We have some big news to share! We've been working on the next Major Update, the upcoming update will be the 21st Major Update to the game and we will name it Beta 2.
The main role of the upcoming update is a new game mode called Station Mode. This update was something we had in mind already at the beginning of Early Access and has been much requested by you, our players. In addition to the Station Mode we will be doing smaller modifications as well as general improvements and polish to the game.
A new game mode allowing you to role play as the owner of a station somewhere in the galaxy!
Role play as the owner of a station trying to establish a hub somewhere in the galaxy and specialize in services of your choosing. Expand your station gradually by mining nearby asteroids and derelicts moving in and out of your sector. Trade with visiting merchants, watch tourist come visit your station and specialize in various services like industry and food or become a notorious arms dealer.
Start from a bare minimum base. Larger cliffs on the asteroid surface will require creativity as you expand.
Start from a bare minimum base and expand gradually as you gather more resources. Larger cliffs on the asteroid surface will require creativity as you build around them to expand your station. Certain facilities, like hangars, can be built directly on the asteroid surface without the need of hull surrounding them.
The size of the asteroid surface will be a 3x3 grid sized area, allowing for building big stations.
The shape and composition of the asteroid surface will be randomized for each playthrough.
We will enable a 3x3 sized grid for the possibility to build big stations on the asteroid surface. Random rocks on the asteroid surface will require creativity as you build around them. We will also enable these big sized 3x3 canvases for the fleet game mode, and increase ship points to 9 to allow you to build much larger ships than before!
Station Mode will feature its own Starmap in form of a larger star system with various points of interests.
We're building a starmap meant specifically for the station mode, which will be a larger star system with various points of interests allowing NPC ships, rogue bots and aliens to come visit your sector but also allowing you to go on away missions to other sectors in the star system.
The station mode star system will feature a set of orbits around a star, with simulation of star system entities circling around the star in the different orbits. Your sector and station will also be on its own orbit circling slowly around the star.
Build and specialize in services of your choosing, you can specialize in one or many services.
Station Mode will allow you to build facilities with a goal of becoming a hub for certain services of your choosing. You can build lots of food facilities and entertainment to become a leisure station or specialize in weapons production to become an arms dealer, there will be a multitude of services to choose from.
Services related to resources will function as an autotrade, allowing you to specify how much you want to keep back in storages at all times.
As you specialize your station in certain services you will start to attract more visitors with those needs as the word spreads of your great station and its services. Visitors will pay you good money and you will have a service rating going up or down depending on the experience the visitor had with you.
Derelict ships will move into the sector and slowly move out, giving you plenty of time to scavenge it.
To prevent the player sector from becoming congested we've implemented a system of slow movement of certain entities like derelict ships and small asteroids. This will allow the entities to enter the sector but eventually be moved out of the sector with time.
This is something we will tweak and modify as needed. The idea is to give a generous amount of time for the player to grab the resources from the derelict ships and asteroids before they slip away out of the sector.
Certain areas of the asteroid surface may be guarded by rogue bots or aliens.
Parts of the asteroid surface will be claimable areas, guarded by either rogue bots or aliens. These areas need to be secured to get access to more space for building and the surface resources located within the area.
Crew members mining resources on the surface of the Station Mode asteroid.
Scattered around the surface of the Station Mode asteroid there will be mineral rich debree and crystals, which the crew members can mine directly without having to use mining pods. These patches of resources will help with building the new station.
Take a set of shuttles and venture out on away missions outside of your own sector.
The station mode will feature a new style of away missions where a set of shuttles can be sent out to sectors outside your own. There will be a slight travel time as your shuttles venture out, when arriving at the destination you will be able to execute an away mission by commanding your crew members in draft mode.
This was the first progress update on the upcoming Station Mode. We are working to deliver a solid new game mode and other improvements to the game. We have made good progress but don't have a date yet for the release of the update.
We will keep you posted and let you know when we are closer to release. Stay tuned for more news! =)