Thorium Nova Alpha 11

Hey Gang. Happy Thorium Thursday!

Thorium Nova Alpha 11 was released a few weeks ago, but I didn't email about it. Sorry! You can download it and see the release notes here: https://github.com/Thorium-Sim/thorium-nova/releases/tag/v1.0.0-alpha.11

I've next set my eyes on implementing ship movement automation, which implies collision detection and avoidance. To help with that, I'm overhauling the physics engine with Rapier. This should enable high-performance physics simulation, collision detection, sensors, and all kinds of other goodies. Just to give a taste, once this is implemented, a torpedo impacting a ship at the bow will properly push the ship, causing it to not only fly back but also rotate around its center of mass!

I do have a bit of bad news though. It seems every year right around this time I get a little tired of working on Thorium Nova and take a little break. It happened two years ago when my child was born, and last year between Alpha 6 and Alpha 7 (which had a whopping 7 months between them). I'll try to keep a regular cadence to things, and I'll always be available to chat on Discord, but expect that it might be a little while before the next alpha release.

I'm not too worried, though. I always bounce back eventually. I'm in this for the long haul, and I'm grateful to all of you who are too.

Alex