We have just pushed a Pre-Release for BETA 7 to the test branch. BETA 7 brings some major improvements to Distress Calls.

Changes

Normally for a pre-release we would write this up in paragraph form, but let's try a simple summary of changes:

• Vessels in distress will not be immediately hostile unlike in the past. You will be met with a hail on entering the region too.
• Wrecks can now come with item debris spawned in space (composition of pool still in flux)
• Can still find abandoned derelicts, ships in a better state to take control of. Should be quite rare.
• A large probability of finding ships in actual distress. They may ask for parts to complete repairs, a tow to a friendly station, or a ride for their personnel in your cargo bay. There is also a situation where a ship becomes encased in ice (or other) tiles and require help in freeing them.
• You may find a data log for a ship.
• Rewards consist of faction and some money
• Pirates will accept other factions ships or personnel for pirate reasons
• You can always just blow up the distressed ship if you prefer
• Tractoring should now stay intact when leaving warp & jumpgates
• Lots of new text to add a little humanity (or alienness) to the distressed ships and stations

We're looking into a bug or two, fixed a few reported bugs from BETA 6 and will probably have the final BETA 7 build for first week of January. If you would like to check out this pre-release build all the usual things apply, it will have problems (some of which we know about) and it may break your universe. Let us know your thoughts via the forums or on our discord If you still wish to give it a try check out all the changes and details here : https://steamcommunity.com/app/416240/discussions/24/2995422855907664054/ and how to access it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/416240/discussions/24/2995422855907653128/