Space Impossible V1.0 Pre-Release 6 is now available. Reminder what this means: As we gear up for the official Space Impossible 1.0 release, we are done with BETAs, and instead proceeding with rolling Pre-Releases as additional content, gameplay tweaks and fixes roll out at an increased rate compared to the ALPHA and BETA release schedule.
Pre-Release 6 sees improvements to the codex, tutorial and new player experience, game camera improvements and tweaks, changes to beacons, several new input schemes, a huge number of bug fixes, balance improvements, and a bunch of other polished elements.
The game has been improved in a number of ways. Most noteworthy adds a split screen mode. This split screen allows easier inspection, component manipulation and looting. It is flexible, capable of being resized, and has camera rotation locking to toggle between "world up" and "vessel up".
The new input schemes add a region based click-to-move option, and a relative facing option. Region Click-to-Move works similarly to the Warp Click-to-Move, where the player can click a place in space, or an object, and the ship will orient and move towards that point.
Relative Facing is an option that will always track the mouse cursor position with the forward portion of the player's vessel, and use of WASD (or other engine input) to move forward/backward/left/right relative to the cursor.
Another noticeable change is that done with trader pricing. Trade mods have been replaced with a value known as "Trade Bias". This value can range from -100 to +100, with 0 representing 25% above an items GSP (Galactic Standard Price). This change was made because it is easier to read, closes a number of pricing exploits, and rewards higher faction standing with better pricing while also not being out of control.
Beacons have also received a big change. They have been broken into two elements. "Beacons" are items that can be placed in local space and can display a text message (with simple markdown support) to nearby players. They will no longer appear in the player's library. Great for spicing things up, or leaving notes to friends (or strangers) at a communal space station. "Notes" are text entries saved to the player's library, they are personal to a player, are saved and loaded with the player, and the star system corresponding to the note can be seen on the universe map via a pin. Great for making notes about a star system or region that a player may wish to revisit in the future for instance.
Reworked Buy/Sell Price mods to address unsatisfying prices at extreme faction levels as well as exploits. This is now a singular value called "Trade Bias" that represents the trader's attitude towards you. This value ranges from -100 to +100, with 0 representing 25% above an item's GSP (Galactic Standard Price). Traders will still have items they prefer to trade in, so keep that in mind when trying to find your best deals.
Overhauled beacons. Split this into two systems, one is still called "Beacons" and these are strictly visual items that can display a small local message visible by any player nearby, and they will not appear in the library. The second system is now called "Player Notes" and these are saved with the player, are visible in the library, are private per player, and can be seen anywhere in the universe.
Did a large codex overhaul. Added missing elements, pruned outdated elements, fixed a number of links, split several sections in separate articles etc.
Along with the codex, did a lang file pass, removed a number of outdated elements, fixed some typos, improved grammar, etc
Tutorial toasts (popups) that are triggered but not read will show up again on game reload
Improved tutorial toast pop ups. They have a better collapse state, fixed a few bugs, reduced the amount of overall clutter and optimized how and when they show up to reduce chance of "toast overload".
Split screen is now used when inspecting vessels
Background objects will now correctly follow camera rotation
Leaving inspection range of an object will now force close the target inventory
Construction template autosaves and discovered templates are now saved per player in the client universe folder. For old universes, this data will be associated with whichever player loads it first (if playing with multiple people).
Improved font sharpness. This is a system to better align the font glyphs with pixel perfect accuracy when the UI scale is not 100%. NOTE: If running in windowed mode with an odd numbered screen resolution, the text may still be a bit blurry.
Renamed "Paper Doll" to "Vessel Overlay" as a more appropriate term
Changed tooltip to include stack price of item
Changed tooltip to not show stack price and mass of item if stack count is 1
Changed target camera to be split screen instead of embedded window. Removed the embedded window controls
Disabled dynamic camera look on hail and inspection, as these are now handled with split screen
Changed Trade and Manufacturing to respect inspection range limits
Opening Manufacturing via hail will now set the inspection inventory to that of the object with the fabricators
Removed ability to click an object to close inventory (also removal but behavior change context)
UI tabs now update color when hovering
Unified scrollbar UI styles
Added an inventory slot hover indicator
Engines now display a subtle fx for strafing or rotating
Dynamic camera look should be smoother and less "jiggly"
Altered certain spawn-in effects to be more closely sized to the original shape to reduce pop in
Item drop and alert effects are now loaded from moddata instead of being hardcoded
Item alert effect now lasts for 30 seconds or until item is picked up. This should help with Problem related items being spawned and player awareness.
Changed item rendering to use GPU instancing. This can save thousands of drawcalls, and will definitely improve performance when many items are on screen in space.
Camera Zoom levels are now saved in each individual client info. This should make resuming a game more consistent between sessions and universes.
Disconnect button now shows "Quit to Menu" when not connected to a server
Quitting a multiplayer game as a client now shows "Disconnecting" instead of "Saving Universe" since you're not saving the universe.
Unified number formatting for price
Tweaked how Black Hole image is rendered in Star System Info panel
Improved smoothness of quick zoom
Camera zoom is no longer saved during construction, after leaving construction it will revert back to pre-construction zoom level
Changed camera to better attempt to zoom to encompass nearby Assemblers and Hangars when starting those activities
Distress Calls and Battle region icons will now stay red, and no longer change based on faction standing.
Enterable Regions (stations, fleets, etc) icons should now be much crisper at high zoom values due to shader change.
Changed the color of Component Fabricators to be more easily distinguished from General Fabricators
Improved background object positioning for game camera rendering. This should result in less unexpected movement when zooming or changing game window size.
Cloak is now taken into account by AI when doing "entered range" hails
Improved AI decision making when it comes to targets hiding behind solid objects
Improved AI pathfinding around large rotated objects
Distress call type 4 (Defender vs Attacker) should no longer spawn with lawless as the defender and attacker
Newly spawning players are now spawned further away from Herman. This is intended to decrease amount of immediate information bombardment as well as decrease risk of accidentally shooting Herman. Herman will now hail you based on your approach, instead of entering the region, and there is a clear path between the player and Herman.
Engine info now updates when rotating mounts during building
Tweaked Star System Problem step completion to be a bit more clear and smooth
Stations involved in Star Systems Problems that may require a tractor beam can now be hailed to request a tractor beam, and are no longer part of the problem step completion. This tractor beam has had its GSP lowered significantly (to 0).
Star System Problems Planet Mining, Solar Upheaval and Local Assaults have dialogue added to each factory for flavor text.
Changed wormhole exit location to use a more accurate position and added a timer check to lessen likelihood of wormhole looping.
Adjusted shield component masses. Robust and Reinforced were a little too low.
Wreck logs are now better seeded, this should reduce amount of duplicate logs.
Cost of Assembler pass and quick repair are now set per faction, per level. Reduced quick costs by 5x. Increased pass cost by level.
Reduced faction gains from Conflicts to match that of Star System Problems
/regenerateregion command should no longer delete vessels in player hangars
Tweaked Music Festival text for better clarity
Painting a tile the same color will no longer trigger building drones
Sending a hail will now auto deactivate cloak
Shifted positions of ships inside a trader fleet to give you some additional time to catch them
Improved a few instances of memory allocation and garbage collection
Altered networking lerping for local player position for better accuracy for local, this should remove instances of wiggling or snapping when coming to a stop
Optimized engine state input processing on region server. This should improve responsiveness for high performance vessels.
Altered engine/shield/cloak state syncing. Previously this was blindly polled every 0.1s, vs now it is done immediately but limited to updating no more often than every 0.1s. Small change but should improve gameplay responsiveness.
Weapon ranges should now display when using controller radial menu, this should match the same outcome as when using KB+Mouse
Control bindings have been moved to their own screen to allow better use of screen space
Click to move now works in a region with a controller
Improved keybinding process
Significant improvement to Click to Move input system. Movement is now more responsive, better at responding to movement input commands and turns better. You can also set final rotation by clicking and dragging.
Pressing controller bumpers will now increment trade and manufacturing amounts by +/- 10
Suits now use the new click to move functionality
Modified "Click to Engage" mechanic to be hopefully be less prone to failure or engaging the wrong target
Changed default "Engage" key from Keyboard + Mouse to Spacebar. This only affects the "engage nearby region" ability. Specific regions can still be entered by hovering and r-clicking.
When using a controller and navigating mounts in vessel overlay, camera will to pan to ensure newly selected mount is visible
Reduced time for click and hold to scan. This was done because accidentally triggering a scan with new inspection camera became far too common.
Reduced amount of ships present in science station regions
NAT UPNP should only be initialized if the player is playing multiplayer and hosting the server. While it was not running in single player, some unused overhead was being created.
Dedicated server has had some client related content pruned
Ships in Construction Outpost regions should now patrol instead of sitting in place
/sv_assembly_requireassembler will no longer set inventory to creative on build start if /sv_assembly_creativeinventory is false
Fixed the missing "Mk." for Thermionic Engines
Fixed issue with temp enhancements being applied when at warp in star system while having a hangared object
Fixed AOE damage not triggering AI response
Fixed issue with engine trails not always correctly being turned on/off
Fixed tooltips not hiding correctly when a) using a controller or b) having rebound action-secondary to anything other than RMB
Fixed several bad codex links
Fixed an issue with thrust when switching immediately from positive to negative thrust (or vice versa)
Fixed issue with chat history not being recorded correctly
Fixed color painter selection widget not being in correct place when first enabled or after screen resize
Fixed click to move to no longer move when dropping an item in space
Fixed UI drop down list from appearing offscreen (for instance when sorting inventory)
Fixed codex scrollbars not resizing when screen size changes
Fixed "dead zone" when scrolling codex index
Fixed "Team Edit" button no longer has the "Join Team" tooltip
Fixed an exception with dedicated server if /quit command is used while server is still loading
Fixed an issue that caused the game to take extra long when quitting, especially noticeable if the game had recently started (<60s)
Fixed a number of colored symbols in text not updating color correctly (such as seen on the trader dialog)
Fixed leviathan regions getting stuck not chasing a player when they should in fact chase that player
Fixed a number of small pixel gaps on several message box popups
Fixed engine impulse being applied based on mount rotation, not the vessel direction
Fixed split ownership to retain previous ownership
Fixed a number of docking related UI issues
Fixed an issue with item spawning where if a weapon had a high loot probability but multiplier of 0, an item would spawn but with a count of 0
Fixed loot probability tooltip to display same value as that of server (was slightly different due to rounding)
Fixed loot probability modifier limits. These can now be negative, so when multiple are summed, they can be smaller than the largest (e.g. 100% + -50% = 50%)
Fixed an issue with additive template loading and component count. Pre-existing components should now be counted correctly, and only newly placed components will be counted against item availability
Fixed star image not showing in Star System Info panel after having visited a Black Hole
Fixed an issue with one of the wreck logs causing unnecessary word wrap
Fixed an issue with Team password changing being incorrectly parsed on the server if the new password was an empty string
Fixed several issues with game camera that could result in errors and camera freezing
Fixed an issue with UI elements appearing highlighted for a brief period of time, resulting in flickering
Fixed an issue with tooltips containing certain symbols and sudden flashing when quickly moving the mouse over UI elements
Fixed several issues with Conflict panel having bad z sorting of widgets and wrong tooltips
Fixed Assembler and Hangar tooltip flashing on screen when Start Building or Docking is pressed
Fixed an issue with UI scrolling elements that should reduce number of weird issues, especially when resizing game window
Fixed Star System Problem Info not being laid out correctly when window is first opened
Fixed scroll bar not being entirely clickable for the Load Universe screen
Fixed an issue with multi tile mounts not correctly being removed before a grid resize occurs. This may have resulted in errors
Fixed an issue with removal of mounts during a grid resize not correctly cleaning cargo bay or hangar data
Fixed several issues with item accounting when loading a template during Building
Fixed it so weapons with only energy drain damage types should now correctly aggro AI
Fixed it so Arkwright has been made hailable again
Fixed Charkles to no longer be able to immediately reappear in a region he had just been defeated in
Fixed an issue with Options screen not being able to be closed
Fixed an issue with AI pathfinding that would result in "wiggle waggle" behavior. Vessels in these situations should have smoother traveling now
Fixed an issue with trader ships getting stuck at the edge of the Trader's Drift region
Fixed controller radial menu breaking if focus is pulled away by a hail message (or other similar focus change)
Fixed inventory button not working with controller in system view
Fixed an issue with "set defaults" input options not 100% resetting all options
Fixed destination star flashing in center of the screen for a few frames at the end of a star system transition
Fixed and improved Vessel Overlay (former Paper Doll) interaction when using a controller
Fixed Explorer Union Building Yard in level 3 systems should now correctly use Enhanced Assemblers
Fixed asteroids to be set slightly askew in battle regions (previously most had 0 rotation and deemed too orderly)
Fixed clicking on an object will no longer register it as a move instruction
New Graviton Beam in action. No graviolis included.
Before
After
You can discuss BETA 17.2 and let us know your thoughts on 
Image 1 - Vessel Control Loss
Image 2 - Active Bridge Scan - Note the red and green outlines
1) Bridge Targeting/Combat Information - One of the things that has bothered us, and we've heard from players as well, is the need to track down each bridge. Sometimes that's a single little tile that's just hanging around in space. Don't worry, you'll still have to do that, but now you will
A - be informed when a ship loses control (image 1)
B - the scanner will now display, via color overlay, whether or not a vessel is under control (image 2).
This should make it easier to keep track of what's going on, without being too "hand-holdy".
2) Black Hole Star Systems - We're going to be adding Black Hole Star Systems. They're going to be rare, but not singular in count.
3) More Problems, more Distress Calls - No count yet, but greater than 0, and less than infinity.
4) The Seti Rimanoo - A race of generally unlikeable insectoid aliens, these bugs are finally going to be added to the game.
5) Update Codex - Need to give that a once over, make sure it's all up to date and correct.
6) Quality Check Existing Problems and Distress Calls - We're pretty sure they're all working, but had some reports of confusion from players, especially on some of the Problems.
7) Fabricators & Manufacturing - We realize there's a lack of useful recipes to be had after the first two or three levels, as well as the factioned Fabricators are very rare, too rare. We intend to do something about that.
8) General Bug Fixes & Misc Stuff - Always on the search for bug fixes, many of them now just coming in from you the players, your help with that has been instrumental. Then there's the small stuff that's too numerous to count that goes into something big like we hope for this release.
9) Auto Turret Bridge - We have been playing around with this idea for a while, and with the recent player feedback we have decided to add Auto Turret Bridges. These are bridges that will turn any vessel into an "automated defense turret". It will allow ships or stations to respond to attacks by activating weapons, similar to turret objects. It will not be the same as AI control though. Any vessel with this bridge would not move, warp, flee or otherwise engage in "higher thinking". When a player is in control, the bridge would yield to player input, and only use vessel weapons when a player is absent. This will allow players to bring defense with them while they mine or protect a station they've built. It will operate on faction standing, or receiving damage.
We have been working on the Bridge Targeting/Combat Information already, and we're pretty happy with it. Expect the first Pre-Release to contain that soon. If you have suggestions or comments, please feel free to share. No fleets though.
The Kal'Giri and Druminence Federation bosses are in, each with a new distinct weapon, and offer a serious challenge. They can be found in high level systems, and require their factional communiques in order to appear. Be on the look out for Druminence President --[Untranslatable]-- and The Kal'Giri's First Speaker Kal'Otek, they each offer to put up a real fight.
