Hey guys!
Here's a new update vid:
https://youtu.be/OWlep9OuFb0
Direct Link: YouTube
Short Summary:
- More work on fleets
- Large ship spawns
- Increased weapon ranges
- Increased afterburner capacity
- Damage particles and better deaths.
Longer explanation:
The big news is that larger ships will now pop into the game world, with more escorts. In addition, non player fleets will automatically form. A ship becomes a fleet leader when it has more than 3 escorts, and those escorts will join its fleet. This means that if you are looking for bigger fights, to rob bigger transports, or to run to bigger friends, you now have those options.
There's also been some balance changes. Somewhat recently, ships have gotten faster, with smaller ships getting the biggest boosts. More recently weapon ranges have been adjusted. Weapons now have far greater ranges and much more pronounced differences between weapon classes. For example light weapons occupy the ranges of 1k to 2k, medium weapons 3k-5k, heavy weapons 6k-8k and mega weapons 10k+.
Afterburner capacity has been far increased, with the goal of making it feel more substancial. This also means that the afterburner capacity upgrade is far more attractive choice than it was before.
On the polish side, damage particles have been added, scaled and properly placed across the board. Deaths have been made more dramatic with the inclusion of "death explosions".
Hope you enjoy!
What's next?
Up next is work towards balancing ship numbers and game economy.
My plan is to first make frigates and above "more substantial" - meaning harder to obtain. Currently getting a frigate or above ship is far to similar to getting a corvette or smaller ship. The planned changes will require a shipyard to build frigates and above. A frigate won't instantly pop into your fleet and might be unavailable if there are no shipyards to build it. This will also mean the ability for the player to cut off the supply of larger ships from their enemies, via eliminating shipyards.
After that?
After the shipyard changes, I'll most likely work on unit caps and economy. Especially on slowing down the rate of transport/mining ships, thus slowing down the rate of easy money. While I don't want the player to have to grind endlessly, I don't want the player to see a grind as the best way of earning money, automated transport and mining ships are too easy money makers.
Unit caps are necessary towards a balanced game, after unit caps I can begin to work on the main story line, knowing what to expect from the player fleet.
Once again - thank you for all the great feedback and support!
Paul