Transcendence 1.3 Release Candidate 1 is ready for testing!

This is likely to be the last build before the final release of 1.3, so please test it out and report any show stoppers.

Game Balance & UI

The main gameplay change in RC 1 is a new set of missions in Eridani. If you dock at the Sisters of Domina, you'll be introduced to Benedict, a mentor who will help train you for your journey.

My goal is to make Eridani more friendly to novices and to further develop the pilgrim's story line.

In addition, RC 1 has the following changes:

• Donations to the Sisters and the progression of Domina powers is a little more obvious now. The screens at the Sisters expose more of the game mechanics, allowing you to better understand the effect of donations.
• I've added some alerts and alarms to the UI, for better feedback. Let me know what you think.
• Your game is now saved at the start of most missions. This can be prevented with the noMissionCheckpoint option in Settings.

Player Ship Maneuverability

I added an extra parameter to the <Maneuver> block:

rotationStopAccel=

This parameter allows you to (optionally) specify the acceleration (in degrees per tick squared) with which a ship will stop rotating. If omitted, this is the same as rotationAccel.

I've set the player ships to have the following maneuverability (max rotation speed/rotation accel/rotation stop accel):

• EI500 freighter: 4.5/3.0
• Sapphire yacht: 9.0/1.5/9.0
• Wolfen gunship: 12.0/3.0/12.0
• Constellation freighter: 6.0/3.0
• Freyr gunship: 12.0/3.0
• Manticore heavy-gunship: 9.0/3.0

Notice that the Sapphire and Wolfen but stop rotating instantly, while the other ships use the same rotation acceleration for stopping and starting.

In practice I like the feel of the Wolfen more now that it can stop rotating instantly. Similarly, the Sapphire have a very low rotation acceleration, allowing you to precisely control the turn, but it stops rotating quickly, so it doesn't feel sluggish.

As always, let me know what you think!

API Version 22

• Added unvGetElapsedGameTime function.
• Added plyIsMessageEnabled function.
• Now able to get/set rotation property on missiles.
• Added rotationStopAccel= parameter to <Maneuver> (see below).
• If a dock screen action has no label, we look up the action ID in the <Language> element (this will help with language translations).
• Added some syntax to specify action hot keys in the action label itself.

Bugs

• Fixed a typo: http://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=6558
• Fixed AI bugs with large number of rotation frames: http://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=6565&p=58402#p58402
• Fixed a problem with wreck images not being cleared: http://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6412
• Added <Maneuver> element to remaining ship classes: http://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=6567
• Fixed a painting bug with targeting display: http://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?p=58388&f=15#p58388
• Fixed a bug in armor display: http://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=6559&p=58364#p58364

Credits

New to the credits this release:

• pixelfck

Thanks to all!