Hi All, this is a bigger update than usual this week and an earlier update than usual. We missed last week's update due to personal reasons, and this one is coming early because of the long UK bank holiday weekend!
In this update we introduce three feature overhauls
Atlas
One of the biggest criticisms so far has been the inability to track systems visited and keep a catalogue of them. Atlas provides an improved version of jump history. Atlas contains a 100 location jump history of where you've jumped, a listing of where all your structures and ships are located (even if you leave them in a system), and a new imaged system tool
System imaging
We've introduced a new probe type. A system imaging probe is a single-use probe that can be deployed in a system to take a snapshot of it. This snapshot is saved to a datacard (also craftable). All imaged systems saved to datacards that are currently in your inventory can be viewed through the Atlas. Unlike jump history and ship locations, imaged systems can be searched either by system name, or (more conveniently) resource type or name. This means that you can image a system then type in "copper" and it'll show you which planets have copper (or indeed if any planets have copper).
Additionally, because datacards are objects themselves, you can trade datacards with systems you've imaged stored on them. This makes space exploration a profitable mechanism where by discovery is rewarded.
We will gradually be updating the search tool in atlas to support searching for resources of a specific property (e.g. strength > 500 etc.)
Captain's Directory
We've introduced a new captains' directory that allows you to search for other players. Via the Captains' directory you can edit your character avatar which will be visible to other players. We will be gradually introducing more social features to Captain's directory to make it possible to friend, ally with and form groups with other captains. We'll do this as we introduce mechanics that benefit from co-operative play.
Additional notes
- We've introduce new additional crafting objects (along side the new feature objects, such as imaging probes and datacards).
- We've completed the necessary backend code to support tooling. This means that certain recipes may soon require a prefabricated tool before it can be crafted
- We've introduced some minor bug fixes