I've been working hard on this next patch. My goal with this is to address a number of weapon class balance issues, weapon differentiation, navigation, blocking and more. Check out the video for a preview.

https://youtu.be/LCGxJ_Duc8M

I'm hoping to get this patch out in the coming week for everyone. This will be part one of a major update to the combat system. The second part will include adjustments to the current perks and the addition of skill trees for the various combat skills including special attacks, passives and other ways to enhance combat performance and pace. Here are a few notes for the upcoming patch. The overall goal of these changes is to:

1) Balance combat
2) Provide more weapon differentiation
3) Give the player more choices, more often to develop their crew
4) Improve the pace of the game and reward the player frequently

Once this work is done, I'll be moving on to the boarding system, a second pass at space combat, filling out the universe with more diversion missions, events, and long term goals and adding interesting and unique content to flesh out the overall experience. At that point, the game will finally be at full Alpha and I'll concentrate on adding the rest of the story to the game, which includes Psionics and a few other things that are part of the main storyline.

INCREASED CARGO VOLUME:
All smaller ships, including the starter ship, have higher base cargo volumes. Cargo expansions for these ships will also be larger (scaled from the base cargo volume of the ship). Adjustments to cargo expansions are not retroactive so you will need to buy new cargo expansions if you want the extra volume.

NEW: ROLLOVER INFO AND RIGHT CLICK EXTENDED INFO HUD
A new rollover info display. This display shows additional information at a glance - enemy difficulty, CTH, Remaining AP/Total AP, HP, shield points, and active debuffs. Right-clicking an enemy will display the extended info and targeting UI. I've had a number of comments that "hunting the pixel" is not fun - so, this revised hud lets you select individual body targets with the extended UI. When this UI is active, the targeted enemy is locked until you right-click again, press escape or the space bar. The extended information displays:
--Buttons that can be clicked to attack head, torso, legs, and arms
--You can reload your ranged weapon
--You can change ranged weapon fire modes
--Extended targeting information including min/max damage, range penalties if any and status effects that can be inflicted including the percent chance of inflicting the effects.
--Enemy resistance information (innate and shield totals) based on the active crew members' perception STAT. The currently selected weapon damage type highlights that particular resist icon.
Note that you can still attack without opening the extended info HUD, add attacks to the combat queue and even fine aim if you want to. None of that has changed.

RESISTS: Resists are now more important and can be reviewed by right-clicking enemies with the new popup extended info UI. Higher perception will display more resist information in the extended info popup when right-clicking enemies. Some second and third-tier enemies are immune to certain types of damage. Having an array of weapons that deal various types of damage can help you take your enemies down much faster. You now have options to change the base damage type of melee weapons (see below) to adjust your damage type strategy.

Resists have always been in the game, however, without a way to see them, it could seem at times that it took a long time to defeat a specific enemy. With the new display, you can now adjust your weapons to a enemy's weakness. An enemy that might take 10 attacks using kinetic weapons may only take 3-5 attacks using a weapon that does toxic damage. This is more important as your crew progresses.

Mitigation is now displayed in the combat log showing damage reduction from shields, armor/perks and defend.

PERSONAL SHIELDS REBALANCED
Personal shields were OP - they have been adjusted. Several things were done without modifying the loot tables so current shields are still viable without a reset.
--"The slow blade" - Melee weapons deplete shields faster than ranged weapons.
--The cost of recharging shields is now increased. The result is energy reserves for shields are depleted faster.

RIFLES AND HEAVY WEAPONS
--These weapon types now incur a ranged CTH penalty (unwieldy) when fired at close range. This promotes the use of sidearms and shotguns in close combat situations. You either need to move to range, or use your sidearms if you do not want to incur the penalty. There may be skill tree selections that adjust this penalty down when the skill tree's go in the game. A red rifle icon will display on the rollover info UI if you are incurring a penalty at your current range.

SHOTGUNS
--Range slightly reduced for any newly purchased, dropped or crafted shotguns going forward.


SHOTGUNS, SMG'S, AND FLAMETHROWERS
These weapons now have a chance to inflict spread damage in a cone in front of the firing combatant. This effect only applies to enemies within a certain range directly in front of the firing character and applies 5-10% of the initial base damage to enemies in the weapons field of view before mitigation. This value will be increased with future changes to weapon skill tree selections.
--SMG'S MUST BE IN BURST OR FULL AUTO MODES


MELEE WEAPONS
Frequency Modulators now allow you to add specific damage types to melee weapons ( thermal, electric, toxic and bleed). In addition to changing the base damage type of melee weapons from kinetic, these mods also have a chance to trigger an additional damage burst that bypasses all defenses, including Defend. The new secondary effect on this mod type replaces the critical modifier which was redundant and applied by other mods. Bleed and toxic augments also apply the bleed and poisoned status effects. Crafting adjusted for the changes above.
When a Frequency Modulator is equipped, melee weapons now display a unique particle effect associated with the various damage types.
The above changes also apply to NPC's in the universe.
Changes to Frequency Modulators are not retroactive, so older modulators will have the +CRIT secondary modifier.

PUGILIST WEAPONS
Pugilist weapons are in the game now. They are a way to augment to your melee skill with mods and damage bonuses, no special visual weapons are equipped at this time.
--While pugilist weapons to apply a small amount of base damage that scales by level and quality, primary damage derived from the characters skill level and stats.
--Mods - Melee mods and nano's can be applied to pugilist weapons bringing them in line with other melee weapons. Overall, pugilism is very effective.
--Crafting - You can craft pugilist weapons by deconstructing weapons you find. Schematics can be found by salvaging pugilist weapons or as rare random drops.
--You do not need to equip pugilist weapons to fight hand 2 hand, just unequip your current weapon as it has always been.
--Starting a new game and placing weapon points in the pugilism weapon skill will equip a starting pugilist weapon.
--Pugilist weapons can be equipped in primary and/or secondary slots.

UPDATED COMBAT BLOCKING/NAVIGATION
You can now move through your crew if they are blocking corridors or doorways. NPC's can still block you and you can block NPCs. IMO, this change is a huge improvement and I think a lot of new players were put off by being blocked by their own crew members. Being able to block an enemy is a tactic ("Paladins! To the doors!")
Crew members and NPC's now have discreet areas around them where movement is blocked. That is, you cannot click in a character's immediate area. This helps with pile-up and should help with missed combat clicks that move your crew when you intended to attack.
Missed clicks and crew members being left behind is now much less likely.
At level 80+ of melee skill, it is no longer possible to move small distances in combat (one node) for free.

That's all I have for now. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!