The demo is starting to reach a great steady-state, so I plan to start slowing the pace of demo updates and to instead renew my focus on full game features. Thanks to all of you who have played the demo and provided your feedback so far. Ultimately, I am now hearing that sentence that every game dev yearns for: "this is fun." The foundation is set, and it is now up to me to pack the full Early Access release with all the goodies I have in mind. I'll keep posting development updates here, but you'll need to wishlist and buy the full game to enjoy the new features!
With this demo update, I've added naval officer ranks that you earn based on career enemy kill count. This kill count persists across saves, meaning even if you start a new game, you retain your kill count and rank as a true measure of your experience. For early ranks, you earn promotions after 200 kills; for later ranks, it may take more than that. In playtesting, a planet mission will often net you about 250 kills.
In the full game, I plan to tie your rank to your eligibility for certain upgrades, such as improved weapons, armor, and maybe even ship types, that you would be able to obtain on Earth. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this feature as a nice experience tracker. Personally, I just like seeing my shiny rank insignia in the bottom right corner of my screen.
Officer Ranks of the Unified Earth Navy
Ensign
Lieutenant, J.G.
Lieutenant
Lt. Commander
Commander
Captain
Commodore
Rear Admiral
Vice Admiral
Admiral
Fleet Admiral
Happy gaming!
Nightsail Game Studios