Your empire gets its first fleet. Build Fleet Command, send ships on expeditions for credits, cargo, Platinum and ancient relics, and grow a roster of commanders. Fit your ships with parts, take on faction work and chart the way to two legendary destinations. Modules now use real inputs, and Enhancements count toward planet needs. This update also adds a perk that skips the same three builds on every new station, makes a crowded Modules tab easier to read, and fixes offline earnings so closing the game never pays better than playing it.
Fleet Command
- New module: Fleet Command. One per empire, from station level 4. The first one you build comes with a Recon Sloop, the Wren, and its Commander, Hayes.
- Three expeditions. Local Patrol (20 minutes) brings back credits, titanium and fuel. Anomaly Survey (90 minutes, commander level 2) brings components, rare ore and 2 Platinum. Deep Void Expedition (6 hours, commander level 4) brings exotic matter, rare ore, components and 5 Platinum.
- Commanders level up. Every expedition earns XP, up to level 10. Each level adds 6% to the loot and lowers the risk. A Survey's Platinum stays at 2.
- Nothing is lost for good. A risky run can end in an Emergency Warp: no loot, less XP and a short repair stop. Ships and commanders always come home.
- Runs on real time. Expeditions land while the game is paused or closed. Credits and cargo go to your Fleet Command station.
- Your fleet stays. Ships, commanders and their levels carry through Prestige. You rebuild the Fleet Command module each run.
Shipyard
- Build more ships. Up to 6, paid for with the Fleet Command station's credits, titanium and components.
- Five hulls. The Recon Sloop is all-round. The Strike Corvette halves the risk but carries less. The Armed Freighter carries 60% more but flies a little slower. The Exploration Cruiser and the Battlecarrier Flagship are new.
- Each comes with a commander. Void Runners make surveys and deep-void runs faster, Tacticians cut the risk, and Scrappers bring back more cargo. You can swap commanders between docked ships.
- Hangar upgrades. With one hangar, one ship flies at a time. Launch Bay and Super-Heavy Slipway (station level 6) let up to four fly at once. Advanced Drydock makes new ships 25% cheaper and repairs 25% faster.
Relics
- Ancient finds. Anomaly Surveys, the Deep Void and the Legendary routes can bring back relics. They go to the new Relic Archive tab.
- Three sets. Complete a set of three for a lasting bonus: cheaper probes, faster repairs, or +5 power on every station.
- Cores. Put a relic core in Fleet Command to boost the whole fleet, or in the Flagship's socket. A relic you already own pays 1 Platinum.
Faction Operations and Legendary Routes
- Faction Operations. Three 3-hour runs from commander level 3: Convoy Escort for the Traders' Guild, Pirate Hunt for the Federation, and Smuggler Run for the Crimson Fleet. Each earns standing with one faction, and the hostile ones cost some with its rival. Each operation rests 12 hours after it lands.
- Legendary routes. Star charts, found as relics, open The Derelict Dyson Ring (commander level 6) and The Pulsar Forge (level 8). They're the longest and richest runs, and each one brings back a relic.
First Leap and a Fleet Briefing
- A free scout. Once you build your second station, your next trip to a new system is free. Commander Hayes flies the Wren there in about 30 seconds of game time (faster at higher game speed) and brings back XP, 1,000 credits and your first relic. Hayes and the Wren then join your fleet early.
- A Fleet Command goal. A new goal, right after your first Prestige, asks you to build Fleet Command.
- Its own briefing. Once Fleet Command is built, a short briefing, separate from the main tutorial, walks you through your first launch, commanders, parts, the Shipyard, the Academy and relics. You can skip it or come back to it later.
Finding Your Way Around
- A Factions window. It's a button on the top bar and in the Menu. It shows your standing and tier with each faction, what the next tier adds, who their rival is, and every way to move standing: events, gifts, Guild Contracts and Faction Operations.
- A stations list. The galaxy map lists every station in the bottom-left corner, with its net income, credits, damaged modules and unspent Upgrade Points. Click one to open it.
- Switch stations without leaving. Inside a station, arrows step to the previous or next station, and the counter between them opens the full list.
- The Station Log is on the top bar. It shows how many new entries are waiting.
- Undo your perk picks. Perk picks stay pending until the new run starts. Undo takes back the last one, and Reset clears them all.
- Ahead of you. The Objectives and Prestige windows list the bigger systems still to come and what opens each. Until you build Fleet Command, your stations show when it opens.
- A steadier start. Random events wait 10 minutes after the tutorial. Two scripted events, one good news and one trade-off, arrive at about 3 and 12 minutes. The first 20 minutes now bring about five cards and pop-ups, where it used to be anywhere from two to nine. Story chains space their steps 8 to 12 minutes apart, and a faction's first contact is a toast instead of a pop-up.
- A tidier top bar. Below 1440 pixels wide, Prestige, Objectives, Exchange and the Menu show as icons, so the bar fits on a Steam Deck in the late game.
New Perk: Prefab Core
- Skip the same three builds. Prefab Core, in the Foundation tree after Nest Egg, starts every new station with Power Generator, Life Support and Crew Quarters already installed, free.
- Free to build, free to remove. Demolishing a prefab module refunds nothing.
Easier Modules Tab
- Build Module first. Open slots are one row at the top of the list, with a single Build Module button, instead of one per slot at the bottom.
- Fold categories. Tap a category's header to fold it. Folded headers still flag upgrades you can buy and damaged modules. Collapse all and Expand all are at the top, and the game remembers your choice.
- Shorter rows. A module's upgrades show as one total line. Hover for the names; the module's window lists them all.
Offline Earnings Fix
- Offline perks no longer pay more than playing. Offline perks and the Bullion Exchange's Automation Grid multiplied your earnings with no limit. With everything maxed, a day away could pay as much as two days of play.
- Now they raise the offline rate. Earnings still slow down the longer you're away. The perks raise those slower rates, up to the full playing rate. A day away pays at most a day of play.
- No change without perks. If you haven't bought offline perks, you earn the same as before. Players who stacked them will see less after long absences.
Needs and Resources
- Enhancements count toward needs. Each tier adds 25% of a module's base supply. Three tiers take a Power Generator from 20 Energy to 35.
- Modules add demand. Every module adds Energy demand equal to its power draw, and each Enhancement tier raises a module's demand by 25%.
- Modules really use their inputs. Restaurants use Rations, Refineries Minerals and Manufacturing Plants Components. Short of them, a module runs at that share of its supply, income and output. Sell Excess and shipping leave a module's inputs in storage.
- Existing saves get a head start. A station that can't make what its modules use gets two hours' worth from the Guild, with Sell Excess off for that resource. Build a source or set up a Supply Agreement before it runs out.
- Industry and prices. The Refinery makes 5 Components (was 4) and the Manufacturing Plant 4 Luxury Goods (was 3). Seven second-tier Enhancements cost a little less.
- Clearer numbers. The build window shows what a module earns now and at most. +X/cyc includes sales. Trade tab flows no longer climb forever. The Stats tab shows what's made, arriving and used. Supply Agreements say why a supplier isn't shipping.
Also in This Update
- Report a Bug. A new item in the Menu sends a bug report straight to the developer. Your save goes with it if you leave the box ticked.
- Update notice. On Steam, if a newer build comes out while the game is open, a notice asks you to restart to get it.
- Quit to Desktop is on the start screen.
- One build window. The module list and the picked module's details now sit side by side. During the tutorial it picks the module the step asks for.
- Needs balance. Trade Network earns 40 more and Hydroponics Bay costs 2 upkeep. Tiny markets like Ashrock and Duskmere count as small markets, so they're no longer the richest homes in the game. Housing now raises Medical demand on every planet, in proportion to its size.
- Meet the Demand no longer counts Energy, so the starting generator doesn't finish it for you.
- First screen. The arrival story is shorter and easier to scan.
- Station view. Upgraded modules no longer overlap, and Security and Rare modules each have their own arm.
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