Incoming Early Access update, May 10

 A new update is currently being deployed to the Early Access servers. It will take up to 48 hours for Android, iOS and Steam versions to be deployed. Until the update is available for your platform, you will not be able to connect. 

This update brings balancing tweaks to many Weapon and Shield modules for Red Stars. This includes different Shield values for Red Stars, compared to PvP. The goal is for all Weapons and Shields at the same level to feel like they have a use at every Red Star level after they're unlocked. The main difference and the factor that will affect what Weapon and Shield to bring will be each module's risk/reward profile, and the player's own play style. For example, Battery should be a good weapon for all around use, for players who don't want to micromanage weapons or risk getting stuck in situations where their ships don't do any damage. More skilled players who want to do extreme damage under the right circumstances will pick Barrage, fully knowing the risk that if they do not utilize the map correctly, or if they equip barrage on all 3 battleships, at some points during the Red Star they will end up with ships that do almost zero damage.

Modules like Barrage and Battery, which were clearly not as useful as other weapons before this update, have been significantly improved. Dart Launcher, clearly overpowered compared to alternatives, has damage reduced. Similarly, Area Shield has its strength reduced to move it towards its goal of a specialized shield to protect weak ships. Before this update, Area Shield was a clearly superior Shield that further encouraged all 3 Battleships to move in lockstep in Red Stars. 

Level layouts including Cerberus spawn patterns for both regular and Dark Red Stars have been tweaked in this update, and will continued to be tweaked in the weeks ahead. With the pace of balancing changes increasing, it's very important to give the star name or at least the date and time you played the Red Star you're giving feedback on.

During the next few weeks, we will move into targeted testing of higher Red Star levels, from level 9 to 11. Each high Red Star level will be tested for a limited time. Keep an eye out here and on our Discord server for more updates, and the opportunity to give targeted feedback on how modules feel on each Red Star level that's being tested. 

Dark Nebula: New Early Access Build Release Notes and Development Update

 

Global Module changes

• Solitude now only considers Battleships in all star types
• Rocket damages tweaked separately for PvP vs PvE modes
• Leap: The friendly ship's current destination takes precedence when picking the Leap landing object. Can now be used in Red Stars, where it only consider Drones as move targets. 

Red Star changes in DARK NEBULA

Red Stars are the foundation of Hades' Star. As the first activity star type to be implemented in the game, they entire game revolves around them. They are crucial for establishing a daily routine, providing daily gameplay challenges, for progressing technology that can help in any star type, and for meeting and interacting with other players.

The current Hades' Star game has found success because it showed how Red Stars can be a fun, cooperative, cooperative social, consistent daily activity. It has found success despite some fundamental problems with Red Stars, as described below. A big part of the development effort in Dark Nebula is going towards fixing these problems so Red Stars can fulfil their true potential and open up to more diverse types of strategy players. 

Shipment changes in DARK NEBULA

We previously covered overall Credit changes coming to Dark Nebula, including potential changes to shipments. 

This post goes into more detail for high level changes around Shipments. 

Blue Star changes in DARK NEBULA

The DARK NEBULA update will bring significant changes to how Blue Stars are played. These changes are designed to address the following problems: 

CREDITS changes in DARK NEBULA

As explained in a previous blog post about Hydrogen, the DARK NEBULA update will rework many aspects of the currency economy to address fundamental core problems in the game. While not as far reaching as the Hydrogen changes, the Credit changes will also affect many systems and will be quite visible in daily play.

Module changes in DARK NEBULA

Equipping ships with Modules is the most important gameplay system in Hades' Star. All combat and economic activities on all star types heavily depend on Modules. The exact same activities can range from mind numbingly boring to extremely fun, depending on how well tweaked the involved Modules are. Without properly designed Modules, there's no progression, no strategy, no gameplay, and no Hades' Star. 

Given the importance of Modules, the Dark Nebula update will take the time to carefully review the role and place of every single module in the game. The goal will be to fix the current Module problems described in detail below.