[2020] Space Haven Alpha 9 - Progress Report #04.

This report is a continuation to the previous reports, which you can read below:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/979110/announcements/detail/4093160907703783176

Watching Solid Content play the new patch was interesting, seeing how space hazards can create emergent situations, whereby a part of the ship has been cut off of power and a power node needs to be repaired in order for power to be restored. These types of situations can create interesting problems to solve, and also brings a new dimension to designing and building ships.

However, finding a good balance between having emergent situations like these arise and how much micro-management is needed is tricky though. Based on the feedback we received we decided to implement the following tweaks:

• Added a scaling system to the presence of space hazards within star systems, giving the player more time to build up a ship with necessary systems ready. Space Hazards can still be encountered early on, but it is much less likely than in later systems.
  
• Added auto-toggling repair for micro-breaches, making crew members react to them more quickly. If auto-maintenance is toggled on (As it is by default) crew members will prioritize
  micro-breaches even during their free time and sleep.
  
• Tweaked the solar flare event occurrence interval range to be a bit longer within a sector with a solar flare, this gives the player a bit more time to repair their ship before another solar flare hits.
  
• Crew members with the "Suicidal" trait were getting mental breaks too easily, sometimes instantly. We adjusted crew members with the Suicidal trait to not get a mental break so easily.

The presence and frequency of the Space Hazards in the galaxy can be tweaked at will in the game customization menu, even individually. This comes handy if these hazards are something that you don't find a desirable feature. Furthermore, at the moment there's nothing forcing the player to enter theses systems unless a pirate happens to be in the same system interrupting the player fleet.

Some of you our players have voiced concerns that the aim of the hazards is just to punish players. That's not the aim at all =) The aim of the hazards is to create more variation to the stories emerging from the features in the game, more strategy to the starmap as one ponders the risk and the rewards of a sector, and interesting situations emerging within a sector with hazards impacting both your crew and the crew of other faction spaceships.

We've gotten feedback praising the new hazards, stating they add a ton to the game, but we've also gotten feedback that some of you might not enjoy these challenges, which is why we made sure to allow for disabling the hazards individually simply by clicking a toggle in the game customization menu. Alpha 9 contains other new features beyond the hazards, and this update is just one update among many to come. =)

As a game developer these scenarios are not always easy to navigate, but we feel the game customization menu is key here to allow you to customize a playthrough according to your own liking.



NOTE! Joining experimental is completely optional, and you should only do it if you are willing to risk that some new bugs are introduced, which could affect your game play and potentially break your save.

Please do not join the experimental branch if you don't want to risk breaking your save or have the game break on you in midst of play! If you want to play a more stable version please wait for the official release of the update.

Here is how you join The Experimental Starfarer crew:

1. Open Steam Library
   
2. Right click Space Haven
   
3. Select Properties
   
4. Go to tab 'Betas' at the top.
   
5. Select 'Experimental' in the drop-down.

To see what has been added, check the in-game patch notes.

Giving Feedback


Please give your feedback in the experimental branch forum. Link below:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/979110/discussions/5/

Alpha 9 release
We're going to keep the build in the experimental branch and gather some more feedback on this patch to Alpha 9, and will look into releasing the update to the main branch in the near future!

Join Space Haven Discord: http://discord.gg/spacehaven
Space Haven subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceHaven/

Thanks for reading and see you again in the next update!