Starship EVO News

Here are the patch notes for the following two updates:

[New build - EXPERIMENTAL] 21w36a: The Fuel Saga #2: Attack of the Valves
[New build - EXPERIMENTAL] 21w37a: Builder's Requests

Theses two builds bring a few features to the fuel experience and catch up on some builders most popular requests.



New features

Valve pipe: The valve allows you to control the flow on a pipe section on request.
You can activate it by hand or via remote logic.

Transparent pipe and tank. This will be convenient to visualize what is happening in your fuel loops.
The transparent tank has a different and cylindrical design (courtesy of womble).
The gas density depends on the % of each tank / pipe.
This will also be convenient when other type of fuel and liquid fuel are added.

Multi-tank logic.
It is now possible to form functional tank chains: the tanks linked together will exchange fuel to form an equilibrium.

Builders Requests

• Gravity field now has an option for ship-wide gravity.
  
• Left shift keybind also maps to Right shift.
  
• [SUGGESTION] Box Delete Tool STICKER/DECAL ONLY delete. #4162 Box-delete on decals only toggle inside Build Options
  
• Docking port shows direction arrows.
  
• Arch brick added
  
• Tile triangle brick added
  
• Copy-paste and Box delete show symmetry status
  
• Pick Material in Action Wheel
  
• Prefabs are editable from the clipboard tab
  
• Docking Config gate can now merge sub-modules spawned
  
• Walk speed and Run key re-introduced
  
• New Build Option: it is now possible to skip some help message (like the "You are stuck" one)
  

Other Changes:

• A corrupt save safeguard has been added following a few cases reported:
  
• A backup save called
• .sevobu file will be created from the previous valid save
  
• The game will not attempt to save if it detect an issue or an 0 length save
  
• In that case a warning message will popup telling the player to book a case.
  
• => IMPORTANT: If you face such an issue it is important to report the case as we were still unable to investigate and fix the real underlying issue!
  
• New look for Decals in the codex
  
• Some refactoring was done on the rendering pipeline too, please report if you spot any issues!
  

Hotfixes:

• Box Delete can now mirror
  
• Pipe link issue after load.
  
• incorrect "Piping Flow Sufficient" tooltip on reactors.
  
• [Bug] Fuel Drains in a fraction of a second, Reactor pulses at negative energy stored #4141 Incorrect fuel consumption computation.
  
• [Bug] Removal FX on tank are misplaced #4144 Removal FX on tank are misplaced
  
• #4165 Copy of children entity render issue
  
• #4167 Fuel transfert issues
  
• #3847 Symmetry incorrect on window tile
  
• Paint quick selection menu fixed
  
• #4175 RGB controller not working
  

Thanks for playing.

Hotfixes build following the first fuel update.

New features

• Pipe thin added.
  

Hotfixes:

• Box Delete can now mirror
  
• Pipe link issue after load.
  
• [Bug] Fuel Drains in a fraction of a second, Reactor pulses at negative energy stored #4141 Incorrect fuel consumption computation.
  
• [Bug] Removal FX on tank are misplaced #4144 Removal FX on tank are misplaced
  

Thanks for playing!

This is the first of several updates introducing a key component to the gameplay: Fuel.

New Features:

• Power balance is now computed at the level of each reactor.
  
• Reactors will consume fuel while producing power.
  
• Reactors have a built-in small fuel tank (250l for a 1m reactor)
  
• Tank can now store fuel (1000l per 1m3)
  
• Pipe can now transport fuel from tanks to reactors when reactors request it.
  
• Reactors will always try to fill their own internal tank.
  
• Entity Codex Setting: [Reactor Auto-refill fuel]
  
• Entity Codex Button: [Refill Tanks]
  
• You can debug Reactors data by clicking on it while the Link Tool is equiped.
  
• You can debug Fuel data on Pipes, Tanks and Reactors while a pipe/tank is equiped by looking at it.
  

State of fuel integration, legacy and creative support:
For now this is useless as we dont have yet a way to harvest gas or buy it a stations.
While these features are being added and in the sake of legacy and creative play an entity setting has been added: [Reactor Auto-refill fuel].
It will be toggled On for legacy blueprints and also on new ship in creative.
You can toggle it Off and use the [Refill Tanks] button if you want to help debug and balance the new fuel system!

A few numbers regarding the current balance:

• A 1m reactor can produce full power for 60 seconds on its interior tank
  
• A 1m reactor needs a 0.25m pipe connection to be refilled in real time.
  

=> those numbers will change depending on community feedback - they are starting figures.
Dont yet spend time on retro-fitting your ship for those wanted to do so.

A few words on the behind the scenes:
The tech is using data driven design and is multi-threaded so performance should be very good (0 impact in my stress-test)
The logic is purely local, so complex piping network will not stress the system.

To be added soon:

• Gas to be harvested
  
• Refill at stations
  
• Transparent tanks and pipe, to see the flow live
  
• Valve to control flow.
  
• Docking transfert
  
• Potentially way to increase tank pressure: cryo addon, or COPV tank.
  
• Bugfixes:
  
• #4100 RBG gate's off color changed after restart
  
• #4132 Issue with copy-paste and link with non-copied children entities
  

Thanks for playing.

A visual improvement has been added to improve the game feel from far distances.
Now thrusters, lights and entities have a smooth glow when viewed from afar (like the current light on the torus).
Soon more elements will use the same technology.

Bugfixes:

• #4126 Some rotator fails to load.
  

Thanks for playing!

The event gate now encompasses the features of the hotkey gate.
This update provides a few performance improvements.

On our test config during moment with no action it provided up to 30% FPS gains.

• NPCs field physics checks are now multi-threaded
  
• Turret rotator control logic is multi-threaded.
  

Bugfixes:

• #4119 Event gate is not visible.
  

Thanks for playing!