Starsector, the 2D single-player space combat game, is set to receive a hefty content patch soon. Developer Fractal Softworks has revealed what players can expect in the upcoming Update 0.96.1a.
New Abilities
Update 0.96.1a is a pretty massive content patch for Starsector. One of the highlights includes two new abilities: Reverse Polarity and Generate Slipsurge. The former lets players reverse the direction of slipstream travel, while the latter creates a high-velocity slipstream away from a nearby gravity well. "Slipstreams" in Starsector are hyperspace rivers that allow ships to travel at blazing-fast speeds.
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Colony Crises
Fractal Softworks has also made various improvements to the game. First of all, Hostile Activity, a special event that occurs when players have established their own colonies, is now called "Colony Crises." This new system consolidates punitive expeditions and AI inspections into one. That said, new crises have been added for various factions, including Tri-Tachyon, Sindrian Diktat, Hegemony, Luddic Church, and the Persean League, with narrative resolutions and agreements to make things more interesting.
Skill Adjustments
The company is making some sweeping changes to a number of skills in Starsector as well. ECM, aka Electronic Countermeasures, is a value that tells players about a ship's capability against electronic warfare. Ships with a lower ECM rating will suffer reduced weapon range.
In Update 0.96.1a, the penalty is now capped at 10%. On top of that, if the cap is reached, the penalty is reduced by the ratio of enemy and player ECM ratings. If both the player and the enemy have the same ECM rating, for example, each side's penalty is reduced by 50%.
The Elite Missile Specialization received a couple of nerfs to bonus fire rate and missile HP (from 50% down to 25%). However, this is compensated with the addition of a 25% missile ammo regeneration rate.
Ship AI Tweaks
In addition, various tweaks have been implemented to improve the performance of the ship's AI. Now, the AI is much better at avoiding collisions. Besides that, the AI is now more likely to use weapons with the least firepower if all ships on the battlefield are autofiring.
Highlights
CAMPAIGN
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Ability slots: can now be set up to switch to a different ability when in hyperspace
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"Starscape" Sector map view now shows slipstreams
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Fleets will use emergency burn to better deal with black holes, slipstreams, and hyperspace storm strikes
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Fleets much more careful about avoiding black holes in the first place
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Added a new hand-made star system in the Abyss
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Added rogue planets to the Abyss
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Added new type of sensor ghost
SKILLS
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Cybernetic Augmentation:
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Is now a top-tier skill, replacing Neural Link which moves down
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Increases the number of elite skills officers can have by 1 (was: 2)
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Now also increases the damage dealt/reduces the damage taken by all ships with officers
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Helmsmanship
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Changed base speed bonus to 15% (was: 10%)
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Changed elite speed bonus to 10su/s (was: 5)
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Hull Restoration
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Somewhat faster repair of d-mods for ships with lower deployment points
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Removed maximum CR increase per s-mod
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Added "+15% maximum CR, -5% per d-mod (minimum 0%)"
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COMBAT
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Ships with range 0 fighters will no longer be assigned to "Fighter Strike" orders
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Fighters with 0 range and "support" fighters will retreat immediately if the parent ship is destroyed
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Collisions with friendly ships no longer have a chance to cause a flameout when using plasma burn, burn drive, and similar ship systems
Update 0.96.1a is currently in development and may be released sometime soon.
Starsector is available on PC.
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