Hello Galactic Survivalists!
It’s wednesday again! First and foremost: We hope you are all well - and if not, we hope you will get well very soon! And because we got a lot of concerned emails and messages: Everyone in the team is Ok or is already getting better. Thanks a lot for all the wishes. :)
We have been kind of silent the last 2 weeks, simply because a lot of code work had to happen, to flesh out the features.
Today we have a mix of different things that made good progress and got added until recently.
- The Empyrion ingame card game?
Our Modelling team has been busy with some new stuff. We added two new devices (we will not disclose just yet. Sorry ;) ) and a few others, like the Zirax CV turrets that are currently in a finishing phase.
A new entry to the blocks and devices are two gambling tables.
What started as an internal use case, just for testing the NPC Dialogue system with a Black Jack script, found some interest in the tester group and the team itself. So we thought: Where Star Trek TNG has had Poker, Star Wars has Sabacc, BSG has Triad Cars .. how would the favored Card-game based amusement of Polaris, Talon, Zirax and other species in Andromeda be named and how would it work?
Any ideas? Let us know your suggestions for a name and a system! We might use it! :)
- New playfield types!
While the galaxy has grown the amount of stars to fill with something to explore, we are constantly looking for new playfield types to integrate. While we are happy to review any suggestion you send us via email, we have opened the CUSTOM PLAYFIELDS forum for that purpose.
That being said, reworks of old playfield types and new iterations, are in the works already. A new Ice Moon and a Forest Moon will be part of the mix, soon.
Hint: Alpha 12 will also see the addition of a menacing “Legacy Faction” playfield type, which will reveal a lot of what this faction is up to. Playfield will be revealed in the next weeks. ;)
- New models and resources!
In Alpha 12 we will not only have Ice available on Asteroids in space eventually, but we will also add a new resource to the game the first time ever: Titanium
And while we added a forest moon with endless quantities of Plant Fiber, and because the item has become a very popular meme in the current pandemic times, we added Toilet paper (including a slightly updated toilet model) as an item for your very discreete player avatar needs as well. Of course you cannot buy it at a trader. ;)
Feel free to make suggestions which status effect we should allow to be cured with it! (except the obvious ;)
- Respawn changes Alpha 12 will also see some changes in the Respawn mechanic which everyone, who has run into a literal dead end, might like. First, the survival tent is now a possible respawn option. When you die, you can select the closest survival tent from the respawn menu. So make sure to be prepared. Second: you will now get a respawn option, even if you have NO home-button checked CV or BA or even a survival tent. You can respawn in a Clone Chamber or Medbay of the CLOSEST BA or CV that belongs to you or your faction, even if these structures have not been set in the HOME checkbox in the Control Panel! In addition, you get a third way of respawning: When you are at least NEUTRAL with a NPC Faction AND you discovered one of their stations, equipped with either Medbay or Clone Chamber, before, you will get offered the closest of these stations as a respawn option as well!
- Registry and Markers
We are currently reworking how the REGISTRY works. Not only because the Registry needed an update to handle the new star systems, but with Alpha 12 it will offer a lot more options and work more like a real Journey-book, where all your discoveries are noted. Not only your own or your faction's stuff, but also terrain placeables like Autominers, ore deposits and a lot more. Filters will help to manage all these entries.
In addition, when setting a Waypoint on one of those entries, those markers are now visible on planets while you are in space - and vice versa!
And: the markers will also work in space as a pre-set warp target. So aim for them, accelerate and warp right away! No need to hammer the Lock-Target Button on the Map anymore.
As a closing comment - and because we got asked this quite a lot: we are currently preparing for the Experimental to start mid of April (if nothing goes wrong). As always: No liability assumed. :D
Watch out for a scheduled live Q&A ahead of the EXP.
Read you soon,
Empyrion Dev Team