PULSAR: Lost Colony News

Hey everyone!

Hope you're all doing well!

The game is currently on sale this week! Until April 26 the game is available for 40% off its normal price!

We also thought it was worth mentioning that Beta 31, the final major Beta update for PULSAR is well underway and in the final stages of development. No guarantees, but we’re hoping to release Beta 31 before the end of April. As we mentioned before, the main focus of Beta 31 is introducing a smaller bonus campaign which tells a different story revolving around the ever-elusive Polytechnic Federation. We’ve very excited to show you the new stuff and we’re very interested to hear your thoughts about it.

Thanks for your time!

Best,
The Leafy Games Team

Hey everyone!

Beta 30.8 is now out! This update includes some fixes and improvements. There are a handful of VR and AI improvements as well as improved internal security measures for the in-game voice chat system.

Additions
- Added some internal security to the in-game voice chat system. On the surface it should work as it normally does, so please let us know if you encounter anything strange.
- Updated AI bots to understand and use the Utility Grenade Launchers properly (Healing, Repair, Fire-Killer)
- Added the “fragment collected” stinger track
- Added new AI override option - “Fire Extinguisher Equipped”. This, as well as the “Repair Tool Equipped” will now count the grenade launcher variants too (and take into account their current ammo levels)

Changes
- Default AI Priorities have been updated to allow Bots to better handle the Repair, Healing and Fire-Killer grenades
- The Roland-Class starship’s exterior size has been slightly increased due to the feedback we’ve received. We’ve essentially cut the difference between the Pre and Post Beta 30.0 versions. Let us know what you think!
-We’ve added an option for Linux users to change the audio system the game uses for voice chat. In order to access this option you can use this startup command: -ts-use-pulse-audio
- The Toggle Throttle mode has been moved from the basic section of the keybindings to the Piloting section of the keybindings. (You will need to manually update your default bindings to see this change)

VR
- Improved the rotation math regarding when the UI attached to the controllers appear in the quantum reflection
- Improved the placement of some UI in the reflection
- The controller object is now hidden when an item is equipped on that controller
- Updated the Index Controller bindings to not refer to the grip button since it was much too sensitive, to allow zooming on the starmap, to allow both the Missile Launcher and the Pulse Laser to be used, and to allow ship boosting.
- The snap rotation option can now be used in roomscale mode

Fixes
- Fixed a Starmap audio bug which could occur when viewing the starmap
- Fixed an AI issue regarding the WeapBot not recognizing the Biscuit Bomb as a stand in for a Nuclear Weapon
- Fixed visually broken Sensitivity and Offset sliders for HOTAS Devices (and any axis-based inputs)
- The Swordship respawn / bot deleting issue should now be fully fixed
- Fixed a bug with the Ammo Left custom override that didn’t allow you to specify the percentage
- Fixed a camera clipping issue related to manning the Bio-hazard turret
- Fixed a rendering issue that could occur for players running OpenGL who resized their window and then entered or started in the Quantum Reflection.
- The visible rendering artifacts on Linux computers being visible during the reflection should be fixed
- The black screen effect that would occur in the Quantum Reflection on AMD cards should also be fixed
- Made a change to help a virus issue that could occur when active hostile viruses overflow their internal slots and enter your cargo slots. We’ll be looking more into this issue soon, but this change should help alleviate this issue.
-Fixed a level requirement ship-unlock issue where the count was off by 1 level
-Fixed an issue regarding the Sylvassi Swordship’s “Sword” attack during offline play


Thanks for your reports and feedback!

Best,
The Leafy Games Team

Hey everyone!

Beta 30.7 is now out! This update includes a handful of additions and improvements. A few of the bigger ones include a nice amount of polish given to the Virus Screen and some improvements to how the Progress.data file is handled.

Additions
- Added a new keybind option for enabling text chat
- Added a new keybind option to enable boosting while piloting
- Added some additional protections for the progress.data file and how it works with the Steam Cloud. If there is a conflict with the local file and the one in the cloud you’ll be given the option on which one to keep. This can hopefully help prevent issues where players’ progress can get unintentionally lost.

Virus Screen
- Added the name of the broadcasting ship under the virus name
- The displayed color of the virus should now only be red when it’s actively threatening your ship
- Tweaked the visuals of the decrypt button, and also added a tooltip to help players notice it
- Hostile viruses now appear at the top of the list on the virus screen

Changes
- Hid Lost Colony sectors from the starmap visuals
- Infected spore pods will now target the ship closest to them
- Slightly polished the menu opening and closing effects
- The Virus Booster Beacon now treats all ships as hostile and broadcasts viruses to all
-Tweaked the pool of random viruses other crewed ships start with; there should be a much bigger variety of hostile viruses than before, especially at higher chaos levels
-Tweaked the pool of random CPUs other crewed ships start with; there should be a moderately bigger variety of CPUs than before, especially at higher chaos levels

Fixes
- Fixed a shadowing issue on one of the alien creatures
- Fixed an issue involving virus decryption in sector battles
- Fixed a sound effect issue that would occur when alt-tabbing out and clicking back into the game
-Potential fix for an issue involving the number of biscuits sold
-Fixed an issue with the Siphon Credits virus which could occur during sector battles
-Fixed an issue with the repair tool that made it difficult to repair the ship system when a robot was nearby
-Fixed an issue with the statistics tracking. The number of sectors visited stat was meant to be the number of sector types discovered and should now work properly.


As always, thanks for your reports and feedback!

Best,
The Leafy Games Team

Hey everyone!

Beta 30.6 is now out! We tried to get this one out fairly quickly to address the issue that was introduced in Beta 30.5. Let us know if anyone continues to have issues.

Additions
-Added a new AI behavior tweak which can be used to customize the overall priority of shooting down missiles for each bot.

Changes
- AI using turrets capable of shooting down missiles should no longer always prioritize incoming missiles and be a little more intelligent when deciding what to shoot.


Fixes
- Fixed an issue with certain mission objectives that required players to eliminate all enemies in a sector not triggering when it should
- Fixed an issue with the military-grade shield boosting program not providing its bonus
- Fixed some internal issues with AI data that we hope will stabilize some issues with the bots
- Fixed an issue with the Defend Self AI behavior that could make it not work correctly in some situations
- Strengthened a few network security messages
- Fixed an issue with the ship off-screen indicators preventing input on menus

Thanks for your reports and feedback!

Best,
The Leafy Games Team

Hey everyone!

Beta 30.5 is now out! It contains a handful of fixes and tweaks. As a side note, progress is underway and going well for Beta 31!

Changes
- Made some optimizations to how captain’s orders are handled. They should use less bandwidth and hopefully put less of a strain on the network (which may result in fewer disconnects).
- Tweaked how damaging the explosions of ejected reactor-cores are. The damage from distance now scales linearly rather than exponentially. Their damage is reduced and also scales based on the value of the reactor.


Fixes
- Fixed an issue with NPC Valter Clement not providing the auction data fragment after purchasing it from him
- Fixed an issue with completing the Sensor Repair mission at the Harbor
- Fixed a typo in the Remove Obstructions W.D. mission
- Fixed an additional issue allowing players to skip content at the Lost Colony
- Fixed a geometry clipping issue found on the Lost Colony
- The Ancient Sentry battle music now loops correctly
- Fixed an issue related to the “must kill all enemies” mission objective type.

Thanks for your reports and feedback!

Best,
The Leafy Games Team