RoVerse Development Newsletter #134

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 134th issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week.

This week, Idyllic has continued on his valiant effort to pull the Capital Update ever-closer to release by adding code to support the various weapon types. While we showed laser and plasma shots a few weeks back, that was primarily visual changes and figuring out the code layout. This week was the addition of railguns, autocannons, and torpedoes, including both firing stats like cooldown and rate of travel.

First up are the railgun turrets. These gimballed weapons launch small metallic objects at high rates of speed using a magnetic propulsion system. While not as flashy as the laser bolts, they do leave a trail of ionized space-dust in their wake. Their physical bolts do require loading into the chamber, and the magnets need to recharge, so these do fire significantly slower than their energy-powered counterparts.

Getting trails to work was a particularly interesting aspect of the railgun code, as the special way we load weapon shots caused trails to bug out. A quick-and-dirty solution was turning on trails only after they've been fired, and that problem was solved.
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Next up, the auto turrets.

With a much higher rate of fire than any other weapon type available, the autocannon turret is the fast-shooting, low damage option for those who want to put a lot of lead in the air. There is something very satisfying about the sound of autocannons firing, a non-stop barrage of high-velocity rounds streaking towards an unsuspecting foe.

Next up, missiles!

Everybody loves missiles. They make up for their slow rate of travel and abysmal reload time by packing quite a punch when they do manage to hit something. This week we started off with a simple torpedo variant, which travels whichever way you're facing at the time, and accelerating until the end of time if you miss. Probably best against big, slow-moving or stationary targets... I wonder where you'll find one of them...

We added a small detail to their firing, where they start off moving slowly, and have a constant acceleration applied to them over time - like real missiles in a zero-drag environment, they will keep getting faster and faster the longer they travel, so aim well. Future plans do involve homing and tracking variants, but they will take a bit more time.


Also included this week was a small fix to the bank comma adding function we showed a week or two back. The string.gsub matching didn't work as well as we had hoped, so Idyllic developed his own code to sort it all out.


Each week we compile a Q&A section here whenever there are any new questions posted on the RoVerse Community group wall or in the Community Discord Server. Be sure to join if you have any questions about RoVerse:

ROBLOX Group: https://www.roblox.com/My/Groups.aspx?gid=2948290
Discord server: https://discord.gg/npxBGwJ

Q1: How will getting into and out of ground vehicles work?

A1: Currently the proof-of-concept uses the standard touch to enter seat system, but that isn't necessarily going to stay. A lot of games nowadays have a 'press e to enter vehicle' system that seems a bit more friendly, for when you're pinned down behind a vehicle and you want to use it as cover, rather than hop in and drive away. Expect something along those lines.

Q2: Can both fighters and capitals use consumables?

A2: Definitely. You won't be able to hold on to quite as many in a light fighter compared to a capital frigate, but they also don't take up as much room. If you were wondering what use fighters had for cargo space, this and exploration inventory storage are the biggest aspects.

Q3: What is the smallest ship size that could contain a hangar?

A3: Any of the Capital ships can have a hangar, even the smallest ones. Of course, hangar capacity is based on ship volume, so don't expect to have more than a few fighters stored up in the smallest of ships.

Q4: How will ship repair work?

A4: We've mentioned hull-repair consumables acting as health packs, and that you can get fully repaired in stations or outposts, and potentially minor repairs in carrier hangars. The key factor in this, though, is that over time hull damage will build up, and repair will have decreasing returns. Using a nanobot repair kit to patch a hole blown through your bow will only work so many times, and never repair it to full strength. Basically, battle-scarred ships will need to be removed from the front lines and repaired from time to time, not just accepting resupply cargo and dropping back into the action.

Q5: Will the size of a ship affect its detection range on the radar?

A5: Setting range on a per-class basis would be a fair way to determine radar return distance. We'll get right on that.

Q6: Can we voice-act our custom species?

A6: Sure. That'd be a cool little detail if you've already gone through the effort of designing custom characters.

Q7: Will you be able to change the price you're selling goods for?

A7: Players get the chance to sell their own resources at stations to other players at whatever price they choose. If you post a sale for a certain price, but later change your mind, you'll need to cancel the original and post a new one. Allowing players to edit price quickly would do more damage to our servers than it would add in convenience.

Q8: Will players be able to manipulate the markets?

A8: They are welcome to the challenge. We'll set things up with stability in mind, but if one faction wants to become an empire and control all of a single resource, we won't stop them. If said resource is necessary for other factions, though, they might have a fight on their hands. Sell things at high prices, withhold resources to make them artificially scarce, all on the table.

Q9: What ships can go into a Capital hangar?

A9: If it fits, it ships... Hangar space is calculated to a portion of your ships volume - if you have a really big capital, it could carry a few of the smaller capitals around in its hangars, which in turn could carry ships in their hangars... Currently the most nesting you could do is 4 levels, but that doesn't include carrier kit hangar increases.

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​​You can support us by joining our Community Group or Discord server! So far, the community has been absolutely amazing, supportive, and very friendly. We are very appreciative of all the support you guys show us!

If you want to catch any of our developers streaming, you can always follow our official Twitch channel here!

Remember, we are always looking for new, talented builders, scripters and artists! If you’d like to help us you can always get in touch with us through RoVerse_Official on the ROBLOX website, or by contacting an Administrator in the community Discord! Don’t worry, we don’t bite!