Approaching Infinity News

Activated skills are finally here! Once an officer reaches level 2, they can begin to equip skill modules that enable them to do some pretty amazing things, like detecting monsters, dodging attacks, and automatically shooting while moving.

But these skill modules must be *found* first! You'll need to search shipwrecks, caves, star temples, and other loot-filled areas before you can start using them.

Skills are powered by a new item called cybernetic gel, which comes in 5 colors: blue, red, yellow, green, and purple. If you don't have the right kind of gel, your skills will take twice as long to recharge!






The colors of gel (and the skills themselves) correspond to a new characteristic of your officers called "division". There are 10 playable classes in Approaching Infinity, and each class belongs to 1 of 5 divisions: curiosity (blue), combat (red), systems (yellow), social (green), and environmental (purple).

For example, the engineering and navigation classes fall under the "systems" division. They use yellow gel and have the skills EMP, repair, teleport, and deploy cover.



At level 6 an officer can equip 2 skills simultaneously, but that's the maximum. So if you have both a diplomacy and operative specialist, both at level 6 or higher, you could equip all 4 green (social) skills simultaneously.


Skills are activated either by shortcut keys or by clicking them in the 8th info window.




I've tried to give as much information as possible right in the game, so hopefully you can figure a lot of these things out for yourself. Now it's time to give me some feedback: let me know how you like it, or what you can't figure out. Thanks in advance ;)



Tool tips have been added to the skills and classes on the new game screen, so you can make more informed choices from the beginning.





Make sure you're ready to leave a star temple before you get the artifact!

One good reason to explore the whole thing first is that force-field rooms on star temples are a great place to find the new skill modules. Another reason is because you'll have to find out for yourself...




You know those planets with messages carved into the terrain, like "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" , "That's no moon it's a space station", and "Contact has been made"? Well, they're not just references. They're nostalgic emotional concepts that an alien race is somehow conjuring in the minds of your crew.

I've made some progress in their story, and you can start to find the deeper meaning in their strange universal language.

But a word of warning:

If you get to the end of their tale, and they ask you to do something, DON'T! because it's not written yet, ok?

But still, it's a story that's going to be told. Eventually.




I'd like to personally thank Klokinator, a member of the Approaching Infinity channel of the Roguelikes discord for all the advice on the skill remodel, and for putting forth ideas that eventually turned in to what you're seeing now.

Thanks Klok!

The first part of the officer skill overhaul is complete:



These are the same types of skills that have always been there, but they are now much better. There are no more redundant skills or weak powers. And 99% of skills now have at least 2 meaningful levels.

There are also a few *new* skills, like:

• Surprise Attack (Tactical officer) : Plus 50% damage per level to creatures not already attacking you.
  
• Wreck Tech (Planetary officer) : Level 1 fixes damaged floors. Level 2 gives 'magnetic boots' power. Level 3 removes damaged walls.
  
• Elemental Trigger (Transmutor officer) : Increases the chances that weapons with powers like cryo and incendiary will activate their special effects, by 33% per level.
  
• ...and more...
  

Also, all "walk" skills (waterwalk, mountain climber, etc.) now have a second level that eliminates the movement speed penalty of crossing these difficult terrains.




That's where the "re-spec" part comes in: When you load up your previous game, all your officers will have their old powers removed, and all their XP refunded. You get to level them up with the new skills, for free!

And from now on, embassies of the Tentaculons, Vordalene, and Eaters will offer a respeccing service. This will not be free, and it will also not return all their experience. But the Tentaculons really know what they're doing: you'll get 99% back from them. Eaters, not so much ;)

Activated skills are still coming, but this was a good first step to getting your away team geared up for what's to come.



Minefields in space have been remodeled to be more threatening. Specifically, they're invisible!

Until you get close. Then you can see them.





It's always seemed a little weird to me when I really thought about mines in the real world. Part of the threat is the fact that you don't know exactly where they are. So now, minefields will be a surprise in Approaching Infinity.

But there's a bright side to this too: Minesweeper skills, artifacts, and devices will all help you detect mines from further away, in addition to providing a chance to disarm them (chance).




Asteroid mining got an update too! Now there are lots of different kinds of asteroids, each one yielding a specific item when mined. The device "Asteroid Cracker" was redesigned to cause some asteroids to split in half when mined, effectively doubling your chances to get something good.



Barren rocks have a reduced chance of producing anything, and can't be broken up. The brown "legacy" asteroids will now yield raw ore, and they can be split. Other types give chemicals, gemstones, or even precious metals (granted simply as credit pickups).

So if you haven't played the asteroid miner ship yet, now is a good time to try it out. It comes with built-in devices to help you get the most out of all those space rocks floating around out there.









Are you one of those players who goes around shooting non-hostile alien ships just to see what loot they drop? Well look out, because retribution strikes are here.

When you attack friendly ships (or even the non-hostile citizens of the 12 major races) they will remember. If you do it often, they'll send you a warning. If you keep it up, eventually they'll send a fleet after you.

A "retribution strike" is no ordinary encounter. It disrupts space-time in the local area and prevents warping for a few turns. It spawns a fleet of ships determined to destroy you: they won't retreat when damaged, and they won't easily get distracted by anything else. You also won't be able to dock or land for a longer-than-normal period.


So be kind to your alien neighbors... or else!





Within the next 2 weeks, I expect to have the first 20 activated skills available for testing in the beta branch. This will be another major step towards greater complexity for Approaching Infinity.

Here's a sampling of skills to come:

• Dodge
  
• Intimidate
  
• Smoke Screen
  
• Cryo Blast
  
• Haste
  
• Detect Monster
  
• EMP
  
• Remote Pilot
  
• Power Strike
  
• Run & gun
  

Oh yeah,



If you're a fan of Approaching Infinity and you haven't left a review yet, I'd really appreciate you doing that. If you're still on the fence, just wait, because it is just going to keep getting better and more interesting.


Thanks!

Things seem to be going well with the officer skill update, so I've pushed a little further, and I need to know if you see something like this:





I'm trying to optimize the way the game tracks your active abilities. Currently it runs a bunch of loops every time it wants to look at a particular power. But with the new method, the game will look at all your powers any time you enter a new area or install or upgrade something (or someone).

So if you get a stream of messages that say "RLODP discepancy", please report what you were doing, where you where (space, planet, caves, etc.) , and any other relevant details.


Thanks!


There's another thing in this new beta... I don't know how many of you go around shooting non-hostile alien ships, but if you do, you might encounter...

[h3]RETRIBUTION SQUADS![/h3]

After a certain number of unprovoked attacks against non-hostile intelligent aliens, you'll get a warning. And if you keep doing it, you'll get ... Retribution'd!


So I guess let me know if you get killed by one of those (or else if you *survive* one) !





Unless I broke it, everyone can look forward to these changes on Friday. Until then, happy National Penguin Day (it really is...)

This is a test.

A Beta Test.

Opt in to the beta branch now to try out all the new officer skills, like:

• Oxygen Conservation
  
• Wreck Tech
  
• Surprise Attack
  
• Communications Officer
  
• Questing Perception
  
• Elemental Trigger
  

Yep, while you were enjoying the cloud saves and gambling machines, I was finally reworking the passive officer skills.

No, these aren't the long-awaited cool-down skills, but they are better than what was there before. No two officers have the same skill now, and all the lesser skills have been removed or greatly improved. Each class still has room for one more skill to be added later.





Relax, I said I won't break your saves, and I mean it. So instead, all your officer lose their old skills, get all their XP back, and you can choose new skills :D


[h2]What else?[/h2]

• The Sil have started answering hails
  
• Space-Mines are now invisible until you get close (LOOK OUT!)
  
• Monofilament weapons can cut down trees
  
• Water-walker and Mountain climber abilities now have a second level that eliminates the speed penalty
  
• Officers can (once again!) get injured on away missions
  
• Vordalene, Tentaculons, and Eaters now offer a "re-speccing" service
  

This will spend about a week in beta, so I expect it will hit the main branch by Jan 22nd. Please let me know what issues you find, and any recommendations you might have. I'll be making plans for what comes next...


Enjoy, and stay safe!

I know, manually transferring your files is a pain, so...



Approaching Infinity uses a feature called "Steam Auto-Cloud" which syncs your save files when you close the game. This is now activated globally, for all users by default.


No other changes were made today.


There is a Known Psuedo-Issue with auto-cloud: sometimes it causes the Steam overlay to become unresponsive for a few seconds after closing the game. That is the nature of auto-cloud, because it does everything all at once. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with Steam or your computer, and it's not something I can control, other than turning cloud saves back off for all users. So let's see how it goes, ok?


If you don't play on multiple machines, want to keep the data separate on purpose, or have another reason, you can always turn off cloud saves.

Here's how:


From your Steam library, go to settings, general, and then un-check the cloud box.



Wow, that's easy.


OK, enjoy, and we'll take a look at how it's going on Friday the 15th.