Changelog

0.26.2 — Void Hive Mind, controller monitors

New: Void Hive Mind (experimental)

• An autopilot brain module built on the Auto-Mechanic. Build it at the Fabricator, or find it wherever Auto-Mechanics drop.
• While it's installed and powered and the helm's cruise mode is engaged, it flies the ship. Any helm input takes back control, as in vanilla.
  • Circles the active mission objective when there's one out in space.
  • Stays near your deployed drones. It sets off once they're 1.6× the follow distance away, closes in, then holds, so it doesn't keep correcting while a drone sits still.
  • Dodges incoming missiles.
  • Jinks under fire. While enemies target the ship or point their nose at it, it sidesteps across their line of fire in changing directions, so their aimed rounds and beams miss.
  • It faces its direction of travel.
• Focus lever (the Auto-Mechanic's three-way lever):
  • Objectives: circle the objective first, otherwise follow the drones.
  • Drones: stay with the drones first.
  • Evasive: threats are tracked from further out and dodged harder, and evasion overrides almost everything else.
  • The hover text names the focus, and changing it shows a notification. The lever sounds are pitched 25% lower.
• Auto-ping: scans and pings each enemy (strongest first) and each mission item out in space, once each. Never anything on your own ship.
• Its own look: a black machine with silver trims, purple glows and lights, purple drone crystals, and its own mode-tile symbols (target, drone, dodge). The calibration (enhancement) panel is removed.
• Drones can fly up to 100 m from the ship's hull before its repulsion field reacts. Before, a drone grazing it pushed the ship and dropped cruise mode.

Void Drone Controllers

• The controller's own monitor shows the weapon menu while the controller is switched on: the spinning drone, the weapon list, the cooldown and whether a drone is out. Crewmates can read it without taking the seat. It stays blank while the controller is off.
• The pre-launch weapon menu shows a spinning model of the controller's drone, with the two-wing layout you fly.
• 15% less TV static on the pre-launch screen.
• First person: the flight-path marker glides smoothly while turning.
• New icons in the game's style for the Fabricator, crates and tooltips. Controllers show MkI-III tier bars.

New settings

• [Autopilot]: OrbitRadius, Speed, FollowDistance, FollowRestart, DodgeRange, DodgeMargin, JinkRange, JinkAimAngle, JinkStrength, AutoPing, PingInterval, PingRange, TileSpacing.
• [DroneBay]: MenuPreview, PreviewZoom, PreviewSpinSpeed, PreviewExposure, PreviewLight, ControllerMonitor, ControllerMonitorRange, ControllerMonitorFlipX/Y.
• [Flight]: ShipClearance.
• Configs still on the old static default update automatically.

0.20.6

• New mod description. No gameplay changes.

0.20.5 — launch sequence, drone HUD, Burst Mine

Everything since 0.18.0.

New

• Launch and recall sequence
  • Launch: "ESTABLISHING LINK" appears on the controller's screen as static swells, and the controller's lights pulse. The drone then warps in beside the controller and shoots out at boost speed, steerable straight away. The view clears to "LINK ESTABLISHED", and the HUD comes up line by line.
  • Recall: "RECALLING" appears and the drone brakes and rolls, with its controls locked. It warps out, and the view dissolves into static with "SIGNAL CLOSED".
  • Destroyed: an explosion everyone sees and hears, then hard static and a red "SIGNAL LOST: DRONE DESTROYED" for the pilot.
  • Void jump and out of range recalls get their own screens. After a recall below 75% health or a destruction, the closing screen shows the "REBUILDING" countdown.
  • Controller lights: they pulse, dim, flicker or go dark to match, for the whole crew.
• Burst Mine. Kinetic drones now drop the Burst Mine, which fires 5-round Litany Minigun bursts at its target every 2.5 s, aimed ahead of moving targets. Energy drones keep the Beam Mine, with Beamcaster rays.
• First-person HUD in the drone's colour:
  • Flight-path marker: shows where the drone is actually moving. It rests dimmed on the nose when nearly stopped, and is crossed out (retrograde) when moving backwards.
  • Horizon and pitch ladder: they follow your ship's orientation.
  • Speed (with a boost cue) and hull readouts beside the crosshair.
• Third-person crosshair on the line of fire. It sits where your shots are 500 m ahead, not at the screen centre, since the camera is above the drone.
• The whole HUD lags like a fighter's gunsight. In both views, the crosshair, the game's turret HUD and the drone info panel trail behind your turns together and spring back. The flight-path marker, horizon and ship marker stay fixed to the world.

Changed

• 25% less static on the pre-launch weapon selection screen.

Fixed

• Beam Mines could deal no damage: their base mine had no blast damage. They're now built from the standard proximity mine, with a safety fallback.

New settings

• [DroneBay]: LaunchSequence (off = instant launch and recall), LaunchDelay, RecallDelay
• [Camera]: CockpitHud, ReticleLag (0 = fixed crosshair), CrosshairDistance (0 = screen centre)
• [Mine]: BurstCount, BurstDamage, BurstSpeed

0.18.0 — Beam Mines, new controller look, multiplayer fixes

Everything since the first release (0.14.1).

New

• Beam Mines. Press G while flying to drop a Beam Mine behind your drone (60 s cooldown per controller).
  • It locks onto the nearest enemy within 1.2 km and chases it at up to 140 m/s for 20 s, then explodes.
  • While chasing, it fires a Recuser Beamcaster charged ray at its target every 2.5 s, within 700 m.
  • It never damages your ship, drones or other friendly mines. The pilot HUD shows when it's ready.
• New controller look. The turret machinery is gone. Instead:
  • Seat and screen: the gunner sits in a black Beamcaster-style seat, in the Beamcaster's position, with its screen.
  • Walls: a black back wall covers the window, and the panels are shiny silver.
  • Drone colour: glowing strips, trims, floor rings, lamps and lights are orange for Kinetic, blue for Energy.
  • Crystals: glowing crystals line the wall and floor, with a power core above the screen.
  • Unchanged: the ammo box or battery, mod rack, repair points and status lights.
• Silver crates. Controller crates are shiny silver, with lamps in the drone colour.
• Respawn delay. A drone that is destroyed, or recalled below 75% health, needs 30 seconds before its controller can launch another. This includes the automatic recall on a void jump. The pre-launch screen shows a countdown.
• Pre-launch screen: a monitor on a black background with TV static and scanlines.
• Drone engine sounds. The ship's engine hum, thrusters and boost play from the drone at a higher pitch, for everyone. The hum fades with distance.
• Boost trail. The exhaust trail glows brighter and wider while boosting.
• Drone range and scanning. HUD distances, marker visibility and the "out of range" note are measured from the drone instead of your seat. Drones scan objects within 600 m around themselves.
• Hull readout. The pilot HUD shows the drone's hull %, which turns orange below 50% and flashes below 25%.
• Enemies target drones. Hitting an enemy draws its aggro to your drone, and drones that come close draw fire.

Balance

• Drones have half health.
• Handling:
  • 15% more inertia; turning capped at 110°/s.
  • Mouse sensitivity is 0.0935 and roll speed 99°/s.
  • Strafing is 5% slower.
• The chase camera sits about 15% lower.
• Weapons on a drone:
  • Absolver Lance: −25% damage.
  • Bestower Flak Cannon: −15% damage and −15% fire rate.
  • Confessor Carronade: +10% damage, +12.5% fire rate, and 1.8× accuracy (much tighter spread).
• Existing configs still on the old default values update automatically. Values you changed yourself are kept.

Fixed

• Multiplayer:
  • When a crewmate (not the host) recalled their drone, or a void jump started, the drone wasn't removed on their screen, and they could launch a second one.
  • Crewmates couldn't change weapons.
  • Drones flown by crewmates couldn't be damaged.
  • Crewmates' drone health bars weren't synced.
  • Other players' drones turned in visible steps instead of smoothly.
• Drones were indestructible: hits on the wings never reached the hull. Friendly fire is still ignored.
• The Absolver Lance beam wasn't visible when fired from a drone.
• Crewmates still on a drone during a void jump kept the "still in the void tunnel" warning on screen.
• The drone jittered in the third-person view while accelerating.
• Recycling a controller added duplicate entries to the Fabricator.
• Third person hides the turret's blue targeting box; the crosshair stays.

New settings

• [Mine]: DropKey, Cooldown, Lifetime, DropDistance, HuntRange, ChaseSpeed, ChaseTime, BeamInterval, BeamDamage, BeamRange
• [Balance]: AbsolverLanceDamage, BestowerFlakDamage, BestowerFlakFireRate, ConfessorCarronadeDamage, ConfessorCarronadeFireRate, ConfessorCarronadeAccuracy
• [DroneBay]: RespawnDelay, RespawnHealthThreshold, HealthMultiplier, MenuStatic, ControllerStyle, CrystalSize, CrystalDepth, BackWallMaterials
• [Flight]: MaxTurnRate
• [Audio]: EnginePitch, EngineVolume
• [Boost]: TrailBrightness
• [Enemies]: DroneTargetRange, DroneTargetBias
• [Range]: DroneScanRadius

0.14.1 — first public release (early access)

• Kinetic and Energy Void Drone Controllers. Starting weapons: Benediction Cannon and Confessor Carronade.
• MkI–MkIII controllers. They upgrade like vanilla weapons, and each Mk adds +5% drone speed and health.
• Pre-launch weapon selection from weapons unlocked this run (blueprints or Fabricator). Picks are applied by rebuilding the controller when you leave the seat.
• Inscription listings per Mk, each needing a matching blank crate tier.
• Controllers drop as loot wherever the starting weapons drop, including Endless sector rewards.
• Player-flown drone:
  • Flight: inertia, boost, strafing, roll, chase and first-person cameras, collision.
  • Range: range-based signal loss, a warning, and recall at 2 km.
  • HUD: distance, boost status and a ship marker.
• The drone fires with the controller's weapon, ammunition, gunner perks and ship weapon upgrades. Weapon sounds play at the drone.
• Drones are recalled when the void jump starts.
• Multiplayer: the host manages drones, and pilots get control of their own drone.