Hello!
Yes, we are know you expected an update at the end of the year, but amount of changes in the game core is so huge, so unfortunately the game is not ready for release, and we are forced to move release of update to the end of January. Sorry for that.

For now, here is some report about progress. This is not everything what will be added, because most improvements related to game-design which is better to show in the game itself, but here is the most visually noticeable changes.


We completely changed how galaxy map and regions works, so now playable regions is 5 times larger.
Here is comparison:





This is especially important for orbital game mode, because now there is much more space around the planet, tidal forces is weaker and even small burn of maneuvering engines does not changes trajectory so much as it was before, in result orbital mechanics feels more like it should be.




Added rapid fire missile defense system, and considering that rockets now may fly in 3D space, we are like how result is looks like. However it will require some more improvements for accuracy.




Rockets with nuclear warhead as advanced weapon




Several new Sci-Fi looking engines. With possibility of 3D building and free rotation, even a few new parts allows to build quite an interesting design.










Also we started to perform large changes in missions system, since it will be a core of a new game loop, and one from the new types of missions is "delivery mission" which will require a ship with specific amount of cargo holders to ferry cargo containers from one location to another, with possible ambush on the way.

With such cargo freighters this type of "space trucker" activity should be more enjoyable than standard cargo transportation inside a ship.






We are really sorry that updated turned out so extremely delayed, but will try to complete it as soon as possible, and from this point we will try to report you about a progress more often.

And happy New Year! : )

Hello!
Despite the fact that there is no news from us for a really long time, the game actually is not abandoned as it may seems and in a very active development.

This may will be a biggest update in the history of game development, but since it not finished we are really sorry that we are forcing you to wait for so long.

We realized that there is huge amount of issues in the game which makes it unplayable at some point and we want to resolve all of these issues at once in order to provide really good gameplay experience for you.

We realize that such a long update cycle is not good, and we will return back to "update each 1-2 month" cycle after this huge update.
For now we just can't release it because many systems is completely reworked and currently in half disassembled state.
What about planned release date, unfortunately we don't know yet because there is still a lot of work.

Also the reason why there is not too many posts from us, is because there is so many changes in the game so it became hard to describe in words, while also we want to keep most info about most improvements hidden before release in order to achieve better "feeling of new content" for you after it will be released.

Still, we will show something about upcoming improvements:


Main user interface much more clean and no longer cluttered with useless elements which only distracts you, now it will display only information which can be useful right now.


User interface of editor screen is improved the same way. Also overall usability of editor screen is greatly improved because ship constructor is a key feature of the game and players will spent significant amount of time here so it should be intuitive and comfortable.


Inventory window and its usability improved too. Usage of inventory no longer fill the screen with a bunch of icons which is hard to read and use. It should be much more comfortable now.


Currently color dots above asteroids performs its purpose (display contained resource) not very well, so we made a new indicators which visible only when any asteroids selected and does not distracts when you don't need this information.


We like the idea that cargo transfer requires a docking, but docking process itself could be very uncomfortable and overall it much harder than expected, so now all docking ports have convenient and reliable "magnetic docking" feature.


Same thing happens with shipyard. Requirement of shipyard is nice feature but proper positioning of ship inside shipyard can be frustrating, so now the ship will be positioned in the center of shipyard automatically.

Hello! Sorry for no news from us for a long time. The game is not abandoned but in active development, as usual. We just reconsidering a lot of core features, game design elements and going to solve all of these issues which should be solved long time ago.

The biggest changes will be related to base building aspect and attempts to make learning curve much smoother.

We like base building, especially if base is moveable, because mobile base is cool.
So when we started development of Celestial Command we planned that at some point of gameplay, the player will be able to build huge ship which will act like mobile base, but this feature still not implemented and we are going to solve that with the next update.



Previously we had the next plan:

1. You start with simple small ships
   
2. You should build own space station within first hours of the gameplay
   
3. Somewhere after 10 hours of gameplay you will be able to build a capital ship and continue journey using it as a mobile base.

But turned out that such approach has a few problems:

1.
Construction of space station it is a complex task, it is not just a bunch of walls and door like in classic survival games. It is a large amount of different modules which should be built in specific combination and even positions.
When player starts the game first time he almost immediately encounter with such a complex task which is extremely unfriendly and should be changed. Also it just does not have sense because initial station always looks almost the same.

2.
Transition from station to moveable base is very unobvious. It is hard to understand when exactly it is possible or necessary and how gameplay will be changed. Also it means that previous station will be leaved behind or reconstructed? That sounds not too pleasant considering that station was a home for a long time.



So in order to solve these issues we decided to do the next thing:

• It will be unnecessary to build starting base manually, you will receive the base almost instantly within first hour of the game, and later you can upgrade or rebuild it as you wish.
  
• This will be not a station, but flagship, huge mobile base with its own role, so "build static space station phase" will be completely skipped and mobile base will be achieved much earlier, so new player will dive immediately into combat and mission tasks instead of complex attempts to build a station.

Let's think about, what is a "base" in survival game?

1. This is a place where you can store various items, so flagship will have large and cheap cargo storage
   
2. This is a place where located most "workbenches", so flagship will be the only place where production modules can be placed and used
   
3. This is just a protected place where you can go inside, close the "door" behind and be protected against dangerous environment outside, so we decided that flagship should be large enough to fit smaller ships inside its hangar bays. Another benefit from such approach - if you have several various ships of different design and colors, flagship itself will looks beautiful from outside view, since colorful small ships will be hidden inside its hangars.
   
4. Also the base is not a weapon itself, it should be protected. So it will be impossible to place weapons on the flagship at the beginning. However, at late game flagship can be upgraded and act not only like a carrier, but a battleship.

Also, since it will be not just a base, but mobile base, we want to implement another purpose for flagship - it will be the only way to travel on large distance, simply saying, warp drive can be installed only on flagship and it will move only a things which located inside its hangar bays.



Here is a simple analogy, flagship can be considered as large sail ship, locations in space - islands, smaller ships - individual characters. So characters is unable to move between islands without a sail ship.



All of these things should make an interesting difference between large flagship which acts like a mobile base and smaller frigates which purposes to perform combat, gathering and logistic operations.
We want to improve base building aspect long time ago and seems like this is exactly want we want to achieve.





Another aspect which will be heavy redesigned it is a crew system. Currently the system is quite overcomplicated, unobvious and sometimes tedious.

Micromanagement of different types of regular crew between different modules turned out an unnecessary feature, so instead, there will be only 1 type of regular crew, and it will be automatically distributed across entire ship.

The only purpose of crew system is to make ships "alive", and single type of regular crew will be enough to achieve that.



Instead of micromanagement of regular crew we want to focus on improvements in ships to ships combat aspect which is much more interesting and visually enjoyable.

Officers also will be redesigned. Currently there is an option to assign several officers to the same command module, but there is no point to assign "not a full stack of officers", so instead we decided to allow only one officer (captain) per ship, instead its skill tree will be much larger, so different captain may have different skills and specializations.

Each ship will be considered as single character, with its own portrait, name and specialization. Such approach should be especially good for co-op multiplayer.



We noticed an interesting thing - usually it is more fun to fight against enemies who are not similar to you. Who looks different and uses different tactics. That could be especially noticeable in various zombie games or similar games where you need to fight not against humans, but against some kind of creatures.

So, additionally to standard modular enemy ships, you also sometimes will encounter something very unusual.



But more details about that will be revealed later.



Since flagship with its warp drive will become the main method to travel between planets and systems, the role of warp gates will be changed.

Warp gates no longer provides a route trough entire galaxy, instead, it will provide transportation within the same system, it also will be a part of some missions where frigates (smaller ships) should perform some tasks in location where flagship can't arrive (because it can't fit inside a warp gate)




We plan to do that somewhere at January but not sure when exactly. We will keep you informed about progress and try to avoid such a long delays between news.

And also, Happy New Year! : )

Planets
• Added two locations on planet surface! At this moment it is available in sandbox and battle game modes
  
• Random weather effects
  
  
  Control
• Improved control keys for engines, now you can use Space \ C buttons to move your ship Up \ Down which is very comfortable. Shift + WASD or arrow keys can be used for pitch \ yaw \ roll if needed, but in most cases it is not necessary and the ship can be controlled only with (WASD \ QE \ Space \ C) buttons, nice and simple like in 2D, but now in 3D!
  
  
  
  
• Auto stabilize center of thrust with center of mass" button is greatly improved and now works properly in 3D, for engines in all 6 directions with any possible configuration! Now the ship can be almost perfectly balanced and it will move exactly in desired direction while it still fully physical and realistic! This feature also perfect for a ships with asymmetrical design.
  
  
  
  
• Now when you activate altitude stabilizer, it will set its current altitude as a target altitude
  
• Added anti gravitational drive which build in command modules and allows to keep ships in air, also it creates dust cloud when hovering above ground at low altitude
  
  
  
  
• If "roll and pitch stabilizer (RPS)" enabled, "torque stabilizer" will stabilize ship only along vertical axis and it no longer interrupts functionality of RPS
  
• Added new lines in control settings, less hotkeys is "hard coded" and now available to change in settings
  
  
  Battle mode
• In battle mode visibility no longer limited by range of radars
  
• Rockets no longer detonate if hit another rocket of the same faction
  
• Explosion of rockets no longer cause damage to ships of the same faction (simple way to avoid friendly fire)
  
  
  World
• Added possibility to create a world with custom planet size, maximum possible size is 20 times bigger than current planets. This feature designed only for sandbox mode, "for fun with physics" and not suitable for stable gameplay
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Size and mass of all planets now is the same which makes orbital physics more consistent and understandable
  
  
  Collisions
• Increased velocity threshold for collision damage from 40 to 100 (earlier even small collisions was too devastating)
  
• Now collision effects will be created even for collisions which does not cause damage
  
• Improved audio effect on collisions
  
  
  Miscellaneous
• Improved localization system which should be much more comfortable for translators
  
  
  Modules
• Starting ship a bit redesigned
  
• New engines now has proper visual effect
  
  
  
  
• New decorative module for starting ship design
  
• Regular engine now available in 3 different sizes
  
  

Control
• Fixed an issue when engines control keys didn't reacted if clicked quickly
  
• If left shift \ ctrl \ alt is used somewhere - its right variant can be used as well
  
• Removed useless hotkeys options from engines
  
• Grabber no longer has "2" hotkey by default which is not allowed for module hotkeys
  
• Engines now works properly on thrust less than 10% so torque stabilizer now works properly in orbital mode and "reduce thrust to 10%" button now works properly too
  
  
  Miscellaneous
• Flame effect of engines no longer casts shadow
  
• Fixed typo in main menu "Survival"
  
• Preview of solar panels no longer push a ship while moved
  
• Removed sound of engines at low thrust (when stabilizer enabled and activated an engines at 1% thrust)
  
• Custom interface scale no longer cause incorrect scale and position of window with info about modules
  
• Solar panels no longer works in the shadow of planet
  
• Large engines now has proper thrust value

Actually idea of that feature was quite unexpected even for us : )

We didn't thought about planet because it was impossible in 2D, but since the game going to be full 3D, we just thought "Hey, we want to add planets now! That is not too hard, but add so many new possibilities and makes visual so much better!"

And indeed, new possibilities is great!



So here is some frequently asked and potential questions about upcoming features and what we are planing to do with planets:


Not a seamless transition, it will be similar with jump to another system. The ships approach a planet and appears above planet surface in different location.

Yes, full day \ night cycle

Yes, including rain and snow

Yes

No, it is not possible. Each surface location it is quite small area on the planet with boundaries, similar with such areas in space.

Yes, there will be several more different landscapes and biomes

No, we want to design it as barren landscapes which looks more Sci-Fi place and also good for optimization. Also, it emphasize that planets is not suitable for camping with camp fire and such "Nature" stuff.

Each landscape is handmade but using a tool for procedural generation. It is technically possible to generate it procedurally but this process is too long for real time, but faster methods provides not the best result.


Yes, on teaser trailer you can see that ships falls on the ground during combat

At this moment, anti-gravitation drive which built-in command module. Everything not attached to command module will fall on the ground.
That is not a bad solution, because this is quite common concept in many Sci-Fi movies and games where huge ships keeps itself in the air without any visible engines below it.
However, most likely later we will add AI which will keep ship in air using 4 engines on the sides.

We will solve it with simple solution, there will be a special engines which consume much less fuel (maybe only energy) but works only on planets.

Yes, with proper animation.

We would like to implement wheels but turned out it is technically complex task, so no wheels at this moment, but probably we will implement that as soon as we will figure out how to do that.
However, most likely we will implement hover drive and mech legs, but not sure yet, additional research is required.

Requires some additional research but most likely yes. Probably even with submarines.

No, we don't want to implement that in Celestial Command, it is quite hard to implement properly and small size of region will restrict a freedom, also we just want to focus on large spaceships such as frigates cruisers, carriers which supposed to be massive, slow and epic, mostly located horizontally with possibility to change its altitude up and down. Wings for such ships just does not suit its concept.
However downward pointed engines will allow to build VTOL vehicles such as helicopters.
Also, when drones will be implemented, there will be "drones" which actually pre-made planes with wings which will be fast and agile, but its physics will be very simplified so basically no, there will not be aerodynamic flight model based on realistic wings.

No, the game should be only about building and control of vehicles. But layer it will be possible to deploy small ground vehicles from the landed ships in order to explore areas which is not accessible for large spaceship.

Yes, the same constructions as ships or stations can be located on the ground and it can be considered as a ground base. It should be physically stable, if not, we will implement a possibility to "lock" it on the ground.

Yes, but only limited amount from rare specific points to prevent balance issue and avoid "source of infinite resources"



First version of planets with some features planned to be released in “Preview” build within 1-2 weeks.

In this update we added brand new game mode, called "Battle", where you can easily set up fleets for oppose factions and observe an epic space combat.



Technically, it was already possible before via sandbox mode, but it was extremely inconvenient and required quite long manual world reloading to clean up a world after each battle. But in this mode everything should be nice and easy to use.



You may ask why we decided to implement another game mode instead of focusing on "survival" game mode?
There is several reasons:



1. Main feature of the game it is a ship building, but survival game mode restricts a creativity, so we want to create various mini game modes to use and test created ships in various situations.



2. Battle mode it is one of such environment where people can play with ships in combat situations without distraction on repairing after each battle and attempts to find a proper enemy fleet.



3. Survival mode it is a complex task. It is a well balanced collection of all game challenges in the single persistent world. So each "mini challenge \ game mode" it is actually a part of future survival game mode. In that way it is much easier to develop individual parts of the game instead of single big task.
When every game feature will be properly designed and tested in sandbox mode it will be easier to implement in the survival game mode in proper way.



Overall, we are very happy with such new concept, because earlier it was almost impossible to participate in large scale fleets battle, but now it is very easy to launch and play with different ship designs.
Also it is great for testing of various weapons, features and overall ship performance.



In the next update we plan to greatly expand such concept and implement more environments and challenges for created ships.












Improvements

• New "Battle" game mode which is great to test various ship designs against each other or just observe large scale epic battle
  
• GUI: Redesign of main menu in order to provide better interface for new game mode and other upcoming features
  
• GUI: Some new icons in various places of interface
  
• GUI: Now DPS value displayed for various weapons
  
• Changed default controls: Camera rotation = RMB, Camera pan = MMB or Space
  
• Cannons, lasers and rockets no longer cause damage to its own ship where it installed
  
• Improved smoke trail effect of rockets
  
• Added new model of rockets

Fixes

• Turret target prediction works again
  
• Nuclear reactors works again
  
• Fixed material of new engine
  
• "Hide interface" button now hides everything, including notifications
  
• Ship in edit mode no longer tries to keep designated altitude if this mode was enabled before
  
• GUI: Removed "J" and "W" symbols from various GUI in order to avoid confusion with real world values and keep interface simple to understand
  
• GUI: Fixed non-rounded "max flow" value for some power storages

Another update on the way to stable version 0.9.

In this update various aspects of the game was fixed and adapted for 3D physics and mostly the game should work well in 3D space now.
Also we added new weapons of various sizes which will be needed for upcoming combat update.

For the next preview update we will focus on combat aspect, more accurate balance for modules, AI and another improvements for large scale fleet battles.




Improvements

• Modules: Added a lot of new weapons and existed weapons is fixed and improved
  
  
• Modules: Shield generator now properly works in 3D and its functionality overall improved
  
  
• Modules: Triangle modules has new model and also now it can be properly attached to each other
  
• Modules: New radars of various sizes is redesigned and properly functional now
  
  
• Modules: Life support modules a bit redesigned
  
• Modules: Turret platforms a bit redesigned
  
• Modules: Parameters of all modules is rebalanced
  
• GUI: Redesigned "total inventory window", now it displays current and maximum volume of cargo hold, also icons no longer respawns each second and its values updated every frame instead of once per second
  
  
• GUI: Redesigned "specify transfer amount window"
  
• GUI: Range of new turrets now displayed as full circle without side borders
  
• Starting ship a bit redesigned with new radar
  
• Preview of weapons now has the same green color as standard modules
  
• Removed several rarely used hotkeys from default settings
  
• Added muzzle fire effect for rocket launchers
  
• Pistons and rotors now much more sturdy and keeps its state better during influence of external force

Fixes

• Engineering modules now properly construct modules in 3D space
  
• Radius of engineering modules now displayed properly when ship is inclined
  
• Salvaging of debris works again
  
• Multiplayer: Position of objects now synced in 3D
  
• O2 and H2 counters no longer inverted
  
• Rockets no longer spins during flight
  
• Guided rockets now properly works in 3D
  
  
• Static solar panels works again
  
• Check of line of sight for solar panels now works properly in 3D space
  
• Modules now can be properly connected to 2x1 adapters
  
• Module preview now much less likely will flicker while you are trying to place it
  
• Preview of large modules no longer appears too close to camera
  
• R F keys no longer moves preview module (it no longer necessary)
  
• Removed unused selection frames which can be found in game world
  
• Move tool in ship editor now works again (but only in 2D at this moment)
  
• Now when you hover cursor on mounting point in order to attach or detach it - it will be visible through the module
  
• Possibility to connect two parts in open space by clicking on mounting point now works again
  
• Altitude stabilizer now works only if a ship oriented horizontally
  
• Now weapons can be placed only on turrets of the same size tier
  
• Crew rename button works again
  
• Fixed "Energy consumption" instead of "Energy production" on module's interface
  
• Shields no longer ignore objects which was located inside its sphere during previous activation
  
• Power generators works again
  
• Magnetic docking now properly works in 3D
  
• Escape pods now properly works in 3D
  
• Shipyard parts and warp drives now has proper 3D colliders
  
  
  
• Autopilot and NPC movement now works again
  
• Now turrets will properly track target in 3D space
  
• Modules which works incorrectly when placed on rotor or piston no longer can be placed on it (rotor and piston designed only for decoration purposes and for fun with grabber)



That update took a bit more time than we expected initially but also this is probably a biggest update in the history.

Actually it is not completely ready yet but we decided to release it in preview branch because some aspects of the new update already more or less ready and the previous update was way too long ago.

Note, this is an early preview build which is provided to show upcoming features.
Many various features can be incomplete or broken.



At this moment we have large list of tasks in TO DO list regarding this preview build, so if you encountered a bug or incomplete feature, bug report is not required because most likely this is already in our TO DO list.

Later, when additional testing will be required we will make an announcement about that.
However feel free to discuss preview build in the Discord chat, there is a new channel "preview-version" for that.

In order to enable preview version, do the next steps in your Steam app:



More info and pictures in our previous posts:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/1595890716660832240
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/3727223146682132461
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/1690470748510608281
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/2082293429501557004
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/2082293429505943986
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/2202765987124786942


Large Improvements

• Full 3D physics! A lot of modules and functionalities is adapted in order to work in full 3D! Ship editor, engines, turrets, solar panels, orbits, interface, physics, almost every aspect of the game is reworked and improved!
  
• Ship editor: Brand new "ship building in isolated environment" feature which allows you to get unlimited ship building creativity in non-sandbox game mode, create a blueprint and project it on existing ship with automatic reconstruction with engineering modules or shipyard!
  
• Ship editor: New when you press X on module, this module will be marked as "for deconstruction" it will be deconstructed by any engineering module nearby
  
• Ship editor: Changed a way how engineering modules works, now you place blueprints instead of incomplete modules and engineering modules works on such blueprints nearby
  
• Ship editor: Added mirror (symmetry) mode which works for module placement and painting
  
• Ship editor: Destroyed modules create a blueprints on its position which makes repairing after combat super easy and comfortable
  
• Ship editor: Repairing of modules is much easier now because it requires only special repair kits instead of huge amount of different resources
  
• New modules: A lot of new weapons and modules for capital ships including capital-size hangar and functional gate
  
• New modules: Redesigned solar panels
  
• Docking ports now has "magnetic feature", it will automatically move the ship to position which required for docking when two docking ports is close to each other, as result docking of two ships now is much easier and comfortable
  
• Multiplayer: Huge improvements for multiplayer, many various bugs is fixed now
  
• Tractor beam now applies proper force to objects with different mass, objects with mass 1 and 1000 will be moved correctly with normal speed, instead of ultra slow or fast, also maximum range is increased and in result tractor beam no longer useless
  
• Combat: Now cannon's projectile can penetrate trough several objects if previous object has less HP than damage of this projectile and also damage to the next object will be reduced accordingly. This feature is important for game balance when large slow firing cannon shooting at a ship which consist of many small modules with low HP, so single module with 1 HP no longer able to stop a projectile which able to cause 100 damage
  
• World: Stars in galaxy now located more uniformly (fixed issue with large empty areas and stars which are too close to each other)
  
• World: Changed a way how network of warp gates is generated, now it is a highway which go through entire galaxy which gives you a way to explore and encounter more challenges
  
• UI: Entire user interface is greatly redesigned and improved in many various aspects
  
• UI: Build menu now have buttons for categories and modules sorted by name
  
• Greatly reworked energy shields, now it have new visual \ audio effects and new functionality. One energy shield per ship for better usability and visual effects. No overpowered damage on impact. Much more obvious and balanced recharging.
  
• Now if you will lost all ships a convenient window with "Load" and "Main menu" buttons will appears, instead of respawn window which was removed because it caused an issue with possibility to duplicate a lot of resources easily
  
• Modules which remains after NPC ships, no longer can be attached to your own ship (it only can be deconstructed for resources) because it caused major issue with game balance and also encouraged to assemble unpretty "Frankenstein's ships"
  
• AI: NPC ships now will retreat if lost its weapons
  
• AI: NPC ships now rotates its ship to the target much better
  
• AI: Enemy ships now moves randomly instead of sitting at the same position

Small improvements

• Ship editor: Holding Shift no longer required in order to place several modules one after another, this mode now enabled by default which should be more convenient because in most cases "shift mode" is required
  
• Ship editor: Now some large modules can be placed only on own space station or capital ship
  
• Ship editor: Now you can hold left mouse button and drag a cursor in order to place many modules by single move
  
• Ship editor: Now radius and direction of warp drive and shield displayed above its preview
  
• Ship editor: Now you can deconstruct \ delete all modules which selected with move tool
  
• Ship editor: Engineering modules in auto mode now will prefer a nearest tasks instead or random tasks within its radius
  
  
• UI: Main menu redesigned, now it is more clean and easier to use
  
• UI: Button in main menu and some in-game buttons now animated
  
• UI: Inventory icons now displays integer values instead of decimal and power storages display values in 15.6k format instead of 15627
  
• UI: Now when you click on window - this window will display on top of other windows
  
• UI: Now when you hover cursor on module in build menu - its info will be displayed on the right side instead of near cursor, which is more comfortable
  
• UI: Added button "sort by name" and "sort by time" to window with saved ships
  
• UI: Added button "open main menu" on the top-left corner of the screen
  
• UI: Value of current credits changed with smooth animation
  
• UI: In-game menu now have the same design as main menu
  
• UI: Total mass and inertia tensor of ship now displayed in more comfortable format
  
• UI: Crew window is a bit redesigned and now it is more convenient to use
  
• UI: Weapon groups now can be enabled with buttons "1-6" instead of combination "Shift + 1-6" which is much more convenient
  
• UI: Weapon direction indicator now displayed automatically once you enabled a manual mode and no longer requires to press separated button
  
• UI: Weapon direction indicator now have a bit more minimalistic design
  
• UI: Dialogue window with NPC stations is redesigned for better usability
  
  
• New starting ship
  
• Now you can see an info about ammo usage when hover cursor on weapon in build menu
  
• Now when you want to load ship from file, radius of "free space seeker" will be different according to ship size
  
• Now you can select an angle of newly loaded ship with A \ D buttons
  
• Radius of xenon collector in aero mode now much larger, in result it is more obvious to use
  
• Added options to invert mouse wheel and change its sensitivity
  
• Combat: Projectiles now have zero chance to bounce off targets which has low HP
  
• Combat: When shield colliding with module or another shield - another object no longer receive damage, as result shield no longer can't be used as overpowered ramming weapon
  
• Now crew of a ship is able consume food and oxygen from docked ships
  
• It is no longer possible to set a module hotkey which already used in global hotkeys list
  
• Camera now focused on center of mass instead of command module
  
• Rotation speed of planets and clouds now looks a bit better
  
• Added hotkey to show FPS counter

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with small jittering of modules at close zoom and also physics is a bit more accurate now
  
• Anti aliasing effect now works as intended
  
• Ship editor: Fixed a bug when sometimes new modules after placement appears not in the same position where was located its green preview object
  
• Ship editor: Fixed a bug when not all mounting points of modules were connected after it was moved with "Move Tool"
  
• Auto mode now properly works for engineering modules on shipyard
  
• Rockets no longer cause damage due collisions (only from its own explosion), as result rockets no longer so overpowered
  
• Removed outdated buttons in sandbox menu
  
• Turret based rocket launcher now has correct rate of fire
  
• NPC ships no longer tries to use escape pod launchers as a rocket weapon
  
• State of ship stabilizer now can be saved and loaded
  
• Hotkey for "Auto center of thrust" now works properly
  
• Calculation of path for ships no longer cause FPS spike
  
• Clicking on planet in aero mode no longer cause an error
  
• Sliders in control panel of shields now displays correct values when you click on several different shields
  
• Ships no longer invulnerable for beam weapon after its shield depleted
  
• In aerodynamic mode planets on map no longer moving on its orbit
  
• Weapon groups no longer can be switched during usage of some input field
  
• Light beams of shipyards no longer visible in space when out of range of radar

This is pretty important topic because some people started to worry that after switching to full 3D the game will lose its attractive simplicity of navigation.

And this is completely understandable, to be honest we were worried about this too. We had a theoretical plan how to keep control simple, but this plan wasn't tested on practice.

Turned out, nothing to worry about, the new system works amazingly well!

We developed two new types of stabilizers:

1. Roll and pitch stabilizer
It will automatically keep your ship in horizontal orientation



2. Altitude stabilizer
It will automatically keep your ship on specified altitude relative to zero plane

Both stabilizers activated by default and in most cases, you don't need to deactivate it.
While it active - you can control your ship using WASD QE buttons as before and the ship will move on horizontal plane like in 2D.



Also, you can change altitude using special buttons and a ship will keep specified altitude.



And also, you can disable these stabilizers and move in 3D space freely if you wish.
Shift + WASDQE controls ship's roll, pitch and vertical velocity.



Minimal complexity of ships also not too much increased, all what you need relative to previous 2D version, is just to add 8 additional maneuvering engines, 4 on top and 4 on bottom near each corner so a ship will use these engines in order to control its orientation.

Also center of thrust now can be displayed for all 6 directions which is useful in order to adjust all engines relative to center of mass.