1.7 For Everyone!

Greetings space explorer!

It's time for everyone to experience the last 6 weeks of development. Version 1.7a3 is now in the main branch, and here's what you get:



Not only has every ship been given new powers and equipment (giving each one a unique play-style), but the amount of information you get has gone from 10 lines of tiny text to an entire panel full of details.

In the past, the majority of your ship's equipment was randomly generated, and most of it was limited in functionality. Now you'll know exactly what you're getting. Some ships start with really powerful weapons or shields, but even things like warp drive and sensors are tied to ship class. It's awesome!




The days of being friends with all the alien races at once are coming to an end. Now when one of them feels like they can trust you, they'll ask you to fight on their side against a common enemy. Hopefully that "enemy" isn't one of your other friends. Time to take sides...




The next big part of 1.7 development is all about shipwrecks. Similar to the complete re-design that planets got a year ago for version 1.6, shipwrecks are being re-designed from the bottom up.


The first step of this is the addition of upper and lower decks on shipwrecks, accessible by "transit tubes". The *next* step will involve the routines that populate the ships with loot, monsters, set dressing, and other items. It's going to be a long road, but the payoff will be HUGE.




If you're part of the Beta crew, you're probably aware of all this, but for the majority of captains, it's news. This isn't everything that's changed, but it's a pretty good list:

• You can now click the minimap to auto-move to that location.
  
• Introduced several new devices inspired by the ship redesign (savior beacon, extortionist weaponry, motion tracker, etc.)!
  
• Each officer class now starts the game with a specific cybernetic cooldown skill and 5 gel to power it.
  
• If you continuously try to dock at a space station where they don't want you, they'll eventually spawn a ship to persuade you otherwise.
  
• Your crafting level now appears on the crafting screen (?!)
  
• The internal working of the shipyard (where you can buy different ships on stations) has also been redesigned. It should be more satisfying.
  
• The away team now makes different "walking" sounds, depending on the terrain.
  
• When loading a game, the list is now sorted by the most recently played save.
  
• Alien space ships that have always been described as "large" are now actually bigger on the map!
  
• Gave slots machines a "ding ding ding" sound effect.
  
• Officers who die on away missions now generate "obituatries" as texts you can find in the future.
  
• Added "rare part boxes" that contain one of the 5 crafting parts you can't buy.
  
• Reduced the supply cost of all ship weapons.
  
• Improved the quality of the TRADIO by giving real-time information about prices everywhere.
  
• Reduced the number of crafting parts required to 6 (not 7) as a base.
  
• When experimenting in the crafting lab, wrong parts are automatically removed after each test.
  
• Away team device "Bio Filter" now allows breathing forever on any planet with Oxygen as a major atmospheric component.
  
• Radiation resistance now gives half damage on irradiated planets, but it only exists as a suit or artifact power (not a device or skill). (it's more in keeping with the theme of the power, than anything actually currently useful.)
  
• "Pushy" monsters now hurt you before they push you away (except Greeters).
  

[h3]Explore the ever-expanding universe of Approaching Infinity today![/h3]