Heeeelloo everyone!
How are all you space cowboys doing? It's been a while since our last update, with parts of the team on vacation and/or travelling, but now we're back and swinging - So let's get to it!
This update focuses on the Space portion of the game in general, and ship-to-ship interaction more specifically. After lots of work on the Derelicts section in the last couple updates, we are trying to give this area of the game some love, as it is something lots of players have asked for and also something we've been wanting to do for a while now.
One main thing a lot of people have asked for is to be able to hire wingmen, who will stick around and fight by your side. So guess what- we've added that! Now, ships might approach you and ask if you're interested in hiring them as your winger. Usually they'll find you around asteroid fields. They don't require any direct pay, all they want is the bounty if they happen to kill a pirate for you. Just a word of caution: They're not always the quickest to join the fight if they're not sure they're getting paid, so it might be a good idea to let them take a couple hits by a pirate to get them "motivated".
The next addition are Corporate Mining Ships. These are huge lumbering Mining Barges, that stick around Ore Belts and are waiting to buy freshly gathered Ore off of any Miner willing to trade with them. They'll usually pay a fair price, as they generate profit off the humongous trade deals they can eventually make with Refining companies. They'll also save you a trip back and forth to the station each time your cargo hold is full - a huge time saver for dedicated miners! So if you're into mining, these guys are going to be your best friends!
The last addition in and around Asteroid Fields is the Smuggler. These guys will keep a lookout for any miners or travelers nearby and offer all sorts of shady deals. If you have a trader's knack for good prices and on-the-spot decisions, you can generate a tidy profit. Don't always take their first offer either, if it doesn't look worth it. They'll come back with a counter-offer often enough!
Next to all these dodgy characters that you'll meet near the Asteroid Fields, there are a bunch of additions around stations, the ports of civilization - Because what would civilization be without some good and honest advertising? We've added billboard ships that circle stations and try to interest anyone they can in various products and "necessities". These guys are usually plentiful around most stations now.
But wait, there's more! Advertisement Blimps, that spray everyone nearby with constant video ads and an excessive light show are also to be found, albeit less common. If you find one, you're welcome to guess where the inspiration for these came from.. :)
For ships that use it, ship-to-ship comms right now work by flying close enough to that ship. You'll get a message from the ship, that you can usually answer yes or no (or press Enter/Escape). We'll probably eventually replace this with an actual comms system, like the one being used when hailing a station.
You can see the system in action here, where a Pirate is waiting to attack you as soon as you leave the station. A friendly trader swoops in shortly and offers his help. Watch what happens!
You can also set formations for your wingmen, once you've gathered two or more. Press -K- to cycle formation types, which are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Changes in formation are most obvious when travelling in split together.
Although the full change list is shorter this time around, it's really quite sweet:
Features / Gameplay
- Added Winger/Freelancers that you can take on as your wingmen
- Added Billboard Ships that advertise near stations
- Added larger AdvertShip with video advertisements
- Added huge Corporate Mining Ships that buy Ore from Miners
- Added seedy Smugglers that approach you with offers
- Added Research ship that take readings around stations
- Added multiple formations for Wingmen (Switch by pressing K)
Fixes / Improvements
- Fixed backgrounds for some question screens
- Fixed occasional Asteroid edge error
- Fix for background of Early Access Splash screen
Thanks to Dr. Arbitrary, sovn, VisibleInMotion, agentsmith and vitowns for your feedback and bug reports on the Steam forums!
On a side-note, we've hit 50+ reviews with a rating of 96%. That means we are now officially rated "Very Positive" - the best rating possible! Thank You very much to each and every reviewer, it means a lot to us! <3
We hope you enjoy this update. Have fun!
You can buy the game on Steam right here:
Store.steampowered.com
