Changelog

0.42.1 — Relics, Recon Sweep, unlocks, upgrade mods, sound, settings menu

Drones and controllers

• Unlocked like vanilla items. Everything starts locked each run: find an item as loot or a mission reward and recycle it to learn it. Learning a controller teaches every Mk, as with vanilla weapons; each Mk is inscribed on a blank crate of the same Mk. The level 1 upgrade mod is available from the start, levels 2 and 3 with the Fabricator upgrades. To get everything without finding it, the host turns on Unlock everything in the F5 menu (Void Drones) or types /drones unlock, for the whole crew.
• Everything drops. Controllers of every Mk, the upgrade mods, the relics and the Void Hive Mind drop wherever vanilla items of their kind do, and can come up as mission rewards.
• Drone upgrade mods for the controller's mod rack, each with its own look:
  • Reinforced Plating: +40% hull, gunmetal armour on the wing panels.
  • Extended Wings: +12% speed and +15% turning, bigger wings.
  • Overcharged Thrusters: boost recharges 40% faster and lasts 25% longer, glowing thruster nozzles and a wider trail.
• Kill feed and sector summary: your drone's kills show on your HUD, each player's kills are counted for the run (the controller shows its pilot's), and a summary of the sector (kills, loot, flight time) appears at each void jump.
• Spotting: aim and press T to target-lock an enemy for the gunners, or ping anything else. The pilot HUD shows the key.
• Call the Void Hive Mind: press H while flying to have it bring the ship to your drone (shown on the pilot HUD while cruise mode is on).
• Controller repair: a powered controller repairs its next drone faster.
• Weapon stats in the controller menu, compared with the installed weapon.
• Drone name tags show who is flying each drone.
• Livelier sound and light: the drone engine pitches up with speed and boost, the radio crackles as you near the range limit, and the Void Hive Mind's crystals pulse in fights and flash when the jump is ready.
• Clickable controller menu: the mouse cursor is free while seated; click a weapon to pick it, or the big red LAUNCH DRONE button.
• First-person view sits on the drone's nose, with a slight fish-eye lens and vignette.
• Rear view: hold Tab in the chase view to look back over the drone.
• Damage you can see: sparks below half hull, smoke below a quarter, and a red HULL CRITICAL warning for the pilot below 30%.
• Changing weapons keeps the power on: the rebuilt controller switches itself back on if the old one was on.
• No launching during a void jump, from the moment the lever is pulled until arrival.
• First-use tips the first time you sit in a controller, fly a drone and meet the Void Hive Mind.
• Ultrawide screens: the menu and HUD keep the same size on any aspect ratio.

Relics and missions

• New relics for the relic shrine:
  • Swarm Resonance: drones deal +15% damage and their boost recharges 1.5x as fast. Drawback: a lost drone takes 45 s (instead of 30 s) before its controller can launch another.
  • Signal Amplifier: drone control range 3 km (from 2 km), with 30% weaker signal static. Drawback: the ship's shields recharge 20% slower.
• New side mission: Recon Sweep. Sometimes, after the ship arrives in a sector with a drone controller aboard, signal anomalies appear 1.2-2.5 km out. Hold a drone near each one for a few seconds to scan it; if the ship itself comes close to an unscanned anomaly, it jumps away. Interceptors guard them, and a second wave jumps in after the first scan. Scan them all for 20 alloys. It never appears in the starting area, and only once the crew can field a controller. /drones recon starts one on the spot (host).
• Respawn delay depends on damage and distance. A damage part (below 75% hull) and a distance part (beyond 500 m from the ship) add up, capped at the full delay. A drone recalled healthy and close by can launch again straight away.

Sound

• Voice lines: the Void Hive Mind and the controllers announce powering on and off; the Hive Mind calls out the void drive charging, the escape vector and the jump being ready, in place of the ship's own lines for those, and says "autopilot on / off" in place of the helm's cruise mode lines; pilots hear when the next drone is ready and when their hull is critical. They take turns with the ship's own voice, and a line that would have to wait more than 8 s, or behind two others, is skipped.
• Sound effects: menu ticks and clicks, drone launch and recall, and a beep when a drone mine locks on.

Settings

• In-game settings menu: press F5 (VoidManager) and open Void Drones for the everyday options: unlocks, key bindings (click, then press the new key), camera, display, sound, and how the Void Hive Mind flies. Each tab can be reset to its defaults.
• Quieter chat: the Void Hive Mind's routine updates (what it's doing, focus, boosts) no longer post in chat; its status screen and voice lines say them. Turn them back on in F5 if you like.
• The controller menu shows your upgrades' bonuses, such as "+40% HULL".

Void Hive Mind (work in progress)

The autopilot is still a work in progress: it flies well in open space but can misjudge tight spots around stations and wrecks. Keep someone near the helm, and please send your log when it does something odd.

• A status screen on the module shows its focus, the helm, what it's doing and the void drive.
• Searches for unmarked objectives: with nothing marked, it flies to unscanned signals until it finds what the mission is about.
• Mission-aware flying in Objectives focus: flies to "reach a point" objectives, parks beside EVA objectives (on the side it arrives from, clear of the structure), orbits things to defend or destroy, and goes after the mission's enemies first.
• Void jump prep on request: when the game asks for the jump, the drone HUD offers [J] PREP THE VOID JUMP; press it and the Hive Mind charges the void drive and sets the escape vector, then [J] VOID JUMP READY comes up and a drone pilot jumps with J (twice) from the controller seat.
• Collects loot with a powered gravity scoop (in Objectives focus only what's nearly on the way, the best tier first), explores unscanned objects when there's nothing else to do, and roams around the area of the action instead of drifting off.
• Target-locks enemies (mission targets first, small fighters last) instead of pinging them.
• Evasive focus retreats from enemies and holds still for repairs once clear; boss fights get a wide orbit; it uses the thruster boost to catch up with drones and dodge big attacks.
• Path planning around obstacles: when something is in the way it looks around the ship in every direction, scores each possible course on getting where it's going, how clear it runs, staying smooth and keeping level, remembers what it has seen for a few seconds, and turns smoothly onto the best one at a speed it can stop from. It pulls straight out before turning when it sets off from a stop, and doesn't jink next to structures.
• Following the drones holds still while any drone is within 300 m.
• Crew on EVA: while anyone is outside, cruise mode stays on and the ship holds completely still until everyone is back aboard.

Fixes

• The seat's "Sit" prompt covered the controller's deconstruct lever.
• Saving a run with a controller, the Void Hive Mind or a drone relic aboard failed and left the ship stuck in the void tunnel.
• The drone relics and the Void Hive Mind disappeared from the Fabricator once it moved past its first tier.
• Recon Sweep waves could include the HOLLOW Prism Matriarch boss; they're now REMNANT Interceptor Wings.
• The turret HUD's VOID JUMP label could stay on screen after a jump made from a controller seat.
• An error was logged for every shot a drone fired.

0.26.2 — Void Hive Mind, controller monitors

New: Void Hive Mind (experimental)

• An autopilot brain module built on the Auto-Mechanic. Build it at the Fabricator, or find it wherever Auto-Mechanics drop.
• While it's installed and powered and the helm's cruise mode is engaged, it flies the ship. Any helm input takes back control, as in vanilla.
  • Circles the active mission objective when there's one out in space.
  • Stays near your deployed drones. It sets off once they're 1.6× the follow distance away, closes in, then holds, so it doesn't keep correcting while a drone sits still.
  • Dodges incoming missiles.
  • Jinks under fire. While enemies target the ship or point their nose at it, it sidesteps across their line of fire in changing directions, so their aimed rounds and beams miss.
  • It faces its direction of travel.
• Focus lever (the Auto-Mechanic's three-way lever):
  • Objectives: circle the objective first, otherwise follow the drones.
  • Drones: stay with the drones first.
  • Evasive: threats are tracked from further out and dodged harder, and evasion overrides almost everything else.
  • The hover text names the focus, and changing it shows a notification. The lever sounds are pitched 25% lower.
• Auto-ping: scans and pings each enemy (strongest first) and each mission item out in space, once each. Never anything on your own ship.
• Its own look: a black machine with silver trims, purple glows and lights, purple drone crystals, and its own mode-tile symbols (target, drone, dodge). The calibration (enhancement) panel is removed.
• Drones can fly up to 100 m from the ship's hull before its repulsion field reacts. Before, a drone grazing it pushed the ship and dropped cruise mode.

Void Drone Controllers

• The controller's own monitor shows the weapon menu while the controller is switched on: the spinning drone, the weapon list, the cooldown and whether a drone is out. Crewmates can read it without taking the seat. It stays blank while the controller is off.
• The pre-launch weapon menu shows a spinning model of the controller's drone, with the two-wing layout you fly.
• 15% less TV static on the pre-launch screen.
• First person: the flight-path marker glides smoothly while turning.
• New icons in the game's style for the Fabricator, crates and tooltips. Controllers show MkI-III tier bars.

New settings

• [Autopilot]: OrbitRadius, Speed, FollowDistance, FollowRestart, DodgeRange, DodgeMargin, JinkRange, JinkAimAngle, JinkStrength, AutoPing, PingInterval, PingRange, TileSpacing.
• [DroneBay]: MenuPreview, PreviewZoom, PreviewSpinSpeed, PreviewExposure, PreviewLight, ControllerMonitor, ControllerMonitorRange, ControllerMonitorFlipX/Y.
• [Flight]: ShipClearance.
• Configs still on the old static default update automatically.

0.20.6

• New mod description. No gameplay changes.

0.20.5 — launch sequence, drone HUD, Burst Mine

Everything since 0.18.0.

New

• Launch and recall sequence
  • Launch: "ESTABLISHING LINK" appears on the controller's screen as static swells, and the controller's lights pulse. The drone then warps in beside the controller and shoots out at boost speed, steerable straight away. The view clears to "LINK ESTABLISHED", and the HUD comes up line by line.
  • Recall: "RECALLING" appears and the drone brakes and rolls, with its controls locked. It warps out, and the view dissolves into static with "SIGNAL CLOSED".
  • Destroyed: an explosion everyone sees and hears, then hard static and a red "SIGNAL LOST: DRONE DESTROYED" for the pilot.
  • Void jump and out of range recalls get their own screens. After a recall below 75% health or a destruction, the closing screen shows the "REBUILDING" countdown.
  • Controller lights: they pulse, dim, flicker or go dark to match, for the whole crew.
• Burst Mine. Kinetic drones now drop the Burst Mine, which fires 5-round Litany Minigun bursts at its target every 2.5 s, aimed ahead of moving targets. Energy drones keep the Beam Mine, with Beamcaster rays.
• First-person HUD in the drone's colour:
  • Flight-path marker: shows where the drone is actually moving. It rests dimmed on the nose when nearly stopped, and is crossed out (retrograde) when moving backwards.
  • Horizon and pitch ladder: they follow your ship's orientation.
  • Speed (with a boost cue) and hull readouts beside the crosshair.
• Third-person crosshair on the line of fire. It sits where your shots are 500 m ahead, not at the screen centre, since the camera is above the drone.
• The whole HUD lags like a fighter's gunsight. In both views, the crosshair, the game's turret HUD and the drone info panel trail behind your turns together and spring back. The flight-path marker, horizon and ship marker stay fixed to the world.

Changed

• 25% less static on the pre-launch weapon selection screen.

Fixed

• Beam Mines could deal no damage: their base mine had no blast damage. They're now built from the standard proximity mine, with a safety fallback.

New settings

• [DroneBay]: LaunchSequence (off = instant launch and recall), LaunchDelay, RecallDelay
• [Camera]: CockpitHud, ReticleLag (0 = fixed crosshair), CrosshairDistance (0 = screen centre)
• [Mine]: BurstCount, BurstDamage, BurstSpeed

0.18.0 — Beam Mines, new controller look, multiplayer fixes

Everything since the first release (0.14.1).

New

• Beam Mines. Press G while flying to drop a Beam Mine behind your drone (60 s cooldown per controller).
  • It locks onto the nearest enemy within 1.2 km and chases it at up to 140 m/s for 20 s, then explodes.
  • While chasing, it fires a Recuser Beamcaster charged ray at its target every 2.5 s, within 700 m.
  • It never damages your ship, drones or other friendly mines. The pilot HUD shows when it's ready.
• New controller look. The turret machinery is gone. Instead:
  • Seat and screen: the gunner sits in a black Beamcaster-style seat, in the Beamcaster's position, with its screen.
  • Walls: a black back wall covers the window, and the panels are shiny silver.
  • Drone colour: glowing strips, trims, floor rings, lamps and lights are orange for Kinetic, blue for Energy.
  • Crystals: glowing crystals line the wall and floor, with a power core above the screen.
  • Unchanged: the ammo box or battery, mod rack, repair points and status lights.
• Silver crates. Controller crates are shiny silver, with lamps in the drone colour.
• Respawn delay. A drone that is destroyed, or recalled below 75% health, needs 30 seconds before its controller can launch another. This includes the automatic recall on a void jump. The pre-launch screen shows a countdown.
• Pre-launch screen: a monitor on a black background with TV static and scanlines.
• Drone engine sounds. The ship's engine hum, thrusters and boost play from the drone at a higher pitch, for everyone. The hum fades with distance.
• Boost trail. The exhaust trail glows brighter and wider while boosting.
• Drone range and scanning. HUD distances, marker visibility and the "out of range" note are measured from the drone instead of your seat. Drones scan objects within 600 m around themselves.
• Hull readout. The pilot HUD shows the drone's hull %, which turns orange below 50% and flashes below 25%.
• Enemies target drones. Hitting an enemy draws its aggro to your drone, and drones that come close draw fire.

Balance

• Drones have half health.
• Handling:
  • 15% more inertia; turning capped at 110°/s.
  • Mouse sensitivity is 0.0935 and roll speed 99°/s.
  • Strafing is 5% slower.
• The chase camera sits about 15% lower.
• Weapons on a drone:
  • Absolver Lance: −25% damage.
  • Bestower Flak Cannon: −15% damage and −15% fire rate.
  • Confessor Carronade: +10% damage, +12.5% fire rate, and 1.8× accuracy (much tighter spread).
• Existing configs still on the old default values update automatically. Values you changed yourself are kept.

Fixed

• Multiplayer:
  • When a crewmate (not the host) recalled their drone, or a void jump started, the drone wasn't removed on their screen, and they could launch a second one.
  • Crewmates couldn't change weapons.
  • Drones flown by crewmates couldn't be damaged.
  • Crewmates' drone health bars weren't synced.
  • Other players' drones turned in visible steps instead of smoothly.
• Drones were indestructible: hits on the wings never reached the hull. Friendly fire is still ignored.
• The Absolver Lance beam wasn't visible when fired from a drone.
• Crewmates still on a drone during a void jump kept the "still in the void tunnel" warning on screen.
• The drone jittered in the third-person view while accelerating.
• Recycling a controller added duplicate entries to the Fabricator.
• Third person hides the turret's blue targeting box; the crosshair stays.

New settings

• [Mine]: DropKey, Cooldown, Lifetime, DropDistance, HuntRange, ChaseSpeed, ChaseTime, BeamInterval, BeamDamage, BeamRange
• [Balance]: AbsolverLanceDamage, BestowerFlakDamage, BestowerFlakFireRate, ConfessorCarronadeDamage, ConfessorCarronadeFireRate, ConfessorCarronadeAccuracy
• [DroneBay]: RespawnDelay, RespawnHealthThreshold, HealthMultiplier, MenuStatic, ControllerStyle, CrystalSize, CrystalDepth, BackWallMaterials
• [Flight]: MaxTurnRate
• [Audio]: EnginePitch, EngineVolume
• [Boost]: TrailBrightness
• [Enemies]: DroneTargetRange, DroneTargetBias
• [Range]: DroneScanRadius

0.14.1 — first public release (early access)

• Kinetic and Energy Void Drone Controllers. Starting weapons: Benediction Cannon and Confessor Carronade.
• MkI–MkIII controllers. They upgrade like vanilla weapons, and each Mk adds +5% drone speed and health.
• Pre-launch weapon selection from weapons unlocked this run (blueprints or Fabricator). Picks are applied by rebuilding the controller when you leave the seat.
• Inscription listings per Mk, each needing a matching blank crate tier.
• Controllers drop as loot wherever the starting weapons drop, including Endless sector rewards.
• Player-flown drone:
  • Flight: inertia, boost, strafing, roll, chase and first-person cameras, collision.
  • Range: range-based signal loss, a warning, and recall at 2 km.
  • HUD: distance, boost status and a ship marker.
• The drone fires with the controller's weapon, ammunition, gunner perks and ship weapon upgrades. Weapon sounds play at the drone.
• Drones are recalled when the void jump starts.
• Multiplayer: the host manages drones, and pilots get control of their own drone.