Update 0.22.2 - Reconstruction Tokens

[koonschi]

Ship Reconstruction

In the last update, we already changes some of the behaviors when your ship gets destroyed. Deaths in Avorion are harsh. We all know that. Especially new players get punished early for not knowing the game, after they invested tons of resources in their first ship and then - poof - it's just gone. That's true ragequit material, and nobody wants that. We're changing the insurance system to an equivalent reconstruction/respawn system that will be both more intuitive for everyone and more forgiving when you're just starting out.

 

The old insurance system was a compromise, and not a good one. Somewhat permadeath, but not really, yet you still lose enough that it caused beginners on titanium tier to ragequit. We needed a system where it is completely clear to players starting out that they CAN get their ship back, and where they DO after their first death (hence the first token is free). People try out the game, invest 3 - 5 hours in their first ship and then it gets destroyed, and it's not forgiven - at all. That's not fun, it's only frustrating. And when it's not fun, then it's not a good game.

 

Reconstruction Tokens

From now on, you can buy reconstruction tokens at repair docks, which will allow you to completely restore a destroyed ship. To avoid exploits, cargo and fighters (blueprints are restored!) are exempt from this. Reconstruction tokens cost about 20% to 30% of your ship's value, and the first token of each ship is free on normal and lower difficulties.

 

Repair docks are getting big changes: From now on you'll be able to restore your ships at repair docks, either for Reconstruction Tokens or for your ship's worth of money. Buying a Reconstruction Token will also repair your ship for free.

 

Quality of Life Changes

We're adding some more features that should make it easier and less obnoxious to start out in Avorion. Base crew size of ships is now doubled (from 4 to 8 ) and ships start out with a base crew on lower difficulties.

 

In addition to that, we're drastically reducing artificial hyperspace calculation times (by 90%). Keep in mind that hyperspace calculation times have been introduced to mask sector loading and generation time, and it can still take a while until your target sector is ready. You should feel a drastic improvement for long jumps though!

 

More Changes

There are many other smaller improvements in this patch: UI Improvements such as smaller notifications on the bottom right and less annoying hint boxes, as well as a new block shape!

 

To get the full list of changes, check out the patchnotes of this patch:

 

Reconstruction Tokens

 

"From now on, you can buy reconstruction tokens at repair docks, that will allow you to completely restore a destroyed ship. Well, not COMPLETELY, but almost. Read more about that below."

• New Item: Reconstruction Token
  
• Can be used at Repair Docks to reconstruct destroyed ships
  
• Can be bought at Repair Docks for 30% of the ship's value
  
• Must be bought in advance, BEFORE a ship is destroyed
  
• When founding a ship, players get 0 - 2 Reconstruction Tokens for free
  
  • Easy, Beginner: 2
    
  • Normal, Veteran: 1
    
  • Hard, Difficult, Insane: 0
    

  [*]Every player gets a free token for each existing ship

  [*]Added lootable Empty Reconstruction Tokens that are hidden in secret stashes and travelers stashes

  • Empty Reconstruction Tokens can be bound to your current ship
    

Repair Docks

 

"Repair docks are getting big changes: From now on you'll be able to restore your ships at repair docks, either for Reconstruction Tokens or for your ship's worth of money. Buying a Reconstruction Token will repair your ship for free."

• Repair Docks now sell Reconstruction Tokens (non-destroyed ships only)
  
• If you have a reconstruction token for your ship, you can't buy a second one for the same ship
  
• You can now reconstruct (read: respawn) your ships at Repair Docks
  
• Ships are reconstructed entirely with crew, torpedoes, blueprints, upgrades ...
  
  • But without cargo and fighters (duping & other exploit reasons)
    
  • Turrets are returned to your inventory on destruction, but re-added to the ship when it's reconstructed
    

  [*]After the insta-reconstruction, ships suffer minor structural damage

  • Ships can only regenerate back to 80% of their health
    
  • Repairing at a repair dock, in the build mode, or applying a plan fixes this
    

  [*]Repair Docks now additionally repair for free when buying a reconstruction token

Balancing

 

"We're adding some more changes that are supposed to make starting out in Avorion a little easier."

• Increased base crew size of ships to 8 (from 4)
  
• When founding a ship, a basic crew is added to the ship
  
  • Easy, Beginner, Normal: 8 Crewmen
    
  • Veteran: 4 Crewmen
    
  • Hard, Difficult, Insane: 0 Crewmen
    

  [*]Re-increased efficiency of too harshly nerfed salvaging lasers (sorry!)

  • Refining salvaging lasers: Efficiency up to 11% - 18% (Petty - Legendary) (now equal to refining mining lasers)
    
  • Raw salvaging lasers: Efficiency up to 40% - 80% (Petty - Legendary)
    

  [*]Increased money rewards for missions, events and stashes

  [*]Reduced distance-related artificial hyperspace calculation time by up to 90%

  • Longer jumps should take a lot less long to calculate
    
  • Dev Comment: If it still takes long, it's because the server is taking a long time to load or generate sectors. Nothing can be done about that.
    

Gameplay

 

"Upgrades and turrets are no longer dropped on destruction: Depending on how badly the ship was damaged, some items are returned to the player's inventory or have to be reconstructed. Ships remain in the ship list, waiting to be reconstructed or removed"

• Upgrades and turrets are no longer dropped on destruction but remain on the ship or are returned to your inventory
  
• Destroyed ships are no longer removed from the ship list, but tagged as "destroyed" and must be removed manually or reconstructed
  
• AI stops shooting torpedoes once a specific number of torpedoes was already fired, depending on Difficulty setting
  
• Insurance is now a station-only feature
  
• Added a new block
  
  • Block comes in 2 variants since it can't be mirrored onto itself
    

  [*]Refine ai now blocks if there is no refinery present and reminds players every 10 minutes

UI

 

"Some cleaning up of the UI."

• Reduced size of bottom right notifications
  
• Updated some permission descriptions for alliances
  
• Added a window to tell you after dying that you can reconstruct a ship
  
• Updated loading screen tips and hints to fit new reconstruction mechanic
  
• Improved overall hints to be less annoying
  
• Hyperspace cooldown bar is no longer visible when fully charged
  
• Programmed-Velocity bar is no longer visible when using mouse steering
  
• Added a 60s pause between hint boxes when clicked away
  
• Ship problems are highlighted more prominently
  
• Block HP can now be shown in building mode
  

Scripting API

• Added access to several new properties of ShipInfos
  
• UseableItems now can have multiple custom parameters passed on construction
  
• When setting scriptable object values via "setValue()" on server, those values are synced to clients now
  

Mining in other sectors

 

"After weeks of searching, one of the most infamous mining AI bugs has finally been fixed! Thanks to everyone who helped us find it, you guys are the best!"

• [uBR] Fixed an AI error preventing mining ships from mining while players were in another sector
  

Bugfixes

 

"Tons of QoL fixes and, as usual, [uBR] means User Bug Report."

• Fixed Vanilla- and UsableInventoryItems' icons being rendered upside down
  
• [uBR] Fixed a hang/crash in refine ores AI
  
• [uBR] Fixed wrong relations in crewboard for crew transport
  
• Fixed wrong tooltips on galaxy map checkboxes
  
• [uBR] Fixed discrepancy between tooltip and mining system
  
• [uBR] Seeker missiles no longer get extreme speed boosts from their parent craft
  
• Improved stability of server when files are corrupted
  
• [uBR] Fixed notification tooltips being rendered under other notifications
  
• [uBR] More Loot is now dropped in bigger packages instead of more packages
  
• [uBR] Fixed several bosses attacking during dialogs
  
• [uBR] Fixed several issues where players could get attacked in the loading screen
  
• [uBR] Ships defending sectors now get more turrets
  
• [uBR] Fixed desync between client and server when docks push away things
  
• [uBR] Fixed desync when collecting loot
  
• Fixed a rare crash when updating the background ship database of a faction
  
• [uBR] Fixed an issue where refineries accepted new jobs while another one from the same faction was running
  
• Fixed an issue where removing blocks from damaged ships would return too many resources
  
• [uBR] Fixed an exploit when claiming asteroids
  
• [uBR] Fixed wrong tooltip when trying to buy crewmen with too bad relations
  
• Crew profession designations use plural correctly
  
• Fixed several minor issues in scripts
  
• [uBR] Fixed energy priority hint being visible even after window was closed
  
• [uBR] Fixed a crash for Ryzen CPU users
  
• [uBR] Fixed an issue where the wormhole to the core respawned immediately after its timer elapsed
  
• [uBR] Fixed some issues that prevented harvesters of AI factions from harvesting
  
• [uBR] Fixed an issue where keyboard keys could get stuck
  
• Fixed players paying for mines when founding fails for some reason
  

 

[Sir Charles]

What are all these little updates about?

 

There were several small Avorion Updates during the day...

[SneakyTacts]

Finally--the new shape is here! Thanks.