Here are some of the changes coming with Update - 2.2 which do not require the DLC.

The release date is July 28th.

• Big Asteroid models were remade and they now interact with the game plane, forming "space caves". They can be mined with mining bases, either by the AI or the player with base building DLC.

• Items (trade goods) are now produced (or extracted) in mining bases, factories, agristations and laboratories, which are mostly available in civilian sectors (including PMC and Syndicate ones).

• Sectors are now generated with fewer stations, but they have more variety like mining bases or factories. Faction controlled sectors will also spawn turret defenses. Old saves were adjusted to reflect this change.

• Added actual NPC traders, which will buy/sell items from stations to keep productions going, even when not in the current sector. Their number is tied to galaxy size and is finite, for now.

• Added 7 new items (trade goods): Ice, Organic Matter, Chemicals, Computers, Advanced Composites, Volatile, Batteries.

• Stations now have lower chances of selling a particular item, which should make each market more unique. Ammo is always sold in most stations.

• Sectors suffering attacks by battle fleets or assault on player bases (a DLC feature), do not receive NPC traders and have ship population drastically reduced.

• You can now interact(dock) with Marauder and Mercenary hideouts, when friendly.

• Hideouts now enter a 'deactivated' state when they have no shields and all guard ships are destroyed. You can dock at deactivated bases and choose one of the following actions: Plunder, for money and goods; Salvage, for crafting materials; Hack, for Tech level and blueprints; Capture, to claim the base to yourself (and later to other factions). The Capture option requires base building DLC.

• The station interface now shows a 3D image of its model as a background, whose visibility can be customized in settings.

• Added spaceship: Artemis, tier 3 independent Corsair, size 6 (Dreadnought).

• Added spaceship: Leviathan, tier 2 independent Freighter, size 6 (Dreadnought).

• Added spaceship: Aurora, tier 2 independent Mining, size 5 (Cruiser).

• Added spaceship: Toupeira, tier 2 independent Mining, size 2 (Yacht).

• Added spaceship: Posilky, tier 2 independent Freighter, size 2 (Yacht).

• Manned turrets will now mine asteroids if they have a mining laser installed.

• Now you gain 'Fleet Commander' points when your fleet mines. It's based on the sector level and is considerably slower than actual combat.

• Energy Orbs are now craftable.

• Drones with auto targeting will now repair and attack stations automatically.

• Drones with auto-targeting will now search for a new target near its owner if they fail to find one close to its current position.

• Repair drones when too far will return to orbiting its owner instead of recalling (deactivating). Attack drones with auto targeting will also search for a new target near its owner before recalling.

• Improved collector beam loot detection and item pulling.

• Special crewman Tigger received new abilities (only available for new games though).

• Item tool tip now show base price if you have 'Market Insight'

• Pressing 'Order Fire' will now break cloaking (or camouflage) if you have gunners able to fire.

• Blueprint rewards will now try to prioritize weapons and equipment higher than level 5, with very low chance of lower levels or trade goods.

• Improved overall image contrast.

• The starter ship model now has a trait that reduces its sell price, especially for bigger class sizes.

• Changed (improved) plasma and cannon fire sounds.

• Battle Fleets now update position twice as fast, but the resulting travel speed is just a bit faster.

• Plasma weapons base projectile speed increased from 60 to 70. They also received a new mechanic called 'Heat bloom' (name not definitive) which adds a raw DPS bonus based on current hardpoint heat, where 5 heat points equals 1 DPS up to double the weapon's normal damage.

• Heat bloom is also available as a crafting modifier.

• Added the option to treat neutral ships as friendly when firing at them, which is now default.

• Added 2 special crewman: Wraith and Rojopappu.

• Added 1 more zoom out level for all ship sizes.

• Battle Computer now shows target info based on its version: 1.0: Hull Points; 2.0: Armor and Damage Resistance; 3.0: Shields.

• The quest to become 'White Collar' no longer triggers after 3 declines.

• Casual/Streamer mode can now be played in Hardcore difficulty.

• Added 2 more songs to the ambient music.

• Fixes, lots and lots of fixes...

The complete list of fixes will come later, as well as the Base Building DLC features

Hey everyone! The store page for the Base Building DLC is live! 🚀 🚀 🚀

Direct link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2755940/Star_Valor__Base_Building/

Please note the release date has NOT been defined yet, but you can already Wishlist it!

Star Valor is on Steam SPACE EXPLORATION FEST with a 62% discount!
Get it now with the best price before the BASE BUILDING DLC releases.

After a good while, I'm happy to announce the Base Building DLC is finally coming! Here is a sneak peek:



Although I don't have an ETA yet, the Beta will start this month. It's a big update and, as you know, I'm a solo developer, so updates take time.
In addition to the DLC, the Economy (free) Update is also coming, which will change how trades are done and make sectors feel more "alive".

Before launch I will make a livestream on my YouTube channel to show things in action, but in the meantime, here's a summary of what's to come in both the DLC and the Economy Update:

• Build your own stations, turrets, power plants, mining bases, gates...
  
• Influence item prices while Trading with NPCs
  
• New ship models of all sizes
  
• New ship roles
  
• New "Tower Defense" inspired game mode
  
• And of course, Lots of bug fixes and requests, like: More zoom out level, more special crewman, gunners auto mining, Fleet Commander leveling when mining, etc!

I hope you'll all enjoy it :)
See you soon!

PS: There is no DLC store page to Wishlist yet. Will add asap.
- Laious

Star Valor is on Steam ENDLESS REPLAYABILITY FEST with a 60% discount!
Get it now and start playing while waiting for the BASE BUILDING DLC.



Endless possibilities await you on your next space adventure!

Star Valor was recently featured in a game bundle on DIG (Daily Indie Game) website, without my approval or intent whatsoever. Although the game was available in their store for normal Steam prices since 2019, it was never intended nor allowed to be part of any of their Bundles.

In this particular case I have found it was being sold for US$ 0.33 per copy (in a 9 game Bundle for $2.99).

The administrator claims they recently made some changes to their website, and the “include game in bundles” checkbox was enabled on their end as a result of the database migration. I obviously never opted-in, nor was the option enabled when I logged-in today to see what was happening. Only a little under an hour after reaching out by email, did the option tick after another page reload.
They allege I should have logged-in more often for things to update, but never sent any messages or email related to changes in their website or sales process.

Anyway… The Keys have been revoked and the game is no longer in DIG Store. It has already been replaced by another game in that Bundle.

If you are one of the DIG customers who purchased the Bundle for Star Valor, you should ask them for a refund given the error on their end. I’m sorry you lost your copy of Star Valor this way and I’ll be happy to give more details (or even a discount) if you wish to talk to me about it on Discord (discord.gg/6YYKkmdMkp)! In any case, there will always be legitimate sales going on here on Steam or safe key sites like Humble Store or Nexus gg.

In respect to people who acquired the Bundle and lost the game copy, I'm offering a $2,99 (Bundle's full price) discount to buy the game directly from me, stacking with any discount currently on Steam. This is a 100% refund on the Bundle price and you can wait to cash it once the game enters a Sale again, if you want.
How to: reach me in our Discord (discord.gg/6YYKkmdMkp) with your revoked key.

One of my Patreons, Bancheis (who is also a special crew member in the game), offered to pay for 10 copies for the people involved! ːsvgoldː
To claim yours, contact me on Discord as mentioned above, OR, if you don't like Discord, add me as a friend here on Steam. I will need your revoked key and send you a legitimate one.
Once the copies are out, the $2.99 discount offer will stand.
- 2 free keys have been sent so far.

- Laious

• Added ship: Condor (name might change): Independent Carrier, Tier 3 Frigate (size 4).
  
• Remade Holocrons (the name is planned to change also). They can now be equipped to increase knowledge advancement rates, according to its type (one for each knowledge), while retaining the ability to be scrapped to learn tech level.
  
• Camouflage's cooldown now scales with ship size, using the formula: 4 x ship class + 2 seconds, instead of being 8 seconds for all sizes.
  
• Claymore is now a tier 2 (green) Ranger. It lost both side weapon mounts but the back one is now a 4 space 360º turret (both 360º turrets turn very slow). Other changes: weapon space -4, equipment space +5, gunner seats +1.
  
• You can now set default key binds for activated equipment in the settings panel.
  
• Holding shift on ship model tooltips now also show crew seats and stats of special (starred) weapon slots.
  
• Added 'random ship mode' when starting a new game, where the ship model is chosen randomly, using the remaining points as a cost limit. Each unused point is then converted to 2 gear charges for that model, which can be used to craft ship enhancements (or boost scavenger's wit on Rangers).
  
• Fixed enemies in story quest not attacking the player after saving and loading.
  
• Added a proper model for escape pods (by Xyranoth).
  
• Fixed missile trails glitch.

• Improved Tractor beam mechanics when towing objects and stacking is now fixed. Increased max range for bigger ships and the line becomes red when the distance is over 80% max.
  
• Tutor Perk now also shows skill progression %.
  
• Fixed drones having silver or gold stars.
  
• Updated Korean translations.
  
• Unity Logo was removed from the splash screen.

• Fixed minor item drop issues.

Regarding recent news about Unity and their new Runtime pricing.

Star Valor and I will be fine. Considering last year revenue (Star Valor launch), I was going to change to Unity 'Pro' subscription anyway... So I won't meet the revenue threshold (1M USD in 12 months) and won't have to pay the new fees. That's my optimistic and practical view of the situation, as Unity has been changing in all sorts of obscure ways, to say the least. I won't go into other shady details, like their install detection or whatever, as it's just confusing right now... The worst part is the uncertainty in what they are doing next and how will that affect me and other devs. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Overall I'm pretty sad about it... It was with Unity that I changed my life and was able to live my game dev dream. I love the engine itself, but I most likely won't be using it for my next projects and I won't recommend it anymore. For the next game patch, I also removed the Unity logo, which was in the splash screen as a homage since Early Access, even though it wasn't mandatory for the most part.

I won't change the engine for Star Valor, though, as it's a 7 years project and it would be a huge set back, not to mention expensive... So the game development will not be affected. I will probably be making less money for having to pay the ‘Pro’ subscription where the 'Plus' (which is now gone) would've been enough, but I'll deliver everything I promised (including DLCs) as I have the resources for it, thanks to the game sales and all my supporters: collaborators, donators and patrons. If it ever comes to a point where I can't keep the game on Unity, I'll just have to change engines anyway and move on, I guess.

So overall... Star Valor and I will be fine, and so will your space adventures.
- Laious

Thank you all for the support! Special thanks to all my collaborators and Patreons:

Ryan Schubert
Bancheis

Rin
Zarinthal the Sleepy Dragon
鹿目圆香
Juan Carlos Rodriguez

Aces
Jean-Philippe Martel, Gary Scott, kolby varner, Kevin Chote, Gio, Quickshadow, Scott Tjhia, Baduz, Maxter1o2, Severance Bane, Lamergaroth, semeku, Mort, Matouš Otta, Jiri Sluka, Ashven Scarpaw, chaussepied quentin, Lance Borchardt

Pilots
AJ Parker, Latheos, Jeremy Sandahl, Libo, Hawk, SW9876, Boosted, Myoron, Aaron Meek, GamerForLife, Logan Laramay, NAUTILUS11045, Ryyuka, Elliot Louise, Stuart Bunn, Ujvari Tibor, jin, lochinator, Justin Schultz, Derrick Southerland, Shinnjin, Peter Müller, Scott Woodie, ITEDVO, Maik Landgraf, Zachary Johnson, Kuba Vildomec, Mathew Beane, Michael Van Camp, Legend Kriptor, Nick Evans, Nes27, Nicholas E. Zonenberg, a62443166, Robert Prehn, Juan Valencia Escobar

Rookies
Brian, James Ketola, Martin Nielsen, Kero7, ZipTieFun, Fedaygin, Takuma Shimoyama, Grendug, Vladrynne, Christopher Boyd, Jeffry Fleischer, Matthew DuPlanty, Gary, Thomas Ran, Josh Worden, Cpt Incorrigble, Thy Ruos, Adam E Burks, Billy Radis, -Nova-

• Warp Drive equipment can now be activated to warp to the currently selected sector on the galaxy map. Some drives also received an emergency warp function, which can be used by activating it while holding shift (default), and will send you to the closest sector.
  
• Added a * mark on items on station markets, when they are needed for quests.
  
• Added 'Melee' combat tactic for fleet ships. Red Skull pilots also use it when over level 15 (or level 10+ elites).
  
• Unarmed ships equipped with attack drones or integrated ramming weapons will now engage enemies.
  
• Added lights to drones, making them much more visible. You can customize the colors for both repair and attack/mining drones, and its intensity. Defaults are green and red, respectively.
  
• You can now customize the color for name labels and icons based on reputation (defaults are green, yellow, red and blue).
  
• Using Pirate Impulse Drives or ships now change the color of thruster and trail effects.
  
• Pirate stations now use red/orange colored lights instead of blue.
  
• The game received some performance improvements on big fleet battles.
  
• Added option to choose Anti-Aliasing quality from 5 different levels.
  
• Added option to choose full-screen mode between Windowed (default, multi-task friendlier) and Exclusive (a bit more performance). Using 'exclusive' mode can also fix occasional full screen stuttering issues.
  
• Added a tooltip scale option in general settings.
  
• Item tooltips no longer cover the buttons on the inventory and should no longer overflow vertically, being scaled when needed.
  
• Added delay before showing tooltip, ranging from 0 to 2000 ms (2 seconds). Default is 0.
  
• Radar ship icons now update when you swap ships or change the option in settings.
  
• Fixed target info still being visible on sector and galaxy maps.
  
• Fixed loot names becoming invisible when opening game settings.
  
• Fixed weapon turret with the wrong angle on weapons tab.
  
• Fixed BUG that would cause crew tooltip to show up over the quest panel.
  
• Fixed Bancheis crewman trait bonuses not working on 'staff' seat.
  
• Fixed Juggernaut playing an engine sound at the wrong time and volume.
  
• Fixed radar zoom buttons still being visible on the Galaxy Map.
  
• Fixed crew member tooltip overflowing.
  
• Fixed BUG that enabled installing weapons on ships with no weapon slots, corrupting the save.

• Fixed Fullscreen BUG
  
• Updated Russian and Chinese translations.