Stellar Tactics News

I've been working hard on this next patch. My goal with this is to address a number of weapon class balance issues, weapon differentiation, navigation, blocking and more. Check out the video for a preview.

https://youtu.be/LCGxJ_Duc8M

I'm hoping to get this patch out in the coming week for everyone. This will be part one of a major update to the combat system. The second part will include adjustments to the current perks and the addition of skill trees for the various combat skills including special attacks, passives and other ways to enhance combat performance and pace. Here are a few notes for the upcoming patch. The overall goal of these changes is to:

1) Balance combat
2) Provide more weapon differentiation
3) Give the player more choices, more often to develop their crew
4) Improve the pace of the game and reward the player frequently

Once this work is done, I'll be moving on to the boarding system, a second pass at space combat, filling out the universe with more diversion missions, events, and long term goals and adding interesting and unique content to flesh out the overall experience. At that point, the game will finally be at full Alpha and I'll concentrate on adding the rest of the story to the game, which includes Psionics and a few other things that are part of the main storyline.

INCREASED CARGO VOLUME:
All smaller ships, including the starter ship, have higher base cargo volumes. Cargo expansions for these ships will also be larger (scaled from the base cargo volume of the ship). Adjustments to cargo expansions are not retroactive so you will need to buy new cargo expansions if you want the extra volume.

NEW: ROLLOVER INFO AND RIGHT CLICK EXTENDED INFO HUD
A new rollover info display. This display shows additional information at a glance - enemy difficulty, CTH, Remaining AP/Total AP, HP, shield points, and active debuffs. Right-clicking an enemy will display the extended info and targeting UI. I've had a number of comments that "hunting the pixel" is not fun - so, this revised hud lets you select individual body targets with the extended UI. When this UI is active, the targeted enemy is locked until you right-click again, press escape or the space bar. The extended information displays:
--Buttons that can be clicked to attack head, torso, legs, and arms
--You can reload your ranged weapon
--You can change ranged weapon fire modes
--Extended targeting information including min/max damage, range penalties if any and status effects that can be inflicted including the percent chance of inflicting the effects.
--Enemy resistance information (innate and shield totals) based on the active crew members' perception STAT. The currently selected weapon damage type highlights that particular resist icon.
Note that you can still attack without opening the extended info HUD, add attacks to the combat queue and even fine aim if you want to. None of that has changed.

RESISTS: Resists are now more important and can be reviewed by right-clicking enemies with the new popup extended info UI. Higher perception will display more resist information in the extended info popup when right-clicking enemies. Some second and third-tier enemies are immune to certain types of damage. Having an array of weapons that deal various types of damage can help you take your enemies down much faster. You now have options to change the base damage type of melee weapons (see below) to adjust your damage type strategy.

Resists have always been in the game, however, without a way to see them, it could seem at times that it took a long time to defeat a specific enemy. With the new display, you can now adjust your weapons to a enemy's weakness. An enemy that might take 10 attacks using kinetic weapons may only take 3-5 attacks using a weapon that does toxic damage. This is more important as your crew progresses.

Mitigation is now displayed in the combat log showing damage reduction from shields, armor/perks and defend.

PERSONAL SHIELDS REBALANCED
Personal shields were OP - they have been adjusted. Several things were done without modifying the loot tables so current shields are still viable without a reset.
--"The slow blade" - Melee weapons deplete shields faster than ranged weapons.
--The cost of recharging shields is now increased. The result is energy reserves for shields are depleted faster.

RIFLES AND HEAVY WEAPONS
--These weapon types now incur a ranged CTH penalty (unwieldy) when fired at close range. This promotes the use of sidearms and shotguns in close combat situations. You either need to move to range, or use your sidearms if you do not want to incur the penalty. There may be skill tree selections that adjust this penalty down when the skill tree's go in the game. A red rifle icon will display on the rollover info UI if you are incurring a penalty at your current range.

SHOTGUNS
--Range slightly reduced for any newly purchased, dropped or crafted shotguns going forward.


SHOTGUNS, SMG'S, AND FLAMETHROWERS
These weapons now have a chance to inflict spread damage in a cone in front of the firing combatant. This effect only applies to enemies within a certain range directly in front of the firing character and applies 5-10% of the initial base damage to enemies in the weapons field of view before mitigation. This value will be increased with future changes to weapon skill tree selections.
--SMG'S MUST BE IN BURST OR FULL AUTO MODES


MELEE WEAPONS
Frequency Modulators now allow you to add specific damage types to melee weapons ( thermal, electric, toxic and bleed). In addition to changing the base damage type of melee weapons from kinetic, these mods also have a chance to trigger an additional damage burst that bypasses all defenses, including Defend. The new secondary effect on this mod type replaces the critical modifier which was redundant and applied by other mods. Bleed and toxic augments also apply the bleed and poisoned status effects. Crafting adjusted for the changes above.
When a Frequency Modulator is equipped, melee weapons now display a unique particle effect associated with the various damage types.
The above changes also apply to NPC's in the universe.
Changes to Frequency Modulators are not retroactive, so older modulators will have the +CRIT secondary modifier.

PUGILIST WEAPONS
Pugilist weapons are in the game now. They are a way to augment to your melee skill with mods and damage bonuses, no special visual weapons are equipped at this time.
--While pugilist weapons to apply a small amount of base damage that scales by level and quality, primary damage derived from the characters skill level and stats.
--Mods - Melee mods and nano's can be applied to pugilist weapons bringing them in line with other melee weapons. Overall, pugilism is very effective.
--Crafting - You can craft pugilist weapons by deconstructing weapons you find. Schematics can be found by salvaging pugilist weapons or as rare random drops.
--You do not need to equip pugilist weapons to fight hand 2 hand, just unequip your current weapon as it has always been.
--Starting a new game and placing weapon points in the pugilism weapon skill will equip a starting pugilist weapon.
--Pugilist weapons can be equipped in primary and/or secondary slots.

UPDATED COMBAT BLOCKING/NAVIGATION
You can now move through your crew if they are blocking corridors or doorways. NPC's can still block you and you can block NPC's. IMO, this change is a huge improvement and I think a lot of new players were put off by being blocked by their own crew members. Being able to block an enemy is a tactic ("Paladins! To the doors!")
Crew members and NPC's now have discreet areas around them where movement is blocked. That is, you cannot click in a character's immediate area. This helps with pile-up and should help with missed combat clicks that move your crew when you intended to attack.
Missed clicks and crew members being left behind is now much less likely.
At level 80+ of melee skill, it is no longer possible to move small distances in combat (one node) for free.

Thats all I have for now. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!

Today's patch includes a number of performance enhancements, a pre-compiled shader system, and a few QoL updates.

Shaders are now pre-compiled when you launch the game.
--The majority of all shaders are now generated via a database at game launch. I would say 80% of all shaders are in the d-base now and more will be added over time.
--As you play the game, if a shader is not pre-compiled it is added to the database and saved so the shader does not need to be compiled on the fly ever again.
--Certain video drivers could crash - though this was very rare - when compiling complex shaders on the fly. This patch should address that.
--In some cases, when entering an area the first time after this patch, there may be a short period of stuttering as shaders are initially linked to materials.

You can now adjust mission length when speaking with a faction agent - Short - AVG 40 Min, Medium - AVG 1-2 Hrs, Long - AVG 2-4 Hrs.

You can now browse available missions while the mission window is open by selecting the "Next" button. A new mission will be offered.

You can now double click crew equipment (shields, armor, weapons) to equip them from inventory. Mods and devices need to be placed manually.

Active status effects are now displayed below each crew member's portrait along with their active duration.

Various code optimizations for performance.

A few changes to the way the physics engine handles movement.

A few changes to the animation system.

A few animation fixes/updates.

A few changes to idle and facing blend animations so they can be interrupted when moving characters. This makes movement more responsive.

The game now generates a backup "sav_dat.xml" file that is not stored on the Steam Cloud when saving the game - just in case there is a disk write error of some kind.

A possible fix for a rare lockup when healing.

FIXED: A bug that was causing random animation and physics slowdown.
FIXED: A bug that would leave idle states running at 1.5x normal speed in certain cases.
FIXED: Autosave when leaving the Dauntless.
FIXED: A bug that would leave equipment quality color border visible when unequipping an item.
UPDATED: When grenades and medkits are enabled, a reminder message is displayed when ending your turn to deselect these items from the toolbar. I think in some cases, this was causing confusion. I'll be looking into an automated solution for this.
UPDATED: Ship collision damage reduced. Collision damage now affects shields and armor.

I'm continuing to work on a few things:
--Weapon special attacks.
--Combat pace.
--Streamlining of perks so they are available earlier in the game with more frequent updates.
--Better inventory sorting.
And more...

I'll keep everyone posted as I make progress.

It's been an amazing year for Stellar Tactics. I'd like to thank all of you for your support and patience. It's not often that you see such a positive and supportive community. I owe you all a huge "Thank you!" for all you have done for the game, your feedback, and for making this game what it is and will be.

This year, we've seen the addition of updated ships, the ability to sell scan data, the drone mining system, Trade-Net, smuggling, faction warfare (first pass), the area map, crafting and salvaging. A large number of bugs have been fixed and many suggested QoL features have been implemented.

This patch introduces two "mutations" to the universe - The Kchor ( pronounced "Core" ) and the Fabricants. You can find them all over the universe on stations, in missions and they are recruitable as Mercs to join your crew on your journey.



I'm also releasing a large number of updated animations that improve combat pacing and provide a second pass of polish to the overall look and feel of the game. I'm still doing a good bit of work on combat pace for the next content patch which will introduce new special attacks and a few other features. Following that, the boarding system.

A bit of back story about the Kchor and Fabricants. More information will come when I expand the game story.

[h3]The Kchor – Class “A” Mutation (Rational : Humanoid : Sanctioned)[/h3]
On Arrival, a large number of the pods on the HSS Pharris contained the Kchor mutation. Overall, the new species was considered robust other than several anomalies – parthenogenesis, extreme musculature, and a blue/green skin tone. The medical engineers released them with no special conditions and The Kchor have flourished. The Kchor can be found in most star systems and are generally peaceful.

The Kchor have a special relationship with the Sovereignty, having saved their fleet in the notorious Blockade of Karsus 7. Were it not for their arrival, Maezus Karsari would have destroyed or captured the entire fleet and undoubtedly overthrown the Sovereignty. Instead, The Kchor delivered Maezus to the Council earning their autonomy as a reward for their actions. The Kchor interdiction is one of many turning points in recent history that mold the current political environment of the inner systems.

The Kchor are known for their great strength and intelligence. However, rather than using their influence and innate talents, The Kchor cherish their privacy and prefer to trade and explore peacefully. They are famous for their Kchor Brandy, a favorite indulgence across the known Universe.

[h3]Fabricants – Class “B” Mutation (Rational : Cybernetic : Sanctioned)[/h3]
A number of mutations were discovered on the HSS Outland when the ships arrived. These Sleepers had a rare condition and were in a late state of mutagenic drift, having crossed genetic material with a parasitic species that flourished in their Vats. In their current stage of drift, they could not be exposed to the oxygen-rich atmosphere that Humans breath. It was hypothesized that their skin was transitioning toward a hardened exoskeleton.

Considered “unrecoverable”, Fabricants were initially scheduled for termination. A young scientist, Garrius Brons, fabricated a prototype Exo-Suit and AI module that sealed the Fabricants in a permanent outer skin. After a few trials, the suit was adapted and a modification of this suit is in use to this day.

Fabricants are incredibly talented engineers and were instrumental in FTL travel, having worked closely with Garrius Brons. Over time, they have adapted their suits and AI becoming more machine than human. They prefer to name themselves alphanumerically, and their ability to assimilate traits from common items is a closely held secret. Little is known about their culture and habits. When it comes to engineering, mathematics, and science, no other species in the known universe come close to the Fabricant.

A few things left to do - I'm working on these for the next content patch:

Fabricants

• +Bonus to crafting/learning
  
• +Bonus to scanning
  
• Unique voice audio
  

Kchor

• +CRIT bonus with melee weapons
  
• +CRIT bonus with heavy weapons
  
• A few animation transitions that need tuning
  

[h2]Here is a list of fixes/updates/additions in this patch.[/h2]

ADDED: The Kchor and Fabricants. You will find these two mutations on stations throughout the universe. Fabricants and Kchor can now be recruited as Mercs and added to your party when exploring.
UPDATED: Several Shikaru armor materials updated
UPDATED: A number of weapon SFX for timing
UPDATED: Ranged weapon muzzle flash lighting
UPDATED: Weapon, armor, shields, and mods now display a colored border based on quality in the equipped slots for each crew member. The quality level of these items now has a dedicated display field in rollover info.
UPDATED: Hundreds of animations updated - including increasing overall speed of animations in combat.
--Animation timings on end walk in and out of combat for less delay when navigating.
--All human animations adjusted for less foot sliding, better hit animations and overall speed
--Fixed a large number of wonky animations that have been plaguing the game for a long time.
--A number of enemy animations updated
--Unique animations added for 2Hand Pierce weapons
--Mapped all animations to the KCHOR
--Mapped all animations to the Fabricants
--I have a number of animations that I am still working on and there are a few
transitions that need to be fixed.
FIXED: A bug that would cause music to stop playing in some cases.
FIXED: A bug related to sound volume settings not being correctly saved and loaded.
FIXED: In some cases, it was difficult to enter your first starship after exiting the Aznari Ruins.
FIXED: A number of broken weapons SFX.
FIXED: When loading to space, rarely the ship camera would rotate uncontrollably.
FIXED: A number of stability fixes.
FIXED: A bug with crafted epic tier "laser beam" turrets.
FIXED: A few typos.

Note that as with all new patches, shaders will need to compile causing a short period of "hitching" for each area with new materials that need to be processed. This goes away in a short time once the shaders are compiled.

Thank you as always for supporting Stellar Tactics, and happy holidays!

I've had a bunch of requests to start a wiki for Stellar Tactics and I'm happy to say that the wiki is live now!

https://stellartactics.gamepedia.com/Stellar_Tactics_Wiki

This is your wiki, so feel free to add content, edit, upload and otherwise make this a great resource for other players. I've seeded the site with a good amount of information. However, there is so much more that could be added and I would prefer to spend my time developing the game. I'll continue to add pages and information as I add the remaining features, content, and polish.

I'm excited to see where you all take this if you decide to get involved. Stellar Tactics has a great community of positive supporters and I'd like to thank you all for your contributions and support.

I've been very busy with the next content update that includes revised character animations, updated ground combat pacing, a number of new combat features and the weapon class special attacks system. But that's not all. I also have a few surprises that I think you are going to like. More on that in a few weeks when I'll be ready to show you some of the new things that are coming to the game.

Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!

Today’s patch adds the first pass at the crafting and salvaging system. The crafting system lets you craft almost every item that can be equipped in the game other than faction armor, ammo, grenades, and devices.

Crafting requires the disassembly of items you find in your travels. When salvaging, you learn about the items you are disassembling and eventually, you earn a schematic so you can craft that item.

Salvaging – process items found in your travels into component parts for crafting.

• You must mark items in your inventories (CTRL-Click - General/Stash/Cargo Hold).
  
• Once items are marked, you can access the salvage toolbox from the inventory menu via a new icon above the general inventory.
  
• Junk items generate finishing materials used in the crafting finish process.
  
• Weapons, armor and other items that can be equipped generate primary crafting components.
  
• Salvaged items are placed in a separate infinite inventory. This inventory feeds the crafting bench and parts are automatically placed on the crafting table.
  
• As you salvage items, you will earn experience towards unlocking a schematic for that item. At times you may even gain experience towards the next tier schematic.
  

Crafting - Once you unlock a schematic, you can craft the item. All schematics come in various quality tiers that need to be unlocked. Schematics are also a very rare drop from loot crates, cargo containers, enemy packs, and lockers.

Crafting requires a number of items:

• (Required) Base item components of the same quality tier salvaged from a similar item
  
• (Required – In cargo hold or station storage) Refined ore. You can mine ore and refine the ore, or purchase from the Trade-Net
  
• (Optional – In cargo hold or station storage) Rare earth minerals to clear conditions. You can mine ore or purchase from the Trade-Net
  
• (Optional – In cargo hold or station storage) Finishing items salvaged from junk and rewarded during salvaging of equipment
  

Rare earth minerals and finishing items are optional, however, they are very important and you could end up with a sub-par item if you do not have any on hand when crafting.

To craft an item:

1. Travel to any trade station and look for a crafting station. Crafting stations have a unique icon on the radar and map.
   
2. Select the crew member you want to craft and select the crafting station. The crafting table will be shown.
   
3. On the top left is a list of unlocked schematics (if any are unlocked). Choose one.
   
4. You may need to adjust a few initial values before you start crafting. For example, when crafting a weapon, make sure to set the correct weapon skill level before selecting the begin crafting button. When crafting an item for your ship, make sure the correct ship is selected.
   
5. All items except for weapons can be “re-rolled” That is, you can re-roll a number of base equipment stats.
   
6. When you are ready, select the processing button and start crafting.
   

Processing:

1. Each process step will expend AP
   
2. If successful, the quality of the item will improve.
   
3. At various stages, negative and positive “conditions” may arise. You can select a condition to expend a single unit of rare earth for that step to clear negative conditions and activate positive conditions.
   

Finishing:

1. Once all AP is expended, the item is ready for finishing.
   
2. Select your finishing options if any. The higher the quality, the more options.
   
3. Select the “Finish Crafting” button and the item will be placed in your inventory or cargo hold.
   

About progression:

• Primary crafting components cannot be purchased. They can only be gained by salvaging equipment.
  
• Occasionally you are rewarded crafting components for next tier items when salvaging as a bonus
  
• The higher your skill in salvaging, the more components you get when salvaging an item. In some cases, you may be able to salvage enough components to build several items of a similar type.
  
• The value of crafted items of high quality exceeds the value of any similar items you might loot.
  
• Occasionally you are rewarded experience towards the next tier schematic when salvaging a lower tier item
  
• Higher tier schematics require more disassembly than lower-tier schematics. Bonus experience offsets the number of items you need to disassemble to unlock that next tier.
  
• You can find schematics when looting ship containers and gear in ground missions. These are extremely rare.
  
• You are rewarded experience regardless of failures when salvaging.
  
• Schematic experience is rewarded for every component that is disassembled. It is best to use the third salvaging option initially that rewards additional schematic unlock EXP.
  

Grenades and ammo will have a separate utility device that will let you break down these objects and craft other ammo types. That will come in a future patch.

The patch includes entries in the in-game guide for salvaging and crafting for reference.

Armor visual types are random for now until I can get more sets in the game. I’ll also likely add an “appearance” slot in the future that lets you equip a visual appearance of your choice. The faction armor set appearances are reserved for faction armor.

Perks are not available for Salvaging and Crafting at this time. As usual, I’ll add those after I gather more feedback on the system.

Note: Salvaging has been moved to the general skill area. It is no longer a space specific skill.

There are a few other things I’d like to do with salvaging – salvaging enemy ship wreckage and various items found in ground exploration locations.

I hope you enjoy the crafting system. I’ll be reading feedback on the forums and will make adjustments over time.

So, what’s next? I’ll be updating the ground combat animations and adding weapon-specific special attacks. I’ve gathered a lot of feedback from the community and there will be a few new options for targeting enemies and displaying target information. In general, I’ll be taking a deep dive into the combat system and adding a new pass at polishing the ground combat system.

After that, boarding. I have everything I need for this now including all the ship interiors. I know many of you have been waiting for this and I’m eager to get started.

General patch notes and fixes:
FIXED: A rare case where ship cargo could not be looted
FIXED: A rare case where incursions would not trigger
FIXED: Duplicate stats on high-quality armor
FIXED: Map, load/save and cargo storage screens close with the ESC key
FIXED: A few UI font scale issues
FIXED: A few typos
FIXED: A bug related to the correct rollover info displayed for equipped devices
UPDATED: FTL Drives and refineries are now dropped as loot in ship containers
UPDATED: Stun grenade effect reduced from three to two combat rounds
UPDATED: Frag grenade damage increased
UPDATED: Gas grenade damage increased per round of damage

As always, thanks for supporting Stellar Tactics.