Approaching Infinity News

Hey space captains! I hope everyone will get a chance to play on April 1st, because I've got something fun planned for your officers... it might even be a hint at a future possibility (and a common player request)!



Part of the recent work on shipwrecks has been to improve their "stories": what kind of ship is it, who built it, what happened to them, why is their ship a "wreck" anyway?

You can get some of this information through the new scanning feature, but you can now get a lot more by going in there and poking around.

But beyond the remains of the former crew, and the aftermath of whatever disaster befell them, you can now see messages from their last moments! Who was involved? What were they doing? Did they have any warning?

There are currently 10 categories of "internal damage", each with subcategories and specific handling. maybe they caught a disease and it got out of hand? Maybe one of the crew was trying to defect to the enemy? FIND OUT!



I will be spending some time writing Steam Documentation on all the new "shipwreck repair" features. I know there's a lot to learn and remember, so this way you can keep the information handy.

When it's done, it will be available directly from the "DOCS" link on the main loading screen.




Shipwreck overhaul has been my focus for *months*, and the progress has been transformative. Everything has been reworked from the ground up, and hundreds of new items have been added to give each room a specific feel and purpose. You can now interact with intelligent aliens onboard, sometimes aiding them, other times receiving warnings or ultimatums.

Each shipwreck is now a unique self-contained experience. And even when you're *done* with a shipwreck, you have options! Blow it up for parts, tow it to a station and sell it, or even, in some cases, USE IT AS YOUR OWN SHIP!

[h3]Is it done?[/h3]

Almost...

There are still some kinds of damage I need to write stories for (and that includes "external" damage, which mostly refers to combat, and I haven't even touched that yet). There is an entire new system that I never ended up adding, and that was puzzles. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do that right now.

But forcefields still need something more interesting inside them than just credits... (And please note I said "interesting" not necessarily "better".)

But there's still a lot to do in 1.7 (remember the Star Map?) and I'll take feedback while I tie up my work here with shipwrecks. And don't worry, it doesn't mean I'll never work on them again, only the *focus* will shift.




Are you tired of accidentally selling or salvaging your best equipment? ME TOO! That's why I (finally) incorporated the concept of "favorite items":

It only works with the mouse for now, but a keyboard interface will be made.



Anyway, if you right click on an item in your cargo (or any other window where it appears), it will become "favorited", and display with an asterisk "*" at the beginning and in a nice golden color. Then you will always get an "are you sure" warning about anything that would destroy a favorite item.

• You now get a log message when officers get paid out of your income.
  
• Fixed a problem where "dormant / asymptomatic" diseases were still having an effect.
  
• You can now detect Hypno-Flowers on planet scans.
  
• THERE ARE 15 NEW MONSTERS!
  
• ...and 8 new monster powers...
  
• Shipwreck repair readout has been improved.
  

Enjoy!

A few small but noteworthy fixes:
[h3]

• Triggering short circuits should no longer make aliens hostile towards the player.
  
• Path arrows in "Uncountable Infinities" mode now require you to activate them like all other area transitions.
  
• Fixed a bug where having the regeneration buff would prevent your captain from dying on away missions.
  
• Upper and lower decks of shipwrecks should no longer generate with unconnected areas.
  

[/h3]

The big main branch update is finally here! But let's start off by fulfilling a promise I made last year:


Warning: this experimental game mode may drive completionists INSANE.

In the base game, the explorable part of a planet has always been just a single 30x30 map. It was never meant to represent the *entire* planet, only the most interesting part.

Uncountable Infinities changes all that:
Somewhere on each edge of the map, a green arrow may spawn. If you touch that arrow, you'll travel north, east, south, or west (depending on which edge of the map you're on) to a new part of the planet, that is mostly similar, but new and different.

This mode is not "balanced" with the rest of the game. You can indeed collect too much loot and XP. But get out there and do it anyway, you won't regret it! The code to enter in order to activate this new experience is:

"tripleinfinity"

Why "triple infinity"? Space was already infinite, so that's the first one. Now planets are infinite, so that's 2. But what else? CAVES! Not only can you travel NESW on the surface, but you can do it in caves too! Wow. This code will work until the end of March and then Uncountable Infinities will go away... until it comes back later as a more balanced, less infinite but permanent change.



I've been talking about this for a long time, now it's finally here.

If you find a shipwreck with 3+ decks with a working life support system, fix all the damaged walls, floors, and vital systems, and remove all the aliens, you can transfer all your equipment over and USE THE SHIP FOR YOUR OWN!

Approaching Infinity comes with 20 standard ship classes, and those are what you can fly. You might buy an upgraded version of one of those ships at a station, but they're always the same basic flavor.


(This readout appears when you visit a "repair terminal".)

When you take over a shipwreck, you get to pick from 3 potential stack blocks (hull, speed, cargo, crew, and supplies) that the ship could reasonably be configured into (based on what kind of ship it was to begin with).

But the best part comes a little later, when you get to choose your own pair of "built-in devices". They don't take up slots and are always 'on'. Want infinite supplies? Install a "nebulizer" and a "ram scoop". Or choose a "resource extractor" and an "orbital mining beam" if you want to strip-mine planets. If you can find it, buy it, or build it, you can install it here and define your *own* class of ship!

You're going to need resources to accomplish this.

Unless you find a shipwreck with no discernible damage, you will need a combination of scrap metal, repair kits, crafting parts, and gadgets to get everything back in order. You'll probably also want to refrain from using corrosive or explosive weaponry while clearing out any nasty alien infestations you might find...

You even get to pick what your new ship looks like!



https://youtu.be/oBxT-eV1nmM


OK, but what if you don't want to put in all that work?



You still need to visit every deck and you still need to get rid of the monsters. But you don't have to make any repairs. You could even blow the inside to hell. But on the way out, you might get the option to tow it to a station, where someone will hopefully pay a lot of money for the junk you're hauling.


(Here I am in my custom ship, towing the remains of another ship I explored.)

Towing will slow your ship down. A lot. And it will keep you from warping, landing, or docking anywhere *until* you actually sell the salvage. So don't do it in a sector where you're badly outnumbered or outgunned.

But it's a great way to make some extra cash, and it even lets you tidy up the sector map a bit. But just in case you can't deal with all the aliens, or be bothered to explore more than 50% of the ship...




Yep. You found a weak spot you can exploit to make it come apart and spill its guts into space. As soon as you move away, it will blow. Collect the spoils!


These features represent a major milestone in the shipwreck overhaul, which is a big part of version 1.7 (but there are at least 4 other big parts of 1.7, so *WAY* more galaxy-shattering revelations to come.)






Like, *way* shorter. I'm still trying to find the proper balance for cybernetic gel (which cuts activated-skill cooldown times in half). The previous idea was that using skills was very rare, and using gel was even rarer.

But for now, we'll try this: skill cooldowns aren't very long at all, and using gel will significantly shorten that time, allowing you to possibly use the same skill twice during an encounter, if you feel the need is great enough.




A while ago, I introduced the beautiful alien species portraits that @kennydalman made, but they weren't actually in the game yet. Well...



Wait, those aren't exactly hails, what are they?




When you board a shipwreck with sentient aliens on it, they're not just "there" anymore. They're *doing* something. Maybe they're on a mission and don't want to be disturbed. Maybe they need your help fixing the ship. Or maybe they just want you to stand still for a second. Anyway, the universe keeps getting more "alive", and you've got to deal with it.

• You can now shelter in the shuttle on planets that cause environmental damage.
  
• "Stun" weapons got a speed boost.
  
• A lot of things were fixed that caused other things to break, and then those things got fixed too.
  
• Take my word for it.
  
• If you raid a Firax Vault (found at cave level 12 or deeper), you're in for a tougher time and some lasting consequences...
  
• Air pressure is restored much more quickly when you have working life support and 100% hull integrity.
  
• YOU CAN BUILD DOORS IN WALLS USING RARE CRAFTING PARTS!
  
• When starting a new game, the order of officer classes has been adjusted sequentially by division (curiosity, combat, systems, etc.)
  
• You also get tooltips on how to unlock any playable officer classes you're still missing.
  
• Added 13 new pieces of alien art to find.
  
• more More MOAR...
  

[h3]All this and much more awaits you in the ever-expanding universe of Approaching Infinity...[/h3]

I hope you've been collecting repair kits, scrap metal, gadgets, and crafting parts, because



If you find a shipwreck with at least 3 decks and a life support system, that's a good start. Then you need to fix all the damage (walls, floors, short circuits, consoles, mainframes, vital systems) and clear out any life-forms that might be there. Repair the hull, restore air pressure, and make sure there's no radiation.

And then you can get yourself a custom ship!



Depending on what the ship was originally (cargo hauler, gunship, science vessel, etc.) you'll have 3 choices of stat blocks for Hull, Speed, Crew, Cargo, and Supplies.

There are new "repair terminals" on each deck of a ship with 3 or more decks. They don't guarantee that the ship is repairable, but it's a good start. Visiting one of these terminals will give you a to-do list and also let you know what you might end up with.

This feels like one of the most exciting systems that has been added to the game in a long time. And you know what else? You get to choose which 2 devices you want to be "built in" (they're always 'on' and they don't take up a slot)!





This went out last week but didn't get an announcement, yet it's still really exciting: When you encounter intelligent aliens on shipwrecks, they will now tell you their business:

• "Help us evacuate" (you have to find all the aliens on every deck of the ship)
  
• "We're on a mission" (we won't mess with you if you don't mess with us)
  
• "Don't touch our stuff" (if you pick anything up, they'll attack)
  
• "Leave or die" (you have to the count of 10 to leave, or all become hostile)
  
• "Help us repair" (explore their ship and fix broken machines)
  

Towing of shipwrecks to sell at stations has also been implemented! If you have enough scrap (don't want to blow it up) but it's not worth fixing up, you can take it to any space station and bring in some cold hard credits. Anyone can do it right now, give it a try.






There's another change so HUGE that I won't even spoil it by showing you a picture. I'll just let you discover it for yourselves. But it's only available in the beta branch for now...

New version 1.7c1b fixes 2 fatal crashes that were discovered overnight:

• When landing on former human colonies.
  
• When exiting a shipwreck too overloaded with loot.
  

It also makes star temples spawn loot when they're destroyed, and using "hull shears" will now spawn 1 scrap metal. Thanks to the Discord folks for those bug reports and feature suggestions!