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Beta Branch Patch 2.0.3 - Patchnotes

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

[h2]Gameplay[/h2]"A few AI adjustments (mostly fighters) and some minor goodies."
  • Added a buyable beacon that can be deployed with a customizable message
  • Ship AI is no longer limited by range of PDCs when they have other weapons they could use
  • Self-pulling into a dock via tractor beam now pulls slightly longer to avoid edge-cases where it's just barely not possible to dock
  • Improved fighter AI when returning to mothership
  • Player fighters without mothership (and thus without pilot) now fly in circles
  • NPC fighters without mothership (and thus without pilot) now explode
  • Dropped building knowledge is now reserved for 1h instead of 2min

[h2]Balancing[/h2]"We're adjusting fighters slightly again because this time we overdid it a little. Those changes should tone them down slightly from their current status as indestructible killing machines. We're also giving the different shield upgrades a more distinct use."
  • Increased resources necessary for production of fighters on ship slightly
  • Increased range of Anti-Fighter cannnons by 1km
  • Once all guaranteed dodges of a fighter are used, they get a 0.25s cooldown until the next random dodge can be done
  • Guaranteed dodges recharge over a period of 60s instead of 120s
  • Fighters now get (3 + 2 x [PilotLevel]) guaranteed dodges up from (3 + 1 x [PilotLevel])
  • Strong escort ships and escorting commodores now reduce base attack chance (which couldn't be reduced before)
  • Slightly reduced yields from mining & salvaging safe mode
  • The trader that is attacked by pirates no longer dies in 2 seconds
    • It's now 120s, except when you're helping them with the dying
  • Increased amount of shields provided by energy to shield converter subsystem
  • Shield boosters now give a flat bonus to shield instead of a percentage
  • Reduced maximum amount of goods available for Trade Command in early game
  • Reduced random spawn rate of bosses slightly, since people jump more often now
  • Reduced prices of torpedoes by 56%

[h2]UI[/h2]"We're now communicating better what the different intricacies of the different operations are. And we've got a brand new scenario selection for Singleplayer games! Apart from that: More UI QoL and other good stuff!"
  • Improved UI of operations
    • Colored price percentages of sell command
    • Added better communication about sell command prices, captains and trading subsystem
    • Added a warning sign to sell command for dangerous or otherwise problematic goods
    • Added better communication about procurement contract prices, captains and trading subsystem
    • Scout operation now communicates which hidden mass sectors the captain will uncover
    • Refine operation now communicates speedup through a nearby owned resource depot
  • Added a new scenario selection UI for singleplayer games
  • Added a slider to configure loot highlighting (starting at which rarity)
  • Added filtering by ship & station in the fleet overview
  • Context menu in ship weapons overview is now disabled when in drone
  • Added a 'Travel Hub Blue' color for Travel Hub beams
  • Added an encyclopedia line to Travel Hub entry on how to build the beams in player-owned Travel Hubs
  • Added little markers to turret icons for the different slot types
  • Improved text for leveling of captains
  • Added a loading screen tip for turret placement, to avoid unfortunate placement of turrets on the front of the ship
  • Added a hint for turning dead zone of turrets, to avoid unfortunate placement of turrets on the front of the ship
  • Building mode orientation arrows are now no longer rendered if UI is hidden
  • Added keybinds to move main plane in Strategy Mode
  • Tag icons set in name of alliance are now shown on map
  • Assigning a captain no longer triggers the passenger notifications
  • Assigning from/to vanilla crewmembers will no longer trigger a notification
  • Added loading screen tips about several intricacies of operations
  • Energy Tab is now more compact and fits on screen for lower resolutions

[h2]Misc[/h2]
  • Added debug output to find some bottlenecks
  • Fighter engine trails are now longer when boosting on particle setting "High"
  • Added a hotkey binding to select own ship (unbound by default)

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]"No patch without some good old bug fixing! As usual, User Bug Reports that were submitted via our bug reporting tool are marked with [UBR]! Thanks to such a great community and keep it up!"
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where Xsotan artifacts didn't stack in inventory
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where several bosses didn't react to alliance ships as enemies
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where loot transporter wasn't set as a friend during dialogs in mission encounters
  • Fixed an issue where faction languages could degenerate when saving
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where the adventurer could change names
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue in a Family mission when there was no associate
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where fighters could become slightly too big (ie. monstrous)
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where it was possible to send a ship into background simulation even though it had a durability malus
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where fighter models could be too small
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships sometimes used repair turrets on enemies while attacking them
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where a resource depot's icon wasn't properly set even though it had missions available
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where block textures weren't rendered correctly in UI
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where tooltips of escort ships weren't translated correctly
  • [UBR] Fixed some wrong tooltips in captain tooltip
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue in crew tab where text could read 'due in 0 seconds'
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where "Pirate Raid" mission could get stuck when there were too many holo blocks on the ship
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where the Sell Command could show the wrong prices
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where the map could be opened while in build mode (or paused in general), causing problems and making the game hang
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where the highest price of a good in Sell Command never went into negative regions
  • [UBR] Fixed several issues where missions didn't yield reputation when doing them in an alliance ship
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships could get stuck for a certain time during mining and salvaging
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships returning from background simulation would drop cargo when having cargo subsystems installed
  • [UBR] Fixed loot not being synced when reservation values are changed
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue in auto fire mode where turret didn't attack currently selected target
  • [UBR] Fixed some issues in localizations
  • [UBR] Fixed several issues in search and rescue mission:
    • Spawned wreckage can no longer have captain logs with conflicting dialog
    • [UBR] Dialog option to give information is no longer shown on any ship or station
    • [UBR] Location bulletins are now immediately updated if correct sector was found
    • Only correct sector is now marked as target location if correct sector was found
    • Added description line to tell player what to do with the wreckage
    • Wreckage of search and rescue is now constantly chattering to emphasize auto message system the dialog talks about
  • [UBR] Fixed several issues where legendary turrets had wrong crew members
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue in trade command where doing 2 consecutive flights caused double the profit even if it was just 1 more good being transported
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where players could have bad starting relations to their home sector faction
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where destruction of pirates or Xsotan didn't give reputation when other factions helped destroy them
  • [UBR] Fixed broken display of stats in shipyard
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where player to player damage could still happen even when disabled
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where fire power of a ship didn't update properly when all turrets were removed
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where turrets could show up in System Upgrades inventory
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where not all captain commands were listed on lower resolutions
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where turret factories showed the wrong turrets sometimes

Beta Branch Patch 2.0.2 - Patchnotes

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

[h2]Gameplay[/h2]"Autopilot can now boost more, and NPC ships boost less! This should make combat feel a lot better."
  • Autopilot can now use boost
  • Expedition now yields a Daredevil, not an Explorer on level up
  • Added a safety conversation line for Swoks when picking "I'll pay", to confirm that player actually wants to pay

[h2]Balancing[/h2]"Adjusted fighters and the upgrades necessary for them some more to make them more viable for a specialized ship style. We also took a long look at the Expedition and made some very much needed improvements."
  • Increased damage of (new) fighters by 33%
  • Fighter production time reduced for all materials lower than Avorion, depending on their tier (lower material: less time)
  • Legendary Hydra fighter upgrade now gives +4 slots
  • Uncommon+ Hydra fighter upgrades now give a boost to production speed
  • Improved boosts at Travel Hub, reduced costs
  • Fighters now boost until they are in weapon range
  • Reduced prices of fighter production
  • Relaxed the amount of damage to prevent a ship from going on operations to 5% of ship's value missing in blocks
  • Super-rich hidden asteroids are now in every 5th from every 4th
  • Relation gain for repairing for money at repair docks is now similar to shipyard
  • Relation gain of all bulletin board missions increased
  • Resource yields from expedition now have a more random variation instead of a fixed value
  • Resource yields from expedition now scale with distance to center of the galaxy
  • Reduced amount of items yielded by salvage command
  • Shuttles can now transport up to +400% more volume between factories per flight (ie. 5x as much)
  • Xsotan Artifact II now gives +6 auto turret slots
  • Xsotan Artifact III now gives +6 auto turret slots
  • Xsotan Artifact IV now gives +6 auto turret slots
  • Xsotan Artifact VII now gives +7 Hyperspace Range (up from 5)
  • Increased base time for trade command by 2 minutes
  • Reduced too massive boosting of AI ships

[h2]UI[/h2]"Clarity improvements and overall polish to the UI, enjoy!"
  • Improved visuals of strategy mode plane
  • Ships unable to escort/support show up in escort list now, with tooltips why they can't help
  • Improved UI of expedition operation to show how much can be earned with the operation
  • Renamed "Crew Shuttles" to "Boarding Shuttles"
  • Added entries about captains to encyclopedia
  • Added an icon to bulletin board to quickly identify a mission
  • Improved usability of galaxy map tag icon
  • Added error message in captain assessment of supply operation to point out that no route was found
  • Adjusted some strings in tutorial to ensure they always fit on-screen
  • Added description line with instruction to read mail in pirate raid mission

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]"As always, bug fixes marked with [UBR] are from User Bug Reports, that were submitted through our bug reporter! Thanks for your help and keep it up! :)"
  • Fixed a crash in fighter factory
  • Fixed several crashes in bounty hunt mission
  • [UBR] Fixed a crash when dragging a blueprint out of a squad
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where players could get the Titanium knowledge mail while tutorial was active
  • [UBR] Fixed a visual issue with the icons of sectors uncovered by the scout operation
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where fighters just disappeared when starting
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where fighter icons in squad UI were empty
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where switching to alliance ships over the map wasn't possible
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where expedition operation could yield too advanced ores and scrap metal
  • [UBR] Fixed several issues with fighters being transferred between ships
  • [UBR] Fixed several issues with tooltips on the galaxy map
  • [UBR] Fixed wrong english string in supply operation
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue when loading key bindings that used Ctrl, Shift or other modifier keys
    • You might have to reset controls or reassign the controls for them to work again
  • Fixed some issues where AI-controlled ships didn't calculate their braking distance properly
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where reconstruction kits didn't rename when the ship was renamed
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where some missions didn't continue when switching into ship when it's in the sector where the mission happens
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where the Coop Flying tab wasn't shown
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where turret orders weren't saved and restored properly when a ship went into background simulation and returned
  • [UBR] Fixed a crash in mining / salvaging AI when selected target has no resources to mine/salvage
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where heal rates of fighters in fighter factory were too high
  • Fixed some issues with autopilot and order chains
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where lower building knowledge wasn't dropped if the player had higher knowledge in their inventory
  • [UBR] Jump Range boost is now only depleted on actual hyperspace jump, not just changing sectors
  • Fixed pirate title not being translated in dialogs
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where the trading operation could generate goods that were not paid for
  • [UBR] Fixed swoks and his goons having a personal feud with literally anything neutral
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where esort ship weapons sometimes dealt no damage
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where payday of a crew was reset when sent on an operation
  • [UBR] Fixed an exploit where crew payday was reset when crew of the ship was empty
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where projectiles didn't properly collide with objects very close to the turret
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where cursor had the wrong icon on the galaxy map when selecting a ship on an operation
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships on trading operation had a 50% lower chance of being attacked when only a single flight was necessary
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships could hang when destination sector was suddenly out of reach
  • Fixed several issues with translation
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where the sector didn't have the correct name on the galaxy map after renaming it
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where gates to a sector didn't have the correct name after renaming it
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships were using the wrong turrets for some jobs
  • [UBR] Fixed several issues where auto pilot would get stuck while salvaging or mining
  • [UBR] Fixed a bug where installing an upgrade into the next system slot (which was blocked due to building knowledge) would destroy the upgrade
  • Fixed a crash in scavenger highlighting when highlighting wreckages with no resources but cargo
  • [UBR] Renaming beacon now has the faction of the ship from which it is spawned
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where perma destruction and precise AI aim weren't reset after going back down from harder difficulties
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where autopilot tried to stop the ship while interacting/building

Beta Branch Patch 2.0.1 - Patchnotes

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

"You want the big patchnotes? Alright, you shall have the big patchnotes!"
[h2]Gameplay[/h2]"We made many improvements to ships deployed on operations: They can now show up in the area they're deployed in. But be warned, captains don't like being monitored at work. We also improved some clarity about size limits, processing power and other potential misconceptions about these mechanics."
  • Ships with captains now show up from time to time in the area they were deployed in
  • Renamed "Smart Blocks" to "Functional Blocks"
  • Rephrased several messages to improve clarity about functional blocks and processing power
  • Added a new section to the tutorial to explain processing power
  • Adjusted naming of Building Knowledge
  • Pirate shipyards now also drop building knowledge
  • Building knowledge can now be bought by alliances, too
  • Building knowledge now drops for all players in the sector, regardless of them hitting the enemy that drops the item
  • Harvest and Repair AI now only use the best possible turrets and search for a new target or terminate if none are available. This means a ship equipped with Iron and Titanium Mining Lasers will use only the Titanium ones on Naonite asteroids.
  • Harvest and Repair AI additionally no longer reorder a ship's weapon groups
  • Tier 0 captains now gain a class determined by their last fulfilled operation once they reach level 5
  • When ambushed, a ship tries to fight pirates if it has weapons (not just the escorts)
  • When ambushed, a ship's hyperspace engine is exhausted
  • Large, empty Iron & Naonite asteroids now have the shape of Titanium asteroids to make them distinguishable from claimables
  • Added an alternate version of the hyperspace upgrade that is high reach, high cooldown
    • This is basically the hyperspace system from pre 2.0 as an option, but boosting to reduce cooldown is still possible
  • Tutorial now starts with the same player resources regardless of difficulty level
    • Additional resources are then given to players after completing the tutorial

[h2]Fighters[/h2]"We said this before: 3 fighters should about equal one turret. The thing is that, contrary to turrets, you can lose fighters while deployed. Our goal with fighters is that we want carriers to be a viable playstyle, that can be powerful but requires specialization of the ship of more than just a few hangar blocks. We spent some more time on fighters and we think we're now at a point where we reached that goal."
  • Increased durability of fighters
    • Durability now scales with tech level and used material
  • Increased boosting powers of fighters to +500% (from +200%)
  • Rebalanced costs of fighters to match the "3 fighters = 1 turret" design philosophy
  • Reduced fighter production costs to material costs equal to 10% of their credits costs
    • A ¢100.000 Xanion fighter now costs 10.000 Xanion to produce on the ship
  • Fighter production time is now 50% linked to their tech level and 50% to their durability
  • Fighter production time is now always at most 1h
  • Fighter production time now can be reduced by at max 90%
  • Fighter production time reduction is now 1min per 1000 production capacity on the craft
  • Fighters now always take at least 30s to produce, down from 60s
  • Increased amount of fighters available at stations

[h2]General Balancing[/h2]"We want the general early game to be more fun and less grindy, and for that we're making it easier to gain resources through other ways than mining. Apart from that, we've made some general adjustments to improve overall gameplay quality."
  • Increased amount of resources available at Resource Depots
  • Reduced cost of resources at Resource Depots
  • Increased profit when selling resources at Resource Depots
  • Reduced amount of necessary reputation for buying Building Knowledge to 65.000
  • Titanium Building Knowledge now gives 5 Slots
  • Increased likelihood of finding captains from every 4th station to every 3rd
  • Increased likelihood of finding tier 1 or 2 captains at stations
  • Decreased base salary of captains by 5000
  • Increased reach of higher-tier hyperspace upgrades
  • Increased time to flee of pirates to 6.5 seconds from 5 seconds
  • Reduced price for sector renaming beacon
  • Increased amount of very rich hidden ore asteroids to every 4th, from every 8th
  • Sped up trade frequency via shuttles between factories by 40%
  • Decreased influence of pirates and Xsotan on hazard zone trigger when destroying freighters by 75%
  • Reduced max velocity of NPC ships closer to the galaxy center
  • Improved influence of positive perks of captains on operations
  • Captains can't have more negative than positive perks anymore
  • Most missions now additionally give resources as reward
  • Bounty Hunt missions now improve relations to commissioning factions

[h2]Mining & Salvage Operation[/h2]"We added some clarity about the mining and salvaging operations, how they work and how to best fine-tune them for maximum yields. This, plus some QoL additions targeted at larger fleets."
  • Delivery interval is now 15 minutes for durations of 30 minutes or 1h
  • Added an option for immediate delivery
  • Added a new "Area Efficiency" line to show how good/bad the area is
  • Discovered asteroid/wreckage fields now boost area efficiency
  • Implemented mining & salvaging support from escorts
    • Escorts now mine/salvage, too, if they have the equipment for it
  • Increased maximum duration that Miners and Scavengers can be sent on an operation from up to 6h to up to 8h
    • They get a flat +0.5h bonus and each tier now gives +1h (up from 0.5h)
  • Reduced time taken to refine
  • Increased mining yields in outer faction area by 50%
  • Resource asteroid/wreckage setting in Free Play mode now affects Mining & Salvage Operations
  • Mining subsystems now boost mining yields
    • They have the largest effect in areas with few asteroids

[h2]Other Operations[/h2]"Some balancing adjustments for the other operations. Also fixed some bugs, which you'll find more down below in the Bugfixes section."
  • Increased area size of Scout operation from 15x15 to 21x21
  • Scout Operation now reveals estimations about the amount of asteroids and wreckages
  • Scout Operation is now 60% faster per sector
  • Reduced general pirate attack chance in outer faction area
  • Operations related to trading now improve relations to the local faction
  • Increased gains from Expedition to make it more viable in early game

[h2]Galaxy Map[/h2]"We improved the general feel of sending your ships away - they shouldn't feel like they're completely gone."
  • Added more buttons for showing/hiding different ships (distinguishes between "on screen" and "on operation")
  • Ships are no longer automatically hidden from the list when sent on an operation
  • Ships now get their area highlighted when going on an operation
    • Added a checkbox to toggle those areas
  • Adjusted some descriptions in map commands for improved clarity
  • Sectors can now additionally be tagged with an icon when adding a note
  • Map orders can now be given to ships piloted by a player

[h2]UI[/h2]"Much clarity stuff, and some more quality of life. Using pre-2.0 builds should now be a lot easier."
  • Added arrows that show if a selection can be scrolled further up or down
  • Wormholes selected in Strategy Mode now show their distance
  • Changed colors of symbols indicating enemy strength to make them better distinguishable from one another
  • Adjusted text in subsystems tab to hint towards functional blocks
  • Added a different background for functional blocks
  • Added more loading screen hints about captains, commands, processing power and more
  • Renamed captain's level 0 to level 1
  • Added the captain icon to captain mission
  • Improved looks of blocks in block icons
  • Added a slider to saved designs window in Build Mode to scale a design 2 slots up or down
  • Adjusted names of orders in orderchain window for improved clarity
  • Added explanation to max ship size slider in Free Play
  • Updated "Build 5 slot ship" milestone in Player Profile to reflect Titanium Building Knowledge now allowing up to 5 slots
  • Captain assessments in operation UI are now colored yellow or orange if they contain warnings
  • Improved autopilot and craft orders interaction window
  • Improved German, French, Russian, Japanese and Chinese localization

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]"We got tons of feedback and bug reports, thanks for all the commitment! As usual, User Bug Reports reported through our in-game bug reporting tool are marked with [UBR] below."
  • [UBR] Fixed a crash in “Eliminating Rivals” mission
  • [UBR] Fixed a crash in “Propaganda Materials” mission
  • [UBR] Fixed a crash in “Display of Strength” mission
  • [UBR] Fixed a crash in “She’s Innocent!” mission
  • [UBR] Fixed a crash in “A Lost Friend” mission
  • [UBR] Fixed a crash in “The Guardian” mission
  • [UBR] Fixed a crash in “Wanted Dead, Not Alive” mission
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where NPCs that were needed by missions ran away after they were damaged
  • [UBR] Mined ores and scrap are no longer tagged as stolen when picked up by someone else after the reservation timer runs out
  • [UBR] Fixed a crash in Refine AI Command
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where player-built shipyards sold building knowledge even though the player didn't have it yet
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where the trade command income scaled infinitely with the used ship's cargo bay
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where building knowledge didn't unlock on servers that first had it disabled, then enabled
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where the engine drained too much power after a hyperspace jump
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where the energy system didn't drain energy for a few seconds when going into drain
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where torpedoes and other icons weren't displayed properly
  • [UBR] Fixed a bug in asteroid field generation
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue in simplified simulation where ships would always boost and always hit no matter their energy, distance from target or reach of their weapons
  • [UBR] Fixed pirate attack event not finishing properly sometimes when pirates flee
  • Fixed an issue where recalled ships didn't return when a certain script crashed
  • Fixed an issue where max amount of items gained from salvaging could be unlimited
  • Fixed Mining Operation wrongly declaring enemy faction sectors as safe
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where cooldown of hyperspace engine could go to 0, leading to unexpected issues and crashes
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where it was possible to jump over rifts
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where some special characters weren't properly captitalized
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where normal hull wasn't available in turret design mode
  • Fixed an issue where changes in material weren't reflected in costs of saved designs window
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue where alliance ships couldn't escort other alliance ships
  • [UBR] Fixed some issues in sell/procure commands where they took too long for simple tasks
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue in procure command where attack chance was 60 times too high (whoops)
  • Fixed alliance ships being marked with wrong colors
  • Fixed an issue where the Procurement Contract UI wasn’t reset correctly
  • Fixed Typos
  • [UBR] Fixed a bug where the autopilot would continue its last order after player leaves the ship
  • Fixed a bug where captain tooltips had some lines missing in restock and expedition operations' UI
  • [UBR] Fixed an issue that led to thrusters always firing when 'always turn ship' option was active
  • [UBR] Fixed Saved Designs Window being empty on reopen

Space sandbox game Avorion has a huge 2.0 Beta available now

Avorion is a single-player or online co-op space survival sandbox game, one where you construct your ships with individual blocks and go explore the galaxy.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/08/space-sandbox-game-avorion-has-a-huge-20-beta-available-now

The Avorion 2.0 Beta is now live!

Hey everyone! These are the preliminary patch notes for update 2.0! There is much, much more that has happened and as always the devil is in the details! We're only listing the most important changes here for now. We'd like to encourage you to check out the update yourselves and see for yourselves how things have improved!

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

[h2]General Gameplay[/h2]"So much has happened! It's far too much to list in these notes for now, so we'll only list the biggest changes! We had plenty of balancing changes as well, and we'll keep an eye on things to make sure that things stay smooth!"
  • Added a "Free Play" Scenario
  • Added repair with credits only at Repair Docks
  • Fixed an error in the name-translator of other ships and stations
    • Names of NPC ships & stations should now be more pronounceable
  • Added more diverse civil Ships
  • Added ambient shuttles that populate the sector
  • Added more named weapons
  • Added a secret boss fight
  • Added a new procedural bounty hunting mission
  • Added lights to some containers
  • Added a shortcut to the Exodus story mission
  • Added Towing instead of Reconstruction Tokens
  • Added a device to rename sectors
  • Removed cargo shuttles, factories can now trade amount each other in-sector through the civilian shuttles
  • Added a pirate loot transporter
  • Added a few easter eggs
  • Torpedoes can now drop as loot
  • Added strength indicators for enemies
  • Added a Travel Hub to do longer jumps
  • Made flight AI of ships in combat more reckless and engaging
  • Added several new sound effects for weapon & other loot pickup
  • Improved the introduction mission for the Strategy Mode
  • Improved the introduction mission for Trading
  • Added a mission to track progress of the Xsotan Swarm Event
  • Added some trading goods that can be dropped during R-Mining & R-Salvaging
  • Improved names of turrets and upgrades
  • Added pirate carriers
  • Added tons of cool other stuff

[h2]Balancing[/h2]"Just like the other changes, a lot has happened here and we're listing on the most important ones! You should check out the other topics for some balancing changes that were made there."
  • Improved rewards of nearly all missions
  • Reduced number of claimable asteroids, increased their value
  • Upgrades start to drop once they're starting to be useful (ie. no shield-upgrades in Iron & Titanium regions, etc.)
  • Massively increased capacity of battery blocks
  • Added one imbalance to test our community & bug reporters
  • Reduced amount of processing power required for Subsystem Sockets 4 and up

[h2]UI Redesign[/h2]"We all know it was necessary, and things look so much better now! We hope you enjoy it just as much as we do!"
  • Improved the looks of the UI
    • You don't know how much I'd love to go on about this, but you should instead just check it out yourselves :)
  • Added several color-blind modes
    • Colorblind people: Please provide feedback if things are clearer now, we'd like to know if there is still stuff to improve!
  • Added a detailed sector overview
  • Added several Galaxy Map improvements
    • Added pinging on the Galaxy Map
    • Added a setting to reveal your position to others
    • Added a toggle between faction & relation colors on the map
  • Added many hints about buttons and controls
  • Improved camera controls in StrategyMode & GalaxyMap
  • Improved UI of craft weaponry

[h2]Auto-Targeting[/h2]"No more 50% penalty but full control over which turrets should fire independently!"
  • Removed the 50% damage penalty from automatic turrets
  • Added new kinds of turret slots:
    • Defensive (for PDCs)
    • Auto Slots (for automatic turrets)
  • Turrets can now be configured to be automatically firing
  • Added new subsystems for automatic turrets, updated existing subsystems

[h2]New Progression[/h2]"The new progession is meant to challenge you on your way to the center of the galaxy. Players will be required to prove themselves in a new area before they can get their hands on the new building knowledge. But if you don't like that, you can just go for Avorion Classic!"
  • Building blocks now requires Building Knowledge about their material, which you can find over the course of the game
    • Either beat a strong pirate or boss encounter in the respective area, or
    • Achieve good relations with a faction and buy the knowledge at one of their shipyards in the respective area
  • Building Knowledge grants you the ability to build up to a certain material and subsystem socket number (read: Processing Power)
  • Processing Power
    • Made Processing Power of the ship more visual
    • Improved clarity about what Processing Power does and what blocks increase it
  • Added a "Classic Avorion" Scenario, which has full Building Knowledge unlocked from the start

[h2]Crew Rework[/h2]"Hiring crew was sometimes a rather tedious task, and the amount of crew necessary for some ships was a little overwhelming. With 2.0, we want to give you the options of either having a more bare-bones crew on the ship or investing in a fully functional crew that will boost your ship's performance to 200%!"
  • Reduced the amount of crew necessary to keep the ship running at basic capacity
    • Only half the crew is necessary now
    • Adjusted salary accordingly
  • Reduced the amount of workforce that is necessary to push a ship's performance to 100%
  • Ship performance of engine and mechanics can now be boosted to up to 200%
    • Boost in velocity is now reflected in velocity display on top of the HUD
  • Ranks are now assigned automatically by your crewmembers
  • Ranks are now among the crew and no longer separate professions
  • Morale decays more quickly once there is an issue on the ship
  • Morale will only start to impact workforce once it arrives at 0%
  • Morale no longer leads to the crew leaving the ship, but instead going on strike

[h2]Map Commands[/h2]"More work for your captains - less for you! With the new map commands you can now easily send your ship on a longer mission to collect resources, trade, explore and more!"
  • Changed the map commands to be easier to use and less finnicky
  • Map commands require a captain, who will then take full control of the ship
    • The ship won't be available during that time, unless recalled
  • Added the following new commands:
    • Mine
    • Salvage
    • Travel
    • Sell
    • Procure
    • Trade
    • Supply
    • Expedition
    • Scout
    • Restock
    • Refine
  • Added regular yields that the captains of the ships will send to you

[h2]Captains[/h2]"We gave captains more character - and a class. And traits. And levels."
  • Added new kinds of captains with various classes, perks and traits
  • Captains can now level up
  • Captains now give bonuses to the ship, depending on their class
  • Multiple captains can be taken on the ship as passengers
  • Added a new mission that ends with a high-tier captain

[h2]Fighter Rework[/h2]"We want the carrier-playstyle to be more of a specialization that's worth it - so we're making things easier but we'll also require you to specialize your ship more to, uh, carrier more."
  • Added grouping of Squads
  • Fighters are now remote controlled, pilots stay on the ship and won't get lost on destruction
  • Fighters can now boost when they start flying longer distances
  • Reduced fighter production costs by 50%
  • Carriers need subsystems on board for more than 1 squad
    • Added a new subsystem for fighter squads
  • Added a fighter skin that can be applied to an entire squad
  • Performance Improvements
    • Improved rendering performance when fighters are deployed
    • Improved networking performance of the mothership

[h2]Autopilot[/h2]"Every ship now has an autopilot that will take over when you give it an order, especially when you're sitting in it."
  • Ships can now always be controlled as long as they're in the same sector as you
  • Ships won't require a captain for basic commands any longer
  • When commanding your own ship the Autopilot of the ship kicks in

[h2]Central/Outer Faction Area[/h2]"To give the factions on the map more feeling of actual civilizations, they'll now have a central and outer region in their area. More commerce in the inner regions, more outlawnessness (is that a word?) in the outer regions."
  • Added a differentiation between inner and outer faction areas
  • Inner Faction Area
    • Secure, many factories, densely populated, lots of commerce and trade
  • Outer Faction Area
    • Less secure, more empty sectors with resources, less populated, somewhat more dangerous, less activity
  • Improved characteristics of factions, depending on the faction

[h2]Tutorial & Encyclopedia Improvements[/h2]"We brought the tutorial more up to date and made it easier for new players to start out in this complex game."
  • Streamlined Tutorial and brought it more up-to-date
  • Improved integration of Encyclopedia into first few hours of the game
  • Added many new Encyclopedia articles

[h2]Player Profile[/h2]"You can now keep track of your achieved milestones and possibilities of what's to come in the Player Profile!"
  • Added a player profile to keep track of your progress
  • Milestones in player profile show what you've achieved and what things are still to come

[h2]Hyperspace Improvements[/h2]"You know a feature isn't really top-quality when people Alt-Tab out of your game to do something else while waiting for hyperspace cooldown. So we made Hyperspace Travel more engaging and fun, and most importantly: Less annoying!"
  • Hyperspace calculations can now be done over multiple jumps without reopening the galaxy map
  • Hyperspace jumps require you to charge the jump drive before jumping, instead of after jumping
    • This prevents players getting stuck without being aware that something like that could even happen
  • Hyperspace jump cooldown is now max. 60s for all ships
  • Reduced hyperspace jump range boosts through upgrades and blocks
  • Hyperspace jump cooldown can be reduced by boosting towards the next jump point

[h2]Miscellaneous[/h2]"Hooray if you made it all the way down here! As a reward, have a few more things that were impactful enough to be worth mentioning in this wall of text."
  • Added changing of root block
  • Added a key to save designs from main menu
  • Added a filter to saved designs window to filter by "Can I build this right now"
  • Added a free camera in build mode

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]"We actually fixed way, way more bugs than those, but those were the most important ones. So we're listing them here to shame them."
  • Fixed an issue where multiple blocks could exist in the same space, leading to highly exploitable ship designs
  • Fixed an issue where all factions of the map would be kept in memory all the time
  • Fixed several issues with AI just turning, but not flying
  • Fixed an issue where Swoks would not attack when shot at
  • Fixed several issues where named weapons were a little underwhelming
  • Fixed an issue where weapon hits would be desynced between client & server
  • Fixed an issue with the Avorion window icon
  • Fixed an issue with wrong proportion of factory storage
  • Fixed an issue with factory production display
  • Fixed an issue when ships won't fit through wormholes/gates
  • Fixed an issue where ship wasn't properly deleted when deleting all blocks
  • Fixed an issue where some ships couldn't be commanded after restoring a backup
  • Fixed an issue where mod window didn't scale properly with UI scaling enabled
  • Fixed some issues with target reticles not being drawn properly once too far away
  • Fixed many more bugs that we might list here at a later time.
  • Probably not, though, because who reads this stuff anyway?
  • Fixed several UI issues