Hi Folks,
i would say lets discuss a bit about the future of Empyrion and upcoming features.
I´ve watched the Q&A with the developers and XCaliber and they talked about a lot of game changing stuff we have to keep in mind. I try my best to get all important points together. Who didnt see it, here is the link to the video:
I know it´s a very long video and not everybody got the time to watch it full, so here are some informations i´ve picked up while watching:
- Docking HV to SV
- Its shown in the video that it works and i guess it comes soon with 10.6
- Docking CV to CV
- They´ve mentioned it but they still want to test it for future upgrades.
- CPU-System
- Okay here we got a big one. The CPU-System is going to be activated soon, maybe in 10.6. This means, every device in your structure (BA/CV/SV/HV) gets counted in your CPU. They want to get a better performance with the CPU-System by reducing the number of devices per structure.
For example when you get a bit over your CPU-Limit in a CV, first your constructor only works with 50 % speed, your thrusters get down to 50% and so on. If you overload your CPU your CV would stop working. I think this will have a major effect on the HWS Garage Ships, because a SV cant handle as many devices as a CV. They want to bring the players to specialize their ships (Cargo, Fighter, etc…). Also there is coming a Tier-System (additional to the Class System as far as i understand). The CPU-System is forced, this means, we cant turn it off. Its possible to change the Config and we need to wait how RexXxus is going to balance it for HWS.
This and the other points brings us to the next one
- Docked ships weight adding to the Carrier
- When you dock a SV to a CV, the total weight gets added to the CV. It´s logical but brings more problems, you need to keep an eye on your total carry-capacity. Even the cargo gets counted too.
This also happens when you dock a HV to a SV, so you need a SV that is strong enough.
Side Note: It wont be possible to sit in a docked SV while the CV is moving around, this is disabled because there was a possible exploit.
- Wheels and Tracks
- Nope, those arent planned. They also discussed the Motorbike and they keep it as an early beginner vehicle, but they dont want to add more vehicles.
- More Block-Shapes, Textures and new Blocks
- Because every update needs some… There are some nice new Hangar Doors shown in the video.
- Walking on a moving ship
- Yes, but actually no… They said they are close to it, but it could also take 2 years.
Also logging out in a moving ship is a topic they are working on.
- Collision Physics
- Like the Collider System, they are still working at this, but it will take more time.
The new flight system should get this into the right direction and is a preparation for the Collision Physics.
- Leveling System
- They where talking about the early game play, like the first steps, the story, etc… and mentioned that they want to overhaul the tech-tree and how to handle it. Later (maybe Alpha 11) they want to implement a Blueprint-System. You need to find Blueprints to level your tech tree. Some of you know this maybe from 7DTD, aaand its not overall a bad thing. But we need to keep in mind that we have hundreds of players on this server. So it will get very hard to find all blueprints before someone else does. (I hope they get tradeable)
- Aerodynamics
- Another thing on their to-do-list, lets see when they finish this one. They already showed in the video the new Cockpit-Overlay.
- LCD´s showing Infos about Ammo, Fuel, etc…
- It´s planned, but there is no ETA for this.
- Multiplayer Performance
- I know a lot of people are waiting for better PVP and the Developers want to get more performance with 10.6 but they also mentioned that they need more adjustememt for the future. Otherwise, with the CPU-System it should get a performance boost and you need to specialize your ships when you want to get a strong SV-Fighter.
- Singleplayer Experience
- They are working on a story overhaul with a better tutorial, but still via the PDA.
PDA gets more options with the use of C# (and i guess RexXxus cant wait to create more Missions). There was also the question where the main focus of this game goes and as they said it would be on the lore. They want to find a balance for the players to build, explore and fight, but its more PVE-Orientated, what doesnt mean they arent working on a better PVP-Performance.
Also they want to add a usefull crew, like guards that shoot the enemy instead being animated decorations.
- Solar Systems, Gravity
- With the HV docking they also add more movement for HVs in Space (as shown in the video) and they try to prepare a better gravity system, so you could use a HV on a Space Base. Another point is, that in the future you can get with you Ship into the Gravity Field of a planet and it pulls you slowly in that direction.
They also want to rework the solar systems so you can have multiple systems on one server.
- Crouching
- They need to rewrite a lot for this, need to make new animations and stuff for Crouching, but its still on the list.
- Decoy, Stealth and new Player Weapons
- Nope, not planned. The whole Player Weapons are not on the list.
- Radars and Detectors
- Its planned to work out some new Radars but no further information are given.
- Drones
- No, not these evil little Zirax Drones who come for your base, they are working on some kind of Base Repair Drones, but it will take more time to get this working.
Side note to the Zirax Drones, they want to overwork Base Attack System, at this time they are only from the Assets and need a complete overhaul.
Also AI SV´s and HV´s arent planned for now because it cause already problems to the AI CV´s.
For the personal Drone (via F5) they have some plans, but not for now.
- Hotkeys and Hotbar
- In future updates they have planned to add devices to the hotbar (like the weapons in a SV) so you can use them from your cockpit while you are flying, instead opening the P-Menu.
- SV Turrets and Laser Sentry Guns
- SV Turrets arent planned for now and in the next future, but they want to take a look at the Weapon System in the next major updates (what maybe means that they will take a lot of time to take a look)
- Blueprints, Factory and Workshop
- As some of you already know it gets possible to upload your POIs to the Workshop. The Dev-Team said that the CPU-System will have a major affect on old Blueprints and cripple the Workshop alot (as mentioned above also the HWS Garage).
The Factory for now is a placeholder for a new system that they are working on, but there are no further informations on this. Maybe they will add a Blueprint-Browser to the Main Menu.
So, i guess i got all the important points from this, i am sorry when i missed one or get some wrong but i´ve done my best to get this list together for everyone who doesnt want to look a two hour video 
They said the Experimental for 10.6 is going to be released in the next days, so lets wait till we can have a look at the new features.
There are also a lot of other things discussed in the video, to get them all just watch.
Feel free to discuss the points.
(actual limits settled up seems 25.000)
