After quite a lot of time, it has finally been done. The launch button has been pressed, and anyone on steam can download and play EmptyEpsilon for free.
With this launch comes the latest set of changes:
- The French and German localizations have gotten quite an update.
- The server browser menu has some changes where it no longer makes a difference between LAN and Internet games, it always shows both now.
- A few scenarios got fixes and updates.
- Surf's Up! scenario has been added, which is a more complex wave defense scenario.
- Early Evaluation Exercise scenario has been added, which is an practice scenario for the basic tasks.
- Liberation Day scenario has been added, which is an advanced multi-player ship scenario that changes every time you play it.
Now, there have been a few questions that are repeatedly asked, so let me answer them here:
Will there be steam workshop support?
While modding and custom scenarios are an important feature for EmptyEpsilon, there is currently no plan to add steam workshop support. The reason for this is that while Steam is great for a lot of things, there are also many occasions that steam is not the proper solution for running EmptyEpsilon. And for those cases, it shouldn't be impossible to get those scenarios and mods.
How can I play online with friends?
It was mentioned it before, but it is good to repeat it. EmptyEpsilon can be played online, however, it currently requires a public IP address/port forwarding. This is not the best situation, and Steam has a feature called the "relay network" to make this unnecessary. However, attempts to use this have not been successful so far.
I want realistic physics!
No.
Is this the ECS version?
No. The ECS update is not ready yet. A lot of hard work has been put into this. But as it is all free-time development, there is no timeline on when this will be available.