Welcome to the first content update of 2015! This update brings quite a lot of improvements and new features which are summarised below.
Carrier Class
As discussed last week, we've added the Carrier class of ship to the game. The Carrier is temporarily available in the starting shop so you can try it out, although please note that attachments for the Carrier are not yet in the game.
The Carrier will automatically deploy drones when enemy ships are nearby - up to a maximum of 10 drones, which last for 20 seconds. As drones are destroyed or expire, the Carrier will automatically deploy new drones to replace them.
Enemy ships who previously focused all of their firepower on your small fleet, will now fire upon your sacrifical drones! Happy days!
Opening Battle
We recieved feedback from a number of early alpha players who noted that the opening battle was too easy - it was possible to do nothing and still survive.
Not anymore! We've added some more ships and drones, so be prepared!
Rewards
Previously, very few missions gave rewards and those that did only gave a small amount of credits.
We've improved this system and the loot tables. Missions will generally now result in a reasonable amount of credits and also potentially other rewards such as attachments. In addition, the number of shops that become available has been improved.
Please note, that although this system has been improved it does require further balancing as we progress through alpha. However, the changes will allow alpha players purchases a better range of upgrades to test them out.
Difficulty
Several players have noted that the game is quite difficult and is in fact, "tough as balls". There are a bunch of reasons for this - all of which we are aware of and working to address as part of the development of the game.
This content update addresses two of these reasons;
Enemy fleet composition. Previously, enemy fleets would be spawned based on the number of ships you have. This created situations where some fleets would be spawned with only powerful ships. With this content update, enemy fleets will be spawned based on a points scoring system which means it will relative to the power and setup of your fleet.
Enemy fleet spawn timers. Previously, some waves of enemy fleets would spawn too soon for players to be able to deal with them. This setting has been switched off for the time being. It will be reintroduced at a later date when the game is better balanced and able to handle this setup.
Future updates will also bring further improvements to the difficulty of the game.
Missions & Events
A number of new mission maps for Ambush and Capture missions have been added, and a number of improvements and bug fixes were made to existing maps. In addition, more story events have been added.
Pricing
We have been asked about the price of the game. Just to clarify, the £4.99 / $6.99 price will remain in place until the end of alpha, after which we intend to raise the price. If you buy the game in alpha, you won't have to buy it again after full launch.
Read the full patch notes on our blog (it was too long to fit in a Steam announcement!)
Drop by the discussion forums to leave feedback on this update.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/335830