Gaia Beyond News

[h2]🎃 Trick or treat, traveler? 🎃[/h2][p][/p][p]Have no fear – it's just the usual "humanity on the brink of destruction and everything being haunted by supernatural beings" scenario that's typical for this time of year - which doesn't mean you'll survive. [/p][p]We'd like to take advantage of the unpleasant situation of the undead taking over the universe to remind you of our upcoming releases: The alternative path of the Sphere Arc is almost complete and will be released in the coming weeks! Immediately after that - hopefully still this year - the J-12 Arc (Chapter 3) will follow.[/p][p]If you not only shred pumpkins and pulverize skeleton bones, but also speak Portuguese or Russian, we have some good news for you: With this update, a completely new translation - Brazilian Portuguese - is being released, and the Russian version has been updated again![/p][p]Many thanks to our fearless translators José Roberto (PT-BR) and SeGAD (RU), you guys did an amazing job, and of course - thank you all for playing and the great support![/p][p][/p][p]See you soon with the next update, folks! 🚀[/p]

[p][/p][p]166 AM, 120 Sol[/p][p]Central Dogma, Ceres[/p][p][/p][p]Prof. Helios: Damn it! The evaluation process is taking too long! The Council's decision-making has been lacking recently. Are you sure there isn't anything wrong with one of the segments?[/p][p]Assistant: The analysts are currently conducting an additional diagnostic procedure. The Cermark segment has been exhibiting irregularities on occasion.[/p][p]Prof. Helios: Where are the replacement parts? We need them yesterday.[/p][p]Assistant: New components are scheduled to arrive in the near future.[/p][p]Prof. Helios: How soon? I need a number! Days, weeks?[/p][p]Assistant: A few... months, professor?[/p][p]Prof. Helios: Are you kidding me? What is the military even doing? The Sphere has recently experienced a civil war, and we are missing the window of opportunity.[/p][p]Assistant: A messenger has been dispatched. This should expedite the process.[/p][p]Prof. Helios: What about the new carrier? The order was designated as a top priority by the Council![/p][p]Assistant: Nearing completion, Professor Helios. I can present you a preview on the big screen:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Prof. Helios: Looks... almost finished? At least with this project there could be no delays...[/p][p]Assistant: The vessel has been equipped with fighter bays and is armed with sufficient turrets to neutralize any opponents of the Council.[/p][p]Prof. Helios: Excellent! I'm looking forward to its first flight.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]Hey travelers, [/p][p]It's been a while - but the upcoming main story arc is well underway and can be expected later this year! In it, you'll be able to take on the role of a soldier in the J-12 military. Also, the existing Sphere arc will be expanded with an alternative route and new locations, while exciting new features are being tested...[/p][p]Enjoy the summertime! ☀️🚀[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]
Let's have a chat on Discord:[/p][p] [/p]

Happy Halloween, space folks!

The annual horror show has begun. For those who haven't had a chance yet, it's time to defeat the Bonelord (and steal his mighty ship!), close the portals to the Wicked Dimension or equip the Spectre ghost ship with some devastating pumpkin weapons. Of course, everyone else is invited to mash pumpkins, too!

Also, we've finally completed the German translation once again and are happy to present some progress on the user interface, as well as a bunch of fixes.

Stay safe in this haunted universe! ✌️🐢🚀





[h2]The horror is back[/h2]
All hell is loose once again - skeleton bosses, eyeballs, pumpkins... You know the deal!




[h2]DE Translation[/h2]
With the latest dialog translation, the full German version is now back to 100%! ✅ There have also been improvements to the old parts of the german translation. We will continue to improve the quality of the translations as much as we can.


[h2]Mining Laser Turrets[/h2]
Made for very large ships like carriers, with improved range stats etc. (can be bought at most CoC Stations, availability increases after the first story arc)





[h2]UI[/h2]
While overall UI improvements are in progress, we can already release a first bunch of details that are safe to go:

• Improve 4:3 and ultra wide resolution support
  
• Basic window: slight updates while we work on a completely new, alternative version
  
• Add a custom companion map icon
  
• Multiple UI performance improvements
  
• Map: optimized ship icon legibility on various backgrounds
  
• Improved S.O.S. signal layout and custom icon
  

Other reworked elements: radar frame, upgrade arrow, quickbar level-up indicator highlight/glow, background gradient element (main menu), landable name box

There is not much to see of the ongoing tooltip changes yet - the main reason is a major update to the UI framework, which has set us back a bit and brought new bugs to fix. However, these have now been fixed so that we can continue with the clean-up and improvement of the tooltips and their stats.

• Tooltip update crash
  
• Kiara repair laser doesn't repair the player
  
• Pirate spawner ships should not fly to distant stations
  
• Person affinity should only change from an attack if the player is involved
  
• Noob Henderson should now force-attack the player, if he leaves the route during the journey to Caduceus, even when out of radar range
  
• Some traders use cargo_initial instead of cargo_service, which results in faulty restocks and maximum amounts for their stored items (thx @Oji on discord)
  
• If Lord Uesugi is persuaded, the dialog during Atlas HQ will reflect on it correctly (thx @Curse on discord)
  
• Removed quick access trading/repair and ship trading icons from Jiraiya in some instances (thx @Rjdanil on discord)
  
• Typos and grammar mistakes (thx @GDUBMX on discord)
  
• Instances in which the term 'Kuiper Belt' was used wrong
  
• A missing dialog block switch at the end of the Caduceus storyline, which opened up the possibility of repeating and then softlocking 'The Sheherazade Embargo'
  
• "Sphere Launch Bay 2" (a test item) was available for loot and purchase
  
• Don't show a destroyed favorite with 0 destroyed ships
  
• Analysis window is too big in 4:3
  
• GUI: Crash when pasting with a file/image in the clipboard buffer
  
• Nebula 10 has a gray line
  
• "cargo_initial" is always added with each savegame load
  
• Leaving a blocking HUD draws the mouse at a wrong pos
  
• Mission HUD: up/down keys don't work
  
• Mission HUD: First mission is not auto selected
  
• Invalid warning: "Borderless mode could not be set"
  
• Save Upgrade: "Lord Furui" 'Set_Person_Affinity_Min' does not exist
  

Let's have a chat on Discord:



Learn more & stay tuned!

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Heya space travelers,

It's time for another update! Since the last major update, we've been focusing on bug fixes and quality of life improvements. While the groundwork is already being laid for the next expansion of the story, we managed to check off a lot of older tasks, be it fixes, improvements or even some practical features - and finally a first step towards expanding the skill tree.

Have fun and safe travels!





[h2]New Skills[/h2]


...are joining the tree! Some are connected to new features (like scanning or mining advantages) while others just tweak existing stats. The tree is to be expanded further, but this update introduces the first batch:

• Express Reveal - speed up the scan process
  
• Spatial Scan - increase scan range in 3 steps
  
• Equipment Scan - reveal weapons and shields
  
• Cargo Scan - scan NPC cargo
  
• Deep Scan - display combat-relevant stats
• Core Mapping - increase mining yield
  
• Ore Filter - extract rare materials
  
• Velocity Control - faster ship deceleration

Note: although the skill tree was slightly rearranged, your already unlocked skills will remain active. This may result in a somewhat strange looking tree constellation, but unlocked progress comes first. :)


[h2]UI[/h2]

[h3]Service Insights[/h3]
With this new feature, you finally get a quick in-space overview of the services offered at a landable location (once you have unlocked the associated scan skill) - and no longer have to click through the various locations to get this information.



[h3]Damage Type & Producer Icons[/h3]
As part of some overarching tooltip changes, we're introducing a first batch of icons for the producer and damage type information. Layout and usage may still change in the course of general tooltip changes.



[h3]Other[/h3]

• "Hack" mission target icon

[h2]Weapons[/h2]

• Engetsu Gun - slightly-homing Loyalist weapon with unique projectile design
  
• Carriers: stats-improved launch bay versions added for the player

[h2]Localization[/h2]

• DE interface (statistics, info, descriptions) are back to 100%
  
• DE tooltip optimizations and abbreviations for clarity
  
• Note: The dialog and story content are currently not at 100%, but we will address this as a top priority.

[h2]In Progress[/h2]

[h3]Asteroid mining nerf[/h3]
With this update, the damage that regular weapons cause to asteroids will be significantly reduced (-50% compared to the previous value). The reason for this is to further increase the advantage of mining weapons. As this is only a part of a larger project to fine-tune the weapons, expect more changes in the future!

[h3]Interface[/h3]
As you might notice, there is still more UI stuff going on, with a focus on:

• Item tooltips: how information is communicated (both visually and content-wise), the screen fill issue and comparison clarity
  
• General: reduction of the overall window "weight" impression

[h2]Ships[/h2]

• Add a temporary autopilot mode when an NPC ship is attacked from outside its radar range
  
• Add a 5% chance for an NPC ship engine failure (max speed) if below 10% health
  

[h2]Equipment[/h2]

• Preferred weapon & shield groups (re-)created and assigned
  
• Added producers to weapons, items and devices that had none
  
• "Wave" weapon stats improvements and cleanup
  
• Some shields added
  

[h2]World[/h2]

• Improved Hacking tutorial later at Shizhong
  
• A new (hidden) quest stage for the Lorca story
  
• Additional dialog lines for various npcs added
  
• Added a quest counter and progress switch after receiving new Testament for 'Religion Upgrade!'
  
• Improved the 'Scheherazade Embargo' sidequest
  
• Descriptions for Poems and Flowers added
  
• Improved the 'Fernandez' sidequest
  
• Changed Elzo Fartrader's aggro behaviour during the escort sidequest
  
• Noob Henderson now gets assigned suspicion affinity on the player, after the player decides to ignore him (also distributed some more suspicion settings to other npcs)
  

[h2]UI[/h2]

• Options Menu: Show the primary display name
  
• Add a "stations visited" statistic
  
• Tutorial now makes use of quickbar highlighting for better orientation (also some more explanations were added)
  
• Inventory HUD: Highlight the selected slot
  
• Skill tree: Highlight the active path
  
• Skill tree: show the skill level number even if not skilled yet
  

• A progression reset for 'The Sphere' story mission
  
• Vex's Note has now been marked as quest item and won't spawn randomly anymore
  
• Distance Callback for Kalypso inserted during 'Let Sleeping Docs Lie' story mission to remove the possibility of triggering the "...waiting" dialog more than once
  
• Jurgen Winters should now be removed from the player's cargo at the correct moment
  
• Player should not be able to loot cargo chests anymore if at full cargo capacity.
  
• Devil's Fruit should now only be obtainable once
  
• Broken dialog for 'Border Patrol' story mission, when the player decides to lie to the Loyalist forces
  
• Dr. Cram Bokaj should now leave Caduceus station before the end of the first storyline, not only if his sidequest was finished before
  
• A possibility of Noob Henderson dying after the player has persuaded and/or ignored him
  
• The 'Fernandez'-sidequest doesn't reset progress anymore, in case the player decides to switch routes during the quest
  
• Ultra wide (3840x1080) resolutions are broken
  
• Loading a game resets active device cooldowns
  
• Not enough free cargo space to switch the loadout
  
• Repair laser should only hit an enemy when it's selected
  
• Items received from cargo crates inside wrecks don't check cargo capacity
  
• The Schwarzschild Singularity: "Infinite Machines" dying from collisions
  
• Using the thruster/weapon for the first time doesn't show the Cooldown HUD
  
• Editing a map marker removes the name
  
• Target cursor image offset is not centered
  
• FTA Samson is the only place where the cargo container is a separate person
  
• Display groups for freight containers
  
• Monitor refresh rate detection fails if we use a windowed mode resolution that is larger than the display supports
  
• Some possibilities in which Kouji dialog still appeared after she died.
  
• Removed a perma notification during an encounter with Mr Shiro way earlier
  
• Zopa's wrong dialog on one route due to story variables for the Early Siege Break sequence
  
• The weapon slot for the Bengal carrier
  
• Removed some trade/repair quick access icons from npcs (for example: dead npcs)
  
• 'Profit Loses Seldom' now ignores the double dialog switch for Pgt. Decimus
  
• Scan amount for the Javelot fixed
  
• A sequence in which Callisto did not correctly unlock for the player during the 2nd storyline, softlocking the route for the player
  
• Missing dialog switches for Auxilium on some routes
  
• 'Corporate Retreat' (Nookrium sidequest) ending fixed
  
• Final dialog fixed for the Musashi sidequest
  
• The possibility of 'Crash Course' breaking and softlocking the player in one route, after destroying the first three Caduceus drones at a much later moment
  
• Some weapon and slot assignments
  
• A sequence in which Chondros' death would result in a bugged state of the fight at Lashkar Gah
  
• A possibility of restarting 'Building a Barrier' at Jiraiya
  
• Some dialog blocks and switches of minor npcs
  
• Possibility of the Supreme Court still being locked for the player one some routes later on
  
• Removed the possibility of Delga and Nobunaga's death dialog spawning at a much later moment
  
• Guard Pommern and Guard Endsor now only get move orders during 'The Tale of Lost Luggage' if they're still alive
  
• The three Caduceus transports during 'Genocide Arrest' should now correctly stop and return to their origin places after the player has defeated the guards.
  
• The Cure, Anti and Dote won't cause error reports anymore after being killed
  
• Auxilium doesn't auto-talk to the player anymore after the Caduceus transport has been stopped during 'Genocide Consignment'
  
• McKenzie doesn't lose respawn during 'Genocide Consignment'
  
• Missing exp rewards added to some missions
  
• Missing exp_death rewards added to some rare ships and stations
  

Let's have a chat on Discord:



Learn more & stay tuned!

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[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


By the emperor, it's here!

Thanks for the wait, traveler - we know it's been long. But your patience will finally be rewarded with a fully unseen main story arc! Also, not to forget: CARRIER SHIPS. 🚀

As it has taken some time, lots of other things have piled up too, so make sure you don't miss the details! Although we're confident that this will keep you entertained for a while (as we shift our focus back to general QoL improvements and more frequent updates again) we do have more in store - this is not the last storyline expansion by far, and we assure you that all of them will come in form of free updates!

Cheers,
the Warp Turtle crew






[h2]Story of the Sphere[/h2]

Continue the saga! A brand new story experience that comes with:

The initial concept was created so long ago, it was written on papyrus...


Turmoil is rising within the Sphere. Old ideals stand in conflict with major upheavals caused by the hands of time - feeding discontent under the surface of this highly evolved faction. Frontiers seem to be hardening to an irreversible extent and call for decisions. According to the Sphere's solidified traditions, there can only be one instance of power. A new, exceptionally young emperor sees himself confronted with the massive task to decide over the fate of the biggest high-tech civilization the solar system has ever seen - will you help him to pave the way for a stable future for the Sphere?


The big ceremony - a major turning point in the imperial bloodline.

The Loyalist fleet: Including a reworked Nancho, and of course the new carrier.

A mysterious incident reveals ships of unknown origin.


LANGUAGE NOTE:
As you'd expect, the new story is heavy on words. Therefore, the new arc translations - RU, CN, DE, ES - will not be complete from the start. We apologize for this (kind of sad to reset the localization info on the storepage back to "partial" with new content) - and promise we try to make progress asap, but for now we'll have to ask you for a bit more patience here.


[h2]Carrier Ships[/h2]
CARRIERS: CHECK!

We know you've been eagerly waiting for them - again, thanks for your patience - but there's no need to wait any longer, just go ride these whales (although you have to finish the arc first ;))!

• [h3]Weapon Type[/h3] As previously introduced with the turret placement system, carriers use ships as weapons - just in form of equipable turrets called launch bays.
  
• [h3]Behavior[/h3] With a set weapon target, employed bays will launch a fleet of autonomous ships right at the enemy, fighting until death (no matter whose) and redock if the target is destroyed.
  
• [h3]Availability[/h3] Two carrier versions (Sphere, Loyalists) and their respective launch bays will be available at jiraiya, Jamey Tien and Hoshi after the end of the storyline.

[h2]Other available Ships[/h2]
Besides the two carrier versions, all the other ships seen above (whole Loyalist fleet, machine ships) are available in some way - either by purchasing them at a ship trader or by scanning and crafting.


[h2]Achievements[/h2]

The new main story comes with a bunch of new achievements for the modern completionist's profile!

[h2]Soundtrack[/h2]
Over 16 new songs!

• The story expansion features songs from Miguel's new album "2184" (seen from the GB timeline: a true retro-classic ;)) and an even newer track "The Mission" became the new main menu theme!
  
• In the meantime, our artist who had always been handling all our music, became a music producer himself and contributed tracks to the new arc soundtrack - Kouji's "Eyes of Fury" theme, Pai Pai's ceremonial song, some loops and the trailer score, as well as an unknown number of sound FX. :D
  
• Aside from the arc soundtrack, there are also some additional ambient tracks and a default moon landable theme!

[h2]Locations[/h2]
New locations on the Sphere and Loyalist capitals: Imperial garden, Nancho throne and command bridge

[h2]Other New Stuff[/h2]

• 🇪🇸 Spanish: partial translation - after an unknown hero named shadowman1 had been quietly working on the ES translation for years, we spent another while finishing the rest 100% (hola, viajero espacial ;)) - before the Sphere arc completion though, which means that it's currently in the state of Mai 2023 and missing major parts of the new arc!
  
• Portraits: Beside 15 (!) new portraits in the context of the Sphere arc, there is now a female default pirate with 3 versions. Also, Kouji's portrait, as seen in the title artwork, was completely redesigned from scratch!
  
• Wave weapon: a somewhat experimental thing. Let us know what you think!
  
• Dai-Naoru, a repair laser with a super-long range!
  
• FX: White Hole animations and audio design, map icon
  
• Audio: new ship collision sound and a whole bunch of other new FX
  
• Some new cargo icons
  
• Music disks as readables: Start your music collection with Rhapsody in Deep Blue and Eyes of Fury - both come with unique cover art and can be played back at any time.

[h2]UI Rework[/h2]

• Message and portrait box: complete overhaul (borderless design, portrait scanlines added)
  
• Tooltip improvements: layout rework (including stats resorting and new credits and weight icons), tbc!
  
• Reworked assets: radar HUD, checkbox graphic to toggle, menu cursor, close button, new game char selector, tab bar changes, loading screen icon, some divider lines and other details
  

[h2]World[/h2]

• Support view sharing with npc ships
  
• Location polishing: Hokucho gate, Supreme Court, The Zone, Hokucho Imperial City quick-polishing
  

[h2]Portrait polishing[/h2]

• Sphere judge, Jack Sperrholz, Sphere / Loyalist military, Sphere male 1 (x7), CoC male 1 (x8)

[h2]FX[/h2]

• Default planet atmosphere visual upgrade
  
• Advanced cam zooms, improved fireworks, spotlight FX polishing
  
• "3 frame animation" emitters (Machine Ship)
  
• Audio: Separate cheering crowd from firework
  
• Audio: Functionality for playing SFX without background music

• Pluto stays locked if Noob Henderson was destroyed during the journey to Caduceus.
  
• Mission progress and Finish Mission didn't trigger correctly during 'Revealing Xentron'
  
• Mouse input and cursor loss on resolution change when a landable window is open
  
• Defending ships with an existing valid weapon target should regain the attack behavior
  
• Unintentional Delga and Nobunaga death dialog pop-up
  
• Multiple places have the wrong leading person
  
• Readable music is not always playing/stopped
  
• Landable talk to person triggers 2 sounds if person is mission target
  
• UI: Portrait box seams on full HD (message, origin, character selection)
  
• UI: Controller icons LB scaling bigger than RB
  
• UI: Word-wrap missing on mission instructions / dialog question
  
• Javelot dropped an Aries blueprint
  
• "Additional Armor" device: price correction (III had same price as II)
  
• Pirate Fortress fight auto pause keeps triggering
  
• Multiple missing translation string
  
• NPC ships do not activate the thrusters sometimes
  
• Reduce the ship attack approach angle if the target is way bigger than us
  
• UI: Analysis render window should not switch the cursor when hovered
  
• Crash when loading cargo with a ship type with an invalid name

Let's have a chat on Discord:



Learn more & stay tuned!

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