Stellar Tactics News

Chapter 1 has been a long time coming. A lot of work went into this and I'm finally at a point where everything is in the game and I'm testing and cleaning things up.

The video below is work in progress so expect a few typos and issues. I'm still cleaning up some of the Psionic UI, dialogue and various text used.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Lets talk about what you can expect.

First, new story content. The game story previously ended in Achmedius. The story now continues as things start to ramp up in the Universe. Old acquaintances, new friends and a continuation of the Phage and Jhemm story lines - among other things.

Psionics can be unlocked through the main story of The Coven. The Psionic Amplifier is a weapon of sorts that gets equipped in your sidearm slot. Holding the device allows a crew member with appropriate stats (minimum 20 INT) cast amplifications.

Beyond that, you can edit and create your own amplifications in the Psionic Editor. The device has several already loaded. Intelligence and Perception are the primary stats for the amplifier and as you apply points to these stats, you are able to overload the amplifier without damaging yourself. This gives you access to secondary effects like status effects and buffs that can be applied to crew members. Buffs remain on crew members until you transition to a new area. The editor also lets you arrange your effects on the toolbar.

Psionics include:
Single Target, Point Blank Area, Group - Note that the Group type effect will target all enemies, even enemies that are not in line of sight.

Effect:
Heal - Heals damage and can buff all stats (STR, AGI etc.)
Cleanse - Chance to remove negative status effects. Buffs various resistances.
Damage - Kinetic, electro, bleed, explosive, thermal and toxic. Applies various status effects.

You can overload any amplification, just be aware that doing this could harm your crewmember and even knock them out. That said, it may be useful to set up a few "Hail Mary" amplifications for those critical moments.

A few other things you can expect:
Aznari Ruins have been added to the Universe. These locations can be found as part of the main story where you receive a device that lets you pinpoint these ruins on planet surfaces. Eventually these will lead you to Aznari Hubs where the Jhemm are located. One thing that will not make it into this build is Azimuth system. That will come in the Chapter 2 update.

A simple re-spec has been added to the character information screen. I'll eventually add a side mission and a cost to re-specs. For now, I thought it was appropriate to add this so you can tinker with various builds.

Salvaging wrecks has been added. These are somewhat hard to find as you cannot scan for them, so look for them as you travel through Star Systems. If you do find one, you can mine the wreckage for high quality ore, rare earth minerals and bonus ship repair materials (used to repair boarded ships). Most systems will have wreckage floating around.

Many new enemies - specifically in the Aznari Ruins and caves.

The Coven have arrived and will show up in mission areas where Scavvers are found.

Some Phage are Psionic now. Beware...

Of course, there will be a myriad of fixes and updates to various systems in the game including the highly requested Arach screech fix, immediate movement on Micro-Warp and a few other things people have requested.

That's all I have for now. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!

A good number of fixes posted today while I continue working on the Chapter 1 content patch.

Here are the notes:
Updated - Reduced the value of crafted ship equipment when selling to vendors. Crafted ship equipment has a lower value than looted space equipment. Overall, selling crafted ship equipment was OP and still is. This will all be adjusted with a major pass at the overall economy. The value of these items is still high and a very good way to earn a lot of money in the game if you want to skill up crafting/salvaging and gather the resources. It's important to note that there are salvage perks you can enable that increase the chance to loot schematics by as much as 10% when you have a high level of salvage skill.
Updated - Increased reward values for boarded ships salvaged/repaired and sold to Arkus. I will be expanding your interactions with Arkus through the game story to allow players to earn a ship rather than paying for one.
Updated - Depleted planetary nodes now have an icon - drone with red "X".
Fixed - A rare case where incursions would stop spawning.
Fixed - Salvaging Helmets in languages other than English would not generate "strap" resources.
Fixed - Switching languages from the main menu in the same session would not correctly populate foreign language strings for crafting and salvaging.
Fixed - The ammo converter device was not working in languages other than English. Thanks for reporting this!
Fixed - When activating the taunt weapon skill and switching weapons, the range circle effect was not disappearing.

Localization:
Updated - Translations for French, Russian, Spanish and German.
Fixed - The stats of crafted items were extending over the numbers numbers in some cases.
Fixed - Adjusted fonts for lists in scanned data UI's (planets and ships)
Fixed - Adjusted font size of "Click to re-roll item's attributes[...]".
Fixed - The names of crafted items were partial untranslated.
Fixed - When crafting mods, e.g. trigger groups, "WEAPON TYPE" was not translated. and "PISTOL/SMG" was untranslated
Fixed - When crafting beam weapons, "BEAM TYPE" and "ELECTRON" was untranslated when first displayed.
Fixed - When crafting turrets, "TURRET MOUNT" and "TURRET TYPE" were not translated. When changing from "LIGHT" to "HEAVY" labels were untranslated.
Fixed - Log when mining was not translated
Fixed - When editing the portrait of a crew member, several UI elements were untranslated.
Fixed - "Objectives" in the objective tracker from the trade net were not translated ("pick up" and "deliver").
Fixed - When a beacon is placed in a boarded ship the button "Initialize beacon" was not translated.
Fixed - "Repairing Shields" was not translated.
Fixed - In the boarding objectives panel, the headline was not translated.
Fixed - "Repair Progress", "Repair", "Salvage" and "Exit Repairs" are now translated.
Fixed - Headline for "item name" in storage on bases was cut off.
Fixed - In the transfer screen for storage on stations/bases, "Quantity" and "Cancel" are now translated.
Fixed - Mouse overs of vendors were not translated.
Fixed - Vendor name label expanded for cases where text exceeds label limit.
Fixed - The right button when dismissing a crew member was not displaying the correct translated text.
Fixed - The cancel button when trading was displaying the incorrect translation string.
Fixed - Perk award popups were not displaying correct translated text.
Fixed - Reduced size of status effects below the portrait so foreign language strings are not cut off.
Fixed - On the salvage screen, "schematic" was not translated.
Fixed - When deleting items from the inventory, the "cancel" button was not translated.
Fixed - Mouse over of data cards was not translated. Going forward - data cards that swap will be correctly translated.
Fixed - "You find a basic XXX schematic" was not translated in the log and splash screen.
Fixed - Flash screen for "objectives completed" was only partly translated.
Fixed - Quality level of equipment in the description popups was not translated.

12/20/21 - 0.599
Updated: Localization updated for French, Russian, German and Spanish. A HUGE thank you to everyone working on the translation! This is an ongoing project.

Updated: Mining drones will launch with the most recent drone launch state set using a new button on the drone manager window.

Fixed: Drone retrieve button is now hidden if a drone is not in a state where it can be retrieved.
Fixed: A fix for dedicated hacking, craft, salvage and repair crew members that are removed from the party and/or no longer have active hacking devices equipped. The dedicated crew flag gets reset and the currently selected crew member initiates the hack (if they have a hacking device), repair, crafting etc. Thanks for reporting the issue.
Fixed: Humanoid NPC's were rarely if ever throwing grenades. Skull NPC's have a higher chance of having grenade inventory. The chance of a NPC throwing a grenade is based on the games difficulty level set in the options menu.
Fixed: A rare lockup related to attacks of opportunity.
FIXED: A lockup when selecting a friendly planetary starbase on a planet that is out of range - approaching and selecting the landing icon. Previously, a second selection was required when in range.
FIXED: Ship icons on screen are now cleared when loading a quicksave or autosave to a ground location from space.

Consolidated patch notes/hotfixes:

12/11/21 - 0.596b
HOTFIX - If a dedicated crew member has been removed from the party or no longer has a hacking tool, the dedicated hacker is reset. The first time you hack, the flag is cleared so you will see a blank hacking UI. The second time you hack you can set a new dedicated crew member - someone who has a hacking tool equipped. I'll look for a better solution for this.

12/10/21 - 0.596
Fixed - An issue with character creation when assigning skill points.
Fixed - A number of localization fixes.

12/9/21 - 0.595
Updated - Darkened background of weapon UI in ground exploration. Updated fonts so ammo count, AP Requirement and fire mode stand out better on the background.
Updated - Moved health kit and grenade count from over selected icons to field above grenades and health kits. Added AP cost to rollover info.
Updated - Text in hacking window over progress bar moved where it can be seen.
Updated - A few updates to new icons on main UI so icons stand out better.

Fixed - If you have a dedicated hacker and remove the hacking tool, a message is sent to your log letting you know who your dedicated hacker is and that the hacker does not have a hacking tool equipped. If you are in a situation where you cannot hack, you need to equip the dedicated hacker with a hacking tool
Fixed - Loot UI - 4th loot slot in upper row fixed when clicking to loot.
Fixed - Loot UI now only responds to "SPACE" when looting all instead of any key.
Fixed - Grenade blast radius is displayed correctly when using the keyboard shortcut [O]
Fixed - When out of combat and moving, weapons now swap correctly with the hotkey or weapon swap icon. You cannot swap weapons while moving in combat. You must be stationary.
Fixed - A large number of edits to UI elements that had issues with translated text.

12/4/21 - 0.593b
Fixed - Ship beam weapons now function as intended
Fixed - Russian translation progression when first arriving in Ruins

Hello all! I’m posting a patch today that fixes a number of issues. This is primarily a stability and bug fix patch with a few other bells and whistles. It’s important to note that this is not the Chapter 1 patch. I am busy working on that and will post progress updates as things move along.

Note that a lot of data was touched for this patch so the download will be fairly large.

Here is what you will find in the patch:
1) A major stability fix related to level load lockups
2) A number of other fixes listed below
3) The updated game UI.
4) A first pass at localization to Spanish, French, German and Russian languages.
5) A warning screen if compatibility issues related to drivers and 3D rendering support are discovered when the game loads.

LOCALIZATION -French, German, Spanish and Russian
Localization is VERY ROUGH right now. I'm sure there will be a number of embarrassing language issues and typos. If you want to join the localization process to clean up the rough edges, check the link below for more info and the pinned topic at the top of that forum. I'll post translation edits and fixes with future patches as they become available.

Join the community translation. I'm looking for a few people who are interested in editing and updating the Spanish, French and Russian translations. The German translation is in good shape.
Join the translation

• You can change the language in the "Gameplay" tab of the options screen.
  
• In some cases text in various languages may be too large for the UI and scroll past the boundaries of the UI area. If you notice these, please report them on the translation sub-forum here. A screenshot would really help.
  Report translation issues here!
• Old mission data is not localized. That data is saved in your current save and will continue to be displayed in English. New missions that you take will be localized.
  
• Some items in your inventory in existing saves may have descriptions and other information that are part of the save and will not be translated. New items of the same type found or purchased from vendors - like health packs - will be translated.
  
• Almost everything should be translated, however, I am still looking for places where English text is displayed in a field so expect that there will still be a small number of places where a fix is needed.
  
• Things that need to be translated or won't be translated for technical reasons: Crafting component suffixes, mod names, system names, character names, names of minerals, commodity names, and weapons names. There may also be a few other areas that are not translated that will get fixed over time.
  

Removed the HELP screen. Pressing "H" now opens the guide directly. The help screen is obsolete as all keys can be viewed and edited in the options menu and most of the information on that screen is available in the guide.

A warning interface is displayed at the main menu if your PC is not compatible with Stellar Tactics. This covers failed shader compilation and a review of all the core graphics requirements to run the game. If your system fails the check, an interface is displayed that provides a few suggestions like updating your drivers and making sure your system is utilizing your dedicated graphics GPU instead of the on-board low-power Intel GPU.

Optimizations in many areas.
UPDATED: Load times improved.
UPDATED: After completing the Phestus mission, FTL drives are now available in Achmedius at ship equipment vendors.
UPDATED: Universe ship manager performance updates - especially for games that have hundreds of hours of stored ship, system and station data.
UPDATED: Reduced the size of the selected ship reticle. Added transparency to selection options.
UPDATED: New portraits for main story characters (Rhamus, Jensen etc.) to match future story content portraits.
UPDATED: Precaching of dynamically loaded assets in space to avoid hitches.
UPDATED: You can now loot all by pressing the space bar.
UPDATED: NPC ships attack each other once again. I'll keep an eye on the forums in case there are any issues. Keep an eye out for free loot chests from these battles.
UPDATED: The game UI has been revised with a new custom UI.
FIXED: A random lockup when transitioning between areas during the loading screen.
FIXED: A random lockup in space combat.
FIXED: A random crash when displaying the line of sight indicators in ground combat.
FIXED: A potential lock up in the early game when opening the ship screen before launching to space.
FIXED: The left arrow when selecting crew voices on the portrait/name/voice editing UI was not working.
FIXED: In some cases, incursions were not being triggered. If you are in a state where incursions will not trigger, travel to another star system and the issue should be resolved.
FIXED: When crafting, a message is displayed on the screen if your inventory is full. You can no longer start crafting a schematic if your inventory or cargo are full.
FIXED: The ship storage display is now closed when pressing ESC if in the ship UI.
FIXED: A bug related to initializing incursions after Rhamus/Jensen leave crew on trade station.
FIXED: Infinite experience when crafting (processing items by pressing the enter key).
FIXED: KO crew members could block movement in narrow passageways.

It’s been a very busy summer with me and my family moving across the country and a lot of time has been dedicated to preparing our old home, selling it, packing, and moving in to our new home. None the less, progress has been made. Now that I am settled in, I am working on Stellar Tactics at my usual pace.

The next update will be a big one and I’ll cover some of the details below. The biggest addition will be the introduction of Chapter 1 of the story. With Chapter 1, new characters will be introduced, primarily the introduction of the Coven and the Sovereignty. The story will continue with a communication from Dr. Jensen who needs your assistance as the doctors continue to look into ways to eliminate the Phage and further their knowledge related to the Jhemm.

The Coven is a specific mutation that presented itself on one of the four ships that made the transit with the remnants of the human race. The mutation applied itself to females while in cryonic suspension and resulted in uncontrolled Psionic powers. The Coven were immediately isolated and studied by scientists on arrival and eventually released to colonize, provided certain rules were followed. Specifically, anyone with the Coven mutation was subjected to surgical implants that subdued their powers. Psionic powers were outlawed and have been since the Arrival.

This did not go over well with The Coven and eventually they went into hiding and removed their implants, refining their powers. For hundreds of years, The Coven have not been seen and are nearly forgotten, though some still do business with them – smuggling goods for trade with the elusive and secretive faction.



In Chapter 1, you will be introduced to the Sovereignty – the ruling power. Taxes are paid, and for that, security and law are enforced by the Sovereignty . The six main Houses (Halamis, Aralion, Cilivon, Conrair, Shikaru and Varadyne) have control over their holdings and pay tribute to the Sovereignty who in turn provides special dispensation to the Houses. The Houses exert their power on the various sub-factions in the Stellar Tactics Universe.

Ayela will be your primary contact with the Sovereignty and will have missions that involve investigating the Phage, The Coven, Raiders, Scavvers as these are all ongoing threats to peace under the rule of the Sovereignty. Ayela has been looking for a crack squad of mercenaries for a few critical missions.



Chapter 1 will also introduce more of the story related to the Jhemm and the menace they warn about in the Prologue. With this, Rhamus is still obsessed with the Jhemm and you will explore several of these locations in Chapter 1 which will introduce the “Azimuth” system. In addition to specific locations related to the story where you acquire Azimuth, a new random mission set has been developed for the Aznari ruins and you will find these occasionally when you scan planet surfaces. 18 new "creature" enemy types have been added for cave and ruins locations to increase the variety of enemy types you will encounter in the universe.

All of the original characters have had a facelift so they will match the new content in Chapter 1.


Speaking of mission sets, 3 new random sets will be added to the game in addition to static locations for Chapter 1 of the story.



The first pass of localization is complete for French, Spanish, Russian and German. Note that as a first pass at localization, the French, Spanish, and Russian localizations are likely very rough. The German translation is in very good shape thanks to community members who joined the translation effort. The localizations will be included in the upcoming content patch. When the content patch launches, I will open up localization again for these languages for anyone who is interested in joining.

Oh, and did I mention that Stellar Tactics is getting it's final UI? Daniel did an amazing job with the UI and the implementation work is almost complete. There are still some rough edges here and there - overall, it's coming along nicely.



That’s it for now. No ETA on the release of this content patch. I do hope to get everything finished before the end of this year and I will keep you updated as I make progress.