Hello, it is Francois the dev of Starship EVO.
As many of you have experienced, we had a rocky launch with way too many bugs, some being game breaking which is not acceptable.
I am deeply sorry and would like to apologize for the situation.
I am working my ass of trying to solve as much as I can - I expect the situation will stabilize in a few weeks.
We did a lengthy closed beta access and I did a full survival early-game pass where I fixed tons of stuff - but I missed plenty of issues.
Some of the most important one have already been squashed but a few remain, which are hard to reproduce on my side.
Thanks to all the players who reported issues, and thanks for player who uploaded their player.log and character save on the github so I can investigate them.
I will also implement a few tools to get your ship / base back when stuff happens.
One week in, I wanted also to take the opportunity to do a summary of what is still there, and also see with you what are the most important one so I can prioritize my time more. Tell me in the comment!
There is also a lot of confusion on some mechanics specific to Starship EVO, and reading your feedback I am getting a better picture on where I need to on-board newcomers better.
As nobody like long tutorials (I certainly don't!), on top of the help/progression tab the best approach forward will be to explain a mechanics when the player is about to experience it - with short videos. For example I am showing a short help section when a player is on its way to orbit (dont forget a helmet - build a life support - build an antenna on the base to find your way back!). They are a bit intrusive but they are a necessary evil! Game will be paused when they show up.
There are also some balancing issues. Some are quick to fix, some might take longer! There is also the question of multiplayer and some reported poor performance on planets.
Thanks a lot for sticking with me, this will be a rough few weeks but it will get better by the day! Starship EVO will be a much stronger game once everything is ironed out.
Here are more details on each issue/point: I will add more to the list depending on your comments, still list is wip (it is also a tool for me to make sure I have a good vantage point on the main stuff)!
[x] = fixed, [-] workaround, part fix [ ] not fixed
Major issues:
[x]
Save breaking: made some fix=> are you guy are still experiencing issues?[-] Inventory corruption: fixed one cause, one more cause remains
[x]
Terrain shenanigans=> made some fixes => are you guy are still experiencing issues?[-] Tutorial could breaks on paint/scale : unknown exact test case (spamming paint?). Made a fix that auto-validate a step after a 25 sec, so no longer blocking
[x]
Shift click(or more accurately shit click): finally fixed![x]
Resolution option on some monitor: fixed[x]
Player get stuck undergroundwhen hovercraft topple: fixed[x]
Warp and warp drop off: fixed[ ] Stargate issues: to be investigated
[ ] Player exit starship command during flight and get lost
[ ] Now way to get ship back (before access to shipyard): will implement a solution
[-] AMD black water: currently investigating with AMD dev, made a workaround for next update so it will show correctly
[ ] Bugged achievements: still investigating
[ ] Bugged assembler: I think there several issues / tweak needed
Performance:
Issue on planet: will do a big optimization pass.
Of course planet are always gonna be slower than empty space, but is taking too much time.
I will also give more graphical options for lower config.
Multiplayer:
For now it require Port Forwarding. Once survival situation stabilize I will do a big push, starting with explicit error message when failing to connect.
Confusing mechanics for newcomers:
[x]
Starter block + anti-grav: better help + more seamless logic[x]
Hoverboard: made a help message[ ] Shaky scooter: still to improve
[-] Collector: improved already, but still need to look at a fix
[x]
Silicon ingot crafting not clear: made an help on the furnace[ ] Where to get sunstone: (was in help/progression tab) will make it more clear
[x]
Player forgot about antenna: (was in help/progression tab) made a in-game popup help[x]
Cannot build on damaged block, actually needs repair: added a preview/help message. It seems that delete vs scrap is confusing.
Gameplay balance
[x]
Crystallow spawn on asteroid: fixed[x]
Cobalt ore is hard to find: fixed[x]
Silicon hard to craft: fixed[x]
Antenna range too low: fixed[ ] Inventory rate too slow: todo
[ ] Assembler too slow: todo
For reference the full list of fixes.
================================================================================
BY PATCH — fixes, hotfixes, and dev / design notes (merged)
================================================================================
26w13a
- Starter block anti-grav: driving a hovercraft now deactivates anti-grav (reduces newcomer confusion).
- Help for starter block updated.
- #6887 Backpack inventory computation can be incorrect.
26w13b
- Dev / release: Survival Update — new game modes Survival / Creative; large feature set (tutorial arc, crew, stations, etc.).
26w13c (first hotfix)
- Tutorial: exiting the game midway through the tutorial.
- Tutorial: building several starter platforms.
- #6892 Crucible can lose ore.
- #6900 Mad Scientist / It’s me Mario achievements triggered randomly.
26w13d
- Help when dragging gold into crucible (needs arc furnace).
- Help when dragging jetpack into wrong slot.
- #6916 Crucible ore swapping results in item loss.
- #6909 Backpack volume after crafting wrong.
- #6906 Wrong resolution options.
- Dev: starter block no longer provides anti-gravity (too confusing); new anti-gravity block promised.
26w13e
- Drop items only over the drop zone to discard them.
- Mining beam / repair beam offset vs cursor.
- Construction Anchor block added (planet building, dampening).
- Shift-click backpack item transfers to storage.
26w13f
- New entities: temporary stasis until first pilot/drive (replaces starter-block anti-grav confusion).
- Migration: older entities/blueprints with starter block → stasis on load.
- #6886 Crafting recipe for scrap addon.
- Stretch axis text not showing correctly.
- #6938 Autosave issue (likely terrain saving).
26w13g
- #6963 Shift-clicking into player inventory could delete items.
- #6918 Yoke schematics.
- #6934 Player can get stuck underground.
26w13h
- #6995 Wrong title on Controls options.
- Collector: potential issue noted; assembler hardened.
- Cobalt ore spawn frequency increased.
- Dev: terrain technology and inventory improved
26w14a
- Teleport back to any player entity (base or ship) to reduce “lost ship” pain.
- Crate incorrectly showing tube connector.
- #6957 Long warp with weak lightcruise engine.
- #7037 Multiplayer open/close improved.
26w14b
- #7051 Crash during save.
- #7054 Storage can fill with trash.
- #6876 Space stations have no NPCs.
26w14c
- Shift-click item swap revamped.
- Assembler share queue disabled until it can be fixed (was buggy).
- Grab / anti-grab: drag at center of mass.
- Delete key while stretching cancels stretch (does not delete block).
- Collector range computation reworked (size scaling, slider 0–max; no longer extreme ranges).
- #7090 Shift-click duplicate blocks.
- #7066 Invalid quote in character name.
- #7094 Gravity Unit component renamed to Graviton Ring.
- #7087 Starter block two schematics not equivalent.
26w14d
- Warp drop-off logic cannot overshoot.
- Grab away from COM rotates entity (better control).
- Tutorial failure points addressed.
- #7113 Respawn in medbay in another system breaks the game.
- #7074 Warp arrival overshoot stars.
- Dev: new in-game help when first attempting orbit (helmet, life support, antenna).
26w14e
- Shift-click from item bar fixed (long-standing).
- Hoverboard usage message for newcomers.
- Cannot build on damaged bricks; message when preview shows destroyed blocks.
- #7142 Frame volume too high.
- #7126 Ghost item on shift-click.
- #7130 #7064 #7045 #6989 #6951 #6542 Shift-click from item bar could make items disappear.
26w14f
- Cannot unspawn terrain entity in survival; unspawn requires confirmation.
- Sunstone spawn frequency increased.
- Crystal drops increased (about 1–2 → 2–3).
- Antenna range 50 km → 200 km.
- #7107 Destroying assembler mid-craft.
- Dev: changes follow community feedback; antenna range bumped because builds were often too small for return trips.