What's New

Another week of work on the World Test map, finishing up work on missions and starting to work on player upgrades. In addition to the previous trade missions there are now patrol missions. These patrol missions involve following a patrol route near a station and engaging pirates that spawn along it. AI ships will follow these routes as well, and can help on the mission. These missions required the addition of waypoints, which were also added to trade missions. These took a bit of work, but clearly show routes to station's you may not have visited before.

The player's starting sub has been changed to a new design, the multi-role stalwart. It's tougher, has two gun turrets, and has a more substantial cargo hold. It should give a good starting point for trying out different gameplay styles.

Damaged submarines can now also be fixed. When a submarine docks at a station repair divers will automatically swim out to repair it. AI subs will wait until fully repaired before departing, but you can leave early if you want.

Models

OtterAlpha's made a fantastic model for the Conveyor civilian transport. With new models for the gun turrets nearly done as well.

Fleshing out Terrain

I've taken the first step to fleshing out the world as well, adding two patches of black smokers near Northburg and Delve. I'm not entirely sure how much more I'll add for now, as Open World Test is only intended to flesh out mechanics. The proper game world will be much larger and use a substantial amount of procedural generation.

Features

• Lots of refinements to mission handling
• Waypoints for missions
• Security patrol missions
• Changed the player's starting sub in Open World Test from the Seeker to the larger and more mult-role stalwart.
• More accurate projectile hit points.
• Added OtterAlpha's Conveyor model.
  
• Fixed bug with leak bubble counts. Increased target leak bubble counts.
• Repair divers automatically swim out to fix damaged subs when they dock at stations.

What's Next

Now that the player can earn money, I'm working on ways to spend it. First up is torpedoes. Instead of having infinite ammo they will now be tracked. Most stations will sell reloads, and there will be some new torpedo types as well to add some variety and meaningful choices.

Current Torpedoes

• Standard - the standard torpedo, swims towards the target and detonates on impact
• Rocket - a rocket propelled super-cavitating torpedo, incredibly fast but limited steering.
• Mini - a smaller version of the standard torpedo, faster and more accurate but reduced damage (currently only carried by the Sparrow minisub)

New Torpedoes

• Barrage - swims to the target like a standard torpedo, but launches a volley of rockets at short range instead of relying on direct impact
• Hydra -  swims to the target like a standard torpedo, but at medium range launches two mini torpedoes

Once torpedoes are purchasable, next up is customizing gun turrets, bounty hunting, and minisub hangars.