** Update 2 **
Some of the hardware for the new server is having delivery delays, as such, the maintenance is canceled for the time being, we are aiming at Thursday but specific time will be provided with an update as soon as were sure.

** Update **
Due to some delays in getting the hardware setup, the maintenance will be delayed 8 hours. The various timezones at the bottom of the post have been updated accordingly.

As previously mentioned on a blog post, Star Sonata will be addressing some of the server lag issues with new servers. I am happy to announce that on November 30th, at 9PM Eastern, the servers will be going down for upgrades! The downtime is expected to last until 7AM Eastern, with more announcements being made as it is known to us.

We understand some players will be inconvenienced during the downtime, but we are expecting the servers to operate at twice their current speed. To help mitigate some of the lost playtime, we will be hosting the following event upon the server coming back up until Sunday night!

Event

50% Increase to Augmenter Drop Chance
100% Increase to Bindomite Drop Chance
100% Increase to Prospecting Node Respawns
Crystal AI Invasion

Hello Sonatians!

I am delighted to announce that our Community Manager Kilando is stepping up to the rank of game admin. This is going to make your lives better and more fun in at least three ways:

1. Regular game events. Kilando has been in charge of planning our game events for a while now, but with his admin powers he’ll be able to orchestrate them without any assistance. He’s going to get creative and put on some new events you’ve never seen before, and most importantly he’ll make sure that we stick to a regular schedule.
2. Live admin assistance. Part of Kilando’s new role is to provide admin assistance on the ground during any particularly busy or stressful moments of the game, such as the Universe Reset Rush. If you accidentally start the new universe in an engineless Thatch or dock all your ships in Lunacy, Kilando is your first call.
3. New leadership in chat moderation. Kilando is now officially in charge of all chat moderation (in game and on Discord). He’ll soon announce more details on the common sense changes he’s going to drive, and I’m certain that his leadership here is going to make the chat experience a lot more informative and enjoyable for everyone.

I feel strongly that the community manager must play the game actively in order to stay up to date with player priorities and concerns. Whenever a game admin is also an active player, we must take special precautions to head off any potential conflicts of interest. Here’s a rundown of the precautions Kilando and I have set in place:

1. No game diplomacy. Kilando won’t participate in any diplomatic intrigue that his in-game associates may drum up.
2. No PvP or wars. Kilando won’t participate in any player-versus-player activities.
3. No admin actions relating to self or team. Kilando won’t take any administrative actions that relate in any way to his own player characters or those of his teammates.

I’m personally very excited to see Kilando’s plans unfold over the next few weeks and I know that he’s going to stay laser focused on what the community needs. See you all in the chats!

Because of poor experiences with recent massive BvB battles, we are temporarily suspending the availability of BvB slots. There are a couple problems with the current BvB slot design. First, the meta encourages 100 versus 100 base battles. Second, the server currently can’t handle so many bases all in one galaxy.

In the coming two weeks we are going to drastically reduce the number of BvB slots before re-enabling the slots, specifics to be determined. The long term goal is a major redesign of wild space and a new layer, but for now we want to get a system in place that is more manageable.

In addition, to address the server lag issues, we have ordered three new servers that will be delivered next month that, combined, are roughly five times faster than our current server. Actual performance difference to be seen, but it shouldn’t hurt.

We apologize for allowing the current toxic BvB meta to persist as long as it did, and we thank you for your patience and continued support of the game.

It’s time to celebrate! Ten years ago today, 12th November 2011, our brave pilots stepped into a brand new universe. After years of work Star Sonata 2 was ready to be released, and while the road may not have been the smoothest, we have made some great strides in that time.

10 Years Event

To celebrate, we’re hosting an event running from 12th November, 18:00 UTC (13:00 server time) until 23rd November at 05:00 UTC (00:00 server time). During this time we’ll have a whole slew of bonuses running. Anyone who logs on during this time will receive a commemorative holoprojector, Sonata, Second Impression, in recognition of the event. Each day (that is midnight to midnight, starting on the 13th at 05:00 UTC) players who login will also receive a new, special item, a visage kit. There are a total of ten, one for each day, to collect. The ten visage kits coming with this event span the tech ranges from tech 1 to tech 22. More will be coming in the future.

The bonuses for the event are increased augmenter (50%) and bindomite drops (10%), increased chances on mod rolls for dropped items and loot (10%), and prospecting node refill rate (10%) and amount extracted (10%), and comet drops (50%) until 22nd!

Visage Kits

Visage kits are a new type of item. They can be combined with the item listed in their description to alter the appearance of that item. The item you are combining it with must be unequipped. Once combined the item becomes neurobound (so use your Bindomite before combining), however you can reverse the process at any time by selecting Dismantle from the right click menu on that item.

Just a quick heads up that while most of the world has now come out of their DST (or entered it, for countries following DST in the southern hemisphere), the US and Canada do not come out of DST until the day after the universe reset.

That means it’s one of those rare occasions where for a lot of us the universe reset is at a different hour to normal. To reiterate, here’s the countdown timer and the times for a few timezones;

Server Down for Emergency Maintenance due to a large bug. We are currently researching the issue.

More information will be posted on the SS Discord. We have no ETA at this time.

Edit: Issue was resolved.

The Halloween event has started, and Spacey has been busy!

Spacey has opened wormholes accessing Plaguespace throughout the universe. From these wormholes poured hordes of vampyres, pumpkins, will o’ wisps, trolls, and undead space rats!

Please, help contain these intrusive beings until the plans to evacuate the universe are complete!
If you run into one of the many entrances to Plaguespace, do battle the space rats inside to help stem the influx of them into our universe!

Spacey has informed us that Halloween will run until the universe collapses on November 6th!
Happy Halloween!

Lyceum Bulletin:

The Mad Scientist has done it again!

Reports are flooding in of an explosion radiating out from the laboratory located in Lunacy. After an experiment mixing Eridium, Adamantium, and Dark Matter failed to be conducted properly, the scientist was seen fleeing the lab yelling, “It’s not my fault!”

Nobody has seen or heard from the scientist since that date and authorities are advising everyone to begin packing for the universe relocation program! The containment unit housing the experiment has begun leaking an unknown particle into the universe. Lyceum scientists began studying the leaking particle shortly after receiving news of the explosion and have provided the following statement.

After extensive examination of the radiation leaking from the explosion site, top scientists predict the collapse of the universe to be on November 6th, 2021. Citizens are asked to ensure all personal assets and fleets are properly stored.

Dev Notes

• Bases, permanent drones, and the credits on active bots will be lost.
• Player ships will not be affected
• If you’re docked during the reset, you will spawn into the new universe using your docked active ship.
  • Careful not to spawn into the new universe in an immobile ship!
• Wild Space will be scrambled and receive a new map shape.
• All other layers will have the systems scrambled but contain the same shape.
• After a universe reset, all of your docked ships will be in a state of limbo allowing you to dock them all at any non-player station. For the first 72 hours of the new universe, you can use the /limbo chat command only once to bring all of your docked ships back into limbo to dock them elsewhere.
  • For those familiar with the limbo command, going forward the timer has been extended from 24 hours to 72.

Lyceum Bulletin:

We have just received word of a major disruption within the fabric of the Universe.  Reports are coming in from wild space that an interdimensional traveler has phased in and out of our universe creating vast distortions of our reality.  It is said that this traveler has impressed upon our reality a cataclysm of change due to a contract he has made with the Trans-Dimensional Bean Counters. Our top researchers have discovered a haiku communique left behind in the wake of the traveler:

“New I shall create

A hat I shall never eat

Please save my stomach”

 After carefully examining this haiku we expect a tremendous upheaval within our universe leaving behind a resonance of something new. Top scientists predict the collapse of the universe to be on June 26th, 2021. Citizens are asked to ensure all personal assets and fleets are properly stored.

Dev Note:  Credits on active bots and bases will be lost as well as permanent drones. Player ships will not be affected.

Dear Pilots,

There have been a lot of changes in the Universe of Star Sonata and the finalization of the Healing Revamp is here! The development team has been hard at work updating damage mitigation, adding a new cargo system, and a plethora of other changes to improve balance and game dynamics.

We have also overhauled the endgame bosses in Prejudice, Dragon’s Lair, and Akuq’ba for a more dynamic and challenging experience!

Star Sonata understands the importance of progression and our duty to ensure players get a head start on these redesigned bosses, so we are having a Boss Lockout Event! These bosses will be available every 24 hours to challenge as well as the weekly missions that complement Prejudice, Dragon’s Lair, and Akuq’ba.

Just to throw a bit more juice in your flux capacitor, every boss and mission that falls within a weekly lockout cycle will also be reset every 24 hours during this event!

The event will run April 23rd – 25th and April 30th – May 2nd.  That is two weekends jam-packed with bosses and missions so don’t miss out! Reclaim your place in the Universe and get ready for the Boss Lockout Event!

Star Sonata Dev Team