What's New

Buying Torpedoes, Turrets and Submarines

This week the major focus has been on spending money. Trading and missions (and now bounty hunting) in the Open World Test map allow you to build up a respectable pile of money, but until now there's been no way to spend it. For starters torpedoes are no longer infinite. Each sub has a limited number of torpedoes carried per torpedo tube. Torpedoes can be bought and sold at equipment dealers, along with two new types of torpedoes. Different stations have different available torpedoes, so shop around if you're not finding the specific type you want.

Following torpedoes, I added gun turret purchasing. At equipment dealers you can refit your sub to have different gun turrets, with different stations having slightly different options. Each turret on the sub has to be changed at the same time, so subs with more turrets are more expensive to refit. Along with this I added a new "Rapid" turret type, which cannot fire high explosive rounds, but has a fast fire rate.

Lastly, you can now exchange submarines. This is also done at the equipment dealer for now, but at some point will be moved to it's own location. When you exchange submarines cargo and torpedoes are transferred, but gun turrets are not. This is due to the variable cost of gun turret upgrades. Different stations again have a different selection of subs, they are pretty expensive though.

For now all upgrades are lost when you die, I'm not planning on changing that behavior until I add a proper saving system, which will probably not be until after I start working on the full world map.

Models

OtterAlpha has made a new model for the Protector, and the single and double gun turrets, they look great and make my own models look comically out of place by comparison.

Patch Notes

• Gave infiltrator a mantlet gun, mini torps and made it a strafing attacker.
• Limited torpedo ammo.
• Equipment seller station room, buying and selling torpedoes.
• Buying new turret loadouts.
• Improvements to torpedo tracking.
• New Hydra torpedo that launches two mini torpedoes at short range.
• New barrage torpedo that attacks at short range with a volley of rockets. 
• AI reloads torpedoes when docked
• New Rapid gun turret type.
• Novarus Frigate given Rapid turrets.
• Earn bounties in Open World Test by shooting pirate subs. Redeem these for money at any Sherrifs Office 
• Buy new subs at the equipment shops. Cargo and torpedoes are transferred upon purchase, but gun turrets are not.
  • Northburg has the Protector (small combat sub), Stalwart (starting sub), and Conveyor (large trading sub)
  • Delve has the Seeker (small combat sub), and Stalwart (starting sub) 
  • Bastion has the Protector (small combat sub), Province (medium combat sub), and Republic (large combat sub)
• Updated Seeker from OtterAlpha
• New Protector model from OtterAlpha
• New single and double gun turrets from OtterAlpha
• New world sand texture from OtterAlpha

What's Next

Originally I was planning on adding mini subs control, where some subs can launch and control one or two "pets". I've decided to delay that and instead work on more "narrative" elements, like NPC conversations and hand-written quests. Quests differ from Missions (which area already in place) by being manually authored and having a narrative thread to them, where Missions are just generated patrols or trade runs. The first quest I'm planning on requires salvaging a wreck, so I've started on salvaging mechanics to support that. To support salvaging, I've started on diving crews.

Diving Crews

Diving crews are a new type of "equipment" you can put on your submarine. Instead of being a weapon, they are exclusively used for support. The first type of diver will be a Salvage Diver. When you come to a rest near a wrecked submarine you can order your salvage divers to swim out from your submarine and explore the wreck for loot. Future diver types will include repair divers (similar to the ones currently deployed by stations), mining divers, and science teams.

Using diving crews requires you to stay stationary, so it would be unwise to try repairing in the middle of combat. Divers move very slowly, so even the smallest of maneuvers will leave the divers behind (where they will run out of oxygen and die in the dark, cold ocean). You can hire diving crews on stations, for a nominal fee. Presuming you don't cruelly leave them to die, they are infinitely re-usable.

Salvaging

Salvage operations will be straightforward. When you find (or create) a wrecked submarine, simply sail close, target the wreck, and order your salvage divers to deploy to it. The divers will swim out from your submarine to the wreck, and return with anything interesting they find. They will continue this until you either order them to return, or they stop finding anything of value. The time this takes will depend on the size of the wreck and how far away you are, since the divers move very slowly.

Once you're back at a station you can sell any looted commodities at the commodity dealer.

NPC Conversation

I'm not exactly sure what the UI will look like yet, but in essence some (most) rooms in stations will have NPCs present. You will be able to talk to the NPCs for hints, rumors, or to discover quests. In the future a dynamic reputation system will control how chatty NPCs are with you.

In Closing

In closing, I think Xenosea is approaching being an actual game. The core of the design seems solid to me, and I still get distracted playing when I should be testing, which is a very good sign to me. In a couple months I think I'll be finished with the test worlds, and starting on the full, proper world.