House of the Dying Sun news & patch notes

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/807d1fd9cbeb846dcb3df56c5fbbb68174a9f863.png Greetings Starfighters, We are pushing the beta branch of 1.05 to the main branch after some testing. Thanks to everyone that worked with us to check these fixes. Please don't hesitate to post in the forums if you see something that is broken, especially if it involves the following:

• PS4 GAMEPAD: Fixed some conflicts with Steam's native support
• DEBUG: Removed a leftover debug command on the numpad
• BUILD: Install folder now contains batch file for launching VR
• CRASH: Fixed memory leak crash on repeated attempts of some sorties
• CONTROLS: Added option to use mouse x for roll (in general settings menu)
• CONTROLS: Added option to map an analog throttle from -1 to 1
• CONTROLS/UI: Inverting mouse will no longer invert the mouse UI
• UI: Fixed MOTD menu registering two clicks on fast machines

Thanks, and good hunting!

http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/2fbf0bdd7f690878dec06f5f1bc6f2994e5fa6c4.png Greetings Starfighters, We have a few small changes that are now waiting in the beta branch. If any of the following issues affected you, please give the beta branch a try:

• PS4 GAMEPAD: Fixed some conflicts with Steam's native support
• DEBUG: Removed a leftover debug command on the numpad
• BUILD: Install folder now contains batch file for launching VR
• CRASH: Fixed memory leak crash on repeated attempts of some sorties
• CONTROLS: Added option to use mouse x for roll
• CONTROLS: Added option to map an analog throttle from -1 to 1
• UI: Fixed MOTD menu registering two clicks on fast machines

To access the beta branch, right-click the game in your Steam Library, then click "Properties." Go to the "Betas" tab and select "beta" from the dropdown menu. Now click, "OK," and the game will start downloading the new version. Once we confirm that nothing blows up, we'll push this to main. Thanks, and good hunting!

http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/2fbf0bdd7f690878dec06f5f1bc6f2994e5fa6c4.png Greetings Starfighters, We have a few small changes that are now waiting in the beta branch. If any of the following issues affected you, please give the beta branch a try:

• PS4 GAMEPAD: Fixed some conflicts with Steam's native support
• DEBUG: Removed a leftover debug command on the numpad
• BUILD: Install folder now contains batch file for launching VR
• CRASH: Fixed memory leak crash on repeated attempts of some sorties
• CONTROLS: Added option to use mouse x for roll
• CONTROLS: Added option to map an analog throttle from -1 to 1
• UI: Fixed MOTD menu registering two clicks on fast machines

To access the beta branch, right-click the game in your Steam Library, then click "Properties." Go to the "Betas" tab and select "beta" from the dropdown menu. Now click, "OK," and the game will start downloading the new version. Once we confirm that nothing blows up, we'll push this to main. Thanks, and good hunting!

http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/57bad1e8e5956a2267471974d86e04a69f87bc07.png Greetings, Starfighters! 1.04 has been pushed to the main branch. This has a few minor fixes, including those from 1.03 (which only lived in the beta branch).

• Fixed healing icon causing log spam (and stutter) on some machines
• Fixed heavy weapon ammo icons on allied fighters
• Special projectiles like ECM will handle losing their owner or target (no more hanging in space)
• Fixed some sound channels not being affected by the volume control (such as UI beeps)
• Split the camera strafe controls out so they can be bound by separate buttons instead of just an axis. If you had rebound these controls, they may be reverted.

If you run into any issues, report them on the forums. Use this post to help you find your debug information: http://steamcommunity.com/app/283160/discussions/0/305510202679777602/#c133258092252958627 Good hunting!

http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/57bad1e8e5956a2267471974d86e04a69f87bc07.png Greetings, Starfighters! 1.04 has been pushed to the main branch. This has a few minor fixes, including those from 1.03 (which only lived in the beta branch).

• Fixed healing icon causing log spam (and stutter) on some machines
• Fixed heavy weapon ammo icons on allied fighters
• Special projectiles like ECM will handle losing their owner or target (no more hanging in space)
• Fixed some sound channels not being affected by the volume control (such as UI beeps)
• Split the camera strafe controls out so they can be bound by separate buttons instead of just an axis. If you had rebound these controls, they may be reverted.

If you run into any issues, report them on the forums. Use this post to help you find your debug information: http://steamcommunity.com/app/283160/discussions/0/305510202679777602/#c133258092252958627 Good hunting!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/f231bcd5efb87c575d882d5cadfa3a3d6a8fc1cf.png Hi! Propagating now is an update that fixes the following:

• Bonus objectives in the Quartermaster mission while playing on Invader now show up correctly
• Fleet config UI should no longer get stuck moving in and out of Dragon difficulty

Thanks for the reports, and good hunting!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/f231bcd5efb87c575d882d5cadfa3a3d6a8fc1cf.png Hi! Propagating now is an update that fixes the following:

• Bonus objectives in the Quartermaster mission while playing on Invader now show up correctly
• Fleet config UI should no longer get stuck moving in and out of Dragon difficulty

Thanks for the reports, and good hunting!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/af1e265ae156f0c5588b5bd153f0a69b1347e41c.png

1.01

1.01 is now in the main branch. Here are the fixes!

• XBOX One controller definitions
• Fixes ghost rebinding (caused by the update above)
• Drone HUD icons now show up again

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/af1e265ae156f0c5588b5bd153f0a69b1347e41c.png

1.01

1.01 is now in the main branch. Here are the fixes!

• XBOX One controller definitions
• Fixes ghost rebinding (caused by the update above)
• Drone HUD icons now show up again

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/a8135eabc2ad64c7c0dbb474908510c2334c8a40.png

1.01b

An update is in the beta branch that changes the following:

• Drone HUD icons show up again. This probably made things harder than they should have been.
• Updated controller definitions/SDK

This will be pushed to main in the morning, provided nothing blows up. To access the beta, right-click the game in your Steam Library. Click "Properties" and then go to the "Betas" tab. Select "beta" from the dropdown list and click OK. Steam will try to download the beta update. Thanks!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/a8135eabc2ad64c7c0dbb474908510c2334c8a40.png

1.01b

An update is in the beta branch that changes the following:

• Drone HUD icons show up again. This probably made things harder than they should have been.
• Updated controller definitions/SDK

This will be pushed to main in the morning, provided nothing blows up. To access the beta, right-click the game in your Steam Library. Click "Properties" and then go to the "Betas" tab. Select "beta" from the dropdown list and click OK. Steam will try to download the beta update. Thanks!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/47c9e1fab12c2b0ef4b23fe175686b269909c5a4.png

Greetings, Starfighters

1.0 is now released and the game has officially left Early Access! For a list of the extra improvements, please see our latest update. Thanks to everyone who has played the game and offered feedback. It's been a pleasure, and the game is much better because you took the time to write a thoughtful post or send an email. We will definitely monitoring the forums for major issues and will likely sneak some tweaks into the build over the next few days. We'll also keep an eye out for major issues down the road. In the meantime, good hunting!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/47c9e1fab12c2b0ef4b23fe175686b269909c5a4.png

Greetings, Starfighters

1.0 is now released and the game has officially left Early Access! For a list of the extra improvements, please see our latest update. Thanks to everyone who has played the game and offered feedback. It's been a pleasure, and the game is much better because you took the time to write a thoughtful post or send an email. We will definitely monitoring the forums for major issues and will likely sneak some tweaks into the build over the next few days. We'll also keep an eye out for major issues down the road. In the meantime, good hunting!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/004922587c3892110e9fa964c759cfbd594e8fe0.png

ENTER THE DRAGON

1.0, codenamed DRAGON, will be unleashed on Tuesday, November 1st at 12:00pm PST. Along with being a culmination of all the improvements implemented during Early Access, we're excited to share some new improvements. The base price of the game will not increase, and we will be participating in a launch week discount.

DEVELOPMENT BETA

An early build is currently available for testing in the beta branch. Lots of work will continue in this branch until Tuesday. To access it, right-click the game in your Steam library, click "Properties" and select the "Betas" tab. Select "beta" from the dropdown menu before clicking "OK." The game will begin downloading the beta version. If you have any feedback about the following additions, feel free to post them in the forums. A lot has been tweaked, so if any technical issues arise, please report those as well. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/cc47fe8409044c35131541fdc1a1a26e5db49fe9.png

NEW DIFFICULTY

DRAGON DIFFICULTY unlocks after beating the campaign. Fighters are the only units available to you, and each mission is rebalanced with new timings, new enemy fleets, and new enemy loadouts. When we first launched the game, some of you asked to opt-out of taking your capitals in order to have a greater challenge. This does that and more, offering a tuned experience that tests your interceptor piloting to the fullest. You will be required to truly understand your loadout, your enemies' loadouts, and the parameters of the mission. This mode was super fun to work on because it is incredibly pure, and knowing the size of the player's fleet along with their skill level lets the mission be tuned more aggressively than normal. In our opinion, the game is at its strongest in the cockpit, and this mode takes advantage of that. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/12610512694ab2312f4282e4e8fa013292345209.png

INTERDICTORS

With DRAGON DIFFICULTY comes INTERDICTORS, which will prevent your fighters (and allied assault transports) from warping out until they are destroyed. Idle long enough for the flagship to arrive and you might be trapped until you can eliminated its electronic-warfare minions. Along with interdictors, TARGET JAMMER FRIGATES make appearances on some missions, preventing your highest DPS from firing its weapons until this electronic-warfare frigate is destroyed. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/2a767d339c86f5d60e22d7895bc1cc69e0747960.png

FLAGSHIP HUNT

Some advanced players took it upon themselves to try and defeat the traitor flagship in every mission. We thought this was pretty cool, so we added gameplay around this. Each mission's flagship has been given a unique commander and a custom escort fleet. They are designed to be extra challenging while offering super-capital battles even in missions that didn't originally support them. Achievements are granted for each flagship you are able to kill during the campaign while playing on HARBINGER DIFFICULTY.

OTHER NOTABLE IMPROVEMENTS

We've improved the game in many other ways since the last update. Here they are:

• Found and fixed several small memory leaks
• Added option to start missions in the cockpit (as opposed to tactical mode)
• Several small polish items, such as inbound fleet warp effects
• Rebalanced subsystem repair times, they'll often stay disabled for longer
• Increased ECM pulse damage for allied fighters
• Buffed shield damage booster effectiveness (now 250%)
• Tweaked cockpit UI for readability (particularly with off-screen targets)
• Reworked The Physician mission and encounter skybox
• Reworked The Quartermaster mission, now with cover
• Fixed kamikaze behavior for enemy fighters, gave certain fanatics the Kamikaze Chassis upgrade
• Traitor flagship torpedo launchers may now be disabled

HOTAS UPDATE

To be absolutely clear, HOTAS controllers are not officially supported and are not guaranteed to work. Some HOTAS controller do work well with the game, but they will remain at-your-own-risk.They were becoming a huge, never-ending time sink, so no more work will be done to support them. Known throttle issues:

• X52-PRO
• CH Throttle

Thanks, and good hunting!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/004922587c3892110e9fa964c759cfbd594e8fe0.png

ENTER THE DRAGON

1.0, codenamed DRAGON, will be unleashed on Tuesday, November 1st at 12:00pm PST. Along with being a culmination of all the improvements implemented during Early Access, we're excited to share some new improvements. The base price of the game will not increase, and we will be participating in a launch week discount.

DEVELOPMENT BETA

An early build is currently available for testing in the beta branch. Lots of work will continue in this branch until Tuesday. To access it, right-click the game in your Steam library, click "Properties" and select the "Betas" tab. Select "beta" from the dropdown menu before clicking "OK." The game will begin downloading the beta version. If you have any feedback about the following additions, feel free to post them in the forums. A lot has been tweaked, so if any technical issues arise, please report those as well. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/cc47fe8409044c35131541fdc1a1a26e5db49fe9.png

NEW DIFFICULTY

DRAGON DIFFICULTY unlocks after beating the campaign. Fighters are the only units available to you, and each mission is rebalanced with new timings, new enemy fleets, and new enemy loadouts. When we first launched the game, some of you asked to opt-out of taking your capitals in order to have a greater challenge. This does that and more, offering a tuned experience that tests your interceptor piloting to the fullest. You will be required to truly understand your loadout, your enemies' loadouts, and the parameters of the mission. This mode was super fun to work on because it is incredibly pure, and knowing the size of the player's fleet along with their skill level lets the mission be tuned more aggressively than normal. In our opinion, the game is at its strongest in the cockpit, and this mode takes advantage of that. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/12610512694ab2312f4282e4e8fa013292345209.png

INTERDICTORS

With DRAGON DIFFICULTY comes INTERDICTORS, which will prevent your fighters (and allied assault transports) from warping out until they are destroyed. Idle long enough for the flagship to arrive and you might be trapped until you can eliminated its electronic-warfare minions. Along with interdictors, TARGET JAMMER FRIGATES make appearances on some missions, preventing your highest DPS from firing its weapons until this electronic-warfare frigate is destroyed. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/2a767d339c86f5d60e22d7895bc1cc69e0747960.png

FLAGSHIP HUNT

Some advanced players took it upon themselves to try and defeat the traitor flagship in every mission. We thought this was pretty cool, so we added gameplay around this. Each mission's flagship has been given a unique commander and a custom escort fleet. They are designed to be extra challenging while offering super-capital battles even in missions that didn't originally support them. Achievements are granted for each flagship you are able to kill during the campaign while playing on HARBINGER DIFFICULTY.

OTHER NOTABLE IMPROVEMENTS

We've improved the game in many other ways since the last update. Here they are:

• Found and fixed several small memory leaks
• Added option to start missions in the cockpit (as opposed to tactical mode)
• Several small polish items, such as inbound fleet warp effects
• Rebalanced subsystem repair times, they'll often stay disabled for longer
• Increased ECM pulse damage for allied fighters
• Buffed shield damage booster effectiveness (now 250%)
• Tweaked cockpit UI for readability (particularly with off-screen targets)
• Reworked The Physician mission and encounter skybox
• Reworked The Quartermaster mission, now with cover
• Fixed kamikaze behavior for enemy fighters, gave certain fanatics the Kamikaze Chassis upgrade
• Traitor flagship torpedo launchers may now be disabled

HOTAS UPDATE

To be absolutely clear, HOTAS controllers are not officially supported and are not guaranteed to work. Some HOTAS controller do work well with the game, but they will remain at-your-own-risk.They were becoming a huge, never-ending time sink, so no more work will be done to support them. Known throttle issues:

• X52-PRO
• CH Throttle

Thanks, and good hunting!

Hi! This is a pretty large VR update, so hold on to your butts. THIS UPDATE MAY REQUIRE A SINGLE STEAM REBOOT FOR VR. This is because the command line interface changed for the VR launch option and it might take a bit to propagate. A reboot will force this to happen.

SDK Update

The game's VR SDK has been updated to the latest version of the SteamVR plugin. This has shown to be a considerable improvement in VR performance on mid-to-high-end machines. We were also seeing a small number of Oculus users having problems with a laggy right eye. Our initial testing has shown this to be solved as well. We are not using single pass stereo rendering yet, as it has been problematic when combined with some screen effects. But once this is resolved and this compilation option is enabled, you can expect to see a further increase in VR performance. It may be a little touchy, so if you see any problems with it whatsoever, please don't hesitate to post in the forums.

Other Fixes

All prior beta fixes are included in this update:

• VR SDK update
• CONTROLS: Allowed touch and mouse controls to coexist -- this showed up during the control bindings screen
• PERF: Fixed several small hitches
• VR: Cleaned up cockpit camera setup
• CONTROLS: Fixed padlock and freelook interruption of ship control
• CONTROLS: Fixed ghost controls remaining after rebind
• CONTROLS: Fixed case where some joysticks report "UNKNOWN"
• DESTROYER: +HP/+SHIELD
• DESTROYER: Increased turn and move speed
• DESTROYER: Better forward coverage for point defense
• FRIGATE: Better forward coverage for point defense
• CONTROLS: Radials will lock out most other commands
• CONTROLS: Fixed "Toggle Move Order Mode" command
• CARRIER: Lowered torpedo steering and hull damage
• STEAM: Better Steamworks integration
• AI: Fixed long attack run behavior
• AI: Allied fighters will wait for clear shot with longer-range weapons like the Long Rifle

Thanks for your continued support, and good hunting!

Hi! This is a pretty large VR update, so hold on to your butts. THIS UPDATE MAY REQUIRE A SINGLE STEAM REBOOT FOR VR. This is because the command line interface changed for the VR launch option and it might take a bit to propagate. A reboot will force this to happen.

SDK Update

The game's VR SDK has been updated to the latest version of the SteamVR plugin. This has shown to be a considerable improvement in VR performance on mid-to-high-end machines. We were also seeing a small number of Oculus users having problems with a laggy right eye. Our initial testing has shown this to be solved as well. We are not using single pass stereo rendering yet, as it has been problematic when combined with some screen effects. But once this is resolved and this compilation option is enabled, you can expect to see a further increase in VR performance. It may be a little touchy, so if you see any problems with it whatsoever, please don't hesitate to post in the forums.

Other Fixes

All prior beta fixes are included in this update:

• VR SDK update
• CONTROLS: Allowed touch and mouse controls to coexist -- this showed up during the control bindings screen
• PERF: Fixed several small hitches
• VR: Cleaned up cockpit camera setup
• CONTROLS: Fixed padlock and freelook interruption of ship control
• CONTROLS: Fixed ghost controls remaining after rebind
• CONTROLS: Fixed case where some joysticks report "UNKNOWN"
• DESTROYER: +HP/+SHIELD
• DESTROYER: Increased turn and move speed
• DESTROYER: Better forward coverage for point defense
• FRIGATE: Better forward coverage for point defense
• CONTROLS: Radials will lock out most other commands
• CONTROLS: Fixed "Toggle Move Order Mode" command
• CARRIER: Lowered torpedo steering and hull damage
• STEAM: Better Steamworks integration
• AI: Fixed long attack run behavior
• AI: Allied fighters will wait for clear shot with longer-range weapons like the Long Rifle

Thanks for your continued support, and good hunting!

Hi! Work has been happening on 1.0 in the background, but we want to get some new fixes into the ecosystem to be tested out. If you previously had problems with ghosted controls after rebinding, or having to reboot after binding controls, we want to hear from you after trying this patch. Some small hitches having to do with units warping in/out have also been fixed, along with some of your fighter instruments being a little overzealous in updating. There was also a case where freelook and padlock views weren't handled super elegantly when using the keyboard and mouse. These should behave much better now. Here are the in-game notes:

• PERF: Fixed several small hitches
• VR: Cleaned up cockpit camera setup
• CONTROLS: Fixed padlock and freelook interruption of ship control
• CONTROLS: Fixed ghost controls remaining after rebind
• CONTROLS: Fixed case where some joysticks report "UNKNOWN" buttons

Thanks, and good hunting!

Hi! Work has been happening on 1.0 in the background, but we want to get some new fixes into the ecosystem to be tested out. If you previously had problems with ghosted controls after rebinding, or having to reboot after binding controls, we want to hear from you after trying this patch. Some small hitches having to do with units warping in/out have also been fixed, along with some of your fighter instruments being a little overzealous in updating. There was also a case where freelook and padlock views weren't handled super elegantly when using the keyboard and mouse. These should behave much better now. Here are the in-game notes:

• PERF: Fixed several small hitches
• VR: Cleaned up cockpit camera setup
• CONTROLS: Fixed padlock and freelook interruption of ship control
• CONTROLS: Fixed ghost controls remaining after rebind
• CONTROLS: Fixed case where some joysticks report "UNKNOWN" buttons

Thanks, and good hunting!

Hi! This patch covers some more under-the-hood tweaking (this time with Steam) along with some unit configuration and AI upgrades. You'll need to opt-in to the beta branch of the game to play with these changes. Here is the list:

• DESTROYER: +HP/+SHIELD
• DESTROYER: Increased turn and move speed
• DESTROYER: Better forward coverage for point defense
• FRIGATE: Better forward coverage for point defense
• CONTROLS: Radials will lock out most other commands
• CONTROLS: Fixed "Toggle Move Order Mode" command
• CARRIER: Lowered torpedo steering and hull damage
• STEAM: Better Steamworks integration
• AI: Fixed long attack run behavior
• AI: Allied fighters will wait for clear shot with longer-range weapons like the Long Rifle

Destroyer Balancing

We're nudging the destroyers back up in terms of vitality and maneuverability. They were a little too paper-thin, especially when they encountered units that could outrange them like carriers.

Point Defense Coverage

Point defense locations on allied capitals have been reconfigured to have better forward-facing coverage. If they are equipped with Omniflak, they will have an easier time shooting down incoming torpedoes. Expect a few volleys to make it through, but your units should be able to defend themselves a little better. Thanks a lot to the players that brought this up!

AI Upgrades

We've fixed a couple instances where the AI would seemingly fly off when given an order. The reason for this was they would try to set up for an attack run on their target at a percentage of their weapon's max range. So in the case of the Long Rifle or Torpedo, they would think they were too close and try to fly out to the 8km+ distance before turning around. There is now a cap on this distance that makes them behave much more reasonably. The other fix makes them a bit smarter when using these long range weapons and their target is behind cover. They will wait until they have a clear shot when using the Long Rifle, for example. As always, if you run into any problems, please don't hesitate to post in the forums! Good hunting!

Hi! This patch covers some more under-the-hood tweaking (this time with Steam) along with some unit configuration and AI upgrades. You'll need to opt-in to the beta branch of the game to play with these changes. Here is the list:

• DESTROYER: +HP/+SHIELD
• DESTROYER: Increased turn and move speed
• DESTROYER: Better forward coverage for point defense
• FRIGATE: Better forward coverage for point defense
• CONTROLS: Radials will lock out most other commands
• CONTROLS: Fixed "Toggle Move Order Mode" command
• CARRIER: Lowered torpedo steering and hull damage
• STEAM: Better Steamworks integration
• AI: Fixed long attack run behavior
• AI: Allied fighters will wait for clear shot with longer-range weapons like the Long Rifle

Destroyer Balancing

We're nudging the destroyers back up in terms of vitality and maneuverability. They were a little too paper-thin, especially when they encountered units that could outrange them like carriers.

Point Defense Coverage

Point defense locations on allied capitals have been reconfigured to have better forward-facing coverage. If they are equipped with Omniflak, they will have an easier time shooting down incoming torpedoes. Expect a few volleys to make it through, but your units should be able to defend themselves a little better. Thanks a lot to the players that brought this up!

AI Upgrades

We've fixed a couple instances where the AI would seemingly fly off when given an order. The reason for this was they would try to set up for an attack run on their target at a percentage of their weapon's max range. So in the case of the Long Rifle or Torpedo, they would think they were too close and try to fly out to the 8km+ distance before turning around. There is now a cap on this distance that makes them behave much more reasonably. The other fix makes them a bit smarter when using these long range weapons and their target is behind cover. They will wait until they have a clear shot when using the Long Rifle, for example. As always, if you run into any problems, please don't hesitate to post in the forums! Good hunting!

We've been working with our middleware author and we have an experimental fix for a bunch of conflicting joystick inputs/throttles, sometimes causing the mouse to disappear in menus. This fix should remove the need to "Force Mouse in Menus" option if you have a non-gamepad controller hooked up. Thanks to the users that tested this and let us know that it helped!

We've been working with our middleware author and we have an experimental fix for a bunch of conflicting joystick inputs/throttles, sometimes causing the mouse to disappear in menus. This fix should remove the need to "Force Mouse in Menus" option if you have a non-gamepad controller hooked up. Thanks to the users that tested this and let us know that it helped!

Hi! There are some big under-the-hood changes here along with some bug fixes and balance tweaks. These have been tested for a short while in the beta branch and all seems well, so they are going live:

• ENGINE UPGRADE -- This should solve the black screen soft crash that some people were seeing, especially on 970+ cards with 3gb of VRAM. The previous workaround was to use the DX9 launch option, but that should no longer be necessary. Please let us know if it helped!
• DRONE: Imperial drones cannot heal each other
• WEAPONS: +RANGE for allied destroyer artillery
• WEAPONS: +HULL DAMAGE for allied destroyer artillery
• WEAPONS: -SHIELD DAMAGE for allied destroyer artillery
• UNITS: -HULL for allied destroyer
• CHALLENGE MODE: Drones reinforce faster
• LEADERBOARDS: Handled case where Steam is down
• CONTROLS: Only mouse movement will switch to KBAM mode, letting you use the keyboard & simple joystick in tandem
• AUDIO: Normalized all radio chatter, tweaked starting volumes in the options menu
• WEAPONS: Slowed down enemy supercapital artillery

Imperial Destroy Balancing

The destroyers always had a muddy role in the combat encounters, so we're trying to fix that. Destroyers now act like your own set of archers instead of tanky brawlers. They can engage at +100% of the range, making them short-range snipers, but they do more damage to hull and less to shields. This makes it important for you in your fighters to move ahead and drop shielding on their targets, and also to protect them. Their increased range buys you more time. They start off somewhat inaccurate at low rank, but at max rank they should be excellent shots.

Next Update

The next major update will be 1.0, and we're shooting for sometime near the middle of September. There will be some small extras in this update that we'll talk about as we get closer to the date. If fires pop up in the meantime, especially due to some unforeseen engine upgrade complication, they will be addressed. Thanks for your support!

UPDATE 8.11.2016 @ 9:53 PST

Some users were reporting upside-down VR displays, so we're reverting this build until this is hunted down. Thanks!

UPDATE 8.11.2016 @ 10:22 PST

Looks like the problem has been isolated. We're going to push it to the beta branch and give it a few runs to see if it's good to go.

UPDATE 8.11.2016 @ 11:06 PST

A few intrepid players have verified that the fix is working, so the main branch is being updated with this version. Thanks for your patience!

Hi! There are some big under-the-hood changes here along with some bug fixes and balance tweaks. These have been tested for a short while in the beta branch and all seems well, so they are going live:

• ENGINE UPGRADE -- This should solve the black screen soft crash that some people were seeing, especially on 970+ cards with 3gb of VRAM. The previous workaround was to use the DX9 launch option, but that should no longer be necessary. Please let us know if it helped!
• DRONE: Imperial drones cannot heal each other
• WEAPONS: +RANGE for allied destroyer artillery
• WEAPONS: +HULL DAMAGE for allied destroyer artillery
• WEAPONS: -SHIELD DAMAGE for allied destroyer artillery
• UNITS: -HULL for allied destroyer
• CHALLENGE MODE: Drones reinforce faster
• LEADERBOARDS: Handled case where Steam is down
• CONTROLS: Only mouse movement will switch to KBAM mode, letting you use the keyboard & simple joystick in tandem
• AUDIO: Normalized all radio chatter, tweaked starting volumes in the options menu
• WEAPONS: Slowed down enemy supercapital artillery

Imperial Destroy Balancing

The destroyers always had a muddy role in the combat encounters, so we're trying to fix that. Destroyers now act like your own set of archers instead of tanky brawlers. They can engage at +100% of the range, making them short-range snipers, but they do more damage to hull and less to shields. This makes it important for you in your fighters to move ahead and drop shielding on their targets, and also to protect them. Their increased range buys you more time. They start off somewhat inaccurate at low rank, but at max rank they should be excellent shots.

Next Update

The next major update will be 1.0, and we're shooting for sometime near the middle of September. There will be some small extras in this update that we'll talk about as we get closer to the date. If fires pop up in the meantime, especially due to some unforeseen engine upgrade complication, they will be addressed. Thanks for your support!

UPDATE 8.11.2016 @ 9:53 PST

Some users were reporting upside-down VR displays, so we're reverting this build until this is hunted down. Thanks!

UPDATE 8.11.2016 @ 10:22 PST

Looks like the problem has been isolated. We're going to push it to the beta branch and give it a few runs to see if it's good to go.

UPDATE 8.11.2016 @ 11:06 PST

A few intrepid players have verified that the fix is working, so the main branch is being updated with this version. Thanks for your patience!

Hi! We're going to be incrementally tweaking the challenge mode while making some performance improvements. Most of these balance items will affect high level Challenge Mode play, but campaign will see some small changes/improvements as well. The first pass is to improve Imperial drone effectiveness and limit the amount of shields enemy waves can field.

Patch Notes - 7.25.16

• DRONE: Increased Imperial drone HP by 50%
• DRONE: Autocannon drone range increased
• DRONE: Autocannon drones can target other drones
• DRONE: Autocannon drone armor damage increased, shield damage decreased
• CHALLENGE MODE: Escorts do not have shields
• CHALLENGE MODE: Carriers and Battlecruisers now have much heavier escorts instead of too much fighter spam
• CHALLENGE MODE: Decreased chance of flak drones for sniper units
• PERF: Fixed some hitches when switching fighters or going in and out of tactical mode, prevents some holodecking in VR
• PERF: Minor fixes, mostly having to do with small one-off garbage collections

Good hunting!

Hi! We're going to be incrementally tweaking the challenge mode while making some performance improvements. Most of these balance items will affect high level Challenge Mode play, but campaign will see some small changes/improvements as well. The first pass is to improve Imperial drone effectiveness and limit the amount of shields enemy waves can field.

Patch Notes - 7.25.16

• DRONE: Increased Imperial drone HP by 50%
• DRONE: Autocannon drone range increased
• DRONE: Autocannon drones can target other drones
• DRONE: Autocannon drone armor damage increased, shield damage decreased
• CHALLENGE MODE: Escorts do not have shields
• CHALLENGE MODE: Carriers and Battlecruisers now have much heavier escorts instead of too much fighter spam
• CHALLENGE MODE: Decreased chance of flak drones for sniper units
• PERF: Fixed some hitches when switching fighters or going in and out of tactical mode, prevents some holodecking in VR
• PERF: Minor fixes, mostly having to do with small one-off garbage collections

Good hunting!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/b6fa90021513e2b7c34489ff8888002afde37622.png

Challenge Mode

Live on the main branch is a new scenario, Last Stand at Ol's Shelter, previously known only as "wave clear." Each day (at 17:00 PST), a new battlefield is created. Each day, a new roster of enemies is summoned. Each day, you will die. The rules are simple:

• You will fight randomly-generated fleets until you lose your fighters or your Host Termination Timer is up
• Each fleet is led by one or more traitor lords with a random set of upgrades
• Eliminating these leaders fends off death by adding time your Host Termination Timer
• Bonuses may be earned by eliminating civilian vessels
• Your furthest wave and time is put on display using Steam Leaderboards

Challenge Mode is extremely challenging and is recommended for veteran players. Upgrades earned in the campaign will be available in this scenario. This mode also represents one of the major feature milestones on the road to leaving Early Access. We're not quite there yet, as there is still work left to do across the game. Thanks for your support and patience! http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/4ca9e1ad5c2919ba73740461e1bd934a9b9ab8cc.png

Patch Notes

This update also includes the following fixes (among many others):

• CONTROLS: ArmA-style mouselook is implemented (defaults to LEFT-ALT)
• CONTROLS: Joystick axis freelook is implemented
• FIGHTER AI: Major improvements to things like weapon selection and attack run positioning
• DRONE AI: Healing Drone AI has better prioritization, will top off nearby allies
• GAP DRIVE: Fixed cases where AI would kill themselves
• PERFORMANCE: A ton of minor performance fixes went in, hopefully adding up to a better VR experience for many

We'll keep tweaking Challenge Mode until 1.0 arrives, so leave feedback in the Steam Forums! Your feedback has been invaluable so far. Thanks for taking the time to write it! http://i.imgur.com/F5nMZ5d.gif

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/b6fa90021513e2b7c34489ff8888002afde37622.png

Challenge Mode

Live on the main branch is a new scenario, Last Stand at Ol's Shelter, previously known only as "wave clear." Each day (at 17:00 PST), a new battlefield is created. Each day, a new roster of enemies is summoned. Each day, you will die. The rules are simple:

• You will fight randomly-generated fleets until you lose your fighters or your Host Termination Timer is up
• Each fleet is led by one or more traitor lords with a random set of upgrades
• Eliminating these leaders fends off death by adding time your Host Termination Timer
• Bonuses may be earned by eliminating civilian vessels
• Your furthest wave and time is put on display using Steam Leaderboards

Challenge Mode is extremely challenging and is recommended for veteran players. Upgrades earned in the campaign will be available in this scenario. This mode also represents one of the major feature milestones on the road to leaving Early Access. We're not quite there yet, as there is still work left to do across the game. Thanks for your support and patience! http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25166108/4ca9e1ad5c2919ba73740461e1bd934a9b9ab8cc.png

Patch Notes

This update also includes the following fixes (among many others):

• CONTROLS: ArmA-style mouselook is implemented (defaults to LEFT-ALT)
• CONTROLS: Joystick axis freelook is implemented
• FIGHTER AI: Major improvements to things like weapon selection and attack run positioning
• DRONE AI: Healing Drone AI has better prioritization, will top off nearby allies
• GAP DRIVE: Fixed cases where AI would kill themselves
• PERFORMANCE: A ton of minor performance fixes went in, hopefully adding up to a better VR experience for many

We'll keep tweaking Challenge Mode until 1.0 arrives, so leave feedback in the Steam Forums! Your feedback has been invaluable so far. Thanks for taking the time to write it! http://i.imgur.com/F5nMZ5d.gif