Alpha build 73 is live. It is a required update: build 72 and earlier no longer connect. Steam offers the update by itself (exit Steam completely and start it again if it has not appeared). The server restarted at 13:51 UTC.
Commander mastery
- Level 50 is still the last player level, but XP keeps counting: past level 50, every 150,000 XP earns a mastery point. XP you earned past level 50 before today counts too.
- Your mastery level is the number of points you have earned. It shows on your profile next to your level, for example LEVEL 50 - MASTERY 12.
- Spend points on COMMANDER MASTERY: open your own profile (your portrait on the HUD) and press MASTERY. There are three tracks of five steps: Prospector (mining), Raider (raids) and Warden (base defence). A track's steps are taken in order, and step n costs n points.
- The bonuses are small on purpose, and none makes a ship stronger in a battle between fleets.
- RESET gives back every step and every point for 50,000 coins.
New Deep Space Explorers ships
- All 70 Deep Space Explorers ships have new models, with crisp panel lines, hatches and vents in place of the soft, melted-looking hulls, and new icons to match (#159). Thank you to the tester who reported it.
Also new
- BUILD ANOTHER: while a hull is building in the Shipyard, or a module in the Forge, press BUILD ANOTHER to queue one more of the same, as long as the queue has room (#126).
- An old graphics driver now gets a warning. If your NVIDIA driver is older than version 580, the game tells you at start-up and offers to open NVIDIA's download page. An old driver was behind the black screen some of you reported: the game closed a few seconds after starting.
- Inside an incursion's ring, other fleets' name tags turn see-through, so the flagship's name and its attack icon stay visible (#157).
- Fixes: the commander XP on the HUD shows two decimal places (#158), the raid result's third reward card fits its text, and a ship that was never upgraded shows MK 1 in a fleet's list.
The player's guide has the full table of mastery steps, and the changelog has the whole list.