Hello!
In this update we made very important improvements related to how construction looks!

Some time ago we replaced engineering drones with the robotic manipulators, because this is much more physically realistic and also it could looks better in terms of visual design. However, first version of robotic manipulators looks not very good and we are not too satisfied with its design.

Also we wanted to implement a "classic sci-fi space shipyard" which actually do something. In some sci-fi games and movies you may encounter a big scaffolds with a space ship inside, but usually it is just a decoration, so we want to implement a shipyard with scaffolds which really do something inside using its robotic manipulators with complex animations and visual effects.
We had some kind of shipyard scaffold before, but we removed it because visual design was not very good.

And since construction of space ships it is very important aspect of the game, we decided to significantly improve this aspect!
We presenting you new and improved engineering modules, and modular shipyards!

Added 2 modules for shipyard and 1 new engineering module of bigger size



When these modules combined together, it turns into some huge and impressive constructions!







New engineering modules looks much better than before. Now it much more compact in standby mode and also you can properly paint it in any color



Engineering modules now have much better animation, not so tall during building and also there is a yellow progress bar on top of it



Small engineering modules for small constructions drones also looks much better. By the way, engineering module can't repair itself, so small drones could be useful for that



More drones for deep space engineering operations! Very useful in case if nearest shipyard is too far away



As you can see, now drones it is not just a fake animation, it is a real ships, with fuel tanks, engines, storages and hit points. This is exactly what we wanted to achieve when replaced old "fake" drones with robotic arms.
This could be especially interesting for multiplayer when people will take different roles.
Or in the future addition of capital ships, these drones can be stored inside a capital ship hangar.
Also you can customize a drones like you want and design different models of drones for different tasks.

Overall, we are very satisfied with how engineering modules, construction process, drones and shipyard looks now and we are happy that issue with construction is solved!
A bit later, we will redesign an NPC stations so they will have a new shipyard and its new game mechanics.

Hope you like the update!
Also the game 20% off during Halloween sale!



Improvements

• Added Engineering Module Mk3 (2 times larger than Mk2)
  
• Added two decoration modules which is suitable for construction of shpiyard
  
• New model of engineering modules
  
• Added animation for engineering modules
  
• Added progress indicator on engineering module
  
• UI: Radius circle of engineering modules a bit redesigned
  
• UI: Inventory of container no longer will be displayed when you are trying to deconstruct it with the engineering module
  
• UI: Now the game will warn you if you are trying to create a world or save a file with invalid symbols \ / : * ? < > | "

Fixes

• Now you can change color of engineering bay and grabber (the same as any other module)
  
• Now when you are going to build a module and your ship have more than 1 engineering module, placement will be allowed within a range of all engineering module (not only one of them)
  
• Fixed an error when you are trying to save a game or a ship with invalid symbols
  
• Now when you are going to save a game in file and your are pressing on existed save file - double click on this file will not load a game

Hello!

We decided to redesign how a warp gates works. Now it "teleports" an objects from point A to B instantly, however, activation of a gate now requires some time.



Also we added various visual and audio effects for warp gate and more information on UI about its current state.



What about warp drive - its functionality still the same, the ship really travels inside a warp sphere.

Why it is done? There is a several reasons:


1. In terms of realism, is looks strange that ship which located in a tunnel of warp gates should be located inside a small circle and should not touch a circle. It creates a questions, such as, what is center of circle? In case of warp drive, it is obvious, center of circle - it is a center of warp drive. But in case of warp gate it looks weird.

2. Another example of question about realism, what if two ships departed from two different gates in direction of each other? They will works well, but you may ask, if this is the same warp tunnel, why they are not collided with each other? This is also seems weird.

3. Warp drive will be more epic in relation to warp gates, so when you will achieve your first warp drive and will go to expedition, it will provide you more unique and interesting experience.



Improvements

• Changed a way how warp gates works. Now it have instant teleportation, but not instant activation
  
• Now warp gate activation will cost you a credits
  
• Added a normal UI button to activate selected warp gate and also additional information about selected gate
  
• The second (arrival) warp gate now also have a delay timer after jump
  
• Added lights to warp gate which represents its current status (Ready \ Activation \ Recharging)
  
• Warp gate no longer applies ejection force after arrival. Instead of this, relative velocity of your ship will be the same
  
• If someone going to jump out of warp gate, you will see a special effect on its gate, also it will be temporary unavailable for jump and also the gate will push out all objects inside which may block an arrival
  
• UI: Now you can close inventory transfer window using Esc button
  
• UI: Now you load a game using double click

Fixes

• Now warp gate leads to the correct warp gate in another system (no longer always at the same warp gate)
  
• Added a warning message in case of game error during warp flight or warp gate jump - it should help to fix an issue when sometimes it is not working as intended
  
• Now data about save file will be displayed correctly when loading window is opened (no longer needed to clicks on each file in order to display its data after 1 second application freeze)
  
• Fixed an error with incorrect spawning of static asteroids in asteroids location
  
• Fixed an incorrect rotation of "Center of Thrust" icon for some ships
  
• Ships no longer have incorrect initial velocity after exit warp drive flight in aerodynamic mode
  
• Warp gates now properly works in multiplayer

Hello

We noticed that many negative review have the same reason. People encountering a bug \ flaw in tutorial and abandoned the game at this step. So people even can’t see a amount of features which exist in the game.

Of course, tutorial was still broken after 0.86, and that is not good. But even before that, when tutorial was not broken, still, many people had many issues with tutorial.

Overall, seems like we are underestimated an importance of tutorial, especially for such a complex game like Celestial Command, even during Early Access stage.

Tutorial, it is a first what meets the new users during first launch of the game. It should be nice and clean, and it should show the user all the main aspect of the game.

So we completely redesigned a tutorial!



Currently consist of only 2 stages, but soon we will add more.
Division on the stages is a good approach. So if tutorial will be broken due significant changes in game mechanics, we will redesign only broken stages, not entire tutorial.

Note: New tutorial temporary not available for localizations. If tutorial have flaws and should be redesigned, we want to redesign it first, so efforts of localizations will not be wasted.

Also we added another little feature to the main menu

On this timeline, you may see all a blog posts from our development blog. We thing it is important feature for people who are thinking that we did nothing during 4 years of development.

So here you may see an indicator of change logs (blue) and important posts (orange), and overall it will show how active development is.

What about capital ships which was announced in previous post. Don't worry, this is a big task, we need to add many new modules, so we decided to work on it "on background". Smaller updates also will be released during this process. Besides that, we are discovered a new, super amazing technique of 3D modeling, which should make new modules even better. We will show it soon.



Improvements

• Completely redesigned tutorial. Now the game should be much more friendly for new users
  
• Added a "timeline of blog posts" in the main menu, which shows the development of the game. And also we fixed all broken images in our blog!
  
• Now when you launch the game or exit from the game, there will be smooth to\from black screen transition, which looks nice
  
• New "Loading" label when you are starting a game

Fixes

• Tutorial completely fixed

During entire development of Celestial Command, you saw only a small size ship, a few a bit bigger modules and some bigger modules for space stations (which are not available for construction).

But actually, even before we started a development, we thoughts about ships of much bigger size.
What a space game without capital ships?

So we started to work on a concept for a new modules for capital ships!
Currently it is only a raw 3D sketches, but take a look:



Current, small modules for comparison



Even something like this could be possible : )



This large cargo gate can be opened and will have empty space inside, so current ships may act as a drones or fighters which can be docked right inside the capital ship.

We will keep you informed about progress and will show more images when we will have something new.

Just a quick update with important fixes of critical bugs


Improvements

• Added option to use UPnP when hosting a server. Sometimes UPnP may lock the game during loading. Also UPnP no longer activated in tutorial and single-player games
  
• Map button on the interface now have "Hotkey: M" text

Fixes

• Radius of warp drive now properly synced in multiplayer
  
• Fixed a critical bug which caused extreme lags in multiplayer game
  
• Energy cannon works again

Just a quick update with important fixes of critical bugs


Fixes

• Fixed impossibility to start a new game if you don't have a router or if a port already opened
  
• Fixed impossibility to start a new game after you exit to the main menu from existed game
  
• Fixed impossibility to load a game from menu of existed game
  
• Fixed an error which may cause incorrect sync of position in multiplayer

Another quick update here!

In the version 0.86 we are gladly introduced a new multiplayer, which works much better and everyone able to host a server which will be visible in the server list. However, sometimes it may require to do special setup of your router. This is not very hard, but may be inconvenient.

But now, in this update we managed to improve multiplayer even further!
We implement a special system (UPnP), so now everyone should be able to host a server even without special setup on the router!
This features is not tested too much, but should work.

Also, in previous version, scale of interface was based on resolution of monitor, this is not always good, especially for small monitors with high resolution, or vice-versa, so now you can setup desired scale manually.

Also a few fixes of game-braking bugs and flaws.

The next update should bring something big!


Improvements

• Implemented a system which should allow you to host multiplayer game without special setup on your router!
  
• Disabled automatic GUI scaling, now you can setup desired scale in video settings
  
• Credits reward for missions increased 4 times
  
• Implemented a debug mode, now you can see when the game have internel error and you can quickly get a log file which you can send to us in order to help to fix a bug. This is a replacement of old in-game debug console and now it no longer should cause extensive memory usage.
  
• Volume and mass of heavy torpedo increased 10 times
  
• Improved visual effect of engine of rockets (correct size and position)

Fixes

• Cargo container or enemy ship of quest no longer despawned after quest time elapsed. Situation when your ship deleted with the disappeared container - solved.
  
• Cargo container of delivery quest now properly despawned in multiplayer, when delivered to space station
  
• Stars now properly saved \ loaded
  
• Removed outdated description from cargo containers
  
• Rocket launchers now works again (was broken in 0.86)
  
• Fixed incorrect magenta color of armed torpedo
  
• Fixed engine visual effect of small missile
  
• Build menu now should have correct height at various monitors
  
• Fixed internal error when you are trying to place weapon on turret
  
• Fixed internal error from torpedo explosion
  
• Target of delivery mission now can be properly selected even when out of radar range
  
• Goals of active missions now correctly displayed in missions window
  
• WASD camera movement on galaxy map is inverted and now correct

Some important bugfixes for previous update and highly requested support of high-resolution monitors.

Also, redesigned options window.
Previous:



New



You may ask, why we redesigned options window? It is not too important for now.
It is because wrong implementation of drop-down menu in options window which conflicted with the support of 4k monitors. And since we already started to work on menu, we decided to redesign entire window.



Improvements

• Added support of high-resolution monitors, UI now properly scaled
  
• Redesigned options window
  
• Added possibility to disable auto save
  
• Shipyard now can be found in every system with stations
  
• Fuel consumption reduced 2 times

Fixes

• Fixed an important issue with move tool, which detached wrong modules
  
• Now sync of positions in multiplayer less likely will be broken during the game
  
• Now you can properly refuel your fuel tanks at the space station even if there is already the same fuel inside
  
• Now you can't move connected docking port, grabber and some other modules which will break the game if you will try to move it using new "move tool"
  
• Delivery quest no longer failed when you attach cargo container to your ship
  
• Now sandbox mode checkbox properly hided for connected users (with correct layout of the rest of elements in options window)
  
• Now selection is cleared when move tool disabled
  
• Planet mass modifier in world settings now works properly
  
• Removed outdated "auto connect" button from command modules
  
• "Ambient occlusion" and "Glow effect" settings now properly saved \ loaded

Hello!
In this update we implemented a highly requested and very important feature, which should improve ship construction process a lot!

Just take a look


Note, this new feature currently is not working in multiplayer. We encountered some technical issues and need to fix a few things. The feature will be available in the multiplayer after a few updates.

Some more improvements:

Correct navigation of AI around planet



Better colors for lines in trading window



Also here is some important bug fixes according to your recent reports.



Improvements

• Added a comfortable possibility to drag and drop modules using a cursor!
  
• Lines in trading window now have a bit different colors which improves visual perception
  
• Position of camera no longer jumps around each time when part of your ship was detached from the ship. As result, camera view during combat or collisions now much more comfortable. A small side effect, now camera focused on the command module, instead of center of mass of the ship, but this is not a big issue
  
• Now after game is loaded, view will be focused on your ship (not on the planet)
  
• In-game menu texts (on Esc button) now have black outline, which improves readability on a bright background

Fixes

• Refined lithium no longer can be found in an asteroids
  
• Production module now have "Capacitors" and "Nuclear reactor components" in the build list
  
• "Nuclear fuel cell" now have proper recipe
  
• Now a ships which are docked to the space station is saved \ loaded in correct position
  
• Build menu no longer can be opened for any space station (not only shipyard) using B hotkey
  
• Engines now have proper "fuel consumption" info in build list
  
• Removed wrong description of corridors which said that it can be sued as storage containers
  
• You no longer can buy goods in container which already contains something else
  
• Now when you order your ship to move in specific point (in aerodynamic mode), its AI will find a proper path around planet (not right through a planet)
  
• Removed outdated "Star mass" multiplier parameter from world settings
  
• Fixed impossibility to load a game which was saved in asteroids location
  
• Fixed a various issues related to static asteroids which remain visible even after you leave asteroids location
  
• Static asteroids now properly saved \ loaded
  
• Reputation from trading now works correctly
  
• Reputation now properly save loaded
  
• Hotkeys for next \ previous ship now works properly
  
• Fixed incorrect description for pause button
  
• Options window no longer overlaps a tutorial window
  
• "Sell module" and "Repair" options no longer can be selected simultaneously

Hello!
This huge update is ready for release! The update consist of 3 major and important aspects:

Added a lot of new items, new method of construction, new production modules, new system for distribution of resources.Storage containers now may contain more than 1 type of resources.


Added many types of space stations. Stations now can be found in different locations in the galaxy. Fixed important bugs and exploits.





Now everyone should be able to host a server, and the server will be properly visible in the server list!
This was unexpected! Earlier only small percentage of users was able to host a server, which was definitely not good, but we thought that in order to solve this problem, we need to rewrite half of the game from scratch, which requires a lot of work, so this task had low priority.
But turned out there is a solution which allowed us to quickly solve this technical issue just in a few days! We are super excited with the fact that multiplayer now is really acceptable for entire community!

Also, we fixed a lot of bugs related for multiplayer! Trading and missions now should properly work in multiplayer! Also we found out a new way how to synchronize positions of objects between connected users, so now ships movements should be much more smooth and stable! No more "chaotic jumping around" for connected users, especially while you are trying to dock to the space station in orbital mode.




---------------------

Also, in order to not duplicate the same screenshot with the new features, you may check a previous blog posts which was published during development of this update.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/1688174556450295457

https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/1694928687277195414

https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/3113560763381913137

https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/1681414719780132338

https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/1681414719787069167

---------------------

Overall, this is just a quick overview of this update. Please look at the full change log for more information.

Also, note that this update is not very polished. It was too long in development, so we decided that we already should release it. Overall everything should work, but may contain some significant bugs and flaws, but we are going to fix all crucial issues ASAP in nearest updates.

Information for people who tested a test build of this update: Invite via Steam overlay and Discord rich presence features requires some additional work and not included in this release. Will be added a bit later.

Thanks!


Big Improvements

• Now everyone is able to host a server and the server will be visible in the server list! (Earlier only small percentage of users was able to host a game). Now it finally works! Hooray!
  
• Completely redesign of all resources, added many new resources, ores, construction parts, trading goods, reworked recipe for all modules, crafting system now much more complex
  
• New trading system. Trading stations now located not only in starting location
  
• Resource connectors is replaced with the new, more convenient and useful resource management system
  
• Now when you are transferring cargo from one container to another, you may to specify exact amount of transferred cargo using input field
  
• Engineering modules have new functionality
  
• Added new module: Ore refinery
  
• Added new module: Production module
  
• Now, in aerodynamic mode, AI is capable to find a correct path in order to avoid collision while traveling from one point to another!
  
• Rebalanced and increased masses for all planets and stars, so now orbital maneuvers is more important (earlier some planets had so low mass, so its gravity was inconsiderable)
  
• Fuel consumption of all engines increased in 5 times, so now refueling is more important aspect
  
• Now you can select specific docking port of space station and request docking exactly to this docking port
  
• Now you can open trading window right from the map view
  
• Now you can select container where you want buy \ sell items to \ from space station
  
• Now when you move or trade items you may insert exact amount of items using text input field in addition to slider
  
• Now resource icons about containers displays a progress bar which represents occupied volume
  
• Improved animation of engineering module. Movement of its arm now looks much better
  
• Added new tool in sandbox menu which allows to add any desired resource in the game to selected container
  
• All production modules is redesigned and have a new functionality
  
• Now you can move cargo by dragging its icon on another module (not only on its UI element)
  
• Crew members now consumes 1 food pack when their food level at below 75%, instead of constant food consumption each second.
  
• Nuclear reactor now consumes special nuclear fuel cells, instead of just an uranium ore
  
• Improved animation of little drone around space station hub
  
• Various regions now may have various resources in asteroid belts
  
• Complexity of enemy ships in combat missions now depends on distance from starting system (you no longer will encounter pirate battleship during your first combat mission in starting system)
  
• Now sometime you may find a warp gate which leads to the large asteroids belt
  
• Locations in asteroid belt now also may contain a space stations
  
• Added background, decoration asteroids in locations in asteroids belt, so now it looks much better
  
• Now when you order your ship to move at position, the ship will try to find a correct path and avoid collisions!
  
• Fixed an important exploit which allowed to buy goods from the space station and sell the same goods to the same station in order to make instant profit and reputation

Small Improvements

• Added useful sandbox button to charge all power storages on active ship at once
  
• Default construction ship from sandbox mode is redesigned
  
• Asteroids belts now may have various radius
  
• Sandbox button "Test spawn ships" replaced with "Spawn random enemy", which is more useful if you want to quickly spawn an enemy ship for test combat
  
• Thrust of engines in orbital and aerodynamic modes now the same
  
• Added possibility to turn on \ off Ambient Occlusion in graphic settings
  
• All prices now rounded to whole numbers, so now it looks better in trading window
  
• Added "Pause" button on the top-left corner of the screen
  
• Now after pause the game will have the same speed as before
  
• Now you may press "Esc" while dragging an item in inventory in order to stop dragging
  
• Increased starting credits
  
• Added option "Generate warp gates" in world settings
  
• Reputation gain from trading between stations decreased to more correct value (a few trade run no longer will unlock everything)
  
• "Max players" input field replaced with the slider and limit set to 8 (because multiplayer designed for co-op with friends, not for mass scale PvP, also the game is not suitable for large online)

UI

• Improved design of trading window, now it can be scrolled up \ down
  
• Redesigned and improved server list window. Now it shows game mode and password status
  
• Trading window no longer can be located outside of screen
  
• Removed useless "position" field from "Orbital parameters" window
  
• In "Orbital parameters" window "tangential velocity" field replaced with "velocity" field, which is more useful
  
• "Orbital parameters" window by default located in different position, so it no longer overlaps with notifications
  
• Redesigned "hide all" button in notifications area
  
• Added interface button to open galaxy map
  
• View control on galaxy map now a bit more convenient
  
• Added tool-tips for icons on map
  
• Added possibility to hide power graphs
  
• Removed useless "radial grid" button from planet info window
  
• New icon when planet on map hovered with cursor
  
• Almost all notifications now have different color (red, green, blue, yellow) according to its message
  
• Added description for docking button
  
• Added station name in trade window
  
• Various types of stations now have various icons
  
• All prices now rounded to whole numbers, so now it looks better in trading window
  
• Improved a way how to setup target of warp drive, "Set target" button works again
  
• Added scrolling functionality for trading window so now it is easier to use if it contains many items in the list
  
• Warp drive now have more intuitive user interface
  
• Map: Names of the moons now visible only at close zoom
  
• Map: New "You are here" icon
  
• Map: Added description when you are hower cursor over icons on map
  
• Map: Now trading menu of each space station can be quickly accessed from the galaxy map
  
• Improved column sorting in the server list window
  
• You no longer can connect to the server which have not the same version of the game
  
• Now when you click on icon of your ship - you no longer will take control, command module will be selected instead. So now it is no longer a problem to select your own ship if you want to display "relative velocity tool" for it

Fixes

• Now all ores can be found in asteroids
  
• Size of warp drive now properly save loaded
  
• Your ship no longer will explode if you detach part of your ship while docked with the space station
  
• Space stations and warp gates now have smoother movement for connected users in orbital mode
  
• Engineering Module Mk2 now have correct build radius
  
• Space stations, warp gates and asteroids now located on different orbits and phases and will no longer collide with each other from time to time
  
• Docking ports no longer teleports your ship on a short distance during docking. This fixes a lot of potential physical collisions, so it should no longer cause damage, explosion or any unrealistic behavior
  
• Engines now displays correct fuel consumption even if it was changed in world settings
  
• Engines now consumes correct amount of fuel when its thrust limited by slider (earlier it consumed more than it should)
  
• Fixed a bug when server received a notification about reputation gain for connected player
  
• AI of ships now more correctly direct nose of the ship to the specified direction
  
• Target prediction of turrets now works correctly in orbital mode
  
• AI turrets no longer will fire fire before a weapon will have a correct direction on target
  
• Now warp drive have correct direction on target and will exit out of warp in correct position relative to planet
  
• Warp drive no longer may appear inside an asteroid
  
• Asteroids no longer will appear inside other objects
  
• Connected users now is able to properly use a warp drive
  
• "Generate space stations" checkbox in world settings now works properly
  
• You no longer can select warp gates and space stations which are located in another system
  
• Fixed an error when connected user press pause
  
• Quests now can be properly save loaded
  
• Quests now properly works in multiplayer
  
• Fixed "Planet(clone)" text in UI of solar panel to "Planet"
  
• Fixed an incorrect lighting in the location with star (ships had too bright illumination from incorrect direction)