Alpha build 84 is live, and it is a required update: let Steam update the game before you play.
Hull mastery
Every hull design you fly now earns its own mastery stars. A hull earns a win each time a fleet it flies in wins a battle: against the Tide, against another commander's fleet as attacker or defender, or a base raid as the attacker. One win per hull per battle; losses and mining count nothing.
- Stars at 25, 75, 150, 300 and 600 wins. Stars never go away.
- Battles you have fought since 7 October already count, so check your Shipyard: your busiest hulls have their stars waiting.
- The Shipyard shows a HULL MASTERY strip above the ship and each hull's stars in the hull row. A hull with all five stars is mastered, and your profile counts them.
Paints
Each star unlocks a paint on that hull, chosen in the new PAINT row under the Shipyard's ship:
- Arctic (1 star) and Sandstorm (2 stars)
- Ember Wake (3 stars): scorched metal with molten veins creeping aft
- Gunmetal (4 stars): brushed metal with a blue circuit, a pulse of light running bow to stern
- Void Black (5 stars): black, with a nebula drifting inside the panels
Click a locked paint to see it on your ship before you earn it.
Faction paints: each of the eleven contract factions has its own livery, earned at Trusted standing with that faction and worn on that faction's hulls, no stars needed. Iron Parade, Blood Banner, Sunforged, Event Horizon, Clean Room, Hazard Pay, Ivory Halo, Brass Ledger, Pathfinder, Clan Colours and Salvage Ace. If you have already reached Trusted, yours is waiting.
A paint goes on every ship of that hull, is free to change, and is looks only: no paint changes any number. Your opponents and anyone watching see your paints in battle, and replays keep them.
Also in this build
- The fleet list slides out of the way while the Faction Contracts board or the Signals panel is open.
- The fleet command bar keeps clear of the minimap and the buttons at the bottom right.
- The open fleet list no longer covers the HOME button.
The Player's Guide has a new chapter with every paint, and the changelog has the details.