MAJOR UPDATE: Secondary Missions/Space Stations, Graphical Improvements, AI Improvements, Optimizations, more

Glad to finally get this update done and released! Many thanks to Jolenar for helping me improve the graphics in general, and for doing some game art as well. Also shout out to GentleCrimson and everyone else who helped test this update while it was in development!

Secondary Missions/Space Stations

Now every area has a space station at the center, and each space station has randomly generated missions that you can accept. The original objectives (defeating the Zef clones and travelling to the next system) have become Primary Missions, and are automatically accepted/completed as you defeat the bosses. You can have one active secondary mission at a time, and upon completion of a mission you will rewarded with one of 4 sets of components shown to the right of the mission description. There are three types of secondary missions now, but more will come later:

• CARGO missions: Attach and build a ship around cargo containers, fly them safely to the destination space station and then disconnect them from your ship to drop them off. Cargo containers have a lot of armor, but they are very heavy and will slow your ship down.

• HUNT missions: Take down a number of a specific type of enemy ships from the target area.

• TROPHY missions: Salvage a number of a specific type of component from a specific type of enemy ship from the target area and return with them to the station to get a reward. (You don't necessarily have to destroy the enemy ship's command centers to complete these missions)

Enemy Ships and General Gameplay

• Decreased the amount of drag in the physics system, so you go a little faster, and the movement feels less rigid

• Base enemy movement AI has been redone

• Now up to three enemy ships at a time, and added more inter-enemy dynamics as well as different personality traits for each type of enemy.

• Now get more XP for destroying dangerous, elite, and boss enemies in the RPG game modes

• Railguns now use twice as much energy

• Shields now turn off under 10% health instead of being destroyed as soon as they are disabled.

• Increased speed of blaster, minigun, and missile projectiles

• Hinges, chain links, saws can now be separated if you hit them with enough force. Sliders and hydraulics can now be destroyed if hit with a very large impact.

• Enemy sight cones are now shown, to help you avoid battles if you want to.

• More!

Graphics and Optimization

• Overhauled ship component graphics

• Overhauled color palette

• Removed background asteroids, replaced them with mid-ground nebulas

• Improvements to planet rendering

• Large text option in graphics settings

• Heavy optimizations affecting both CPU & GPU usage

Misc.

• Many bug fixes and smaller adjustments

Media: