This update is relatively small in terms of lines of change, but it includes two new features that have profoundly impactful changes on the game, so we wanted to put a few more words into this update.
The two most chronic antagonists in this game are doors, and the weather. Today's update actually gives you tools to deal with both.
Weather
The weather has been something we have been wrestling with for a while. It is critical to the overall challenge and flavor of the game, but also, there are too many edge cases where it is simply too punishing and frustrating to deal with.
After a fistful of design discussions, we came to a deceptively simple solution: Course changes.
Instead of 1 line with guaranteed weather, the ship may now be diverted to one of three allowable courses that you can steer to at Navigation. This lets you pilot around hazards that you don't want to deal with - or steered into the one you hate least. Navigation now also gives you an estimated progress marker when shifting courses. Note it is not ENTIRELY accurate, as the dust weather will slow you down as you enter the area. But it's mostly accurate.
Note that:
1) Navigation still needs to be functional to change course
2) You still will lose the forecast if Navigation is nonfunctional
3) You still can NOT see gravitational anomalies (which will disable Navigation)
There is a hefty Fatigue cost to adjust course, but this can be negated by taking the Solar Sailor memory - in addition to +2 distance traveled at start.
Doors
Doors.
There are so many problems with doors. They get in your way. They get stuck by the breakers. They cause so much insanity. Heck, one of those insanities killed a streamer on camera recently as the afraid-of-doors insanity procced too many times in a row and caused a stress break the streamer couldn't handle.
Why can you not take your well-earned vengeance on the hateful things?
Well, now you can.
While very expensive in terms of fatigue and stress, sometimes it's not about what's optimal. Sometimes it's about sending a message. "Destroy Door" does exactly what it says on the tin. If you do it, the door you use it on will be permanently removed from that run. Nobody will miss it, most likely.
In addition, doors can now be forced open, even if they are locked by a closed or broken breaker. This is, again, quite an expensive procedure, but perhaps less expensive than the looming disaster that this one stupid door is about to let happen. But what happens when you force open a door? Well, that too isn't for certain.
Most commonly, it will simply open, to close again about 30 seconds later, when the breaker re-establishes control. However, it can also become wedged open, permanently. Also, obviously, failure is always an option. You can simply jam the door shut.
While not worthy of a major release tag, this update nonetheless brings a huge amount of power to the player. We hope you enjoy it.