v0.154

Startron v0.154 has been released!

Tweaks & updates

• The cosmos and its systems are now made from a process of splattering the elements based on their abundance (numbers I'd decided even before v0.01 but never used) and congealing them into star systems, with the exact size and type of star based on the available mass and chemical makeup in the cosmic soup. (There's way more to it than this, but the key point is it's no longer just down to dice rolls.)

• As a result of this, systems can no longer generate on top of each other or within 1 tile of each other (as this is factored into the above algorithm instead of producing a messy cosmos map for the player)

• Once entities form in systems, depending on the proximity to other entities and the instability of the star they're around, they can be smashed apart or combine together - this also mixes up the elements available (comets are also pulled in from exocs (exterior oort clouds) based on the same instability)

• Planets, minor planets & comets now have heightmaps that show tectonic plate boundaries and craters better (this is an optional effect that can be partially or fully switched off in the options menu or with F9)

• Ore and other chemical deposits now adhere to specific rules when generating on entities - this means players will no longer just find a big patch of gomium to sit on and finding/harvesting things you need is more varied

• Very rarely 2 elements will try to generate in the same tile - when this happens, if those elements can form an alloy, this alloy will actually become the available ore to be mined - this means a mine can feed directly into a factory in this scenario

• Entity composition and history of cosmic events can be viewed on the bridge - in most cases the history will go right back to include the formation of the system (this is estimated for old saves)

• Added sand and deep lithrogen (almost the same as soil and lithrogen - gameplay around these may be expanded on later)

• Cities on inhabited planets now generate with municipal buildings - these are non-functional from a player's perspective, but help sell the look of a civilisation rather than it being entirely comprised of houses and roads (there are 13 municipal buildings for anyone wanting to hunt them all down)

• Sunlight absorbers now only function in lit tiles (for the longest time I had written off the way they worked before as an intended benefit of them having onboard storage or some nonsense, but really it was just easier to not have to implement this - now finally the sunlight absorbers behave how you'd expect given the presence of a day/night cycle and cloud shadows)

• Power jars have been added to act as batteries if folks want to mitigate against the above

• Ice caps now show on entities in the system view

• Workers in the cargo bay now show your species rather than a generic grey lifeform

• Rivers are now wider so they're easier to see and don't look like conduits

• Your starting planet now has a little space centre to show where your space programme launched from

• Petroop stations now show around planets in the system view

• Lithrogen planet colour has been corrected

• While panning the cosmos, different info can be toggled to display instead of just the system names

• Cargo previews have been given a black background for consistency with other interfaces (like the shops)

• Information about petroop charges has been standardised (it was originally about refueling petroop back when I considered it a physical substance, but this was changed a while ago to "charges" to distinguish it from the actual fuel in game)

• The red highlighting for key input works better with directions and modifier keys

• Asteroids can now be called "Planetoids" as well as "Rocks" & "Asteroids" (no functional change, just helps add variety)

• Sky whales are now visually depicted in the cosmic database

• The double-tap prompt for fast-walking is now on the right hand side so it's more apparent which menu it's referring to

• The petroop charger icon now shows in its interface

• The "Generation" button now flashes in the same way the "Tutorial" button does if the player has no cosmoi yet

• Placing and removing plans have their own messages so it doesn't read like things are being built and demolished

• Panning views now have controls on screen

• The database browse prompt now has the correct directions shown

• Performance on operations that handle colour have been improved in the engine

• The nursery info was out of date and has been updated

• The hotel's database page was moved to active buildings since you can get resources from them nowadays

• How the shields work with nipper bars has been added to the database

• Snowman frequency has been lowered so you don't come to a planet later on and find its mysteriously full of them

• The TV-static effect is now random (no longer just 2 frames)

• The website download page has been updated to show a timeline and more information

• When changing the colour palette in the options, it shows a preview colour swatch

• "Shop" was renamed to "store" for en-us

• "Garden" was renamed to "Park" just to avoid any agricultural connotation

• Updated loads of pages in the database where there were omissions or inaccuracies

• All planets around magnetars, pulsars and neutron stars have auroras

• Explosions & mining now produce smoke

• Resonating crystals now explode when exposed to radiation from enriched ranium

• Enriched ranium mutation is now more likely so it can actually be exploited for those wishing to get cooler plant seeds this way

• Added the ability to buy or sell a specified amount in shops (rather than just holding the button down)

• Energy funnels now use power jars instead of conduits

• The cosmos now moves relative to the background very gradually over time

• Energy funnels being fired can now be observed from the opposite side of a flippable entity (completely pointless, but just a nice detail that was missing if anyone fires one and immediately presses F)

• Contaminated canisters on dark ships now show they're contaminated canisters

• Opening transmissions now shuffles interfaces down the screen out the way

• Building walls is now easier as they can be built one tile apart and it'll fill the gap in for you (the build cost has therefore been modified slightly)

• Comets now appear when destroying planets or minor planets

• The animated effect to indicate where power and workers are flowing is now less directional so it's clearer that it's just a visual indication

• Other ships now have reflections in lithrogen too

• Messages and warnings now don't fight for priority (it was totally possible to miss something important in a message just due to an error being on screen before)

• Each fleet ship order now has a cooldown so they're less eratic

• Ships can now be given orders to wait for empty or full tiles

• Your ship now shows a reflection around lithrogen planets in the system view

• Added a bunch more system & cosmos name parts

• The sign, toggle signs and wormhole keys have been reshuffled so they don't conflict with each other

• The database link colour now matches the website's database and also changes in the pirate database

• Crayons have been given different colours as a tile variant

• The maps in MazeBase are now clearer

• Station shops now have limits on stock - the limits reset when other ships visit the station

• Plants will now take smoke damage (this is most apparent if you look west of a volcano on a foresty planet)

• Tourism ships now actually interact with dwellings & hotels

• A ship's cargo is now shown next to their name in the ship list on the right

• Stealing old parts from salvage yards incurs a fine

• Rescuing frozen crew members now makes headline news

Bugs fixed in this version

• Fixed a render warning for lithrogen in the database

• Fixed pirates not talking when bumped into

• Fixed cargo bay slots not updating texture immediately on beaming down, filling yards or jettisoning

• Fixed tracked cargo & recipes not resetting between new saves

• Fixed template resources becoming ground when destroying an industry above (a bad exploit in Startron Auto)

• Fixed blocked plan message talking about building conditions

• Fixed having energy funnels on both sides of a flippable entity messing up where the beam comes from

• Fixed chits being wrong on the player's bet when not the player's round in Spacejack

• Fixed clouds on rocks being restricted to a circle like planets

• Fixed left over smoke on empty entities stopping them from being destroyed