PULSAR: Lost Colony News

Hey everyone!

Beta 29.5 is now available. It is focused on fixing bugs and crashes.

This version of Unity changes how output logs work on Windows. They are now called Player.logs, so from now on we’ll be requesting those when we attempt to troubleshoot any issues.

Changes

• Moved from Unity 2018.4 LTS to the new 2019.4 LTS which brings various engine improvements and fixes
  
• Improved join game functionality through Steam friends and Invites, can now change regions automatically
  
• Switching regions menu is a bit clearer
  
• Sensor screen: Misc scan now shows equipped thrusters of ships
  

Fixes

• Potential fix for an intermittent crash reported
  
• Mission sectors now clear themselves from the captain’s path on the starmap when the mission is abandoned
  

Thanks for your reports and feedback!

Best,
The Leafy Games Team

Hey everyone!

Beta 29.4 is now available. It is focused on fixing major bugs reported by our players.

Changes

• Changed how our audio listeners are setup with relation to our multi-camera system, which should be more accurate
  

Fixes

• Fixed issue related to switching the multiplayer region. It should be a smoother process now
  
• Fixed issue with error correction of ship rotations. Could cause performance issues and desync of ship orientations
  
• Fixed issue with pickup mission internals that could cause performance problems
  
• Fixed an intermittent crash bug related to pathfinding
  
• Fixed issue related to certain Photon viewIDs not being properly cleared
  
• Fixed sound bugs related to certain items (fire extinguisher, beam rifles) that could cause them to continually play
  
• Fixed issue with some SFX not being heard when onboard certain stations
  
• Fixed visual issue with certain wandering NPCs that could cause them to appear offset from their target position
  
• Fixed issue related to some missions not being able to be started / some NPCs having broken dialogue
  

Thanks for your reports and feedback!

Best,
The Leafy Games Team

Hey everyone!

Beta 29.3 is now available. It introduces new systems designed to allow customization of your gameplay experiences.

From now on, when starting or loading a game you’ll be able to choose settings for the galaxy. Hosts can change properties for faction spread, difficulty, sector types, number of sectors, chaos increases, and more.

These settings will determine the type of galaxy: Standard, Expert or Custom.

• Standard Galaxies are the classic settings that have been used up to now.
  
• Expert Galaxies are a more challenging version of the Standard Galaxy, designed for experienced crews. It increases enemy ship power, chaos spread and other settings.
  
• Custom Galaxies are those that don’t match either of the two above configurations.
  

Certain settings cannot be changed after the initial galaxy setup, but many can be changed when loading a game (including current saves).

We’re interested to hear your feedback about this new system, especially about features like Expert mode. We're considering having an achievement related to Expert mode in the future, but we wanted to make sure it was an appropriate challenge.

Custom Galaxy Settings

• Galaxy Size (The initial number of sectors in a galaxy - from 800 to 5000)
  
• Chaos Growth Rate (The speed at which chaos increases - from 0.5x to 5x)
  
• Max Chaos (The maximum amount of Chaos the galaxy will reach - from 3 to 9)
  
• Enemy Ship Power (Scales the average enemy ship component levels - from 0.5x to 2x)
  
• Drone Modifier Power (Scales the chance that special modifiers are added to unmanned ships - from 0.5 to 2x)
  
• Galaxy Seed (Base number used for galaxy generation; -1 means a random number)
  
• Enemy Ship Backup Rate (Increases the rate of ships warping in to provide backup - from 0.5x to 2.5x)
  
• Beacon Spawn Rate (Multiplier for the max number of beacons to appear in a sector - from 0.5x to 2.5x)
  
• Bounty Hunter Spawn Rate (Multiplier for the rate at which bounty hunters are generated - from 0.5x to 4.0x)
  
• Colonial Union Initial Spread (How many sectors start as CU sectors - from 0.5x to 2x)
  
• Colonial Union Continuous Spread (The rate of growth for new CU sectors - from 0.5x to 5x)
  
• WD Corp Initial Spread (How many sectors start as WD sectors - from 0.5x to 2x)
  
• WD Corp Continuous Spread (The rate of growth for new WD sectors - from 0.5x to 5x)
  
• Infected Initial Spread (How many sectors start as Infected sectors - from 0.5x to 2x)
  
• Infected Continuous Spread (The rate of growth for new Infected sectors - from 0.5x to 5x)
  
• Moon Count (The average number of moons orbiting planets - from 0x to 2x)
  
• Planet Enemy Respawn Rate (Scales the respawn speed of enemies on planets - from 0.5x to 5x)
  
• General Stores (Scales the amount generated by the galaxy - from 0.5x to 4x)
  
• Long Range Warp Stations (Scales the amount generated by the galaxy - from 0.5x to 4x)
  
• Nebula Sectors (Scales the amount generated by the galaxy - from 0.5x to 4x)
  
• Scrapyard Sectors (Scales the amount generated by the galaxy - from 0.5x to 4x)
  
• Minefield Sectors (Scales the amount generated by the galaxy - from 0.5x to 4x)
  
• Graveyard Sectors (Scales the amount generated by the galaxy - from 0.5x to 4x)
  
• Asteroid Field Sectors (Scales the amount generated by the galaxy - from 0.5x to 4x)
  
• Faction Battle Sectors (Scales the amount generated by the galaxy - from 0.5x to 4x)
  
• Modifier Player Ship - Energy Damage (Outgoing energy damage - from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Enemy Ship - Energy Damage (Outgoing energy damage - from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Player Ship - Physical Damage (Outgoing physical damage - from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Enemy Ship - Physical Damage (Outgoing physical damage - from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Player Ship - Reactor Strength (Reactor output multiplier - from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Enemy Ship - Reactor Strength (Reactor output multiplier - from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Player Ship - Shield Charge Rate (Charge rate multiplier - from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Enemy Ship - Shield Charge Rate (Charge rate multiplier - from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Player Ship - Thruster Boost (Thrust multiplier - from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Enemy Ship - Thruster Boost (Thrust multiplier - from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Player Ship - Warp Charging Rate (Scales from 0.5x to 3x)
  
• Modifier Enemy Ship - Warp Charging Rate (Scales from 0.5x to 3x)
  

Additions

• Galaxy Settings: allows for hosts to customize properties of the galaxy for their games
  
• New Planet and Artifact Planet Mission. The final mission assigned by Rumibard Warger in Outpost 488. Completing this mission grants a Lost Colony Data Fragment.
  
• Grey Huntsman Bounty Hunters Guild will grant a Lost Colony Data Fragment after completing a number of missions for them.
  
• New Data Fragment: Warger’s Fragment - no effect
  
• New Data Fragment: Grey Huntsmen Fragment - no effect
  

Changes

• Many internal updates to plugins including Photon, WWise, Oculus, SteamVR, and Teamspeak
  
• Moved main game scripts to .NET 4.x equivalent for increased performance and compatibility with newer software/plugins
  
• Moved our linux builds to 64-bit (Unity is dropping support for 32-bit linux builds)
  
• The “No Questions Asked” Achievement has been moved to Warger’s new final mission.
  
• Increased Outrider’s angular drag, it’ll rotate slightly slower now.
  

Fixes

• Fixed some issues with enemies on the abandoned Fluffy Biscuit Co. factory
  
• Optimizations for the smoke creature in Sylvassi Cyphers
  
• Fixed pathing issues for certain areas like space shops
  
• Custom appearance menu should look better at larger field of view settings
  
• Fixed a crash on exit bug
  
• Distress signals for enemy ships will no longer work in sectors with blocked long range communications (such as nebulas)
  
• Tweaked ship component power scaling with chaos level: minimum level is now 25% of maximum instead of 12.5%
  

Thanks for your reports and feedback!

Best,
The Leafy Games Team

Hey everyone!

Beta 29.2 is now available. It’s mainly focused on bug fixes based on your reports!

Changes
- Game can show controls for more turret actions like firing missiles or activating the pulse laser
- Signal Jammer Beacons no longer stack to reduce EM detection below 50%
- Maximum number of AI overrides per priority raised to 15 (from 10)
- Syber’s Threat program updated to add turret charge speed instead of turret damage
- Thumbnails in the Customize Appearance menu no longer show model with additional rotation
- Join game menu now shows the current region and number of crews found in total
- Increased the respawn time of some rat creatures on one of the cave planets

Fixes
- Saved AI data could sometimes be outdated without the game notifying the player
- Some game menus were smaller than intended, should be fixed now
- Starmap camera in saves sometimes wouldn’t let you select sectors on the edge of the galaxy
- Fixed various internal errors reported by analytics
- Certain ships could spawn Neutral drones which have been replaced with Bandit drones
- In new galaxies The Estate now does additional checks to ensure it has sectors within warp range
- Updated power test for the Engineer in The Academy to take into account new changes
- EngBot a little better at managing power while cloaked (requires a reset of AI priorities)
- Scrap icon for the hull repair system on the Interceptor can no longer be seen through walls
- The scanner should no longer pick up certain long range dialogue actors as NPCs on planets
- Ships and beacons should no longer spawn inside of asteroids
- Syber’s Threat program’s effect should now apply properly and show as blue when active on the computer screen
- Fixed some ammo-based pistols that wouldn’t properly fire their last shot
- Added message to inform the player if the game can’t write the bindings file to disk
- Updates to resource and memory management to prevent crashes in certain situations
- Ship cargo could sometimes not sync their positions correctly initially

Thanks for your reports and feedback!

Best,
The Leafy Games Team

Hey everyone!

Beta 29.1 is now available! It is focused on bug fixes with some changes to missiles and AI priorities in saved games

Changes
- Load game menu now provides an option to reset the AI priorities and automatically enables it if newer defaults are detected
- Missile tooltips now show more info
- Missiles now increase their damage when upgraded
- Error message should now appear when a player attempts to join a Secured game without being logged into Steam
- Processor Shop now includes Overcharge Processors (may require new galaxy)

Fixes
- Fixed High Roller Fragment bug related to coolant refill causing broken coolant screen / incorrect refills
- High Roller Fragment notification now shows actual coolant refill amount (15%) rather than (25%)
- Fixed Commander Fragment issue with upgraded hulls not repairing correctly
- Fixed issue with internal virus components being dropped on ship destruction
- Fixed issue with shopkeepers and stores that could cause de-sync and other problems
- Fixed issue with black hole sectors that caused performance issues and collision issues with asteroids
- Fixed issue with High Rollers if ship warped while a player was playing Liar’s Dice
- Fixed some small internal errors reported by the analytics system

Thanks for your reports and feedback!

Best,
The Leafy Games Team