26 July 2013 - Alpha 3.38

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Zaimat
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26 July 2013 - Alpha 3.38

Post by Zaimat »

Horizon Update - Alpha 3.38 is now available!

Greetings everyone, we are pleased to bring you the first major update to Horizon since the Alpha launch.

Most of the improvements in this update were guided by your feedback which has been both overwhelming and positive! Of course there is much more in the works as this is just the first update of many more to come.

To give some interesting stats from the first Alpha survey+feedback:
. Over 82% of you said you were enjoying or having a blast playing Horizon!
. The feature most exciting in Horizon was Exploring the Galaxy (60%), followed by research (52%) and colony management (49%). The other choices were Storyline & Missions (39%), Tactical Combat (35%) and Diplomacy (24%). (Multiple selections were allowed in this category.)
. For the tutorial you said: Fun (56%), Helpful (90%), Easy to follow (76%)
. 42% of those who participated in the survey (of 2702 submitted) left us detailed feedback of which the longest was 1519 words and 2 pages long!!

Those of you who would like to be more involved, we invite you to join us at the official Horizon Forums where the latest plans are being hatched and discussed!

Have a great weekend!

Here are the update notes: (Remember to relaunch Steam if you have it open so it updates immediately)
_________

26 July 2013 - Alpha 3.38

CHANGELOG

NEW

* New content - added Kuntari mission
* Galaxy Map - added right-click to Move a task force
* Galaxy Map - added ‘Bombard Colony’ to Orders list
* Tactical View – Mini-map is now color coded for (friendly, hostile, neutral and player owned)
* New tooltips added on Tactical View and Galaxy Map
* Added weapon miniaturization, reduces space requirements for most weapon types by 5% per level of technology

CHANGES

* Last Turn Events has now been moved to a window on the Galaxy Map. It will no longer pop-up when there are no events. Options added to hide the window on new turns and whether to display low priority messages.
* Reduced the frequency of galactic news (ISN) updates

Colony Management:
* Added Right/Left arrow keys shortcut hotkey to cycle your colonies from Planet View
* Colony List (C) now available from Planet View for easier management
* Farm building surplus trade enabled, now based on trader traffic as well as amount of surplus. Not yet balanced.
* Government listening post building can now be demolished, resulting in the colony being abandoned
* Listening post building cost, structure points added so it can take damage/be repairable
* Damaged colony buildings will no longer begin repairing automatically. Player or AI has to select repair and have enough money
* Planet view Farming building will now display negative food trade in Red

Tutorial and Missions:
* The Kortahz probe shields will require less hits to weaken
* Existing missions dialogues updated

Combat and Ships:
* Task forces will now stop attacking enemy planets after the planetary defenses have been destroyed, unless ordered to Bombard the colony
* Player task forces will no longer attack hostile/atWar targets when they have not been ordered to do so unless attacked first
* Friendly Missiles will no longer prevent targeting of enemy ships
* Reduced bombs space requirements by half
* Reduced heavy beam damage when attacking planets by half
* Shipyards (along with Starbases) can now refit and Repair ships
* Attacks on colony buildings from orbit will now result in the loss of any building progress toward an upgrade

Ship Design:
* Added ship design button on galaxy map
* Ship design names will now accept lower/uppercase mix and are no longer restricted by the number of characters but rather the total width
* Improved human basic ship designs

FIXES
* Shields will now display correctly on missile impact
* Missiles are no longer destroyed with one hit, each missile will need to be hit at least once
* Combat Messages will now display correctly when colony buildings or the colony itself is destroyed

* Fixed Population growth (not growing) when less than 2K population
* Fixed colony building repair costs not being accounted for correctly
* AI will now re-build capital building if destroyed

* Ship links from the last turn events window will now select the appropriate task force
* Ship Design 'Cargo Capacity' will no longer display the incorrect amount when installing different modules

* Fixed a bug with mission quest influence reward not setting properly
* Fixed a bug that could cause a crash when attacking planets with no colonies
* Fixed an issue with the game locking-up during a galactic council vote
* Fixed an issue with Stats graph overflowing when value range in the negatives
* Fixed the game crashing when windows audio device is unavailable
Horizon - Lead Designer | a.k.a. Raf

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CellNav
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Re: 26 July 2013 - Alpha 3.38

Post by CellNav »

Hi Zaimat,

Thanks for your fast work! There was one part of the update that confused me until I read it again ...

"Added Right/Left arrow keys shortcut to cycle your colonies from Planet View"

When I first read that I was looking for big, fat, green arrow keys on the planet view :oops: ... Doh, hotkey arrows!!

I hate to throw a few suggestions here but I'm too lazy to start a new thread at the moment :roll: ... It's all regarding the Sector View when engaged ...

(1) In the upper left corner it contains the history (details) of the battle. Would it possible to clear this history out every turn? The biggest problem is when the history reads that there is a battle going on in another sector (says click this) but it's old news from several turns ago.

(2) When there is more than one sector with a battle, it sometimes starts you in a sector with no battle (there might be a hostile there). If I click done a few times to pass the round and nothing is going on I will hit the spacebar (auto resolve) and it will jump me to the sector that has a battle. Unfortunately that battle has already resolves a few rounds (because I was passing in the other sector??) and it also "auto locked" the task force button by default. I had two task forces in there (each had one ship), and it took me a few rounds before I realized it was locked and promptly unlocked it.

(3) Instead of using clickable text in the upper left corner, would it be better to have buttons across the top (or side) of the screen so we can move between sectors when there is more than one engagement?

Thanks again for your work!
Don't let me wake up and catch you sleeping !!!

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Zaimat
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Re: 26 July 2013 - Alpha 3.38

Post by Zaimat »

CellNav wrote:"Added Right/Left arrow keys shortcut to cycle your colonies from Planet View"
Yes, edited to add the word 'hotkey'.
(1) In the upper left corner it contains the history (details) of the battle. Would it possible to clear this history out every turn?
We can clear this or make it obvious the turn the messages occurred, so there is separation between old and new.
(2) When there is more than one sector with a battle, it sometimes starts you in a sector with no battle (there might be a hostile there). If I click done a few times to pass the round and nothing is going on I will hit the spacebar (auto resolve) and it will jump me to the sector that has a battle. Unfortunately that battle has already resolves a few rounds (because I was passing in the other sector??) and it also "auto locked" the task force button by default. I had two task forces in there (each had one ship), and it took me a few rounds before I realized it was locked and promptly unlocked it.
If you haven't "Engaged Sector", the AI will pick the first sector with hostiles and show it to you. While in Auto-Mode if the current sector situation changes and there are no hostiles, it will try to find the next hostile sector to show. What may have happened is you hit auto but it took several rounds before the sector situation changed. To switch quickly best to use Com or Click the message 'combat in XX sector' in the combat log. If multiple battles are happening at the same time you can only be in one sector at a time.
(3) Instead of using clickable text in the upper left corner, would it be better to have buttons across the top (or side) of the screen so we can move between sectors when there is more than one engagement?
Low priority but we can think about improving this. What is the main thing that you don't like about it now? Hard to notice?
Horizon - Lead Designer | a.k.a. Raf

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Zaimat
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Re: 26 July 2013 - Alpha 3.38

Post by Zaimat »

CellNav wrote:... and it also "auto locked" the task force button by default. I had two task forces in there (each had one ship), and it took me a few rounds before I realized it was locked and promptly unlocked it.
Was the "Task force Lock" enabled before? It should not be happening automatically , I have not noticed this happening but will test. If you have more info or come across let me know. Thanks!
Horizon - Lead Designer | a.k.a. Raf

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CellNav
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Re: 26 July 2013 - Alpha 3.38

Post by CellNav »

Zaimat wrote:Was the "Task force Lock" enabled before? It should not be happening automatically , I have not noticed this happening but will test. If you have more info or come across let me know. Thanks!
From memory, I don't think the task force button was locked, if it was then perhaps I used it during the last engagement which was several turns ago (could have carried over maybe?). I have about 7 saved games of 338 so I can go back and see if I can duplicate the issue and report with some better details. I have a feeling I've seen this behavior before but can't put my finger on it. Thanks for explaining sector functionality, I needed a refresher.

With regards to combat log ... I view the log as a feedback area. The clickable text 'combat in XX sector' feels to me like it should be split off from the log, especially when the log's history is old from several turns ago. I'll sit on it for awhile and provide some feedback later through the proper channel.

Thanks for taking a moment to chat!
Don't let me wake up and catch you sleeping !!!

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Malkuth
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Re: 26 July 2013 - Alpha 3.38

Post by Malkuth »

Wohoo.. That means that fleets are no longer stuck in forever combat with planets? :)

Oh And The Missle changes taking more then 1 hit.. Make attacking planets even more deadly.. :) I guess its time for a Aegis Class Vessel..

Thanks for the updates. :)

Malkuth out.

SugeBearX
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Re: 26 July 2013 - Alpha 3.38

Post by SugeBearX »

CellNav wrote:Hi Zaimat,

Thanks for your fast work! There was one part of the update that confused me until I read it again ...

"Added Right/Left arrow keys shortcut to cycle your colonies from Planet View"

When I first read that I was looking for big, fat, green arrow keys on the planet view :oops: ... Doh, hotkey arrows!!

Thanks again for your work!
All of the above. :D I have ya beat...I'm not only too lazy to make a new thread, but I'm also too lazy to use my own words. :wink:

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CellNav
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Re: 26 July 2013 - Alpha 3.38

Post by CellNav »

SugeBearX wrote: All of the above. :D I have ya beat...I'm not only too lazy to make a new thread, but I'm also too lazy to use my own words. :wink:
:P ... I bow my head to you sir ... Allow me to hand over my Badge-of-Laziness to you at this time. In the future, I will expect any replies from you to read " +1 " ... :wink: ... If not, I want my badge back! :lol:
Don't let me wake up and catch you sleeping !!!