Discovery 5.1 Dev Diary #1- Announcement of the Rheinland Update

Art by @CuteyCAI

Hello and welcome to the #1 Dev Diary for the upcoming Rheinland Update.

Overview

The primary focus of the update will be Rheinland and the Sigmas, with attention given to bordering regions such as Omegas and Omicrons as well. The goal is to enhance the quality of these regions by addressing bugs, improving visuals, introducing new gameplay features, and enhancing the overall experience with elements like wrecks, NPC patrol paths, and hazards. Additionally, the story will undergo a re-visit to address inconsistencies, fill gaps, and create a unified and logically-explained timeline. This dev diary will primarily announce some of the system changes coming in the update.

Thuringia

A cataclysmic event struck Thuringia

Kicking off with Thuringia, the systems team has addressed numerous bugs, slightly changed visuals, improved NPCs and wrecks, added gameplay aspects such as hazards and mazes, and paid higher attention to detail. Notably, patrol paths have been designed to add flavor and guide explorers to otherwise daring locations. Thuringia's connections have been altered, now bordering two Rheinland systems, an Omega, and an Omicron.

Hohenfeld

The system has undergone an overhaul driven by impactful story elements, to be announced by @jammi . The Suhl has become larger and more dangerous, leading to Thuringia connecting to Earhart due to a cataclysmic event. Additionally, this change helps break the exclusivity Liberty enjoyed in 5.0 for easy Earhart access without using a Jump Drive.

Omega-58

Omega-58 Pulsar

Another spotlight system of the update, Omega-58 is coming back. The story has been revamped, made cohesive and logistically backed. It will have a Pulsar as its central stellar object of the system, which the Nomads very much appreciate. Kaarst Drydock is back along with the system, in its original home. Can the surrounding forces break the fortress-in-construction with a limitless energy potential, or will the Omega Wild forces rise to power again and start terrorizing the surrounding regions?

Kaarst Drydock

The system is a post-cataclysmic hellhole full of hazards. Treat it as a Kepler v2, though with more visual indicators and not as harsh punishment for the tiniest error. Who knows, maybe that will lead people into a false sense of security. The most bold and skillful explorers may discover some exceptionally lucrative loot inside places no one would dare venture to.

Patrol paths

Sigma-17 Patrol Paths

The update introduces or improves various system quality concepts, with a focus on patrol paths in this dev diary. Bringing back one of the more memorable parts for true Freelancer explorers, we're fleshing out, improving or in some cases adding patrol paths to the game. Those who explored jumpholes, bases or wrecks in Vanilla will hopefully rejoice, as the main purpose of improving patrol paths is to make the game more immersive and memorable through NPC interaction.

Let's take Sigma-17 as an example. It has zero patrol paths on the live server at the moment. We are adding trade paths supporting the logistics behind supply routes as well as patrol paths defending or harassing hostiles doing said routes. Don't be surprised to see an occasional Core or Order transport vessel in the Sigmas hauling goods into the civilization. Similarly, certain patrol paths can lead to places of interest that are not bases or jumpholes, such as a wreck. Or perhaps they will lead you into a trap, never to return again? Only one way to find out.

Keep in mind this is still a work in progress. As anyone with systems development knowledge can attest, working with patrol paths is ungrateful and time consuming. Every small error leads to a crash and there is no automation in the process due to the variety in each patrol path. We are trying to cover all systems in Rheinland and the Sigmas to get the same level of quality as the ones that are done already such as Sigma-17 or Thuringia.

Conclusion

Starting off lightly, this will hopefully be one of several Dev Diaries to follow, aiming to make the community more familiar with upcoming changes. As a systems developer, I shed light on a couple of changes from the systems' point of view, though there is enough content to create several of these for the systems department alone.

As always, feel free to provide any feedback and suggestions for changes.