Editing Playtest

== Playtest Alpha1C == 

The seventh update to the playtest was [https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1857080/view/3649639324206215740 released] on 27 January 2023.

We have updated the Playtest build to include the latest ship editor and Creative Mode. We have disabled the other parts of the game for now - we'd appreciate it if you could help us test the editor and creative mode, and provide feedback for those. Thanks!

; Creative Mode

: Unlimited budget to create whatever ship you can think of
: Instant spawn equipment & resources, with no constraints
: BUT you cannot leave the system
: New menu option 'Import Hostile', for combat testing against your ship library  

; Ship Editor (Continued))

* Ship Editor now supports dragging a box shape to fill large areas, as well as drawing freehand
* Ship Editor now shows Mass, Toughness, Crew Capacity, and $Value at the top of the screen
* New 'Spawn' button when in Creative Mode, which permits instant spawn of any Equipment, Resource or Item

; New Alert System

: This replaces the previous fullscreen alert system
: Onscreen alerts for dangerous events -
: Hostiles, meteors, critical resource shortages, hull breaches, reactor shut downs, low batteries etc
: With helpful tooltips to guide new players<
: Hull breaches are located with a line from the alert

; SMALL CHANGES

* Auto-save after FTL jump now captures thumbnail like manual save.
* "Create Storage Hint" now displayed when a Drone Bay becomes clogged with items
:which do not have a storage place set on the ship.
* Loading a ship in the editor will no longer send a shuttle with 5 new crew
* New graphics for crew and passenger bodies in space
* Enemy ships will always spawn dead bodies after destruction


; BUG FIXES

* The docking port is now available for sale at shipyards and stations
* Pressing J no longer draws boxes around the toolbar at the bottom.

== Demo Alpha1C ==

The public demo was [https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1857080/view/3649639324203267958 released] on 26 January 2023. This demo removed the ship editor feature. No official changelog was released.

== Alpha1A ==

The sixth update to the playtest was [https://steamcommunity.com/games/1857080/announcements/detail/3667652000897376511 released] on 10 January 2023. An updated Windows build was released the same day. 

'''<u>NEW CONTENT</u>'''

; Ship Editor
: An entirely new in-game ship editor that allows you to change your fleet ships, or desgn and build new ones.
: You must be at a shipyard to commit any changes, but you can make design changes at any time.
: You can load any ship directly into the ship editor from the Main Menu.
: Any ships you create with a value of less than $1M will be usable as New Game start ships
: Ships can be exported locally, or uploaded to Steam Workshop.


; New Ship Library
* We now have a library of ship designs, including many sourced from our talented Playtest community.
* When you visit a shipyard, you will find many ships for sale, including those designed by the community.
* Some ships for sale will be just the empty hull. Others will be pre-equipped and ready to fly, if you can afford them.
* Any ships you subscribe to from the Steam Workshop will be automatically included for consideration
* Any ships in the library with a value of less than $1M will now be available to start in the New Game menu.
* Ships you create are added to the ship library and will be available for purchase in game, at shipyards.


; Steam Workshop integration
: You can now share any ship you create from the main menu, by clicking the "Upload To Steam" button
: You can subscribe to any ship on the Steam Workshop, and it will be included in your game world via the Ship Library
: You may encounter that ship as an enemy vessel, or as a ship for sale.


; Combat encounters improved
: Combat encounters now use the Ship Library to create suitable enemy forces.
: You will now encounter a much larger variety of enemy vessels.
: The enemy forces will scale in difficulty based on the capability of your fleet, and your combat rank.
: Sometimes you will face just one or two very powerful enemy vessels. Other times you will face a large fleet of much smaller ships.
: Enemy ships have been given a rudimentary pilot AI, but this will improve in future
* The old boring combat mission has been removed
* It has been replaced with a sector-wide objective to eradicate all hostiles, which resets after each sector.
* You can earn big money by cleaning up each sector this way.


; Evasion chance
: During combat your ships now have a chance to evade incoming weapons fire
* This is based on the incidence angle between the ordnance and your ship
: (head on into fire gives no evasion chance. Side on (travelling fast and close to the enemy turrets) gives max evasion chance
* The faster you are travelling, the greater your evasion chance
* The faster you are turning, the greater your evasion chance
* Small ships gain the most from this. Large, slow heavily armoured beasts gain the least.


; On-screen award system
: Completing any mission or objective will now show an on-screen award
: The award shows your money earned, as well as any XP points gained, ranks increased etc


; Compass widget / detach camera control
: There is a new compass widget at the top of the screen, that shows the direction the camera is facing.
: You can click it to toggle if the camera is attached to the current ship, or moving freely.
: This is very useful during heavy combat where you can detach the camera from any one ship

; Settings menu (Main Menu)
* Controls for UI Scale
* Controls for Sound Volume
: (More to come)

; Lots of new artwork
; Lots of new audio

; Equipment resizing
: Lots of placeholder artwork has been replaced with final art, and some equipment has changed size.
* Thrusters are now 3x1 and sit entirely within a wall
* Engines now resized to 7x4 to better fit their sprite footprint
* Docking Ports are now 6x2, to better fit their sprite, and to give more delivery space

'''<u>SMALL CHANGES</u>'''

* The visualisation when placing equipment is now different, and is based on the normal view rather than the schematic view
* The basic Praxis starting ship now has a Small tank and a Medium tank onboard
* You can now repair structural damage from the SHIPYARD menu (when at a shipyard)
* FTL Charges now come in a stack of 1 (previously 100)
* FTL Travel has been sped up
* FTL drive now draws 80MW of energy when charging, instead of 100. (So as not to shut everything else down)
* Void Collapse slowed down and made to start further away in each sector, so you have longer before it arrives
* 'Weapons Free' and 'Exterior Work' are now enabled at the start of a game by default
* Passengers will now sometimes stay on deck during transport
* Travelling in hyperspace 'through' the void now causes structural damage. Be careful!
* NPC miners will now leave after mining a small amount
* Ice Comets are now shown in the sector map

'''<u>BUG FIXES</u>'''

* You can no longer 'turn in' the flight ready mission
* You can no longer turn in an industry/mining mission unless you have enough ore
* The Void Collapse predicted size is now accurate when in Home Sector
* Drones will no longer continue repairing a ship that has been destroyed
* Drones will now properly deactivate when their home ship is destroyed
* You will no longer receive CO2 warnings from enemy/neutral ships
* NASTY BUG: You will no longer lose tons of money sometimes after completing a mission (happens when revisiting previously visited star systems straight after)

== DEMO3A ==

The fifth update to the playtest was [https://steamcommunity.com/games/2000350/announcements/detail/3386171148635066518 released] on 7 November 2022.

'''<u>NEW CONTENT</u>'''
; Revamped Trade Screen
: The trade screen now groups all items into categories such as Power, Resources, Weapons etc.
: Click to buy 1 of any item, or hold shift and click to buy 5. Use the right-mouse to cancel orders.
: Selling now has its own dedicated tab where all of your sellable resources and equipment are listed
: Your trade-in-progress is shown at the bottom of the screen

; Clear Proximity Mines (contract)
: There is now an incredibly low risk combat mission available early in the game, to clear proximity mines
: Designed to allow players to practice combat with virtually zero risk
: (Requires a weapon system of some kind)

; Loaders reconsidered
: We have noticed many players getting stuck when trying to figure out Loaders for the first time.
: You now start the game with a 'Fuel Loader' and an 'Oxygen Loader'. These operate identically to the old Loader, but only for their resource.
: The original loader is still available and can supply any resource as before.


'''<u>SMALL CHANGES</u>'''

* The HUD will now choose a sensible scale value when you first run the game, taking into account your screen resolution. Use + and - to change.
* Logistics drones will no longer collect dead bodies, or space suits containing bodies
* New graphics for Railgun, Cannon, Mining Laser, Loaders
* Some equipment sizes have changed: Railgun, Cannon, Mining Laser


'''<u>BUG FIXES</u>'''

* If a drone collected a dead body, it would jam up the drone bay forever
* The Shipyward window will no longer remain open when you jump to hyperspace

== DEMO2B ==
The fourth update to the playtest was [https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2000350/view/3396302964501693748 released] on 19 October 2022.

; SMALL CHANGES
* The Flight Ready mission now requires a jump to the nearest [[Colony|COLONISED system]] (so players find the [[contract]]s board)
* Removed the ‘Nomad’ and ‘Evacuation’ missions from the demo, as they are longer term objectives
* The first two starting [[ship]]s are now available in the demo
* The starting ship now has 25 cabins (to permit early Passenger missions)
* Guarantee a Delivery mission will always be available in the first sector
* Guarantee a Passenger mission will always be available in the first sector
* The science mission now has a ‘Research Institute’ that will phone you to inform you of rewards given
* New UI sound effects

; TIDDLET IMPROVEMENTS
* The tiddlet mission is now guaranteed to start at the entry system to the sector
* Guarantee there will be no hostiles in that system
* Guarantee there will be no hostiles in the destination system either
* The player now receives a call at the start of the tiddlet mission, to encourage them to find the job
* The Tiddlet mission now shows up at the top of the list with the other special missions
* Added character portrait for the tiddlet breeder

; BUG FIXES
* The special [[Hyperspace Sensor (LR)]] is now correctly categorised as Logistics in the Power Usage screen

; Playtest sector limit increased to 5

== DEMO1 ==
The third update to the playtest was [https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2000350/view/3288215215611916431 released] on 11 October 2022. An updated Mac build was released on 12 October, which fixed a typo in the game's text. Any other changes are unknown.

'''<u>NEW CONTENT</u>'''

; DEMO (Playtest)
* Brand new story episode (experimental) in second sector : 'The trouble with [[Tiddlets]]'. Treat them well!
* New music for new games and for the first hyperspace jump etc
* New tutorial / help elements at the start of a new game to aid new players, based on EGX feedback
* Made the '[[Contract#Make your new ship ready for flight|Flight Ready]]' mission more intuitive and informative, based on EGX feedback
* All new game scenarios locked on start, except the simple [[The Praxis|PRAXIS]] one
* [[Space Suit|Spacesuit]] [[Oxygen|O2]] level is now much more forgiving in the very first system - so players have a chance to find their feet

; New Main Menu treatment
* All saved games and ship exports now have thumbnails (after saving)
* The game now pauses when the Main Menu is open

; Shipyard reconsidered
* The [shipyard] no longer permits ad-hoc modification of the hull or interior of a ship
* You can still install armour or expand habitation, and construct [[scaffolding|scaffold]]

; External work
* Your crew can now install some equipment on scaffold, entirely outside the ship. Eg [[Mining Laser|mining lasers]].
* Crew can also repair and dismantle external equipment
* New ORDERS option - "Exterior Work", which permits or forbids your crew to do work outside in spacesuits.

; New 'Exterior view' graphics for all ships (work in progress)

; Other [[ships]] in the world
You will now encounter more ships in your travels, performing jobs such as mining and scavenging, and coming and going from [[trade]] posts
* Mining vessels in [[asteroid]] belts
* Scavengers near [[Derelict Ship|derilicts]]
* Trade ships near [[Colony|colonies]] and shipyards
* Evacuation ships near colonies in danger


'''<u>SMALL CHANGES</u>'''

* New gfx for Spacesuits / [[Crew Member|Crew]] / [[Civilian]]s, lots of equipment
* Tooltips added to all 'Processing' machines to show recipe
* [[Logistics Drone|Drones]] will now find a new [[Drone Bay]] if their home drone bay is destroyed or dismantled
* Lots of new sound effects for UI and equipment, and Music added to early game
* If the [[Docking Port|docking port]] delivery zone becomes blocked, a message is shown to encourage creation of storage zones
* If a player has far too many jobs and far too few crew, the game will give them a warning "Crew shortage"

'''<u>BUG FIXES</u>'''

* Fixed : You can no longer accept missions and accidentally assign them to ships you don't own (eg if you have another ship selected)
* Fixed : Bug that stopped the science mission sensors from being delivered
* Fixed : Neutral and hostile drones no longer count towards your 'Drones Deployed' value in the FTL window
* Fixed : Hyperspace effects did not scale correctly when fully zoomed out
* Fixed : Mining missions can be accepted when all your drones are deployed

== Update2.rc3 ==
The second update to the playtest was released on 29 July 2022, only a few hours after Update 2.rc1. The build is dated 29 July 2022. It is unclear what was changed in this build as the only file changed was the game executable.

== Update2.rc1 ==
The first update to the playtest was [https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/1857080/announcements/detail/3388414055893834257 released] on 29 July 2022 following the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UAIWNZW12Y Update 2 video]. The build is dated 28 July 2022. This update is the first available to Mac OS X players.

'''<u>NEW CONTENT</u>'''

;[[Ice Comet]]s / [[Ice Grinder]]
:Ice comets occur randomly and travel through a system. Mine them for [[Ice]].
:The Ice Grinder is a new piece of [[:Category:Equipment|equipment]] to grind and melt ice into [[Waste Water|dirty water]].

;[[Spacesuit Pod]]
:Replenishes the oxygen on any [[Space Suit|spacesuit]].

;[[Ratings]] - Combat / Industry / Humanitarian / Logistics
:You will gain XP as you perform these activities and your rating will slowly increase.
:Many missions now require a minimum rating to be accepted.

;Parallel [[pipe]]s
:Pipes can now be constructed next to other pipes without automatic (unwanted) connection

;Tooltips
:Plus a whole raft of usability improvements to help new players
:Including text descriptions of almost all equipment

;[[Star System|Star system]] save persistence
:You can now revisit star systems and they will reload as you left them

;Tweet my [[Ship|Starship]]
:Click this from the [[Main Menu]]. A picture of your starship is copied to the clipboard.
:Paste it into your tweet to show the world your brilliance!

;Playtest [[sector]] limit increased to 5

'''<u>PERFORMANCE</u>'''

* Render performance improved

'''<u>SMALL CHANGES</u>'''

* It now costs money to hire [[Crew Member|crew]]
* Crew will no longer disembark the delivery shuttle if there is no [[atmosphere]], and a warning message is shown
* [[Smelter]]s can now refine [[Ore#Tilium Ore|Tilium]] into [[Metal#Refined Tilium|Refined Tilium]] (which you can sell)
* The initial [[Contract#Make your new ship ready for flight|ship-readiness mission]] is automatically accepted at the start of a new game
* All starting ships now have some [[Habitation Deck|cabin space]]
* You can now press the HOME key to re-center the view on the current ship
* There will always be at least one [[shipyard]] in the starting sector
* [[CO2 Scrubber|CO2 scrubbers]] are now twice as fast at extracting [[CO2]] from the atmosphere
* Scientists have determined the [[void]] is now expanding slower than before
* Pipe and port graphics have been changed to give better hints when things are wrong
* Hostile ships will no longer randomly camp the sector exit system (permitting a peaceful playthrough if desired)
* Updated graphics for CO2 Scrubber, [[Tank#Small Tank|Small Tank]], [[Docking Port]], [[Box]], Smelter, Spacesuits
* You can now click on a Smelter to cycle its recipe setting
* ESC now closes any currently open window, before it will open the main menu
* Hull Damage is now shown in the top status bar
* The [[Contract]]s list will now highlight any contract that occurs in a system you are already due to visit with a blue diamond


'''<u>BUG FIXES</u>'''

* Mission descriptions now correctly show the ship name they are assigned to, instead of the layer number
* Broken floor tiles are now straightened after [[Logistics Drone|Drone]] or Ship Yard repair.
* The game world will no longer receive keyboard and mouse input when the Main Menu is open
* Objects that extend off the gridmap can now be placed.
* Properly restore the view on game load.
* You can now sell materials even when your stacks aren't 100% full
* Docking Port sound effects would play continuously after loading a save game sometimes
* Crew can now install/dismantle/repair equipment that is entirely inside a wall, so long as they can access a neighbouring square
* Fixed navigation bugs that meant crew and passengers would sometimes get stuck on corners
* Crew would sometimes put suits on before attempting jobs in a wall

== Update1.rc2 ==
The initial build was [https://steamcommunity.com/games/1857080/announcements/detail/3362516632916821830 released] to [[playtest]]ers on 11 July 2022 following the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRRo9zig9VY Update 1 video]. The build is dated 8 July 2022.

[[Category:The Last Starship]]