Gaia Beyond News

[h2]📡 Attention, traveler![/h2]

Collision course has been validated.
Calculated impact: 20 August, 2020.
Another pre-1.0 update is pending.
All measures will be taken – yet your support is crucial.
Relay this information to as many space pilots as possible.

Don't panic: Major content updates can be expected, even in the distant future! 🚀

Transmission completed.

Welcome back, space travelers!

Big update warping in! A lot of new improvements for weapons, including shooting ahead of a moving target, better special effects, improved homing on some rockets, new weapons in general and a lot of new upgrades, even some new devices for some active abilities during combat. Most of the Caduceus storyline got a little rework, including long-awaited changes for the final mission and a lot more.

As the 1.0 release is around the corner and things are getting serious now, test pilots are heavily encouraged to try out everything new and old - we want to find all the bugs and polish everything the best way possible before this big milestone. All of your feedback is welcome and needed to push this project into its next stage!





[h2]Frozen flower collectibles[/h2]
Repair Eliz3, the robot and help Zopa cultivate her greenhouse with rare plants from the solar system.

Flowers – in space, frozen in time! Unbelievable? Wait until you've seen the flamethrower...


[h2]Extractable gas clouds[/h2]
A long-forgotten feature - to bring some extraction (extra-action!) to the last corners of the universe - has been finished and implemented. These clouds provide various raw materials, mainly - guess what: gases!

Hunt them gassy clouds, buddy!

[h2]New sidequests and events[/h2]
Have a taste of mob mentality during the Ganymede Flu!

[h2]Tougher fights[/h2]
The AI now fires fixed weapons with high precision. Shooting ahead of any moving target (leading the target) - which will very likely be YOU!

[h2]Persistent savegames[/h2]
Asteroids, Plasma clouds, and spawned ships are now fully restored with savegames

[h2]New J-12 big guy: Ferox[/h2]
Some of the very early birds may recognize this one - from back when a rough version of him was idling around in the Jupiter area. After some polishing, it's kind of a whole new ship now - and most important: It's playable.

2 big turrets, 3 medium ones – what else do you need to know?

[h2]Weapons[/h2]
Weapons have been kind of a main focus this time. We've added dozens of new ones, new effects and reworked basically the whole arsenal (also check the 'improvements' section). Here are some rather exotic hightlights:

• Zion Junk Cannons - yup, they're shooting trash!
  
• Flamethrower
  
• 'Razors Edge'
  
• New upgrades & level graphics!
  
  
  
• Damage type visualisation (custom projectile and impact FX)
  
  • plasma
    
  • shock
    
  • radiation
    

[h2]Active Devices[/h2]

• Distance Enforcer A shockwave that lets you take a breath from intrusive attackers. Can be absolutely devastating in combination with asteroid fields!
  
  
• Crash Creates a radial impulse, jamming all engines around you!

[h2]Locations[/h2]

• ISA Observatory Deck, Hokucho Gate, Bartholdy custom location pic

[h2]Portraits[/h2]

• Loreley "NO drinks on the house!"
  
  
• J-12 male thrashed / patched up This poor guy is having a rough time...

[h2]UI[/h2]

• Some new location and weapon icons

[h2]Audio[/h2]

• Enemy alert (NPC turns hostile)
  
• New weapon sounds
  
• Bartholdy's Bar background music - 'Night in Venice' by Kevin MacLeod
  
• Drinking sound
  

[h2]New achievements[/h2]

• Crash on First Sight, Flower Power, Exitus Igneus

[h2]Main Story[/h2]

• During the pirate attack on Pluto, pirate ships of the second wave will now attack the player if damaged by the player
  
• The Waechter hacking mission got reworked, new dialog, incorporated the actual hacking skill into the hacking event, improved balancing, also added a mini text-only hacking tutorial to the beginning of the mission
  
• During the Caduceus transport from Pluto, Assistant Lucca will now stop after the player has stopped the escort
  
• Some changes for O-Dog's boss battle. Advanced dialog, new primary weapon. After the mission ends, the player doesn't have to return to Atlas HQ anymore
  
• Some improved dialog before the Supreme Court hearing
  
• Additional dialog for Kalypso for the whole Caduceus Arc
  
• First big changes to the final mission, support from Atlas and Kalypso, Kouji now actually works, added dialog and first version of an ending scene (for that arc at least)
  

[h2]World[/h2]

• Draw asteroid belts behind the Fog of War
  
• Plasma fields damage
  

[h2]Weapons[/h2]
As mentioned before, a lot of work has gone into weapon finetuning and optimizations. A quick summary:

• Reworked stats of almost all weapons
  
• Changed some weapons essentially to make them more fun / diversified
  
• Added more preferred weapon sets to NPC ships for more variety and combat difficulty
  
• Switched the projectile blending for better visibility (no more glowy projectiles looking dark on bright backgrounds)
  
• Optimization of projectile collisions, spawning and visual FX
  
• Inventory: Weapons sorted by subcategories
  
• A lot of weapon renaming
  

[h2]Ships & Stations[/h2]

• ISA Research Station polishing
  
• Include tracked damage in some affinity tests
  
• Improve the ship death shockwave scaling
  
• Show the shield on hit effect a bit stronger/longer for weak weapon hits
  
• Add shield damage type weakness/resistance
  

[h2]UI[/h2]

• Radar HUD Scanline shader
  
• Some more UI & json DE translations
  
• Analysis HUD: Use the shield bar for gas clouds (uses the item color)
  
• Analysis HUD: only show the shield bar if it's useful
  
• Readable HUD: Improve the layout sizing
  
• Select the inventory list item again after a weapon upgrade
  
• Options Menu: Keep the scroll position on shortcut assign
  
• Localization: Show incomplete translations in the Options menu
  
• Inventory HUD: Keep the scroll position on equip/unequip
  
• Show the Cooldown HUD when selecting a weapon target
  
• Radar HUD: Show it with the tutorial
  
• Binary: additional icon resolutions
  

• Small loading time improvements
  

• Show the critical chance in tooltips
  
• Freight Containers: hacking level 3 is 100% with hacking level 1
  
• Fight AI does not move sideways sometimes (stuck with switching)
  
• Laser hit graphic is not always sized correctly
  
• Travel group engage should undock all group ships
  
• Use the full progressbar width for the hacking bar layout on freight containers
  
• Add an autopilot recover behavior state that does not resume fights
  
• Travel group can wait endlessly (does not restart) if the stage is WAITING_AT_DEST
  
• Person trader level is not set
  
• Some weapon upgrades / damage types were broken
  
• Ships don't randomly buy big-type weapons (weapons were unspawned)
  
• Bartholdy always provides the same drink as 'today's special'
  
• Collision aggro triggers too easily with defend mode behavior
  
• Show the cargo noti weapon name like it is in the inventory (with quality)
  
• Map icons can disappear early when they should still be visible on screen
  
• Weapon inaccuracy setting is limited to one plane and affects speed
  
• Turret z-fighting
  
• Kouji doesn't defend the player
  
• Cooldown HUD: Stop the fade out if any weapon still has heat
  
• Big turret uses wrong base item icon (has fixed color)
  
• Projectile additive blending mode is not used
  
• Haas-Rocket: lights offset in upgrade window
  
• Energy regen upgrades not displayed
  
• Weapon Upgrade HUD: Use a different method to uppercase the damage type
  
• Don't save a dying weapon target identifier
  
• Set the type_name for spawned_mine
  
• Analysis HUD: enable clipping for the linked renderer
  

Let's have a chat on Discord:



Learn more & stay tuned!

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[h2]Are you receiving, space traveler?[/h2]

Big update incoming! Major changes and things yet to come.
Preparations for 1.0 release, which has been moved to August, are underway.
Don't forget, even then the journey is just beginning!
More full storylines and content will follow after 1.0.
Now's another opportunity to join in early and help us with feedback.
For this purpose, enjoy our big discount on steam this weekend.

Transmission over.

Ahoy, mateys, space dogs and buccaneers!

While we're putting some heave ho into our incoming main update, we've got a lil' (maybe not so little) surprise patch in store for ya. So avast ye, give no quarter to those new pirate fleets and fortresses, now matched to their respective pirate captain in color and strength. So old salts and landlubbers alike, batten down the hatches and test ya might, feed those scoundrels to the fishes and gain some booty! If you don't wanna walk the plank yourself, better prepare yourself – some of them Jolly Rogers are stronger than ever before!






The various pirate leaders who have joined the game over time (and are finally complete with this update) now have their own sub factions - bringing variety to the game world and filling the lawless void with merciless battles!

• Some pirate factions are much stronger than others – exploring the far corners of the system has never been this dangerous before
  
• New pirate weapons and shields for more action!
  
• Pirate ships can now drop certain weapons if you destroy them
  
• Some pirate fortresses have a new position
  

• Physical (Ramming) damage gives XP, Loot, and also triggers aggro (player only)
  
• Full asteroid drop yield only with mining equipment (otherwise only 50%)
  
• The mining laser turret got its visual upgrade levels – expect more of these soon!
  

• Captain Mary Read ...making the pirate bosses complete!

• Atlantic Alliance Captain The more law-abiding variant of a captain.

Crystal asteroids now drop actual crystals instead of cargo boxes.

• Teal's Bloodtest sidequest is no longer forced on the player during the mainquest
  
• Pluto Colony now has a quarantine dialog when you click on it while it's still locked
  
• Added and corrected some sort_keys for NPCs
  
• Improved some dialog and fixed some spelling errors
  
• Caduceus Station has reduced HP and shield HP for now
  

Note: We are still working on our big story update which will rework the main mission structure of the last Caduceus Arc missions. We reduced the Caduceus Station's HP for now, because that mission was too frustrating for players in its current state!

• Travel group:
  • Try harder to find a nearby free spot, start randomizing late, be more consistent, add effort estimation
    
  • Only shortcut the path testing if we are really nearby the target
    
  • Update free lane path finding
    
• Ship evasion:
  • General improvements
    
  • Improve asteroid field ship evasive behavior
    
  • Do not evade with a higher velocity
    
• Improve turret target lead (include parent ship velocity)
  
• Improve finding a free location for big ships when undocking
  

• Halve the turret "ready to fire" angle distance
  

• Asteroid drops balancing:
  • New category of 'tiny' asteroids
    
  • Added drop amount limit for each category (to prevent the possibility of small ones dropping more items than big ones)
    
• Space trade: decline when most friendlies are fighting nearby
  
• Only de-spawn items if they are outside the player radar range
  
• Container: Reduce the chance to drop content on destruction (by level)
  

• A 4K game with a 2K interface? That doesn't sound right! Therefore we have:
  • Doubled the interface resolution
    
  • Reworked some UI elements (like the menu cursor, tab buttons, check boxes, sliders and more)
    
• Ship Trade HUD: Hide ship data when the blueprint is missing
  

• Seraphim Applicator polishing, variations

Although masks are quite a thing lately, we haven't found any proper use for the last guy yet...

• Shock Cannon visual improvements
  
• Small improvements on cargo drop animations
  

• Screenshot files are now tagged with the game version number
  
• Render improvements
  

• Item Upgrade HUD: Correctly unlink on window exit
  
• Hackable destroyables should use hull damage (not disintegration)
  
• Marcel Wallas quest counter for all three items can switch too early
  
• Ship Trade HUD: Large font size fixes
  
• Player can trade with the caduceus station while fighting it
  
• Extra hull given by "Additional Armor III" device is reset on each savegame load
  
• Travel groups: wait time should be based on distance
  
• Pai Pai job accept doesn't advance
  
• Shield restore animation is buggy
  
• Trade HUD: do not move the left box to the front on init
  
• Get_Random_Ship_Data() can fail
  
• Horizontal scrollbar is visible in Inventory/Trade HUD
  
• Trade Tooltip: Increase the name height for large fonts
  
• Don't play the quest noti sound when loading
  
• Savegames: "Bring Jurgen's body to Xiao and tell her the bad news." is added to the quest log several hundred times
  

Let's have a chat on Discord:



Learn more & stay tuned!

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[h3]Dear habitants,[/h3]
There are times when a robot's blown fuse throws a whole solar system into turmoil – and other times when you can't take a step outside your cozy space shuttle. To make your stay as pleasant as possible, here are some suggestions from the Warp Turtle quarantine lab:

• EXPLORE new and polished parts of the storyline and discover more sidequests
  
• HACK ships or even stations with new skills from the Kalypso tree
  
• HELP others - rescue lost miners or get our new celebrity NPC Trash Panda some of his beloved trash, your cargo bay is full of it anyway!

We also polished the homebase, put out the trash and created new living quarters on moons.

If you run into anomalies or got any feedback - find us here or on discord as usual!







[h2]New Missions[/h2]

• FTA databanks are attacked by pirate hackers! Can you help?
  
• Agent Horace on Nexsen needs someone to secure the area!
  
• Tezla got a new first Mission: Rescue those CoC Miners! (Devs note: The old first mission "A Hard Day of Work", which was a little bit to difficult for the beginning, is now Tezla's 2nd mission)
  

[h2]Hack ships and stations![/h2]
Staying in the ship allows you to sabotage others silently – the new ship hacking feature comes with a whole skill tree. There are still improvements on the list and we're working on FX, but here is the basic thing!

"Enough talking, Auxi – let's hack your shield!!"

Choose from a variety of things to hack (devices excluded for now)...

...and master the hacking skill tree to become a legendary hacker!


[h2]64 bit support[/h2]

• Blast Processing!
  

[h2]Locations[/h2]
Like most J-12 sites, the Pugnator recruitment center is nobody's first choice for a vacation.


Moon colonies – all over the place!



[h2]A mysterious visitor[/h2]
There seems to be someone visiting the Caduceus Station. Can you catch a glimpse before he's leaving? Dude is not playable yet – but WILL BE with a hotfix in the next few days!





[h2]Interesting folks[/h2]

• Trash Panda, Zeldi Rubinstein, Igor VII
• as well as some tragic heroes, like a dead mechanic and a shot ISA doctor.

[h2]Pirate drones[/h2]

• Not really intelligent, but fun to wreck!
  

[h2]Audio[/h2]

• Atmospheric background music for wreck stations
  
• Highly motivating cheer sounds for saving lost astronauts!
  

[h2]Reworked Sphere ship graphics[/h2]
(Click for very :D high resolution!)


[h2]Locations[/h2]

• Pluto Colony, as seen in the update's title pic. The previous version was 8 (!) years old and still in half resolution, so we felt like finally giving it a major rework!
  
• Planet garage skyline polishing
  

[h2]Portraits[/h2]

• more Portrait versions (female ISA doctors)
  
• Sphere portraits polished (Richter, soldiers)
  
• O-Dog portrait color optimization
  

[h2]General[/h2]

• polished some weapon and shield stats (thx @Sergalicious)
  
• Corrected some spelling mistakes (thx @Jeremy)
  
• Removed a lo-res-looking star layer from Pluto's background nebula
  
• Added Alloy traders to CoC Stations (to make crafting ships a little bit more accessible), many other small improvements, script polishing and stuff, thx @Thunderofwar, @Sergalicious, @Azmoden, @zackerlandor and many others for bugreports and a lotta feedback
  
• Improve the json loading performance
  
• A log_level config option
  

[h2]UI[/h2]

• Add a Hacking Range and Hacking Speed skill
  
• Character HUD: Show the destroyed ships favorite
  
• Character HUD: Skill overview for Mechanic, Persuasion and Hacking
  
• Cache the map icon layout
  

• Do not draw the whole world when fading in after a save load
  
• Fix broken Add_Question() calls (Orish, Tezla, Romolus Dunk)
  
• Increase the binary stack size to prevent possible crashes when spawning a massive amount of sprites in physics space
  
• Location icons are sometimes not immediately unlocked
  
• Player cargo container can hide some items
  
• Options Menu: Show the long language name
  
• Don't show the hacking window if the parent is not in detail mode
  
• Ship death can be counted more than once
  
• Sprite damping is not cloned
  

Let's have a chat on Discord:



Learn more & stay tuned!

• Website
• Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Reddit, Imgur