Avorion : A procedural co-op space sandbox

[Asid]

Beta Branch Patch 1.3.6 - Patchnotes
Wed, December 9, 2020
The latest update with some QoL features, updates and bugfixes is now live on the beta branch!

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.
Gameplay
•   Reduced amount of container fields in massive container field sectors to improve performance
•   Note: Only applies to newly discovered sectors


•   Container fields now respawn similar to asteroid fields
•   Docking dock blocks with dock blocks now aligns them perfectly
•   Added cooldowns of 30 minutes to story boss fights
•   Made several improvements to gameplay flow of investigate missing freighters mission
•   "Free Slaves" mission timer now stops after slaves have been surrendered, returning them has no time limit
•   Morale drop for missing officers only happens if there are actually too many crewmen for all officers, instead of projected numbers being too high

Client
•   Camera adjustment to ship now also supports back and forth (ALT + mouse wheel)
•   Galaxy Map: Temporary (unstable) wormholes are now shown as yellow paths
•   Building Mode: Turret designs can now also be scaled all at once
•   Building Mode: Improved scale-step icon
•   Building Mode: Moved workshop items that are tagged "Segment Template" to a new folder "Workshop Segment Templates"
•   Improved tooltips to clarify that some items can also be reserved for AI factions
•   Alliance message of the day is displayed on login
•   Permanently installed, but disabled upgrades are now shown correctly in upgrades tab
•   This happens when an upgrade is installed permanently and then the ship is shrunk down, disabling the used slots


Misc
•   Updated localization
•   Added more debugging output

Bugfixes
"As always, bugs marked with [UBR] are User Bug Reports, submitted through our in-game bug tracker. Thanks very much for helping and keep 'em coming!"

•   Fixed an issue where players that just logged in would cause logs that look like crashes
•   Fixed several issues in Black Market campaign
•   Fixed an issue where smuggler ships could attack player after having told them that they wouldn't
•   Fixed a crash when using StrategyMode in scripts while not actually in strategy mode
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where the artifact of the brotherhood could be dropped multiple times
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where mining AI could try to mine objects attached to itself
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where mining AI didn't use double-harvesting turrets for salvaging or mining and vice versa
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where ship name and emblem blocks of small objects weren't displayed correctly
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where productions of factories weren't started properly while players weren't in the sector
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where enemies would start standing still after being out of reach for too long
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where the chat would remain scrolled up even when not currently open
•   [UBR] Fixed several synchronization issues of upgrades in inventory selection of upgrades tab
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where convoy ship would call out to players that they have missions even though they don't
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue with pathfinding where the ai would not fly through a gate
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where tutorial would get stuck if player left the sector in a certain phase
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where "Rebuilding Geometry" was displayed forever when turning off ambient occlusion and removing a block
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where delivery missions handed out cargo even though player was unable to pay deposit
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where exodus mission's next beacon location would be shown before player talked to current beacon
•   [UBR] Fixed a resource duping bug
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where selecting didn't work when select was bound to other mouse buttons
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships would be restored immediately after selling them at a scrapyard
•   [UBR] Fixed an exploit where unique upgrades could be installed more than once
•   [UBR] Fixed some mistakes in encyclopedia
•   [UBR] Fixed casino not talking to player after they leave and return to sector in 'The Family'

[Asid]

Beta Branch Patch 1.3.7 - Patchnotes
Thu, 21 January 2021

Beta branch patch 1.3.7 is now live, fixing more bugs!

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

UI
•   Shield & Hull repair rates are now factored in when sorting by damage
•   Players no longer get notifications for shot down torpedoes and fighters

Misc
•   Various smaller performance improvements and code cleanups

Bugfixes
"As always, bugs marked with [UBR] are User Bug Reports, submitted through our in-game bug tracker. Thanks very much for helping and keep 'em coming!"
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where there were no Xsotan attacks at all happening when only Xsotan infected asteroids were in the sector
•   [UBR] Fixed Adventurer not talking to player after player leaves and returns to sector in 'Torpedo Tests'
•   [UBR] Fixed several issues where boarded ships couldn't be commanded or were otherwise behaving strangely
•   [UBR] Fixed issues where the coordinates were swapped in the descriptions of the final Cavaliers and Family storylines
•   [UBR] Fixed a crash that occured when clicking 'Show in Workshop' button in mod upload window when no mod was selected
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where the end-game convoy would spawn in 0:0
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where fighters and turrets could have negative costs
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where some russian letters couldn't be entered as ship names
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where AI ships of players didn't fire torpedoes
•   [UBR] Fixed some rounding issues in hyperspace and radar upgrades
•   Fixed some issues where mining & salvaging turrets were coaxial when they shouldn't be
•   Fixed several issues in mining and salvaging AI scripts
•   Fixed several crashes in scripts
•   Fixed several issues where missions weren't restored correctly
•   Fixed several typos
•   Fixed some issues in documentation

[Asid]

Roadmap 2021
Tue, January 26, 2021

Get a taste of the changes that are coming!

We are hoping that you had relaxing holidays and an amazing start into the new year and that you are ready for the great news we’d like to share with you!

So without further ado, here it is:

At the moment we are working on a large (free ) update for Avorion that will introduce many new features and massively rework some aspects of the game in Q2 2021. We don’t want to spill too much info at this point, but we would like to share some details to get you hyped up a bit!

You all know about independent targeting and we hope you will be excited to hear that we are reworking it. In the future, you will be able to decide for yourself which of your weapons will be able to fire independently, and the damage of these weapons will no longer be reduced by 50%.

There will also be changes concerning the game progression and the collection of materials. We know this sounds exciting, but you'll have to be patient for a little longer before you can discover your journey to the center all over again.

Now that we have dropped some spoilers, we would like to tell you that we have thought long and hard about what we want Avorion to be like in the future and which direction we want to go to improve it!

We have been taking a closer look at the gameplay and we have realized that you guys are forced to spend a lot of time on (annoying) micro-management. This is one of the things that we want to change in the future.

As you know, there are countless adventures and experiences to be enjoyed in Avorion. But we have noticed that we introduced a few features in the past that only scratched the surface and that have caused the game to feel a little rough in some respects. But now it’s finally time to smooth those edges! This means that we might have to tackle some (annoying) gameplay mechanics and reduce their scope. We are even planning on replacing some (micro-management intensive) mechanics with more intuitive systems. Our goal is to make sure that in the future, we won’t be spreading our efforts too thin and that we will be able to make our vision of the game bloom!

We are looking forward to the update and we can’t wait to receive your feedback! In the meantime, take a look at one of our verified servers, marked with a blue checkmark in the server list. Who knows, maybe you’ll find new allies there!

And if you still haven’t read enough, check out this wormhole that leads directly to our roadmap:

https://avorion.gamepedia.com/Roadmap

[Asid]

Patch 1.3.7 is now live on branch default!
Thu, 11 February 2021



Patch 1.3.7 is now live on branch default!

After performing well on the beta branch, patch 1.3.7 is now live on the default branch for everyone. You can find full patch notes for 1.3.7 and 1.3.6 are in the above posts

[Asid]

Avorion Update 2.0
Tue, 9 March 2021

We’re celebrating our anniversary and want to tell you more about our next huge update!
It's crazy how time flies! It’s been a whole year already since Avorion left Early Access!



We are super happy with how things have been going! That’s why we have a little surprise for you:




Update 2.0 will introduce massive changes that will fundamentally improve many aspects of the game:

- New progression system in which players acquire building knowledge of the various materials
- New “Classic Avorion” scenario without the new progression
- Fully configurable “Free Play” scenario
- Captains with specialized talents and personalities
- Improved AI orders to send your ship to go mining, trading, scouting and more
- Improved UI visuals
- Improvements to the independent targeting mechanics
- Many QOL improvements like less micro management, easier traveling to far away sectors and crew management, autopilots, many balancing changes, UI improvements like a sector overview that shows available missions, goods and crew members of all stations, and many more!

Update 2.0 will improve game mechanics that might not feel perfect at the moment. Many of these changes will make Avorion feel like a new game, that is why the title of the update will be “Avorion Update 2.0”.

More details about the specific changes will be coming over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

[Asid]

Avorion Update 2.0
Tue, 9 March 2021

We’re celebrating our anniversary and want to tell you more about our next huge update!

It's crazy how time flies! It’s been a whole year already since Avorion left Early Access!



We are super happy with how things have been going! That’s why we have a little surprise for you:




Update 2.0 will introduce massive changes that will fundamentally improve many aspects of the game:

- New progression system in which players acquire building knowledge of the various materials
- New “Classic Avorion” scenario without the new progression
- Fully configurable “Free Play” scenario
- Captains with specialized talents and personalities
- Improved AI orders to send your ship to go mining, trading, scouting and more
- Improved UI visuals
- Improvements to the independent targeting mechanics
- Many QOL improvements like less micro management, easier traveling to far away sectors and crew management, autopilots, many balancing changes, UI improvements like a sector overview that shows available missions, goods and crew members of all stations, and many more!

Update 2.0 will improve game mechanics that might not feel perfect at the moment. Many of these changes will make Avorion feel like a new game, that is why the title of the update will be “Avorion Update 2.0”.

More details about the specific changes will be coming over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

[Asid]

Update 2.0 News Flash: New Captains!
Tue, 13 April 2021

Infos about the new captains



Captain’s Classes
We noticed that hiring captains used to be a bland affair that was necessary but rather boring. This did not go in accordance with our vision of the game. The new captains will have up to two classes, for example “Merchant”, or “Scavenger”, with their own individual capabilities. Captains will gain experience when completing commands, and leveling up will make them even more effective.



Captain’s Perks and Quirks
To show that each captain has their own personality, we also added character traits that make each captain special. These traits influence how well a captain is able to perform a certain task, so always make sure to put the right person on a certain job! Which captains you will be able to hire depends on at which stations you look for them and how much you are willing to pay. But don’t worry: none of the new captains will be able to do less than the old captains, but many of them will be capable of doing so much more!

Stay tuned for another Update 2.0 news flash next week!

[Asid]

Update 2.0 Newsflash - New Progression
Tue, 20 April 2021

We will be introducing improvements to the progression with Update 2.0



Building Knowledge
Today we’ll give you some info on the new progression system! We want the journey towards the center of the galaxy to be more challenging. From now on, you’ll have to unlock Building Knowledge about each new material (starting with Naonite, you’ll start out with knowledge about Iron and Titanium) before you’ll be able to use it for ship building. Unlocking the next material will also unlock the ability to build bigger ships with higher subsystem socket numbers.

There will be different ways to get your hands on above Building Knowledge. In any case, we want players to prove themselves in a new area before they can unlock the next building tier. You can get the knowledge for the next material by either beating a boss in the area or a difficult pirate encounter. In case you’re not the fighting type you can also buy the building knowledge at a shipyard from an allied faction in the specific region.



Processing Power Revisited
Building Knowledge will not only allow you to use the materials, but the higher-material knowledge you acquire, the more functional blocks you will be able to add to your ships. Adding functional blocks will not only increase the processing power but also the number of subsystem sockets of your crafts. This has always been part of the game, but now we’re visualizing it better. While taking a hard look at the processing power requirements for subsystem sockets we realized that some number tweaking might be necessary, so from now on you’ll unlock new upgrade sockets earlier (less processing power required)!

Existing Saves & Avorion Classic Scenario
Finally, the new progression will only be active for newly created galaxies. All your old savegames will remain the way they are. In case you’re not a fan of the new progression and prefer the more sandboxy approach, we are also going to introduce a new “Classic Avorion” scenario which allows you to play without the new progression. Whenever you create a new galaxy you will be able to select the option in the main menu.

[Asid]

Beta Branch Patch 1.3.8 - Patchnotes
Tue, 25 May 2021

French and Japanese localization are now available, plus some bugfixes!

We're introducing official French and Japanese localizations, and while we're already at it, fixing a few bugs.
Beta Branch Note:
These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for
testing experimental changes
and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

Languages
"As our community is growing all over the world, we want to support more languages. In this patch we happily introduce the new supported languages of French and Japanese."

•   Added French localization
•   Added Japanese localization

General
•   Torpedo shafts can now fire when not assigned to a group
•   Reduced default size of damage numbers
•   Improved performance of durability weakness effects
•   Improved performance of line break algorithm
•   Implemented a prototype functionality to enumerate all values in an Enum
o   Enums can now be converted to a table via enumerate() (ie. BlockType.enumerate())

•   Implemented a setting for servers to enforce steam networking and not fall back to TCP protocols

Bugs
"As always, bugs marked with [UBR] are User Bug Reports, submitted through our in-game bug tracker. Thanks very much for helping and keep 'em coming!"

•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where all players end up in the same sector once 3000+ players are registered
•   Fixed an issue where safe mode was always on (even when turned off) when transforming a shipyard-requiring block into a non-shipyard requiring block without a shipyard in the sector
•   Fixed an issue where colors weren't correctly translated in building mode
•   Fixed an issue where hyperspace engine didn't go on cooldown properly when changing reach
•   Fixed an issue where upgrades of ships could disappear through breaking blocks
•   Fixed an issue where clicking coordinates in chat was possible while mouse was visible or obscured by windows
•   Fixed an issue where the Hermit Dialog wasn't shown when another player already spawned Swoks in that sector
•   Fixed an issue where Exodus Mission wasn't updating correctly
•   Fixed a GPU memory leak
 

[Asid]

Update 2.0 Newsflash - Dev Progress
Tue, 29 June 2021



We're bringing you up to speed to the current development state of Update 2.0!


Hello everyone!

The big update 2.0 is nearly done and we are working on the last few open points! We’d like to use this week’s announcement to update our development roadmap and show you the progress that we’ve made:

DONE:
•   Better UI visuals
•   New progression system based on knowledge for different materials
•   Scenario: "Classic Avorion" without the new progression
•   Improvements to Independent Targeting
  o   Removal of the 50% damage penalty
  o   Amount of independently firing turrets can be increased with various existing and new upgrades

•   Less micro-intensive commanding of ships
  o   10 new or updated commands (ie. go fly a trade route, go salvage, go explore)
  o   Captains with classes & perks
  o   Improved performance for remotely operating ships

•   Bounties on Bulletin Boards
•   More civilian ships for improved flair
•   Improved visuals for busy sectors
•   Tons of QoL
•   More diverse faction areas on the galaxy map
  o   Central vs. outer regions where different rules apply

•   Player Profile w/ Milestones
•   Crew Improvements
  o   QoL; Sergeant, Lieutenant, etc. will be ranks within professions and no longer separate professions

•   Hyperspace Jump Improvements
  o   QoL; Improvements to game flow, jumps, reduction of waiting times

•   Fighter Improvements
  o   QoL; Fighters will be remote-controlled, will support boosting, will be cheaper to build but require stricter preconditions to have them on the ship

•   Autopilots
•   Scenario: "Free Play" that can be configured to your individual liking
•   Torpedo loot drops
•   Improvements to the tutorial
•   Listing of build mode features & "tricks" in the encyclopedia

IN WORK:
•   A Secret Boss
•   Various community-requested & QoL features
•   Updates to the Encyclopedia
•   Polishing, Bugfixing

STILL TO DO:
•   Nothing - we don’t have any other big topics that we’re not already working on!

Release Roadmap
So by now, you’ve probably realized that Update 2.0 won’t release in Q2. The good news is that the big topics are done (hooray!) and we’re currently still working out some last kinks and bugs. As we’ve stated in another announcement a few weeks ago, game development is highly iterative (compared to “regular” software development) and we don’t want to burn our 5-person dev team out. That wouldn’t help anybody. We don’t want to ruin the 2.0 update hype with a buggy and rushed release. Also, we’re currently deciding which community-suggested features we’ll be adding to the game, so go vote on our forum, if you haven’t already!

So what’s coming next? One thing we can promise: It won’t be too much longer! Right now we're doing stress-testing, PR stuff like a trailer and informing influencers and media, etc. Over the coming weeks, we’ll get some closed beta-testing started (if we decide to include some community members, you will definitely hear from us), followed by the update being made available on the beta branch, just like any other regular release. After it performs well on beta, it’ll be released to the default branch.

See you next week!

[Asid]

Update 2.0 Newsflash - Loot Transporter & Ship Reconstruction
Tue, July 6, 2021



News about the improvement of the Ship Reconstruction and the new Loot Transporter!

Loot Transporter
Getting really good loot usually takes a bit of work... With Update 2.0, we're making it a little easier for you, as the Loot Transporter is a sure way to know that there's some really great stuff to be captured! The transporter sometimes travels with pirates and is responsible for transporting the loot of their raids. You can imagine what he has in his bags! Since he has a lot to haul, there was unfortunately no room on his ship for turrets, so he makes a relatively quick getaway as soon as you attack him. The lucky ones among you who manage to destroy his ship despite the restricted time limit will be rewarded with a bunch of valuable loot!

Ship Reconstruction
Who has never wrecked a ship? Nobody, probably. In such a case, the well-known reconstruction token is usually the first thing you need to get the destroyed ship ready to go again - as long as you have a token at that time.
We would like to make this feature less complicated and more comprehensible, so it should be easier to understand for Avorion beginners in the future.

The tokens will no longer exist starting with Update 2.0, instead we are implementing a new Towing Service at Repair Docks! In the future you will be able to simply fly to a Repair Dock and ask them to pick up the broken ship. The ship will then be brought to you and made ready to use (read: quickly cobbled together) again for a small price, so that you can immediately continue flying! Some additional repairs might be necessary, though. Good thing you’re already at a Repair Dock.

If you don't feel like looking for a Repair Dock first, you can purchase a Reconstruction Kit. With those you can make your ship ready to fly again on the (destruction) spot. You’ll be immediately ready to go, but will need a few more repairs.

[Asid]

Update 2.0 Newsflash - Community Suggestions
Tue, 13 July 2021

Check out which of your suggestions will be implemented with Update 2.0!

Hello everyone!

You have actively posted your game suggestions for Avorion in our forum and voted for them. At this point, first of all, thank you from the whole team, it makes us very happy to see how much passion you all bring in!
So here's a summary of the suggestions that made it into Update 2.0:


*Right click on the Screenshot - Open in new tab*

Directly implemented suggestions:
•   Build mode: set root block manually
•   Free camera in build mode
•   Optionally selectable: show faction colors instead of relationships on the galaxy map
•   Ships calling for help die too fast
•   “Captain, do this. Even if I am there” / command your own ship - activate autopilot
•   Improvements to Legendary turrets
•   Pirate Carriers
•   Improve the storage proportioning of the factories

Indirectly Implemented Suggestions:
•   Fighter speed (Has been improved in the Fighter Rework)
•   Easy applying of a fighter skin to a squad (Has been improved in the Fighter Rework)
•   Easier configuration of factory to factory trade (e.g. cargo shuttles, supply command)
•   Easier supply of torpedoes (torpedo loot drops)
•   Difficulty options update (scenario: free play)
•   “We really need a better repair system” (Towing service)
•   Bulletin board improvements (Has been improved with the sector overview)

Unfortunately we can't take over all your ideas,since sometimes they do not match with our vision of Avorion. Nevertheless, we have added tons of smaller improvements, which would go beyond the limits of this post. We have implemented for example a workshop filter to select materials according to already learned material knowledge and improved the unbranding of stolen goods. In addition, the trading subsystems have been buffed so that low rarities are now more effective.
It is definitely worthwhile to visit the forum from time to time, to suggest and vote, maybe next time your personal favorite will be on the list!

https://forum.avorion.net/index.php?/forum/8-suggestions-idea-voting/

[Asid]

Update 2.0 Newsflash - Fighter Improvements
Tue, 20 July 2021


Today we're giving you a sneak peek of the fighter improvements!




Fighters
We all know them - we all love them: Fighters! The only problem is that our little helpers have brought a lot of work with them until now. We want to improve on that front with Update 2.0 and save you a lot of time!

Let’s start with the fact that the fighter pilots will no longer sit in the fighter itself, but will stay on your carrier and control the fighters remotely. That way you no longer have to worry about your pilots constantly dying in combat and won't have to look for replacements anymore!

Starting with update 2.0 you will get one skin per squad and not per fighter. The new system will introduce rendering performance improvements when fighters are deployed, and network performance improvements for the mothership when they aren’t.

And on top of that: Fighters will only cost 50% of resources to produce in the future, plus they'll start boosting when flying longer distances! Yaaay!

Insiders know that Fighters can be SUPER OP, so we’ll have to introduce some restrictions, too, sorry!
In order to equip your ship with more than one squad of fighters, you will need the right subsystems installed. We want to make the carrier playstyle easier, but it will require more specialization of your ship. 10 squads on a full carrier are equal to 40 turrets! So the effort will definitely be worth it! We will also keep an eye on this feature and tweak it some more if necessary.

Finally, one more community request: Fighter squads can be grouped now!

Cargo shuttles
Cargo shuttles the way you know them now will be removed. The effort behind them is too time-consuming and nerve-wrecking. We’ll replace the cargo shuttles with NPC shuttles to reduce the effort for transporting goods between factories. NPC shuttles will automatically fly between the factories you’ve configured to trade with each other. You will no longer have to hire pilots, create hangars and so on...

And last but not least: We are planning to start the beta for update 2.0 next week!

[Asid]

Beta Branch Patch 2.0.1 - Patchnotes
Wed, August 11, 2021


First round of feedback was received, heard, checked, analyzed, melted, and reshaped into code! Enjoy!
Beta Branch Note:
 These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for
testing experimental changes
 and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.
"You want the big patchnotes? Alright, you shall have the big patchnotes!"

Gameplay
"We made many improvements to ships deployed on operations: They can now show up in the area they're deployed in. But be warned, captains don't like being monitored at work. We also improved some clarity about size limits, processing power and other potential misconceptions about these mechanics."

•   Ships with captains now show up from time to time in the area they were deployed in
•   Renamed "Smart Blocks" to "Functional Blocks"
•   Rephrased several messages to improve clarity about functional blocks and processing power
•   Added a new section to the tutorial to explain processing power
•   Adjusted naming of Building Knowledge
•   Pirate shipyards now also drop building knowledge
•   Building knowledge can now be bought by alliances, too
•   Building knowledge now drops for all players in the sector, regardless of them hitting the enemy that drops the item
•   Harvest and Repair AI now only use the best possible turrets and search for a new target or terminate if none are available. This means a ship equipped with Iron and Titanium Mining Lasers will use only the Titanium ones on Naonite asteroids.
•   Harvest and Repair AI additionally no longer reorder a ship's weapon groups
•   Tier 0 captains now gain a class determined by their last fulfilled operation once they reach level 5
•   When ambushed, a ship tries to fight pirates if it has weapons (not just the escorts)
•   When ambushed, a ship's hyperspace engine is exhausted
•   Large, empty Iron & Naonite asteroids now have the shape of Titanium asteroids to make them distinguishable from claimables
•   Added an alternate version of the hyperspace upgrade that is high reach, high cooldown
•   This is basically the hyperspace system from pre 2.0 as an option, but boosting to reduce cooldown is still possible


•   Tutorial now starts with the same player resources regardless of difficulty level
•   Additional resources are then given to players after completing the tutorial


Fighters
"We said this before: 3 fighters should about equal one turret. The thing is that, contrary to turrets, you can lose fighters while deployed. Our goal with fighters is that we want carriers to be a viable playstyle, that can be powerful but requires specialization of the ship of more than just a few hangar blocks. We spent some more time on fighters and we think we're now at a point where we reached that goal."

•   Increased durability of fighters
•   Durability now scales with tech level and used material


•   Increased boosting powers of fighters to +500% (from +200%)
•   Rebalanced costs of fighters to match the "3 fighters = 1 turret" design philosophy
•   Reduced fighter production costs to material costs equal to 10% of their credits costs
•   A ’100.000 Xanion fighter now costs 10.000 Xanion to produce on the ship


•   Fighter production time is now 50% linked to their tech level and 50% to their durability
•   Fighter production time is now always at most 1h
•   Fighter production time now can be reduced by at max 90%
•   Fighter production time reduction is now 1min per 1000 production capacity on the craft
•   Fighters now always take at least 30s to produce, down from 60s
•   Increased amount of fighters available at stations

General Balancing
"We want the general early game to be more fun and less grindy, and for that we're making it easier to gain resources through other ways than mining. Apart from that, we've made some general adjustments to improve overall gameplay quality."

•   Increased amount of resources available at Resource Depots
•   Reduced cost of resources at Resource Depots
•   Increased profit when selling resources at Resource Depots
•   Reduced amount of necessary reputation for buying Building Knowledge to 65.000
•   Titanium Building Knowledge now gives 5 Slots
•   Increased likelihood of finding captains from every 4th station to every 3rd
•   Increased likelihood of finding tier 1 or 2 captains at stations
•   Decreased base salary of captains by 5000
•   Increased reach of higher-tier hyperspace upgrades
•   Increased time to flee of pirates to 6.5 seconds from 5 seconds
•   Reduced price for sector renaming beacon
•   Increased amount of very rich hidden ore asteroids to every 4th, from every 8th
•   Sped up trade frequency via shuttles between factories by 40%
•   Decreased influence of pirates and Xsotan on hazard zone trigger when destroying freighters by 75%
•   Reduced max velocity of NPC ships closer to the galaxy center
•   Improved influence of positive perks of captains on operations
•   Captains can't have more negative than positive perks anymore
•   Most missions now additionally give resources as reward
•   Bounty Hunt missions now improve relations to commissioning factions

Mining & Salvage Operation
"We added some clarity about the mining and salvaging operations, how they work and how to best fine-tune them for maximum yields. This, plus some QoL additions targeted at larger fleets."

•   Delivery interval is now 15 minutes for durations of 30 minutes or 1h
•   Added an option for immediate delivery
•   Added a new "Area Efficiency" line to show how good/bad the area is
•   Discovered asteroid/wreckage fields now boost area efficiency
•   Implemented mining & salvaging support from escorts
•   Escorts now mine/salvage, too, if they have the equipment for it


•   Increased maximum duration that Miners and Scavengers can be sent on an operation from up to 6h to up to 8h
•   They get a flat +0.5h bonus and each tier now gives +1h (up from 0.5h)


•   Reduced time taken to refine
•   Increased mining yields in outer faction area by 50%
•   Resource asteroid/wreckage setting in Free Play mode now affects Mining & Salvage Operations
•   Mining subsystems now boost mining yields
•   They have the largest effect in areas with few asteroids


Other Operations
"Some balancing adjustments for the other operations. Also fixed some bugs, which you'll find more down below in the Bugfixes section."

•   Increased area size of Scout operation from 15x15 to 21x21
•   Scout Operation now reveals estimations about the amount of asteroids and wreckages
•   Scout Operation is now 60% faster per sector
•   Reduced general pirate attack chance in outer faction area
•   Operations related to trading now improve relations to the local faction
•   Increased gains from Expedition to make it more viable in early game

Galaxy Map
"We improved the general feel of sending your ships away - they shouldn't feel like they're completely gone."

•   Added more buttons for showing/hiding different ships (distinguishes between "on screen" and "on operation")
•   Ships are no longer automatically hidden from the list when sent on an operation
•   Ships now get their area highlighted when going on an operation
•   Added a checkbox to toggle those areas


•   Adjusted some descriptions in map commands for improved clarity
•   Sectors can now additionally be tagged with an icon when adding a note
•   Map orders can now be given to ships piloted by a player

UI
"Much clarity stuff, and some more quality of life. Using pre-2.0 builds should now be a lot easier."

•   Added arrows that show if a selection can be scrolled further up or down
•   Wormholes selected in Strategy Mode now show their distance
•   Changed colors of symbols indicating enemy strength to make them better distinguishable from one another
•   Adjusted text in subsystems tab to hint towards functional blocks
•   Added a different background for functional blocks
•   Added more loading screen hints about captains, commands, processing power and more
•   Renamed captain's level 0 to level 1
•   Added the captain icon to captain mission
•   Improved looks of blocks in block icons
•   Added a slider to saved designs window in Build Mode to scale a design 2 slots up or down
•   Adjusted names of orders in orderchain window for improved clarity
•   Added explanation to max ship size slider in Free Play
•   Updated "Build 5 slot ship" milestone in Player Profile to reflect Titanium Building Knowledge now allowing up to 5 slots
•   Captain assessments in operation UI are now colored yellow or orange if they contain warnings
•   Improved autopilot and craft orders interaction window
•   Improved German, French, Russian, Japanese and Chinese localization

Bugfixes
"We got tons of feedback and bug reports, thanks for all the commitment! As usual, User Bug Reports reported through our in-game bug reporting tool are marked with [UBR] below."

•   [UBR] Fixed a crash in “Eliminating Rivals” mission
•   [UBR] Fixed a crash in “Propaganda Materials” mission
•   [UBR] Fixed a crash in “Display of Strength” mission
•   [UBR] Fixed a crash in “She’s Innocent!” mission
•   [UBR] Fixed a crash in “A Lost Friend” mission
•   [UBR] Fixed a crash in “The Guardian” mission
•   [UBR] Fixed a crash in “Wanted Dead, Not Alive” mission
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where NPCs that were needed by missions ran away after they were damaged
•   [UBR] Mined ores and scrap are no longer tagged as stolen when picked up by someone else after the reservation timer runs out
•   [UBR] Fixed a crash in Refine AI Command
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where player-built shipyards sold building knowledge even though the player didn't have it yet
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where the trade command income scaled infinitely with the used ship's cargo bay
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where building knowledge didn't unlock on servers that first had it disabled, then enabled
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where the engine drained too much power after a hyperspace jump
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where the energy system didn't drain energy for a few seconds when going into drain
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where torpedoes and other icons weren't displayed properly
•   [UBR] Fixed a bug in asteroid field generation
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue in simplified simulation where ships would always boost and always hit no matter their energy, distance from target or reach of their weapons
•   [UBR] Fixed pirate attack event not finishing properly sometimes when pirates flee
•   Fixed an issue where recalled ships didn't return when a certain script crashed
•   Fixed an issue where max amount of items gained from salvaging could be unlimited
•   Fixed Mining Operation wrongly declaring enemy faction sectors as safe
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where cooldown of hyperspace engine could go to 0, leading to unexpected issues and crashes
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where it was possible to jump over rifts
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where some special characters weren't properly captitalized
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where normal hull wasn't available in turret design mode
•   Fixed an issue where changes in material weren't reflected in costs of saved designs window
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where alliance ships couldn't escort other alliance ships
•   [UBR] Fixed some issues in sell/procure commands where they took too long for simple tasks
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue in procure command where attack chance was 60 times too high (whoops)
•   Fixed alliance ships being marked with wrong colors
•   Fixed an issue where the Procurement Contract UI wasn’t reset correctly
•   Fixed Typos
•   [UBR] Fixed a bug where the autopilot would continue its last order after player leaves the ship
•   Fixed a bug where captain tooltips had some lines missing in restock and expedition operations' UI
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue that led to thrusters always firing when 'always turn ship' option was active
•   [UBR] Fixed Saved Designs Window being empty on reopen

[Asid]

Beta Branch Patch 2.0.2 - Patchnotes
Wed, August 18, 2021



Next patch is here, this time adjusting some more balancing and fixing issues you've reported to us!

Beta Branch Note:
 These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for
testing experimental changes
 and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):

Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

Gameplay
"Autopilot can now boost more, and NPC ships boost less! This should make combat feel a lot better."

•   Autopilot can now use boost
•   Expedition now yields a Daredevil, not an Explorer on level up
•   Added a safety conversation line for Swoks when picking "I'll pay", to confirm that player actually wants to pay

Balancing
"Adjusted fighters and the upgrades necessary for them some more to make them more viable for a specialized ship style. We also took a long look at the Expedition and made some very much needed improvements."

•   Increased damage of (new) fighters by 33%
•   Fighter production time reduced for all materials lower than Avorion, depending on their tier (lower material: less time)
•   Legendary Hydra fighter upgrade now gives +4 slots
•   Uncommon+ Hydra fighter upgrades now give a boost to production speed
•   Improved boosts at Travel Hub, reduced costs
•   Fighters now boost until they are in weapon range
•   Reduced prices of fighter production
•   Relaxed the amount of damage to prevent a ship from going on operations to 5% of ship's value missing in blocks
•   Super-rich hidden asteroids are now in every 5th from every 4th
•   Relation gain for repairing for money at repair docks is now similar to shipyard
•   Relation gain of all bulletin board missions increased
•   Resource yields from expedition now have a more random variation instead of a fixed value
•   Resource yields from expedition now scale with distance to center of the galaxy
•   Reduced amount of items yielded by salvage command
•   Shuttles can now transport up to +400% more volume between factories per flight (ie. 5x as much)
•   Xsotan Artifact II now gives +6 auto turret slots
•   Xsotan Artifact III now gives +6 auto turret slots
•   Xsotan Artifact IV now gives +6 auto turret slots
•   Xsotan Artifact VII now gives +7 Hyperspace Range (up from 5)
•   Increased base time for trade command by 2 minutes
•   Reduced too massive boosting of AI ships

UI
"Clarity improvements and overall polish to the UI, enjoy!"

•   Improved visuals of strategy mode plane
•   Ships unable to escort/support show up in escort list now, with tooltips why they can't help
•   Improved UI of expedition operation to show how much can be earned with the operation
•   Renamed "Crew Shuttles" to "Boarding Shuttles"
•   Added entries about captains to encyclopedia
•   Added an icon to bulletin board to quickly identify a mission
•   Improved usability of galaxy map tag icon
•   Added error message in captain assessment of supply operation to point out that no route was found
•   Adjusted some strings in tutorial to ensure they always fit on-screen
•   Added description line with instruction to read mail in pirate raid mission

Bugfixes
"As always, bug fixes marked with [UBR] are from User Bug Reports, that were submitted through our bug reporter! Thanks for your help and keep it up! "

•   Fixed a crash in fighter factory
•   Fixed several crashes in bounty hunt mission
•   [UBR] Fixed a crash when dragging a blueprint out of a squad
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where players could get the Titanium knowledge mail while tutorial was active
•   [UBR] Fixed a visual issue with the icons of sectors uncovered by the scout operation
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where fighters just disappeared when starting
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where fighter icons in squad UI were empty
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where switching to alliance ships over the map wasn't possible
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where expedition operation could yield too advanced ores and scrap metal
•   [UBR] Fixed several issues with fighters being transferred between ships
•   [UBR] Fixed several issues with tooltips on the galaxy map
•   [UBR] Fixed wrong english string in supply operation
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue when loading key bindings that used Ctrl, Shift or other modifier keys
•   You might have to reset controls or reassign the controls for them to work again


•   Fixed some issues where AI-controlled ships didn't calculate their braking distance properly
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where reconstruction kits didn't rename when the ship was renamed
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where some missions didn't continue when switching into ship when it's in the sector where the mission happens
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where the Coop Flying tab wasn't shown
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where turret orders weren't saved and restored properly when a ship went into background simulation and returned
•   [UBR] Fixed a crash in mining / salvaging AI when selected target has no resources to mine/salvage
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where heal rates of fighters in fighter factory were too high
•   Fixed some issues with autopilot and order chains
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where lower building knowledge wasn't dropped if the player had higher knowledge in their inventory
•   [UBR] Jump Range boost is now only depleted on actual hyperspace jump, not just changing sectors
•   Fixed pirate title not being translated in dialogs
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where the trading operation could generate goods that were not paid for
•   [UBR] Fixed swoks and his goons having a personal feud with literally anything neutral
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where esort ship weapons sometimes dealt no damage
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where payday of a crew was reset when sent on an operation
•   [UBR] Fixed an exploit where crew payday was reset when crew of the ship was empty
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where projectiles didn't properly collide with objects very close to the turret
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where cursor had the wrong icon on the galaxy map when selecting a ship on an operation
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships on trading operation had a 50% lower chance of being attacked when only a single flight was necessary
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships could hang when destination sector was suddenly out of reach
•   Fixed several issues with translation
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where the sector didn't have the correct name on the galaxy map after renaming it
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where gates to a sector didn't have the correct name after renaming it
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships were using the wrong turrets for some jobs
•   [UBR] Fixed several issues where auto pilot would get stuck while salvaging or mining
•   [UBR] Fixed a bug where installing an upgrade into the next system slot (which was blocked due to building knowledge) would destroy the upgrade
•   Fixed a crash in scavenger highlighting when highlighting wreckages with no resources but cargo
•   [UBR] Renaming beacon now has the faction of the ship from which it is spawned
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where perma destruction and precise AI aim weren't reset after going back down from harder difficulties
•   [UBR] Fixed an issue where autopilot tried to stop the ship while interacting/building