• They have longer range than other weapons.
  
• They don't move on the turn they're launched.
  
• They move 2 tiles per turn afterwards.
  
• They seek their targets.
  
• Breaking line-of-sight may throw them off.
  
• Missiles can burn out after a while, or collide with asteroids or other hazards.
  
• Missiles can be shot down by direct-fire weapons ("Point Defense") !

You've got one week to let me know, whether on Steam, Discord, or with the in-game anonymous voting system. Are they what you've always wanted, nothing special, or maybe even boring?




I may be doing a live Twitch stream on Tuesday around 10am EST / 7am PST / 2pm GMT to test this out and get feedback that way.

Approaching Infinity spent almost 2 *years* getting through version 1.7 and it's been a great success. Now it's time to get ready for...


I've been improving the away team side of the game for a long time, now I'd like to focus on space: how your ship works and what you can do with it. So here we go again, a list of general goals, in no particular order:


I don't want to spend more than 6 months in 1.8, (I'd prefer 3) because 1.9 is really going to be the long hard slog to the finish line and full release. I estimated 9 months for 1.7, it took twice as long!

Therefore I intend to keep the next development super-cycle *short* (-ish), and *focused*.


The first big thing I did in 1.7 was a major starting ship overhaul. This will be smaller, just tweaking stats here and there. The "speed" stat is pretty good, but the cargo, crew, supplies, and especially hull of many ships will get more attention.

The desire is to further differentiate, specialize, and balance each ship type. And with fundamental changes to armor and shields (outlined here), and the planned increased supply use, adjustments will be necessary.


Cooldown skills, like on planets, but for space. These will introduce new effects and options, giving you some "panic buttons" in space. I expect their cooldowns to be on the longer side, especially since it's often quite easy to just sit around and wait in space (at least in the calmer sectors).

Will they use "gel"? I think so. I imagine your officers need to use their cybernetic systems to "link in" to the ship and perform these special maneuvers... a feat that is not readily repeatable without some recovery time.

Here are some potential skills:

• Cease Fire: immediately stop all combat in the area for x turns.
  
• Tactical Warp: immediate but random in-sector teleport.
  
• Distress Call: call all allies in the sector to your position (or ships of the race you're friendliest with)
  
• Force Surrender: target enemy ship will surrender (if they are able)
  
• Ion Trailing: reveal all other ships on the map
  
• Combat Install: install a component or device regardless of red alert or cooldowns
  
• Shields Up: immediately restore 50% of your shield strength
  
• Broadside: fire all weapons this turn again!
  
• Sensor Ghost: create 3 "copies" of your ship that may draw enemy fire
  
• Resuscitate: revive an officer who died on an away mission?!

Did you know that the higher your ship's base hull points, the stronger your armor will be?

No? You're not alone. As it is, the system isn't perfect and is fairly opaque. I intend to change that.

Shield strength quickly outpaces hull and armor points, which puts shield-less ships at a disproportional disadvantage. Shields will progress more slowly.

Armor will list its "percentage" as a stat, in addition to its hull points added, so you know the overall quality, not just the raw numbers. I may institute a "drydock required" condition when installing armor, since that would be an awfully tricky procedure in the depths of space. Or perhaps the act of "un-installing" armor destroys it? IDK. I always walk a line between realistic and game-like interactions...

Armor already has a lot of cool different names... wouldn't it be even better if those actually *behaved* uniquely?

What if "shadow armor" could cloak you, or "ablative armor" was twice as strong, but couldn't be repaired? Maybe "reflective" armor could reduce damage from beam weapons, or "standoff" armor could reduce missile damage?

What's all this talk about beams and missiles?


Now we're getting to the good stuff: cannons, beams, and missiles!



Right now, all ship weapons just have basic stats like range, damage, and cooldown time. Compared to the 9 ranged and 5 melee weapons of the away team, and the 25 different types of damage they can cause, that's just plain BORING!

I'm going to rely on the age-old concept of 3 main weapon types: cannons, beams, missiles. Will I also incorporate their related defense types (armor, shields, and point defense)? I don't know. And what about mines or autonomous drones? Area-effect weapons or damage-over-time effects? We'll see!

This aspect is going to require some deep design work. There's a lot to consider. I want to introduce fun choices, not tedious component-swapping.


That might sound boring, but if supplies become a total non-issue in mid-to-late game, that's bad. Unless of course your build FOCUSES on getting supply use down.

In general, better equipment should drain MORE supplies, not less, forcing you to increase your supply level. "Efficient" versions of components will still exist, but those will have other downsides...


If you get stronger/more versatile, so must your enemies!

When I introduced activated skills for the away team, monsters started to get new abilities like jump, dodge, knockback, pull, and invisibility. Space enemies will need powers like this too ;)


Officer pay is currently imperfect, and often misunderstood. I'm going to test a radical change to that:

Instead of taking a percentage of your income, officers will earn their level in credits per turn. A "recruit" earns 1 credit per turn, while a "commander" earns 10/turn! But the plan is not to immediately deduct it from your credits... it needs to be paid to level them up!

This introduces an additional (if small) consequence to waiting. It will also be the easiest system to implement and test, so I expect it to be one of the first official changes.


After the recent discussion on our Discord, a lot has been done with commodity prices and trading in general. But I've got a plan to expand that even further.

I've already got an updated commodities file ready to go. It radically alters the amount of each trade good that can be held in one unit of cargo space, and their prices. It should make all commodities be viable as trading options, *under the right circumstances*.


This shows the change in base price over time of commodities in different sectors, disregarding all other factors, like which races are present, random economic events, and player action. Fluctuations vary from place to place, based on local circumstances. To be a successful trader, you need to exploit the highs and lows.

Antimatter will always be more valuable than food, but if you happen to find the perfect price situation, you might make more money trading tons of food, rather than the small amount of antimatter you could carry.

This will affect the relative value of loot as well: transuranium will be more valuable per unit than almost anything else, even though it's only a mid-tier item. But since it takes up a lot of space, you might need to make a few trips to transport a big haul. And finding a shipwreck full of antimatter will make you rich immediately (or a target of Limoquee patrols...).



I've got some new achievements I'd like to add for accomplishments big and small, and quite a few I'd like to *remove*: tedious things like running out of supplies 50 times (what was I thinking back in 2014?)

There's a lot of fat in those files, and 1.8 will shake that up. Some Steam users may see their achievements count go down, but that will almost entirely be for things like "kill 10,000 monsters with melee", stuff that's more like a playtime counter than anything else. And achievement hunters will find a lot more interesting challenges to tackle:

• Prosper, Having Lived Long: Win any victory with NO CREW DEATHS!
  
• Grok-a-mon: Fully "grok" 10 monsters.
  
• Relic Hunter: Complete a legendary weapon quest
  
• Self Sufficient: Reach sector 20 without docking with any space stations.
  
• Minimum Safe Distance: Use a tac-nuke weapon without hurting yourself
  
• Faster than a...:Have both your ship and away team speed at or above 325.

In progress!

Spy, blockade, stellar survey, passenger transport, diplomacy, escort, gas giant mapping, trade missions, the list goes on. Some of the playable ships are especially suited for things other than just getting the away team to the next location... I want to offer meaningful interactions you can have while staying in your ship.

The next step for this will be the creation of NPC ship captains, so you can interact more deeply with entities in space, and especially as a vehicle for more quests and story.



I've got a lot to do.



These items have been pushed forward, and won't be completed in 1.8:


New asteroid base rooms are *not* within the scope of 1.8, sorry. There are some stores and characters I have in mind, but maybe I'll even be able to introduce Fargates or the Protomonoco... we'll see.

Also *not* within the scope of the current version.
This is not so much a requirement of this version as it is something that I really want to do, and I know you want me to do. (Also, it has nothing to do with the "space" theme.) No more relying on stations and random loot to get the special gun type you want. Craft a disruptor blaster or a laser sniper, instead of just the default types.

This is way to big to handle right now. This will happen eventually, and I may do more experiments, but I'm not ready to commit to this right now.

It's not a pleasant encounter.


Join me as I live-stream a new game and see how far I can get in their suicidally self-confident quest line.

• Inter-faction showdowns
  
• Starting ship overhaul
  
• Shipwreck interior re-design
  
• Multi-deck shipwrecks
  
• Explosive decompression
  
• Shipwreck completion bonus: blow it, tow it, own it.
  
• Specific item crafting (part 1)
  
• "Favorite" equipment
  
• Scrap metal, gadgets, and stacks
  
• Starting ship quests
  
• Alien race portraits (thanks Kenny!)
  
• Sprawling planets
  
• Asteroid Bases
  
• Talking NPCs
  
• 2 new factions
  
• Legendary weapon quests
  
• Over 50 new monsters
  
• The Bestiary
  
• Grokking and critical hits
  
• Price grades in the commodity exchange
  
• New installation screen
  
• Away team weapon secondary powers
  
• Backstory

Obviously that list doesn't include everything that was done... you could scroll endlessly backwards through my dev-log on Discord to see a day-by-day progress report if you really want to...



Later this month I'll release "Starmap 1.8" which will outline the major points of the next version.

What's it about?


I've spent a loooooooong time updating the "away team" side of the game, and it's time that your spaceship got some love. Weapons and defenses overhaul, space activated skills, and new types of space-only missions are some of the big things to look out for, and I'll go into detail in the upcoming Starmap.




Very soon, I'll be giving new players the biggest discount in Approaching Infinity's history. There's still about another year of development before full release so you might want to stop waiting and just
BUY THIS GAME RIGHT NOW.

The question of the player's origin has never been answered before. Or even asked! But with this update, you'll have a much firmer starting point. You have a backstory!


Story is fairly optional in AI: if you want to just "crush monsters, get loots" you can totally do that. But there are 13 alien factions with quest-lines you can follow, in addition to the one you get based on your starting ship.


Something I really like about the new intro story is



As you play through the "human history" quest (and one other mysterious encounter), you reveal details that will change the story your next game starts with!


This update is for everyone, and includes all the changes from the previous beta releases.

• Put a PISTOL in both your main and swap slots, and fire both of them when you attack. Dual wield!
  
• RIFLE will automatically return fire once per turn if the away team is in cover.
  
• SNIPER gives +1 vision range but now has a 50% chance to miss at close range (1-2 tiles)
  
• CLOUDGUN provides protection against whatever element it shoots: flamethrower = walk through fire. nano-cloud = safe from nano, etc.
  
• LAUNCHER now shoots further but has less damage mods available.
  
• KNIFE now attacks all hostile creatures adjacent to the space you move into. Doesn't work when waiting.
  
• SWORD now has a 33% chance to parry a melee attack, negating all damage and other effects.
  
• HAMMER now also permanently slows a target, in addition to its knockback.
  
• ZAPPER now hits all creatures around the one you attack. This is the effect of the energy hitting a large area and does NOT discriminate between friend or foe, so be aware. Does not hit you.

Stratovulkar, Flabberach, Vexoid Nest, Vexoid, Tapfly , Squik, Kelphorse, Swolsak, Porkha, Drift-Strider, Buccarana, Arboleax, Muggot, Plated Infestor






Now you can tooltip on the "active effects" screen to see exactly where your powers are coming from:




There are a lot of other quality-of-life adjustments, available now in the beta branch (open to everyone, doesn't break saves), and always more to come. Enjoy!

Greetings space explorers! After working on the bestiary and its new "full screen" design, I wanted to try updating some of the other functions, and I may have started with the hardest one:

• Items are arranged in order by which slot they go in (instead of random)
  
• Icon size adjusts to guarantee your entire cargo fits on the screen (instead of multiple pages)
  
• You get full details of the item you're looking at (instead of abbreviations)
  
• It tells you how to "favorite" an item (new)
  
• Do you know the crafting recipe? (new)
  
• Details on what's already in that slot, if anything (new)
  
• Points out slots that exist but aren't available, due to your reactor (new)
  
• Allows easy mouse or keyboard control (new)

I've been working on this for a few weeks, and beta tested several versions. This one does everything quite well. Of course if there's anything missing, let me know!





Did you know David sent me over 70 additional creature sprites? Now I need names! Adding new monsters (and unique powers for them to use against you) is my next project.

We've already done one round of this in the Discord, but here are 12 more creatures in need of names.



Pick a few or do them all, in any order, in the comments... have fun!

You probably never realized just how many creatures are gunning for your away team. What you need is...










Available for everyone, right now!

But wait, there's more. If you call in the next 10 minutes you'll get...





This is just a small sample, but David has not only created unique icons for every type of damage, but also made 10 sets of every kind of gun, and we put them together so your toxic cloudgun has a very different appearance from your lightning rifle. And hammer grenades. What?! OK, look at the picture. It's actually a "concussion" grenade, but it does "smashing" damage, so yes, hammer grenades!


All this and so much more awaits you in...





(I feel like I'm doing a cheesy late-night commercial from the 80s, I don't know why.)


If this news wasn't long enough, or you're curious about the past and future development of the game, please check out my [2023 in RoguelikeDev] post ;)

I'm done.

Live now in the beta branch (free to join, doesn't break saves) you will find these new features:


There are about 25 different kinds of exotic sci-fi damage in Approaching Infinity, and over 130 creatures you can encounter on away missions. Figuring out the fastest way to deal with these threats ("kill") just got a whole lot harder (and easier)!

What?!

First, we erase your omniscience about monster's resistances and vulnerabilities:


Then we keep track of what you learn, and display it in the bestiary:


By default, this new information is shared across all your games, but it's possible to turn that off when you start a new game, if you want an extra challenge.

How does it work? Every time you try a new kind of weapon on a monster, you "learn something". This info is stored and displayed in the bestiary. It's also possible to learn about monsters by analyzing their DNA, or reading reports where alien races have studied a creature in their lab.

If you gather enough information about a particular species then you...


To "grok" is to deeply understand something, and when it comes to enemies, that means you really comprehend the fastest way to kill them. Therefore, grokking results in a 25% chance to score...


That's right, for the first time ever in Approaching Infinity, you have a chance to do double damage with every gun or melee attack. All you have to do is shoot every monster with 10 different guns.
FOR SCIENCE!

And to make what's going on just a little more transparent, I've added some quick visual feedback: little floating symbols when you strike a monster and it is either resistant or weak to your attack, or if you get a critical hit.


To make all this shooting even more exciting, David has made a wealth of new weapon art, as well as icons for all the different damage types. So now, instead of "all shotguns look the same", we get things like these:


From left to right: toxic cloud-gun, shock rifle, nano-launcher, and concussion grenade. Yes, the grenade hits you like a hammer.

• The warp screen now shows a mini-map of the target sector (if it's explored).
  
• Tool-tips and warp screen show which rooms are available in the local asteroid base.
  
• All known tiles inside asteroid bases will always be lit (easier to find the store you want).
  
• Blowing up a shipwreck for scrap will now drop way more loot.
  
• I Doubled the base damage of launchers!
  
• Planet and shipwreck scans may make load-out suggestions based on life-forms detected and weapons in your cargo.
  
• But scans won't reveal the names of monsters you haven't me yet!
  
• YOU *CAN* GET ACHIEVEMENTS WITH PERMA-DEATH OFF!
  
• The criminal syndicate has been weakened somewhat (they have been way OP forever), but the Assassin now does triple damage!
  
• The amount of cover provided by terrain is now displayed in tool-tips.
  
• There is some temporary "zone transition background" art right now, but the real ones are coming and they are WOW!