Chain Reactions (v0.7.15)

I've decided to split this next update into two parts, this being the first. Simply because Early Access games can lose trust quickly if they don't get regular updates, so I didn't want to delay this when the second part is likely to take a bit longer.

The purpose of this update as a whole is to give more depth to build decisions and add more synergy between certain weapon setups.

Reactions

Burning and Frozen have long cancelled each other out. Now lots of debuffs cancel each other out, but when doing so they spawn reactions, usually resulting in some form of AOE damage to nearby enemies.

• Burning + Frozen triggers a Steam Explosion.

• Frozen + Corroding throws shards of ice outward as projectiles.

• Corroding + Disabled spawns a Black Hole.

• Disabled + Radioactive discharges electrical bolts at nearby enemies.

• Radioactive + Burning emits radioactive clouds of green smoke.

Steam post image Motherwing Design by Quantus (https://star-vortex.com/ships.php?view=187)

If any of them feel particularly overpowered I'll adjust them later. There's a 1-second per-ship cooldown so things don't cascade into infinite chains. But the AOE effects do have a damage type and debuff chances themselves, so can absolutely chain through multiple enemies, this is intentional.

Glossary Additions

There's now a new Status Effects page that lists every buff and debuff in the game with descriptions along with an explanation of the new debuff reactions in full.

Finally, there is now a long requested Dialog History page that lets you scroll back through every dialog line you've seen on your current save.

Vortex Array Rework

Affectionately referred to as the Disco Ball, this weapon has long been quite over-powered, especially when stacked on bosses. So the power curve has been reworked. Levels now add more beams instead of cranking up per-beam damage, and overlapping beams on the same target only count once.... so parking on a boss will no longer delete it from existence.

Steam post image Nexus Design by cowcow (https://star-vortex.com/ships.php?view=181)

The ceiling is lower but the AOE is better, which is the role it was always supposed to fill. It was never supposed to instant kill elites and bosses.

Primary Weapon Damage

Recent feedback indicated primary weapons felt weak when compared to their Auto Special counterparts and it was mostly true. So a lot of them got a damage bump with Leech Gun, Machine Gun, Gauss Gun, Railgun, Leech Ray, Spiral Laser, Plasma Gun, Skeran Laser, Heat Ray, Corrosion Beam, and Magma Gun all hitting harder now.

Pixel Parts Mod (Workshop)

I've uploaded another example mod to the Steam Workshop. This one is called Pixel Parts and adds square parts to the Ship Designer that can be placed in perfect alignment on the grid.

View on Steam This is more an example of how to add your own parts and factions to the game than something I expect people to seriously play with... although this one was quite fun.

Full patch notes below. Enjoy!

Patch Notes

New Features / Content

• Burning + Frozen on the same ship now triggers a Steam Explosion.

• Frozen + Corroding on the same ship now spawns Shatter projectiles.

• Corroding + Disabled on the same ship now spawns a Black Hole.

• Disabled + Radioactive on the same ship now triggers a Discharge.

• Radioactive + Burning on the same ship now spawns Meltdown clouds.

• Reactions now have a 1-second cooldown per ship to stop chain spam.

• Faction glossary pages now show character portraits.

• Added a Status Effects page to the Glossary listing all buffs/debuffs.

• Added a Dialog History page to the Glossary for current player save.

Balance Changes

• Burning and Frozen now stack instead of cancelling each other out.

• Burning damage increased from 20% to 25% of weapon damage.

• Radioactive damage per stack increased from 5% to 6% of weapon damage.

• Leech Gun damage increased from 60 to 130.

• Machine Gun damage increased from 35 to 60.

• Gauss Gun damage increased from 60 to 100.

• Railgun damage increased from 142 to 190.

• Leech Ray damage increased from 325 to 400.

• Spiral Laser damage increased from 395 to 480.

• Plasma Gun damage increased from 50 to 60.

• Skeran Laser damage increased from 340 to 395.

• Heat Ray damage increased from 350 to 400.

• Corrosion Beam damage increased from 325 to 360.

• Magma Gun damage increased from 70 to 75.

• Surge AOE radius increased from 57m to 75m.

• Auto Corrosion Beam corrode chance lowered from 25% to 10% to match primary.

• Vortex Array level ups now add beams instead of boosting per-beam damage.

• Overlapping Vortex Array beams on a single target now deal damage just once.

Quality of Life / Accessibility

• Glossary now shows an item's action-bar icon under its image.

• Glossary now shows each enemy's AI behaviour under its image.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed enemies stalling near an obstruction instead of routing around it.

• Fixed enemies sitting still when their target moved behind cover.

• Fixed grapple guns catapulting ships when stretched against obstructions.

• Beams fired from inside an enemy now hit instead of passing through.

• Enemy ships should no longer spawn stuck inside obstructions.

• Fixed Player Select panel error when switching modes quickly.

• Fixed UI buttons going blurry at smaller sizes due to mipmap sampling.

Modders

• Mod ship part prefabs now appear in the Ship Builder parts list.

• Generate Language File now picks up ShipPart prefabs in your bundle.

• Generate Language File ignores imported reference content not in a bundle.

• Mirroring a mod ship part no longer throws when re-resolving its prefab.