Updates

Updates

L.U.A. devlog and patch notes covering star map, Sector Zero, comms, Mothership calls, mining, factions, visuals, and AI behavior.

v0.14.0

04 May 2026

  • FEAT Star map polish — nodes now fit cleanly inside the visible canvas, cache markers and hit testing respect the scaled viewport, and the selected-sector panel has been redesigned with clearer route, faction, scan, and station information
  • FEAT Destination marker — the final sector is now called out directly on the star map, including a clear note that Mothership arrival ends the run
  • FEAT Scanned asteroid popup — clicking a scanned asteroid now shows its remaining resource contents and mining-speed bonus in a live HUD popup
  • FEAT Pause menu controls legend — the in-sector pause screen now includes the controls legend, with obsolete torpedo controls removed
  • FEAT Sector Zero voiceover pass — Mothership AI intro lines now use updated text and voice files, with added voiceover for the jump-drive charge and post-jump dialog nodes
  • TWEAK Jump ranges tuned upward — ADM jump range increased to 400 and Mothership jump range increased to 300, with the star map showing fuel-limited effective range when current fuel is lower than max range
  • TWEAK Fuel jumps now follow gate routes — ADM fuel jumps require a ready jump gate and a direct connected route instead of allowing arbitrary in-range sectors
  • TWEAK Main menu version badge now follows the latest in-app changelog entry instead of the package build version
  • FIX Call Mothership and star-map jump affordances now use effective fuel-limited range checks, preventing actions that looked available but could not actually complete
  • FIX Beacon defense progress now drains by the countdown timer instead of beacon HP, so the HUD bar matches the actual arrival timer

v0.13.0

28 Apr 2026

  • FEAT Sector Zero — new players start in a sheltered intro sector with a guided fuel-gathering quest, NPC greeting, and a full jump cinematic before reaching open space
  • FEAT Comms Panel — NPCs now speak to you through a diegetic dialog interface with voiced lines and branching options
  • FEAT Call Mothership rework — placing the Mothership is now a two-step flow: drop a beacon, clear the safe zone of hostiles, then the Mothership warps in. Replaces the old instant jump
  • FEAT Faction bases — hostile factions now hold fortified bases in sectors; visible on the star map with faction-weight tooltips before you visit
  • FEAT Death screen — redesigned game-over with run stats (kills, time, sector reached) and ambient music that changes based on how you died
  • FEAT Comm Relay Scanner quest — new quest chain with cache investigation objective and location hints in the journal
  • FEAT Waypoint arrows — active quest objectives now show a directional arrow guiding you to the target
  • FEAT Aim line — direct-fire weapons show a visible aim-direction line from your ship
  • TWEAK Mining stations — stations now arc around the Mothership to avoid the sector star, show tooltips on hover, and handle cryo deposits correctly
  • TWEAK Visual refresh — new primary typeface (Exo 2), updated color palette, two-column main menu layout, improved tooltip contrast
  • TWEAK Ore Scanner — "Active Deep Scanner" renamed to Ore Scanner to better describe what it does
  • TWEAK Session defaults — autoMine and autoFire now reset to off at the start of every run
  • TWEAK NPC damage — garrison NPC bullet damage increased
  • FIX A batch of fixes across the jump cinematic, waypoint cleanup, station deposits, and HUD state after sector transitions — mostly edge cases around the new Sector Zero flow that could leave stale UI or incorrect backgrounds after jumping

v0.12.0

15 Apr 2026

  • FEAT Asteroid death animation — depleted rocks now split into three pieces that drift, rotate, and erode into glowing embers with trailing ash
  • FEAT Asteroid minimum visual radius — nearly-depleted rocks stay clearly visible (collider and mining still use the real size)
  • FEAT Garrison NPC AI rewritten around a Brain FSM with typed roles (miner / patrol / guard / combatant) and modes (performing role, engaging, chasing, investigating, waiting, returning, fleeing)
  • FEAT Proactive player targeting — garrison NPC treat the player as a hostile when in detect range (miners excluded); restored NPC get a short post-load grace window
  • FEAT NPC debug overlay now labels garrison NPC with role / current mode, and miners additionally show cargo / capacity
  • TWEAK Garrison persistence is now role-based (save format bumped to v16); old saves migrate automatically
  • FIX Mining laser now locks onto the asteroid it started extracting until it's depleted or leaves range — no more frame-to-frame target switching
  • FIX Unequipping the mining laser at dock now actually stops the beam; the laser is gated on the installed module
  • FIX Fitted modules no longer count toward cargo hold volume — a fully-fitted empty hold now reads 0/capacity
  • FIX Miners no longer chase attackers across the entire sector — pursuit drops when the target leaves the role's hold range
  • FIX Fleeing miners now head to the nearest alive faction base (or jump gate) and no longer despawn at empty coordinates when the destination disappears mid-flight
  • FIX Combatants pursue targets up to their personal leash distance instead of a flat cap

v0.11.0

09 Apr 2026

  • FEAT Per-sector background art — dedicated full-screen image per sector type (START / NORMAL / ICE / MARAUDER / VOID / ANOMALY / END)
  • FEAT Background comets — decorative comets drift across parallax layers, fade in/out on sector enter/exit
  • FEAT Jump gate — proximity-reactive visuals are back; three stages (hidden / idle / activated) and a looped ambient when you come close
  • FEAT Auto-mine (default on) and auto-fire (default off) — toggle in Settings, persisted locally
  • FEAT Mining stations are now first-class items — carried in the cargo hold, deployable from the module toolbar, jettisonable from the inventory overlay
  • FEAT Station deploy now requires the Mothership in the current sector — blocked tooltip explains why and the toolbar cell dims
  • FEAT Offline mining completion notification
  • FEAT Authored mp3 audio for laser, railgun, explosions, asteroid mining, and the new jump gate ambient
  • FEAT Sound Playground — global muffle slider to audition any sound "through the hull"
  • TWEAK Mining stations — range 200 → 300 (matches player laser), travel speed 0.16 → 0.5
  • TWEAK Weapon balance — faster laser/pulse/stasis bullets, pulse damage 8 → 12, railgun damage 120 → 60
  • TWEAK HUD cargo bar — green/amber/red colour thresholds; hides while the inventory overlay is open
  • FIX Mothership engine flame was permanently off — now fades in/out around warps and construction
  • FIX Multi-gate sectors now light every gate, not just the first one
  • FIX Transfer-to/from-storage silently rejected station items

v0.10.0

08 Apr 2026

  • FEAT Void Stalker fully implemented — 60s spawn timer, 3 phases, phase cloak, holo-decoy, and hacking attack
  • FEAT Dev-only PerfOverlay on SECTOR HUD — frame time, tick time, entity count (dev builds only)
  • TWEAK Engine rewrite for performance and stability
  • TWEAK Star map is now a modal overlay — notifications and HUD stay visible while the map is open
  • FIX Fixed resource and damage values showing fractional numbers
  • FIX WASD controls now respond correctly
  • FIX Enemies render with rotation and despawn immediately on death
  • FIX Player no longer teleports to the star on sector entry
  • FIX Camera no longer snaps on the first frame after sector load
  • FIX Star map closes correctly on game over, jump, and abandon-mission
  • FIX Mining laser extraction, scrap credits, kill counts, splash damage, screen shake, torpedo stun, jump gate animation
  • FIX Comm Relay scan notification auto-dismisses after 12s again