ΔV: Rings of Saturn News

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[h3]SAN-BUS patent expired[/h3]
The Ship Area Network patent expired this week, exposing the bus protocol details to the general public, followed by torrent of firmware updates for popular hardware. Experts claim that the opening of the protocol will enable autonomous and semi-autonomous systems to coordinate efforts without human intervention.



[h3]AR1500 features unlocked[/h3]
Soft-locked features in the AR1500 Salvage Manipulator were exposed by the exposure of the SAN-BUS protocols. The leaked command codes enable all existing manipulators to interface with ship sensors and function as ore and asteroid retrieval units in addition to their normal function. Triskelion-Armstrong claims that the ore retrieval function is not covered by the limited warranty of the product.



[h3]New mooring regulations[/h3]
Following recent drone-related accidents, all ships mooring in the docking ring of Enceladus are now required to completely power down all on-board systems. In response to the new regulations Enceladus Corp provides shore power to all interested parties at a reduced rate.



[h3]Maintenance Records[/h3]

• Fixed a bug that caused the initial position of the resupply sliders to be inaccurate in some cases.
  
• Adjusted crew dialogues so they are less likely to ask for a raise twice in a row.
  
• Enabled AR1500 Manipulator to grab ice, grab ore and load up your ship when you open your excavator.
  
• Fixed a number of glitches related with AR1500, such as reaching out for targets even if powered off, trying to catch moonlets and grabbing things from your own cargo hold, and arm physics applying force in the centre of mass of your ship instead of it’s mounting point, ARM acting upon targets that it didn’t firmly grab and arm moving much faster than it should be possible.
  
• AR1500 will now slow rotation and align small objects, making it easier to capture lifepods and similarly shaped items.
  
• Changed AR1500 Manipulator upgrade simulation to show what it is doing.
  
• Ships you salvage will not explode during non-interactive cutscenes even if critically damaged.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused moonlets and habitats to repopulate in some cases.
  
• Habitats will now hail you even if they are not curious about you.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented you from launching from Enceladus when you were in debt. You can always launch to the edge of the ring.
  
• Added a system that allows your upgrades to communicate and exchange targets. This allows drone systems to coordinate efforts even when their target ranges intersect.
  
• Drone system was scanning for targets even when it was powered off.
  
• Fixed a glitch on Eagle Prospector HUD that caused doppler lidar to display mostly white dots when bloom setting was disabled.
  
• Enceladus docking arm will now actively assist undocking of heavy ships.
  
• Shortcuts that disable weapons won’t disable the same weapons on enemy ships anymore.
  
• Time rate changes are now continuous to prevent physics errors on abrupt time changes.
  
• Stability improvements.
  

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• Made Eagle Prospector HUD animated readouts / power paths more visible.
  
• Updated translations.
  
• Vilcy will not resort to mindless violence when afraid.
  
• Fixed a bug in the dialogue system that might close up some responses if disposition towards you was on the edge.
  
• Fixed screensaver mode.
  
• Added rich Steam presence feature.
  
• AR1500 Manipulator rework - it is now much stronger and will not release ships so readily. I disabled the feature to turn ships to align with your, as it was causing trouble when capturing larger ships.
  
• Grinder arms of Eagle Prospector were mistakenly mounted outside of it’s hull.
  
• Made EIAA1337 autopilot not dodge the ores that are pulled towards you with drone systems.
  
• A bug caused Mineral Processing Units to consume more power lower your framerate was.
  

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[h3]New ore density charts released[/h3]
The Astrogeological Society of Enceladus released an annual update of the ore density charts this week. It includes survey data on newly discovered dense vanadium and iron veins, as well as depleted tungsten and beryllium sites. Update is free for all premium subscribers of AstroGeoWorld.



[h3]Dealerships required to permit access to ships[/h3]
Following a number of reports on faulty ships being sold on second-hand markets, dealerships are now required to grant physical access to a ship for any prospective buyer before finalizing the transaction. While sellers are not required to offer a test flight to a prospective buyer, physical inspections must be permitted upon request.



[h3]Mass driver ammunition quality control[/h3]
Conlido announced new standards in their quality control policies this week. Previous complaints about fragile projectiles damaged by launch have been addressed. With a vanadium-hardened tip and a hollow collapsable iron core in their refined design, and more consistent manufacturing tolerances, Conlido has offered a guarantee that their projectiles will deliver more consistent results.



[h3]Salvage interface upgrades available[/h3]
The AR-1500 Manipulator has new software updates available. Given the nature of salvage in the rings, these manipulators have been updated to recognize and successfully interface with microcrafts such as the Heavily Armored Lifepod. Craft jury-rigged for salvage can now recover survival craft without necessitating an immediate return to clear their cargo bay.



[h3]Maintenance Records[/h3]

• Fine-tuned AI of frigates so they didn’t try the same tricks that work on smaller ships.
  
• AR-1500 Manipulator can will now return to rest position when powered off.
  
• AR-1500 Manipulator will now catch lifepods and drones.
  
• Ore density rebalance. You will now find more variance between ore types and all the ores will have some profitability.
  
• If your ship is stranded and the recovery crew picks you up, you will now receive a message explaining what is happening.
  
• Fixed a number of glitches on older graphics cards related to VRAM compression algorithms.
  
• Lowered video ram requirements.
  
• Enhanced the dealer screen. You can now view the promotional video separate from the ship description and you have an ability to examine the actual ship you are buying.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the stone jet particle effect to be not visible.
  
• Some of the asteroids ignored first impact, making them much tougher than they should be.