Alpha 7 ‘Pilot Skills’ is now available for testing via the Relic Space Discord!
It’s the biggest update so far with big changes to skills, and the combat UI, and a host of graphical, balance, and other improvements.
Skills
-Overhaul of pilot skill tree layout and skill point mechanics
-Overhaul of active skills UI, including keyboard shortcuts
-Added starting skills for each of three 'traits' that can be chosen during character creation
-7 new skills added to skill tree
Combat interface
-New 'target analysis mode' in which targeting panel is continuously shown for your current target, enabling tooltips for more detailed targeting info
-Improved positioning of targeting/contact panels to avoid overlap with player ship
-Detailed ship info panels no longer replace main log, and stay active until manually disabled
-Can now cycle between available targets with 'T'
-Can now select an alternative Target using shift+left-click
-Can now use 'tab' to toggle weapons active/inactive
Game Music and SFX
-Added 6 new original adaptive soundtracks by Peter Gagliardi
-Music in each sector reflects the factions dominant in that sector
-Added SFX for equipment damage
-Added SFX for player engines
-Added SFX for active skills
-Added some missing UI SFX
Tutorial
-Tutorial extended to include relic mission
-Added animations to highlight sector travel and other buttons during the relevant part of the tutorial
-Added help panels to reflect changes to skills system
-Added help panel for when enemies are destroyed by internal damage
-Added help panel to explain need to manually equip new items purchased in station stores
-Added help text regarding ! symbols on the main map
-Various minor improvements to tutorial and help text
-Added tooltips for mission complete panel, including explanation of reputation
Balance
-Improved balance of heat use and sinks
-Basic missiles are no longer available in station stores in the first few sectors
-Disabling shield now reduces shield points to zero
-Sales price when selling equipment at stations is now less than purchase price and reduced if equipment is damaged
-Can now repair ship at stations if it has negative status effects but no hull damage
-Hostile ships are now less likely to retreat/leave the sector when damaged
-Union faction now receives greater benefits from faction events
-Faction stats cannot be less than zero
Graphical Improvements
-Improved splash screen background animation so that asteroids do not come too close to the camera, and do not eventually move off screen
-Fade to black transition added when travelling between sectors.
-Camera shake effect when enemy ships are destroyed
-Improved mission target indicators for large objects
-Added 2 alternate skyboxes. Skyboxes now change when travelling between sectors.
-Added 'credits' icons throughout station stores
<b>Quality of Life improvements</b>
-Improved UI scaling to fit 4k and other large screen resolutions
-Keyboard shortcuts for main UI panels changed to function keys to avoid overlap with skill shortcuts
-Keyboard shortcuts for main UI panels now shown in header area
-Increased camera zoom speed for top-down view
-Improved camera centering so that more of the map is visible when moving your ship ‘downwards’
-Added buttons to mission event and faction event panels, to allow direct access to relevant info panels
-Added close button to settings screen
-Improved log messages for equipment status effects
-Improvements to event and help panel user interface (e.g. no longer closed using any key, darkening background)
-It is no longer possible for player or NPC ships to fire weapons when chance to hit is zero (e.g due to asteroid cover)
-Added icons to system map showing available missions
-Can now use return or enter keys to confirm purchases
-Ship event messages now state the hull class of the relevant ships
-Added Basic Analytics/Data Privacy Info Button
-Can now close panels in splash screen using 'Escape' key
Bug fixes
-Fixed sound affects being played in mono on one side
-Fixed bug in calculation of heat used for weapons
-Fixed bug where keyboard shortcuts for main UI panels sometimes do not work
-Fixed various issues where main UI display does not immediately update (e.g. after repairing equipment)
-Fixed bug where shield recharge on entering station is not reflected in shield bar beneath ship
-Fixed bug were clicking to close an event panel opens the loadout screen in addition to closing the panel
-Fixed strange behaviour when using keyboard shortcuts for UI panels when a UI panel is already active
-Fixed bug with icons sometimes not appearing on tooltips
-Fixed bug where, original relic source continues to show as mission target, when trying to recover the relic from a hostile ship
-Fixed some minor issues with UI for relics
-Fixed bug where 'neutral' (e.g. trading) ships from a hostile faction prevent player from entering a friendly station
-Fixed bug where gas tooltips remains on screen after moving mouse off edge of map
-Fixed various bugs where irrelevant tooltips remain on screen after opening or closing panels
-Fixed bug where hostile ships can continue to move with engines disabled
-Fixed bug where ambushing ships can spawn in same tile as player ship
-Fixed bug where soft-lock occurs when restarting the game from main menu before reaching second sector