Update #297 brings another round of improvements directly from the community as we continue our patch and improve drive following the big Steam Workshop mod release. After we clear this backlog of balance, QOL and improvement issues we'll be moving back to larger chunks of content and story additions. For now -- buckle up, more coming!

Next up from Trese Brothers

You may have heard our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is on its way to Steam in 2022. A turn-based cyberpunk RPG, Cyber Knight's features XCOM-like combat and a unique heist system for missions ... you don't need to hear more? Okay, just smash that Wishlist button! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Trade Ban Visibility

With Update #279, we've adjusted the ordering and text color for Trade Ban and Trade War warnings to ensure that they are front and center and your merchant captain can't miss them when making decisions about going through with a trade. As always, a huge thanks to the community members helping to post feedback and improve the game.

Ship Encounter, Bribes and Confiscation

We've updated the rules for surrendering to military ships that may check your cargo holds for illegal goods and confiscate if you fail to have valid permits. There is now a possible small Reputation loss if you are carrying goods that will be confiscated. This loss can be offset if you are carrying goods that *are* legal with a permit. No matter how much you might be carrying, the Rep penalty cannot exceed 2. We've also fixed the Bribe offering for Independents which had been lost in the latest update -- including the key fact that Indies have no stored Reputation and therefore you can never lose Rep with them.

Game Menu Ship Combat Additions

We've enabled the ability to pull up the game menu with during the major screens in ship combat -- including during a ship encounter and mid-ship combat. This can help you drop out of the main menu without killing the game completely. Notably, Options and Save Slots are not available in these contexts. We'll keep working to make this menu access global and getting it into key places where it is still missing (crew combat).

New Shiny: Battle Barracks

The Battle Barracks line has received an upgrade to help encourage ship combat captains to consider them worth their price (which has also gone up!). With new Armor, Shield and Void Res, these protected crew quarters are even more valuable to captains willing to pay the price and longtime cost to jump cost.

More Balance and QOL

For those Salvage cards that included double combats, we've adjusted the language to be clearer, stating "back-to-back" combats to be sure you know just what you are risking when you make the roll. During and after the Jyeeta Era, we've retuned the appearance of the feared Jyeeta Maeledictor to make sure it retains its boss status among other Jyeeta enemies.

For the Modders

With Steam Workshop being quite busy, we're still working to expand the possible footprint of mods. With this update, we've added some key new capabilities, allowing modders to start to adjust specific limits in the game -- raising max character level, job level. Also, we're enabling adjusting important combat rules and thresholds -- allowing for the change of Init cost to move, morale break or being Stunned as well as the maximum Armor and Shield ratings you can achieve with components and buffed. We're very excited to see what the community will cook with this new support!

v3.2.5 - 9/17/2021

- Improved Trade Ban warning (location, icon, red text) - Lose up to 2 Rep when illegal cargo is seized, offset by legal permit-protected cargo - Fixed Bribe option text for Independents to be more clear - Added a Game Menu in Ship Combat, Combat Preamble - Reduced spawn rate of "Jyeeta Maeledictor" in mix of Jyeeta ships - Increased Price of Battle Barracks, Added Armor, Shields and Void Res - Clarified "Xeno Assault" Salvage card to be clear it is 2 xeno combats back-to-back - Better differentiated stats for the Trident DX9 and Blackhall Ultra Small Craft - Modders can now change max character level, job level, Init costs of Stun, Morale Break, Move and Max/Buff Max of Shield/Armor