Update 26 Released

We've been working across the entire width of the game for this update, with numerous updates all over the game. Take a look at the full list below to see everything we've done. There's no video this month - we've been working toward quite a large and game breaking change to TACTICAL mode that isn't ready just yet, and Mark & Chris will create a video once that's ready.

For experienced players, we invite you to try the new enhanced difficulty modes in Survival - you will find equipment availability in trade stations dropping off as you progress through the sectors, and in HARD mode you'll find virtually nothing for sale anywhere, beyond the starting sector. This requires careful planning and extensive resource gathering as you travel, along with full production of all required parts and equipment onboard your ships, as you will be unable to buy what you need. And you'll still need to earn your way, as equipment blueprints aren't cheap. Good luck!

We hope you enjoy this months update, and we will see you in September for Update 27.

Changes

SURVIVAL MODE

Equipment now becomes more and more scarce as you progress through the sectors, as with resources.

By sector 5, there will be very little equipment or life support resource for sale anywhere.

You will need to master your own production and fabrication to make the parts you need.

Blueprints and crew are always available in all sectors.

Three new difficulty options can be selected at the start of a new survival game.

• Normal As before, but with the equipment becoming less available as you progress.

• Difficult Equipment and resources become much less available after the first couple of sectors

• Hard. Availability is virtually zero for all equipment and resources, beyond the first sector. You will have to gather all of your own resources and fabricate almost all of your equipment as you play. A major challenge for experienced players.

PRODUCTION QUEUE

• The auto-production system will now automatically buy and process required ores, using whatever Smelters are available.

• Smelters must be set to STOPPED to be used by the Production Queue. - Smelters can also be set to ANY, which will cause the crew to smelt any ores that are available onboard.

• The production queue interface has been improved, with a new dropdown showing production progress for each item.

Any blockages in production (eg missing materials) are shown in red.

DOCKING PORT FILTERS

Docking ports now have a controllable filter for what is permitted:

• Incoming Cargo Allow shuttles to drop off cargo at this port

• Outgoing Cargo Allow shuttles to collect cargo from this port

• Crew & Civilians Allow crew and civilians to use this docking port

• Multiple shuttles (up to three) are spawned if required.

• Interstellar Logistics has been updated to obey these filters

CREATIVE MODE

• You are now automatically granted some useful techs (Logistics1, AdvancedTracks)

• You can now complete any research item instantly with the click of a button

• There is also a new button to unlock ALL research immediately

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

• Added keyboard shortcuts for all windows, construction modes, and battle stations

• All shortcuts can be set from Main Menu -> Settings -> Keyboard

• Modifiers (SHIFT, ALT, CTRL) can be added to keyboard shortcuts

• Clear keybindings in the settings screen with right-click or set back to default with middle-click

COMBAT / TACTICAL CHANGES

UI CHANGES

Tactical weapons panel has been refreshed to be more minimal and concise.

The old AUTOTARGET button on each weapon has been removed. All weapons AUTOTARGET, unless you manually target them.

You can clear a manual override target (and return to AUTOTARGET) by right clicking on a weapon.

Ammo counts in the resource display on the left now flash red when low

BALANCE CHANGES

• Cannon range increased 500 -> 600

• Cannon shells now less accurate at long ranges

• Railgun impacts now cause some hull damage

• Ordnance can now impact and be blocked by derelict ships, and asteroids (small chance)

VISUAL CHANGES

• NPC ships now lose hull squares when hit with explosions, appearing more and more blown to bits

• Weapons in Tactical mode now show larger, with longer barrels

• Cannon and PDC muzzle flash made stronger

• Explosion fx improved - now more of a flash

• Most combat particle effects improved and tweaked

• Derelicts are always rendered under all other layers

• Tanks venting after ship destruction leave larger clouds in space

ARENA MODE

• Arena mode ship start positions changed to be more vertically staggered

• Arena mode ship deployment improved (Fixed some layout bugs for green side)

SMALL CHANGES

• Items can now be loaded by robot arms into drone bays for transfers.

• Lightning is guaranteed to hit a lightning rod if enough lightning rods are installed proportionally to power generation.

• Interstestellar logistics collect order now goes towards the cloud with the most gas, so collectors gather faster.

• Blueprints have their recipe shown in the description of the trade menu

• Added recipes and adjusted trade price for furniture and spacesuits.

• Seeds can be found as loot from derelict ships.

• Scavenger ships arrive in derelict systems after a delay instead of immediately. This gives some extra time to grab loot before they arrive.

• Tanks can be drained. This will prevent the tank from being used for storage and drain its contents to the surrounding network.

• Dead crew in space eventually despawn.

• Interstellar logistics sell and transfer orders now show all types in the item dropdown, with types on board at the top.

• Logistics drones now listed in resource list on left of screen

• Engines burn a bit more brightly

BUG FIXES

• Fix game speed slowing down for shooting meteors and asteroid when "Slow during combat" is enabled

• Fix clicking location link in missions list clicking through to the galaxy map and closing it instantly

• Fix powergrid settings affecting equipment of wrong categories

• Fix reactor cores not being available to buy or sell in trade screen

• Fix docked ships in arena mode not being assigned a strategy

• Fix asteroid belts not spawning in first sector in all modes other than industry

• Fix mining lasers showing holes in the walls behind them

• Fix repairing ship at shipyard not removing drone repair plates

• Fix mining interstellar logistics order not restarting when asteroid is broken

• #723 - Sitting north-south doesn't use the right sprite variation

• #725, #762 - Diagonal walls causing hull issues

• #741 - Crew loading crates through walls

• #789 - Drones not delivering boxes

• #794 - Infinite power when reactors off

• #795 - Drones locked out when carrying disallowed resource

• #798 - Can't complete deep space industrialists part 2

• #796 - Wrong type for docked ships on import in arena mode

• #802 - Spacesuits in a crate are not being picked for o2 recharging