[DEVBLOG#322] Vanilla Gravships Expanded - Chapter 2 progress (Patreon)

Hey everyone and welcome to a brand new development blog, this time we're circling back to Vanilla Gravships Expanded - Chapter 2.

We have made some significant progress in the development of the mod. I'm attaching all infographics up to date as images under this post, but I will also inject them here into the actual written part so that I can tell you a little bit more about what's changed.

We have added two new, tiny tanks: an auxiliary astrofuel tank and an auxiliary oxygen tank. These tanks are unlocked with the Basic gravtech and Oxygen network research projects and only occupy 1x1 space, which means they're perfect for gravjumpers, but also for bigger ships which struggle with placing a 2x2 tank anywhere.

The Salvager station on the other hand is a brand new gravship threat. It's the most powerful one so far, and because of that, we want to give the player plenty of opportunities to avoid it. Upon being deetected, the captain of the station will demand tribute from the player. Simply paying the tribute immediately ends the encounter and the player gets away scott free.

Player can also postpone the payment. This will however lock the gravship engine, making player unable to escape. Consider this to be a safety precaution!

If player refuses to pay, the battle commences, and as I said before, it's the hardest one. The station is covered in point defense turrets, which means most of the shots fired will not penetrate. It's also sporting a large number of gauss guns and javelin pods, which will quickly destroy an unprepared gravship.

Escaping at any point also guarantees a salvager dropship raid.

It's a special raid type in which a salvager dropship fires a salvo of rocketswarm missiles somewhere in player home area. Then, the dropship lands and a number of salvager raiders emerge from it to steal what they can.

In order to fully defeat the orbital station, player needs to destroy the gravlock tether, which will yield a gravcore, as well as all enemy gravship artillery pieces. The station is very well defended. If I can advise something, running away is potentially the better option.

Speaking of attacking orbital stations, we're also overhauling the Trading Guild faction bases. They no longer look run-down. You can now attack them and loot all those sexy trading containers for randomized loot. It's lootboxes on steroids. Just be careful not to be blasted by those huge Gauss cannons which are no longer just permanently disabled props.

Now, there is another gravship threat we've also recently added!

Enemy gravjumper is the first taste of what everyone has been waiting for. It will intercept your landing coordinates and prepare to engage. After some time has elapsed, it will land nearby on a separate map and open fire. If you try to run away, there is a chance it will follow you and attack immediately!

In order to defeat it, you need to destroy their gravjumper engine (which will yield a gravcore), as well as all of their artillery. Gravjumpers are small, that's right, but if you're unprepared, three enemy gauss guns can do severe damage to your gravship.

What's cool is that enemy crew will try to repair their ship as you damage it. They will also operate targeting terminals and pilot console.

If you don't destroy them, after a while they will launch and land on your local map. Their crew will begin a normal raid, with gravship artillery still firing at you.

For those liking the space station exploration, we have also added a new gravcore quest:

Infested installation is a large but derelict orbital station, completely overgrown with exoinsectoid goop. An infested gravlock tether in the middle continuously spawns new exoinsectoids, which emerge from random vents throughout the station - it's very much possible they will cut off your escape routes! Destroying the infested gravlock tether will yield the gravcore!

That's about it for now. We're currently working on some new launch boons and mishaps, as well as a new feature for starting scenarios - allowing you to pick a different starting ship layout.

After that, the mod will go for another round of beta testing while we prepare more gravship threats and gravcore quests! But I'd say we're almost there. It's already all I ever wanted.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.