It's been a hectic few days preparing for the launch (it launches at v1.481).. and so here are all the changed that have gone in.
Summary
The main change is the addition of diplomacy to the single player campaign, you can declare war, insult, bribe, turn on your allies, and incite war between other factions. Enemy fleets now have a whole range of peace and war time activities. A lot of clarification of the components in the inventory has also been added and a bunch of bug fixes. The other significant change is that the Miner attribute affects gameplay, and a smelter and crystal farm components have been added to help you grow and transform your resource. Custom cannons have been balanced a bit to make the smaller ones more useful.
Full change log
Campaign locked until experience level 4
Square rig sail is unlocked by winning a story mission, as is sailing AI card
Tutorial video is linked in to tutorial menu
Tutorial and skirmish missions updated to use new character avatars
Selected component name now displayed on HUD... HUD tidied up a bit
AI will control your weapons when you are in build mode
players made weightless (almost) when in chairs
[1.471] Miner attribute affects game-play
[1.471] Scrap smelter parts added for making scrap resource
[1.471] Crystal farm added
[1.471] Faction / player relationships added in campaign mode
[1.471] A lot of new faction fleet activities added
[1.471] New starting fortress in single player campaign
[1.471] Capturing resource zones from enemy slows their advancement
[1.471] Foot latch re-enabled for scuttlebot
[1.471] Rotations of blocks in multiplayer always correct now
[1.48] Key map updated (options-->controls)
[1.48]Inventory descriptions updated for many components",
[1.48]Got the remote controller and control terminal working once again (works nicely now!)
[1.48]Updated the tractor-beam/docking station so that player doesn't glitch through held vehicles",
[1.48]Batteries save and load their charge (and are emptied when appropriate)
[1.48]Same for fuel storage, engine fuel tank and ammo barrel",
[1.48]Added friendly fire to campaign to affect relationships- so you can declare war by shooting on allies.",
[1.48]Two factions that are not at war in campaign will not fight each other",
[1.48]Tidied up repair and attack decision making
[1.48]Laser defense block will no longer damage friendlies that get in the way
[1.48]Fleets no longer get stuck trying to fortify a board section
[1.48]Repair bugs will repair blocks on turrets and spin blocks from long ranges
[1.48]Repair code tightened up
[1.48]Custom cannons now no longer benefit exponentially from being bigger
[1.48]Enemy fleet numbers increased in campaign mode
[[1.481] More depth to not being at war with teams in campaign
[1.481] Fixed the ships wheel for spinning the masts- was doing it the wrong way
[1.481] Added diplomacy menu to campaign menu sidebar- in case you forget the key (F1)
[1.481] Fixed a number of small inventory based bugs"
What's next
I'm tempted to get stuck straight into multiplayer, leaving the new fuel fed jet engines (that I hinted at in the last update) for another update. I will also be adding custom fleets to the campaign so you will have to face specific and rather nasty opponents once in a while! Assuming multiplayer development goes well there will be a multiplayer creative mode at some point soon! I'm also tempted by adding strategic radar components to spot fleets on the strategic map in the campaign mode.These will be huge dished (made up of lots of smaller parts) ideally placed on a spin block, on a hill somewhere!
As always I look forward to your thoughts and suggestions!