Astro Galaxy - a realistic space exploration game

Long Range course:

Can set a Long Range course from the "Star Maps" computer now. It will project a course with jump points circled in blue. You can then click a button in "Navigation" that says "Resume LR course" and this will plot a course to the next jump point. The Star maps will also display the total jumps and distance to target. The long range course is like an expedition, a final destination for a ship. While on this course, the ship can still plot other courses and scan interesting areas you may come across.
    -> This means that you can set a Long Range expedition course and if you find an interesting area you can jump around there, investigate, and when you're ready you can always resume your Long Range course or plot another one at any time.

To plot a new Long Range course, go to "Star Maps", then click on "Plot new course". Now you will need to click on either an object (can be a star, ship, black hole, wormhole, special event) or on a quadrant. This will set the course to either the object or the quadrant center. Note that at this stage you can also zoom the map or move it with the cardinal points. Clicking it will go to confirmation. When you're satisfied with the Long Range expedition course, "Confirm" it and it will be set to go, or "Cancel" and move the map and try some other destination.

The destination can be just about anywhere, and you can zoom the map out and move to distant quadrants then set a course to those. In the depths of space, you will sometimes find isolated hermit stars, pockets of stars or even monsters or events beyond explanation... this will come with "Mysterious encounters" project.

VIP computers can set a Long Distance course of up to 200 jumps, while regular computers can do 75 jumps max.
The distance depends on the jump range of the ship, e.g. if the ship has 32 LY jump and scan range, it will cover 32*75 = 2,400 Light Years


Autopilot:

The Autopilot is the latest invention from the scientists on Earth with SOL Corporation support. It incorporates advanced AI features that enable ships to use an advanced Cruise control feature. When the AP is turned on, it will detect if a course is set and when the calculation is completed it will JUMP the ship. If a Long Range course is set, it will then resume this course and jump the ship all the way to the destination, provided there are enough Fuel Cells in the cargo bay.

+ The AP can be enabled / disabled from the "Comms->Ships" / "SITREP" for multiple ships or "Star Maps" / "Navigation" for the active ship.
+ If a course is set, it finishes the current course then resumes any Long Range course that is set. If nothing to do, it disengages.
+ Automatically scans for surrounding stars and special events (black holes, wormholes, space monsters) within scan range.

+ If there's not enough Fuel Cells to make the jump or if there's a problem with the Wormhole Gen engines, it reports to the captain via message, then disengages.
+ Jumps and Fuel usage is reported in the cargo log area of the ship.
+ Enabling the AP when there is no short / Long Range course will do nothing, the AP will disengage automatically if nothing to do.

+ When it arrives at destination, the captain is informed via message then AP disengages.

The Autopilot function is incorporated in all VIP computers. Regular ship computers can be upgraded as well with an "Autopilot extension" module.


New modules:

+ Nav computer AI extension
"Extends the scanning and jumping range of the navigation computer by 1 LY at MK I. Higher mark increases the boost."

This module is perfect if you want to boost your scan and jump range. This will reflect in "Navigation" area, where you will see the "Range: ## LY" increase, as well as the navigation image & circle.
Note: If you installed a ship range extension after you plotted a Long Range course, the first jump will use old range, unless you re-plot the course. The next jumps will use the new range.

+Autopilot extension
"Upgrades the nav computer to include the VIP autopilot for the ship it is installed on. As an added effect, it also increases nav computer scanning and jump range by 0.25 LY at MK I. Higher mark increases the boost."

This module enables the Autopilot function just for the ship it is installed on. It also improves ship scan & jump range a bit. There's no need for an AP module if you have VIP computers. If you just want to use the AP function on a ship, a single AP module should do just fine. It costs 30 QP / 60 after a week, and can be acquired from the project item list.


New ship with special optimization:

+ Experimental Cruiser | Long range jumper MK X

"This ship incorporates the latest experimental advances in navigational computers, giving increased scanning and jump distance range.
Cruiser ship with a unique optimization "Long range jumper" | Optimization bonus: "32 LY Nav computer range"
The ship is a Cruiser type ship with 20 module slots, pre equipped with "Long range jumper MK X" optimization that will only be available in the pledge system."

The ship can be acquired in from the project details within the "Pledge" area of the game.

Note: On extreme ranges like 40+ LY, the Navigation screen can be very big and might require scrolling. We're working on a solution, something optional like the map zoom feature that will make the contacts smaller thus fit better on the screen.


All search options are now activated:

+ Can search for star names (case insensitive).
+ Search for Owned assets like ships, orbital stations, planetary modules (case insensitive).
+ Search for resources like minerals / gases (case sensitive).
+ You can search for waypoints name or descriptions. It will show waypoints found and you will be able to click it to set an LR course to it (case insensitive).

If you find any bugs, please message me or support. Thank you.

Have fun  hi

Awesome! Super excited to try this out! :D

I already have 5 ship on LR auto pilot. A charm. Thx SirEmi.

I and my fellow corp captains have not been able to get the resources feature of the search function to work.

Other than that we have encountered no problems and are very excited about the new features.

Uh, it only reveals the resources you have discovered, and not the resources that are there...

Yes it will only remember the planets you surveyed, and also you need to enter the resource name starting with capital letter, e.g. Argon, Oxygen, Hydrogen or Diamond
"Argo" or "amond" will work as well... working on making it case insensitive... Also don't forget to select "Resource" from the search type.

At last! This is an impressive update! :)

Ah, of course. We didn't realize the resources were case sensitive.

Do you know what that means? SirEmi is a super game developer!... And possibly an extraterrestrial who has come to deliver us from bad games and glitches  :P

Fantastic update indeed, thanks SirEmi. Cant wait till Nova's project gets its turn or stops being skipped over by the hugh hefners of AG.  :12:

In my opinion the best update so far...  :rockon:

Will it ever be possible to chain jumps that are not in a straight line from the origin point? Like if I wanted to program a nav comp to jump to a series of stars in a sequence will that ever be possible?

that would be a good way to schedule regular pickups from mining areas.

If wormhole detectors are ever made useful, then something like this could also be good for throwing off anyone tracking you.  It would also make it harder for enemies to track your fleet movements with them.

SirEmi, would it also be possible to add a "fog of war" or something similar in the universe? This would greatly help us in exploring the universe more efficiently. If we look at the starmap now, there is no distinction between explored and unexplored quadrants. :)

Good idea

how would you do that...

Simply put a different color ring (circle) around explored stars and leave the un-explored ones ring-less?

I like it...

I would say the star map sould be gray except where explored where it would be black with the stars (and other phenomenons) visible.

that works too, but I think Rafe meant the systems he saw vs. the systems he explored. 

The systems you haven't seen don't need another shade of color, if you don't know what's there, it remains black. 

You might be able to see the systems, but you don't know what's there.

Mata was right. I was actually referring to the starmaps. I have scouted empty quadrants in the hundreds now, but when I look at the starmap, there's no way to find out exactly which quadrants I have visited since they're all empty and black..

But sargas' idea about the systems visited is helpful too.  :)

Yeah that makes sense, I will add a note:

+ add exploration view to Star Maps, where explored stars / events are marked in green and unexplored are not marked.

As for quadrants, since we'll have events and stars with life cycles, what you explored a few days back may not be relevant the next days as information changes and gets old so maybe:

+ add another view to Star Maps, that will show how old the information is for each star / event. The color will change from green (info is relatively new) to yellow, orange, red (info is old and unreliable).

I like that, thank you.

Oh well, all that exploration for nothing then. Haha

Thanks anyway for planning to include it in future updates.  :)

aslo need a maps shown the sol cluster and any star cluster you find. you can get lost in all that space.

BTW SirEmi, would you also add the wormhole in the starmap's search function? As of now, I don't know of a way to search them. Entering "wormhole" or "unknown" under the star/event category doesn't work.

as soon as the pledge is ready, there will be wormhole (and black hole) locators available.

Are you kidding me!  You pushed back Mysterious Encounters again!  wtf man?

There is a discussion about this inside game, in the Pledge section. Maybe you missed it.  :)

That is very possible.  I am still pissed though

Sir Emi, or anyone for that matter...

How does searching for "waypoints" work? I noticed it is a field to search in the new galaxy map, so I must ask; what is a waypoint? How can I make them and then see how to search for them?

When your ship is in deep space or anywhere outside of a system. go to your nav computer and add those coordinates. That is how you make a waypoint.

Ah, ok. Thank you JJL :)