Greetings Commanders,

The Caspian Explorer Update is now live. Embrace the depths of space with a large new exploration ship from Zorgon Peterson built to seek the stars. Available now via ARX early access, alongside a number of changes to on-foot weapons and NPC behaviours as well as bug fixes.

Features of Note:

• Added Zorgon Peterson Caspian Explorer:
  • In world holo-screen adverts now present for Caspian Explorer.
  • Mk II Ablative Armours - Armours that allows for faster and steeper planetary entries. These include lightweight alloy, reinforced alloy, military grade composite, reactive surface composite and mirrored surface composite variants.
    • We are aware of an issue with the mirrored surface composite and as a result it has been removed from the game temporarily. The team are working on a balancing fix has which shall be implemented next week. Once this fix is in place the module will be available for purchase and use.
  • Mk II Gravity Optimised Thrusters - Size 7 thrusters that reduce the most severe effects of gravity on High-G worlds.
  • Mk II Supercharge Optimised Frame Shift Drive (SCO) - Size 8 FSD that enhances the effect of supercharging your FSD when using a fuel scoop at a neutron or white dwarf star.

* We are aware of an issue with the Mk II Ablative mirrored surface composite and as a result it has been removed from the game temporarily. The team are working on a balancing fix has which shall be implemented next week. Once this fix is in place the module will be available for purchase and use.

• Added Pre-Built Ships:
  • Caspian Explorer Galactic (69,000 Arx).
  • Caspian Explorer Stellar (38,000 Arx).
  • Caspian Explorer Standard (19,020 Arx).
• Adjustments Made to On-Foot NPC Combat Behaviours:
  • General Movement Speed:
    • Introduced a haste system which adjusts NPCs movement speed. Maximum haste values make NPCs run faster than current speeds.
    • NPCs will be more combat efficient, more decisive, and have better threat detection.
  • Dodging Improvements:
    • NPC will now prioritise dodging into cover if possible.
  • Crouching Improvements:
    • NPCs will crouch more often including behind cover, reloading, or to evade.
  • Retreating/Cover Movement:
    • Improved reaction time when an NPC needs to take cover.
    • NPCs will make better use of cover and be less likely to stand in the open.
  • Under Threat Behaviour Improvements:
    • If the NPC is shot at or has low shield or health, they will attempt to take cover.
    • Once their shield has returned, they will resume usual behaviours.
    • This behaviour replaces the old "fleeing" behaviour entirely.
  • Advance Towards Threat Behaviour:
    • Strikers and Scouts may decide to advance under fire until they lose their shields entirely.
    • Other NPCs are more likely to retreat under threat.
  • Crime Scan Adjustments:
    • Security will now crime scan from a longer range. This removes the short walk to the target.
    • Security NPC will turn to face the target before starting.
  • Grenade Behaviour Adjustments:
    • Grenades are more often used against groups.
    • Grenades are used to flush targets out from cover.
    • NPCs will now use memorised and reported positions to better identify large groups of targets.
    • Ensured that NPCs will no longer throw EMP grenades at targets with low shield proportion.
  • Rebalanced suits & weapons  
    • Rebalanced NPCs suit and shield resistances to reduce the disparity between damage types vs shields and armour for suits/shields (this does not affect the player they are using the old resistances)  
  • Weapon changes:
    • Improved stow and draw times for all weapons
    • Adjusted weapon handling modification to account for new stow and draw times  
    • Decreased flight time on projectiles for:  
      • Manticore Executioner
      • Manticore Tormentor
      • Manticore Oppressor
      • Increased ammo for:
      • Karma AR-50
      • TK Eclipse
    • Decreased ammo for:
      • Karma C-44
    • Decreased reload speed for:
      • Karma L-6
• Powerplay:
  • Markers will now be placed on the galaxy map over rival systems, indicating targets for undermining and reinforcement efforts.
    • A maximum of 3 markers will be placed per Power.
      • The system targets of these markers is determined entirely by player undermining efforts - the top 5 undermined system by players in a power will have a marker placed over them.
      • Similarly, the top 3 attacked systems by players in a power will have a reinforcement marker placed over them.
      • A system may not be marked for undermining if it has already been undermined to 10% beyond the threshold to drop a state (e.g. from Fortified to Exploited).
        • Note this may result in minimal markers being active whilst this system is active within the enclave only.
      • Marker placement will update once per day.
    • Within these marked systems, Power Conflict Zones will generate, fully enabling combat as a viable means of undermining.
    • An additional +25% merit bonus will be awarded for all undermining actions taken within a marked system.
    • An additional +35% merit bonus will be awarded for all reinforcement actions taken within a reinforcement marked system.
    • A system must be undermined to unoccupied and then acquired within 1 cycle for the bonus to be issued.
    • Only the agents within power that acquires the system will be issued bonuses, and that power must have actively taken part in undermining the system to the unoccupied state.
    • Merit bonuses will be issued on a tier system, so agents with a higher undermining contribution will receive a higher bonus:
      • 25th Percentile - 20,000 Merits
      • 50th Percentile - 10,000 Merits
      • 75th Percentile - 5,000 Merits
    • Bonuses will be issued on a weekly basis over the maintenance period.
    • Markers will now be placed on the galaxy map over rival systems, indicating targets for undermining efforts.
    • Merit Bonuses will now be awarded for undermining and subsequently occupying another power's system.
    • Initially, both new mechanics will only be active for the Powerplay systems surrounding HIP 87621.
    • The 4 Opening Campaign Community Goals will now count reinforcement actions as contribution.
      • Note that this will not function if you are acting as a traitor (e.g. signed up to the federal CG whilst pledged to an independent power).
    • Power Conflict Zones will now be visible across the entire system - previously they could only been seen on the navigation panel if within 1000ls.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved trade powerplay activities rewarding significantly less merits than intended.
• Resolved further instances of fleet carrier cargo transfers failing and erroneous stock errors.
• Resolved Dodec interiors not changing with economy type.
• Resolved settlements within the enclave being of Horizons type instead of Odyssey types.
• Resolved instances of a crash that could occur when a player dies in an active on-foot Conflict Zone whilst another player is doing through the respawn flow.
• Resolved an issue when selecting a facility in the System Map, then selecting another facility it would incorrectly display the demolish options of the first selected facility.
• Resolved the loading spinner on the "Cancel Construction" panel taking longer than the timer states to become interactable with.
• Improved player feedback when a request to rename a System Colonisation facility fails.
• Resolved an issue where the System Colonisation Ship will display a Cancel Construction option after completing the primary construction.
• Resolved instances where the Brewer Corp. fanfare audio could repeat after closing the construction effort screen.
• Resolved the Powerplay Care Package expiry timer not displaying on the Care Package UI.
• Resolved instances where the Powerplay Care Package UI screen would state that on-foot materials space was full when the player has adequate space.
• Resolved broken strings being displayed in the Info panel when converting Powerplay Care Packages.
• Resolved a couple of issues with text being truncated or cut off in Community Goal UI.
• Resolved the warning text being missing for armour modules when storing multiple modules, this now highlights that the module will be replaced by factory default.
• Resolved the weapon detailing cosmetic only applying to the projectile and not its trail when firing the Mining Volley Repeater module on the Type-11 Prospector.
• Resolved various minor clipping issues with the Type-11 Prospector geo
• Resolved instances where some buildings in the High Tech & Factory star port interior barrel were not correctly being avoided by auto-dock.
• Resolved instances of being able to skip the glide phase of planetary landing.
• Resolved instances of backfaced culling on doors at Tourism settlements.