Stellar Tactics News

This update brings the updated mining system, fixes, advanced options and QOL changes.

Updated mining system:
The old mining systems was pretty much click and forget. That's still the case with wrecks, however, asteroid mining has changed. The new system uses "heat". As the turret pulses, the asteroid is heated. You have control over how much power you allocate to your turrets, which in turn controls the ideal temperature of the asteroid.

• You can only target asteroids with a single turret. Attempting to target an asteroid that is being mined will generate an error message in the log.
  
• Increase power to your turret to quickly heat the asteroid.
  
• As you approach the ideal temperature, back off a bit on the power until turret pulses remain between the "sweet spot" brackets. The bottom bracket will extend downward as you gain more mining experience making it easier to keep asteroid heat under control.
  
• Some asteroids are bit more unstable than others and the amount of energy required to maintain ideal temperatures will vary.
  
• Overheating asteroids will quickly deplete the asteroid and result in lower yields.
  
• If the asteroid is too cool (temperature below the bottom bracket) less ore is produced.
  
• You can see the remaining amount of ore left in the asteroid in the circular progress bar. The bar is also color coded - red=too hot, yellow=ideal, blue=temperature too low.
  

When mining wrecks, you can target all turrets, so, no major changes in salvaging these objects. There are a few changes:

• Reduced the amount of ore produced by wreckage.
  
• Increased the number of ship repair components harvested.
  
• Changed the color of the mining turret beam when mining wreckage.
  

FLT fast travel
You can now choose to fast travel in FTL space. There are two limits:

1. You cannot fast travel to nearby star systems.
   
2. There is a maximum range for fast travel.
   

To fast travel, enter FTL space. Choose a target star system by either selecting the star system on the Universe Map, or if a story/mission location, select the mission in the objective tracker.
The upper left panel will display the targeted star system. There will be a new icon that can be selected that will move your ship near the selected system. There is a short delay while universe data is generated when traveling between star systems using the fast travel icon.

Advanced gameplay options
I've added advanced gameplay options to the options menu. These options are only visible when in a loaded game - not at the main menu. These are not global settings and only apply to the save game they are set in. You can reset these advanced settings at any time. All gameplay options now have rollover help.

Adjustments to the advanced options modify the currently selected difficulty. In some cases, you may need to save and reload and/or exit the current mission area and re-enter to see the changes take place.

If any of these options are enabled, the game will stop tracking Achievement progress. Resetting the advanced options to default will re-enable achievement tracking Currently the game is tracking a number of things like enemy deaths, ships destroyed etc. Any progress in existing saves will reward achievements when achievements are enabled later in the roadmap.

GROUND COMBAT:

• Increase/Decrease enemy damage
  
• Increase/Decrease enemy health
  
• Enable/Disable enemy missile launchers
  
• Enable/Disable enemy grenades
  

SPACE COMBAT:

• Increase/Decrease enemy ship damage
  
• Increase/Decrease enemy ship shields
  
• Increase/Decrease enemy ship armor
  
• Increase/Decrease enemy ship systems (boarding systems)
  

EXPERIENCE MODIFIERS:

• Increase/Decrease general experience rewarded
  
• Increase/Decrease space skill experience rewarded
  
• Increase/Decrease support skill experience rewarded
  

VENDOR PRICES- Note that any modifiers adjusted are applied after faction and charisma bonuses.

• Increase/Decrease vendor prices for items sold by vendors
  
• Increase/Decrease vendor purchase prices for loot and gear
  
• Increase/Decrease ship prices at vendors
  

QOL Items

• You are now warned if you enter a star system or a ground combat location that is well above your crews average level.
  
• Date and time have been added to save games. This is not retroactive and only new saves will register the date and time.
  
• Sorting options have been added to the cargo hold column headers.
  
• Repairing equipment only requires a single click now and will repair items as long as repair components are in your inventory.
  
• Increased ship repair components rewarded when mining wreckage. The number of components harvested are not displayed in the log.
  

Things that didn't make it
Crew missions did not make it into this build. This system needs more time in the oven before I can release it. I'll get this done as soon as I can and release a patch when it's ready.

Added: When on the FTL map, you can now fast travel to star systems within a certain range. If fast travel is available for the selected star system, a new icon is displayed to the right of the "APPROACH/ENTER SYSTEM" icon under the selected star system panel in the upper left of the screen. This allows players to move quickly through FTL space to story mission locations and other star systems. Whether or not you use it is up to you. Azimuth does not recharge in FTL space when fast traveling. Piloting experience is not granted when fast traveling. (See piloting EXP below)
Added: Date and time added to load/save interface. This is not a retroactive fix. Saves that have no date/time data associated will display the date as "---".
Added: You can now sort alphabetically, by value and quantity on the ship cargo screen [K] by selecting the column headings.
Added: If you unintentionally stray into a star system that is above your average crew level, a message is displayed to the screen and your log letting you know you will be annihilated forthwith.

Updated: Repairing equipment now requires a single click and will automatically complete the repair process for the selected item if enough materials are available for the repair.
Updated: Jump point models.
Updated: NPC ship navigation updated for better collision avoidance with planets and other objects. They will now prioritize avoidance with planets adjusting course as necessary.
Updated: NPC ships are less likely to ram you in space combat.
Updated: Piloting EXP is no longer earned by entering or leaving FTL space. Instead it is calculated by distance traveled over time both in star systems and on the FTL map. Piloting EXP rewarded from space combat has not changed.
Updated: Increased overall ship repair components when mining ship wreckage.
Updated: Asteroid mining now uses "heat" to determine yield of asteroids. Keeping the asteroids heat levels within acceptable tolerances increases the yield of asteroids. If the asteroid is cool (below the bottom bracket) less ore is generated. If the asteroid is too hot (above the upper bracket), the yield is lowered and the asteroid is destroyed faster.
Updated: Only one turret can be targeted to an asteroid now with the changes to the heat system. You can mine multiple asteroids at the same type by selecting the turret and targeting asteroids. If an asteroid is already being mined by a turret, a message is displayed to the screen that the asteroid cannot be mined by more than one mining turret.
--If you are too aggressive with heating, asteroids can get in a state where they are very hard to cool. You may need to stop mining the asteroid and let it cool down.
Updated: Reduced overall ore yield when mining ship wreckage. Note that you can target all mining turrets to wreckage.
Updated: Changed beam color to blue when mining ship wreckage.
Updated: When awarded ship repair components, the number of components rewarded is now displayed in the log.
Updated: If your ship is not moving, you will take additional damage in space combat. Some ships may be able to tank this additional damage if they have excellent shields and armor equipped.
Updated: Reduced general EXP gain from space combat applied to crew in ship station slots.

Fixed: The in-game guide is now accessible in the middle of space combat and will pause the game. This also applies if space combat is currently paused with the [P} key.
Fixed: Collisions with objects in FTL space and in star systems now return control to player much faster.
Fixed: When loading a save game in a star system, NPC ships could spawn in the center of the sun.
Fixed: In some cases, mining beams were not displayed when mining ship wrecks.
Fixed: In some rare cases, it was possible to spawn in the wrong universe position when first launching your ship from the planets surface.
Fixed: If stun immunity through Azimuth was active, and NPC's used stun grenades, crew members were partially stunned leading to various UI elements not working as intended.
Fixed: Initial ground exploration camera rotation values could be set to zero, locking the camera from rotating in new playthroughs. This required players manually set the camera rotation value in the gameplay options menu.
Fixed: Incorrect display of pooled experience toggle in options menu selection box.
Fixed: Crew member in ship repair slot was not receiving general experience from space combat.
Fixed: Crew member combat state was not completely cleared after combat in rare cases resulting in various errors. Most visible was that crew member was stuck in combat idle stance with no weapon in hands.

There will be bugs. Please, if you see anything - post a bug report here - > https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/7/


Thats all I have for now. I'll keep an eye on the forums and address any issues that pop up. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!

Well, Fall is here in the Northern hemisphere and I'm excited to post the remaining development tasks for Stellar Tactics over the next few months. There has been an absolute flurry of activity here on my part preparing content for Chapter 3, delivering on promises I made for a crew mission system and a bunch of QOL adjustments based on player feedback.

Stellar Tactics has been in EA for a long time. I realize for some, this has been annoying. People want to play a final game - right? Others don't mind contributing to the game with ideas, feedback and bug reports. I have a lot to be thankful for in that the community has been incredibly helpful in so many ways.

However, I need to be realistic. By that I mean, development needs a clear and final end point. There are so many great ideas from players and of course I have ideas myself. Unfortunately, not all of these can be realized or I would spend the rest of my life in Early Access. Up to this point, I've been very clear about what I wanted to accomplish, I've had fixed goals, an end point in mind and we are closing in on that vision - finally.

What does this mean? It means I'm going to be focused on the last chapter of the game, final features, a lot of cleanup, stability, tuning and various other bits that should polish the game up nicely in coming months. Here is the roadmap:



As you can see, I have a patch coming in October with a few new features, quality of life improvements and a good number of bug fixes.

The mining system update changes the mining system from a passive to an active process. A few notes and of course more details will come when the patch is released.

--You manage the energy of each turret to keep the asteroids temperature in a "sweet spot"
--This "sweet spot" is initially small and expands as you gain levels in the mining skill.
--Below the ideal temperature, you mine less ore.
--Above the ideal temperature, you mine less ore and the asteroid is depleted much faster.
--Asteroids at an ideal mining temperature provide bonus ore.
--Your perks will work as they always have.
--Asteroids can only be targeted by a single turret. You can target multiple turrets to separate asteroids.
--Salvaging derelict ships works as it always has - you can target all turrets at one time



The crew mission system will allow players to assign inactive crew members (crew members not assigned to ground crew or ship stations) to various mission types. Crew members will always receive EXP even if they fail the mission, however, failed missions will reward fewer credits and less experience. An example would be to send a inactive crew member on a rescue mission where they have a chance to gain combat experience in the weapon types they currently have equipped. Over time, crew members rank up and harder missions become available that reward better rewards.

I think the "Advanced settings" will be a welcome addition. Players will be able to tweak many things in their game, including the cost of ships, how much experience you gain for various activities, combat difficulty, and much more. In a sandbox, I believe there is no perfect default setting for everyone. More options are always better. You will be able to reset to defaults at any time.

Fast travel - Really, for me, it cannot be space if there is no time spent...well...traveling. However, so many players have commented that it takes too long to travel in FTL space. So, I've added a way to target a star system, within a certain range of course, and immediately travel to that location. This can only be done in FTL space from point to point. Notice the new icon below the Star System info screen in the upper left. Whether or not you use it is up to you.



That's all I have for now. I'll keep you posted as I get closer to releasing the October update.

6/15/23 - 0.715
UPDATED: Pooled experience. Pooled experience will even out general experience gain between dedicated ground crew members so they level at an equivalent pace.
--General experience is now rewarded at the end of each combat session and the pooled total experience will be divided equally between each crew member regardless of KO.
--Leveling will progress a bit faster with pooled experience.
--Crew members who are behind will slowly catch up to the rest of the team.
--Skill gain will remain as it is now.
--Pooled experience is enabled by DEFAULT.
--You can switch to the original method of gaining ground combat experience by turning of "POOL COMBAT EXP BETWEEN CREW" option in the options->gameplay menu if you prefer to micro-manage EXP.

UPDATED: Crew members in ship station slots will now recieve a small amount of general level experience along with the usual skill experience when a ship is destroyed.
UPDATED: Any mission that gives a reward (loot) will now also reward a small amount of general level experience when completed/turned in.
UPDATED: A few changes to the option settings being saved and loaded. I've also added debug info to help track options not being saved correctly on some systems. If you do have any problems with settings, please send your log from that game session to [email protected]. You can find the log in the game install folder->"Log" folder.
UPDATED: Enemies no long fade when they die, and remain until you leave the area.
FIXED: A bug related to the combat queue when initializing the combat queue with an attack requiring more ammo than the weapon has loaded.
FIXED: Crew member Azimuth AP bonuses were not being applied when reloading the area from a save where the Azimuth effect was triggered.
FIXED: When ending a turn quickly, it was possible that the UI would end in a state where the end turn hotkeys would not respond and you had to manually click a end turn option.

6/2/23 - 0.714
UPDATED: Raised level cap from 60 to 80
UPDATED: Adjustments to initiative to level out how INT affects turn order.
FIXED: Shields and mods once again display item quality borders in the shared inventory.
FIXED: Various pressed key inputs will not activate ship functions while in inventory, log, ship and character info screens.
FIXED: Azimuth screen can no longer be opened while hacking.
FIXED: Ship component wear was not being copied from and to ship storage correctly. Note, in some cases the game may reset a ships equipment wear values when tranferred to/from storage if needed to 100% the first time this is done.
FIXED: Possible fix for rare state where a player character could be unable to move after transitioning to a new ground location.
FIXED: A bug related to universe data load on 32bit systems.
FIXED: A fix for a case where speaking with Rhamus and then Rodger Crayson during the main campaign could block progression.
FIXED: A few translation errors.

5/25/23 - 0.713
UPDATED - Increased the number of bonus equipment repair components received from salvaging.
UPDATED - Some work done on shotgun AOE related to enemy position above or below player position. I'm still looking at this closely.
FIXED - Grenades not damaging or applying effects to enemies. This bug applied to all grenade types - frag, stun, etc.
FIXED - Missiles not damaging or applying effects to enemies.
FIXED - Missiles could get caught on world geometry and explode prematurely when you had clear LOS to the enemy target.
FIXED - Aznari shards had no rollover info and were not displayed in the stash.
FIXED - Aznari shards are now visible in inventory after using the sort option and are sortable in stash.
FIXED - Aznari shards that were sold to vendors did not show in vendor inventory immediately after selling the shard.

5/22/23 - 0.712
FIXED - The game would lock up when boarding incursion ships.
FIXED - Phestus was not delivering boarding mission rewards when when you sold a ship to Arkus.
FIXED - The game would lock up if you opened the crew manager [J] and then opened the inventory, log, character info or ship UI.

HOTFIX 5/21/23 - 0.710
NPC's were issuing new procedural missions at the Achmedius Trade station. While that was not intended (and is now fixed) and generally would not break anything - a procedural mission from Forley Coresh would break the dialog needed to progress with the chapter 1 story.

If you took a procedural mission from Forley Coresh and he now responds with a "." in the dialog window, just save your game next to him, reload that save and all should proceed as normal.

If you have taken procedural missions from NPC's on Achmedius Trade Port, I recommend opening the log, selecting these missions (missions with a persons name followed by a x/x where x is a number, and then abandon the missions. Missions will not be issued by NPC's on that particular trade station any more.

I'm pleased to release Chapter 2 today. It's been a long road and I do hope everyone enjoys the new content. As always, it is likely a few bugs will surface over the next few days so I will keep an eye on the forums for any issues. If you do find any issues, please post on the bug forums here. Any details and screenshots you can provide will help: https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/7/


Localization - The English and German versions of the game are in good shape at this time. French, Spanish and Russian translations will be very rough. If you are interested in translating any of these three languages, send a note to [email protected] and I'll get back to you.

You will not need to start a new game if you have an existing save. I do not wipe saves between content updates.

CHAPTER 2 - Pick up where you left off after completing chapter 1 with a message when entering space. Note that there are some very tough battles in this chapter so, grenades, Azimuth (when you get it) and Psionics will really help.

AZIMUTH - The final ground combat system to be implemented. Azimuth is a reward received during the chapter 2 story. It provides you with a variety of powerful effects that can be mixed and matched to both benefit your crew during combat and to debuff enemies. Effects last through an entire combat area so they are best used either at the start of an area or when you have tough enemies to defeat. Azimuth uses energy gathered over time through combat, space travel and by charging Azimuth with Aznari Shards. Chapter 3 (the final chapter) will introduce Azimuth which can be used in space combat.

MISSION NPCs - Mission NPC's can now be found on stations. When pressing the highlight key (TAB by default), mission NPC's are highlighted in BLUE. These missions offer cash rewards, loot, faction tokens and general faction. All of these missions have several stages/locations that need to be visited with different objectives and pay out rewards based on the number of stages required to complete the mission for the NPC. This is the first pass at NPC missions. I expect that I will be expanding on and refining the NPC mission system over time.

TRADE AND SMUGGLING MISSIONS - Trade and smuggling missions will be offered occasionally when entering a star system that has orbiting stations. These missions are only offered if a star system does not have an ACCEPTED buy or sell order registered in your Trade Net. Expand your trade network using beacons to take advantage of these missions.

• These missions always pay out bonuses that are above market value so it is always worthwhile taking the missions when offered.
  
• There is no timer so you can have as many as 20 of these missions available at any time. 20 is the maximum number of active trades allowed via the Trade-Net.
  
• Note that you can fulfil ore and refined ore missions by mining and refining ore yourself. Or, you can just buy the goods on the Trade Net. Of course, mining and refining ore will offer the most profit from these contracts.
  
• The volume required by these missions - that is the number of items needed to fulfil a contract, is based on your current cargo capacity. Ships with more cargo will be offered larger batches of commodities to trade.
  
• Trade contracts scale based on the amount of credits you have available when the contract is offered.
  
• There are special contracts that reward a very high return. These are offered by NPCs you have met through the games story content.
  
• Trade contracts can be canceled in the Trade-Net with no penalty.
  

BOARDING MISSIONS - Phestus will offer simple boarding missions - so he can retire, you know. He will start giving you missions once you have a FTL Drive after you complete his story mission in Achmedius.

• Only one boarding mission is offered at a time.
  
• To receive the reward, board any ship of the type that Phestus needs parts for. When selling the ship to Arkus, Arkus will route the parts to Phestus and Phestus will reward you.
  
• These missions cannot be abandoned. To get another mission, you should complete the current mission provided by Phestus.
  
• These missions are basically a bonus to the payout you receive and give players specific ships to target.
  
• Pick your targets carefully. Boarding ships will reduce your standing with the owners main faction.
  

A NEW MISSION TYPE related to the chapter 2 story line. This is a ongoing permanent mission in your log. You will know what it is when you you get it.

ACCESS STATION CARGO FROM SPACE: You can now approach any non-hostile station and access the stations cargo terminal without boarding. This makes it a lot easier to store ore you are mining and deliver trade goods between stations. To display the cargo icon, click the station itself in space when you are close enough to board. A new icon will be displayed allowing you access to the cargo interface.

ADDED NOTES ON THE STAR MAP: You can now add notes to star systems on the star map. Selecting any star system will display a notes area above the lower-center detail console. Star systems that have notes will display a green box around the star system.

YOU CAN NOW VIEW SHIP REPAIR COMPONENTS: Harvested ship repair components used for boarding can now be viewed on the ship menu [K] by selecting the new button under the ore refinery. Note that ship repair components used to repair boarded ships can be harvested from other ships, or, ideally by salvaging wreckage in Star Systems. Salvaging wreckages is the best way to gather these materials.

GENERAL PATCH NOTES:
UPDATED - Additional checks are now in place to avoid bad enemy target clicks that lead to movement instead of attacks. In addition, when rolling over an enemy in combat, the enemy will pause animation so you can get a very "clean" target selection. Previously, some enemies animations could lead to bad information at the moment a player would click, leading to an unintended move. Hopefully this reduces or eliminates these annoyances. Let me know what you think on the forums. Is this better, worse?
UPDATED - Fog of war data on the ground area map [M] now persists between areas and saves.
UPDATED - Phestus will now give you a mission to meet with Forley Coresh in Achmedius after you purchase the FTL drive from him when exiting his station. This fixes the missing quest link that would lead players to the start of Chapter 1. Regardless of when you got your FTL drive, the next time you enter a star system, the new mission will be triggered if you have not already spoken with Forley Coresh.
UPDATED - Added directional indicators to the mini-map/radar for N,S,E and W. The "camera" FOV indicator now has a arrow tick mark for identifying the direction your camera is facing.
UPDATED - Reduced INT bonuses to initiative for player and NPC's. This still needs work as INT is generating too much initiative.
UPDATED - When pressing the highlight key bind, NPC's that can be recruited are now highlighted in green. NPC's that have procedural missions are highlighted in blue. Faction agents are highlighted in blue.
UPDATED - Ship loot containers now display distance to the players ship.
UPDATED - Moved star system player spawn point and jump points away from planetary orbits to avoid possibly intersecting with a planets on spawn.
UPDATED - No random attacks when entering Achmedius - this is to smooth out the starting experience in the game. This also applies to attacks related to carrying contraband.
UPDATED - Added more responses when selecting NPCs.
FIXED - Removed shields from creature type enemies.
FIXED - A number of typos in the English language files.
FIXED - Multiple clicks on exits and during loading could lead to a level lockup or misaligned camera.
FIXED - Corrected feedback text to log when delivering trade contracts.
FIXED - Several localization errors.
FIXED - Various areas - map and mini-map did not correctly display the map background.
FIXED - A non-critical bug related to experience when selling ships to Arkus.
FIXED - Visual error with Psionic bleed projectiles.
FIXED - Mission objectives UI under radar/map for boarded areas and new areas that use the UI is now correctly displayed when entering or re-entering these areas.

AND FINALLY, A SUPPORTER DLC
I am also releasing a supporter pack for Stellar Tactics today. I've been asked many times to add a way to help support the game. I finally decided to put together a few things that I think people would like. It contains a unique ship not found elsewhere in the universe, poster art, 3D printer models for those of you who have 3D printers and a few other things. For those of you who do decide to purchase the DLC, many thanks. And as always, regardless of whether you purchase the DLC, thank you for supporting the game.

WHATS NEXT:
Well, Chapter 3 of course! Here is a list of things I'll be looking at. Some of these may be released between now and the Chapter 3 content.

• With Azimuth in the game, I'll be able to make final adjustments to the combat system.
  
• Adjusting the initiative system and exposing more information when rolling initiative.
  
• Better STAT descriptions that are in line with any changes I make above.
  
• Mining system changes. The current mining system is fairly basic. I'd like to make this a bit more interesting.
  
• Adjustments to various effects in the game.
  
• Tweaks to space combat.
  
• Knocking off rough edges everywhere. That includes final passes at the various game systems.
  
• Expanded faction warfare system and FTL map events.
  
• Advanced game settings.
  

Answers to two common questions I see:
[Q] When will achievements be added.
[A] After chapter 3 is complete so I can tie achievements into all the game content.

[Q] When will custom portrait support be added.
[A] With chapter 3.

Many will ask - when? When will chapter 3 be finished? December. Of course, I may need more time - we will see. I'll keep everyone posted as I make progress.

Chapter 2 is in the works and I'm putting the finishing touches on everything. A large part of this will be the new procedural mission system which is taking longer than expected. Here is a quick overview of current progress:

100% - Chapter 2 content (locations, characters, etc.)
100% - Chapter 2 story integrated - can play through Chapter 2
100% - Azimuth – The last major ground combat system completed.
30% - Procedural mission system
0% - Testing, adjustments and cleanup

Chapter 2 will focus on the Aznari, the Jhemm and fleshing out the story around your place in the Universe. Eventually, you will acquire “Azimuth” – the very last combat system to go in the game. There will be a few surprises in this chapter and I really hope everyone enjoys the story as it sets the premise for the end game.



What is Azimuth? Well, without spoiling the story, it is a form of Ultimate. You charge energy by traveling through FTL space, fighting enemies or using Aznari Shards. When the gauge is filled, you can build a series of effects including heals and immunities, AP bonuses for your crew, AP penalties for enemies – or, just unleash all your power to annihilate an enemy squad. Some bonus effects persist through the entire area until you leave to a new section of the map.



Chapter 3 will include “Azimuth” for space combat with a number of effects you can use against enemy ships. Once this is introduced, space combat will receive a major tuning pass.

Chapter 2 also introduces several new characters, additional locations to explore, and various activities related to the core game story.



A very large part of Chapter 2 will be introducing branching procedural missions. This has been very challenging and one of the main reasons for delaying Chapter 2. My goal is to provide a number of mission trigger types (looting, exploration etc. ) that will initiate missions with multiple objectives. Once these missions are completed, the payoff needs to be worthwhile as you will be traveling to a variety of locations to complete various tasks.

For those of you with existing saves, you will be able to pick the game up where you left off and continue your journey.

That’s all I have for now. Thank you for supporting Stellar Tactics! I'll keep everyone updated as I finalize Chapter 2.