The Three Paths – there are now new, unique “paths” you can follow
throughout the game. You must start the game on a fresh save, with the
patch, as early choices have significant impact on what you see later in
the game, and the overall experience.
The Universe – we changed the rules of the universe generation
algorithm. Planets have moved. Environments have changed biomes.
Galaxies have altered shape. All to create greater variety earlier.
Galaxies are now up to 10x larger.
Diversity – Creatures are now more diverse in terms of ecology and densities on planets.
Planets – we’ve added dead moons, low atmosphere and extreme
hazardous planets. Extreme hazards include blizzards and dust storms.
Atmosphere – space, night time and day skies are now 4x more varied
due to new atmospheric system, which refracts light more accurately to
allow for more intense sunsets.
Planet rotation – play testing has made it obvious people are
struggling to adjust to this during play so it’s effects have been
reduced further…
Terrain generation – caves up to 128m tall are now possible.
Geometric anomalies have been added. Underwater erosion now leads to
more interesting sea beds.
Ship diversity
– a wider variety of ships appear per star system, and are available to
purchase. Cargo and installed technology now vary more, and ships have
more unique attributes.
Inventory
– ship inventories now store 5 times more resources per slot. Suit
inventories now store 2.5 times more per slot. This encourages
exploration and gives freedom from the beginning. We’re probably going
to increase this even further in the next update, for people in the
latter game phases, and will allow greater trading potential.
Trading
– trading is deeper. Star systems and planets each have their own wants
and needs, based off a galactic economy. Observing these is the key to
successful trading. We still working on adjusting this based on how
everyone plays, but all trading values have been rebalanced across the
galaxy, giving a greater depth. A bunch of trade exploits were uncovered
and have been removed
Feeding
– creatures now have their own diet, based on planet and climate.
Feeding them correctly will yield different results per species, such as
mining for you, protecting the player, becoming pets, alerting you to
rare loot or pooping valuable resources.
Survival – recharging hazard protection requires rare resources,
making shielding shards useful again. Storms can be deadly. Hazard
protection and suit upgrades have been added. Liquids are often more
dangerous
Graphical effects – Lighting and texture resolution have been
improved. Shadow quality has doubled. Temporal AA didn’t make it in
time, but it’s so close
Balancing – several hundred upgrades have had stat changes (mainly exo-suit and ship, but also weapon), new upgrades have been added.
Combat – Auto Aim and
weapon aim has been completely rewritten to feel more gentle in general,
but stickier when you need it. Sentinels now alert each other, if they
haven’t been dealt with quickly. Quad and Walker AI is now much more
challenging, even I struggle with them without a powered up weapon.
Space Combat
– advanced techniques have been introduced, like brake drifting and
critical hits. Bounty missions and larger battles now occur. Pirate
frequency has been increased, as well as difficulty depending on your
cargo.
Exploits – infinite warp cell exploit and rare goods trading exploit
among other removed. People using these cheats were ruining the game
for themselves, but people are weird and can’t stop themselves ¯_(シ)_/¯
Stability – foundations for buildings on super large planets.
Resolved several low repro crashes, in particular when player warped
further than 256 light years in one session (was only possible due to
warp cell exploit above).
Space Stations – interiors are now more varied, bars, trade rooms and hydroponic labs have been added
Networking
– Ability to scan star systems other players have discovered on the
Galactic Map, increasing the chance of collision. Star systems
discovered by other players appear during Galactic Map flight
Ship scanning – scanning for points of interest from your ship is
now possible. Buildings generate earlier and show up in ship scans
Flying over terrain – pop-in and shadow artefacts have been reduced.
Generation speed has been increased two fold (planets with large bodies
of water will be targeted in next update)
Writing – The Atlas path has been rewritten by James Swallow (writer
on Deus Ex) and me. I think it speaks to the over-arching theme of
player freedom more clearly now. Early mission text has been rewritten
to allow for multiple endings.
Comments
Socialising - ✔️
Sharing Experiences - ✔️
Sharing Recipes - ✔️
BBQ's - ✔️
Parties - ✔️
10 days - ps4
12 days - PC and Xbox1