asteroids
  
• Captain's Log - adjusted how log entries are reviewed and ability to create own entries
  

• General code improvements
  
• Tidied up some strings
  
• Scanning missiles reveal payload
  
• Scanning mines reveal payload
  
• Noise system adjusted so that enemies and missiles can be affected
  
• Can prevent spaceships spawning as part of the map generation to give users a little more breathing room at the start (note however this doesn't stop any warping in)
  
• Reason for mission failure displayed on mission overview screen
  
• Recentre command to recentre science and navigation window on the player's ship
  
• New additions and reformatting of the user manual
  
• Tweaked the spawning algorithm
  
• Planets render last, preventing objects from overlapping them
  
• Collisions simplified, resulting in overall improvements in performance
  

• Planets with and without rings should calculate distances consistently
  
• Fixed issue with autopilot and manual controls fighting
  
• Added missing commands to help screen
  
• Fixed issue with inject coolant accepting no parameters
  
• Fixed issue with pressing return twice in autopilot causing a crash
  
• Autopilot calculates time more accurately
  
• Mission length based on in-game time rather than initial timestamp
  
• Fixed spelling of ascertain on the initial transmission
  
• Fixed issue with ship sizes not saving properly
  
• Fixed minor text issue on bios screen
  
• Fixed issue with objects popping in and out too soon
  
• Fixed issue with probing objects returning scan descriptions as if not probed
  
• Program splash screen background is taken from colour palette
  
• Fixed issues with retreating ships dropping all mines at once
  

Numerous save files have been tested, but if you want to keep the data, backing them up is recommended. As per the previous update, the previous patch 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.