May 11, 2018

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Update May 12, 2018: Hotfix (Build 1623)

Starter Planet (Temperate) Update:
- Reduced tree density in forest biomes to improve FPS
- Removed strong temperature reduction for several biomes (Forest, DeepForest, Marsh)
- Replaced some 3d models with grass meshes to reduce draw calls and improve FPS

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: 'Shadow jumping' every 10 game minutes
- Fixed: FPS drop in dense vegetation during dusk and dawn (ie sun is flat)
- Fixed: Several internal exception found in output logs

============

Hello Galactic Survivalists!

Welcome to Alpha Experimental 8.0 - Part 4! We are making good progress and are getting close to the final polishing and bug fixing phase.

Important:
- Please start a new save game in EXP 4 since we changed the naming of some yaml parameters (you can load old save games but the terrain might have changed)
- Please also make sure you do NOT use custom config.ecf when playing the Experimental version, as this can cause issues when items or their composition or template is changed. To ensure that, go to ..\Empyrion - Galactic Survival\Content\Configuration and rename or remove any config.ecf file (You can keep the Config_Example.ecf).
- Survival Constructor is now ‘Portable Constructor’ and former Suit Constructor is now ‘Survival Constructor’!

Phase 4 has again added a few more gameplay elements, like the Mobile Heater/Cooler that can directly be crafted from the Survival Constructor. This should further resolve issues with temperature - of course at the cost that you need to stay close to it.

Apart from changes to the Repair-System, we added a few more features that you will see growing in the next updates, like POI are now allowed to float, several updates on gameplay mechanics, visuals and loads of other changes and improvements!

As always: First play, then Feedback! :)

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New Planets
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-newplanets.37161/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Solar System Generator - Doku & Feedback
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-solar-system-generator-doku-feedback.37162/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: AI Behavior
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-ai-behavior.37160/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Repair Template & Repair-to-Template
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-repair-template-repair-to-template.37156/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Suit- and Survival Mechanics
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-suit-and-survival-mechanics.37159/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New food and food-item drop system
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-new-food-and-food-item-drop-system.37158/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New Status Effects / Diseases
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-new-status-effects-diseases.37157/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Constructor Progression & Consistency Changes
https://empyriononline.com/conversations/exp-part-4.2948/

Note: If you are NEW to Alpha 8.0 please read the individual feedback thread starters as they contain valuable information of the new gameplay mechanics!
Please report all bugs over here:

Bug Reports: Alpha 8 EXP Phase 4
https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-8-0-exp-phase-4.37658/

Bug Reports: Solar System Generator
https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-solar-system-generator.37387/

Bug Reports: Controller and Keymapping https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-controller-and-keymapping.37450/

Enjoy Phase 4!

Cheers,
Empyrion Dev Team

==================

CHANGELOG: Alpha Experimental 8.0.2 (Build 1621)

Mobile Heater/Cooler:

- Added “Mobile Air Con” terrain placeable (3d model is placeholder and will be replaced soon)
- Added Mobile AirCon to templates (SuitConstr), Techtree and start equipment (easy and medium difficulty)
Temperature: 25 # Target temperature that device tries to attain
TemperatureGain: 30 # Max temperature that device is able to cool down or heat up
(can be changed in Config.ecf)

Floating Bases on Planets:

- Added possibility to switch off Structural Integrity via yaml:
You can now create floating bases by adding a new parameter to the PROPERTIES section of a POI. Have a look into the playfield_static.yaml in this folder for the full syntax: ..\Empyrion - Galactic Survival\Content\Playfields\TemperateStarter
- We added a floating Trading Station as an example on starter planet. Please note that this is just to showcase the new feature - we might replace it with a story POI anytime soon.
- We will allow to use random placement of flying bases in the next update (current only fixed placement)

Starter Planet Update:
We did a major rework of the starter planet: it has now a higher diversity (thanks to Needleship)

- Starter biome is now less elevated to avoid too low temperatures
- Added more variation to trees
- Added new POI (Xenu Mainframe) to orbit - thanks to Ramachandra
- Updated POI distribution to avoid spawning of alien towers in radiated biome
- Added promethium and pentaxid to radiated biome
- Added BrainFungus to deco system > it will now spawn in Forest biome

Repair-to-Template and Repair Blocks Update:
- Destroyed repair bays drop only 60% of its ingots now to avoid exploits
- Repairing now costs 1 Iron Ingot per 200 HP (before 100 HP)
- When changing input/status, show "Scanning..." status until next feedback change
- Immediately update Start/Stop repair Button
- Block input grid while repair is in progress
- Better contrast on input field + add border
- Moved "Info" label to separate panel in Repair Bay section
- Force recheck of scanning to ensure no locked state
- Disable Item Drop input when Scanning or Repairing states are active

Template Update:
- Added to Large Constructor: RCS T1 (CV), Landinggear Blocks (CV), Gravity Generator, Flak Shell (CV)
- Portable Constructor: Added Plastic Raw Material

Balancing:
- Reduced energy consumption of O2 Stations to 5kW
- Increased HP of containers from 50 to 100

Constructor Progression & Consistency Changes:
In the upcoming updates (probably starting with late 8.x or 9.0), we plan to change where certain devices can be crafted in context to the specialization for a given structure/vessel.

As this needs more planning and might also need a full new concept of a material-crafting progression, we only removed BA/CV devices from Mobile Constructor (HV/SV) for now, as, after the recent addition of the Survival Constructor (Formerly known as “SuitConstructor”) and the addition of various devices that could not be crafted before, there are now better and alternative ways, which allow us to already add a better fit for a consistent crafting-progression and device specialization to some extend right now.

All those devices listed in the ‘Removal List’ below, can be produced with the Portable Constructor (Which can be produce with the Survival Constructor in a case of an emergency) or in a Base. We also removed some devices, which do not fit the Mobile Constructors assignment, being a device to fix up your small and hover vessel until you get back to Base or CV for full repairs/upgrades. An additional goal is to reduce amount of template clutter as well (As long as other alternatives to craft the removed item are available).

Please note that some of the new or old devices and weapons might still need components that cannot be crafted in the constructor from ores directly. Although this might become intentional for some devices, this will be one of the areas the planned material- and crafting progression will change on a global level in the future.

a) Removal List:
FuelTankMSSmall (Small Fuel Tank), FridgeMS (Fridge T1), WaterGenerator, SolarGenerator (Solar Capacitor), GeneratorBA (Small Generator), FoodProcessorV2 (Food Processor), ConstructorT1V2 (Large Constructor), ArmorLocker, Core, PlayerBike, PlayerBikeKitDoorBlocks (Automatic Doors), LightLargeBlocks (Lights CVBA), LightWork, LightWork02, OxygenTankSmallMS (Small Oxygen Tank), CloneChamber, ContainerAmmoLarge (Large Ammo Box), TrussLargeBlocks, StairsBlocksWood, WoodBlocks, BA and HV Starter blocks, ConcreteBlocks, StairsBlocksConcrete, HullLargeBlocks, HullArmoredSmallBlocks (Advanced block for vessels, not fitting to mobile constructor template progression)

b) Added to Mobile Constructor to enable building all templates available there:
EnergyMatrix, CobaltAlloy, MagnesiumPowder, FluxCoil, Oscillator

Visuals and UI:
- Added veins to resource rock textures

- Copper color tweaks > it has now the expected color of copper again
- Updated visuals and behavior of pickup messages (large panels and icons, only show XP Gains of 500 or greater in XP/Pickup window, etc)
- Terrain "Relief" is now only active in the distance (used for mountains)
- Updated some Control Panel icons
- Improvements to the 3D sector map. Small optimization to map planet loading materials (wait until the planet is visited first)
- Renamed info window when using Survival Tool on deco stones in “Rock Drill” mode

Update of Preview Icons:
We updated a lot of preview icons (especially ore resources + ingots, food items etc) to make them more distinguishable. Please let us know what you think

Gameplay:
- Player bike can now be spawned on the poles and near the former green wall
- Added Nutrient Solution to Portable Constructor (now in Food category)
- Triceratops is now classified as Prey again
- Adapted size class distribution of planets (class 2 and 5 have lower probability)
- Grouped MedicBay + all Medical Scanners in one Group
- Loot update: swapped Grilled Vegetables with Fried Vegetables
- Add possibility to set a Special Biome with random location (see starter planet)
- Added new parameter 'BiomesExcluded' to random POI and Resource data in playfield.yaml - use to exclude biomes for random placement. If both 'Biome' and 'BiomesExcluded' are specified, the new one has priority: Added example for BiomesExcluded to starter planet
- Removed movement collider for several plants
- Added Regenerate properties to all POIs and asteroid resources (active if regenerate is enabled in gameoptions)
- Small console is now displayed in the control panel and can be grouped

Updated POIs:
- AI Planetary Patrol Craft - Set updates (thanks to rainyday)

- Xenu Large Power Station + Listening Post (thanks to Dead8Eye & Fractalite)
- Updated Epsilon Radar Station Set (thanks to Captain Jack II, LiftPizzas & Fractalite)
- Added Deep Space Radar Station Set (thanks to Kaeser)

- Added new Tier 1 Stock Base: Thanks to Jenniphurr

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1382220863
- Added 3 new Epsilon POIs (thanks to Fractalite)
- Updated Trading Stations
- POI Talos Back update: put core into a more logical place
- Updated XENU faction POIs > Large Power Station, Advanced Vehicle Port, Advanced Spaceport (thx to Dead8Eye and Fractalite)
- Updated BAO_CrusaldOrbital (thx to Pantera)

POI Radar Station Update + PDA Update:
- Added dedicated Control Room for the last Story Mission (Thx to Ramachandra)
- Fixed Problem when using secret route
- Added Radar-Station internal one-way quick teleport back (convenience; Teleporter needs to be found, though)

Derelict Mining Ship POI update (thanks for your feedback):
- Made the entrance bit more visible, easier to spot where you should start
- Added couple lights to steer you into right direction once inside
- Opened all the hatches and lattices so that you don't have to destroy a single block in order to go thru this dungeon (also makes the 'correct' path bit easier to spot)
- Minor tweaks here and there
- playfield_static.yaml: Added group name "DungeonSpace" for BP Group

Akua-Omicron Scenario Update:
- Added Orbital Trading Station to starter orbit in Akua-Omicron scenario
- Updated POI distribution on Akua
- Activated base in creative mode

Changed Naming of some Devices:
- Changed "Survival Constructor" to "Portable Constructor"
- Changed "Suit Constructor" to "Survival Constructor"
- "Cold effect" is now “Hypothermia”
- "Blackout Cold" (Collapse) is now “Freezing”

Other Changes:
- Deleting Cache on startup of game if the Build number has changed
- Temperature and Radiation is now displayed in BlockInfo
- Repair Console is now exported to Config.ecf
- Weather has less impact on night light intensity
- AI drone: jet fly controller update
- Improved AI drone bomber drone behavior + added new console command to generate base and drone waves
- Underground resource: added console command for voxel to deplete resource (dres) around player (adl). cmd = "dres apl"
- Added new Seaweed05
- Temporarily deactivated startup info
- Tweak orbit map planet model scaling to look a bit better.
- Activate “RegeneratePOIs” from gameoptions.yaml
- Updated Localization
- Mod changes: 3a,b + 5a,b,c,d,e
- Implemented: ModAPI: Player ID missing in Event_PdaStateChange
- Enhanced: ModAPI function for dialog box with up to two buttons and return which button was pressed

Terrain Texture Update:
- All "AlienGreen" textures
- AlienBlack01, GrassBrown, Grass01Brown, Grass06
- Terrain texture fix: RockGrey02 vertical line removed

Controller Update:
- Cursor mode now auto-activates when using the controller while in a menu without full focus-jump/controller support.
- Cursor mode will activate/deactivate when switching devices.
- Reapplied sensitivity curve to controller movement.
- Added full support for picking up objects with controller (Left Shoulder + Y by default).
- Added default controller mappings for SwitchView (click in right stick), main power switch (d-pad up), and rolling (shoulder buttons).
- Applied sensitivity curve to soft cursor.
- Radial window selector menu is now togglable with 'Back' on controller.
- Removed inactive state from radial window selector menu when navigating via controller.
- Added support for controller look sensitivity + inversion.
- Improved input mapping interface a bit to make controller selection more obvious.
- Fixed input device tab scroll restrictions.

Planet Generation Update:
- Supporting now 1. missing SelectionCriteria, 2. SelectionCriteria with first item 'true', 'false' to be either always true or always false
- Added BiomeStampTries to yaml
- AvoidDistance now uses [min, max] (instead of x,z distances)
- Added StampForcesBiomeType: OverlapAll, OverlapOwn, OverlapOther, OverlapOff
- With all StampForcesBiomeType that allow overlap, an overlap of 20% is allowed
- Renamed "StampsForceBiome" to "StampForcesBiome"
Important: all playfield creators need to update their yamls and rename this property. Sorry for the inconveniences

SSG Update:
- Adjusted light to show contrast a bit better (maybe 3d terrain is slightly darker now)
- Stop process when dynamic template may have errors.

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Duplicating Survival Constructor
- Fixed: Hotbar items duplicating from the survival constructor
- Fixed: Hotbar items disappearing
- Fixed: Problem that player was sliding on terrain > can you pls verify if it behaves again like before EXP - Part III release
- Fixed: Item dupe
- Fixed: Dropped items from repair bay not properly stacked
- Fixed: Waypoints do not show the shortest route if the waypoint is on the other side of the former green wall
- Fixed: Space AIPV not taking damage from player weapons.
- Fixed: Vessels taking no damage from AI Turrets.
- Fixed: When cutting down a tree with a HV not all of the wood given goes into the Harvest box.
- Fixed: Teleporters on stock POI's target locations are causing players to get stuck in the loading screen.
- Fixed: Voxel Ore Deposits not entirely emptying.
- Fixed: Severe SI issues with POI placements
- Fixed: Lever state is not respecting the saved status
- Fixed: Terrain collectible plants becoming uncollectible.
- Fixed: When resuming a game, a harvested plant cannot be destroyed anymore
- Fixed: Repair bay T1 and T2 does not work anymore
- Fixed: OUTPUT queue of Food Processor does not stop perish timer
- Fixed: Possible to place a T1 RepairBay when having a T2 already
- Fixed: XP and Unlock Points indicators disappear when switching between Suit Constructor and Stats in Player Window
- Fixed: After placing a prefab BA the Solar panels are not turning on in the daytime.
- Fixed: Heavy Window Blocks do not mirror correctly
- Fixed: Problem that the marker after depleting a voxel resource deposit was not removed
- Fixed: AI Drone bomber - wave of bombers doesn't attack the base when far away
- Fixed: Problem that Dimple Dome Plant harvest stage was completely white
- Fixed: Texture stretching on poles seen on planet map
- Fixed: When the HUD timer goes past 00:00 the timer is not displaying correctly.
- Fixed: Random POIs and resources may have been placed too near the former "green wall" or pole area
- Fixed: Waypoint marker when edited will be positioned high above or below where it should be.
- Fixed: Wrong offset of certain stamps
- Fixed: Trading Station with active teleporter spawned in Akua-Omicron setting
- Fixed: Problem that lava texture had inconsistent temperatures
- Fixed: Copy & paste selection area can only be moved 1 block space at a time.
- Fixed: Exception triggered after deconstructing blocks
- Fixed: Repair Bay T2 cannot be upgraded but Multitool plays upgrade sound
- Fixed: Exception when loading into a scenario.
- Fixed: Controller sensitivity setting not working and improved range.
- Fixed: Q&M error after placing the new heavy windows blocks again
- Fixed: Random CoQ when approaching Radar Station in Godmode
- Fixed: Exception whilst mining.
- Fixed: Wrong HP display of Heavy Windows
- Fixed: ModAPI: Extend amount of slots to 49 in ItemExchange window
- Fixed: Stamp output info scroll not working in SSG.
- Fixed: Adding and removing Heavy Window blocks leads to error
- Fixed: Wrong sound when selecting main menu "Player Setup"
- Fixed: Double sound when entering Resume Game window
- Fixed: MaxHealth problem

EAH - Update: Hot Fix 1.41.0.2 (Only for A8.0)
Please make sure to change the Version to Alpha 8 in the Config
- Added: Dedicated.yaml legacy fix
- Added: Gameoptions.yaml RegeneratePOIs

May 4, 2018

Alpha EXPERIMENTAL 8.0 - Part III

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

While Experimental Phase 2 addressed most of the Survival Start issues, Phase 3 will concentrate on some of the other features - but of course add more refinements to the Game Start! For example the Stamina-rebuild, reducing your food points is now tied to the difficulty setting (See details below). We also increased the output for the crushed-stones-to-ore reprocessing.

Repair-2-Template has seen a few changes as well and, beyond that, we changed the way how repairs are handled in general. Up to now, repairing a damaged block was for free - this has changed. Repairing a damaged block now uses Iron Ingots as a resource (100 HP demand 1 iron ingot). To make this work with the new Repair-2-Template method and to avoid having to manage different devices for the same tasks, we further unified the two features of the repair feature (Repair blocks + Repair-2-template) so you can always use it from one console.

Beyond these two topics, nearly every feature, from AI to Planets to Zirax Weapon balancing, got additions and refinements as well. So please check out the full changelog below for all the updates and, as always, please report your feedback directly to our dedicated feedback threads:

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New Planets
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-newplanets.37161/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Solar System Generator - Doku & Feedback
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-solar-system-generator-doku-feedback.37162/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: AI Behavior
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-ai-behavior.37160/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Repair Template & Repair-to-Template
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-repair-template-repair-to-template.37156/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Suit- and Survival Mechanics
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-suit-and-survival-mechanics.37159/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New food and food-item drop system
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-new-food-and-food-item-drop-system.37158/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New Status Effects / Diseases
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-new-status-effects-diseases.37157/

Note: If you are NEW to Alpha 8.0 please read the individual feedback thread starters as they contain valuable information of the new gameplay mechanics!

Please report all bugs over here:

Bug Reports: Alpha 8 EXP Phase 3
https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-8-0-exp-phase-3.37543/

Bug Reports: Solar System Generator
https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-solar-system-generator.37387/

Bug Reports: Controller and Keymapping https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-controller-and-keymapping.37450/

Enjoy Phase 3!

Cheers,
Empyrion Dev Team

================

CHANGELOG: Alpha Experimental 8.0.1 (Build 1610)

Repair-2-Template Update:

a. New Setup:
- Requirements: 1 Repair Console + Repair Bay T1 (Repair Blocks only) or Repair Bay T2 (Repair Blocks and Repair-2-Template)
- You now require also a repair console for "Repair Blocks" with Repair Bay T1 block
- If you upgrade Repair Bay T1 to T2, you will be able to use Repair-2-Template
- Repair Blocks now also costs resources: 100 Hitpoints = 1 Iron Ingot (first balancing test)
> basics are working but UI still needs adjustments (so overall this new setup is WIP)

b. General Changes:
- Repair bays drop their content when destroyed, keeps its content when upgraded
- Repair-2-Template is now also working for CVs (added Repair Bay T2 block for CV)
- RepairBay T1 can now be upgraded to T2
- Repair Console is now lower in Techtree
- Added better collider for Repair Console (screen)

Updated Starter Planet and Orbit:
- Added Radiated biome...

...and a very rare Forest Oasis biome:

- Reduced impact of night temperature on temperate starter planet
- Added Talon village to starter planet
- Added Creatures to Radiated biome
- Added 1-2 Xenu POIs Tier III on starter planet
- Updated Xenu POIs > changed red color to be consistent with Radar Stations
- Added creatures to PolarSnow area on temperate planets
- No laser space drones in Starter Orbit playfield (only plasma space drones)
- Added Derelict Mining Ship POI to starter orbit (thanks to rainydays)

What might have happened with this ship?

> Please give us feedback if we should add more of these "Space Dungeons" type of POIs

Additions:
- Added Heavy Windows

The hull parts will be texturable (probably Alpha 8.X) - the same applies for the hull parts of the new thrusters
- Added Template for Heavy Window Blocks (500kg, 1500HP, only Advanced Constructor, Steel/Glass/Plates 10/15/8)
- Updated Tier 1 Stock Bases: thanks to Kieve, Runningwithhamster and Brimstone > we are still looking for more low-tier Blueprints

(Creator: Runningwithhamster)

(Creator: Kieve)

(Creator: Brimstone)

PDA/POI Update:
- Updated Radar Station ComArray and RadarDish POIs (Added a better visible main entrance)
- Radar Station Main: Added Medic Station main level
- Radar Station Main: Swapped Zirax Rocket trooper spawns to other troop types (Laser, Shotgun, Minigun)
- Radar Station Main: Improved lighting situation in upper levels and in some lower level rooms
- Alien Tower Damaged: Now flattening terrain when placed
- Updated PDA mission "Revelations" mission text to hint that there is at least 2 ways to sneak into the main based
- Crashed Titan parts are slightly more damaged (thanks to Dinkelsen)

Zirax Weapon Rebalancing:
- Zirax Shotgun: Strong increase of Bullet Spread
- Zirax Minigun: Added Bullet spread, Increased RoF
- Zirax Laser: Reduced Range, Added small Bullet spread
- Zirax Rocket: Added small Bullet spread
>> WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Template Changes:
- Iron/Copper/Silicon reprocessing templates: half the amount of input is needed for the same output in ingots
- Added Growing Plot (Concrete) back to Large Constructor
- Added Growing Plot (Wood) also to Survival Constructor (As you can basically set up a farm without a growing light outside a base on temperate planets if temperatures are in the acceptable zone > Check the global notes over here: https://empyriononline.com/threads/read-first-gameplay-faq.10344/)
- Gatling Gun (HV/SV) + 15mm Bullets can now be crafted in Mobile Constructor
- Removed Concrete Destroyed Blocks from constructors.
- Slightly increased crafting times for all Windows L sizes (standard, armored, heavy)
- Removed Survival Constructor and Survival Tent from all Constructors except Suit Constructor
- LandClaimDevice can now be crafted in AdvConstructor only

Hand Weapon Crafting Location Change (incl. Ammo):
- Mobile Constructor (SV/HV): Only Basic Weapons (T1) [Excluded: Plasma Cannon, Laser Rifle]
- Large Constructor: All T1+T2 versions of hand weapons
- Advanced Constructor: All T1+T2+Enhanced version of hand weapons
>> WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Status Effects Update:
- Reduced Stamina drain from Low Food and No Food Status (Created a strong negative feedback loop with rebuilding stamina-method )
- OpenWound and PoisonBit now generate a low amount of Stamina 10 per second (instead of loosing stamina = like an Adrenaline Effect) >> WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Visuals:
- Added possibility to have dirt or other textures around POIs (can be configured in TE editor -> we re-enabled UnderTerrainID for POI Placement)
- Re-added Alpha 7 SV thruster model (we accidentally enabled the Alpha 4 SV thrusters)
- Updated several resource textures
- Color tweaks to resource, terrain and asteroid textures: now each resource has consistent coloring
- Reflect planet axis rotation in orbit and sector maps.
- Sector and orbit map: Added clouds to planets and display correct polar caps.
- Updated lava and alien planets
- Better texturing on snow playfield
- Door/antenna fixes to restore A7 coloring

Gameplay:
- LandClaimZones are now also active in space/orbit playfields
- Allow ingredients to be detected by the suit constructor when in the toolbar
- Allow blueprints to be spawned on Adm faction bases
- Added pickup to toolbar to more devices: Work Light, Tent, Water Generator, O2 Generator, AutoMiningDevice >> WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Updated Akua-Omicron Scenario:
Tweaked Akua-Omicron scenario so it is adapted to Multiplayer
- Increased amount of resource deposits
- Removed the story POIs from the starter planet
- Player now wears Light Armor
- Added Drill, Bio Fuel, Ore Scanner and Survival Constructor to start equipment
- Starter planet and orbit are now PvE playfields
The setting is still WIP and we are considering to let the player start in a base and remove the Light Armor again in the next update. The light armor removes the survival experience in the beginning but is necessary for the escape pod start since the drop zone of the escape pod drop varies in MP and is not always in the starter biome.

Rebalancing:
- Food reduction due to Stamina rebuild now depends on Difficulty Setting: To fill up 500 of stamina points....
* 7 units from food bar will be consumed (Easy)
* 15 units from food bar will be consumed (Medium)
* 30 units from food bar will be consumed (Hard)
- Added +5 food for Buds
- Rebalanced enemy turrets: Artillery and Rocket are now a bit weaker

Changes:
- Increased Scenario upload size limit from 10 to 100 MB
- New setting for pole biomes in playfield.yaml > see how "Biome: Pole" is now defined for eg TemperateStarter
- Adapted Planet Axis in dynamic.yaml for all playfields > now between -20 and 20
- Improved: FPS drop at dusk & dawn in Oasis on desert planet > pls send us save games if you find areas with heavy FPS drops
- Deactivated teleporters on all stock trading stations and added to generic groups: TS_Planet and TS_Orbit > please adapt your playfields accordingly
- Resume game window allows double click on game to load it
- Do not display mass for devices where weight has no impact yet (Terrain Placeables)
- "UpgradeTo" is now displayed in Block Info
- Updated POI distribution on all playfields (take into account size scaling)
- Reduced range of humming sound for WarpDrive (CV = 10m, SV = 5m)
- Orbit map asteroid fields are now better displayed
- When deleting a local savegame in the Resume Game menu, the corresponding Cache folder is also deleted
- Changed how Biome name is displayed: removed "bm" prefix if Biome is not localized
- SSG: allow user to change template directories when moving install locations. Use build number in version number.

AI Update:
- Animals react to player in water - special behavior for triceratops and spider: they will do some random movement and angry noises, when you are in water. When you go out of water, they will continue the attack if they are still alerted.
- AI parasaur alert balancing
- Improved AI bomber firing accuracy.

Controller Update:
- Added support for cycling between belt slots with bumpers on controller.
- First pass at sensitivity curve to improve controller movement/looking around
- Fixed 'Left Stick X' not appearing in control options UI.
- New system to manage input contexts, and three contexts for normal gameplay, in a menu, and in a menu in cursor mode.
- UI-specific controls are no longer active in-game and vice versa.

POI Naming Update:
- Renamed DroneBase group: now DroneBaseT1, DroneBaseT2 and DroneBaseT3 instead of DroneBaseAkua, DroneBaseOmicron etc
- Renamed Military POIs: now T1, T2, T3 instead of TierI, TierII, TierIII > eg XenuT3
> Playfield creators have to take this renaming into account

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Personal drone won't deploy in random locations.
- Fixed: Playfields sometimes being randomly regenerated on each load (ie terrain could change after resume game)
- Fixed problem that dropped items and backpacks fell through bases when dropped on them and game was reloaded/server got restarted
- Fixed: Exception after entering Moons.
- Fixed: Moon Starter was composed out of Cobalt and Silicon
- Fixed: Teleporters on stock POI's target locations are causing players to get stuck in the loading screen.
- Fixed: Not possible to cross the South Pole c2 and c3
- Fixed: Spiders sometimes not inflicting any damage to the player when being hit by them.
- Fixed: Asteroid fields sometimes disappear from orbit map when teleporting.
- Fixed: Problem that AI Space Drones were not spawned in orbit playfields
- Fixed: R2BP can be used to get a plants and tomatoes (any growing things) from a CV
- Fixed: Drones did not react to player in some use cases
- Fixed: Problems with AI bomber launching and docking to base
- Fixed: Problem that remaining ore for voxel resources was not saved correctly
- Fixed: Hazardous sign for weather is showing wrong
- Fixed: Ore deposit tags are not updating after being emptied by AMD's (Note: Voxel resources are currently not depleted by AutoMiners)
- Fixed: Teleporting to previously marked position did not work anymore
- Fixed: R2BP: After-BPsave placed blocks overlapping to-be-repaired blocks lead to un-removable ghost blocks after R2BP
- Fixed: Spiders were rotating after death + spiders did not run away always when afraid + spider navigation
- Fixed: “Playfield” cmd was not working for playfield_debug.yaml
- Fixed: Random exception when attacking a POI
- Fixed: Random placement on size 5 planets didn't use 25% of the planet surface
- Fixed: Problem that unexpected asteroid resources were spawning
- Fixed: Exception triggered after exiting to the main menu from a new game
- Fixed: Menu shortkeys not closing their respective windows.
- Fixed: Console not opening in title menu or in-game without a different menu being open.

New yaml parameters “IsScalingCount” and “IsImportant”:
Added playfield yaml random POI and resource parameters "IsScalingCount" and "IsImportant" to flag if CountMinMax should be scaled with the planet surface and if the random placer should try more to place the respective POI / Resource

"IsImportant" can be used for certain POIs to increase the probability that it is placed (normally 100 trials are made to find a suitable location for a POI, if IsImportant=True, we use 1000 trials)

"IsScalingCount" can be used for Resource Deposits and POIs
- scales the Count according to the planet size:
Class 2 = x1, Class 3 = x2, Class 4 = x4, Class 5 = x8
- if IsScalingCount=True, CountMinMax is given for a Class 2 planet and is scaled for larger planets
- deposit size is not affected

Example:
- Name: IronResource
IsScalingCount: True
CountMinMax: [ 3, 4 ]
- on class 2 planet 3-4 deposits will spawn
- on class 3 planet 6-8 deposits will spawn
- on class 4 planet 12-16 deposits will spawn
- on class 5 planet 24-32 deposits will spawn

Updated EAH Tool: Patch notes - 1.41.0.1
(Please make sure to change the version to Alpha 8 in the config)
- Added: Further Eventmanager integration (does not work yet)
- Added: Request Structure Update on Server Stop to have latest information
- Added: Implemented first draft of Chatbot-low level Admin options (not available yet)
- Added: Gameoptions.yaml integration
- Added: Fresh Start: Origin cleaned
- Added: Sector.yaml changes
- Added: CB:? in Messagebox
- Removed: CB:Heal
- Fixed: Planet Height in pole control now 1100 meters
- Fixed: Inventory problem setting one to many slots
- Fixed: Gameoptions.yaml: Anti grief bug
- Fixed: CSW Exploit. No chatbot possible on invalid server anymore. You can reset it with Player-Edit Information
- Fixed: Pole Control message

Apr 27, 2018

Alpha EXPERIMENTAL 8.0 - Part II

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hotfix: April 28, 2018 (Build 1598)

Changes:
- Animals do not follow player into water anymore
- Repair Console can now also be placed on a CV
- Re-arranged Repair Bay / Console in TechTree
- Now using sectors.yaml to determine default starter planets for Creative Mode
- Updated textures for Land Claim Device
- Added possibility to teleport using sector map (shift-right click when hovering over sector body)
- Added missing loca text for igmNoRepairBay
- Land Claim Device is now in "Equipment" group in Control Panel

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Invisible SV/HV thrusters
- Fixed: Drones sometimes not reacting to the players presence - especially in MP
- Fixed: Drone from a wave when close to a base sometimes did not attack base but instead was diving on the ground and did nothing (you need to start a new game to ensure that the fix works)

========

Hello Galactic Survivalists!

First of all: thanks for the overwhelming amount of feedback and responses to our first iteration of Alpha EXPERIMENTAL 8.0! :)

Although the Experimental Phase I was possibly a bit rough at some edges and a lot has changed compared to all the versions before, we’ve seen lots and lots of positive feedback on the now more survival-focused and possibly “harder” game start.

As promised, we picked up a lot of your feedback on that topic - and all others - and made some first improvements, like adding back more POIs to discover (Please tell us what you think of the amount and types!) and, of course, tried improving the Temperature-Food-Stamina topic, that possibly made even the Easy game start a bit too harsh at times (depending on the seed).

Check the changelog below for all the updates and, as always, please report your feedback directly to our main dedicated feedback threads:

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New Planets
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-newplanets.37161/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Solar System Generator - Doku & Feedback
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-solar-system-generator-doku-feedback.37162/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: AI Behavior
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-ai-behavior.37160/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Repair Template & Repair-to-Template
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-repair-template-repair-to-template.37156/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Suit- and Survival Mechanics
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-suit-and-survival-mechanics.37159/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New food and food-item drop system
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-new-food-and-food-item-drop-system.37158/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New Status Effects / Diseases
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-new-status-effects-diseases.37157/

Note: If you are NEW to Alpha 8.0 please read the individual feedback thread starters as they contain valuable information of the new gameplay mechanics!
Please report all bugs over here:

Bug Reports: Alpha 8 EXP Phase 2
https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-8-0-exp-phase-2.37449/

Bug Reports: Solar System Generator
https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-solar-system-generator.37387/

Bug Reports: Controller and Keymapping https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-controller-and-keymapping.37450/

Enjoy Phase 2!

Cheers,
Empyrion Dev Team

==============

CHANGELOG: Alpha Experimental 8.0.0 (Build 1597)

Gameplay:
- Reduced overall basic food consumption rate> food bar now drops slower
- Reduced impact of Temperature/Radiation on player > you can now stay longer in cold/hot environments / body slower adapts to changing temperatures
- Increased size of rock resource models to better see them
- POI: Added military Xenu POIs + Drone Base > ~ 6 km away from starter biome)
- POI: Added Artifacts POI group
- Rebalanced amount of ore deposits on Starter Planet: now roughly double amount of deposits but same total yield
- Slightly reduced stamina reduction of Survival Tool
- Survival tent is now placed better on the terrain instead of removing terrain. Removes more grass around
- Removed T2 weapons from Survival Constructor
- Added Emergency O2 generator to Suit Constructor (1 Iron, 3 Copper; Should allow to create purified water bottles, as soon as you found an energy source. For use when missing a water source)
- Removed water bottle requirement from beverages (the watered part is delivered by the ingredient itself)
- Added Energy Drink to Gamestart equipment (1 for Easy)
- AI Drone waves : Waves are trigger now only if the player is 50m around his base + Drone wave patrol radius around the base is increase form 200m to 600m.

Balancing:
- Increase building time for Survival Constructor by 50%
- Removed "Emergency O2 bottle" free item from Suit Constructor
- Added Energy Bars to Gamestart layout: Easy:2, Medium: 1
- Doubled perish timer of Energy Bar
- Doubled crafting time of Energy Bar
- Energy Bar: reduces Plant Protein requirement from 3 to 2
- Removed food point values from juices (has been an artifact from recalculations; not intentional; juices should server as cooldown and early health item)
- Adjusted Food Points for Cheese, Meat Burger, Pizza
- Aloe Vera swapped with Herbal Leaves drop (As Aloe Vera is currently not used AND this way you can basically self-grow the basic ingredient for most of the medical items!)
- Changed Aloe Vera trader/loot drops to Herbal leaves
- Corrected wrong value of vegetables (perish timer too high)
- Increased body temp drop for all juices to -3
- Lowered required items for all juices from 3 to 2

New Behavior of Triceratops:

The Triceratops is a herbivore animal, which can be startled by the player, but it has no fear and will not flee like the Parasaur. It will stand its ground! If you tickle it with your guns, be ready for its rage.
- when calm, the Triceratops roams around
- when it sees / hears the player, it will get protective and threaten the player (small roars, walking towards)
- If the player does not attack, the Triceratops will also not attack
- If the player attacks, the Triceratops becomes furious and attacks the player: when the player is close, it will use close range attack, when the player is further away, it will charge him with a roar

Updated AntiGriefZone system:
We are now using the term "LandClaim" instead of "AntiGrief". Some cool things are planned for Alpha 9 (not Alpha 8) with land claims :)
- Added "IsIgnoreLC" to devices (also in Config.ecf). We tagged all devices that are in "Essential Category" (thruster, cockpit, core, fuel tank etc) to be placeable in LandClaim zones > now you will be able to add eg a cockpit or core to your destroyed vessel
- Added "LandClaimZone (Off, Default, Device)" to playfield.yaml > now you can decide per playfield which LandClaim mode you prefer
- Added new block: LandClaimDevice for Bases

Visuals:
- Updated XL Thrusters for CV > now you can play around with them (preview icons not yet updated)

- Updated textures on CV Thrusters S, M and L

- Improved smoothing of the cutout area around POIs
- Add nebula to orbit map
- Add asteroid fields and align to planets in orbit map > still wip
- Improved snow and temperate planet texturing
- Updated Barren planet

- Added underground layers to Moon playfields
- Better underground layers for Snow and Desert planets
- First version of new Messages Window (XP/Pickup/etc)
- Sector map orbit lines no longer pierce planets; scale some UI elements according to distance.

SSG Update:
- Size moon according to class in Spacefield preview.
- SSG: don't overwrite existing gameoptions when exporting scenario.
- Adjust warp lines; scale labels with distance; fix light; add clouds to map planets.
- Copy gameoptions.yaml when exporting a scenario; no longer overwrite scenario when using Go to Planet

Terrain Texture Update:
- Terrain texture update: Cliff, Cliff2, Cliff3, CliffBrown, SandBrown03, RockGrey, RockRed, RockRed02, SandMars, SandYellow02, SandYellow03, SandYellow04, Stone, RockBlack04

In the above screenshot, you can see the updated glacier ice texture (RockGrey)
- Updated several resource textures

- Added Snow05
- Removed some leaves from GoodDirt since this texture is also used as underground layer

Changes:
- Added Playfield.yaml setting for BA/CV/HV/SV blueprints to be allowed or disallowed to be spawned
- Changed name of game version into "Experimental"
- Renamed Power Bar into Energy Bar
- Origin 0 is now available to limit teleporter/portal.
- Extended console cmd "statuseffectremove" ("ser"): "ser all" = remove all status effects
- Added loca for Survival Tent variants (standard, desert camo, woodland camo)
- Updated radial menu info of Survival Tool Defense mode "Can also harvest wood"
- Updated POI group XENU > re-arranged groups
- Renamed group for DroneBaseOmicron into XenuDroneBase
- Updated PDA: DeliciousEating Akua + Omicron + Dinner for Two missions: internally changed old items to current item requirements. Loca not updated (HUD using original names of drops)
- Updated Localization.csv

Controller Support Update:
- Left analog stick can now be used to control highlight in radial menus, 'A' to select the highlighted item.
- Bumped input config version so the placeholder mappings for the toggle run and open radial menu inputs get picked up.
- Added loc key for radial menu input.

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: AMD's do not work on Voxel ore resource deposits
- Fixed: Factions were reset after server restart
- Fixed: SP New Game's gameoptions did not contain difficulty data set by player in UI
- Fixed: Mushroom model glitching (gigantic size) after being picked up.
- Fixed: Spiders sometimes not inflicting any damage to the player when being hit by them (partial fix, when you encounter another situation with spiders not attacking, pls send us the save game)
- Fixed: Problem with portals that Origin 0 was treated special
- Fixed: LoD on a freshly planted Ahax Plant is too short. The plant vanishes when the player is about five blocks away.
- Fixed: Flour was not appearing in FoodProc anymore
- Fixed: Sometimes underground layers were not displayed correctly
- Fixed: Several exceptions reported by players and found in output logs
- Fixed: Exception when opening inventory of Escape Pod after Fresh Start
- Fixed: RepairBayT2 appeared in TT even though it is not yet functional
- Fixed: Survival tool defence mode had same icon as Rock Drilling mode
- Fixed: Support ‘Origin Restriction' for normal teleporters / Stargates
- Fixed: AI space drone : take off in the sky and fly like balloons instead of attacking
- Fixed: Wrong planet/moon sizes in space map
- Fixed: Wrong size display for solar panels
- Fixed: Hint text missing why a Blueprint is not allowed to be spawned in a playfield
- Fixed: 'statuseffect' console command: mistyping leads to CoQ
- Fixed: Request_Player_ItemExchange: Move all items buttons and shift left mouse button don't work

Apr 24, 2018

Alpha EXPERIMENTAL 8.0 - Part I

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

Today, we are very excited to announce the release of the first EXPERIMENTAL version of Alpha 8!

You’ve been patiently waiting for this day, following nearly half a dozen dev blogs and various teasers about the new features coming with Alpha 8.0. Now it is your turn to play and give us feedback! :)

Be aware that this is still a very rough version - so expect bugs and unpolished features. We wanted to release Alpha EXP 8.0 as early as possible to get your feedback!

CHANGELOG: Alpha Experimental 8.0.0 (Build 1591)

MAIN FEATURES:

Instead of detailing all the features, we just highlight the main Alpha 8 features and recommend reading the feedback threads below for more details.

1. Larger Planets:
Increased size from the current 8x4km (32km²) up to 64x32km (2048km²) playfields, i.e. the planets in Alpha 8 will be up to 64x larger than in Alpha 7!

We would like to give you an idea of how big these planets are. Do you see the spire base on the other side?

It looks quite far away - right? However, if you look at the map, it seems to be just in front of you:

- Actual size of a planet will also be reflected in the orbit
- Tilted planet axis so that the day/night ratio depends where you are on the planet (eg longer days and shorter nights on the northern hemisphere and vice versa on the southern hemisphere)
- Improved outside view of the planets in the orbit

2. Random Generation of Solar System:
- Each time you start a new game, a new solar system is generated with a different amount of planets and POIs
- You can control the generation process via a configuration file (number and type of planets, POIs, extension of solar system etc)

The above screenshot shows the new 3d sector map of a random solar system

3. Procedural Terrain Generation:
Procedural terrain generation is back - no fixed heightmap planets anymore

4. More Diverse Biomes:
Realistic biome distribution based on humidity and temperature:

By changing Temperature, Humidity and the Seed, we obtain a very varied biome distribution:

5. Underground Layers and Voxel Mining:
- The 'underground layers' are back. You will have the possibility to set up to 7 different consecutive layers for your planetary playfields
- In addition, the old Voxel mining is back as well

(depending on the resource, a playfield creator can decide whether to use the Alpha 7-style sub-surface rocks or the pre-Alpha 7 Voxel spheres)

6. Removal of Red and Green Wall:
We finally removed the red pole colliders and the green wall so that you can now cross the poles and you do not have to be afraid when you cross the green wall (the current version is still WIP and will be further improved during the EXP phase)

In the above screenshot, we are in the far north (actually the sun never sets here) beyond the former red wall and we are looking north. Pre-Alpha 8, this area was blocked. If you continue in this direction you will actually cross the north pole.

7. Updated Terrain Textures:
We improved the visuals on a planet by replacing almost all terrain textures

8. New Decoration Placement and Rendering System:
We integrated a new system for the placement and rendering of the decoration objects on a planet which allows for a dense vegetation that is rendered very far with little performance impact

9. Own Editor to Generate your Planets and Solar System:
- We developed our own Solar System Generator (SSG) to generate your planetary terrain and whole solar system
- The SSG editor will be distributed with the game on Steam

The editor features a full preview for planets, orbits and the solar system

For example, you will be able to preview the POI and resource distribution in the SSG as well as the NPC spawn points:

Note: You will now also have the possibility to place POIs and Ore Deposits by BIOME

10. New Suit and Survival Mechanics:
- We tried to have a more survival-style game start by giving the player only very basic equipment
- We integrated a very limited "Suit Constructor" (slow, can craft only very basic items like a food item, bandages etc) and a Survival Tent
- Added new Survival Tool for basic defense, rock drilling and deconstruction
- Sleeping in Escape Pod, Survival Tent and Beds in Single Player

11. Improved AI Behavior:
- More realistic behavior of the ground AI (vision sensor, noise system, alert level, fear sensor)

- Added AI bomber drone (it is part of the AI drone waves > currently used on Desert planet)
- New controller for AI Planet Vessel - it now more like a large and heavy ship
- New controller for space drones

12. Repair-to-Template:
Restore your ship to a previously saved Repair Template (feature is still WIP and will be refined during EXP)

13. New Status Effects / Diseases:
Fully revamped Status Effects, medicals and diseases mechanic

14. New Food and Food-item Drop System:
Fully revamped Food templates and Ingredients drop mechanic

15. Updated Models and Consistent Texturing of Old Models
We updated the textures on almost all 3d models to a new unified coloring and metallic workflow in order to have a more consistent look. In addition, we replaced some models such as the thrusters for CV. Here is the M Thruster CV:

... and as a teaser, here is a preview of the XL Thruster CV:

....and much more. For the full changelog, see https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-experimental-8-0-part-i.37392

DISCLAIMER:
When you play Alpha 8.0 the first time, please note that it is now a quite DIFFERENT experience in many game-start related aspects, compared to version 7.6! The distances are bigger, the drops are different, the mechanics got changed, new possibilities added and a lot of stuff got moved around.

This is also relevant for all our server owners and scenario builders: the changes to the planets resulted in a new file structure and a few new definitions, so that most of the playfields you have set up and are using right now, might not work with Alpha 8.0 without making the necessary changes. Please check the SSG Documentation for more details!

Said that, as always with an EXP version, we do NOT recommend to start building scenarios or playfields based on the new version right away, but possibly wait until Phase 2 or 3 when most initial feedback changes might have been integrated. If you want to set up a new savegame for your server for the duration of EXP, we strongly recommend using the Default MP scenarios - as this would also help us to get the maximum feedback out of the new settings.

As a PLAYER, we absolutely RECOMMEND to first read through ALL of the feedback threads posted below to get yourself up to date on the new and changed game mechanics BEFORE starting any new game!

This is true for the new game start in particular, as, due to all the changes on planets, playfields and features, we are basically back at the drawing board in terms of game start balance. Alpha 8.0 is literally throwing a lot (not all!) of the old methods, that worked the same and were never really changed since approx version 2.0 (or even v1.0) and a few things you might have gotten accustomed to, in terms of what happens when and what you get for game start, out of the window in favor of the game now living up to the "Survival" tag in its name a little bit more again.

Changing the game start and trying to give it a improved "Survival Experience" in that early game stage actually IS intentional!

Said that, this will possibly make or let some game elements feel harder in this first Experimental version, until they are fully balanced out and all new features are polished again!

We will do this together in the coming weeks of Empyrion Alpha 8.0 Experimental and, as always, iterate on your feedback for the upcoming 8.x updates!

Both, as a player, creator or server owner, please keep the aforementioned in mind when playing AND while giving feedback. :)

Thanks in advance for your dedicated help, improving Empyrion Galactic Survival! :)

Let’s roll!
Empyrion Dev Team

P.S. Please note that we do not support DX9 anymore with the release of Alpha EXP 8. However, we will leave the last Alpha 7.6 on a separate Steam branch when we officially release Alpha 8.

P.P.S If you are using a custom config.yaml, we recommend removing it before you start Alpha EXP 8.0

================

Bug Reporting:
Gameplay Issues: https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-8-0-exp-phase-1.37383/
Solar System Generator Issues:
https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-solar-system-generator.37387/

================

Main Features and Feedback Threads:
Alpha 8.0 EXP: New Planets
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-newplanets.37161/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Solar System Generator - Doku & Feedback
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-solar-system-generator-doku-feedback.37162/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: AI Behavior
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-ai-behavior.37160/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Repair Template & Repair-to-Template
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-repair-template-repair-to-template.37156/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Suit- and Survival Mechanics
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-suit-and-survival-mechanics.37159/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New food and food-item drop system
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-new-food-and-food-item-drop-system.37158/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New Status Effects / Diseases
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-experimental-8-0-part-i.37392/

Apr 9, 2018

Road to Alpha 8: Development Update V

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

The Experimental version is nearly around the corner! We have already started to refine some of the features that should be playable in the first iteration of the Alpha 8.0 public testing version. In addition, we are currently fixing the remaining major bugs to get the Experimental version ready for release.

1. Planet Update
In the current public version, when you dig into the ground, the textures do not change a lot. This was one of the downsides of the fixed heightmaps as the terrain shader was not very flexible with respect to textures.

In Alpha 8, the 'underground layers' are coming back. Creators will have the possibility to set up to 7 different consecutive layers for their planetary playfields.

2. AI Behavior Update

For the upcoming Experimental phase, we are developing a new AI technology, which will be used mainly for the AI of animals on the planets. We will be primarily using it on few animals on the starter planet.

2.1. Technology
We will be using a new Behaviour Tree technology for the animals. It is a visual tool, in which we can design the behaviour from small AI modules. This helps us to easily create prototypes and reuse the modules between animals.

To make the animal behaviour more natural we are using some new tools.
- Vision sensor - it will simulate vision of the animal. If you get in range and field of view, it will inform other systems of your presence
- Noise system - similar to vision sensor. This system is gathering some of the noises in game and feeding them in to the AI
- Alert level - If the animal can hear or see you, it can get alerted - it can be just a slight disturbance or a strong rage, depends on the alert source strength, was it just a rustle, or a shot in the back? You can now try to go stealthy, slowly and not using items. You can see the animals react by changing their behaviour. Learn to read the posture ;-)

- Fear sensor - similar to alert level, animal has also a fear level. The fear is increased with noises or damage, and decreased by time (as time heals everything) and friends. So if you see aggressive creature in big group, be careful!

2.2. New behaviours

Friendly herbivore:
A friendly herbivore will be eating grass (or maybe rocks, depends on their taste) and roam around the world peacefully. But if it is alerted, it will get cautions and eventually try to run to safety

Hungry predator:
This predator will roam the land, and when it sees a potential prey, it will attack! But if you scare it, it will run to his friends. Beware, it will come back for another bite! And possibly bringing that friends to the party! If it scares you, maybe you can get out of his vision...(sensor).

Curios fellow:
When you come close, it will be interested in you. As you are not on his daily menu, it will just watch, not bite. If you scare him, he will probably just run away... probably!

All behaviours are work-in-progress and more mechanics will follow...

3. New Game Start
In the current public version you can decide if you play the "Robinson Protocol" at a new game start, which is a strictly guided mini-tutorial that should get you started.

For Alpha 8, given the new possibilities we have, we have chosen to get rid of the 'tutorialesque' elements for a new game start. Instead you can choose to follow the "Story path" or not. The story missions themselves will not ask you to do this or that, but give you the general direction and add a few suggestions what to do or not. Simplified example: The task does not say "build a Hover Vessel and go there", but "Go there. Maybe consider building a Hover Vessel first".

As in Alpha 8 you might need to cross longer distances, you can now craft a Survival Tent in your Suit Constructor, which you can use to sleep at night.

The tent might be useful when the nights get too cold while exploring the planet - or when being away from any station with a bed (!) or the Escape Pod.

Story mode: Radar Site, created by Ramachandra

4. New POI Sound
Speaking of nights: as the Story might lead you to strange, unholy places, we thought we need a new POI sound to match those. Thanks to Alex!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cnqpp4jnwaebb5x/EvilWhispering_BiomeSound.ogg?dl=0

5. Art Department
Although a deeper integration of NPC is not part of Alpha 8, our Art and Design team is also working on improving the models. The female commanding officer model is one of the first that got their WIP status approved.

Also here are some pictures of the new thrusters:

Enjoy your day!

Empyrion dev team

PS: As Zirax police files indicate, a Small Vessel has been caught with a maximum speed of 50m/s on Akua :)

Apr 9, 2018

Road to Alpha 8: Development Update V

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

The tent might be useful when the nights get too cold while exploring the planet - or when being away from any station with a bed (!) or the Escape Pod.

Also here are some pictures of the new thrusters:

Enjoy your day!

Empyrion dev team

PS: As Zirax police files indicate, a Small Vessel has been caught with a maximum speed of 50m/s on Akua :)

Mar 28, 2018

Road to Alpha 8: Development Update IV

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

The Alpha 8.0 Experimental version is already shimmering on the horizon - time to update you on our progress again!

1. Solar System Generator
The "SSG" is making good progress. The most recent version now includes a full preview for planets, orbits and the solar system!

For planets and orbits, we not only added indicators of ore deposits/asteroids and POIs, but you can now also see all NPC spawn points as well!

(each little dot represents a spawn point and the red area is the new starter biome)

2. Planets
In the past week we made three major improvements:
2.1 New terrain with considerably increased view distance

(left: new, right: old)

We still have to decide about the actual view distance from a gameplay perspective. As you can see, the new terrain would allow for a VERY huge view distance)

2.2 Red and green wall removal
We improved the removal of the red and green walls (still needs testing). In the below screenshot, we are in the far north (actually the sun never sets here) beyond the former red wall and we are looking north. Pre-Alpha 8, this area was blocked. If you continue in this direction you will actually cross the north pole.

2.3 The outside view of the planets in the orbit now looks much better

...and also the 3d planet map has better visuals:

3. New food and item drop system
As promised, we can now have a more closer look on the new food and item-drop system, you will test in the upcoming Experimental version.

3a. New item drop groups
As explained in the last dev blog we changed the single-purpose food & item drops system into a basic set of groups.

- PlantProtein
- NaturalSweetener
- Grain
- Berries
- Fruit
- Mushroom
- NaturalStimulant
- Vegetables
- Spice

Each harvestable plant in the game, that is relevant to a food item or meal, will drop an item that is named like one of these groups. For example: Corn and Wheat plants will get you GRAIN.

There are other plants, that did not see a change yet, like Varon Root still drops Varon Roots, but this might change as we explore categories and new food groups in the future! We are of course open to any suggestions on that matter. ;)

3b. Alternative ingredient crafting
In addition to these first set of groups (might be expanded in the future as we add more plants and planets!) we still have a few collectibles

- Egg
- Milk
- Meat

There is a slight change as well - or better: new alternatives. Having those is often a key, for example if you are in desperate need of a collectible and you simply cannot find it or you ran out of ammo in the c(h)ase for meat.

Whatever the reason is, we thought it is a good idea, to add a few test cases in Alpha 8, like being able to craft Meat and Milk from PlantProtein, Vegetables (Starch!) and Water. Pretty much like it is done already today in the real world. Of course this is the 25th century way doing it. There are a few more recipes added like this (like PlantProtein can be extracted also from Vegetables, etc).

Eggs are the only exception from this new rule, as there is no logic replacement for them yet. As an alternative to hunting the dinos, we added little nests you can pick up the eggs from.

As a side effect, we now can officially claim that you can fill your food bar without having to HARM A SINGLE ANIMAL in the game. :D

Final word on the new food and drop groups: Bear with us that we do not reveal all the recipes yet, as they might still change, but as we said, you can now also SELF-GROW ALL of the ingredients you need for any food item in your growing plots!

We also made sure the categories are that flexible, so we can have all the ingredients dropping from wild plants - at least for the starter worlds. The plants dropping for example BERRIES of course might be different on a temperate world compared to an icy or desert world.

Full overview of the items, currently needed to craft all the new food AND medical templates:

(all icons are work-in-progress)

4. Status effects and their remedies

While the change of the food and drop items is pretty straight forward, the new status effects and the medical items needed to cure them, have seen a nearly full rework for 8.0.

Before you look at the full overview screenshot below, which contains nearly all status effects that can affect your player avatar (We just left out a few that are still work-in-progress or questionable if they will make it into 8.0), a quick info about the new status effects.

4a. Staged effects
In the old system, most of the status effects were isolated and had only very few connections like the Parasite 1-2-3 stages. This is now more of a standard.
- There are up to THREE stages to each status effect
- The Stage-1 effects are fairly easy to cure
- The following stages are more demanding and show more severe effects (also spawning side-effects)
- The initial status effects have a fairly long duration. The duration is significantly reduced with each stage, what means: if you do not take care early on, you can be in serious trouble soon.
- There are a few "terminal diseases" that will not convert to another effect (Stage 3) and are very deadly (WiP Rule-of-thumbs: you can currently survive up to 100 real time seconds from full health)
- The individual diseases of stage 1 and 2 are not that deadly as in 7.x, but certain status effects will start other effects or if you cure them, they will fall back to a lower stage instead of being fully healed.

4b. Branches and medical items
To handle the medical items typology, needed to cure the new diseases, we split the status effects into few very distinct "branches", which are colored accordingly in the overview below.
- Antibotics
- Antitoxin
- Antiparasite
- Antiradiation
- Bones
- Temperature

Except for temperature (which is cured by food, beverages and so on), each branch also represents the medical item you need. Example: For the "Antibiotics" branch, you use Antibiotic Ointment, Pills and Injections.

Speaking of this, the STAGES have a simple and straight-forward logic which type of medical item is used for any status effect:

Stage 1 = Ointments
Stage 2 = Pills
Stage 3 = Injections

4c. New medkits
As we want to offer alternatives here as well - and in order to not overfill the inventory in mid- and late game - we also added three types of Medkits that are subsummizing the effects and medical items for each stage of a branch.

That means:
- With one of these kits, you do not need to carry around pills and injections and ointments for a branch, but just one kit.
- Each kit is also offering a considerable health-points boost
- Each kit does not cost the same amount of ingredients as the individual remedies combined would cost you, but is up to 50% more efficient!
- In return, the crafting of medical kits takes much longer.

The new medkits are set up as follows: (Work-in-progress!)

- Trauma Kit = addresses all status effects coming from the Antibiotics and Bones branch
- AntiToxin Kit = takes care of the Antitoxin branch
- AntiParasite/Radiation Kit = combines anti-radiation and parasites remedies
- Regeneration Booster = this not a real kit, but it is an easier-to-craft (compared to the kits) and non-perishable way to carry around a specialized "health points regeneration"-item.

Any ideas for better kit-names? Send us your suggestions! :)

Yours,
Empyrion Dev Team

Mar 28, 2018

Road to Alpha 8: Development Update IV

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

For planets and orbits, we not only added indicators of ore deposits/asteroids and POIs, but you can now also see all NPC spawn points as well!

...and also the 3d planet map has better visuals:

Any ideas for better kit-names? Send us your suggestions! :)

Yours,
Empyrion Dev Team

Mar 16, 2018

Road to Alpha 8: Development Update III

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

Weekend is coming, so time again for another progress report on Alpha 8.0! :)

We are still working full throttle on our Alpha 8.0 main topic "larger planets", but we can now say that the finish line is already visible. Said that, it might take still some time until the first Experimental version will hit. One of the reasons is, that the new planet generation leads to the need of rebuilding a major portion of all the adjacent mechanics, from placing plants down to temperature scaling - which needs to be readjusted from the ground up again. Same applies to the SolarSystemGenerator (SSG-editor), as these two topics are closely entangled with each other.

While the new planets become more and more tangible, we made progress in a lot of other areas as well.

1. New Game start
In the last dev Blog, you had a lot of questions about the new game start, suit constructor and sleeping. We will try to answer some of those, although this is still a work-in-progress topic.

- Sleeping -

Q: Are there limitations, like not being able to sleep when I am followed by enemies?
A: We are currently working on the details - especially on those conditionals what will or will not work or happen while you sleep. We'll update the details in a dev blog as soon as they are set in stone.

Q: How does sleeping work and where can I sleep?
A: For now only the Escape Pod has this feature. If this mechanic works, we can (and will) add the feature to other devices, like beds.

Q: Does sleeping work in Multiplayer or Coop as well?
A: No, this will remain an exclusive feature for single player in the near future. As a side note: To make this feature work in Multiplayer, ALL player would need to go to "bed" at the same time, as we cannot advance time if a player is still "active". We might possibly find a solution for this in the future, maybe for small-groups MP like Coop, but until then, this will remain a single player only feature

Q: When forwarding time aka 'sleeping' in MP does not work, what about having a 'save logoff' instead?
A: Yes, we already considered 'saving' your re-entry by using a Clone Chamber or similar. This is already on the list for future updates, but not in the scope for the initial Alpha 8.0 as a lot of side-effects that result from this need to be taken into account (like what happens if the ship is destroyed or captured or the device is removed and so on...).

- Suit Constructor -

Q: What can I do with the Suit Constructor?
A: We are currently evaluating what makes sense to add. We do not want to replace the Survival Constructor or move it just into the suit. Details are currently worked out, as the also take into account the latest changes to food recipes and new tech given at game start (Survival Tool)

Q: What is the Survival Tool?
A: This is a little helper that can be produced free of cost in your Suit Constructor. You can break some stones for ore and it has a low-power defense mode to scare away animals, but it is not suitable for a real fight. The Survival Tool is meant to be used in the very early game and situations where you have lost all your stuff and need to start over. It is not a replacement for proper weapons or drills.

Q: Does the Suit Constructor drain energy?
A: Most likely not - at least not in the Alpha 8.0. This is pretty much subject to change in the future when the overall topic of 'Suit energy consumption' will be addressed (also relates to Light, NV, Boosters etc).

2. Food Templates and Ingredients drop rework

In the last blog, we indicated that we will change the way how food templates and ingredients are handled.

The primary goals are
- all primary food items should be craftable form self-growable plants (excluding templates that need meat or eggs)
- all primary food items should be craftable on all starter planets without having to leave the planet
- all food items should make sense in certain use cases, what means having distinct benefits in some, but not all areas of food, health, stamina.

Now, there here comes the tricky part.

Right now, each and every plant is dropping exactly ONE specific item. Tomato drops Tomato, Pumpkin drops Pumpkin, Wheat drops Wheat, Corn drops Corn, Wormplant drops Alien Honey..you get the point. Same is true for the harvestable-only plants. If we want a playfield to offer a certain ingredient, we would always need to place the plant, which leads to the appearance of the same plants on different planets..or the inavailability of certain meals.

That's where the change happens: Instead of dropping unique items like Pumpkin, Tomato and so on, this plant-group now drops "Vegetables". Pearthing and Space Oranges are now dropped as Fruit. The templates will then ask for Vegetables and not specifically for Tomato or Pumpkin anymore.

This opens up other possibilities: Alien plants like Bulbshroom or the EggPlant now also can drop Vegetables, but we can freely place them in the biome where thy fit and on the planet they should appear without loosing the availability of a certain meal.

For the farmers, this opens up the possibilities that you can choose from a larger range of plants that provide you with the needed ingredients. As different plants now drop the same ingredient, we will balance those around drop amount and growing time to make them distinct.

More info coming in one of the next dev blogs.

On a side note: we will use the same approach also for medical templates.

3. Art Department

Last, but not least, our Art guys have something cooking for you.

Commander Chair: