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Approaching Infinity News

Space Combat Balance

Greetings captains,

Recent casualty reports indicated some issues. These have been addressed:
  • The HP and damage of most space enemies has been adjusted ("reduced").
  • Scaling issues that start around sector 20 have been resolved.
  • Did I mention that I fixed the "upgrading from demo" issue?

1.8 Released

I've been working on version 1.8 for almost 3 months now, following the plans laid out in the Starmap, and I've really gotten a *lot* done:


Big Stuff:


✔ SPACE WEAPON / DEFENSE REWRITE
The changes here are too many to list, but you can check out the steam guide for all the details. The most important points are as follows:
  • You can install any weapon in any weapon slot (no more small/medium/large)
  • Weapons are divided into cannons, beams, and missiles, and each has unique properties.
  • Shields are great protection against beam weapons, but many cannons pass right through them!
  • Missiles have long range and high damage, but are stopped by point defense.
  • Your installed weapons determine your "point defense" stat, which protects from missiles but gets depleted as it's used.
  • You (and your enemies) can now score
  • critical hits* which can knock out engines, weapons, sensors, or even kill crew!
  • There are lots of new kinds of armor and shields too, providing powers, bonuses, or protection against certain types of damage.


✔ SPACE ACTIVATED SKILLS
20 exciting new powers available to your officers, like "emergency warp", "false evidence", and the oft-requested "orbital bombardment".



Also done:


✔ SHIP STAT BALANCE
✔ ARMOR AND SHIELD BALANCE
✔ SUPPLY USAGE BALANCE
✔ NEW POWERS FOR SPACE ENEMIES
✔ OFFICER PAY BY TIME
✔ COMMODITY VALUE/SIZE REMODEL
✔ ACHIEVEMENT RENOVATION ✔ MANAGEABLE SIZE
Judging by the speed I've accomplished things, I definitely got this one right.



Not planned but done anyway:
✔ New Spaceship Art!
Some of the new ships are featured on the artwork for this update ;) Thanks David!



Not Done Yet:
NEW SPACE MISSION TYPES
You don't always have to go down to planets to do cool stuff, and not all space missions need to be "kill that!" or "get that!". I'll expand on space mission types in the final leg of 1.8's development.



Might Do:
ASTEROID BASE PROGRESSION
I'm really not sure about this, because it's more of an "away team" thing, and I'm *really* into space right now ;)



Probably Not:
ENHANCED CRAFTING
This will happen, but again, it's not "spacey" enough for the current dev cycle. Imagine being able to make whatever kind of special weapon, suit, or shield you want, as long as you have the long list of ingredients, some scrap metal and gadgets, and a few thousand extra data... it's like that. Just not yet.



Definitely not yet, but will still happen:
NEW USER INTERFACE
The UI is a big deal. It's how the user interfaces with ("PLAYS") the game (hence the name) (and the importance). I'd prefer to have all new systems in place before I tackle this one, so I know what I need.



Uh oh!
OLD SAVES ARE INCOMPATIBLE!
With all these changes, your old saves won't work anymore! This is the first time in almost 3 years this has happened, and I think it will be the last time too, but I wanted to tell you.

I created a Steam branch called "Legacy17" if you can't stand to part with your current game just yet.



[h2]Have fun, space explorers![/h2]

Big Changes Are Coming!

1.8 is Coming Soon

I've been working on it for almost 3 months now, it's been in beta for weeks, and soon it will be available for everyone. If you look at Starmap 1.8 , you'll see that I've already hit most of the major points:
  • Space weapon and defense rewrite
  • Armor, shield, and ship stat balance
  • Supply overhaul
  • Commodity size / value remodel
  • Officer pay by time
  • Space activated skills!
I feel great about these! But there's a catch to all this innovation...

Your saves won't be compatible ːsteamfacepalmː There are just too many fundamental changes.
That's why I created the...


New "Legacy17" Branch


If you can't bear to let go of your current game, you can switch to the Legacy17 branch *right now*. It is the exact same version you're already playing, and it won't change when I finally roll out the new features.

Go to Approaching Infinity on Steam > Manage > Properties > Betas > Legacy17


But seriously, finish up and then come back to main, because all the new space weapons and skills are pretty amazing ;)



Achievement Changes Pending


Approaching Infinity has 143 in-game achievements right now, and 70 official Steam Achievements. Most of these were created almost 10 years ago now, and include things like "kill 10,000 monsters", which is a grind and not a fun motivation to try something new.

So I'm going to scrap a lot of existing achievements, and put in new ones that are more interesting. This is discussed in the Starmap, with some hints about what's coming.

Steam users may see your achievement count go *down*, as I remove the overly grindy stuff. This will affect all players, and no version-switching can stop it.


See you space captain...

Demo Update

[h3]
  • Play for free up to sector 7
  • Get all the latest story developments
  • Experiment with new weapons and skills
  • Meet 7 alien factions
  • Many quests available
  • Extra starting ships unlocked
  • Includes the new bestiary and installation screens
  • Carry over your run from the demo to the full game
[/h3]

Space Activated Skills



Your officers have some powerful abilities on away missions, but they've been slacking when it comes to the harsh realities of deadly space combat.

Well no more!

Now each division has 4 activated skills to use in space, whether for offense, defense, movement, diplomacy, or information. Even the often-suggested (and just as often denied) "Planetary Bombardment" is now an option. Check it out!


CURIOSITY DIVISION (Blue)
  • Shields Up! : Removes shield cooldown and instantly restores them to half strength (but not above).
  • Interference Burst : All adjacent ships lose 50% of their max shields. If they are already below 50%, this will drop their shields completely.
  • Firing Solution : Your shots this turn ignore the target's evasion and point defense.
  • Sensor Attunement : Your ship has +2 sensor range and +5 planet scanning for 20 turns.


COMBAT DIVISION (Red)
  • Another Volley : Clears cooldown timers on all weapons.
  • PD Reboot : Instantly restores your point defense to its maximum value and removes the PD recharge cooldown.
  • Ion Tracker : For 20 turns, all entities beyond visual range will be shown as red dots on the sector map.
  • Orbital Bombardment : Fire ship weapons at a planet, causing damage and weakening life forms on the surface.


SYSTEMS DIVISION (Yellow)
  • Emergency Repairs : Immediately removes cooldown from engines and sensors. Restores hull up to your ship's base hull (does not repair armor).
  • All She's Got : Doubles your effective speed for 10 turns. When this period expires, engines will be on cooldown for 3 turns, leaving you temporarily stranded.
  • Target Engines : Your next shot will knock out the target's engines for 5 turns.
  • Maximum Evasion : Your evasion becomes 75 for 3 turns, greatly reducing damage from enemy cannons and missiles.


SOCIAL DIVISION (Green)
  • Truce : All ships within visual range will stop attacking for 5 turns, unless fired upon. Does not work on Narcratu.
  • Distress Call : Calls allies. If you have friends in this sector (rep 60+), several may come. If not, it may take time for one to warp in.
  • Sensor Ghost : Creates a temporary copy of your ship. Anyone attacking you this turn will target the decoy instead.
  • False Evidence : You provide false information that pits 2 ships against each other. May not work against closely-aligned factions, or ships already hostile to you.


ENVIRONMENTAL DIVISION (Purple)
  • Deep Scanning : For 20 turns, you can see (but not shoot) beyond terrain that would normally block sensors, like nebula, stars, and planets.
  • Vapor Screen : Release large quanitites of gas and water vapor into space, creating temporary sight-blocking clouds around your ship.
  • Emergency Warp : An escape maneuver that uses your warp drive in an unintended way: to jump randomly within a sector. Adds your warp drive's normal cooldown time plus an additional 50.
  • Go Dark : Makes your ship invisible until you move, shoot, or are detected by an enemy that is actively looking for you. You must be in sight blocking terrain like nebula or over a planet.


I understand you might be concerned about becoming too powerful... fear not! These skills have cooldowns of 500 turns, so even if you're willing to exhaust large quantities of cyber-gel, you're not going to be spamming "another volley!". They're more like panic buttons.


[h3]These skills aren't set in stone. I'm testing them for the *fun* factor, and I want your feedback. So get into the beta branch right now and test them out![/h3]