Starsector 0.97a

Startsector 0.97a is a version of Starsector released on 2024-02-02.

Pre-release

Campaign

• Reworked "Hostile Activity" as "Colony Crises"
  • No penalties, just risk/reward opportunities whenever a crisis happens
  • Punitive expeditions and AI inspections rolled into the crisis system
    • Except for "colony in faction space" punitive expeditions
  • Hegemony AI inspection bribe amount increased very substantially
  • Added crises for Persean League, Hegemony, Tri-Tachyon, Sindrian Diktat, Luddic Church
    • With narrative resolutions/agreements/etc
    • And with fleets you encounter in your system prior to any crisis
    • (These are a large portion of the work/content in this release)
  • Base colony stability is back to 5, Spaceport/Megaport accessibility back to 50/80%
  • Luddic Path cells can once again cause incidents at player colonies
  • Pirate bases can once again affect player colonies with "Pirate Activity"
    • But a deal with the Station King cancels this out
  • Deal with Station King no longer reduces event progress every month
• Added new abilities:
  • Reverse Polarity - reverses direction of slipstream travel
    • Auto-assigned as hyperspace alternate to Scavenge when unlocked
  • Generate Slipsurge - creates high-velocity slipstream away from nearby gravity well
    • Requires giant/supergiant star, neutron star, or black hole
    • Auto-assigned as hyperspace alternate to Distress Call when unlocked
  • Both unlocked by increasing Hyperspace Topography progress
• Ability slots: can now be set up to switch to a different ability when in hyperspace
• "Starscape" Sector map view now shows slipstreams
• Fleets will use emergency burn to better deal with black holes, slipstreams, and hyperspace storm strikes
• Fleets much more careful about avoiding black holes in the first place
• "Orion-Perseus Abyss" area in the lower left of the Sector is now more than just a label
  • Note: this will technically work with an existing save, but may have some side effects like having star systems in the abyssal areas; starting a new save is recommended
• Added a new hand-made star system in the Abyss
• Added rogue planets to the Abyss
• Added new type of sensor ghost
• Hyperspace Topography: now get a few points for scanning magnetic fields with Active Sensor Burst
  • Have to be inside the field
• S-mods on ships are now counted for autoresolve
• Trying to use a cargo items with a right-click action during a transaction will now indicate that you need to complete the current transaction first, instead of quietly doing nothing
• Reduced story point cost to create a second stable location in a system to 2 (was: 5)
• Made dead drop mission "complications" have a lower reputation impact
• "Take all" button no longer takes over-capacity fuel
• Penelope's Star is now claimed by the Luddic Church, and Duzahk/Tia-Tax'et by the Hegemony
  • For the purpose of player colonies getting expeditions sent against them
  • Can be turned off in settings.json -> factionsClaimUnpopulatedCoreSystems
• The lieutenant from the tutorial will greet the player appropriately based on if they've met or not
• During "At The Gates", NPC fleets no longer block [REDACTED] during the second-to-last mission stage
• Fleets unique to various missions no longer retain "important" icon after their mission interaction
• Clarified certain interactions with a fleet for certain cases during end of "The Usurpers"
• Can now engage Kanta's Den at certain point during the GA mission chain where it was previously not possible
• AI Cores on [REDACTED] ships may now sometimes have the Point Defense skill, depending on the loadout
• Increased amount of fuel available for purchase at colonies by 50%
• Officers found in sleeper pods: all of the level 7 ones and some of the level 5 ones now use preset skill selections
  • Requires new game to be started to take effect
• Demand filled through player trade stays filled longer (was: 30 days, now: 120 days)
• Black market trade can now fill demand
• Substantially increased out-of-combat hull repair rate for ships larger than frigates
  • Up to a 2x increase for capitals, meaning a 2x reduced supply cost for extensive hull repairs
• Arms dealers found in bars: significantly improved inventory and volume, always at least medium importance if they become a contact
• Drastically improved effectiveness of introducing false readings into sensor arrays (for drawing off patrols to be able to complete stealth-requiring missions with a general-purpose fleet)
• Galatia Academy probe package retrieval mission:
  • Added description of where the probe will be found
  • Excluded certain terrain (system-wide nebula and very large ring systems) from list of possible locations
• Derelict Mothership: now always drops one of: Pristine Nanoforge, Synchrotron, Catalytic Core
• Can now hold down Alt and move the mouse without clicking to quickly transfer/sell items (the setting is now enabled by default)

Skills & related

• ECM rating:
  • Reduces enemy weapon range by the ECM rating
  • Both sides can have a penalty at the same time
  • Penalty is capped to a maximum of 10%
  • After being capped, the penalty is reduced by the ratio of enemy and player ECM ratings
  • E.G. if both sides have the same ECM rating, each side's penalty is reduced by 50%
• Electronic Warfare:
  • Retains the +1% ECM rating from all combat ships effect
  • Makes combat objectives be captured *much* more quickly and from longer range (5x faster, +1000 range)
  • Most Remnant fleets no longer have it
• Cybernetic Augmentation:
  • Is now a top-tier skill, replacing Neural Link which moves down
  • Increases the number of elite skills officers can have by 1 (was: 2)
  • Now also increases the damage dealt/reduces the damage taken by all ships with officers
  • The bonus is 1% per elite skill the player has
  • The damage-dealt bonus is doubled for the flagship
• Neural Integrator hullmod:
  • Significantly reduced OP cost (now same as Neural Interface)
  • Increases the ship's deployment points/supply cost by 20% instead
• Neural Link:
  • Moved down a tier
  • Clarified skill description / related hullmod tooltips
  • Will now set autofire state to group defaults when switching ships for the first time
• Ballistic Mastery: added "+5% damage dealt by ballistic weapons" to elite effect
• Target Analysis:
  • "+10% damage to destroyers" is now an elite effect
  • Added extra elite effect: "+5% damage to frigates"
  • Also retains original elite effect
• Systems Expertise: changed elite effect to "-10% damage taken"
• Missile Specialization:
  • Reduced bonus rate of fire to 25% (was: 50%)
  • Reduced bonus missile hitpoints to 25% (was: 50%)
  • Added elite effect: +25% missile ammo regeneration rate
• Helmsmanship:
  • Changed base speed bonus to 15% (was: 10%)
  • Changed elite speed bonus to 10su/s (was: 5)
• Combat Endurance: elite effect will now repair the hull up to 100% (was: up to 50%)
• Field Modulation:
  • Increased hard flux dissipation while shields are active to 20% (was: 15%)
  • Added "-25% overload duration" to elite effect
• Damage Control: replaced elite effect with: "Repairs of damaged but functional weapons and engines can continue while they are under fire"
• Ordnance Expertise: reduced base skill bonus to 1.5 flux dissipation per ordnance point (was: 2)
• Hull Restoration:
  • Somewhat faster repair of d-mods for ships with lower deployment points
  • Removed maximum CR increase per s-mod
  • Added "+15% maximum CR, -5% per d-mod (minimum 0%)"
• Support Doctrine: added non-elite Ordnance Expertise to skills gained by unofficered ships
• Containment Procedures: fuel use reduction changed to 25% (was: 50%), maximum total is unchanged

Miscellaneous

• Added autofit variant for Wolf (P) (it didn't have any)
• Added more random person names
• Made the dark gray text color in the UI a little brighter to make it more readable
• Fixed rendering issue with composite mount indicator scale
• Added "Enable UI noise" setting to gameplay settings tab (previously, turning this off required editing settings.json)

Combat

• Ships with range 0 fighters will no longer be assigned to "Fighter Strike" orders
• Fighters with 0 range and "support" fighters will retreat immediately if the parent ship is destroyed
• Collisions with friendly ships no longer have a chance to cause a flameout when using plasma burn, burn drive, and similar ship systems
• Ships with s-modded built-in hullmods are now always recoverable after combat, just like ships with s-modded regular hullmods
• Fixed ship deployment issue that caused certain predictable/poor behaviors such as [REDACTED] Radiant and Apex class ships always being deployed last by the enemy
  • More broadly, ships that are "stronger" will no longer be so likely to be deployed last

Ship AI

• Fixed issue that caused ships to fire torpedos at frigates more liberally than intended
• Fixed issue that could cause the AI to miss badly when taking manual control of certain weapons that were not already pointed towards the target
• Improved manual handling of "use less vs shields" weapons such as the Mining Blaster and the IR Autolance
• Now aware of faster time-flow (due to e.g. Temporal Shell) for purpose of collision avoidance
• Fixed issue causing it to turn off front shields when given a retreat order
• Improved use of High Energy Focus ship system; should save the last charge for more important weapons
• Fixed issue with Phase Skimmer being sometimes used aggressively by a retreating ship
• Fixed issue with threat from Flash bombers being evaluated incorrectly
• "Steady" personality will now also maintain missile range with PD-and-missile ships (previously, this required "Cautious" or "Timid")
• (Possibly) fixed or improved issue with Fury/Odyssey/ships with similar systems ramming stations
• Now knows about selecting an empty weapon group (or one with the least firepower) if all groups are autofiring
  • And is now capable of manually firing an autofiring group if it's selected, for whatever reason
• Fixed some phase ship collision avoidance issues when trying to get to the other side of a station
• Fixed issue that caused DEM missiles to be inappropriately prioritized by shields when already firing at something else

Ships

• Gremlin:
  • Made forward hardpoints on sprite larger, in line with other small hardpoints
• Omen:
  • Made sprite have more color (so it doesn't look grayscale)
• Brawler (LG), Centurion (LG): increased OP by 2
• Added Grendel-class phase cruiser: Low Tech, Rugged Construction, Accelerated Ammo Feeder
• Gryphon:
  • Missile Autoforge now has 2 uses, restores the base, unmodified amount of ammo, and costs a bit less flux to use
  • Is more likely to use the Missile Autoforge

Hullmods

• Integrated Point Defense AI: clarified that s-mod effect does not affect strike weapons
• Escort Package: it's back, in a very different incarnation
  • Can be installed on any destroyer or cruiser
  • Provides 25% maneuverability, 10% top speed, 20% weapon range while within 1000 su of larger ship
  • For destroyers, when the larger ship is a capital, these bonuses are doubled
  • For destroyers, when s-modded, also grants 20% reduced shield damage when in proximity
• Safety Overrides: can no longer be installed on ships with Flux Shunt (i.e. the Monitor)
• Auxiliary Thrusters:
  • Reduced OP cost to 4/8/12/20 (was: 5/10/15/25)
  • S-mod bonus is: "increases 0-flux speed boost by 10, and doubles the 0-flux turn rate bonus"
    • (The base 0-flux turn rate bonus is a flat 10 degrees/second)

Weapons

• Dragonfire: increased activation range by 100 units
• Light Dual Autocannon: increased flux/shot back to 40 (was: 30)
• Heavy Autocannon: reduced flux/shot to 90 (was: 100)
• Phase Lance: reduced flux/damage to 0.8 (was: 1.2)
• Volatile Particle Driver:
  • Increased range to 1000 (was: 700)
  • Reduced flux/shot to 100 (was: 150)
• Hephaestus Assault Gun: reduced flux/shot to 110 (was: 120)
• Storm Needler:
  • Changed to use regenerating ammo
  • Max ammo: 60, reload size: 30, 10 ammo/second
  • Improved accuracy and doubled the rate of fire
  • Sustained DPS is same as current, burst DPS is similar to 3x Heavy Needler
• Squall: reduced missile hitpoints to 150 (was: 300)
• Locust SRM Launcher: reduced burst size to 30 (was: 40)
• Gazer DEM SRM:
  • Increased cooldown to 15 seconds (was: 10)
  • Reduced OP cost to 4 (was: 5)
• Gazer SMR Pod:
  • Increased cooldown to 15 seconds (was: 10)
  • Reduced OP cost to 9 (was: 10)
• Gorgon DEM SRM:
  • Increased cooldown to 4 seconds (was: 1)
  • Reduced OP cost to 4 (was: 5)
• Salamander MRM: reduced OP cost to 3 (was: 5)
• Salamander MRM Pod: reduced OP cost to 6 (was: 10)
• Proximity Charge Launcher: increased refire delay to 2 seconds (was: 1)

Modding

• Added combatStepsPerFrame to settings.json; can be used to increase combat speed while maintaining fidelity, at the expense of framerate
• Fixed issue with defeat triggers not firing for fully destroyed fleets if fighting multiple enemy fleets
• Added "allowFlameoutOnImpactWithFriendly" to ship system spec; applies to burn-drive-like systems, defaults to false
• Fixed bug with rendering circular indicators with a secondary faction color (were too dim)
• Added to WeaponAPI:
  • stopFiring()
• Fixed NPE crash caused by missiles with the PHASE_MINE AI and the STRIKE tag when fired near any valid targets
• Added SectorAPI.getMousedOverEntity()
• Added ColonySizeChangeListener
• Extracted historian backstory stuff to rules.csv; see the HistorianBackstoryBlurb trigger
• Added to CombatFleetManagerAPI:
  • void setMaxStrength(int maxStrength);
  • int getCurrStrength();
  • void modifyFlatMax(String source, int value);
  • void modifyPercentMax(String source, float percent);
  • void unmodifyMax();
• Fixed issue with HullModEffect.showInRefitScreenModPickerFor() not being considered for tag counts in hullmod picker dialog
• Added to .system files: "reloadBaseAmmoAmountOnly"
• Added to ShipSystemSpecAPI:
  • boolean isReloadBaseAmmoAmountOnly();
  • void setReloadBaseAmmoAmountOnly(boolean reloadBaseAmmoAmountOnly);
• Added to FighterWingAPI:
  • void setSourceBay(FighterLaunchBayAPI sourceBay);
• Added to MutableShipStatsAPI:
  • getDamageToTargetHullMult()
• Added SettingsAPI.loadFont(String filename)

Bugfixing

• Fixed grammatical consistency of Galatia Academy department/research field names in dialog
• Fixed case where if you sold/lost item you were sent to recover by the Galatia Academy it will be Sebestyen rather than some random officer who will request the return of the bursar's money
• Fixed a dialog loop with Caden during The Usurpers mission.
• Fixed ability to leave [a certain book] at a shrine multiple times
• Fixed doubled responses when negotiating with Pather base commander when faithful/commissioned by the Church
• Gave Kanta's Den a "story" flag so that it can't deciv (and thus break certain important interactions)
• Removed extraneous "Name" after colony name in the Population & Infrastructure tooltip
• Fixed issue with extra bonus XP being gained if multiple ships with s-mods were lost and not recovered
• Fixed text issue with scattered ruins on a gas giant
• Fixed ECCM Package s-mod effect not working
• Fixed weapon group generation error that'd sometimes unnecessarily put a weapon in a separate group
• Fixed refit screen issue that allowed going over the OP limit when building in hullmods
• Fixed issue with autofit and Shield Shunt/Makeshift Shield Generator
• Fixed Breach SRM Pod showing wrong "speed" description
• Fixed issue where a weaker fleet would sometimes pursue the player but then not try to engage
• Fixed issue where [REDACTED] fleets counted on nearby dormant fleets to join the fight when deciding whether to attack the player
• Fixed: instance of "tea cup" changed to "teacup"
• Fixed wrong amount of bonus XP being given for scuttling a ship with built-in s-mods
• Fixed commodity pricing issue when dealing with very large numbers of units bought/sold
• Fixed "I'm working for Kanta" dialogs being able to fire the wrong followup text
• Fixed being able to s-mod already built-in hullmods without having enough story points
• (Possibly) fixed alt-tabbing issue on some systems when in undecorated fullscreen window
• Fixed issue that sometimes caused patrols to pursue and repeatedly re-engage the player fleet and then "maintain a neutral stance"
• Fixed issue with the Sunder's shield radius being bigger than its collision radius
• Fixed combat UI display issue with burst beam cooldown; would also allow a burst beam extra turn speed during the very end of its cooldown period
• Fixed issue with "Restore" button still having the "can't be restored" tooltip when switching to a ship that can be restored
• Lighting at Alpha Site is now ambient, no longer directional from the center (which has no light source)
• Fixed several issues in the "making a deal with the pirate Station King" dialog
• Fixed a repeatable section of Yannick Ram dialog
• Fixed issue that caused fleets in locations where the player isn't to have some trouble using jump-points
• Fixed minor placement issue with the Sunder's turrets
• Fixed cost of Gazer SRM Pod
• Fixed issue with hostile fleets spawning too quickly in any colonized system other than the first
• Fixed issue with historian donations not actually being deducted from the player's credits
• Star Fortresses (of all tech levels) now have a basic description of their drones in the station tooltip
• Fixed issue with Commerce-related bounty not going away if the Commerce industry is shut down
• Fixed Fusion Lamp glow showing on other planets in intel screen while docked at planet with Lamp
• Fixed infinite story point exploit in character screen
• Fixed $market appearing in orbital station tooltip
• Arms dealers no longer offer old-style (D)-hulls for production
• Marines in in Storage and Local Resources no longer count for ground defense strength against bombardments (still do count against raids)

RC6

Changed the version number to 0.97a due to the amount of new content

Campaign

• Hyperspace Topography's Slipstream Navigation perk now reduces fuel use by 75% (was: 50%)
• Added ability to add a gate to one star system of your choice
• Added ability to deploy a limited number of wormholes
• Made further improvements to help fleets avoid being trapped in black holes when in non-current location
• Increased AI core payout for Persean League to be 150% rep / 150% credits (was: 100% for both)
• Jailbreak mission no longer has timer on the return stage
• Adjusted how music playback works in/near slipstreams (music filter applies more consistently)
• "Sleeper" Pather cells no longer show up under "Colony Threats"
• Luddic Path bases no longer show up under "Colony Threats" unless supporting active cells
• Removed "Missions" tag from faction commissions

Combat

• Waypointed tasks with no ships assigned are automatically removed when the command UI is closed

Weapons

• Thumper: reduced flux/shot to 25 (was: 30)
• Cyclone Reaper Launcher:
  • Reduced ammo to 14 (was: 20)
  • Increased refire delay to 15 seconds (was: 10)
• Hammer Barrage: reduced OP cost to 16 (was: 20)
• Plasma Cannon: added note about it not automatically firing at fighters

Miscellaneous

• Switched to use different garbage collector
• Increased initial and max PermGen space to 192m
  • Both of these may improve the performance in heavily modded games

Modding

• Added NEVER_RENDER_IN_CAMPAIGN to weapon renderHints
• Fixed issue with Shift-click being able to add weapons to wrong slot type for certain unusual combinations of mount and weapon type
• Added to WeaponSpecAPI:
  • boolean isRestrictToSpecifiedMountType();
  • void setRestrictToSpecifiedMountType(boolean restrictToSpecifiedMountType);
• Added "restrictToSpecifiedMountType" to .wpn files, makes the weapon only mountable in exactly-matching slot type
• BattleAutoresolverPluginImpl: made all of the inner-class data members public
• Added BeamWeaponSpecAPI (with around 70 assorted getter/setter methods for various properties)
• Added to SubmarketPlugin: boolean isMilitaryMarket()
• Added to TooltipMakerAPI:
  • UIComponentAPI addSkillPanel(PersonAPI person, boolean admin, float pad);
  • UIComponentAPI addSkillPanelOneColumn(PersonAPI person, boolean admin, float pad);
    • Methods allow showing admin skills
• Added CutStyle.NONE for rectangular buttons
• Added to MissileAPI and ShipAPI:
  • boolean isDoNotFlareEnginesWhenStrafingOrDecelerating();
  • void setDoNotFlareEnginesWhenStrafingOrDecelerating(boolean doNotFlare);
  • Prevents engine glow from rounding/spreading when decelerating or strafing
• BaseLocation.LocationToken.get/setName() now works (i.e. is backed by a field)
• DefaultFleetInflater: made all private (and default) visiblity data members protected instead
• Added to ShipAPI:
  • PersonAPI getFleetCommander();
• These methods are now called for the course widget as well as for intel tooltips:
  • ListenerUtil.reportNavigationDataSectionAboutToBeCreated(target);
  • ListenerUtil.reportNavigationDataSectionWasCreated(target);
• CampaignUIRenderingListener.renderInUICoordsAboveUIBelowTooltips() now renders below all tooltips, not just campaign entity ones
• The upkeep multiplier from hazard rating is no longer applied in the PopulationAndInfrastructure.modifyStability() method
• HeavyIndustry: added getter/setter methods for pollution-related data members

Bugfixing

• Person bounty targets now have the rank of Captain or Admiral (previously were all "Lieutenant")
• Fixed issue causing warning beacon intel item to show the wrong star system sometimes
• Orbital Fusion Lamp: increased hazard rating (due to volatiles shortage) now properly increases upkeep
• Fixed issue that caused transfer command to stop working if the ship the player was in "retreated" via being disabled while having Phase Anchor

RC7

Modding

• Added "do_not_show_stranded_dialog" tag for star systems
• Fixed NPE in FighterLaunchBayAPI.getTimeUntilNextReplacement(), now returns -1 in that case instead

Bufgixing

• Fixed misaligned mounts on the Enforcer
• Fixed misaligned right TPC slot on the Onslaught
• Fixed some typos
• Fixed non-working dialog option when returning rescued miners
• Fixed raiding-related crash for "data core swap in ruins" mission
• Fixed infinite-credits exploit from selling/buying on the black market (oops)
• Fixed Escort Package not unapplying its effect properly if the larger ship was disabled

RC8

Campaign

• Now shows a warning dialog if joining a battle would make you hostile with a faction
• Contact [REDACTED] bounties no longer have the Electronic Warfare skill (except for one special one)
• Reduced industry disruption duration from mercenary raid (and similar) by half
• Extraction mission can now also no longer be failed due to time running out while returning with the agent
• Data core swap mission can no longer be failed due to time running out when returning to the mission-giver
• Tri-Tachyon colony crisis now requires at least two competing commodities
• Slightly toned down the difficulty of the Tri-Tachyon related crisis
  • And increased the time the attack force spends preparing to depart by two weeks
• Halved bribe amount required to handle the mercenary attack force without fighting
• Reduced Persean League colony crisis progress by a bit less than half
• Increased max colony crisis progress to 600 (was: 500), adjusted related values
• Destroying hostile fleets while colony crisis progress is at zero no longer adds to blowback
• Persean League Enforcers and similar types of fleets will no longer support Commerce Raiders (and similar) in battle against the player
• Luddic Church takeover crisis description now explicitly mentions the Luddic Majority condition
• Generally somewhat reduced the stength of crisis-factor-related fleets in systems with lots of small colonies
• Kazeron now has the "No Atmosphere" condition (only applies to new saves)
• Luddic Path fleet led to find you by a special type of sensor ghosts no longer asks for tithe

Ship AI

• Improved target selection by escorting ships; should be less fixated on potential flankers that are out of either side's weapon range
• Less likely to use Maneuvering Jets and similar systems when it doesn't actually need to go anywhere

Hullmods

• Neural Interface, Neural Integrator: reduced OP cost on capital ships to 15 (was: 25)
• Neural Integrator: reduced deployment point cost increase to 10% (was: 20%)

Modding

• Removed "final" modifier from static fields in FractureJumpAbility
• Added to BattleAPI:
  • boolean join(CampaignFleetAPI fleet, BattleSide side); (experimental; may or may not work)

Bufgixing

• Fixed Neural Integrator not increasing ship deployment point cost
• Fixed issue where a patrol would keep re-interacting with the player when they turned their transponder off, then back on, then refuse to allow a scan
• Fixed issue with Diktat crisis reward showing up in tooltips for non-fuel commodities (display issue only)
• Fixed being able to bribe mercenary company with less credits than intended
• Fixed a bunch of typos
• Fixed issue that caused two star systems in every save to be uncolonizable; fix also applies to existing savegames
• Bribing the mercenary attack force while in hyperspace no longer causes it to get stuck unable to travel to its new destination
• Fixed possible issue with getting Gens Yaribay diplomatic credentials
• Fixed issue with certain Pather fleets remaining hostile after receiving a tithe
• Fixed issue where a bar conversation with the historian could cause a lone errant "Cut comm link" option to appear in the colony dialog
• Fixed misaligned weapon slots on Wolf-class frigate
• Fixed new Brawler sprite not being actually used
• Fixed certain dialog options for Rayan Arroyo showing up for other Tri-Tachyon characters
• Fixed issue with certain special weapon drops being inconsistent if the save is reloaded
• Fixed issue where certain commodities would be counted more than once for Tri-Tachyon's competition calculation
• Fixed ECCM Package not negating enemy ECM when s-modded
• Fixed issue with "I'm working for Kanta" option showing up for the "Deliver VIP" mission variation not involving Kanta
• Fixed issue that caused certain low-ammo autofiring weapons to not spend their last ammo
• Fixed issue where joining a battle against a lone station would cause the battle to continue on the campaign map for a few seconds after it was won
• Ensured the [DOMAIN REDACTED] will always deploy eventually even if the target location is fast-moving
• Fixed issue where building an objective at a stable location would de-orbit anything that was orbiting it
• Fixed issue that could cause successful raids to stay at a rendezvous point, waiting for their lost comrades
• Fixed issue with some crisis factors sometimes not functioning properly with an 0.96a savegame

RC9

Campaign

• Tactistar Mercenary Attack - made it more clear that it's possible to bribe them
  • Added note about flexibility of mercenary allegiances to intel item
  • Detachments now tell you talk talk to Operations Command if you have business to discuss
  • Operations Command will hail the player, to make it more clear there is something to talk about
  • Scavengers / mercenaries / other fleets that you'd lose reputation for fighting no longer join battles to help them
• Commerce Raiders:
  • Can now aid other faction trade fleets that are fighting them (provided they can ID you/are not hostile/etc)
  • Patrols and similar fleets will now come to the aid of trade fleets attacked by Commerce Raiders, even if they are not nominally hostile to the independent faction
• Tri-Tachyon colony crisis: somewhat restricted set of commodities they consider for competition (not food, domestic goods, and base ores/metals)
  • And still requires at least 2 competing commodities
• Significantly reduced number and strength of residual pirate fleets present in player systems after the pirate threat has been dealt with
• Deal with pirate Station King no longer broken by fighting fleets from that station outside the star system with the base
• Adjusted commodity price calculation to bring prices closer to the stated base price when there is no excess or deficit
• On easy difficulty, capped monthly Colony Crisis progress to 30 (cap is 60 for normal difficulty)
• Pirate bases no longer spawn specifically to target player colonies after Piracy Respite has been gained

Combat

• "Defend" waypoints with nothing assigned no longer auto-deleted

Modding

• Added to CombatEngineAPI:
• void spawnMuzzleFlashOrSmoke(ShipAPI ship, Vector2f point, WeaponSpecAPI spec, float targetAngle);

Bugfixing

• Removed autofit "not enough suitable weapons" warning when the target variant doesn't use any
• Fixed issue with High Command not cancelling the bonus of Luddic Majority
• Fixed issue (introduced in previous hotfix) that caused trade fleets to not drop the cargo they're carrying
• Fixed another (related to previous one) infinite credits buy/sell exploit
• Fixed campaign music volume issue
• Fixed issue with "Overdriven" Sunder variant incorrectly using a Mining Blaster in the large slot
• Fixed issue with estimate of relative raid strength in intel item sometimes being incorrect
• Fixed issue with a "you've been positively identified" confirmation showing when joining a battle against fleets that have low/no reputation impact
• Fixed a bunch of typos
• Fixed issue where deploying a [REDACTED] at a stable location let you add more stable locations to the star system
• Fixed issue with several cryopod level 5 officer templates having 2 elite skills instead of 1
• Fixed issue where gaining Kanta's Protection after defeating a large pirate raid would bring back event progress points from a nearby pirate base
  • Fix only applies if pirate raid was not already defeated in the current save

RC10

Bugfixing

• Fixed a post-battle crash if you have made a deal with a pirate station king

RC11

Bugfixing

• Fixed issue with Domain sensor arrays not contributing the proper amount to the slipstream detection range
• Fixed issue with IPDAI hullmod short description
• Fixed another infinite-credits exploit (sorry)
• Fixed music volume issue
• Fixed issue with Commerce Raiders pursuing and not engaging independent traders (will no longer pursue)
• Fixed issue with lost miners and the plentiful/abundant organics condition
• Fixed issue with Luddic Majority condition showing deal-with-the-church info when the condition is on non-player colonies