Welcome to the Periapsis: Eclipse 0.1.3 demo update! 0.1.3 addresses tons of feedback the community has sent in since the demo launched. Some of the main requests were more quality of life features, better balanced heat and power management and more challenging combat. I hope you enjoy these changes to the demo!
Periapsis: Eclipse is still in very early days so features, balance and mechanics will change as I continue to improve the game. Please jump into the Discord to chat about the update with the community and let me know what you think!
Gameplay
Replaced sphere of influence gravitation with n-body gravitation.
Player is now more consistently credited for indirect kills.
Added warnings for dangerous ship conditions such as high reactor heat or low battery.
High reactor heat can now cause periodic explosions and fuel leaks.
High coolant heat can now cause periodic coolant leaks.
Reworked beam weapon aiming for smoother inaccuracy.
Directional missile payloads can now independently rotate towards their target independently of the missile body when they deploy.
Power generation now scales with coolant circulation rate, allowing higher pump speeds to charge the battery more quickly.
Radiators now have efficiency zones where they will cool down coolant faster.
Increased atmospheric drag.
Fleets in the galaxy map now orbit around planets.
Quality of Life
Added the ability to speed up time while the player ship is not engaged or maneuvering. Hotkey default is left control.
Added a scrap shop where you can trade scrap for gear.
Added a refinery shop where fuel and coolant can be purchased.
Dials can now be turned up or down with right and left click, respectively.
Added a hotkeys menu.
Added lower intensity combat music.
Minimap now shows the direction of visible ships.
Player can now lock the camera to their ship using a button on the minimap.
Player can now lock their ship’s heading prograde, retrograde or radially using buttons on the minimap.
Player can now middle mouse click directly on a ship to begin missile locking.
Added a hotkey to reload all weapons. Hotkey default is R.
Added a hotkey to cycle all weapon groups through weapon modes. Hotkey default is Capslock.
Improved the encyclopedia screen to provide better detail.
AI
Added a close-range maneuvering mode for NPC ships for finer tuned collision avoidance using RCS as well as main engines.
Updated AI to take two steps of future hypothetical trajectories into account when deciding on a maneuver.
Balance
Buffed all NPC ship health, armor and damage.
Reduced NPC ship spawn rate.
Full rebalance of heat and power generation to create more dynamic operation.
Rebalanced laser damage over distance to scale more linearly.
Increased the number of control rods available to each ship.
Increased Cobra-6 missile payload size.
Tightened Adderstrike missile projectile cone for more focused damage.
Tightened Mk44 PDC projectile spread for more focused damage.
Tutorial
Added a new step to the tutorial to explain how to collect cargo crates.
Added a tutorial step to explain manual target selection in AUTO mode.
Bug Fixes
Radiation damage upgrade can now be correctly applied to projectile weapons.
Radiation shielding upgrade description is now correct.
Fixed a bug causing the first tutorial combat to never end if the player took too long.
Fixed an issue causing missiles to not be auto selected when entering combat.
Fixed issue causing cargo crates and fuel tanks to fly away from wrecks too quickly.
Fixed issue causing satellites to not be collectable with the harpoon.
Fixed a bug causing music volume to reset after combat victory.
Fixed an issue allowing multiple instances of an upgrade to be added at once.
Fixed an issue causing shop buttons to play their animation without purchasing the item.
Various stability and soft-lock fixes.
Various tutorial edge-case fixes.
Known Issues
A crash after completing a combat level when an object is incorrectly disposed of may occur.
NPC ships can sometimes start spinning and have trouble stopping.
Trajectory prediction through atmosphere may be inconsistent.
NPC drone launches often collide with their mother ship.