The Open Horizon Update

Welcome, Reachers, to a new interplanetary update!

Following up on our previous update about the initial game tutorial, we’ve taken a step back to re-evaluate the starting progression based on player feedback. Concerns were raised that the experience felt too “on the rails.” As a result, we’ve decided to move away from such a linear system and are instead introducing our new Challenges feature. This new system will allow us to reduce the number of required missions while still providing players with some direction and instructions on how systems work in the game.

Make Haven more Sandbox

Haven (and Crucible, which it orbits) have recently undergone an attack from the Corruption! Some things are still being damaged and rebuilt; if the player wants to prove that they’re ready to be a member of the galactic community they should help in the rebuilding effort here.

Mechanics: Instead of a long series of 5 step, dialogue heavy questlines in a Haven Themepark, we offload the majority of the tutorial into two places: A simple tutorial mission series to teach the base functionally and the TPL Challenge to encourage learning along the way.

The simple tutorial mission series will no longer be the FTUE Hallways, but instead start directly on Haven. After a short introduction you will encounter Mayor Bob who will help you along your first steps into the game.

Note: If you were already on Haven your mission progress will be reset and you will need to complete the new missions.

Challenges Feature

The challenge system allows players to learn over time at their own pace. It will provide a new UI element that breaks down various challenges into small bite size parts, giving some direction of different activities to be explored in the game. Some of these may be as simple as ‘equip’ a new tool that you just acquired or be as advanced as survey a whole planet. The possibilities are endless on the types of challenges we may include. The initial release will be a work in progress and we will continue to add more as the game continues to grow.

Galactopedia

The Galactopedia is a replacement for our current F1 help screens. Making them more of an in-game encyclopedia of knowledge that include “how to” , lore, and mechanics overviews. One of the major advantages of this system is that it can unlock entries as you encounter new systems in the game. For example, you may not have a full listing of lore, but as you encounter NPC or Objects that reference the lore it will become a new entry in your Galactopeida. The first pass will mostly be moving the F1 screens over to the new system, but will continue to grow with every update.

Skills Window Update

The skill window is getting a bit of rework to help make it more informative, a bit easier to navigate, and several features under the hood to help us with other systems.

We have updated the layout to include the following:

• Updated the top bar to include details on your available currency, along with clear profession and XP labels that remain visible while browsing the skills.
• A Dynamic Details panel on the right displays detailed information about our selected profession or skill.
• Improved Skill Tree View that is fully zoomable and pannable with mouse controls, and centers to selected profession’s root skills.

Skill Box States

Skills are now clearly represented in one of four visual states:

• Not Learned – Displays XP and currency cost.
• Learned (In Practice) – Opaque background.
• Learned (Out of Practice) – Slightly transparent and labeled “Out of practice.”
• Work in Progress (WIP) – More transparent and clearly labeled as under development.

Note: the support for skill caps, out of practice, etc, is not there yet, but now the UI is ready for it.

All skill boxes display:

• Skill name
• Icon (placeholder visuals for now)
• Tooltip: “Select to see details.”

Click a skill to view full details in the right panel. Click it again — or click the background — to deselect.

Profession Details

When viewing a profession, the right panel shows:

• Profession name
• The type of XP required (e.g., “Requires Botany XP to learn skills.”)
• A scrollable description explaining the profession’s role and focus

We have a lot of text to add in and fill out!

Skill Details & Interaction

Selecting a skill now shows:

• Skill icon in a framed header
• Skill name
• Detailed description
• List of abilities granted

Learning Skills (At Skill Kiosks)

If you’re at a skill kiosk:

• Not Learned Skills

• • • “Learn Skill” button appears.
    • If you don’t meet requirements, the button is disabled with a tooltip explaining what you’re missing.
    • If you meet requirements, you can learn the skill instantly.

• Skills In Practice

• • • “Stop Practicing” button appears.
    • Practicing fewer skills frees up space to focus on others.

• Skills Out of Practice

• • “Start Practicing” button appears.
  • Restores the skill’s abilities after a short ramp-up.

If you’re not at a skill kiosk, these buttons won’t appear.

Gameplay Features

• Updated skill trees for Grenade Launcher and Pistol (and fixed the issue with abilities not working). These trees have been moved to their own xp types so in order to progress in these trees you will need to use the appropriate type of weapon.
  • Pistol now have a default battery size of… 6. Each ability that fires a projectile will consume 1 battery per projectile. Waiting for a few seconds without firing will recharge (or reload?) the battery as usual. The default projectile speed is much faster but the homing effect is significantly reduced from prior versions.
  • New active skills:
    • Double Tap: Fires two quick shots at once.
    • Ricochet: Fire a single projectile that bounces to nearby valid targets (known issue: bugged visuals but functions correctly).
    • Unload: Fan the hammer and fire as fast as you can pull the trigger.
    • Double Time: Double the size of the pistol battery for a short time.
    • Pistol Whip: Stun enemies in front of you for a short duration (known issue: placeholder visuals but functions correctly).
  • Grenade Launcher Skills:
    • Cluster: A single projectile that detonates into a swarm of homing projectiles on impact.
    • Repulsor: Creates an explosion that knocks targets away from the center of the blast
    • Implosion: Creates an impact that draws the targets toward the center of the effect
    • Uplift: Creates an antigravity field on impact that slowly lifts enemies into the air and prevents them from moving for a short duration.
  • New Healix skill:
    • Siphon: Hold to fire a beam that locks to an enemy and drains their health to restore some of your own.
• Besom Scrubs have been updated to drop branches when harvested
• Wood Slurry Recipe can be obtained through Refining Other skill box
• Grip and Stock recipes have been updated to take wood instead of planks
• Fixed an issue where several specials could be removed from tools and weapons, then you would not have the ability to add them back

Additional Updates & Fixes

• Added the ability to adjust the overall game Gamma while in game. This can be found on the Graphics setting page under Gamma Correction
• Server Performance Fixes: We found an assortment of slowdowns and have resolved them. Among them flora scanning and any time items were moved into containers; this was particularly bad when harvesting or other scenarios where you got a lot of doobers.
• Added a fix for the consumable UI so it doesn’t reset on zoning and death
• The Ballhog enemies now have voices…

Known Issues

• Ricochet’s visual is bugged. Pistol Whip has no animation despite the name (but does have a placeholder VFX).