From The Depths News

What is up Depthians!

This build has a number of tweaks, fixes and some new additions.

We are also pleased to say that the game now fully supports Russian localisation, however, if you feel that something is incorrect please let us know.
With the update to the Unity engine in 2021 and after reviewing a number of crash reports, we decided to turn off incremental garbage collection. This should resolve some from games crashing.

The Animation block has had a few new additions as well as breadboard. This will allow you more customisation and animation via any triggers that you wish to use with the Droid model.



These functions will allow you to manipulate bipedal model limbs that use IK, as well as choosing one of the preset animations.


You can also adjust the size of the model via the animation block UI, choose a pose / preset animation from the large selection via the dropdown list.

The standard droid is fully functional with the animation block and breadboard. We will be releasing more models as DLC in future, which will also allow you to use custom bipedal models that have a propper IK setup.

If you feel that something in the changelog needs explaining further let us know in the comment section or DM me Jon in Discord.




[h2]Additions[/h2]

[h3]Options[/h3]

• It is now possible to change which display FTD is displayed on

[h2]Changes[/h2]

[h3]APS[/h3]

• HEAT secondary body for APS is only 70% of a head now (final power is ~unchanged beyond the 5% base buff)
• HESH base power up by ~11%, HEAT base power up by 5%
• Squash and shaped charge base power increased by 15% for APS only (missile HEAT is the same)

[h3]Campaign[/h3]

• At the maximum difficulty level the player's faction strength is now overestimated by [x3 + 5 million] rather than [x10 + 10 million].
• There is a new slider for diplomacy/strategic AI aggressiveness. This used to be included in 'design difficulty' slider. You can now have a more 'diplomatic' campaign against the hardest vehicles, or all out war but with easy vehicles.

[h3]Diplomacy[/h3]

• At least one of the available options should now not cost any commodities

[h3]Garbage collection[/h3]

• Turned off incremental garbage collection to see if it improves stability

[h3]Missiles[/h3]

• Checks for invalid components added to missile loading and some other places where it was missing
• Default missiles for newly placed launchpads improved
• Initial speed for drop as bomb option in rail gantries reduced from 30 to 25 m/s

[h3]Wheels[/h3]

• It is now possible to only display the spring and axle for a wheel, not the block attachment [BUGS-3612]

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

[h3]ACB controller[/h3]

• ACB controllers now work correctly if they are spawned in a destroyed state and are then repaired

[h3]Animation block[/h3]

• Fixed the breadboard to animation block filtering by name

[h3]Breadboard[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where some breadboard components would run their logic more than one time per frame
• One-shot component will now correctly only activate once
• The first output of the steering info component now indicates whether the mainframe's movement is turned on or off

[h3]Bugs[/h3]

• BUGS-3629 Fixed fortress turbines taking damage when out of power if the language is changed from English

[h3]Campaign[/h3]

• BUGS-3659 Fixed strategic AI moving fleets through terrain they cannot move through resulting in fleets getting stuck
• Fixed a rare issue where the strategic AI would not correctly change the path of a fleet if its destination changed
• Fleets with a patrol route setup will now properly save and load the waypoint they were moving towards

[h3]Diplomacy[/h3]

• Fixed a problem preventing the player from getting options with a lot of enemies

[h3]EMP[/h3]

• EMP charges can now travel between constructs
• Laser Q switch EMP resistance fixed

[h3]Explosions[/h3]

• BUGS-3618 Explosions should now be rounder (it probably won't change a thing as no explosions reach their max radius)

[h3]Fleet movement[/h3]

• A fleet with a land unit will no longer move over water

[h3]Gridcasts[/h3]

• Fixed a rare problem causing gridcasts with an alignment very close to a construct's rotation to miss

[h3]Hologram projector[/h3]

• Hologram projector Hologram projectors now work correctly if they are spawned in a destroyed state and are then repaired

[h3]Impact[/h3]

• Impact damage can now travel between constructs

[h3]Lasers[/h3]

• BUGS-3638 Lasers fired through non-AI, non-manual methods will keep aiming forward as they are rotated
• Charge lasers will fire if either continuous or pulsed shot does more damage than the minimum damage set in the output regulator

[h3]LUA[/h3]

• Added functions to get the number of subconstructs and to get information for a specific subconstruct by index similar to the other APIs
• Replaced outdated propulsion methods with new functions 'AddPropulsionRequest', 'SetPropulsionRequest' and 'GetPropulsionRequest'
• The docking station now uses the correct ids to identify friendly vehicles for all functions
• Weapons fired by Lua can now hit missiles

[h3]Missiles[/h3]

• BUGS-3632 Fixed L and H rail gantry missiles sometimes getting tangled in their gantry when being dropped as bombs

[h3]Separator[/h3]

• Separating or attaching a vehicle while the player is in a chair will no longer eject the player from the chair except for multiplayer clients

[h3]Steam[/h3]

• BUGS-3635 Fixed steam transmissions not their input's RPM limit for their gear ratio in some cases, when loading

[h3]Transparency[/h3]

• Changed render queues for smoke and shields to render properly in front of and behind glass.

[h3]Video block[/h3]

• BUGS-3646 Playing local video is now working again

[h3]Wheels[/h3]

• BUGS-3550 The suspension (spring, axle and block) are now displayed/hidden correctly when the setting is changed, when loading the BP, when repaired or placed as a prefab

[h3]Wings[/h3]

• Effective speed for wings is capped at the speed of the mainconstruct

Hey Depthians!

A small update for those in the alpha test build



[h2]Changes[/h2]

[h3]Decos[/h3]

• Maximum decoration distance on all axes up from 10m to 20m

[h3]Spinners[/h3]

• Mass-based rotation speed limit up by ~11%
• Rotate to angle speed isn't limited for spinblocks with only decos on them
• Spinner and turret weights up to metal level. Mostly unnoticeable for a 1x1x1 block but helps with tiny vehicles twitching and makes some physics problems less severe

[h3]Sticky feet[/h3]

• Max stickiness increased from 100 to 400

[h3]Subconstructs[/h3]

• If subconstructs on a vehicle take up at lest half the total volume then all drag for the mainconstruct is multiplied by TOTAL_VOLUME / MAIN_VOLUME

What is up Depthians!

This build has a number of tweaks and fixes. We have also turned off incremental garbage collection to see if it helps with some stability issues.

If you feel that something in the changelog needs explaining further let us know in the comment section or DM me Jon in Discord.




[h2]Additions[/h2]

[h3]Options[/h3]

• It is now possible to change which display FTD is displayed on

[h2]Changes[/h2]

[h3]APS[/h3]

• HEAT secondary body for APS is only 70% of a head now (final power is ~unchanged beyond the 5% base buff)
• HESH base power up by ~11%, HEAT base power up by 5%
• Squash and shaped charge base power increased by 15% for APS only (missile HEAT is the same)

[h3]Campaign[/h3]

• At the maximum difficulty level the player's faction strength is now overestimated by [x3 + 5 million] rather than [x10 + 10 million].
• There is a new slider for diplomacy/strategic AI aggressiveness. This used to be included in 'design difficulty' slider. You can now have a more 'diplomatic' campaign against the hardest vehicles, or all out war but with easy vehicles.

[h3]Diplomacy[/h3]

• At least one of the available options should now not cost any commodities

[h3]Garbage collection[/h3]

• Turned off incremental garbage collection to see if it improves stability

[h3]Missiles[/h3]

• Checks for invalid components added to missile loading and some other places where it was missing
• Default missiles for newly placed launchpads improved
• Initial speed for drop as bomb option in rail gantries reduced from 30 to 25 m/s

[h3]Wheels[/h3]

• It is now possible to only display the spring and axle for a wheel, not the block attachment [BUGS-3612]

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

[h3]ACB controller[/h3]

• ACB controllers now work correctly if they are spawned in a destroyed state and are then repaired

[h3]Animation block[/h3]

• Fixed the breadboard to animation block filtering by name

[h3]Breadboard[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where some breadboard components would run their logic more than one time per frame
• One-shot component will now correctly only activate once
• The first output of the steering info component now indicates whether the mainframe's movement is turned on or off

[h3]Bugs[/h3]

• BUGS-3629 Fixed fortress turbines taking damage when out of power if the language is changed from English

[h3]Campaign[/h3]

• BUGS-3659 Fixed strategic AI moving fleets through terrain they cannot move through resulting in fleets getting stuck
• Fixed a rare issue where the strategic AI would not correctly change the path of a fleet if its destination changed
• Fleets with a patrol route setup will now properly save and load the waypoint they were moving towards

[h3]Diplomacy[/h3]

• Fixed a problem preventing the player from getting options with a lot of enemies

[h3]EMP[/h3]

• EMP charges can now travel between constructs
• Laser Q switch EMP resistance fixed

[h3]Explosions[/h3]

• BUGS-3618 Explosions should now be rounder (it probably won't change a thing as no explosions reach their max radius)

[h3]Fleet movement[/h3]

• A fleet with a land unit will no longer move over water

[h3]Gridcasts[/h3]

• Fixed a rare problem causing gridcasts with an alignment very close to a construct's rotation to miss

[h3]Hologram projector[/h3]

• Hologram projector Hologram projectors now work correctly if they are spawned in a destroyed state and are then repaired

[h3]Impact[/h3]

• Impact damage can now travel between constructs

[h3]Lasers[/h3]

• BUGS-3638 Lasers fired through non-AI, non-manual methods will keep aiming forward as they are rotated
• Charge lasers will fire if either continuous or pulsed shot does more damage than the minimum damage set in the output regulator

[h3]LUA[/h3]

• Added functions to get the number of subconstructs and to get information for a specific subconstruct by index similar to the other APIs
• Replaced outdated propulsion methods with new functions 'AddPropulsionRequest', 'SetPropulsionRequest' and 'GetPropulsionRequest'
• The docking station now uses the correct ids to identify friendly vehicles for all functions
• Weapons fired by Lua can now hit missiles

[h3]Missiles[/h3]

• BUGS-3632 Fixed L and H rail gantry missiles sometimes getting tangled in their gantry when being dropped as bombs

[h3]Separator[/h3]

• Separating or attaching a vehicle while the player is in a chair will no longer eject the player from the chair except for multiplayer clients

[h3]Steam[/h3]

• BUGS-3635 Fixed steam transmissions not their input's RPM limit for their gear ratio in some cases, when loading

[h3]Transparency[/h3]

• Changed render queues for smoke and shields to render properly in front of and behind glass.

[h3]Video block[/h3]

• BUGS-3646 Playing local video is now working again

[h3]Wheels[/h3]

• BUGS-3550 The suspension (spring, axle and block) are now displayed/hidden correctly when the setting is changed, when loading the BP, when repaired or placed as a prefab

[h3]Wings[/h3]

• Effective speed for wings is capped at the speed of the mainconstruct

 What's up Depthians!
This update focuses on further physics fixes, quality of life improvements, and polishing the recent changes.

[h3]Steam crank wheel connections[/h3]

In the previous update, a new feature was added that some people might have missed: pressing 'Q' when you look at a steam crank wheel brings up a menu that allows them to connect to other steam crank wheels.

It is possible to:

• merge gearbox lines for redundancy
• split a line so multiple propellers/drills can be attached to it
• merge the power of multiple transmissions/crank motors
• flip the orientation of a crank
• or a combination of the above

To make complex systems more practical transmission and crank wheel kinetic penalties were reduced.
Many people felt that cranks are not worth the trouble over just plopping down crank motors, this should help and crank motor output was also slightly reduced (they are still denser than simple propulsion, and can be linked now).
Keep in mind that in the next update wheels will need empty space between them for a connection to be possible (no belts through solid blocks). That's part of why wheels got a pretty big durability increase.

Related changes/fixes:

• Transmission kinetic loss reduced to 50% (transmission max energy/s was also doubled when crank wheel connections were added, missing from the notes there)
• Crank wheel kinetic loss reduced to 25%
• Crank wheel kinetic energy storage reduced to 2x shaft for S, to 3x shaft for M and L. 1x1x1 M wheel has the same max kinetic energy as shafts
• Crank motor kinetic energy/power down from 0.65 to 0.6
• Steam wheels can not connect to wheels already taken by other shafts spinning in the opposite direction
• Propellers/drills connected to multiple crank motors broadcast their output request to all motors now
• [BUGS-3682] Steam wheels placed in prefabs properly wipe their connection and ID now

[h3]Custom rudders, custom control surfaces[/h3]

Another important change that might have slipped under the radar: custom rudders are useful strong now (custom control surfaces also saw improvements).
Adding hydrofoil beams and making hydrofoils more durable was also a common request, so the mostly decorative custom rudders were fixed up to be better hydrofoils.
They are much more durable, much more compact, and have a much lower impact on game performance since every continuous plate only calculates its total force.
Hydrofoils are kept and were slightly buffed so they can be used when something with a very fast reaction time is needed.
Simple rudders are kept as an easy-to-use, newbie-friendly solution where you just plop 1 down and it'll make anything turn without too much hassle.



Custom control surface changes/fixes:

• Custom pivots automatically set up their control axis, like jets/ions/hydrofoils/...
• Custom pivots got an option for switching output on reverse
• Mirror versions added for 2-4m custom rudder and custom control surface parts

Collisions

Collisions were very unpredictable, with some problems:

• A tiny, fast vehicle slamming into a stationary huge one had the ~same collision energy as the opposite case
• How many collisions are registered in a given amount of time isn't predictable, so total damage done had very wild swings
• Overall collision damage could easily be off by something like ~5 orders of magnitude

Another problem is that melee weapons, in general, were useless/forgotten about, spinning rams were virtually free with damage so high they evaporated anything they touched. Overall sentiment for spinning rams after the update was that they are on the weaker side, so they got a minor numerical and a significant indirect buff. Keep in mind that drill systems are in general harder to place and use, and spinblocks cause lots of performance/overlap headaches so spinning rams are supposed to be usable but slightly weaker than steam and simple drills. Ramming with fixed rams is stronger now for most heavy vehicles.

Collision changes:

• Basic collisions without rams now also use the same kinetic energy system (stronger than before)
• Ram and basic collision AP up from 5 to 10, kinetic damage stored is up by ~33%, kinetic damage regen up by ~10%
• Spinning rams also use the appropriate fraction of energy from the main construct on contact. On top of that they use 5% of the remaining energy from the spinner for each ram and hit
• Kinetic energy for main constructs up by ~11%
• Simple and steam drill parts have a 0.4 drag modifier from the front, with no clearance requirement. 1x1x1 simple drill bits and non-wide steam drill heads have a 0.2 drag modifier from the front

[h3]Propellers[/h3]

Made their rules a bit more lenient, so it's possible to have no efficiency reductions and aesthetics aren't penalized. Above ~60-70% clearance, they are generally the cheapest propulsion by far, so this is mostly a QoL/"how they feel" change. Also made it a bit easier to control pitch/roll with them.

Propeller changes/fixes:

• Propeller hubs now only start losing efficiency below 90% clearance
• Time for propellers to fully spin up reduced by ~30%
• Trusses now count as ducts for the purpose of blocking propulsion, from every side
• Power scale for propellers doesn't reduce max rotation speed, only power use and thrust output (just a visual change)
• Propeller hubs not supported from either the top or bottom are now properly destroyed, even if the ends of some blades are touching other blocks
• Fixed power draw for some propeller setups with 0 clearance
• Orphaned propeller blades do not disconnect when connection rules are off
• Improved clearance checks

[h3]Physics[/h3]
Weeded out some other ways forces could run away and cause ludicrous speed/teleporting/jumping.

Physics changes/fixes:

• Added extra sanity checks for wing and sail force output, prevents a speed feedback loop with very low drag spinblock vehicles
• Light blocks have 0.1 drag (half of wedges). Prevents physics problems with 0 drag spinblock vehicles
• Subconstruct main blocks directly on the main construct add 1 block worth of drag on the mainconstruct
• Non-structural/plate blocks with weight
• Precision spinblock speed in rotate to angle mode is limited by mass of the construct (like for turrets, but more lenient). Small spinners with single propulsion block are ~350-600 °/s, big chunks of armor ~100 °/s

[h3]Quality of life/misc changes[/h3]

• EMP and impact debug tools got the same right click UI explosive one has
• Piston max extension rate up from 2 m/s to 6 m/s
• Effective speed limit for wings on powered spinners is increased, based on power use (relatively weak, only for novelty use)
• Connected serial pistons on separate crankshafts now share their stat systems when only 1 has a boiler connections
• Crank gearboxes now can't get stuck in their old priority when it is changed from their UI
• Flak base damage up from 80% to 90% of HE. Makes it slightly more attractive compared to kinetic CIWS
• Simple rudders also work upside down
• Propeller hub mesh can now be hidden, propeller mesh handling is faster
• Hydrofoil mesh can now be hidden

[h2]Changes[/h2]

[h3]APS[/h3]

• Flak base damage up from 80% to 90% of HE. Makes it slightly more attractive compared to kinetic CIWS

[h3]Collisions[/h3]

• Basic collisions without rams now also use the same kinetic energy system (stronger than before)
• Kinetic energy for main constructs up by ~11%
• Ram and basic collision AP up from 5 to 10, kinetic damage stored is up by ~33%, kinetic damage regen up by ~10%
• Spinning rams also use the appropriate fraction of energy from the main construct on contact. On top of that they use 5% of the remaining energy from the spinner for each ram and hit

[h3]Custom control surfaces[/h3]

• Custom control surfaces>: Custom pivots automatically set up their control axis, like jets/ions/hydrofoils/…
• Custom pivots got an option for switching output on reverse

[h3]Decos[/h3]

• Hydrofoil mesh can now be hidden
• Propeller hub mesh can now be hidden

[h3]Drills[/h3]

• Simple and steam drill parts have a 0.4 drag modifier from the front, with no clearance requirement. 1x1x1 simple drill bits and non-wide steam drill heads have a 0.2 drag modifier from the front

[h3]Pistons[/h3]

• Piston max extension rate up from 2 m/s to 6 m/s

[h3]Propellers[/h3]

• Power scale for propellers doesn't reduce max rotation speed, only power use and thrust output
• Propeller hubs now only start losing efficiency below 90% clearance
• Time for propellers to fully spin up reduced by ~30%

[h3]Simple rudder[/h3]

• Simple rudders also work upside down

[h3]Spinners[/h3]

• Precision spinblock speed in rotate to angle mode is limited by the mass of the construct (like for turrets, but more lenient). Small spinners with a single propulsion block are ~350-600 °/s, big chunks of armor ~100 °/s

[h3]Steam[/h3]

• Crank motor kinetic energy/power down from 0.65 to 0.6
• Crank wheel kinetic energy storage reduced to 2x shaft for S, to 3x shaft for M and L. 1x1x1 M wheel has the same max kinetic energy as shafts
• Crank wheel kinetic loss reduced to 25%
• Transmission kinetic loss reduced to 50% (transmission max energy/s was also doubled when crank wheel connections were added, missing from the notes there)

[h3]Trusses[/h3]

• Trusses now count as ducts for the purpose of blocking propulsion, from every side

[h3]UI[/h3]

• EMP and impact debug tools got the same right-click UI explosive one has

[h3]Wings[/h3]

• Effective speed limit for wings on powered spinners is increased, based on power use (relatively weak, only for novelty use)

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

[h3]Custom control surfaces[/h3]

• Mirror versions added for 2-4m blocks

[h3]Physics[/h3]

• Added extra sanity checks for wing and sail force output, prevents a speed feedback loop with very low drag spinblock vehicles
• Light blocks have 0.1 drag (half of wedges). Prevents physics problems with 0 drag spinblock vehicles
• Non-structural/plate blocks with weight
• Subconstruct main blocks directly on the main construct add 1 block worth of drag on the mainconstruct

[h3]Propellers[/h3]

• Fixed power draw for some propeller setups with 0 clearance
• Improved clearance checks
• Orphaned propeller blades do not disconnect when connection rules are off
• Propeller hubs not supported from either the top or bottom are now properly destroyed, even if the ends of some blades are touching other blocks

[h3]Steam[/h3]

• Connected serial pistons on separate crankshafts now share their stat systems when only 1 has a boiler connections
• Crank gearboxes now can't get stuck in their old priority when it is changed from their UI

[h3]Steam connections[/h3]

• [BUGS-3682] Steam wheels placed in prefabs properly wipe their connection and ID now
• Propellers/drills connected to multiple crank motors broadcast their output request to all motors now

[h3]Steam crank connections[/h3]

• Steam wheels can not connect to wheel already taken by other shafts spinning in the opposite direction

If you are in beta_test branch please move to the new alpha_test branch in the next 24 hrs.
beta_test will soon be required for testing the next stable release so we have created alpha_test branch to test new experimental features. Going forward all experimental features will go to alpha_test and beta_test will be reserved builds heading shortly to stable.
These changes will take affect at noon GMT on the 15th of February.