Jan 22, 2023

Evochron Legacy SE - SFSW

Version 2.0408 includes the following improvements:

- Added support for binding dual axis inputs to individual controls (see notes).
- Added option to copy coordinates to nav console for all inter-sector contracts.
- Added indicators to contract list to distinguish between local and inter-sector contracts.
- Added deep space item recovery objective added (multi-sector distance from reporting station).
- Added contract objective to scan a remote uncharted sector near a planet as an area of interest.
- Quests can now be loaded, played, and linked between multiple players in multiplayer (see notes).
- Vonari incursions can now occur in ALC/FDN space and utilize inter-sector distress calls (see notes).
- Brighter brackets added to HUD ship direction indicators for improved visibility and target distinction.
- Added automatic throttle axis input suspension when a percentage, trim, or absolute key/button is pressed.
- Added ability to set missile lock retention mode for retargeting in-flight or fire-and-forget (see notes).
- Added ability to change Vonari territory control in war zones through combat (as well as ALC/FDN, see notes).
- Local market inventories are now synchronized in multiplayer by default, contract lists optional (see notes).
- Disruptor weapon enhanced to include gravity burst effect, proximity detonation, and increased speed (see notes).
- Added ability to apply a custom scaling level to certain independent HUD alert and readout indicators (hudtext.txt).
- Console image indexes converted to shader based coloring system for improved loading times and lower memory overhead.
- Cockpit holographic display textures doubled in resolution for improved appearance at higher screen resolutions.
- Capital ship textures updated for more selective reflections as well as a brighter and smoother appearance.
- Shield build module effective support range expanded to a more block shaped network pattern link (~500 CU).
- Shadow background and bar graph indicator added to HUD distance readout (meteor intercept and ship escort).
- Quadrant map texture redrawn and doubled in resolution for improved appearance in enlarged nav map mode.
- Terrain walker and rover cockpit textures updated to increase resolution and revise emissive layer.
- Upper HUD menu and compass bar revised to provide individual buttons and a cleaner appearance.
- Added options to import custom mesh structures for the hangar docking area banner and shadow.
- Many sound effects redone or remastered for higher quality and to rebalance volume levels.
- New ambient environment sounds added for proximity to ships and entering/exiting stations.
- Message log notifications added for civilian rating increases and military rank credit.
- Military rank credit is now awarded for combat contract objectives in ALC/FDN regions.
- New fading effect when passing through station and carrier hangar atmosphere shields.
- Improvements to ship threat level changes after territory control shifts (see notes).
- Improved automatic reconnect attempt handling when UDP signal with server is lost.
- Engineer crew member can now shorten jump drive delays (up to 200% for high skill).
- Engineer crew member can now swap equipment to/from cargo bay in open space.
- Reduced collective array damage level applied for shield-on-shield impacts.
- HUD pitch ladder now smoothly fades at top and bottom rather than clipping.
- Resistor pack scaling in shipyard standardized for consistent alignment.
- 3D radar globe texture updated for finer lines and reduced obstruction.
- Blackhole gravity fields expanded by about 250% and strength increased.
- New shield effect for energy weapon impacts (particle and beam cannons).
- Sound effect and sparks now apply for particle cannon hull impacts.
- Detail textures updated for some improved lighting/surface effects.
- Chimera cockpit updated for structural and alignment improvements.
- Added new sub-sector cruise jump drive equipment item (see notes).
- Revised explosion blast wave effect (new energy/distortion look).
- Font updated for wider characters and more visible appearance.
- Station name hologram given threat level color banner.
- Several small performance improvements/tweaks.
- Minor improvements and fixes.

Notes:

Dual Axis Inputs
The control input system has been expanded to support binding dual axis inputs to individual control functions. This has been done primarily to accommodate rudder pedal and game controller devices that provide multiple mono-directional axis signals rather than one individual bi-directional axis signal. Changes involved have also removed the conflict alert prompt if you bind more than one axis input to the same control function. To utilize this new option, simply bind the first axis you want to use for the right, up, or forward direction of a given control function. So for example using rudder control for yaw, bind the right pedal to the 'Yaw Left/Right' control first. Next, bind the second axis to the left, down, or reverse direction of the control function. So for rudder control for yaw again, you'd bind the left pedal to the 'Yaw Left/Right' control. The game will detect the dual mapping and automatically apply the bi-directional function split between the two axis inputs. It will set the center of each axis input signal to lowest value of each respective range with one adding positive input and the other negative input. You will then be able to control left/right, up/down, or forward/reverse directions with both axis inputs mapped to the one control function. You can optionally reverse the input with the checkbox next to the primary axis input channel (the one mapped to right, up, or forward) and the game will automatically invert the values for both axis inputs. You can optionally clear the secondary axis input (the one mapped to left, down, or reverse) to restore bi-directional control input or clear the primary axis input to unbind both axis inputs.

Missile Lock Modes
A new missile lock retention mode has been added that lets you manually control the tracking mode for each locking missile you fire. Previously, all locking missiles followed the live guidance principle in that you retained control of all launched missiles and could switch targets to redirect such missiles to track a new threat while in flight. This came in handy if you decided there was a greater threat and wanted to redirect a missile to a new target. But it also meant that you could only hold a missile lock on one threat at a time until any missiles being directed impacted the target or self-detonated. It also meant that the auto-targeting could increase the chance of friendly fire with a fighter suppression weapon like the Excalibur. With the new system, you can set the current missile being fired to either the default live guidance mode or a new target retention mode that continues to track only the ship being fired at, even if you switch targets to a different ship. When the retention mode is active (default Alt-L key combination), the missile will stay focused on the one target until it is destroyed or the missile itself explodes. If the ship being tracked is destroyed before the missile reaches the target, then the missile will fly off and self-detonate once it reaches its range limit. This way, you can optionally restrict the Excalibur to only strike one ship without the risk of potentially hitting other ships nearby (and with careful timing, you can even split the Excalibur firing sequence between multiple targets). This also means you can now fire missiles at separate targets when a situation might call for it. To accommodate the new missile lock retention mode (primarily for facilitating multiple target engagements) and to increase range viability, all locking missiles have had their range increased by 200%. When the live guidance mode is active, a solid dot will appear next to the missile in slot one on the lower left cockpit display. When the target retention mode is active, a hollow circle with brackets will appear next to the missile in slot one.

Ship Threat Levels
Ship threat levels now retain existing states more consistently even after a regional shift from one control level to another. Previously, there could be an immediate global change of ships from one threat level to another and from one faction affiliation to another as soon as the territory control level transferred from one category to the next (disputed to ALC or disputed to FDN for example). This process is now tapered so that some opposing forces can remain behind for a while and continue more limited attacks until all opposing forces are eventually eliminated.

Disruptor Weapon Type Modifications
The disruptor weapon has been modified to better justify its cost and accommodate some player requests by providing a gravity burst effect to better slow down a target for cargo demands and increase speed to better distance the weapon from the firing player and be more effective against high speed targets. For an attacking ship demanding the player drop their cargo, the trajectory is also now more direct to make escape a bit more difficult. Additionally, a proximity detonation system has been implemented where the disruptor will automatically explode once within a range of 500 of any hostile ship (relative to the ship firing the disruptor). Combined with the range and speed increases, this allows for some more strategic use of the weapon that can now be fired at a longer range while not requiring an excessive level of precision to be effective for detonating at just the right time. It maintains some of its unpredictability/impractically while being a little bit more controllable depending on conditions and timing.

Classic HUD Removal
As the new HUD and cockpit display systems have been expanded significantly in recent updates, it has become less practical for the 'classic' HUD mode to remain compatible. So this build removes the classic mode and sets the default mode to the latest images and parameters. The cockpit viewing program has also been updated to reflect this change. Most of the elements can still be manually added back in via the customizing options. But going forward, the new HUD and display system has been made the new default baseline to free up modifications for some of the enhanced capabilities and new textures.

Cruise Jump Drive
A new sub-sector cruise jump drive equipment item has been added. This new device takes the place of a fulcrum jump drive and provides a new method of travel. The item has been added to accommodate a few requests over the years for a short range, in-sector high speed travel mechanism. While not really providing a benefit or advantage over the fulcrum drives, it is available for those interested in controlled high speed flight within a sector for options like exploring small sections of space more comprehensively and/or having more manual control over arrival time and placement. Instead of the point-to-point space folding travel mechanism of the fulcrum jump drives, the cruise jump drive will travel within a sector at a high sustained cruise speed. The drive works by generating a persistent event horizon ahead of the ship that is able to sustain high speed travel. When activated, the ship will be very limited in rotation ability until the cruise drive is deactivated. So it is best used by pointing at a specified heading, then engaging the drive and timing deactivation with arriving at or near a destination. Cruise drives are also impacted by gravity fields and will lose their effectiveness as a gravity field gets stronger. So speed will slow down significantly if you get too close to planets, moons, or stars. The cruise drive depends on constant energy from the ship's reserves, so they can only sustain travel for as long as the ship can provide power. Once the ship's energy reserves are depleted, the cruise drive will disengage. However, a cruise drive will generally be able to cover most of the distance inside an entire sector in a given direction before running out of energy. And you can also extend its range with charge packs mounted on secondary hardpoints. Cruise speed is not only a more limited method of jump drive travel in terms of range, but also a far more dangerous approach. It is very easy to crash into an asteroid or even a capital ship and be destroyed. So a cruise drive should be managed carefully and the user aware of the inherent risks and dangers associated with travelling at speeds in a sector above 70K. Only one type of jump drive can be installed at a time, either cruise or fulcrum. However, one jump drive type can be held in a cargo bay while the other is installed, then swapped at a station or city when a different jump system is desired. Additionally, if there is an engineer crew member onboard with a skill rating above 70 and enough cargo space (2 bays), swapping can be done in open space.

Military Rank Credit Expanded
Military rank credit is now awarded in ALC and FDN space for successfully completing combat contract objectives against the opposing faction. Awarded points are the same as in war zones, including additional points for each waypoint for patrols. Docking with carriers is still required for acquisition of military ship frames.

Vonari Incursions
Vonari incursions can now occur inside ALC and FDN space. When an incursion happens, a distress call is sent from the station detecting the attack and can be picked up remotely while the player is in a different system (it will appear in the contract list like other distress calls and contracts). If accepted, the player must travel to the location indicated by a waypoint. Once they arrive in the sector, they have the option of docking at the nearby station to resupply/prepare, or immediately travel to the waypoint to intercept the incursion. The exact location of the incursion isn't available until the player arrives, so the waypoint stays with the nearest station until the player arrives in the sector at which point the waypoint is moved to the current incursion point. This objective is a little more dynamic, so the exact number of enemy ships won't be available and isn't displayed as part of the distress call description. The ultimate goal is to simply keep destroying Vonari ships until the objective is complete. However, even after the requirements of the contract are completed, there can still be some residual Vonari presence left behind that may jump in to attack or otherwise be encountered while travelling in the sector. On top of this main objective, there may also be some additional hostile ships in the area from the opposing faction if the objective takes place in a disputed system. So the player may have to contend with multiple threats from different forces. For an added challenge, players can take on the new intercept incursion objective as an independent aligned pilot to eliminate faction reinforcement support. Vonari forces aren't feasibly able to conquer a region strongly under ALC/FDN control, but will still periodically try and the player now has an option to join in the defense. As with all inter-sector objectives, only the player that accepts the contract is automatically paid while in multiplayer. However, other players can still join the accepting player to help defend and then they can arrange to divide the payment upon completion via the trade console.

Distant Item Recovery Objective
Long range item recovery objectives have been added and also share the new inter-sector framework system. These work a little differently than the in-sector recovery option. First, the station sending out the recovery request will be listed in the contract description along with its sector location. This will be the location where the item needs to be returned. Once the contract is accepted, a waypoint will automatically be placed at the search area, which will generally be within about 50 sectors of the station. The player can travel to the location to begin the search. Unlike the in-sector recovery objective, the item in this contract will generally be out of radar range and deploying a sensor station will be needed to pinpoint its location. So these contracts should only be accepted if a player has a deploy constructor and at least 5 units of metal ore on board to place a sensor station once they arrive. The item will appear as a purple dot on the nav map if it is detected. The item simply needs to be tractored aboard and returned to the station mentioned in the contract. Another waypoint will be automatically applied at the station as soon as the item is recovered.

Remote Scanning in Uncharted Space Objective
Scanning of remote uncharted space near a planet has been added as a contract objective. This objective typically takes place in an area of the quadrant not linked by the gate network, making it more difficult to access but also potentially providing guidance to new unexplored and unpopulated areas that you haven't visited before. For the explorer and those interested in building new stations and cities outside of charted systems, this can be a way to venture into such regions of space and get paid for it. Simply accept the contract, travel to the designated location, then stay within 5K of the waypoint to complete the scan. Some locations may be very remote and will benefit from building jump casters through the build console with a deploy constructor installed and metal ore. That way, the trip can be made much shorter if the distance is significantly far away from a charted system connected by a gate.

Copy Contract Coordinates to Nav Console and Contract List Indicators
A new option has been added to the 'Current Contract' display that lets the player copy coordinates for an out-of-sector contract over to the navigation console. Simply click on the 'Set Nav to Coordinates' button when available to copy the sector and in-sector coordinates over the navigation console. Also, remember that you can click on the 'Center' button to pan the nav map over to a currently selected nav point that is in another sector. This way, you can preview the destination before travelling there. You can click on 'Center' again to pan the map back over to your current location or keep clicking on it to toggle back and forth.

Additionally, new indicators have been added to the contract list to distinguish between local contracts and inter-sector contracts. Contracts that are local to the sector will have a single '>' character displayed next to them while long range inter-sector contracts will have a double '>>' character. This way, you can quickly gauge at a glance the distance type of each contract without having to preview each or rely on title descriptions only.

Engineer Crew Member Expanded Capabilities
The engineer crew member has been given additional abilities to shorten jump drive delays and transfer equipment items to or from a cargo bay in open space. The rate at which the jump drive delay counter will accelerate is directly linked to the skill rating and can increase by up to 200% (for 100 skill level). In order for an engineer to be able to swap equipment items to/from a cargo bay, they will need a skill rating above 70.

New Sound Effects
New ambient sound effects and systems have been added for ship proximity and station gates. These sounds loop and can change pitch for a doppler effect based on rate of approach/departure, fades left/right based on relative position in space, and change volume based on distance. As the result, the original 'flyby.wav' sound effect has been replaced and now uses this new format. Likewise, a separate dedicated sound system is available for capital ships and uses the filename 'flyby-capital.wav'. For station gates, the filename is 'ambient-base.wav'.

Multiplayer Quest System
The new multiplayer quest system shares its resources, location triggers, event systems, timers, object entity systems, audio system, and file management system with the single player quest framework. This means that it has nearly the same functional capabilities as the single player system and can load/play existing single player quests in multiplayer while also being able to link players together to progress cooperatively. The player that activates a quest has the option of linking other players in. This is done after activating a quest and then forming a trade link with another interested player. Once the trade link is active, a new 'Initiate Quest Link' button will appear in the trade console on the lower right side. The player with the activated quest can then click on that button to begin the linking process and quest data will then be synchronized between the two players. The length of time it takes for a link to be finished depends on the size of the quest. The largest quests might take somewhere around 20-30 seconds to fully transfer. A progress meter will appear on the trade console when the process starts and the trade link needs to be maintained until the data transfer is complete. Once the process is finished, the joining player will then be linked to the quest at its current stage and the latest instructions displayed in their message log. From there, both players can then join in the quest. If either of them completes an objective in the same sector, it will advance the quest stage for both players automatically. If an objective is completed in a different sector, then any player(s) left behind will not advance until they either enter the sector and/or complete the objective (depending on the location trigger and pending objective). For players and script writers, there are several additional conditions and limitations associated with the new multiplayer quest system that are available at this page: https://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegacy/development-mpquests.htm

War Zone Territory Control System
A new dedicated territory control system has been implemented for war zones to support shifting control levels related to combat results. It operates as a secondary system linked to the main territory control framework and enables both ALC/FDN combat successes to influence regional territory control as well as Vonari combat successes. Like the main territory control system, the war zone system bases its level adjustments on raw presence, so the more ships that are destroyed on one side or the other, the more the territory control shifts if favor of the victor. The rate of shifting is much more limited with this system (about 1/10 the rate), providing plenty of room for players to advance their military rank before an entire war zone region might be under a human faction's control. Victories by Vonari will also obviously slow the rate of conquest over time. With the secondary territory control system, Vonari presence is considered an initial determining factor for what level of control to show on the quadrant map. Then as Vonari control level may decrease, the system will transition over to considering human faction control as the main factor. So once Vonari control falls far enough, the map will switch over to displaying what human faction has primary control, whether ALC or FDN. As a result, when you hold the mouse pointer over a displayed war zone, you'll see a primary region number displayed first and a 'WZ' number in parenthesis after it. The primary region number is what both of the territory control systems use for tracking human faction control levels while the war zone region number monitors Vonari control. This way, all regions of charted space in the game can now have territory control level changes, including consideration of Vonari as a third entity for war zones.

Shield Effect for Energy Weapon Impacts
A new dedicated shield effect has been added specific to energy weapon impacts, both beam cannons and particle cannons. The original impact effect remains for collisions while the new system renders energy ring bursts at points of impact. The effect is persistent so multiple impacts can produce multiple bursts at different angles. Like the collision impact effect, the brightness is reduced when the player is in cockpit view to minimize visual obstruction. The effect is also color coded, providing blue for human ships and red for Vonari. As a result of the new systems, there are now two types of shield effects along with the new hull effect to help visually distinguish the type of impact that occurs (and when direct hull damage starts applying to a target). The new directional effect will stop once an array is low enough and the direct hull impact effects will then occur.

Server Program Updates
The server programs have been updated to accommodate the new gameplay systems/options that affect multiplayer. Also, on some system configurations, the No-GUI version of the server program could previously operate at a rate that may cause some timing mechanisms to be misaligned. The solution is to provide a CPU wait level value in line 810 of the 'text8.dat' file which allows various internal timing operations to run at a more predictable and fixed rate. A default value of 10 has now been added to the included settings file for the No-GUI version of the program.

Local Market Inventories Synchronized in Multiplayer
After a few instances of local market inventory behavior being reported as a 'bug' or something missing and requests over the years, such items are now synchronized between players in multiplayer by default. Previously, individualized vendors were provided where local market inventories would vary between players as though each were interacting with a unique vendor and what one player was offered might not be the same as another. Each vendor could have a certain collection of items they wanted to offer a player they knew so each could have unique opportunities with the items available to them. After gauging feedback and handling technical support on the subject, local inventory items are now synchronized between players on a common marketplace. This will mean that when a player buys something from a market where other players are present, that item will be removed from the inventory list for everyone. To keep a requested element in place, existing inventory pool shifting after changing sector location remains for easier restocking/shuffling options. Likewise, in-sector inventory changes also continue to function as before (affected by AI ship docking and simulated trade behavior). Price variations will also still apply depending on individual player reputation/rating and license conditions. Additionally, carrier inventories will continue to be individualized since those inventory pools are generated by player weapon selection/configuration rather than any kind of shared market conditions. If a server operator wants to restore the original individualized vendor functionality, add/edit line 958 in the 'text8.dat' settings file and include a value of 10 in that line.

On a similar note, contract lists can now optionally be synchronized between players to limit the available contracts to one set for all players, rather than individualized job offers based on player track records. Unlike local inventory markets however, this option is disabled by default, allowing players to continue to have unique job offers based on their track record. This has been retained to keep the incentive of joining with other players who might be offered better contracts with higher pay, helping to increase the potential pay of lower ranked/rated players by joining with higher rated players to cooperatively complete higher level contracts. However, for players interested in only a static set of contracts common to all players in the same sector, synchronized contract lists can be enabled by entering a value of 20 (with synchronized inventory items enabled) or 30 (with synchronized inventory items disabled) in line 958 (further details provided in the 'text8.dat' file itself). Pay will also be synchronized to the flight lead player in the sector depending on that player's earned rank/rating level. Also, passenger and patient transport offers remain unique to each player based on availability/track record, so those will be player-specific while other objectives and their parameters are synchronized when the option is enabled.

Font Appearance and Options
The default font has been modified to be larger by default with wider characters and improved visibility across a wider range of screen resolutions. In conjunction with this change are further modifications to internal spacing and placement parameters to accommodate a wider array of possible custom fonts. If you are using either the 'Medium' or 'Large' font size setting, some spacing may be slightly miscalibrated after updating to this build, potentially causing some characters to overlap slightly. Simple click on the font size setting again and the game will automatically adjust the internal settings to better align the text placement with the new font.

Update Details
This update is an effort to collectively implement some of the last remaining feature requests and development goals that have been pending for a while. Since the game is likely reaching a more finalized state, I've wanted to explore a few remaining options that have been requested over the years or were things I've been interest in. Several such options/features have been left out of the game for a while due to uncertain gameplay balance implications, bug risks, technical issues, and/or time constraints. But with more available time recently, I've been able to prototype and evaluate them to select the ones that are the least risk/error prone, have been the most popular, and/or add positive qualities to the game's intended design. Some of the additions in this update have changed and/or added large sections of code in addition to altering the way certain existing systems operate. This required some additional weeks of testing and fixing until the game reached a stable level so that the new options could now be incorporated into this update. I plan to continue working on Evochron and Arvoch (including a pending update for the latter) for the time being with potential future updates likely focusing more on fixes, tuning/tweaking, and/or finishing touches. On a related note, I am considering a new project, something I've wanted to create for decades as a concept more similar to my earliest work back in the 80's and 90's (simpler in gameplay scope, but with elements of more advanced combat and configuration options). I don't know yet if it will pan out to an actual game, but I plan on devoting some more time to it over the next year or so to explore what might be possible.

Customizing Kit
The customizing kit has been updated to add new options for the hangar docking area banner, custom scaling levels for certain HUD readout indicators, new shield effects, and custom texture options for the missile locking mode indicator: https://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegacy/customkitse/readme.htm