Demo v0.8.3 - Sector 1 Pacing, Shared Trade Post Stock and Fleet Details

This patch reworks how Sector 1 ramps up, makes every Trade Post share one stock, and gives Fleet Command and Inspect much more detail, along with a round of battle and interface fixes. In the full game, enemy Energy Lance outposts now threaten your systems from Sector 3 on. It also covers v0.8.2, which went out without notes; its two changes are marked (v0.8.2).

New

• Equipped modules in Fleet Command. The selected ship's card now has an EQUIPPED MODULES grid. Fitted modules show their art and name (hover for power draw and stats), empty slots show a +, slots the hull does not have read UNAVAILABLE, and clicking any slot takes you straight to Equip. The ship's art now sits beside its name on a new backdrop.
• Stat breakdowns in Inspect. Hover any ship stat to see its base value, every bonus behind it (Commander, Flagship, perks, modules, buildings and battle effects) and the total. Status Resist is listed too.
• Browse your holdings. The Buildings screen now shows the selected body's artwork, with previous and next arrows to step through every body you own. Both it and Empire Overview have a ← Galaxy Map button that takes you straight back to the map.
• Energy Lance threats (full game). From Sector 3 on, and in both Endless modes (from the third map of a Roguelike Endless run), an enemy Energy Lance outpost can appear late in a map. Once your fleet comes within three bands of it, it locks onto one of your systems that has a building and fires after four more combat warps, destroying that system, its building and every warp route attached to it for good. A banner counts down and both systems are marked on the map. Capture or destroy the Lance to stop the shot, and capturing it can give you an Energy Lance of your own. It never targets a system whose loss would cut off your route to the stronghold.

Changed

• Sector 1 factions. Regular Sector 1 battles now come only from the Pirates, Allies, Hive and Enlightened. The Sehn can still appear through the rare battle ambush, and the Wraith only as WANTED bounty hunters. In the full game, the Vanguard, Ancients, the Cultist factions and Sehn-held systems no longer appear in Sector 1, and The Unknown waits until Sector 2. If you are already in Sector 1, the battles you have already fought keep their factions.
• Objective pacing. Battle objectives now ramp up through each sector. Apart from scripted missions, the first two bands of a sector only hold plain battles, Raid the Convoy and Claim the Derelict, and harder objectives such as Capture the Station, Hold the Zone and Down the Shield Generator become more common the deeper you go. Sector 1 and the first map of a Roguelike Endless run ramp up more gently, and every early band keeps at least one easy battle or encounter.
• Objective placement. Destroy the Supergun only appears late in a sector, the Fortress is kept for strongholds, Mini Bosses always belong to the stronghold's faction and bring a hard objective, and maps no longer force every objective type to appear.
• Sector 1 missions. The Pirate-held Sensor Array outpost now appears a little later in Sector 1. In the full game, Down the Fortress is now Silence the Beacon: destroy the Pirate reinforcement beacon, then finish their fleet. Winning it no longer reduces enemy damage for the rest of the sector.
• Trade Posts share one stock. Every Trade Post and the Trade Shop in Empire Overview now offer the same ten items. The stock only changes when you claim a new node, not when you warp or reopen the shop, so you can come back any time and buy whatever you can afford. Bought offers stay marked SOLD until new stock arrives.
• Sector 1 Trade Post stock. Ships come only from the Allies, Pirates, Hive and Enlightened, and weapons, turrets and attack drones only deal Kinetic, Energy or Plasma damage. Every stock includes at least two weapons, two ships, two utility modules and a Reactor Core, Rare offers can now appear, and one weapon and one ship are picked to fit your current resources when possible.
• Outpost captures. Enemy Weapon Platforms no longer stop your capture progress at an outpost. Only an enemy ship inside the capture zone does, and when one is there, a warning tells you to clear the zone and the objective panel reads CAPTURE BLOCKED. Stations still need their guards destroyed first.
• Weapon Platforms hold position. Weapon Platforms ringing a station, outpost or other objective no longer slide around their ring each round. They stay where they start, and still turn to aim and fire as before.
• Supergun. The battlefield Supergun now fires every six rounds instead of five.
• Critical Strikes. The Commander's Critical Strikes now adds critical-hit chance only, no longer critical-hit damage.
• Building costs. The Watchtower, Shield Generator, Ordnance Depot, Armor Works, Warp Relay and Containment Order now cost earlier materials in the same amounts. For example, the Shield Generator now costs 60 Iron, 25 Silver and 8 Gold instead of 60 Silver, 25 Gold and 8 Uranium.
• Diplomatic Outpost. Each one you own now cuts accumulated difficulty by 20 points, up from 10.
• Gravity Bomb (v0.8.2). Gravity Bomb pushes anchored ships and ships with Station Keeping again. Emplacements, outposts and stations still stay put and still take the damage.
• Fleet Command roster. The roster and the inventory's ship cards now list each ship by its name instead of its faction and class, and the selected roster row, including the one picked when the screen opens, is clearly highlighted.
• Rarity badges. Rarity now shows as new sculpted badges in Fleet Command, Fabricate, the inventory, module cards, Inspect and blueprint rewards.
• Layout and art. Empire Overview moves Repair All, Trade Shop and Refinery (or Forge) into large buttons in its header. Your flagship's marker on the galaxy map is larger, battle turn notices are larger and centered, and the Upgrade screen gains header art, with its Ships and Modules switch moved into the filter row. The Anchorage has new icon art, the Endless launch confirmation has header art, and leaderboard ship icons sit on their faction's scenery.
• Support range lesson. The tutorial now teaches the support range right before the Aegis Surge repair, with the green ring matching Aegis Surge's reach, instead of as a separate tip in a later battle. The tip now mentions abilities as well as modules.
• Roguelike Endless unlock. The unlock reward now explains that the mode uses its own save, does not carry over campaign progress, and that losing your fleet ends the run with no meta progression.
• Beacon (full game). The Beacon now needs a Class O star instead of a Frozen Dwarf, and Class O star systems from Sector 2 on get a building slot. A Beacon you were already fighting for on a Frozen Dwarf is kept.
• Your Energy Lance (full game). Firing your own Energy Lance now annihilates its target and every warp route attached to it, with a new strike cinematic. It no longer captures the system or collects its loot, cannot target Mini Bosses, and refuses a strike that would cut off your route to the stronghold. Energy Lance outposts also no longer fire like a Supergun during their battle.

Fixed

• Module keys (v0.8.2). Pressing the number key of the module you already have selected deselects it again and returns to AUTO-FIRE.
• Parked ships. A ship parked nose to tail behind a friendly ship no longer fails to move away or snaps back to where it started. This affected your ships and enemy ships alike.
• Turn handoff. END SHIP TURN no longer stays locked when you start aiming a weapon while the previous enemy turn is still wrapping up.
• Drone volleys. A later shot in a drone volley no longer strikes a ship before it has finished dodging or being pushed by an earlier one, and a ship destroyed later in the volley no longer jumps ahead to where it died.
• Storm Vortex. Ships thrown by a Storm Vortex at the end of a turn no longer start moving before the storm reaches them and then snap back. The throw now plays once, from contact to landing.
• Battle rewards. A reward's EQUIP NOW button now updates after you fit or remove that module in Fabricate.
• Tutorial. The AUTO-FIRE lesson no longer pops up in a later battle once you have finished the tutorial.
• Settings. Settings and Controls text can no longer come up in dark, hard-to-read colors, and RESTORE DEFAULTS now also resets the Colorblind Palette.
• Allies Scout. The Allies Scout no longer shows a stray second barrel on its nose.
• Interface frames. Ship and module card art and colored bands now reach the card frame, small buttons and tags keep an even metal rim at any width, combat action pictures fill their sockets, the active stance and the acting ship's turn queue slot glow gold across the whole frame, and blueprint ribbons stay inside card corners.