This update introduces the first version of the new XP/level system, for every 500 XP you gain for playing the game, your level will increase. How much XP you gain after a round depends on the game mode, AI difficulty, and if you managed to win it.
There are also new character skins you can unlock by leveling up, you can equip them in the class selection screen. The new ship skins can be unlocked similar to the character skins, you can equip them as a free upgrade in the ship customization phase. You can also see your current level progress, your unlocked rewards, and all upcoming rewards in the main menu!
There is also a weekly play event on Saturdays to make it easier for you to find other players to play with, you will also receive double XP while playing on public (non-password protected) servers during Saturdays. There are also the usual improvements and bug fixes, most notably changes to the respawn system, respawning on a frigate now always takes 8 seconds instead of being dependent on the life support energy of your capital ship, AI frigates should no longer teleport back to their capital ship, the chat looks a bit nicer with players names being displayed in their teams' colors. The AI also received multiple upgrades, they won't shoot friendly teleporters anymore and have an easier time shooting smaller enemies like Fireos when up close. Full changelog: -ADDED: XP/level system, unlocking character and ship skins -ADDED: players level now get shown on the scoreboard -ADDED: players level now get shown in the main menu, hovering over it will show all possible unlocks -ADDED: gained XP changes with AI difficulty level, PVE/PVP mode and based on if you won the round, gained XP gets shown after the round -ADDED: Saturday playevent announcement to the XP gained screen after the round -ADDED: playing on Saturdays on public (=non-password protected) servers will double your gained XP -ADDED: team colors to chat messages -IMPROVED: Barsk aim when shooting at smaller targets that are close to them -CHANGED: respawning on a frigate now always takes 8 seconds, instead of being based on the life support energy of the capital ship -CHANGED: reduced damage taken when flying into capital ships, so fighters don't get destroyed instantly on low-speed collisions -CHANGED: XP is only gained for rounds that took longer than 2 minutes -FIXED: potential issue that prevented players from hosting games -FIXED: potential issue that resulted in the AI frigate teleporting back to their capital ship instead of flying there -FIXED: multiple minor issues resulting in log error spamming and bad server performance -FIXED: friendly droids attacking your teleporters -FIXED: using a teleporter would sometimes result in the wrong ingame map being shown