Unstable Space development build availiable

I am not going to have time to get a stable Alpha release done this weekend (deadline for work has priority) but I really wanted those of you on winter break to have a chance to play the game and give us some feedback. So I am going to do something crazy, and release a development build. You can download it: Unstable Space version 11.02

Lets keep this quiet, so dont cross post to other forums or put up any news items. Once a real beta is ready, we can let the outside world know.

Major known bug: Pirate and customs tolls are not getting culled correctly and will often double (triple) spawn. This can slow down your game substantially. Save and restore often to workaround the issue.

Possible Crash: After starting a new game, but before you can see anything the game sometimes hangs. Unknown cause. Infrequent. Start a new game.

Run the install. Then do a "New Game" like normal. You will then get a start menu. Your welcome to take any of the starts. The mining start lets you try out the new mining features. And the pirate start gives you a substantial war fleet.

Cambragol did a fine job with the new help files. I recommend stopping a moment to read how to capsule jump and do mining in the library.

Fun stuff to try: Capsule jumping is a huge new feature. There are several starts that put you near unstable jump routes. Can you survive a Deadly route?

Combat is the other massive change to the game. Ships are tougher, harder to hit, and suffer more system damage. Let us know what you think.

The navigation GUI has been totally reworked. Select from the list of filters to locate fences, lpoints, wingmen for hire. One of the filters uses the econ data to suggest the next type of station you should go to, to sell the items you just purchased at your current station. The Nav GUI improvements make the game much easier to play.

Stations spewing pods are built in now. So don't add the megatrucking mod!

If your game crashes for any reason, we want to know.

Excellent! Can't wait to try it. Will this install over straight EOC or does TS need to be installed first?

Straight over EoC. It is a total replacement for the standard Torn Stars.

Cool beans. I did kinda think the whole developers-versus-testers-versus-community model was a bit too methodical for an indie project like this. You need a community at large to test this, I figure, since I-War2 just doesn't have the fan base it used to.

Heck, I played I-War2's demo in 2000 but didn't even buy the game until 2004.

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Man has dreamed of flying for ages, but was kept from doing so by nature of lacking wings. But then again, imagine how hard it would be to have sex if you had wings getting in the way.

Do we put bug reports here or somewheres else?

I will start a bug report thread now.

It wasn't until Soup put the "who is on" feature into the forum that I realized how small the base community was. At that point, I everyone could be a beta tester.