The first update for A-Spec First Assault, after being released into Early Access last week, is now live on Steam.
A new update is released for A-Spec First Assault bringing much-loved improvements to explosion visual effects, reading transmission dialogue, improvements to HUD/UI screen usage across various resolution ratios, more bug fixes, and even more improvements. See the full patch notes down below.
A civilian transport is being buzzed by hostile fighters.The civilian transport takes enemy weapons fire and starts venting plasma and atmosphere.Civilian transports docked at the mining station prepare to make a run through the blockade.
Patch Notes 0.12.1 Overview
Improved explosion visual effects
Transmission ticker added to flight HUD
Resolution ratio UI fix
Lots of bug fixes and improvements to prologue missions
Known Issues
Autospeed match ‘close’ setting does not work as expected
Colliders for Fighter, Gunship, Carrier, and Large Transport are not optimized for best-fitting
Jump-out animations are not scaled correctly for ships bigger than a gunship
Guard My Target command is not implemented
Fixed
UI cut off when using 1920×1200 resolution and other edge case resolutions
HUD Afterburn and Speed Indicator panels fail to maintain scaled positions across various screen resolutions
Advanced Navigation tutorial has reference to completing intermediate training
Explosions now look better than before
Distinct debris flickering when the player rotates the view
Prologue Mission 7: The briefing title states “Prologue 1” and should be “Prologue 7”
Various scripting improvements and fixes across all Prologue Missions
Pause menu background is not flush with the border
Spelling error in the tutorial weapons_01_primary transmission dialogue
Added
HUD Monitoring panel for tracking the status of important structures during campaign missions
Added External Orbit Camera during flight
Ticker text for displaying player-received transmissions in the top left of the HUD during flight
Prologue Mission 4: Added transports to the monitoring panel
Prologue Mission 4: Transports have now been given names better than Transport X
Prologue Mission 7: Added transports to the monitoring panel
Changed
Increased max range of distance indicators for missile alert to 8000
Wingman monitoring panel adjusted in size and now scales horizontally
Adjusted flight HUD element positions to make best use of screen space across a range of display resolutions
HUD Waypoint marker now has a border to make it stand out better on bright backgrounds
Prologue Mission 3: Beautiful Mind is now the first object to be targeted
First Person Camera positions for cockpit views moved nearer the model bounds and more central to that location (you’ll see less of your ship)
Removed the non-functional News button from the Campaign menu
The latest update for Absolute Territory (Ver 1.1.0) has been published and brings more than 50 individual additions, improvements, and bug fixes.
Heads Up Display (HUD) art improvements As mentioned in theĀ last news update, I’ve been busily improving the existing in-flight HUD elements, covering the primary, secondary, shield & armor, speed, and range bars along with targeting brackets and waypoint indicators.
These have been designed to draw your eyes towards them when needed, i.e. when taking a lot of damage, and provide a significantly better experience in the presentation of information at a glance.
Improved HUD displays
Based on your feedback, waypoints are now context-sensitive depending on the required usage. Find yourself in an asteroid field and the waypoint will no longer confusingly tell you to use your autopilot, but to exit the hazard first!
New 3rd Person Views
Increase your situational awareness in 3rd person with additional sides and rear views. You can also toggle the HUD on/off (which was added quietly in the last update).
Fly-by external side viewShocking external rear view
Waypoints
Improved visual indicators for waypoints for better “at a glance” awareness.
Broken with a line: Autopilot required but obstructed (either by hazard or nearby enemy)
Broken: Autopilot required
Unbroken: Can be reached without the need of autopilot
Waypoint States
Improved missile experience for starting mission The introductory experience for missiles was not as fun as it could have been. Due, in part, to including the Javelin Heat Seeker missile in the loadout when going up against fast-moving enemies. It just didn’t have enough time to reach the exposed tailpipe of its target before it had turned around, therefore losing its lock on the heat signature.
Introducing the Lancea Friend or Foe missile, with significantly improved tracking ability over Heat Seeking variants but with a lower explosive yield. To make up for the lower yield, the base ammo count has been increased.
The existing Spiculum Image Recognition missile has had its steering velocity/acceleration reduced in-line with other seeking missiles which will bring better accuracy, and less wild behavior when being launched.
Random Crashes on AMD Graphics Cards
There was an issue for AMD Graphics Card owners where Absolute Territory would randomly crash. This was related to the Unity version used to build the game. I’ve updated to a newer version of Unity which has fixed this issue.
Full Patch Notes1.1.0 (20200928) Overview – Improved the majority of in-flight HUD elements. Added additional views to 3rd person. Improved missile experience for starting missions. Various improvements and bugfixes.
Unity Amend – Updated Unity to 2019.4.10f1 Amend – Updated TextMeshPro to 2.1.1 Amend – Updates Jobs to 0.2.10 Amend – Updated HybridRenderer to 0.5.2 Amend – Updated NodeCanvas to 3.1.0 Amend – Updated Rewired to 1.1.36.1 Amend – Updated Aura 2 to 2.1.14
General Added – Default display name for all vessels, used for when the Display Name field is not populated within the Level Editor Added – Short description for selected Campaign Mission, underneath the campaign drop-down box within the Campaign Menu.
Amend – Radar blips no longer use the camera space for position calculations Amend – Moved Level Editor button from the Simulator Menu to the Main Menu to make it more obvious
Missions Amend – Adv Tutorial 201: Killing the Vomitoria too quickly would prevent any further progression
Gameplay Added – Added Lancea FF Missile
Amend – Replaced Javelin HS with Lancea FF missile as a loadout in the first 3 campaign missions, for a better missile introductory experience Amend – Spiculum Missile: Reduced Steering from 120 to 90 DPS on all axis Amend – Spiculum Missile: Reduced Steering Acceleration from 240 to 135
Fixed – Null Reference Exceptions when exiting or restarting a mission during the Autopilot cinematic Fixed – AI afterburning no longer causes the player camera to shake
Visuals Added – In-flight External Camera Views
Amend – In-flight HUD graphical improvements across the majority of HUD elements Amend – Waypoint Icon now context-sensitive based on Local Waypoint or Autopilot destination Amend – Waypoint Indicator text now displays “Exit Hazard” if within a hazard zone and “Use Autopilot” when out of hazard for static waypoints Amend – Reduced size of Help Glyph icons Amend – Help Glyphs, Missile Alert, and Received Transmission Text now positions and resizes based on required usage Amend – Help Glyphs: Controller Glyphs no longer disappear when interacting with the mouse, and will remember the last used controller Amend – Missile Alert warning now has a bar representing the distance of the closest missile locked onto the player Amend – Unintentionally removed Depth of Field effect, when the effect is enabled, from the 1st person cockpit, but looks better for it Amend – First Person Neutral Camera Sway reduced from 0.25 to 0.15, for less noticeable effect on the cross-hair (if you focus too much on it) Amend – Increased size of Explosion_003 M (Missile Explosions) Particle Scale from 14 to 20, to make these explosion effects stand out more at a distance
Fixed – Video Options post-processing effects no longer defaults to on when progressing to the next mission Fixed – AI piloted ships using Hi-Rez assets no longer use opaque cockpit models to reveal there is no actual pilot!
Based on your feedback, this last week I’ve worked to improve the HUD displays and allow them to fit better in a Sci-Fi environment. I’m sure any military organisation will comment that they are too flashy for them, but these HUD elements certainly fit the part.
Primary Energy
Shield and Armour
Secondary Ammo
Speed and Throttle
Target Brackets
Target brackets now expand around the selected target.
I still have a few more elements to take care of. Expect an update within the next 7 days if all goes well.