Hello Galactic Survivalists!
In today's March update, as promised, we have provided a first set of improvements and even new content.

These include, among others
- The improvement of the sword and body shield includes an increased swing speed, an additional animation, and a glowing effect around the avatar when the shield is active.
- The UI/UX improvements have added new information and markers for the Dark Field strength on the map, as well as a warning message before landing on a planet.
- The new feature for range preview of generators allows a live preview of the effect field before final placement, for both Dark Field Neutralizers and Generators as well as regular gravity generators.
- The new content includes a gravity generator for small ships (SV) with a renewed model and various ranges, available in both game versions (with and without DLC).

Unfortunately, the "Boarding Parties" feature discussed in the recently released blog had to be postponed to the upcoming next update in April. So, your security teams have gained a little more time for training. ;)

Included in today's update, of course, are bug fixes as well as further adjustments and improvements listed below in the complete changelog.

As always: please report bugs in this forum: https://empyriononline.com/forums/bugs.24/

We thank you all for your cooperation and patience and look forward to your feedback!

• The strain feature on the bow will now only fire when the player lets go of the LMB button.
  
• Sword speed increased (hold down LMB for continuous strikes with the sword), sparks effects & another strike animation added.
  
• Added: Shield recharge bar for players to see when it’s next available & body shield shader when shield is active.
  
• Added: Changed the strain controller sprite & placed it close to the center of the screen
  
• Added: New icon on the HUD, Map window & galaxy map to show the Dark field strength in corrupted playfields
  
• A message will appear on the HUD when entering Dark faction playfields with a Dark field

• 01338: Structure swap will use blueprints from the player BP folder if they are named the same as what is setup in the scenario
  
• Various fixes for corrupted NPC's reactions to the player

• Updated Main Loca for supported languages

• Added the possibility to see with a visualization sphere some generators area they effect which can be seen when you have f.ex a gravity gen or dark field neutralizer equipped & press alt+right click
  
• Replaced gravity generator model
  
• Added: GravityGenerator radius configurable in BlocksConfig.ecf
  
• Added: Gravity Generators for BACV (4 variants) & for SVHV (4 variants)
  
• Added: both BACV and SVHV Gravity Generators to individual Block Groups
  
• Added: Gravity Generators BA/CV/SV/HV to Techtree + Crafting Templates

• 01359: Reputation ‚Neutral‘ factions send base attacks to player & Base attack did ignore the MinimalBaseStrength parameter
  
• Fix: Base attack did ignore the MinimalBaseStrength parameter

Hello Galactic Survivalists!

At the beginning of March, we provided some insights here into the basic contents for the coming weeks and months (Roadmap Blog - March/April 2024).

Today, we want to get more specific and give you a little preview of the upcoming update.

Here's a little disclaimer: All images below and detailed information should be considered as work in progress. They are from the active development process, and it's possible that even days before a release, things may change or, if in doubt, be postponed to the next update. Therefore, the information below is primarily to let you know what we are currently working on and to shorten the waiting time for the next update. Thank you for your understanding. 🙂

With that said - What are the main topics of the next update?

New Features: Boarding Parties!
The turrets of the Dark Faction are getting (the first iteration of) a new function! The Disruptor Turret will now be able to immobilize your (not shield-protected) ship and then the Translocator turret will teleport troops over to your vessel! Make sure your internal security is up to scratch! 😀

Improvement: Sword and Body Shield
Three improvements are planned here. Not only has the swing speed of the sword been significantly increased. There is now also an additional animation and a glow effect around your avatar as soon as the shield is active.

UI/UX Improvements:

• Dark Field On Screen Info & Warning message
  We added new information and updated the markers in the various map views about the presence or strength of the local Dark Field. There is also now a new message: when you approach a planet it will inform you about the strength of the Dark Field even before you attempt to land!
  
• Lift-Off Warning
  In addition to that, we also plan to add another new warning message - available for both game versions: If you approach a planet, a warning will be displayed in case you would not be able to take off from this planet.

Last but not least, the current update includes a topic that fits with the previous improvement and also brings some new content that we would like to explain to you in advance.

New Feature: Range Preview for Generators
Both for the Dark Field Neutralizers (also for the Dark Field Generators) and the regular gravity generators, there is now a live preview of the effect field that you can activate BEFORE the final placement! This feature will, of course, also be included in the main game (without DLC) for the gravity generators!

And yes, we are deliberately using the plural "gravity field generators". ;)

New Content: Gravity Generator for Small Vessels (SV) and New Model
We will not only renew the model of the gravity generator and give several models with different ranges, but also introduce gravity generators for SV - for both game versions (with and without DLC).

Overall, this should give you more flexibility for your building projects - or, if it's your aim, a needs-oriented and more precise coverage without just installing the biggest generator. ;)

As mentioned above, everything here is still a work in progress and can be subject to change. ;)

Beyond the mentioned topics, there are, of course, general improvements, e.g., to the movement patterns of the creatures and, of course, bug fixing!

We hope there is something among the above improvements for you as well.

There is no fixed date for the mentioned update yet, but it looks good for the coming week.

We will keep you updated. 🙂

Your Eleon Game Studios Team.