Star Sonata 2 News

Welcome to a new developer diary series that will be running over the next several weeks in anticipation for the next major release of Star Sonata!

Today, however, we wanted to share some updates to a mundane yet striking visual element that will be part of the next universe reset – celestial rings!

The previous ring system for celestial bodies was originally designed for Saturn during the conversion from C1 to C2, and was later expanded to be added to random celestial bodies during universe generation. They were essentially a textured plane bisecting the planet, with the texture depicting the full ring. It worked well for smaller objects, but any larger bodies stretched the limits of the system, as seen in the image below. Additionally, they looked pixelated and objectively horrible on lower graphics settings because of the severely reduced texture resolution (more than any other game object.)


The old style of rings scaled up to mega rings poorly, even on high settings.

Ryan and Zynoa have devised a new way to render these rings, with a focus on making them both more consistent across graphics settings as well as scaling better to larger sizes. Instead of a full ring texture slapped on a plane with a ton of dead space used for transparent bits (like the hole for the planet), the new method utilizes some special made models for the rings and the entire texture is dedicated to just the ring itself. Because this increases the effective resolution of the rings (without increasing the technical resolution), the new rings maintain their appearance well across graphics settings and sizes.



Additionally, we’ve departed from some of the more organic and earthly palettes and went for a more vibrant color pattern that we feel strikes a balance between grounded and cartoony visuals for the Star Sonata world.

We hope this and other upcoming graphical changes will make for a more vibrant and engaging universe.



*Note: rings are shown on every celestial body in images for demonstration purposes. In the actual universe, rings will still appear at the same rates they currently do.

View the original on our blog.

Note: + means a new universe (reset) is required for the change to come into effect.

Known Issue: Repair cost preview is currently undervalued / not factoring in Nanotech Plating. Our team is working on a hot fix for this issue.
[h2][Client][/h2]

• Bot UI Changes:
  
  
  • Removed the diffuser and solar panel options from bot's target options menu.
    
  • Added option to enable/disable fighters or missiles on bots. Also controls superitems they have which launch fighters or missiles.
    
  • Moved the Leave Stasis and Tow options to the top of the bot target options menu.
    
  • Moved Transfer Ownership and Show Stats to the More Bot Options list.
    
  
  
  

• Added a new server status window to the login screen to check the status of each server. Green for up and working. Yellow for pending maintenance restart. Red for down. And Grey for unknown. Will list reason of maintenance, if applicable.
  
• Added a login notification for subscriptions expiring in 24 hours, or for subscriptions expired in the last 7 days.
  
• Added a warning to team chat when an account with bases on the team is about to (or has recently) expired.
  
• Updated New Class Skill Point Available icon in lower-right corner with a new high quality image.
  
• Adjusted textures and glow maps for Earthforce police, NCC-Bulk and Goblin ships.
  
• Fixed the model definition with the Unholy Venaticora.
  
• Renamed Neon Panther to Glowing Panther so not to be confused with Red Neon Panther skin.
  
• Fixed issue with Neon Red Lion not displaying the texture or glowmap.
  
• Fixed issue with UrQa'qa Qu'ishi Qa not showing any skins.
  

[h2][Skill Changes][/h2]

• Bots now receive 100% of the effect of Mining Power and Mining Efficiency skills.
  
• Changed Enveloping Monkey skill to be "Use your shields to overload your non-transference weapons and envelop target.  Do up to 2x bonus damage, scaled with your shield percent, by consuming 1.5x shields for bonus damage dealt."
  

[h2][Item Changes][/h2]

• Sizes of almost every ship have been adjusted to be less drastically out of line against each other.
  
• No longer able to scrap Hephaestus Drones and Chid Adiz Mardana Var.
  
• Art of Augmenters and Ultimate Art of Augmenters have had their stat distributions shifted a bit.
  
• Zen of Devices no longer applies to Flit Device, Aveksaka Subjugator, Alien Healing Burst, Red Photon Doomsday Device, and Spearhead inbuilt.
  
• Dhatri Bhisaj and Dhatri Bhisajdeva had their healing parasite removed.
  
• Fixed the Silent Night's Night Stalker super to -80% vis instead of -20% vis.
  
• Removed Bule Eradicator's cloak from the game.
  
• Increased the base augs on the Cruiser and Astrodust from 2 to 3. This has reduced its other base stats.
  
• Removed the BPC's old cloak from the game. (was missed when it was removed from its inbuilts.)
  
• Unforge ship blueprint now has a 1 million initial and 1 million periodic credit cost
  
• Removed and deleted the inbuilt Assault Scoop from Assault Behemoths.
  
• Added additional searchable tags to faction specific weapons.
  
• Adjusted some extreme augmod variables for Aveksaka.
  
• Converted the berserker travel fields to trophy items.
  
• Fixed Nightfury Focus Generator and Nightfury Rage Generator effect descriptions to properly show what the superitems do. Also changed to allow bots to use them in combat.
  
• Reduced Hydra Awesomeness from 10% Rate of Fire to 4% Rate of Fire.
  
• Added to the description of the Armada Fighter Factory Plans, and Armada WMD Factory Plans, that they make the factory to make Panther Kitten Fighters and the Ammo Crate - Zaphragi Cheetah Missile respectively.
  
• Prevented Nanobot Repair from repairing items on non-ships (bases, drones) or fighters.
  
• Prevented Nanobot Repair from repairing destroyed drones/fighters in ship's hulls (since they can't be partially repaired).
  
• Prevented Nanobot Repair from repairing unequipped items.
  
• Updated the drop table to the new Chain Gatlings instead of old items.
  
• Increased the tech of the inbuilt Gamma Fighter Bay (on Space Blue Gamma) from T13 to T15.
  
• Removed Dev subtype from Enforcer Scout Charger.
  
• Removed augmods off Ada, Lac and Titanium Laser Dampeners (trade-in in Building Academy for other dampeners).
  
• Updated the Corrupted Backstab Device to be unequippable.
  
• Adjusted Revear+ stats to match the Reaver properly.
  
• Fixed size issue with the Ayudhinayu Sas Fighter from the Aveksaka Xenobiology Platform.
  
• Fixed Specialized Gigantic Transference Inhibitor to use new diffuser damage system instead of failure chance.
  
• Adjusted Solarian Beam and Solarian Fighter Bay from rare to uncommon.
  
• Removed the Marshal Defense Generator and made the item inbuilt into the ship.
  
• Properly removed the Egrosphere thrusters on the Merchant Navy Contriver.
  
• Reduced the shield effect of Rebirth Devices on the Phoenix/Glaucopennia from 500k over 5 seconds to 100k over 5 seconds and removed the energy regen completely.
  
• Fixed some rounding issues with base gear. May result in extremely small changes.
  
• Bhisaj Kavaca will no longer drop in a crate.
  
• Reduced knockback on Pulse Guns, MagCannons and Sebastapols by 50%.
  
• Changed Monkey Mantles to require Tank Monkey Adv Skill.
  
• Added Twisted Honey Remains as a drop to Twisted Nikola.
  
• Adjusted Captain Bling Drone, Hephaestus Drone, Double Agent Drone, and Triple Agent Drone to use the proper gear for their quality level.
  
• Reduced damage augmod on the Tiger Protection from 4% to 2%.
  
• Reduced the size of several dropped mission items to 5 space or lower.
  
• Removed Critical Strength and Critical Chance from Ship Mastery Augmenters.
  
• Adjusted the weight of Multifiring on ships. Twisted Fate of Death, Battle Thatch and Battle Sphere have had their stats adjusted.
  
• Adjusted various roaming and DG AI in Earthforce and Perilous Space layers.
  
• Crawl Wyrm and Faranji Stinger stats shifted around to distinguish them better.
  
• All solar panels are now hybrid (both normal and dark suns).
  
• Reduced Aug Slots on the Mako, Warrior, Baby Cyclops, Hermes Lamb, and Hermes Ram back to their pre-rework values.
  

[h2][AI Changes][/h2]

• The High Prophet is now on the weekly lockout system. Reduced Holy Fires from High Prophet from -90% Tracking to -60% Tracking.
  
• Reduced the shields and range on the Vulcan and Mira bosses.
  
• Fixed beam weapons causing healing damage on a pair of Aveksaka Bosses.
  
• Changed Corrupted Guardian and Kraken to only spawn enemies when it is alive. (Does not affect GSA)
  
• Granted more Inertial Dampening to the Ares boss and the mini-bosses to prevent flying out of the arena constantly.
  
• Fixed Vaidyaagni and Vaidyachid alien hulls in Vihara Vaidya (Shielding 22) to have the energy resist they're supposed to have.
  
• Reduced W4 Amoetroidzodal's mining resists.
  
• Increased Olympus bosses' dps and tank slightly.
  
• Increased Lion, Zebra and Panther bosses' DPS.
  
• Increased Iq' Bana boss DPS, reduced DPS of adds.
  
• Increased Kidd boss DPS, slightly reduced DPS of adds
  
• Reduced the tank of Subspace Bosses
  
• Redesigned the Prejudice, BNF/RNF and Akuq'ba bosses and reopened their instances.
  
• Removed the Super on Aveksaka heavy fighters that reverted them to an egg when low health.
  
• Made Pax Astronomica's immune to everything but Surgical again with a diffuser.
  
• Fixed Cloaking 22 Subspace boss hide and seek mechanics. The boss will no longer target non-ships as targets to seek.
  
• Fixed the swarm of Luigi Salmanos in Deep Space.
  
• Increased Demented Delquad's Beam Resists. Increased shield regen of Demanted Delquad and the adds.
  

[h2][Universe Changes][/h2]

• Due to IP Conflicts, all the Serengeti Bosses were renamed the following:
  
  
  
  • Knight Noragh Khalad
    
  • Prince Ar'hath Rhak'kai
    
  • Baron Cah'ra Rhak'kai
    
  • Princess Takhagha Rhak'kai
    
  • Sir Gar Kirasra
    
  • High Vizir Rakhnis Grahad'rhi
    
  • Grand Advisor Thir'ras Rhak'kai
    
  • King Rathos Rhak'kai
    
  • Emperor Sharahn Rhak'kai IV
    
  
  
  
• Sir Gar Kirasra now has an aura mechanic.
  
• +Renamed "Sandhikotta Ekam" in Pajca arm to "Alliance Fleet Beachhead".
  
• +Jungle requires Warp Navigation 2 to enter.
  
• +Serengeti Blockade now requires Warp Navigation 3 to enter.
  
• +Connected Deep Space to Lyceum to Sol.
  
• Added suns to gals without a visible sun for OOC regen or modified existing hidden suns to be visible.
  

[h2][System][/h2]

• Reintroduced Nanotech Plating
  
  
  • Bots now take 50% less item damage across the board with or without Nanotech Plating.
    
  • Nanotech Plating purely increases your longevity. Reduces item damage by 50% at level 25 (also affects all bots, stacking with the above, 25% damage taken for for NTP 25).
    
  • Increases the repair cost by 100% at level 25 (so training the skill is cost neutral for repairs).
    
  • Nanotech Plating now applies to sources of item damage that aren't stasis or towing (e.g., overloaders failing).
    
  • Bots can now be repaired without penalty while undocked as long as you are docked (in this instance, they also don't need to be stationary).
    
  • Prevented the tossing of damaged items.
    
  • Bots must be fully repaired before being transferred to a new owner.
    
  
  
  
• Stasis rework:
  
  
  • After 20 seconds of stasis, a regen of 0.5% max shield / sec is now added.
    
  • Ships will now enter yellow stasis at 50% max shield instead of 100%.
    
  • ooc no longer apply during stasis.
    
  
  
  

• Every ship gets another /freeaugreset.
  
• Mining damage has had its base DPS reduced. This should make it so that Mining damage is good to use against Capital Ships and Heavy Fighters without being the go-to damage type for most situations.
  
• Radation damage now has a critical hit effect of reducing a target's tracking by 75% for 2 seconds.
  
• Any percentwise AugMod bonuses that come from ship class (Heavy Fighter, Light Fighter, Support Freighter, Industrial Freighter, Capital Ship) now scale with tech level. This makes Capital Ships have less Shield and Energy bank bonuses at lower tech levels.
  
• Bots will no longer try to use prospector beam as a tractor (which resulted in a spam of "you can only use prospector on solarbodies" error in event chat for the owner.
  
• Prevented muted players from posting to the bulletin board.
  
• Set base crit chance to 5% (from 1%), still gain 5% chance for an ambush (10%).
  
• When inviting someone to a team it no longer matters if you have destroyed bases in non-team space.
  
• Bots that are using a ship with a pending forced augmenter reset, will no longer fight properly and will complain about needing maintenance in a station whenever you try to enable fight enemy or attack target.
  
• Updated the non-bankable Healing Revamp mission aug resets to expire date of October 9, 2021.
  
• Improved the universe back-up save to reduce lag spikes from it.
  
• Removed the unholy noises generated by electron clouds and envelopments.
  
• Made -trans resist and Resistance to Damage tweaks reduce healing again.
  
• Removed the option for expanders to get the miniaturized mod.
  
• Removed text about clicking button in your inventory to do the aug reset as there is no button.
  
• Bots now report the neurobound item name when failing to transfer ownership due to a neurobound item being on board.
  
• AI Only items on non-wild bots will now disintegrate properly.
  

• Fix for ship upgrade saying you have too many augmenters. If you tried to upgrade to a ship with the same number of augs and you have a skill that increase aug slots it prevented it.
  
• Fixed an exploit regarding The High Prophet.
  
• Corrected "Get them all to 20!" mission to state Beta Antares instead of Blue Photon Processing.
  
• Fixed Annihilator Overloader Blueprint being missing from the Annihilator Gear Blueprint pack.
  
• Small Blue Photon Stock Fighter MK II Generator was incorrectly renamed and did nothing. Correctly renamed to Blue Photon Stock Fighter MK II Crate.
  
• Fixed a bug where nuclear waste would extract at the incorrect speed on some planets.
  
• Fixed Tractoring 22: it now will take damage from the Paxian Bombs.
  
• Changed the The Deflector Solution mission in sol to need Titan Drones V2s instead of Titan Drones. As Titan Drones are now unavailable to players.
  
• Fixed a bug where OOC wouldn't apply after server start until a combat action had occurred.
  
• Fixed a bug where termite nests would do radiation death and end up in an undefined state instead of just being destroyed.
  
• Fixed issue with Condenser Packs not reflecting their tech. Updated the packs to the tech level of the augs they produce. Also checks if blueprints can be installed before applying.
  
• Fixed to not prevent warping into AI-owned territory due to PvP mechanics.
  
• Fix for warhead not actually hitting their target if the target is larger than twice their range.
  
• Fixed issue with infinite crates being created on Queen Wasp. Deleted all the previous free fighters due to this generation. Will now need to build new fighters.
  
• Fixed missing fighter generator on Honeycomb.
  

After many delays and changes following players input, it is finally here

see https://www.starsonata.com/announcements/healingsupport-update-news/
and https://www.starsonata.com/announcements/healingsupport-update-details/
for a more detailed explanation of the content changes.

Note: + means a new universe (reset) is required for the change to come into effect.
[Client]

• Fixed environment textures on Zebucarts.
  
• Added the “Dark Energy Antimatter Recollector” skin to the Flamberge and the Voulge ships, created by community member “Girl Power”.
  
• Silent Night is no longer transparent since it is smaller and harder to see.
  
• Fixed several Panther Skins not applying to Primal Leopard.
  
• Inventory window will now correctly display the right number of weapon slots and correctly update the number of slots as you equip or unequip items that affect weapon slots.
  
• Added new Neon skins for all Zaphragi ships from Serengeti and Jungle. (Credit: Markoz)
  
• zaphragi_red_wallpaper
  

[Skill Changes]

• Fixed the Perpetual Motion missions for Astral Injection skill training to properly complete if your skill level was 6, 8, or 9 from the previous skill training system.
  
• Given stat descriptions to Tractor Efficiency, Mining Power, and Mining Efficiency
  
• Changed Despicable and Subtlety from 1% per level to 1.5% per level.
  
• Changed Berserker’s Weapon Master adv skill to have 200% hostility.
  
• Nanotech Plating will no longer have an effect for the short-term future.
  
• Combat bots no longer will get 50% of skills passed on automatically. Combat Bots will inherit the stats from the owners skill based on 1% for each level of Combat Bot Tweaking (up to level 30) and 30% from Bot PhD skill.
  
• Transference Efficiency now only affects the stealing feature of Shield Monkey and has been removed from augmenters.
  
• Skills do not automatically pass on to drones. Droney Adv Subskill now includes “Temporary drones inherit half the stats from your skills.”
  
• Zen of Far Reaching will now explicitly give half of the effect to temporary drones.
  
• Reduced Radiation Expert skill from 66% extra rad damage to +50% to compensate for the +33% bonus radiation weapons got generally.
  
• Seer Class 2′s 25% Ethereal Damage changed to 25% Beam damage.
  

[Item Changes]

• Removed GoalDPS tags from drones. Restored DoTs to Drones.
  
• Berserker Shield Redistribution no longer makes you immune to healing, it reduces incoming healing by 50%.
  
• Electric Beams have new mechanics. Instead of sending a constant amount of elec to the target, it links the energy banks of the two ships, transferring a percent of the elec consumption of the target. If the owner of the beam runs out of electricity – the beam disconnects. It is non-stackable.
  
• Transference weapons are only beams now. Chain and splash have been removed from transference weapons.
  
• Engineer aura drones will no longer affect ships. Most drones buffed to compensate for the more limited effect.
  
• Diffusers/Armors size will increase based on the augmods on them. Diffusers / armors now limited to one slot. No longer consumable but reduce durability based on incoming damage. Must be docked to equip/unequip. Diffusers/armors no longer take damage on death/tow. Added new stable armors throughout content.
  
• 45 and 20 degree beams now get more dramatic DPS and DPE exchanges.
  
• Shields rebalanced and mostly were buffed. Augmods now increase the size of shields instead of lowering stats.
  
• Removed augmods from inbuilt items on ships (except for missile bays and fighter bays).
  
• Rebalanced the strength of higher level Speedy and Spacy augmenters to give 4% plus 1% per tech level of speed or capacity in addition to the normal stats.
  
• Most weapons with damaging parasites will now automatically generate the parasite’s health and lifetime based on weapon tech and proportion of the weapon damage that the parasite does. Stacks of parasites get weighted averages for their life and health based on the parasites that compose the stack. Parasites no longer list their damage, half life, or health in their item descriptions.
  
• Parasites from projectiles now will do more damage from critical hits and adjust the average damage of the whole parasite stack to a weighted average damage accordingly. (Parasites from beams already did this.)
  
• Removed Jelly’s Acidic Remains requirements from the Disintegrator Missile Factory BPs.
  
• +Changed the AC turn ins for t5 proficiency augmenters for low level commodities to basic augmenter tokens to prevents conflict with the augmenter token turn in’s.
  
• Made Impassable Protection diffuser AI Only.
  
• Description for the Heavy Kidd Drone Crate now correctly states it contains five drones instead of three.
  
• Adjusted various Bonnet items augmods.
  
• Mines made T25 and disabled until further notice.
  
• Added “Can’t Be used with other Damage Tweaks” tag to the following tweaks: Power Doughnut, Super Duper Doughnut, Barbe Rouge Wrath, Nightfury’s Burst
  
• Added “Can’t Be used with other Shield Tweaks” tag to the following tweaks: Werewolf Bite, Zombie Bite, Last Stand, Last Defense, Titanium Plating, Laconia Plating, Adamantium Plating, Titanium Shielding, Laconia Shielding, Adamantium Shielding
  
• Added “Can’t Be used with other Energy Regen” tag to the following tweaks: Vis Injection, Quantumum Injection, Energon Injection, Energy Cocktail Injection, Source of Vis, Source of Quantumum, Source of Energon, Source of Infinite Energy.
  
• Added Charging Time of 20 to the following tweaks: Power Doughnut, Super Duper Doughnut, Barbe Rouge Wrath, Nightfury’s Burst, Last Stand, Last Defense, Titanium Plating, Laconia Plating, Adamantium Plating, Titanium Shielding, Laconia Shielding, Adamantium Shielding, Vis Injection, Quantumum Injection, Energon Injection, Energy Cocktail Injection, Source of Vis, Source of Quantumum, Source of Energon, Source of Infinite Energy.
  
• Fixed issue with Condenser Packs not reflecting their tech. Updated the packs to the tech level of the augs they produce.
  
• Updated the UrQa’qa Qu’ishi Qa hull to use a custom turret configuration.
  
• Changed the Subspace Modules blueprints (Tektite, Nanite, Thalaron Processing, Thalaron Stabilization, and Biogenic Plasma Conduit) from having 6000/1 manhours/max workers (took 7 days to build) to 75million/250k(will take 50 minutes), to match the other t21 modules blueprints.
  
• Converted reboot modules, scrap parts, junkyard scrap/notes, the 2 class to 21/22 skill books, (mastery)slave stasis gens, gear glue, the adonis/argo/paxian station plating and bp/bp pack, the ruin weapon bps(bule calumniator, mzungu greatest sebastopol, faranji gatling laser x), the gen 1 class augs, and the fc fighter recall device have all been converted to Trophy items that give out info when used.
  
• Sniper Analyzer no longer gives -25% Resistance to damage.
  
• Changed stat on Twisted Gravitational Scoop to be in line with other vacuum scoops.
  
• Reduced weight of the UrQuan Uppercut BP from 10,000,000 to 100,000.
  
• Made Epiphanies (level up items) usable without being equipped.
  
• +Added a repeatable version via Trade Bay turn in for Thanars Astral Fire at the Berserker ai station in lyceum (Will need to do the normal mission to get one first).
  
• Removed Capital Laser Core and Capital Laser Core Research from Green Battleships. Added a new T20 beam drop to Green battleships.
  
• Removed Capital Ship Research Blueprint from the game.
  
• Earthforce Overload now takes the T18 Capital Laser instead of a T13 Capital Armageddon Laser Core to build now.
  
• Removed the logic that makes bots use Blue Photon Translocation Device in combat.
  
• +Made two new Serengeti Drone Controllers that will be able to be obtained in the Serengeti Blockade.
  
• +Added Industrial Thatch to Beta Antares for purchase.
  
• +Added an AC turn in at Serengeti Blockade main base for the ship upgrade for the Zaphragi Ark from the Battle Sphere.
  
• Updating Automated Laconia Factory mission end text to not sound like its a repeatable mission.
  
• Changed the Laconia Sheet Factory Blueprint, to have manhours/maxworkforce to limit the amount of enriched nuclear material needed per construction tick.
  
• +Added generic t0 equipment to Bob’s Towing for if people get stuck.
  
• Increase hull space of T16 Fortified, Laconia, Dementium and Adamantium kits by 100k to fit proper base progression.
  
• Adjusted the Twisted Fate of Death Blueprint to match the costs and material needs of other Twisted ships.
  
• Corrected tech of Twisted Fate of Death Upgrade Blueprint from T21 to T22.
  
• +Removed Minor Docking Base Augmenter from being sold at random AI bases.
  
• +Added the three Rudimentary Augmenters from Nexus to be sold at random AI bases.
  
• Added the following tags to all of the scanners to properly label them: Ship Scanner, Prospecting Scanner, Credit Scanner, Base Scanner, Planet Extraction Scanner, Galaxy Extraction Scanner. Note: Hull resistance and item scanners currently have the same ship scanner tag.
  
• Added Prospecting Beam tags to the Prospecting Tractors.
  
• Layer-bound the tweaks that drop within the Nexus. They will now decay when the player leaves the Nexus.
  
• Changed several dungeon gear crates (larger gear) to non-crate form to allow for mods now.
  
• +Added Jupiter Radial Lightning to Olympus Entrance station for exchange.
  
• Adjusted BNF and RNF items and drops to be in multiple drop lists and net increased the drop chances.
  
• Removed Trans Efficiency from augmenters and shifted it to other stats.
  
• Removed Not Too Badly Damaged Positronic Brain requirement from Particle, Singularity and Quantum Brake blueprints.
  
• Renamed Re-Tardis Station Extension to Sidrat Station Extension.
  
• Changed Aveksaka Submerger’s cooldown from 12 seconds to 30 seconds.
  
• Changed Twisted Essence’s cooldown from 5 seconds to 30 seconds. Reduced the elec per second.
  
• Made Carbon Hearts unable to be sold to the player via a colony anymore.
  
• Grinchy Tweak no longer is shipbound after opening the crate.
  
• Moved Arena Workers farther down the list in the trade bay and moved Psion Icicles farther up.
  
• Added to the description of Station Gear Token crates that they can be turned in at The Junkyard for items.
  
• Removed Zen of Devices being used on SuperTweaks. Buffed all SuperTweaks stats to include as if they had full neurotweaking.
  
• Balanced all capacitors. (Reflectivity capacitors will be reviewed during the vis rework.)
  
• Removed Infinite Knowledge requirement from Armada, Armada Inferno, Armada Ambush and Armada Charge Drones.
  
• Tweaked the description on the Seer Nanite Device superitems to be clearer about what they do.
  
• Bubble Drones now allow the placement of drones within the bubble after deployment.
  
• Moved Base Overloaders, Pulse Guns and MagCannons into the Base Gear Blueprint packs. They will no longer be sold individually.
  
• Adjusted particle effects on the following weapons:
  
• Capital Death Trebuchet Driver
  
• Blossom and Lacerating line of weapons
  
• Dvezula Zakti
  
• Selenite Annihilator Cannon
  
• Polarized Catapult
  
• rat1
  

[AI Changes]

• Cybernetic Interceptors now drop better loot.
  
• Changed Kalos Anthos uber to weekly lockout and buffed loot.
  
• Reduced Critical Resistance of King Khan Kilrathi (Primal Lion) from 900% to 30% and increased his Zen of Calmness to 100.
  
• Sentinel of adum now has an Adum’s Radar (to see low vis characters).
  
• The High Prophet can no longer die and prevent the players from getting loot.
  
• Buffed the drops of Heated Metals from Vulcan bosses.
  
• Reduced the Target Dummies speed from 50 to 0 so they don’t move when the galaxy is in sleepy mode.
  
• Changed Twisted Fate of Death and Twisted Nikolia ‘s warp mechanic. The wormhole will no longer prevent it and may warp in any directions.
  
• +Four of the Jiqazuk UrQa Light Fighters in the Akuq’ba lobby and four in the Bakii’Qa boss room have been fixed to target the closest enemies instead of weakest, matching the rest of their spawners.
  
• Added a new rare augmenter to drop from Qokujiii Qa’ik in Iq’Bana.
  
• Drones
  

[Universe Changes]

• +Changed Kalthi Depths’ shape and size.
  
• +Re-added Neutron Laser, and Neutron Laser II, to all ais station in the Color Empires so players will not have to go outside of the zone to obtain in order to complete the missions there.
  
• +Adjusted Bonnet Loot and Items.
  
• +Reduced the required level of Infinite Knowledge from 20 to 10 to dock at Serengeti Research Labs.
  
• +Changed Zebra Armada Crest conversion missions to Honorary Diploma and Honorary Mentions into Alternative Currency and placed on the Serengeti Research Labs station.
  
• Reduced the respawn time of the Temporal Anomalies from 6 minutes to 2 minutes
  
• +Locked Serengeti Research Labs station to Premium Only.
  
• +Visual improvements to Blanco
  
• +Moved base-related gear from Free Market and Acropolis AI stations to a new station in Building Academy Entrance called “Advanced Station Research Facility”.
  
• Made sure all types of randomly generated solar systems contain at least one sun.
  
• Updated and streamlined countless missions.
  
• +Fixed the wormholes in Bedrock Depths, part of the Vulcan zone, to properly lock the instance entrance.
  
• +Added new names to the universe generation galaxy list.
  
• +Corrected incorrect trade bay turns in for the the Proficiency augmenters (had the buy/sell backwards)
  
• +Removed the ability to place TSL (Storage Tab) on the towing station in Sol or Arena Lobby due to new players wasting all their credits due to misclicks.
  
• +Made the Entrances to Captain Kidd, Ancalagon the Black and Red Photon owned galaxies to better be able to be identified from the Galaxy map.
  
• +Lowered the orbit speed of the Perpetual Madness base to allow for easier docking in slightly slower ships.
  
• +Added new drone controllers to Perpetual Motion
  
• +Added Radar 16 to Maboule’s Hideout in Handel’s Cove.
  
• +Removed Drone Deployment from Serpica.
  

[Mods]

• Mods and aug stats will no longer apply from non-active weapons. Only applies mods and aug stats of the weapon that is last fired. If no weapon was fired – the first weapon in the list will be used. Multifiring only applies the mods and aug stats to the actively selected weapon and will not stack multiplies.
  
• Increased Hostility on evil modded weapons by 50% and doubled damage mod on evil modded weapons (10% to 15% and 1% to 2% at tech 10).
  
• Radioactive mods now give a constant amount of elec each from 5 to 16 elec per second depending on tech level.
  
• Increased XP and crit chance mod values on Super Intelligent modded weapons by 50% (base of 2% to 3% at tech 10)
  

[Towing]

• Removed losing hate on spirit death. Replaced with removing all hate to AI within a galaxy on tow.
  
• Allowed for bots to be towed from a towing station even when not in stasis.
  
• When using the towing feature at a towing base, the base will no longer tow ships that do not respect the ship tech level limits of the towing base’s galaxy.
  
• The towing base selection for players and bots in stasis (when a player docks an escape pod/spirit with their ship or in the bot’s option menu) will no longer include towing bases in galaxies that can not support the tech level of the ship.
  
• Community_Test_Gal
  

[System]

• Removed the ‘Invite into Team’ option from the X menu on AI.
  
• All radiation weapons are ethereal. All non-radiation weapons no longer have ethereal.
  
• Drones now have a visual indicator that changes from blue to yellow to red. Ultimately will flash red when inactive. Drones deployment time standardized by tech ranges.
  
• Distribute the damage dealt by a failing overloader to all the weapons being multifired by a failing overloader, reducing the individual weapon damage but the net cost being the same as not MFing.
  
• Fixed poor wording of the credit cost / hull of the TSL tooltip.
  
• Added event message that tells players if they have entered an open pvp galaxy.
  
• Updated Content guide for training certain skills.
  
• Galaxy API (and by extension, universe map on website) will no longer update for the first 4 hours of a universe.
  
• Made it so that /outfithull will now be run on player ships on login, as well as active bots. (Does not affect docked ships.)
  
• Replaced several old mentions of slave with bot.
  
• Added repair costs in the event log to each line when you repair things in your ship, and added a total repair cost at the end if you repair multiple items
  
• Aug stats on items will now only start to deteriorate with item durability starting at 50% durability.
  
• Added a more descriptive error message when you don’t have enough energy to deploy a permanent drone.
  
• Set bases to drop 25% of their credits on death, instead of a varied amount.
  
• Made mobile drones consider the size of the wormhole when warping (e.g. Serengeti / Oly wormholes).
  
• Added new “Show Stats” button to the ‘x’ menu for drones and bots to get a window similar to /showstatsources.
  
• Changed “Insufficient shields to initiate transwarp.” to “Insufficient shields to initiate transwarp. Need 75%.” for clarity reasons.
  
• New /like commands/behaviour:
  
• /like now only works for liking an individual player. If you are on a team and at rank of officer or above, it’ll also like that player for your team.
  
• /liketeam is a new command and only works for liking a team. It likes everyone on the specified team. If you are on a team and at rank of officer or above, it’ll also like everyone on that team for everyone on your team.
  

[Bugs]

• Fixed bug with adding random AI base skills to stations after a server restart.
  
• Fixed where sometimes combat bots in guard location mode wouldn’t fire at enemies.
  
• Fixed the bug where AI and combat bots wouldn’t know to use their new ethereal radiation projectiles to shoot through stuff at their target.
  
• Fixed code that broke ship model banking when turning in non-orthographic mode.
  
• Fixed so you cannot transwarp to a galaxy you are already in and waste the charge.
  
• Fixed issue with translocating (brakes) onto a solar body.
  
• Fixed where Enveloping Monkey, Seer Backstab, and Sniper Marksman were incorrectly affecting super item damage.
  
• Fixed an issue with Micron and Crucible that kept warps open for 5 minutes after using a keysync. Will only stay open for 10 seconds after using the key now.
  
• Fixed the bug where critical hits from superitems didn’t have the base critical hit strength (50%).
  
• Can only get healing aggression/hate passed on with transference damage type. This will prevent aggro snowballs like in subspace when healing enemies with non transference damage.
  

Announcements ↑ 2021·02·01 by Kilando
Earthforce Bulletin:

“We here at Earthforce pride ourselves in protecting and informing the citizens of the intergalactic community. Due to the sheer arrogance of the Kalthi, the universal rupture has reached near critical mass.  Outlying sectors of the universe are experiencing spatial anomalies and abnormal time dilations. We have instructed the Lyceum Observatory to closely monitor the situation.

Whether you reside in our space or mingle with the Kalthi scum, we would like to remind all citizens of the impending destabilization of the universe. Anyone that has instituted automated trade routes, erected trading posts or left random space junk inside or outside of Earth Force borders are recommended to cease operations and collect your assets.  The universe will collapse on February 13th, 2021.  Destabilization is imminent! “

Dev Note:  Credits on active bots, bases and permanent drones will be lost at the end of the universe. Player ships will not be affected.

The universe reset will be held on Saturday, February 13th.
BST: 18:00
EST: 13:00
CST: 12:00
MST: 11:00
PST: 10:00
UTC: 18:00

Tentative Future Reset Dates
June 12, 2021
October 9, 2021

Announcements ↑ 2021·01·05 by Kilando

EMERGENCY NOTICE BREAKING NEWS:

Reports are coming in from multiple expedition teams that an unknown organism is rampaging through known space!

According to an unnamed Earthforce official and an eyewitness report, an unidentified interplanetary fishing trawler managed to catch a rare species of Cosmic Space Lobster in the midst of Earthforce Space. According to the eyewitness, instead of properly reporting the rarity to the authorities, they decided to store the creature — improperly — in the officer’s mini fridge.

By the time the workers returned to their shift the next day, the fridge was missing along with half of the desks! The organism was last seen engaging in numerous battles with civilians and militant groups in Perilous Space.

Earthforce has officially posted a warning to avoid the entity as a battle with it could result in a destabilization of the universe as we know it if it absorbs any more space fairing travelers.

The Kalthi have ignored the warning, and the scientists at Lyceum have reported rupturing of the space-time continuum that will reach its peak on February 13th 2021.

At that time, the universe will implode, creating another in its place — credits on active bots will be lost at the end of the universe alongside any bases and permanent drones. Player ships will not be affected.

The universe reset will be held on Saturday, February 13th.
BST: 18:00
EST: 13:00
CST: 12:00
MST: 11:00
PST: 10:00
UTC: 18:00


Tentative Future Reset Dates
June 12, 2021
October 9, 2021