Welcome to another Star Sonata Dev Diary! Today we’re going back into the Emperor system, talking about new Wild Space improvements and the new ways to target farm for augmenters.

How to become Emperor?

Let’s dive into the mechanical details of the new Emperor system. To be crowned emperor you need points called Influence.

These points are gained from 3 types of Anatolian bosses that spawn within the Anatolian Expanse:

• Polemarchos gives 900,000 Influence

• Starategos gives 60,000 Influence

• Taxiarhos gives 3000 Influence

The harder the boss and the more influence it gives, the longer it takes to respawn. Influence is awarded on a teamwide basis and any team that participates in killing an Anatolian boss gets some Influence from the total pool. Because Influence is apportioned for different things, any time spent dealing damage to a boss will make you eligible for points; however, getting the finishing blow is also worth a heavy portion of the bosses Influence pool. Influence is awarded instantly upon kill via an event chat notification of your team’s share and does not require scooping anything or having to turn anything in.

Once a team has greater than 9 million Influence and a sufficient lead in Influence over any other contenders, they will automatically be awarded the Imperial Throne and the contest will be over. After crowning an Emperor there is a cooldown period of three weeks during their reign where no Influence can be earned. After the cooldown period all teams have their influence points set to zero and the cycle starts again. However the incumbent Emperor remains in position and still gets the perks of being Emperor until a new one succeeds them.

Fighting for Emperor up until the very end is still worth it, even if there are only a few weeks left in the universe. This is because the majority of the rewards for becoming Emperor are granted immediately upon claiming the throne.

After being crowned Emperor

Once crowned Emperor, the Director of the winning team will take ownership of the Imperial Palace, which is invulnerable and takes up no base slots. Only members of the reigning team can dock at the palace and management access is set to Councillors. A Splendid Imperial Trove, a crate with the following unbound items will be placed in the palace awaiting the Emperor’s team once crowned:

• 150 Imperial Chests

• 3 Imperial Augmenter Resets

• 3 Imperial Ship Dry-Dock Modules

Additionally, members of the ruling team will receive win points: three for directors, two for councillors, and one for everyone else. The director also gets Leadership 3 if they do not already have it, granting access to the exclusive Emperor’s Club in Sol. Lastly, a universal 5% tithe on colony profits and scooped credits accrues in the reigning team’s funds until the next Emperor is named.

PvP Items

See: Dev Diary – Anatolian Expanse

There is a new item tag on the Anatolian Crest that drops from Midas’ Fleet within the Anatolian Expanse, with the following unique properties:

• Drops on death.

• Drops on layer change (tow or jump).

• Drops on ship evaporation (1 minute after logoff).

• Decays on new uni.

• Prevents Transwarp.

• Bots cannot scoop.

• Debris has high visibility.

• Gives high visibility if you scoop.

• Debris is persistent for 48 hours via any action other than tossing.

• Once docked, it cannot be transferred to another ship or tossed; it must be used or destroyed (scrapped) before undocking is possible.

Wild Space Changes

We have heard loud and clear from the community that obtaining a foothold in Wild Space at the beginning of the universe was frustrating due to the relatively small number of galaxies revealed at the start. We have recalibrated the reveal process in two important ways: it is now front loaded with substantially more galaxies appearing on Day 1, and the rate of new reveals is much higher early on in the universe as well.

We have also touched up the resource distribution code to make galaxies that reveal later considerably more desirable.

Ownership Process

We also made a number of changes to the Command & Control Station Kit which should provide more depth to Wild Space territory control, especially between teams looking to snag the same galaxy. No longer will your only recourse be to kill the opposing teams Command & Control base.

1. Command & Control (C&C) bases cannot be irradiated. This means that you are unable to capture an enemy’s C&C base without the owner of the base intentionally abandoning it.

2. Command & Control bases must be deployed within 3k distance from the edge of a sun. The universe generation code been updated accordingly so that at least 3 suns are found in every Wild Space galaxy.

3. The Nullification Generator build time has been increased from 2 hours to 3 hours, but a new system has been introduced that can accelerate the build speed back down under 2 hours (see #4 below).

4. We have added a basebound factory called Nullification Generator Construction Support. This factory automatically constructs Ownership Booster Drones as long as it is equipped and supplied with materials. Ownership Booster Drones auto-deploy upon being built and orbit the station at a distance of 8k.

   1. Each deployed drone provides a 16.7% build speed increase to the man-hours required to complete the Nullification Generator Blueprint. In theory, a team can reduce the build time for a Nullification Generator to approximately 100 minutes by constantly building these drones.

Colony Changes

We’ve implemented a few new features and expansions to existing Colony content. We’ve buffed the colony enhancement items (Mobile Mani-Pedi SolonBot Housing, Optimo-Life (TM) Curation Station, Atmospheric Robotic Vacuum Dock) to increase the storehouse of the colony which will increase the number of items it will buy and sell every interval.

We have also added a new toggle within the Colony tab to disable specific bases from trading with that colony. For example, if you have 3 Extraction Expert bases and one Colonial Administration base attached to a planet, you can disable colony trading from the Extraction Expert bases to help maximize profits. You can only toggle this on bases you own.

Common Augmenter Sourcing

Common augmenters (Minor, Basic, Std, etc.) are some of the most iconic items in Star Sonata. They are used extensively throughout the game: countless builds, ship improvements, and outfitting bases for combat are all reliant on these items. Dungeons have always been a great way to gather augmenters, but the variety of augmenters was always inconsistent (looking at you, Good Electric Augmenter). This led to scarcity of certain augs that weren’t commonly found equipped on AI, not to mention a variety of unintuitive farming locations.

To alleviate this disparity and refocus gameplay on DGing, we are taking a new approach to the sourcing of common augmenters. Starting at universe reset, you will be able to “target farm” the augmenters of your choice to a much greater extent than ever before. Dungeon bosses will gain extra loot rolls that are dedicated to Common augmenters, and will often drop several augmenters at once. Each boss is capable of dropping four “flavors” of Common augmenter and the tech level of the augmenters dropped is determined (along with some RNG) by the subjective strength of the dungeon boss. For example a Green Battleship boss might drop from a pool of Damage, Speed, Targeting and Docking Augmenters. Whatever specific augmenters you’re looking for, you will be able to find many different DG bosses that can provide them. To make doubly sure of this, we are also greatly increasing the number of DGs in the game. One final note: ordinary AI ships will continue to spawn with random augmenters but they will no longer carry dedicated augmenters as in the past.

Welcome to another Star Sonata Dev Diary! Today we’re diving into the new Emperor System within the brand new Anatolian Expanse layer: a PvP oriented experience to claw to the top.

Overview

Killing Midas’ Military leaders grants the slayer influence over Anatolia. They have three different ranks, of varying strength, defending their civilians as they gather and transport resources to maintain their domination over the universe. By defeating these military commanders, you prove your strength to the universe and limit Midas’ power.

The Layer: Where it is and what it’s like there

The Anatolian Expanse can be easily accessed in Anatolia off of Earthforce Perilous Outpost. From Anatolia there are 3 paths that take you into the neighboring provinces owned by Midas. Upon entering the expanse, you can either go deeper into the province (to confront powerful Anatolians), or you can travel to the other entrances of the expanse. Make sure you bring some friends and firepower as you attempt to go deeper, because large Anatolian structures block the way to keep their more valuable space and illustrious prestigious generals safe.

There are also stations owned by disgruntled Anatolian citizens in each of the entrance galaxies. They are tired of his rule and applaud your actions, and are even willing to offer you some rewards for putting a stop to his reign.

The Anatolians

The Anatolians are split up into 3 major groups. The first of them is the civilians. These are the laborers and craftsmen, the backbone of Anatolia. However, they don’t have much means to defend themselves. That’s where the soldier’s job comes into play. They form a never ending army of diehard Midas followers who have no concern for their own lives… mostly because they are protected by Midas’ immortal soul! They patrol the expanse and quickly come to defend any leader who is attacked. The leaders are the third group found here. These captains and generals are extremely powerful: killing them is an incredibly heroic act and those who can accomplish this feat will be recognized by the universe for their influence. Killing enough of these leaders will allow your team to claim the Imperial Throne. The stronger the leader, the more influence your team will accrue!

Being Crowned Emperor of the Universe

Being crowned Emperor is a simple process. You merely enter the Anatolian expanse and take on some of the most powerful and well equipped forces in the universe! Kill enough of their leaders, and none can deny your worthiness. The keys to the palace are awarded directly to the leadership of the team that proved themselves worthy, and there they may claim their reward.

It is possible that one group will have shown themselves worthy through their influence, but another group is not far behind. If it is too close to tell, the people of the universe will not be convinced that either is worthy! Continue dominating in the Anatolian Expanse to truly prove that you belong as the Emperor of this universe.

After a team has been crowned, the universe will no longer be worried about Anatolia for a time (a cooling off period of a few weeks). Midas will brood, frustrated with the failure of his people. But, before long, Midas’ influence will begin affecting the universe anew. And, once more, the throne will be open to those who can prove themselves worthy! Some other team will take the throne … if the previous regime doesn’t step back up to repel Midas’ forces again!

Anatolian Crests

Defeating any of Midas’ loyal subjects will award you Anatolian Crests, which are recognized by the Detractors of Midas. Bring these trophies to one of the stations near the entrances to the expanse, and they will handsomely reward you for your actions against Midas with a variety of treasures. However, once you dock at the station you may not leave with these Crests! They will not recognize them once you leave, so you must exchange them before you are allowed to depart.

The detractors do not care who brings the Crests to them, and will recognize any who bring them evidence of an Anatolian defeat… no matter how it was gained! This means that Anatolian Crests drop on death if another player kills you, so be careful! Also you may not leave the Anatolian Expanse, or log off, with these Crests!

May adum always be in your favor! Good luck, Sonatians!

Opening his eyes to the amber glow of the sun, the king wakes from his stasis slumber. Looking out from the palace into the endless space, a universe he claimed as his own. Yet each time he declared himself Emperor, the King of Anatolia would be crushed, camped, and usurped by a universe that was fractured by pirates, traders, farmers and other imperial dreamers.

His ship, the Golden Midas, powerless against foes, slowly rebuilt within the undefended palace as it is corrupted again and again by the fury of unjustified claimants. His spirit splintered as he was assassinated again and again for his gold and prestige.

“No longer,” the king declared.

Using his extensive spy network, King Midas claims to have infiltrated Lyceum’s deepest research vaults and stolen a power to change a small but critical portion of the universe. Midas declares that once the universe has collapsed and reset: his demesne will be worthy of his status as Emperor, he will have a fleet of unimaginable power, and will become truly immortal against all.

Whether these claims are actually true is yet to be seen but the universe has become destabilized. It will collapse and reform on October 22nd, 2022.

Dev Notes

• Extractors other then space oats shut off, colonies will no longer make purchases to/from user bases, AI bases will no longer decay goods 7 days before end of the universe. Will be a reminder post.
• Bases, permanent drones, and the credits on active bots will be lost.
  • Player ships will not be affected.
• If you’re docked during the reset, you will spawn into the new universe using your docked active ship.
  • Careful not to spawn into the new universe in an immobile ship!
• Wild Space will be scrambled and receive a new map shape.
• All other layers will have the systems scrambled but contain the same shape.
• After a universe reset, all of your docked ships will be in a state of limbo allowing you to dock them all at any non-player station.  You can use the /limbo chat command only once to bring all of your docked ships back into limbo to dock them elsewhere. There is no longer a time limit.

PDT: 10:00
MDT: 11:00
CDT: 12:00
EDT: 13:00
UTC: 17:00
BST: 18:00

Welcome to another Star Sonata Dev Diary! Today we’re talking about termite sieges within Wild Space! There are three main changes that are coming with Universe Reset with Termites.

1. Termite mounds are considerably stronger now and are likely unkillable by player ships alone.
2. Players will be alerted when and where they are going to be attacked so that players can prepare their defenses via a new team chat and galaxy notifications.
3. Termite mounds spawn a harasser termite that can kill lower tech bases. The Danger Factor of the galaxy determines the strength of the harasser termites, so lower tech bases are somewhat less vulnerable in galaxies with lower Danger Factor.

Clearing Mounds

We wanted to ensure players had to actually prepare base related defenses and tried to move away from the chore of constantly scouting and killing mounds before they even became a threat. Termite mounds are now far more hardy and will not easily die to player weapons now. Termite mounds will appear in any galaxy that has a player asset inside of it, owned or not. However, only one mound per galaxy can appear at a time.

Siege Notification

Upon logging in, a new alert in the team login message will notify any team members of every galaxy that has an active mound within them. You can also see exactly when the mound is going to start its full siege on the galaxy by checking event chat when you warp into the galaxy. A mound will lay siege exactly seven days after it appears in a galaxy.

Termite Waves

Termites will attack in waves instead of coming in one at a time. This will make them a bit more formidable, but there’s also a cap on the size of each wave to prevent a Termite Deathball™  from appearing (no more 50+ termites). Termite range has been reduced by over 50% to ensure they don’t kite excessively or hang out beyond the range of player bases. Mounds will only spawn up to a maximum value of termites to prevent issues. Sieges will last for 3 hours after which the mound and all its termites will despawn.

Survive the Siege

The ultimate goals are to ensure players are committing the proper resources to galaxy defense, providing advance warning for players to plan and reducing the chore of scouting galaxies constantly. Good luck on withstanding these Termites!

[Wild Space Changes]

• Unowning galaxies no longer sends instant update to the map API but owning galaxies still does.
• No longer can force unown galaxies by abandoning all assets within a galaxy. Galaxies requires waiting for the unown timer.
• Ownership kit will now delete the nullification factory when galaxy ownership is lost. Blueprint with 1 use is added back at the same time.

[Fighter/Fighter Bay Changes]

• Fighter Bays have had majority of their damage bonuses shifted over to fighters and now gain damage mainly based off quality tier.
• Fighters damage now scale more with tech.
• Fighter bays now scale augmods with tech level and quality instead of being flat by tech level.
• Fighters now have a maximum launch range scaling on tech level.
• Added max distance to Fighter item tooltip.
• Fighter Bays now state “Does not work when equipped on Bots”.

[Loot Changes]

• Empyrean bosses loot chances have been increased.
• Demented Delquadrakimdan’s unique loot chances have been increased and the generic loot has slightly be reduced.
• Akuq’ba loot chances have been increased and added two weapons to drop table.
• Dragon Lair loot chances have been increased.
• Adjusted Infernal Darkness drop rate to reflect quality of items.
• Adjusted Kidd drop rate to reflect quality of items.
• Added some new fighters to the game to various content.

[UI / Client Changes]

• Made the following changes to the map:
  • Less jarring colors for different war navigations.
  • Protected galaxy icon no longer shown visually.
  • Changed Point of Interest galaxy icons to have the warp navigation color on the sphere with the white sonata star on the front.
  • New Up and Down with white and black icons respectfully much like juxta and dungeon circles around the outside of the sphere.
  • Improved the sphere image on the galaxy map to feel more rounded.
  • Adjusted the offsets of base icons from the galaxy circles in the galaxy map
  • Galaxy Map tooltip now always displays the Warp Navigation expectation based off the Danger Factor.
• Updated login screen background.
• Character Selection screen only shows a page 2 when a player has 6 or more characters and no longer shows the 5th character on the 2nd page.
• On character selection screen, right arrow and left arrow keys will switch to the next page or previous page of characters if they have 6 or more characters.
• No longer lists the credits required until going to the next screen in Neural Replacement (skill reset) and changed the text of the button on first page from “Reset Skills” to “Show Options”.
• Adjusted the mods to be after the item name when copy pasting from the inventory.
• When a server is down, the red Sonata Bot icon now shows as sleeping.
• Added separator lines to the right click context menu to space out certain options to prevent misclicks.
• Typing @[Gal Name] turns the text green and allows anyone in the chat to click on the gal name in chat to autopilot to the location. Useful for calling out galaxy names for Squads or Trade chat.
• Typing [[Item Name]] turns the text the quality of the item and allows upon click to have a window of item stats appear. Lets you share stats of an item easily with others.
• Added a new “Link Item in Chat” option in the right click context menu that puts [[Item Name]] in chat.
• Ship Subtype is now listed in the F10 Ship information menu but is not fully active yet.
• In the Ships tab when docked, the table now lists the ship’s tech.
• Transwarp menu now lists the layer of the galaxy.
• Changed Porpoise and Orca to new Merchant Navy textures (Free skins to original textures will be in later patch).

[Item Changes]

• Constant DPS on Twisted Panels and Mega Moe Engines changed to percent Damage.
• Removed BFE, Oversized BFE, and Gigantic BFE from being in containers when they drop.
• Changed the following on the Fighter Overdrive Blitz on Kalthi Armored Commander:
  • to only affect personal possessions.
  • reduced the charge time from 2 minute to 1 minute.
  • Adjusted tweaks to 125% damage, 40% recoil and 35% range.
  • Added back the Field Gen disabler.
• Changed the following on Commander Coordination Array on Kalthi Armored Commander:
  • To only affect personal possessions.
  • Changed the 5k flat electric charge on the drone’s pulse from +300% Electric Charge for 1s and Increased the damage bonus from 25% for 3 seconds to 60% for 2 seconds.
• Changed the following on Kalthi Armored Deployer’s Gemini Support Platform:
  • Removed the flat electric charge pulsing.
  • Reduced the time to deploy from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
  • Slightly increased offensive abilities.
  • Reduced cooldown from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.
  • Reduced the lifetime from 2 minutes to 1 minute.
• Increased the Damage on Kalthi Cuirass, Kalthi Armored Cuirass, and Kalthi Stinger Cuirass to +3%, +5%, and +3% respectively.
• Fixed Aether Escape Device to properly state it increases visibility.
• Updated Items Teleporter descriptions to remove reference that it has to be connected team space.

[AI Changes]

• “NPC-like” AI fighters (like the ones that come from the bases in new universes or Aveksaka Outpsots) will no longer get the bonus fighter evasion or be immune from deathblossoms.
• Added additional AI names.

[Next Universe Changes]

• Added additional Juxtapositions to deep Warp 3 Earthforce.
• Removed Juxtaposition, Concourses, and Subspace links in Wild Space.

[Server]

• Canceling a limited use blueprint build will now refund the uses (Known issue where the uses aren’t immediately updated).
• Show Stats for drones now displays Field Generators additional to weapons.
• Scooped items now show a list of the modifications instead of just a “*”. Note: this also affects the squad chat list of scooped items as well.
• Players no longer get OOC while docked inside player station is also under attack.
• PvP Timer now prevents characters from being Out of Combat.

[Bug Fixes]

• Fixed a bug where base kits which could not be upgraded could be upgraded via the base tech upgrade items
• Added a check to prevent repairing unattached bases in unowned galaxies due to them instantly blowing up on repair.
• Fixed a bug with parasites unable to create multiple stacks from multiple sources.
• Fixed a bug that caused the number text in transfer credits windows to turn red in certain situations improperly.
• Fixed a bug with caching accounts max character number that sometimes caused the Create Character window to appear even though the player has no open slots when logging in between multiple accounts.

[Bug Fixes]

• Fixed issue with Bila Zarkara (Equipment 22) that caused the boss to become permanently invulnerable.

[Bug Fixes]

• Fixed issue when transferring bots to another player.  It was improperly checking the current owner’s skills instead of the new owner’s skills.
• Fixed an issue with not checking augmenter’s skills after they’re equipped for bots.
• Fixed an issue with checking “Can’t remove”(formerly known as sticky) items when capturing wild bots.

[UI/ Client Changes]

• Overhauled the map to show “Point of Interest” galaxies with Star Sonata logo and changed the coloring of galaxies. This will help reduce clutter and better identify galaxies to go for tasks.
• Engine and effect graphics on your own ship or squad members are no longer hidden by being cloaked.
• “Take Credits” now uses the same style dialog as “Give Credits” when interacting with bots.
• Can now use t/m/b quantity shortcuts in give/take credits dialog after typing the number (still works the same way when used before as well).
• Adjusted the ‘Add Trade Good’ window inputs to allow for seeing larger numbers without having to move cursor. Moved the okay and cancel buttons to the bottom of the window.
• Fixed an issue with a lack of a space before owners name in the window when attempting to give or take credits.
• Fixed Mining Vulnerability tweak list color to be green for negative and red for positive instead of the opposite.
• “Toss Some” now defaults to 1 instead of all.
• Fixed display issues related to use of | in base names affecting base logs and bot dock order dialogs
• Added ability to right click Market Check via the Storage Locker.
• Updated event chat message when entering galaxy to not repeat galaxy twice and have proper punctuation between statements.
• Fixed a crash on the steamdeck.

[Item Changes]

• Electrified Defense Matrix charge time decreased to 4.5 minutes.
• Removed neurobound from the Calcite augmenter.
• Crack House’s cost changed from 1 credit to 80 credits. This is because this factory was the most cost effective factory while also being the lowest tech and cheapest to use.
• Adjusted all base kits to have a speed of 25 with Hotrod(32), Gonzales(30), Hermes(28) & Gaia(30) having custom speeds (Palace and Command & Control kits exempt).

[Skill Changes]

• Removed +weight from Bot Mastery.

[Next Universe Changes]

• Reduced the duration of the Vervaardiger Processing sun’s aura from 35 minutes to 5 minutes. Removed the negative beam vulnerability from the aura, as well.

[Server Changes]

• Players will no longer get sent map data of Warp Navigation levels they don’t have (excluding Points of Interest). This will also fix issues with /ap trying to use warp 4 shortcuts when character does not have it.
• Beacons in unrevealed galaxies should no longer appear as unexplored beacons in the transwarp list.
• AI allies will no longer become hostile by being tractored.
• Removed TrueDamage from resists window.
• Radiation death no longer bypasses escape pods.
• AI killed by Player bases and Permanent Drones will no longer will drop augmenters.
• Microwarpers changed to collide with all player and AI bases, wormholes, non-destroyed enemy drones.

[Bug Fixes]

• Fixed an exploit that allowed items that prevented transwarp to still be transwarped. Such items on bots now will decay when transwarped.
• Fixed a bug where another ship not under spirit/pod could be reclaimed when more than one character owned light stasis ship exists within the galaxy.
•  Fixed some Resource Distribution issues for next universe.
• Fixed a bug that caused an augmenter to ignore the skill requirement once equipped.

[Item Changes]

• Mini Madess Field Generator changed a 2.5 second gremlin effect every 10 seconds.
• Cloakpedo Mine and Hidden Cloakpedo Mines have had the following changes: properly debuff enemies rate of fire instead of buffing it, now has a 30 second recharge time, emits less particle effects, and reduces friendly visibility by 90% percent instead of 99.9%.

[System]

• Each character now gets one /limbo per universe. Due to this change – all characters now get an extra /limbo. Items that prevent leaving the galaxy, transwarping, or are layerbound will prevent limbo from occurring.
• Gremlin Effects now have a cooldown of 10 seconds on impact until another effect of the same type can cause an effect again. Example: if a gremlin effect of 2 seconds inflicts a target – it takes 8 seconds after it completes until that specific gremlin can affect the target again.
• Updated error to be more clear when attempting to mine asteroids in a owned galaxy your team does not own.
• Aura effects are no longer allowed in owned galaxies within Wild Space.

Wild Space is the foundation of Star Sonata’s version of territory control. We’ve drastically shifted the paradigm when it comes to establishing your team’s domain.

Note: This map isn’t used for this Universe’s Wild Space.

The development team has pursued to capture essence and rush of universe resets via reoccurring potential encounters to make claims for new galaxies that slowly reveal and expand from visible proto-wormholes already within existing galaxies.

Those proto-wormholes, that you may or may not have seen, will open up to reveal brand new galaxies for you to explore, and claim for your team. Some of them will be even more resource rich then the currently available galaxies as well! They will be revealed with the server up and will require no downtime.

Keep in mind that these are available to players of any team to claim and contest. You do not need to have an adjacent gal, HQ, outpost or even own a single gal anywhere else in wild space, but even if you miss this chance there will be more reveals later in the universe.

Remember that Command & Control Station Kits can be purchased at the Advanced Station Research Facility AI base within Building Academy Entrance. Located right off Lyceum and two jumps from Sol!

In a future patch, we aim to have the galaxy reveal timers built directly into the client much like Subspace invasions to better communicate. This will make it so players can more accurately plan in advance.

A timer with date and ETA of the new wormholes opening will be placed in the #dev-posts channel on the Star Sonata Discord.