Kepler Build Now Live

The "Kepler" build has now been promoted to default build for Starcom: Unknown Space. Since the previous default build was "Icarus", this is a significant update, incorporating the changes from both Jupiter and Kepler.

The biggest change is that the main storyline now has a proper ending, but there are lots of other updates of various magnitude, including a number of new side quests, factions, and more "off-path" regions.

Since both Jupiter and Kepler were made available for opt-in testing and dozens of players have reached the end, I feel confident that Kepler is at least pretty solid: there have been some issues reported, but few serious bugs as of the latest build.

Saves are not compatible between named builds, but if you were in the middle of a game, don't worry: you can always switch back to Icarus to finish your current game. See here for instructions and select "Icarus Rollback".

Here is a minimal-spoiler list of changes since Icarus:

• Ending to main story line

• Prologue opening transition

• 46 new planet anomalies

• Anomaly "environment soundscapes"

• New stories, side quests, factions, Easter Eggs

• Improved guidance/fixes for missions where players commonly found themselves stuck

• Numerous new character dialogues, crew prompts

• New ship modules and technologies

• New weapons, variants

• Numerous balance changes

• New enemy attacks, AI

• NPCs now automatically aggro'd by attacks to their allies (unless also allied with aggressor)

• Changes to fixed guns

• New music tracks

• New achievements

• Mission "priority" indicator for main story critical missions

• Newly unlocked techs highlighted

• Ability to toggle mission goal tracking

• Difficulty / skill roll modifiers now in 5% increments

• Changed autosave timing

• Fix for vsync not being saved

• Engine turbo sound fades out

• Improvements to game controller support

• Fix for anomaly image change not reflected in log

• Fix for projectiles, effects persisting after save game load

• Various QoL improvements

• Additional analytics

• Performance optimizations

Early Access Content Progress

As with previous named builds, for comparison purposes, here are some metrics to give a rough sense as to how much content has been added to the game since it first entered Early Access almost 16 months ago:

Betelgeuse (Dec 2022, first Early Access version): 75 anomalies 1264 mission logic elements 25,000 words

Draconis (Jan 2023): 91 anomalies 1516 mission logic elements 29,000 words

**Europa (Mar 2023): ** 111 possible anomalies 1839 mission logic elements 36,000 words

Fornax (May 2023): 120 possible anomalies 1990 mission logic elements 40,000 words

Ganymede (June 2023): 145 anomalies 2390 mission logic elements 48,000 words

Icarus (October 2023): 179 anomalies 3340 mission logic elements 64,000 words

Jupiter (January 2024): 197 possible anomalies 4329 mission logic elements 82,182 words

Kepler (current Default): 225 possible anomalies 4848 mission logic elements 90,400 words

For comparison, Starcom: Nexus had roughly ~195 anomalies and 65,000 words of text. It used a different mission system, so there's no clear comparison, but Starcom: Unknown Space definitely has significantly more mission logic and text.

There are still a number of features, fixes and content I'd like to add, but at this point I am starting to think about a 1.0 release, possibly later this summer. Although as I have said since the start of Early Access, the key determinant is how players feel about the state of the game.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for playing Starcom: Unknown Space!