RlsBB NFO

    1. Update 27 Released
    2.  
    3. Update 27 is Released!
    4.  
    5. It's time for some major changes. We took a long hard look at the Tactical view with its retro wireframe aesthetic, and decided as much as we love it, it was time to replace it. We now have a new hybrid tactical mode, for all ship flight and combat, which mixes the exterior of the ships with tactical information, and makes individual ships much clearer, whilst also permitting piloting and combat manoeuvres without leaving the core view. Ships are now highlighted with context sensitive markers and can be clicked to select, and the camera no longer tracks and spins as you pilot your ships. (For fans of the previous Tactical view - don't worry - it can be toggled back on).
    6. We also completely redesigned the Weapons panel, to give a clearer at-a-glance readout on your defenses and to better support ships with many hundreds of turrets.
    7. Update 27 also brings the first official Corporation - MINING CORP - an NPC faction with their own style of ships and their own specialised routines. We introduced and tweaked a wide range of NPC behaviours to make the sector feel more alive. We also have a new mission type, some major multithreaded performance enhancements, and some further challenge in Survival Mode as combat difficulty now scales based on the Sector number, regardless of how prepared you may or may not be.
    8.  
    9. Thanks to everyone who's enjoying the game after all these updates. This update took quite a lot longer than expected, but we hope you'll agree it was worth it.
    10.  
    11. The new Hybrid Tactical view, with the new Weapons panel
    12. Full Change List
    13.  
    14. NEW HYBRID TACTICAL MODE
    15. Pressing T or clicking the icon bottom right now opens the new hybrid Tactical / Exterior mode.
    16. This is intended as a full replacement for the previous TACTICAL screen.
    17.  
    18. For those who miss the previous TACTICAL screen, don't worry, you can re-enable it by clicking on WIREFRAME and FOCUS in the top right of the screen. With both options toggled ON, the view behaves as it did previously, showing wireframe graphics and tracking the current ship.
    19.  
    20.  
    21. New Hybrid Tactical Mode
    22.  
    23. All ships are rendered from the exterior, including your own.
    24. The camera is unlocked (by default), no longer tracks the current ship, and can be panned and zoomed as normal.
    25. Flight controls can be accessed from this view, at the same time as all other normal game screens.
    26.        
    27. SHIP MARKERS
    28. Diamond shaped markers have been added to all ships, showing friendly (green), hostile (red), neutral (yellow), for sale (blue)
    29.     Ship markers will show additional information, depending on context:
    30.         - HEALTH BARS on Damaged ships, Hostile ships, and any ships engaged in combat
    31.         - VELOCITY and EVASION on your own ships
    32.         - COMBAT RANK on hostile ships
    33.            
    34.     Drones and Fighters are also highlighted with small diamond markers of their own.
    35.        
    36.  
    37. Ship Markers
    38. FLIGHT CONTROLS
    39.     Normal flight controls are available when in this new hybrid mode.
    40.     Left click to set the orientation, Right click in space to set a desired destination.
    41.     Right click and drag near your ship marker now gives fine maneuvering control using thrusters, if you have them.
    42.        
    43.     You can now select any ship by left clicking on its marker (as well as from the Layer list as normal)
    44.     You can now right click on any of your ship markers in space to stop their engines immediately.
    45.    
    46. OPTIONS
    47.     In the top right there are two toggle buttons:
    48.     WIREFRAME MODE  - Re-activates the previous tactical rendering style, with wireframe graphics for all ships
    49.     FOCUS LAYER - Re-activates camera tracking on the selected layer    
    50.     Enabling both of these options will return the view to the previous TACTICAL graphical style and behaviour.
    51.    
    52. WEAPON CONTROLS
    53.     The weapons panel has been remade. It really needed it! The new panel scales all the way from just a couple of weapons all the way up to a warship with over 1000 turrets. Weapons are now grouped by their type and orientation, with one single row given over to each pairing.
    54.    
    55. Within the row, one small icon is shown for each weapon of that type facing in that direction.
    56.     The colour of the icon shows the status of that turret.
    57.     Tooltips are now shown on all weapon icons, giving further status information.
    58.     Weapons can be selected (either an entire row or individually) and targeted by left clicking on enemy ships.
    59. You can right click on any weapon or group of weapons to clear a manually set target.
    60.  
    61.  
    62. The new Weapon control panel
    63. FIGHTERS
    64.     Fighters are now included in the new weapons panel, in a single row.
    65.     Each icon represents the status of that fighter.
    66.     Once launched, you can now select your fighters and target them onto a specific enemy ship.
    67.        
    68. NEW SECTOR MISSION: FIND SCHEMATICS
    69.     A new mission type which has you recovering scientific schematics from wrecked ships.
    70.     There are several different difficulty levels to this mission.
    71.     Survival Mode only.
    72.     - Approximate positions of derelict and raided science ships are marked on the sector map.
    73.       Use surveying to find their exact locations, and recover their schematic.
    74.     - You will be rewarded with a research credit once all schematics have been recovered from the sector.
    75.       Research credits are used to unlock repeatable research for permanent equipment buffs.
    76.     - The hostile ships might still be in the process of recovering the schematic for themselves...
    77. MINING CORP
    78. The first official Corporation has taken up residence in the Sector!
    79. You will see their home base on the sector map in Industry Mode (marked with "MINING CORP"), and sometimes in Survival Mode. Mining Corp specialise in mining and processing asteroid belts, and can be found working in groups around the sector. They offer discounts and higher availability for refined ore and mining equipment, as well as more mining missions at their base.
    80.  
    81. All Mining Corp vessels were created by community member Oleenanatiras. Thank you!
    82.  
    83. Mining Corp in action
    84. NEW NPC BEHAVIOURS
    85.     - Busy ports now sometimes use an Anchorage, and NPC ships will dock in designated spaces.
    86.     - Mining ships spread out more in the asteroid belt, and never get stuck mining forever
    87.     - Ships in nebulas go and collect gas if equipped with gas collectors
    88.     - Ships gather around the space station/shipyard
    89.     - Improve ship spawning, with busy systems having more ships coming and going
    90.  
    91. Ships at Anchorage
    92. PERFORMANCE
    93.     - Lots of new Multi-threading performance work
    94.     - Significant improvements to performance for saves with lots of ships/resources
    95.     - Multi-threading can be disabled in the settings if necessary
    96. SMALL CHANGES
    97.     - Sector surveys begin automatically upon entering a system that hasn't already had one completed. All ships with valid survey equipment are assigned.
    98.     - Can only perform a single local survey at a time, but all ships with equipment will be assigned to it automatically.
    99.     - Added Cyrillic vector font glyphs
    100.     - Added search to the logistics window
    101.     - Added "FILL CRATE" and "FILL TANK" buttons in creative mode to quickly fill tanks and storage crates
    102.     - Added a toggle to smelters and factories to allow unloading to generic cargo storage. Smelters have this enabled by default, factories do not.
    103.     - Middle-click on quantity allows to type number for auto-trade "Sell above" and "Buy below", and interstellar logistics quantities
    104.     - Armour can be repaired at shipyards similarly to hull
    105.     - Allow cutting rescued ships loose
    106.     - Interstellar Logistics orders to collect gas now actually target the densest point in the system rather than the densest individual cloud
    107.     - Nebulas and asteroid field surveys can be found in game modes outside of Boldly Go
    108.     - Asteroid fields have a chance to contain comets
    109.     - Time to complete a local survey halved
    110.     - Updated mining mission to include different ore types, more valuable ore missions being rarer, but paying more. Require to deliver the ore back at the same system.
    111.     - Survival Mode: Enemy combat difficulty now scales up each sector, regardless of your combat rank or defenses.
    112.         The effect is greater in DIFFICULT mode, and is even more extreme in HARD mode.
    113.                    
    114. BUGS
    115.     - Fix stuttering in saves with large ships containing lots of jobs and cargo
    116.     - Fix andromeda test UI sometimes showing when there's no test in progress
    117.     - Fix fighter bays on imported ships sometimes having an assigned fighter that doesn't exist
    118.     - Fix equipment multi-select not working with fighter bays
    119.     - Fix interstellar logistics docking not working between larger ships
    120.     - Fix distress call missions from other sectors staying in the contracts screen
    121.     - Fix minor highlight bugs in opening tutorial
    122.     - #813: dead bodies not being collected by ports that accept both outgoing cargo and crew
    123.     - #814: Andromeda test UI sometimes showing after jumping while viewing a neutral, non-jumping ship
    124.     - #818: Interstellar Logistics permanently stalls after loading a save
    125.     - #820: Arms no longer placing into crates
    126.     - #822: Trade shuttle stuck at Foundry docking ports for non-existent "Outgoing" cargo
    127.     - #826: Interstellar Logistics stalls/breaks
    128.     - #829: massive fuel drain with unpowered fighter bays
    129.     - #828: Installed batteries are not calculated in ship value while boxed ones are
    130.