We noticed that hiring captains used to be a bland affair that was necessary but rather boring. This did not go in accordance with our vision of the game. The new captains will have up to two classes, for example “Merchant”, or “Scavenger”, with their own individual capabilities. Captains will gain experience when completing commands, and leveling up will make them even more effective.
Captain’s Perks and Quirks
To show that each captain has their own personality, we also added character traits that make each captain special. These traits influence how well a captain is able to perform a certain task, so always make sure to put the right person on a certain job! Which captains you will be able to hire depends on at which stations you look for them and how much you are willing to pay. But don’t worry: none of the new captains will be able to do less than the old captains, but many of them will be capable of doing so much more!
Stay tuned for another Update 2.0 news flash next week!
Update 2.0 News Flash - Independent Targeting
Changes and Improvements
We (and you, we know) aren’t completely happy with the way independent targeting is handled at the moment, so we went ahead and implemented some direly needed changes. Let’s start off with the most important change: turrets set to auto targeting will no longer deal -50% damage! The 2.0 Update will allow you to set a certain number of turrets to independent targeting, based on a slot system. We also made it easier to keep an eye on the turret slots you have available, showing which turrets need multiple slots and what kinds of slots are still unoccupied.
PDC Turret Slots
PDCs no longer use up military slots but are put into their own PDC slots, called “Defensive” slots. There will be specific subsystems that increase the number of PDCs you can install, but most other turret control systems will also add defensive slots. All PDCs will automatically have independent targeting enabled, so you won’t have to trade any slots or other firepower for defensive weapons.
Stay tuned for another Update 2.0 news flash next week!
Update 2.0 News Flash - UI
Inventory and Tooltips
We also added more colors to the inventory. Now it is much easier to keep track of your items of different rarities and everything has a more concise look. The window itself got a sleeker, more metallic style and the tooltips received a new paint job.
New HUD
Avorion’s GUI received some direly needed sprucing up and we’re very happy with the results. We freshened up the HUD, pulling the bars apart and adding icons to the individual bars for more clarity.
New Subsystems Tab
The old design simply did not have the high-tech look you would expect from a space game. But the new tab is not only more pleasing to the eye, it also explains much better how the volume of the ship limits the processing power and therefore the number of subsystem slots.
Further Changes
We know that our old GUI was difficult to read for people who are color blind. The 2.0 Update will introduce an option to change the color palettes of Avorion, allowing players to choose between different colorblind modes.
Over the next few weeks we will be posting more Update 2.0 news flashes, so stay tuned!
The entire Boxel Team wishes you a Happy Easter!
Avorion Update 2.0
It's crazy how time flies! It’s been a whole year already since Avorion left Early Access!
We are super happy with how things have been going! That’s why we have a little surprise for you:
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Update 2.0 will introduce massive changes that will fundamentally improve many aspects of the game:
- New progression system in which players acquire building knowledge of the various materials - New “Classic Avorion” scenario without the new progression - Fully configurable “Free Play” scenario - Captains with specialized talents and personalities - Improved AI orders to send your ship to go mining, trading, scouting and more - Improved UI visuals - Improvements to the independent targeting mechanics - Many QOL improvements like less micro management, easier traveling to far away sectors and crew management, autopilots, many balancing changes, UI improvements like a sector overview that shows available missions, goods and crew members of all stations, and many more!
Update 2.0 will improve game mechanics that might not feel perfect at the moment. Many of these changes will make Avorion feel like a new game, that is why the title of the update will be “Avorion Update 2.0”.
More details about the specific changes will be coming over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
Patch 1.3.7 is now live on branch default!
Patch 1.3.7 is now live on branch default!
After performing well on the beta branch, patch 1.3.7 is now live on the default branch for everyone. You can find full patch notes for 1.3.7 and 1.3.6 here:
We are hoping that you had relaxing holidays and an amazing start into the new year and that you are ready for the great news we’d like to share with you!
So without further ado, here it is:
At the moment we are working on a large (free ;) ) update for Avorion that will introduce many new features and massively rework some aspects of the game in Q2 2021. We don’t want to spill too much info at this point, but we would like to share some details to get you hyped up a bit!
You all know about independent targeting and we hope you will be excited to hear that we are reworking it. In the future, you will be able to decide for yourself which of your weapons will be able to fire independently, and the damage of these weapons will no longer be reduced by 50%.
There will also be changes concerning the game progression and the collection of materials. We know this sounds exciting, but you'll have to be patient for a little longer before you can discover your journey to the center all over again.
Now that we have dropped some spoilers, we would like to tell you that we have thought long and hard about what we want Avorion to be like in the future and which direction we want to go to improve it!
We have been taking a closer look at the gameplay and we have realized that you guys are forced to spend a lot of time on (annoying) micro-management. This is one of the things that we want to change in the future.
As you know, there are countless adventures and experiences to be enjoyed in Avorion. But we have noticed that we introduced a few features in the past that only scratched the surface and that have caused the game to feel a little rough in some respects. But now it’s finally time to smooth those edges! This means that we might have to tackle some (annoying) gameplay mechanics and reduce their scope. We are even planning on replacing some (micro-management intensive) mechanics with more intuitive systems. Our goal is to make sure that in the future, we won’t be spreading our efforts too thin and that we will be able to make our vision of the game bloom!
We are looking forward to the update and we can’t wait to receive your feedback! In the meantime, take a look at one of our verified servers, marked with a blue checkmark in the server list. Who knows, maybe you’ll find new allies there!
And if you still haven’t read enough, check out this wormhole that leads directly to our roadmap:
https://avorion.gamepedia.com/Roadmap
Beta Branch Patch 1.3.7 - Patchnotes
Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.
This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK): Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.
Hotfix 2021-01-28
UI
Misc
Bugfixes
"As always, bugs marked with [UBR] are User Bug Reports, submitted through our in-game bug tracker. Thanks very much for helping and keep 'em coming!"
Beta Branch Patch 1.3.6 - Patchnotes
Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.
This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK): Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.
Gameplay
Client
Misc
Bugfixes
"As always, bugs marked with [UBR] are User Bug Reports, submitted through our in-game bug tracker. Thanks very much for helping and keep 'em coming!"
Verified Server Program
Community members can now apply to have their server marked as a "Verified Server"! All verified servers will get a blue checkmark next to the server name in the list. The "Verified Server" checkmark is used to mark servers that we, Boxelware, recommend as great to play on. We want to highlight servers of passionate community members and reward those who are doing an amazing job running their own dedicated servers.
Since the verified server checkmark is a quality seal, a verified server must follow certain guidelines (see link below). This gives verified servers better visibility and increased server traffic. Additionally, we will provide a direct connection for verified server owners to us to provide high priority support!
You can find the complete list of rules & prerequisites on our forum: https://forum.avorion.net/index.php?/topic/6846-verified-servers-ruleset-prerequisites/
Here are some of the most important points: - The server specs must meet certain requirements to ensure smooth gameplay - The server must be public and accessible without password - The server admin must be reachable by us - The server admin must have at least one month of experience running similar servers - The server main language must be German or English
To apply with your server, please send us an e-mail to server@boxelware.de. Make sure to check out the forum post first, though!
We are looking forward to your applications!
Time for Steam Awards!
Hello everyone!
As many of you know, the Steam Awards 2020 are currently running! Today is the last day to submit your vote and it would mean a lot to us if you could support Avorion with your vote. The whole Boxelware team consists of passionate Steam players and to get an award in one of the categories would literally blow us away!
So we are happy about every single vote of you that chooses to support Avorion. Unfortunately, you can only vote in one category, so we propose the Labor of Love Award. Of course, you are free to vote for Avorion in any other category if you want to. To vote, just click on the link at the top of this posting or directly from the Avorion store page.
