The update is optional
We heard from a few people who wanted to still be able to play without the update changes, so we've set up a permanent branch of the game without them. If that's you, right click Heat Signature, go to Properties > Betas and choose the 'prebirthday' beta. It's not actually a beta, it's the build of the game that was live for six months without needing a patch, so it's pretty solid!
One thing to be aware of is that if you change your mind and come back to the update, the characters you bring with you won't see their Glory scores on the public Glory leaderboards. The way we check if a character is legit has changed, so time-travelling characters look suspect and we leave them off public leaderboards. You can still play as them just fine.
An easier option, if you sometimes wanna dip into missions as they used to be, is the Old Timer. They're one of the Clients the Space Birthday Update added: at their station, the missions don't feature any of the new variables like Contractors, Autopilot, etc. It was a simpler time.
If you're having any control trouble
Launching in Compatibility Mode now lets you disable gamepad support and/or reset your control settings, which helps in some rare cases where things have gone awry.
Gameplay tweaks
- Extreme Rapid Fire guns now fire on trigger release like other guns, instead of auto-firing as soon as you press. Auto-firing is how it's worked since launch, but watching folks play a certain Daily made it clear almost no-one expects this behaviour - and it leads to some awkward moments if you don't.
- When both the player and a capture or rescue target are floating in space, your pod's brake will now match to whichever is nearest rather than always matching to the player.
- Technophobe trait no longer affects Grenade Launchers.
- If you start the Daily Challenge but don't get as far as leaving the station, it doesn't count as played.
- Grenade Launcher pricing tweaked, self-chargers were wildly over-priced.
Fixes
- Enabling gamepads no longer requires restarting game.
- Fixed messages about sending items to stash.
- Fixed some shotguns using pistol sprites.
- Fixed Daily Challenger sometimes marked completed after exiting game.
- Fixed incorrect submitted score appearing during Daily Challenger re-play.
- Fix for Daily Challenge Shop not always changing each day.
- Daily Challenge now correctly deducts 10pts per kill on No-Harm days.
- Noise radius indicator for guns is more accurate.
- Any inventory items in your pod are stashed when docking with an Inventory Lock ship.
- Fix crash when Daily Challengers use Practice mode.
- Added option to disable gamepads.
Thanks!
It's been so wonderful to hear from so many folks who are loving the update, and especially to see so many of you joining us in the Daily Challenge: making new kinds of terrible mistakes and thinking of new kinds of clever ways out of them. Thank you!
