Hello Sonatians! We are happy to announce our first Mid-Month Bonus weekend. We will be having a 25% increase to modded boss drops and aug drops, with a 50% mod drop increase to DG loot.

Enjoy your runs and dungeons this weekend!

With the successful re-launch of Bonus events that happened in April, I’m happy to announce our next event! There will be a 2x Global XP Multiplier, a 25% boost to comet drops, and 25% decrease in durability lost during death!

This event will stay live from 5/3/19 to the morning of 5/6/19!

Hope Everyone’s had a good reset and enjoy the weekend!

Wild Space is about to get a whole lot more wild! In addition to the primitive and easily dispatched mini-bases that inhabit Wild Space during a fresh universe, some of the richest parts of Wild Space will need to be taken by force.

Starting next universe, AI Empires will inhabit Wild Space. While in this first iteration, they are merely (very pretty) obstacles, they are in truth the beginning of a new dynamic sweeping through Wild Space.
Prepare for the opportunity for an opportunity to smash into an AI controlled team that follows all the rules of a normal player team, but doesn’t hold a grudge!

They will expand, attack, trade, and offer unique rewards for both killing their assets and leaving them alone. Their assets, barring a few minor quality of life changes (such as killed bases disappearing instantly), follow all the same rules that player bases do: Irradiate them and see what goodies they hold (though be aware that currently these goodies are purely visual goodies that are in-line with existing gear)!

Current Features

AI Empires! 4 unique factions with visually distinct themes, ripe for the killing.
Each AI Empire follows the same rules as normal teams: Declare war and start the attack!

Planned Features

On the offensive: AI Empires will attack galaxies they consider valuable with massive assault ships. Put your defenses to the test.
Better be prepared for what lies beneath: The “civilized” AI empires are quite predictable, but new fledgling (“Termite”) empires might just decide that the ill-defended galaxy in your team’s territory might make for a great new Headquarters.
Good Neighbours: Certain AI Empires may buy and sell rare items, attract rare AI not usually seen in Wild Space and might even be diplomacized into attacking mutual foes. Good relations can lead to good things!

Likely Questions and Answers

“Wild Space is already pretty crowded, won’t it be worse now?” – Wild Space will be quite a bit bigger! The AI Empires will take roughly 40 galaxies, Wild Space will however have far more than 40 extra galaxies available.

“Can you kill off an empire completely?” – Yes! No invincibility shenanigans. They’ll be dead. And I will only be a little bit sad about it.

“When are the new features coming?” – Offensive empire capabilities are likely coming mid-uni. Termite Empires shortly afterwards.

With the return of monthly bonus weekends, we’re also announcing a change to the frequency of them! Bonus weekends will now happen twice a month and last from Friday to Sunday! Announcements will be made on Wednesdays before the events to give everyone fair warning on what to plan for the weekends.

To start, this weekend’s bonus event will be doubled augmenter drop rates and a 50% increase in dropped item mod chances!

We, the Star Sonata II Development Team are proud to present Santa’s Mystical Porpoise, a complex fusion of the classic Porpoise and Elven technology. This sleek and wonderful one off will be only available to all players of level 350+ who log in during the Christmas 2018 event. From all of us on the Development Team: Merry Christmas! To claim your Santa’s Mystical Porpoise, log on during the 2018 Christmas Event and pick up the mission at Earth Central in Sol!

It’s that time again.  The fabric of space-time is becoming unstable and the universe is expected to completely unravel on September 15 at 1:00 PM Eastern / server time.  A new universe will be born shortly afterwards.

Expect to see drastic changes to the Kalthi Depths, bases buying and selling items using the new alternative currency system, and new and improved combat bot AI.  There is also reported to be some interesting changes in the Anaconda instance.

All Deployed user bases and permanent drones will be destroyed but your ships and TSL items will transition over to the new universe.  Whatever ship you were last flying will be the ship you fly in the next universe, so make sure to log out while in your storage thatch to give everyone else a good laugh as you try to find a good galaxy to colonize in that thing!

Hi everyone, here’s a report from press corps member DJ on this week’s meeting.

Jeff

*Patch Worked with Jey to replicate and fix the last client bug that was holding up the patch, so now he says there’s nothing stopping him and he’s planning for the patch on Wednesday.

*Fixed a bug that had broken lasers when nothing targeted or target out of range.

*Tested and fixed SOBID Attack Pattern targets

*Added Diseased Larvae with attack patterns to Mutara Gardens

*Changed the bonus thrust and turning on all Zebucarts from +100% to +50%

*Greatly buffed the rof mod on Earthforce Supply Ship from 0.07 to 0.50

*Changed loadout on Gatekeeper Supply Ship to have Nano Heavy Tracking laser so he can’t crit the player with rad just before he dies and cause confusing warp interdiction effect

*Add pop up error message when trying to jump through a blocked wormhole to make it more obvious to the player

*Moved the asteroid belt in Mutara Scrapyard so that none of the wreckage can ever happen to block the wormhole.  Removed all the wreckage that looks like scoopable debris or ships to be less confusing, just leaving asteroids and bulk trader parts.

*Gave Rat Carapace and a couple other low level AI shields some regen when they previously had zero regen.  AI will not initiate an attack unless they are at full shields, and it’s kind of weird when an AI fights another AI, loses a little shields, and then will just never again attack anything.

urza

*Noticed some Dampeners where not the same tech level as their counterparts and the decision was made to make corresponding base dampeners same tech level as each other. (Adamantiumized Dampeners+ will all be tech level 16, Laconia Dampeners+ will be tech level 14)

Faranight

*Drone meta: Anni defenders will not grem any longer. (Was not intended to) Drones in a BVB attack for defenders are to be used as a delay tactic, as in one drone is supposed to take place of one active player during the PvP of the fight. They may be a little stronger than we want them, but we will hold off on a full rebalance of permanent drones so that there’s time for proper testing.

*Working with the Testing team for the Base Construction vulnerability aura. Upon the testing results this will be decided about going live.

Additional Notes

*Forcefield Generator drone rework is done.

*Unforge balance completed.

*Golden Base resistances buffed to be between Lac kits and Dem kits of their respected tech levels

Welcome to the station expansion update! This blog will go over all the details of what’s to be expected within this update.
Enjoy all of this next universe.

Welcome to the station expansion update! This blog will go over all the details of what’s to be expected within this update.

Enjoy!

A total of 13 solar panels have been added; more details below:

The currently existing Earthforce Station Solar Panels have lost their +5% Resistance bonuses and have had them replaced with -5% Energy Max and +15% Shield Max bonuses.

Normal panels and anti-panels of the same type cannot be stacked together.

Solar panels that are acquired from dungeons will drop in blueprint form and other solar panels will drop as a crate to compress the size.

This part of the update has experienced some issues with having existing equipped extractors on station kits, and so currently only the tech 9 station kit will be available in Capella for 250,000,000 credits in blueprint form.

Additional gear within the kit:

• 1 Automated Hydroponics (2,525 Workers)
• 2,000 Rations
• 2,525 Workers
• 300 Advance Metal Drills
• 300 Advanced Silicon Extractors
• 300 Advanced Nuclear Waste Collectors
• 300 Tree Cutters
• 300 Harvesters

The Automated Attached Miner Kit IV Blueprint requires:

Intial Materials

• 500,000,000 Credits
• 30 Junkyard Scrapnote*
• 1 Loaded Attached Station Kit IV*

Periodic Materials

• 500,000,000 Credits

If this intial station kit gets wide use, expect an expansion into this area once the bugs are ironed out.

Yes, you heard right, station kits that can be pulled, pushed, and flown even faster. All these station kits copy the stats of the corresponding kit they’re built from, but of course with the extra speed and base thrusters.

These station kits focus around being either transfer and production type kits. They’ll contain the following additions:

Depot Cargo Extension

• Tech: 16
• Size: 1,000
• Extra-Space: 100,000
• Galaxy-Bound
• Build Cost: 100 Promethium, 2,000 Steel Girders, 100,000,000 Credits.
• One is already placed within the Depot Station Kits.

Depot Warpastic Hot

• Tech: 16
• Damage: 1,125 (186.25 DPS, 0.030 DPE)
• Recoil: 6.04s
• Range: 100
• Ethereal
• Damage Type: Heat, Adds 90 heat damage over 30 seconds.
• Side-Effect: Warp Interdiction +1 for 8 seconds.
• Base-Bound
• Already placed within Depot Station Kits.

Depot Warpastic Hot+

• Tech: 16
• Damage: 1,125 (186.25 DPS, 0.030 DPE)
• Recoil: 6.04s
• Range: 150
• Ethereal
• Damage Type: Heat, Adds 90 heat damage over 30 seconds.
• Side-Effect: Warp Interdiction +1 for 8 seconds. On hit does a 75% damage splash effect with range 250.
• Base-Bound
• Made from in-built blueprint.

Depot Basic Field Generator

• Tech: 16
• Fields Generated:
  • Max Speed: +20 (2,000)
  • Shield Charge: +50 (220)
  • Energy Charge: +100 (220)
• Electricity: 1,666/s
• Base-Bound
• Already placed within Depot Station Kits.

Depot Advance Field Generator

• Tech: 16
• Fields Generated:
  • Max Speed: +55 (6,000)
  • Shield Charge: +75 (400)
  • Energy Charge: +150 (400)
• Electricity: 1,666/s
• Base-Bound
• Made from in-built blueprint.

Depot Construction Facility Blueprint

• Tech: 16
• Construction Speed Bonus: +10%
• Made from in-built blueprint.
• Build Cost: 1 Dementium, 2,000 Promethium, 8,000 Steel Girders, 8,000 Sentient Chatbots, 5,500 Fusion Cells, 2,000,000,000 Credits.

Included temporary galaxy-bound drones:

Additional information about each station kit:

Players have been asking about this addition for a while, to add station kits based off specific resources. So here it is! The Rubicite Station Kit, essentially a huge constructed crystal of Rubicite. This station kit will contain the following:

Rubicite Protector (Shield)

• Tech: 14
• Protection: 2,000,000
• Regenerate: 100/s
• Regen Electricity: 4500/s (0.02 regen/energy)
• Electricity: 117/s
• Sticky

Rubicite Plasma Fabricator (Superitem)

• Tech: 14
• Does a Rubicite Plasma Ball Missile.
• Charge Required: 40,800,000
• Charging Rate: 340,000/s
• Base-Bound

Rubicite Plasma Launcher

• Tech: 14
• Launches Missiles.
• Queue up to 10 missiles.
• Launch speed: 5 seconds.
• Sticky

Custom Missiles

• Salvo: 5 indiviudal plasma balls.
• Max Distance: 15,000
• Has a Mini Rubicite Discharge laser.
• Superitem built-in

Rubicite Crystal Presence (Field Generator)

• Tech: 14
• Fields Generated:
  • Capacity: +5% (4,000)
  • Range: +5% (4,000)
  • Range: -5% (1,000) Enemies
• Electricity: 5,000/s
• Base-Bound

Rubicite Discharge

• Tech: 14
• Damage: 24,030 (5,492.57 DPS, 0.340 DPE)
• Recoil: 4.375s
• Range: 1,000
• Ethereal
• Damage Type: Laser, Adds 400 heat damage over 40 seconds.
• Electricity: 69,065
• Base-Bound

Rubicite Station Kit VI Blueprint Costs:

• 1 Demented Station Kit VI*
• 10 Industrial Promethium Crystals*
• 125 Rubicite*
• 25,000 Steel Girders
• 10,000 Fusion Cells
• 2,000,000,000 Credits

If this intial station kit gets wide use, expect an expansion into this area.

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.

It’s finally here! Astro-Santa has taken to the skies to deliver all his goodies, and let’s not forget the mischevious Astro-Grinch who’ll try to stop him. Astro-Santa and his Elves will be doing their good work until the 3rd of January.

The prediction made by Earthforce Scientists was correct (much to the surprise of the Lyceum Scientist, they think they know everything) and a wormhole has materialised within Sol which leads to Lapland.

Lastly a quick reminder that there’s the Astro-Santa Letter competition to take part in, information can be found on the blog post announcing the event and competition and submissions can be made directly to the forum topic.

Happy Holidays!