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Author Topic: Starfarer 0.53a (Released) Patch Notes  (Read 368032 times)

Alex

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Starfarer 0.53a (Released) Patch Notes
« on: June 11, 2012, 06:59:54 PM »

This version is out - you can download it here.

Changes as of August 02, 2012

Ship AI:
  • Is aware of conserving flux when firing against particularly effective shields
    • Most visible when facing active Fortress Shields, but also applies when firing HE or fragmentation weapons at shields
  • Will always raise omni shields in the direction it intends, instead of sometimes raising it in the wrong direction and then swinging it to face the threat
  • Knows to lower and re-raise omni shields if they're pointing in the wrong direction, instead of swinging them over (which takes longer)
  • Fixed bug that would sometimes cause the AI to inexplicably lower shields. Probably.
  • Will not automatically lower shields when autopilot is engaged
  • Improved missile avoidance
  • Ships without shields will be more careful about avoiding missiles
  • Improved logic that determines when it's ok to go in against a more powerful ship and when to pull back (multiple ships do a better job of trading off damage between each other)
  • Frigates with at least a medium-sized weapon will never be considered "civilian", regardless of their loadout. (Prevents Hound from becoming very defensive/evasive with certain non-stock loadouts)
  • Adjusted missile panic fire to occur earlier for shieldless (and cloakless) ships. Mostly affects the Buffalo Mk.2 - it's more likely to get rid of all its missiles before exploding.

Content:
  • Added Phaeton-class medium tanker
    • Found in a few factions' fleets and convoys, not available for sale
  • Added chance of Hyperion spawning in some Tri-Tachyon fleets
  • Added "Front Shield Generator" hullmod that adds a basic shield to shieldless ships

Command UI:
  • Adjusted fire support suitability calculation - ships that are better for an assault role will no longer get assigned to fire support (i.e., just because your Conquest has 2 MIRV launchers, it won't get lumped in with the Vigilances).
  • Adjusted carrier group suitability calculation - ships like the Venture and Odyssey will no longer be assigned.

Modding related:
  • Added SectorAPI.getPlayerFleet() method
  • Extracted some common methods into a FleetDataAPI, added methods:
    • FleetDataAPI CargoAPI.getMothballedShips()
    • FleetDataAPI CampaignFleetAPI.getFleetData()
  • Updated to new version of Janino (break and continue in loops will compile now)
  • Added CargoStackAPI, CargoAPI.getStacksCopy()
  • Modded-in combat music /should/ work now
  • Added a few methods to the HullModEffect interface to support figuring out which mods are applicable to which hull and the addition of shields.
    • Any mod that adds hull mods will need to be updated - the classes implementing HullModEffect will not compile

Miscellaneous:
  • Improved Codex UI
  • Added ship systems to Codex
  • Hullmods that are not applicable to a ship will be disabled in the hullmod selection dialog (for example, shield mods for a ship w/o shields).

Bugfixing:
  • Fixed campaign movement bug that would cause you to overshoot your destination if you clicked on empty space
  • Fixed bug that allowed you to center the view on a target even if that target was no longer visible through the fog of war
  • Fixed bug where flagship display for a mission wouldn't update right after the flagship was refitted


Changes as of July 24, 2012

Admiral AI:
  • Knows to engage enemy fire support ships when they become a significant danger

Ship Systems:
  • Fortress Shield: generates hard flux but allows soft flux dissipation while it's on, allowing ship to take a "breather" in combat when its flux is high from weapons fire
  • Maneuvering Jets: removed cooldown, added flux cost

Content:
  • New mission: "Ambush" - showcases phase ships
  • Added phase ships to some Tri-Tachyon and independent fleets
  • Phase ship hulls available for sale at Tri-Tachyon HQ
  • Omen hulls available for sale at Tri-Tachyon HQ
  • New ship: Mule-class Combat Freighter (screenshot)
    • Added to some Hegemony, Pirate, and Independent fleets
    • Available for sale at the Hegemony Orbital Station

Modding-related:
  • Removed redundant "API" suffix from some functions in the Global class
  • Added createFleetMember() method to Global.getFactory()
  • Greatly expanded CampaignFleetAPI and FleetMemberAPI (thanks for bugging me about it and putting together a list of methods, LazyWizard)
  • Cost to activate/keep on the phase cloak is now set per ship, in ship_data.csv ("phase cost", "phase upkeep" columns - expressed as fraction of ship's base flux capacity)
  • Added following methods to MutableShipStatsAPI:
    • getPhaseCloakActivationCostBonus()
    • getPhaseCloakUpkeepCostBonus()

Miscellaneous:
  • Ship tooltip now shows phase cloak info (if applicable)
  • Ship tooltip shows what active system a ship has
  • Upgraded to LWJGL 2.8.4
  • Fortress Shield and Phase Cloak apply sound effect filter when on

Bugfixes:
  • Fixed ship AI bug where it wouldn't fire any weapons in an alternating group if the total flux cost to fire all weapons in the group was too high
  • Fixed bug where fighters with a weapon that regenerated charges would go back to refit when charges ran down to 0


Changes as of July 14, 2012

Ship AI:
  • Adjusted strafing/pursuit algorithm to help avoid a situation where two ships will circle each other ineffectively for a long time. This result in a significant AI quality improvement overall:
    • Better aim with forward-facing weapons
    • Better aim with guided *and* unguided missiles - in particular, AI frigates can now use Reaper torpedoes effectively
    • More aggresive engagements when appropriate
  • Improved tactical response to being kited
  • No longer tries to flee from frigates or fighters, since that generally doesn't ends well
  • Improved collision avoidance - ships should more reliably go around each other when their destinations cause them to cross paths

Added Phase Cloaking:
  • Replaces shields on phase ships (right click to phase in/out)
  • Phased ships can be seen, but not hit
  • No flux dissipation, builds a percentage of base flux per second - can't stay phased indefinitely
  • Costs a percentage of base flux to activate
  • Ship overloads if the phase cloak maxes out the flux level
  • Can't unphase inside a solid object (but will overload)
  • Can't fire while phased
  • Three new phase ships: one cruiser and two frigates
  • See blog post for more details: http://fractalsoftworks.com/2012/07/09/the-evolution-of-phase-cloaking/

Weapon/balance changes:
  • Phase Beam: increased range by 100 units
  • Phase Charge Launcher: renamed to "Proximity Charge Launcher", increased ammo to 30, increased launch speed, reduced rate of fire from 1/second to 1/3 seconds, reduced damage
  • Tachyon Lance: reduced range and damage by 50%. Increased EMP damage by 50%. No longer goes through fighters.

Ship Systems:
  • Changed Fast Missile Racks to generate flux per use, drastically reduced cooldown

Miscellaneous:
  • Added per-system icons to in-combat ship status display
  • Missile engine glow will now gradually diminish a couple of seconds before it flames out, giving some warning that it's about to happen

Bugfixes:
  • Ship AI no longer tries to avoid an (impossible) collision with the transfer command shuttle pod
  • Fixed potential game freeze if two fleets with ships with no attack capacity whatsoever engaged in an autoresolved battle
  • Fixed bug where autofiring missile weapons didn't properly recognize when friendly fire is NOT a danger
  • Fixed bug where switching weapon groups quickly would sometimes cause the weapon arcs for the wrong group to be displayed



Changes as of June 11, 2012

Ship Systems (along with tentative ship assignments):
  • Flare Launcher - launches flares that distract the guidance systems of incoming missiles and PD weapons. Any missile hitting a flare will be destroyed.
    • Hound, Dram, Valkyrie, Buffalo Mk.II, Atlas
  • Active Flare Launcher - similar to the above, but flares lock on to and track incoming missiles
    • Shuttle, Tempest, Buffalo
  • Burn Drive - temporarily engages the drive used for system travel. Massive speed boost for a fixed time, can't turn or use shields (but can fire), risk of full engine flameout on significant collision.
    • Tarsus, Enforcer, Dominator, Onslaught
  • Maneuvering Jets - activates extra thrusters to greatly improve ship maneuverability (acceleration/deceleration, turn rate, turn acceleration/deceleration)
    • Falcon, Eagle, Conquest
  • Fast Missile Racks - rapidly reloads any cooling-down missile weapons
    • Vigilance, Condor, Venture
  • Fortress Shield - drastically improves shield efficiency at the expense of a constant flux buildup and inability to fire weapons
    • Paragon
  • High Energy Focus - boosts energy weapon damage by 50%, increases damage taken by 50%, can't use shields
    • Sunder, Aurora, Odyssey
  • Phase Teleporter - teleports anywhere (to cursor location) within a significant range (~1500 pixels)
    • Hyperion
  • Phase Skimmer - teleports a fixed, short distance along the ship's current velocity vector
    • Wolf, Medusa
  • Point Defense Drones (high tech) - small, fragile drones armed with LR PD Lasers
    • Astral
  • Point Defense Drones (midline) - small, fragile drones armed with Light MGs
    • Gemini
  • Sensor Drones - drones armed with ion cannons that also increase the sight radius and weapon range while deployed
    • Apogee
  • Accelerated Ammo Feeder - doubles ballistic weapon rate of fire for a fixed duration
    • Brawler, Lasher, Hammerhead
  • EMP Emitter - targets missiles and nearby ship's weapon and engine subsystems, dealing a lot of EMP damage (and some energy). Mostly neutralized by shields.
    • Omen

Balance:
  • Increased Pilum missile hitpoints
  • Updated Flux Coil Adjunct hullmod to provide double the capacity bonus
  • Reduced single-shot Reaper torpedo launcher cost to 2 OP (from 4)
  • Improved Buffalo Mk.2 speed and maneuverability significantly
  • Improved Buffalo top speed

Ship AI:
  • Knows about coasting at a higher speed attained from the zero flux engine boost (or by other means)
  • Fixed bug that was causing a capital ship with omni shields to overestimate its nimbleness
  • Fixed bug that caused a ship to think it was venting when its target was (resulting in backing off from venting enemy ships)
  • Will try to avoid colliding with smaller friendly ships that have their engines disabled
  • More conservative with strike weapons (such as torpedoes), less likely to waste them on enemy shields
  • Improved shield AI to be aware of incoming projectiles, even when the weapon that fired no longer seems a threat
  • Will vent when at relatively low flux, but unthreatened
  • Improved logic for deciding which side to turn towards enemy for broadsides
  • Knows about ship systems

Miscellaneous:
  • Toned down ship explosion whiteout, fixed case where it would stay washed out for too long
  • Various performance optimizations
  • Updated weapon tooltip to show sustained flux/second value instead of burst
  • Optimized weapon code to do less work for weapons that are off-screen
  • Improved collision checking algorithm to minimize chances of projectiles passing through without doing damage (was only happening when the frame rate dipped)
    • Bombing runs and fighters firing at a ship while directly on top of it will no longer hit the bounds, but rather other points inside the hull
  • Missiles can no longer hit the launching ship if they fizzle out, UNLESS they've left the ship's bounds at some point

Controls:
  • Removed key binding for raising flux on purpose
  • "F" now the default key for using the ship's system
    • For drones, F cycles through "recall"/"deploy around ship"/"free roam" modes
  • "Q" and "E" now bound to strafe left/right without turning

Content:
  • Added "ECCM Package" hullmod that gives missiles a chance to ignore flares and improves missile tracking and engine performance
  • Unique icons for every hullmod

Modding-related:
  • Can now specify custom engine glow color and contrail data (see data/shipsystems/proj/flare_standard.proj for example)
  • Added new MutableShipStats:
    • getEccmChance() - chance for missiles fired by ships to ignore flares
    • getMissileGuidance() - governs improvement to missile tracking AI and engine performance
    • getSightRadiusMod() - fog of war radius the ship can see through
    • getMissileRoFMult() - rate of fire multiplier for missile weapons
    • getBallisticRoFMult() - rate of fire multiplier for ballistic weapons
    • getEnergyRoFMult() - rate of fire multiplier for energy weapons
  • Increased rate-of-fire capped at 20 shots/second. Weapons firing faster than that are unaffected.
  • Fixed some issues with incorrect UI colors being used (wrong color for hangar space bar, crew bar in ship tooltip)
  • Fixed bug that was causing some very large modded ships to not be properly zoomed out in the refit screen

Bugfixes:
  • Fixed bug where a ship could be "too good" for a destroyer escort assignment
  • Fixed flickering issue when fleet was parked directly over the sun
  • Fixed Sunder variant that went over the flux vents cap
  • Saved custom ship loadouts designed in missions no longer erroneously show up in the campaign variant manager
  • Fixed bug that caused some animations to not be properly cleaned up after every battle
  • Fixed accident chance erroneously showing up from being over capacity hangar space
  • Fixed bug where hullmods would not be applied when a ship is refitted for a mission
  • Fixed bug where burst lasers could still use up charges by trying to fire while the ship is overloaded/venting
  • Fixed bug that resulted in incorrect "current" weapon being shown in weapon picker (refit) dialog after an undo
« Last Edit: August 02, 2012, 01:46:39 PM by Alex »
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ciago92

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2012, 07:05:37 PM »


*snip*

  • Fortress Shield - drastically improves shield efficiency at the expense of a constant flux buildup and inability to fire weapons
    • Paragon

*snip*


I don't see the point of this. Unless the flux buildup is low, what is the difference between this and just keeping your shields up? (hint: answer is you can fire weapons regularly. and if the weapons are the issue press x to hold fire)

other than that, love it, looks like it will add a lot of interesting tactics to the game!
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Alex

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2012, 07:13:22 PM »

It depends on how much incoming damage there is. The shields take 10x less damage, so if you're facing down an Onslaught (or two), they'll last much longer than otherwise. If you're facing a Hound, using these would be purely detrimental.
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cp252

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2012, 07:17:06 PM »

I've been waiting for the patch notes with anticipation usually reserved for the actual patch. YAAAY
Ahem: The fortress shield. What's the point exactly? If you're facing down a couple Onslaughts, won't raising shields and disabling weapons be useless unless you're in retreat? It pretty much just buys time...
It'd be useful on a carrier or something, say. Or a ship which has like bomb bays.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2012, 07:25:26 PM by cp252 »
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arwan

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2012, 07:17:18 PM »

Miscellaneous:

    Toned down ship explosion whiteout, fixed case where it would stay washed out for too long

YAY.. i remember posting a bug for this a while back. now i can say i contributed.. warranted or not LMAO.
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Alex
You won't be able to refit fighters and bombers at all. They're designed/balanced around having a particular set of weapons and would be very broken if you could change it. Which ones you pick for your fleet -out of quite a few that are available- is the choice here, not how they're outfitted.

FlashFrozen

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2012, 07:18:41 PM »

infernium injector rename?  :D

But now I wonder how do we implement these in mods, (hopes for mod example 3 ) :P
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Mattk50

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2012, 07:32:14 PM »

Looks awesome. Bit sad no new campaign things are coming soon tho.
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LazyWizard

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2012, 07:35:01 PM »

Ship AI:
  • Improved logic for deciding which side to turn towards enemy for broadsides

I have a question about this change. The Odyssey's large mounts are in a weird place arc-wise, as there's no overlap between left/right until a fair distance from the ship, but at Tachyon Lance distances, the overlap is wider than a capital ship - here's what I mean. Will my Fire Support Odyssey now try to hit with all three Lances, or will the AI just use the two on the left?

Edit: direct link to image.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2012, 07:51:00 PM by arkmagius »
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Alex

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2012, 08:04:22 PM »

Ahem: The fortress shield. What's the point exactly? If you're facing down a couple Onslaughts, won't raising shields and disabling weapons be useless unless you're in retreat? It pretty much just buys time...

Buying time can be good if you've got other forces on the way. It's also likely they'll generate a good amount of flux trying to bring them down.

I'm not sure you want out of the system - it improves defense at the expense of offense, and that's pretty much all it does, with all the situational usefulness that entails :)

infernium injector rename?  :D

But now I wonder how do we implement these in mods, (hopes for mod example 3 ) :P

The infernium injector got cut - could never nail down what it was supposed to do, in a satisfying way (it was meant to be a high-tech movement enhancer, akin to Burn Drive, but different).

As far as mods, you won't be able to make brand new types of systems, but the existing systems have plenty of parameters that can be adjusted to create ones that play (and look) very different.

Looks awesome. Bit sad no new campaign things are coming soon tho.

Thanks! Yeah, I hear you - chomping at the bit to get started on campaign stuff, myself. But, ship systems were something that was planned from the very beginning - so in the long run, it's not a delay - and it made sense to do this now, to finish out what's probably the largest unimplemented combat feature. I'm very excited about finally getting these in the game.


I have a question about this change. The Odyssey's large mounts are in a weird place arc-wise, as there's no overlap between left/right until a fair distance from the ship, but at Tachyon Lance distances, the overlap is wider than a capital ship - here's what I mean. Will my Fire Support Odyssey now try to hit with all three Lances, or will the AI just use the two on the left?

It'll fire with all three, but only if it's a Fire Support assignment (there, it actually evaluates a wide range of possible facings for optimal firepower). In regular, close-in fighting (even when it might be able to sneak in a shot with all three), it'll pick the left side.

It should already be doing this in Fire Support mode, though - it's not a recent change.
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MidnightSun

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2012, 08:05:25 PM »

Looks great; I guessed on Twitter that the "lightning" was from the Omen! :p

How are the drones going to work? Are they essentially a fighter wing bound to the carrier (ie, destroyed drones replaced if the wing comes back)? Or is each one going to move separately from the others? Can the drones capture a beacon?
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Alex

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2012, 08:24:03 PM »

Drones: you've got X amount that can be deployed at any one time, and a total number of drones the ship carries (replenished between battles). You press 'F' to deploy the drones in a pattern around the ship. 'F' again to let them roam on a longer leash. 'F' again to recall all drones - they land on the ship, and any damaged ones are repaired - though lost drones are gone for good. While drones are active (not "recalled"), it'll continue to deploy reserve drones to replace losses, until it's out of reserve drones.

Bah, I didn't do a good job of explaining.


Also: the pattern that the drones deploy in can be modded - in particular, you can have them deploy in a fixed position, or set up multiple orbits around the ship. I suspect that with a bit of creativity, the could be used to create hulls that transform into a somewhat different shape :) You can also make it alter ship stats in any way you want while drones are deployed (as the Apogee's Sensor Drones do).

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Anysy

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #11 on: June 11, 2012, 08:30:10 PM »

can you put.. multiple subsystems on a ship? hmmm..

I guess not, given that you have a single hotkey for it.

the fortress shield looks interesting - Does it per chance instantly raise shields, or just make them 10x more resistant
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icepick37

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #12 on: June 11, 2012, 08:45:38 PM »

Yay! This looks awesome. Can't wait. :D
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Vandala

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #13 on: June 11, 2012, 08:46:12 PM »

Well I'm disappointed that the Odyssey only got a damage boost and not something as cool as a teleport, but it was kinda expected it wouldn't get that.

I am surprised we got two kinds of teleportation, which is very nice, very useful.

I'm very pleased with what the Apogee and the Omen will get, drones with EMP damage? Hell yes! And the Omen doing a 'field' of EMP damage that also damages ship systems? Awesome!! Exactly what I was hoping for.

The upcoming version sound very promising.

Hmm, come to think of it, a Plasma Cannon with a 50% damage boost would make it comparable to a rapid fire antimatter blaster... That's a scary though. Especially when you can fit two of 'em on a Odyssey. That's better then having 6 AM blasters firing simultaneously... Of course you can also outfit it with AM blasters. Oh wow. Oh my.

You know scratch that disappointment bit, the Odyssey has just become a nightmare to anything. I'm gonna see if I can insta-kill an Onslaught with it.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2012, 08:50:00 PM by Vandala »
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YAZF

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #14 on: June 11, 2012, 09:51:58 PM »

Question about a few of the systems, namely the High Energy Focus and Fortress Shield. You didn't mention that they were for a limited amount of time (like you did for Burn Drive for instance). Does that mean it's going to be something like a toggle ability? When you choose whether they are on or off constantly?
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Dear Alex,
There should be a battlestation/star fortress fight in the main menu mission mode.  :)
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