MAIN CHANGES
This update comes a bit later than expected, but the Apple emergency and the IA website server move delayed work for several days.
The other reason for the delay is that a lot of groundwork has been laid in this update in order to eventually support social features (chats, squadrons, etc). This might not sound like much – we realize that these days most people take this kind of functionality for granted, but things quickly get complicated when you’re trying to implement it using nothing but pedal-to-the-metal C++ code. If something doesn’t work right, post your troubles here.
On to the good parts: You can now have a “Contacts” list. Contacts are visible anywhere on the galaxy map, and you’ll receive information about their on-line status, when they log in, and when they fly missions. There’s no messaging yet. It will be added if there’s a strong need for it. As this stage it’s important to only implement the minimum required functionality – messaging is not the core of the game, and we’d rather avoid duplicating work that has been done a thousand times before (easier and better) in other dedicated messaging apps.
There are also notifications that will pop up (even mid-mission) about contacts logging in, new messages arriving, etc.
A “Compare” option has now been added, so you can compare yourself against any other hero (your contacts certainly, but also random players you come across). Compared statistics are rather rudimentary at present, but they’ll be refined in coming updates. Let us know what you want to see here.
COMPATIBILITY
This update is mostly backwards-compatible, but you will lose:
- any in-mission progress
- any menu options you have configured
CHANGELOG
- Squeezed galaxy HUD keys/fuel/food text slightly for prevent abutting icons.
- Removed some potentially exploitable debug information.
- Fixed disconnections when starting a very long trip via interstellar highways across the entire galaxy.
- Fixed potentially incorrect “last mission” result.
- Increased Yolk-Star collision area (so that auto-targetting weapons can lock onto its whole breadth).
- Metal chickens now have a deeper cluck sound (-40%, used to be -10%)
- Planets now spin slower. Clouds don’t lag as much behind planet surface.
- Fixed red colorization (used in hot environments) of CI1 and CI5 starfield backgrounds.
- Removed outline border from certain UI elements (reverse paragraph text, scroll bars).
- Restored BASS 2.4.14.0.
- Added Contacts (friend list).
- Added Notifications.
- Added “Show cursor outside playing area” option in Controls -> Mouse menu.
- “Off-Road License” can now only be purchased once.
- Added “Compare” option (compares player stats against other players).
- Shop: “Already at max upgrade” now takes priority over “not enough keys” message.
- Doubled distance at which nearby players are visible in galaxy map (internal: doubled sector size, doubled user limit per sector).
- Resolved callsign clashes (made callsigns unique in database).
- Callsigns extended to 20 characters (was 16).
BACKUPS
You are reminded that during Early Access you are responsible for backing up your own progress. Make a copy of everything under C:\ProgramData\InterAction studios\CIU (including all sub-folders).
