Finally! after a long time the space combat system is ready to be tried by the players.
Let's see it (alongside other changes) in detail:
Space Combat System:
The space combat is sort of a mix between typical turn based combat and real-time with pause. Player and Enemy turns are simultaneous, basically you give orders and then see the results in real-time:
Your ship can be ordered to move in 3D space (that is not just to the sides but also up and down if you hold Shift). Despite the combat being turn-based, encounters are pretty short (and not really hard at the beginning of the campaign), just be careful, losing a space combat encounter is Game Over.
For now, the enemy flotillas you'll find are Scavengers and "C.D.F." (a new enemy faction I'm introducing to the game), these enemies move as visible patrols in the Star Map but you can also find them escorting cargo ships, in these cases you'll have to destroy the escort ships before being allowed to board the real prey.
Weapons and Crew:
The default ship starts with a heavy turret battery that can deal with low level enemies easily but later in the campaign you can buy and install (in space stations) more advanced weapons and modules:
- Torpedo Launchers: a more precise weapon than the turrets but it has a cooldown because it needs to be loaded before firing.
- Point Defense Cannons (or PDCs): these turrets are used to intercept incoming enemy torpedoes.
- Shield Projector: this component already existed in the game but it was only used for dialogue events, now it can be used during combat giving you 10 extra hitpoints (it can also be recharged if you have an Engines crewmate, more on that below).
- Salvage Arm: this component is used after combat to gather some loot from the remains of destroyed ships.
The space combat system is centered around giving "Orders" to "Helm, Weapons and Engines" (Helm takes care of movement, Weapons of attacks and Engines of rerouting power as buffs and repairs). Some orders require a specific weapon installed but others require that you have the corresponding crewmate assigned. Crewmates are your soldiers but they have been assigned to a specific system in this panel:
Be wary that only soldiers with the right traits can be assigned to the ship's crew. The traits are called "Helm, Weapons and Engines Experience".
Once these soldiers are assigned, some orders will unlock and the ship will receive some passive benefits depending of the level of the crewmate. Executing orders during space combat also gives regular experience points to the crew.
What's next for the Space Combat?
I think this new system has a lot of potential (and I hope you agree once you try it) so I would like to add more "escort encounters", that is having to destroy ships in order to reach a prey or a base and the ability of boarding ships that have been disabled during combat instead of destroyed.
I would also like to add new weapons and modules (for example: beam weapons to deal with harder enemies) and of course more enemy variety.
What else is in the patch?
The other star of this patch is the new class: Krell'Sha Raider.
These are savage aliens that use rifles and melee weapons like regular raiders but also have special actions like "Blood Rage" (lose 1 HP, gain 1 AP once during combat) and "Ritual Execution" (a melee attack that terrorizes every close enemy if it kills).
I also added these changes and fixes:
- NEW MUSIC! I changed most of the music tracks I've been using for combat, exploration and User Interface. I'm trying to change a bit the tone of the game (less grimdark, more metal) so please let me know how you feel about it.
- New Scav enemy: Hacked Workdroid, this enemy is a simple droid with 1 armor and a melee attack. The idea was to give a melee enemy to the scavs which were too ranged focused in my opinion.
- Added speed controls during combat: you can now press Next Page or Prev Page to change the combat speed from 1x to 3x.
- Modified desertic colony scenario to be less flat.
- Added new props for colony type scenarios (rover, towers and walls).
- Added new tutorial for the Space Combat.
- Added space patrol behaviour in Star Map.
- Added a list of names for new Krell'Sha Raider class.
- Fixed a bug that allowed the player to quicksave in Ironman Mode.
- Fixed a rare bug where soldier would stay in Idle position after throwing a grenade.
- Fixed a rare bug that would freeze the game when an enemy patrol can't find a right place where to move.
Why this patch took so long?
Now about the elephant in the room, the major reasons for the delay were that I spent most of the time making a different idea for the space combat, basically at first I thought of a system where you would not move the ship but select orders and see dramatic camera angles showing the combat. Sadly when I got to make the first tests, I realized this system wasn't fun enough so I decided to scrap it and start over.
After that I tried with this new idea for space combat which turned out to be good enough for what I wanted to do but of course I had to start from scratch.
Other reason why this took so long is that I invested a lot of time making new assets for urban scenarios but (as some players pointed out) they need more work before they can be used in the game because they don't look good enough yet.
I also had a bit of burnout because I had to scrap my first space combat system and that reduced my productivity for a while (but didn't stop me from working in the patch) but now I feel better and I'm ready to start pumping patches again (faster this time).
What now?
I still have a lot of promises in the oven like new mission types which still need some tweaks before I can release them. New traits, scenarios and enemies (for ground and space combat alike) should be done soon so replayability is increased and after that I'll start with the "Space Station Overhaul" which will bring lots of options for space stations.
A lesson that I can share is that I think it wasn't the best idea to take time to make a BIG patch, shorter but faster patches are better to keep the players confidence high so I think for a while I'll focus in making smaller patches so I can pump them faster.
Please let me know what you feel about the space combat and if you find any issues.
Regards,
Jorge