Transcendence

I've just released 1.8 Beta 1.

If you're running one of the 1.8 alphas, the game will automatically update the next time you run and sign in. Otherwise, you can download at the usual place: https://kronosaur.com/downloads/TranscendenceNext.zip

Here are some release notes: https://multiverse.kronosaur.com/news.hexm?id=1964

As always, I'm grateful to everyone who submitted bugs, ideas, and code. Thanks!

What I've noticed so far:

- Charon Strongholds have a new explosion. Cool.
- Early ships are pretty expensive for when they show up, but they've got equipment that isn't for sale yet. Overall, it's an interesting tradeoff, though I don't see anyone having 100k credits by Rigel.

 …I’m vaguely amused that the very first thing I noticed was that the loading screen stargate is animated slower to match how the in-game stargates are animated…

 I haven’t poked at anything yet besides just getting it downloaded since 8:30am is a spectacularly inauspicious time to try doing anything — especially when you haven’t made it to bed yet — but I’m looking forward to getting my grubby little paws into some of the new goodies. I’m expect I’m going to have a lot of updating to do…!

Got a bit farther now. Here's what I noticed:

Improvements:

• The new wreck destruction effect is a lot cooler. I'm surprised that nobody had the idea of replacing the shatter - like particles with generic debris earlier!
• There are a lot of interesting setups at ship brokers, but I still can't afford most of them. Granted, I've wasted most of my money on testing various new features, but it might be worth adding a few lower - end ships with neat gimmicks(e.g. a cheap IAV that can temporarily boost its speed to escape from threats) to introduce new players to the mechanic.
• I like the economy changes. My St. Kat's spawned without any consumer stations, so I didn't get to test it all that much.
• The new Centurion weapons have a much better feel to them. I maintain that the Fleet's use of particle weapons was a great integration of story and gameplay, but Centurions definitely needed WMD damage.

Glitches/issues:

• Corporate shipyards don't have text on their 'ship broker' label.
• The dual SAR/10 is extremely underpowered for a level 7 weapon. It kills Earth Slavers less effectively than the 1 level lower Mark III howitzer(even at close range, where some howitzer projectiles get shot down), and it kills Wind Slavers more slowly than a boosted level 4 Omnidirectional Turbolaser Cannon. It's a shame, because I like the look and feel of the weapon, but it can't really hurt anything in its level range. If it were somewhat cheaper and a level lower, it would be a lot better balanced for the player while remaining perfect for Fleet centurions.

Only did a quick godmod test, but the Minotaur is the beast as I expected. I plan to beeline for the Minotaur as soon as I can when I play a new game. For now, though, I am rushing on updating few of my mods.

JohnBWatson wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 03, 2018 5:19 am

- Early ships are pretty expensive for when they show up, but they've got equipment that isn't for sale yet. Overall, it's an interesting tradeoff, though I don't see anyone having 100k credits by Rigel.

Says the fighter to the Miner.......

I know Miners in the real world don't exactly have any hope of getting really wealthy, but what about a few Mining Ships of wealthy miners running around randomly, say a nice colored ( would Gold be too much ? ) Borer, too wealthy to actually Mine anymore, just going around to the Hotel or shopping....

As for Loot .... maybe some spice, coffee & a nice Heavy Mining Laser...maybe a cup holder......
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Also, STILL not right.......


In or Out ? .....I am not sure which direction it is going because it's always changing.

I LIKE the ship, but as an Auton or use it for some tiny station, but as a " command Ship" ( which it never was in my opinion) it just looks sad.

I like the look of the new Centurions. Especially the black ones.

Just tried out the new Minotaur. I maintain that being able to switch over to using our omni weapon exclusively(using 'W') would be a very valuable feature, as would having the linked fire weapon autotarget when the primary target is out of range.

Also, buying a new ship gets you a new ship computer, with no trading, targeting, or visual display enhancement systems. While this makes the choice more interesting, some station could offer a feature that charges the player some credits to shift installed software over to the new ship.

One point that still got no fixes. Occupied commonwealth station still using previous docking port, that's make it looks odd.

New centurions looks cool.

I found the best glitch.

The Minotaur uses the same system for custom weapon gimmicks as other ships(like the Freyr) do. Omnidirectional weapons installed on it get +linked-fire.

To be clear, this isn't one slot. This is a rule. Every omnidirectional weapon you install gets +linked-fire added to it.

Observe.

On another note, I like the Fleet mission rebalance. Scarab escort missions are much harder now, and the Convoy mission(while bereft of variants now) actually rewards players that use their squadrons. First time the attack in formation command has been useful.

I'd still swap the Aurochs and Scarab missions' respective ranks, though.

JohnBWatson wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 04, 2018 2:00 pm

On another note, I like the Fleet mission rebalance. Scarab escort missions are much harder now, and the Convoy mission(while bereft of variants now) actually rewards players that use their squadrons. First time the attack in formation command has been useful.

I'd still swap the Aurochs and Scarab missions' respective ranks, though.

You mentioned the Scarab and it brought to mind that I Sooooooo like the Scarab & think it's an important ship that I like seeing it in relatively safe systems ..
So I added it to Korolov.

It's mission was just visual...let the station take the ship on escorts...well, that wasn't the case the other night as I got to escort the Scarab ( Mind that the Scarab is the only freighter not set up with escort rules for Korolov )

So that was indeed interesting. A welcomed change from the " same old - same old " .

My test run of the Minotaur/M is complete. I think it's a pretty balanced ship - the extra firepower and device slots are made up for by the larger target it presents and the smaller degree of maneuverability it offers. A Wolfen with one omni weapon can often kill more effectively than a Minotaur with two, but harder, slower targets die somewhat faster.

My only regret is that I didn''t get Volkov and Rama and give them their own corvettes. That could have been interesting. Maybe some other time.

Final equipment:

6x +50% advanced Ithalium
+50% Nephren X1
2x +150% Omnidirectional Thermo Cannon
Ares Launcher
Hyperion Reactor
Lithium Booster
Thermo Shell Nanofac
Pteracnuim Megadrive

Conducts:
+no Domina powers
+permadeath

5 of these are classes that we're not playable in previous versions: EI100, EI200, Centurion, Centurion/X, Minotaur, and Minotaur/M.

This quote from the multiverse article claims the EI100 is playable, but that looks like a typo.

As JohnBWatson said, lower-end ships could be made for sale, and I think the EI100 could work as an alternative to the EI500. I can imagine it being compelling during the early game if you could only afford an EI100 with decent equipment, especially if you were otherwise struggling to loot or buy a similar loadout at that stage.

I would point out that in terms of lore you've just retconned Pacific Defense from a ship company to a wider arms dealer, instead of just filling the gap in the NAMI matter weapons which would probably have been more elegant.


Other than that....only thing that's annoying me is that if you're thrusting when you gate into a new system, the game jams the thruster on until you click/hit the button again to stop it.