Welcome to Playtest Patch 0.10. This patch is packed with content and improvements. I hope this patch will be a solid foundation for game mechanism - and I can build upon it for future content release.
Frigate Class
Frigate class ship is here: with new weapon type - drones. It has 10 new weapons. All ship blueprints have been extended to Frigate class, which has 40 more modules (110 in total). Catalysts, Directives and Add-ons (more on that later) now include Frigate class.
Add-on Crafting
In my previous post, I have talked about the rationale for the add-on crafting system. To sum up:
- Basic add-ons are acquired from battles
- Advanced add-ons can only be crafted using a recipe
- Each ship class unlock basic add-ons and recipes
With this crafting system, the add-on value in the peace treaty has been adjusted as well. Previously, an add-on of the current ship class was worth 50 peace treaty score (PTS), the previous class was worth 25 PTS, N-2 class was worth 12.5 PTS, and so on. Now, an add-on of the current ship class is still worth 50 PTS, and add-ons from all previous ship classes are worth 40 PTS.
New Construction / Add-on UI
To help with managing an increasing number of modules and add-ons, those two UIs have been revamped to add a grid view and search function.
Add-on mechanisms have been standardized: they now have unconditional targets (which is always effective) and conditional targets (usually within a range, and is effective when the condition is met). This is basically how most add-ons works already. Now this information is presented in a tabular format, which should make it easier to read
New HP Bar Animation
A new HP bar animation has been added to indicate the damage that a module has taken. Given that damage numbers have to be combined to make it readable, the new animation should indicate individual damages.
Web Build
From this patch on, I am publishing a web build for the playtest. If using Steam is inconvenient, you can also try the game on web: https://spaceshipidle.fishpondstudio.com/
To prevent spam and bots, online features for web version are only available after 48 hours. Steam version is still better because it runs in the background (this is a browser limitation) and it allows transitioning from playtest/demo to early access release.
Cheers,
FishPond