We've released a new feature update to Helium Rain. Most changes will focus on combat, with a few additional corrective measures, and better Linux support. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeDdDcimaqk

New capital ship gameplay

Flying a capital ship is now more enjoyable, with a seamless turret control mode that blends the existing fighter controls, and the free targeting turrets offer. The goal of these changes is to make capital ships more attractive as player ships.
This changes come will some tweaks to existing ships. The most heavily updated ship is the Dragon corvette, a ship that now features higher coverage for turrets, and a redesigned hull. Take a look at how we work with ships here ! We also upgraded the Anubis cruiser to ensure most turrets could fire directly ahead.

Skirmish game mode

This update adds the new Skirmish gameplay. You can now launch a quick battle from the main menu, without playing for hours to build powerful ships. We expect that you will enjoy using this game mode to experiment with ships, try new weapons and get familiar with the combat.

Combat updates

We've made many changes to combat. Here are some highlights !

• Diplomatic penalties on station capture have been drastically reduced, to prevent large-scale war after just a few captures.
• Turrets and AI ships now target missiles and meteorites, making missiles much less of a critical threat, and more of a way to harass ships.
• All combat sounds have been reviewed and upgraded.
• AI companies will generate more efficient combat fleets.
• The game's balance has been reviewed to make heavy ships less overpowered against smaller craft.
• Many bugs related to AI ships, missiles and flak shells have been fixed.

Better Linux support

We've been working on getting Helium Rain to use the latest Unreal Engine version. Perks of this release include Vulkan support, and a new audio pipeline.

• If you were experiencing lighting issues with AMD hardware, you should add the -vulkan option to launch parameters in Steam. This will enable the experimental Vulkan renderer, which should be somewhat slower, but more reliable.
• Your distribution should feature PulseAudio as an audio backend. Some other audio backends might work.
• We are aware of issues that prevent clicking on some buttons. Please provide us with additional bug reports, should you observe such issues.

And more !

As usual, here is the full changelog. Among the other changes, some stations have been visually upgraded, to keep a consistent quality level across the game. We also added Steam trading cards.
Upcoming updates will turn back to the game's economy, add more information to menus, and keep ensuring the long-term gameplay is stable. We are also preparing work on the game's story. Thank you for keeping up with Helium Rain, and feel free to tell us what you think !

[ 2018-01-25 22:55:32 CET ] [ Original post ]