Hello players,

This update contains a brand new system for explosions, as well as new tools, updated textures, and a ton of smaller features and bug fixes.

#hotfix 0.19319: Some player shops caused server crashes

#hotfix 0.19320: Fixed AI not working and causing high server load. ALso fixed explosions ignoring shield sharing

New Explosion System

For the longest time, explosions were a big headache, not only because they were incredibly hard to balance, but also because their damage was unrealistic. Some visible cases of this are ships being hit inside hangars and players being killed inside ships, without the damage penetrating.

Since a system with actual rays doesn’t scale well, a completely new and unprecedented algorithm was developed to make explosions, in a fully three dimensional environment with any number of obstacles, as realistic as possible. With the help of complex data structures, it’s possible to approximate the explosion as if raytracing was used. Not only that, but also the whole system works fully asynchronously so that most of the work can be done multithreaded.

The performance can be finetuned through a server option which determines the maximal count of possible explosion threads. Server owners can increase that value by some, as it is currently set for a mid-level CPU.

Additionally, a new update system for transporting the data to the clients has been developed which means a lot less network bandwidth being used.

New balance for missiles and pulse

The new explosion system gave us a ton of new possibilities to balance explosions, especially for shield damage, effects, and scaling. Since now damage to blocks is exact, the damage will only penetrate as far as the rays can possibly go.

Missile damage has been adapted to compensate for the fact that on average half of a missile’s energy goes into the void of space if, for example, the missile is impacting a flat wall. They have also been adapted for armor on both ship and blocks.

All explosive style systems have been upgraded including the pulse, which will now also emit in front of it’s output block. Pulse will also do some piercing damage. This makes it an excellent weapons to bypass armor when you get close to a target.

AI targeting improvements

AI no longer targets the center of mass of an object. It will now specifically target blocks of ship systems. Of course target-seeking missiles will now also do the same.

Build Inhibitor

Another little tool for boarding is the build inhibitor. This useful tool is turned on in the hotbar and prevents any building within a radius of 32 (which of course can be upgraded in the future).

The tool is available to buy from all shop keeps.

Note that there will be a lot more tools and gadgets coming for astronauts.

Rebooting/Repairing Stations

Rebooting stations either over structure tab or by pressing the reboot hotkey will now also repair all armor HP.

UI Text Box Fixes

The text boxes now have variable sizes. They also now automatically dock to the radar or build mode, so they will no longer block the advanced build mode when building.

Textures

Kupu has updated some textures. We are also updating some Hud elements soon to give pilots better information when flying.

Council Applications for Next Term now open

Applications for the Council of Intergalactic Representatives are now open! (You must sign in with your StarMade Registry account to apply) Everyone is free to apply. Applications have no set date for closing at the moment, but will not be closed before the 19th of July 11:59 PM UTC. You can learn more about the council here and be sure to check out the applications news post for further details.

Music Submissions Update

In the v0.19282 news we announced we’re currently looking for someone to create SFX and soundtrack for StarMade. We’ve received an overwhelming number of emails, thanks must go out to everyone who has showed interest in the open role. We’ll still be accepting submissions till the 17th of July at 11:59 PM UTC. So, if you have the skills and are interested, be sure to send an email to duke@star-made.org !



Other things

Work on Fauna continues and focus on it increases with this update. There will also be some graphical upgrades to the block engine to make it more and more shiny (always in the philosophy: make the game fun first, then make it pretty)

Bug Fixes

As always a big thanks to all the devs and testers!

T394 unable to repair armor and ship HP for stations

T387 Moving CBS links and vanishing blocks leaving behind links

T388 kick option broken for factions

T383 EMP effect power drain is multiplied by penetration depth

T376 Indestructible Warhead

T375 LOCK_FACTION_SHIPS = false on client, overrides server setting

T368 hitting an unshielded entity with damage pulse crashes game

T367 group power penalty does not work for most weapons

T321 EMP effect doesn't drain all power

T316 power supply/drain computer expected firing direction reversed from ‘normal’

T310 Network data too large: priceUpdateBuffer, controllerKeyNameBuffer and controllerKeyBuffer

T308 escape options menu, controls sub menu doesn't scale

T307 Ships can't undock from Rail Basics via Logic in certain directions

T284 forcefield and scaffold wedges don’t have icons

T277 overheating does not disable AI

T275 Storage box filter menu bug.

T274 Item duplication issue

T270 /shop_restock_uid and /shop_restock_full_uid do not work on player shops.

T269 Replace block with Active Slot - Factories

T265 Undeathinator not functional / Spawn point save broken

T247 Strange behavior on turrets attached to rail rotators

T222 Can reset cool down of long cool down weapon systems

T189 Blueprints incorrectly save wireless logic links

T180 Renamed planet. Name doesn't show on the galaxy map

T165 Trading Guild Resupply Convoys will resupply player-owned shops.

T146 "Destroyed" ship core blocks weapon projectiles

T142 Placing a salvage beam computer on an Asteroid causes Nullpointer

T108 build mode camera issue when hitting escape

T98 missile damage radius on nearby entities significantly higher than direct impact

T95 missiles hit behind a wall

T74 creating a new universe sets all blueprints to enemy usable/others and owner to none

T65 Turrets get stuck in collisions

T44 Rail enhancers consume power but running out of power does not change anything

T33 moving through walls exploit

T26 stack split item loss

T20 Logic Rail Detection on docking doesn't trigger

T14 mouse sensitivity sync

T11 Enable/Disable all AI only works for last chain

T6 shield damage applied by shield sharing is multiplied per chain

T4 controller block system exploit

Thanks for playing StarMade,

- schema and the Schine Team