We have just made a Pre-Release build for BETA 6 available. This BETA has taken a little more time than expected we had to add some critical systems as well as being sidelined by a Windows update which has forced us to update the underlying engine for the game.
We hope everyone, whether brand new or experienced, will learn something new or helpful from the additions added in BETA 6.
Changes
BETA 6 brings a number of new quality-of-life features to Space Impossible.
First and foremost is the Stats. The Stats will now show you metrics like exactly how far you have traveled, how many bad guys (and what factions) you've blown up, how many items you've sold and bought and much more.
Second is the Codex. The Codex serves as both an interactive tutorial system as well as general ingame information resource. We believe this will help new players learn more about the game, while remaining in game, as well as provide some indepth information that even experienced players may not be aware of.
On the AI front, in preparation for upcoming Betas, AI vessels inside of distress regions will no longer want to immediately kill you, even if they're pleading for help. This will be further fleshed out later, but for now it should ensure gameplay is closer matched to dialogue. Additionally AI vessels now have preset weapon groups, much like player vessels, and will attempt to use them appropriately.
We have also taken player feedback and our own thoughts on shields and the point defense weapons and decided to make them into shields. Similarly on player feedback, we've added old recipes to higher level labs, which should cut down on the sheer number of required labs.
On the technical side, in order to support the new Codex (and the continuously expanding amount of text), we've changed the formatting for the language files to a YAML based system. However, the language system will still load the older .lang file if a yml is not available. Also we have done some terminology clarification. Reactors produce POWER, components require POWER, and ENERGY is a type of weapon and shield.
Finally, we have updated the underlying engine to a newer version. This has already shown some improvement in certain situations like networking, but there may still be a few side effects (mostly visual glitches) still to be caught and fixed. Typically we would not upgrade the version at this stage of development, but a recent Windows 10 update had a significant negative performance impact during development of BETA 6.
If you would like to check out this pre-release build all the usual things apply, it will have problems (some of which we know about) and it may break your universe. Let us know your thoughts via the forums or on our discord
If you still wish to give it a try check out all the changes and details here : https://steamcommunity.com/app/416240/discussions/23/2997669714007367923/
and how to access it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/416240/discussions/23/2997669714007369655/