Fractal Softworks Forum
Starsector => Announcements => Topic started by: Alex on June 27, 2011, 11:58:29 AM
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Update - the preview version of the 0.35a release is out, and you can get it here (http://fractalsoftworks.com/preorder).
The preview version, in a nutshell:
- New fleet control scheme
- Codex with info on ships/fighters/weapons
- Fleet command tutorial
- Mods need to be updated with "gameVersion":"0.35a" in the descriptor to show up in the list.
- Right-click and drag now pans the map around, instead of left. Left-clicking is wholly reserved for interaction with objects. This will trip you up. I apologize :)
The full patch notes are below.
Latest Changes (updated on 8/19/2011)
- Wrapped up fleet command changes, discussed in detail here (http://fractalsoftworks.com/2011/07/27/fleet-control/)
- Content:
- New ships: Medusa, Aurora, Dominator
- New fighters: Warthog, Gladius, Thunder, Longbow, Trident
- Cult of Lud captains in missions now have suicidal personalities
- Revamped missions to showcase new ships and gameplay. The names are the same, but the missions are all quite different.
- New hand-painted backgrounds, stars
- Codex interface - accessible from main menum, "more info" on context menus, mission briefing, and mission results
- Improved font rendering, added new font for improved readability of larger blocks of text.
- Improved fog of war rendering, increased fog of war resolution
- Changed the way the exe is generated for windows, hopefully avoiding some AV false positives
- Mods need to be updated with "gameVersion":"0.35a" in the descriptor to show up in the list.
- New csv loader - supports multiple lines within strings in a row, and double quotes in strings (escape as ""). Mostly useful for descriptions.csv
- Balance changes:
- Improved Onslaught - converted some small turrets into medium, improved all-around coverage
- Improved Conquest - side-facing hardpoints converted to turrets, changed slot types & sizes, made faster. Overall, more powerful and easier to use
- Lots and lots of weapon balance changes - mostly bringing weaker weapons up to par
- Added captain personalities
- Fighters more likely to return to carrier when hitpoints are low
- Added two new fighter classes. Assault - stays close to target like interceptors, but doesn't have a preference for engaging fighters like interceptors do. Support - tries to strafe around the target without making direct attack runs.
- Added friend-vs-foe indicators around ships and missiles (red diamond for enemy, blue circle for neutral, green square for friendly in map view only)
- To prevent any incompatibility problems due to extensive control changes, controls are now reset to defaults when running the new version of the game for the first time.
- Fixed AI bug that caused bombers to be too cautious with bombs, and too cautious in general. They're a lot more deadly now.
- All dialogs can now be dismissed by right-clicking outside the dialog. Pressing Escape still works, too.
- Ships use full color icons - should be placed in ships/icons/color/icon2_<hull id>.png
Full list of changes, broken out by category, below:
Content
- Codex interface - accessible from main menum, "more info" on context menus, mission briefing, and mission results
- New fighters: Warthog, Gladius, Thunder, Longbow, Trident
- Cult of Lud captains in missions now have suicidal personalities
- Revamped missions to showcase new ships and gameplay. The names are the same, but the missions are all quite different.
- New hand-painted backgrounds, stars
- Codex interface - accessible from main menum, "more info" on context menus, mission briefing, and mission results
- New High Intensity Laser and Annihilator Rocket Launcher graphics (screenshot (http://www.fractalsoftworks.com/public/screenshot103.jpg), featuring the Aurora, which is also sporting the new PD burst lasers for good measure)
- Added new ships - Medusa, Aurora, Dominator - screenshot (http://www.fractalsoftworks.com/public/new_ships2.jpg)
- Added Heavy Burst Laser, medium energy point defense weapon
- Added PD Burst Laser weapon
Gameplay & Balance Changes
- Wrapped up fleet command changes, discussed in detail here (http://fractalsoftworks.com/2011/07/27/fleet-control/)
- Finished functional changes to the war room/fleet control interface. You can now create assignments for your fleet to carry out, instead of micromanaging the details. Blog post with details forthcoming.
- Improved Onslaught - converted some small turrets into medium, improved all-around coverage
- Improved Conquest - side-facing hardpoints converted to turrets, changed slot types & sizes, made faster. Overall, more powerful and easier to use
- Lots and lots of weapon balance changes - mostly bringing weaker weapons up to par
- AI improvements:
- Revamped collision avoidance AI - much better at avoiding collisions and also aware of the ship's tactical goals (i.e., won't avoid a collision to wind up in front of an enemy Onslaught's main battery)
- Missile avoidance similarily improved. Use of shields vs missiles also improved, especially for omni-directional shields.
- Maneuvers to avoid being surrounded and to cause enemies to get in each other's way
- Maneuvers to avoid crowding friendly ships that are between it and the target
- Large ships will attempt to vent flux and get movement/turn bonus to better face threats trying to stay behind them
- Interceptors are more wary of PD weapons
- Improved friendly fire avoidance - AI is more aware when friendly ships might move into the path of a shot, but currently isn't
- Won't vent flux when it's in a good position to do damage- i.e., when the enemy is venting or overloaded
- Perceives ships that are almost done venting flux as a threat
- Won't turn off autofire on PD groups when flux is high but enemy missiles are nearby
- More judicious about using too many missiles on a low-hull target - won't waste all of them on overkill
- Large ships aren't so easily distracted by smaller ones
- Less paranoid about the threat posed by enemy missile launchers
- Closes in to effective non-missile weapon range instead of relying on missile weapons entirely
- If a ship outranges the enemy, it will close in to just beyond effective enemy range to take advantage of as many weapons as possible.
- Improved strafing to stay away from enemy ship's firepower
- Increased propensity to fire strike weapons against appropriate targets (notably, the Apogee will use its AM blasters now)
- Alternating weapon groups now properly distinguish whether the ideal weapon to use requires aiming or not. (notably, the Apogee will use its MIRV launcher much better)
- More intelligent about using kinetic-damage weapons vs shields
- Added captain personalities
- Fighters more likely to return to carrier when hitpoints are low
- Fixed AI bug that caused bombers to be too cautious with bombs, and too cautious in general. They're a lot more deadly now.
- Added two new fighter classes. Assault - stays close to target like interceptors, but doesn't have a preference for engaging fighters like interceptors do. Support - tries to strafe around the target without making direct attack runs.
- Added "burst" beam weapons. A burst beam fires for a set duration - usually about a second - and then has to cool down before firing again. No weapons using it (yet), most likely candidates are PD weapons - the burst damage is front-loaded, so among other things, this allows for weapons that can easily shoot down some incoming missiles but have low overall DPS.
- Improved the effectiveness of armor vs beam weapons overall. This includes non-energy-damage beam weapons such as the Graviton Beam, and does not include energy damage non-beam weapons such as the Pulse Lasers.
Modding-related
- Mods need to be updated with "gameVersion":"0.35a" in the descriptor to show up in the list.
- New csv loader - supports multiple lines within strings in a row, and double quotes in strings (escape as ""). Mostly useful for descriptions.csv
- Ships use full color icons - should be placed in ships/icons/color/icon2_<hull id>.png
- Sound effects are now moddable - the contents of sounds.json will be combined the same way spreadsheet contents already were
- In weapon_data.csv, "burst size" is the burst duration, and "burst delay" is the burst cooldown.
Misc Features & Improvements
- Added friend-vs-foe indicators around ships and missiles (red diamond for enemy, blue circle for neutral, nothing for friendly - both in map and combat view)
- To prevent any incompatibility problems due to extensive control changes, controls are now reset to defaults when running the new version of the game for the firs
- All dialogs can now be dismissed by right-clicking outside the dialog. Pressing Escape still works, too.
- Improved font rendering, added new font for improved readability of larger blocks of text.
- Improved fog of war rendering, increased fog of war resolution
- Changed the way the exe is generated for windows, hopefully avoiding some AV false positives
- Changed ship variant names to differentiate between "Close Support" or "Fire Support" roles, in preparation for upcoming war room changes.
- Doubled default amount of panning. Instead of expanding the pan range, the 'Z' key now centers view on target - regardless of how far it is.
- Changes to controls - pressing 'R' will now set/clear target as appropriate, instead of using a separate key for clearing the target.
- The new default mapping for pause is spacebar.
- Entering the war room always pauses the game and leaving it always unpauses.
- Exiting the war room no longer turns off autopilot. It now stays on until it's explicitly toggled off or manual control of the ship is performed.
- Performance tweak - planets render about 100 times faster. No, really.
- Improved look of armor grid display
Bug Fixes
- Fixed bug where sometimes an incorrect resolution would be used in windowed mode
- Fixed bug where the keyboard would get into a state where it thought the Alt key was
- Fixed bug that caused the AI to occasionally turn off shields and keep them off even while under fire
- Fixed bug where AI would sometimes point omni shields away from the desired direction when first raising them
- Fixed bug where game would hang if it tried to load a non-existent image.
- Fixed bug with unknown key bindings showing up as "<unset>". Now show up as "unknown_123" etc.
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whoooo
I am so psyched for this!
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Wicked cool, man.
I only speak for myself, but I don't think you should be overly concerned with breaking mods (unless of course its trivial to *not* break mods). I'm happy to update mine as and when necessary, and I'm firmly aware anything I have done is definitely going to need to be updated several times if I want it to work with the final thingy.
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Nice! Can't wait to start trying out some of these things.
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I only speak for myself, but I don't think you should be overly concerned with breaking mods (unless of course its trivial to *not* break mods). I'm happy to update mine as and when necessary, and I'm firmly aware anything I have done is definitely going to need to be updated several times if I want it to work with the final thingy.
Thanks for that - yeah, I just don't want to break things if it'd take me five minutes not to ;)
The "surge" just magically changed to "burst". Err, rather, it's been that way allll along, nothing to see here.
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These aren't the surge weapons we are looking for. Move along.
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These aren't the surge weapons we are looking for. Move along.
Haha nice :p
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Nice work! Lovely list, it gives me a warm an fuzzy feeling thinking about all the goodness next patch will bring, but that could be my fever.
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Nice work! Lovely list, it gives me a warm an fuzzy feeling thinking about all the goodness next patch will bring, but that could be my fever.
Could be both :)
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Its really cool to see david's ships from the blog post come to life!
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Quick question for alex: will ordinance points be balanced in .35?
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Quick question for alex: will ordinance points be balanced in .35?
That's the plan.
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Nice!
so... ummm... do we get a balance preview? >.> (ie, so modders can begin adjusting things, and people can comment?)
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Nice!
so... ummm... do we get a balance preview? >.> (ie, so modders can begin adjusting things, and people can comment?)
Oh oh! I want preview! gimmegimmegimme! ... But naw, only of Alex have time for it. We'll figure it out otherwise.
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PD burst laser weapons will be perfect for the Earthling Cruiser and Autonomous Fighters. Thanks for this Alex!
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There might be a preview depending on how the war room revamp goes. I wouldn't hold out for a balance preview, though - that is scheduled about dead last in the plan, due to various dependencies - so by the time it's done, it'll be actual release time.
PD burst laser weapons will be perfect for the Earthling Cruiser and Autonomous Fighters.
Oh yeah, they do sound good for it. I'm biased (duh) but they're extremely fun to use. So much so that it's tempting to make them overpowered.
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- Interceptors are more wary of PD weapons
Does this mean they will stay away from PD ships in general?
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I think that it means that they will avoid ships with lots of PD weapons.
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Wow, you've been busy on the AI. Huzzah!
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AI update sounds imposing ;D Glad to see you guys focused on improving the AI when so many other developers are satisfied with mediocre AI in their games.
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And this is just on the tactical level - you're setting yourself a high bar for the strategic level!
(I'm sure you can pull it off by the way)
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Does this mean they will stay away from PD ships in general?
Nothing quite so drastic, though that might not be a bad idea in general. For now they're just less likely to maintain close contact.
The whole time I was working on this (which was almost a solid week), I thought that I ought to be working on new features instead, but this felt like it just had to be done - so thanks for your support, guys, makes me feel better about it :) The AI is in a much better place now, both in how it behaves already, and in being prepared to handle new gameplay features, obey orders, etc.
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Good features are without exception always good to have, but single player games are worthless without competent AI. Something that a lot of companies just don't seem to care about.
I realize you need to lay down the low-level infrastructure for the AI in order to continue on in development in such an AI dependent game, but there's also the risk of wasted efforts and time by investing in AI work that will need to end up being removed / re-written due to unforeseen issues later in development.
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There may be lots of things that could be added to this game but as it is it is very fun to play. If each step you take leaves you with a well-polished product you can ensure that it always makes a good impression on people. Missing features seems less detrimental than having shoddy functionality. (not that anything is shoddy about it now... ;D)
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Does this mean they will stay away from PD ships in general?
Nothing quite so drastic, though that might not be a bad idea in general. For now they're just less likely to maintain close contact.
I was just worried about the prospect of chasing a single wing of interceptors around the map with what's left of my capitals and frigates, thanks for allaying my fears :P.
I can't wait to see how the ships react.
Nice update on the features page by the way.
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Good features are without exception always good to have, but single player games are worthless without competent AI. Something that a lot of companies just don't seem to care about.
I realize you need to lay down the low-level infrastructure for the AI in order to continue on in development in such an AI dependent game, but there's also the risk of wasted efforts and time by investing in AI work that will need to end up being removed / re-written due to unforeseen issues later in development.
I don't think it's a risk. It's a certainty :) Still, I feel like this latest revision is going to hold up for a while. A lot of the combat gameplay is in place, and the AI design should be able to accommodate the things that are coming up quite nicely.
Overdesigning early and wasting effort is one thing, taking a look at your existing and near-future needs and writing something that fits is quite another.
And I completely agree about the AI being critically important, of course.
There may be lots of things that could be added to this game but as it is it is very fun to play. If each step you take leaves you with a well-polished product you can ensure that it always makes a good impression on people. Missing features seems less detrimental than having shoddy functionality. (not that anything is shoddy about it now... ;D)
Thanks for the compliment :) The tricky part is not spending too much time polishing things that subsequently get changed. That's part of the price of having early playable releases, and imo the tradeoff of getting the game out there and having real feedback is more than worth it.
Even trickier is being able to trash things you've spent a lot of time on when that's the right decision... but I digress.
I was just worried about the prospect of chasing a single wing of interceptors around the map with what's left of my capitals and frigates, thanks for allaying my fears :P.
I can't wait to see how the ships react.
Nice update on the features page by the way.
Ahh, yeah, shouldn't have to worry - they would retreat from combat anyway. Glad you like the new features page!
By the way, I wrote up a new blog post (http://fractalsoftworks.com/2011/07/08/thoughts-on-ai-collision-avoidance/) talking about the AI, and the collision avoidance algorithm in particular, if you guys are interested in checking it out. There's also a video with some in-game overlays that demonstrate how the AI sees things, featuring a Tempest avoiding a whole lot of LRM-delivered pain.
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Good features are without exception always good to have, but single player games are worthless without competent AI. Something that a lot of companies just don't seem to care about.
You have never played cortex command, eh?
Although it's nice to see that Alex aspire to make a good AI, but saying it would be worthless is a bit to steep.
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If you want no conflict or challenge, then sure, the lack of anything resembling AI would not be a problem for you I suppose.
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There are certain factors that alleviate the problems caused by bad AI, one of them is simplicity as in the case of Cortex command. Other like a restraining environment, limit the actions the AI and the person can make making it seem like the AI is competent when it might just have three possible moves to consider. There are game play factors as well, the AI being incredibly stupid might have a quantitative or qualitative superiority over the player. On the flip side, good AI can be said to be compensating for some of those same factors as well.
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I thought it was kind of obvious, but I wasn't talking about simplistic games but rather single player strategy and tactic related games where AI opponents must be competent in order to make the game enjoyable.
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So, got anything new for us Alex? :)
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So, got anything new for us Alex? :)
Working feverishly! The curse of working on large features, I suppose - not an awful lot to report until they are done.
What I'm doing now is making changes to how the war room works - making real good progress, too. I think it'll only take a couple of days to wrap up the functionality - and then I'll ship it off to David so he can make it look good :)
The way the new war room works is you create tasks ("Assignments") for your fleet, and they organize themselves into groups to perform them. So in a typical start to a battle, you might order two objectives to be "captured" (sends a small, fast task force there) and one objective to be "assaulted" (sends a larger, beefier force there, of what's available). That's literally all you'd have to do, aside from picking which ships to deploy.
Later on, you might create a waypoint and order your fleet to "rally a carrier group" there. If it's getting a bit hot, you can order the carrier to be escorted. There's lots of these types of orders you can give.
You can also give direct orders (retreat, repair & refit, etc). In addition, you can use these to put a specific ship on a particular assignment, if you think it's important enough.
The number of assignments active at any one time is limited (currently 3, +1 per comm relay, +bonus from Command skill which is tbd). Very importantly, the number of direct orders you can give is also limited - to reflect that as fleet commander, you can do but so much micromanagement. Right now it's also at 3 per battle, and these don't regenerate, so you have to use them wisely. Again, comm relay bonus applies and skill bonuses will apply here.
Hmm. This just might merit being expanded and made into a blog post, once the feature is complete.
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Sounds exciting. Can't wait to get some first hand experience. ;D
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Hmm. This just might merit being expanded and made into a blog post, once the feature is complete.
+1
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Thanks so much for the update, this is intensely exciting! I really cannot wait to see how it all turns out. The extra command and control features will be a big help.
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Very interesting, I'm curious to see how these changes play out in practice.
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Wow! That sounds great! It's the type of C3 I always love to see in a fleet game!
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Hah, "Command & Control" is an entirely cool name for the war room. Renaming it to that just might be worth the trouble of... well, actually re-naming it everywhere.
Didn't know it could be abbreviated to C2 (or C3, if you add communications), that also scores some cool points. It's amusing that adding an extra C (to get to C4) yields something altogether different :)
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Hah! Yes, C4 does add some bang to the abbreviation. :D Maybe we could get some C4 in the game? ;)
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Who needs C4 when we have antimatter for bulk demolition purposes? ;)
Technically the war room is already a C4I system as it currently is, being computerized on both side of the fourth wall, with intelligence concerning all things moving and shooting.
Speaking of intelligence...I'm sure something like this is already on the list, but maybe there should be some sort of component that denies your opponents of such information as weapon mounts and flux/armor level, and more advanced things that would break/lag sensor lock, spoof missiles, create false sensor images/echos for your opponents to wonder about and waste a good amount of long-range munition on, or just strip them of their intership communication altogether along with sensor sharing, C&C, as well as screams for reinforcements of any sort, and finally components that would make it more difficult for others to do the same on you...Basically another layer of strategy, and another battlefield to fight on.
Maybe EW does not really fit in the atmosphere of Starfarer, or maybe it's just a bit too advanced given the dystopian nature of the ingame universe...Still fun to think about nonetheless. But anyway...It would at least be nice to have missiles that actually rely on sensor lock for guidance, and lead their course for interception instead of simply chasing the tail of their target. Would at least make the Bis'mar mission more challenging. :)
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Just what I was thinking. C4? Much too weak!
About EW - there are definitely plans to get some of it in the game, both in the combat and the campaign layers.
By the way, the missiles do lead their targets - they'd be much worse if they just tracked the current position - but if you're trying to chase down something that's faster and/or more maneuverable, there's only so much you can do.
I have been toying with the idea of implementing the actual Sidewinder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder) target tracking algorithm, though. What's in the game now basically does the same thing, but the way the real algorithm does it is just so elegant.
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Something else that could be interesting is AoE type missiles, that can do damage to a large area. Like a flac missile that explodes into a moving field of destructive particles, or a swarm missile that explodes into several smaler missiles that track any nearby targets.
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I have been toying with the idea of implementing the actual Sidewinder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder) target tracking algorithm, though. What's in the game now basically does the same thing, but the way the real algorithm does it is just so elegant.
It could be interesting to offer a wide variety of missile types in the game. Dumb fire missiles, simple guided ones, ones that actively dodge obstacles, etc. Also, cluster missiles could be exciting and could pose a problem for point defense systems.
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There already is a MIRV launcher - the Apogee has it in Hornet's Nest, for one, and I think the Astral does too. And it indeed causes problems for PD :)
Dumbfire missiles are actually in the game too, just not in any of the missions in 0.34a - they are very likely to make an appearance in the next release.
But yeah, more variety in missiles is always good. I think there's already a good deal of it - the Sabot missile isn't something I've really seen in other games, for example - and there are plans for a few more unique types, whenever the schedule allows.
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I have a bunch of missiles I've made (about 50% of my weapons seem to be missiles or torps), some merely launchers for existing ammo, and others new: the tsar MRM for example had AOE, as does the shard PDM (point defense missile): the former is a large and slow missile great for assaulting capships from afar, and the latter is like what you would get if you crossed a flak cannon and a swarmer SRM.
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By the way, the missiles do lead their targets - they'd be much worse if they just tracked the current position - but if you're trying to chase down something that's faster and/or more maneuverable, there's only so much you can do.
Must have something to do with me spending too much time around HSS Bis'mar...And proportional guidance would indeed be nice! Though simple tail-chasers would still make up for something cheap that can be fired in great numbers.
The next thing down the line would probably be shielded missiles that drop their shields right before impact...That would probably be too much...Or is it already there?
Or there could be swarm missiles that would first bracket their target wolfpack-style from a safe range, then goes into attack mode from multiple direction at once to maximize their effectiveness against AoE PDs like flak cannon, and non-omnidirectional shields.
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The next thing down the line would probably be shielded missiles that drop their shields right before impact...That would probably be too much...Or is it already there?
I think the more dangerous option would be the missile not dropping its shields upon impact. If there are enough then it can potentially push a ship out of alignment.
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Shielded missiles sounds awesome, but such things should be really late in the tech tree.
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I have been toying with the idea of implementing the actual Sidewinder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder) target tracking algorithm, though. What's in the game now basically does the same thing, but the way the real algorithm does it is just so elegant.
I had no idea that such things were in the public domain!
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I have been toying with the idea of implementing the actual Sidewinder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder) target tracking algorithm, though. What's in the game now basically does the same thing, but the way the real algorithm does it is just so elegant.
I had no idea that such things were in the public domain!
Those things are really no secret now...It's the mechanical implementation that actually matters. There are actually missile simulators that outright simulate older surface-to-air missile systems to individual switch and knob, with accurate flight profile produced by their once-top-secret physical parameter and targeting algorithm similar to this one out there, available to public...That thing's hardcore.
Speaking of shield-ramming missiles...Wouldn't it be better to mount engines on heavier things, like asteroids, and let them go full newtonian on bigger ships? Would probably be fun!
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That could basically be another class of ship.
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Probably, but not so much if we make it into a sort of CAPTOR mine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTOR_mine) in space that's otherwise indistinguishable(Depending on sensors) from other rocks floating around, and physically rams, or launch missiles, preferably torpedoes, against anything that aren't themselves or other asteroids at short to point-blank range...Not exactly realistic. Not before strategical level gameplay gets into place.
On the other hand, pre-Collapse minefields with these sorts of things, if any of them are still functional after all these y....er, cycles, could make up for some good place for adventure, and -probably- offer some good salvage...I'm sure something like this is already on the way.
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I also would like to see shielded missiles / torpedos. That would be realy nasty high tech weapons
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They would also probably be huge.
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The functional parts of the new fleet control interface are just about done! I have to say that I'm very happy with how it came out, hope you guys like it when you get your hands on it.
Now it needs some visual polish - and after that will be ready for prime-time. I think you'll be surprised by how much less stuff there is on the map screen.
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I'm liking the changes to the controls/view you mentioned. R, Z, the like. Good changes, all around. Can't wait!
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I like the z and r changes as well, though about the pause/unpause behavior of the war-room, what happens if you have the game paused and then enter?
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Hopefully the intermediate release won't be too far in the future :)
I like the z and r changes as well, though about the pause/unpause behavior of the war-room, what happens if you have the game paused and then enter?
It stays paused. When you exit, it'll still stay paused unless you unpaused before exiting.
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Quick question.
Are you going to be adding weapon outfitting into this release? I.E. being able to customize our ships weapon loadouts etc?
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Not into this intermediate release, no. But it's not too far in the future - it's quite literally next up on the todo list.
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I presume the intermediate release is specifically for warroom functionality testing (and for the new beam weapon types?)
(another question: How will the changes impact missions like the original impossible one (Dire Straits)
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So, in v0.35 we will see fitting screen?
One question: will we able to do in next versions of Starfarer animated ship models?
P.S. Even for version 0.34 release are very stable and moddable, great job!
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I presume the intermediate release is specifically for warroom functionality testing (and for the new beam weapon types?)
Yeah, plus whatever other features I can sneak in :)
(another question: How will the changes impact missions like the original impossible one (Dire Straits)
I'll have to do a balancing pass and see. As-is, I think the mission would *actually* be impossible - though I haven't tried playing it with the new stuff yet. However, I don't think it's due to any limitations of the new system, but more to do with the new ship AI, which takes better advantage of the superior high-tech ships, and the improved admiral AI (which I recoded to use the new system, which, as it turns out, lends itself much better to coding an AI for, since you don't have to take care of so many little details).
One thing that'll make it easier is you're actually able to rally civilian ships where you want now, and they won't engage the enemy while en route.
So, in v0.35 we will see fitting screen?
Yeah, fitting screen in 0.35a. It really ought to be called 0.40a or something - then I wouldn't have to call the intermediate release 0.34.5.a - but meh, nomenclature.
One question: will we able to do in next versions of Starfarer animated ship models?
Can you elaborate on what you mean by animated ship models? The answer is no, though :) Adding doodads like spinning radar towers and blinking lights has been on the list for a while, but features and functional improvements take priority for now.
P.S. Even for version 0.34 release are very stable and moddable, great job!
Thanks!
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I'm eager to get my hands on the new version. Do you have an ETA for its release?
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Let me put it this way - I'm focusing my efforts on polishing things up and getting it out ASAP. If I had to guess, I'd say 1-2 weeks or so. I can't wait to release it, myself!
Edit: this is for the pre-0.35a release, with the new fleet control and some other stuff (new ships, weapons, etc).
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Just got this game two days ago and I'm in love. It's like you took all the things I ever thought would make for a great space game straight from my head and poured it all out into Java. I already can't wait for the new release, I'm really excited to see where you take this game. Keep up the amazing work!
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Thank you, that's quite compliment!
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Just got this game two days ago and I'm in love. It's like you took all the things I ever thought would make for a great space game straight from my head and poured it all out into Java. I already can't wait for the new release, I'm really excited to see where you take this game. Keep up the amazing work!
+1
Fantastic game! I hope and pray for this game's success because space games like this are so rare these days. I'll be sure to do my part and tell my friends about your game. Keep up the good work and thanks for making amazing game.
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I'm looking forward to the impeding preview release ;)
My work this summer has been taking a good amount of my time recently, which is why I haven't been on much lately
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Well, I still suck, but I love the new fleet control interface. Less micromanagement is always better! :)
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For those who have not tried it, I recommend playing through the fleet control tutorial first, just to get a feel for the new controls.
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I never checked out the last update but I'll be downloading this one tonight or tomorrow to pass the time till Deus Ex comes out... :P
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New fleet controls are a blast! A huge improvement from the old ones. I love how you got rid of control groups :D
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Thanks guys! I hope you like it, but looking forward to your feedback in either case :)
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Hello everyone,
this is my first post here, but I have lurked for quite some time.
Congratulation on the new 0.35a release it great ;D
One idea for the Codex I would love to see, is links for the weapons on the ship pages that takes you to the corresponding weapon page, this along with 'previous' and 'next' navigation between visited pages I think would improve navigation in the Codex.
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Control groups... were exploitable... in some missions, as I found.
I've noticed that some ships, if not given orders, will go and do things on their own, but do they ever capture objectives on their own?
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Hello everyone,
this is my first post here, but I have lurked for quite some time.
Congratulation on the new 0.35a release it great ;D
One idea for the Codex I would love to see, is links for the weapons on the ship pages that takes you to the corresponding weapon page, this along with 'previous' and 'next' navigation between visited pages I think would improve navigation in the Codex.
Hi, and welcome to the forum! Hi, and welcome to posting on the forum ;) Thanks for the suggestion - believe it or not, this is actually on my todo list - just couldn't quite squeeze it in, and really wanted to get the release out on Friday. It'll add a lot to the usability of the Codex to have linking, especially as it grows.
I've noticed that some ships, if not given orders, will go and do things on their own, but do they ever capture objectives on their own?
If a ship doesn't find a suitable assignment for itself, it'll go in "search & destroy" mode, hunting down enemy ships - so no, it won't purposefully capture objectives.
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Yippeeee! Good job Alex on getting this release out the door. Time for some well-deserved rest!
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Yippeeee! Good job Alex on getting this release out the door. Time for some well-deserved rest!
:D If by rest you mean posting on this forum non-stop while updating the manual, then yes indeed!
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Minor error in the patch notes btw: friendlies are indicated by a green square on the map, but nothing in-game [the notes say they are always indicated by nothing]
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Yippeeee! Good job Alex on getting this release out the door. Time for some well-deserved rest!
:D If by rest you mean posting on this forum non-stop while updating the manual, then yes indeed!
But you love the forum say you cannot say anything ;D