We've reworked the way faction relations work. In addition to the relation points, there are now 4 distinct states, that you can slip in and out of, and that majorly define how AI factions interact with you. For example, AI ships will no longer always start attacking on sight when relations are bad; you need to be at war with a faction for that to happen. We also reworked faction traits and how they impact gameplay.

This is the initial state for all newly met factions on the map. You can interact normally with this faction's stations and ships, except for a few privileges, you must be allied. If your relations with a faction become too bad, that faction may declare war. In order for War to be declared from 'Neutral' you must commit an act of war (destroying, raiding, boarding a ship). War won't be declared for minor issues like smuggling.

No questions asked. Shots are fired. But you can negotiate a Ceasefire.

A Ceasfire is similar to Neutral. Here you can show that you are really serious about improving your relations. But be careful: A single act of war is enough and you're back in a state of war.

You get access to the best equipment of your allies. You suffer only half the reputation loss for aggressive actions, but raiding and boarding an allied ship is considered an intentional act of war and ends the alliance on the spot. But who wants that? After all, you can now call on allies for support in battle.

Faction traits have been reworked and are now more effective. You can also pay tribute to factions to improve your relations. The relation status rating has been reduced from eight to five (Hostile, Bad, Neutral, Good, Excellent).

And of course there are many more improvements and fixes. To get a list of all changes, check out the patch notes of the beta branch updates:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/445220/announcements/detail/1600387340831534750
https://steamcommunity.com/games/445220/announcements/detail/1593633841026632932

"We are back from GamesCom! It was really exhausting but 100% worth it! We had a blast showing our game to new players and meeting existing ones! Now though it is time to put the finishing touches on the Diplomacy Update."

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'.

• Factions now respond when negotiating via the Diplomacy UI
• Players can now stop being allied and declare war with other players via the Diplomacy UI
• Added button to Diplomacy UI to initiate player-to-player trades/relation negotiations
• Player-to-Player relations and relation status can now be negotiated via the Player Trade Window
• Players must agree on their new relations to conclude a trade
• Player-to-Player relations and status can now be worsened
• Relations no longer worsen when shooting down a civil ship while the witnessing faction is at war with the civil ship faction
• Transfer of crew, goods and fighters is now possible over distance with transporter block + upgrade
• Improved escorting AI to no longer attack allies randomly
• Faction battles are only spawned in sectors close to territory borders
• Added strafing in alternative keyboard flying mode (F2), strafe with Ctrl+WASD

• Civil ships with bad relations can no longer be asked where their home sector is
• More missions now give relation improvements

• Added an icon telling the player about achievements being disabled with mods enabled
• Added highlighting of words in loading screen tips and encyclopedia for better legibility
• Added ship warning when transporting goods without a license
• Implemented sector overview in strategy mode which lists stations, ships and gates

• Alliance callbacks are now available on client and server
• Added documentation for pitfalls of Alliance server callbacks
• Added sendCallback() function to every class that is able to have callbacks registered from scripts
• Added sendCallback() convenience function to Faction that gets automatically delegated to players or alliances
• Extended ListBox/ListBoxEx to support values assigned to rows
• Implemented "onTurretDestroyed" entity callback
• Added "tutorialActive" property to Hud
• Added documentation of properties

"We fixed quite a few bugs again. Thanks for reporting and keep it up, guys! UBR = User Bug Report."

• Fixed players being able to switch sector while being grounded
• [UBR] Fixed issues with mine founding and station duplication
• Fixed an issue where immediate deletion of scripts from entities on server could lead to invokeScript() messages landing on the wrong script
• [UBR] Derelict mines can now be rebuilt after boarding
• [UBR] Backslashes are corrected to forward slashes in script paths for improved consistency
• Script cache is now always cleared when starting a new game to avoid modders having to deal with cached scripts
• Fixed a crash when creating smuggler hideouts in the center because there are no smuggler representatives present
• Fixed non-player controlled AI ships no longer being able to buy/sell goods
• [UBR] Fixed an issue with translation strings
• [UBR] Fixed several script crashes
• Client's Galaxy():getControllingFaction() now correctly returns nil if no faction is found
• Fixed an issue where relations of bottans smugglers could be bad with smuggler outpost factions
• Fixed an issue where missions didn't give reputation for alliances
• Fixed an issue with rectangle selection in strategy mode
• Fixed relations notifications being displayed for 0 relation change
• Replaced old code with new, better code
• Fixed player cargo shuttles not being able to pick up cargo if "sell to others" was off
• Fixed last tooltip line not showing for energy suppressor satellite
• [UBR] For local sessions, force enabling mods works again

"We've reworked the way faction relations work. In addition to the relation points, there are now 4 distinct states, that you can slip in and out of, and that majorly define how AI factions interact with you. For example, AI ships will no longer always start attacking on sight when relations are bad; you need to be at war with a faction for that to happen. We also reworked faction traits and how they impact gameplay."

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'.

• Initial state for all newly met factions on the map
• Very similar to the previous relations range -40000 to 60000
• Normal interaction with stations and ships of the other faction
• ... except for a few privileges where you must be allied with the faction
• When relations are good enough (~95000, depending on faction traits), you can start negotiating an alliance
• When relations turn too bad, the faction may declare War, but ...
• In order for War to be declared from 'Neutral' you must commit an act of war (destroying, raiding, boarding a ship)
• War won't be declared for minor issues like smuggling

"This is when they just shoot you, no discussion."

• The only state where AI ships always attack on sight
• Normal interaction with ships and stations is not possible
• Can be negotiated to Ceasefire
• No radio chatter

"A ceasefire is a fragile pact where players can show their good intentions, and that they actually want to stop the war and improve relations."

• Similar to Neutral
• Some station and ship interaction is possible
• When relations turn good enough (-30000 or above) 'Ceasefire' automatically changes to 'Neutral'
• Committing an act of war by the player (no matter the relations) will terminate the Ceasefire and War will break out again
• During a Ceasefire, when relations reach -100000 (worst possible), War will break out again

"Gain access to the best equipment of your ally. Players have less reputation loss, there are reputation loss caps and players call in merchants or reinforcements from your ally."

• 50% less reputation loss with allied factions
• "Soft caps" of losing reputation: No dropping below 90000 or 80000 with a single loss
• Example: When at 96k (96000) relation points, and you "accidentally" destroy your allies' ship, you'd lose about 40k reputation. Instead it's halved to 20k and you won't drop to 76k, but to the 90k cap. After that, you can drop lower again.
• Boarding or raiding an allied ship is always considered an intentional act of war and will terminate the alliance immediately
• No smuggling controls by allied AI ships
• Access to 'Exotic' and better equipment of your ally
• Access to 2 new items:
• Item that lets you call in equipment merchants of your ally, who sell equipment and valuable artifacts
• Item that lets you call in combat reinforcements from your ally

"Tons and tons of small changes and adjustments: Reworked traits and their impacts, new targeter shapes and colors depending on War, Ceasefire, or standings, and so on."

• Players can pay tribute to a faction to improve relations
• Reworked traits of factions
• Fewer traits with more impact on gameplay
• Traits now influence the amount of repuation gained or lost, depending on what happened
• Reduced relation point descriptions from 8 to 5 (Hostile, Bad, Neutral, Good, Excellent)
• Reworked color scheme of relation statuses
• Added new target indicators for 'War', 'Ceasefire' and 'Allies'
• Implemented means to negotiate with AI factions
• Players can now make money/resource offers in a specific range
• Counterpart has a patience level that drops the more often a player makes an offer they don't like
• Tribute, Ceasefire or Alliance is accepted when the offer is good enough
• Once patience runs out, the player has to wait for some time until he can negotiate again
• Relations can't be improved/worsended beyond a certain point with some kinds of interaction
• A few examples:
• Equipment trade won't improve relations beyond 75000
• Using services of a faction (refinery, shipyard) won't improve relations beyond 45000
• Smuggling won't worsen relations below -75000
• Doing missions or helping via events (pirate attacks) will always improve relations
• Destroying ships, raiding etc. will always worsen relations
• Once relations drop below -80000, reconstruction sites are terminated
• When a player is set to his home sector and his starting allies are at war with him, relations with them are set to "Ceasefire" and some money is taken from the player
• Added mean radio chatter when in the territory of a faction that doesn't like you

"Adjusted railgun damage, which was a little excessive sometimes, especially considering that railguns aren't projectiles but hitscan. Still does more damage the more blocks you hit, but in a more balanced manner."

• Railgun base damage is now spread evenly over the first 4 hit blocks, then has a falloff of 20% per additionally hit block
• More allies per faction will be spawned for wormhole guardian fight
• Increased spawn region of AI and Swoks

"In order for the diplomacy changes to matter, we reduced the number of different factions. The galaxy map no longer looks like patchwork. This will not break existing saves! No new factions are introduced, and the changes will only affect newly generated sectors."

• Reduced the amount of factions on the map
• Factions now have much bigger territories
• Increased reach of gates to better connect to far away sectors and avoid cut-off "islands" of factions
• A player's relation to newly met AI factions can't be worse than -20k if he's no more than 150 sectors away from his home sector
• Depends on difficulty, -20k for 'Normal' and easier, disabled at 'Difficult' and harder
• Dev Comment: "We saw that, with bigger faction territories, there comes a high probability to start next to a faction that immediately hates the player and that has an extremely large territory they may have to traverse. Since that can prove very frustrating (esp. for new players), we've eliminated this possibility."

"The diplomacy tabs for player and alliance got a complete overhaul! Aside from now being implemented in lua (modders rejoice!), they received a visual rework and will give you a lot more important information about your fellow space-dwelling factions. You can now see details about their traits and what they do, in addition to negotiation possibilities."

• Complete rework of the diplomacy UI
• Added sorting of factions by distance to the player's current location (ie. nearby factions are at the top of the list)
• Added buttons for negotiating Ceasefire or Alliance, or for paying tribute to improve relations
• Added detailed description of a faction's traits and how they affect gameplay

"So this one is both hilarious and embarrassing: Since the Kickstarter Demo there was a bug in the background generation of the game, which, for some reason, was never discovered. We've fixed it and backgrounds finally look the way there were supposed to, with way more tiny stars! Apart from that we added some long-awaited smaller improvements to the building mode."

• Massively improved space background quality
• More background stars
• While at it we also improved the quality for lower-res backgrounds (no more super ugly backgrounds at lower quality)
• Improved tooltips
• Added new radio chatter lines
• Added more obvious radio chatter hints for players on how to meet Swoks and the AI
• Reworked cargo transport license tooltip
• Ship size is now shown in Building Mode
• Block size of current block is now shown in Build Mode
• Main menu: Renamed "Quit" to "Exit Game"

• Improved behavior of ships flying too far away for players to hit them and staying at that distance
• Several performance improvements for calculation of gate connections
• Improved start sector creation, players are now guaranteed to be inside territory of another faction
• Shots & torpedoes fired by player-owned, AI-controlled ships are now marked as such, plus intended target faction
• Those shots now vanish when they hit an AI faction that the shot wasn't meant for, to avoid unwanted relation changes
• In short: In order for your AI-controlled turrets, fighters or ships to damage ships / worsen standings with another faction, they must attack them on purpose, not hit them by accident
• Player notification about gate usage now shows name of ship
• "No money to pay crew" message now contains ship name
• Turrets can now be placed over multiple blocks as long as they touch them

"Most important changes are: You can now add windows to the Hud and Alliance Tab, and you get full access to the player's known galaxy map."

• Added a SectorView class
• Exposed functionality to access known sectors of Player and Alliance on the map
• Added a Relation class
• Added more relations-related functionality to Player, Alliance and Faction
• Relation loss for destroying other ships moved to lua from core engine
• Added a getPresentFactions() function to Sector
• Added AllianceTab as a scriptable UI
• Added Hud as a scriptable UI
• Extended Tooltip class
• Implemented separate tooltip creation for Vanilla- and UsableInventoryItem
• Implemented a replace function for faction names in tooltips
• A construct like ${faction:54} will be replaced by the (localized) name of faction with index 54
• Added a 'homeSectorUnknown' property for factions that don't really have a home sector (Xsotan, pirates, etc)
• Added a SectorChangeType enum, which is passed as a parameter on the server when a player changes sectors
• Mails are now localized
• Added more functionality to various UI elements
• Added a 'alwaysAtWar' property for AI factions
• Renamed "isAI" property of Owner to "isAIFaction" for better consistency with the faction property
• Fixed main.lua scripts not having access to everything they need in their initialize() function
• Moved data/scripts/player/encyclopedia to data/scripts/player/ui/encyclopedia

"What's an update without bugfixes? We've fixed quite a few bugs again. Thanks for reporting and keep it up, guys! UBR = User Bug Report."

• [UBR] Fixed several instances of story-encounters where relations would be permanently worsened even though they shouldn't be
• Fixed an issue where abandoning a mission sometimes didn't really terminate it
• Fixed several issues where interactions could happen with stations even though they shouldn't, relation-wise
• [UBR] Fixed a crash when downgrading torpedo shafts
• Fixed an issue where server time counter didn't work due to floating point inaccuracy
• [UBR] Fixed some broken translations in shop UI
• [UBR] Fixed some factories giving the player money for upgrading
• [UBR] Fixed cloning and academy not working while no players are in the sector
• [UBR] Fixed an issue with ai ships adding jobs at a refinery
• Forgetful AI: Fixed an issue where special friends or enemies of AI ships wouldn't be remembered over game shutdowns
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where the orderchain didn't terminate mining/salvaging correctly and got stuck on that order
• [UBR] Fixed several crashes caused by community translations

Hey guys,

We're doing a quick security patch today that also affects the Scripting API.

"We're adjusting the Server API privileges to the Client API privileges."

• Server Scripting API: Removed os.execute() and similar functionality
• Server Scripting API: Removed all functionality for loading/executing binary files
• Server Scripting API: Removed functionality to write-access any file on the system
• Write access only allowed for %AppData%\Avorion\moddata\ and galaxy folder
• Read access only allowed for %AppData%\Avorion\, installation folder, galaxy folder and folders of enabled mods
• On unix-based systems, replace %AppData% with ~/.avorion

We still want mods to be able to communicate with external tools, of course. In order to make up for the lost functionality, we'll be adding a socket library in the near future.

Good news for everyone who thought "Ugh, how exactly does this work again?" in the past: We've added an Encyclopedia Tab to the player menu, where you can (re)read about the most important mechanics of the game. It features a basic overview over the game's features so you don't have to look up every single thing on the wiki. It also has entries for various story-related characters that can be encountered. It's also spoiler-free: As players progress throughout the game, more entries get unlocked over time.

We added speech bubbles to the game to improve the general flair of the game and add some more life to everyday space life. Speech Bubbles can contain everyday jibber-jabber but also hints for beginners, game mechanics or story progress. There's also going to be speech bubbles when a player in the same sector types text in multiplayer.


You can now easily compare turrets to see which is better or worse! Just hover the cursor over a turret and press 'E' for a quick and easy comparison. Also works for upgrades, torpedoes and fighters!

We added some more missions to flesh out the content of the game. You can expect more missions, events and content over the next few updates.
And of course there are many more improvements and fixes. To get a list of all changes, check out the patch notes of the beta branch updates:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/445220/announcements/detail/2707145128897298018
https://steamcommunity.com/games/445220/announcements/detail/2707145128911803302
https://steamcommunity.com/games/445220/announcements/detail/2707145128915565379

We're adding the possibility to compare upgrades, some Quality of Life and balancing updates and also a few crash fixes.

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'.

• Upgrades can now be compared
• Upgrade tooltip texts are slightly darker to be easier on the eyes
• Added a loading screen tip for comparing objects

• Reduced amount of free goods being delivered to player-owned consumer stations
• Defense Weapons Upgrades are now randomized
• Loot Collector Upgrades are now randomized
• Transporter Software Upgrades are now randomized
• Reduced drift of stations

• [UBR] Fixed a crash in Boarding check if an entity is boardable by another faction
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where a station deleted by a player would cause a sector to be turned into a hazard zone
• [UBR] Fixed torpedo names being messed up in equipment dock
• Fixed an issue where it was possible for alliances to board their own members' ships

In this patch we're fixing several bugs and a very annoying multiplayer crash, when selecting the ship of another player. Some quality of life changes also made it into this one.

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'.

• Removed rebind option of pause menu key
• Updated encyclopedia
• Fighters can now be compared
• Torpedoes can now be compared

• Added specific error messages for salvaging and mining when the material tier of the weapons is too low
• Added context to several translations that are spread over multiple lines

• [UBR] Fixed an issue in crew board menu where sliders for captains weren't working as intended
• [UBR] Fixed an issue in turret factory where the required amount of ingredients could become a floating-point number
• [UBR] Fixed a crash when selecting a ship
• [UBR] Fixed a few issues when faction details are required on client but not yet sent by server

We're adding an encyclopedia to the player window, where you can read about all important game mechanics. Other important features are speech bubbles, a few new missions and, last but not least, a feature where you can compare turrets. We've also included tons of bugfixes, some new bugs and a lot of extensions to the Scripting API.

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'.

"In order to keep everything organized and clear, we're adding an Encyclopedia Tab to the player menu, where you can read about important game mechanics, characters and other content of the game."

• Implemented an Encyclopedia as a tab in Player Window
• Encyclopedia serves as a log where you can (re)read about the most important mechanics of the game
• It also has entries for various characters that can be encountered
• More entries are unlocked while players progress in the game

"We wanted to add more life to the galaxy and at the same time give players useful hints on what to do with the story. Those are still experimental, and we will tune them in case they are annoying. Feedback appreciated!"

• Added speech bubbles for stations and ships flying around, to add more life
• Speech bubbles include jibber jabber, hints to game mechanics, bosses, artifacts, etc.
• Speech bubbles are displayed when characters talk, or when players send chat messages

"We added some more missions to flesh out the content of the game. We'll be adding more and more missions and events over the next few updates. Missions will also grow in complexity in the future!"

• Added a new mission where the player must cover the retreat of a fleet during a losing battle
• Added a new mission where the player must deliver goods
• Added a new mission where the player must protect settlers who want to found a new colony
• Threatening ships increases the hazard zone score of a sector

"Lots of QoL features, and most importantly: Compare Turrets by pressing E!"

• Items can now be compared by pressing E while hovering mouse over the item
• For now, only turrets can be compared. Fighters, upgrades and torpedoes will follow soon
• Default chat channel filter is "Everything"
• Added a hint to /help command when a player enters a wrong command
• Slightly increased contrast of space backgrounds
• Added several performance improvements
• Added a context menu entry for posting an inventory object to chat
• Slightly reduced color brightness of tooltips

"Modders rejoice! We've added a lot of improvements to the Scripting API. You can now register new tabs in the player window and we've added tons of convenience functions."

• Added functionality for adding new tabs to player window via player scripts
• Added a UI Tree class
• Added a "scrollable" property to TextField
• Added a GameInput class
• Added a structuredmission.lua framework for making new missions more easily
• Added an API call runScript() to load a temporary script in a temporary, separate VM and execute a function in it
• Added more robustness to values returned in secure() (which doesn't support saving of API objects)
• Uuids are turned into strings
• Vectors are turned into tables with x, y, z, w components
• Other objects are generally turned to nil
• Added dbg() function for easier debugging and printing
• Improved documentation for various script functions
• Added a Sector:exists(id) function (performance optimization, avoids a memory allocation)
• Added a script to bind an entity's lifetime to a specific mission of a specific player
• The entity is then deleted after the mission is over
• Added a invokeFunction() function for client-side sector
• Added a new predefined function initializationFinished() which is called after initialization of a sector
• And after all initialize() functions were called
• After loading on server, after complete creation on client
• Added font and fontColor properties to TextField
• Added getEntitiesByScriptValue() function to client-side Sector
• Added a Chatter value to ChatMessageType enum
• Added reading of player state type to client-side Player
• on[Pre/Post]RenderHud: PlayerStateType of player is now passed as an argument
• Added namespaces to more Entity scripts

"As usual, bug reports marked with [UBR] are user bug reports. Thanks to everyone who keeps reporting those, and keep it up!"

• Scripting API: Fixed Sector and Player not being able to receive LuaValueEx as arguments when adding scripts
• [UBR] Scripting API: Added missing PlayerId to API
• Fixed server information messages being shown twice in "Everything"
• Fixed plenty of money and resource changes not being shown for players
• Fixed reconstruction tokens not being removed when deleting the ship in the build mode
• Fixed some memory leaks in async ship generator
• [UBR] Fixed translations of torpedo names
• [UBR] Fixed indicators of missions, systems, etc. being drawn in neutral editor
• Fixed a crash in building mode when player is destroyed while building
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where the number of higher ranking members was based on the amount of workforce, not the amount of workers
• Fixed an issue where arrow keys didn't control the chat input bar when in strategy mode
• Fixed an issue when unbinding keys, added dedicated confirmation dialog
• Fixed dumping of cargo not working correctly due to new sorting

We added boarding! In order to board an enemy ship, you must first damage it and then launch fighter squadrons that transport your boarders to the soon-to-be-yours ship. Boarders will then fight on the other ship until the enemy defense system and crew is beaten. Once there is no enemy crew left, the ship is yours!

When boarding a station, its production facilities are destroyed upon takeover, and have to be rebuilt in order to work again. When boarding a cargo ship, its cargo is not marked as stolen.


Hiring tons and tons of crew can be very tiresome. In order to improve this front, we're now adding the possibility to clone crew on your ships and stations. We added cloning pods as a new block, which you can then use to clone crew on your ship. Cloning a crewman takes a fixed time, increased cloning capacity will allow you to clone more crewmen in parallel.

Since cloned crew is untrained, you will need facilities to turn your untrained crewmen into specialists. Similar to cloning pods there are now Academy Blocks, that help turn your crewmen into specialists. Similar to cloning, training a crewman takes a fixed time, and more academy blocks allow you to train more people in parallel.


There are several more improvements coming with this patch: The Cargo Tab got some improvements like coloring and sorting, overheating bars are now rendered next to turrets, Xsotan are stronger but jump away when unprovoked, reworked energy cooling, and much more!

To get all changes, check out the patchnotes of the beta branch updates:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/445220/announcements/detail/1601510700259911187
https://steamcommunity.com/games/445220/announcements/detail/1600382809846349778