Ongoing Alpha Test - Update #3 Release Notes

Today we are realeasing our 3rd update to the Alpha version. We have made great progress in improving stability and fixing issues, largely because of your reports. Thank you and please keep the feedback coming!

Our current plan is to do one more update to the Alpha during February, then end the alpha period 1-2 weeks after that update. After the Alpha ends, the game will be unavailable for a few weeks as we prepare to launch in certain countries.

Here is the list of changes in today's update:

Ships and Combat

• All ship speeds increased. Battleship is now faster than both Miner and Transport ships.
• New Cerberus Ship: Sentinel (low hitpoints but high damage, dangerous in high numbers)
• New Cerberus Ship: Colossus (very strong, equipped with the Salvage module)
• Cerberus Sentry renamed to Guardian
• Cerberus ships no longer have levels
• Cerberus ships will now quickly and predictably react to ships moving into their sector.
• Hitpoints and damage has been rescaled (x10 to all numbers). This will cause an issue where existing ships in the Alpha will start with a small amount of health after the update.
• Shield duration greatly increased for all shield modules, to match the activation cooldown time 
• Red star lifetime increased to 15 minutes for all star levels
• Ships no longer automatically move to closest planet when the object they're on is removed (i.e after a cerberus base is destroyed or asteroid field is depleted)
• Damaged ships take longer to repair when docked on a planet (can be sped up with Crystals)

Modules

• Greatly reduced Module installation price and time, especially for low level modules, to address unreasonably high risk when sending ships to combat or red stars
• Upgrading a module to a new level from the Technology screen now takes time. Once the upgrade is complete, all existing installations are automatically and instantly upgraded to the new level.
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to install the same module on two different slots (existing double installations will not be fixed in the alpha)
• Fixed issue where a module could be replaced with an identical same level module
• New Module: Unity (Increases firepower if there are other player's ships in the sector)
• New Module: Fortify (Reduces damage received and forces all enemy ships to direct fire on the owner ship)
• New Module: Salvage (Instantly restores a percentage of hull strength each time any ship is destroyed in the same sector)
• Laser damage ramps up the longer it stays focused on a single target
• EMP affects Cerberus bases
• Reduced cooldowns for EMP, shields, and Teleport

User Interface

• Added radial buttons for giving orders to the currently selected ship. Activation buttons for any installed modules show under the radial buttons. The new system has some big advantantages over the old one, but we are still working on it to fix cluttering issues that remain. 
• Previous/Next buttons to facilitate selecting the next ship docked on the same planet as the currently selected ship
• When an object is selected it briefly scales up to make it obvious what was selected
• Double tap on empty space to zoom in/out depending on current zoom level 
• Object Info window no longer has two tabs (merged stats to the main page)
• Improved Corporations, Settings, Buy Resources, windows
• Trade Stations now display shipment yield per hour on their info page
• Ships now display total hydrogen use on info page (takes into account all installed modules)
• Diplomacy Link window was completely redone to allow easier finding of diplomatic partners (only recently active players shown as recommendations; all incoming requests will be shown so the player can pick the one they want)
• Clumped ships are separated visually on closer zoom levels so they can be selected individually
• When a sector is being scanned, time remaining shows on the sector
• When preparing a move, cerberus ships close to the planned route will automatically display their attack ranges
• Trade stations are now named after the sector they are placed in
• When upgrading a planet, building or module, the time to upgrade shows up in the Upgrade button
• More sound effects added to the user interface

Visual Improvements

• Improved colors on Yellow star nebulas 
• More visual variety in Red Stars
• New visuals for Cerberus Bases
• New visuals for rare Ice planet
• Remaining Shipment indicators now use a continuous fill bar, and are consistent between planets and trade stations
• Radial bars have been replaced with horizontal bars. Hitpoint and shield bars are now continuous.
• It is now easier to see sector boundaries at high zoom levels

Other changes

• Some achievements have been rescaled so it takes more time to finish them completely
• Broken "Red Star" achievement has been removed, replaced by number of artifacts researched
• Fixed issue where it was possible to scan sectors while the Short Range Scanner was under construction
• Fixed an issue where the game was lowering volume of external audio on iOS
• Can now link your account between an iOS and Android device via the Settings window
• Added ability to buy Artifacts using Crystals in the Research window
• Added experimental Battery Saving mode in the Settings window
• Push notifications that arrive while the game is running will display in the game in Yellow color

Known issues

• Hitpoint rescale causes all existing ships in the Alpha to have a very small amount of Hitpoints. Make sure to repair your Battleships before sending them to combat.
• Push Notifications are still not working (no change since last update)