Hi everyone! I’m pretty excited about some improvements we have been making to our testing and quality assurance protocols. What this means for players is that we’ll have more frequent patches, better oversight on what goes live, and better balance testing of upcoming changes to the game.

These improvements have been made possible by several volunteers from the community. My colleague NCCIntrepid has taken the lead on Quality Assurance, assembling a team from the Press Corps to identify and fix bugs before they go live. His team has already covered the two most recent patches. Once a bug is discovered, they have worked out a rapid reporting system so that Developers and Contributors can resolve the issues and provide you with a smooth gameplay experience.

Some of our Press Corps volunteers have also been doing great work testing new content for balance before it’s finalized. I’d like to recognize the hard work of Joshua, Tornado, and Newman (Kanga) in particular.

If you would like to try your hand at testing or quality assurance, please drop me a line and we’ll go from there!

- Content Changes-
* A Kalthi Torpedo, the Kalthi Fist, has been added. It’s blueprint should drop from the same place other Kalthi blueprints drop.
* Sivar’s Augmenter: Rate of Fire reduced to 80% from 100%.
* Fixed the bonnet paxian mission, fixed exploration missions overall telling you to go to the wrong galaxy.
* Corrected credit cost on the mercurian zeal from (875m init and periodic to 87.5m init and periodic)
* Expanded list of stella ai names, 10 was too few.
* Made the Equipment skill instead of Station Management requirement work for Blueprint Packs correctly (blueprint packs now require Equipment, instead of Station Management)
* Made it so that a black box only vanishes if the base owner scoops it. If a team-mate scoops it, they will receive a copy
* Added a check to prevent items that prevent warp or decay on universe reset items from being transferred to the TSL
* Added better protections for AI only items relating to slaves

- Client Changes -
* improved the game client memory management capability.
** nearly all textures can now be unloaded from memory as needed if the memory reach critical levels. (this fix the client when not using dds textures among other things)
** added “/debug texreload” chatcommand to reload all textures, this combined with dds disabled, allow texture changes to be loaded without restarting the client (very useful if you are working on a skin either ship or ui).
** if texture preloading is enabled, then they wont be unloaded unless memory reach critical, if preload is not enabled, then textures are unloaded after not being used for 5 minutes (this time goes down as the memory reach closer to critical).
* Fixes store close dialog button.
* Fixed a bug where running the client in windowed mode caused the window to get a little big bigger every time
* Fixed engine mount on Earthforce Police Zebra skin.
* Fixed bug which would caused corrupted items to appear in tables, especially on the colony and base log windows
* Added /debug bgdetect to toggle the client background state detection (the code that lower framerate and reduce the render resolution when client is in not visible). This function is mostly here to simplify streaming / video recording since those hook directly the game render and can never be obscured.
** be warned that using this functionality constantly can have negative impact especially if your hardware is contested while the game is covered.
* Fixed owner not being displayed on base control tab
* Changed phoenix and glauco visuals

This is a rather small patch but also include some behind the scene changes aimed at reducing the lag spikes on live.

* Fixed typo in Seer Wraith skill
* Renamed a few of the aug stat bonuses so they’re a bit clearer (e.g., Critical Percent -> Critical Hit Chance) or don’t use shortened words (e.g., Trans Power -> Transference Power).
* SivarHvar’kann now properly drops his unique loot.
* Fix for north and south base thruster directions being swapped.
* Added item stats to mc output
* Reduced the resists on Dungeon Qokuji’qi
* Increased shields on Reaver’s a little bit
* Added commas to the credit reward in mission descriptions

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

This is a small patch, mostly to fix issues that were added in the recent updates and some small quality of life fixes.

* Changed Deimos and Phobos Augmenters from rare to uncommon quality. (Deimos: 180% RoF -> 130% RoF, Phobos: +80% Damage -> +60% Damage)
* Added commas to /showsquaddamage
* Adjusted tech of the unsticky stable station diffusers, corrected 2 dampener bp pack descriptions to be more accurate. Deprecated the adonis, argonaut, and paxian unstable station diffusers.
* Fixed a bug that allowed the sun’s aura to be ignored with previously attached station (asteroid station)
* fix for first gal name being duplicated in oplist
* Fixed a vacuum scooping bug
* Fixed the construction related bug where periodics were not properly consumed. If you had a bugged build, it will still request a large amount to catch up (it did not actually consume periodics up to that point), but once caught up the periodic cost should be back to normal.
* Fixed a delay in the inventory refresh
* Improved map loading so that it should not lockup during loading anymore and refresh as new data is received

*** bugs fix patch notes 05.08.2018 ***
* Fix for comets orbiting too fast at high eccentricities.
* Electrified Georg Ohm no longer has Lunarian, Selenite and Perilous Augmenters equipped to his ship. Thus, he will no longer drop them.
* Travel Fields now reduce Shield and Energy Recharge by 90% instead of 100%.
* Termites should no longer pose a substantial threat to bases.
* Reduced class reset cost from 500mil at lvl 500 to 500mil at lvl 1500.
* Fixes for drones fighting ai permanent drones.

*** uni reset patch notes ***
* The Blue Photon Corvette no longer grants +1000 Damage for 5 seconds, it now grants +100% damage for 5 seconds.
* Grand Navigator’s Offensive Augmenter: 100% Energy, 80% Firing, 30% Range, 70% Damage, 60% Shields, -15% Electric Tempering, 15% Resistance to Damage
* Persephone Augmenter: 50% Turning, 10% Hull Space, 50% Energy, 22% Rate of Fire, 10% Speed, 50% Radar, 100% Thrust, 18% Critical Hit Chance
* Hebe Augmenter: Damage increased to 70%.
* Helios Augmenter: Damage increased to 40%
* Ares Augmenter: Rate of Fire increased to 80%
* Metis Augmenter: Damage increased to 80%, Firing increased to 30%
* Heracles Augmenter: 50% Firing, 33% Range, 60% Damage, 66% Hostility, -12% Electric Tempering
* Hades Augmenter: 60% Shield Regeneration, 50% Damage, -20% Shield Bank, -50% Visibility, 10% Critical Hit Chance, 100% Critical Hit Strength
* Deimos Augmenter: Rate of Fire +190%, Shield +100%, Range +40%, Visibility -89%
* Phobos Augmenter: Shield Max +100%, Damage +80%, Visibility -89%, Electric Tempering -20%
* War Chant of Ares Augmenter: 20% Range, 20% Speed, 125% Damage, 45% Electricity, +15% Critical Hit Chance, -25% Resistance to Damage
* War Chant of Ares Augmenter+: 20% Range, 20% Speed, 135% Damage, 45% Electricity, +19% Critical Hit Chance, -20% Resistance to Damage
* Molten Fires of Hephaestus Augmenter: Shield Max +130%, Energy Max +300%, Rate of Fire +25%, Electricity +20%, Speed -40%, Capacity +40%, Hostility +100%, Resistance to Damage +33%
* Molten Fires of Hephaestus Augmenter+: Shield Max +130%, Energy Max +300%, Rate of Fire +40%, Electricity +20%, Speed -33%, Capacity +45%, Hostility +100%, Resistance to Damage +35%
* Poseidon’s Tsunami Augmenter: 100% Energy Bank, 40% Thrust, 80% Damage, 70% Shield Bank, -20% Electricity, +40% Tractor, -60% Electric Tempering
* Poseidon’s Tsunami Augmenter+: 160% Energy Bank, 40% Thrust, 80% Damage, 100% Shield Bank, -15% Electricity, +40% Tractor, -60% Electric Tempering
* Zeus’ Planar Field Augmenter: 30% Hull Space, 20% Range, 50% Shield Recovery, 64% Damage, 30% Electricity, 30% Electric Tempering, 20% Resistance to Damage
* Zeus’ Planar Field Augmenter+: 30% Hull Space, 20% Range, 65% Shield Recovery, 70% Damage, 30% Electricity, 22% Electric Tempering, 20% Resistance to Damage
* The Lasers on Subspace AI that grem no longer grem, they now reduce your turning by a large amount.
* Reduced Lunarian Energized Shield, Lunarian Destructor Shield, Lunarian Modulating Shield, Selenite Energized Shield, Selenite Destructor Shield, Selenite Modulating Shield’s Visibility by a factor of 10.
* Neutralizing Pulse, Earthshaking Cannon, Lacerating Bloom, Demolishing Pulse, Burning Bloom, Lancing Tusks, and Smashing Tusks Blueprints no longer require Tech 20 skill boss commodities in their builds. The T21 upgraded versions now require them, this is a reduction in the total amount of these commodities needed to build the Tech 22 versions of these weapons.
* Super Shield Soother has had it’s -electricity regeneration removed and it now has a charge up time like every other Shield Regeneration tweak.
* re-enabled team message variables, fixed the crash caused by ‘oplist’
* Fixes for less frequent drone cross healing and healing in protected gals

* Bases outside of the userbase placement limits (over 30k from the nearest solarbody e.g. suns, planets, wormholes, etc) will not count for galaxy ownership. If the only kits in the galaxy are outside of this limit, the galaxy will go un-owned. If a galaxy is owned with kits outside of their team beyond the limits, they will be converted to bvb kits
+ Updated the spread of Juxtas and Concourses in Wild Space. They no longer only appear on the edge of the map
+ Lowered the amount of Kalthi Dephts galaxies from 250 to 140
+ Lowered the amount of Perilous Space galaxies from 300 to 250
+ Increased the amount of Earthforce Layer galaxies from 450 to 500 to allow better AI spread over Danger Factors
* Frozen Snowflakes holoprojector reward now has bigger snowflakes
* Lord Borean’s Snow Crown has proper holo text now
+ Artica AI spawn locations have been improved. They will also spawn in a burst of snowflakes to mark their entrance into existence
+ New holoprojector from Arctia, Lady Aurora’s Snow Crown. Auroral lights shine through, creating a flurry of kaleidoscopic snow
* Psionic Weapons Jammer to no longer cause over RoF cap on AI and players
+ Points of Interest in Subspace are now visible from the beginning of the universe, without being explored
* Primal Jungle Drone no longer has 2 more augmenters than the Jungle Drone. The specific augmenters removed are the Aspect of the Monkey and Aspect of the Elephant Augmenters. These drones should now be appropriately better than Jungle Drones, instead of comparable to some Tech 20 drones
* Buffed base weapons in accordance with galaxy assault changes
* Adjusted temporary drone weights.
+ Added The Vault
* Changed old gadget using bp manhours/workforce to match raw commod versions
* Changed a diploma tagged bp for sale in lyceum to berserker tagged
* Bonnet mission “Drones” now requires a Bonnet Pirating Drone instead of a regular Pirating Drone from Brigand’s Stronghold.
* Added the ability for holoprojectors to do a tweak when they convert to a different projector
* Removed base aug bps from a drop list
* Added Twisted Crimson skin to Nikola, Twisted Honey, Bule Eradicator and UrQa Vo’kii Uka Uu’Qa
* Added Twisted Blacklight skin to Nikola, Twisted Honey, Vanguard, Bule Eradicator and UrQa Vo’kii Uka Uu’Qa
* Added Twisted Honey skin to Twisted Vanguard, Bule Eradicator and UrQa Vo’kii Uka Uu’Qa
* Added Ruby Scrupling skin.
* Added Dark Scrupling skin
* Added Angry Scrupling skin.
* Added Raging Scrupling skin
* Added Golden Bana King Skin
* Added Mechanical Bana King skin
* Fixed Bimbus 3000 cooldown
* Added “Idle Attack Patterns” where AI can do certain defined patterns while not attacking rather than the default AI behavior
* Added tutorial event and sound for attempting to jump through a blocked wormhole
* Added the ability to play a specified sound when a new mission pops up, and added voices for the tutorial bot when the first 3 missions pop up in the pirate Nexus
* Made some changes to Mutara Gardens galaxy
* Gave the Gatekeeper ship in Mutara Scrapyard an idle pattern to just stay parked next to the wormhole and to slowly rotate around it when engaged
* Fixed a bug that was preventing mission indicators from showing sometimes
* Gave Junkyard station kits inbuilt hydroponics
* Updated resists on the Unforge for base Rebalance. It now has 40% resists to all but heat and 1000 Soak to all but heat
* Added a summary and mission text note to Honorary Mention and Diploma exchange missions about requiring a Silver Bar and a Gold Bar respectively
* 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
* Base Construction Vulnerability
* Fixed chargeable neurotweaks being unsellable
* Added a minimum orbit velocity to planets in the universe generation so that they will never have an orbit slower than the server can handle. (this should eliminate planets far from their star being stationary)
* Fixed a case where planets in certain rare solarsystem types did not have an orbit and were stationary
* Removed equip method on Rich Christmas Pudding tweak and added 5,000 energy initial usage
* Removed the grem effect from annihilator platforms
* Removed/deprecated 3 missions in Mutara Gardens
* Removed the money rewards from some of the early Nexus pirate missions — to be added to later pirate missions.
* Increased forcefield drones’ health, lifespan, and time between generation of envelopments by five times
* Space Rats in The Nexus will now idle and attack with attack patterns
* Made Space Rat hull a lot faster