Status: In development, planned release: 2011Here I come with another promising indie title with sci-fi theme, unknown release date (soon), with building features, great looking, great concept..And I probably found it because I'm great too.Anyway: This is Starfarer, a "single-player sandbox style space role-playing game with strategic elements", as it says in their FAQ [Read it for moar info]In short, it says you can customize your ship, get a fleet with custom officers, invest (build?) outposts in resourceful planets, and all the 'be a merchant, pirate, fighter, or all of the above' freedom these kind of Space games offer.Also, they plan to make a living/meaningful economy, so you could have a profit by letting chaos spread on the habitable sectors, or offer your services for as long as evil exists.You can see a small video and screenshots on their media section (I liked how suicidal and chaotic the battle looked btw).The game's graphics looks like Distant Worlds, which is an awesome RTS and you probably know about it if you're reading this thread.I hope your interest is enough to put this game on your "Waiting for" list, so you can be cursed to wait for it like I am.Bai
Changes as of June 11, 2012Ship Systems (along with tentative ship assignments):Flare Launcher - launches flares that distract the guidance systems of incoming missiles and PD weapons. Any missile hitting a flare will be destroyed.Hound, Dram, Valkyrie, Buffalo Mk.II, AtlasActive Flare Launcher - similar to the above, but flares lock on to and track incoming missilesShuttle, Tempest, BuffaloBurn Drive - temporarily engages the drive used for system travel. Massive speed boost for a fixed time, can't turn or use shields (but can fire), risk of full engine flameout on significant collision.Tarsus, Enforcer, Dominator, OnslaughtManeuvering Jets - activates extra thrusters to greatly improve ship maneuverability (acceleration/deceleration, turn rate, turn acceleration/deceleration)Falcon, Eagle, ConquestFast Missile Racks - rapidly reloads any cooling-down missile weaponsVigilance, Condor, VentureFortress Shield - drastically improves shield efficiency at the expense of a constant flux buildup and inability to fire weaponsParagonHigh Energy Focus - boosts energy weapon damage by 50%, increases damage taken by 50%, can't use shieldsSunder, Aurora, OdysseyPhase Teleporter - teleports anywhere (to cursor location) within a significant range (~1500 pixels)HyperionPhase Skimmer - teleports a fixed, short distance along the ship's current velocity vectorWolf, MedusaPoint Defense Drones (high tech) - small, fragile drones armed with LR PD LasersAstralPoint Defense Drones (midline) - small, fragile drones armed with Light MGsGeminiSensor Drones - drones armed with ion cannons that also increase the sight radius and weapon range while deployedApogeeAccelerated Ammo Feeder - doubles ballistic weapon rate of fire for a fixed durationBrawler, Lasher, HammerheadEMP Emitter - targets missiles and nearby ship's weapon and engine subsystems, dealing a lot of EMP damage (and some energy). Mostly neutralized by shields.OmenBalance:Increased Pilum missile hitpointsUpdated Flux Coil Adjunct hullmod to provide double the capacity bonusReduced single-shot Reaper torpedo launcher cost to 2 OP (from 4)Improved Buffalo Mk.2 speed and maneuverability significantlyImproved Buffalo top speedShip AI:Knows about coasting at a higher speed attained from the zero flux engine boost (or by other means)Fixed bug that was causing a capital ship with omni shields to overestimate its nimblenessFixed bug that caused a ship to think it was venting when its target was (resulting in backing off from venting enemy ships)Will try to avoid colliding with smaller friendly ships that have their engines disabledMore conservative with strike weapons (such as torpedoes), less likely to waste them on enemy shieldsImproved shield AI to be aware of incoming projectiles, even when the weapon that fired no longer seems a threatWill vent when at relatively low flux, but unthreatenedImproved logic for deciding which side to turn towards enemy for broadsidesKnows about ship systemsMiscellaneous:Toned down ship explosion whiteout, fixed case where it would stay washed out for too longVarious performance optimizationsUpdated weapon tooltip to show sustained flux/second value instead of burstOptimized weapon code to do less work for weapons that are off-screenImproved collision checking algorithm to minimize chances of projectiles passing through without doing damage (was only happening when the frame rate dipped)Bombing runs and fighters firing at a ship while directly on top of it will no longer hit the bounds, but rather other points inside the hullMissiles can no longer hit the launching ship if they fizzle out, UNLESS they've left the ship's bounds at some pointControls:Removed key binding for raising flux on purpose"F" now the default key for using the ship's systemFor drones, F cycles through "recall"/"deploy around ship"/"free roam" modes"Q" and "E" now bound to strafe left/right without turningContent:Added "ECCM Package" hullmod that gives missiles a chance to ignore flares and improves missile tracking and engine performanceUnique icons for every hullmodModding-related:Can now specify custom engine glow color and contrail data (see data/shipsystems/proj/flare_standard.proj for example)Added new MutableShipStats:getEccmChance() - chance for missiles fired by ships to ignore flaresgetMissileGuidance() - governs improvement to missile tracking AI and engine performancegetSightRadiusMod() - fog of war radius the ship can see throughgetMissileRoFMult() - rate of fire multiplier for missile weaponsgetBallisticRoFMult() - rate of fire multiplier for ballistic weaponsgetEnergyRoFMult() - rate of fire multiplier for energy weaponsIncreased rate-of-fire capped at 20 shots/second. Weapons firing faster than that are unaffected.Fixed some issues with incorrect UI colors being used (wrong color for hangar space bar, crew bar in ship tooltip)Fixed bug that was causing some very large modded ships to not be properly zoomed out in the refit screenBugfixes:Fixed bug where a ship could be "too good" for a destroyer escort assignmentFixed flickering issue when fleet was parked directly over the sunFixed Sunder variant that went over the flux vents capSaved custom ship loadouts designed in missions no longer erroneously show up in the campaign variant managerFixed bug that caused some animations to not be properly cleaned up after every battleFixed accident chance erroneously showing up from being over capacity hangar spaceFixed bug where hullmods would not be applied when a ship is refitted for a missionFixed bug where burst lasers could still use up charges by trying to fire while the ship is overloaded/ventingFixed bug that resulted in incorrect "current" weapon being shown in weapon picker (refit) dialog after an undo
Upcoming Features Play your own character who gains experiences and upgrades skills Hire officers to give skill bonuses, pilot auxiliary ships, and oversee your operations Explore the sector for knowledge and profit Trade goods, run mining operations, build industries — and defend your interests Become involved in factional politics