It feels like relief to finally make some decent progress in Asteroid Outpost. I have been trying to focus on some of the larger and more visible items, starting with those ugly yellow power lines. This was followed up with improving the laser miner beam and making it extend from source to destination:

I was getting sick of the single style of AI in the game: “move forward until you’re within laser range, stop and shoot”, so I designed some new AI that uses a mix of missiles and lasers, and attempts to strafe. Each unit has 6 missiles and will only use laser beams as a last resort. Here’s a quick video example:

Scenarios are an important part of my game, so I sunk some time into the “Science Station” mission. In this scenario, scientists require more and more power to conduct an experiment. Without access to power, they will be unable to keep their experiment under control and the entire station will erupt spectacularly.

The explosion could look better, but I do like the fires. It’ll do for now. The scenario isn’t quite done yet, but the power requirements ramp up, and if they are not met, the science station explodes.

I have started to seriously think about how many scenarios I want the game to have, and how to link them together with a bit of a story. It would be great if I could create skeletons of these scenarios and connect everything for the first time. No, it would be incredible.