What is up Depthians!

Another round of bug fixing, tweaks, and some additional features.

We shall explain any functions/features etc fully in the stable release, however, please feel free to ask about anything in the notes that you feel needs explaining.

We would also like to point out that we updated to unity 2020.3.22 and therefore the FTD boot-up process now begins in the launcher, and is more multi-threaded and concurrent, so it should take less time to boot the game up.
FTD now uses Steam Multiplayer and the Data Relay Network. The old networking system is no longer available. Joining friends is much easier now and NAT punch through and port opening should no longer be necessary. We have fixed a number of multiplayer issues, there may be still some left so as always feel free to poke us with them on our bug tracker page https://brilliantskies.customercase.com/forums/bug-tracker

Changelog

Additions

Armor refit

New buttons in armor refit tool: refit 100 and refit 500 blocks

campaign

You can now trigger a diplomacy meeting if you have no enemies (or your enemies are dead)

CRAM

Added idle elevation option in the CRAM settings UI
New option in the fusing box: hollow point tip conversion. Switches kinetic to impact damage, at the conversion rate used in APS

Multiplayer

It is now possible to join lobbies through the Steam friends list if you are in the main menu
Joining a lobby through the steam friends list without the game running will start up the game and join the lobby if possible

Planets

You can now include a zip file of imagery with your planet when you upload it to the steam workshop. If your planet is called Mine.planet then make a zip file called Mine.zip and put into it files with names such as #mytag.jpg and #anothertag.png. You can use these hashtags for the diplomacy portraits.

Targeting

New slider for target prioritisation card: bonus priority multiplier for current target

Changes

Adventure

Adventure mode now allows 3rd person camera as per other modes

APS

AP modifier for soft heads up from 0.8 to 1
AP modifier for soft parts except flak up from 0.1 to 0.8
HE, frag, and EMP damage up by 10%. Also affects HEAT and HESH. Flak damage up by ~5%
Health modifier for soft heads up from 0.5 to 0.9
HP head switched from 1 AP and 1.2 kinetic modifiers to 1.2 AP and 1 kinetic
Penetration depth fuse speed modifier up from 1 to 1.1, same as solid bodies
Shaped charge and squash heads are now fast (1.6 speed modifier, instead of 1.45)
Shell health up by 25%
Speed modifier for slow heads up from 1.3 to 1.45

Blocks

Most blocks can now be placed on fortresses and structures. This is to make separators work, was also requested for testing parts.

Campiagn

Diplomacy meeting timer no longer advances during combat
In council meeting mode there is no longer relationship damage from moving in neutral territory belonging to someone you are not at war with.
Salvage increases its pick-up radius massively after two hours to de-clutter the map and keep the economy going.

CRAM

Gauge increase component costs up from 10 to 12
Hardener pellets cost up from 120 to 150
HE, frag, and EMP pellet cost up from 150 to 180
Health for each HE/EMP/frag payload packed up from 3 to 3.6
Kinetic damage for each hardener payload packed up from 10 to 16
Kinetic damage for each HE/EMP/frag payload packed up from 4 to 5
Material cost and recoil for each payload packed up by 20%
Packer costs up from 20 to 25
Payload compactor cost up from 20 to 25
Shell power for each HE/frag/EMP payload packed up from 18 to 22

Engine

FTD boot-up process now begins in the launcher and is more multi-threaded and concurrent. It should take less time to boot the game up.
FTD now uses Steam Multiplayer and the Data Relay Network. The old networking system is no longer available. Joining friends is much easier now and NAT punch through and port opening should no longer be necessary.
Now using Unity 2020.3.22, instead of Unity 2017.4.25.

Fuel engines

Exhaust tooltips now show the full name of the part, instead of the generic ‘Engine exhaust’

HEAT

HEAT base metric up to 10/9 the old value
HEAT damage up to 8/7 the old value
Final spalling metric now scales with TOTAL_ARMOR^0.47, instead of TOTAL_ARMOR^0.5 (lower loss against lots of armor)

Missiles

Damage done down by 10%
Reinforced body health modifier down from 2 to 1.6
Remote guidance now has a base error, up to 8m along each axis. Signal processor reduces base error by 50% (also affects error from not having enough GPP)

Modding

Most constant files use plain fields instead of expression bodies

Multiplayer

You will now only take ownership of nearby weapons if you actually have their weapon slot selected

PAC

Damage done for 1 energy used up by ~4.5%
Piercing AP up from 50 to 60. DAMAGE * AP stays the same (except the 4.5% buff all PACs get)

Projectiles

All projectiles lose power as they are damaged, down to 20% when they reach 0 health. HE/frag/EMP/HEAT/HESH get their base power reduced, kinetic/impact damage lose AP

Sensor scrambler

Error added to remote and lua missiles is 12 * (INTERFERENCE_STRENGTH/20000)^0.45 meters. Interference strength can go over 20000 from multiple scramblers
Interference strength and radius is the same for missiles as for detection components
Material cost up from 100 to 200

Sound

Changed simple lasers to use the sound of standard continuous lasers

Steam

Armor for M and L turbine parts up from 20 to 30
Boiler controllers generate heat again, temperature scales with OUTPUT^0.8. Medium boilers run cooler than smalls, large boilers than mediums for the same output.
Large boiler armor up from 20 to 30, output up from 22500 to 24000 (capacity and material use follow the increase)
M boiler controllers can be attached to M boilers from any direction, including the sides
Max kinetic loss for S crank parts up from 140 to 180 (translates to ~5% lower max output)
Small boiler armor down from 20 to 15, cost up from 10 to 20

Fixes

AIO LWC

Fixed AIO LWC not using processing power for attached remote missiles

APS

Reducing length of a propellant casing also reduces material cost

Armor refit

Armor refit tool stops if there are not enough materials in campaign (so doesn’t remove blocks/get stuck when trying to place something in a position with all neighbours removed)

BUGS-1142

Fixed fins possibly adding an upwards force higher than gravity for missiles not under thrust

BUGS-2433

Fixed campaign favorite build menu types going out of the bounds of their panel

BUGS-2791/2822

In mouse build mode blocks larger than 1x1x1 get the proper offset in every orientation

BUGS-3162

‘Warp now’ button in the warp drive UI now only warps up to the set target distance

BUGS-2889

Custom jet engines and steam jets not output the proper force with a power scale below 1

BUGS-3196

Particle cannon UI label improvement

BUGS-3198

Airplane idle thrust works as it should again

BUGS-3205

Fixed direct connections from boilers to pistons and turbines ignoring attachment points

BUGS-3217

Fixed force from gravrams and warp drives being lower at low game speed

BUGS-3230

Fixed APS barrel recoil tooltips not updating on caliber change

BUGS-3263

Wheels with a negative power scale and negative drive now do not ignore the wheel speed caps

BUGS-3296

Impact damage can now possibly spread to every cell next to a block larger than 1x1x1 (checked the 6 cardinal directions from the origin of the block before)

BUGS-3329

Following review, blocks have their mesh shown or as a general block as appropriate in the build marker.

BUGS-3337

All detection parts have drag blocker removed. All detection drag set to 0.2 from 1. This should make creating planes and subs easier.

BUGS-3373

Advanced cannon ammo intakes do not show no space in rack messages during normal operation

BUGS-3378

Fixed being able to use multiple mantlets with a single advanced cannon

BUGS-3402

Fixed some cases where fuel engines do not distribute exhaust gases between multiple exits. A pipe section is only obstructed if all possible exits are obstructed

BUGS-3424

Fixed pressure readouts for some special steam piping setups

BUGS-3433

Fixed the tooltip for advanced cannons with a shell loaded but no intakes showing 1 available intake

BUGS-3436

Fixed outdated planar shield projector description

BUGS-3455

Refinery L pipes are rotated properly.

BUGS-3254

A vehicle will only go into the ‘too damaged’ destruction state if it has actually been damaged (to avoid slow-building mega vehicles from being destroyed) (affects Obelisk mode multiplayer).

BUGS-3448

You can no longer teleport using the teleport avatar item when in a chair or being carried by out of play force

BUGS-3210

STL export has funky position and rotation. Now fixed. If vehicle has an origin block that will be used

BUGS 3160

AI UI manoeuvre screen now displays correctly at small window sizes

BUGS-3214

Helispinner UI now shows the yaw and roll rotation settings and the default resting spin rate sliders

BUGS-3453

Fixed resource zone description typos

BUGS-3404

Youtube is working again

BUGS-3442

Fixed a bug where broken decorations on APS barrels (and some other places) can stop systems working

CJE

Exhaust bonus for custom jet generators is reduced if the exhaust is blocked

Decoys

Radar decoys no longer has an attachment point facing up. This was a bug

Feet

Clampy feet should now properly disconnect when killed

Fortress

Optimization of the power management for the Sky fortress turbines [BUGS-3282]

Frags

Fixed frag trails being connected to a far away point on spawning

Impact

Impact damage now looks for a different block to start from if the original was already destroyed on another thread

Lasers

Fixed some laser setups using less power than they should at low game speeds

Missiles

Ejector meshes are now the correct size, centered, and aren’t floating.
When missiles take damage their HE damage is reduced using the standard scaling, instead of simply being divided

Multiplayer

Fixed campaign resource cap not being constant in multiplayer
Fixed chat text getting highlighted/selected for no reason
Fixed clients not rendering harpoon lines
Fixed control inputs not being synchronized for fortresses
Fixed custom axes not being synchronized in multiplayer
Fixed various crashes in multiplayer

PAC

Fixed explosive mode damage after attenuation not using HE scaling (range0 damage was simply multiplied by attenuation loss)

Separators

Fixed separators breaking steam engines both on the separated vehicle and the main vehicle
Fixed separators not working in multiplayer

Steam

Fixed crank generator and propeller labels being switched in the block stat overview