What are the main changes.

[watevacoward]

Hi,

I haven't played this game for a few years, what major changes should I expect when I load the game up when I finish work later today? I think I last played around mid-2013, but have had an itch to play it again recently (start over from scratch again)

 

[Edymnion]

Lots of stuff really, but here's a quick highlight:

1) Turrets
How turrets are constructed has changed drastically. They use actual axis for movement instead of the old single turret block.

2) Rails
Rails allow for a lot more movement, and can do lots of cool things.

3) Shipyards
Shipyards let you build a structure on your base to have creative build mode in regular play. Unlimited blocks to design with, and then your shipyard can pull from your stores to actually build the ship you designed in the real universe.

4) Auxiliary Power
Docked power reactors are no longer a thing, instead we have auxiliary power blocks. They act like a combination power reactor/capacitor battery... thing. Kinda hard to explain. Oh yeah, and they explode.

Might just wanna hit the official youtube channel and watch all the announcement videos.
StarMade

 

[Reilly Reese]

We have logic now and a much larger selection of blocks to detail with and decorate.

 

[Edymnion]

Oh, and thrust updates, fleet controls, all sorts of goodies. You've been gone a long time...

 

[watevacoward]

Thanks guys. Please keep listing if you like, I'm currently bored at work and this is keeping me from falling asleep.

I have been gone for a while. Other matters needed my attention in the time being. i.e the birth of my 1st and 2nd son's. Time demanding jobs etc I believe are viable reasons.

 

[Reilly Reese]

Well we are about to get the NPC Update which adds 2 new dev made factions and then a variety of randomized factions.

Criss' Thread < Has all the assets for the Trading Guild, Scavengers (Pirates) and Outcasts.

We also now have 3D Models starting to show up in game thanks to Saber including pipes and 3D Consoles.

Oh and planets are no longer plates.

 

[watevacoward]

and planets are no longer plates.

Nice, are they spherical now? if not does the gravity work well on each side?

 

[Reilly Reese]

Nice, are they spherical now? if not does the gravity work well on each side?

They're Decohedrons

 

[Ithirahad]

*Dodecahedrons. And, like any immense entity or collection thereof, they result in horrible amounts of physics calculations when in contact with ships, so be careful :P

 

[Edymnion]

Yeah, planets are d12's now. They're barbaric.
*waits to see if anyone gets that joke*

 

[Panpiper]

Yeah, planets are d12's now. They're barbaric.
*waits to see if anyone gets that joke*

AD&D, barbarian hit point die.

 

[jayman38]

The display block, originally intended as a relatively simple decorative block, has gotten pretty amazing.

Thrusters now have magnificent plumes. (I haven't seen how this cripples my ability to decorate with thrusters yet.)

The galactic map is probably significantly better since the last time you used it. Oh, speaking of galactic... We now have proper galaxies. When you zoom out on the galaxy map, you may very well find yourself in a spiral galaxy.

Edit:
There was a community space station contest, so most of the space stations will probably be different to you now. When you salvage them, you now get "scrap", which can be run through factories to get relatively simple materials, so stations aren't quite the insta-fortunes that they used to be. Cubatom construction system is gone, replaced by factory blocks that can only be placed on space stations, not ships.

 

[KiloZulu]

Just consider it an entirely different game if you haven't played since '13. New block types (not just squares/wedges,) new weapon types, weapons can be grouped to create effects, shields have been split in two, new stations, a logic system - it's a really long list.

Cloaking is still mostly unusable.

 

[jayman38]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about how much the weapon system has changed.

 

[Edymnion]

AD&D, barbarian hit point die.

Don't forget the greataxe!