SUMMARY:
- First Iteration of our New PvP Scenario: Space Standoff
- New Blocks in the base game: Flat Atmospheric Thrusters, Short Wheel Suspensions, Round Armor Panels and more!
- Performance Improvements, Quality of Life Changes, AI & Combat Improvements (Event Controller Logic, Flee Away From Target)
- New Premium Content: Cab Cockpit, Colorable Solar Panels, LCD Panels, Inset Blocks and more!
- 10 year Anniversary of Space Engineers
Hello, Engineers!
It’s an exciting moment as we introduce you to the latest evolution in the world of Space Engineers – the Warfare Evolution update. Our first update that is released simultaneously on 3 different platforms – Steam, Xbox and now also on PlayStation!
Among the highlights of this free update is the experimental PvP Scenario: Space Standoff, setting the stage for epic confrontations that will test your strategic prowess and combat skills. But that’s not all – brace for sweeping Performance, AI and Combat Improvements and Quality of Life (QOL) tweaks that will enhance your overall gameplay experience.
This new PVP scenario will not only provide a new way to experience Space Engineers, but will change and evolve over time as a permanent addition to our Keen hosted, and Community run, Dedicated servers.
Apart of this free update we are also unveiling the Decorative Pack #3. We’re thrilled to present 60+ new decorative blocks that will empower your creativity and allow you to bring unique aesthetics to your creations.
Free Content
New PvP Scenario: Space Standoff
Your team has managed to acquire an encrypted data container that could hold the key to gaining an upper hand in this endless conflict. Unfortunately, your enemy is resourceful and has acquired the same encrypted data from an unscrupulous seller. Now, the race is on!
Join The Red team or Blue team, prepare your defenses, and make sure your data container is well defended during decryption. Launch your assault and destroy the enemies data container before they manage to decrypt its secrets!
Choose carefully between fortifying your compound, building up a jump-capable strike force, and infiltration of the enemy base. The enemy’s data container must be destroyed!
It has always been my goal in SE to merge building & fighting, creation & destruction. The cost of building & creation, is disproportionately high when compared to destruction, which is typically easy and cheap.
Naturally, I would like to seek a balance between creation & destruction.
Two steps of my plan:
1) My first step was to create a balanced PvP scenario where both teams have the option of either offense or defense. Both teams should have the same objectives and tools, like a chess match. We cannot expect a competitor to allocate much time to building (it’s too time consuming).
2) The Second step will be to enable players to spawn their blueprints into the PvP scenario. This empowers competitors to “pre-game” and offsets the cost of creation. Time invested in customization and optimization of designs can be invested outside of a PVP battle, much like it is in survival. Players can then bring these optimized designs directly to the battlefield “on demand” and without slowing play.
We are currently reviewing these concepts. Enabling players to spawn their blueprints in this or future PvP scenario would be an ideal result. We see huge potential in the ability to design and build your ships in creative mode, and at your leisure. Without the stress and time constraints of combat you can refine a design and bring it to life “trial by fire” in this evolving PvP scenario.
The battle doesn’t end after a single match! Following the match’s end, win or lose, you can start considering ways to improve your strategy and prepare for the next match!
This arms-race should bring you back again and again as new strategies emerge and older ones are refined. We have 7 servers running the new scenario 24/7 including 3 Steam and 4 EOS. We want to guarantee a place to do battle with a team of friends or newly met allies. While we will host our own servers, we would encourage everyone in the community to run their own modded versions of the new scenario, as well as feedback on how we can change this scenario moving forward, are most welcome!
Performance Improvements
Performance updates are always in the works and this update delivers big. We are always pushing the envelope on performance in order to deliver the best possible Space Engineers experience. In this update, you will see performance improvements of as much as 60% in large worlds! Additionally, we have seen faster grid updates and better memory usage in some critical areas.
Third Person Camera Improvement for Grids
You may notice an upgrade in camera behavior while piloting spaceships and rovers. The third person camera now follows more smoothly, making your cosmic adventures even more enjoyable.
Where previously it would quickly force you to first-person when there was some obstruction between the camera and your grid, the camera view is now allowed to dolly in much closer to your grid and will only go to first person only when there really is no room. This should greatly help you maneuver in tight spaces where it could previously be difficult to see around you!
Additionally, the camera no longer switches to see the entire connected grid when you dock with something using connectors or landing gears. The camera now remains focused on the grid that you are controlling when docking, making it easier to see what’s going on inside your hangar!
AI Improvements
- Improved Event Controller Logic
- AI Defensive (Combat): Added Flee Away From Target feature
- General AI targeting behavior improvements
- Decoy behavior improved
- Check out our Grid AI Guide
Wheel Suspension Block exclusive area improvements
You can now pack blocks around the wheels more tightly – leading to compact and elegant vehicle designs!
Assembler Categories
We’ve added more categories to assemblers and ordered the items in the assembler by “tier”. (E.g: Pistols are at the top, the rocket launcher at the bottom.)
New categories:
- Ingots
- Equipment
- Weapons
- Ammo
QoL (Quality of Life) Improvements
- Improved Sensor detection of Voxels
- Improved Tooltips/UX on Spawn Menu
- New Content Notifications
- Improved Projectile Ricochets – Projectiles will now bounce more reliably off of shallow angles. Values for different ammos can be adjusted by modders.
Round Armor Panels
- Light Armor Panel Round – S + L grid
- Light Armor Panel Round Corner – S + L grid
- Heavy Armor Panel Round – S + L grid
- Heavy Armor Panel Round Corner – S + L grid
A set of round armor panels – in both light and heavy variants.
Short Wheel Suspensions
- Short Wheel Suspension 1×1 Right/Left – S + L grid
- Short Wheel Suspension 2×2 Right/Left – S + L grid
- Short Wheel Suspension 3×3 Right/Left – S + L grid
- Short Wheel Suspension 5×5 Right/Left – S + L grid
The suspensions you know and love, in a smaller package! These suspensions are 1 block narrower/shorter than the existing ones. So where a regular 3×3 wheel suspension is 2 blocks wide, these ones are just 1 block wide!
Flat Atmospheric Thrusters
- Flat Atmospheric Thruster – S + L grid
- Large Flat Atmospheric Thruster – S + L grid
- Flat Atmospheric Thruster D Shape – S + L grid
- Large Flat Atmospheric Thruster D Shape – S + L grid
Flat atmospheric thruster variants.
Button & Control Panel
- Control Panel Pedestal – S + L grid
- Button Panel Pedestal – S + L grid
Single button and control panel pedestals for base game.
AI Warning Signs
- Warning Sign Arrow – S + L grid
- Warning Sign Grid AI – S + L grid
- Warning Sign AI Powered – S + L grid
- Warning Sign Memetic Badger 1- S + L grid
- Warning Sign Memetic Badger 2 – S + L grid
- Warning Sign GoodAI – S + L grid
AI is here – so there has to be a set of warning signs…
Free DLC Content Additions
Adding new wheels means updating old ones. If you have our Wasteland DLC it’s about to get a free upgrade! We are adding new wheeled content to the Wasteland Pack for both existing and future owners.
Short Offroad Wheel Suspension
(added to the Wasteland Pack)
- Offroad Short Wheel Suspension 1×1 Right/Left – S + L grid
- Offroad Short Wheel Suspension 2×2 Right/Left – S + L grid
- Offroad Short Wheel Suspension 3×3 Right/Left – S + L grid
- Offroad Short Wheel Suspension 5×5 Right/Left – S + L grid
A Wasteland offroad version of the short wheel suspension.
Decorative Pack #3
Similar to our previous major releases, we hope you will take this opportunity to support the continued development of Space Engineers. This DLC pack consists of cosmetic items that enrich your game visually. None of the features in this package provide any advantage to players who purchase this DLC.
The price of the Decorative Pack #3 is $4.99 USD or your regional equivalent. Show your continued support for Space Engineers and check out the Decorative Pack #3.
This package includes:
Warworn Armor Skin
Make your ship into a weathered veteran – burned, bruised, but not beaten!
Cab Cockpit – S grid
A small grid boxy cockpit – ideal for that working truck cab look.
Twin-blade Wind Turbine – L grid
Elegant twin-blade variant of wind turbines.
Colorable Solar Panels
- Colorable Solar Panel – S + L grid
- Colorable Solar Panel Slope Left – S + L grid
- Colorable Solar Panel Slope Right – S + L grid
Solar panels with different shapes and possibility to change the color.
Holo LCD – S + L grid
Futuristic hologram variant of LCD screen.
Inset LCD panel – S + L grid
Inset variant of LCD screen.
Sloped LCD panel – S + L grid
Sloped variant of LCD screen.
Curved LCD panel – S + L grid
Curved variant of LCD screen.
Round Beacon – S + L grid
Round variant for the Beacon block.
Inset Couch – L grid
An inset couch for decorating interiors. Can be used as a seat.
Inset Bed – L grid
An inset bed for decorating interiors. Can preserve the players’ inventory and toolbar while they’re offline and keeps them alive as long as there is oxygen available in the environment.
Inset Button Panel – L grid
Inset block variant for maintaining access to your systems.
Entertainment Corner – L grid
Chill out in style and comfort – Entertainment Corner is a decorative block with many uses.
Inset Bookshelf – L grid
Decorative block for all the space bookworms.
Inset Aquarium – L grid
Aquarium? In space? Yes, that’s right! Just sit down and enjoy the calm view.
Inset Kitchen – L grid
Decorative block with the kitchen theme.
Inset Cryo Room – L grid
Flush and air tight cryo room. Sweet dreams!
Corner Medical Room – L grid
Medical room block variant.
Half Bed, Half Bed Open – L grid
A half block sized bed – comfortable, inviting but practical.
Scaffold Set
- Scaffold Block – S + L grid
- Scaffold Block Slope – S + L grid
- Scaffold Block Corner – S + L grid
- Half Scaffold Block – S + L grid
- Walkable Scaffold Block – L grid
- Walkable Scaffold Block Corner – L grid
- Walkable Scaffold Block Corner Inv. – L grid
- Walkable Half Scaffold Block – L grid
- Scaffold Block Ladder – L grid
Scaffold Blocks can provide lightweight structural support to ships and stations.
Crates & Barrels
- Barrel – S + L grid
- Three Barrels – L grid
- Stacked Barrels – L grid
- Cargo Crate – L grid
Crates left scattered around, indicating hard working engineers have been in the area.
Explosive Barrel – S + L grid
A barrel which has been converted into an improvised explosive. Boom!
What’s Next
Celebrating 10 years of Space Engineers!
As the 10 year anniversary of Space Engineers approaches, we want to celebrate with our community of dedicated players and fans. The anniversary event will feature special in-game content, as well as real-world celebrations and events.
Whether you’re a long-time fan of Space Engineers or a newcomer to the game, the 10 year anniversary is sure to be an exciting time for everyone involved.
YOU are invited!
- Join us in Prague: oranzerie.cz
- September 4th – 10th
- Main event Saturday the 9th
- More details: https://www.spaceengineersgame.com/space-engineers-10-years-anniversary/
Be sure to stay tuned for more information and updates as the anniversary approaches!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can we expect more mechanics and QOL changes, not just cosmetics?
A: Yes. We hear you and we have big changes, updates, and additions planned for 2024 and beyond.
Q: How do I provide feedback?
A: Please contact us with your bugs, and feedback here: https://support.keenswh.com
Q: Can we expect some special promotions in the future?
A: We are always looking at new ways to bring Space Engineers to a wider audience. Special promotions are good opportunities for this. We have a number of exciting promotions planned for the future, which include both game and DLC content!
Hiring
If you’re interested in working on awesome games like Space Engineers or our in-house game engine VRAGE3, and love solving unique challenges, we’d love to hear from you! Check out the open positions at Keen Software House and don’t forget to send us your English CV/resume and cover letter.
Remote collaboration is possible!
Our team is global.
Finding the best candidates to join Keen Software House means exploring every possible solution, including remote work. While we strive to provide team members with the best possible work-life balance here in Prague at our incredible Oranzerie offices, we understand that it is not always possible to transition, therefore we are very remote-friendly. Here’s a map of where our teammates live.
Follow our social media to get the latest news!
- Space Engineers Twitter
- Space Engineers Facebook
- Keen Software House Discord
- Space Engineers on Reddit
If you want to let me know your feedback, please get in touch via my personal email address marek.rosa@keenswh.com, or use our Keen Software House support site. I welcome all of the feedback we receive and we will use it to learn and provide better services to our players.
Thank you for reading this blog!
Best,
Marek Rosa
CEO, Creative Director, Founder at Keen Software House
CEO, CTO, Founder at GoodAI
For more news:
Space Engineers: www.SpaceEngineersGame.com
Keen Software House: www.keenswh.com
VRAGE Engine: www.keenswh.com/vrage/
GoodAI: www.GoodAI.com
Personal bio:
Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of GoodAI, a general artificial intelligence R&D company, and Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, started in 2010, and best known for its best-seller Space Engineers (5 million copies sold). Space Engineers has the 4th largest Workshop on Steam with over 500K mods, ships, stations, worlds, and more!
Marek has been interested in game development and artificial intelligence since childhood. He started his career as a programmer and later transitioned to a leadership role. After the success of Keen Software House titles, Marek was able to fund GoodAI in 2014 with a $10 Million personal investment.
Both companies now have over 100 engineers, researchers, artists, and game developers.
Marek’s primary focus includes Space Engineers, the VRAGE3 engine, the AI Game, and LLM agents that learn continually.
GoodAI’s mission is to develop AGI – as fast as possible – to help humanity and understand the universe. One of the commercial stepping stones is the “AI game,” which features LLM-driven NPCs grounded in the game world with developing personalities and long-term memory. GoodAI also works on autonomous agents that can self-improve and solve any task that a human can.
Nice update for builders. I have two comments.First, the flat atmo thrusters are small, they will only look good on small ships. Please consider the realistic aspect of having two thrusters with similar thrust (I haven’t checked the stats yet) but one is just shorter, what’s the point of the longer one? 5×5 atmo thrusters would have great shape balance, not just for ships, but also in the thruster matter, a good tradeoff. This thruster is more compact but takes some height (if pointing up), and this one takes more area but takes less height, making it suitable for applications that need walking space on the landing pad under the wings (for example).The second, is that I’m worried we are losing realism in Space Engineers. It’s acceptable sometimes for gameplay reasons, but colorable solar panels? Even any color? A white solar panel (reflects all light) produces the same power as a black solar panel (absorbs all light)? Please reconsider, cut the coloration from the update… Form should follow function… This would have been a good chance to introduce a heat mechanic that would need to be radiated from ships… radiators could for example be white or in metallic colors. There could also have been new tiers of solar panels, some thing like blue, dark blue, and black. Well I guess depending on the wavelength different techs could be unable to absorb certain wavelengths, therefore reflecting the colors, but please, at least connect the brightness of the color to the amount of power generated… This would allow some larping like “we have these old panels, we scavenged them from a crashed ship… heh heh… they aren’t great, but we are getting by” and so on. The moment I saw this coloration I feared for the future of thrusters. People like pretty colors, and some want to have white or green flames, some even pink. Would it be an RGB slider, or would it have some meaning behind, like traces of magnesium or copper, or different fuels such as methane or hydrazine? Maybe engines could be fed different fuels, so they would have different thrusts and, maybe, operative temperatures (This would support the need for radiators). Continuing about radiators and heat, some components could be “overdrived” for some time, which would feed them more power/fuel in exchange for a heat penalty, if the radiation capacity wasn’t enough, the components would start taking damage after a time. I’m not the number one fan of radiators, just trying to give examples of ways to fit different colors of panels, not limited to solar. Maybe radiation/particle shields?Thank you for reading, and for your continued work on the game.- K