Oct 15, 2020
2.9.3 Stable Release
From the Depths - BaconsTV
What is up Depthians!
We are back with another monstrous update as this one incorporates five beta test builds, so we have a lot to cover.

If you want to dive straight into the massive changelog / dissertation Click

We should probably start with the biggest change to From The Depths in this update and that is the change of fuel and ammo storage.
Quoting Nick, our lead developer

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author
The change is quite simple: "remove ammo and fuel as separate resources. Weapons will consume materials directly, fuel engines and CJEs will burn materials directly".
Before I dig into why I think this is the right thing for FtD, I'd like to explain a few details.
Energy, fuel and ammo are still needed for your constructs.
We have changed the "ammo barrels (etc)" and "fuel tanks" so they are just alternative material storage containers, but with the following properties:
--"ammo barrels" now increase the maximum possible rate of usage of materials as "ammo" for reloading guns. They still explode.
--"fuel tanks" increase the maximum possible rate of use of materials as "fuel" for fuel engines and CJEs, with the future stretch goal of fuel tanks being flammable.
--So ammo racking is going to remain a feature of the game- vehicles that need to reload a large amount of materials may need additional ammo barrels

Ammo and oil processors are replaced ship-wide with existing material storage containers of the same size. They'll be made decorative blocks so you can still use them decoratively in future if you want to.

The oil refinery will be repurposed (described later in the patch notes)

There are two main reasons why I think this is the right move. Why it's right for the business and why it's right for the player.

Let's start with why I think it's right for the player:

Ammo and fuel containers are currently purchasable as either "empty or full". This is confusing when considered in the context of the campaign, story missions, custom battles, multiplayer matches...how do empty and full tanks behave in these modes? I'd need an hour to study the code and a small essay to explain it. That's not good game design.

Localised resources, when considering just the moving of material (and energy, if you want), becomes infinitely more manageable. The supply group system and the transit fleet system are not intuitive and for a lot of situations, their usage becomes fiddly and too complicated. We've replaced these systems with a new supply system that is much more intuitive for moving materials and energy around.

The UI is less cluttered now that ammo and fuel bars are not shown. This is not a minor point...it'll reduce the amount of data on screen by about 40% in a lot of the different views. It'll be so much easier to know at a glance if a particular fleet is running low on "materials" or doing fine. Is a transport ready to leave, or does it need to pick up more materials? Will a set of vehicles have enough materials for the next fight...this is so much easier with just one main resource type per vehicle.

When you or an enemy run out of ammo or fuel in a battle it's just frustrating. By combining fuel, ammo and materials for repairing you can guarantee that if someone runs out, the fight is going to be over quickly.

I imagine that deep down the majority of players would rather not have to create, stock and resupply fuel and ammo. I know that personally, the requirement to do this puts me off playing the campaign. By using a single material it still focuses the game on making efficient war machines, maintaining supply lines and growing your economy, but without the extra confusion of mat->ammo and mat-> fuel conversion.

Being able to assess weapons, engines and vehicles in terms of material cost and running cost is elegant.

Most grand strategy games and RTS games don't have localised resources, and many don't have more than 2 resource types to handle. Very few combine localised materials with multiple types.

Why it's right for the business:

The ammo and oil processors were created about 8 years ago. Boring single blocks that don't add much to the game. It's been our intention to add something similar to the oil refinery but for ammo creation. That's a lot of work and adds to the complexity of the logistical part of the game, which we feel is already a burden.

Making the localised resource supply system more user friendly to make it easy/natural/pleasant to move ammo, fuel and material around the map would require a lot of effort and, quite frankly, I'm not sure we'd ever manage it.

The complexity of the UI scares off a lot of our customers. The barriers to getting a gun firing or a boat moving will be lowered if a single material container can theoretically get everything working.

Running out of ammo/fuel in combat is a problem for our players. We want to find a solution to that, but it would take a lot of effort to do so. We also want the strategic AI to always enter a battle with enough ammo and fuel for the fight- that's another massive bunch of work.

The campaign's strategic AI has to work hard to get materials where it wants them. It's a bundle of work and added complexity to get NPC fleets to restock ammo and fuel as well.

We had proposed work to make resource dumps (from dead ships) contain ammo and fuel...again, that's more work, more bugs, more testing.

Certain game modes such as story missions, tournament mode, and multiplayer maps should theoretically allow the player to choose the amount of ammo or fuel stocked into their vehicles before the match begins. That's another bundle of work and added complexity we'd like to avoid.

Currently out of play units on the map can run out of fuel and will still continue to move "for free". It's exploitable and we don't have a solution to that...but if all the different out of play movement calculations are burning material, there will be no avoiding the cost.
The development effort can be much better spent polishing up other features that I actually believe in, rather than flogging the dead horse of logistical complexity in an attempt to make it interesting, approachable and fun for everyone (which I fundamentally don't think it would ever be).

Fundamentally I think that by winding back this feature we tie up a large number of loose ends and it results in a far more finished and enjoyable product.

And what's-more everyone on the development team agrees that we enjoy the game for fighting, looting and creating...not staring blankly at dozens of resource bars trying to figure out who needs to head back for more fuel and how long we need to wait for ammunition to process.

We've also simplified the resource transfer system. "Supply groups" and "Transit Fleets" have been replaced with a simple but comprehensive three-tier system. You can mark a vehicle as a "Creator", a "Cargo" or a "User". Creators fill up Cargos (and Users), Cargos give to Users (up to procurement levels). Users equalise their material with their neighbours, so do Creators, and there are a few handy transfers from Users back to Cargo and Creator to make sure they maintain their procurement levels as well. This system covers 95% of the way people were using the resource system and does it all semi-automatically. This simplification is much more possible now that materials are the only resource, as they invariably just need to flow from the resource zones to the front line, with everyone (Creators and Cargo) keeping what they need and passing the rest on. This new resource system also facilitates the long-range transport of materials from refinery to refinery, which is neat. The system also has an option, for Creator and Cargo types, to set their "supply chain index", so if you want to relay materials from output to output in order to accumulate them at a central location you can set the supply chain index to determine which way along the chain the materials will flow. It's all explained in the game.

After spending a lot of time with this new system from adventure to campaign and designer mode, the gameplay feels a little faster to get going and a little simpler for fleet management. As if you didn’t already know, you can shift+right click (with your supply construct selected) on the target construct / flagship of a fleet to keep supplied, keep holding down shift and right-click where you want to pick the resources up from and once again while not letting go of shift, shift+right click on the target construct/flag ship to finish the loop.

This would be done of course after setting up the settings Creator, Cargo and User.
Creator as an example is the harvesting construct, Cargo which would be the supply ship, User which would be a single target construct that uses the mats.

This will keep the supply ship target waypoint updated and therefore your supply ship will always head to the target construct no matter where it has moved to after setting up the loop.

You still need ammo and fuel boxes on your constructs, as these are governing the transfer rate / the speed that stock your turrets and fuel engine with the materials needed for them to run. You can run a construct without fuel or ammo boxes, however, once your APS clips are empty you will see a drop in your rate of fire as the material is not being transferred fast enough, this is the same for fuel engines and CJE.

Another change that goes hand in hand with resource management is the changes to fuel refineries.
In short:
#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author
Refineries on a force with greater than 1 million materials on it will begin refining the material into 'commodities' that are stored centrally. Commodities (AKA centralised materials) can be added by the player to any vehicle in allied territory, at any time.

Resource zones have a new feature too, and that is the ability to deactivate a resource zone on your owned tiles and if you own enough territory as you can see from the UI when double clicking on the resource zone “Zone Deactivation”.



Custom Jet Engines, have had some additional parts and new features.

We have the new ducted air intakes which as you can see have different attachment points



These ducted intakes allow you to have your CJE enclosed inside your construct enabling you to pass ducting through to access airflow outside.





And as you can see in the pic below they are enclosed and making use of the air duct intakes.



You can also funnel the exhaust of your CJE's that would be under the waterline by using the two new connector blocks, a 90-degree corner and an extension piece which allows them to work as long as you funnel the exhaust out above the waterline.



PACs have also had a rework and new additions.
We now have the long range lens which has a circular 10° field of fire, the close range lens which has a circular 35° field of fire, the scatter lens which has a circular 30° field of fire, and the vertical lens which has a 10° horizontal / 60° vertical field of fire (good for AA). The other differences between them is the percentage of damage drop off at certain ranges, which is marked in their UI.





One other awesome change to the PAC system is that melee lenses do not need to be hooked up to the now called long range lens. Simply setup your melee head and snakey noodle PAC tubes with a terminator on the end, then link up to your other melee lens via Q in the drop down menu. The scatter lens also deserves some attention here, as it can double up the number of beams if we increase the charge time max x4 at 30 seconds. The PAC system has had many tweaks which you should check up on in the change logs.

Shields have also had some love. Projector shields reflect and laser scatter modes are now merged and have also had a slight buff to ricochet chance. Ring shields armor bonus has also increased by 50%.


We also have some new additions to APS in terms of coolers.

From left to right we now have an L shape, 4 way and a 5 way cooler.




We now have some new wide wheel additions too for all you land vehicle lovers.



The next biggest change would be steam engines even though other changes will be implemented in this update. We are once again rehashing the whole system, which will be released in the following updates.

I had asked Weng a number of questions as to why the change was needed, why are the parts expensive, when and why would you use steam over fuel, and this is what he had to say:

Reason why steam changes are needed:

  • Steam was previously totally unbalanced and arbitrary. For example, 9 small boilers with 1 small piston was the optimal steam setup, which was more efficient and denser than almost all other engines; and turbine power generation only depended on its pressure, so compact turbines were always optimal.
  • It lacked many critical info in its UI.
  • It was hard to control the usage of steam

What's good with new steam:

  • A bit more of realism and complexity
  • Larger steam now generally have better efficiency and density than equivalent smaller steam
  • More useful info such as total power production, performance over time
  • Possibility to regulate steam usage with valves

Pros of steam compared to injector fuel:

  • More dense and more efficient
  • Even more dense with turbines
  • Easier to fit into irregular space
  • Provides a buffer with flywheels or steam tanks
  • More efficient when used for propellers
  • Doesn't require fuel containers, uses material directly from any type of storage
  • Computationally less intensive

Cons of steam compared to fuel:

  • Still hard to regulate, so it's only useful when the power usage is constant or there's a buffer energy storage
  • Turbines waste energy when batteries are full
  • Crankshafts waste energy when reaching speed limit
  • More susceptible to damage (injector engines can often still run fine even when half of it is gone, steam can stop working when a single pipe is destroyed)

Why cost of parts is hilariously high: Steam engines have better efficiency and density (many players seem to forget that one) than injector engines. So a higher initial costs makes it less overpowered.

(In my opinion, the potential waste of energy is a major drawback of steam and justifies for its high potential power. But iirc Draba said that injector engines would be useless on designs that require a lot of power if steam doesn't have higher initial cost, which also makes sense.)

Problem with new steam that can't be fixed:
  • Many old designs are broken due to low power output
  • More complexity

Problems that can probably be fixed but I don't have a solution:

  • Inefficient steam engines are ridiculously bad (a bad steam engine is like 30 PPM and 50 PPV, while a good one is around 600 PPM and 110 PPV) (I tried to fix this and spent like 40 hours on that, but I only managed to make it easier to build a mediocre engine)
  • Cannot be simulated to calculate a stable power output, like fuel engines do (actually it's easy but would take a lot of time to do and I don't think it's necessary)


Another massive change is the detection rework which I also left a few questions for Ian AKA Blothorn to explain the system and how it works.

Why a change was warranted:

  • Different types of detection weren't well balanced--for instance, visual components had better accuracy than IR and vastly better range.
  • Detection autoadjust used an incorrect formula, so optimizing adjustment was both mechanical and tedious.
  • Trackers having much better detection ranges than search sensors meant that detection was very binary--if you could see something at all you could usually get a precise lock (barring ECM, which was only counterable by large numbers of components).
  • Needing both sensors and munitions warners made reactive missile defense difficult on small vehicles.
  • There were a number of other inconsistencies/imbalances, e.g. some visual/IR sensors working through water, steam engines producing no heat, etc.

Overview of the new system:

On the offensive side, each sensor type now has a role in which it is optimal, and large vehicles are best using a variety to cover their weaknesses. Visual probably remains the default for above-water detection--it remains impossible to reduce visual signature other than reducing size. IR is better against fast vehicles, as they have trouble avoiding high IR signatures from thrust and drag. Both visual and IR are weak in rangefinding (although coincidence rangefinders are adequate for most purposes); radar is correspondingly strong in range and weak in bearing, although it often offers better detection chances against vehicles that don't pay attention to radar stealth.

On the defensive side, there are two approaches. Most obvious is signature reduction--while it is deliberately difficult to avoid detection entirely, reducing signature reduces detection chances and thus degrades opposing accuracy. At short ranges, however, this doesn't work well--detection chances are likely high regardless, and low errors at short range mean even sparse detections can give a good fix. Smoke and chaff can be useful here: they increase detection chance while adding a distance-independent error to opponent's visual and radar sensors, respectively.


ECM, buoys, and radar guidance have also been reworked. Buoys are more powerful, becoming more accurate as they get closer to the target. While their base error is high, at long ranges a buoy at close range can beat the accuracy of any onboard sensor. If you worry about opponents’ buoys, ECM can now intermittently jam them--except if they are connected to their parent vehicle by a harpoon cable, in which case they don't need the vulnerable wireless connection.


Most blueprints should need no modifications under the new system, although a few may want a few more or less GPP cards. The one exception is water interactions--IR cameras, laser rangefinders, and retroreflection sensors can no longer work through water, so submarines that used them underwater or vehicles that used them to detect submarines will need to replace them (likely with buoys). Vehicles that predominantly used visual detection should also consider adding a greater variety of sensors--in particular, visual camera trackers tied to AA mainframes should likely be replaced with IR cameras. Also, radars and cameras can take over missile and projectile detection (radar is required for projectile detection), so munitions warners can be removed/replaced with additional sensors.

Last but not least a sweet little addition to our build menu prefabs.


Please do make sure you go through the Changelog we did not post the logs here as they would need multiple posts xD
Oct 15, 2020
Beta Test 2.9.2
From the Depths - BaconsTV
What is up Depthians!

A quick little update.

Change
AI
  • Added a number of inputs to the projectile avoidance routine, particularly bearing, closing velocity, and closest approach/deviation from intercept course
APS
  • Beltfeeder loading cycle tooltip accounts for intakes being almost always ready when the cycle starts (so displayed cycle time is shorter)
  • Beltfeeder minimum reload delay down to 1 sec
  • Beltfeeders need at least a 2 x SHELL_RELOAD_TIME delay after the last shot before switching from loading to firing cycle again
  • Bore evacuator cost up from 30 to 40
  • Muzzle brake and bore evacuator armor up from 40 to 50
  • Muzzle brake cost up from 20/40 to 40/80 for the 1/2m variants
  • Muzzle brakes increase inaccuracy by 5%, instead of reducing shell speed by 5%
DETECTION
  • Missile/projectile warnings are now shared among mainframes. This mainly affects CIWS and projectile avoidance routines; LAMS/interceptors/ACBs already checked all mainframes. Mainframe parameters removed from Lua functions dealing with missile warnings; the old invocations will continue to work, but will access the global pool.
WORKSHOP
  • Updated the planet and mod workshop interfaces for easier uploading and downloading of planets and mods
Fix

APS
  • Cannon controller by multiple LWCs still obeys the fire rate limit
  • Fixed a problem causing cannons to damage their own barrels
  • Performance of aiming/barrel handling logic improved
DETECTION
  • Tracker assignment mode now saves correctly
LASERS
  • Laser couplers now clear up sides that do not have any connections to cavities/doublers/destabilizers
MULTIPLAYER
  • Locked the game world origin for multiplayer maps (not adventure/campaign) so that host and clients don’t end up too far from the origin (which creates graphics issues)
NETER
  • Fixed starting resource values in land and multiplayer designers.
NUKE
  • Tactical nukes on subconstructs now do their explosion damage in the right location
PROPELLERS
  • Propellers currently spinning backwards no longer instantly provide a forward force when target thrust changes towards the forward direction
REGRESSION
  • Fixed a bug where lasers would crash client machines
Oct 12, 2020
Beta Test 2.9.1
From the Depths - BaconsTV
Additions
PERFORMANCE
  • There’s now a per-light ‘shadows’ option, by default all lights will not cast any shadows, and it can be activated per-light (each light casting a shadow will greatly reduce the FPS)
Changes
APS MODULE COUNT
  • Beltfeed modifier scaling changed from 0.75 * DIAMETER_IN_M ^ 0.4 to 0.75 * DIAMETER_IN_M ^ 0.45. Paired with module count cap means optimal low cal beltfeeders fire significantly faster
  • Maximum module count of APS shells capped at 20. Customizer parts that would get above this won’t connect
LIGHTING
  • Lighting blocks now use low resolution shadows and per vertex lighting. Explosions have smaller lighting radii and use per vertex lighting. The sun now uses per vertex lighting. This is to improve performance.
PROJECTILE ARMOUR
  • All projectiles have 20 armor, instead of 1
  • Explosions do their full nominal damage to missiles/CRAM shells within their radius. Doing damage to a projectile no longer reduces the explosion’s strength
  • Laser AP without frequency doublers is now 20/30 for pulsed/continuous. AP bonus of a frequency doubler with 1 pump is 180/270, instead of 200/300
  • Missile interceptors now have 20 AP
SAILS
  • Sails are now affected by air density
  • Sails now have a soft speed limit of 50m/s
SIMPLE WEAPONS
  • Armour of age os sail guns up from 10 to 15
  • Armour of casemated guns up from 30 to 50
  • Armour of modern guns with a gunshield up from 25-30 to 40
  • Armour of modern guns without a gunshield up from 20-25 to 30
  • Armour of ram up from 20 to 40
  • Armour of revolving blast gun up from 15 to 20
  • Armour of simple laser up from 10 to 20
  • Cost of 50mm AA gun down from 200 to 150, AP up from 5 to 6
  • Damage of 30mm assault cannon up from 250 to 300, shell velocity from 250 to 450
  • Shell velocity of 60mm autocannon up from 300 to 500
TURRETS
  • 2m piston health up from 800 to 1600
  • All 1x1x1m turrets and pistons have 800 health (up from 400 for piston, 500 for elevation only turret)
  • All turret and piston blocks have 50 armor, up from 12 for pistons and 25-35 for turrets
UI
  • Various UI improvements
WORKSHOP
  • Added the ability to change item name, description and tags of a workshop item
  • Added the option to in the workshop UI spawn a workshop blueprint item into designer, where you can view it and save it as you wish
  • Made it essential that a screenshot is present before the blueprint can be submitted to the workshop
  • Revamped the steam workshop for vehicle blueprints.
Fixes
ACB
  • The GPID ‘set to’ action will now be loaded correctly [BUGS-2612]
APS
  • Ammo intakes attached directly to a firing piece can always load a shell if there is space for it, no need to wait for the intake time
  • Fixed a problem causing explosions from shells clipping through slopes/triangles and similar structural blocks on subconstructs
CJE
  • Changed cost of connectors from 800 to 20, 800 was an unintentional value.
CRAM
  • Fixed CRAM barrels sometimes not extending back to 100% length after reloading
MULTIPLAYER
  • Fixed Rattle Boyale multiplayer map as LH had a broken starting vehicle
  • Spawning of resource zones in adventure mode is now synched over network-sorry about that!
RENDERING
  • Fixed a unity rendering glitch that was causing low frame rates when lights and explosions mixed
SHARD CANNON
  • Fixed collider to better match the model.
VIDEO BLOCK
  • Better MP synchronization when selecting a new camera
WHEELS
  • Fixed costs and hp of 1m wide wheels and mock wheels.
WORKSHOP
  • Fixed a bug where entering the Vehicle Workshop would re-activate Steam cloud for FTD. You should probably disable Steamcloud for FTD as it can cause issues.
  • Fixed the loading of very legacy workshop entries. They should pretty much load OK now, but don’t expect them to be too functional
Oct 9, 2020
BetaTest 2.9.0
From the Depths - BaconsTV
Hey all :)
Hopefully this BetaTest will be available later today or tomorrow.

Addition
MULTIPLAYER[/h3]
  • For simplicity we have added a blueprint transfer interface to the strategy tab selection of player made designs. So you can transfer and select in the same interface.
Change
STEAMWORKS
  • Upgraded to Steamworks version 1.48 and brought the Steamworks.Net wrapper inside the FTD codebase- will refresh the Steam workshop UIs soon.
UI
  • The debriefing screen (mission won/failed) has been updated
Fixes
AI
  • Target prioritisation now use the real firepower for weapons, it’s not just counting weapons anymore (all weapon types, armor cost percent and nukes -as melee- have been added) [BUGS-2368]
APS
  • Fixed unfused APS shell explosion visuals spawning in the wrong place on a mainconstruct hit
  • Fixed unfused APS shell explosions possibly spawning in the wrong place on a subconstruct hit
BLOCKS
  • The resource gatherer / oil drill now check against wave height not mean sea level
MULTIPLAYER
  • Host’s setting for team selection mode is now saved, and defaults to host->client->auto
  • Loading an adventure mode/campaign save will no longer incorrectly adjust team commodity level
  • Lobby now shows the victory/failure options on the Rules tab as it should.
REGRESSION
  • Fixed the rotation of turrets on clients in multiplayer
  • Music player exception spam hopefully fixed now
  • Player team on Neter Land Designer now has infinite materials again, a bug reset it to 1000 materials
UI
  • Factions ‘not present in instance’ are no longer shown on diplomacy interfaces’
  • The join our discord button now actually does something
  • Weapon sync tab label fields are wider
Oct 6, 2020
Beta Test 2.8.8 is here!!
From the Depths - BaconsTV
What is up awesome Depthians! A new beta test is up on Steam, please remember that beta updates are for testing new features and changes before they hit stable! I will set up a detailed post once this beta test hits stable.

Small note CJE generators will produce force unless all of the thrust is used

v2.8.8 [Add] <Avatar>: The avatar drop pod can now track the target vehicle to help it land on target v2.8.8 [Add] <Campaign>: Quest for Neter campaign now has 4 unique starting positions and background stories, one for each difficulty level. v2.8.8 [Add] <CJE>: Added small intake piping capability to small CJE system. v2.8.8 [Add] <Map editor>: An 'all rambots of X faction are dead' victory condition type has been added v2.8.8 [Add] <Multiplayer>: A 1 vs 1 player vs player map has been added v2.8.8 [Add] <Multiplayer>: Adventure mode can now be played multiplayer v2.8.8 [Add] <UI>: Custom jets, dediblades and all powered propulsion got a PAC-style stats tab v2.8.8 [Add] <UI>: Fuel engine UI replaced, it now matches the style of the particle cannon one v2.8.8 [Add] <UI>: Supply dumps are now rendered in game to show you where they are (previously only visible on fleet control UI or map). Color and size show how much material they contain. v2.8.8 [Add] <UI>: Updated the avatar respawning UI and added a 'spectate' tab to it v2.8.8 [Add] <UI>: Various UI improvements v2.8.8 [Add] <Weapon sync>: All weapons got a new tab on their Q menu: Synchronization v2.8.8 [Add] <Weapon sync>: Each weapon can be assigned a parent on the synchronization tab, and will try to fire at least X seconds, but at most Y seconds after the parent did v2.8.8 [Add] <Weapon sync>: Each weapon can have a maximum waiting time. If only syncing stopped it from shooting for over Z seconds it'll fire a shot without waiting for the parent v2.8.8 [Add] <Weapon sync>: If 2 weapons are synced to each other with a 0 delay they will try to fire with a 1 frame difference between them v2.8.8 [Add] <Weapon sync>: If a weapon is destroyed all other weapons depending on it will fire freely until it's repaired. If the destroyed weapon was synced to something its children will sync to the grandparent v2.8.8 [Add] <Weapon sync>: Missile controllers set to continuous mode, with a stagger between missiles will sync each individual missile v2.8.8 [Add] <Weapon sync>: Weapon firing delay setting removed (it was a trap silently decreasing rate of fire) v2.8.8 [Add] <Weapon sync>: Weapons get an integer ID that's persistent and unique on their craft. It is shown in their tooltip, and syncing can be set up based on that v2.8.8 [Add] <Weapon sync>: Weapons now hold fire for 3 seconds when they are put into play v2.8.8 [Change] <Aimpoint selection>: Added a below water toggle. v2.8.8 [Change] <Aimpoint selection>: Added a block cluster aimpoint type that attempts to avoid selecting isolated blocks (e.g. masts). v2.8.8 [Change] <Aimpoint selection>: Added a hot blocks aimpoint type. v2.8.8 [Change] <AP>: Armor damage reduction is now AP / AC, instead of AP / (2 * AC). AP values halved across the board (the 3 pdr simple cannons got their damage halved instead) v2.8.8 [Change] <AP>: Frag angle damage modifier from (2.5 + ANGLE^0.5) / 16 to (2 + ANGLE^0.5) / 16. Paired with the damage buff this means high angle is slightly better v2.8.8 [Change] <AP>: Frag base damage up by 25% v2.8.8 [Change] <AP>: Projectiles that ricochet only do 75% damage to the block hit (on top of armor and angle reductions) v2.8.8 [Change] <AP>: Projectiles that ricochet still lose damage potential as if they did full damage, and their damage is reduced to 75% after that v2.8.8 [Change] <AP>: Ricochet chance went from COS(ANGLE) ^ (AP / AC) to COS(ANGLE) ^ (4 * (AP / AC) ^ 0.5). Ricochets are less common, and the angle is now more important/AP less important v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: 130mm casemated simple gun barrel length up from 4.25 to 5m v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: 150mm casemated simple gun barrel length up from 6.56 to 7m v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: APS cannons on turrets now start elevating their barrels even when the target is out of their azimuth arc v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Barrel length needed for full GP burn is now 2.2 * GP_COUNT * (DIAMETER/100)^0.55, instead of 5 * (GP_LENGTH * DIAMETER/100)^0.75. Medium-high cal and low cal without too much GP generally needs shorter barrels. Low cal with 10+ GP needs noticeably longer barrels v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Base kinetic damage up by 5% v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Cannons using fire rates below 2400 are using the proper fire rate (fix for that was suspended to sort out some timing issues) v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Default special factor setting for HE bodies is now 1, instead of 0.8 v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Firing piece builtin recoil absorption capacity up by 25% v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Firing piece builtin recoil recovery up to 4/3 the old value v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Flak base damage up from 1/3 of HE to 1/2 of HE v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Flak base radius down from 3.5x of HE to 3x of HE v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: For barrel traverse multiple barrels no longer set effective caliber to the diameter of the cylinder around them. Each barrel beyond 1 increases effective caliber by 20% instead v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Gunpowder casing kinetic energy and recoil up by 25% v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Hollow point head kinetic damage modifier is down from 1.5 to 1.2 v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Low caliber kinetic damage boost reduced from (500 / MAX(CALIBER, 125)) ^ 0.25 to (500 / MAX(CALIBER, 125)) ^ 0.125 v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Max penetration HEAT damage up from 30% to 40% of a frag warhead with the same 30° angle v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Maximum rail charge for any given shell is up by 25% v2.8.8 [Change] <APS>: Shell speed penalty from 2m muzzle break no longer stacks v2.8.8 [Change] <Campaign>: The way NPC structures are placed, repaired,saved and synchronised in multiplayer has been made much more efficient v2.8.8 [Change] <CIWS>: Anti missile cannons aim at the attached mainframe's first possible target when idling v2.8.8 [Change] <CIWS>: Anti missile cannons can now target and damage CRAM shells. Max diameter slider up from 1000 to 2000mm v2.8.8 [Change] <CIWS>: Anti missile cannons got a slider, increases or decreases priority of missiles depending on their diameter v2.8.8 [Change] <CIWS>: Anti missile cannons got a target type selector, missiles + CRAMs/missiles only/CRAMs only v2.8.8 [Change] <CIWS>: CIWS damage multiplier down from 8x to 4x v2.8.8 [Change] <CIWS>: Diameter of missile colliders is 2.5x the diameter of the actual missile against cannon projectiles and frags v2.8.8 [Change] <CRAM>: CRAM cannons on turrets now start elevating their barrels even when the target is out of their azimuth arc v2.8.8 [Change] <CRAM>: Flash suppression barrel reduces detection range to 50%, instead of 20% v2.8.8 [Change] <CRAM>: Fuses reduce health by an additive 10% each, instead of 5% v2.8.8 [Change] <CRAM>: Non-kinetic payload damage up by 20% v2.8.8 [Change] <Detection>: Detection components now test line-of-sight against all subobjects. v2.8.8 [Change] <Detection>: Further tweaks to visual, IR, radar, sonar, and passive sonar signatures. v2.8.8 [Change] <Detection>: Most detection components' AC increased to 30; costs standardized. v2.8.8 [Change] <Grenade launcher>: Personal grenade launcher base damage up from 200 to 1500. Radius uses standard scaling now, from 3m to ~8.97m v2.8.8 [Change] <Interceptor>: ACB got a new condition: enemy CRAM shells within X-Y range band v2.8.8 [Change] <Interceptor>: Interceptor CRAM damage multiplier goes from 0.4x against 1000mm to 0.8x against 2000mm (damage multiplier against S/M missiles is 0.5x/1.0x) v2.8.8 [Change] <Interceptor>: Interceptors can now target and damage CRAMs v2.8.8 [Change] <Interceptor>: Interceptors can target missiles and CRAMs, only missiles or only CRAMs v2.8.8 [Change] <Interceptor>: Interceptors do not target CRAM shells more than 5m underwater v2.8.8 [Change] <LAMS>: LAMS node targeting improved v2.8.8 [Change] <LAMS>: LAMS nodes got a slider, increases or decreases priority of missiles and shells depending on their diameter v2.8.8 [Change] <LAMS>: LAMS nodes start checking for targets again when the distance to their locked one starts to increase v2.8.8 [Change] <Missile>: Added minor visual explosion effect to all missiles (missiles with no HE or frag payload simply disappeared when shot down) v2.8.8 [Change] <Missile>: Missile base health down to 5/6 the previous value v2.8.8 [Change] <Missile>: Missile damage up by 25% v2.8.8 [Change] <Missile>: Missile interceptor damage down to 3/4 the previous value v2.8.8 [Change] <Missile Guidance>: Lua missiles now require GPP. v2.8.8 [Change] <Missile Guidance>: Remote guidance missiles are immune to ECM as long as they have an intact cable connection, like sensor buoys. v2.8.8 [Change] <Multiplayer>: Assault on Eyrie co-op multiplayer map has been re-balanced and tweaked and is now Assault on Conger v2.8.8 [Change] <Multiplayer>: Co-op campaigns can now be customised before you launch them in multiplayer v2.8.8 [Change] <Multiplayer>: The multiplayer lobby UI has been designed v2.8.8 [Change] <Multiplayer>: The tower defence map has been fixed and adjusted v2.8.8 [Change] <Multiplayer>: There is a 5 second count down before a match is started in multiplayer during which changes to the configuration are locked v2.8.8 [Change] <Multiplayer>: Tournament of Kings multiplayer map now includes the Rambot avatar v2.8.8 [Change] <Neter>: The Neter map has been redrawn and Quest For Neter faction areas have been moved around v2.8.8 [Change] <Nuke>: Tactical nuke base damage up from 80 000 to 500 000. Radius uses standard scaling now, up from 50m to 51.2m v2.8.8 [Change] <Nuke>: Tactical nuke cost up from 100 to 2500 materials, weight from 40 to 400 v2.8.8 [Change] <PAC>: Particle cannon damage down to ~73.33% v2.8.8 [Change] <Physics>: Custom control surfaces now move a lot faster v2.8.8 [Change] <Projectiles>: All fragment trails are shorter and width scales with damage. HEAT particles are closer to yellow, HESH particles are red now v2.8.8 [Change] <Projectiles>: Shell trails are now shorter and color for APS/CRAM is fixed orange-ish (tracers work the same as before). Length scales with shell speed less, CRAM trails are thicker and still scale with payload v2.8.8 [Change] <Projectiles>: Size-based detection range for projectiles reduced to 72% of the original value (CRAM shells have 396-792m base detection range) v2.8.8 [Change] <Projectiles>: Visible tracer trail is twice as long as the trail of a standard shell. Tracer width is a multiplier now, default is 2 (value range is still 0.5-10) v2.8.8 [Change] <Shields>: Shield projectors now spawn fully charged to their target strength v2.8.8 [Change] <UI>: CRAM barrel tooltip now also shows shell health v2.8.8 [Change] <UI>: Laser colorer function is now built into the standard laser combiner. If the combiner has a colorer the colorer's settings will be used v2.8.8 [Change] <UI>: Q menu for turrets now doesn't have the mostly empty stats tab v2.8.8 [Change] <UI>: Various tooltip improvements v2.8.8 [Change] <Warp>: Detection uses a different velocity compensation method for targets that have warped within the previous second in order to limit the usefulness of rapid, short warps in fooling detection. v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: APS 1x1x1 mantlet healths up from 600 to 1000 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: APS barrel armor up from 25 to 35, health up from 700 to 800/m v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: APS bore evacuator and muzzle brake armor up from 30 to 40. 2m muzzle break now has 1600 health, instead of 800 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: APS firing piece armor up from 20 to 30, health up from 350 to 500 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: APS heavy barrel armor up from 40 to 50, health from 900 to 1000/m. APS heavy barrel cost down from 70 to 60 material/m v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: APS laser targeter armor up from 25 to 50 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: APS non-1x1x1m mantlet healths up from 1000 to 1500/block v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: APS rail magnet and attaching fixture armor up from 30 to 50, health down from 600 to 500 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: APS recoil absorber armor up from 10 to 20, health from 125 to 150/m v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: CRAM barrel armor up from 30 to 50, health from 900 to 1000 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: CRAM firing piece armor up from 25 to 30, health up from 500 to 800 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: CRAM gauge increase armor up from 30 to 40, health from 400 to 500 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: CRAM heavy barrel armor up from 40 to 60 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: CRAM laser targeter armor up from 25 to 50 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: LAMS node armor up from 10 to 25 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Laser armored optics armor up from 20 to 60, health stays 600 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Laser combiner armor up from 4 to 30, health from 100 to 400 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Laser optics armor up from 10 to 40, health stays 250 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Missile connector armor up from 3 to 30 (health is still 100) v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Missile controller armor up from 12 to 30. It is now susceptible to EMP, takes 10% damage from it v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Missile ejector addon armor up from 3 to 30 (health is still 100) v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Missile hatch armor up from 40 to 50 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Missile rail launcher and gantry armor up from 20 to 40 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Missile standard launcher and gantry armor up from 20 to 30 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Missile winch armor up from 3 to 40, health up from 100 to 200 v2.8.8 [Change] <Weapon durability>: Short range laser combiner armor up from 15 to 50, health from 600 to 1500 v2.8.8 [Fix] <CJE>: Custom jet exhaust particles exit the right way on jets using 90° connectors v2.8.8 [Fix] <Collisions>: Fix to collision damage that makes damage spread more evenly in all directions v2.8.8 [Fix] <Copy/Paste>: When copy/pasting a block, any empty string in it wasn't pasted to the destination, now it is [BUGS-2543] v2.8.8 [Fix] <CRAM>: Fixed CRAM cannons counting EMP payload twice in shell power and firepower calculations v2.8.8 [Fix] <Explosions>: Explosions not doing any damage after a while [BUGS-2238] v2.8.8 [Fix] <Fuel engines>: Ducts (in the air tab) will not block fuel engine exhausts anymore [BUGS-2534] v2.8.8 [Fix] <Hit detection>: Blocks and shell racks exploding on the main construct can no longer jump through blocks at high speeds v2.8.8 [Fix] <Hit detection>: Explosions are less likely to jump through blocks on subconstructs moving towards them v2.8.8 [Fix] <Hit detection>: Fixed a problem causing armed missiles to bounce off constructs v2.8.8 [Fix] <Hit detection>: Fixed a problem causing explosions triggered from certain directions to sometimes spawn inside(and teleport through) blocks in certain positions/orientations v2.8.8 [Fix] <Hit detection>: Fixed a problem causing fragments from ricocheting projectiles to be spawned facing the wrong way v2.8.8 [Fix] <Hit detection>: Fixed a problem causing shells to sometimes explode inside targets moving towards them v2.8.8 [Fix] <Hit detection>: Fixed explosion damage teleporting through intact non-cuboid structural blocks v2.8.8 [Fix] <Hit detection>: Fragments are less likely to jump through blocks on constructs/subconstructs moving towards them v2.8.8 [Fix] <Hit detection>: Frags spawn at the speed the projectile moved at right before impact (so frags from fast shells hitting the back of fast vehicles will still usually connect) v2.8.8 [Fix] <Hit detection>: Missile hit detection improved v2.8.8 [Fix] <Jets>: The 'Spread to' feature will now spread either to the small or huge jets, not both [BUGS-2544] v2.8.8 [Fix] <Laser>: 4Q lasers can now fire a single shot (1 fire command always triggered at least 2 pulses before) v2.8.8 [Fix] <Laser>: Fixed pulsed laser fire rates being lower than intended. 4Q fired ~6.67 shots/s, 3Q ~3.63, 2Q ~1.9, 1Q ~0.975 v2.8.8 [Fix] <Lasers>: Laser transceivers now re-connect correctly when on an elevation-only turret with an angle of more than 60 degrees [BUGS-2335] v2.8.8 [Fix] <Lasers>: Laser transceivers visible laser is now correctly displayed even when the elevation of a 2-axis or elevation-only turret is modified v2.8.8 [Fix] <Missile>: Fixed missile firepower readout showing old values that counted S warheads/second (only visual, firepower displayed was ~75% of the real one) v2.8.8 [Fix] <Missiles>: The turning thrusters trail will now be removed properly when destroying the vehicles [BUGS-2077] v2.8.8 [Fix] <Modding>: The simple weapons variables 'ExplosiveDamage' and 'ExplosiveRadius' are automatically modified to automatically balance the weapons, you can now use 'OverloadedExplosiveDamage' and 'OverloadedExplosiveRadius' to override these modifications [BUGS-2459] v2.8.8 [Fix] <Multiplayer>: Clients can see the laser beams and other effects from firing simple lasers and LaserCombiners v2.8.8 [Fix] <Multiplayer>: Clients now see turrets facing the way they are facing on the server v2.8.8 [Fix] <Multiplayer>: Faction vehicles spawned in the multiplayer designer now spawn full of material v2.8.8 [Fix] <Multiplayer>: Nukes can now be detonated by the client by pressing Q on them v2.8.8 [Fix] <PAC>: Fixed manually fired particle cannons sometimes shooting in the wrong direction v2.8.8 [Fix] <Prefabs>: The volume of the sound when deleting a lot of blocks at once isn't too loud anymore (the fix will work for all other cases, such as placing a prefab, undo/redo, etc.) [BUGS-2517] v2.8.8 [Fix] <Settings>: The toolbar with shortcuts to blocks is now saved properly, and all settings are now saved even if using Alt+F4 [BUGS-2406] v2.8.8 [Fix] <Simple weapons>: The 'DamageMultiplier' coefficient should now work as intended for kinetic damage [BUGS-2446] v2.8.8 [Remove] <Avatar>: Avatar levels, experience and stat points have been removed as we don't feel they sit well with the engineering focus of FTD.
Sep 3, 2020
Beta Test 2.8.7 is out! with some sweet camo skinning options
From the Depths - BaconsTV
Hey Depthians
A nice little update to our beta test branch I think the most eye-catching one is the new camo skins for our constructs, which you can access via "V" on your construct.


v2.8.7 [Add] <Camo>: Added a camouflage texture skin system for adding skins to alloy, metal and heavy armour blocks on the vehicle. Press V to engage with it. v2.8.7 [Add] <UI>: The number of board sections you need to capture in order to enable your next RZ deactivation is now listed v2.8.7 [Change] <Loot>: If you kill your own vehicles and have no storage capacity for the self-looted materials they'll go into / create local material dumps for you to pick up later v2.8.7 [Change] <Loot>: Killing things with avatar weapons e.g minigun adds to the commodity store (it has always added to the centralised team store in previous versions) v2.8.7 [Change] <Loot>: Scrapped enemy vehicle resource dumps now contain the material that was in them when they were scrapped v2.8.7 [Change] <Loot>: You now get material for destroying enemy material storage in combat v2.8.7 [Change] <Refinery>: Avatar gifting of commodities from the global commodity store is now turned off by default. Press F5 to turn it on/off. v2.8.7 [Change] <Refinery>: Buttons added to fleet control options to gift 1k, 10k and 100k commodities to your forces in your territory (or neighboring). Cannot be performed in campaign battles. v2.8.7 [Change] <Refinery>: Fuel refineries now convert raw materials to commodities that are globally gift-able to your forces in your territory (or neighboring territory) (not available during campaign battles). They can only operate when sitting on a 1 million material stockpile or greater v2.8.7 [Change] <Refinery>: Pressing 'Q' on a material storage container will gift global commodities into it as materials. Cannot be performed in campaign battles. v2.8.7 [Change] <Refinery>: The 2.8.5 mechanic that refinery-forces acted as a large world-wide supply group has been de-activated now that they have this new function v2.8.7 [Change] <Refinery>: UI updated to display 'nearby' materials as well as 'commodities'
Aug 27, 2020
Beta Test 2.8.5 is here, with some big changes.
From the Depths - BaconsTV
Hey Depthians!

Another long list of new additions and some very big changes to the game such as the removal of fuel as a resource and ammo. I would advise you to read <this> thread by Nick, which explains the changes in full detail, any comments/suggestions/ideas/concerns should be posted in that thread, just so we have everything all nicely gathered in one place.

v2.8.5 [Add] <Localised resource>: A new material/energy sharing system has been added where forces can be separated into different types (Creator / Cargo / User) and their material/energy sharing is automated depending on their type. v2.8.5 [Change] <Resources>: Ammo barrels hold materials now, and increase the availability of materials for reloading guns (materials per minute) v2.8.5 [Change] <Resources>: Ammunition and fuel have been removed as resources- guns and engines use materials directly now v2.8.5 [Change] <Resources>: Existing ammo processors will be automatically replaced with a 2m long material storage locker in this version of the game. The block is now decorative only v2.8.5 [Change] <Resources>: Existing oil processors will be automatically replaced with a 2m tall material storage tank in this version of the game. The block is now decorative only. v2.8.5 [Change] <Resources>: Fuel refineries don't create fuel from materials anymore. Instead they form a world wide material sharing network where all 'on' refineries can slowly share materials with each other (however the refineries also burn materials so a lot of material is wasted in this process) v2.8.5 [Change] <Resources>: Fuel tanks hold materials now, and increase the availability of materials for powering engines (materials per minute) v2.8.5 [Change] <Resources>: Resource harvesting, when out of play, runs at 5% even if there is no power source. This is to avoid outposts getting stuck at zero materials and being unable to get any. v2.8.5 [Change] <Smoke dispenser>: The smoke dispenser now burns materials instead of fuel v2.8.5 [Change] <Tutorials>: Tutorials updated to reflect new resources (material and energy) and new resource transfer system. v2.8.5 [Fix] <Steam engine>: Pressure no longer drops or increases when boiler or pipe is shrank v2.8.5 [Fix] <Story missions>: In story missions your vehicle will no longer get free resources and free reloads after spawning- you shall only get the materials you pay for in the mission launcher v2.8.5 [Remove] <Localised resource>: The supply group and transit fleet systems have been removed. They've been replaced with something simpler.
Aug 19, 2020
2.8.1 Beta test is here!
From the Depths - BaconsTV
Another long list of fixes and changes in beta 2.8.1 :D we will have a proper write up once this hits stable.

v2.8.1 [Add] <APS>: Added 4way APS gauge cooler v2.8.1 [Add] <APS>: Added 5way APS gauge cooler v2.8.1 [Add] <APS>: Added L shape APS gauge cooler. v2.8.1 [Change] <AI>: Removed Thruster Balancing from additional AI routines. v2.8.1 [Change] <APS>: APS autoloaders with intake counts that do not match the amount needed for sustained fire get a warning and an orange outline in build mode v2.8.1 [Change] <APS>: Made T splitter APS gauge cooler v2.8.1 [Change] <Blocks>: Removed component count limit v2.8.1 [Change] <Campaign>: Durability estimate is also used for the difficulty assignment of faction designs. The difficulty of many designs will change and these might be tweaked a bit later v2.8.1 [Change] <Campaign>: NPC factions are more aggressive towards the player at higher difficulties v2.8.1 [Change] <Campaign>: NPC factions should no longer completely wipe each other out v2.8.1 [Change] <Campaign>: Reworked how the strategic AI decides which territories to capture to make it more intelligent v2.8.1 [Change] <Campaign>: Rough estimates of the durability of designs is now used by the strategic AI for combat related assessments v2.8.1 [Change] <Custom jet>: Added warning that shows output reduction when the engine is partially/fully submerged v2.8.1 [Change] <Custom jet generator>: Generator power/thrust up from 0.05 to 0.052 v2.8.1 [Change] <Damage>: HEAT base damage up, from 20% of a frag warhead's damage for 1 max special HE body to 30% v2.8.1 [Change] <Laser>: Short range laser combiner max distance up from 300m to 500m. Damage multiplier at max distance down from 2x to 1.5x. Inaccuracy at max range is the same (so at 300m changed from 1° to 1.5°) v2.8.1 [Change] <Propulsion>: Powered jets, propellers and ions now gradually spool down when they get a request for 0 output (change was gradual in all other cases before) v2.8.1 [Change] <Propulsion>: Powered propellers do not instantly stop when getting above water. They gradually slow down until they stop v2.8.1 [Change] <Shields>: Reflect and laser scatter modes on shield projectors merged v2.8.1 [Change] <Shields>: Reflect mode base ricochet chance up from 20 to 25% at minimum angle, from 40 to 45% at maximum angle v2.8.1 [Change] <Shields>: Ring shield armor bonus increased by 50% v2.8.1 [Change] <Shields>: Shield projector UI updated v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Cost of steam pistons, turbines, gearboxes and generators multiplied by 60 v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Heat dissipation rate of boiler decreased from 0.5 kW/(m2*K) to 0.05 kW/(m2*K) v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Heat of material decreased from 3000 kJ to 1500 kJ v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Max power of small gearboxes increased from 3000 to 6000 v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Piston base efficiency decreased from 0.9 to 0.75 v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Piston cylinder length is now 1.1 for small, 2.5 for medium, and 3.5 for large v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Piston efficiency changed from (0.8)^(0.5*input/output-1) to (input/output-1)^(-1/5), which means better throughput (ppv) and efficiency (ppm) for naive steam engine designs v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Reduced the intensity of steam crankshaft noise v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Reduced turbine flow virtual volume to 2m * end area of turbine v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Side shell thickness of turbine, piston and boiler increased from 5mm to 1cm v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Steam components are now updated in a fixed order, to avoid inconsistencies caused by the order of placement. The order is now {Boiler, Piston, Turbine, Valve, Jet, Pipe, Propeller, Crankshaft, Gearbox, Transmission, Generator} v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Steam jet max speed changed from 200m/s to 150m/s v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Steam jet power limited to 10000 and thrust limited to 50000 v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Steam jet thrust per power changed to 3.5 (it is 15 for ion, 25 for jet, 40 for propeller) v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Steam pipe tanks can now restore their pressure v2.8.1 [Change] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Turbines flow half life reverted from 0.4s to 0.1s v2.8.1 [Fix] <Alloy>: The height map for alloy has been fixed to stop one face from looking like it is moving. v2.8.1 [Fix] <APS>: Railgun chargers can no longer connect to barrel magnets. v2.8.1 [Fix] <Blocks>: Added code to locate the cause of a block disconnection bug v2.8.1 [Fix] <Blocks>: Fixed duplicating text in text block v2.8.1 [Fix] <Custom jet>: Custom jet generators are now also disabled under water v2.8.1 [Fix] <Custom jet>: Custom jet generators now use the correct amount of fuel when supply is low v2.8.1 [Fix] <Custom jet>: Custom jet parts are no longer automatically rotated to match the controller's orientation v2.8.1 [Fix] <Custom jet>: Fixed custom jet generator mode switch possibly not registering on being put into play v2.8.1 [Fix] <Custom jet>: Jet controller tooltip now shows the correct thrust/fuel value even when some output is reserved by a generator v2.8.1 [Fix] <Propulsion>: Fixed powered propellers providing forward thrust on a backwards request v2.8.1 [Fix] <Propulsion>: Powered jets, propellers, ions and wheels now use the correctly scaled amount of power when running below their maximum allowed output v2.8.1 [Fix] <Serialization>: Fixed ability to set clamped value beyond the bounds v2.8.1 [Fix] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Fixed a bug that increased some pressures by 101 kPa v2.8.1 [Fix] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Fixed crankshaft fluctuation v2.8.1 [Fix] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Steam components can no longer consume more energy/steam than available in shaft/pipe v2.8.1 [Fix] <Steam engine>: [FTD-466] Steam jet now correctly respect the maximum thrust and power consumption
Aug 5, 2020
What we are currently working on Aug-Sept 2020
From the Depths - BaconsTV
Hey Depthians!


We are back with some more news for August’s sprint.
Currently, I have my hands on the coming changes to steam’s tweaks and new additions. However, while I cannot get into specifics on numbers and exact components etc.. I thought I would give you all a steamy little tease with this.



That, as well as other additions and some multiplayer fixes, will soon be in the next Betatest for you all to brake for us xD We will also be putting more focus on MP issues in the coming months and hopefully resolve all issues.

I think this sprint is quite self-explanatory, but if you do have questions as always feel free to ask.

For those on the current Beta 2.8.0 give me feedback on wheels please mainly issues/things you are not happy with like spring force, turning and so on. Except for glitching through terrain and tracks bugging out, we know about that.

If you are interested in what is happening with the current 2.8.0 beta then check this thread out which I shall keep up to date with any changes.

Thanks for your support as always!

Join the rest of the community, who are always willing to help, chat, sharing blueprints and all that good stuff.

https://forum.fromthedepthsgame.com/
Discord.gg/fromthedepths
https://steamcommunity.com/app/268650
https://www.reddit.com/r/FromTheDepths/
https://twitter.com/FTD_Game
https://www.facebook.com/FromTheDepthsGame/







Aug 3, 2020
New 2.8.0 BetaTest build is up for you all to break
From the Depths - BaconsTV
Hey Depthians!

2.8.0 has hit our BetaTest branch. If you are interested in the changelog please check that out here (Trying to get everyone's feedback in one location)
...