EMERGENCY NOTICE

Paxian scouts have alerted us of a possible eradication event. Scanners have picked up an SOS by a Selenite Avenger ship. Reports say that their engine was disabled by the janitor tripping over an apparently vital power line that had been taped to the floor. Nobody is quite sure why the ship had their main engine powerline on the ground — or how one crewman could so utterly destroy it…

Further scans and a followup investigation report that the Avenger is opening fire immediately on all rescue attempts and that it contains a large shipment of anti-matter. This is especially disastrous as the ship is currently on a collision course with the event horizon of a black hole. The collision will be catastrophic for the space-time fabric of the current universe, and we urge everyone to prepare for transportation to another dimension. The resulting distortion will cause all credits on trade bots to be wiped, and all existing stations to be destroyed. We urge everyone to pack their stations and remove all credits from their trade bots before the end of the universe.

The universe reset will be held on Saturday, October 3rd.
BST: 18:00
EDT: 13:00
CDT: 12:00
MDT: 11:00
PDT: 10:00

Future Reset Dates
Dates have been updated to properly show the new times
February 13, 2021
June 12, 2021

What’s this about a revamp?

As many of you know, the dev team has been working hard on a revamp centering on the two support classes: Shield Monkey and Engineer. The main goal is to give these classes more interesting and pronounced combat roles. For Engineer, this comes through a redesigned Drone Ops stat that lets the class directly customize their drones, and new energy distribution systems such as the Tesla Coil. For Shield Monkey, we’ve removed the “free shields” granted by Transference Efficiency but replaced it with a new system that allows healers to steal shields from enemies to replenish themselves in a zero-sum way.

As part of the changes to healing, we have made additional changes to ships and shields that make constant healing less necessary. All players receive a substantial bonus to shield bank and regeneration to help them survive longer without heals when they come under fire. Also, higher tech hulls no longer receive higher resistance levels, and resistances are mostly standardized with a few thematic strengths and weaknesses at most. Of course, the shielding and damage output of bosses and adds have also been reviewed to align with these changes (but if you encounter anything that seems off, just let us know!)

When can I test this revamp?

You can test the revamp right now! We’ve just begun Community Testing Event 3, which can be accessed by pointing your client to the Test server (make sure to select Test, not Test 2).

A special galaxy is avialable off of Sol during the testing event. This system, Community Testing Event, will contain a large selection of gear Tech 15 and above along with Hogg’s Map Revealer! All of these items will be obtainable for 1 credit and available only during community testing events.

What exactly is changing?

A full list of the current changes to items can be found here. If you want more of an outline, check here instead.

Tips on testing

This is a big project and it may be hard to know where to start when you first log in. Here are some suggestions.

• Shield Monkey: Don’t forget to equip a second shield! Also check out the Shield Monkey Laboratories in Lyceum for some new class-locked items, and consider picking up a new Advanced Subskill. You may find it helpful to replace one of your augmenters with a damage-oriented augmenter.
• Engineer: Don’t forget to equip a second energy AND an extra augmenter. You may also find it helpful to replace one of your existing augmenters with something the grants Transference Power or Shield Regeneration. Also check out Engineer’s Workshop in Lyceum for some new class-locked items, and consider picking up a new Advanced Subskill.
• Everyone: Diffusers are now limited to one per ship and can’t be swapped during flight. Think about what damage type you’d like extra resistance toward, or try out one of the new omni-resistance options.

We want your feedback!

Any and all feedback you have can be posted to the feedback channels in Discord under the Healing Feedback category. We are committed to collecting and acting on community feedback until the project is fully polished for release on the live server.

Support Revamp Testing

Testing of the Shield and Healing Revamp will begin on July 1st! Starting on that day, players can experiment with the upcoming release on test.starsonata.com which can be easily accessed by clicking the dropdown on your client and going to Test.

A full list of the current changes for this revamp can be found here.

During the event a new galaxy will be available off of Sol. This system, Community Testing Event, will contain a large selection of gear Tech 15 and above along with Hogg’s Map Revealer! All of these items will be obtainable for 1 credit and available only during community testing events.

Any and all feedback you have can be posted to the feedback channels in Discord under the Healing Feedback category. We are committed to collecting and acting on community feedback until the project is fully polished for release on the live server.

Today is the day we’ve all been waiting for! Star Sonata 2 is available on Steam!

As we’ve already highlighted in previous posts, it is super crucial for us to get as many of our existing players to play with the Steam version of the game during the Launch Event (June 12-July 12). By playing the game through Steam, and buying any Space Points through Steam, you are directly helping the game increase in visibility and standings which allow us to grow the game and share it with more people!

Don’t forget to check out the details of our Launch Event and the Starter Pack.

If you are a new player to Star Sonata, welcome! We are so excited to have you here. Check out our Quick Start Guide, or pop on over to our Discord server for more information to help you get started in the universe.

If you are an existing player to Star Sonata, you probably have a ton of questions about this Steam launch. Here are some questions we’ve heard that we’d like to answer.

• Will I still be able to download the client through the website?
  Yes! If you don’t want to use Steam at all, you don’t have to!

• Can I use my existing account on Steam?
  Yes! When you launch Star Sonata 2 through Steam and you come to the login screen, there is a button to switch to a non-Steam login, then you can log in with your existing account. Currently, there is no way to actually link your account with Steam, but you can still use your pre-existing account.

• How do I get the bonus of the Launch Event? 
  Launch the game through Steam and log in either with a Steam Account or a pre-existing account. When you log in you will get the bonus Raging Steam holoprojector, and the EXP bonus will activate. You will only get the EXP bonus while you are on the Steam version of the client.

Kilando has put together a video for existing players that shows how to access the game launch the game through Steam. Check it out below!

As part of our launch on Steam, we are excited to announce the contents of our brand new Starter Pack that is exclusive to Steam! Whether you’re new to the universe, launching into your first Zebucart, or an experienced pilot traversing the stars, the Starter Pack has something for you!

Included in the Starter Pack are 5 unique ship skins, a unique Steam exclusive holoprojector named the Cosmic Shimmer, and 3 months of premium subscription time. This starter pack is a one-time purchase option for all players for $19.99! Normally a three-month subscription is $24.95, so that’s a 20% savings on a premium subscription.

Now if that isn’t enticing enough for you, during our Launch Event Window, the Starter Pack is going to be discounted even MORE. From June 12 through June 19 the Starter Pack will be 25% off the base price. So that’s 5 skins, a holoprojector, 3 months of sub time for $14.99! This deal won’t be coming back anytime soon so jump on it while you have the chance!

Here’s a preview of the Cosmic Shimmer and skins in the Starter Pack!

Don’t forget that the more you play on Steam during our Launch Event, the more it helps us to grow and gain visibility. Even better, if you purchase the Starter Pack, or any Space Points through Steam, it also really improves our rankings and visibility! If you want to support us so we can keep on making Star Sonata an epic game, here is your chance. We definitely wouldn’t be where we are today without your support, so join us on Steam!

It has been a long time coming, but we’ll be going live on Steam at roughly at 10:00am PT this Friday. We’ve already made a huge post about how you can help make our Steam Launch a success, so if you haven’t checked that out yet give it a read. In a post coming later today, we will be outlining what is included in our Starter Pack.

Today, we wanted to take a moment to highlight what our launch event is going to look like and why you should definitely play on Steam during the event! Playing through Steam helps us, so here’s what we’re offering you in return:

• Just by logging into Star Sonata through Steam, you will get a Steam exclusive holoprojector named Raging Steam. This is the only way to get this holoprojector, and it’ll be unobtainable in the future.

• Additionally, we’ll be offering 50% extra experience for characters logged in through Steam for the entire duration of the launch event.
• Finally, we’ll be offering a bonus 10 space points on top of every space point purchase through Steam. We’ve never offered a special on space points ever before and I’m not sure if we’ll ever do it again, so its a good time to stock up!

These bonuses will only apply if you are logged into the game through Steam during the launch event window, which runs from June 12th to July 12th. Make sure to log on through Steam at least once to grab the exclusive holoprojector, but we hope you’ll keep using it through July 12th to get the 50% bonus experience.  As we mentioned in our previous posts, every purchase and play through Steam during the launch event really helps us to grow our visibility and rankings within Steam, so we really hope that you participate to help make this a success! Thank you for your support, and stay tuned for the next blog post coming later today outlining the Steam Starter Pack. It’s a really good deal, so keep an eye out!

Note: Just to correct a common misconception, linking your existing account through Steam is not currently possible and not required for any of the above bonuses. You can login via your normal username and password through the Steam downloaded game client.

An issue has been identified where players have been placing low tech attached drones throughout the Earthforce Layer to intentionally use up base slots on planets and moons.

To fix this issue, the upcoming patch will be removing any attached drones in Earthforce Layer.

Any attached drones in storage will be converted from attached drones to unattached drones. The only drones that will be removed from space will be the ones in the Earthforce Layer.
Any currently attached drones in Wild Space will not be affected.

Many people play video games as a way to unplug from the worries and responsibilities in their lives. This is especially common in role-playing games, which encourage players to escape to an entirely different persona and explore a world or universe that’s not quite like our own. In Star Sonata, our friendships and conflicts mostly play out in our virtual world between our virtual characters. It’s easy to forget that even your sworn enemy in-game is just an ordinary person like yourself, with hopes, dreams, fears, and faults. Right now, there are people in our community who are scared, anxious, and hurting. We owe it to them to respond with compassion and solidarity, not only because there would be no Star Sonata without its community, but because helping those in need is the right thing to do.

Police brutality is wrong and unacceptable. Police infringing on citizens’ rights to peaceably assemble is wrong and unacceptable. Police assaulting, arresting, and maiming journalists is wrong and unacceptable. Racist and discriminatory policing practices in the United States must be brought to an end.

I am running a donation-matching campaign with a fund of $1,000 of my own money. I will match up to $100 per contribution to any local organization that is working to end police brutality in the United States. I specifically ask for donations to local organizations because of the immediate impact these organizations can have on the communities they serve. For more information, reach out to @enk#3571 on Discord.

In compassion and solidarity,

Anil “Enk” Venkatesh
Lead Content Developer

We’re hard at work preparing to make the Steam launch a success, but I just wanted to take a moment to share the ways that our community can help spread the word of our Steam launch both before and after we hit June 12th.

Wish-listing on Steam

We are really close to a major milestone in our wishlist counts. We’ve got the largest email campaign we’ve ever undertaken underway and it’s yielding great results, but we need even more! Every wishlist counts, and the sooner we can hit higher numbers the more people we’ll be able to reach with our launch. Please add the game to your wishlist if you haven’t already, and if you haven’t ask your friends to do so as well!

Play the game through Steam

Once we launch, it will help us greatly if you download and play the game through Steam. The more players we have playing through Steam, the more likely we are to get featured as a popular new release, so this is very important! Ideally, all of our existing players would play through Steam for the 30 days after we launch.

To help encourage this, we’re going to be having a launch event exclusive to players playing through Steam.

This will include:

• 50% bonus to XP from all sources, if playing through Steam.
• An exclusive holo-projector granted to you, the first time you login through Steam.

Purchases through Steam

Purchasing any of our offerings through Steam helps us earn a higher placement on the new releases section of Steam. We’ve got some really good deals to make it worth it, so if you’re able I hope that you’ll consider them!

Steam Starter Pack

We’ll be offering a starter pack, available exclusively through Steam on June 12th. This will include: 3 months of subscription, 5 exclusive skins to low level ships, and a unique holoprojector that you won’t be able to get anywhere else. The base cost will be $19.99 but we’ll be discounting it during the week after our launch. This is a really good deal even just for the subscription time itself!

Bonus Space Points

When buying space points through Steam for a short period of time after launch, we’ll be offering a bonus 10 Space Points with every purchase (even the 20 SP bundle!). This is the first time we’ve ever offered a discount on space points, and not something we’re planning on doing again anytime soon!

At long last, now that we’ve been approved for release, we’re ready to announce that Star Sonata 2 will be releasing on Steam on June 12th, 2020!

There have been many changes to the game over the years, but one thing has remained consistent: the passion for this universe that we all spend so much time in both as developers and as players. It goes without saying, but I think we’re all very excited at the opportunity that releasing on Steam will present to bring new players into our community!

We’ll be sharing ways that players can help us spread the word, but one of the most important will downloading and playing the game through steam during the launch window. We will absolutely continue to support direct downloads through the website, but this will be critical in helping us spread the word on our launch.

We’ll be hard at work up until that day making improvements and additions. We’ll have more announcements to come in the weeks ahead!