(Cross-posted from News)

Tonight's VO 1.8.434 includes:

- New Capella hulk assets.
- New enemy NPCs in Latos F-12.
- Updated test debris sector in Latos F-12, much denser debris (some slower devices may have performance issues).
- Debris chunks are no longer selected when selecting enemy ships.
- Engine performance optimizations for large debris fields.
- Fixed menu problem with lower-resolution Android devices.
- Linux version now properly selects the default desktop resolution instead of 800x600 for new installs.

Experimentation with higher density battle scenes continues. I hope you can stop by and check out Latos F-12, it has become pretty dramatic. It may run a bit slow for some people (particularly on mobile or VR), but it is an experimental sector, after all.

But beware! There are some particularly aggressive NPCs lying in wait for unsuspecting pilots to pass through the area.

A lot of other development has been going on, but this NPC and Debris scene was the most we could reliably release tonight. I hope it's fun. Have a great weekend, everyone!

ooh! NPC! Are they new ship models!!? :P

EDIT: please fix this bug so I can play, Inc!!!

The density is to high to also have super aggro NPCs in. Tried to test but was killed and never saw a shot. Can the NPCs be moved to the next sector over for proper testing?

Hehe, those NPCs are brutal! They pin a Trident with PCBs in seconds, and the combo of PCB/NB raptors and Flare/Gatt hogs is NASTY!

I can't kill them before they respawn (I got about 5-6 with some ninja reps in the dent), and have to draw them away from the dent, then re-dock and jump out immediately to escape. Dangerous NPC are FUN!

Also, the burning hulks are amazing!

Inc/ray/Musabi, this latest update is EPIC! I award you all 27 internets each!

Glad to hear it! People had been asking for hard bots on Suggestions, and I had been planning to try some in the debris sector anyway, so it worked out as a good prototype area.

Myacumen: if you jump in and immediately hit turbo, in a fast fighter, you can somewhat "safely" tour the debris, and get back out, before they kill you. They're pretty fast, and lethal if you let them catch up, but not magical or anything. They also slow down a bit when following through the dense debris areas, when they're doing collision avoidance.

You can try hiding from them inside a capship hulk, too, but generally they find and kill you. Maybe better luck with the Capella hulks.

I want to test the combat of the bots without the huge debris lag.

Ohey it's fixed. EPIC update please put these NPC in every corner of grey :D

myacumen: what are you using to play? I logged in on my old Sony Z3 phone last night, and it was still decently fast.

Not only do they slow down in the debris field, they are more likely to split ranks - then you get NPCs who have mistaked their way into flanking you! That sealed my coffin lid, when the WTDs joined the fight from the side, where I wasn't watching them well enough. Dude, That field is massive and awesome and so are those elite slaughterhouse NPCs.

Can you find a way to make more team NPCs purposefully flank like that? Or do they already do that and I just haven't noticed until now?

The NPCs are not intentionally flanking in this case. There are some simple behavioural tweaks that might simulate that in some cases, like we can influence their desired combat location (preferring to attack targets from the sides, or behind); it might be beneficial in a group-tactic scenario, but it makes the individual bots less effective in 1-on-1 combat, than the standard reactive "doesn't care about combat location". That's where it would be nice to have them switch behaviours based on the situation.

Anyway, glad they're fun. I have the different bot types also preferring different combat standoff distances, to try and build a mixed gradient of engagement with varied weapons. I didn't have a lot of time to experiment on Friday, but happy the result is entertaining :).

I agree, the debris field is awesome to fly through. Hopefully that kind of scenery will become more commonplace, as we continue to make it faster and fix different problems as they arise.

I wanna see a cappella boom and make debris hwhehehe

I was able to cruise the debris in my dent without getting pinned by the raptors! Gotta keep the speed above about 90 m/s though, to prevent the raptors from draining the cell, so biiiiig wide circuits, but it was fun to lead them on a merry chase.

for anyone who hasn't logged in recently or has been too preoccupied to check the scrapyard sector out, I show it off here a bit.

Nice video Lux, though I am personally not a fan of the FoV changing with speed. Looks good when you slow down, but its a bit jerky when you intermittently use turbo.