Alpha build 87 is live, and it is a required update: let Steam update the game before you play. If the update does not show up, restart Steam.
A new main menu
The game now opens on the bridge, with Fleet Admiral Voss there in person.
- At your first launch of the day she greets you, then tells you the first thing that is waiting for you. On a later launch she skips the greeting and just tells you what is waiting.
- WAITING FOR YOU lists what needs you: daily orders to claim, the day's report, ships finished in the bay, a contract done, your base breached or a raid held off, an incursion on or coming. Click a line to go straight there.
- ENTER THE FRONTIER takes you into the game. Daily briefing, settings, patch notes, Discord and quit are on the left.
- A new commander sees YOUR FIRST STEPS instead, and BEGIN starts the first one.
Field notes while the game starts
While the game connects you see one of 40 field notes, each a rule of the game with its own picture. Once Voss is in, she reads the note aloud. Press Space for the next one and she reads that too. When the start is done, Enter goes straight on.
When the server restarts
If the server restarts or your connection drops, you now get a screen that shows how long you have been waiting and what is new in the next build, and the game reconnects by itself as soon as the server is back. If the server needs a newer game than yours, the screen says so, and QUIT AND UPDATE closes the game so Steam can update it.
Voss also looks sharper while she talks, and her face eases into and out of each line. The changelog has the details.