Hi everyone, here’s an update on what we have done lately. As always, some of these changes may be finished but awaiting patch, so just ask if you aren’t sure if they’re live.

Faranight

I have been working on two primary projects.
The first is a Kalthi manufacturing themed item line to invite more interaction with the Kalthi Depths and make Perilium more reliable to farm.

There will likely be wider applications of these assemblies as the technology is explored.

The second is a low tech Paxian Travel ship to use through the mission chains, and serve as a suitable replacement for the Aether Scout’s bugged inbuilt now that it is fixed.
Introducing the Pax Felicitas.

Equipped with dedicated navigation avionics, the Pax Felicitas is ideal for long adventures into the unknown.

Good luck, and safe travels.

NCC

The balance test pass on the Red Photon Turret Challenge Boss went well. Thank you all who attended! We will be adding additional features and hosting another test run in a short while. Afterward just need to come up with some loot numbers and get it good to go.

urza

I have recently reworked the Paxian exploration missions. It was discovered that in the last third of the chain that missions would switch between ones that f2p can complete and only p2p can complete. Changed so that all of the p2p only missions are in a block at the end. Also found and fixed some issues with missions not rewarding enough credits to pay for items purchased. Added 2 new travel ships and a micro warp device. As well as linking missions between all 4 ai stations so players will know the chain continues at the next station.

enkelin (me!)

Based on conversations with the dev team and the press corps, I have made some revisions to the planned revamp to galaxy assault.  Here’s a short summary of the changes that are remaining in the project:

Base mining vulnerability is removed, base projectiles impart vulnerability aura to players and temporary assets, unattached permanent assets receive vulnerability aura near planets and wormholes (in addition to suns), base and permanent drone targeting code is revamped, and PvB nanites are worked over.

Hello everyone! In this post, I will fill you in on the work the dev team has been doing to make galaxy assault more enjoyable. I would like to emphasize that we are more than open to discussing the particulars and making changes to the proposal. Let’s view this as a first official communication between the dev team and the community and build from there.

Introduction

In the current galaxy assault mechanics, most of the action takes place between two lines of bases, while players are relegated to tractor ship battles, blocking pulses, and spectating as spirits.  None of these behaviors is aligned with what players actually enjoy doing in the game, i.e. using their ships to deal and mitigate damage.  This represents a gap between the types of game activity that are rewarded in PvE and PvP environments, and the types of gameplay that are necessitated during BvB.  It should come as no surprise, therefore, that many players feel powerless and out of the loop during BvB, which is not how we want the game to feel!

However, there are certain positive aspects of the current galaxy assault system which should not be abandoned without cause.  The conditions on deploying BvB kits (active war, 24 hours owned adjacency, presence of amps if more than five kits) are in place to prevent large-scale surprise attacks, instead giving players some time to anticipate an assault on their space.  The flattening of the power progression of base gear both in terms of tech and tier, and the introduction of inbuilt X gear, have also created opportunities for players (especially newer players) to build respectable defenses without incurring unreasonably high sunk costs.  Lastly, while the preeminence of bases in galaxy assault pushes players to the margins, it does also gesture toward an important consideration of limiting the effect of player activity on the outcome of war.  The reason for this objective is that the game cannot effectively cater to casual players if galaxy assault depends strongly on the ability to play the game at all hours of the day and night.  While we do want to reward player activity, it cannot be allowed to be the single most important factor in galaxy assault.  It’s important to note, however, that this objective is not currently being achieved in the first place: use of ships to block pulses, tractor bases behind obstacles, and create excessive server lag have proven to be decisive strategies even in the face of numerically superior enemies.

Summary of changes

Details

Mining damage

The following changes are being made to match base resistance profiles better with player ships. This is a necessary measure before player blocking of base pulses can be addressed. The changes are also helping to create a greater variety of effective base weapons for galaxy assault, instead of limiting players to Achilles Pulse Gun.

• Base mining vulnerability will be removed. On a typical base kit, all resistances will be the same.

• Base weapons will have their damage adjusted to reflect the change to base resistances. All damage types will be comparably effective against bases after this change.

Base damage and tanking

The following changes are being made to prevent players from blocking shots that are intended for a base. They are also helping to disrupt the current defensive meta that relies mostly on healing-oriented bases.

• Base projectile weapons will do a lot more damage, especially those with short range. It will no longer be feasible to block pulses with player ships or drones.

• Base resistances will be increased to compensate for the increased damage of base weapons.  Base healing will be reduced.  The upshot is that bases will individually be a lot tankier versus bases than before, but base healing will be less useful.

Target prioritization and player cover

The following changes are being made to help players stay alive during galaxy assault. They will effectively be able to hide under the cover of their bases and permanent drones.

• Base target prioritization will be changed in the following way. If enemy bases are in range, shoot one of them.  If no enemy bases are in range, look for an enemy permanent drone and shoot that if possible.  If no enemy bases or permanent drones are in range, shoot an enemy player (or player asset).

• Permanent drone target prioritization will be changed in the following way. If enemy players are in range, shoot one of them. If no enemy players are in range, look for an enemy permanent drone and shoot that if possible. If no enemy players or permanent drones are in range, shoot an enemy base (if any).

• Players will be afforded a small number of “assault slots” for permanent drones, and new mobile permanent drones will be made available that are designed with a view toward this use.

Player debuffing of bases

The following changes are being made to give players the ability to actively undermine the bases of their opponents.

• Nanite-injecting weapons that affect base shield regen, energy regen, damage, and rate of fire will be introduced and current weapons of this type will be revised for balance.

• Base exterminators will be revised for balance.

Design principles

In this section, I set forth a few general principles that we are aiming for in this project. Some of these aren’t possible to achieve precisely, but they will still be helpful in guiding our work.

• Current popular configurations have ⅔ to ¾ HPS bases. After the change, it will be better to have around ⅓ HPS bases. We will approach this goal by increasing base effective shield regeneration and reducing base healing output.

• With no players in support, and no sun tanking or other unintended mitigation, it currently takes the attackers 1-1.5x more bases than the defenders to prevail.  After the change, this figure should be somewhere around 3-5x (assuming comparable levels of tech and tier).  Player support should be able to reduce this figure to 1-1.5x, if the defending players and permanent drones are overwhelmed.  In short, an overwhelming player force makes bases 2-3x as powerful.

• The marginal benefit of additional supporting players drops off substantially, so that a small group of active players is only somewhat less effective than a large group, assuming both are unhindered.

• BvB amplifier mechanics are revised. Instead of building multiple amplifiers in a single galaxy, players will upgrade a single built amplifier to higher and higher tiers.  Each successive tier is rather more expensive than the previous one, and the expense hinges not only on credits but also substantially on ICs such as Sub-Shield Buffers and Reactors.

Lead Content Developer

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve taken on the role of Lead Content Developer for Star Sonata. This means that it’s my responsibility to manage the content development team and make content recommendations to Jeff based on the team’s work.  In my five years on the dev team, I have found myself drawn to managerial roles since these happen to align with my real-life profession quite well.  I see this new role as the best way for me to contribute my skills in management and organization to the betterment of Star Sonata.

I want to acknowledge that I have obtained a greater level of influence over the game with this promotion. In light of this change, I do not believe it would be appropriate for me to continue to lead an aggressive endgame team as this would simply invite too many conflicts of interest. At the same time, I feel I would be unable to make informed content recommendations if I quit the game entirely. The middle ground I have chosen is to lead my team (Traders) into a less competitive era, while still playing the game with my teammates and keeping an eye on endgame issues. I have also decided to permanently retire my player forum account, as I will no longer be participating in player disputes on the forum. The following is an excerpt from my new job description that makes this clear:

• As a player of the game, the Lead Content Developer should avoid conflict or disputes that might reflect poorly on the dev team.  He should also avoid involvement and the appearance of involvement in the affairs of the competitive endgame community, except as is essential to his duty of creating informed content recommendations.

My first project as Lead Content Developer is to reorganize the content development team in order to clarify the roles and responsibilities of our volunteers.  I have summarized these below for your information.

Press Corps

Responsibilities

• Attend weekly content meetings.

• Provide a community perspective on dev discussions.

• Report to the community on dev discussions and practices.

How to join

Simply contact Jeff or enkelin to introduce yourself and tell us why you are interested in volunteering for Star Sonata.

Contributors

Responsibilities

• Address balance issues with item stats.

• Create new items, bosses, and content zones.

• Collaborate on larger projects as assigned by developers.

How to join

In most cases, Contributors start on the Press Corps to get familiar with the team and how we operate.  Exceptions may be made if you have a special skill such as professional coding experience, graphics, or audio production.

Developers

• Provide vision and direction on major game balance matters.

• Manage major projects with the assistance of Contributors.

How to join

This rank is reserved for individuals with a long track record of successful development in Star Sonata. Furthermore, since Developers can have a large influence on the direction of the game, they are held to particularly high standards of professionalism and impartiality.  As players of the game, they are expected to avoid conflicts or disputes with other players and to limit their involvement with the competitive endgame, except as is essential for crafting informed content recommendations.

Hi everyone, here’s a small update on what we have done lately. As always, some of these changes may be finished but awaiting patch, so just ask if you aren’t sure if they’re live.

NCC

Two weeks ago, I spent my Friday working on the Glaucopennia and Phoenix rebalance they are currently on test however you will require this client to access it.  Just unzip it into your SS folder and run the client. If you need any assistance testing this new ship please send any issue requests to NCCIntrepid on discord. I also updated the Zeus Antu to properly use siege mode. Lastly, I removed the grem off of Platform drones for next patch. This week I have been providing some dps testing on drones for Ingendum.  The image below details the new stats of the Glaucopennia and Phoenix.  Here are links for the build cost and stats on the inbuilt tweak.

SunDog60

The new Recycled Armada Augmenters mission in Serengeti Blockade will be replaced by a new set of five missions. They work similar to the mission they replace, however you can choose which Spirit blueprint you will get in exchange for 4 blueprints. The original “Armada Augmenters” mission will remain as the way to obtain Spirit augmenters for Zaphragi Research Diplomas, but the newer mission that gives one random Spirit BP in exchange for four will be removed.

enkelin (me!)

I am working on a document that details the plans the dev team has drawn up to revamp the way galaxy assault is carried out. Our plan is to release this information to the players as soon as possible so that we can workshop any issues, and then get things implemented and on the test server well in advance of the next universe reset.

Hi everyone, here’s a small update on what we have done lately. As always, some of these changes may be finished but awaiting patch, so just ask if you aren’t sure if they’re live.

Ingendum

As mentioned in #devposts on the official Discord server, the location of UrQa’qa Qu’ishi (Bana King) has now been revealed: DG Djane 0.17C. The dev team chose to reveal its location for two reasons. Firstly, there were initially 15 (!) Bana Kings distributed across Kalthi Depths DGs; while we have now removed 14 of them, we don’t want to penalize the many players who had found one of those that were removed. The other reason is that we have officially decided to create a custom zone that will house this uber, starting next uni. Since his location will no longer be a mystery, we feel that we may as well reveal it for this uni as well. Enjoy!

ClxS

Fixed what was wrong with the system of attaching bases to planets. You can now easily fit 7 Adamantium kits around a fairly small 7-slot planet:

Faranight

The Aether Escape super item on the Aether Scout will be changed to its intended behavior (+150 speed, not +3000 speed). A new exploration-focused ship will be added as a mission reward in Paxius for low level players who had been using the Aether Scout for its mobility.

Hi everyone, the dev team hopes everyone has had an enjoyable start to the new universe.  Here’s an update on what we have done lately. As always, some of these changes may be finished but awaiting patch, so just ask if you aren’t sure if they’re live.

NCCIntrepid

Emperor Shaddam will now properly drop a Combined Aspect Tablet and his usual Emperor item drop each time you kill him next patch. You can turn in the Combined Aspects for Honorary Diplomas and Zaphragi Research Diplomas in the Serengeti Blockade. I have also finished removing all of the lore skills from the lore skill items for next patch. Enjoy being able to equip a GVMO and a KMW (why you would, I have no idea).

ClxS

Fixed Junkyard turn-in missions not using the selected item.  Sorting numerical fields actually sorts numerically now (beta client only but will move to live soon).  “Transfer some…” option now available when removing items from the TSL.  Also identified the bug with item teleporters and Jey has fixed it.  This week, I will be looking into creating a “pin item” option for gear so that it won’t be transferred out of your inventory unintentionally. This will be helpful to players who carry a lot of unequipped items around such as tractor beams, extra drones, and missiles.

SunDog60

I was requested to create two new token missions for Ancalagon the Black, and UrQa’qa Qu’ishi (Bana King). The token missions appear in Iq’ Bana and Paxian Stronghold respectively, for the bosses. I also added a breadcrumb mission for the Ancalagon the Black mission as it is out of the way of Dragon’s Lair, which appears in Earthforce Frontier Station in Sol.

Both missions revolve around the UrQa race, from their efforts to destroy other races to the technology they use. Ur qok iq’ Oj’KurniQa jij’azu?

Perpetual Motion is now offering Programming to 40 at a cost of 5 Dark Cells per. If F2P players have Programming 10 let’s say (I think around the natural random cap is 16), they would need 150 Dark Cells to train up 30 levels of Programming. This should hopefully increase the traffic in Infernal Darkness, as well as help lead F2P’s to attempt that content, or at least fly around in it and potentially find an interest in trying on the bosses.

Hello!  Here’s this week’s installment of the developer blog.

Enkelin

The team skill Warmongering has had its cost reduced to 1 skill point per level. This should help new teams who are strapped for skill points.  We are also creating missions to allow you to turn in excess Spirit and “Hoberian” augmenter blueprints for another chance at the one you want.

NCCIntrepid

Suggested and completed a change to allow the turn in of 10 Combined Aspect Tablets for 2 Honorary Diplomas and a Zaphragi Research Diploma similar to the Primal Ship Remains. Combined Augmenter tablets have also been split off from the themed Emperor loot. Once this change is patched in, you will be guaranteed to receive an Emperor item on every kill of the boss.

Blue Dwarf

A conversation about fueled energies have lead us to deciding how they operate to change slightly. In the future fueled energies will not consume fuel if your energy bank is at it’s maximum capacity. If your energy is max and your fuel burns out, you’ll drop to 25% of your regen just like when you don’t have fuel. A fuel will be consumed when your bank dips. This change does not affect energy banks that produce waste. In other news, Seer is getting a new weapon in the Underminer series. The new weapon, Seer’s Sideminer, will be available from the Seer’s Conclave soon for those with the Weaponry skill to use it (22). Lastly, Sniper Analysis charge time has been dropped to 2 minutes from 5.  This change will hopefully streamline some of the more tedious boss fights.

Hober Mallow

Mastodon-themed augmenters have been added to appropriate areas of the Serengeti dungeon.  There is a new Aspect augmenter, Combined Aspect augmenter, and Spirit (base-only) augmenter.

Hello!  Here’s this week’s installment of the developer blog.

Enkelin

Players have alerted the dev team that the “Bana King” uber has been difficult to find this universe.  I inquired and learned that he is guaranteed to spawn in DF 480 or higher of Kalthi Depths. This isn’t a whole lot of help since there are very many DGs in that range, but hopefully anyone who is looking for him will now at least know where he may be found.  Going forward, we are considering shrinking the size of Kalthi Depths. There was some initial confusion over how to interpret the XML data, but I can now confirm that he is in DF 450 this universe. Going forward, he will be placed in a custom dungeon so we don’t need to deal with this issue. Going forward, he will continue to be placed in a random Kalthi Depths dungeon but the total number of Kalthi Depths galaxies will be reduced by about half.

NCCIntrepid

I have gone through and increased weapon slots on certain ships so that they are usable by Berserker. This change only applies to ships that had very few weapon slots, and especially those like Reaver that come with a weapon equipped. I also changed the unstable overloaders that are obtainable from AI bases: they now have the “can’t unequip” tag which means they also become size 0 when equipped.  You will be able to carry a good stack of them now, making them a little easier to use.

Urza

I reduced the costs of mission-reward fighter generators.

Blue Dwarf

I noticed some discrepancies in how the Lagrange Control and Resist skills work. I will publish some fixes and clarifications soon!

Hober Mallow

The Gunner proposal I posted on the forum has been accepted, it will be quite some time before we end up doing this though. I’m changing the +33% Electric Tempering aug mod on Multifiring Combat Control Bots to 20%, this should make those bots more useful to Fleet Commanders. I still have not finished with Tractor Beam balance, but I plan on doing some work in creating a Hull Expansion balance sheet so that Hull Expanders are more impactful. This will probably result in pretty radical changes to a lot of hull expanders, but overall it should be a net positive thing. Look for some commentary on both of these things in the future.

In other news, I’m also working on some proposals for Adv. Class Subskills. I want to have them done so they are easier to tackle when we finally address class balancing, so look forward to me sharing some of my rough ideas in a forum topic sometime soon as well.

Hello!  Here’s this week’s installment of the developer blog. Unless otherwise indicated, these changes are all awaiting patch and not yet live.  Also, we will be running a Bindomite-themed monthly event this weekend. The much-discussed revamp to the item modification system has unfortunately been put on hold due to an unanticipated drop in code dev time, so feel free to go wild with the extra Bindomite!

Blue Dwarf

The spawner timer on Speedy Gonzales has been reduced to 5 minutes, but the zone is still not instanced.

NCCIntrepid

I have changed the Carcass Missile on the Vulture to be ship-bound and 0 size while not being neurobound. This will allow you to transfer Vulture bots more easily. The JAC Drop rates have been increased in the Jungle, and Lore skills are no longer required for any of the Ancient Ruin Gear.

SunDog60

Prawn Pieces will now drop as a single uniform commodity, rather than a series of A to H of pieces. Any blueprints that required Prawn Pieces will now require this new Prawn Piece. Old A-H pieces will be renamed into the new commodity as well. This should help ease the difficulty in building the Prawn (which requires 80 pieces).

Urza

Removed most class locked items from the dg drops, and moved them to the respective ai stations in lyceums.  Most of these bps/items have had there build times and max workforces adjusted to be at most 5-6 hours. A few have had there costs changed to remove Dementium costs.  T20 ship dg ubers will drop their ship commods and bps 100% of the time. Also all t20 non Serengeti ships will take a max of 5.5 hours. Reduced size of inertial dampening blueprints (they used to be up to 8000 and can only be obtained in Lunacy). Buffed the drop rate of Love Cylinders from 0.5% to 2.5%. Pax Astronomica+ can now be upgraded to Hybridized Astronomica.

Hober Mallow

There is still work being done on Tractor Beams, we’ve hit some snags along the way but I’m confident we’ll have a balance sheet done within the next few weeks. In light of some conversation with end game and lower level Gunners, I’ll be writing up a forum post in General Discussion regarding Gunner class bonuses and a proposal I have in regards to the Deathblossom. Look out for that in the upcoming week.

Hello everyone! Here’s what we’ve been working on lately.

Enkelin

Since Spirit of the Lion Blueprints are demanded at a much higher rate than any of the other Spirit blueprints, the other three variants end up accumulating in storage. We approved a suggestion to allow players to turn in any four Spirit blueprints for one Spirit blueprint of choice.

We have created new forum and Discord roles for our Press Corps. Track them down with any questions you have about the development process!

NCCIntrepid

Last week I spent some time on my massive list of improved QoL stuff. So far ready for patch is I have improved the drop rates for Jungle zones on JACs; now you will be guaranteed a JAC per boss kill with a special chance for another to drop from Baloo beyond the normal drop rates. I have also updated Kalthi Ships to be swappable. What this means is if you have your augmetners on your Berserker and decide you want a KAW instead of a KWW, you no longer need to aug reset or go buy another ship form from Paxian Stronghold. You can simply build your KAW Upgrade and equip it to you KWW instantly becoming a KAW. This will apply to all Armored and Wrathful Kalthi ship types as soon as patch hits. Lastly, I have updated the Fembot Factory and Blueprint to be T16 to ease the ability to get to Station management to actually possible without purchasing Fembots themselves.

I have a few other projects in progress as well. We finally have a resolution to the Cloning Vats: I will be adding a mission to simply get the fighter generators in the future. I will also be resolving the Hermes one hit issues. I will be working to make a low level travel ship given to you by the Paxian Ships. I will also add some new dailies and weekly missions to the Serengeti and Jungle Zones to acquire some Honorary Mentions and Diplomas.

Hober

I have further tweaked the Phoenix and Glaucopennia. Updated stats are on the test server and ready for players to test some more. I’m currently under the impression that they are a bit underpowered according to their cost, but that may be OK. I’m considering reducing their cost and rarity instead of increasing their power.

The second round of engine adjustments are now available for testing on the test server. Thrust has been increased on all Engines by 100%, while Turning has been increased by 33%. These changes are meant to mitigate the necessity of constantly using Ace in a Pill tweaks to maintain a reasonable level of maneuverability. This may mean that players who were already pretty maneuverable can now use a smaller/weaker engine, or they can instead opt to use heavier gear.

I’m working with enkelin on creating some balance standards and formulas for Tractor Beams. Right now they’re in a very weird place, with a lot of their stats decided on arbitrarily. We hope to create a much more reasonable power differential between tech levels and types of tractor beams.