Welcome, pilot! With this latest update it is no exaggeration to say there are have some huge performance improvements with less frame rate drops, and more increases. This has been a huge undertaking and took precedence over the Chapter 6 update, which not a decision taken lightly. While there is no new content, I believe these performance gains and other general improvements, make the game experience much better.
With how much of the backend was changed to eke out improved performance there may be bugs. If you notice anything out of place and behaving different, bizarrely or just plain acting outright annoying, let me know and I will investigate it. I have been through the campaign several times and caught some soft-locks, broken AI behaviour, etc, etc. But alas, I am just the one dev. While I catch many bugs, there’s always more lurking in the shadows, seemingly hidden, until someone brings it to my attention. So if you find one please report it, and big thanks to all the players who have!
With all that being said and done. Thanks for the continuing support and patience. This was meant to be a 1-year project, extended into a 2 year project, and became a unintended 5 year (and ongoing) project. All being well, A-Spec First Assault the release goal line is now firmly in sight. The focus is on completing the campaign, adding more content, improving existing features along with balancing. I’m aiming to be a full release this year. There, I said it, just don’t try and pin me down with an exact date. It will be in the fullness of time.
And without further ado, here are the patch notes for A-Spec First Assault Update 0.22.0
Patch Notes 0.22.0 Overview
This update provides significant performance improvements, along with general bug fixes and improvements and fixed the accuracy of the players primary guns when enabling the “Homing Projectiles” option
Added
AI manager to handle management of AI Actor logic updates for improved performance
Combat AI Actors now perform a threat assessment against nearby hostiles to determine the best target to engage (closest comparable to itself)
Combat AI Actors are capable of making attempts at reducing the likeliness of getting stuck against other ships/structures in the world
Changed
Gimball Gun tracking and movement logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
Turret tracking and movement logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
Ship exhaust lens flare logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
Ship exhaust lens flare quad texture visuals are now rendered more efficiently for improved performance
Projectile logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
Projectile quad texture visuals are now rendered more efficiently for improved performance
Stellar dust logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
Gun Muzzle Flare quad texture visuals are now rendered more efficiently for improved performance
Radar contacts logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
Improved the logic used for stretching projectile tails for better visual appearance
Removed the in-game FPS montor and associated key binding
Fixed
The players main gun projectiles are now 100% accurate against targets when “Homing Projectiles” have been enabled in the game options
Campaign soft lock in Chapter 5 Mission 3 as no random side missions are generated preventing progression towards unlocking this main mission
Refactored hazard field processes (asteroid and nebula fields) for performance improvements
Projectile Stats from installed modules are not applied to the guns when in a mission (Muzzle Speed, Max Range, Rate of Fire, Explosive Radius)
Ship Fitting: Launcher Subsystem Damage display values are being calculated incorrectly
AI Actors now correctly calculate stopping times, preventing the fast overshoot/fly-bys when using the afterburner
There is no significant evidence of spontaneously combusting turrets which may or may not be linked to…
Patch Notes 0.20.1
Note: This update will reset all existing bindings to default values to avoid conflicts with new generic HOTAS and generic flight pedal default bindings
Overview
Added an overview screen as a place to easily reference control bindings
Artillery and Autocannon weaponry adjusted to provide more distinct differences and use
Improvements to Torpedo Launchers (installation costs, flight specs, damage)
Kherson turrets significantly less likely to spontaneously combust when firing a launcher salvo
Added
Default bindings for generic HOTAS controllers
Default bindings for generic flight pedal controllers
Controller Bindings Overview screen (For a quick glance reminder of controller bindings accessible from the pause menu during mission flights)
Changed
Adjustments to all Artillery and Autocannon variants towards defining distinct useage of these weapons and to Artillery:
Artillery are long range weapons (range increases, while muzzle velocities decrease, as slot sizes go up)
Burst and Standard Autocannons are medium range weapons (range increases, while muzzle velocities decrease, as slot sizes go up)
All Autocannons have a slightly faster muzzle velocity than the equivalent it’s Burst Autocannons
Adjusted maximum projectile range and muzzle velocities to move autocannon use from long range to medium ranged
Torpedo Launcher (Medium):
Fitting Points cost changed to 61 (from 169)
Prestige Points cost changed to 1464 (from 1624)
Adjusted lock range and flight time and flight velocities
Torpedo Launcher (Large):
Fitting Points cost changed to 243 (from 675)
Prestige Points cost changed to 5832 (from 5400)
Adjusted lock range and flight time and flight velocities
Adjusted Explosive damage values
Torpedo Launcher (Extra Large):
Fitting Points cost changed to 648 (from 2250)
Prestige Points cost changed to 15552 (from 18000)
Adjusted lock range and flight time and flight velocities
Adjusted Explosive damage values
The launcher status bar in the flight HUD weapons panel will no longer play out the reloading UI animation when the launcher ammo is 0, instead it will remain as an empty bar
The Save/Load window in the Equipment Loadout Screen:
Window real-a-state has been increased and equipped items are listed with consolidated totals to ensure specification text is fully displayed
Players can now select Save/Load Slots 6-8 when using controller navigation
Controller axis binding for roll is now inverted by default
Fixed
Hard at work Akkadian Technicians have corrected a minor fault with the Kherson’s new forward positioned keel turret mounts. In completely unrelated news, the Kherson’s launchers have been repositioned further forward allowing missiles to reach their intended target that little bit quicker, oh, and-any-keel-mounted-turrets-will-no-longer-spontaneously-combust-when-firing-said-launchers
Several side missions were not using overrides to spawn vessels and instead used the data in the mission file (therefore no random spawns!)
Firing a secondary launcher with multiple salvo’s and then immediately switching to another secondary launcher will pause the firing of the previous launcher
Projectiles were applying the shooters velocity to position offsetting the spawn location from the muzzle (which is no longer needed due to a script execution order change in a 0.19.x change)
Explosive Damage Enhancer Passive Module is not being applied to equipped launcher missile explosion damage
Equipment Loadout Screen now highlights locations (Primary, Secondary, Turrets) and equipped weaponry (primary guns and Turret models) on the vessel when hovering or selecting the relevant equipment slot
Vessel Selection Screen: Vessel loadout specification text for assigned wignmen is not updated when navigating the UI with the directional keys/buttons
Adjusted Turret Hierarchy Order so that turrets listed in the fitting screen in a standard convention
Muzzle Velocity and Max Range stats for projectiles do not display correct adjusted values with the Frictionless Coils Passive Module equipped
Rate of Fire stat for projectiles do not display correct adjusted values with the Magnetic Callibration Passive Module equipped
Using a Controller with a Throttle Axis binding assigned will set the throttle value to 0 while a Flight Group (1,2,3) button binding is held
Help Glyphs are not using a fallback for generic controllers without glyphs, which would instead use the element descriptive name of the controller for the bound action
There is a lot to digest in the patch notes below, so I’ll cover some of the more noteworthy inclusions for update 0.20.0:
Chapter 4 3 new main story missions brings the player to the front lines of the war. Encounter tougher and bigger enemies than before. Chapter 4 side missions up the ante as well, if you want a real challenge then test your mettle with the ‘Ambushed’ side missions.
Corvette Ship Improvements The Akkadian corvettes (Player faction) have been given additional equipment slots, varying by ship across primary, secondary, turrets and passive modules. The Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson have significant increases in Max Fitting Points to make the most of these.
Akkadian cruiser group flies through the great expanse towards the front lines
A major threat to the cruiser eliminated before it could do any harm
Getting up close and personal with the Auxiliary craft
The fleet emerges from the dark side of a moon
A Sumer Battlecruiser looms over the debris of its latest victim
Optional Player Assists Near-Miss Do you love flying into the enemy head on guns blazing, but hate how the enemy chews you up as much as you do them? Then hate no more, and increase the chances of enemies missing your entirely with the Near-Miss assist.
Find it from the main menu under Options > Game > Near-Miss Spread Angle Increase the slider to make the enemies aim worse or reduce to 0 to turn it off entirely. Velocity changes, and relative speeds are factored into calculation, so you’ll still need to make a few flight adjustments.
Homing Projectiles You position the target in centre, your gimbal guns swivel to line up the perfect shot, squeeze the trigger and… Damn, the target fired its thrusters and adjusted its velocity enough for the projectile barrage to harmlessly pass by!
Feel more like a crack shot pilot at the extremes of your guns max ranges with the Homing Projectiles assist. When enabled any targeted vessel with the guns lined up for the kill will have their projectiles home in on the target. A bit like a heat seeking missile, but for projectiles!
This doesn’t guarantee a 100% chance hit rate, if the projectile travel time is long enough the target has a chance to evade if they put enough thrust into it.
Find it from the main menu under Options ? Game > Homing Projectiles A simple toggle on or off.
Patch Notes 0.20.0 (Merged with 0.19.x Release Candidate Builds) Overview
Chapter 4 added to the story campaign
Increased Prestige rewards for completing main missions
FPS performance improvements
Various additions, gameplay improvements and bug fixes
Added
Chapter 4:
3 Main Missions
New (tougher) Side Mission spawn pools for: Ambush, Ambushed, Seek and Destroy, Convoy Escort/Destroy, Distress Call
Added weighting system to reduce the possibility of the same mission name types being overly repeated in side mission offers.
Allowed Akkadian Combat Pilot Actors to use afterburners (does not apply to other factions as adding this feature dramatically changed the difficulty and timings of a variety of missions)
Collision Avoidance conditions to stop AI Actor Pilots of larger ships evading much smaller ships
Targeted Substructures now have subsystem health and substructure health bars and values displayed in relevant flight HUD sections
Radar detection range can be adjusted on a per structure type basis (used to reduce detection range for specific structures in a Chapter 4 mission)
Improved FPS during explosions (Object Pooling relevant)
A couple of Particle Explosions missing from Object Pooling have now been included
Burst Autogun XXSmall (as a replacement for Sumer fighter craft using the Prologue Autogun XXSmall within the main campaign)
Projectiles being fired against the player (when the player is) will now calculate the chance that the projectile should be a near-miss based on local velocity and distance (All Blaster gun variations are excluded from this check)
Gameplay Assists (Options > Game > Gameplay Assists) for reducing enemy accuracy against the player and improving player accuracy with homing projectile weapons (excluding Blasters)
All small only turret slots on the deck can now fit Medium fittings (in addition to small fittings)
Additional (+1) Small Passive Module slot
Kherson Corvette:
Max fitting points increased to 1542 (from 960)
Secondary weapon slot has been re-positioned to a forward launcher towards making it more useful and in keeping with every other secondary weapon slot on other ships
Adjusted Prestige rewards for completing main missions. Players will now have more Prestige to spend on ships and loadouts. This has been retroactively applied to existing campaigns
Thruster Optimizer Module description has been improved for better clarity
Thruster Tuning Modules description was using the original Thruster Optimizer Module description and has now been corrected to better summarise the modules’ effect
Collision Avoidance checks for AI Actors now exclude distinct debris in the world
Improved FPS performance (linked to Radar system updates)
Sumer Fighters and Gunships have reduced armour and hull points to make them feel much less spongy
Reworked Subsystem damage through projectile penetration of armour layer:
Previously subsystem damage scaled down linearly based on the max armour hitpoints (HP) and current armour HP. If we have two armour quadrants, one with max 500 HP and the other max 1000 HP, they would offer the same level of subsystem protection based on their HP percentage. To make subsystem penetration more consistent a weapon has a defined threshold for how much HP it can ‘pass’ through to achive penetration. The subsystem damage is scaled based on the threshold (passing through more armour HP will reduce the projectile subsystem damage down to 0 when it reaches the penetration threshold). This make positioning and angle of attack more important when wielding penetrating weapons (with the railgun, and lesser the autocannons) for damaging deeply housed subsystems on armoured targets.
Adjusted the main campaign mission progression unlocks due to C01M03 being made available immediately available after C01M02.
Prologue Mission 6 (Based on feedback about objectives around destroying enemy turrets proved too difficult to manage for a tutorial mission – thanks StoneofTriumph):
Swapped out the Choke Blaster for Autogun player primary weapon (due to Choke Blaster limited range)
Disabled the offline repair ability for enemy turrets
Changed Xenia comms dialogue around turret repair
Added Medium Autocannon 8 to the frigates
Chapter 2 Mission 3 (C02M03):
Reinforcing friendly cruiser now spawns as an Akaddian Cruiser (instead of Sumer Cruiser) and given some speed mods to get it into the action quicker
Reduced the reinforcing Akaddian Donetsk corvettes to 3 (from 4) allowing the Akaddian Cruiser more opportunity to get in on the action
Sumer Gunship loadouts’ have been adjusted giving 2 (from 4) gunships bombs to drop (bringing mission balancing back in line with pre 0.19.0 changes)
Chapter 3 Mission 2 (C02M02):
Fixed vessel names for several rebel frigate spawns
Admiral ship cannot be destroyed
Chapter 3 Mission 3 (C03M03):
Adjustments to rebel frigate and tug loadouts to improve their threat
Renamed the station
Civilian frigates now use correct prefab for ship data
Chapter 4 Mission 3 (C04M03):
Moved the starting spawn location of Sumer transports 15000 meters further away from the warp out point to provide the player more breathing room when engaging them (for a whopping extra 60 seconds)
Adjustments to rebel frigate and tug loadouts to improve their threat and challenge during chapter 3 side mission encounters
Combat Pilot AI: Adjusted calculation values for pilots deciding if they should change target to a bigger threat (should stick with designated targets for longer while under fire)
Combat Pilot AI: Logic on afterburn useage has been tuned towards reducing the overshooting targets and inappropriate usage overall
Removed peneration ability from Autogun and it can longer apply damage to covered subsystems
Mini Gun (used by the Sumer Gunship) renamed to Cannon and increased direct damage by 5DPS (30DPS total) and increased subsystem damage by 10DPS (60DPS total)
Player HUD Weapon Panel now counts down number of rounds remaining to be fired from a trigger pull (i.e. Burst Autocannons) on the weapons reload status bar
Updated the equipment text stats format and layout in the fitting screen
Sorting order improvements for inventory items listed in the fitting screen
Reinforced Armor Plating (Small) changes
Type I = Fitting points increase to 18 (from 6)
Type II = Armor HP increase to 3000 (from 2000), Fitting points increase to 84 (from n) and Prestige cost increase to 1120 (from n)
Type III = Armor HP increase to 7000 (from 3000), Fitting points increase to 270 (from n) and Prestige cost increase to 4992 (from n)
Percentage values are now penalized (reduced with multiple modules affecting the same stats) instead of just being a additive flat value
Progression with Equipment Unlock time changes
Artillery Medium X1 TURRET unlocks after completing C02M03
Autocannon/4 X1 (61) unlocks after completing C02M01
Autocannon/4 X2 (62) unlocks after completing C02M01
Autocannon/4 X3 (63) unlocks after completing C02M02
Burst Autocannon/2 X3 (59) unlocks after completing C01M01
Burst Autocannon/2 X3 (60) unlocks after completing C01M01
Explosive Damage Enhancer I unlocks after completing C01M03
Explosive Damage Enhancer II unlocks after completing C02M03
Explosive Damage Enhancer III unlocks after completing C03M03
Fixed
Replaced ship loadout secondary weapon references to old MLRS Launcher to new MLMS Launcher(s).
Skirmish Menu: Players will no longer be able to see or select factions not intended for use by the player
Sumer Light Frigate was incorrectly used as friendly unit in Ambush mission, and has now been replaced with Donetsk Corvette
Burst Autocannon/04 X1-X3 Turret Gun DPS has been increased to expected output values (due to wrong reload time being applied)
Gunship now uses its own unique XS turret
Corrected typos in various mission texts
Explosive Armor Protection III (S) module had a vastly inflated price
Null Reference Exception when a turrets target warps out
Sumer Gunships’ secondary launcher slot size was forgotten and has been restored back to Extra Small
AI Actor will no longer use full throttle when in a sweet spot behind a target
Disabling AI Actor causing Invalid Operation Exception error
Resolved an issue with mission scripting logic for checks on subsystem health when the subsystem is attached to a damageable (and destructible) substructure which would return incorrect values when the substructure is destroyed
Null reference exception when an engine substructures(s) health reaches 0 on the Sumer Cruiser
A wingman with their own wing will not spawn their wing in formation when playing a Skirmish match
Vessel Loadout Screen: Equipped ship weaponry DPS overview list are significantly over inflated for primary weapons
Explosions hitting a dying substructures will continue to feed additional damage through to the main structure
Projectile guns which fire off multiple rounds on a single trigger pull start the reload timer as soon as it starts firing instead of after the last round being shot off (affecting Burst Autocannons and Blasters)
Blaster/4 Primary Gun was using a Medium slot size when it should be Small slot size and has been corrected
Ship overview panel in the fitting screen now shows individual applied stat values and correctly shows applied weapon damage stat values
Stopped the filter being re-applied when equipping an inventory item into a slot in the fitting screen (which would reset the scroll view back to the top each time)
Corrected known typos across several main mission briefings, debriefings, and communication dialogue
Check out this screen snap of the fitting screen layout improvements along with more exposed stats
Info text has been expanded on for weaponry and stat adjustments are now properly displayed for secondary and turret weapons when equipping passive modules (something overlooked but was still being applied in gameplay!). You can also get an overview of all individual applied stat adjustments in the ship overview panel (top left), along with the adjusted stat values displayed for the ships equipment.
A lot more has been done for the next A-Spec First Assault update, but I shall leave that for a future update (and the lengthy patch notes) to be released in just over a couple of weeks.
This latest update was intended to include the campaign’s Chapter 4, which will be released in the next planned milestone release. With this features update out of the way I will be focussing on the story campaign. In an effort to get more content out of the space dock, new features will be limited to allowing progression through the campaign missions.
Patch Notes 0.17.0 Overview
New cruiser and battlecruiser ships available to fly in Skirmish, along with existing weapon variants for their slot sizes
New and improved Multiple Launch Missiles (MLMS-CTAT, MLMS-POXY)
Performance and visual improvements
Lots of other additions, bug fixes and improvements
Added
Missing descriptions for certain guns and turrets
Reinforced Armour Plating module L and XL sizes
Engine Optimiser XL modules
Engine Tuning XL size modules
Explosive Armour Protection XL size modules
Frictionless Coils XL modules
Kinetic Armour Protection XL modules
Kinetic Damage Enhancer L and XL modules
Magnetic Callibrations XL size modules
Nanite Repair Optimisation XL size modules
Thruster Optimiser XL size modules
Thruster Tuning XL size modules
XLarge Artillery Main Gun
Large Artillery Main Gun
Hardpoint and Launcher mounting sizes
Battlecruiser for enemy military faction
Cruiser for player military faction
Mining Outpost model
Science Vessel model (functions like all Transports)
Multiple Launch Missiles with Proximity detonator (MLMS-POXY) S size
Added scripting logic for defining Wingleader/Wingmen behaviours
Distinct debris for enemy faction transport
Changed
Added MLMS-POXY/02 secondary weapon to player starting ship default loadout in the main campaign
Reduced disk size requirements by using texture packing techniques (on going)
Changed Autogun muzzle flare VFX
Changed Autogun projectile VFX
Changed Autocannon muzzle flare VFX
Changed Autocannon projectile VFX
Changed Artillery muzzle flare VFX
Changed Artillery projectile VFX
Changed Railgun muzzle flare VFX
Primary weapons will target the center of a turret rather than the turret pivot point
Engine Optimiser S, M and L size modules modifier, prestige and fitting cost values adjusted in line with rulest
Engine Tuning L size modules modifier, prestige and cost values adjusted in line with ruleset
Explosive Armour Protection L size modules modifier, prestige and fitting cost values adjusted in line with ruleset
Frictionless Coils S, M, L size modules modifier, prestige and fitting cost values adjusted in line with ruleset
Kinetic Armour Protection L modules modifier, prestige and fitting cost values adjusted in line with ruleset
Magnetic Callibrations L size modules modifier, prestige and fitting cost values adjusted in line with ruleset
Nanite Repair Optimisation L size modules modifier, prestige and fitting cost values adjusted in line with ruleset
Thruster Optimiser L size modules modifier, prestige and fitting cost values adjusted in line with ruleset
Thruster Tuning L size modules modifier, prestige and fitting cost values adjusted in line with ruleset
Allowed Substructures to be protected by the damageable layer of the parent on a per substructure basis
Update the dying throes of all enemy faction ships
Reduced number of particle explosions called for death explosions across all ships from prologue to campaign, by using fewer more appropriate sized particle explosions
Blaster 4/8/16 direct and subsystem damage along with Fitting and Prestige costs
Torpedo model and VFX
Rocket model and VFX
Multiple Launch Missiles model and VFX
Improved raycasting times for AI actor collision avoidance checks
Fixed
Medium and Large turrets now use correct size projectiles and muzzle flares for their sizes
Null Reference error in Subsystem Repair
When a substructure is destroyed any attached turrets are destroyed resulting in null reference exceptions
Using the “Target turret under reticule” targets turrets which are offline and under repair and therefore invisible
Engine subsystems will stop being repaired when 2 or more engine subsystems exist but at least 1 engine subsystem is attached to a substructure which has been destroyed
Reinforced Armour Plating modules missing Thruster Max Velocity modifier
Reinforced Armour Plating modules modifier values adjusted in line with ruleset
Calculations for DPS and RPS for guns with multiple rounds per shot (Blaster & Burst Cannons)
Turret highlights become disconnected from F2 Cruiser when targeted
Explosion VFX on ships are included in the target highlight
Sub-targeting turrets will use the wrong turret mesh for the highlight (and other weird highlight behaviour)
When a ship is fitted with the Kinetic Damage Protection module and a substructure (i.e. Turret) takes direct damage, the damage feeds down to the ships hull even though if the ship has enough armour to absorb the full amount of damage
Group spawning without a wing leader will clump spawn at same location (spawning inside each other)
Available on Steam, A-Spec First Assault reaches Early Access version 0.16.0. Check out the patch notes to learn more.
Overview
Improved lighting/shadows and made better use of engine graphics options for game graphics quality settings from Medium to Ultra
More targeting actions for Monitored, Wingmen, and who’s talking
The Command Panel has visual improvements and additional actions
Known Issues
Autospeed match ‘close’ setting does not work as expected (but won’t soft lock progress when required, and may require a little patience when used in scripting for Chapter 03 Mission 03 if you feel otherwise)
Mesh fitting detailed (ship vs weapon collisions) and simple colliders (ship vs ship collisions) required for opponent faction ships (Fighter, Gunship, Carrier)
Jump-out animations are not scaled correctly for ships bigger than a gunship
Added
Keybindings for targeting monitored structures in Flight controls
Keybindings for targeting wingmen in Flight controls
Keybinding for targeting the current talker in Flight controls
Added new actions to the Command Panel “Targeting > General” category: Next/Prev Monitored, Next/prev Wingmen and Current Talker
Added new category to Command Panel: Flight Controls
Added new actions to the Command Panel Flight Controls category: Reverse Speed toggle, Match Speed toggle, Match Speed Range Modes Slide cycle, Flight Control toggle, Activate Autopilot
Command Panel control fallback when a flight control action referenced by help glyphs not assigned to gamepad button (tutorial stuff)
Command Panel control fallback will breadcrumb to the desired control not mapped to a gamepad button (if it exists as a Command Panel action)
Command Panel context sensitive text panel based on category and/or action button highlighted
Help glyphs are shown next to the Command Panel for its navigation controls
Changed
Adjusted the font sizes on the flight HUD text assets to meet Steam Deck font size recommendations/preferences
New rendering quality settings applied to video quality settings from Medium upwards, improving visual fidelity on higher settings
Adjusted the shadow rendering settings for improved shadow effects when projected shadows are further away from the camera
Changed default gamepad binding for Full Primary in Flight Group 1 category
Changed default gamepad binding for Auto Targeting in Flight Group 1
Gamepad Start button can be now mapped in Flight Group 1-3 categories
Fixed
Closing the Options popup screen will no longer lose button focus on the Option button on the campaign menu, forcing gamepad users to use the mouse
Menu “Options > Video > Graphics Quality > Shadow Type” setting is no longer ignored
The mouse cursor refused to hide until mouse first moved after a scene load (affected gamepad users)
A-Spec First Assault gets beautiful stellar vistas, and adds chapter 3 to the campaign, and it’s first ever sale!
Today is a good day to play flight games! But why limit it to just a day when you can go all week long?
September 16 – September 23, Steam is hosting Steam Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Fest, with discounts for automobile sim, flight, and trains simulator games, including A-Spec First Assault and Absolute Territory.
And before I forget, here are the latest patch notes for A-Spec First Assault…
Patch Notes 0.15.0
Overview
Added Chapter 3 to the main campaign
New Point Defence mode (PDC Mode) for turrets to shoot down incoming missiles (not all turrets are PDC capable)
A new Command Menu panel pauses the gameplay while you leisurely send orders, change targets, instead of mapping every control to a gamepad
Known Issues
Autospeed match ‘close’ setting does not work as expected (but won’t soft lock progress when required, and may require a little patience when used in scripting for Chapter 03 Mission 03 if you feel otherwise)
Mesh fitting detailed (ship vs weapon collisions) and simple colliders (ship vs ship collisions) required for opponent faction ships (Fighter, Gunship, Carrier)
Jump-out animations are not scaled correctly for ships bigger than a gunship
Added
Chapter 3 main missions
When the players ship turret is taken out, the weapon display for the turret will change to shows it’s repair status until its back online
Quick Actions Panel popup to allow control selection from a menu interface (not yet bound to a default key, recommend manual assign to ‘F8’ for QWERTY layout. See Flight – Other – Quick Actions Menu)
Wingmen status panel also shows each wingman’s current order being actioned
Small Turret Guns can be put into Point Defence (PDC) mode (not yet bound to a default key, recommend manual assign to ‘#’ for QWERTY layout. See Flight – Weaponry – Cycle PDC Modes)
Turrets now prioritize targets based on a target order list based on target size (i.e. fighter > gunship > corvette > …) and weapon suitability
Primary gun slots now have and are restricted by mounting size restrictions
Side mission weights are adjusted during play (less likely to repeat mission variant if you played it — doesn’t mean you won’t get another variant with the same type)
Player ship regenerative systems are fully restored during autopilot transitions
Turret specification text now includes “[PDC]” marker to highlight Point Defence Capable turrets
Missing default bindings (Custom bindings will be reset to avoid conflicts)
Tug, Frigate and Large Transport ships for Civilian faction
Event Log added to the Pause menu during flight gameplay (default: Esc) to re-view previously received transmissions during a mission
Changed
The loading screen is now animated, to show the game is loading
Starting the game will show the first loading screen longer than usual. This is the new normal. It’s important work towards keeping memory footprint down and keep loading in to missions quick
The training button will be hidden until the prologue has been completed at least once (as the prologue acts as a story based tutorial, as the dedicated tutorials are more for a refresher and/or deeper mechanics for veteran players)
Campaign: Changed starting ship loadout (after the prologue) to be equipped with Autogun(S) for primary and turret slots to be more effective against fighter craft
Primary weapon Autogun (S) max range and muzzle velocity increased
Turreted Autogun (S) X1-3 muzzle velocity increased
FPS is now defaulted to 30 for first time players, to ensure a smooth and consistent gameplay experience during large skirmishes due to physics being linked to frame rate. Experiment/adjust with the FPS video setting to your preference/machine
Several code refactorings for improved frame rate stability
Adjusted the size of the Controller and Keybindings Screen to use more of the width of the screen for binding the three controller types
Large Transport and Mining Barges (found in the Prologue) are now have optimized and better fitting colliders
Adjustments to fighter AI behaviours for better avoiding other structures
Increased Unity Engine Max Virual Voices and Max Real Voices to eliminate audio cutting out when too many sources are playing at default values
Fixed
Slow loading with Skybox and HUD assets which only became apparent after adding modular backgrounds as Addressable Assets
Full speed button is not enabled with other speed settings in Prologue Mission 1 & 2
Yaw was incorrectly disabled during first mining task in Prologue Mission 2
Corrected grammar in Xenia dialogue re afterburning during Prologue Mission 3
Player Received Transmission override source name was not being applied under certain conditions
Turrets performance were not being affected by the of the Gun Control subsystem health
Subsystem pips for health of the player ship and targeted ships
“Full throttle” the t in throttle should be uppercase for consistency in Control Mappings
Enemy Cruiser encountered in chapter 2 was missing Engine and Thruster Particle Effects
Thruster and Engine FX will no longer continue to play when the ship is in Slide mode
Afterburner audio for the player ship only plays through the right audio channel in 1st/3rd person view
Main Gun weapons now have use slot size requirements
Turrets firing prematurely
When in a mission, pausing the game then pressing the escape key will resume the mission while with pause screen is open
Vessel Fitting: Launcher list is not indented correctly in the Specification Panel
Vessel Fitting: Turret list is not indented correctly in the Specification Panel
Vessel Fitting: Turret slots are missing mounting size labels
Vessel Fitting: Modules are not being filtered by selected mounting sizes
Nanite Repair Optimization I (S) module has wrong price (extra digit added)
When using External Camera Tracking the HUD will eventually vibrate while player travels away from the position the camera view was engaged at
Prologue Mission 7: Transports jumping out where not being counted correctly causing incorrect dialogue to be triggered
Afterburn visual effect will continue and consume fuel during the autopilot cutscene, if afterburning when engaging the autopilot
Adjusting ships armour current health values via mission scripting can prevent repairs of regenerative armour
Added missing thruster effects to Large Transport and Mining Barges (found in the Prologue)
Improved performance during flight gameplay (identified through performance analytics)
PDCs are coming to A-Spec First Assault. You can rely on fast and nimble ships to outmaneuver missiles or equip PDCs to provide defence within a limited area of the ship.
Ships are fitted with turreted weaponry. Some of these turrets can be used as Point Defence Cannons that attempt to shoot down incoming missiles.
There are 3 operational modes the PDCs can be configured to:
Off – PDC-capable turrets will ignore incoming missiles and fall back on the turret’s orders.
Strict – PDC-capable turrets will only target shoot-down incoming missiles. Turret orders will be ignored.
Relaxed – PDC-capable turrets will follow turret orders but prioritize incoming missiles.
Separate from PDC operation modes, turret orders dictate target priorities for hostile ships. Turret orders are useful in focusing firepower on a single target or spreading firepower across multiple targets. Ship operators should familiarise themselves with both modes, especially when equipping PDC-capable turrets for efficient operation and ship protection.
The more PDC-capable turrets installed (or even bigger ones) the greater the protection from missile threats.
Watch this video to see PDC’s in action:
Try the demo and buy the Early Access for A-Spec First Assault on Steam.
