Release notes:
http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_Last_Federation_Alpha_Release_Notes#Alpha_Version_.816Restart steam to force a quicker update if you like.
This is definitely my favorite version yet of the combat, by faaar. The prior version was a bit clunky in some ways -- I felt it, but it was a matter of tuning variables, mainly. The new version adds deceleration, larger ranges, and beefed-up smaller ships, among other things. The sum total of a ton of small changes to combat is that it really feels natural to me, as well as realistic. I just love the momentum that the ship has, and the way it accelerates, and the way that it handles differently at low speeds and high ones. And that's just on the default power draw to it -- you can make it battleship-y or fighter-y by changing that.
A number of things have improved on the solar map as well, mainly in terms of removing some options and screens that were confusing and borderline pointless, and in making the NPC battles (ground, bombing, and space) all take place over extended periods of time rather than just waiting and then happening all at once. This feels a lot more natural and is a lot more fun to watch.
In combat, you also now have six ability slots, rather than just three. I'm super pleased about this, because the number of ability slots was feeling incredibly anemic to me recently. Right now it probably feels to you like there are not enough abilities to really warrant six slots, though -- and you would be right! There are a couple of dozen new abilities I intend to add in the next couple of days to round all those out. There are some more techs coming as well. In general these things will keep things fresh into the later stages of each campaign, and keep the challenge up as you go.
One of my very favorite things in this release, however, is the improvement to combat clarity. There is a ton of stuff that explains things waaaay better, and which gives you better feedback when you take actions, too. If you were previously one of the rage-quitters, I'd like you to give combat another go and see how you feel. The solar map isn't much better in the main in terms of what might confuse you there (we're getting to that), and no literal tutorial stuff has been added to the combat area. However, hopefully combat itself is a lot more self-explanatory now, which is the goal. And if not, I'd like to hear about what is still confusing, so that we can address that in one fashion or another.
Also, there's going to be a new batch of testers tonight!
Caveats (Same as last time):1. All of the Operational abilities are still having their ships slaved to your attacks, and I don't intend for that to remain the case.
2. If you are running into specific mission types that are un-fun slow in the new combat model, then please send us saves. I tested (for instance) dropping off spacefaring tech, and it was a tense 60-second excursion or so.
3. I think I have a pretty good handle on making the combat tactical now, and honestly I think we are pretty much there already, in the main. There are some overall structure-of-special-abilities changes that I am planning that will make those a lot more relevant as well as safer to use as well as making it actually valuable to have more abilities than just the three in your currently-equipped lineup. Those things I think will add a lot, as will an expanded roster of abilities and enemies in general, and in particular some turrets with some new firing patterns, etc. But honestly that is just content development aside from the basic changes to the special abilities concept, so it's a matter of having more of a good thing rather than trying to find a good thing, if that makes any sense. I'm liking where we're at with this, in other words; but if anyone feels differently, please speak up and let me know what you think and (as well as you can) why and what you would want done about it. I can't promise to actually do that of course, but I want to know these sorts of things sooner than later, as I'm hoping that I can make as many people as possible happy with the combat while at the same time homing in on what my current vision for this has become.
Enjoy!
