Alpha build 82 is live. It is a required update: Steam brings it in by itself (exit Steam completely and start it again if it has not appeared), and older builds cannot join.
This one is about the first days in the Frontier: a fight in the first minute, a Licence that goes all the way to level 20, a first week with a ship at the end of it, and shorter waits while you learn. Most of it reaches every commander, not only new ones.
Your first minutes
- At a new commander's first login, Fleet Admiral Voss gives them an armed Fighter, already out beside their outpost, with a drill target next to it.
- Destroying it is now the first mission of the Commander's Licence. BEGIN on her card takes you to your planet, where the fight is.
The Commander's Licence goes to level 20
- A sixth chapter, THE ROAD TO TWENTY, opens at level 12: work a signal, take one of your faction's contracts, research a tier 4 module, beat a tier 4 Tide fleet and reach level 20. It pays 30,000 coins and 600 antimatter.
- 27 missions in all, every one in Voss's voice. Your progress is kept.
Your first week
- Commanders below level 10 get YOUR FIRST WEEK: seven days of three goals, one day opening at each 00:00 UTC, resources every day, and a Corvette of your faction on day 7. The FIRST WEEK button is at the bottom right.
For every commander
- A card at every new level, saying what just opened and what opens next. Voss speaks at levels 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 and every fifth level after.
- Welcome back: after three days or more away, Voss meets you with supplies that grow with your level.
- Discord reminders: with Discord linked, tick the box on your account page on the website, and Voss sends you one message while you are away if a Licence reward or her supplies are waiting.
- Recruits and mentors: when a commander who joined your alliance below level 10 reaches level 10, every other member gets 25 fragments, and 50 more at level 20.
- A battle to watch: below level 12, Voss offers you a battle as it starts, so you can see one before you fight your own.
Rules that changed
- Shorter waits: the free end of every timer is the last 30 minutes below level 10, 15 minutes from 10 to 19, and 5 minutes from level 20 as before.
- Choosing a faction: your base's construction queue no longer stands in the way, and your first choice also ignores a damaged ship or a fleet that is out. Below level 10 you have one free change. Three factions are marked GOOD FOR NEW COMMANDERS.
- Contracts: your own faction's contracts open at level 10; every faction's still at 20.
- Graphics: the first start picks the quality for your graphics card instead of running a test, and AUTO-DETECT in Settings does the same. The resolution scale slider now works.
Clearer screens
- Armor modules no longer end in MK I to MK V: that was their Tier, and it read like the Mark you buy afterwards. Ship Outfitting names each module's Tier beside its kind, and the stars are its Mark.
- The first few times you place or move a building, Voss tells you how to turn it: the mouse wheel.
- A building's PRODUCTION figures show each resource in its own colour, and your commander level reads CMDR on the HUD.
Thanks to the testers whose reports shaped this one. The changelog has the whole list, and the player's guide has the first week, the Licence and the rest.