Hello skyfarers! We've got a small update for you today, and news of the next one. Here's what you can expect in today's update:

• Several creatures and locomotives have gained new attacks, improved AI, or visual updates. Here's a quick look at the new, much more menacing Scrive-Spinsters:
  More details on the specific changes are in the patch notes below.
• A horn for your locomotive. This has, bafflingly, been the second most requested feature since launch, and the number one source of creative gifts and submissions, including a chocolate train, an actual whistle, and a slideshow:
  The horn has no gameplay effects whatsoever, but we think it sounds quite nice. You're, umm, welcome.
• More variety for agent encounters in Eleutheria, bringing it up to the standards of the game's other regions.
• Many other fixes and improvements see the patch notes below for the full list.

• A new officer: the Chiropterous Hoarder! Recruit a winged horror of profound cunning and unreliable manners. Rumoured to have once been one of the Masters of old London, this peddlar of immortality has fallen on hard times. Take it on a macabre journey to perfect a new method of prolonging life. Perhaps you might become friends on the way. Perhaps you might become more...
• Engine upgrades. Your locomotive will receive a new slot for engine equipment. When equipped and when you have enough crew members to take full advantage of a superior engine your locomotive will be able to travel faster, at a premium in fuel...
• An opportunity to construct an additional transit relay. This will be a substantial undertaking, but once complete, it will provide captains with a quick and convenient route between two previously unconnected regions of the Skies.
• Probably, various other features and improvements we're not ready to talk about just yet.

Patch notes for the Horn Update

• Empyrean Outriders, Curators, Scrive Spinsters, Senior Scriveners and the Undeparted have had their movement and AI adjusted.
• Scrive Spinsters and Senior Scriveners have new models and attacks.
• The Empyrean Outrider no longer uses barrel bombs.
• The Curator's scream attack is faster, but no longer arcs towards targets. Its close range attack has been replaced with an area-of-effect attack.
• The Undeparted have a new attack.
• Nearly 100 new ambient messages have been added and another 40 or so have been updated.
• Blue Kingdom spawns have been adjusted for difficulty.
• Some enemies in the Blue Kingdom have had their stats adjusted for balance reasons.
• Active wells now exert gravity and damage engines that stray too close to their centre. A warning klaxon will sound if you are taking damage.
• The Incautious Driver will no longer speak on approach to the Fragment's Refuge if they have been seconded somewhere.
• Abandoned structures now have a chance of spawning Guest Dreadnoughts.
• Vitrified Structures will sometimes now reward captains with Condemned Experiments.
• Wrecks and Windswept Habitations now always display appropriate ambient messages.
• The ambient messages for the Shadow of the Sun platform in The Blue Kingdom now appear in the appropriate location.
• Several interaction prompts and messages on transient discoveries have been corrected.
• Resurrectionists are no longer referred to as Grave Robbers.
• Reach Marauders are no longer implausibly restrained when shot.
• There are no more invisible rocks around Polmear and Plenty's.
• The Empyrean Outrider's projectiles no longer shed hair.
• It is no longer possible to sell more items than you possess.
• Ratbite will now leave your engine at the end of her quest.
• Dining with the Deathless will now properly unlock new bargains at the Most Serene Mausoleum.
• The Ozymandias and the Orphean have now received the italics that were their due.
• Unidentifiable Squirmings will now direct captains correctly to St Anthony's Lighthouse.
• Captains may no longer visit the New Somerset Hunting Club if they have worn out their welcome in Port Avon.
• Interlocutors at Regent's Tears will no longer shift identities in the middle of a conversation.
• Several more quests are now marked complete in the journal when they should be.
• The Collective Conclusion is now tracked under events, rather than as a quest.
• The Researcher's Crusade is now tracked under Peculiarities rather than in the journal, since there is always something you can do for them.
• The time before you can learn the outcome of your efforts when meeting the Researcher's requests is no longer affected by how many of them you complete.
• A number of time delays that could be unreasonably long will now consistently last for 15 days.
• You will no longer receive messages about changing areas.
• There are now fewer extraneous full stops.

• Travel between distant ports, unravelling stories, bearing passengers and news, and trading in exotic celestial cargoes.
  
  
• Your every foray into space is as precarious as a Polar expedition. You’ll need to balance your resources carefully and keep an eye on your crew’s Terror to avoid mutiny and death.
  
  
• Your captain's actions could tip the precarious political balance of a region. Will you run guns for the Independents? Or spies for the Empire? Choose wisely – your decisions will affect the story; not just for yourself, but for your future captains as well.
  
  
• Leave your mark on the universe, and be marked in return. When you are creating your captain, every decision is a story, and every story has a consequence.
  
  
• Equip your vessel as you see fit. Would you benefit more from reinforced armour plating, or the additional manpower allowed by external crew pods? ("Soundproof! Cosy! Detachable!")
  
  
• It is not safe in the skies. A captain will need to defend themselves against pirates, scorn-flukes, the Cyst of Faces, and worse.
  
  
• Recruit a gallery of unpredictable characters to crew your locomotive as First Officer, Chief Engineer, Signaller, or Surgeon. Each brings their own skills and stories to your adventures.

• OS: Ubuntu 12.04+. SteamOS+
• Processor: Intel Pentium 2Ghz or AMD equivalentMemory: 4 GB RAMStorage: 4500 MB available spaceSound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
• Memory: 4 GB RAMStorage: 4500 MB available spaceSound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
• Storage: 4500 MB available space