Another content update on the road to Early Access.
Sector 3 Elites
The new Sector 3 elites have now landed. I did a quick run-through balancing them all so they should be challenging but not impossible now.
I wont include any details as I don't want to spoil too much but they should all present unique challenges.
Double Loot
The drop rate for different, rare and legendary items has been doubled across the board. The original drop rates didn't work as well now crafting has put a larger demand on items so enjoy the extra loot!
Grapple / Impale Changes
Projectiles that impale and grapples have been changed to penetrate shields. I wanted to get rid of the 'blocked by shield' mechanic to make internal shield builds more viable. They can now be removed by triggering boost immunity or using a displacement jump.
Many more balance changes, quality of life improvements and bug fixes below. I've tried to keep the later stuff a bit more vague to avoid any major spoilers. Next up will be the Flora bosses for Sector 3. Have fun!
Patch Notes
New Features / Content
- Added 1 x Special Weapons.
Balance Changes
- The central path through Sector 3 no longer contains different/rare rewards or rescues.
- Increased hull/shields of the secret ship that shows up in Sector 3.
- Secret ship no longer shows up if other enemies are present.
- Hull Leech (On Crit) modifier now spawns particles like Leech Laser and Leech Gun.
- Increased speed of leech particles by +50% when traveling to their ship.
- Encounters behind a locked gateway can no longer be invaded by Species-XI.
- Short Range PDL now gains +1 range at every level.
- Long Range PDL now gains +2 range at every level.
- Doubled the amount of legendary, rare and different items that drop from all sources.
- Grapple guns and impale weapons now ignore enemy shields and pass through them.
- Boost immunity now removes grapples and impaled objects.
- Displacement boost and dodge now removes grapples and impaled objects.
- Boost immunity now triggers from velocity or after 0.5s if you're slowed by grapples.
- Hemlock now has fixed phase times when cycling attacks to make pulse more predictable.
- Overgrowth now has a Tornado Launcher and another new Special weapon.
- Hawthorn now deploys small Weaver ships with grapple guns.
- All sector 3 elites have had their balance slightly adjusted.
- Reduced range of Auto Caustic Lasers used by Flora to 175m.
- Increased hull of Pantheon Horizon (Elite) by +25%.
- Increased hull/damage of Shadow Blight (Elite) by +33%.
- Increased range of Sector 3 elites lasers from 175m to 220m.
- Increased damage of Horizon Vibrance by +25%.
- Reduced damage of Shadow Carrion by -25%.
Quality of Life / Accessibility
- Weapons no longer have to be re-activated after boost invulnerability.
- Seed for the sector is now shown on the navigation panel.
- Item type icon is now shown in the bigger image when viewing an item.
- Smog Exhaust and new special weapon now toggle on/off when activated.
- The game will now pause when the Steam overlay is opened.
- Invulnerability cheat now actually makes you immune to damage instead of increasing regen.
- Improved quality of glow and lighting effects.
- Steam now uses the built-in keyboard when available.
- Updated Runtime File Browser used for importing custom avatars.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed Phantom ships not emitting lights from their cockpits.
- Fixed Corrosive debris not correctly spreading in Sector 3.
- Secret content no longer spawns in the background of the menu.
- Fixed bug where unlocked gateways would not remain unlocked across game loads.
- Non-storable items no longer temporarily vanish when trying to place them in storage.
- Clicking destroy item will now clear the X disabled slot in the assembler panel.
- Developer tool 'complete path' now gives you correct simulated enemy ship drops.
- Fixed bug in rescue encounters where other ships would jump away as it ends.
- Combat music during the secret ship fight in Sector 3 now ends when combat is over.
- Small ship image no longer flickers on screen when exiting ship design.
- Shrunk down the ship preview in the mothership panel so it fits more nicely.
- Enemies using grapple guns will no longer get stuck on random objects.
- Fixed bug where Xenosis and Necrosia had the wrong Species-XI elites.