Antonoff's Ore Purifier Sparks Backlash

Rusatom-Antonoffs newly released Ore Purifier, marketed as an eco-friendly innovation, has come under fire for being a rework of defective Mineral Processing Units notorious for their faulty reactor coolant lines. The purifier replaces the problematic coolant system with electric heating elements, improving reliability and enabling efficient water sublimation and cryogenic capture for propellant reprocessing. However, the removal of mineral extraction functionality, along with increased power consumption and slower processing speeds, has drawn criticism from industry insiders. Many see it as a quick retrofit of flawed technology rather than a genuine step forward, further fueling concerns over Antonoffs declining quality standards.

Elon Interstellar Accused of Bribery

Elon Interstellar is facing a lawsuit from competitors Mitsudaya-Starbus, Titan Heavy Industries, and Rusatom-Antonoff, who accuse the company of using unfair tactics to influence policy within the Saturn system. At the center of the controversy is the companys offer of 30 tons of complimentary propellant with their luxury Model E spacecraft, a vessel so prohibitively expensive that only the wealthiest individuals - many of whom serve on the board of Enceladus Corp, Saturns de facto government - can afford it. The plaintiffs argue this offer constitutes a subtle bribe, intended to curry favor and push for policies mandating fusion-powered spacecraft, like the Model E, while banning traditional fission-powered vessels.

Tighter Cargo Bay Inspections Enforced

New regulations for cargo bay inspections have been introduced at Enceladus Prime station following a series of incidents involving radioactive contamination. Station authorities report that coolant leaks in ship cargo bays have led to the buildup of radioactive water ice on ores delivered to the station, causing significant health hazards for dock workers and damage to equipment. The stricter inspections aim to identify and prevent leaks before ships unload their cargo, with penalties imposed on vessels found in violation. While the regulations are intended to ensure safety, critics argue the added scrutiny will delay shipments and increase operational costs for mining crews already facing thin profit margins. Station officials, however, insist that these measures are necessary to protect both workers and infrastructure from further harm.

Maintenance logs

• New cargo bay hardware - Antonoff Ore Purifier.
• THI Cargo Containers and NT Mining Companions now list the autonomous craft dry mass and propellant capacity in your upgrade menu.
• Improved font settings for Japanese, Korean, Thai and both Chinese translations to better fit small screens. Changes include adding a black outline to make the characters easier to read and decreasing the vertical spacing between the characters to make sure that all the standard heads-up displays fit smaller screens (and HUD sizes increased by the user).
• When a power draw of mineral processing unit will drop below 1MW, the tuning menu will report it in kW instead.
• Changed the way game handles cargo bay upgrades. Different ships can now support different types of hardware in their cargo bay.
• Thrusters and thruster-derived equipment will not blow through your ship hull and damage your excavator anymore. This caused undue damage then using Tetsuo HMX-2000I on a Pelican Prospector.
• Adjusted heat emission cones on most of the torches fit more closely to what you observe on the screen.
• Fixed OLED saving mode moving background cover in the OMS screen too much.
• Fixed OLED saving being affected by time slowdown/speedup, when it should not be.
• Improved font scaling for all the font renderings. Smaller fonts will now use mipmaps to avoid jittering artefacts when they are scaled way down.
• EIME will not come with 30 tones of propellant free when you launch from Enceladus anymore.
• You can't fill EIME with more propellant than your installed tanks anymore.
• Certain anomalies did not despawn when you flew far away from them, keeping the mysterious music playing for longer than it should have been.
• Adjusted cargo bay display on AT-K225 series ships, including the break-bulk variant, which did not match the iconography of the ship outline.
• Big Bad Wolf will now acknowledge that they offered you licence in the past and you chose to not pay the sign-up fee. They will also acknowledge if they offered you a licence but then you performed some questionable deeds.
• NPC ships will not change their opinion about you while you are still speaking to them so fast. This prevents you from being first offered some deals only to be denied few minutes later if your standing was near a threshold. They will still change their opinion based on your actions.
• Fixed a bug causing dehydrated ore to rehydrate while transitioning back to Enceladus. All water removed by an Mineral Processing Unit will now stay removed when you go back to the station.
• Updated translations.

[ 2025-01-24 20:34:50 CET ] [ Original post ]