Approaching Infinity News

[p]Things have been great since the official launch back in April, the game hit "overwhelmingly positive" and I've enjoyed having a stable build up for the past month. But it's time for some updates! Everything here is released for all players today in version 2.0.16c (now 'd', see below).[/p][p][/p][p]When there are 14 different officer classes (including the new alien officers) to choose from, and only 6 officer slots, it can be hard to decide who to have on your team. In the past, you had to dismiss an officer to hire someone new. That changes now with...[/p][p]The Cryo-Chamber![/p][p]It needs to be unlocked through a quest chain, and it'll be easier if you have asteroid bases unlocked... Anyway, once you have 5 or 6 officers, if you touch a cryo-tube in a cave or shipwreck, one of your officers will come up with a brilliant idea... and the quest for the cryo-chamber will begin.[/p][p]It's optional, of course, and once you're completed the quest in one game, it unlocks cryo-chambers for sale in future games. They're expensive, and there's no reason you couldn't do the quest again. It's up to you.[/p][p]Freeze & Thaw[/p][p]Using the cryo-chamber now costs 1 essence of ice to freeze someone, and 1 essence of heat to thaw them. I was originally planning on higher costs, but for now, these token costs are fine.[/p][p][/p][p]And speaking of 'costs', I know that the prices of some items get way out of hand in the higher sectors... like $53 MILLION for a knife. So I did a few things to make prices more reasonable. This should help keep trading relevant, and money in general too. [/p][p]I also made it impossible to sell an item for more than you bought it for (this used to be exploitable with the greed inducer or salesman skill). Crafting parts will also be more expensive in the later game.[/p][p][/p][p]It was pointed out to me that the new Limoquee Marshal's "Arrest" skill wasn't nearly as cool as I thought it was... Sure you can take certain enemies out with a single melee attack, but you had to get close first, and you would take too much damage getting there.[/p][p]So now that skill works by distance, and the distance is equal to the skill level. So at level 3, you're arresting all criminals within 3 tiles every turn. Goodbye syndicate![/p][p]If you don't have the new alien officers yet, I encourage you to complete the quest lines of the Pirates, Gruff, Limoquee, and Sigorn. They can be game-changing.[/p][p][/p][p]Someone else pointed out to me that even though it's a powerful limiting factor at first, in the late game, planetary environmental damage becomes a non-issue.[/p][p]So now, enviro-damage continues to scale with sector, like most things. Terran planets are unaffected, frozen planets scale the least, and dying planets scale the most. I've now seen planets with over 3000 environmental damage per turn. And since dying planets are so very dangerous, I've made it so that natural resources (ore, transuranium, gemstones) found there can appear in stacks, not just single units.[/p][p]So of course, your suits' resistance now continues to scale as well. And there's a skill that used to give you +5 environmental resistance. Now that skill gives +5 or +5%, whichever is higher. So if you're in the 1000's, you get +50, etc.[/p][p][/p][p]What?![/p][p]So "grokking" a monster is to fully understand it and get a 25% chance to score critical hits on it. This is tracked in the bestiary, you can spend data to learn it, and there are some achievements for grokking lots of monsters.[/p][p]But now the Tentaculons have come up with a way to suck that knowledge out of your brain (and computers). Of course they'll pay you for such valuable information. You even get to choose from 6-8 different rewards, and the stronger the monster, the bigger the reward![/p][p]But "grok" is across all games. If you 'spend' the info (and crit chance) now, you won't have it later until you've shot that monster with lots of different guns, or collected its DNA many times.[/p][p]Still, it's a fun new thing to play with, and the really powerful monsters grant some insanely high-powered weapons.[/p][p][/p][p]Everything else I've done since the last update, in semi-chronological order. Like I've said, I don't plan on stopping. Approaching Infinity will continue to grow.[/p]

• [p]There are now random modifications for missile weapons : hardened, heavy, light.[/p]
• [p]Ship weapon modifications can now randomly appear during crafting (heavy, rapid, light, etc.).[/p]
• [p]Shields that reduce damage of certain weapon types (cannon, beam, missile) now reduce that damage by 50%, not 30%.[/p]
• [p]I modified crafting recipes (mostly making them more expensive).[/p]
• [p]I tried to make it so that items that don't have recipes can't be salvaged (for example tac-nuke grenade and ion storm cannon).[/p]
• [p]I fixed the math in the "oxygen conservation" power and added to the description: " Chance caps at 90%."[/p]
• [p]I added some descriptions for monsters that didn't have one.[/p]
• [p]You can no longer research creatures you haven't met yet (in the beastiary).[/p]
• [p]The cryo zapper now automatically freezes liquid terrain you try to move into.[/p]
• [p]I tried to fix naturalists petting bunnies.[/p]
• [p]I added rep and faction power to the top of station displays.[/p]
• [p]When looking at Commodities in the inventory, it will show you which races affect the price of each commodity.[/p]
• [p]Ammo Belt skill no longer selects nano-bullets.[/p]
• [p]Bartol Grimes now admits there is a way to get rid of radiation on shipwrecks.[/p]
• [p]High-Gravity planets also have stacks of resources, but half as much as dying planets.[/p]
• [p]I tried something else to prevent entering whitespace from destroying the sector [/p]
• [p]I randomized some base stats of newly created items (in stores, crafting, etc.)[/p]
• [p]Star Temple quests now have an XP reward! (they didn't?!)[/p]
• [p]The total armor of Ablative Armor is now reduced every time it is damaged.[/p]
• [p]When Limoquee scan you and detect illegal items, you immediately go into red alert (so no last-second docking!)[/p]
• [p]I improved the spawning of certain secret cave levels...[/p]
• [p]I improved the usage of consumables on away missions (UI issues).[/p]
• [p]I added extra sounds and visual effects when the away team gets hit.[/p]
• [p]I am allowing the "Identify Artifacts" process to be carried out on away missions. LMK if there is too much weirdness about it.[/p]
• [p]Spelunker level 2 will always detect caves from orbit, and level 3 reveals their final depth.[/p]
• [p]Medical Bay device now doubles the speed at which you recover from cured diseases.[/p]
• [p]I created a new type of quest: the "Shopping List". It requires you to gather up a list of a specific number of crafting parts, gadgets, commodities, rare plants, consumables, and/or essences. For example, maybe the Vordalene need 100 raw ore, 200 wiring, and 1 repair kit to complete a project. That could be a quest.[/p]

[p][/p][p]I'd like to point out just how many of the above changes have come from player feedback both here on Steam and in our Discord. I can't think of everything, but with your help, we get a lot done! Thanks ːtentaculonː[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Saturday morning update:[/p][p]Some users were experiencing a loss of sound when the away team was attacked (I just put in some new sound effects for this). So I tried to fix that (please let me know!), and I also tried to improve the internal logic when repairing shipwreck floors (it won't always be a wall now, and sometimes it will ask you "wall or floor?"). Version is now 2.0.16d.[/p][p] [/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]After a week at the beach, and before 4th of July, I addressed some issues, added some features, and tweaked some numbers. This is released for everyone, version 2.0.14a:[/p][p][/p]

• [p]I fixed a lot of issues with mutated diseases. Sorry about all that![/p]
• [p]I fixed a bug where scanning or boarding certain syndicate shipwrecks caused a hang / crash.[/p]
• [p]I put in more checks to auto-complete the quest in sector 7.[/p]
• [p]I fixed a visual bug in classic UI mode when exiting stations.[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]The captain's log no longer auto-formats your messages with capitals and lowercase letters.[/p]
• [p]Bandit machines (slot machines) now payout stacks of Commodities instead of just 1, and they only give certain Commodities.[/p]
• [p]Bandit machines can now pay out consumables (like squik poison and porta-doors).[/p]
• [p]Banker Soldier attack range increased to 7.[/p]
• [p]Ship classes that don't allow built-in devices (like the cruiser) will no longer show built-in slots on the inventory screen.[/p]
• [p]I refined the saving/loading of settings a bit more.[/p]
• [p]Diplomacy officers get more XP for large trades. Profit and distance traveled don't matter. Number of items and total sale price do.[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]From the inventory, you can now learn price grades of Commodities by spending data.[/p]
• [p]I created a one-time popup explaining that your crew does not need FOOD.[/p]
• [p]If you have the "classic plus" DLC and your ship is one of the standard types (not custom built from a shipwreck), you can change back to the stock image for that ship type.[/p]

[p][/p][p]"Wonder" from the Discord has started to put together a wiki! I've been helping out by exporting game data according to templates, but there is still lots of work to do. Check it out here:[/p][p]https://approachinginfinity.fandom.com/wiki/IBOL:_Approaching_Infinity_Wiki[/p][p]or here, in this add-less mirror: https://approachinginfinity.antifandom.com/wiki/IBOL:_Approaching_Infinity_Wiki[/p][p][/p]

[p]Now that there are 14 officer classes but only room for 6 at a time, I'm finally experimenting with a long-time player request: a place to "drop off" your officers so you can hire someone with a certain set of skills...[/p][p][/p][p]For now, it will have no cost. In the future there will be quests to obtain it and freeze/thaw costs in essences every time you use it (ice to freeze and heat to thaw).[/p][p]If you want to play around with the cryo-chamber, make sure you have the latest version (2.0.13e) and enter the code "Cryo-Chamber". It unlocks on a per-run basis. Remember: it's free right now for testing but that won't last forever.[/p][p]You can still only hire one of the new "alien division" officers at a time. You can't cheat with the cryo-chamber. Death or dismissal are your only chances to get another.[/p][p][/p]

• [p]I fixed a serious bug that made the final monk quest un-complete-able![/p]
• [p]I fixed a bug where the uniform achievements were only triggering in permadeath. That was not intended![/p]
• [p]I've set the Nanopocalypse achievement to trigger if you beat it in any way, not just through the quest line.[/p]
• [p]I fixed a bug where you couldn't use gel from the inventory screen.[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]During new game ship selection, if a race's special officer is unlocked, their portrait will show up when you choose their ship. If you start with that ship, they will offer to join you right before your game begins.[/p]

• [p]Officers for hire now start with significantly more XP, to make it easier to replace any losses.[/p]
• [p]You can now intentionally burn commodities in the reactor, from the inventory screen.[/p]
• [p]You can now sell alien art in station pawn shops. Bankers always pay less for art, and each art piece is valued higher by 1 faction, which is displayed in the inventory.[/p]
• [p]I added 6 new possible powers to legendary weapons.[/p]
• [p]Syndicate ships will now have a chance to create racial shipwrecks when destroyed![/p]
• [p]You can now spend data in the bestiary to learn resistances/weaknesses of individual creatures, in an attempt to grok them.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]Thanks again for everyone who left a positive review, it's now up to 96% positive out of all time! I love making this universe and I'm glad you're having fun in it![/p][p][/p]

[p]Sure sure, we already hit 2.0 and full release. But after 12 years, I CAN'T STOP! So here are 4 new officer classes you can unlock, and these are *special*. This is so exciting for me! I haven't designed new classes from scratch since the very beginning:[/p][h3]And they're not human![/h3][h3][/h3][p]Well, the Pirate might be, but barely. And the others, definitely not. That means they can't use human cyber-skills. And that means that their skills need to be really awesome. Well they are![/p]

• [p]The Pirate Buccaneer is all about illegal activity, like counterfeiting, extortion, and smuggling.[/p]
• [p]The Gruff Hunt-Leader carries a variety of ammo types and can tame predators.[/p]
• [p]The Limoquee Marshal can instantly arrest pirates, mercs, and syndicate members.[/p]
• [p]The Sigorn Quartermaster helps you store more of everything and get better prices for trades. But their best ability might be charging in to attack from 3 tiles away![/p]

[p]How did I choose these races? They're the 4 major factions that don't offer victory quests. Well now they have something else to give. If you've already done all their quests and gotten the achievement, they should unlock as soon as you visit their stations. Otherwise, you better get going on their quests![/p][p][/p][p]I had a great time making these characters and their skills: thinking about their personality and what kinds of unique experiences they could offer. I hope you enjoy them.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]At the time of this writing, Approaching Infinity is 3 reviews away from "Overwhelmingly Positive" on Steam. That's a huge milestone! And you, yes YOU, could make the difference.[/p][p]If you enjoy my game and haven't left a review yet, please, please, please do me that one small favor ːsteamhappyː[/p][p]Edit:[/p][h2]WE DID IT! [/h2][h2]Approaching Infinity is Overwhelmingly Positive.[/h2][p]Thank you so much![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]People keep wishing me luck on my future endeavors... I appreciate that, but I have so much more I want to do with Approaching Infinity. The Narcratu Invasion, the story of the Sil, commerce planets, the Pirate Bar, and more.[/p][p][/p][p]Join me on my journey as we try to heal the broken galaxy.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

After 12 years, I don't know how to stop. This is my "Star Wars", my "Stellaris". My game's universe is always on my mind. What stories can I tell? What features can I offer? And there's another important question I must ask: How can I continue living my life as an indie game developer?!

Getting to 500 Steam reviews and hitting "overwhelmingly positive" would help greatly. We're almost there. But that's something I can't directly control. I plan to strike a balance between continuing free updates and paid DLCs, for as long as you continue to reward my hard work ;)

There have been a lot of additions, fixes, and changes over the last month, but first:



Approaching Infinity is finally part of Turn Based Fest! This week-long event features over 400 turn-based games and is brought to you from the same people who host Turn Based Thursday on Twitter and Bluesky every week. Approaching Infinity has 2 streaming events during the fest:

BlindiRL : Tuesday, June 3, 5:00 – 9:00pm EST

Ic0n: Wednesday, June 4, 6:00 – 7:00pm EST




https://store.steampowered.com/app/3723910
Released today, just in time for the big event. You get

• Hats for your officers
  
• Selectable ship images
  
• Unlock all ships and officer classes (optional)
  
• The complete original version of Approaching Infinity from before Steam
  

It's surprising how fun and challenging the older version is. It lacks a lot of modern convenience and social features (there's no hailing, surrender, or planet scanning) while still having all 12 major faction quest lines. Officers have different skills, and both ship and away team weapons function differently. But there are no grenades, consumables, or activated skill modules.

[h3]You know how it's going. See how it started![/h3]
https://youtu.be/vO9qlKxjCDY

The DLC comes with selectable ship images for the main game:

And hats:



...an insanely long chronological list of updates since launch, compiled from my Discord Dev Log:

• Crafting key now works on away missions when standing on shuttle.,
  
• I tried to disallow "blank" items from being sold by the schematics dealer.,
  
• Repair skill should now properly repair floors.,
  
• It was reported that having a knife (auto-attack on adjacent move) with the "naturalist" skill still attacked monsters. Could not duplicate, but added additional check.,
  
• Using the Naturalist skill to examine a creature now gives that character 1 XP.
  
• Sometimes the player will spawn in a wall at the bottom right in caves. There is now a fix for that.
  
• "Hazardous Materials" skill now also increases environmental resistance (reduces planetary environmental damage).,
  
• Xenocide gas now spawns again!,
  
• The spawn rate of Engraver Waystations is somewhat reduced.,
  
• When the crew of stationary space enemy is all dead, they will now just blow up.,
  
• Large station-like enemies now have a limit to the number of support ships they can launch.,
  
• Playing the tutorial will no longer delete your selected cheats!,
  
• "retribution squads" are working again. Don't be a jerk to your allies 😉,
  
• Any vessel that fires on you loses its "surrendered" or "victorious" status, making it fair game to shoot back.
  
• On shipwrecks, isolated floors near space but no other floors will be automatically destroyed upon map load or accessing repair terminals.,
  
• In crafting screens when highlighting essences, faction embassies will be added to the list of sources.,
  
• Modding a grenade to increase its max ammo now gives you +1 grenade.,
  
• Having 2 sources of hull shears (device, wreck tech skill, artifacts) allows you to remove undamaged ship walls by walking into them.,
  
• There is a setting in options under automation for this wall-removing power. Default behavior asks if you want to do it, but you can set it to 'always' or 'never'.
  
• The Explorer's "Eco-Examiner" skill's special ability of gaining +100 data for each kind of plant or tree touched WAS BROKEN. It is now fixed.,
  
• Right click now closes many windows that don't require a specific choice. I need to find more.,
  
• I fixed the choppy rotation of pulsars.,
  
• I fixed some janky movement when a searched computer yielded a clue fragment.
  
• Finally truly fixed the "hire crew" achievement.,
  
• Also fixed the sector 100+ achievement which I didn't even know was broken.,
  
• Found some weird behavior when your ship's armor is destroyed.,
  
• There are 2 very long conversations that
• The new "remove solid walls" power is now limited to shipwrecks only and gives a warning if you're about to breach the outer hull.,
  
• I added a more forceful spawning of certain quest-specific locations. It should work retroactively as well, on sectors already generated.,
  
• Solar assimilator now gives more supplies per turn.,
  
• Tooltip now shows enemy ship's hull and shields in red and blue (matching the color of the player's hull & shield bars).,
  
• Fixed an infinite loop in asteroid base generation.,
  
• Salesman skill now also affects the price of surveys (as well as shipwrecks and items sold in pawn shop).
  
• You can now swap weapons on the away team by clicking the swap weapon button (didn't work if you selected text-type buttons).,
  
• The cost of hiring crew goes up a lot more according to the number of crew deaths you've had.,
  
• Abandoning diseased crew on an away mission now properly removes the disease.,
  
• Leaving diseased crew on an away mission results in them becoming zombified enemies.,
  
• When "auto-install on purchase" is turned off, you now get a message that something was bought and stored.,
  
• Oxygen cake and immune booster consumables are now a little more powerful.,
  
• There is now a more robust system in place to prevent endlessly purchasing from the same station in the same sector.,
  
• There is a new setting "no surrender" : you can stop ships from hailing you about you or them surrendering.
  
• I removed a function that moved entities away from you when entering a map. It was too easily exploitable.,
  
• Sil will only approach you demanding an artifact once per sector. They may still demand it as part of your surrender.,
  
• In the diplomacy screen, your reputation with the Mercenaries is better described.,
  
• Membership Card skill now gives you +20 Rep with Mercs per level.,
  
• Dirt walls now spawn in caves. They can be dug with Spelunker 2 or excavator 1, similar to rubble.,
  
• Rich Dirt now also spawns and is dug the same way, but various loot will be found inside it, like raw ore or gemstones.,
  
• Right-clicking the wait button will now "long rest", waiting for healing and cooldowns.
  
• On the warp screen in commodity price section, it now shows amount you have and the price you paid.,
  
• I added a status indicator for how long until the away team starts to heal.,
  
• Spaceborne creatures like the astral phoenix and vacuum amoeba will no longer spontaneously die!,
  
• I reduced the number of Amoebas needed in the Vordalene quest to 15.,
  
• I have the beginnings of a "help" screen, accessed from the Options menu or just by pressing F1.,
  
• Removed the "NOT IMPLEMENTED YET." from the settings "ignore illegal" and "get loot" because they've worked for a long time now.,
  
• The Bankers "money" quest is now fully complete-able in a single station visit, if you already have the $15M needed. (Not going to apply to many people.),
  
• I've increased and stabilized the value of planetary surveys.,
  
• I increased the credit rewards of all Bankers quests.,
  
• I increased the chance that a Bankers station will sell an upgraded version of your ship, if it's one of the classes that Bankers sell.,
  
• I Added a new setting "3rd Party Attacks" and it speeds up or gets rid of animations where creatures are attacking eachother (not you).,
  
• I Fixed an issue that allowed some games to be continued after "game-ending victory".
  
• I increased the base range of pistols to 4 (from 3).,
  
• The rifle's "return fire" power can now trigger an unlimited number of times per turn.,
  
• Snakes now have the camouflage power.,
  
• I reinstated a kind of level binding per sector.
  
• I changed the nature of the "Smuggler's Compartment" device: it now protects up to 30 cargo units of items and commodities. It is (currently) the only device that can be installed multiple times.
  
• I fixed a bug in the officer team cheat where the away team's 2nd weapon would be worth millions.,
  
• I added a counter on the embassy quest screen that shows how far along you are in that faction's quest line.,
  
• Each sector now has a maximum tech level, which goes up as you progress deeper into the galaxy.,
  
• I increased the chance that a merc bounty quest target will spawn, and tried to make sure they always spawn.,
  
• If a merc bounty quest points to a sector with no locations available, then one will be spawned.,
  
• I updated the powers a merc bounty target can have.,
  
• When you come out of a cave in a north/east/south/west zone, you get a popup message telling you how to get back to the shuttle
  
• Dogtag quests work again! You need to search bodies to get them.,
  
• I fixed some bugs related to installing the smuggler's compartment multiple times.,
  
• You can now install cargo containers and supply storage multiple times as well.,
  
• I fixed a bug where classic mode was not saved.,
  
• Retribution squads no longer spawn in whitespace,
  
• Victory screen no longer treats your current crew as dead!,
  
• Merc bounty hunter quest targets now get stronger as you take more merc missions, and they can have up to 3 random powers!,
  
• I fixed a bug that prevented the Nanopocalypse from being resolved in certain circumstances.,
  
• I fixed a bug where your game would be re-saved after it was deleted for the Amulet of Yendor victory.,
  
• I fixed a bug where you couldn't travel to N/E/S/W in some caves without being on the arrows.
  
• I added new mouths, eyebrows, and glasses for everyone.,
  
• I changed the short description of the rock plow and a few other devices.,
  
• I updated the descriptions of some of the keys in Options => Keybinds,
  
• If you're invincible, artifacts interactions will no longer damage you.,
  
• I added a one-time explainer popup for the Peer / Look command.,
  
• You will no longer mine asteroids during combat. There is a one-time popup about this, and also a new setting.,
  
• There is a one-time popup message about the new help screen.,
  
• The help screen now has a section listing all possible skills for every officer class.,
  
• I fixed a bug where you couldn't sell items if you had more than 100 things to sell.,
  
• I fixed a bug where syndicate ships were treated as non-hostile.,
  
• I've slightly increased commodity price fluctuations between sectors.,
  
• I've increased the amount that factions affect the price of specific commodities.,
  
• Most races no longer sell natural resources (ore, transuranium, gemstones), but will buy them. (Pirates sell raw ore and gemstones, Firax sell transuranium.),
  
• I've raised the price of the natural resource commodities ore, transuranium, and gemstones. (This is especially good for asteroid miners.)
  
• I increased the amount of some Commodities that fit in one cargo space.,
  
• I fixed a bug where Limoquee scans weren't detecting contraband.,
  
• I started tracking number of commodities smuggled into Limoquee space. It's displayed on the Stats screen.,
  
• After certain milestones (500,1000,2500,5000) of smuggled commodities, the Limoquee take notice and up their anti-smuggling game.,
  
• Limoquee are also now tracking how many times they've caught you with illegal cargo.
  
• You can now leave yourself notes directly from the captain's log screen. Sorry that wasn't always possible.,
  
• Red Alert status icon now has a proper description.,
  
• Cloaked now has a status icon and description.,
  
• You will once again drop items and devices when your ship is carrying too much!,
  
• Diplomat will get XP for big sales including towed shipwrecks.
  

on getting this far: you get some codes!

Rescue : June 2 : A3CZ#%GJ
Rescue : June 3 : 8Nffr#57
Rescue : June 4 : !d*i5PQM
Rescue : June 5 : ydmiyq4a
Rescue : June 6 : x3KfEPOy
Rescue : June 7 : 7UhishFy
Rescue : June 8 : cdeiP3YM
Rescue : June 9 : UcGfWe5#

Pay It Forward : June 2 : a3Ccx7ie
Pay It Forward : June 3 : QcDQ32V@
Pay It Forward : June 4 : ncJ6FzHd
Pay It Forward : June 5 : %Nmm3^d9
Pay It Forward : June 6 : hccm^xsj
Pay It Forward : June 7 : ucOQqFPF
Pay It Forward : June 8 : Zcecz9y!
Pay It Forward : June 9 : QNGcjczc

Go to Options => Enter Code and copy/paste the code you want to use. Everyone can use these codes, but you can only use one code per day (unless you use the "unlimited codes" cheat).