Author: SpaceCraft

• Loot in instances has been rebalanced to ensure fairer rewards, while remaining partially randomized.

• Loot no longer contains items with a very low cost-to-storage ratio.

• Tools and Modules can no longer be found as loot (Blueprints and Patches still can).

• The Smelter input storage has been increased to 100 SU, enabling full Silicate → Silicon Ingot automation.

• Slightly reduced the footprint of several buildings.

• Ship Parts stored in inventory now occupy a significant amount of SU.

• Fixed an issue where the Solar Plant could yield more resources when dismantled than it cost to build.

• Reduced credit gains during the tutorial.

• Completing your first Corporate Request now grants 150 Credits to the player in addition to the request reward.

• The “Cart Pusher” thruster is now unlocked earlier in the Permit tree, alongside the “Brick” cockpit and ship shape editing. Its crafting recipe and stats have been rebalanced.

• Added a new contract between “Tools of the Trade” and “Structural Changes”, requiring players to install a second engine on their ship.

• Cameras in Intelligence Centers now have slightly increased range, restoring a puzzle to its intended difficulty.

• Added new patches for the FTL Engine, Mining Laser, and Resource Detector.

• Added new blueprints and rebalanced existing ones.

• Expanded the range of items that can be sold on the Marketplace.

• Several Corporation unlocks have been implemented (no longer marked as [Not Impl]).

• Added new settings options:

  • Key rebinding

  • UI scaling

  • Mouse sensitivity

  • Invert Y-axis

  • Default run/walk mode

  • Field of view (FOV)

  • Screen shake toggle

• Added Proximity Chat and Corporation Chat to the lower-left corner of the screen.

• The first sector is now named “Sector Pioneer.”

• Unvisited sectors not referenced by contracts will no longer display their names.

• Left-click can now be used to activate the Mine skill.

• In the Ship Editor, parts and modules can now be dragged and dropped back into the inventory.

• Buildings can now be moved vertically using the Construction Tool v3.0 without requiring horizontal movement.

• Building foundations have been resized (this may affect existing bases but can be corrected using the Move skill from Construction Tool 3.0).

• Foundations can now be placed lower without blocking.

• Adjacent foundations with small height differences automatically connect with stairs, while ladders are placed on exterior sides.

• Added a durability warning under the skill bar when a tool is close to breaking.

• Corporations now appear in the rankings as soon as they earn at least 1 Reputation.

• Reduced docking distance for Babylon Station to better match its size.

• “Bolt and Nut” has been renamed to “Nut and Bolt.”

• New players can no longer repair their ship before building the Scanalyser (prevents soft-lock).

• Players who sell at least 5 Quartz during the tutorial can now repurchase Quartz from the Trading Machine until they leave Solar Alpha (prevents soft-lock).

• Fixed wing connections in the Ship Editor.

• Fixed an issue where the delete key did not remove selected modules in the Ship Editor.

• Fixed a camera jump during docking sequences.

• Fixed an issue affecting ship decals.

• Fixed a bug related to the mission counter.

• Fixed an issue with empty cisterns.

• Spaces are now allowed in character names.

• Fixed horizontal jump speed while walking (now matches standard walking speed).

• Buildings can no longer be placed outside their base radius.

• Fixed an issue where resources could spawn at incorrect distances from the ground.

• Resolved multiple collision issues.

• Resolved multiple network-related issues.

• Various performance optimizations.

• Fixed various crash issues.

• Fixed specific bugs related to:

  • Piece connectors in the ship editor.

  • Solar panel energy usage.

  • Corporation menu interface.

• Updated the Solar Plant with a new user interface.

• Beacons are now unlocked by studying any item used to craft them, rather than reaching Exploration level 2.

• Improved level art in some first-person instances.

• Black boxes found in shipwrecks now feature a new, highly visible bright red model.

• Fixed various crashes and soft locks.

• Improved the visuals and in-game representation of abandoned bases.

• Fixed collision and level design issues in several instanced buildings.

• Added a first iteration of corporation rankings.

• The “Structural Changes” mission now requires an 800-point ship instead of 750.

• Added a short tutorial mission that triggers when discovering a patch for the first time.

• Temporarily removed the Shuttle and Shuttle Landing Pads (pending an important bug fix).

• Solar Plants are now easier to optimize under full sunlight but produce less energy at dusk.

• Fuel Power Plants can now be constructed at Technology Level 4.

• Rebalanced Fuel Generator module efficiency.

• Instances now properly spawn on flat terrain (this will not apply to planets that have already been visited by at least one player).

• Removed the Start button from the in-game main menu.

• Added corporation level display to the corporation UI.

This update introduces a wide range of new additions, balance changes, and bug fixes to the playtest, as we prepare for the transition from Alpha to Beta.

Due to significant changes to the infrastructure and the scope of this update, player progression has been reset.

Please note that you may encounter more bugs than in recent weeks. This is expected given the size of the update, and we encourage you to report any issues via the in-game reporting tool so we can address them as quickly as possible.

• Added the Trade Nexus elevator level in Syracuse. It includes a location where Corporations can purchase storage space and a marketplace where players can buy and sell items to each other. Items can only be sold if the corporation has enough storage space to hold them during the sale.

• Reworked existing Corporation Requests and added many new ones.

• There are now four NPCs in the galaxy offering Corporation Requests.

• Corporation Requests offered by each NPC are now randomized and change daily.

• Some Corporation Requests must be completed within a limited time or they will fail.

• Added multiple Corporation Permits and Licenses.

• Corporation Permits now cost credits, have an upkeep cost, and can be refunded for half of their initial price.

• Licenses cost License Points and unlock several important corporation mechanics.

• Corporations can now own bases and ships.

• Added a first iteration of pressure gameplay when ships dive underwater.

• Ships can no longer land underwater.

• Personas now lose health and eventually die while walking underwater.

• Buildings can no longer be deployed underwater.

• Added a button in the ship editor to fully dismantle your ship and start from a blank state.

• Rebalanced ship integrity to make titanium parts more valuable.

• Reworked the System Support stat to make it more intuitive.

• Rebalanced System Support and System Requirements to make player progression feel more natural.

• Shields are no longer deactivated when using FTL jumps.

• Shields and asteroids have been rebalanced.

• Added asteroid fields to some sectors.

• Ship wrecks now spawn on flat surfaces.

• With Construction Tool 3.0 (unlocked at Technology Level 4), ship wrecks can now be fully dismantled for additional loot.

• At Technology Level 4, Added the Recycling Plant, which turns scraps into fresh ingots.

• Added Geyser Resources, the Simple Hose Pump module, and the Liquid Tank module to collect liquid resources.

• Added the Cistern, Chemical Factory, and Bottling Plant buildings to process liquid resources at player bases.

• At Exploration Level 3, added Mag-Plasma Cisterns, Mag-Plasma Bottles, and the ability to fill them at stations, allowing players to set up basic gas stations in their bases.

• The Warehouse building now costs 3 Footprint instead of 1.

• Added new cockpits with unique stats, visuals (interior and exterior), and gameplay mechanics.

• Some unlocks have been reorganized.

• Added a new rare form of Gravite in some sectors.

• Prevented players from purchasing a crude laser unless they have lost theirs or are part of a corporation, to avoid near soft-lock situations.

• Added a few new resources to discover and collect.

• Added new engines with unique statistics and gameplay mechanics. They currently use the same visual model as the Cart Pusher, but this will be updated in a later patch.

• Added new radar types, unlocked through the exploration branch.

• Reduced the quality of resources on Solar Alpha II to make the tutorial clearer and more natural, and to make the planet less appealing to exploit once players leave the system.

• Weapon patches, which currently had no use, have been removed from loot tables.

• Added more varied and higher-quality landmarks.

• Improved water visuals above and below sea level. Seas no longer appear from space for now.

• Improved terrain heightmap transitions around bodies of water.

• Added a small number of underwater visual props.

• Geysers now correctly spawn on flat surfaces.

• Added visual effects to geysers and fluid collection.

• Improved asteroid visual effects in asteroid fields and debris-filled systems.

• Added many new and improved sound effects and visual effects.

• General visual improvements to the Galaxy Map.

• Added images to illustrate permit attributes.

• Added many new icons.

• Added many new 3D item models for the Inventory and Encyclopedia.

• Improved the display order of item and ship statistics.

• Added the Heat Interface Material stat to ship parts to help players better understand heat interactions.

• Improved the ship editor UI, especially at low resolutions.

• Added new faces to character customization.

• NPCs now look at nearby players when initiating dialogue.

• Visual improvements to space station interiors.

• Improved game feel when using the dismantling tool.

• The Drone Organizer is now a small structure similar to an electric pylon.

• Added a radial gauge for certain interaction durations.

• Cameras in persona instances now use a weapon with proper VFX instead of instantly killing the player.

• Added visual effects and animations to the Laboratory Workbench.

• Improved shaders on abandoned buildings.

• General lighting and shader improvements.

• Added many new ship part variants to allow for more varied and refined ship designs.

• Added several decals to customize player ships.

• All exterior modules can now be recolored.

• Major refactor of server architecture to support higher player loads.

• Refactored resource data structures to improve server performance and allow new resources to be added without a full server wipe.

• Refactored resource generation to improve maintainability.

• Server performance optimizations.

• Client performance optimizations.

• Fixed many corporation-related issues.

• Fixed an issue with foundations and building rotation on non-square buildings.

• Fixed issues related to drones in bases.

• Fixed a crash when abandoning bases.

• Fixed issues when removing bases.

• Fixed an issue preventing players from building two bases on the same planet.

• Fixed multiple persona movement and collision issues.

• Fixed an issue where power cells could disappear when dropped in persona instances.

• Fixed camera rotation issues in persona instances.

• Fixed an issue where skill configurations were reset when editing a ship.

• Fixed an issue with printing visual effects in manual crafters.

• Fixed an issue where the altimeter would not reappear after landing.

• Fixed an issue where FTL travel could be free and harmless when the player had no Mag-Plasma.

• Fixed an issue where environmental visual effects were not removed while towing.

General

• Fixed various bugs and lock-related issues

• Added locked content (not available in the current playtest)

Gameplay

• Reworked ship placement in docks; a single dock can now store more ships

• Dismantling a control base now returns a base core drive