Alpha 12 Experimental - Phase IV

First of all, thanks a lot for your patience, while he had to delay Phase 4. We have made good use of these additional days and a lot has happened in the code and in the game.



A few highlights:

• The galaxy is now a lot more configurable. You can now use ‘Regions’ for local hotspots and for the general shape and design (amount and type of stars etc).
  
• We have added the ‘Scoreboard’ to the old player overview (Button: B). You can now see a lot of stats and info in a leaderboard style
  
• The Registry now allows to directly jump to a system with the ‘show on map’ button

Please find the full changelog added below.

There is one caveat, though: the flexibility for the galaxy-setup, database changes and other adjustments, now require a new game start. As already announced, old savegames from the previous Experimental phases are no longer compatible anymore.

The good thing: starting a new savegame will allow you to play the updated story missions and explore the reworked POI, as those cannot be updated in existing savegames as well. :)

As usual:

• Report bugs and issues right over here[empyriononline.com]
  
• Any bug fixed for A12 can be found here[empyriononline.com]
  
• Known Issues List[empyriononline.com]
  
• Fixed Experimental version bugs can be found there[empyriononline.com]

While the Experimental phases last, we will continue to update the following post with the latest Experimental version changelogs for hotfixes and intermediate patches[empyriononline.com]

For discussing the new and updated features, please head over to the pinned threads in our Experimental Feedback forum[empyriononline.com]

Have fun with Phase 4 - and tell us what you think about the changes! :)

GALAXY & GALAXY CONFIG

• Better elliptical galaxy generation, improved naming algorithm for stars.
  
• Added REGIONS: up to 99 StarRegions & StarClass are possible (See GalaxyConfig for examples)
  
• Updated GalaxyConfig.ecf and created new galaxy appeal, using the new techniques
  
• Added in-line documentation an info to the GalaxyConfig.ecf
  
• Warp target playfield names 'around the sun' got renamed from f.ex. 'Ellyon_0,0,-1' to 'Ellyon [Sun Back]'
  
• All warp target playfields are now PvE
  
• Add player/hover target position to system/galaxy maps. Make input boxes bigger to accommodate full sector coordinates.
  
• Info cards in the system map for sectors will now show a class of the playfield
  
• Added display names for space sectors map
  
• First draft of galaxy nebulas

GAME WORLD

• Space Base Defense enabled for Pirates faction (FactionWarfare.ecf)
  
• Adjusted TemperateStart planet and starter zone
  
• Decreased spawning of ground AI on TemperateStarter
  
• Added new icons for space sectors: Junkyard and SpaceEmpty (System map)
  
• Updated: Moved Legacy galactic territory to new position + changed content
  
• Updated playfields: Increased spawn probability of asteroids in space slightly

GAMEPLAY

• TurretAlien ( Pulse Laser Turret T2 ) is now fully working (Legacy Infector and Decimator class vessels will now shoot back!)
  
• Added Titanium Rods to MA Corp Traders
  
• First draft: Item-Sorting now persistent per container/inventory (In-Session. Not yet saving to savegame)

SCOREBOARD

• Added Ranking to scoreboard ( press B )
  
• Added leaderboard values ( Visited systems, Blocks placed, deaths,..and a lot more)
  
• Added sections to scoreboard window: Player, Player's Faction and All Factions

REGISTRY

• Registry now remembers last selected entry and selects it again when reopening
  
• Added "Show On Map" for selected stars and solar systems
  
• Showing bookmark icon now always for all bookmarks and not the chosen icon of the bookmark, to easier identify bookmarks in registry

POI & BLUEPRINTS

• In playfield yaml, random POI config: Added "UseEachGroupPoiOnlyOnce" flag to force each POI of a POI group to be spawned only once
  
• POI in orbit are now distributed up to 15.000m from center in each direction (before: 2000)
  
• Manually spawning blueprints: limiting the move down into terrain until the first device
  
• Manually spawning blueprints: added game option 'UndergroundBpSpawn' to override spawn limit (see possible values and default in an gameoptions_example.yaml)
  
• Improved RandomPlacer to overlap less, to better use the allowed distance between POIs (even before one POI fails to be placed)
  
• Updated: Small adjustments to Ancient Revelation Control-Station POI
  
• Updated: Removed cores from orbital CV wreckages
  
• Updated: Reworked Unknown Artifact, Helix, Structure
  
• Updated: Xenu POI groups (standard, advanced and special POI)

PDA, DIALOGUE & MISSIONS

• All Story Missions are playable on all starter planets now
  
• All Story Missions have been updated and improved (sometimes significant changes) for consistency with the game story ( Note: The missions are currently 'free to activate' or will activate automatically in certain conditions. They are not linked in a row, to make testing easier. This will change with the public version!)
  
• PDA window improvements: for each category the last selection (chapter or task) is remembered, if the active chapter is displayed the currently active task is selected
  
• PDA window: Added hint to "Activate" button if disabled because chapter is ChapterActivation controlled
  
• Dialog window: Changed all texts to TextMeshPro, now all features of the Sign blocks can also be used here, e.g. alignment
  
• DialogueSystem: added function GetInstanceTicket()
  
• DialogueSystem: added dbglobal_int
  
• Allow optional scenario Localization.csv (SP and MP!)

BALANCING

• Added Radiation-removal to all Anti-Rad medicals ( Ointment: -1, Pill: -3, Injection: -5, Decontamination Kit: -7)
  
• Reduced RP gain from killing a member of an NPC faction

DATABASE

• Now logging player AI vessel destruction
  
• Now logging player completed PDA chapters
  
• Added network profiling data (package count + size), added IsPvp flag for playfields,
  
• Added dialogue states visited, player structures visited, build nr and version, player credits

CONSOLE COMMANDS

• ConsoleCmd GalaxyConfig: added output where the config file is loaded from
  
• Added console command 'galaxy' to reload the GalaxyConfig.ecf of the current savegame and test the parameters on the galaxy. Might break the current savegame!

(Experimental 12.4 2913)

• Fixed: Regeneration of asteroids, POI's etc not working
  
• Fixed: Can’t click "New Game" with some languages
  
• Fixed: Terrain "Walls" appearing in or around structures
  
• Fixed: Planet resource deposits are identifiable with map marker
  
• Fixed: Clone chamber does not appear in the respawn options
  
• Fixed: Autominer cannot be upgrade to T2 and T3 anymore
  
• Fixed: A waypoint that is setup for a planet follows the player when the player enters the planet
  
• Fixed: Unable to warp to a waypoint setup in another star
  
• Fixed: Difference in distance between the warp line & "Lock button" distance
  
• Fixed: Infinite fuel/CP access exploit with faction "none" POIs
  
• Fixed: [MP] Vessels don't load/update in correct position for other clients
  
• Fixed: Waypoints persist after picking up a waypointed terrain placeable
  
• Fixed: Added touchable collider to station console hologlobe element
  
• Fixed: Alien turrets should not attack predator animals (like spiders) any more
  
• Fixed: LY distances between stars, as a result: galaxy radius is now 500 instead of 3000 LY (it was always smaller than 3000LY, the display before was faulty)
  
• Fixed: Wipe command to work also with the new DB
  
• Fixed: Label anchors for player position and other labels
  
• Fixed: Incorrect display of LY label and distance in sector listFixed: Solar panel in space not producing energy bug
  
• Fixed: Exception sometimes when opening system mapMode
  
• Fixed: Menu tab not updated to system map when double clicking star to open console Window
  
• Fixed: Missing entry for LY distance
  
• Fixed: Access Constructor step did not work in RP-2 tutorial
  
• Avoiding exception when ticks get out of bounds and opening player window
  
• Fixed: Wrong tooltip for minimap when in various screen aspects
  
• Fixed: Legacy planetary playfield issues
  
• Possible fix for sometimes flickers when switching between system and galaxy maps
  
• Fix for bookmarks in instances not showing up
  
• Fixed missing scrollbars in system description panels
  
• Fixed sorting visited star system list
  
• Registry: fixed problem that two entries for some objects appeared
  
• DB: fix for communication abort when entering a server the very first time and opening the player window
  
• Fixed: Polaris Scout pivot issue