Welcome to another Star Sonata Dev Diary!

Today, we’re covering a range of topics from the new Base Upgrade system, new Bot chat commands and some fixes to pesky bugs that we’ve been chasing for years!

Base Upgrade system

So here’s the problem: You’d laid bases on a planet. They’re just plain vanilla Ai station kits deployed on the planet and yet, several weeks later you have some upgraded Laconia kits you’d prefer to lay down.

You’d have to transfer gear, demolish the original bases, lose any augmenters that were already equipped and lay the new station then move everything over and re-equip.

With the new Base Upgrade system, you simply select the currently deployed base, you double click/use the new kit from your inventory, and the base upgrades into the new version without any of the previous hassle.

Notable Mentions

• The upgrade process causes the construction timer and vulnerability to reappear.
• Bases cannot be upgraded into with a station kit that will result in over hull capacity, lower tech level or fewer augmenter slots.
• The same conditions that prevent deploying normal bases apply to upgrading bases with bases.
• Destroyed bases cannot be upgraded — they must first be repaired.

Bot Commands

We are always looking to improve players’ ability to directly control their bots. We’re expanding the level of control players have with 9 new commands players can use.

/botsAttack: All combat and wild bots will be set to attack your target.
/botsNoAttack: All combat and wild bots will be set to not attack your target.
/botsFight: All combat and wild bots will be set to fight enemies.
/botsNoFight: All combat and wild bots will be set to not fight enemies.
/botsClose: All bots will stay close.
/botsNoClose: “Stay close” will be disabled for all bots.
/botsDock: All non-wild bots will dock and deactivate.
/botsCombatDock
/botsTradeDock

We are also adding an option in the bot menu to disable weapons that can’t be unequipped in the “More bot settings” menu.

Everything Nice

As a point of pride, we’ve finally found and tackled the issue with Deathblossom not firing the correct number of projectiles when having Multifire 3.

The deathblossom fix will be part of the next patch the others will be in a later patch.

The June 2021 universe introduced some changes to how DG loot works.
The patch notes at the time did not go into particular detail on what the changes were or how they would affect the loot quality from DGs.
Now that the dust has settled from the reset, we put together this Dev Diary to clear up any confusion about the new system.

First, we’ll look at how DGs used to work.

Previously

DG bosses would get one guaranteed item drop and two rolls (at 30% and 15%) at an extra item from our dungeon items list.
This was a global dungeon item drop list that featured every single item you could get from a boss in a DG.
We also often reuse this list for generic loot from non-DG bosses across the game.

Now

The global dungeon drop list itself has remained unchanged, however, a lot of DG bosses no longer roll on this list (just seven do). Instead, we now have multiple lists split into categories;

• Commodities & Neurotweak crates

• Weapons

• Shields

• Engines

• Energies

• Equipment (anything you could find in the “Item” tab of the trade bay) and Scoops

• Tractors

• Station

• Radars

• Drones

• Augmenters

There is also an additional list of generic gear, similar to the old global list, but with fewer items in it.
Blueprints for gear are included in the category for the type of item they build (e.g., the Fine Tuned engine blueprints come from the engines list, not the station one).
The augmenters list consist of Class, Ship Mastery, Spacey, and Speedy augmenters.

Each DG boss has been assigned one of these lists to drop 100% of the time. They then have a second list with a 50% drop rate on which may be the same, or another list, and finally typically a 40% chance at the commodity list.

For example, a Vulture boss will always drop from the engine list, has a 50% chance to drop from the radar list, and a 40% chance to drop from the commodity list.
A Big Green will always drop from the weapon list, with 50% chance at another item from the weapon list and 40% chance from the commodity list.

Not all bosses completely follow this new pattern, and some bosses will always grant a commodity drop in addition to their gear drop.
Bosses which were special before and granted unique or extra loot, such as Red Wattages, Stellations, the named bosses, still give their extra loot.

The result of these changes will be that you’ll get loot of certain types at a more consistent rate than before, and if you need something in particular you’ll be able to target that item better by fighting bosses which are known to drop that type of gear.

While we’re not going to just give away which bosses drop from which lists, the assignment is on the boss type and will be consistent from universe to universe.

[Item Changes]

• Kalthi Commander, Kalthi Armored Commander and Kalthi Wrathful Commander’s Inhibiting Fighters no longer cause -regen on enemy target shields and instead inflict -25% Thrust and slightly reduced tractor range.
• Fixed issue with a few Empyreal gear being unequipable/neurobound.
• Added additional searchable tags to various items.
• Updated the visual effect for the Empyreal Wave Manipulator.

[AI Changes]

• Perihelions now have better radar and have more shields.
• Celeste’s long range beams shots have a more delayed ramp up and increased the visibility of the beam. Also reduced the -elec effect drastically.
• Changed Tutulemma ‘s Solar Annihilation Missile’s launch pattern.
• Equinox shields were increased.
• Analemma’s short range weapons increased DPS and it gained two short range auras.
• Made the envelopment used by Estelle larger in diameter so it no longer is hidden by the target ring.
• Fallen Minelayer had shields by 25%.
• The following changes were made to Fallen Haraka encounter:
  • Haraka Station’s beam super item has been replaced by a projectile super item
  • Gave better radar.
  • Reduced shields by 25%.
  • The Mini Delquad have weaker tractors and stronger pulse guns.

• The following changes were made to Fallen Kunahi:
  • Reduced shields by 25%.
  • Protective Laser Platforms now always try to stay by Kuhani’s side.

[Universe Changes]

• Increased number of drop rolls to the Empyrean fleet bosses.
• Added unique uncommon drops to the strong Empyrean fleets.
• Added new T23 augmenter drops to Empyrean mobs
• Empyrean boss rooms now have a maximum range before GSA/adds spawn shown by an asteroid field.
• Added a planets and light sources to the Empyrean boss rooms. Should prevent AI camping the wormhole entrances.
• Lowered the suns to prevent issues with orthographic and made targetable in the rooms before the bosses in Empyrean zone.

[Mission Changes]

• Fixed issue with the T22 Diploma and Alien Egg missions that prevented players with T23 skills from being able to access them.

[System]

• Player hate of AI will decay much faster. In most cases, 20-30 minutes.

The server will be down at June 30th 9:30PM ET / July 1st 1:30AM UTC due to Emergency Maintenance due for an estimated 5 hours. The website may be down at times during it.

[Item Changes]

• Warrior Brawling Field and Mega Electron Discharge Device removed from player ships. Were previously supposed to be removed / not in player hands.
• Fixed oversight with Empyreal ship blueprints manhours being 160,000,000,000 and change to 16,000,000,000.
• Adjusted costs of many AC trades at Celestial Encampment.
• Added a note to the descriptions of the Empyreal Ship Upgrade BPs of what ship they’re upgrading from.
• Reduced Hi-Combat Probe’s Shields by a factor of 10.
• Fixed various tag issues on other new Kalthi Super Items.
• Removed old Kalthi Supers that were missed.

[AI Changes]

• Harraka Station has had the following changes:
  • Removed Haraka Station being able to spawn with augmenters.
  • Doubled Haraka Station’s turning.
  • Removed the laser on Haraka Station’s Torpedo stations.

• Fading Minelayer has had the following changes:
  • The lightning effect on Fading Minelayer’s gigantic mines now are the radius of the aura they use near death.
  • Gave Fading Minelayer’s giant mines more shields and high visibility
  • Fallen Mines now have cloaks.
  • Fading Minelayer now has auras to decrease its enemies’ radar.
  • Fallen Mines in Fading Minelayer’s fight will destroy themselves after three minutes.
  • The giant mines now spawn faster and there are up to two up at once.
  • The Harakas in Fading Minelayer have more shields and are more aggressive.
• Fallen Kuhani has had the following changes:
  • The platforms in Fallen Kuhani now fight the player.

[Universe Changes]

• Fixed an issue with Rear Brawler Fleet lockout.

[System]

• Fixed a possible issue causing planets to desync.

[Item Changes]

• Adjustments to the new Kalthi super items and made most not affect bases.

[Universe Changes]

• Updated the Serengeti instance and lockout names to match the new boss names.
• Fixed Nexus exploration goals not correctly revealing target star systems.

[UI/Client Changes]

• Missile launcher charge time is now listed on its own line, instead of on the same line as the last bonus.
• Extra linebreak added to Deathblossom item description so all text can be seen instead of going out of view.
• Crate descriptions now separates what they break into as one line per item
• Aura projectors now state if they work on bots, specifying All/Combat/Trade Bots on the item.
• Items now indicate if they decay on leaving Instance, Layer, or Galaxy.
• Added far more additional details about what aura generators affect to the item window.
• Improved information on missile descriptions, now includes damage, damage type, and weapon tweak/splash effects.
• Added a new visual for Mars War Chariot.
• Added a new test skin concept on the NCC Bulk: Tinted Skins.
• Added Radioactive skin for the Adamantium Delquadrikamdon.
• Added Ghost skin for the Faded Delquadrikamdon.
• Squad leader can now right click and transfer leadership to another squad member.
• Can now ‘Use some’ on limited use blueprints, to install more than one.
• Fixed and optimized an issue with loading textures that cause lag near the end of the load.
• Fixed an issue with the SP Balance on the Avatar screen changed numbers / stopped working.

[Skill Changes]

• Combat bots now get up to 60% of owners Lagrange control skills, transferred accordingly to player’s Combat bot tweaking level and Bot PhD. Bases and Permanent drones no longer get owners control skills.
• Buffed Engineer’s Beam Mastery to give 33% non transference damage on temporary drones per level (changed from 25%).

[Item Changes]

• Hull extensions can now remove the space requirements for the biggest cargo items in players’ ships. How much cargo storage they have is scaled by tech and listed at the top of the item description. To accommodate this change, items that can drop as cargo, always will, even if it doesn’t reduce their space requirements (previously, items size 5 and lower did not drop with a cargo tag).
• Many DG and AI base weapons at the lower tech levels that were MicroMicro/Micro/Small classifications have now been made Small/Normal. These are classifications used in the balance sheets and you may see several items increase in size and power.
• Items that were classified as MicroMicro/Micro/Small have less of a power penalty for their size, and have more of a range penalty instead.
• Mulligan’s Zebu Titan had it’s hull, weight and size reduced but got increased speed.
• Aura Generators are now defaulted to no longer work on bots. Self-affecting only inbuilt auras, only apply when deployed as a combat bot now. (e.g. Panther, Assault Behemoth, ect).The following ships inbuilt auras work on combat and trade bots: Super Phunka, Subspace Enforcer, Sergeant’s Enforcer, Vicar, Santa’s Special Sleigh.
• Fixed an issue with Emperor’s Crown having armor instead of resists.
• Beams with a single chain now do 10% less damage, but the extra jump now does 70% of the new base damage instead of 50% of the old base damage. (This was done as they had same base stats as weapons without chain).
• Updated Super Massacre Overloader Beta overloader’s description to correctly reflect the damage percent on it.
• Anise Energy Rocket is no longer unequipable and thus no longer modable. Players who modded the weapon will be reimbursed the bindomite on their ship.
• Fixed issue on the Shield Redistribution Devices that still allowed healing.
• Fixed incorrect description on Shield Redistribution Devices that it lowers resistance when it actually increases resistance.
• Kalthi player ships inbuilt items have been completely redone.
• Unstabilized Plasma Fusion Core’s now have the quality tier of Rare instead of Common.
• Made Zebu Master Fighter Generator, Assault Dropship Generator and Greenish Fighter Generator only produce one fighter at a time instead of a max of 10.
• The Scoop and Electro Scoop are now capable of scooping drones. The Drone Scoop has been converted into a trophy item.
• Changed Solarian Blueprints use to use Venusian Gear instead of Mercurian. Mercurian is now a T20 side grade.
• Changed Tech Level of all Tech 5 class Supers to Tech 3.
• A Key to the Prophet’s Chamber is now neurobound.
• Caracara Talons and UrQa Qa’Uka Juju have been made competitive in comparison to the items they’re inspired by. Their sizes have been increased as well.
• Removed Kalthi Orbital Habitats Blueprint from the KD Common drop list.
• Cara Amzuchid/Cara Amzuchidara, and Rajanicaragupta Amzuchid have had their stats distributed in such a way that they are different from each other.
• Kalthi Wrathful and Armored blueprints now have Kalthi War Core requirement. They are dropped from Wrathful Commanders, Armored Commanders, Destroyers, and Terminators.
• Kalthi Depths Exotic quality gear and Blueprints have been moved to an exotic drop list on Wrathful Commanders, Armored Commanders, Terminator and Destroyers.
• Transference weapon changes from: Dev Diary – Shield Monkey/Shield Transference Adjustments.

[AI Changes]

• Migrated Easter Bunny and Zombie Easter Bunny to the fixed lockout system.
• Drastically reduced the shield bank of Ancient Asteroid Being and added some regen.
• Dramatically reduced the damage of Doktor Kobaldstein’s guards (Infernal Tempest).
• Increased the shields of Copper Blob dramatically.
• Added Demented Delquad and Ancalagon the Black to the Instance Scores page.
• Twisted Nikola (the boss) no longer spawns with random augmenters.
• Lord Bagheera (Primal Leopard Boss) will now auto attack players on entering to prevent wandering off cloaked and player unable to find them.
• Cleft Thorns can no longer be captured under Radiation Expert.
• Sahvitrabalin Sahistha (Antu Saahistha’s cocoon) now heals to heat to prevent build up of fires by bots while in cocoon form.
• Reduced the damage Zebu Masuta’s can do.
• Reduced the shields of Zebu Mastuas and Shadow Turtles.
• Demented Delquadrakimdan has the following changes:
  • Faded Fragment now spawns in the first wave of spawns instead of the start of the fight
  • Unstable Fragments have been nerfed significantly. They now are short range combatants that do much less damage and are much slower.
  • Demented Delquadrakimdan cannot die until its stations die.
  • Most super weapons used by Demented Delquadrakimdan or its spawn do more damage.
  • Massive Station, Torpedo Station, Unstable Fragments, and Faded Fragment are harder to burst down.
  • Beam resists on most AI in Demented Delquadrakimdan’s fight have been lowered.

[Universe Changes]

• Added new armor drops to the Serengeti bosses.
• Removed Lunarian shards from Lunarian wreckage in Akuq’ba.

[Next Universe Changes]

• Added two new zones for T23.
• Kalthi Depths has been completely redone with with an emphasis on AI intelligence with the Kalthi Armada. Split Lunarian and Selenites into 6 total teams.
• All of the Bonnet bosses are now instanced.
• Completely reworked random DGs drop tables to allow for target farming of specific item types. Example: some bosses may drop only radar and shields.
• Added Stellations to Perilous DGs.
• Roaming Stellas in Perilous Space are now Stellations and increased the number of roaming boss spawns.
• Wild Space now has 4 Entrances and they follow NATO Alphabet instead of Greek. Connections between Wild Space and Perilous Space have been removed.
• New and revamped celestial rings added to universe generation.
• Removed the now redundant (as they were turned into AC trade ins) augmenter based module pack missions from Platonic Academy.
• Disabled both roaming TFOD and roaming Banu King.

[Mission Changes]

• Set the expected level on the Infernal Tempest mission “Constructautomaton 4000″ from level 0 to level 250. Players should now get the appropriate XP reward for it’s difficulty.
• Added a note to the mission “The Aftermath”, on the Serengeti Research Labs, that it unlocks the Zaphragi Trade-In Items in the Trade Bay.
• Removed Mako Skin and Stingray Skin requirements from the Pretender Research mission in Olympus.
• Changed the Bonnet mission “End of Tyranny” to explore Coronet due to the bosses being in instances.

[System]

• AIs now get OOC regardless if a sun is present for them.
• Can now buy at most 10000 of Base category items, instead of 1000.
• Combat Bots will remember their ‘Attack My Target’ on/off selection through server restarts.
• Microwarpers are no longer blocked by your own envelopment.
• Most microwarpers no longer have a fail rate.
• Drone Laying is no longer blocked by your own envelopment.
• Drones list information about their weapons at the bottom of their showstatsources window now.
• Renamed Laser Vulnerability to Beam Vulnerability. (e.g. Unt Faranji Gatling X properly display that it adds a Beam Vulnerability).
• Already installed blueprint no longer blocks installing the rest of a blueprint pack.
• Capped Diffuser durability damage at max shields.
• Capped diffuser durability damage for healing at missing shields.
• Overloaders no longer do weapon damage in arena galaxies like The Colosseum.
• Diffusers no longer take damage in arena galaxies like The Colosseum.
• Dead Fighters return non-destroyed in arena galaxies like The Colosseum.
•  Limited personal/bot hate generated in arena galaxies like The Colosseum, such that it will decay within around 5 minutes.

[Bugs]

• Fixed bug with surgical damage being able to do more item damage than intended.
• Transference Resist no longer causes diffuser damage on healing. Transference Vulnerability no longer causes diffuser damage on stealing.
• Fixed mining bots not loading their dump station on a server restart.
• Fixed Bots and ai not being able to cloak again after a server restart.
• Bots can now use cloaks even if equipped with one after launch.
• AI no longer sometimes falsely decide to use only DPH weapon believing they will one-shot the target due to unable to factor in resists.
• Fixed charged tweak going into cooldown even if shields/energy checks fail.
• Weapons will correctly display if their effects are tweakable or not.
• Drones will no longer try to shoot at Large Warp Beacons or other invulnerable objects.
• Methods of splash damage that re-killed spirits or damaged pods will no longer do so.
• Fixed desync for all online teammates when a team galaxy is protected.
• Bots will no longer attempt to kill a fresh capture or other bot of the player when “Attack My Target” is on.
• Fixed a rare bug where bots would ignore “Attack My Target”.
• Fixed error message for being at max permanent drones in a gal displaying ‘maximum of 1′ when attempting to deploy another drone.
• Fixed display of extraction per day on extractors where the range of 10-100 per day would become scientific notation. (e.g. Psion Icicles Extractor).
• Fixed missing space in log when preforming a base transfer.
• Fixed base missiles being used without launching if failing range check.
• Can no longer equip more than one overloader as a stack.
• Fixed display of non-percentage speed on weapon effects. (e.g. Anti-Transmographic Decombulator displayed +0.04 speed, now properly shows +40).
• Repaired functionality of stay close for bots, now includes max range selection.
• Fixed squad leader change not updating group members of the leadership change.
• Fixed bug with trying to equip more drones than you had slots for, will now actually equip the amount you had free slots for instead of just saying that.
• Bots guarding a squad member can now also be transwarped, instead of always being left behind.
• Fixed a bug where some missions would delete their progress on server restart. (e.g. Subspace Monthlies).
• Fixed an issue with Emphatic Mother that prevented Unstabilized Plasma Fusion Core from dropping.

Welcome to another installment of our Dev Diary series! Today we’re diving into the refreshed Kalthi Depths zone that will accompany the upcoming Moonfighter Rebellion movement on June 26th’s reset.

One of two new Kalthi, special Armored Deployers lay an impressive array of drones in combat.

The original concept of Kalthi Depths offered an exciting but chaotic experience that conveyed the militant nature of the Kalthi faction but ultimately frustrated players with its over-the-top design. With the help of some powerful new development tools, we have been able to push the boundaries of AI teamwork and tactics and we’re debuting these advances with a refreshed Kalthi Depths zone that hues more closely to the original militant theme.

The other of the two new Kalthi, a few unique Wrathful Stingers will haunt their foes with a revealing laser.

Along with the new and improved Kalthi AI, you can expect to see changes to the notorious Selenite and Lunarian swarms that had a tendency to crush everyone in sight. Each Moonfighter faction has been split into 3 teams and some of them have been made not to roam. We expect these adjustments will still allow for some swarming while dialing down the “death ball” effect.

The domineering Fleet Commander of the Kalthi, engaging with a new pulse gun formation and fighters.

Another big change to Kalthi Depths is that fewer AI will roam between galaxies. We made this change to reward players for actively seeking out enemies in new areas.

Lastly, this new design direction synchronizes and is expanded upon by the Tech 23 Update. Intrepid explorers will find the Empyreal Concord roaming the deepest depths. Think twice before engaging on sight!

Welcome to a new Dev Diary on the upcoming Tech 23 update that’s hitting the live server in time for the Universe Reset on June 26th! We have an ambitious plan to be released in several phases or “movements.” In this post, we’re proud to announce the opening movement of our next Sonata: The Moonfighter Rebellion.

A massive station powered by an artificial sun within the Empyrean zone.

Players will explore a whole new zone and join up with a mysterious order known as the Celestial Hand. Players will help suppress the Empyreal Concord, a rebellion of Lunarians and Selenites that have stolen precious relics and holy items. The bulk of their forces have been trapped by the CHS Primordial Light flagship behind the Celestial Encampment deep within Kalthi Depths, and so this is where you must venture.

An Empyreal Celeste flanked by Equinoxes.

Players will bring their squads and face off against the rebellious Empyreal fleets and six new instanced bosses within Empyrean space.

An Empyreal Ascension using a powerful beam.

As a bonus, we will also release new Delquadrakimdan teaser content from the upcoming second movement: three solo instance bosses hidden within another new zone within Kalthi Depths.

A Fallen in wait..

Note: + means a new universe (reset) is required for the change to come into effect.

[Client]

• Now displays trade skills on the Character select screen.
• Added subscription status and number of space points message to top of the character selection screen.
• F10 (Ship Details) now factors Electric Tempering into DPE display.
• Copy button added to copy blackbox/showstatsources/showsquaddamage/mc to clipboard.
• Deleting a bot order no longer jumps back to the beginning of the order list, moves up one position instead.
• Moved bot tow option to the bottom of the target options list.
• Distance for RTS clicking yourself is increased 1.5-4x scaled with ship size.
• Fixed ‘View Team Web Page’ button in target menu.
• Right clicking an instance wormhole will no longer AP to somewhere else.
• Fixed issue with holes in the Indestructible Deployer skin.
• New Tortoise, Astodust and Goblin model and texture.
• Updated EarthForce Capital ship textures and models.
• Added Neon Red Skins to their Hybrid versions for Zebra, Lion, Panther, Rhino and Mastodon.
• Fixed issue with preventing new Red Neon skin on Mastodon.
• Avatar tab was rearranged under Character menu and added SP/SPEX to it.
• Bot order list now shows current and max orders.
• New Mark and Mark Team key bindings created.
• Squad leader can now right click and transfer leadership to another squad member. (Note: Requires another patch to work but button is listed)
• Fixed issue with not being able to resize the chat window properly when RTS-able assets were present.
• New texture and glow map for the UrQa’qa Qu’ishi Qa.

[Skill Changes]

• Discovered a hidden 3% rate of fire bonus per level was hidden in the Speed Demon class skill, Speedy Firing. Speed Firing has been adjusted from 20% to 25% to factor this in. Resulting in 0.344% more RoF.
• Adjusted Shield Stealing on Shield Monkey (See: Dev Diary – Shield Monkey/Shield Transference Adjustments)

[Item Changes]

• Split “Ship Scanner” tag into “Ship Item Scanner” and “Ship Hull Scanner” for better searching.
• Bots can no longer use Seer Nanite Devices.

[AI Changes]

• Added Jelly Skin and Swordfish Skin to Kraken and Poseidon’s drop tables.
• Reduced the shield bank and regen of Swordfish ships in Kraken and Poseidon.
• Reduced spawn of Swordfish in Poseidon.
• Reduced spawn rate of Swordfish and Jelly in Kraken.

[Universe Changes]

• Removed Jelly’s Acidic Remains and Jelly’s Blood from Grog missions in Handels’ Cove. Reduced Requirements for Heated Metals from 10 to 3 in the respective Grog mission.
• Changed mission “What happened here?” Hyperion mission requirement from “Urqa’Qii” to “Fused UrQa Energy Modulator”.
• +Fixed issue with some of the Leopards in Undergrowth using Rhino/Elephant names.

[System]

• Optimized universe save and improved other systems to reduce lag issues.
• Show bot stats correctly displays “Bot Research” now.
• Marketcheck (/mc) will no longer display scrap price for items which can not be scrapped.
• Made it so you can’t deploy a temporary, non-superitem, scoopable drone without having a drone-capable scoop equipped.
• Change radiation critical hit effect to -75% tracking for 2 seconds.
• Transwarping and being kicked out of dungeons causes ships to stop firing.
• The Serengeti Mini Bosses are no longer tracked on the Instance Scores board.

[Bugs]

• Fix percentage speed aura display being off by a factor of 1000 in the F10 (ship details) window.
• Fixed a bug where the F10 (ship details) window didn’t correctly calculate your critical hit DPS (was still taking the base chance as 2%, not 5%).
• Made the Twisted “station” drones non-scoopable.
• Fixed missing space in ‘report back to’ text for all missions.
• Fixed tracking auras not applying to beam weapons.
• Tracking auras are now actually multiplicative like other aura effects.