I just posted Ganymede, the latest opt-in beta. As with previous “named” content updates, this one is not save compatible. Some players (understandably) don’t want to replay the game for every release, particularly when large chunks of the game stay the same, and want to know “how much new content is there”?
While working on the analytics tools, I came up with some numbers that give a rough idea of how much content has been added with each update, both in terms of potential anomalies and mission logic elements. A potential anomaly is a unique planet or space anomaly that players might encounter on a playthrough (some procedurally placed anomalies may not be encountered in every game).
A mission logic element is the smallest component of the game’s story logic system. (Explained in more detail here) These are things like “wait until player is within X units of an Ermyr ship”, “add this conversation to this character” or “spawn a ship here”. As a raw number they aren’t terribly meaningful, but combined with anomaly count they give a rough sense of how much story had been added.
Anyway, here are some numbers:
Betelgeuse (first Early Access release): 75 anomalies, 1264 mission logic elements
Draconis (current Default branch): 91 anomalies, 1516 mission logic elements
Europa (first post-Draconis opt-in): 111 anomalies, 1839 mission logic elements
Fornax (second post-Draconis opt-in): 120 possible anomalies, 1990 mission logic elements
Ganymede (latest opt-in): 145 possible anomalies, 2390 mission logic elements
Hopefully this will help EA players decide when they want to jump back in for a fresh playthrough, and also give a sense of how the game is progressing. I’ll try to remember to post updated numbers with each update.