Distant Star: Revenant Fleet news & patch notes

Hi all, Time for a long overdue Distant Star update. We are happy to now make our BAFTA award winning game available to more users than ever before with our release on Mac and Linux platforms! Windows users - we don't wanna leave you out either! After listening to your feedback, we have also added 28 Steam achievements for you to get your teeth into. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/7347230/6f269ed48787ea119837b8d5be773c9c156646e2.gif Achievements will now reward you for various challenges including: reaching gameplay milestones, successfully beating quest chains, and completing the game on different difficulty settings. Enjoy! The Blazing Griffin Team

Hi all, Just a quick note to say that we are working on achievements at the moment and hope to release the update very soon! You’ll find out about it here on Steam and on our social media pages when it’s available. :) The Blazing Griffin Team

Hi all, Just a quick note to say that we are working on achievements at the moment and hope to release the update very soon! You’ll find out about it here on Steam and on our social media pages when it’s available. :) The Blazing Griffin Team

Happy New Year! We've been working on another Distant Star patch! Once again, after reading your feedback we made some adjustments to the balancing. We've also given you the ability to turn on or off VSync and squashed a bug. If you haven't tried the new and improved Distant Star: Revenant Fleet, please take a moment to jump back in and let us know what you think! Likewise, if you're happy with the new updates and haven't left us a review, or you feel like updating an old one please do - to a small studio like ours, it's a big help! https://media.giphy.com/media/26xBsPCCdcWaiRKY8/source.gif As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs or have specific feedback here on the Steam Forums. - The Blazing Griffin dev team ________________________________________

UPDATE VERSION 1.1.4.0 NOTES

General:

Developer Comments: : After some feedback from new players, we’ve decided to adjust the default keybindings to be more user friendly for new players.

• Changed the default keybinds. The new defaults will only be applied to new installs and for those that restore default keybinds in the controls settings. Any previously setup keybinds will be preserved.

Graphics:

Turned off VSync by default. For those with issues having VSync turned off, it can be re-enabled through the Steam command prompt.

To do this right click on ‘Distant Star: Revenant Fleet’ in your Steam library.

Click ‘Properties’.

Under the general tab click ‘Set Launch Options’.

Enter: -screen-quality VSync

To change it back follow the same steps but enter: -screen-quality Default

Balancing:

Developer Comments: : The rogue still feels a little underpowered, so we’ve buffed the Photon Blast slightly to make it more competitive with other ship choices.

• Photon Blast I damage increased from 1500 to 1800
• Photon Blast II damage increased from 1650 to 1980
• Photon Blast III damage increased from 1800 to 2160

Developer Comments: : We felt the Lances were a bit too ‘samey’ to use. So we’ve differentiated them by increasing the damage, charge times and firing times of the more advanced Lance attachments. This should make them more difficult to use, but far more rewarding. *Kaboom!*

• Experimental Auto Lance I damage decreased from 500 to 450
• Experimental Auto Lance II damage decreased from 550 to 495
• Experimental Auto Lance III damage decreased from 600 to 540
• Experimental Auto Lance I price decreased from 3340 to 3000
• Experimental Auto Lance II price decreased from 4035 to 3630
• Experimental Auto Lance III price decreased from 4800 to 4320
• Nova Lance’s cooldown increased from 12 to 15 seconds
• Nova Lance’s charge time increased from 3 to 5 seconds
• Nova Lance’s firing time increased from 3 to 5 seconds
• Nova Lance I damage decreased from 1000 to 840
• Nova Lance II damage decreased from 1100 to 924
• Nova Lance III damage decreased from 1200 to 1008
• Nova Lance I price increased from 4000 to 4200
• Nova Lance II price increased from 4840 to 5085
• Nova Lance III price increased from 5760 to 6050
• Overload Lance’s cooldown increased from 10 to 30 seconds
• Overload Lance’s charge time increased from 5 to 10 seconds
• Overload Lance’s firing time increased from 5 to 10 seconds
• Overload Lance’s energy cost increased from 1000 to 3000
• Overload Lance’s shield cost increased from 0 to 2000
• Overload Lance I damage increased from 700 to 1000
• Overload Lance II damage increased from 770 to 1100
• Overload Lance III damage increased from 840 to 1200
• Overload Lance I price increased from 4670 to 5000
• Overload Lance II price increased from 5650 to 6050
• Overload Lance III price increased from 6720 to 7200

Developer Comments: : : Missiles have been too strong in comparison to Cannon attachments since our 1.1 rebalance, so we’ve toned them down. These changes should make them better when hitting three or more targets, on par with Cannons when hitting two, and worse when hitting only one.

• Strike Missile’s firing time decreased from 3 to 2 seconds
• Strike Missile I damage decreased from 50 to 30
• Strike Missile II damage decreased from 55 to 33
• Strike Missile III damage decreased from 60 to 36
• Strike Missile I price decreased from 2670 to 2400
• Strike Missile II price decreased from 3080 to 2775
• Strike Missile III price decreased from 3520 to 3170
• Siege Missile’s firing time decreased from 7 to 6 seconds
• Siege Missile I damage decreased from 360 to 210
• Siege Missile II damage decreased from 396 to 231
• Siege Missile III damage decreased from 432 to 252
• Siege Missile I price decreased from 4115 to 2800
• Siege Missile II price decreased from 4750 to 3235
• Siege Missile III price decreased from 5430 to 3700
• Spider Missile’s firing time decreased from 5 to 4 seconds
• Spider Missile I damage decreased from 50 to 25
• Spider Missile II damage decreased from 55 to 28
• Spider Missile III damage decreased from 60 to 28
• Spider Missile I price decreased from 3200 to 2000
• Spider Missile II price decreased from 3700 to 2310
• Spider Missile III price decreased from 4225 to 2640

Developer Comments: : Torpedoes have been too strong since the 1.1 rebalance, so we’ve toned them down slightly so that they’re not always the best option for every situation.

• Torpedo attachment explosion damage falloff reduced
• Thermal Torpedo I damage decreased from 3000 to 2250
• Thermal Torpedo II damage decreased from 3300 to 2475
• Thermal Torpedo III damage decreased from 3600 to 2700
• Thermal Torpedo I price decreased from 4615 to 3600
• Thermal Torpedo II price decreased from 5330 to 4160
• Thermal Torpedo III price decreased from 6090 to 4750
• BF Torpedo’s cooldown increased from 20 to 30 seconds
• BF Torpedo I damage decreased from 4000 to 3600
• BF Torpedo II damage decreased from 4400 to 3960
• BF Torpedo III damage decreased from 7040 to 4320
• BF Torpedo I price decreased from 5335 to 3600
• BF Torpedo II price decreased from 6160 to 4160
• BF Torpedo III price decreased from 6090 to 4750

Bug fixes:

• Fixed issue where attachments would fail to apply modifiers on multiple uses within a battle.

Happy New Year! We've been working on another Distant Star patch! Once again, after reading your feedback we made some adjustments to the balancing. We've also given you the ability to turn on or off VSync and squashed a bug. If you haven't tried the new and improved Distant Star: Revenant Fleet, please take a moment to jump back in and let us know what you think! Likewise, if you're happy with the new updates and haven't left us a review, or you feel like updating an old one please do - to a small studio like ours, it's a big help! https://media.giphy.com/media/26xBsPCCdcWaiRKY8/source.gif As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs or have specific feedback here on the Steam Forums. - The Blazing Griffin dev team ________________________________________

UPDATE VERSION 1.1.4.0 NOTES

General:

Developer Comments: : After some feedback from new players, we’ve decided to adjust the default keybindings to be more user friendly for new players.

• Changed the default keybinds. The new defaults will only be applied to new installs and for those that restore default keybinds in the controls settings. Any previously setup keybinds will be preserved.

Graphics:

Turned off VSync by default. For those with issues having VSync turned off, it can be re-enabled through the Steam command prompt.

To do this right click on ‘Distant Star: Revenant Fleet’ in your Steam library.

Click ‘Properties’.

Under the general tab click ‘Set Launch Options’.

Enter: -screen-quality VSync

To change it back follow the same steps but enter: -screen-quality Default

Balancing:

Developer Comments: : The rogue still feels a little underpowered, so we’ve buffed the Photon Blast slightly to make it more competitive with other ship choices.

• Photon Blast I damage increased from 1500 to 1800
• Photon Blast II damage increased from 1650 to 1980
• Photon Blast III damage increased from 1800 to 2160

Developer Comments: : We felt the Lances were a bit too ‘samey’ to use. So we’ve differentiated them by increasing the damage, charge times and firing times of the more advanced Lance attachments. This should make them more difficult to use, but far more rewarding. *Kaboom!*

• Experimental Auto Lance I damage decreased from 500 to 450
• Experimental Auto Lance II damage decreased from 550 to 495
• Experimental Auto Lance III damage decreased from 600 to 540
• Experimental Auto Lance I price decreased from 3340 to 3000
• Experimental Auto Lance II price decreased from 4035 to 3630
• Experimental Auto Lance III price decreased from 4800 to 4320
• Nova Lance’s cooldown increased from 12 to 15 seconds
• Nova Lance’s charge time increased from 3 to 5 seconds
• Nova Lance’s firing time increased from 3 to 5 seconds
• Nova Lance I damage decreased from 1000 to 840
• Nova Lance II damage decreased from 1100 to 924
• Nova Lance III damage decreased from 1200 to 1008
• Nova Lance I price increased from 4000 to 4200
• Nova Lance II price increased from 4840 to 5085
• Nova Lance III price increased from 5760 to 6050
• Overload Lance’s cooldown increased from 10 to 30 seconds
• Overload Lance’s charge time increased from 5 to 10 seconds
• Overload Lance’s firing time increased from 5 to 10 seconds
• Overload Lance’s energy cost increased from 1000 to 3000
• Overload Lance’s shield cost increased from 0 to 2000
• Overload Lance I damage increased from 700 to 1000
• Overload Lance II damage increased from 770 to 1100
• Overload Lance III damage increased from 840 to 1200
• Overload Lance I price increased from 4670 to 5000
• Overload Lance II price increased from 5650 to 6050
• Overload Lance III price increased from 6720 to 7200

Developer Comments: : : Missiles have been too strong in comparison to Cannon attachments since our 1.1 rebalance, so we’ve toned them down. These changes should make them better when hitting three or more targets, on par with Cannons when hitting two, and worse when hitting only one.

• Strike Missile’s firing time decreased from 3 to 2 seconds
• Strike Missile I damage decreased from 50 to 30
• Strike Missile II damage decreased from 55 to 33
• Strike Missile III damage decreased from 60 to 36
• Strike Missile I price decreased from 2670 to 2400
• Strike Missile II price decreased from 3080 to 2775
• Strike Missile III price decreased from 3520 to 3170
• Siege Missile’s firing time decreased from 7 to 6 seconds
• Siege Missile I damage decreased from 360 to 210
• Siege Missile II damage decreased from 396 to 231
• Siege Missile III damage decreased from 432 to 252
• Siege Missile I price decreased from 4115 to 2800
• Siege Missile II price decreased from 4750 to 3235
• Siege Missile III price decreased from 5430 to 3700
• Spider Missile’s firing time decreased from 5 to 4 seconds
• Spider Missile I damage decreased from 50 to 25
• Spider Missile II damage decreased from 55 to 28
• Spider Missile III damage decreased from 60 to 28
• Spider Missile I price decreased from 3200 to 2000
• Spider Missile II price decreased from 3700 to 2310
• Spider Missile III price decreased from 4225 to 2640

Developer Comments: : Torpedoes have been too strong since the 1.1 rebalance, so we’ve toned them down slightly so that they’re not always the best option for every situation.

• Torpedo attachment explosion damage falloff reduced
• Thermal Torpedo I damage decreased from 3000 to 2250
• Thermal Torpedo II damage decreased from 3300 to 2475
• Thermal Torpedo III damage decreased from 3600 to 2700
• Thermal Torpedo I price decreased from 4615 to 3600
• Thermal Torpedo II price decreased from 5330 to 4160
• Thermal Torpedo III price decreased from 6090 to 4750
• BF Torpedo’s cooldown increased from 20 to 30 seconds
• BF Torpedo I damage decreased from 4000 to 3600
• BF Torpedo II damage decreased from 4400 to 3960
• BF Torpedo III damage decreased from 7040 to 4320
• BF Torpedo I price decreased from 5335 to 3600
• BF Torpedo II price decreased from 6160 to 4160
• BF Torpedo III price decreased from 6090 to 4750

Bug fixes:

• Fixed issue where attachments would fail to apply modifiers on multiple uses within a battle.

Thanks to a recent review, we've noticed that there was a bug that made the Rookie difficulty far too hard - oops! We released a hot fix for that today so it should now be back to normal. We've also took the time to make some small changes to the balancing based on other feedback. As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs or have specific feedback here on the Steam Forums. - The Blazing Griffin dev team

V 1.1.3.0 PATCH NOTES

Balancing Developer Comments: Rogue ships could use bombs too frequently and were able to achieve very high burst damage. So we’ve reduced their ability to fire bombs as often and increased their DPS through Photon Blast to compensate.

• Enemy rogue ships no longer have access to the Breach Bomb attachment
• Increased the energy cost of Breach Bomb from 1000 to 2000
• Increased the energy cost of EMP Bomb from 1000 to 2000
• Increased the energy cost of Ion Bomb from 1000 to 2000
• Increased the energy cost of Suppressing Bomb from 1000 to 2000
• Increased the charge time of all bombs from 1 second to 2 seconds
• Increased the damage of Photon Blast I from 1500 to 1800 damage
• Increased the damage of Photon Blast II from 1650 to 1980 damage
• Increased the damage of Photon Blast III from 1800 to 2160 damage
• Increased the price of Photon Blast I from 3000 to 3600 credits
• Increased the price of Photon Blast II from 3630 to 4360 credits
• Increased the price of Photon Blast III from 4320 to 5190 credits

Bug fixes:

• Fixed issue where the difficulty levels were not being set correctly in data file

Thanks to a recent review, we've noticed that there was a bug that made the Rookie difficulty far too hard - oops! We released a hot fix for that today so it should now be back to normal. We've also took the time to make some small changes to the balancing based on other feedback. As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs or have specific feedback here on the Steam Forums. - The Blazing Griffin dev team

V 1.1.3.0 PATCH NOTES

Balancing Developer Comments: Rogue ships could use bombs too frequently and were able to achieve very high burst damage. So we’ve reduced their ability to fire bombs as often and increased their DPS through Photon Blast to compensate.

• Enemy rogue ships no longer have access to the Breach Bomb attachment
• Increased the energy cost of Breach Bomb from 1000 to 2000
• Increased the energy cost of EMP Bomb from 1000 to 2000
• Increased the energy cost of Ion Bomb from 1000 to 2000
• Increased the energy cost of Suppressing Bomb from 1000 to 2000
• Increased the charge time of all bombs from 1 second to 2 seconds
• Increased the damage of Photon Blast I from 1500 to 1800 damage
• Increased the damage of Photon Blast II from 1650 to 1980 damage
• Increased the damage of Photon Blast III from 1800 to 2160 damage
• Increased the price of Photon Blast I from 3000 to 3600 credits
• Increased the price of Photon Blast II from 3630 to 4360 credits
• Increased the price of Photon Blast III from 4320 to 5190 credits

Bug fixes:

• Fixed issue where the difficulty levels were not being set correctly in data file

After noticing a few bugs and balancing issues from let’s plays on YouTube, we decided to pull together another patch! As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs or have specific feedback here on the Steam Forums. - The Blazing Griffin dev team http://i.giphy.com/3oriO605lz8hF21aHS.gif V 1.1.2.0 PATCH NOTES AI: • AI no longer wait for long periods without using attachments and should now activate their attachments more consistently. • AI should now activate their attachments in more relevant situations. • AI Pulsars should now prioritise the most relevant ships for their pulses. Balancing: • Increased the fleet level of all enemy fleets by 0.5. (About two Automatons, half a Lancer, quarter of a Dreadnaught.) • Enemy ships now gain up to a maximum of three skills when danger level max, up from two. • Pirates will now send in an ambush fleet at the start of the event "Escort from Pirate Attack" if you go into battle with them. Juice: • Adjusted the screenshake radius of larger explosions so that players would still get screenshake they are just off screen • Slightly increased the force applied to ship parts when they are blown off a ship. Bug fixes: • In the event "Defend Prison Colony", the player was being referred to as "General", have changed this to "Warleader". • Fixed issue where Orthani Command ships would sometimes spawn Akari drones. (Again! >.>)

After noticing a few bugs and balancing issues from let’s plays on YouTube, we decided to pull together another patch! As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs or have specific feedback here on the Steam Forums. - The Blazing Griffin dev team http://i.giphy.com/3oriO605lz8hF21aHS.gif V 1.1.2.0 PATCH NOTES AI: • AI no longer wait for long periods without using attachments and should now activate their attachments more consistently. • AI should now activate their attachments in more relevant situations. • AI Pulsars should now prioritise the most relevant ships for their pulses. Balancing: • Increased the fleet level of all enemy fleets by 0.5. (About two Automatons, half a Lancer, quarter of a Dreadnaught.) • Enemy ships now gain up to a maximum of three skills when danger level max, up from two. • Pirates will now send in an ambush fleet at the start of the event "Escort from Pirate Attack" if you go into battle with them. Juice: • Adjusted the screenshake radius of larger explosions so that players would still get screenshake they are just off screen • Slightly increased the force applied to ship parts when they are blown off a ship. Bug fixes: • In the event "Defend Prison Colony", the player was being referred to as "General", have changed this to "Warleader". • Fixed issue where Orthani Command ships would sometimes spawn Akari drones. (Again! >.>)

Thank you all for the feedback on update V 1.1! We're delighted that so many of you are happy with the changes. Since the update we've been tweaking a few more elements to improve the difficulty balance as well as getting rid of a couple more bugs. If you haven't tried the new and improved Distant Star: Revenant Fleet, please take a moment to jump back in and let us know what you think! Likewise, if you're happy with the new updates and haven't left us a review, or you feel like updating an old one please do - to a small studio like ours, it's a big help. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/7347230/34eb960921365272bacb34fe2d141c80d835c5f3.gif As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs or have specific feedback here on the Steam Forums. - The Blazing Griffin dev team ________________________________________ UPDATE VERSION 1.1.1.0 NOTES

Balancing:

Developer Comments: : We felt that the Danger Level was increasing a bit too slow and allowing players to grind nodes in sectors without much risk, so we’ve increased how quickly it generates.

• Increased the rate that Danger Level increases by 25%.

Developer Comments: : We’ve removed the rubber banding on credits and experience gain. This was allowing players to snowball too easily once they had acquired a larger fleet.

• Credits rewarded are no longer scaled depending on their fleet size.
• Experience rewarded is no longer scaled depending on their fleet size.

Developer Comments: : Ships have been reaching their maximum level too quickly, so we’ve slightly increased the experience needed for each level to offset this.

• Regular: Up from 2000 to 3000 experience needed
• Veteran: Up from 6000 to 7000 experience needed
• Elite: Up from 10000 to 12000 experience needed

Developer Comments: : “The Heretic” event had a small chance to be very harsh and remove all players credits and supply. We’ve adjusted it so that the event will only ever take 20% of player’s credits.

• Reduced the amount of credits taken from the player in "The Heretic" event from 100% to 20%.
• Reduced the amount of supply taken from the player in "The Heretic" event from 100% to 0%.

Developer Comments: : Orbital Defence Platforms were a bit too tough, so we’ve reduced their total hull to make them a bit quicker to kill.

• Reduced the hull of Orbital Defence Platforms from 8000 to 6000.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed issue where pulse energy costs were incorrect.
• Fixed issue where pulse buy prices were incorrect.
• Fixed issue where Storm attachments were doing half damage.
• Updated out of date Main Menu social icons to most up to date web links.

Thank you all for the feedback on update V 1.1! We're delighted that so many of you are happy with the changes. Since the update we've been tweaking a few more elements to improve the difficulty balance as well as getting rid of a couple more bugs. If you haven't tried the new and improved Distant Star: Revenant Fleet, please take a moment to jump back in and let us know what you think! Likewise, if you're happy with the new updates and haven't left us a review, or you feel like updating an old one please do - to a small studio like ours, it's a big help. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/7347230/34eb960921365272bacb34fe2d141c80d835c5f3.gif As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs or have specific feedback here on the Steam Forums. - The Blazing Griffin dev team ________________________________________ UPDATE VERSION 1.1.1.0 NOTES

Balancing:

Developer Comments: : We felt that the Danger Level was increasing a bit too slow and allowing players to grind nodes in sectors without much risk, so we’ve increased how quickly it generates.

• Increased the rate that Danger Level increases by 25%.

Developer Comments: : We’ve removed the rubber banding on credits and experience gain. This was allowing players to snowball too easily once they had acquired a larger fleet.

• Credits rewarded are no longer scaled depending on their fleet size.
• Experience rewarded is no longer scaled depending on their fleet size.

Developer Comments: : Ships have been reaching their maximum level too quickly, so we’ve slightly increased the experience needed for each level to offset this.

• Regular: Up from 2000 to 3000 experience needed
• Veteran: Up from 6000 to 7000 experience needed
• Elite: Up from 10000 to 12000 experience needed

Developer Comments: : “The Heretic” event had a small chance to be very harsh and remove all players credits and supply. We’ve adjusted it so that the event will only ever take 20% of player’s credits.

• Reduced the amount of credits taken from the player in "The Heretic" event from 100% to 20%.
• Reduced the amount of supply taken from the player in "The Heretic" event from 100% to 0%.

Developer Comments: : Orbital Defence Platforms were a bit too tough, so we’ve reduced their total hull to make them a bit quicker to kill.

• Reduced the hull of Orbital Defence Platforms from 8000 to 6000.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed issue where pulse energy costs were incorrect.
• Fixed issue where pulse buy prices were incorrect.
• Fixed issue where Storm attachments were doing half damage.
• Updated out of date Main Menu social icons to most up to date web links.

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/7347230/cd2530edb95fddef88fb5271e84d2db234c1eeaf.jpg It’s been a little while since our last Distant Star update but we’ve been really busy working on a big patch alongside the on-going development of The Ship: Remasted. After reading all of your comments and reviews over the last few months, this latest patch is designed to address as much of your feedback as possible. We’ve been working on everything from large scale difficulty balancing down to small sound bugs and we really hope you’ll feel a big difference. Below are the patch notes but we’ve also included comments from the team so you get an insight into how these changes will affect your experience. REMINDER: The update is a big one and unfortunately that means that old save files WILL be wiped when it is installed. If you want to keep your current progress, please ensure that you set the game to update only when launched and play in offline mode until you're happy to make a new save. As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs or have specific feedback here on the Steam Forums. - The Blazing Griffin dev team http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/7347230/1efdf26cf753395688df6c619021f2d0752df3d2.gif ________________________________________ UPDATE VERSION 1.1.00 NOTES

Game Feel:

Developer Comments: One of the main focuses of the update was to get some ‘juice’ into the game and generally improve the feel of it. So, we’ve introduced a variety of new VFX, sounds and screen shake to make battles feel more epic.

• Increased the size of Akari and Orthani bullet VFX.
• Increased the size of Akari and Orthani missile VFX.
• Increased the size of Akari and Orthani blast VFX.
• Increased the size of some Explosion VFX.
• Pulses have improved VFX.
• Optimisation pass done to all storm VFX.
• Added screen shake to various parts of the game.
• Made audio improvements in multiple areas of the game.
• Reinstating the horn sound for Orthani ambushes.
• Changed the explosion type for Drones so they have more variance.
• Increased the move speed of missiles and bullets.

General:

Developer Comments: Some of the ships would often feel like they didn’t have any strategic choices in combat other that ‘pop all cooldowns’. To combat this, we have given all ships energy and focused on using energy and shields as the main attachment resource.

• All ships now have a flat energy regeneration rate max energy / 40 per second. Meaning that they will regenerate their full energy bar in 40 seconds. Developer Comments: Stationary shielding didn’t work how we wanted it to. Most players wouldn’t stay in place even with the large bonus for doing so. Therefore, we’ve decided to remove it from the game and have added other ways to reward players for keeping their ships stationary.
• Removed stationary shielding from Akari ships and instead added a flat damage reduction at all times. Developer Comments: Some of the events were so rare that they would only appear after multiple play-throughs. We’ve increased their chance of appearing so that there is now more mission variation generally.
• Rarer events should now appear more often.

Enemy Spawning:

Developer Comments: We’re aware that enemy encounters could often vary greatly in difficulty. This was due to the random nature of roguelikes and a lack of control we had over some aspects of spawning. So, we’ve taken a number of steps to make the enemy encounters far more consistent.

• Changed danger level to apply maximum 2 criticals or skills to enemy ships changed from a maximum of 5.
• Adjusted enemy attachment spawner to create more useful attachment setups for enemy ships. Developer Comments: During Early Access we put rubber banding into the game to combat enemy encounter consistency, since that is no longer an issue, we have significantly reduced the rubber banding to create a hard line of difficulty progression throughout the sectors.
• Changed the enemy spawning formula to generate fleets from 80% of the sector value and 20% of the player’s fleet value. Changed from 50% of the sector value and 50% of the player’s fleet value.

Ships:

Developer Comments: Fleets containing lots of smaller ships have for a while, been more difficult to fight than fleets containing fewer large ships. We wanted to flip that difficulty around and as such have made changes to all the ship’s stats to make larger ships that bit scarier to fight. Lancer:

• Shield increased from 1000 to 2000.
• Energy increased from 0 to 3000.
• Fleet point value increased from 0.5 to 1.
• Lancer moved up to 1.0 fleet point spot in Orthani ambush, patrol and hunt fleets.
• Base price increased from 6750 to 10000 credits.
• Lancer now has access to energy based attachments.

Rogue:

• Removed a support slot which had default attachment EMP Bomb I.
• Shield increased from 2000 to 3000.
• Hull reduced from 3000 to 2000.
• Energy increased from 0 to 3000.
• Base price reduced from 10800 to 10000 credits.

Gunship:

• Added a weapon slot which has default attachment Burst Cannon I.
• Removed a system slot which was empty by default.
• Energy reduced from 2000 to 1000.
• Base price reduced from 12375 to 10000.

Tech:

• Energy reduced from 5000 to 4000.
• Base price reduced from 16875 to 15000.

Pulsar:

• Base price reduced from 16315 to 15000.
• Hull decreased from 5000 to 4000.
• Energy increased from 0 to 2000
• Fleet point value increased from 1 to 1.5.

Assault:

• Removed a system slot which was empty by default
• Energy increased from 0 to 2000.
• Base price reduced from 16425 to 15000.
• Assault now has access to energy based attachments.

Carrier:

• Added a weapon slot which has default attachment Bullet Drone Bay I.
• Shield increased from 4000 to 5000.
• Hull decreased from 6000 to 5000.
• Energy decreased from 6000 to 5000.
• Base price decreased from 22050 to 20000.

Dreadnought:

• Base price reduced from 22725 to 20000.

Pirate Scavenger:

• Added a support slot which has default attachment Basic Micro Ion Storm.
• Hull reduced from 3000 to 2000.
• Energy increased from 0 to 2000.

Pirate Raider:

• Added a weapon slot which has default attachment Basic Photon Blast.
• Added a system slot which has default attachment Basic Evasion Module.
• Energy increased from 0 to 3000.
• Fleet point value increased from 0.5 to 1.
• Raider moved up to 1.0 fleet point spot in Pirate fleets.

Pirate Assault:

• Removed a system slot which was empty by default.
• Shield increased from 0 to 5000.
• Assault moved up to 1.5 fleet point spot in Pirate fleets.

Pirate Marauder:

• Shield increased from 0 to 5000.
• Hull decreased from 6000 to 5000.
• Marauder moved up to 2.0 fleet point spot in Pirate fleets.

Pirate Dreadnought:

• Shield increased from 0 to 6000.
• Hull reduced from 7000 to 6000.
• Fleet point value increased from 1.5 to 2.
• Dreadnought moved up to 2.0 fleet point spot in Pirate fleets.

Drones:

• Drone hull reduced from 300 to 200.
• Mine hull increased from 300 to 400.
• Turret hull increased from 400 to 600.
• Drones now deal 1/6 of the damage of their basic attachment counterpart.
• Increased the size of Orthani drone fleets from 10 to 12.
• Reduced the maximum number of drones that can spawn at one time.

Attachments:

Developer Comments: Attachments have had a lot of work to make them feel a lot more impactful and consistent. We also wanted to make them all good choices, but for different situations so we’ve adjusted a lot of stats and prices to try and reach that goal. Weapons:

• Overload Lance now costs 1000 energy to activate instead of 800 shield.
• Photon Blast cooldown increased from 8 to 10.
• Photon Blast base damage increased from 1000 to 1500.
• Reduced Nova Lance cooldown from 15 to 12.
• Increased the base damage of Torpedoes.
• BFT cooldown reduced from 40 to 20 seconds.

Systems:

• All activated systems have their cooldown replaced with an energy or shields cost.
• All activated system attachments now have a base charge time of 1-3 seconds and 3 seconds cooldown time.
• All systems now have a 5 second duration down from 10.
• Most systems have had their effect doubled.
• Turtle Mode has had its damage reduction halved, its amount of shield healing reduced, but given a cheaper energy cost, and will now also force enemy ships to attack you.
• Reaver mode’s shield cost is now 4000 instant down from 6000 over time.
• Energy and cooldown changes have caused Energise Weapon’s functionality to overlap with Tactical Overcharger. As such, we have removed Energise Weapons from shop and loot tables and replaced it with Tactical Overcharger.
• Energy and cooldown changes have caused Rushed Repairs functionality to overlap with Patched Repair. As such, we have removed Rushed Repair from shop and loot tables and replaced it with Patched Repair.
• Reinforce Shields has had its shield heal increased from 1500 to 2000.
• Bolster Energy cooldown replaced with shield cost of 2000.

Support:

• Support attachment base energy costs have been normalised. Single target and small effect attachments cost 2000 energy to use, large effect attachments cost 3000.
• The exception are Rogue attachments which all cost 1000 energy to use.
• All support attachments now have a base charge time of 1-3 seconds and 3 seconds cooldown time.
• Energy pulses know restore 3000 energy up from 2000.
• Pulses now have a duration of 5 seconds down from 10.
• Sustained pulses now have the same effect as their single target variants, just over a larger area.
• Increased storm damage to be competitive with pulse values.
• Storm now have a duration of 5 seconds down from 10.
• Large storms now have the same effect as their smaller storm variants, just over a larger area.
• Bomb damage is now competitive with storms.
• Target painter increases targets incoming damage by 25% up from 20%.
• Target painter has had its duration reduced from 15 to 5 seconds.
• Target painter now has an energy cost of 1000, changed from a cooldown of 20.
• Increased the effect of bombs to make them more competitive with other support attachments.

Shops:

• Increased starting credits to 40000
• Cost of supply reduced from 1500 to 1000 credits
• Price of repairs reduced from 3000 to 2000 credits
• Prices of attachments have been adjusted for new balance changes
• Prices of ships have been adjusted for new balance changes.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed issue where Orthani Command ships would spawn Akari drones.
• Fixed issue where pirate fleets would sometimes not spawn at all.
• Fixed issue where Ion Storm Generator would not appear in shops, loot tables or on enemy ships in sector 1 and 2.
• Fixed issue where criticals would not apply properly to player ships on low supply, they now have a stacking 25% chance to apply with each jump.
• Fixed the description of shield regeneration to specify that shield regeneration is only applied out with combat.

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/7347230/cd2530edb95fddef88fb5271e84d2db234c1eeaf.jpg It’s been a little while since our last Distant Star update but we’ve been really busy working on a big patch alongside the on-going development of The Ship: Remasted. After reading all of your comments and reviews over the last few months, this latest patch is designed to address as much of your feedback as possible. We’ve been working on everything from large scale difficulty balancing down to small sound bugs and we really hope you’ll feel a big difference. Below are the patch notes but we’ve also included comments from the team so you get an insight into how these changes will affect your experience. REMINDER: The update is a big one and unfortunately that means that old save files WILL be wiped when it is installed. If you want to keep your current progress, please ensure that you set the game to update only when launched and play in offline mode until you're happy to make a new save. As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs or have specific feedback here on the Steam Forums. - The Blazing Griffin dev team http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/7347230/1efdf26cf753395688df6c619021f2d0752df3d2.gif ________________________________________ UPDATE VERSION 1.1.00 NOTES

Game Feel:

Developer Comments: One of the main focuses of the update was to get some ‘juice’ into the game and generally improve the feel of it. So, we’ve introduced a variety of new VFX, sounds and screen shake to make battles feel more epic.

• Increased the size of Akari and Orthani bullet VFX.
• Increased the size of Akari and Orthani missile VFX.
• Increased the size of Akari and Orthani blast VFX.
• Increased the size of some Explosion VFX.
• Pulses have improved VFX.
• Optimisation pass done to all storm VFX.
• Added screen shake to various parts of the game.
• Made audio improvements in multiple areas of the game.
• Reinstating the horn sound for Orthani ambushes.
• Changed the explosion type for Drones so they have more variance.
• Increased the move speed of missiles and bullets.

General:

Developer Comments: Some of the ships would often feel like they didn’t have any strategic choices in combat other that ‘pop all cooldowns’. To combat this, we have given all ships energy and focused on using energy and shields as the main attachment resource.

• All ships now have a flat energy regeneration rate max energy / 40 per second. Meaning that they will regenerate their full energy bar in 40 seconds. Developer Comments: Stationary shielding didn’t work how we wanted it to. Most players wouldn’t stay in place even with the large bonus for doing so. Therefore, we’ve decided to remove it from the game and have added other ways to reward players for keeping their ships stationary.
• Removed stationary shielding from Akari ships and instead added a flat damage reduction at all times. Developer Comments: Some of the events were so rare that they would only appear after multiple play-throughs. We’ve increased their chance of appearing so that there is now more mission variation generally.
• Rarer events should now appear more often.

Enemy Spawning:

Developer Comments: We’re aware that enemy encounters could often vary greatly in difficulty. This was due to the random nature of roguelikes and a lack of control we had over some aspects of spawning. So, we’ve taken a number of steps to make the enemy encounters far more consistent.

• Changed danger level to apply maximum 2 criticals or skills to enemy ships changed from a maximum of 5.
• Adjusted enemy attachment spawner to create more useful attachment setups for enemy ships. Developer Comments: During Early Access we put rubber banding into the game to combat enemy encounter consistency, since that is no longer an issue, we have significantly reduced the rubber banding to create a hard line of difficulty progression throughout the sectors.
• Changed the enemy spawning formula to generate fleets from 80% of the sector value and 20% of the player’s fleet value. Changed from 50% of the sector value and 50% of the player’s fleet value.

Ships:

Developer Comments: Fleets containing lots of smaller ships have for a while, been more difficult to fight than fleets containing fewer large ships. We wanted to flip that difficulty around and as such have made changes to all the ship’s stats to make larger ships that bit scarier to fight. Lancer:

• Shield increased from 1000 to 2000.
• Energy increased from 0 to 3000.
• Fleet point value increased from 0.5 to 1.
• Lancer moved up to 1.0 fleet point spot in Orthani ambush, patrol and hunt fleets.
• Base price increased from 6750 to 10000 credits.
• Lancer now has access to energy based attachments.

Rogue:

• Removed a support slot which had default attachment EMP Bomb I.
• Shield increased from 2000 to 3000.
• Hull reduced from 3000 to 2000.
• Energy increased from 0 to 3000.
• Base price reduced from 10800 to 10000 credits.

Gunship:

• Added a weapon slot which has default attachment Burst Cannon I.
• Removed a system slot which was empty by default.
• Energy reduced from 2000 to 1000.
• Base price reduced from 12375 to 10000.

Tech:

• Energy reduced from 5000 to 4000.
• Base price reduced from 16875 to 15000.

Pulsar:

• Base price reduced from 16315 to 15000.
• Hull decreased from 5000 to 4000.
• Energy increased from 0 to 2000
• Fleet point value increased from 1 to 1.5.

Assault:

• Removed a system slot which was empty by default
• Energy increased from 0 to 2000.
• Base price reduced from 16425 to 15000.
• Assault now has access to energy based attachments.

Carrier:

• Added a weapon slot which has default attachment Bullet Drone Bay I.
• Shield increased from 4000 to 5000.
• Hull decreased from 6000 to 5000.
• Energy decreased from 6000 to 5000.
• Base price decreased from 22050 to 20000.

Dreadnought:

• Base price reduced from 22725 to 20000.

Pirate Scavenger:

• Added a support slot which has default attachment Basic Micro Ion Storm.
• Hull reduced from 3000 to 2000.
• Energy increased from 0 to 2000.

Pirate Raider:

• Added a weapon slot which has default attachment Basic Photon Blast.
• Added a system slot which has default attachment Basic Evasion Module.
• Energy increased from 0 to 3000.
• Fleet point value increased from 0.5 to 1.
• Raider moved up to 1.0 fleet point spot in Pirate fleets.

Pirate Assault:

• Removed a system slot which was empty by default.
• Shield increased from 0 to 5000.
• Assault moved up to 1.5 fleet point spot in Pirate fleets.

Pirate Marauder:

• Shield increased from 0 to 5000.
• Hull decreased from 6000 to 5000.
• Marauder moved up to 2.0 fleet point spot in Pirate fleets.

Pirate Dreadnought:

• Shield increased from 0 to 6000.
• Hull reduced from 7000 to 6000.
• Fleet point value increased from 1.5 to 2.
• Dreadnought moved up to 2.0 fleet point spot in Pirate fleets.

Drones:

• Drone hull reduced from 300 to 200.
• Mine hull increased from 300 to 400.
• Turret hull increased from 400 to 600.
• Drones now deal 1/6 of the damage of their basic attachment counterpart.
• Increased the size of Orthani drone fleets from 10 to 12.
• Reduced the maximum number of drones that can spawn at one time.

Attachments:

Developer Comments: Attachments have had a lot of work to make them feel a lot more impactful and consistent. We also wanted to make them all good choices, but for different situations so we’ve adjusted a lot of stats and prices to try and reach that goal. Weapons:

• Overload Lance now costs 1000 energy to activate instead of 800 shield.
• Photon Blast cooldown increased from 8 to 10.
• Photon Blast base damage increased from 1000 to 1500.
• Reduced Nova Lance cooldown from 15 to 12.
• Increased the base damage of Torpedoes.
• BFT cooldown reduced from 40 to 20 seconds.

Systems:

• All activated systems have their cooldown replaced with an energy or shields cost.
• All activated system attachments now have a base charge time of 1-3 seconds and 3 seconds cooldown time.
• All systems now have a 5 second duration down from 10.
• Most systems have had their effect doubled.
• Turtle Mode has had its damage reduction halved, its amount of shield healing reduced, but given a cheaper energy cost, and will now also force enemy ships to attack you.
• Reaver mode’s shield cost is now 4000 instant down from 6000 over time.
• Energy and cooldown changes have caused Energise Weapon’s functionality to overlap with Tactical Overcharger. As such, we have removed Energise Weapons from shop and loot tables and replaced it with Tactical Overcharger.
• Energy and cooldown changes have caused Rushed Repairs functionality to overlap with Patched Repair. As such, we have removed Rushed Repair from shop and loot tables and replaced it with Patched Repair.
• Reinforce Shields has had its shield heal increased from 1500 to 2000.
• Bolster Energy cooldown replaced with shield cost of 2000.

Support:

• Support attachment base energy costs have been normalised. Single target and small effect attachments cost 2000 energy to use, large effect attachments cost 3000.
• The exception are Rogue attachments which all cost 1000 energy to use.
• All support attachments now have a base charge time of 1-3 seconds and 3 seconds cooldown time.
• Energy pulses know restore 3000 energy up from 2000.
• Pulses now have a duration of 5 seconds down from 10.
• Sustained pulses now have the same effect as their single target variants, just over a larger area.
• Increased storm damage to be competitive with pulse values.
• Storm now have a duration of 5 seconds down from 10.
• Large storms now have the same effect as their smaller storm variants, just over a larger area.
• Bomb damage is now competitive with storms.
• Target painter increases targets incoming damage by 25% up from 20%.
• Target painter has had its duration reduced from 15 to 5 seconds.
• Target painter now has an energy cost of 1000, changed from a cooldown of 20.
• Increased the effect of bombs to make them more competitive with other support attachments.

Shops:

• Increased starting credits to 40000
• Cost of supply reduced from 1500 to 1000 credits
• Price of repairs reduced from 3000 to 2000 credits
• Prices of attachments have been adjusted for new balance changes
• Prices of ships have been adjusted for new balance changes.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed issue where Orthani Command ships would spawn Akari drones.
• Fixed issue where pirate fleets would sometimes not spawn at all.
• Fixed issue where Ion Storm Generator would not appear in shops, loot tables or on enemy ships in sector 1 and 2.
• Fixed issue where criticals would not apply properly to player ships on low supply, they now have a stacking 25% chance to apply with each jump.
• Fixed the description of shield regeneration to specify that shield regeneration is only applied out with combat.

Hi all, This is a quick note to let you know that we will be updating Distant Star in the next few days! The update is a big one and unfortunately that means that old save files WILL be wiped when it is installed. If you want to keep your current progress, please ensure that you set the game to update only when launched and play in offline mode until you're happy to make a new save. Sorry for any inconvenience! Thanks - The Blazing Griffin Team http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/7347230/cd2530edb95fddef88fb5271e84d2db234c1eeaf.jpg

Hi all, This is a quick note to let you know that we will be updating Distant Star in the next few days! The update is a big one and unfortunately that means that old save files WILL be wiped when it is installed. If you want to keep your current progress, please ensure that you set the game to update only when launched and play in offline mode until you're happy to make a new save. Sorry for any inconvenience! Thanks - The Blazing Griffin Team http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/7347230/cd2530edb95fddef88fb5271e84d2db234c1eeaf.jpg

A few updates based on player feedback:

• Each ship will no longer gain a phase warp critical for using escape.
• Escaping now costs 3 supply up from 1.
• Repairs are more likely to appear in non-repair specific shops.
• Reduced the price of Critical Repairs from 4800 credits to 3000 credits.
• Supply is more likely to appear in non-supply-specific shops.
• Increased the price of supply from 1000 to 1500.
• Removed the discounted stack of 10 supply from shops.
• Increased the discount on the 5 stack of supply from 5% to 20% – now only available in supply shops.
• Attachments and ships are no longer selected as a shop’s stock based on their price (will now see a larger variety of items, earlier).
• Toned down the event that would cause High Command to remove all of a player’s supply and credits, as a punishment for destroying their cargo ships:
• Reduced the cost of bribing the enemy from 30% of your credits to 10%.
• Reduced the chances of your crew causing heavy damage to the cargo ship from 40% to 25%.
• The event will now remove no supply instead of all of your supply if the cargo ship is hit.
• The event will now remove 20% of your credits instead of all of them if the cargo ship is hit.

A few updates based on player feedback:

• Each ship will no longer gain a phase warp critical for using escape.
• Escaping now costs 3 supply up from 1.
• Repairs are more likely to appear in non-repair specific shops.
• Reduced the price of Critical Repairs from 4800 credits to 3000 credits.
• Supply is more likely to appear in non-supply-specific shops.
• Increased the price of supply from 1000 to 1500.
• Removed the discounted stack of 10 supply from shops.
• Increased the discount on the 5 stack of supply from 5% to 20% – now only available in supply shops.
• Attachments and ships are no longer selected as a shop’s stock based on their price (will now see a larger variety of items, earlier).
• Toned down the event that would cause High Command to remove all of a player’s supply and credits, as a punishment for destroying their cargo ships:
• Reduced the cost of bribing the enemy from 30% of your credits to 10%.
• Reduced the chances of your crew causing heavy damage to the cargo ship from 40% to 25%.
• The event will now remove no supply instead of all of your supply if the cargo ship is hit.
• The event will now remove 20% of your credits instead of all of them if the cargo ship is hit.

Erebus just got easier! Reduced the defences of Erebus: Erebus carrier pods have been reduced from 16 to 12. Erebus plates have had their 25% damage resistance removed, reducing the damage they can take from 15000 to 10000. Erebus core has had its damage resistance reduced from 75% to 50%, reducing the damage it can take from 30000 to 20000. Reduced the damage output of Erebus: Erebus beams now fire slower and for longer, making them less accurate when player is dodging. Erebus Torpedo has had a damage reduction from 4320 to 3600. Erebus now has 12 carrier pods down from 16, reducing the maximum drones in the mission from 48 to 36. Photon Blast damage increases: Photon Blast (basic) has had a damage increase from 792 to 900. Photon Blast I has had a damage increase from 880 to 1000. Photon Blast II has had a damage increase from 968 to 1100. Photon Blast III has had a damage increase from 1056 to 1200. Slight price increase on all Photon Blast attachments to reflect damage increase.

Erebus just got easier! Reduced the defences of Erebus: Erebus carrier pods have been reduced from 16 to 12. Erebus plates have had their 25% damage resistance removed, reducing the damage they can take from 15000 to 10000. Erebus core has had its damage resistance reduced from 75% to 50%, reducing the damage it can take from 30000 to 20000. Reduced the damage output of Erebus: Erebus beams now fire slower and for longer, making them less accurate when player is dodging. Erebus Torpedo has had a damage reduction from 4320 to 3600. Erebus now has 12 carrier pods down from 16, reducing the maximum drones in the mission from 48 to 36. Photon Blast damage increases: Photon Blast (basic) has had a damage increase from 792 to 900. Photon Blast I has had a damage increase from 880 to 1000. Photon Blast II has had a damage increase from 968 to 1100. Photon Blast III has had a damage increase from 1056 to 1200. Slight price increase on all Photon Blast attachments to reflect damage increase.

A small update to fix a bug where placing an attachment into a skill slot caused the game to crash.

A small update to fix a bug where placing an attachment into a skill slot caused the game to crash.

We're pleased to announce that Distant Star won the BAFTA Scotland Game Award at last night's ceremony in Glasgow. We just wanted to thank all of the players who supported the development of the title through Early Access. The feedback and suggestions you all gave us was incredibly helpful and really shaped the direction of the game. On behalf of the team here at Blazing Griffin - thank you!

We're pleased to announce that Distant Star won the BAFTA Scotland Game Award at last night's ceremony in Glasgow. We just wanted to thank all of the players who supported the development of the title through Early Access. The feedback and suggestions you all gave us was incredibly helpful and really shaped the direction of the game. On behalf of the team here at Blazing Griffin - thank you!

Some eagle-eyed players noticed a minor update last week. We fixed a bug where some junk text used for internal testing was occasionally appearing in game. No other changes were made with the update. :)

Some eagle-eyed players noticed a minor update last week. We fixed a bug where some junk text used for internal testing was occasionally appearing in game. No other changes were made with the update. :)

Big news today! We're pleased to announce our expansion into film today, as we bring on film and post production partners to create two new divisions that will fall under the Blazing Griffin brand. We've got some pretty awesome projects soon to be announced as well, so keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter channels for more details very soon! More information on the merger can be found here.

Big news today! We're pleased to announce our expansion into film today, as we bring on film and post production partners to create two new divisions that will fall under the Blazing Griffin brand. We've got some pretty awesome projects soon to be announced as well, so keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter channels for more details very soon! More information on the merger can be found here.

Hi everyone, We're delighted to announce that Distant Star: Revenant Fleet has been nominated for several awards. We're short-listed for the Scottish BAFTA awards (Game category) and for the TIGA Game Industry Awards (Original Game and Audio Design). Happy days! The team here at Blazing Griffin would like to thank everyone who contributed to the development of Distant Star throughout Early Access. Your input and support was greatly appreciated. http://www.bafta.org/scotland/awards/news/british-academy-scotland-awards-in-2015-nominations-announced

Hi everyone, We're delighted to announce that Distant Star: Revenant Fleet has been nominated for several awards. We're short-listed for the Scottish BAFTA awards (Game category) and for the TIGA Game Industry Awards (Original Game and Audio Design). Happy days! The team here at Blazing Griffin would like to thank everyone who contributed to the development of Distant Star throughout Early Access. Your input and support was greatly appreciated. http://www.bafta.org/scotland/awards/news/british-academy-scotland-awards-in-2015-nominations-announced