As the release date for A-Spec First Assault draws closer (this Friday!), I have updated the demo to bring it in line with the full release.
The demo is limited to the prologue and serves as a light-story based tutorial series.
Some important changes from the original Prologue:
Players have the choice of skipping the first three missions which introduce basic flight, targeting mechanics.
Redesigned aspects of the first three prologue missions to keep the pacing up and reduced the distances as players move to each additional objective area.
Player will be able to transfer their save game profile from the Demo to the Full version. Owners of the full version will be asked about this on the first load of the full version. If you have played on an older version, then progress will not be transferred due to save game changes.
When it comes to the full version, if you have already played through the prologue and you want to jump straight into the main campaign you can skip the entire prologue: From within the Campaign screen, select Options and then select the option to reset the campaign to Chapter 1. You can also reset to the start of the Prologue if you desire. Note: This will overwrite any past progress and irreversible.
You can also export your bindings, then import them into the full version. More details will be provided on Friday when I will have the game manual ready (yes, an actual manual for reading) .
See you Friday!
P.S. If you have not purchased the Early Access version of A-SPEC First Assault, buy now for the current price. The price will be increasing on release day.
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
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)
The Drums of War update (Early Access version 0.12.3) for A-Spec First Assault brings huge enhancements to sound effects, removing harsh sounds and improving the quality of frequently played sound effects like gunshots and explosions.
AI behavior has been improved and they will now change their targets based on the biggest threat to them along with improvements to how they decide who to target next.
Help glyphs used in the tutorials and prologue missions for controller commands that don’t have a defined icon (there are so many types of flight devices out there) will now display the relevant control element name instead.
Check out this latest trailer showing off the gameplay you will experience in A-Spec First Assault prologue missions.
2.2.0 Release (20210912) Overview – Early enemy fighter weapons feel less overwhelming due to the fast firing rate
Gameplay
Amend – Track IR anchor point made same as VR
Amend – There are now two versions of the laser bolt cannon (Rapid Firing and Standard)
Amend – Vomitoria and Drosophilia now use slower firing laser bolt cannon
Amend – Updated weapon lore entries for the laser bolt cannon variants
Amend – Updated the 21 Absolute Territory missions to include the new standard laser bolt cannon. Added briefing text highlighting when new ships are made available. Added briefing text to make known about experimental laser weapon being available in mission 20
Simulator Modes
Amend – Wave and Gauntlet to include the new standard laser bolt cannon
Campaign Menu
Amend – Removed Tutorials as a campaign item selection (they are still available under Simulator menu). They no longer have skip dialogue, since all tutorials are available and there was no need to skip
2.0.1 Release (20210820) Overview – Tunnelling can be disabled in options and an unsupported TrackIR implementation.
Visual
Added – Auto Exposure and Ambient Occlusion Postprocessing Effects
Amend – Gameplay scene lighting adjusted to use the Skybox instead of constant color.
Gameplay
Added – Toggle Tunnel Vision when using VR (Options > Game > VR Tunnelling
Added – An experimental and there not officially supported (I reserve the right to pull this feature at any time) Track IR implementation
VR
Amend – Press CTRL-F12 to recenter the VR headset in the main menu and in flight
An important developed note on the current Track IR implementation As I don’t own any Track IR hardware I cannot reasonably test this myself and has been classed as experimental and officially unsupported. If you enable Track IR the experience may be sub-par or entirely broken. I will do my best to work with any Track IR users willing to be guinea pigs and provide relevant feedback towards improving the implementation. That is no guarantee that Track IR will become an official feature in the game and I reserve the right to abandon any further development on it.
Enabling Track IR The command-line argument “-trackir” will be needed, I recommend you create a shortcut to the Standard game exe on your desktop and add the argument in the target box as exampled below.
Absolute Territory is a futuristic single-player mission-based space dogfighting with the familiar feeling of good space sims. Fly 21 missions with a variety of search & destroy, assault, patrol, escort, and scan objectives. Choose from several space superiority fighters, customize loadout from over a dozen weapons, manage power settings, and use directional thrusters like an elite pilot.
Ship and Weapon Selection
Outfit your chosen fighter in the Weapon Selection Screen
Chose your ship type from fast-moving glass cannons to slow hard-hitting tanks. Outfit your chosen ship with a variety of deadly weapons. Make sure you chose both ship and weapons wisely to enable the completion of your mission objectives.
Dogfighting with arcade-sim mechanics
Dogfighting against enemy stafighters
Engage in gripping dogfights with Newtonian physics. Arcade forces are used for an arcade-sim experience, allowing for responsive controls to pull off hair-raising maneuvers making yourself a harder target for enemies. AN RCS computer will compensation for all directional changes, turn too hard and you will but yourself into a slide, or worse find yourself a sitting duck while your ship adjusts speed. Fight against a variety of enemy ship types from light to heavy fighters, transports, and large warships.
Absolute Territory is not pure arcade or pure sim. Its arcade-sim.
Power management
Assaulting an enemy destroyer
Distribute power across engines, shields, and guns for an advantage over your opponent or get yourself out of sticky situations. Power to engines gives faster acceleration and increased top speed, for shields faster recharge rate and overcharging, and guns for faster recharge rate for longer sustained firing of heavier weapons.
Advanced flight mechanics
Picking off turrets using the slide mechanic
Engage slide, match speed, and directional thruster mechanics to keep your target in your gun sights. Warships and transports are not defenseless and come armed with flak turrets. Use component targeting and de-teeth these ships of their turrets. Then move in for the kill.
VR and Standard mode
Fully modelled cockpits to look around in VR
The recent 2.0 update added VR mode. Use this to your advantage for improved situational awareness in the cockpit. Identify the biggest threats with a glance before turning to engage.
The last several months have been difficult for people all around the world. I pray this announcement finds you in good health and in improving circumstances.
I have been very fortunate to be still employed and also working (not at home) throughout this crisis. I had several weeks off before the lockdown came into effect and by the end of that time, I was relieved to get back into work (even though I spent the whole of that time working on Absolute Territory). I think that must come down to not managing my time better and neglecting other areas in my life while I single-mindedly continued to work on Absolute Territory (and still do on my downtime ːlunar2019crylaughingpigː).
Release date expectations The good news, I am aiming for a release date for Absolute Territory towards the end of 2020!
Campaign Over the last few months, I have been working on the Absolute Territory campaign missions. Everyone one of these missions has been handcrafted within the in-game level editor which you can also use to create your own personalized missions and upload to share with the rest of the Absolute Territory community on Steam. The process is quick, taking a couple of clicks to upload and share.
The campaign story is around a faction of the Endophora (your opponent during this campaign), named The Order of Linnaeus, who has invaded Imperial space and laid claim to Bold Peace. You will find yourself going against Order forces, driving them back out of the sector. Each campaign mission in Absolute Territory brings unique experiences.
Absolute Territory has a full flight roster of eleven fighters across Imperial and Endophora . Five of which have a full 3D cockpit.
Options on the go Graphical and audio options have been made available during the missions. Simply press Escape (or start button on your controller), drop into the options menu, configure to your liking, then exit out and test your changes reflected in the game instantly.
Warships No space combat game is complete without having huge warships to either protect or destroy. Absolute Territory brings three huge warships into the conflict. Two destroyers (one for Imperial and Endophoria) and an Endophoria Cruiser, that’s in addition to the transport ship already available.
Situational awareness improvements To enhance your situational awareness a small but very useful change is to include the name and distance to your target on the offscreen arrow indicator. Cycle through all your targets and know exactly what you’re targeting, even when they are not directly in front of you.
Tutorial Controller Glyphs The tutorial missions in Absolute Territory introduce fundamental concepts of flying and fighting. Controller Glyph’s already cover keyboard & mouse and Xbox controllers to ease learning controls. This has now been expanded to include glyphs for PlayStation 4 controllers.
Performance Improvements Minefields were costing twice as much CPU usage as Asteroid fields, after some investigation I was able to reduce this cost and it’s now on a similar level of performance.
Absolute Territory AI gains more improvements to help reduce the number of incidents where they find themselves stuck against Warships. It does happen much less, but I’ll admit it can still happen. I’ll be looking at ways to ensure that they can recover themselves.
been many other performance improvements in scripting, mostly to due with displaying text on the screen, towards reducing CPU cost and garbage generation for a smoother experience.
Demo & Wishlist A demo for Absolute Territory will be made available during the Steam Game Festival. It’s already packaged, uploaded and ready to be downloaded when the festival goes lives at 10am Pacific time on June 9th, 2020.
Finally, head on over to the Steam store page, scroll down and hit that wishlist button! Every wishlist helps towards showing Steam that this is a game worthy of the algorithm’s attention.
