There has been 3 blog entries in the last months. They are aiming to planet surveys, construction of outposts there, eventually producing fleets, space derelicts and salvaging them, debris field, and I saw a cool new feature? of hiding behind moons to avoid bursts of neutron stars.
Also I learned he is a Dominions player. Makes sense!
Has anyone had hands on this?
this looks more like SPAZ than SPAZ 2 does
Yes. It’s a great game already, if a bit unforgiving. I’m sure @BrianRubin will be glad to say more.
It is, and I will! Rham is right, it’s kind of a brutal game, but that’s part of the fun. I’ve not played in a bunch of months, but this video should give you a good idea as to how awesome it is.
I have to admit, the news that there’s only mouse and keyboard controls made me lose interest in this. But I guess I should keep it in mind for a final release when the game eventually comes out. While it’s unlikely that I’ll enjoy a mouse+keyboard implementation of a space combat game, it’s not impossible.
The main thing is, when I play a space combat game, part of the appeal is to get really good at it. And if I can’t get good at the controls, then I’ll never have that feeling.
I think K&M controls are not a real problem in this game. Starsector is more about tactics than it is about mouse or keyboard controls - APM or precision don’t necessarily matter all that much, and you can even choose a ship (or fleet) that minimizes even further any need for such things.
Did you play SPAZ? Starsector controls are somewhat similar, but it has a different flow most of the time. It’s more “sim-my”, if that is even a word.
Yes, I hated SPAZ controls. That’s a great example of a game I could never get good at since I was a spaz at the controls.
It’s a pirty Rock8man, there are some fans that make the game really ‘sing’ in their skilled hands, the M+K scheme allows lots of fine control. They take a fast lone wolf ship and they beat fleets several times bigger with it.
I used to be able to do that in Star Control 2 back in the day (and SC1 before that). Where I could take an Arilou ship and beat any other ship in the fleet with it.
Same with Galak-Z recently, where once I got good at it, it just feels so good to be able to use physics and the crisp controls to your advantage and beat the odds. I love it when player skill can be honed like that. But the mouse+keyboard scheme in SPAZ just didn’t let me do that. And I bet any mouse scheme will be the same for me.
Oh, how right you were in the end. I did this thread thinking that --finally-- we were reaching the end of the tunnel, but his speed is slow as ever, if not more. He didn’t release any major update since February…
Though he finally released the patch notes for the next version, 0.8. We can suppose it will be released in some weeks.
At this pace, he will release 1.0 at the end of 2018.
The main new feature is this one:
Added procedurally generated constellations and expanded map (about 16x previous area, ~200 star systems maximum right now)
Now the map is half-procedural, with the core worlds being hand crafted and the rest generated procedurally.
Some more:
Deep hyperspace now functions similarly to nebula (slows down smaller fleets, fleets inside are less visible)
Added new ability: “Sustained Burn”
Added new ability: “Scavenge”
Exploration: Can find and salvage derelicts from the various stages of the Sector’s history
Planet surveying
Revamped economy simulation
Can now avoid solar flares/corona by hiding behind planets
Hullmods can now be acquired from a “Modspec” item
Combat: Orbital station combat mechanics
Added new officer personality: “Reckless”
Venting now stops weapons from reloading/recharging for two seconds;
Ships can now break apart (and become “destroyed”) when disabled
Three new weapons
Fighter balance overhaul; 2 new fighter types
Improved Ship AI
I mean I’d like to see this finished sooner rather than later, but I’ve had more fun with this game in development than I do with most games when they’re fully released. This update looks like it is going to be awesome.
I spent so much time playing the skirmishes and scenarios, I had forgotten there was a grander scheme to the game!
I’ve no problem letting this game take its time brewing.
Ohhh thanks, can’t wait to read it.
For my amusement, I found out that they are people out there that are organizing “AI tournaments”, each one design an army of ships, and they pit each army against each other with AI playing both sides and spectating the results.
While watching that all I could think of was how cool it would be to see that fully modded/developed into an Honorverse setting. Royal Manticoran Navy fleet engagements against the Havenites or Solarian League…mmmm…goodness…
Bought. Thanks for the heads up on this one. :)
Oh man. That would be awesome. Have to say that the actual combat looks pretty good. I’m going to have to check this one out more.