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ΔV: Rings of Saturn News

0.451.0 - Ganymedean Approach

[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.

0.445.1 - Enceladus Waxing

  • When a crewmember tells you that they quit once you get back to the station they actually quit once you get back to the station, not immediately.
  • Times displayed in the astrogation panel menu and the details on the map will match now for all locations.
  • The storyteller module is now aware of the prices and dangers of salvage operations and will use that knowledge to give you a more balanced and compelling narrative.
  • Friendly ships will now approach you before initiating dialogue.
  • Only valid cargo will be displayed on the Dive Summary screen. This prevents mining companions from showing up (and booting up and flying around stealing your ore) if you manage to fit them into your cargo hold.
  • When you install multiple point defense turrets, you can now configure them separately in the Tuning menu.
  • Points of Interest and Drop Points won’t be generated outside of the game map anymore. If you had any astrogation targets that were generated this way, they will be automatically adjusted.
  • Adjusted internal space of Conlido Cothon-212 to better match what is visible outside. This should fix ores poking out the sides of the cargo hold.
  • Found and fixed a number of bugs that could cause a crash when you astrogated back to Enceladus station with unusual things in your cargo hold or salvage manipulator.
  • Fixed a number of typos and rephrased some texts in the game to make them clearer.

More free goodies

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/

0.444.6 - Pathfinder

  • 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.

0.444.1 - Access Denied

  • When you launch the game for the very first time, you won’t be able to skip past photosensitive epilepsy warnings.
  • Reworked XASER burn event visuals, removing rapidly flashing lights in favour of gentler ones to reduce risks of photosensitive epilepsy.
  • Changed the visual cue of changing music for hearing-impaired players to be more subtle and clearer. It will now display correctly with portrait monitor orientation.
  • If your ship is too heavy to decelerate before handing you the controls in the initial cutscene, the entry sequence will skip the final flip to allow it to use its main torch on the entire approach.
  • If your ship has a big enough cargo hold to fit an entire THI Cargo Container or an NT Mining Companion, these drones will count as cargo and your salvage manipulator won’t try to reach for them.
  • Renamed “unclassified” mineral filter to “unmarked” on the Geologist tab to make it clear that it means the ore nuggets that don’t have apprisal marks placed on them yet.
  • Adjusted physical model of Conlido Cothon-212. Its cargo hold is now a bit narrower, with reinforced walls. This prevents both cargoes from piercing your cargo hold and a visual glitch that enabled you to see ore poking through the left side of the ship. As a consequence, the size of its cargo hold is a bit smaller.
  • When adjusting Onboard Maintenance System with a keyboard or a gamepad, your cursor was not clearly visible.
  • Audio subsystem could hit a division by zero, which flooded the logs with warnings and decreased performance.
  • Hardware simulations of SPC Gungnir left charged asteroids floating around when you switched between simulations, electrocuting your simulated ship at the very start of a new simulation.
  • Adjusted physics setting to make small collisions more accurate.
  • Updated translations.
  • Fixed typos.