Alpha build 43 is live. This is a client and server update and the two only work with each other, so exit Steam completely and start it again before you play. If the game tells you it is out of date, that is all it means - your copy has not updated yet.
Nothing was wiped. Your commander, base, ships and fleets are as you left them.
The Shipyard has been rebuilt
The Shipyard is a new screen with two tabs.
MY SHIPS shows every ship you own in one grid. Filter it by docked, in a fleet, damaged or being built, narrow it to one faction, and sort it five ways. Pick a ship to see its status and health, turn it around in 3D, and repair, outfit or scrap it from the same panel.
BLUEPRINTS lays every hull out by class and role. Each one says whether you can build it, research it, or what it is still waiting for. FULL SPECS opens its whole stat sheet, the Mark arrows show how its numbers grow, and holding your pointer over a resistance icon tells you what it protects against.
BUILD, RESEARCH and REPAIR counters at the top show how many are running out of how many you are allowed. Click one to see that queue, finish the running item with coins, or cancel one.
Ships can be repaired, and scrapped
Select a damaged ship on MY SHIPS and press REPAIR, or INSTANT to have it done on the spot. The REPAIR button on a fleet's row repairs every damaged ship in that fleet; the fleet has to be home at your base first.
Repairs were also broken underneath: a repair could take its cost and never restore the ship. That is fixed, including repairs that finish while you are offline.
SCRAP returns half a ship's build cost, puts its fitted modules back in your inventory and frees a place in your ship bay.
Three rules changed
- Cancelling a hull research returns its full cost. It used to return nothing.
- Finishing with coins returns no resources. Coins buy time, not materials.
- An instant repair costs the repair's materials as well as the coins. It is an ordinary repair, started and finished in one click.
Cancelling a build, a research or a repair, and scrapping a ship, now ask you to confirm first and say what you get back.
A new test round
Alpha Round 9 - The New Shipyard is open on the playtest page. It is one screen and it is new, so screenshots - and your screen resolution - help more than usual.