Skill tree overhaul
NEW: 18 new pilot skills taking total to 32 (max level cap increased from 30 -81)
MOD: new skill levels for some existing skills
MOD: rebalancing of cooldown for movement skills
NEW: various improvements to skill tooltips
NEW: total skill levels are now shown (used for certain event scenarios)
NEW: 'purple' upgrade paths added
NEW: skill hotbar reordering
Mining and Wreck Exploration
NEW: refreshed wreck exploration mechanics - now have choices with chance of success that depend on skills, plus 2 new outcomes
NEW: refreshed mining mechanics - mining now has a success chance that can be boosted by skills/equipment
Other new features
NEW: new equipment: combat drones that can be launched to assist your ship in combat, linked to new drone pilot skill.
NEW: fast travel mechanics (new ‘transport hub’ station module)
NEW: new faction (‘Syndicate’) added who provide refueling and repair services in hostile sectors
NEW: endless game mode added
UI improvements
NEW: continue game button in splash screen (1.21b)
NEW: added auto-scaling for equipment names to ensure equipment with long names do not overlap with other equipment info
NEW: add trading info to current sector info tooltip
NEW: improved tooltip information layout for ‘to hit chance’
NEW: when multiple missions are active simultaneously, you can can now highlight targets for a single mission by hovering mouse over that mission in the main UI
NEW: player portraits are randomized by default
NEW: help and tips are now automatically set to ‘on’ when ‘include tutorial’ option selected
NEW: changed names of some game mode options
NEW: ship speed and cargo capacity now shown in main UI
NEW: can now right-click to equip weapons in station equipment screen
NEW: improved help text for all station modules
NEW: can now right-click to sell all/buy max in trading screen
NEW: hull and fuel info now shown when deciding whether to repair or refuel at a station
NEW: sector info tooltip now shows factions with ships in the sector even if they do not have a station in the sector
NEW: main log now shows XP gained on destroying enemies
NEW: improved color coding of faction text in various parts of the UI
NEW: confirmation screen now shown when pressing ‘skip help’ button to prevent accidental selection
NEW: new style background for top of the main UI
NEW: can now click on sector display for sector map
NEW: added fuel cost estimate for auto-pathing to different parts of the sector
NEW: button to sort active skills by trait in the pilot screen
Balance changes
MOD: reduced impact of quantum drag on fuel
MOD: mission deadlines now vary with number of separate mission units
MOD: Alpha Kreen now drops loot
MOD: increased impact of gravitic booster on ship speed
MOD: increased variety of possible target stations for missions
MOD: holo-ships now get destroyed if their parent ship is destroyed (1.21b)
Bug fixes
FIX: error in way missile damage is shown in attack info panel
FIX: F5 and F6 tooltips are reversed in tooltip main text
FIX: various minor textual and punctuation issues
FIX: formatting of weight set to 1DP across various UI panels
FIX: when opening one of the main UI panels, asteroid info panel is not automatically hidden
FIX: tooltip for ‘exceptional’ equipment now has correct number of stars
FIX: ship info panel sometimes shows 'dummy' weapons for ships that have no weapons
FIX: weight display formatting issue for heavy ships
FIX: bug where max energy and max shields do not update when equipping new generators/shields
FIX: number of contacts shown in station core includes those that are not visible
FIX: When in the Sector View, and the game menu is opened, ESC prioritizes the Sector View rather than the menu
FIX: ‘maneuver blocked’ message incorrectly shown when trying to use streak after already moving in the turn
FIX: bug where to hit chance is incorrectly set to 100% in first sector when skipping tutorial missions
FIX: bug where pathfinding icons and target indicator remain on the map after moving the mouse off the edge of the map
FIX: bug where some 'relic already taken by ships' mission variant causes ships to spawn in wrong sector
FIX: various issues with selection of invalid target stations for missions
FIX: bug where hostile ships defending a hostile target ship spawn too far from the ship they are defending
FIX: 'dialogue error' that occurs when trying to contact a station npc midway through a mission after loading from save
FIX: bug where if you select ironman mode and then cancel save slot selection and still start an ironman game, no slot is selected and saving is not possible
FIX: clicking on empty save slot in the load game menu results in normal continue game confirmation message
FIX: bug where can spawn in same tile as another ship when entering a new sector
FIX: bug where if faction X defends station against faction Y, faction Y gets faction stat points
FIX: various issues with mission tooltips in main UI
FIX: mission panels now consistently show the name of the sector in which the mission target is located, if and only if it is different from the current sector
FIX: skills that use up ability to fire weapons now also end player turn if already moved, and no longer generate message that 'weapons have not yet been fired' when in manual mode.
FIX: bug where target icon sometimes not shown over target ship despite being selected as target
FIX: when relic missions requires wreck exploration gettin relic no longer requires normal exploration event (1.21b)
FIX: bug where if you have two missions of exactly the same type,and you complete the requirements for one of them, the first mission of that type will be treated as completed (1.21b)
FIX: bug where save slot number incorrectly shown in UI when selecting ironman mode (1.21b)
FIX: bug where missiles and other weapons bypass shields if hull damage is greater than target shield points (1.21b)
FIX: ships that are mission targets of missions where goods need to be recovered no longer leave the sector, making it impossible to complete the mission (1.21b)