Sep 22, 2020

Free Content in the Black Market DLC Update

Avorion - Sue

In our Gamescom streams, we announced Avorion’s first DLC, “Black Market”. Alongside the DLC there will also be a huge free update. Now, we want to shine some light on what’s coming alongside the DLC.

We put a lot of thought into the update and invested a lot of work to improve Avorion and to offer more content and features. In order to clean up some misconceptions about which features will be free and which will be part of the add-on, we’ve created a small summary for you.

Playing Together

First things first: All players will still be able to play together, even if some of them own the DLC and others don’t. Also, everybody will have access to a lot of the DLC content while they play with somebody who owns it. For example, the big Convoy Event can be played by all players on a server, as long as somebody who owns the DLC starts the event.

Docking

Ships can now dock to other objects and take them to wherever you desire - as long as the owners of said objects don’t disagree. Clever captains are now able to steal take containers to safety and they can even have stations open them to see if there is anything of value inside. You can move your own stations or those of your friends, and dock ships or asteroids to your craft and do hyperspace jumps with them.

Controlling Ships

You will now have the ability to interfere with illegal trade and even profit from it. If you catch somebody smuggling illegal goods, you can inspect their ship and maybe earn some bribe money.

Legendary Weapons

Starting with this update, bosses will begin to drop newer, better, awesomer, legendaryer turrets. We went a little crazy on some of those - and would like to apologize in advance.

Performance Improvements

We’re aware that Avorion may require a lot of performance on some multiplayer servers. Of course, we want all of you to be able to play without lag. That is why we reworked the server backend engine. For you as players, this means: If there is a single laggy sector with a lot of action happening inside it, it will no longer slow down the entire server. As long as you’re not inside the problematic sector, you can continue playing without being bothered.
But please remember that Avorion is not an MMO, and just because you can increase the number of players in the server.ini, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a good idea.

Bugfixes

It is our goal to squash all bugs in the game so that you can have as much fun as possible. You as a community help us daily to improve Avorion by sending us a lot of bug reports, and we’ve been busy fixing those. We won’t be listing them all here (we’re still fixing as I’m typing this text), so you’ll find the list of fixes in the patch notes. By the way: bugs that we fixed because of a report from the community are marked with [UBR] (User Bug Report).

Many Small Features and Quality Of Life Improvements

We want Avorion to be fun for both new players as well as veterans. That is why we added tons of small new features and QoL stuff, such as improving the Strategy Mode to have better camera controls, asteroid fields have been visually improved and we’re allowing you to assign icons to ships. Those changes will also all be listed in the patch notes.

Your Wish is Our Command

Okay, but on a more serious note: We care a lot about your feedback and we try to add as many of your suggestions as possible to Avorion. Sadly, it’s sometimes not possible to include everything people wish for since some things simply contradict each other or are not compatible with our vision of the game. However, we are working on implementing some of the most requested features:

- Torpedo launchers that shoot straight ahead
- Improving the AI in several different contexts
- Edge blocks for crew quarters
- Ships share their scanner data
- Better RTS mode controls
- Scripting API requests (for modding)
… and more!

You can suggest features and vote for them here: https://forum.avorion.net/index.php?/forum/8-suggestions-idea-voting/

Server Performance Statistics

We’ll continue supporting our server hosters, so in addition to regularly adding new features servers now log statistics about the their performance. Those include information like the number of players that are logged on at a time, storage used, CPU and much more. This way, hosters can see how their server is running and act accordingly.

Outlook: What happens after the DLC?

We saw from some reactions here that we gave a somewhat wrong impression with the DLC announcement. We will, of course, continue to make and publish free updates. The next big update after the DLC will be a free update again, and it will have a similar scope as the DLC. But we’ll give you more info on that later down the line. For now, we want to concentrate on finishing the current update!

By the way: Features that are highly relevant to fights or PvP (ie. things like Stealth) will never be published in a paid DLC but will always be available to everyone for free.

That's all from us for now! We hope we could clean up some misconceptions around here. Now we'll get back to the update! See you soon!

Sep 17, 2020

Patch 1.2 is now live!

Avorion - koonschi

We're releasing a small patch to bring you a few important bugfixes and quality of life changes that were already finished while we're working on the next big update.

Client

Lights of wreckages can now flicker independently for each block & material type

Building Mode UI

Silhouettes of real-world monuments can now be shown in building mode for an improved sense of scale

Silhouettes can be modded

Block template brush's blocks are no longer all red while selecting a new anchor block
Improved controls for scaling blocks and shapes

General UI

The amount of goods is now directly visible in the fleet tab
Improved coloring of cargo overview in the fleet tab
When commanding ships, sectors reachable via gate are now highlighted
Claimed asteroids now show up on the map
Added sorting of DPS/Slot
Guidebook and its tutorials can no longer be abandoned

Server

Added new game settings variables for maximum ships & stations of an alliance
Added file clustering options to server.ini

When enabled, packs small files into larger ones on shutdown of server

Added a notification for when a player is assigned to be the new leader of a group

Scripting API

All setValue() functions for objects now return the previously set value
Player.craftFaction now returns the player faction if the player is not in a craft

Bugfixes

"As always, fixes marked with [UBR] are bugs that have been reported through our in-game bug reporting tool. Thanks to everyone who reported and keep it up!"

[UBR] Fixed an issue where directing ships over the galaxy map wasn't working correctly for bought maps
[UBR] Fixed a rare crash in building mode
[UBR] Fixed several issues in missions
[UBR] Fixed an issue where alliance ranks with empty names could be created
[UBR] Fixed research satellites showing nil chatter after reload
[UBR] Fixed an issue where upgrades would remain on ships after being removed from the game (ie. through enabling/disabling mods)

Sep 2, 2020

News: DLC - Black Market coming soon!

Avorion - koonschi

Hey everyone! Let's get the most important news out first. As announced in our Gamescom stream a few days ago: We are proud to announce our first DLC - the Black Markets! In addition to new content, we also added quite some improvements to the game that will be published in a free update at the same time as the DLC. Let's dive right in!

Docking

Did you know that in space, even a tiny little spacecraft can move something gigantic? Ships can now dock to something else and take it wherever you might want it to be - if the owners of said object have no objections. Move your own stations and those of your friends, dock ships and jump around or just grab the containers that you want to hack, but that are too well protected in their sectors.
And the best thing? Docking will be available for everyone as part of a free update!

Shady Business at Stations

You stole found a container that is protected by a good security system and can't hack it yet? Just take it to a Smuggler’s Market and they will open it for you - for a fee though. You should also check out the name-giving feature of this DLC: The new Black Markets. Discover the hidden identities of some inconspicuous looking stations and profit from what they have to offer!

Hacking

Have you ever wondered what might be hidden in those large container fields that can be found all over the galaxy? Now is your time to find out! Get ready to circumvent the security system of the containers and access the contents. You only need a hacking upgrade that is stronger than the container’s security level and you’re ready to go. But beware: the owners of the containers might not look too kindly on thieves.

New Events, Missions & Bosses

Experience a new storyline in over 30 new missions and events! Your actions are relevant for shaping the future of the galaxy. Make sure that you choose the right friends and make the right enemies, and most importantly: Never forget keeping an eye on your own best interests!

There's also going to be a new server-wide late-game event with a convoy venturing towards the center of the galaxy - with its own missions and opportunities. You can decide for yourselves if you want to protect them from pirates or maybe do something more ... evil - provided you have enough firepower.

New Weapons

We don’t want to spoil too much here, but we've got a few legendary turrets ready for you!

FAQ

Last but not least, we'll answer a few questions that have been coming up since our first announcement during the Gamescom stream:

Q: Will DLC owners and non-DLC owners be able to play together?
A: Yes! We don't want to split our community. Non-DLC owners will even be able to enjoy some of the DLC-only content while playing with DLC-owners.

Q: Will docking be part of the free update?
A: Yes!

Q: Can we jump around with objects or ships docked?
A: Yes!

Q: Will docking be a combat feature?
A: Docking will be a civil only feature. You'll be able to dock containers, asteroids, and the like, as well as your own or friend's ships. Docking other players (exception: alliances) will count as PvP.

Q: Will we be able to automate docking?
A: No. Due to a number of uncertain factors (AI, orientations, where to dock, which docks to use, etc), we decided against AI orders for docking. Everything else would result in finicky UI and would go beyond our scope.

Q: What else is in the update?
A: Together with the DLC content, we'll be releasing a free update for everyone which contains tons of performance improvements (servers especially!) that we spent a big portion of our time on, QoL improvements, and bugfixes.

Q: When is it coming?!
A: Fall 2020.

Q: What's the DLC going to cost?
A: We haven't decided on a final price yet, but it will be around 5 - 10 $/€.

If you have more questions, then you should definitely check out our reveal stream, where we're also talking about the DLC: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/725216666?t=00h59m22s

Aug 19, 2020

Beta Branch Patch 1.2 - Patchnotes

Avorion - koonschi

"While working on the next big update, we also added a few more quality-of-life features. We're releasing a small patch with a selection of those features that are already done."

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'.

Client

Lights of wreckages can now flicker independently for each block & material type

Building Mode UI

Silhouettes of real-world monuments can now be shown in building mode for an improved sense of scale

Silhouettes can be modded

Block template brush's blocks are no longer all red while selecting a new anchor block
Improved controls for scaling blocks and shapes

General UI

The amount of goods of a ship is now directly visible in the fleet tab
Improved coloring of cargo overview in the fleet tab
When commanding ships, sectors reachable via gate are now highlighted
Claimed asteroids now show up on the map
Added sorting of DPS/Slot
Guidebook for captains and its introductory missions can no longer be abandoned

Server

Added new game settings variables for maximum ships & stations of an alliance
Added file clustering options to server.ini

When enabled, packs small files into larger ones on shutdown of server

Added a notification for when a player is assigned to be the new leader of a group

Scripting API

All setValue() functions for objects now return the previously set value
Player.craftFaction now returns the player faction if the player is not in a craft

Bugfixes

"As always, fixes marked with [UBR] are bugs that have been reported through our in-game bug reporting tool. Thanks to everyone who reported and keep it up!"

[UBR] Fixed an issue where directing ships over the galaxy map wasn't working correctly for bought maps
[UBR] Fixed a rare crash in building mode
[UBR] Fixed several issues in missions
[UBR] Fixed an issue where alliance ranks with empty names could be created
[UBR] Fixed research satellites showing nil chatter after reload
[UBR] Fixed an issue where upgrades would remain on ships after being removed from the game (ie. through enabling/disabling mods)

Aug 13, 2020

Patch 1.1.4 now live on default!

Avorion - koonschi

We're moving this small patch to the stable branch now after it performed well for several weeks on the beta branch. We are also aware of some issues that might be happening in relation to the torpedoes introduction mission; we're working on those!

Here's a quick summary of the latest patch notes:

1.1.4

Bugfixes

"As always, bug fixes with [UBR] are User Bug Reports. Thanks for helping improve Avorion and keep it up!"

[UBR] Fixed some typos in new server.ini docs
[UBR] Fixed a hang when beating the MAD science lab
[UBR] Fixed a hang in torpedoes introduction mission
[UBR] Fixed several issues with localization
[UBR] Fixed an issue where the sector overview window was too big on small resolutions
[UBR] Fixed an issue where file sectornamegenerator.lua wasn't moddable
[UBR] Fixed an issue where reconstruction of ships sometimes didn't restore turret designs
[UBR] Fixed a crash when transforming a normal block to a holo block

1.1.3

"A small patch fixing some urgent issue while we're working on the bigger things."

Server

Fixed some cheat- & security issues
Added a config option to server.ini to specify maximum receivable network message size
Server now writes out a server.ini documentation file

Scripting API

Added Player [Client]:onJumpRouteCalculationFinished() callback

Bugfixes

"As always, bug fixes with [UBR] are User Bug Reports. Thanks for helping improve Avorion and keep it up!"

[UBR] Fixed several issues with translations
[UBR] Fixed an issue with the tutorial getting stuck when played on Chinese or some other languages
Fixed an issue where building mode buttons weren't correctly disabled during tutorial
Improved profiling on Windows machines
Fixed several issues in scripts
[UBR] Fixed a server crash that happened in large sectors after too many sectors were explored
Fixed an issue where some scripts were loaded more than necessary
[UBR] Fixed several issues in torpedo introduction mission
[UBR] Fixed an issue where mining lasers didn't recognize asteroids as mineable after they were split into two pieces
[UBR] Fixed a rare crash when starting a singleplayer game
[UBR] Fixed a rare crash when connecting to a multiplayer game
[UBR] Trading Posts now no longer post resource shortage bulletins if they have enough in stock to fulfill request

Aug 3, 2020

Beta Branch Patch 1.1.3 - Patchnotes

Avorion - koonschi

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'.

Please note: Some translations for some languages (Chinese, Spanish, Russian) are still missing and will be added over the week.

Scripting API

Added Player [Client]:onJumpRouteCalculationFinished() callback

Bugfixes

"As always, bug fixes with [UBR] are User Bug Reports. Thanks for helping improve Avorion and keep it up!"

[UBR] Fixed several issues with translations
[UBR] Fixed an issue with the tutorial getting stuck when played on Chinese or some other languages
Fixed an issue where building mode buttons weren't correctly disabled during tutorial
Improved profiling on Windows machines
Fixed several issues in scripts
[UBR] Fixed a server crash that happened in large sectors after too many sectors were explored
Fixed an issue where some scripts were loaded more than necessary
[UBR] Fixed several issues in torpedo introduction mission
[UBR] Fixed an issue where mining lasers didn't recognize asteroids as mineable after they were split into two pieces
[UBR] Fixed a rare crash when starting a singleplayer game
[UBR] Fixed a rare crash when connecting to a multiplayer game
[UBR] Trading Posts now no longer post resource shortage bulletins if they have enough in stock to fulfill request

Jun 23, 2020

Story, Tutorial & Galaxy Map Improvements!

Avorion - Sue

Hi everyone! Long time no update! Sadly, gaming studios like us didn’t get spared from the corona crisis either and we had to realize that work gets done a lot slower at home office than at our official offices. But nevertheless, we’ve been steadily working on the game and we’ve got a new update ready for you!

In this update, we're mainly improving the tutorial and story. Additionally, we also have some performance updates for you, so let’s dive right into it!

Updated Tutorial

The tutorial originally dates back to the year 2017, when we first released Avorion into Early Access on Steam. The game has been updated a lot since then and the tutorial was in dire need of an update to reflect the current state of the game better. So we completely revamped it to offer an updated introduction into the game. It explains more things like adding upgrades to your ship, building turrets, and that getting your ship blown up is also a part of the game. We also shortened some other parts, like looking around and steering the ship, which doesn’t usually need lengthy explanations.

Story Improvements

The loose story of Avorion tends to have people lost at some point and searching for clues in forums and the Wiki. While we do think that a mainly-intended-as-a-sandbox game’s story should not hold hands too much, we don’t think that requiring players to regularly look for clues outside of the game is the way to go. We’ve added tons of inter-missions (get it, haha..? okay, sorry.) to aid you gathering the parts required to cross the barrier.

Galaxy Map

The galaxy map has received a major update as well! Ships are now listed on the right side and can be commanded more easily, without the hassle of sometimes clicking on sectors and sometimes on other ship portraits. It’ll also help you see where ships/stations are stationed (last one, promise).

Localizations

We added Chinese (Simplified), Spanish and Russian as officially supported languages!

Performance Optimizations and Logging

We also improved performance on the client and servers (mainly for large servers) and we added some tools that will help us identify performance bottlenecks in the future. Particles are now less performance-hungry and we’ve fixed some crashes related to particle systems.
So things are looking up if you’ve been experiencing poor performance! Just keep in mind that Avorion was never designed as an MMO (and never will be) and hosting servers for dozens of people at the same time is still a challenge (which we intend to overcome though!).

Other changes

There are tons of other changes in many areas, like bug fixes, UI improvements, better station founding (use a station design of the faction you bought the founder ship from), visual updates to loot and wreckages, and many more! To get a complete overview, check out the complete patch notes here:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/445220/announcements/detail/2220784826242281370
https://steamcommunity.com/games/445220/announcements/detail/2372781945503609155

Hotfixes 2020-06-27

Increased starting money for 'Normal', 'Easy' and 'Beginner' difficulty
Equipment Docks now always have at least one trading upgrade in stock
Fixed an issue where wave encounters would drop too advanced turrets
Fixed an issue where turrets would be displayed as "Blueprint" instead of "Turret" in comparisons
Fixed an issue where directing ships over the galaxy map wasn't working correctly for bought maps
[UBR] Fixed several issues with sorting of inventory

New items are only sorted up in main inventory window and alliance inventory window, no longer other windows as well

Fixed an issue where engines of other small ships and drones could be black
[UBR] Fixed an issue where some languages couldn't be set correctly through Steam
[UBR] Fixed an issue where object detector upgrades would cost 0 credits
[UBR] Fixed an issue where designs window didn't reset its scrolling when going to parent path

Hotfixes 2020-06-25

Drastically reduced influence of player and alliance ships' destruction on triggering a hazard zone

Hazard zones would get triggered easily by player and alliance ships being destroyed, resulting in a second punishment of losing commerce in addition to losing your station

Increased time between persecutor attacks on player's weak stations and ships from 10 minutes to 35 minutes
[UBR] Fixed an issue where destroying drones would turn a sector into a hazard zone
[UBR] Fixed an issue where ships of factions would falsely respawn (special thanks to Speedy)
[UBR] Fixed icons on the map being stuck in their 2D position
[UBR] Fixed routes on the map being slightly displaced while moving the camera
Scripting API: Added a new MapIcon UI element to draw icons on the galaxy map
Fixed several crashes in settings menu while not in a ship
[UBR] Fixed an issue where the tutorial could get locked in the crew assignment phase when keeping a mining turret on the ship

Hotfixes 2020-06-24

No more simultaneous persecution: Added a pause of at least 10 minutes between persecutor attacks on ships in other sectors than the player
[UBR] Fixed an issue where "Sort by Damage" in inventory could get messed up by recently acquired turrets

Hotfixes 2020-06-23

[UBR] Fixed some issues where tooltips weren't visible on the map
[UBR] Fixed an issue where pressing the loop button wouldn't work properly
[UBR] Fixed an issue where stations weren't hidden correctly on galaxy map
[UBR] Fixed an issue where after a fly-through-wormhole command looping wouldn't work correctly
[UBR] Fixed an issue where a fly through wormhole command couldn't be undone while the command chain was already executing
[UBR] Notifications are hidden while mouse is over the ships list
[UBR] Fixed an issue where left-click wouldn't deselect ships properly