NEBULOUS: Fleet Command News

[h2]ELINT Rework[/h2]

The most substantial change in this patch is the rework of Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), the passive detection of enemy emissions, to be fully integrated with the rest of the sensor infrastructure. Previously, there were two different types of track: Tracks and Bearings. Bearings were a kind of second-class citizen, where they weren't shared across ships and couldn't be interacted with. These changes upgrade passive ELINT tracks to be first-class tracks just like your radars provide. This means that they can now have orders issued against them, and other neat things.

While being able to shoot at ELINT bearings is nice, especially for jamming, this update takes the improvements a step further and introduces automatic calculation of ES Crossfixes. When multiple bearings are being sent to the team's sensor network, they will be automatically combined to estimate a position for the emitter. These crossfixes are calculated using the actual geometry of the sensors relative to each other and the signature, not a gamified random position, so the accuracy of these fixes will improve as the angular separation between the sensors increased. Similarly, having two ships with ES sensors close together will actually degrade your fix as a whole, even if other ships are spread out.

One thing to note about these Bearing and Fix tracks is that, while they can have orders issued against them like a radar track, they do not contain any velocity information so you'll be unlikely to hit moving targets.

[h2]Ownership Transfer[/h2]
I'm aware of the network issues some of our players are experiencing, especially when playing with people on the far side of the world, and understand how frustrating this can be when in a 4v4 and 25% of your team's points just disappear. While there is still plenty of network optimization left to do, I can at least mitigate the impact of these situations in the meantime by transferring the ships to the remaining players on the team. For the time being this hand-off is done automatically based on some criteria to try to give entire formations to the same player, and preference players with the least number of ships in their fleet already. If the player's entire fleet cannot be handed off to anyone due to all the remaining teammates reaching the ship limit, any ships that don't fit will be abandoned as before. Also note that this will only occur once the game has begun, if the player disconnects before or during the deployment phase their fleet will not be transferred.

[h2]Electronic Counter-Counter Measures[/h2]
A new Noise Filtering stat has been added to all of the Search and Fire Control sensors, which improves their ability to sift through noise and get a valid return. Because jamming works by artificially raising the noise floor, increasing the noise filtering capability of a sensor will reduce the effect of jamming. The Adaptive Radar Receiver has had a buff to this stat added to it, and had its point cost increased slightly commensurate with its increased utility.

[h2]Automatic Power Management[/h2]
Probably the most frustrating thing in NEBULOUS is taking a hit to one of your power modules and having half your equipment go offline, even though the functional equipment sucking up all your power isn't actually doing anything. This update introduces fluctuating power draws for various components, so they will only actually consume power when they are doing something. Passive buffing components (e.g. Ammo Elevators) are considered always on, and will always consume power.

As always, full patch notes follow:

Changes/Features:
- Passive sensors (e.g. ELINT) refactored to be unified with the rest of the sensors systems:
- ELINT bearings (LOBs) are now shared across all ships, regardless of which one is selected.
- ELINT hits from two or more ships are now automatically combined into a Crossfix Track (sensors must be on separate ships, two sensors on the same ship will only produce a single bearing).
- Accuracy of crossfixes improves as the angular separation between ships with passive sensors increases.
- LOBs and Fixes are now first-class tracks, and can be fired upon in TRK mode (but don't expect to hit).
- Updated ES22 Pinard module description to describe new mechanics.
- Players (who are not the host) who abruptly disconnect due to a network issue or crash will have their ships transferred to other player(s) on their team. Ships that do not fit in the open ship slots of any teammate will be abandoned as before.
- Ship components will now only draw power when they are active, making low-power conditions much more survivable.
- Added additional 2000 and 2500 point victory conditions to Control.
- Added warning audio cue every 5 seconds when a ship has crossed the withdraw line.
- Sensor tracks will no longer show the highlight circle when hovering over them with no visual.
- Added Noise Filtering stat to search and fire control sensors. This provides a dB reduction in both ambient and jamming noise, making a sensor hard to jam.
- Added a noise filtering buff to Adaptive Radar Receiver, and a positional and velocity error penalty.
- Added additional ambient announcements to ships, which can be heard when the camera is zoomed in close, for damage control and abandoning ship.
- Increased max modifier for hull-identificationwork stat to 1000%.
- Improved rendering performance on Caltrop.
- The number of restores remaining in a DC Locker are now displayed in the tooltip in the DC Board.

Balance:
- Decreased reload time of Mk550 Mass Driver to be 45 seconds (was 60), and improved accuracy by 56%.
- Increased cost of Adaptive Radar Receiver to 30 (was 20) due to increased utility.

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed ship elimination conditions so that ships will be eliminated if they have all power/drives and command destroyed and have less than 2 restores, as the ship cannot possibly be brought back into the fight.
- Fixed thruster power values in fleet editor UI being scaled incorrectly.
- Fixed exception causing disconnect when using the POV camera on a ship that has already exploded, or exploded when in POV view.
- Added missing button click sounds to Action Menu buttons.
- Fixed ship template list not loading when a ship template had been created with a mod that is no longer loaded/subscribed.
- Fixed being able to change selected ships with number keys when a widget was open.
- Fixed intelligence identification difficulty modifier being reset on ships during initialization.
- Fixed eliminated ships set to WCON FREE firing on ships in rare situations.
- Fixed some sound effects not fading out completely regardless of distance to camera.
- Fixed widget lines sometimes being rendered in the wrong order, causing strange perspective overlaps.
- Moved Small Energy Regulator to Weapon Support category, to match Energy Regulator.

[h2]Performance Improvements[/h2]


The last two weeks have had me buried head-first into optimization work to improve frame rates and the general experience. Due to the heavily simulation-based nature of this game, our bottleneck for performance is almost always due to the CPU and not graphics rendering. The sensors system is the most complicated of all the game's systems, particularly when there are lots of objects to track. For example, large groups of missiles.

For those who aren't aware, all sensors in Nebulous gain and lose tracks in an "acquisition cycle" once per second, and update those tracks every 1/4 second. These cycles occur simultaneously, for all ships, in the same frame. This leads to large spikes in frame processing time whenever the sensors are doing work. Fortunately, we can spread this load out across multiple frames in order to smooth out those spikes and keep performance consistent, which was the first optimization I made.

There are also a number of other optimizations that were made, including huge optimizations in point defense target prioritization (the main culprit of slowdown with lots of missiles), caching of radar cross-section calculations, and more. If you're interested in the specifics, they'll be discussed in detail in a future devlog.

Overall, you can expect significantly improved performance even when large numbers of missiles are flying.

[h2]Dynamic Time Dilation[/h2]
However, even these significant optimizations can't keep us at 60fps when 300 missiles are on their way. In order to help maintain a framerate that allows you to move your camera and continue issuing orders in these dire circumstance, I've implemented dynamic time dilation synchronized across all multiplayer clients.

When fixed frame processing time becomes too long on average (so it will take a second or two to kick in), the game will automatically begin slowing down time to allow more processing capacity. The time dilation will increase and decrease dynamically to try to maintain a reasonable framerate, and will return to 100% when the large load is gone.

[h2]New Maps[/h2]
This update is adding two exciting new maps, including the largest we've ever added and the first to introduce a 10 player limit.

Caltrop, a spike-covered ice comet for 6 players:


Canyon, a dusty ravine between two massive rocks with lots of holes to hide in for 10 players.


[h2]Light Cruiser Buffs[/h2]
Every hull has a primary job it's designed for, and the boundaries of that job can be stretched a lot by how the player configures it. In general, the hulls excel in their primary purpose, but the Light Cruiser tends to fall short. The CL is primarily designed for anti-support roles: beating up on groups of smaller ships before they can get to the main force. Unfortunately, its current stats don't tend to work out in its favor in most of the engagements it should be purpose-built for.

In this patch we're buffing the Vauxhall in a few ways. It's armor has been increased to 30cm, making it much more resistant to 120mm HE and forcing smaller ships to shift to AP to do damage. We've also bumped its top speed by 2m/s, giving it more chance to run down faster ships when paired with the appropriately-buffing engines. Finally, 250mm HE-RPF is getting a slight damage increase to 13 damage per fragment to increase its offensive capabilities. These changes should give the CL some more favorable match-ups against its primary targets, specifically Corvette and Frigate swarms.

If you're interested in contributing to balance changes, don't forget to join our Discord and get the appropriate role in the #welcome channel: Join Our Discord

Full patch notes follow:

Changes/Features:
- Made optimizations for the following systems:
- Sensors and sensor networks, distributing their load of acquiring/updating tracks across multiple frames.
- Reduced repetition of work in point defense prioritization.
- Caching of radar cross-section calculations when the viewing angle has not changed significantly.
- Reduced frequency of network position updates for missiles.
- Added dynamic time dilation, synchronized for all players, when fixed frame processing time becomes too long.
- Added an encouraging message when multiplayer game hosts attempt to quit before the battle is resolved.
- Missile track number and range text is no longer displayed unless the mouse is hovered over the track, to remove clutter and increase performance.
- Clicking a player's name in the Battle Report will open their Steam profile, allowing you to friend/message them.
- Added a player list accessible in battle by pressing the ~ key.
- Players can now be muted by clicking the mute button in the player list. Players you have blocked via Steam will be muted by default and cannot be unmuted until they are unblocked.
- VLS launchers will now iterate through the full set of launchers before returning to the start, rather than the first available one.
- MLS launchers will now iterate launchers in sequence instead of dumping each load in turn.
- Added priority-based sorting to HUD markers, so you can always select your ships in the middle of a mass of your own launching missiles.
- Formations will no longer automatically clear when the guide ship is eliminated, allowing more opportunity to use the ALD command.
- Updated general UI button sound to be less harsh.
- Add new maps "Caltrop" for 6 players and "Canyon" for 10 players.

Balance:
- Increased Vauxhall Light Cruiser speed to 26m/s (was 24m/s) and armor thickness to 30cm (was 24cm).
- Increased damage of 250mm HE-RPF to 13 per fragment (was 10).

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed color picker not matching correct Hue when opening it after returning to the main menu.
- Fixed camera getting stuck at an incorrect orientation when flipping view at the deployment screen when the cinematic starts.
- Fixed ship summary bar being below the selected ship when the camera was flipped.
- Fixed repair teams who do not have restore capability being assigned restoration jobs and not consuming restores.
- Fixed coroutine failing to start error when a mount's status changed while the UI was hidden.
- Fixed degraded thrust from destroyed thrusters not always being applied in the correct direction.
- Fixed chat background staying on screen when all messages have faded out.
- Fixed light on Riposte destruction effect not fading correctly.
- Fixed exceptions occuring when saving a singleplayer game while missiles were in the process of launching.

[h3]Perspective Flipping[/h3]


I've been watching a lot of streams over the last two weeks, and one of the things that has struck me most is that a lot of players tend to view the game from the perspective of their ships, despite the camera offering full freedom of movement. When the enemy is above, this can lead to some awkward "neck craning", as the player tries to look up from their ships to see the enemy while also trying to issue orders on the plane. There's obviously a very strong instinct to have the high ground, which leads to players frequently clustering near the top of the map with only a brave few daring to sneak below. Fortunately, the advantage of having a game set in space is that the high ground can be relative, if we let it be.

This update introduces the ability to flip the camera perspective to make up become down, and down become up. This affects both the normal view and tactical view camera, allowing you to continue to seamlessly switch between them. The default keybind for this control+shift+space, and can be adjusted in the settings menu. If the camera flipping animation makes you motion sick, or you just don't like it, you can disable it in the accessibility settings.

Reception to the proposed change in our Discord was extremely positive, and our testers who previewed the change called it "game changing", so we hope you'll love it as much as we do.

[h3]Balance Changes[/h3]
This will be our first patch since release that features a few minor balancing tweaks.

The first of these is a reduction in the Solomon's component damage reduction from 55% to 40%, bringing it in line with the Axford. In testing this reduced the time to kill under sustained gunfire from a ludicrous 15 minutes to an average of 10 (33%, in line with the increase in damage received). This makes the Solomon's interior a little more squishy when its generous armor (thick enough to bounce rail slugs in some cases) is penetrated. Because of their high point cost they tend to be one of only two or three ships, meaning players bringing battleships should have no trouble paying enough attention to maximize that armor utility, while allowing opponents with good positioning/flanking to not have to invest half the match taking one down.

Additionally, the Raines frigate is receiving a slight buff. The forward module slot (Module 5) has been increased in size to allow it to fit a wider range of support modules, including a Micro Reactor to help alleviate power concerns on dual-engine builds.

[h3]Fleet Images[/h3]
The saddest thing when browsing for fleets on the Workshop is the lack of preview images. Now, fleet screenshots are automatically generated when you save your fleet and will accompany it on its journey to the Workshop if you decide to post it there. If you'd like to update your currently posted fleets with a screenshot, just load the fleet in the editor, save it once, and upload it to the Workshop again.

[h3]Soundtrack[/h3]
For those of you who are loving the game's soundtrack and would like to take it with you, our amazing composer Lauren has made it available to all at the following links:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3mlqKlC6rcZNGaqenzi7e8
YouTube: https://youtu.be/4DbcrowJlnY
Bandcamp: https://laurenpham.bandcamp.com/album/nebulous-fleet-command-original-soundtrack-vol-1

There are also a bunch of minor changes and additions, which you can find in the full patch notes:

Changes/Features:
- The camera perspective can now be flipped 180 degress by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Space.
- Lifeboats will now fly back towards the position their parent ship arrived from, and disappear after crossing the map boundary.
- EW weapons will now continue firing in the targeted direction rather than continuing to point at the selected position when the ship is moving.
- Players who are kicked from the same lobby twice cannot rejoin that lobby again, until the host restarts their game.
- Missile ranges now contribute to the offensive range circle radius.
- Added multiplayer lobby filter to hide password protected lobbies.
- Added Modding.IModEntryPoint interface for modders writing custom code mods.
- Range plane range mark text now flips to be legible from below.
- Global north (000) direction on range plane is now identified with a thicker, yellow line.
- Adjusted Deuteranopia color palette to make red more distinct.
- Critical warning icons now match colorblind palettes.
- Control is now the default game mode when starting a new lobby.
- Fleet screenshots are now automatically generated when saving a fleet, and will be uploaded along with the fleet if it is posted to the Steam Workshop.

Balance:
- Reduced Solomon component damage reduction to 40% (was 55%).
- Increased size of Raines module 5 slot to 3x3x3 (was 2x2x2).

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed soft lock caused by having the pause menu open in the deployment screen when the arrival cinematic starts.
- Fixed texture format mismatch in a compute shader, causing crashes with some Intel drivers.
- Fixed chaff weapon group being counted as offensive for the range circle radius calculation, creating a 60m circle on ships with no other weapons.
- Fixed some damage control RPCs logging errors when exiting a game.
- Fixed NullReferenceException in DC team tokens when moving to some locations.
- DC board no longer stays open when selecting the same ship after previously deselecting it.
- Corrected range marks in Aurora stats.
- Fixed NullReferenceException when trying to pathfind to a target outside the map.

If you're a fan of real-time space combat, then Nebulous: Fleet Command is going to suck you right in. Sitting at the intersection between ship design and realistic sim combat, you're both outfitter and tactical commander of a space naval squadron in Nebulous...
Read more.

Many of your have been requesting the ability to rebind keys, and it was unfortunately one of the things that did not make the cut before EA release last Friday. You can now rebind keyboard controls, or just view them, via the settings menu under the new Controls tab.

Keyboard shortcuts have two primary contexts: widget open and widget closed. The same key can be used for multiple actions, as long as their context is different. Some keys, like the movement keys for the camera, cannot overlap with anything else.

Full patch notes below:

Changes/Features:
- Added key rebinding, accessible via the settings menu.
- Track projections on the sphere widget will now turn yellow when the tracks are inside the seeker cone representation.
- Rotated locked plane normal for sphere widget. Pressing the H key will toggle a vertical locking plane for the current azimuth.
- Default WCON status at start of the game is now FREE. If you don't want your ships to automatically return fire, set it back to TIGHT.
- Double-clicking on a lobby will now attempt to join it.
- Added a faint background to in-game chat messages.
- Weapons firing on a target that is out of range will now indicate "Out of Range" in their status tooltip instead of "Bearing To Target".
- Narration in Tutorial 6 will now pause until each waypoint is placed while arranging the first waypoint strike.

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed glitchy rendering of some widget lines.
- Fixed KIL and PRI buttons not being greyed out when not opened on a track.
- Fixed some sound effects not having the audio mixers correctly applied to them.
- Disabled threaded nameplate texture compression, they are now done on the main thread. The game will stutter a bit while generating nameplates, but should resolve some crashes.
- Camera will no longer end up inside ships when focusing from very small objects such as missiles.
- Fixed Steam rich presence showing "%map_name%" when in the tutorial missions.