Hey guys!
Here's what's been happening.
Short Summary:
- Improvements to base capturing - blockades and response
- Mobile bases
- Mining platforms
- Indie pirates
As usual I've prepared a "Dev Update" vid:
https://youtu.be/XEsMC6Cx0J0
Direct Link: YouTube
Base capturing:
I'm very excited about updates to the base capture mechanic. Prior to this, the only option to the player was the brute force approach. Now with new mechanics in place, base capturing can be a lot more strategic.
Here's how it works - when a base's defense ships are destroyed and enemy ships are near - the base is under a "blockade". While under a blockade several things happen. The major ones are - base morale having a chance to drop and a nearby friendly ships coming to the base's help. The lower the base morale, the less effective a base is at defending itself from capture ships. So, if you chose to use tactics to lower a base's morale, you won't need as many capture ships to capture it.
You can lower morale via several ways - some examples include - destroying platforms, blockading a base (the longer the blockade lasts the longer morale drops), destroying faction ships while the base is under a blockade and sending in base capture ships.
Mobile Bases:
Some bases can be mobile now - allowing you to give them move commands in the overworld. Use this defensively ( go some place safer), offensively (go near your enemis) or economically (go near better asteroid fields or trading bases).
Mining platforms:
You can now build mining platforms on asteroid bases, allowing you to increase a valuable resource.
Indie pirates:
A new faction similar to the "indie civilians." The indie pirates are meant to be a sort of a "living sandbox" and "wildcard" type faction. These are outlaws that aren't particularly aligned with any other pirate faction creating another threat or potential allies.
The unique thing about this faction is that - committing crimes increases your standing with them as does defending yourself from them. So if you are a criminal, you'll soon have some new allies, or if you show that you aren't an easy target, they'll respect that and not attack.
However over time they will go back to being hostile.
What's next?
This is a bit harder to answer this time around... I'll most likely work on fleet related elements then hopefully work on the "story/mission" line.
Thank you for your support!
Paul