We decided that we want to generally increase the power of hull extensions to make them more impactful on ship set ups, while at the same time, simplifying some of the current baked in complexity and generally balancing them relative to each other.

The current balance of hull extensions is really all over the place.  The difference in power between the tech 20 Alien Hull Expander that just gives 26 hull space and the Divine Cargobay that gives 50 space and +10% capacity is huge.  26 hull space is certainly nothing to get excited about, and since most extensions are so weak, they tend to be used more as stat sticks than for their space.  The goal of the new numbers is to give some of the very best extensions modest increases in values, but much larger increases to others, according to standard balancing formulas.

Zeus Expander

A lot of the space, weights, and even built in aug stats of extensions have all been amplified, hopefully giving more interesting choices when deciding on what hull extension to use.  Since the baseline hull space that extensions give has been increased so much, I feel better about allowing extensions that give much less hull space, but give other benefits instead, like an extra weapon slot or some extra resistance.  If you have to choose between an extra weapon slot and 150 space, it might be an interesting decision.  Half a dozen new interesting end-game extensions have been added for next universe.

The other change, aside from general increases in power and balancing of stats, is making the extensions more straightforward.  Currently, one extension might take 5 space but give 10, while another takes 10 space but gives 15, and it’s hard to know which one is better by glancing at it, especially since the hull space granted gets multiplied by capacity augmenters and skills.  To simplify everything, the size of extensions have been homogenized, and the code has been altered so that extensions will always take 0 space while equipped, similar to sticky items.  In addition, all the bonus space from extensions have been converted to constant bonus space, meaning that they don’t get multiplied by augmenters or skills.  So instead of giving 26 space that gets modified, almost by mysterious amounts, by augs and skills, the new Alien Hull Expander gives 170 flat space, while taking zero space when equipped.  What you see is what you get.

I’ve been careful with the numbers so that even the very best extensions on set ups with lots of trans mods and even some capacity aug stat will still come out more powerful than currently.  Set ups in off-focus hull types will come out way ahead, while storage ships with all capacity augs may come out a little behind, but not by too much.  I feel like aside from making extensions more interesting and straightforward, this will also open up some more unique ship set ups that were too limited by hull space before.

This isn’t set to come out in the next patch, but is on the test server and should be out in the patch after next.

Greetings! We have been working on a number of improvements to the game, and we’re taking our time to look into the bugs and issues which have been reported! Thank you for all your positive responses recently! :)

Recently Gunners have been having a bit of a hard time and have felt out of place in the universe. We have added a 20% Resistance increase when the Gunner is in a capital ship so players can focus more on the offensive statistics or have an easier time tanking. This is a temporary quality of life improvement whilst we prepare for the re-balance within the Tech 23 Expansion.

Hi all, we have a new volunteer on staff who’s been managing our social media. He’s also offered to step up and provide reports from our weekly meetings. Enjoy!

From Retyu (Social Media Manager)

We have recently been looking into fixing some of the sneaky tricksy bug the game which have potentially been lowering the quality of life for some players.

Many of you just wanted to kick back in life and be simple space rat farmers. We understand the stress and hardship of raising the little blighters, but we also took note that the hatcheries did not grow as many space rats as they said. This has been rectified so you can breed and cull space rats without regret, allowing you to feed your hungry workers!

In order to transport your space rats to their slaughterhouses, we have fixed an issue with your merchant navy contrivers which was impacting on their engines. This has been fixed so you can pack your merchant navy contriver full of space rats and listen to The Blue Danube Waltz whilst you spin merrily out of control in Sol (Just like Zerendalus!) Vacuum scoops should be fixed now, so you don’t have to worry about those pesky space rats throwing augmenters out of the hold of your ship, as you can suck them all up without issue!

We are looking into an issue with drones wherein they don’t fire at space rats (and other nefarious enemies) immediately. A lot of players have been experiencing that their drones take some time before they actually open fire.

We have been looking into the negative impacts of lag on the player base, and we’ve managed to nerf it significantly. The Server Hamster now gets proper medical treatment during server down time, and we’ve replaced his water with energy drinks.

There has been some discussion regarding people’s feelings in regards Gunner. Recently we gave missiles a huge buff in order to make Gunner a more attractive class to play. Gunner will soon be undergoing a few minor buffs in order to make the class more enjoyable whilst we wait on the Great Expansion!

We are aware of an issue which is causing a lot of server lag and we’re looking into taking steps to deal with it.

In regards to the game, are there any pressing issues that you believe need to be fixed? – Any bugs you’ve found or problems within the game? If so, let us know so we can work towards improving the quality of life for everyone!

Existing terraforming blueprints are getting an update. The exact list of blueprints will be available below this blog post with almost all terraforming blueprints no longer building into their respective planetary project. Instead, they will build into a new “Pre-Fabricated” blueprint that can then be added to any planet or moon’s base to be built into the respective planetary project without the use of materials or credits. The existing cost of projects will remain on the original blueprints, allowing players to bulk build terraforming projects at a single centralized production base to remove the hassle of managing resources such as metals on all of your planet’s bases.

Once you’ve built the pre-fabricated project blueprints, you can add one to a planet or base by equipping and beginning the build. The blueprint will require no resources or credits to function, only time. The first project in a chain will take one day to build, while the second in a chain takes two days and third takes three days. Building all the way to the last project will, as a result, take seven days total.

I spent a bit of time last week thinking about the role that fueled energies play in Star Sonata, and as a result, I decided to make some changes to a lot of the fueled energies.  I think fueled energies don’t work as a resource sink, and they don’t particularly work as interesting game play, but they do provide interesting flavor for several energies, so I want to keep a lot of the fuels, but make the relative bonus smaller and make the consumption rates slower so they aren’t as annoying.

In the previous iteration of the energy balance sheet, energies with simple fuels like Nuclear Waste got a 15% power bonus, while more difficult fuels like Promethium gave a 25% power bonus and Enriched Nuclear Waste gave a power bonus of 30%.  I wanted to reduce the difference in the strength between fueled and non-fueled energies, so I increased the baseline power of all non-fueled energies by 15%, while increasing the power of simple fuels from 15% to 20%, leaving Prom and ENukes where they are.  So the power progression will now go 1.15 -> 1.20 -> 1.25 -> 1.30 instead of 1.00 -> 1.15 -> 1.25 -> 1.30.

A large number of energies that were using fuel will no longer use fuel.  In the case of energies that were using simple fuels like Nukes, nothing about them will change except the lack of fuel.  The energies with their fuel requirement removed are:

• Oversized, Gigantic, and Gargantuan Obsidian Ionizer.  Visibility now 0 for all.
• Vazaha Cluster energies
• Mzungu Clash, Clang, Burst, Whack, Slam, and Strike energies
• Rhino Endurance, Primal Rhino Endurance
• Zebra Life, Primal Zebra Life
• Lion Heart, Primal Lion heart
• Berserker Core, Prototype Berserker Core, Advanced Berserker Core
• Multi Mythos Energizer
• Oversized Yallow, Gargantuan Yallow
• Kidd’s Energy Grid
• Paxian Bloodstained Reserve and Bloodstone
• Emerald’s Energy
• Bear Strength, Primal Bear Strength
• Sivar’s Purpose
• Hermes and Mercury energies
• Speed Demon Bank energies
• Tiger Blood, Primal Tiger Blood
• Lunarian Bank, Selenite Bank
• Venusian Vitality, Mercurian Zeal, Solarian Vigor

In addition, I noticed that there were several fuel types giving large bonuses that weren’t really deserved.  The power bonus of energies generating Face Hugger’s Acid, Jelly’s Blood, Pyritic Radiation, and Eridium Fragments were reduced.  The power of the energy using Vis was slightly reduced.

Those energies that still use fuel have had their consumption rate drastically reduced to between 1 per 300 and 1 per 600 seconds depending on the fuel and energy tech level.

Dhatri Jivikadeva and Antu Vrkkasamvita will now consume 1 Aveksaka Plasma per 5 min instead of producing Nila Rakta.  Cara Hrday’ara and Ayudhin Balakrura will now consume 1 Alien Husk Fragments per 3 min instead of producing Nila Rakta.  Nila Rakta parasite health will be increased for those energies still generating it.

Several energies, including the Paxian Bloodstone energies, that were mistakenly categorized and thus overpowered have been brought closer to where they should be.

Lastly, I’ve added 8 new rare DG drop energies from tech 19 to 22 that use various new and weird things as fuel.

Jeff

As. part of the continuing work on Junkyard tweaks, Jeff has worked up a plan to deprecate Junkyard Tokens and make everything work based on credits. Part of the plan would open up the ability to sell any item to AI bases, even those that are currently listed as “too expensive to sell.”

Concerning low level bases in Wild Space, the team agreed that there should be no PvP ranges in Wild Space, but we do want to figure out a way for the UI to indicate this to players. There is no ETA on this change yet.

ClxS

ClxS has created code support for alternate currencies in AI bases. Content devs will be gradually transfering over to this system, which means in the long run you won’t have to fiddle around with turn-in missions in the future.

Pax

Work is ongoing on a new T22-23 content zone centered around Stella AI.

Urza

Introductory Kalthi ships will now be obtained via blueprint (roughly the same cost as before) so you don’t need to buy the actual ship at Paxian Stronghold.

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!

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

Hello everyone! In this post, I will fill you in on the final details of the galaxy assault revamp that will go live for the upcoming universe. Until that time, the changes detailed in this post will be up on the test server for everyone to experiment with.

Summary of changes

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

Jeff

-Fixed bugs with missions in Nexus

-New Tutorial speech for certain missions in Nexus

-Attack/idle patterns introduced into Nexus and early level areas, still in development.

-Replaced older missions with more updated one in Nexus layer involving Volcom Outpost.

-Debugged mission indicators

Markoz

-Station Expansion part one will be introduced at Uni Reset, part two under development

-Specialized Olympus fighters, bps requires Olympus gear.

-Possible DG rework(multiple AIs per lvl) -DGs one off with Hives and Delquads

Additional Notes

-Add soaks for Unforge in regards to base tanking

-Forcefield Generator Drones reworked and moved to testing for base tank/spamming

-Galaxy assault testing ongoing, minor changes coming and full list of changes coming this Saturday. Base healing weapons to be tweaked in regards to successful testing by our tester group

-Termite revamp