Starship EVO News

The latest series of patch over the last two weeks focuses on making combat more engaging.
It make hard-points a valid alternative to turrets, amp up brick based ship durability, make system destruction a viable combat strategy and address the ship agility issues following player feedback.

Furthermore we did an important push on accessibility and player locomotion to address some issues and difficulties some player experienced.

Please note that the last few update are being push on the EXPERIMENTAL beta branch, so if you want to help to test you can opt-in! No password required.

Here is a quick recap of the main changes and new additions:

• No-clip mode added, an help message will suggest to activate it when player is stuck
  
• Fast speed mode is now a debug toggle
  
• Player being stuck on high fall issue is fixed.
  
• inconsistent jump height issue fixed
  
• Ship turning speed will scale down with mass at a given agility rating.
  
• Ship agility rating is maxed out to 100% (it will still display score superior to 100% though).
  
• Bricks now provide some Armor and Hull Integrity according to their volume, up to 100 HP per voxel.
  
• Gimbal added for fixed weapons.
  
• Hit Marker added.
  
• NPCs can uses fixed weapons.
  
• Target Lead indicator for each hotkey added.
  
• Mouse Power curve setting added: default is at 50%.
  
• System Destroy chain: system blocks have a 75% of destroying a neighbor voxel.
  
• Systems will cease to function under 50% HP.
  
• HUD: system HP for own and target ship added.
  
• Thruster system will emit some smoke when partly destroyed.
  

As usual for the full list of or changes and bug fixes you can report to the github or check in game:
[New build - EXPERIMENTAL] 20w32b: Hotfixes. [New build - EXPERIMENTAL] 20w32a: Systems Destruction. [New build - EXPERIMENTAL] 20w31b: Hardpoint Improvements. [New build - DEFAULT] 20w31a: Brick HP and ship agility. [New build - DEFAULT] 20w30d: Hotfixes. [New build - DEFAULT] 20w30c: Player Locomotion Improvements


Happy building!
Francois

This update follows through on the latest effort on combat by making systems destruction a more viable strategy.
It adds a few new gameplay mechanics and some HUD feedback on players own ship and target ship systems HP.

Improvements and changes.

System Destroy chain: system blocks have a 75% of destroying a neighbor voxel.
Systems will cease to function under 50% HP.
HUD: system HP for own and target ship added.
Thruster system will emit some smoke when partly destroyed.
NB: Player will have ways to improve the previous stats through gameplay in upcoming updates.

Bugfixes:
#2741 Missing children entities on blueprint load.
#2721 #2738 Incorrect chunk information on blueprint load.
#2740 Build on a ship that is selected by the tracking cam breaks game.
#2731 Can link seat to buttons.
#2718 Mag-lock can lock to already locked entity
Mag-lock can lock circularly.
#2717 Grays paint not applied correctly on light.
#2734 Weapon spread not applied with gimbal weapons.

his update focuses at making hardpoints a more viable option for combat by adding gimbal, a target lead indicator, hitmarkers and a finer mouse control with the addition of a power curve.

Improvements and changes.

Gimbal added for fixed weapons.
Hit Marker added.
NPCs can uses fixed weapons.
Target Lead indicator for each hotkey added.
Mouse Power curve setting added: default is at 50%.
Some CPU optimizations

This build is part of the EXPERIMENTAL branch.

This update aims at addressing a few issues related to ship handling and durability for brick based ships.

Following players feedback a new Spaceship agility model is introduced:
Ship with more mass will turner slower at a given agility.
Some examples:
Up to 20T = 100% speed.
50T => 91% speed.
100T => 79% speed.
1000T => 49% speed.
10000T => 21% speed.
You might need to put more thrusters on your larger ship if it turns too slowly!

Improvements and changes.

• Ship agility rating is maxed out to 100% (it will still display score superior to 100% though).
  
• Bricks now provide some Armor and Hull Integrity according to their volume, up to 100 HP per voxel.
  
• Faster loading time.
  
• The Tracking Camera has better performance.
  
• Unstuck Command renamed to noclip mode.
  

Bugfixes:

• Weapon still visible when unequiped.
  
• Weapon on game reload when weapon is equiped
  
• #2713 Destroyed voxel during gameplay are still visible.
  
• #2711 Cant close command list menu with ESC
  
• #2712 Move faster / slower keys present in command list.
  
• #2707 Stuck message appearing in No Clip mode.
  
• #2701 Some transparent bricks are opaque in Ship Preview.
  
• #2708 Dropped weapon incorrect placement on reload.
  

This build aims at improving the character locomotion feel according to the feedback of the Early Access player. It fixes a few issues related to player movements and add a no-clip mode in case the player get stuck.

Also some fixes related to the latest rendering updates, it should be almost perfect now!

Changes

• Loading time should be a bit faster.
  
• Unstuck Mode added: press F5 to activated it.
  
• Is stuck message.
  
• Command List Menu: list all "hidden" hard keybinds like the F keys.
  
• Player stops walking faster.
  
• Fast Speed keys are now a debug toggle.
  
• Fast Speed factor HUD indicator.
  

Bugfixes:

• #2690 Wrong maglock mass limit computation.
  
• Player will be less likely to get stuck after a high fall.
  
• Inconsistent player jump.
  
• #2694 Maglock: Parented entity issue when parent is unspawned.
  
• #2700 Occlusion culling can cull close bricks.
  
• Occlusion culling can cull brick behind two closer bricks.
  
• Some decals are not visible up-close.