Hello!
In the previous update we added a tech tree and possibility to scan debris, but this is not enough for science! In this update we are added another way to obtain a science data!

Now you can scan planets and other celestial bodies using special, new module, orbital scanner.



In order to scan, it should be close to the planet and directed on it.
In orbital mechanics mode, "keep your ship always directed to a planet" - it is quite an interesting task.

In order to do that, you should calculate a proper angular velocity. It is quite simple and depends of orbital period (duration of one rotation on a orbit). For example, if orbital period = 120 seconds, it means that your ship should make one full turn (360 degrees) during these 120 seconds. 360 / 120 = 3 deg\s.
So all what you need is to keep your angular velocity at 3 deg\s and your ship will be always directed to the planet!

Later we will add a special tool (unlockable via research tree) which will automatically direct your scanning ship on the planet, but at this moment, you may use a way described above.

Also we want to remind that the game still have 20% discount!

Thanks!
In the next update we are going to add something even more significant.


Improvements

• Added possibility to obtain science data by scanning moons \ planets \ stars \ black holes
  
• Added new module: Orbital scanner
  
• Added more powerful version of mining laser
  
• Starting ship now have a grabber, so you can perform delivery missions using normal way
  
• Changed names of many modules (so now it have more Sci-Fi classification)
  
• Renamed "Allow usage" to "Allow consume fuel" for fuel tanks
  
• Capacity of Cargo container 2 changed from 120 to 280 (so it no longer useless), same for long fuel tank

Fixes

• Long names of the modules now properly displayed in build menu
  
• Fixed incorrect description of some modules
  
• Fixed incorrect empty lines and spaces in some descriptions
  
• "Advanced mining" research no longer useless

Hello!
Today we are gladly to introduce a new update with the new, very important aspect of the game - science and tech tree!



Previously, the modules was unlocked via linear "reputation system", which was pretty boring. You had no a possibility to select what to unlock next and you even didn't saw what will be unlocked next.



But now you can see entire tree of technologies and you are free to select a direction of progression!
Technologies should be unlocked using special research module which requires "science data", which could be obtained using various ways.



Currently there is two ways to get science data:
- You will receive it from missions
- We added a special scanning module which may scan debris with some chance to get science data



Later we will add more applications of scanning module. It could be used for scanning of asteroids, anomalies, planets, stars, black holes, etc.
This science concept with combination of large Galaxy, opens a huge possibilities for explorations in the further updates!



By the way, Celestial Command is 20% off during Steam Autumn Sale!

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Also, today we have another special event. The game was firstly released in Steam on 21 November 2014, so today our project 4 years in Steam!
We are very grateful that you are with us. Thanks to your support, we have a possibility to develop the game better and better!

Many others indies games usually became abandoned after such period of time, or development is not so active as before, so we are really glad that due your supporting we may continue working on the game at full power and we are going to develop a complete, interesting and high quality space game! Thanks you!



Of course we thought that the game will be fully released earlier, but we are 3 developers and it is our first project so we really glad to see how many work has been done and you are happy with what we are managed to achieve!

During this year we did a lot of things, but some of them especially large and important:

1. Galaxy and reliable orbital mechanics! One year ago, game had only single, locked star system. But now game extended to the huge galaxy which opens a very important possibilities for exploration and "feel of space"
2. Improved space graphic, added new backgrounds, stars, various lighting. The space looks much better. It no longer so gray and boring as it was 1 year ago.
3. Working multiplayer! Due new implementation of UPnP and NAT Punch-through technologies, we finally solved an issue with inaccessible servers, so now almost every user is capable to host a server to play with friends. Also network synchronization is better than ever before, movement of ships now smooth and comfortable for connected users.
4. Fully redesigned inventory, trading and production systems

Also, you may check our previous anniversary posts
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/3211492895079957897
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/710835733884410740
https://steamcommunity.com/games/CelestialCommand/announcements/detail/115201797087397375

Also, for those who would like to check out how the game looked 4 years ago. We added a possibility to launch the most first version of Celestial Command released in Steam.
In order to do that, open properties of Celestial Command, Beta tab and select "old version".

Thanks for your support! It is super important for us! : )




Improvements

• Added a tech tree! Now modules should be unlocked in research module which requires science data which could be obtained by missions of by scanning of debris
  
• Added research module
  
• Added scanning module which could be used in order to scan debris and extract science data required for new researches
  
• Implemented auto cleaner for debris. When there is more than 500 debris in the game, the oldest debris will be despawned which prevent performance issues in a worlds which exist for a long time
  
• Significant optimizations of physics, especially in orbital mode. Now performance should be better in several times
  
• On damage HP bars no longer displayed for objects which have low maximum HP value, such as debris. It improves visual design
  
• Now you can assign custom hotkeys for modules using Ctrl Shift Alt buttons

Fixes

• Fixed incorrect collision damage between piston \ rotor and its second part. Pistons and rotors no longer will explode for no reason!
  
• Rotation speed of module preview now the same at any game speed and not it is possible to rotate preview during pause
  
• Fuel level of nuclear reactor now correctly saved and loaded
  
• Game time label in the top-left corner now bigger and suitable for large values
  
• Cargo icon during drag and drop process no longer stuck if source inventory was destroyed
  
• Inventory transfer panel no longer cause error if one from related storages was destroyed

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

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

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

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

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



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







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



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



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



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



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

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

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



Improvements

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

Fixes

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

Hello!

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



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



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

Why it is done? There is a several reasons:


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

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

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



Improvements

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

Fixes

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

Hello

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

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

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

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

So we completely redesigned a tutorial!



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

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

Also we added another little feature to the main menu

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

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

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



Improvements

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

Fixes

• Tutorial completely fixed

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

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

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



Current, small modules for comparison



Even something like this could be possible : )



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

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

Just a quick update with important fixes of critical bugs


Improvements

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

Fixes

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

Just a quick update with important fixes of critical bugs


Fixes

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

Another quick update here!

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

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

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

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

The next update should bring something big!


Improvements

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

Fixes

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

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

Also, redesigned options window.
Previous:



New



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



Improvements

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

Fixes

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