Hi Galactic Survivalists! Welcome to week 3 of Alpha 12 Experimental.For all those waiting to get hands on the dedicated server files: With phase 3 we made good progress in terms of performance and functions of the database and in fixing issues related to the server files. That being said, although the changes now have to be tested with your help in the current update, we are quite confident that next week's phase 4 will have the server files included eventually! :)Please also note, there are a few more adjustments to be made for phase 4, which will result in a savegame break for your current, running savegames - which will also result in a full wipe of our Experimental Server.Although this might be a bit inconvenient, but as you know: only new games, started with each phase will have all the changes on playfields, POIs and missions - as these game elements, unlike config changes, do not get updated in a running savegame.
[ New mission: Offworld Grave ]As usual:

• Report bugs and issues r...

Read more

Hello Galactic Survivalists! Today we kick off the first testing phase of the Alpha 12 Experimental! :)Main feature additions:

1. The Galaxy
   
2. Active detection system
   
3. Registry journeybook
   
4. Interactive dialogues
   
5. Dynamic key-token generation
   
6. Space Base Defense
   
7. Player-build teleporter system
   
8. Full config files exposition

Besides those major topics, we added several new NPC Factions, a slew of technical and feature additions, new crafting materials like Titanium, updated POIs, Model and a lot more.Have a look at the full changelog over here[empyriononline.com]Remember: For the first days of the Experimental version, multiplayer games can only be played on our Alpha 12 Experimental server, because we first need to thoroughly test the new database, before we can release the EXP server version. The Singleplayer/Coop client version of the Experimental version are of course available with todays release! Please read the full reasoning over here[empyriononline.com]As with every major releases, the Expe... Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists! Most of you might wonder, when the Alpha 12 Experimental will hit your PC. Good news!If everything works out as planned, the Experimental phase will start anytime next week!
As always..no liabilities assumed.There is one thing to know about the upcoming Experimental:For Alpha 12 we made a real BIG change in how the game handles data and info by adding a persistent database. This offers a myriad of new possibilities - in fact, it made some of the Alpha 12 features possible in the first place - but this needs to be tested in-depth, especially for Multiplayer.That’s why this time, in the first week of the Experimental release, we will only have our own EXP Server as a testing field.This way, we will be able to grab all the logs directly and track the performance of the database in a live environment with the highest possible load. Again, and to be precise: this is for the initial phase (only!)
We hope everyone planning to set up an own EXP Server will understand t... Read more

Welcome back, Galactic Survivalists! For today's blog, we would like to give you more insight on a device feature, a lot of you have asked for.Until now, you could make use of the device in question in NPC stations and some dungeons.
Now, it will be available to you players: Teleporters!
(New CV teleporter model)The Teleporters will come in two versions:

• Teleporter for bases. Their range will be 30 LY
  
• Teleporter for capital vessels. They will allow you to teleport within a sector, what means between Planet <-> Orbit, Planet <-> Moon, Orbit <-> Moons etc. No need to EVA over to a space station anymore!

There are a few constraints of course.

• You can NOT teleport to another PLAYER or PLAYER FACTIONS teleporters! You can only use your own teleporters, those of your faction and from NPC factions you are at least in a friendly state.
  
• It is not possible to teleport FROM or teleport TO a CV that is currently MOVING
  
• It is not possible to use a CV or BA teleporter (as outgoing-transport) when
  a) sh...

Read more

Hello Galactic Survivalists! It’s wednesday again! First and foremost: We hope you are all well - and if not, we hope you will get well very soon! And because we got a lot of concerned emails and messages: Everyone in the team is Ok or is already getting better. Thanks a lot for all the wishes. :)We have been kind of silent the last 2 weeks, simply because a lot of code work had to happen, to flesh out the features.Today we have a mix of different things that made good progress and got added until recently.

1. The Empyrion ingame card game?
   Our Modelling team has been busy with some new stuff. We added two new devices (we will not disclose just yet. Sorry ;) ) and a few others, like the Zirax CV turrets that are currently in a finishing phase.
   A new entry to the blocks and devices are two gambling tables.
   
   What started as an internal use case, just for testing the NPC Dialogue system with a Black Jack script, found some interest in the tester group and the team itself. So we thought: Where S...

Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalist! We recently completed the technical integration of the gas giants. Similar to the new suns, you cannot land or fly to the gas giant itself, but they will offer more than enough moons for your exploration demands.Time for a few impressions of this milestone progress. :)Cheers,
Empyrion Dev TeamPS: Find all the dev blogs over here[empyriononline.com]






Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists! What happens when you attack a POI in space?The question may sound trivial. You fight, you win or you get defeated. But beyond that point, there is not a lot of interactivity. Small and large space bases alike do not seem to be that important for the NPC factions, otherwise they would defend them better and very likely have a garrison of combat ships or reinforcements, right?We recently spoke to our Zirax Empire and Polaris consultants, and as especially our always slightly nervous, weapon wielding friends brought up very convincing arguments, we cannot let this be the case any longer.Reinforcements incoming!With Alpha 12, when you are on a hostile or unfriendly standing with the owner of the POI in front of your guns, the station commander will call for help when you are coming too close. Depending on the level of the playfield, the NPC faction's vessels will warp in after a while - or sometimes the call will remain unanswered. There are a few variations pos... Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists!While the Content and the Global updates from the previous dev blogs are pretty much set - given nothing unexpected will keep us away from adding them to the game - the following topics are a bit more a ‘What we plan to add to the game, when time permits’ thing.
(WiP NPC Dialogue with 3 answer options)The following Prototypes have been added only recently to the Alpha 12 feature list, but have a good chance to be in the initial Alpha 12 release. If not, then in Alpha 12.1 and onwards ;-)Prototypes

• NPC Dialogue with Multi-Answer options
  Ever wondered why the bartender in one of the Pax Purgatory bars only wants to sell his beverages but has nothing to say? Want to play a round of Black Jack with those NPCs that seem to dish out cards anyhows? These are only two straight forward possibilities for the upcoming Multi-Answer NPC Dialogue system, Alpha 12 will add. The new way to set up dialogues will be configurable in its own (public) config file and you, as a creat...

Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists! Today, while the developers are heavily at work with the galaxy generation, NPC dialogues and such, we will talk about some of the more global content and convenience updates.Global Updates

• Lots of POI updates, that should have made it to A11 already, like dust and snow versions, fixes on signals and triggers etc pp.
  
• Multitool: now works with UNDO in Creative mode
  
• Projectors can have a background layer
  
• Removed Alien01 and Spiders from starter areas (Crashsite and starter area)

Feature Updates

• Inventory Sorting (alphabetically, item type, food points, mass and volume)
  
• Increased Stacksize (up to 4000 per stack; Stacksizes are derived from item mass)
  
• Player Turrets can now be used on any NPC Faction POI (without having to cheat in ammo
  and ammo boxes!)

(Sorting Options)There are of course more interesting changes coming with Alpha 12, for example the new SPACE POI DEFENSE mode: Meet the renewed Polaris and Zirax Patrol Vessels, called in as reinforcements when you attac... Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists! Welcome back to Part II of our Alpha 12 feature update dev blog!While you have read through the first part of this blog, you might have wondered what's added to the game besides the galaxy feature.Of course there is a lot of code work going on on other elements as well, ranging from adding new features to the ModAPI, the Terrain Editor Settings, down to refactoring code elements and fixing and streamlining settings.One of those topics has been CPU in conjunction with the new Flight model. The following might be interesting for a lot of players and all the forum discussions on that topic.To start with, we will aim for a few balancing changes.Examples:

• Cut CPU cost on SV and HV RCS by 40% to make it more workable for small builds and on game start
  
• Tier 4 for HV will be increased (planned from 70k to 100k)
  
• Thruster CPU Cost rebalancing: Larger thrusters are planned to be more CPU-efficient than their smaller versions.
  
• Materials/Items/Devices in containers will g...

Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists! Welcome to our dev blog on the Alpha 12 features!We have dedicated the first release of the planned blog series to the most substantial change coming with the new major updates: The galaxy.What does it mean, when we say ‘galaxy’ ?Let's answer that question with a picture:
All these suns are visitable.
Some will have planets.
Some won’t.
Some might be void of anything.
Some might be crowded spaces.This is where we will start. But there is more!In Alpha 11.5, when you look at the galaxy map, you will only see one type of a central star: The default-yellowish sun. For Alpha 12 we have added all of the main sequence star types (archetypes, following the OBAFGKM scale; while the blue-white O stars are the largest and the orange-red M stars are the smallest). We also added a variant of a Black Hole and a Neutron Star.
A little note for our Creators: The star types will be placed by a probability factor. For example M is a lot more common than O. Black Holes are rare. O... Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalist!We hope you all had a great start in 2020! We have been a bit silent on the current progress on Empyrion and you deserve to know what is going on behind the curtain.While we still run smaller patches on the Alpha 11.5.x branch, the development on the Alpha 12 features (we are working on since early January), have already made some noticeable progress.That being said, we want to share with you a brief summary of some of the features that will be in the next major update. These blog posts are currently in preparation and will be released in the next few days. Please excuse the delay.In the meantime, we would like to announce our GAME SURVEY 2020: Participate here![survey.empyriongame.com]This time, the survey contains additional game-related topics, questions about your hardware, your likings on certain game features and such.Please also make good use of the surveys free-text answers, but please keep your replies on the spot and as brief as possible (so we have a ... Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists! Being the last update in this years development cycle - hotfixes aside - Alpha 11.5 will not only add bugfixes, but also a few important changes and additions to enjoy in your winter holidays! Examples:

• Small and Large Optronic Bridges/Matrix are now craftable
  
• Loot Tables are now exported to the Config_Example.ecf
  
• We have reactivated the new, reworked galaxy map
  
• The Default-Random scenario now creates up to 6 solar systems
  
• Multitool has now a downgrade option
  
• HV Drills are now usable in space

And a lot more. Please have a look at the full changelog below.Please contribute any feedback over here[empyriononline.com]Forum updates:

• For those of you that are interested in the Game Lore, we suggest to visit our Lore & Story forum, where we will detail more of the Backstories of important events in Empyrion[empyriononline.com]
  
• For our creative community, we also opened a dedicated Creators-subforum, where you can start challenges or share your custom playfields. More to c...

Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists!Today we release Alpha 11.1 as a 'stabilization update' for Alpha 11. As the name indicates, we primarily focused on bugfixing and a few more refining changes.For 11.1 we temporarily have reverted the new galaxy map to the previous version, as the new map needs more refinement.
Please feel free to tell us, if you want to either stay with this known map or if you would prefer to go with the new one - with some fixes and adaptions, of course. In the latter case, please give us feedback what needs to be improved to finally replace the old one - thanks a lot :)Please continue to use the feedback and info threads pinned over here[empyriononline.com] for any ideas and suggestions on those topics.With regards to the CPU system, we also started to add new, CPU-compliant stock Blueprints and also retired some of the old ones from that category. Please not only check out the additions in your game's Blueprint Libary (F2) but also head over to the 'Vessel and Base BLUEPR... Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists!Those community members who followed the pre-info, live streams or even actively took part in the experimental phase will already have some insight on how the Alpha 11 gameplay mechanic changes and additions like CPU points, new Flight Mechanics and all the other features will affect the way how the game is played.Said that, and instead of giving a lengthy explanation here, we would instead ask any new and recurring player to do the following: PLEASE read through the pinned INFO AND FEEDBACK[empyriononline.com] posts before starting into a new game or giving feedback. Alpha 11 is again a “game changer” milestone and we are well aware that such changes might break playing habits which were ok and accepted for a lot of versions. But such changes also bring more depth and diversity to the game and, as you all know, we have and always will try to make transitions as fluid as possible (by avoiding savegame breaks, f.ex). On the other hand, changing an old or adding ... Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists!Most of you will have heard already about the features that are coming in Alpha 10.6, like the CPU, the new Flight Model, HV-to-SV docking and more.Without further ado, some important general info on the CPU system and their use in the Experimental version.The primary goal of adding the CPU system was to add a way to allow some basic specialization and an additional way to balance vessels in regards of thrust, RCS, weaponry and other parameters. Other features, added alongside CPU, will support that goal and open up alternative approaches. For example with 10.6 you do not necessarily need a (CPU costly) RCS anymore, because the position of thrusters will gain you a decent torque as well and the new aerodynamics lift/drag model will allow for SV designs, that can lift off on planets (with an atmosphere) by having only back-facing thrusters - without the need of any additional side, up or down thrusters!In this context, there are a few important info you need t... Read more

Hi Galactic Survivalists!We are thrilled to release Alpha 10.5 to the public today! This update does not only contain a LOT of bug fixes but we also dedicated a lot of our time to some major (multiplayer) optimizations! The first pass of these changes should allow for a more fluid gameplay experience, especially in combat. We have implemented a few new methods on how data and events are handled and would like to have your feedback on how things have improved. Please use the feedback thread pinned in the feedback forum!Besides bug fixes and optimizations, Alpha 10.5 has a lot to offer: The orbital planet view is now a real 3D Mesh, showing also terrain heights and other specialities. The Talon will no longer ignore you and also have their own Base Attack. If you ever wanted to toy around with floating text messages and signs, you now can do that with the new LCD Projector device. In the same context, we improved the LCD panel creativity options, which now are offering a slew of sprites,... Read more