[2020] Dev Blog on Alpha 12 Features

: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page [url=https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/383120/announcements/detail/1697231858551516430]here[/url].

Hi Galactic Survivalists! Welcome to our dev blog on the Alpha 12 features!

We have dedicated the first release of the planned blog series to the most substantial change coming with the new major updates: The galaxy.

What does it mean, when we say ‘galaxy’ ?

Let's answer that question with a picture:


All these suns are visitable.
Some will have planets.
Some won’t.
Some might be void of anything.
Some might be crowded spaces.

This is where we will start. But there is more!

In Alpha 11.5, when you look at the galaxy map, you will only see one type of a central star: The default-yellowish sun. For Alpha 12 we have added all of the main sequence star types (archetypes, following the OBAFGKM scale; while the blue-white O stars are the largest and the orange-red M stars are the smallest). We also added a variant of a Black Hole and a Neutron Star.


A little note for our Creators: The star types will be placed by a probability factor. For example M is a lot more common than O. Black Holes are rare. Of course you can customize the probability factor for each sun type individually.
Also, the galaxy you can see in the picture above, is configurable by the amount of stars (min/max) as well as the diameter of the galaxy (which influences how far the stars are away from each other)

More variants of star types will follow in future updates.

As you can see, the new “galaxy” is not just an “improvement” over the Alpha 11.5 ‘Multi Solar System’ mechanic. It is something entirely new.

Downwards compatibility?
Now you might ask: but what is happening with all the savegames and fixed solar or multi solar games started in Alpha 11.5.

The answer has two parts

We will add a “legacy mode” for the old scenario and savegames. The galaxy will simply NOT be generated. The downside: you cannot use any of the new features that come with the new system.

We plant to have a new method of how a galaxy is created, including the combination of a fixed part and a generated part

Point 2 might need some further explanation, but it's not complicated.

Example: Let's we want to place a system with a starter world and the home planet of a npc faction. You want to place those systems with a certain distance or on a specific, galactic position. You of course also want to have a galaxy, filling up the other solar systems spots, but you actually do not want to add as few as a couple thousand more systems in that config? :D

We of course have a solution for that.

Fixed-Random Galaxy Combination

This info is again a bit more for our creators, but as this was asked several times, we would like to share our current approach right now.

The method we currently aim for, works like that: you will place your “unique systems” and their parameters in a single sectors.yaml (similar like you did with Alpha 11.5 - although different in some details), then set the “create galaxy” flag to true...and the game will create the galaxy random systems AROUND the positions of your “fixed” solar systems.

Easy as that! :)
(Although it’s not even remotely ‘easy’ for our devs to achieve that)

In the end, you get a galaxy with so many solar systems you will possibly never be able to visit all, different sun types (with different colors!), in a combination of fixed and random generation and a legacy mode for old systems.

And Gas Giants.

This blog covers only the very basic elements about the new galaxy creation - but how does this sound to you?

Cheers,
Empyrion Dev Team

PS: Do not forget to participate in and share our GAME SURVEY 2020![survey.empyriongame.com]