Transcendence 0.9

Transcendence 0.9 is here!

Thanks to the wonderful feedback and suggestions from the Unofficial Transcendence Forums, the game continues to improve. This latest release adds more encounters at the higher levels and deals with some game-play issues at the lower levels, such as deliberate destruction of friendly stations.

These are some of the changes in the game (roughly in the order in which you might encounter them):

• Armor and arms dealers offer to install specific shields and weapons for you. This makes it easier at the lower levels to upgrade your ship (previously, you would have had to find a shipyard of some sort to install the device).
• More stations buy and sell items at different prices. For example, hotels now buy luxury goods and food at a premium, while ice farms sell luxury food (Europan ice moss) at a discount. It is possible for a player to make good money by buying and selling appropriately.
• The user interface for using items is now accessible from the cockpit. The "U" key now brings up an on-screen menu of usable items in your cargo hold. Some items (such as gems of contrition) have hot keys associated for quick access.
• Enemy ships are much more careful about hitting unintended targets. In particular, enemy ships will not fire on you if their shots will hit a station instead.
• There are consequences for deliberately destroying friendly stations. The consequences range from attack by friendly forces to imprisonment.
• While on a mission, having an SRS enhancement ROM will reveal the direction of the mission objective. For example, if the player needs to go to a certain stargate, the direction of the stargate is shown on the screen.
• Watch out for radioactive wrecks. They sometimes have good stuff, but you will be contaminated if you dock with them.
• Corporate and Commonwealth stations will no longer install military weapons and devices without a military ID. Previously, some Corporate stations (such as Korolov Shipping) would install military weapons.
• There are a couple of places in the game in which you can obtain one or more autons. Autons are robotic guardian ships that fly with you (follow you through stargates) and fight against enemies in range. Their abilities are somewhat limited in this version, but future versions will expand them.
• A couple of new missions have been added to the Commonwealth Fortress encounter. It is possible to here to acquire a "wingman". You may issue orders to your wingman with the "Q" key. As with autons, this is not 100% developed and there will be future enhancements that improve this.
• The Sung Slaver encounters have been enhanced slightly. Freed slaves sometimes reward you with "longzhu spheres" which can be used for several purposes.
• The higher levels have 4 new enemy sovereigns: Ferian miners, Luminous AI, Ventari settlers, and Ranx warlords. In playtesting, I have had particular trouble with Ranx warlords, so be careful. If you can kill one of their dreadnoughts, however, you might be able to obtain a kiloton cannon, which would be very useful.
• There are 8 new enemy ship classes at the higher levels, some of which are extremely dangerous.

As always, the game will continue to improve and your feedback and suggestions are always welcome. Visit the Unofficial Transcendence Forums to discuss the game with other players and to make suggestions. Or, if you prefer, email me at [email protected].