Chapter 1 has been a long time coming. A lot of work went into this and I’m finally at a point where everything is in the game and I’m testing and cleaning things up.
The video below is work in progress so expect a few typos and issues. I’m still cleaning up some of the Psionic UI, dialogue and various text used.
Lets talk about what you can expect.
First, new story content. The game story previously ended in Achmedius. The story now continues as things start to ramp up in the Universe. Old acquaintances, new friends and a continuation of the Phage and Jhemm story lines – among other things.
Psionics can be unlocked through the main story of The Coven. The Psionic Amplifier is a weapon of sorts that gets equipped in your sidearm slot. Holding the device allows a crew member with appropriate stats (minimum 20 INT) cast amplifications.
Beyond that, you can edit and create your own amplifications in the Psionic Editor. The device has several already loaded. Intelligence and Perception are the primary stats for the amplifier and as you apply points to these stats, you are able to overload the amplifier without damaging yourself. This gives you access to secondary effects like status effects and buffs that can be applied to crew members. Buffs remain on crew members until you transition to a new area. The editor also lets you arrange your effects on the toolbar.
Psionics include:
Single Target, Point Blank Area, Group – Note that the Group type effect will target all enemies, even enemies that are not in line of sight.
Effect:
Heal – Heals damage and can buff all stats (STR, AGI etc.)
Cleanse – Chance to remove negative status effects. Buffs various resistances.
Damage – Kinetic, electro, bleed, explosive, thermal and toxic. Applies various status effects.
You can overload any amplification, just be aware that doing this could harm your crewmember and even knock them out. That said, it may be useful to set up a few “Hail Mary” amplifications for those critical moments.
A few other things you can expect:
Aznari Ruins have been added to the Universe. These locations can be found as part of the main story where you receive a device that lets you pinpoint these ruins on planet surfaces. Eventually these will lead you to Aznari Hubs where the Jhemm are located. One thing that will not make it into this build is Azimuth system. That will come in the Chapter 2 update.
A simple re-spec has been added to the character information screen. I’ll eventually add a side mission and a cost to re-specs. For now, I thought it was appropriate to add this so you can tinker with various builds.
Salvaging wrecks has been added. These are somewhat hard to find as you cannot scan for them, so look for them as you travel through Star Systems. If you do find one, you can mine the wreckage for high quality ore, rare earth minerals and bonus ship repair materials (used to repair boarded ships). Most systems will have wreckage floating around.
Many new enemies – specifically in the Aznari Ruins and caves.
The Coven have arrived and will show up in mission areas where Scavvers are found.
Some Phage are Psionic now. Beware…
Of course, there will be a myriad of fixes and updates to various systems in the game including the highly requested Arach screech fix, immediate movement on Micro-Warp and a few other things people have requested.
That’s all I have for now. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!