Starship EVO News

The bugfix effort continue following the Warp update.
Multiplayer is fixed and now compatible with multi system logic.

As usual you can book case or view more details on each issue on the official github page.

Improvements:

Holomap: Added a Zoom to own spaceship button
Spaceship HUD: Warp target dedicated icon (#3107)
Bugfixes:

Blueprint icon too white.
#3130 #3123 Collision check prevent building in some case with cross entities.
#3135 Incorrect description for Warp Core and Copy-Paste tool.

Here is a quick overview of the work done during the last months following the Early Access release.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Even if does not seems much in term of new features there was quite a few big tasks tackled:

First we had to cope with a massive feedback and issues surge following the launch. That was a lot of work, there is still a few things to improve the newcomer experience - like streamlining the locomotion mode - or issues to fix, but it is getting there.

The rendering overhaul was also a massive milestone. It does not look much (as a matter of fact the game looks the same), but performance is much better: higher FPS and no CPU lag during combat or building due to brick being added or destroyed.

Then some components critical to the gameplay loop were added, like player health, respawn and medbay, a loot system with Upgrade System Chip as the first lootable item and a bunch of combat and balance related improvements.

The most recent milestone consists in Interstellar Travel. It was also quite a big step forward, as a matter of fact it still needs fixes and polishes so it remains in experimental for now.

A lot of other features were added (workshop, copy-paste, collisions improvements), so check the full video!

I am excited to see the road ahead - thanks for supporting the game!

Cheers
Francois

A much needed hotfixes build following the warp update. More fixes to come! Thanks to all the test for your precious feedback and bug reports.

As usual you can book case or view more details on each issue on the official github page.


Bugfixes:
#3102 Texture issue on stretched Warp Core.
#3097 Collisions issue on Medium and Thin pipe base blocks.
#3099 #2940 Query gate still working after deletion.
#3103 Incorrect Spaceship widget position on large screen.
#3105 Warp travel widget does not flatten in 2D view.
#3111 #3115 Holomap breaks game when selection some stars.
#3114 Entity are lost on reload for new characters.
#3124 Medbay incorrect orientation for symmetry.
#3117 #3108 #3116 Autopilot planet avoidance can cause game freeze on warp.
#3112 #3120 Cancel warp issue.

The build 20w43a introduces Interstellar travel. You can now pick a star destination and warp to it!
You will need to add the new warp block to your design. Check out your ship range in the Spaceship Computer.
Also added are a few improvements to the holomap.

Interstellar Travel features:

• You can now warp to another system!
  
• Warp core block is added.
  
• Simply assign a warp jump target in the holomap, then while flying the ship Middle Mouse over the target and select "Initiate Warp Jump".
  
• Spaceship computer and holomap will display the spaceship warp range.
  

This is still a work in progress. The next steps are:

• Network support.
  
• Star system procedural variation (more planet type)
  
• Variety of asteroids, interstellar dust and more.
  
• Warp core addons and fuel
  
• Star System view in the holomap.
  

Holomap / Galaxy Improvements:

• Sector zoom is removed
  
• Star zoom is added
  
• Star lining on the galactic plane issue fixed
  
• More stars are generated.
  

Turret Improvements:

• Turret with more than one children entity are now correctly taken into account.
  

Community Suggestions:
#3073 Minimum FOV lowered to 30.
#3065 Player look angle while seated increased.
#3058 Canopy can now scale vertically.

Bugfixes:
#2009 #1625 Clipping is now also checking different entity.
#3067 Cannot unlink Query gate.

The latest big update focuses on the galaxy with the addition of the Holomap. It is an important step toward interplanetary travel which should be landing soon!
The holomap currently shows the galaxy and will be used to travel through the galaxy.
Access it from a Spaceship by pressing the H key (bindable).
The stars distribution has also been revamped, and the skybox is now showing the galaxy depending on the current star location.


[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


Features:

• Access the Holomap by pressing H while flying ship
  
• Can access the holomap by linking the new Holo Projector to the Spaceship computer
  
• Can lock a Warp travel (but interstellar travel is not yet implemented)
  
• New star distribution in the sky, reflecting each star position, color and magnitude.
  
• Pan the view by middle-mouse clicking
  
• Zoom with the mouse scroll wheel
  
• In the sector view rotator around by holding left mouse button
  

To-do:

• Interstellar travel
  
• System view of current star, planets and point of interests
  
• Star Info panel.
  
• Holoprojector size settings
  
• Holoprojector will link to others systems
  
• Sector view might be replaced by a zoom on Star view.
  

If you played the game when it was called Skywanderers, you will see quite a big departure from the old holomap. The older one was fancy but not really user friendly: I had to move to a more traditional full screen with mouse UI layout instead of the 3d in-game one.
The star generation also had been changed, we now have a lot less stars. Having a hundreds of billions of stars was a real pain navigation wise and was not delivering anything special gameplay wise. This might be great for more realistic game like Elite Dangerous, but Starship EVO aims at delivering a more space-opera feel.

See you in the next one!