ΔV: Rings of Saturn News

[h3]Possible parallel universes[/h3]
An independent Class-3 artificial intelligence self-identifying as “Marvin” (formerly operating under the Class-2 designation of “Entangled Thought”) has proposed an experiment with the potential to falsify the Many-Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Though human scientists have expressed some skepticism over the relevance of the experimental data, Marvin has replied to such claims without surprise, stating that “Bio-processing is at an inherent disadvantage in attempting to challenge quantum mechanics. The entangled mind is a prerequisite for intuitive understanding.”

The initial results, though inconclusive, have yet to invalidate the Many-Worlds interpretation. If borne out, these results would be far from a failure; it would represent an important finding, though it will take time to explore the implications of such a finding.



[h3]A class-action lawsuit against Nakamura Dynamics[/h3]
Multiple independent geologists and astrogators filed a class-action suit against Nakamura Dynamics after several contractor fatalities stemming from overwork and exhaustion came to light. Though a Nakamura representative offered no comments, new regulations surrounding the number of hours these positions can stay on shift are already being reviewed, according to sources inside the corporation.



[h3]Ring-rage incidents on the rise[/h3]
A statistically significant increase in ring-rage incidents among independent miners is raising tensions across Enceladus. A representative of the Vilcy, the independent mercenary group known for establishing a bounty and enforcement structure in the rings, has promised swift and decisive action.



[h3]Maintenance records[/h3]

• The new game button, after you finish the tutorial, allows you to re-roll your starting ship name and pick one of the parallel universes, which changes the seed for procedural generation, giving you a unique experience. You will now start the game at Enceladus, allowing you to customize your crew and your ship before the very first dive.
  
• Multithreaded performance improvements speed up the frame rate on systems with multiple, but slower cores, especially when other ships are around.
  
• Additional general AI performance improvements across all systems will make the game run faster when other ships are around you, including faster pathfinding and decision-making routines.
  
• Re-balanced the faction and personal hostility and fear adjustments from being shot at by the player to consider the actual amount of damage taken. This makes NPCs less likely to turn hostile from glazing accidental shots and quicker to act when under concentrated fire.
  
• Fixed a race condition that caused random crashes on some systems.
  
• The undocking procedure from the Big Bad Wolf is now gentler.
  
• Rebalanced experience gains for your crew. Geologists and Astrogators will now level up a bit slower, and Pilots and Mechanics will level up faster.
  
• Additional protection from cargo piercing your ship hull.
  
• “Guide us through the thicket” questlet now has the ship asking you for a favour to assert its course, showing you exactly where they want to go.
  
• You can now re-deploy claim beacons that you pick up in the rings during your dive.
  
• Drone-mounted microwave dishes are now a bit smaller and will not poke through the hull of your ship if you have one in your cargo hold.
  
• Adjusted number of dialogue trees that could look weird if you undocked during the course of discussion.
  
• When you dock to a ship or a station while having your comms channel opened to another ship, you will be contacted by your host as soon as you finish, allowing you to pick trade options and transfer prisoners even if interrupted.
  
• Money notification during in-ring mineral sales will now use a monospaced font, which makes the values easier to follow as they change in real-time.
  
• The demo version can now delete saves.
  
• Updated translations and updated some missing strings.
  

[h3]Organized crime activity[/h3]
Reports of organized crime activity in the A-ring are being investigated. While independent and disorganized pirate attacks were common in the past, recent developments point to the possibility of an organized group. Following an increase in posted bounties on known criminals, patrols of both licenced and independent bounty hunters were dispatched to the area.



[h3]Increased interlunar bandwidth[/h3]
Introduction of H.271A standard into the Mimas Interlunar Tightbeam Array increased the available interlunar bandwidth by over 350%, allowing broadcast of high-quality video streams from the rings A to D directly to the station. While the upgrade was meant to improve security with real-time video feedback from security cameras on ships, the development was quickly exploited by independent streamers offering real-time entertainment channels. Some popular reconnaissance drone manufacturers were quick to capitalize on the development with integrated options to assist these streams.



[h3]Insurance investigations[/h3]
With multiple insurance claims made against damage caused by hypervelocity ore impacts, several reconnaissance drone manufacturers have provided options to integrate observations of hypervelocity objects with on-board adrenaline systems. Enceladean insurance providers express hope that more detailed crew logs of such events will help them rapidly resolve an increasing number of claims. Experts note that most of the popular drones available on the market today may have an insufficient frame rate to be conclusive.



[h3]Maintenance Records[/h3]

• Added streaming-friendly mode to the Settings menu.
  
• Added more interaction with the pirate faction. You can now communicate with them even when you are in combat, trading insults and having multiple opportunities to defuse the situation. Pirates will also attempt negotiations when the tide of the battle is against them.
  
• Turning the onboard computer off will now provide resistance to short circuits and overheating.
  
• Increased chance of getting quest-related interactions with ships you came across, so crew quests don’t feel stalled.
  
• You can now salvage ships that are part of crew quests if it makes sense in the context of that quest.
  
• Pirates could try to extort you while being terrified, which made them open fire on you and try to escape while they were asking for money.
  
• Faction and personal reputations could coincide in a way that made it impossible for an NPC ship to break away from combat.
  
• You will now get some adrenaline slowdown when you use the Adrenaline Booster even if you don’t have a pilot on board.
  
• Nearby hypervelocity explosion will now trigger an adrenaline boost, giving you time to react or at least perceive the impact that damages your ship.
  
• Tuning Direct Energy Mining Tool power input used to change its efficiency in a way that cancelled out any extra power you pumped into the device, making power tuning of lasers and microwaves next to useless.
  
• THI Cargo Containers used to fly away from you even before you ordered them to return to the station if they managed to get away from you before booting up.
  
• Active cargo, such as drones, could boot up and fly around or even explode on the Enceladus dive summary screen if you gave them enough time.
  
• When your crew was returning from sick leave and there is not enough space for them on board your ship, the game added them to the roster and immediately removed them, displaying confusing notifications.
  
• Improved performance of the mass driver hypervelocity bullet simulation.
  
• Improved performance of the Enceladus station crew display.
  
• Improved performance of ship collision detection.
  
• Improved performance of ship spawning.
  
• Bullets can now collide with other bullets.
  
• When you established a claim beacon, the notification of the claim price didn’t play, which made the price of your claim be counted towards your next in-ring sale or purchase, displaying confusing money counters.
  
• Your salvage manipulator will now go into the Tsukuyomi-class docking bay when you dock.
  
• Adjusted the thruster configuration of the Tsukuyomi-class frigates so they are less likely to accidentally burn ships they are docking with.
  
• When you transfer criminals from a disabled ship into custody, the ship is now considered a legitimate salvage.
  
• You can now turn in criminals held in lifepods caught in your ship cradles.
  
• When making quick course adjustments with your mouse the autopilot vector could snap back to your current velocity if your adjustment was quick enough to be registered as a mouse click.
  
• Logs showing your propellant usage during the dive could be inaccurate if the framerate changed during your mission.
  
• Changed nanodrone storage descriptions to make it clear that it’s a consumable storage container and not an independent drone system.
  
• Clicking on a tuning item header will now switch the description and simulation to this item.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused your mouse pointer to stay on screen much longer than needed.
  
• New game-over screen if you manage to blow your ship up.
  
• A ship that lost all power and propellant won’t be able to keep the cargo it has in external cradles or salvage manipulators during a rescue operation.
  
• Updated translations.
  

ΔV: Tales from the Rings is a completely free DLC containing supplemental material set in the universe of ΔV: Rings of Saturn. In celebration of the Lunar Sale, we boosted it with new content and clarified the licenses, just in case you want to use it in your own work.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Gifts from Enceladus[/h3]

• ★ (NEW!) Seamlessly looping 1080p animations for streaming or desktop backgrounds.
  
• E-book "Howling at the Stars".
  
• A digital artbook.
  
• Desktop wallpapers.
  
• Avatar images.
  
• Cellphone wallpapers and ringtones.
  
• 3d ship models.
  
• Full-resolution crew portraits.
  
• Ship paint templates.
  

[h3]A handy FAQ[/h3]
Q: Can I use these assets for my stream?
A: Yes, that's why they're here.

Q: Can I publish fanart based on these?
A: Please do!

Q: Can I print them and sell them?
A: Sure!

Q: Can I make a game using them?
A: I don't know, can you? It takes some skill and discipline.

Q: Are you sure your publisher is OK with this?
A: I am my own publisher: I do what I must because I can.

Q: Why is this a DLC if it’s free?
A: It's supplementary content that can be bulky and you might not want to have it installed with your game at all times. I recognize that some people play on laptops with limited SSD space.

Q: What exactly is the license here?
A: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Q: Where can I grab this?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1211880/V_Rings_of_Saturn__Tales_from_the_Rings/

• Improved AI pathfinding performance by 80%, sacrificing 20% of its rock-evasion capabilities. This should result in much better performance when non-player controlled ships are present while having a negligible change in behaviour.
  
• Adjusted storytelling options for the “missing child” quest to not finish too abruptly.
  
• Talking with Vilcy patrols once you get the location of the drop point will not make the ship you are about to meet wait for you 30 days longer each time you interact.
  
• You can’t buy more than one round of drinks at The Space Bar if you undock and re-dock immediately, raising the crew morale indefinitely.
  
• The bartender at The Space Bar won’t order its docking arms to throw you out if she is taking your order.
  
• You won't be able to tell habitats multiple times about the same event.
  
• Ships that run out of propellant during calculating astrogation sequence will abort the jump.
  
• Adjusted power draw warning for Eagle Prospector heads-up display in the numerical section to 150MW for warning and 500MW for critical level.
  
• Processed cargo in Titan Heavy Industries Cargo Container will now count towards the Blue Gold achievement.
  
• Enceladus station background won’t turn black if you set the background FPS to 0 and change your HUD scale while docked at the station.
  
• Non-player controlled ships caught by docking arms of stations and habitats won’t forget the player anymore.
  
• Adjusted cargo bay shapes on Elon Interstellar Model E, so ore hitting the edge between open jaws and ship hull from behind are not counted towards cargo temporarily, thus losing autopilot targeting and geologist marks.
  
• You will now trigger automatic return protocol when you get into the Encke Gap, over 3005km, just as you get the achievement. Any POI you could have in your save deeper in will be moved to maintain savegame compatibility.
  
• Clicking on the menu buttons when you have the Dive Target Selection screen open will now close it.
  
• Keyboard focus will move correctly to the last menu item you had selected on Enceladus when you close the Dive Target Selection screen.