It's time for the first ever building contest in Avorion: Build the coolest holiday themed fighter!

- Build a fighter
- Upload it to the workshop between 0:01 December 25th, 2017 and 23:59 January 1st, 2018 (CET)
- Use the X-Mas Fighter Contest 2017 tag
- Make sure it’s public and not only visible to you
- Add awesome screenshots to catch our attention!

The Winners will be announced mid January on the official Avorion forum and on Steam.

Fighters can only have a maximum of 200 Blocks. They don’t need engines, thrusters or any other blocks needed for flight so you can put all the 200 Blocks into the visual design.

- Only original work, no reposting of other people’s work.
- Fighters have to be submitted with the contest tag between 0:01 12/25/2017 and 23:59 1/1/2018 CET
- We will be featuring the winners on our social media platforms.
- By submitting a build to the workshop with the contest tag, you grant us permission to post your screenshots of this specific build or screenshots we take with your build on our social media sites, websites and forums.

It's time for the first ever building contest in Avorion: Build the coolest holiday themed fighter!

- Build a fighter
- Upload it to the workshop between 0:01 December 25th, 2017 and 23:59 January 1st, 2018 (CET)
- Use the X-Mas Fighter Contest 2017 tag
- Make sure it’s public and not only visible to you
- Add awesome screenshots to catch our attention!

The Winners will be announced mid January on the official Avorion forum and on Steam.

Fighters can only have a maximum of 200 Blocks. They don’t need engines, thrusters or any other blocks needed for flight so you can put all the 200 Blocks into the visual design.

- Only original work, no reposting of other people’s work.
- Fighters have to be submitted with the contest tag between 0:01 12/25/2017 and 23:59 1/1/2018 CET
- We will be featuring the winners on our social media platforms.
- By submitting a build to the workshop with the contest tag, you grant us permission to post your screenshots of this specific build or screenshots we take with your build on our social media sites, websites and forums.

Over the last weeks, we've been working hard on the Combat Update, and it's taking great shape! We did realize though, that there's a lot of content that we want to add, and it would take us a lot longer than anticipated to finish everything that we had in mind. Since we told you before that we want to do more frequent, but smaller updates, we're going to split this update into two parts:

Along with the usual bugfixes and QoL changes, this part will be containing one big new feature: Torpedoes! Since the purpose of this update is mainly to make combat more interesting and engaging, you (and the AI as well!) will be able to equip your ships with this high range, high damage but also high price weaponry. Torpedoes can be shot down, if you react fast enough, but if you don't, prepare yourself for some serious damage.

Alongside torpedoes, we're adding the specialized ships that we already announced in the last update. There will be ships that are especially strong against shields, hull, fighters, and so on. In order to be successful in combat you'll have to make sure that your strategy includes getting rid of these specialists first, before they take advantage of your weak points.

The last big features with this update will be more specialized weapons, giving weapons more specific roles, as well as improved control over your ships that are far away. You'll be able to visit sectors where you have ships or stations, so that you can give orders more effectively and don't have to warp all the way back to just tell your miner to change sectors.

In part II we're going to address more visual issues. You can, amongst other things, look forward to coaxial weaponry and player-created turret visuals!

Have fun!

[Screenshot: All of the reworked weapons firing. (Workshop ship by TESLA)]

Over the last weeks, we've been working hard on the Combat Update, and it's taking great shape! We did realize though, that there's a lot of content that we want to add, and it would take us a lot longer than anticipated to finish everything that we had in mind. Since we told you before that we want to do more frequent, but smaller updates, we're going to split this update into two parts:

Along with the usual bugfixes and QoL changes, this part will be containing one big new feature: Torpedoes! Since the purpose of this update is mainly to make combat more interesting and engaging, you (and the AI as well!) will be able to equip your ships with this high range, high damage but also high price weaponry. Torpedoes can be shot down, if you react fast enough, but if you don't, prepare yourself for some serious damage.

Alongside torpedoes, we're adding the specialized ships that we already announced in the last update. There will be ships that are especially strong against shields, hull, fighters, and so on. In order to be successful in combat you'll have to make sure that your strategy includes getting rid of these specialists first, before they take advantage of your weak points.

The last big features with this update will be more specialized weapons, giving weapons more specific roles, as well as improved control over your ships that are far away. You'll be able to visit sectors where you have ships or stations, so that you can give orders more effectively and don't have to warp all the way back to just tell your miner to change sectors.

In part II we're going to address more visual issues. You can, amongst other things, look forward to coaxial weaponry and player-created turret visuals!

Have fun!

[Screenshot: All of the reworked weapons firing. (Workshop ship by TESLA)]

Now that the Economy Update is on the stable branch, we are concentrating our efforts on the Combat Update. We want to make combat more engaging through a combination of reworking and re-balancing some of the existing combat mechanisms and adding some new ones while we’re at it. Here are some of the features you can look forward to:

We want weapons to be more specialized so every weapon has its very own purpose with accompanying strengths and weaknesses.

Along with specialized weapons comes the AI’s use of those weapons. We’re making enemies more interesting by giving them different characteristics in their fighting style. Some will use lots of fighters, others will be strong against shields or on long range, while others are especially good at defending against fighters. You'll have to know your enemy and adjust your fighting style to keep the upper hand!

We're excited to announce that we'll be introducing torpedoes as a new weapon type! Torpedoes will be very strong long range weapons, but they will also be more costly and won't have endless ammunition with these. Oh, and the enemy will have them, too, so better prepare some weaponry to shoot them down.

With fighters and torpedoes threatening your ship, you need viable defense mechanisms. Chainguns will be a possibility but we’re with this update we're also adding anti-air weaponry that is specifically made for defense against fighters.

That's all for now, we'll be releasing more details next week!

Have fun!

Now that the Economy Update is on the stable branch, we are concentrating our efforts on the Combat Update. We want to make combat more engaging through a combination of reworking and re-balancing some of the existing combat mechanisms and adding some new ones while we’re at it. Here are some of the features you can look forward to:

We want weapons to be more specialized so every weapon has its very own purpose with accompanying strengths and weaknesses.

Along with specialized weapons comes the AI’s use of those weapons. We’re making enemies more interesting by giving them different characteristics in their fighting style. Some will use lots of fighters, others will be strong against shields or on long range, while others are especially good at defending against fighters. You'll have to know your enemy and adjust your fighting style to keep the upper hand!

We're excited to announce that we'll be introducing torpedoes as a new weapon type! Torpedoes will be very strong long range weapons, but they will also be more costly and won't have endless ammunition with these. Oh, and the enemy will have them, too, so better prepare some weaponry to shoot them down.

With fighters and torpedoes threatening your ship, you need viable defense mechanisms. Chainguns will be a possibility but we’re with this update we're also adding anti-air weaponry that is specifically made for defense against fighters.

That's all for now, we'll be releasing more details next week!

Have fun!

With the last patch we've introduced a mechanic with which we wanted to make salvaging more interesting, but instead it created a whole array of new problems.

We wanted Salvaging Lasers to do less damage to blocks to be a way of making players salvage the correct blocks, to show you immediately that some blocks are not worth salvaging and thus not worth your time. The damage decrease was also meant to give you immediate feedback on the rates of blocks, but instead it crippled salvaging-specialized ships. We also didn't think of AI salvagers and salvaging fighters while implementing this change. This is on us, and one of the biggest reasons why we're releasing this patch.

I'd also like to clarify a few misconceptions that we've seen in the comments and posts around here.

• We never changed the drop rates for items like cargo, upgrades or turrets, you still get the same amount of those.
• We never wanted to punish or inhibit you from using salvage fighters.
• We never wanted to forbid AI salvaging.

So with this patch we're reverting the damage changes to salvaging lasers, making captain controlled ships and salvage fighters viable again.

We still stand by our change to the resource yield for common blocks, since those rates were just over the top.

• Salvaging lasers no longer have reduced damage against blocks with low yield

• Fixed several occurrences of text going over its bounds

With the last patch we've introduced a mechanic with which we wanted to make salvaging more interesting, but instead it created a whole array of new problems.

We wanted Salvaging Lasers to do less damage to blocks to be a way of making players salvage the correct blocks, to show you immediately that some blocks are not worth salvaging and thus not worth your time. The damage decrease was also meant to give you immediate feedback on the rates of blocks, but instead it crippled salvaging-specialized ships. We also didn't think of AI salvagers and salvaging fighters while implementing this change. This is on us, and one of the biggest reasons why we're releasing this patch.

I'd also like to clarify a few misconceptions that we've seen in the comments and posts around here.

• We never changed the drop rates for items like cargo, upgrades or turrets, you still get the same amount of those.
• We never wanted to punish or inhibit you from using salvage fighters.
• We never wanted to forbid AI salvaging.

So with this patch we're reverting the damage changes to salvaging lasers, making captain controlled ships and salvage fighters viable again.

We still stand by our change to the resource yield for common blocks, since those rates were just over the top.

• Salvaging lasers no longer have reduced damage against blocks with low yield

• Fixed several occurrences of text going over its bounds

Alright, so let's talk about salvaging.

It has been brought to our attention by many different users that salvaging right now is simply too strong compared to mining. This has multiple reasons, one of them simply being a bug/exploit that drops way too many resources when a wreckage is split in half.

Another reason is that, with the addition of new blocks, wrecks got a kind of value-creep, meaning they received a lot more resources than they should through the addition of more valuable blocks, like for example gyros. This has led to scrapyards and wreckage fields just being massive fields of resources with hundreds of wreckages having hundreds of thousands of resources each. This was never intended to be in the game like that.

One more reason why it's just so much more profitable than mining, is that in addition to lots of resources, wreckages drop upgrades, turrets and cargo as well.

We want salvaging to be less like mining and more like its own thing, more like actual salvaging or scavenging. We want to emphasize going for the valueable parts in wreckages, using combat weapons to blast away armor and expose generators and others and then salvage them with your salvaging lasers.

Finding a salvageable wreckage should be something special, it's weird when you can just go to a wreckage field and AFK beam through everything (if it's that easy, why wouldn't the NPCs have done that already?). It should also still be rewarding, meaning the resources that you get from a valuable wreckage should still be high in comparison to a normal asteroid.

From now on, salvaging lasers will do less damage to blocks that won't give you a high resource yield, giving you immediate feedback on what blocks you should scavenge.

We've also reduced the yield for blocks that are extremely common on wreckages, so that a single wreckage in the naonite belt won't contain 200.000 naonite or more any more (which is just an insane amount, to be honest). In addition to that, you won't be the only one who goes salvaging any more, so you're now less likely to find wreckages that still have valuable parts in them. When you do find one though, it will be pretty much just as rewarding as before, minus the extreme split-the-wreckage-into-half resource drop.

We realize that some of you will be unhappy about this change, but we think the new behavior is healthier for the game in the long run.

So now, keep your eyes open for unsalvaged wreckages, and then salvage their techy (glowy) blocks and expose their valuable parts wherever necessary.

• You're not the only scavenger: Salvageable wreckages with extremely high resource values are less common

"In order to make up for the potential income deficiency from the salvaging fix and to make mining more profitable, we've adjusted the efficiencies of mining lasers in this patch, too."

• Salvaging lasers deal less damage to blocks with low yield
• Reduced harvesting yield for the most common blocks
• Harvesting yield for blocks like shield/energy generators, batteries, inertia dampeners, etc. remains at 100%
• Increased Mining Laser base efficiency from 12% to 15%
• Increased Mining Laser efficiency randomized variety from 0% - 5% to 0% - 10%
• Increased Mining Laser efficiency scaling from rarity from 5% to 10%
• Mining laser base efficiency ranges from 10% (worst case + worst rarity) to 75% (best case + best rarity), up from 7% and 42%

• [UBR] Fixed an issue that led to wreckages dropping lots of resources when split in half
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where energy required by hyperspace engine would be infinitely large
• [UBR] Fixed tesla turrets not showing up in turret factory

Alright, so let's talk about salvaging.

It has been brought to our attention by many different users that salvaging right now is simply too strong compared to mining. This has multiple reasons, one of them simply being a bug/exploit that drops way too many resources when a wreckage is split in half.

Another reason is that, with the addition of new blocks, wrecks got a kind of value-creep, meaning they received a lot more resources than they should through the addition of more valuable blocks, like for example gyros. This has led to scrapyards and wreckage fields just being massive fields of resources with hundreds of wreckages having hundreds of thousands of resources each. This was never intended to be in the game like that.

One more reason why it's just so much more profitable than mining, is that in addition to lots of resources, wreckages drop upgrades, turrets and cargo as well.

We want salvaging to be less like mining and more like its own thing, more like actual salvaging or scavenging. We want to emphasize going for the valueable parts in wreckages, using combat weapons to blast away armor and expose generators and others and then salvage them with your salvaging lasers.

Finding a salvageable wreckage should be something special, it's weird when you can just go to a wreckage field and AFK beam through everything (if it's that easy, why wouldn't the NPCs have done that already?). It should also still be rewarding, meaning the resources that you get from a valuable wreckage should still be high in comparison to a normal asteroid.

From now on, salvaging lasers will do less damage to blocks that won't give you a high resource yield, giving you immediate feedback on what blocks you should scavenge.

We've also reduced the yield for blocks that are extremely common on wreckages, so that a single wreckage in the naonite belt won't contain 200.000 naonite or more any more (which is just an insane amount, to be honest). In addition to that, you won't be the only one who goes salvaging any more, so you're now less likely to find wreckages that still have valuable parts in them. When you do find one though, it will be pretty much just as rewarding as before, minus the extreme split-the-wreckage-into-half resource drop.

We realize that some of you will be unhappy about this change, but we think the new behavior is healthier for the game in the long run.

So now, keep your eyes open for unsalvaged wreckages, and then salvage their techy (glowy) blocks and expose their valuable parts wherever necessary.

• You're not the only scavenger: Salvageable wreckages with extremely high resource values are less common

"In order to make up for the potential income deficiency from the salvaging fix and to make mining more profitable, we've adjusted the efficiencies of mining lasers in this patch, too."

• Salvaging lasers deal less damage to blocks with low yield
• Reduced harvesting yield for the most common blocks
• Harvesting yield for blocks like shield/energy generators, batteries, inertia dampeners, etc. remains at 100%
• Increased Mining Laser base efficiency from 12% to 15%
• Increased Mining Laser efficiency randomized variety from 0% - 5% to 0% - 10%
• Increased Mining Laser efficiency scaling from rarity from 5% to 10%
• Mining laser base efficiency ranges from 10% (worst case + worst rarity) to 75% (best case + best rarity), up from 7% and 42%

• [UBR] Fixed an issue that led to wreckages dropping lots of resources when split in half
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where energy required by hyperspace engine would be infinitely large
• [UBR] Fixed tesla turrets not showing up in turret factory