Development Update - Bug-fixing, still

Another week of bugfixing and quality of life improvements!

Thanks again for all the patience, bug reports and feedback.

This week was focused on stability (a few sources of crash sources squashed), inventory/volume consistency, hovercraft tuning, and more newcomer help. Some stall cases for furnace pull have been fixed, assembler are working a bit better to, their queue now being saved. I feel we should have a pain-free inventory system soon!

Biggest issue still to fix is the crash during warp/stargate.

=> please tell me if you had some recent crash! I really want to squash all crashes asap!

Some things I'd love feedback on:

- Hovercraft: I've added stability assistance (anti-tumble, lift along forward axis, force at center of mass). Tell me if it feels better, or if it now feels too "easy".

- Inventory volume: I refactored how volume is computed so it is now consistent (every stone has the same volume for example). Please tell me if your inventory fills up faster than expected.

- Crew computer is now craftable - please add a Teleport station inside your ship if you want to add crew.

I don't answer to every comment but I read everything, so your post are always appreciated!

Major issues:

[-] Save breaking: more cases fixed but a few still seem to leak through. Logs/test cases very welcome!

[-] Stargate / portal crashes: still investigating, several reports of crashes during travel and ships lost.

[x] Crashes near stations: fixed

[x] Crash near space habitat: fixed

[x] Crash due to storage: fixed

[] Other crashes: please report if you have any more of those!

[x] Sub-system targeting issue: fixed in 26w16a.

[x] Hovercraft tipping/instability: stability assistance added in 26w16e + child-entity hoverpod fix in 26w16f.

[x] Assembler queue lost on restart: now saved (26w16e).

[x] Wreck repair confusion: building on destroyed entity now blocked with a clear message.

[-] Bugged achievements: still investigating.

[-] Issues with chinese/japanese characters: some fixed, one issue remains (#7282 Simplified Chinese).

Community Suggestions:

[x] Docking connector can now transfer all items/fluids using filters.

[x] Shipyard selects smallest pad first.

Other issues:

[x] Volume of items inconsistent: refactor done, all stones now share the same volume.

[x] Pipe link not destroyed on mining ship: fixed

[x] Crew computer hard to obtain: now craftable.

[x] Furnaces saturating shared networks: fixed

[x] Backpack overweight on buy: fixed

[-] Pipes/storage edge cases: keep them coming, still investigating one-way pipes and filter deadlocks.

[-] NPC related glitches.

Confusing mechanics for newcomers:

[x] Wrecks + repair tool: explicit message added when trying to build on a destroyed entity.

[x] Assembler drag confusion: dropping components in slots is now blocked, UI clarifies the schematic flow.

[x] Item volume now displayed on tooltip.

[x] Item bars switching better explained.

[-] Hovercraft tuning: more intuitive now but spring/damping tweaks still needed by some users (settings reset by 26w16e).

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BY PATCH - fixes, hotfixes, and dev / design notes

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26w16a

- Newcomers help: cannot build on destroyed entities, must repair them first. Should fix a perceived bug with power generation when the starter base was mined by accident.

- Assembler UI improved to prevent confusion: dragging components into slots is now blocked.

- #7344 Sub-system targeting issue.

26w16b

- New help on system has been added.

- Docking connectors can now transfer any item or fluid via filters.

- Item volume is displayed on tooltip.

- Community suggestion: #7357 Shipyard selects smallest pad first.

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