Welcome to another Star Sonata Dev Diary!
Today we’re going to talk about the Merchant Navy! Most players are going to associate this group to either the Merchant Navy Contriver or Merchant Navy Seal Commander. We hope to expand this association to be a presence within Terran space and a notable player contact for various missions and storylines.
The Merchant Navy, the future administrators of Strontium-90, pay most of their bills by hunting pirates and defending trade routes in the Terran heart worlds. Visually identified by their Paxian-like but not quite boomerang ships, the Merchant Navy maintains peace while Earthforce itself deals with more universal threats. This means that the Merchant Navy will take over from Earthforce as the primary player contact for missions in the lower levels while Earthforce interactions pick up later in progression. Orca and Porpoise will now be retextured to be Merchant Navy variants and will visually move away from the Paxian look but we will keep original look as a free skin for those that prefer that style.
Outside of Strontium-90, this will be slow transition as we move through the early game and readjust our protagonist allies in various missions, zones and content. Earthforce will still have player interactions but Merchant Navy will provide another key mission vendor.