Live now in the beta branch (free to join, doesn't break saves) you will find these new features:
The Bestiary
There are about 25 different kinds of exotic sci-fi damage in Approaching Infinity, and over 130 creatures you can encounter on away missions. Figuring out the fastest way to deal with these threats ("kill") just got a whole lot harder (and easier)!
What?!
First, we erase your omniscience about monster's resistances and vulnerabilities:
Then we keep track of what you learn, and display it in the bestiary:
By default, this new information is shared across all your games, but it's possible to turn that off when you start a new game, if you want an extra challenge.
How does it work? Every time you try a new kind of weapon on a monster, you "learn something". This info is stored and displayed in the bestiary. It's also possible to learn about monsters by analyzing their DNA, or reading reports where alien races have studied a creature in their lab.
If you gather enough information about a particular species then you...
Grok it!
To "grok" is to deeply understand something, and when it comes to enemies, that means you really comprehend the fastest way to kill them. Therefore, grokking results in a 25% chance to score...
Critical Hits!
That's right, for the first time ever in Approaching Infinity, you have a chance to do double damage with every gun or melee attack. All you have to do is shoot every monster with 10 different guns.
FOR SCIENCE!
And to make what's going on just a little more transparent, I've added some quick visual feedback: little floating symbols when you strike a monster and it is either resistant or weak to your attack, or if you get a critical hit.
New Weapon Art
To make all this shooting even more exciting, David has made a wealth of new weapon art, as well as icons for all the different damage types. So now, instead of "all shotguns look the same", we get things like these:
From left to right: toxic cloud-gun, shock rifle, nano-launcher, and concussion grenade. Yes, the grenade hits you like a hammer.
All this and more is in the beta branch right now.
Like what?
- The warp screen now shows a mini-map of the target sector (if it's explored).
- Tool-tips and warp screen show which rooms are available in the local asteroid base.
- All known tiles inside asteroid bases will always be lit (easier to find the store you want).
- Blowing up a shipwreck for scrap will now drop way more loot.
- I Doubled the base damage of launchers!
- Planet and shipwreck scans may make load-out suggestions based on life-forms detected and weapons in your cargo.
- But scans won't reveal the names of monsters you haven't me yet!
- YOU *CAN* GET ACHIEVEMENTS WITH PERMA-DEATH OFF!
- The criminal syndicate has been weakened somewhat (they have been way OP forever), but the Assassin now does triple damage!
- The amount of cover provided by terrain is now displayed in tool-tips.
- There is some temporary "zone transition background" art right now, but the real ones are coming and they are WOW!