Playtest

Alpha1A

The sixth update to the playtest was released on 10 January 2023.

DEMO3A

The fifth update to the playtest was released on 7 November 2022.

NEW CONTENT

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.

SMALL CHANGES

• 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

BUG FIXES

• 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 released on 19 October 2022.

SMALL CHANGES

• The Flight Ready mission now requires a jump to the nearest COLONISED system (so players find the contracts board)
• Removed the ‘Nomad’ and ‘Evacuation’ missions from the demo, as they are longer term objectives
• The first two starting ships 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 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.

NEW CONTENT

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 'Flight Ready' mission more intuitive and informative, based on EGX feedback
• All new game scenarios locked on start, except the simple PRAXIS one
• Spacesuit 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 scaffold

External work

• Your crew can now install some equipment on scaffold, entirely outside the ship. Eg 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 derilicts
• Trade ships near colonies and shipyards
• Evacuation ships near colonies in danger

SMALL CHANGES

• New gfx for Spacesuits / Crew / Civilians, lots of equipment
• Tooltips added to all 'Processing' machines to show recipe
• 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 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"

BUG FIXES

• 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 released on 29 July 2022 following the Update 2 video. The build is dated 28 July 2022. This update is the first available to Mac OS X players.

NEW CONTENT

Ice Comets / Ice Grinder

Ice comets occur randomly and travel through a system. Mine them for Ice.

The Ice Grinder is a new piece of equipment to grind and melt ice into dirty water.

Spacesuit Pod

Replenishes the oxygen on any 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 pipes

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 save persistence

You can now revisit star systems and they will reload as you left them

Tweet my 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

PERFORMANCE

• Render performance improved

SMALL CHANGES

• It now costs money to hire crew
• Crew will no longer disembark the delivery shuttle if there is no atmosphere, and a warning message is shown
• Smelters can now refine Tilium into Refined Tilium (which you can sell)
• The initial ship-readiness mission is automatically accepted at the start of a new game
• All starting ships now have some 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 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, 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 Contracts list will now highlight any contract that occurs in a system you are already due to visit with a blue diamond

BUG FIXES

• Mission descriptions now correctly show the ship name they are assigned to, instead of the layer number
• Broken floor tiles are now straightened after 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 released to playtesters on 11 July 2022 following the Update 1 video. The build is dated 8 July 2022.