Explorer update beta release

Hi everyone, the new Explorer update is now on beta for you all the test

Please only join the test if you actually want to help contribute to the games development and submit bug reports else please wait for it to be available on the public branch.

To join, activate the beta branch which code is explorertest under the games properties in Steam, if you get invalid code please restart Steam.

Since the tutorial has been disabled I have updated the manual to reflect how to now play the game so please refer to it to work out some of the new features, however I will just briefly explain what's changed.

Overview

Along with bug fixes across the board you will also notice graphic and sound upgrades too, the biggest changes to the game are in the economy and how you gather and process goods as well as base and outpost building in preparation for all the new event and mission content coming.

Resources

You now mine resources from nearby asteroids and nebula which you then convert using the Atomizer into Energen (currency) which you use to build everything.

Different resources are worth more like Titanium and gold which are as you would expect are rarer.

There are now large asteroids which you can build deep core mining facilities on which will give you an infinite source of resources, you will also see nebula dotted around which will allow you to build gas processing outposts which will giver you lots of rare resources and is considered the top tier of resources gathering.

There are now multiple goods you can process your resources into which have a much higher trade price than selling the raw resources as you would expect.

The trader is now less of an important part of the game and more of a bonus when it arrives so you will see him less but great to sell goods to and buy interesting tech from.

Buildings

All 3 factions now have their own unique bridges.

You can now build multiple of most building types now including research facilities and docking bays.

The mining, research and defence outposts are now just pure derelicts which you can no longer build your self or add onto and have to just find in deep space and capture.

A trading station has been added to the game where you can sell your goods and also (eventually) get missions from.

To build in another star system you have to deploy an outpost core in it which you can then expand into what ever sort of space station you need.

Once you have a mining station setup a trade route will automatically be setup which you can view from the galaxy map, here you can also add more cargo ships to it and even setup your own custom routes such as to the trading station.

Quantium has been added to the game, a very rare resource which cannot be mined and can only be bought from traders, given as a reward for completed tasks or found, this is used in the construction on certain buildings.

The spy faction is now the only lot with teleportation technology which includes the inter bridge teleporter, you can also inter station teleport between outposts.

Missions and events

A new mission and event system has been added to the game, this will be the cornerstone of the story and exploration side of things which has replaced the single player campaign, the advantages are that it makes the game much more replayable with random mini stories and events happening as you play, new missions can be added with game updates, an editor is included so you can add your own, can also be enjoyed in multiplayer. Currently there are very few but these will be expanded on much more once bugs and issues have been sorted.

There are now colony and trader specific missions you can get and try and complete to get resource and tech bonus’s, to complete one you dock a ship with the cargo at the colony landing pad for example and drag the goods onto their cargo hold to get the reward.

Unit design and upgrades

As well as the usual tech you can research there are also now upgrades you can apply, these generally cant be researched and have to be found/traded or given as a reward.

Upgrades enhance units in such a way to make them more powerful than a similar equipped ship giving you an advantage.

The ability to apply certain techs to certain loadouts has been replaced with a power system where the ship generates a certain amount of power from its reactor, trying to put heavy power hungry cannons onto a small ship will result in being unable to manufacture the ship, unless you are able to boost its power generation by putting in a better reactor.

Gameplay updates

You can now currently have up to 11 star systems with more on the way.

Graphical enhancements all over the place

The fleet cap has been raised to 80

You can now manually dock and take off inside small ships with Q as up Z as down, A and D are left and right.

Wormholes have been added which will connect distant star system and used by ships automatically provided you have researched the relevant tech.

The monolith and decimated have been removed for the time being and will come back as part of a story arc.

Red alert is now system specific which when activated will cause certain structures to only operate at 50% efficiency so best not leave on all the time.

The outer weapons on the docking bay have now been replaced with a defence structures which can be built around the station, i hope to expand on this more including the looks

What's in the works

• Executrons have been disabled as they are a little unstable at the moment and I would like to get feedback on CEO gameplay first in single and multiplayer before moving onto multiplayer Executron game play.
• Adding in loads more missions and events eventually.
• Adding the mission editor so you can make your own.
• Adding in protestor mode.
• Adding in loading and saving over multiplayer
• There is a known issue with wobbly and flickering in some star systems which is being looked at.
• If you find that you are getting a low frame rate in a star system with a 3d planet in the background with an atmosphere, try turning down the background quality in the settings (this is currently only applied once in a game and not on the main menu).
• Loading and saving should be pretty stable at the moment so please feel free to try it.
• Game optimisation to increase framerates.
• AI improvements

Final thoughts

Just wanted to say a big thank you for your continued patience as the game is developed and to the testers who helped to get it to this point, you might not see me around much especially on Steam as I'm either in Discord or I am spending my time working on the game rather than making videos or putting out announcements which seems to have lead some people to think the game has been abandoned but you can be sure the game is being worked on and will eventually be finished.

Streaming and posting about the update is allowed and encouraged and you have permission to leave the sound/music on in your videos.

Please submit bugs inside the game and constructive feedback on Discord or Steam (complements are always welcome too), it will need balancing so I look forward to hearing your ideas and reading your debates, I can imagine there will be a few missed bugs on release of this patch so please be patient while they are fixed.

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Rob