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'.

• Added a note to headhunter attacks showing which faction attacked the player
• Repairing at a repair dock is no longer possible during combat
• The default repair rules apply same as in building mode
• Docking & stealing wreckages in scrapyards is now illegal
• Stations no longer automatically undock from other stations when transport mode ends

• Reduced firepower of tesla turrets by 33% and reduced their range to 2.5km - 3.5km (from 3km to 4.5km)

"We're currently fixing things in the DLC content that got reported during our closed beta. Thanks for reporting and keep it up! To avoid spoilers we won't be listing story-related fixes here."

• Fixed several reported issues in DLC-only content
• Fixed several issues where NPCs wouldn't interact with players
• Improved tooltips of new upgrades

• Trade AI errors are now sent by the ship and contain the name of the ship in the chat message
• Turrets can no longer be dismantled while favorited
• Turrets & Upgrades can no longer be researched while favorited
• Messages of containers when being abducted are more robotic
• Added black market logo to main menu when black market DLC is owned
• Adjusted news window to less obnoxious, especially on lower resolution
• Adjusted size & position of server browser so that it's well visible on lower resolutions

• Added a DockingParent class

"As always, bug reports marked with [UBR] are user bug reports. Thanks for taking the time to report stuff and keep it up!"

• [UBR] Fixed an issue where Swoks' friendly/enemy behavior didn't work for alliances
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where MAD Science Lab's friendly/enemy behavior didn't work for alliances
• [UBR] Strategy Mode: Fixed an issue where the grid plane prevented shots and beams being rendered below it
• [UBR] Fixed cultists not aggroing when trying to steal their precious asteroid
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where tractor beams weren't working correctly
• [UBR] Fixed several issues related to station docks
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where sectors with only destroyed ships would be included in limited simulated sectors of a player
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where brake thrust and rotation wasn't calculated correctly
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where it was possible to select a turret with the ships tab
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where client-sided independent turrets would shoot ships and stations that were being boarded
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where hyperspace engine was always recharging after a relog if an upgrade was installed
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where mirroring of front-torpedo launcher didn't work properly
• [UBR] Fixed some issues with being able to click through news window
• Fixed several issues & crashes in scripts
• Fixed several issues & typos in texts

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'.

• 30s repair restriction no longer applies when the damage was self-inflicted
• Flinging asteroids into stations now holds the ship that threw the asteroid responsible for damages
• Added the option to only repair all missing blocks, without ship health
• Pirate encounters now respawn after 24h of playtime (newly discovered only)
• Pirate encounters now reset after some time when players flee (newly discovered only)
• Xsotan now turn hostile when ramming them

"So far, docking has been a huge success and we're very happy with the results! You got really creative with what you could do, and sadly that's where we had to make some adjustments since you broke the game in far too many ways :("

• Gates can no longer be docked in Normal (still in Creative)
• Several story-relevant objects and characters can no longer be docked
• Turrets of docked objects are now dependent on their parent's turret slots
• Added little chatter messages when containers are being abducted
• AI ships that don't want to be docked will now undock themselves
• Added a 'Transport' mode for stations
• Stations must be in 'Transport' mode to be docked and moved
• Stations in 'Transport' mode lose their station-specific interactions and passive abilities (Shipyard, Equipment Dock)
• Increased pulling force of dock blocks
• It's now possible for docked objects to jump and take their parent with them (if they belong to the same faction)

• Relation loss by damage is now relative to maximum HP/shields of AI crafts
• This reduces relation loss for high-damage weaponry in late game
• Increased repair speed for crew to 40min for the entire craft, from 60min

• Improved transparency rendering of green box in building mode
• Added explanation for size of docking blocks and pulling force
• Added a preview of integrity field size in build mode

• Galaxy Map: Added input hints
• Strategy Mode: Grid plane is now more transparent
• Strategy Mode: Camera can now be rotated by just holding right mouse, shift doesn't have to be held
• Added a check box to hide/show green arrows in build mode
• NewsWindow is now invisible while ModsWindow is visible
• Added a little green icon that tells the player they can build advanced blocks in the sector

• Added an introductory chat message when playing on the beta branch
• Reduced RAM requirements while calculating background AI faction economy

• Added several missing Player callbacks on Server side
• Removed obsolete Entity:getWormHoleComponent() function

"Thanks for reporting tons of issues! We're still working through the reports, and this is the first bunch of bugfixes that we've finished."

• Fixed several typos
• [UBR] Fixed a script crash when ordering ships to salvage/mine through interaction window
• [UBR] Fixed a few issues when multiple docks are pulling the same object
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where collision damage wasn't taken into account for relation changes
• [UBR] Fixed a few issues where weapons with high omicron would cost tons of reputation even though they hit a station that didn't even lose 1% HP
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where important artifacts weren't in the inventory of mobile merchants
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where stations would try pushing away their docking parent
• [UBR] Fixed several issues in controls settings
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where shots of ships owned by players, but controlled by AI would cause reputation losses when hitting the wrong target
• [UBR] Fixed stations pushing obstacles while they're docked to something
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where script commands that required Sector() access didn't work (ie. /addcrew)
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where interacting with a docked station would result in strange displacement of both objects
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where hidden resource asteroids had only a few resources
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where hazard zone being called out had string placeholders
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where all patrolling ships would fly to the same point in space and get stuck
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships wouldn't follow docked objects if set to escort
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where docking heavy objects sometimes didn't impact the ship's physics
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where modifying docked objects didn't impact the parent ship's physics

We appreciate your feedback regarding the current beta version. With your help we have been able to adjust and optimize some features before the next update. If you have any suggestions, you can tell us about them in the #beta-feedback channel on our Discord:

https://discord.com/invite/avorion

Besides the beta and our hype about the upcoming Black Market DLC, there are a few other new features we would like to share with you.

On our Youtube channel and on the Black Market store page you can watch the new official trailer for the DLC. We'd be happy to hear your feedback!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1357160/Avorion__Black_Market/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sN0Na8m4DU

We really appreciate your ideas and your enthusiasm to be a part of Avorion's development. That's why we went through your suggestions in our forum (ATTENTION: The most recent ones are not included here yet!) and put together a small feedback list for you. On this list you can read which of your suggestions are doable, which ones we are still thinking about and which ones are, unfortunately, on the "won't make it into the game" list.

You can find the list here:

https://forum.avorion.net/index.php?/topic/6734-suggestions-review/

You're welcome to continue to post your ideas in the forum. We will update the list regularly.
To vote you can follow this link:

https://forum.avorion.net/index.php?/forum/8-suggestions-idea-voting/

As a thank you to you, the greatest community in the galaxy, we would like to give something back to you! That's why we're giving away some Avorion Keys next Thursday, 29.10.2020 so that you and your friends can jump into new adventures! You can take part on our official Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/avoriongame

That's all for now, stay safe and stay healthy!

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'.

"Docking's here! The feature is actually pretty straightforward. Slap a dock block on your ship and go have fun! :)"

• Ships can now use Dock blocks to dock other objects
• Docked objects are shown in building mode
• Docked objects can be taken with you through gates, wormholes and hyperspace jumps
• (Nearly) every object can be docked

"Aside from a few shady features that sneaked in from the Black Market DLC, we got Legendary Turrets, prettier asteroids, and a new, strange Xsotan Wormhole Device that seems to open wormholes to your Reconstruction Site."

• Added new containers that can be hacked or taken to a smuggler's outpost to be opened
• Added a new sector type with many containers and asteroids
• Added the possibility to bribe ships that inspect you
• Added the possibility to inspect & get bribed by AI traders that can now carry illegal goods
• Added special, legendary turrets
• Some turrets will be available immediately, some only for DLC owners
• Turrets are dropped by bosses and other strong enemies
• More turrets to come over the next weeks
• Added a new Xsotan Wormhole Device that opens a wormhole to your reconstruction site
• You get the item from the Adventurer after changing the Reconstruction Site or progressing with the story
• 10 Minute cooldown, infinite usages
• Has a few other limitations so it can't be used during immediate combat
• Improved visuals of asteroids with resources
• Developer Note: Asteroid shapes have been fine-tuned to ensure they have the same amount of resources as before
• Some factions now always have bad starting relations (not as bad on low difficulties, very bad on high difficulties)
• On higher difficulties, bad initial relations can trigger immediate war with factions the player hasn't met yet
• When switching sectors, players are only placed in ships that are idle or passive from now on (unless otherwise specified) to not interrupt AI orders
• Objects in sectors towards the middle are spread out a little further
• Seeking projectiles can now lead very fast targets
• When a warzone is called out or a freighter is raided, nearby players are notified
• Reduced camera shake of sector jumps
• Added edge & corner crew quarters blocks
• Added a front-facing torpedo launcher block

"We improved several aspects of the AI, like pathfinding, aim and salvage & mining AI."

• A ship now waits for its fighters to land before flying through a gate
• Improved aim of AI ships
• AI ships can now aim with coaxial turrets
• Strongly improved aim of AI ships for Expert+ difficulties
• Salvage & mining AI now picks new objects to harvest close to the last one
• This way the behaviour is more consistent when objects break apart
• Salvage & mining AI now keeps fighters active while collecting loot
• Salvage & mining AI no longer keeps firing at tiny fragments that have negligible amounts of resources left
• Salvage & mining AI no longer bothers collecting extremely tiny amounts of loot
• Improved pathfinding when surrounded by many obstacles

• Adjusted fines for smuggling
• Slightly increased amount of petty upgrades being dropped in the outer regions
• Slightly reduced amount of legendary upgrades being dropped on low difficulties
• Railguns now always penetrate at least 3 blocks
• 5-slot turrets aren't automatically coaxial any longer
• Instead of every turret, only 25% of 5-slot turrets will be coaxial turrets
• Explosive shots no longer deal potentially infinite amounts of damage through AOE, but are capped at 200%
• Pulse Cannons now have a much higher shield penetration rate compared to other weapons with ionized projectiles
• Increased projectile speed of 2+ slot turrets

"Let's face it: Shields are way too powerful for what they cost. They provide lots of HP that recharge extremely quickly for free and they protect all blocks at the same time. Shields are also more or less obligatory for combat, and this means that players avoid combat in the early game. We want to break free from these limitations and give players more means to fight early on. We're nerfing shield generators, but at the same time buffing integrity blocks & armor a lot. Keep in mind that these are experimental changes and we'll see how they fare. Please share your feedback with us on this!"

• Buffing Integrity Blocks & Armor
• Reminder: Integrity fields reduce incoming damage!
• Increased damage reduction of integrity fields from 50% to 75%
• Increased HP of armor blocks to 25 per 1 volume, from 15
• Nerfing Shields
• Increased cost of shield generator blocks by 50%
• Reduced shield durability gained from shield blocks to 50 per 1 volume, from 70
• Developer Note: In total, existing ships with shield generators and integrity blocks protecting armor will get:
• -27% shields
• +233% hull HP for armor
• +100% hull HP for other blocks

"We're seeing a lot of playstyles that abuse exploits that are ending up in guides and that are degenerating from how Avorion was originally designed. In addition to fixing exploits, we're adding some experimental changes through which we want to shift the gameplay a bit. We want to reintroduce the feeling of 'safe haven' sectors and the risk of venturing out. We do realize that this might take some comfort away but we think it's healthier for the game in the long run. This playstyle will also require a little more planning from you, which is why we're only enabling it on new galaxies. We'd love to hear your feedback and we'll monitor the situation closely!"

• Building and repairing are now only possible without enemies attacking and only if the ship wasn't damaged in the past 30 seconds
• New Saves: On Normal+ difficulty, Generators and Hyperspace Cores will need a neutral or friendly shipyard in the sector to be added to your ship
• Applies to new saves only
• Applies to ships, not stations
• Does not apply to Creative
• Can be turned on/off with a server.ini setting
• Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-Y and scaling will still work without a shipyard
• Repairing is still possible without a shipyard
• Sectors with smuggler hideouts now have a shipyard
• Sectors with resistance outposts now have a shipyard
• Added an item that lets you return to your Reconstruction Site from anywhere (details see above)
• Reduced cost for changing Reconstruction Site by 80%
• Reduced cost for reconstructing without tokens to 80% of the ship's value, from 120%
• Reduced cost for repairs at repair docks to 35% of ship's value (from 75%)
• Reduced cost for founding a shipyard by 17.500.000 credits
• Reduced cost for founding a repair dock by 7.500.000 credits
• When reconstruction tokens are disabled, reconstruction site can still be set
• Hyperspace engine now has to reboot and goes on cooldown after its range is changed

"We've massively tuned the Strategy Mode to make it a much more polished and easy-to-use feature. Enjoy!"

• Added vertical lines to objects for a better sense of depth
• Improved grid-plane for a better sense of depth
• Camera can now be rotated and moved up/down
• Pressing space centers the camera on the selected object(s)
• Double click now centers the view, Ctrl-click toggles the selection
• Player's current craft now has a player icon in the strategy mode overview list
• Selection groups are now shown in overview list
• Claimed asteroids are now shown in overview list
• Added colors to sector ship overview list in strategy mode
• "Fly through gate"-order is now visualized with a line to the gate
• Mine and salvage orders issued via right click now start harvesting the clicked object (not the closest to the ship)
• Improved button feedback

"More UI and QoL improvements."

• Galaxy Map: Pressing space centers the camera on the selected object(s)
• Galaxy Map: Selection groups can now be used the same as in Strategy Mode
• Galaxy Map: Notifications can now be disabled on the galaxy map
• Mails: Mail buttons stops flashing for good when mails window is opened
• Mails: Mail list updates when a new mail is received
• Mails: Mail window's 'Delete' now takes all attachments first
• Building Mode: Added ISS shilhouette for comparison
• Building Mode: Transformation brush can now be rotated by holding R
• Building Mode: Added "Show Templates Folder" button to blocks window
• Building Mode: Turret designs can now be applied to all selected turret bases with one click
• Building Mode: Implemented new, detailed tooltips for blocks in building mode
• Improved UI for selling items
• Added various filtering, sorting and favoriting options
• Favorited (starred) items can't be sold accidentally any more
• Added assignable icons for ships
• Weapon base damage variation is now reflected in tooltips
• When founding a new ship, "Alliance Ship" is now greyed out when not in an alliance
• Pressing B while in drone now opens the ship founding dialog
• Player ships in the same sector now share their scanner data
• Added total crew salary to player and alliance fleet tabs

• Added more loading screen tips
• Playmodes Normal & Creative Mode are now considered scenarios
• Added more infos about savegames in singleplayer window
• Added a checkbox to override a galaxy's mod settings
• If not ticked, the save's previous mod config is used
• Added a news window to the main menu
• Added a warning window for loading a galaxy with a too high version
• Added a warning window for loading a non-beta galaxy while on the beta branch
• Added categories for assignable controls
• Default controls layout of immediate (mouse) steering changed:
• Free Look is now on right mouse button (was Ctrl)
• Torpedoes are now fired with G (was right mouse)

• Improved visuals of swirly weapon beams

"While tons of things were improved, the most important change is that the scheduling of the server update has been completely rewritten. A single slow sector no longer slows down the entire server. We also added quite a few new settings to tune your server to your perfect PvP settings."

• Restructured the entire internals of the server
• A single slow sector no longer slows down the entire server
• Shenanigans of players no longer slow down the entire server but only the sector they're in
• Developer Note: This doesn't mean that the server now magically supports 100 players. Avorion is not an MMO, and will never be one because it was not designed as one.
• Simplified callback handling & improved stability of the server
• Increased time that sectors are initially loaded from 15s to 30s
• Renamed server option "authenticate" to "vac-secure"
• Renamed server option "isPublic" to "isMultiplayer"
• Added a server.ini setting to allow/forbid boarding
• Added a server.ini setting to enable saving of runtime stats (players, tick times, memory, sectors loaded, etc) into a .csv file
• Added a server.ini setting to configure the amount of networking threads
• Added a server.ini setting to configure minimum ship size
• Added a server.ini setting to configure maximum ship velocity
• Added a server.ini setting to configure maximum number of stations in a sector
• Added a server.ini setting to configure shipyard-bound building

"A lot changed here, so we won't be listing every little change, but only the most important ones - especially when they might break existing mods."

• Added class DockingClamps
• Added class HyperspaceEngine
• Added a new Sector callback "onPlayerArrivalConfirmed" which fires once the client has finished its loading screen
• Added more possibilities to work with Mails
• Added conversion from scancode to keycode and back (modders: See SDL2 docs for that)
• Developer Note: Modders: This might be important for you if you were using the Keyboard. We changed our internal structure from SDL Keycodes to SDL Scancodes
• Entity:getDockingPositions() now returns a table
• DockingPositions:getDockingPositions() now returns a table
• DockingPositions:getDockingPosition(id) now returns a table
• Removed Entity:getRandomDockingPosition()
• Renamed Durability.setMaximum -> Durability.maximum
• Callback "onMailReceived" is now called "onMailAdded" on server, same as client
• Modder Request: Most properties of TextField are now readable as well
• Added functionality to drop VanillaInventoryItem and UsableInventoryItem loot
• Massive improvements to structuredmission.lua
• Fixed an issue where scripts registered for updates before being restored
• Fixed an issue where Galaxy:findFaction() didn't correctly return Player, Alliance, or Faction object depending on the internal type
• Fixed an issue where some components in Entities created by Sector:createEntity() were missing
• Fixed a crash when not passing a color to addShipProblem
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where it wasn't possible to directly set the Seed value
• Use tostring() to get and assign the string to set
• Improved API documentation

• Added a notification when a player is assigned to be the new leader of a group
• Tons of small optimizations all over the place
• Improved performance of performance measuring (yes really)
• Improved several dialogs
• Improved translations
• Added several new bugs

"As always, bug reports from the community are marked with [UBR] (User Bug Report). Thanks for reporting and keep it up! You'll be seeing quite a few more of these over the next weeks!"

• [UBR] Fixed an issue where torpedoes in Equipment Dock weren't as different as planned
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where trading posts and factories didn't have enough cargo space
• [UBR] Fixed several issues where introduction missions got stuck when playing them in Alliance ships
• [UBR] Fixed a few performance issues when opening the Equipment Dock menu while inventory is full
• [UBR] Fixed several issues where the server could crash when being sent garbage over network
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where the emblem of alliances weren't sent to players correctly
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships wouldn't keep their orientation upon sector change
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where some chat commands could crash the server
• [UBR] Fixed an issue in fighter tutorial mission where having more than 3 fighters didn't advance the mission
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where escort AI would falsely attack friends
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where armor blocks sometimes didn't stop penetrating projectiles
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where ships would chase each other out of the sector indefinitely
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where reconstruction token value of a ship would decrease when ship is built smaller
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where players without alliance vault permissions could trash/favorite alliance items
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where turrets were jittering while aiming with the mouse
• [UBR] Fixed an exploit where ships could be healed by adding large stone blocks
• Fixed an issue where chat messages sent by server didn't get their format strings filled in correctly
• Fixed an error message that was sent too often to alliance members with insufficient permissions
• Fixed an issue where turrets from the ship, when compared, would show up as blueprints
• Fixed highlights of list entries in singleplayer window not working
• Fixed several crashes
• Removed unnecessary sector marker from station founding introduction mission
• Fixed 43 typos (I didn't actually count that)

We are happy to announce that the store page for our upcoming Black Market DLC is now live!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1357160/Avorion__Black_Market/

A lot of new content and over 20 new story missions are waiting for you. You can also look forward to new bosses and new upgrades and weapons! Stay tuned and add it to your wishlist to get started right on time at the release!

We can't wait and are very excited. Right now we are working hard on optimizing the last details and polishing the update.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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/

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.

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!

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.

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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

"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)

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!


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!


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!

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.


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.


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


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

"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'.

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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

"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)

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:

"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

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

• 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

• Added Player [Client]:onJumpRouteCalculationFinished() callback

"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