Transcendence 0.96

Transcendence 0.96 introduces many new armors and shields, mostly at the higher levels, and generally designed to give the player more options.

At the lower tech levels, titanium-based armors offer balanced protection against both laser and kinetic damage. Ceramic-based armors resist laser damage, while reactive armors resist kinetic damage. (Note that this is a change from previous version, in which ceramic armor was balanced while ablative armor resisted laser damage.)

At the middle levels, plasteel-based armors are balanced (protecting evenly against blast and particle). Ceralloy armors, a blend of ceramic and plasteel, defend against particle beam damage. For blast resistance, the game offers light, normal, and heavy blast plate.

At the higher levels (previously lacking good armor) version 0.96 introduces orthosteel, which serves as a better version of plasteel. Quadro-, hexa-, and octo-carbide are carbon-based armors that resist ion damage. And finally, ithalium armor, based on a rare ore, protects against thermonuclear damage.

Transcendence 0.96 also introduces 8 new shield generators, including the level VIII ion reflector, which reflects away any ion damage. Another powerful shield is the level IX Jotun deflector, which has an adjustable HP setting: [U]se the deflector to increase its hit points (and consume more power).

This version also addresses three very common requests:

• Targeting is much improved in this version. The [T] command now cycles through all targets within a certain range (either the next enemy or the next friendly target, depending on what's selected).
• The [D]ock command takes advantage of this. If the selected target is a station or wreck in docking range, the ship will dock with the target rather than any other object in range.
• Finally, version 0.96 adds a command to bring the ship to a full stop. Use the period on the keyboard [.] to slow down and stop the ship. The time it takes to stop the ship is proportional to the maneuverability and thrust of the ship. For example, the EI500 freighter will take longer to stop than the Wolfen-class gunship.

Version 0.96 also introduces several new features for modders:

• The weapon definition element now includes a way to customize the configuration of shots. Look at the ion flame cannon in the XML for an example.
• Weapons can also be defined to heat up when fired. Beyond a certain temperature, they start malfunctioning. Look at the code for advanced tritium cannon.
• Shields now have an attribute to define reflection. Look at the ion reflector definition.
• Shields also have an OnShieldDown event which gets called whenever the shield is fully depleted.
• The (shpOrderGate) function now works with any destination (not just stargates). This will be useful for ordering ships (or autons) to return to a base.
• The passthrough property for weapons is now a probability. Look at the code for the Katana star cannon.
• The canHitSource attribute can be used for fragments to specify that they can hit the ship that launched them.

Download the new version here. For more changes and bug fixes, please consult the Version History.