[previewyoutube=DGBH_pV1lh4;full][/previewyoutube] Hey everyone! Beta 28 is out now! This update adds space visuals that represent actual areas of the galaxy. While in space, you can now see sectors represented by stars, nearby nebulas, the galaxy core, and other sizable features. This should help the galaxy feel more interconnected and provide more visual information about your surrounding sectors. Weve also added bounty hunters that can track down your ship if your reputation with a faction is very low. Bounty hunters will appear on your starmap, informing you about their current location, and move in real-time towards the sector where your ship is. When a bounty hunter catches up with you, theyll try to board your ship and attack your crew. Missiles have also been tweaked, including new tracking behavior and improved networking. They should be better at hitting their targets overall, especially slow moving ones. AI ships can also use missiles now too. Turret camera input has also been redone in smooth turret mode to better allow for more flexibility and predictability in camera movement at certain angles. AI piloting has some updates that add a little more unpredictability to their attack patterns. Projectile-based turrets are overall slightly less effective at range due to targets being harder to hit. AI pilots now are also aware of their ships turret ranges and can better distance the ship to potentially out-range an opponent. This update also includes a number of other additions and fixes, many of them centered around the Academy and the feedback weve received.
Additions

• Bounty Hunters: Factions can now employ Bounty Hunters to attack the playership if they have a low enough reputation with them. The chances of a bounty hunter appearing begin at -5 rep. They are pretty low at first, but more negative rep as well as higher chaos increase those chances. You can view the location of the Bounty Hunter on the Starmap and here is the real kicker: while time is usually tracked by the jumps of the playership, the Bounty Hunter can move independently of that, meaning if your ship lingers in an area for too long, your crew may be in for an unexpected surprise. Bounty Hunters can follow your crew into many sectors but not hub, missions or special sectors.
• New Enemy Ship: Bounty Hunter Ship - This ship enters the sector and can pose a minor threat, alongside the actual bounty hunter.
• Galaxy Visuals: These visuals represent a large portion of the surrounding galaxy. Previously there were no visual indicators of other sectors in the galaxy besides toggling the icons of the sectors, but now those sectors are often represented by stars. Nebulas and infected space sectors are also rendered. These visuals accurately represent nearby sectors, giving the galaxy a more connected and tangible form.
• Sectors displayed in-game have had their vertical spread increased. The galaxy got thicker.
• Added landmark nebulas for hubs and special sectors
• Added a galactic core visual to represent the center of the galaxy. This is displayed nearly everywhere, even on certain planets!
• Added globular cluster visuals to represent Exotic Shops
• Added thruster visuals for the various unmanned drones in the galaxy
• New sector visual behaviour: when the ship gets closer to aligning to a sector, the visual will slightly grow in size
• Added an improved respawning system to the Academy. It should place players back near the challenge where they died, instead of needing to run back from the start.
• You can now practice processing scrap in the Engineering Class hall of the Academy. You can reset the scrap and the failed attempts by exiting and returning to the room.
• Added a sensor dish practical area to the Academy, where players can better understand the concept of sensor strength, how to collect scrap, fire probes and lock onto ships.
• Added some additional objectives for the Piloting test in the Academy. They must now collect a piece of scrap and align the ship with a specified sector.
• The Academy now supports the player being able to place waypoints on the starmap.
• Added text to the following Academy posters: Silhouette of Long Range Warp Station, Racing Sectors, Silhouette of Automated Trading Station, Silhouette of Repair Depot, Mission Sectors
• Added a description to the log screen in the Captains section of the Academy
• Added more information to Academy HUD training assistant, Misc Info
• Added more information to the Sectors training assistant in the Pilots section of the Academy
• Added more information to the Ships and Temperature training assistant in the Pilots section of the Academy
• Added NPC by piloting station in the Academy to explain the piloting test
• Added NPC to the Scientists section of the Academy to explain the Sensors screen in more detail
• Added NPC to the Scientists section of the Academy to explain handheld scanner and healing beam rifle
• Added more to / changed Programs and Viruses training assistant in Scientists section of the Academy to explain the Computer screen in more depth
• Added more to / changed training assistant in the Weapons Specialists section of the Academy to explain the nuke launching sequence in more depth
• Added scanner pickup to the Scientists section of the Academy
• Added NPC to Academys General Information Hall to explain player and crew death
• Added NPC to Academys General Information Hall to explain ship boarding
• Added NPC to Academys General Information Hall to explain Z menu
• Added explanation of processing scrap to Engineers section of the Academy
• Added brief explanation of scrap to Weapons Specialists section of the Academy
• Added some additional information to the nuke screen to explain the arming process
• Tweaked the missile screen to improve readability of missile descriptions
• Status tab of the computer screen now shows a reading of the average incoming damage type

• Tweaked Academy lighting in the class hall to better communicate that there are spaces beyond the pillars.
• Tweaked lighting and arrows at the bottom of the flight-pack course to better clarify where to go if you fall down.
• Made some minor tweaks and improvements to the Nuke Screen
• Robots can get drunk off of engine sludge, but no other alcoholic drinks.
• The Load menu will now provide a heads up message if the player is offline.
• Changed Academy Infomasters dialog tree for better organization of topics
• Tweaked dialog of starmap training assistant in the Academy
• Tweaked text of Planets and Stations starmap poster in the Academy
• Tweaked text of Scrapyards starmap poster in the Academy
• Changed dialog tree of mission training assistant in the Academy to add an in progress dialog line
• Tweaked dialog of Flagging training assistant in the Captains section of the Academy
• Tweaked dialog of Sensor Dish training assistant in the Scientists section of the Academy
• Tweaked dialog tree of Engineering Test training assistant in the Engineers section of the Academy; also tweaked dialog on coolant
• Reorganized NPCs, screens, and props in the Scientists section of the Academy
• NPC Vera Scems in Outpost 448 has been removed to avoid confusion
• Academy description removed from NPC Infomaster Weise Quel in Outpost 448
• Tweaked UI for crew allowance / credits
• AI crewmembers are better at choosing appropriate items to use
• Piloting for drones and AI crewmembers has been tweaked
• Enemy Piloting AI can now occasionally act unpredictably, changing direction and distance
• Piloting AI now understands the various turret ranges aboard their ship, and will attempt to keep within the smallest range of installed turrets. If you install a very short range turret, the AI piloting should try to get closer to their targeted ship.
• Piloting AI can now utilise maneuvering thrusters
• Nuke screen panel for active nukes updated to be clearer
• Food item descriptions tweaked: Classic Biscuit, Perfect Biscuit, CU Rations, Marinated Sandshark Fillet, Protein Packet, CU Emergency Rations, W.D. Rations, Engine Sludge, Port Ale, Sylvassi Brew, Balmy Gloom, Bottled Sylvassi Brew, Fungal Spore Pod, Gloom Wine, Long Life Biscuit, Emergency Biscuit, Hearty Biscuit, Healthy Biscuit, Carrot Cake Biscuit, Healberry Crumble Biscuit, Garlic Biscuit, Frozen Biscuit, Funky Biscuit, Lucky Biscuit, Spicy Biscuit, Spicy Crumble Biscuit
• Pickup item descriptions tweaked: Ancient Statuette, Broken Ancient Statuette, Ancient Sculpture, Broken Ancient Sculpture, Borthix Crystal, Simple Coronet, Ancient Coronet, Regal Coronet, Discarded Scrap, Old Battery, Shipping Logs, Research Medal, Thermal Regulator, Raw Warp Coil, Sealed Box, Sandshark Egg, Ancient Sylvassi Tablet, Train Keycard, Entrance Security Keycard, Level 1 Admin Access Card, Level 2 Admin Access Card, Level 3 Admin Access Card, Aberrant Organisms Lab Access Card, Blue Tomb Key, Orange Tomb Key, W.D. Control Room Access Card, W.D. Flagship Weapons Badge, Estate Access Card
• Research material descriptions tweaked: Sylvassi Stems, IU-03020, Bulbtooth, Graywrack, Gracilia Floris, Bluffstem, BH-00300
• Handheld item descriptions tweaked: Fire Extinguisher, Beam Pistol, Smugglers Pistol, Burst Rifle, Heavy Beam Pistol, Heavy Pistol, SplitShot, Scanner, Pulse Grenade Launcher, Heal Grenade Launcher, Mini Grenade Launcher, Fire-Killer Grenade Launcher, Repair Grenade Launcher, FB Multitool, Beam Rifle, Healing Beam Rifle, Stun Grenade Launcher, I.M.P.A.C.T. Prototype, S.P.I.K.E.R. Prototype, W.D. Heavy, Ammo Clip
• Items tweaked to better fit the inventory item preview window: Thermal Regulator, Ancient Green Artifact, Ancient Red Artifact and the Sensor Station Battery.ai
• Miscellaneous component descriptions tweaked: Sensor Dish, Cloaking System, Sylvassi Cloaking System, Scrap, Stolen Medical Supplies, Smuggled Medical Supplies, Borthix Crate, Refined Sundust, Protector Head, Colonial Classic Captains Chair, Colonial Modern Captains Chair, W.D. Classic Captains Chair, Standard O2 Generator, Calypso O2 Generator
• Weapon component descriptions tweaked: Acid Missile, W.D. Small, C.U. Enforcer, Tactical Nuke, Biscuit Bomb, Railgun Turret, Plasma Turret, Defender Turret, Scrapper Turret, RapidFire, W.D. Prototype FlashFire, Modified CU Long Range, Automated Railgun Turret
• Thruster component descriptions tweaked: Dark Thruster, Inertia Thruster, Mini Inertia Thruster, Super Inertia Thruster, Gimbal Inertia Thruster, Maneuvering Thruster, Heavy Maneuvering Thruster, Racing Maneuvering Thruster
• Processor component descriptions tweaked: ARX-CD, QDI-RCG, BKP-HEAT, BKP-WARP, BKP-THRUST, BKP-WPN-POWER, ARX-TGT, QDI-FIX-ENG, QDI-FIX-WPN, QDI-FIX-LIFE, QDI-FIX-SCI, Research Pipeline Module, Improved Defenses, Sylvassi Cyber Defense Processor, Warp Range Processor
• Reactor component descriptions tweaked: Null Point Reactor, Colonial Fusion Reactor, Military-Grade Fusion Reactor, Fluffy Biscuit Jumbo Reactor, G.T.C. Quiet Cupcake, Advanced Fusion Reactor, P.F. Anti-Matter Reactor, Strongpoint Reactor, Leaky Reactor, Sylvassi Reactor
• Shield generator component descriptions tweaked: Tactical Holoscreen, Heavy Tactical Holoscreen, Military-Grade Shield Generator, G.T.C. Blue Goose, W.D. Corp Particle Shield, Fortified Holoscreen, Dense Particle Shield, WD XC-7 Prototype Config 4, Modified Military-Grade Shield Generator, Sylvassi Shields
• Warp drive component descriptions tweaked: Long Range Jump Module, G.T.C. Silent Cricket, Workhorse Jump Drive, G.T.C. Custom, Dark Drive, Snap Drive, WD XW-5 Prototype Config 1, Old Wars Super Jumper
• Program / virus component descriptions tweaked: Sitting Duck, Warp Disable, Phalanx, Backdoor, Emergency Shield Boosting, Gentlemans Welcome, Siphon Credits, 0x84B7A2, 0xF592B1, Barrage, OverDrive, Sybers Shield, Armor Flaw, Shutdown Defenses, Discharge, Digital Coolant, Quantum Defenses, Shock The System, Reinstall++, Quantum Tunnel, Extended Shields, Burst AV, Random Access
• Tracking capability of Tracker Missiles have been improved
• Tracking missiles have improved networking
• Missile physics system has been overhauled / improved
• Improved ship location / rotation networking and error correction
• Tweaked implementation of Defender Turret Missiles
• Improved missile visuals / flares
• Damage calculation for missile hits should be better
• Thruster visuals for many ships have been tweaked / improved
• Improved space sector readability. They now have backgrounds to prevent the text from getting lost in bright spots.
• Older star skyboxes have been removed since they now conflict with the represented visuals

• Fixed a few screen clipping errors in the Academy
• Fixed a dialogue camera issue for the Atrium description text
• Fixed a few sensor issues in the Academy
• Fixed an issue with reviving humans the moment after your ships claim was removed by an enemy
• Fixed some placeholder text in the Captains hailing tutorial in the Academy
• Fixed some placeholder text in dialog of Turrets training assistant in the Academy
• Fixed a typo in dialog of Flagging training assistant in the Academy
• Fixed an issue with fires on ships that could cause networking issues / invisible fires
• Shops can no longer spawn in an Infected sector in initial galaxy generation
• Fixed an issue with sector faction changing while crew was in the sector and possible desync for new clients
• Fixed an issue causing the active item for players to not be properly synced to other players in some situations
• Fixed an issue with some ship screens that could cause them to not to update on initial game join for the host
• Fixed an issue with boarding bots that could cause them to sometimes be invisible for some players
• Fixed issue with laser turret SFX continuously playing if its owner ship is destroyed while the turret is firing
• Enemy crews are no longer able to board your ship if your QT shields are up
• NPC Otwin Velis has had dialogue camera removed
• Fixed an issue with the Sector Search results displaying no planet for sectors with planets in them
• Fixed an issue regarding the anti-cheat system and ship names
• Fixed a computer screen tab issue for hosts
• Fixed an issue that prevented enemy ships from properly firing missiles
• Infected reputation is no longer visible / tracked through UI
• Fixed a moon position error that could occur when entering / exiting piloting mode
• Fixed a visual issue with phase pistol firing into infinity (the sky)
• Fixed an issue that prevented the Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) effect on planets
• Fixed an issue that prevented radiation SFX from properly playing
• Fixed a pathing issue on the Outrider-class starship
• Fixed a pathing issue on the W.D. Destroyer-class starship
• Fixed an AI pathing issue related to certain slopes