Okay, you asked for release date? It's today! Well, not release, only the very first beta... but anyway.
4.84 will contain lots of new features, and most of them are already included, so the next betas will be mainly for tweaking balance and fixing bugs (yes, there are bugs, like in every first beta). You can read the full list of features below.
Important rule changes, and changes related to the rules, will follow this release. ID cost is reduced 10-15 times, except for Xeno ID and Neutral ID. Name Change Certificate price will rise from 2 to 5 million credits. Price of faction system purchase will rise from 600 million to 1 billion credits (all previous system requests will be processed using the old price, if they are confirmed). Ship types are now clearly defined by in-game and complete forum rules. Also, we are preparing special rules regarding battleship licensing. But this is for further discussion, and 1st beta doesn't contain the license as purchaseable item.
The first beta will run only on the PvP server. RP server will still run the 4.83 final version.
Version number is 48.41.
- 10 new ships:
Advanced Train
Arwing by Ryuujin
Bounty Hunter Cruiser by Mancer
FireFly by Godzero
Havoc Mk II by Legeonation
Kusari Bomber by Mohr (removed from sale due to texture issue)
Scorpion by TFK-Killermatrix
Viper Mk II by Nightstalker
Virage by Legeonation
Waran Bomber by RimShot
- 5 new systems:
Omicron Eta (Edge World system controlled by Outcasts and Corsairs)
Omicron Iota (Nomad system)
Omicron-99 (Nomad system)
Omega-58 (Border Worlds system controlled by The Wild)
Bastille Prison System
- 4 updated systems:
Londonderry (Mollys system) by Sawtyss
Puerto Rico (Junkers system) by Commodore
Sigma-59 (GMG system) by Commodore
Tau-44 (IMG system) by Denelo
- 17 new stations in different systems, and one new dockable planet.
- Asteroid impact physics changed, as well as general collision physics (more testing needed).
- Maximum missile velocity is now higher.
- Multiple ship balance changes (see the ships table for details).
- Collector (CSV II) reclassified as a very heavy fighter.
- Liner and Prison Liner rebalanced; they are no longer capable of equipping gunboat equipment, but can carry more cargo.
- Many hitboxes for large ships updated.
- Cargo jettison hardpoints added for all new ships.
- Components of Vanilla VHF ships are less vulnerable now.
- Changed hardpoints for Outcast Destroyer and Liberty Carrier (thanks to Angel of Mercy).
- Huntress has more backward-firing turrets.
- Battlestars received a hull upgrade.
- Slipstream slightly upgraded.
- Spatial engine sounds fixed.
- Prices of all battleships increased by 100 million, all cruisers by 20 million.
- Repair ship can hold 3000 nanobots and batteries now.
- 12 new capital ship turrets added.
- All capital ship weaponry rebalanced.
- High-level fighter weaponry rebalanced.
- Supernova torpedo added to replace Nova; Nova remains an anti-capital energy weapon with extremely high energy capacity and very low refire rate.
- Bombers are now the only ships capable of firing Nova or Supernova.
- High-level NPCs are now tougher; low-level NPCs slightly downgraded.
- New faction: Nomad Guard.
- Countermeasure slots added for all transport ships.
- 2 new countermeasure droppers added.
- 2 new thrusters added.
- 4 new scanners added.
- Price of all IDs reduced 10-15 times, except for Neutral ID and Xeno ID.
- 5 new IDs added, including Miner ID and Smuggler ID.
- Freelancer ID is now eligible above level 40. Civilian ID replaced the former Freelancer ID for starting players.
- 3 new commodities: Counterfeit Software (contraband), Plutonium, Slaves (contraband).
- Many trade routes rebalanced. Smuggling became profitable.
- Sirius History commodity available from major planets.
- Certain mineable fields are now easier to mine.
- Battleship License added. More info about the License will be available in the near future.
- New admin notifications added: notifications will now specify which rule was violated.
- Reduced refire rate for chainguns and rapid-firing capital ship weapons (necessary for lag reduction and sustaining weapon balance).
- Server rules amended to reflect changes in ship classification. Now all cargo ships with cargo capacity above 500, including liners, are considered transports and treated accordingly.
- Multiple bugs fixed, infocard errors corrected. Many infocards amended and rewritten.
- Names of two Unknown systems changed.
Advanced Train is a train with 4 cargo sections instead of 3, like Large Train. It's... well, larger, less agile, but can carry 5000 cargo and costs more than 100 million. This model is present in original FL, and very long ago I wanted to include it, but later forgot. Mohr reminded when showcased his ship compared to the Train model.
Firefly features correct light colors that I checked using an actual Serenity picture.
Liners are now normal transports, with much increased cargo holds, but without any possibility to use gunboat equipment.
I had to change certain suns in new systems. This is due to a vanilla FL bug with suns that cause clientside problems and might result in memory leaks/crashes. The list of bugged suns is quite impressive, since all of them except one are used in original systems as well. This will be discussed in Dev forum soon.
What should be changed for beta 1:
- Gunboat equipment should be removed from all transports and liners.
- More changes might be needed depending on the ship (if you own a capital ship or a transport, check all slots before undocking).
A few words on what is NOT in this beta. Kusari Bomber by Mohr was included, but is not available for sale due to corrupt texture. There are no new codenames in this beta, and no new wrecks (some will be added in future). Recently submitted ships were also not included. No changes made for "Coalition guard system", I'm yet unsure what to do with it.
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