Hello everyone. 88 Flak v1.27 Beta RC126 will be released tonight - I'm aiming for it to go live at approximately 8PM EST (-5 GMT), however that time is very approximate. Here's the log of changes:
-- Universe Chat is now blue (same color as old system chat). System Chat is now yellow.
-- Capital Ship Full-Tilt Camera Steering is now much wider. This nearly eliminates the need for Turret View / Rear View altogether.
-- Removed the red damage indicator, in an effort to further clean up the HUD a little (besides, it's obvious enough as it is that you're getting shot at).
-- Arena Tokens are now sold in every house system, instead of just the core house systems.
-- Alaska Jump Holes now have correct orientation.
-- Removed most of the Hazard Buoys leading to the Alaska gate in NY. There are still buoys that mark either end of the tunnel, for easy access - just got rid of the clutter in the middle.
-- Standard Scanners now have a 10k tracking distance, to assist in keeping track of distant fights. Scanners ramp up 1k tracking distance per scanner. Cargo Scan ranges are unchanged.
-- Rare Ship bases, and other assorted bases, are no longer stored on the NavMap. This prevents issues with accidentally targeting the bases using the NavMap.
-- New version of the AI Companion Bot Generator, which correctly generates AI Bot types.
-- Title screen system re-written via a MultiIntro client hook from M0tah. 12 Title Screens are now picked at random (3 are new to RC126).
-- Fixed a rare occurance of "You have attacked a friendly object. Mission failed." messages, which would cause a client crash if the user selected "Load Game".
-- Freighters now support Full-Tilt Camera Steering, similar to Capital Ships. This increases their efficiency in combat, allowing players to take advantage of their wide turret coverage.
-- Cargo space on Capital Ships has been halved - Small Caps now have 80 cargo; Large Caps now have 100 cargo; Stations now have 100 cargo. WPs have not been changed, as they already had 80 cargo, curiously enough.
-- Cruise charge-up times on Capital Ships, Stations, and WPs have been doubled.
-- Narrowed the Kusari Gunboat firing arcs a small amount. It has even less rear coverage now, to help compensate for its tiny size.
-- Widened the Bretonia Destroyer firing arc on the lower central mount to full 360* coverage, to help compensate for its large size.
-- Lowered the additional global firing arc allowance to 22.5*, from 35*.
-- Sniper Turrets now inflict 5000 hull damage (up from 4000). Updated the infocards on them as well.
-- Lowered mass on Freighters to that of Heavy Fighters.
-- Raised Nanobot and Shield Battery count of Freighters to 45, up from 35.
-- Fixed the issue where players would get stuck in Alaska when purchasing a new ship at the Prison Station Mitchell Complex, due to the Arena Token being unmounted. This is currently a work-around solution (an Emergency Arena Token comes pre-installed on the ships); a more direct fix to the problem will be worked out later, but this will do in the meantime.
-- Lowered Anti-PvP time after undock to 20 seconds, from 30.
-- Increased disconnect penalty to 60 seconds, from 10. Logging out in the middle of a fight against players or AI will likely get you killed.
-- w0dk4's Global Server Workaround has been integrated into 88 Flak, to ease up the process of connecting to servers.
-- Gave the Trajectory Disruptor a lot more "oomph."
-- Optimizations to the 88 Flak, 88 Flak AI Companion, and 88 Flak ST FLMM scripts; this should stop nearly all of the deactivation issues associated with 88 Flak. No more mutiliating your vanilla FL installation!
As always, you can get everything you need to play on 88 Flak here: Memes.no (http://www.memes.no/88flak/forum/viewtopic.php?t=114)
See you in space, and thanks for playing!
~fox
