Hi Galactic Survivalists,

We would like to thank you for the awesome Alpha release last Friday! We were blown away by the result: the player count sky-rocketed and temporarily Empyrion was the Nr 2 Top Trending game on Steam:
You also helped us to break our maximum player record from August 2015 - we reached a new all-time peak of 3275 players on Sunday, April 17!

We were reading your feedback and were working hard over the weekend to incorporate as much as we could. Today, we are excited to present you our first update after the Alpha release with many changes, improvements and bug fixes.

Changelog: Alpha 1.1.0

Changes / Improvements:
- Significantly improved AI pathing of enemy NPCs in bases
- To reduce CPU consumption, now NPCs de-spawn in bases that have not been visited by a player at least for 5 minutes and player is at least 120m away
- NPC spawner blocks will now stay and re-spawn NPCs until spawner block is destroyed
- Improved spawner blocks: better texture and added explosion when destroyed
- Added console command SI that allows to switch SI on/off in single player
- Added slider for ambient sound volume to audio options
- Added more detailed base / vessel statistics -> access via button from Control Panel
- Texture and color tool can be used with player drone (particle effect is still played on player - we will improve it in the next update)
- Re-balanced Wood Logs template (Wood Logs -> Wood Planks: before 1->40, now 1->20, reduced craft time from 10sec to 5sec)
- Item menu (creative menu) is now always available on dedi servers in Creative mode
- Enhanced console command 'saveandexit' to use a timeout - type 'help saveandexit' to see new usage
- Planet maps are now saved compressed, which results in much faster loading times (e.g. on loading of a saved game)
- Added adminconfig.example.yaml to the game as an example
- Ambient sound for water is now played more reliable when close to water
- Added missing description to Akua (for Dedi start planet window)
- Tweaked In-game hints and added message how to open PDA
- Updated starter base in Creative Akua (thanks Xentor)
- We are now saving some structure data (BA, HV, CV, SV) in the Shared folder for each structure (the data and time when this information is saved will improve in the next versions)
- Slightly increased volume of water sound / decreased volume of tropical forest
- Slightly increased step sound for grass and sand
- Added open sound for texture/color tool. Removed open/close sound of helmet overlay
- Added EAC protected icon in server browser (EAC not yet activated per default)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed problem that base attack Drones suddenly appeared in front of the base (no approach visible)
- Fixed problem that there were no drones on Oscutune and Omicron Moon (fix will only work if you have not yet visited these planets or in a new game)
- Fixed problem that Alien soldiers often remained on their spawn point
- Fixed: Placing BA Starter in the shore-water transition zone leads to Base destruction
- Fixed: Exiting the cockpit while reloading results in loss of ammo
- Fixed SI problems with crashed Titan parts on Akua: now they do not collapse anymore when adding blocks (you have to start a new game if you want to take advantage of this change)
- Fix for enemy ION cannon not firing at anything that is below them
- Fixed several problems with decorations + grass and decos are now removed more reliable in POIs
- Fixed problem with missing sun flare on Lava planet
- Fixed in Dedi GUI: "Save and Exit" button didn't work
- Fixed missing Hover and Click Sounds for Resume Game Buttons
- Fixed problem with constructor's filter not working correctly after re-opening constructor

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

We would like to thank you for the awesome Alpha release last Friday! We were blown away by the result: the player count sky-rocketed and temporarily Empyrion was the Nr 2 Top Trending game on Steam:
You also helped us to break our maximum player record from August 2015 - we reached a new all-time peak of 3275 players on Sunday, April 17!

We were reading your feedback and were working hard over the weekend to incorporate as much as we could. Today, we are excited to present you our first update after the Alpha release with many changes, improvements and bug fixes.

Changelog: Alpha 1.1.0

Changes / Improvements:
- Significantly improved AI pathing of enemy NPCs in bases
- To reduce CPU consumption, now NPCs de-spawn in bases that have not been visited by a player at least for 5 minutes and player is at least 120m away
- NPC spawner blocks will now stay and re-spawn NPCs until spawner block is destroyed
- Improved spawner blocks: better texture and added explosion when destroyed
- Added console command SI that allows to switch SI on/off in single player
- Added slider for ambient sound volume to audio options
- Added more detailed base / vessel statistics -> access via button from Control Panel
- Texture and color tool can be used with player drone (particle effect is still played on player - we will improve it in the next update)
- Re-balanced Wood Logs template (Wood Logs -> Wood Planks: before 1->40, now 1->20, reduced craft time from 10sec to 5sec)
- Item menu (creative menu) is now always available on dedi servers in Creative mode
- Enhanced console command 'saveandexit' to use a timeout - type 'help saveandexit' to see new usage
- Planet maps are now saved compressed, which results in much faster loading times (e.g. on loading of a saved game)
- Added adminconfig.example.yaml to the game as an example
- Ambient sound for water is now played more reliable when close to water
- Added missing description to Akua (for Dedi start planet window)
- Tweaked In-game hints and added message how to open PDA
- Updated starter base in Creative Akua (thanks Xentor)
- We are now saving some structure data (BA, HV, CV, SV) in the Shared folder for each structure (the data and time when this information is saved will improve in the next versions)
- Slightly increased volume of water sound / decreased volume of tropical forest
- Slightly increased step sound for grass and sand
- Added open sound for texture/color tool. Removed open/close sound of helmet overlay
- Added EAC protected icon in server browser (EAC not yet activated per default)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed problem that base attack Drones suddenly appeared in front of the base (no approach visible)
- Fixed problem that there were no drones on Oscutune and Omicron Moon (fix will only work if you have not yet visited these planets or in a new game)
- Fixed problem that Alien soldiers often remained on their spawn point
- Fixed: Placing BA Starter in the shore-water transition zone leads to Base destruction
- Fixed: Exiting the cockpit while reloading results in loss of ammo
- Fixed SI problems with crashed Titan parts on Akua: now they do not collapse anymore when adding blocks (you have to start a new game if you want to take advantage of this change)
- Fix for enemy ION cannon not firing at anything that is below them
- Fixed several problems with decorations + grass and decos are now removed more reliable in POIs
- Fixed problem with missing sun flare on Lava planet
- Fixed in Dedi GUI: "Save and Exit" button didn't work
- Fixed missing Hover and Click Sounds for Resume Game Buttons
- Fixed problem with constructor's filter not working correctly after re-opening constructor

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

Today is the big day: the Alpha just got uploaded to the Steam download servers and will be ready for you to pick it up … now!

As you can read from the list below, we have added a lot of cool new stuff, tweaked and improved gameplay and fixed a slew of old and new bugs.

Please remember, although this is by far the most important and largest update to Empyrion since its release back in August 2015, this is only just another tiny step in the development process with a lot more steps, features and bugfixes to come in the future!

We are glad to have you with us on this journey, and as always, we are looking forward to your feedback, comments, suggestions and even bug reports! ;-)

Now, without further ado, update your game and dive into the new possibilities of “Empyrion - Galactic Survival” Alpha 1.0. But before you start playing please follow these steps:

1. Delete the “Games” and “Cache” folder in the "Saves" folder inside the installation folder of Empyrion: C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Empyrion - Galactic Survival (if Steam is not installed to standard location, see: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129)

2. "Verify integrity of game cache" via the Steam client: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2037-QEUH-3335

3. For dedicated server hosts: please note that we simplified the “dedicated.yaml” format - if you are using your own yaml file you must convert it to the new format

(You may also want to reset the controls: Options -> Controls -> "Reset to defaults")

ENJOY!

Yours,
Empyrion Dev Team

https://youtu.be/iiOVNHc2grU

CHANGELOG: Alpha 1.0

Main Features
- Added structural integrity SI (only for planetary bases at the moment): buildings will collapse if not supported correctly
- Added basic tutorial system (PDA) with the current tasks visible in the Player HUD
- Added dense grass and large decorations (trees, large rocks, underwater deco, etc) viewable from far away (trees can be harvested for wood logs)
- Added possibility to completely configure a planet by yourself (terrain, textures, deco, NPCs, etc)
- New block rotation system that shows rotation axis
- New block shape management system: craft basic block and choose block shapes via selection menu (RMB when block group is selected in toolbar)
- Added more materials: wood, concrete (wood logs, wood planks, cement) and hardened steel (replacing the armored plates)
- Added player drone to facilitate building
- First integration of Offline Protection: Build the offline protection device and your PvP area base and CVs will be safe when you log off (same applies to factions, when no faction member is around on the server anymore; eventually leading to a full shield-feature in later Alpha development stages!)

Individualization for Building:
- New block customization: any side of a block can be colored / textured individually
- New color and paint system:
* 31 colors available from new color tool menu
* All 3d models are colorable (cockpit, turrets, thrusters, generators, deco blocks and other devices)
- New system to apply textures / symbols / letters to each side of a block individually
- Added a first set of textures, letters, numbers and symbols
- Added material-related textures for the Texture Tool (each material now has a defined set of “own” textures plus a few that are shared between all materials. This opens up the possibility for even more textures in the future

Gameplay:
- Added "Spawn at home base": For example, you can tag your CV in Orbit, any Base or Space Station and respawn on this CV/Base when you die on a planet. (only one Home base can be tagged at any time)
- Clone Chamber has been added to set a definite Home-Base spawn point (Without a Clone Chamber you will spawn in a random location close to your home-base tagged base or vessel)
- Your player model can now hold its breath for up to 10 seconds under water (without helmet)
- All plants in the wild now re-grow after being harvested (if you discover a nice spot of helpful plants, come back later and harvest them again!)
- On a Dedicated Server: you will now always start on the morning side of a planet in MP
- When de-constructing blocks, the items you collect are now shown in your HUD
- Warp Drives use Pentaxid crystals as fuel (added to an individually placeable warp drive tank) for warp jumps. Pentaxid must be crafted from Blue Crystals found on planets
- Shift + RMB now removes block in Creative mode
- Improvements to all maps: own objects (private or faction) are now colored greenish
- Survival constructor got a radar- and planet-map marker (so you won’t lose track of where you set it up when venturing around)
- ALT now toggles a free-move camera (instead of the need to hold it)
- Added filter (text input) and entity type filter-toggles (SV,HV,CV,BA, All) to constructor windows
- Turrets can now be activated/deactivated in control panel (they are deactivated when placed the first time)
- Founder/Admin of a faction can now set a structure of this faction back to Public/Private
- New rotation tool: allows to rotate blocks after placement
- Added Tier 2 drill that auto-collects ore (available at Tech Tree Level 7)
- New easy to craft food item made out of seaweed: Seaweed snacks (Survival Constructor)
- Added Bandages as an easy to craft alternative to small medi kits (Survival Constructor)
- Escape pod is now controllable so that you can choose your landing zone
- Active status effects (poison bite, open wound etc.) are now visualized by icons
- Added epic weapons that can only be found in “ultra rare loot”
- Slider for all lights for setting Intensity and Range

Blueprints:
- Blueprint menu now also shows blueprints with forbidden blocks (with red color and a hint), not allowed to put in factory or publish (Alien Core and any Monster-Spawner)
- Blueprint placement: Added possibility to move Blueprints vertically with Page up/down
- Changed: Blueprints now spawn without damage
- Workshop: Published (or updated) Blueprints are now automatically tagged according to their structure type (e.g. "Hover Vessel")
- Blueprints now save the control panel grouping info
- You can use your own Blueprint bases as random POIs for planetary playfields (double-click in the library & set a group name. Use the group name for customizing in any playfield.yaml)

Console Commands & Server:
- Activated console to enter many commands for single player (open Console and type ‘help’ to display the possible commands)
- Added many new server commands (similar to single player) and a new permission level (Gamemaster)
- Added customizable, periodic auto-shutdown of playfield servers incl. warning messages (configured in dedicated.yaml)
- Server messages are now colored to easily see them
- Change: Simplified dedicated.yaml format - NOTE: Server hosts using their own yaml file need to convert it to this new format!
- WipeTime + DecayTime now use real time hours instead of game time
- Now all yaml files are checked on game start
- Server Browser: Added "Rent a server" link in button and a host info for official servers
- Added possibility to configure space drones in playfield.yaml
- Sectors/playfield.yaml are now copied to save game folder

Blocks & Crafting:
- Re-enabled Alien Container and Alien Core for use in Creative Menu
- Added Creature/NPC-Spawner blocks to Creative menu
- Added new block shape: Inverted Corner Thin
- Added new railing blocks
- Changed Starter Block Base to “Core only”
- Added water jug (produced by Water Generator)
- Water generator can now be crafted in Survival Constructor
- Added much stronger Tier 2 RCS for CV
- Added extra large thruster CV
- Added saw attachment for HV and chainsaw for player
- Re-activated old cockpit 06 (now cockpit 05) and added improved 3d model
- Added Bio Fuel for Chainsaw

World:
- Added new temperate planet Oscutune
- Added many new POIs (thanks to Dead8Eye)
- Added Talon Guardian NPC
- Added ambient sounds according to the biome a player is in (e.g. on Akua: forest, water, open plains, mountains)
- Spawning of NPCs now depend on biomes (e.g. on Akua: Woodwalker in forest, Slime at water, etc)
- Tweaked loot of many NPCs
- Added 4 types of loot container: common (grey), rare (yellow), very rare (red), ultra rare (purple)
- Some tweaks to Start Setting Creative and updated Bases / SV in Creative Mode (thanks Xentor, Dead8Eye and Piddlefoot)
- Added new enemy drone model

Major Visual Improvements:
- Atmospheric scattering
- New water shader (edge blending for water shores, refractions, waves, etc)
- New underwater view
- New water droplet effect when leaving water
- New lava shader + lava fog and improved under-lava shader
- More details are shown when close to objects (also terrain)
- Increased Brightness of shadowed areas/darker areas of planets in Space
- Better planet map preview

Tweaks - Gameplay:
- Added auto-grouping feature in Control Panel
- Control Panel now shows damage for all units (not only for essentials as before)
- Improvements to space map and radar map: other faction's icons are no longer displayed except they are closer than 2500m to the player (before everything was seen on space map)
- Reduced overall max. distance of HUD object markers to 500 m on planets - matches with radar map range and avoids cluttering of display
- Backpack is now visible 500m on map (before 50m)
- On placing a turret "Prey" is not activated
- Added enemy base icon that shows up whenever there is an enemy base nearby (and you cannot build due to anti-griefing distance, for example)
- Added hint if player tries to run on a planet while jetpack is active (once per game start in Survival mode)
- Re-balanced large thrusters CV: mass, thrust, energy consumption
- Doubled output count of Electronics
- When joining a server the first time: the loading screen is now shown immediately after the planet choice window.
- Removed deco and building blocks tab from Techtree

Other Tweaks - Visual, Audio & Tech:
- Improved terrain texture - they should be much sharper now
- Increased light intensity during night on most planets
- Quality Settings Fast - Good - Best technically refined
- Updated many models (all handheld weapons, many devices, deco objects etc) to PBR shader
- Replaced truss and walkway blocks with new models
- Updated basic hull texture (less dark panel lines)
- Tweaked muzzle fire of laser pistol/rifle to blue/red
- Added new volumetric laser shot effect to Laser Rifle and Pistol
- Improved effect when drilling
- Tweaked terrain textures on Alien planet and moon·
- Added ground fog and fireflies on Masperon
- Tweaked many terrains (especially Omicron and Masperon)
- Added bullet impact effects on water
- Sound tweaks:
* lower sound volume when drilling
* Slightly reduced distance at which sound from devices is heard (O2/water generator, gravity generator, generator)
* Updated sound for drill
- Exchanged model of survival constructor
- Improved texture on non-illuminated stairs
- Better smoke on destroyed enemy drone
- Tweaked terrain textures to make resource veins better visible
- Smoother fade out from Main Menu -> New Game
- Better camera handling when player dives
- When swimming: camera should not clip feet in 3rdp away any more
- When escape pod collides with water, the correct splash sound is played.
- Added Helmet Overlay/Effect
- Updated screenshots in game
- Added better stamina boosts
- Removed blood hit particles in first person view
- Optimization: Reduced FPS drops when passing by a firing ship
- Improved Control Panel's list:
* Remembers collapsed states of groups per structure
* Last selected item will be scrolled to (also works for group headline and if there are collapsed groups)
* Significant speedup of Control Panel list
- Drill and Fillertool don’t do any damage to devices anymore
- Added tooltip info for objects in space map
- Tweaked jetpack speed and controls
- Added info when player left Controls options and has unassigned actions (e.g., primary action not defined)
- Increased speed of Ion Cannon shots by 30%
- SV/HV/CV does not allow to fire any more if not powered

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Problems when switching playfields (SP / MP)
- Fixed: Turrets do not fire at own base anymore (no more auto destruction)
- Fixed: Stamina reduction when pressing SHIFT key while standing still
- Fixed: Projectiles following vessel movement after being released
- Fixed: Shooting CV weapons in FPV sometimes lead to explosion directly on vessel
- Fixed: Switching a CV to Faction does not undock foreign Private/Public vessels
- Fixed: Map objects of renamed POIs (with player core) now show the new name
- Fixed: Pressing Start button in New Game menu multiple times no longer possible (before it caused a crash)
- Fixed: Coffee and adrenaline shots do not work as expected sometimes
- Fixed: Large medikit and other consumables do not add the whole range points
- Fixed: Using 2 large medikits in a row does not add up the effect
- Fixed problem that after the last player of a faction left, this faction was not deleted
- Fixed: Blueprint exploiting no longer possible via MP re-login after production time is over
- Fixed: Some turrets don’t hit correctly and aim too low
- Fixed: Outside lights leading to a "flickering cockpit"
- Fixed problem that spotlight did shine into cockpit if placed behind cockpit
- Fixed Nullref when cancelling connection to Server
- Fixed: Some devices missing bottom texture if build in a certain way
- Fixed: Logging out in an underground base leads to respawn on top of the hill
- Fixed: Savegame renaming now checks if a game with the new name already exists
- Fixed: Decayed food in a Food Processor is recognized as template input material
- Fixed: Worklight 1 & 2 can be picked up infinitely
- Fixed: Mirror mode uses 2 items if block is placed in-line with mirror
- Fixed: Backpack bugged in Vessel leads to nearly making it immobile & flickering
- Fixed change tool handling -> window transparency change was not smooth
- Fixed: Player model flying outside of vessel / misaligned
- Fixed: Reset chat timeout when using chat scrollbar
- Fixed: Sides of some blocks are not displaying when placed in a special way
- Fixed: Saving a Blueprint while HUD display is off creates correct thumbnail (without visible HUD elements)
- Fixed Exploit: Backpack not empty when re-login (backpack from dead player is now also accessible from other factions)
- Fixed: Blueprint factory sometimes showed "Start Production" while a production is running
- Fixed sporadic NRef when resuming a game
- Fixed: Multi-doubling items with line-tool in Survival
- Fixed: Blueprints with a mismatch in directory and filename are now ignored (avoids exception)
- Fixed collider problem with shape "cylinder"
- Fixed: Activate checkbox in control panel on groups showed even if none of the group could be activated.
- Fixed: The state of the activate checkbox was sometimes wrong
- Fixed: Item descriptions are cut off (except partially on left screen edge)

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

Today is the big day: the Alpha just got uploaded to the Steam download servers and will be ready for you to pick it up … now!

As you can read from the list below, we have added a lot of cool new stuff, tweaked and improved gameplay and fixed a slew of old and new bugs.

Please remember, although this is by far the most important and largest update to Empyrion since its release back in August 2015, this is only just another tiny step in the development process with a lot more steps, features and bugfixes to come in the future!

We are glad to have you with us on this journey, and as always, we are looking forward to your feedback, comments, suggestions and even bug reports! ;-)

Now, without further ado, update your game and dive into the new possibilities of “Empyrion - Galactic Survival” Alpha 1.0. But before you start playing please follow these steps:

1. Delete the “Games” and “Cache” folder in the "Saves" folder inside the installation folder of Empyrion: C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Empyrion - Galactic Survival (if Steam is not installed to standard location, see: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129)

2. "Verify integrity of game cache" via the Steam client: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2037-QEUH-3335

3. For dedicated server hosts: please note that we simplified the “dedicated.yaml” format - if you are using your own yaml file you must convert it to the new format

(You may also want to reset the controls: Options -> Controls -> "Reset to defaults")

ENJOY!

Yours,
Empyrion Dev Team

https://youtu.be/iiOVNHc2grU

CHANGELOG: Alpha 1.0

Main Features
- Added structural integrity SI (only for planetary bases at the moment): buildings will collapse if not supported correctly
- Added basic tutorial system (PDA) with the current tasks visible in the Player HUD
- Added dense grass and large decorations (trees, large rocks, underwater deco, etc) viewable from far away (trees can be harvested for wood logs)
- Added possibility to completely configure a planet by yourself (terrain, textures, deco, NPCs, etc)
- New block rotation system that shows rotation axis
- New block shape management system: craft basic block and choose block shapes via selection menu (RMB when block group is selected in toolbar)
- Added more materials: wood, concrete (wood logs, wood planks, cement) and hardened steel (replacing the armored plates)
- Added player drone to facilitate building
- First integration of Offline Protection: Build the offline protection device and your PvP area base and CVs will be safe when you log off (same applies to factions, when no faction member is around on the server anymore; eventually leading to a full shield-feature in later Alpha development stages!)

Individualization for Building:
- New block customization: any side of a block can be colored / textured individually
- New color and paint system:
* 31 colors available from new color tool menu
* All 3d models are colorable (cockpit, turrets, thrusters, generators, deco blocks and other devices)
- New system to apply textures / symbols / letters to each side of a block individually
- Added a first set of textures, letters, numbers and symbols
- Added material-related textures for the Texture Tool (each material now has a defined set of “own” textures plus a few that are shared between all materials. This opens up the possibility for even more textures in the future

Gameplay:
- Added "Spawn at home base": For example, you can tag your CV in Orbit, any Base or Space Station and respawn on this CV/Base when you die on a planet. (only one Home base can be tagged at any time)
- Clone Chamber has been added to set a definite Home-Base spawn point (Without a Clone Chamber you will spawn in a random location close to your home-base tagged base or vessel)
- Your player model can now hold its breath for up to 10 seconds under water (without helmet)
- All plants in the wild now re-grow after being harvested (if you discover a nice spot of helpful plants, come back later and harvest them again!)
- On a Dedicated Server: you will now always start on the morning side of a planet in MP
- When de-constructing blocks, the items you collect are now shown in your HUD
- Warp Drives use Pentaxid crystals as fuel (added to an individually placeable warp drive tank) for warp jumps. Pentaxid must be crafted from Blue Crystals found on planets
- Shift + RMB now removes block in Creative mode
- Improvements to all maps: own objects (private or faction) are now colored greenish
- Survival constructor got a radar- and planet-map marker (so you won’t lose track of where you set it up when venturing around)
- ALT now toggles a free-move camera (instead of the need to hold it)
- Added filter (text input) and entity type filter-toggles (SV,HV,CV,BA, All) to constructor windows
- Turrets can now be activated/deactivated in control panel (they are deactivated when placed the first time)
- Founder/Admin of a faction can now set a structure of this faction back to Public/Private
- New rotation tool: allows to rotate blocks after placement
- Added Tier 2 drill that auto-collects ore (available at Tech Tree Level 7)
- New easy to craft food item made out of seaweed: Seaweed snacks (Survival Constructor)
- Added Bandages as an easy to craft alternative to small medi kits (Survival Constructor)
- Escape pod is now controllable so that you can choose your landing zone
- Active status effects (poison bite, open wound etc.) are now visualized by icons
- Added epic weapons that can only be found in “ultra rare loot”
- Slider for all lights for setting Intensity and Range

Blueprints:
- Blueprint menu now also shows blueprints with forbidden blocks (with red color and a hint), not allowed to put in factory or publish (Alien Core and any Monster-Spawner)
- Blueprint placement: Added possibility to move Blueprints vertically with Page up/down
- Changed: Blueprints now spawn without damage
- Workshop: Published (or updated) Blueprints are now automatically tagged according to their structure type (e.g. "Hover Vessel")
- Blueprints now save the control panel grouping info
- You can use your own Blueprint bases as random POIs for planetary playfields (double-click in the library & set a group name. Use the group name for customizing in any playfield.yaml)

Console Commands & Server:
- Activated console to enter many commands for single player (open Console and type ‘help’ to display the possible commands)
- Added many new server commands (similar to single player) and a new permission level (Gamemaster)
- Added customizable, periodic auto-shutdown of playfield servers incl. warning messages (configured in dedicated.yaml)
- Server messages are now colored to easily see them
- Change: Simplified dedicated.yaml format - NOTE: Server hosts using their own yaml file need to convert it to this new format!
- WipeTime + DecayTime now use real time hours instead of game time
- Now all yaml files are checked on game start
- Server Browser: Added "Rent a server" link in button and a host info for official servers
- Added possibility to configure space drones in playfield.yaml
- Sectors/playfield.yaml are now copied to save game folder

Blocks & Crafting:
- Re-enabled Alien Container and Alien Core for use in Creative Menu
- Added Creature/NPC-Spawner blocks to Creative menu
- Added new block shape: Inverted Corner Thin
- Added new railing blocks
- Changed Starter Block Base to “Core only”
- Added water jug (produced by Water Generator)
- Water generator can now be crafted in Survival Constructor
- Added much stronger Tier 2 RCS for CV
- Added extra large thruster CV
- Added saw attachment for HV and chainsaw for player
- Re-activated old cockpit 06 (now cockpit 05) and added improved 3d model
- Added Bio Fuel for Chainsaw

World:
- Added new temperate planet Oscutune
- Added many new POIs (thanks to Dead8Eye)
- Added Talon Guardian NPC
- Added ambient sounds according to the biome a player is in (e.g. on Akua: forest, water, open plains, mountains)
- Spawning of NPCs now depend on biomes (e.g. on Akua: Woodwalker in forest, Slime at water, etc)
- Tweaked loot of many NPCs
- Added 4 types of loot container: common (grey), rare (yellow), very rare (red), ultra rare (purple)
- Some tweaks to Start Setting Creative and updated Bases / SV in Creative Mode (thanks Xentor, Dead8Eye and Piddlefoot)
- Added new enemy drone model

Major Visual Improvements:
- Atmospheric scattering
- New water shader (edge blending for water shores, refractions, waves, etc)
- New underwater view
- New water droplet effect when leaving water
- New lava shader + lava fog and improved under-lava shader
- More details are shown when close to objects (also terrain)
- Increased Brightness of shadowed areas/darker areas of planets in Space
- Better planet map preview

Tweaks - Gameplay:
- Added auto-grouping feature in Control Panel
- Control Panel now shows damage for all units (not only for essentials as before)
- Improvements to space map and radar map: other faction's icons are no longer displayed except they are closer than 2500m to the player (before everything was seen on space map)
- Reduced overall max. distance of HUD object markers to 500 m on planets - matches with radar map range and avoids cluttering of display
- Backpack is now visible 500m on map (before 50m)
- On placing a turret "Prey" is not activated
- Added enemy base icon that shows up whenever there is an enemy base nearby (and you cannot build due to anti-griefing distance, for example)
- Added hint if player tries to run on a planet while jetpack is active (once per game start in Survival mode)
- Re-balanced large thrusters CV: mass, thrust, energy consumption
- Doubled output count of Electronics
- When joining a server the first time: the loading screen is now shown immediately after the planet choice window.
- Removed deco and building blocks tab from Techtree

Other Tweaks - Visual, Audio & Tech:
- Improved terrain texture - they should be much sharper now
- Increased light intensity during night on most planets
- Quality Settings Fast - Good - Best technically refined
- Updated many models (all handheld weapons, many devices, deco objects etc) to PBR shader
- Replaced truss and walkway blocks with new models
- Updated basic hull texture (less dark panel lines)
- Tweaked muzzle fire of laser pistol/rifle to blue/red
- Added new volumetric laser shot effect to Laser Rifle and Pistol
- Improved effect when drilling
- Tweaked terrain textures on Alien planet and moon·
- Added ground fog and fireflies on Masperon
- Tweaked many terrains (especially Omicron and Masperon)
- Added bullet impact effects on water
- Sound tweaks:
* lower sound volume when drilling
* Slightly reduced distance at which sound from devices is heard (O2/water generator, gravity generator, generator)
* Updated sound for drill
- Exchanged model of survival constructor
- Improved texture on non-illuminated stairs
- Better smoke on destroyed enemy drone
- Tweaked terrain textures to make resource veins better visible
- Smoother fade out from Main Menu -> New Game
- Better camera handling when player dives
- When swimming: camera should not clip feet in 3rdp away any more
- When escape pod collides with water, the correct splash sound is played.
- Added Helmet Overlay/Effect
- Updated screenshots in game
- Added better stamina boosts
- Removed blood hit particles in first person view
- Optimization: Reduced FPS drops when passing by a firing ship
- Improved Control Panel's list:
* Remembers collapsed states of groups per structure
* Last selected item will be scrolled to (also works for group headline and if there are collapsed groups)
* Significant speedup of Control Panel list
- Drill and Fillertool don’t do any damage to devices anymore
- Added tooltip info for objects in space map
- Tweaked jetpack speed and controls
- Added info when player left Controls options and has unassigned actions (e.g., primary action not defined)
- Increased speed of Ion Cannon shots by 30%
- SV/HV/CV does not allow to fire any more if not powered

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Problems when switching playfields (SP / MP)
- Fixed: Turrets do not fire at own base anymore (no more auto destruction)
- Fixed: Stamina reduction when pressing SHIFT key while standing still
- Fixed: Projectiles following vessel movement after being released
- Fixed: Shooting CV weapons in FPV sometimes lead to explosion directly on vessel
- Fixed: Switching a CV to Faction does not undock foreign Private/Public vessels
- Fixed: Map objects of renamed POIs (with player core) now show the new name
- Fixed: Pressing Start button in New Game menu multiple times no longer possible (before it caused a crash)
- Fixed: Coffee and adrenaline shots do not work as expected sometimes
- Fixed: Large medikit and other consumables do not add the whole range points
- Fixed: Using 2 large medikits in a row does not add up the effect
- Fixed problem that after the last player of a faction left, this faction was not deleted
- Fixed: Blueprint exploiting no longer possible via MP re-login after production time is over
- Fixed: Some turrets don’t hit correctly and aim too low
- Fixed: Outside lights leading to a "flickering cockpit"
- Fixed problem that spotlight did shine into cockpit if placed behind cockpit
- Fixed Nullref when cancelling connection to Server
- Fixed: Some devices missing bottom texture if build in a certain way
- Fixed: Logging out in an underground base leads to respawn on top of the hill
- Fixed: Savegame renaming now checks if a game with the new name already exists
- Fixed: Decayed food in a Food Processor is recognized as template input material
- Fixed: Worklight 1 & 2 can be picked up infinitely
- Fixed: Mirror mode uses 2 items if block is placed in-line with mirror
- Fixed: Backpack bugged in Vessel leads to nearly making it immobile & flickering
- Fixed change tool handling -> window transparency change was not smooth
- Fixed: Player model flying outside of vessel / misaligned
- Fixed: Reset chat timeout when using chat scrollbar
- Fixed: Sides of some blocks are not displaying when placed in a special way
- Fixed: Saving a Blueprint while HUD display is off creates correct thumbnail (without visible HUD elements)
- Fixed Exploit: Backpack not empty when re-login (backpack from dead player is now also accessible from other factions)
- Fixed: Blueprint factory sometimes showed "Start Production" while a production is running
- Fixed sporadic NRef when resuming a game
- Fixed: Multi-doubling items with line-tool in Survival
- Fixed: Blueprints with a mismatch in directory and filename are now ignored (avoids exception)
- Fixed collider problem with shape "cylinder"
- Fixed: Activate checkbox in control panel on groups showed even if none of the group could be activated.
- Fixed: The state of the activate checkbox was sometimes wrong
- Fixed: Item descriptions are cut off (except partially on left screen edge)

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

Less than 24h until the Alpha release of Empyrion! The perfect time to get prepared for the changes that are lying ahead of you.

First: due to all the new tech added to the code, we unfortunately could not avoid to break your save games this time (note that it is the first save game break since the initial release of Empyrion in August 2015). As a consequence, all server and single player save games cannot be resumed subsequent to the installation of Alpha 1.0. We are really sorry for the inconveniences that may result. On the other hand, we are quite sure none of you would have wanted us to drop any of the new Alpha features in favour of save game continuation. ;-)

Said that, there is one thing you can and should do: blueprint all your stuff right now! Be it Bases or Vessels and even work in progress stuff, because all of your Blueprints will make the transition to the Alpha version!

Second, there is one big topic that is entirely new to the game and may influence the way on how you will lay out your bases in the future: Structural Integrity (SI).

Today we want to explain some of the details. Please keep in mind: This SI version 1.0 only applies to Bases on planets for now. SI for space or for ships and a more granular SI-rule set will be added in future releases!
Let’s start with an important tip: The SI can be visualized with the Building Tools window. Click N and toggle the SI-Shader setting. The overlay will tell you which areas of your building are weak or fully supported. The scale will range from bright green (100% stable) to red/purple (unstable/crash imminent).



Here are a few basic SI rules you need to take into account:
1. Only blocks that are touching the ground will be 100% stable (does not depend on the material used)

2.You can only achieve 100% stability for a vertical row of blocks, if the lowest block is touching the ground. If you have a 100% stable block, a so called “anchor block”, you can build a vertical pillar on top of it as high as the sky. There is no vertical limit (yet).

3. If you add blocks to such a 100% stable pillar in any horizontal direction, so each block that is attached in a row, any additional block will have a lower stability - until the row reaches a breaking point. The maximum range or breaking point for a horizontal, floating, not supported beam made out of any of the four base materials is 12 blocks. Note: The anchor block will keep its stability, as there is no such thing as shearf orce (yet)! Tip: if your line or area of blocks is showing weak spots, just build a supporting pillar!



4. Do not put heavy materials or devices on top of a already weak beam or weak foundation. You might risk the construction to collapse and your devices will be destroyed.



Closing comment: Building with SI is something completely new. So when starting the Alpha the first time, you might want to get accustomed to building with it at first. We suggest to start a creative game and play around with the possibilities and limits of the Structural Integrity, while getting a feeling for building with the new SI rule set.

We are looking forward to your creations and what you are able to achieve with the new SI feature.

Yours,

Empyrion DevTeam

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

Less than 24h until the Alpha release of Empyrion! The perfect time to get prepared for the changes that are lying ahead of you.

First: due to all the new tech added to the code, we unfortunately could not avoid to break your save games this time (note that it is the first save game break since the initial release of Empyrion in August 2015). As a consequence, all server and single player save games cannot be resumed subsequent to the installation of Alpha 1.0. We are really sorry for the inconveniences that may result. On the other hand, we are quite sure none of you would have wanted us to drop any of the new Alpha features in favour of save game continuation. ;-)

Said that, there is one thing you can and should do: blueprint all your stuff right now! Be it Bases or Vessels and even work in progress stuff, because all of your Blueprints will make the transition to the Alpha version!

Second, there is one big topic that is entirely new to the game and may influence the way on how you will lay out your bases in the future: Structural Integrity (SI).

Today we want to explain some of the details. Please keep in mind: This SI version 1.0 only applies to Bases on planets for now. SI for space or for ships and a more granular SI-rule set will be added in future releases!
Let’s start with an important tip: The SI can be visualized with the Building Tools window. Click N and toggle the SI-Shader setting. The overlay will tell you which areas of your building are weak or fully supported. The scale will range from bright green (100% stable) to red/purple (unstable/crash imminent).



Here are a few basic SI rules you need to take into account:
1. Only blocks that are touching the ground will be 100% stable (does not depend on the material used)

2.You can only achieve 100% stability for a vertical row of blocks, if the lowest block is touching the ground. If you have a 100% stable block, a so called “anchor block”, you can build a vertical pillar on top of it as high as the sky. There is no vertical limit (yet).

3. If you add blocks to such a 100% stable pillar in any horizontal direction, so each block that is attached in a row, any additional block will have a lower stability - until the row reaches a breaking point. The maximum range or breaking point for a horizontal, floating, not supported beam made out of any of the four base materials is 12 blocks. Note: The anchor block will keep its stability, as there is no such thing as shearf orce (yet)! Tip: if your line or area of blocks is showing weak spots, just build a supporting pillar!



4. Do not put heavy materials or devices on top of a already weak beam or weak foundation. You might risk the construction to collapse and your devices will be destroyed.



Closing comment: Building with SI is something completely new. So when starting the Alpha the first time, you might want to get accustomed to building with it at first. We suggest to start a creative game and play around with the possibilities and limits of the Structural Integrity, while getting a feeling for building with the new SI rule set.

We are looking forward to your creations and what you are able to achieve with the new SI feature.

Yours,

Empyrion DevTeam

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

Last week we had to announce a minor delay for the upcoming Alpha 1.0 release. This delay has come unexpected to most of you, and we apologize for any resulting inconvenience. It has been a hard choice, putting us between a rock and a hard place: seeing sad faces because of the last minute delay or seeing sad faces because of some major bugs still present in the originally planned release. In the end, we decided that you deserve an Alpha version, which is as polished and bug free as we can achieve - and rather withstand the wave of critics because of the last minute delay.

The new features that will now find their way into the first Alpha version due to this delay would have been part of the first patch anyhow. Now they just moved slightly forward to the release version and did not consume any minute of the precious development time dedicated to bug fixing! Said that, we are progressing nicely with the bug smashing. Just as of yesterday, we surpassed the milestone of 300 bugfixes and changes made in the course of the Alpha development (not counting in the new features and the fixes of the Public versions that were released in parallel)!

Some folks asked, if we could release more footage videos of the Alpha. For those, we’d like to answer: keep your eyes peeled (for the upcoming week)! ;-)

Enough chit-chat, it is time to get to the real things. As the headline states, we want to show you our new "Empyrion - Galactic Survival" Alpha Trailer, giving you an idea of the new look and feel of the upcoming Alpha version! We hope you like it:

https://youtu.be/iiOVNHc2grU

On behalf of the Developers, Testers and the Community Crew, we would like to thank all of you for your support, your patience, the stream of never ending suggestions – and in particular for the unprecedented way, on how this great community sticks together, even if not everyone agrees on the same things sometimes ;-)

We are very proud of our community - and we hope you all will enjoy the upcoming Alpha 1.0 as much as we did when developing it.

Yours,

Empyrion Dev Team

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

Last week we had to announce a minor delay for the upcoming Alpha 1.0 release. This delay has come unexpected to most of you, and we apologize for any resulting inconvenience. It has been a hard choice, putting us between a rock and a hard place: seeing sad faces because of the last minute delay or seeing sad faces because of some major bugs still present in the originally planned release. In the end, we decided that you deserve an Alpha version, which is as polished and bug free as we can achieve - and rather withstand the wave of critics because of the last minute delay.

The new features that will now find their way into the first Alpha version due to this delay would have been part of the first patch anyhow. Now they just moved slightly forward to the release version and did not consume any minute of the precious development time dedicated to bug fixing! Said that, we are progressing nicely with the bug smashing. Just as of yesterday, we surpassed the milestone of 300 bugfixes and changes made in the course of the Alpha development (not counting in the new features and the fixes of the Public versions that were released in parallel)!

Some folks asked, if we could release more footage videos of the Alpha. For those, we’d like to answer: keep your eyes peeled (for the upcoming week)! ;-)

Enough chit-chat, it is time to get to the real things. As the headline states, we want to show you our new "Empyrion - Galactic Survival" Alpha Trailer, giving you an idea of the new look and feel of the upcoming Alpha version! We hope you like it:

https://youtu.be/iiOVNHc2grU

On behalf of the Developers, Testers and the Community Crew, we would like to thank all of you for your support, your patience, the stream of never ending suggestions – and in particular for the unprecedented way, on how this great community sticks together, even if not everyone agrees on the same things sometimes ;-)

We are very proud of our community - and we hope you all will enjoy the upcoming Alpha 1.0 as much as we did when developing it.

Yours,

Empyrion Dev Team

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

As the headline already states - we decided to slightly postpone the public release of Empyrion Galactic Survival Alpha 1.0. No worries, the delay is only for a week: next Friday, April 15th will be the big day!

We want to dedicate the extra time towards additional bug fixing and to get some of the newer features more polished. However, we are not only into squashing more bugs but we will also add more features in addition to the already announced features.

Have a look at the additional features that will be integrated into the Alpha:

- First integration of Offline Protection: Build the offline protection device and your PvP area base and CVs will be save when you log off (same applies to factions, when no faction member is around on the server any more; eventually leading to a full shield-feature in later Alpha development stages!)
- Tier 2 drill that auto-collects ore (available at Tech Tree Level 7)
- New loot for POIs (No spoilers of the contents here. Sorry ;-)
- All plants in the wild now re-grow after being harvested (if you discover a nice spot of helpful plants, come back later and harvest them again!)
- Slider for all lights for setting Intensity and Range individually
- Added new material-related textures for the Texture Tool (each material now has a defined set of “own” textures plus a few that are shared between all materials. This opens up the possibility to have even more textures added in the future!)
- New enemy drone model
- Survival constructor gets a radar- and planet-map marker (so you won’t lose track of where you set it up when venturing around)
- Your player model can now hold its breath for up to 10 seconds under water (without helmet)
- When de-constructing blocks, the items you collect are now shown in your HUD
- New easy to craft food item made out of sea weed (a lot of underwater plants now have nice goodies to collect)
- Bandages (as an easy to craft alternative to small medi kits)
- Quality Settings Fast-Good-Best technically refined. ("Fast" now nearly has every eye candy deactivated and render distances reduced)
- Warp Drives now use Pentaxid crystals as a fuel (added to an individual placeable warp drive tank)
- You can now use your own bases as random POIs for planetary playfields!

The new drone model in action:



You probably want to meet the drone when it is in this state:


The active Offline Protection:



The Offline Protection Device:


The new set of textures:


The new set of loot containers:

From left to right: common, rare, very rare and ultra rare.

Finally, as the remaining days need to be filled with some creative tasks, we ask all our players to think about new sets and additions for the “starter blueprints” in the Blueprint Library!

As soon as the Alpha v1.0 is released and everyone has all the new building, texturing and coloring features and blocks at hand, we’ll start a new round of “Get Your Design In TheGame!”

We are looking forward to the release.

Yours,

Empyrion Dev Team

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

As the headline already states - we decided to slightly postpone the public release of Empyrion Galactic Survival Alpha 1.0. No worries, the delay is only for a week: next Friday, April 15th will be the big day!

We want to dedicate the extra time towards additional bug fixing and to get some of the newer features more polished. However, we are not only into squashing more bugs but we will also add more features in addition to the already announced features.

Have a look at the additional features that will be integrated into the Alpha:

- First integration of Offline Protection: Build the offline protection device and your PvP area base and CVs will be save when you log off (same applies to factions, when no faction member is around on the server any more; eventually leading to a full shield-feature in later Alpha development stages!)
- Tier 2 drill that auto-collects ore (available at Tech Tree Level 7)
- New loot for POIs (No spoilers of the contents here. Sorry ;-)
- All plants in the wild now re-grow after being harvested (if you discover a nice spot of helpful plants, come back later and harvest them again!)
- Slider for all lights for setting Intensity and Range individually
- Added new material-related textures for the Texture Tool (each material now has a defined set of “own” textures plus a few that are shared between all materials. This opens up the possibility to have even more textures added in the future!)
- New enemy drone model
- Survival constructor gets a radar- and planet-map marker (so you won’t lose track of where you set it up when venturing around)
- Your player model can now hold its breath for up to 10 seconds under water (without helmet)
- When de-constructing blocks, the items you collect are now shown in your HUD
- New easy to craft food item made out of sea weed (a lot of underwater plants now have nice goodies to collect)
- Bandages (as an easy to craft alternative to small medi kits)
- Quality Settings Fast-Good-Best technically refined. ("Fast" now nearly has every eye candy deactivated and render distances reduced)
- Warp Drives now use Pentaxid crystals as a fuel (added to an individual placeable warp drive tank)
- You can now use your own bases as random POIs for planetary playfields!

The new drone model in action:



You probably want to meet the drone when it is in this state:


The active Offline Protection:



The Offline Protection Device:


The new set of textures:


The new set of loot containers:

From left to right: common, rare, very rare and ultra rare.

Finally, as the remaining days need to be filled with some creative tasks, we ask all our players to think about new sets and additions for the “starter blueprints” in the Blueprint Library!

As soon as the Alpha v1.0 is released and everyone has all the new building, texturing and coloring features and blocks at hand, we’ll start a new round of “Get Your Design In TheGame!”

We are looking forward to the release.

Yours,

Empyrion Dev Team