Celestial Command News

In this update we added brand new game mode, called "Battle", where you can easily set up fleets for oppose factions and observe an epic space combat.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Technically, it was already possible before via sandbox mode, but it was extremely inconvenient and required quite long manual world reloading to clean up a world after each battle. But in this mode everything should be nice and easy to use.



You may ask why we decided to implement another game mode instead of focusing on "survival" game mode?
There is several reasons:



1. Main feature of the game it is a ship building, but survival game mode restricts a creativity, so we want to create various mini game modes to use and test created ships in various situations.



2. Battle mode it is one of such environment where people can play with ships in combat situations without distraction on repairing after each battle and attempts to find a proper enemy fleet.



3. Survival mode it is a complex task. It is a well balanced collection of all game challenges in the single persistent world. So each "mini challenge \ game mode" it is actually a part of future survival game mode. In that way it is much easier to develop individual parts of the game instead of single big task.
When every game feature will be properly designed and tested in sandbox mode it will be easier to implement in the survival game mode in proper way.



Overall, we are very happy with such new concept, because earlier it was almost impossible to participate in large scale fleets battle, but now it is very easy to launch and play with different ship designs.
Also it is great for testing of various weapons, features and overall ship performance.



In the next update we plan to greatly expand such concept and implement more environments and challenges for created ships.













Improvements

• New "Battle" game mode which is great to test various ship designs against each other or just observe large scale epic battle
  
• GUI: Redesign of main menu in order to provide better interface for new game mode and other upcoming features
  
• GUI: Some new icons in various places of interface
  
• GUI: Now DPS value displayed for various weapons
  
• Changed default controls: Camera rotation = RMB, Camera pan = MMB or Space
  
• Cannons, lasers and rockets no longer cause damage to its own ship where it installed
  
• Improved smoke trail effect of rockets
  
• Added new model of rockets
  

Fixes

• Turret target prediction works again
  
• Nuclear reactors works again
  
• Fixed material of new engine
  
• "Hide interface" button now hides everything, including notifications
  
• Ship in edit mode no longer tries to keep designated altitude if this mode was enabled before
  
• GUI: Removed "J" and "W" symbols from various GUI in order to avoid confusion with real world values and keep interface simple to understand
  
• GUI: Fixed non-rounded "max flow" value for some power storages
  

Another update on the way to stable version 0.9.

In this update various aspects of the game was fixed and adapted for 3D physics and mostly the game should work well in 3D space now.
Also we added new weapons of various sizes which will be needed for upcoming combat update.

For the next preview update we will focus on combat aspect, more accurate balance for modules, AI and another improvements for large scale fleet battles.





Improvements

• Modules: Added a lot of new weapons and existed weapons is fixed and improved
  
• Modules: Shield generator now properly works in 3D and its functionality overall improved
  
• Modules: Triangle modules has new model and also now it can be properly attached to each other
  
• Modules: New radars of various sizes is redesigned and properly functional now
  
• Modules: Life support modules a bit redesigned
  
• Modules: Turret platforms a bit redesigned
  
• Modules: Parameters of all modules is rebalanced
  
• GUI: Redesigned "total inventory window", now it displays current and maximum volume of cargo hold, also icons no longer respawns each second and its values updated every frame instead of once per second
  
• GUI: Redesigned "specify transfer amount window"
  
• GUI: Range of new turrets now displayed as full circle without side borders
  
• Starting ship a bit redesigned with new radar
  
• Preview of weapons now has the same green color as standard modules
  
• Removed several rarely used hotkeys from default settings
  
• Added muzzle fire effect for rocket launchers
  
• Pistons and rotors now much more sturdy and keeps its state better during influence of external force
  

Fixes

• Engineering modules now properly construct modules in 3D space
  
• Radius of engineering modules now displayed properly when ship is inclined
  
• Salvaging of debris works again
  
• Multiplayer: Position of objects now synced in 3D
  
• O2 and H2 counters no longer inverted
  
• Rockets no longer spins during flight
  
• Guided rockets now properly works in 3D
  
• Static solar panels works again
  
• Check of line of sight for solar panels now works properly in 3D space
  
• Modules now can be properly connected to 2x1 adapters
  
• Module preview now much less likely will flicker while you are trying to place it
  
• Preview of large modules no longer appears too close to camera
  
• R F keys no longer moves preview module (it no longer necessary)
  
• Removed unused selection frames which can be found in game world
  
• Move tool in ship editor now works again (but only in 2D at this moment)
  
• Now when you hover cursor on mounting point in order to attach or detach it - it will be visible through the module
  
• Possibility to connect two parts in open space by clicking on mounting point now works again
  
• Altitude stabilizer now works only if a ship oriented horizontally
  
• Now weapons can be placed only on turrets of the same size tier
  
• Crew rename button works again
  
• Fixed "Energy consumption" instead of "Energy production" on module's interface
  
• Shields no longer ignore objects which was located inside its sphere during previous activation
  
• Power generators works again
  
• Magnetic docking now properly works in 3D
  
• Escape pods now properly works in 3D
  
• Shipyard parts and warp drives now has proper 3D colliders
  
• Autopilot and NPC movement now works again
  
• Now turrets will properly track target in 3D space
  
• Modules which works incorrectly when placed on rotor or piston no longer can be placed on it (rotor and piston designed only for decoration purposes and for fun with grabber)
  



That update took a bit more time than we expected initially but also this is probably a biggest update in the history.

Actually it is not completely ready yet but we decided to release it in preview branch because some aspects of the new update already more or less ready and the previous update was way too long ago.

Note, this is an early preview build which is provided to show upcoming features.
Many various features can be incomplete or broken.



At this moment we have large list of tasks in TO DO list regarding this preview build, so if you encountered a bug or incomplete feature, bug report is not required because most likely this is already in our TO DO list.

Later, when additional testing will be required we will make an announcement about that.
However feel free to discuss preview build in the Discord chat, there is a new channel "preview-version" for that.

In order to enable preview version, do the next steps in your Steam app:



More info and pictures in our previous posts:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/1595890716660832240
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/3727223146682132461
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/1690470748510608281
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/2082293429501557004
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/2082293429505943986
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/2202765987124786942



Large Improvements

• Full 3D physics! A lot of modules and functionalities is adapted in order to work in full 3D! Ship editor, engines, turrets, solar panels, orbits, interface, physics, almost every aspect of the game is reworked and improved!
  
• Ship editor: Brand new "ship building in isolated environment" feature which allows you to get unlimited ship building creativity in non-sandbox game mode, create a blueprint and project it on existing ship with automatic reconstruction with engineering modules or shipyard!
  
• Ship editor: New when you press X on module, this module will be marked as "for deconstruction" it will be deconstructed by any engineering module nearby
  
• Ship editor: Changed a way how engineering modules works, now you place blueprints instead of incomplete modules and engineering modules works on such blueprints nearby
  
• Ship editor: Added mirror (symmetry) mode which works for module placement and painting
  
• Ship editor: Destroyed modules create a blueprints on its position which makes repairing after combat super easy and comfortable
  
• Ship editor: Repairing of modules is much easier now because it requires only special repair kits instead of huge amount of different resources
  
• New modules: A lot of new weapons and modules for capital ships including capital-size hangar and functional gate
  
• New modules: Redesigned solar panels
  
• Docking ports now has "magnetic feature", it will automatically move the ship to position which required for docking when two docking ports is close to each other, as result docking of two ships now is much easier and comfortable
  
• Multiplayer: Huge improvements for multiplayer, many various bugs is fixed now
  
• Tractor beam now applies proper force to objects with different mass, objects with mass 1 and 1000 will be moved correctly with normal speed, instead of ultra slow or fast, also maximum range is increased and in result tractor beam no longer useless
  
• Combat: Now cannon's projectile can penetrate trough several objects if previous object has less HP than damage of this projectile and also damage to the next object will be reduced accordingly. This feature is important for game balance when large slow firing cannon shooting at a ship which consist of many small modules with low HP, so single module with 1 HP no longer able to stop a projectile which able to cause 100 damage
  
• World: Stars in galaxy now located more uniformly (fixed issue with large empty areas and stars which are too close to each other)
  
• World: Changed a way how network of warp gates is generated, now it is a highway which go through entire galaxy which gives you a way to explore and encounter more challenges
  
• UI: Entire user interface is greatly redesigned and improved in many various aspects
  
• UI: Build menu now have buttons for categories and modules sorted by name
  
• Greatly reworked energy shields, now it have new visual \ audio effects and new functionality. One energy shield per ship for better usability and visual effects. No overpowered damage on impact. Much more obvious and balanced recharging.
  
• Now if you will lost all ships a convenient window with "Load" and "Main menu" buttons will appears, instead of respawn window which was removed because it caused an issue with possibility to duplicate a lot of resources easily
  
• Modules which remains after NPC ships, no longer can be attached to your own ship (it only can be deconstructed for resources) because it caused major issue with game balance and also encouraged to assemble unpretty "Frankenstein's ships"
  
• AI: NPC ships now will retreat if lost its weapons
  
• AI: NPC ships now rotates its ship to the target much better
  
• AI: Enemy ships now moves randomly instead of sitting at the same position
  

Small improvements

• Ship editor: Holding Shift no longer required in order to place several modules one after another, this mode now enabled by default which should be more convenient because in most cases "shift mode" is required
  
• Ship editor: Now some large modules can be placed only on own space station or capital ship
  
• Ship editor: Now you can hold left mouse button and drag a cursor in order to place many modules by single move
  
• Ship editor: Now radius and direction of warp drive and shield displayed above its preview
  
• Ship editor: Now you can deconstruct \ delete all modules which selected with move tool
  
• Ship editor: Engineering modules in auto mode now will prefer a nearest tasks instead or random tasks within its radius
  
  
• UI: Main menu redesigned, now it is more clean and easier to use
  
• UI: Button in main menu and some in-game buttons now animated
  
• UI: Inventory icons now displays integer values instead of decimal and power storages display values in 15.6k format instead of 15627
  
• UI: Now when you click on window - this window will display on top of other windows
  
• UI: Now when you hover cursor on module in build menu - its info will be displayed on the right side instead of near cursor, which is more comfortable
  
• UI: Added button "sort by name" and "sort by time" to window with saved ships
  
• UI: Added button "open main menu" on the top-left corner of the screen
  
• UI: Value of current credits changed with smooth animation
  
• UI: In-game menu now have the same design as main menu
  
• UI: Total mass and inertia tensor of ship now displayed in more comfortable format
  
• UI: Crew window is a bit redesigned and now it is more convenient to use
  
• UI: Weapon groups now can be enabled with buttons "1-6" instead of combination "Shift + 1-6" which is much more convenient
  
• UI: Weapon direction indicator now displayed automatically once you enabled a manual mode and no longer requires to press separated button
  
• UI: Weapon direction indicator now have a bit more minimalistic design
  
• UI: Dialogue window with NPC stations is redesigned for better usability
  
  
• New starting ship
  
• Now you can see an info about ammo usage when hover cursor on weapon in build menu
  
• Now when you want to load ship from file, radius of "free space seeker" will be different according to ship size
  
• Now you can select an angle of newly loaded ship with A \ D buttons
  
• Radius of xenon collector in aero mode now much larger, in result it is more obvious to use
  
• Added options to invert mouse wheel and change its sensitivity
  
• Combat: Projectiles now have zero chance to bounce off targets which has low HP
  
• Combat: When shield colliding with module or another shield - another object no longer receive damage, as result shield no longer can't be used as overpowered ramming weapon
  
• Now crew of a ship is able consume food and oxygen from docked ships
  
• It is no longer possible to set a module hotkey which already used in global hotkeys list
  
• Camera now focused on center of mass instead of command module
  
• Rotation speed of planets and clouds now looks a bit better
  
• Added hotkey to show FPS counter
  

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with small jittering of modules at close zoom and also physics is a bit more accurate now
  
• Anti aliasing effect now works as intended
  
• Ship editor: Fixed a bug when sometimes new modules after placement appears not in the same position where was located its green preview object
  
• Ship editor: Fixed a bug when not all mounting points of modules were connected after it was moved with "Move Tool"
  
• Auto mode now properly works for engineering modules on shipyard
  
• Rockets no longer cause damage due collisions (only from its own explosion), as result rockets no longer so overpowered
  
• Removed outdated buttons in sandbox menu
  
• Turret based rocket launcher now has correct rate of fire
  
• NPC ships no longer tries to use escape pod launchers as a rocket weapon
  
• State of ship stabilizer now can be saved and loaded
  
• Hotkey for "Auto center of thrust" now works properly
  
• Calculation of path for ships no longer cause FPS spike
  
• Clicking on planet in aero mode no longer cause an error
  
• Sliders in control panel of shields now displays correct values when you click on several different shields
  
• Ships no longer invulnerable for beam weapon after its shield depleted
  
• In aerodynamic mode planets on map no longer moving on its orbit
  
• Weapon groups no longer can be switched during usage of some input field
  
• Light beams of shipyards no longer visible in space when out of range of radar
  

This is pretty important topic because some people started to worry that after switching to full 3D the game will lose its attractive simplicity of navigation.

And this is completely understandable, to be honest we were worried about this too. We had a theoretical plan how to keep control simple, but this plan wasn't tested on practice.

Turned out, nothing to worry about, the new system works amazingly well!

We developed two new types of stabilizers:

1. Roll and pitch stabilizer
It will automatically keep your ship in horizontal orientation



2. Altitude stabilizer
It will automatically keep your ship on specified altitude relative to zero plane

Both stabilizers activated by default and in most cases, you don't need to deactivate it.
While it active - you can control your ship using WASD QE buttons as before and the ship will move on horizontal plane like in 2D.



Also, you can change altitude using special buttons and a ship will keep specified altitude.



And also, you can disable these stabilizers and move in 3D space freely if you wish.
Shift + WASDQE controls ship's roll, pitch and vertical velocity.



Minimal complexity of ships also not too much increased, all what you need relative to previous 2D version, is just to add 8 additional maneuvering engines, 4 on top and 4 on bottom near each corner so a ship will use these engines in order to control its orientation.

Also center of thrust now can be displayed for all 6 directions which is useful in order to adjust all engines relative to center of mass.

Yes, yesterday's post was not a joke.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/partnerevents/view/2082293429501557003
Actually we planned to publish that announcement at March 31, but a bit more time was required so we delayed it on the next day, but turned out that the next day is April 1, so we decided it would be interesting to publish announcement today : )

Of course it would be too cruel if such announcement was an April joke, so it is not.
In the next update Celestial Command will be with full 3D physics and ship editor!

So, most systems already adapted for functionality in 3D but need to implement a few more systems before new version can be released in experimental build.

Also we are working on design of various modules and placement of mounting points to provide enough parts to create ships with various design.

Some modules remodeled and a bit redesigned because it should have proper dimensions on vertical axis too and also additional mounting points.
For example new corridors has more symmetrical profile and can be stacked to each other with different angles.



Fun fact, after we switched to 3D, we need less variations of basic shapes to achieve various ship designs. Only a few basic shapes is enough because now each module can be rotated on any direction which creates much more possibilities for construction.





Situation with turrets also became simpler, now it is just a simple flat looking platform which can be placed on any surface with different angles, so weapons can be placed on top, bottom or side part of the ship.



All weapons is adapted for 3D and now can be pointed up or down.



Also wreckage in 3D space looks quite epic.



To make salvaging process more convenient we will extend functionality of tractor beam so it will attract debris closer to robotic arms or drones will help with that task (because drones is possible now, but it will be added a bit later)