Hi Galactic Survivalists,

We just released Alpha 5.4, which is a relatively small update (for our standards). The reason for this “minor” update is that - in parallel - we are working hard on the Alpha 6.0 release. We will inform you very soon in more detail about the development progress and the content of A6.0.

For Alpha 5.4, we have worked on a few more bugfixes. As always, besides some tweaks and refinements, we also introduced something new: the reworked orbital starmap (M). This is now a real 3D map, giving you more control over your view angle and camera rotation.

Starmap controls:
- You can rotate the map with pressing LMB / RMB and moving your mouse (rotation around 2 different axis)
- Scrollwheel: zoom in and out
- W / S / A / D / C / Space => move around in map (should we keep this movement throughout the map?)
- Pressing O reset the camera to default position

Please help us tracking down remaining bugs and report them over here: http://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-5-4-x.9775

Thanks a lot in advance for your feedback - and have fun playing! :)

Cheers,

Empyrion Dev Team

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

Changelog: Alpha 5.4.0 (Build 867)

Changes:
- Added first version of new starmap



- Added damage states for new thrusters and updated texture


- Added flares + sound to jetpack


- Updated texture on pulse rifle
- Slightly re-sized antenna blocks so they have exactly "full sized" length (eg 4 blocks high)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Problem that turrets and fixed weapons used twice the amount of ammo on reload (MP only)
- Fixed: Problem that BA stock prefabs Tier 1 - 4 were marked red in Blueprint library
- Fixed: Problem that the center of gravity of CV, SV, HV was not always correctly set
- Fixed: CV extreme vibration when build on a flat space (steel/concrete blocks or terrain)
- Fixed: Problem that Pulse Rifle only had a flashlight in third person view
- Fixed: Problem that Portable Worklight stopped emitting light when leaving and coming back
- Fixed: Problem that Terrain Placeables (Oxygen Generator, Hydrogen Generator etc) switched to OFF if player walks away
- Fixed: Green water patches
- Fixed: Problem that line between Trading Station and Masperon in sector map had no arrow (actually it is a one-way jump)
- Fixed: Problem that Light Lantern (Light Group) had no bottom plane
- Fixed: Typo in "CONNECTION ESABLISHED AGAIN"
- Possible fix for another registry exception
- Fixed: Internal exception related to UMA character (we finally fixed this exception that follows us for a while now. Thanks to everyone who has sent in a log on the support email: Build 0859 #61AC6, Build 0857 #8FBA2, Build 0844 #D3DBB)


Alpha 6.0 Teaser:


(debug view of a major Alpha 6.0 feature)

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

We just released Alpha 5.4, which is a relatively small update (for our standards). The reason for this “minor” update is that - in parallel - we are working hard on the Alpha 6.0 release. We will inform you very soon in more detail about the development progress and the content of A6.0.

For Alpha 5.4, we have worked on a few more bugfixes. As always, besides some tweaks and refinements, we also introduced something new: the reworked orbital starmap (M). This is now a real 3D map, giving you more control over your view angle and camera rotation.

Starmap controls:
- You can rotate the map with pressing LMB / RMB and moving your mouse (rotation around 2 different axis)
- Scrollwheel: zoom in and out
- W / S / A / D / C / Space => move around in map (should we keep this movement throughout the map?)
- Pressing O reset the camera to default position

Please help us tracking down remaining bugs and report them over here: http://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-5-4-x.9775

Thanks a lot in advance for your feedback - and have fun playing! :)

Cheers,

Empyrion Dev Team

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

Changelog: Alpha 5.4.0 (Build 867)

Changes:
- Added first version of new starmap



- Added damage states for new thrusters and updated texture


- Added flares + sound to jetpack


- Updated texture on pulse rifle
- Slightly re-sized antenna blocks so they have exactly "full sized" length (eg 4 blocks high)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Problem that turrets and fixed weapons used twice the amount of ammo on reload (MP only)
- Fixed: Problem that BA stock prefabs Tier 1 - 4 were marked red in Blueprint library
- Fixed: Problem that the center of gravity of CV, SV, HV was not always correctly set
- Fixed: CV extreme vibration when build on a flat space (steel/concrete blocks or terrain)
- Fixed: Problem that Pulse Rifle only had a flashlight in third person view
- Fixed: Problem that Portable Worklight stopped emitting light when leaving and coming back
- Fixed: Problem that Terrain Placeables (Oxygen Generator, Hydrogen Generator etc) switched to OFF if player walks away
- Fixed: Green water patches
- Fixed: Problem that line between Trading Station and Masperon in sector map had no arrow (actually it is a one-way jump)
- Fixed: Problem that Light Lantern (Light Group) had no bottom plane
- Fixed: Typo in "CONNECTION ESABLISHED AGAIN"
- Possible fix for another registry exception
- Fixed: Internal exception related to UMA character (we finally fixed this exception that follows us for a while now. Thanks to everyone who has sent in a log on the support email: Build 0859 #61AC6, Build 0857 #8FBA2, Build 0844 #D3DBB)


Alpha 6.0 Teaser:


(debug view of a major Alpha 6.0 feature)

Hi guys,

We just released a small hotfix (Alpha 5.3.2) that solves a relatively frequent internal exception aka "Continue or Quit" CoQ error. This internal exception was linked to the constructor and had the error codes #958D9 [Build 0859] and #DD38B [Build 0857] on the support email. Thanks to everybody who sent in their log.

Changelog: Alpha 5.3.2 (Build 864)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Internal exception linked to constructor

Hi guys,

We just released a small hotfix (Alpha 5.3.2) that solves a relatively frequent internal exception aka "Continue or Quit" CoQ error. This internal exception was linked to the constructor and had the error codes #958D9 [Build 0859] and #DD38B [Build 0857] on the support email. Thanks to everybody who sent in their log.

Changelog: Alpha 5.3.2 (Build 864)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Internal exception linked to constructor

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

We just released a small update that implements a highly requested feature: we adapted the turret targeting such that turrets do not shoot anymore at a structure's middle position if no target option is selected (or all of the selected target options are destroyed). In this case, the turrets will not shoot at the structure anymore. As an example, you can now use your HV to take out the turrets of a POI and then use the HV to defend its position while you conquer the POI (as shown in the above screenshot).

Please continue to report 5.3 bugs and issues right here: http://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-5-3-x.9500

Changelog: Alpha 5.3.1 (Build 859)

This is a server and client update.

Changes:
- Turrets do not shoot at a structure's middle position any more if no target option is selected
- Replaced old turrets on several BA stock prefabs

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Disassembling Fiber Plant gives Akua Berry Sprout
- Fixed: FP gets stuck when creating Emergency Ratios with Corn instead of Plastic Raw Material
- Fixed internal error linked to Constructor

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

We just released a small update that implements a highly requested feature: we adapted the turret targeting such that turrets do not shoot anymore at a structure's middle position if no target option is selected (or all of the selected target options are destroyed). In this case, the turrets will not shoot at the structure anymore. As an example, you can now use your HV to take out the turrets of a POI and then use the HV to defend its position while you conquer the POI (as shown in the above screenshot).

Please continue to report 5.3 bugs and issues right here: http://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-5-3-x.9500

Changelog: Alpha 5.3.1 (Build 859)

This is a server and client update.

Changes:
- Turrets do not shoot at a structure's middle position any more if no target option is selected
- Replaced old turrets on several BA stock prefabs

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Disassembling Fiber Plant gives Akua Berry Sprout
- Fixed: FP gets stuck when creating Emergency Ratios with Corn instead of Plastic Raw Material
- Fixed internal error linked to Constructor

Hey Galactic Survivalists!

We originally started Alpha 5.3 with the aim of only fixing some remaining issues in order to have a stable and polished game during the longer development phase for the upcoming major Alpha 6.0 update.

However, we could not resist the temptation and added a few more goodies for you to play around with. One of the highlights: we added the first iteration of an improved turret targeting mechanism. You can now choose sub-targets like thrusters, turrets, mounted weapons or generators!

When taking a tour of the 5.3 features, we strongly recommend visiting Aitis (complete overhaul) as well as Masperon, Masperon Moon, Aestus and Skillon for having a look at the new and refined deco!

Find all the additions, tweaks and bugfixes listed below!

Thanks to all testers of the Experimental version over the last week and all the valuable feedback given! :) The Experimental thread had more than 17’000 views and more than 300 comments. That is awesome!

As always: have a lot of fun and thanks a lot in advance for helping us track down remaining bugs!

Please report 5.3 bugs and issues right here: http://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-5-3-x.9500

Cheers,

Empyrion Dev Team

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

Changelog: Alpha 5.3 (Build 857)

Improved Turret Targeting:
- First implementation of a more fine-grained turret targeting: you can decide for each turret which target it attacks among these devices: Core, Turrets, Mounted Weapons, Thrusters, Generators.


New Terrain and Decorations on Aitis:
- Complete overhaul of lava planet Aitis




Other Decoration Improvements on Planets:

- Added more alien deco plants to Masperon (planet + moon)
- Added dark rocks to Masperon (planet + moon)
- Added biome sound to Masperon planet
- Tweaked Masperon Moon: reduced ground fog intensity + tweaked colors on some plants / tree to better match environment
- Tweaked deco on lava planet Aestus
- Tweaked barren planet Skillon: grass matches better terrain color, tweaked material of stones
- Several other tweaks to deco plants and trees
- Added big flower to Akua

Visuals:
- Updated models of thrusters (regular, enclosed, slant, small)

- Added tracer shots to NPC Zirax and Turret Robot
- New placement axis shader (to sort properly with bounding box and blocks being placed)
- Tweaked sun flare on Aestus
- Updated resource icons: instead of blue outline we now integrated a white glow -> please let us know what you think
- Tweaked grey version NPC alien assassin (added emissive)
- Reduced amount of under water particles
- Tweaked flares on rocket projectiles

Additions:
- Added several new railing blocks

- Added red version of NPC alien assassin


Changes:
- Optimization for reflection on player helmet: we reduced the render distance for the helmet reflection to 20m => this optimization can have a huge effect in multiplayer when several players are close by (before this situation could lead to significant frame drops)
- De-activated empty weapon sound on turrets to avoid annoyance when turret always tries to reload
- For performance reasons: Temporarily de-activated flies sound on worm plant
- PDA actions of type "NearPoi" (= go to / find a POI) can now have temporary waypoints ("Destinations") to guide the player. Implemented for missions "Find Abandoned Mine on Akua" and "Find Abandoned Factory on Omicron"
- Added infinite stock of base attack drones on all playfields
- Added 85 Unlock Points to Tech Tree (because they were missing to unlock everything)
- Updated some loading screenshots + updated text
- Added new loading screenshots

Gameplay Tweaks:
- Placing a new core now sets structure to Private instead of Public
- Weapons that ignore atmo parameter now show correct "Eff. Range" (e.g. Drill, Multitool, etc)
- More weapons ignore atmo parameter for range calculation: e.g. Chainsaw, Harvester Module
- Tweaked NPC spawning on Masperon planet, Omicron, Aitis, Oscutune to add more diversity
- Slightly increased spawn rate of certain NPCs
- Slightly increased drop rate of Crushed Stone
- Added max limit of 8 to player sentry gun
- Crushed Stone can now be found on Aestus and Aitis

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Problem that HV hover engines temporarily lost effect when being hit (e.g by alien turrets)
- Fixed: Problem that Harvest Module did not always function correctly - especially in 3rd person view
- Fixed: Problem that Antigrief zone could be exploited to block ore deposits
- Fixed: Problem that terrain textures were not always correctly set (eg forest texture did not always correspond to where forest was)
- Fixed: Problem that explosions were rendered sometimes inside cockpit
- Fixed: Reflections going white/causing lighting issues in certain situations
- Fixed: Problem that turrets did not use ammo as long as player stayed in cockpit (MP only)
- Fixed: Problem that Color/Texture tool beam hit player's face if firing at a target out of range
- Fixed: Problem that private structures of same faction members shot each other
- Fixed: XP gain exploit/glitch: Placing a terrain placeable, picking it up and placing again gives endless XP
- Fixed: Problem that active Vessels moved out of position when pointing at them and holding O (SP only)
- Fixed: Problem of endless loop in constructor if (a) sub-crafting has a problem and (b) inventory is full
- Fixed: Blueprint bug, adapted Blueprint modding error reporting
- Fixed: Problem with green head on red alien shot + adapted transparency
- Fixed: Problem with Cockpit FOV when changing FOV outside of Cockpit
- Fixed: Problem with strange glass artifacts in some cockpits
- Fixed: Time/biome info was not hidden when Player Drone active
- Possible fix when container is open and player gets disconnected from server
- Fixed: Several terrain layer problems on Aestus and Aitis
- Fixed localization issues with non-breaking space characters
- Fixed file sharing violations when copying or deleting save games in Resume Game window
- Fixed: Problem that using Drill T2 gave an exception in playfield server log
- Fixed: Wrong caption on loading screen: instead of Survival Constructor now O2 Generator

Hey Galactic Survivalists!

We originally started Alpha 5.3 with the aim of only fixing some remaining issues in order to have a stable and polished game during the longer development phase for the upcoming major Alpha 6.0 update.

However, we could not resist the temptation and added a few more goodies for you to play around with. One of the highlights: we added the first iteration of an improved turret targeting mechanism. You can now choose sub-targets like thrusters, turrets, mounted weapons or generators!

When taking a tour of the 5.3 features, we strongly recommend visiting Aitis (complete overhaul) as well as Masperon, Masperon Moon, Aestus and Skillon for having a look at the new and refined deco!

Find all the additions, tweaks and bugfixes listed below!

Thanks to all testers of the Experimental version over the last week and all the valuable feedback given! :) The Experimental thread had more than 17’000 views and more than 300 comments. That is awesome!

As always: have a lot of fun and thanks a lot in advance for helping us track down remaining bugs!

Please report 5.3 bugs and issues right here: http://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-5-3-x.9500

Cheers,

Empyrion Dev Team

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

Changelog: Alpha 5.3 (Build 857)

Improved Turret Targeting:
- First implementation of a more fine-grained turret targeting: you can decide for each turret which target it attacks among these devices: Core, Turrets, Mounted Weapons, Thrusters, Generators.


New Terrain and Decorations on Aitis:
- Complete overhaul of lava planet Aitis




Other Decoration Improvements on Planets:

- Added more alien deco plants to Masperon (planet + moon)
- Added dark rocks to Masperon (planet + moon)
- Added biome sound to Masperon planet
- Tweaked Masperon Moon: reduced ground fog intensity + tweaked colors on some plants / tree to better match environment
- Tweaked deco on lava planet Aestus
- Tweaked barren planet Skillon: grass matches better terrain color, tweaked material of stones
- Several other tweaks to deco plants and trees
- Added big flower to Akua

Visuals:
- Updated models of thrusters (regular, enclosed, slant, small)

- Added tracer shots to NPC Zirax and Turret Robot
- New placement axis shader (to sort properly with bounding box and blocks being placed)
- Tweaked sun flare on Aestus
- Updated resource icons: instead of blue outline we now integrated a white glow -> please let us know what you think
- Tweaked grey version NPC alien assassin (added emissive)
- Reduced amount of under water particles
- Tweaked flares on rocket projectiles

Additions:
- Added several new railing blocks

- Added red version of NPC alien assassin


Changes:
- Optimization for reflection on player helmet: we reduced the render distance for the helmet reflection to 20m => this optimization can have a huge effect in multiplayer when several players are close by (before this situation could lead to significant frame drops)
- De-activated empty weapon sound on turrets to avoid annoyance when turret always tries to reload
- For performance reasons: Temporarily de-activated flies sound on worm plant
- PDA actions of type "NearPoi" (= go to / find a POI) can now have temporary waypoints ("Destinations") to guide the player. Implemented for missions "Find Abandoned Mine on Akua" and "Find Abandoned Factory on Omicron"
- Added infinite stock of base attack drones on all playfields
- Added 85 Unlock Points to Tech Tree (because they were missing to unlock everything)
- Updated some loading screenshots + updated text
- Added new loading screenshots

Gameplay Tweaks:
- Placing a new core now sets structure to Private instead of Public
- Weapons that ignore atmo parameter now show correct "Eff. Range" (e.g. Drill, Multitool, etc)
- More weapons ignore atmo parameter for range calculation: e.g. Chainsaw, Harvester Module
- Tweaked NPC spawning on Masperon planet, Omicron, Aitis, Oscutune to add more diversity
- Slightly increased spawn rate of certain NPCs
- Slightly increased drop rate of Crushed Stone
- Added max limit of 8 to player sentry gun
- Crushed Stone can now be found on Aestus and Aitis

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Problem that HV hover engines temporarily lost effect when being hit (e.g by alien turrets)
- Fixed: Problem that Harvest Module did not always function correctly - especially in 3rd person view
- Fixed: Problem that Antigrief zone could be exploited to block ore deposits
- Fixed: Problem that terrain textures were not always correctly set (eg forest texture did not always correspond to where forest was)
- Fixed: Problem that explosions were rendered sometimes inside cockpit
- Fixed: Reflections going white/causing lighting issues in certain situations
- Fixed: Problem that turrets did not use ammo as long as player stayed in cockpit (MP only)
- Fixed: Problem that Color/Texture tool beam hit player's face if firing at a target out of range
- Fixed: Problem that private structures of same faction members shot each other
- Fixed: XP gain exploit/glitch: Placing a terrain placeable, picking it up and placing again gives endless XP
- Fixed: Problem that active Vessels moved out of position when pointing at them and holding O (SP only)
- Fixed: Problem of endless loop in constructor if (a) sub-crafting has a problem and (b) inventory is full
- Fixed: Blueprint bug, adapted Blueprint modding error reporting
- Fixed: Problem with green head on red alien shot + adapted transparency
- Fixed: Problem with Cockpit FOV when changing FOV outside of Cockpit
- Fixed: Problem with strange glass artifacts in some cockpits
- Fixed: Time/biome info was not hidden when Player Drone active
- Possible fix when container is open and player gets disconnected from server
- Fixed: Several terrain layer problems on Aestus and Aitis
- Fixed localization issues with non-breaking space characters
- Fixed file sharing violations when copying or deleting save games in Resume Game window
- Fixed: Problem that using Drill T2 gave an exception in playfield server log
- Fixed: Wrong caption on loading screen: instead of Survival Constructor now O2 Generator

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

We just released Alpha 5.3 on the EXPERIMENTAL Branch where we implemented the first version of the new turret targeting behavior.

Turrets no longer shoot only at the core but they now shoot at the closest device among the following devices: turrets, sentry guns, mounted weapons, thrusters, core and warp drive.

In addition, we fixed the shadow flickering problem.

For the full list of features, check out the complete changelog on the forum: http://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-experimental-5-3-improved-turret-targeting.9395

Switch over to the EXP branch and try them out!

We need your help in tracking down the remaining bugs. Please report bugs over here: http://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-experimental-5-3.9391

Thank you in advance for your help.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALPHA 5.3 IS NOT YET RELEASED ON THE PUBLIC BRANCH

P.S. How to switch to Experimental version: http://empyriononline.com/threads/new-experimental-branch-on-steam.6371/

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

We just released Alpha 5.3 on the EXPERIMENTAL Branch where we implemented the first version of the new turret targeting behavior.

Turrets no longer shoot only at the core but they now shoot at the closest device among the following devices: turrets, sentry guns, mounted weapons, thrusters, core and warp drive.

In addition, we fixed the shadow flickering problem.

For the full list of features, check out the complete changelog on the forum: http://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-experimental-5-3-improved-turret-targeting.9395

Switch over to the EXP branch and try them out!

We need your help in tracking down the remaining bugs. Please report bugs over here: http://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-experimental-5-3.9391

Thank you in advance for your help.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALPHA 5.3 IS NOT YET RELEASED ON THE PUBLIC BRANCH

P.S. How to switch to Experimental version: http://empyriononline.com/threads/new-experimental-branch-on-steam.6371/