Dear Earthlings!
It’s time for another dev diary! I’ve got some cool stuff to show you. Enjoy!
The Pirate Den
I just finished developing the Pirate Den! This spaceship can be found in every habitable sector in the game. Inside the Pirate Den, you can get up to all sorts of shady business. There are four characters you can interact with.
The Fence
Here, you can buy and sell contraband items.
The Contractor
Here, you can accept three different types of contracts:
Assassination Contract
Kill a specific target.
Espionage Contract
Collect intel from inside a ship without being noticed.
Protection Contract
Help an informant survive waves of enemies.
The Distributor
Here, you can accept smuggling contracts. You need to deliver a package to a crate without getting spotted.
The Prospector
This NPC gives you treasure hunt contracts. These contracts let you explore wrecked spaceships and bases on planets in search of valuable loot.
There’s also a bar where you can grab a beer. I believe this space station alone will add a lot more depth to the pirate playstyle. Let me know what you think!
Pirate Faction
The next update will obviously also introduce a new faction: the Pirate Faction! Like I mentioned before, the Pirate Faction operates inside the territories of other factions. Destroying Pirate Dens will increase your favor with the local faction. And the opposite also applies: completing pirate contracts or destroying local faction spaceships will increase your favor with the Pirate Faction. This gives players another way to build faction favor without having to travel to other sectors and attack opposing factions.
This faction isn’t interested in expanding its territory. Instead, it functions more like the Barbarians in the Civilization games. Let me know what you think of the outfit shown below!
Contraband and Contraband Detectors
I’m adding another layer of depth to stealing and other underworld activities. I’m introducing contraband items. These items are banned on most spaceships, and if you’re caught carrying or wearing them, NPCs will react accordingly.
And to make sure you don’t walk into a Marshal jail station carrying a flamethrower, I’m also introducing contraband detectors. These work just like the metal detectors you find at airports IRL. If you’re carrying a contraband item in your inventory, the detector will go off, and nearby NPCs will react accordingly.
The ScrapJack
I got some player feedback regarding robots and salvaging spaceships, so I’m happy to introduce The ScrapJack in the upcoming update! The video just below showcases the gadget. The ScrapJack is a small AI robot that helps players salvage spaceships. It breaks down a ship block by block and poops out the building materials you can use.
Sector Heat
Lastly, I’m introducing a new way to lose faction reputation. Right now, if you kill just one NPC, the entire faction across the whole universe will turn against you. Community feedback showed me that this shouldn’t be happening. So, I’m introducing Sector Heat. Each sector will have its own Heat meter. The more shady or hostile actions you commit, the higher the heat will rise.
The sector heat meter has five levels:
Level 1 Local NPCs become aware of your behaviour and will try to attack or arrest you.
Level 2 Local patrols will start attacking you.
Level 3 You will start losing faction reputation at this point, and the loss is permanent unless you increase your faction favor.
Level 4 Only warships will spawn to hunt you down.
Level 5 A full blown sector war begins. If you manage to destroy the boss station, you can claim the territory for yourself.
Sector heat will slowly decrease over time. This way, simply breaking one block off a faction spaceship won’t cause the entire faction to turn hostile towards you. Let me know what you think of this upcoming feature!
That’s all I can show you for now!
Thanks so much for supporting the game. I’m sure you’re all going to really enjoy this upcoming RPG3 update!
Let me know what you think!
Also, if not already, please link yourself up to all social media platforms to stay up-to-date.
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That's that!
If you guys have any other questions, i'd love to answer them.
Stay good, stay fresh and stay healthy!
Cheers,
Bryan