Broodnests (v0.6.20)

This one hits a lot of systems. I’ve been moving across the project, revisiting older feature requests and fixing things that have quietly annoyed me for a while.

Broodnests

Main highlight from the roadmap this update is Broodnests. I love Species-XI invasions, but I wanted some of them to turn up mid-encounter to add to the chaos.

Steam post imageBroodnests will now jump into encounters while you’re already fighting, adding sudden pressure and forcing you to adapt. They will never appear during boss fights though!

Death Summary

Ever died and thought, “What just killed me?”. Now you’ll see a full breakdown of the damage sources after you are destroyed.

Steam post imageThis should make deaths clearer and also help highlight any weapons or enemies are are a little stronger than intended.

Visuals Effects

All the visual effects that render on enemies has been redone. It should now very obvious when an enemy is inflicted by Corroding, Burning. Frozen, Disabled or Radioactive status effects.

Your ship also now gains a motion blur effect while invulnerable during dodges, so you can clearly see when you can and cannot take damage. This can be disabled in Graphics settings if you dislike it.

Steam post image Hornet Ship Design by Qryptiq (https://star-vortex.com/ships.php?view=145)

Nebula Improvements

Nebulas now heavily impact enemy aggro and targeting range. Sensor arrows only show direction. They no longer display enemy count or range, so you’ll need to hunt in the dark.

Steam post imageLarge obstructions will no longer spawn inside nebulas as they added more frustration than fun.

New Species-XI Music

All the music that plays during Species-XI fights has now been replaced by a custom soundtrack created by Eva and Simon Patterson. This will show up more prominently in Sector 4 but if you're infecting waypoints and fighting invaders early expect to hear some new music.

Range Increase

Many weapons have had range increases to compete with the improved drones. Most notably, the Railgun now hits at truly long range. Full details are in the patch notes below.

There are plenty more smaller changes listed below. Species-XI Beacons and Maggot Drone Bays have been added to global loot tables, and ESA will now explain debris debuffs the first time you encounter them. More to follow. Enjoy!

Patch Notes

New Features / Content

• Species-XI now have their own soundtrack by Eva Patterson and Simon Patterson.

• Broodnests will now spawn at random intervals in all sectors.

• Traders now have their own music by Eva Patterson and Simon Patterson.

• Death summary now tells you where the damage that destroyed you came from.

• New Species-XI Beacon special weapon added.

• New Maggot Drone Bay auto special weapon added.

• Added first-encounter dialog for hazardous debris explaining debuffs.

Balance Changes

• Nebula encounters no longer show distance or enemy counts on sensor arrows.

• Nebula fog now limits enemy detection range and weapon targeting.

• Nebula encounters no longer spawn with obstructions.

• Azure Ion Thruster dodge increased from 8 to 10.

• Positron Shield recharge rate increased from 135 to 175.

• Lightning Orb Launcher damage increased from 22.5 to 30.

• Frozen Orb Launcher velocity increased from 4 to 5s.

• Railgun range increased from 252m to 498m.

• Proton Torpedo velocity doubled from 80 m/s to 160 m/s.

• Drone formation/orbit weapon range reduced from 400m to 300m.

• Heat Ray, Skeran Laser, Freeze Ray range increased from 190m to 210m.

• Corrosion Beam, Leech Ray range increased from 200m to 220m.

• Spiral Laser range increased from 210m to 230m.

• Tesla Coil range increased from 175m to 195m.

• Cryo Lance, Thermal Lance range increased from 250m to 270m.

• Stalker explosion radius increased from 40m to 60m.

• Javelin explosion radius increased from 30m to 50m.

Quality of Life / Accessibility

• Debuff effects on ships are now clearly visible and should be distinguishable in combat.

• Ships now display a directional motion blur effect while dodging.

• Added a Dodge Blur toggle in Graphics settings if you don't like the new effect.

• Background nebulas are now randomized with some new designs added.

• New full-screen blur effect when pausing or being destroyed.

• Scroll views can now be scrolled with the right stick on controllers.

• Sliders can now be adjusted with the right stick on controllers.

• Loading screen now displays an animated hexagon grid background with ripple effects.

• Loading screen now transitions using hexagon grid animation.

• Gateway loading screens now show an animated energy tunnel effect.

• Sliders now respond to how far the controller stick is pushed for faster movement.

• Debuff crack lines on ships now glow steadily instead of flashing.

Performance

• Drones are now omitted from the black outline shader applied to other ships.

• Improved combat performance with tesla weapons.

• Reduced memory usage during sustained tesla activation.

• Ships no longer perform unnecessary calculations to avoid overlapping.

• Massively reduced number of objects and components instantiated when spawning ships.

Bug Fixes

• Players can no longer rescue the Assembler before getting the mission.

• Schematics now correctly retain their chosen appearance after modification.

• Modifier keys like Shift no longer trigger controller navigation mode.

• Fixed items flickering in storage when dragged to cargo.

• Fixed a tutorial prompt that briefly flashed during the aiming step with twin stick controls.

• Fixed an error when pressing backspace in text input fields.

• Fixed an error when a black hole scores a critical hit after its parent ship is destroyed.

• Interacting with the assembler during a modifier transfer animation no longer errors.

• Fixed a rare error when a ship with all body parts broken is destroyed.

• Fixed an old error caused by UI layout rebuilds when clearing item containers.

• Fixed some controller navigation issues in ship design.

• Beam weapons no longer reset the shield hit effect every tick.

• Shield impacts from sustained fire now hold at a natural spread.