This is our first ever MAJOR update. I'm calling it major because it adds an entire new gameplay system to the demo... Item Crafting!

After the fleet arrives at Novus Prime you'll now be tasked with finding and rescuing Engineer Relios. Once done he'll join the fleet flying the Assembler, a vessel that can be used to customize equipment.

Players returning to old saves will find the Assembler has already joined the fleet!

Item Crafting

There are now 3 ways you can customize equipment at the Assembler. They all involve a credit cost and they all involve destroying another item.

Increase Level / Rarity

You can now increase the level and rarity of equipment by destroying other items you don't wish to use. This means if you find a weapon you like you can keep it with you for as long as you want by continually making it better as you level-up.

Replace Modifier

You can destroy an item and take 1 of it's modifiers on to another piece of equipment. You'll still need to go out hunting for the modifiers you want but once you find them you can craft your perfect weapons to match your play-style.

Item Storage

You can also store additional equipment in the Assembler. This new storage includes 2 tabs once for local storage for the player you're currently playing and a new shared storage that will allow you to transfer items you don't want on to other player saves!

There are obviously a host of other changes all detailed below. Including a hugely requested feature (requested by me every time I'm forced to make a new save) the Skip Intro Cutscene button!

There will likely be some hotfixes and minor updates in the coming days, even though I've done 4 updates to this build already as we tested it I'm sure there may be other issues given it's size and complexity.

I hope you enjoy it. Lots of balance changes and requested features coming in the next one!

Patch Notes

New Features / Content

• New dockable Assembler ship can now join your fleet.
• Added new panel when docking with the Assembler that allows:
• - Local storage can now be used to store items.
• - Shared storage can now be used to transfer items between saves.
• - Equipment level can now be increased for a cost.
• - Equipment rarity can now be increased for a cost, unlocked at level 8.
• - Equipment modifiers can now be transferred for a cost, unlocked at level 16.
• - Some equipment now has alternate appearance options.
• - Legendary equipment can now be renamed.
• New mission added after arriving at Novus Prime to rescue Engineer Relios.
• New artwork added for Engineer Relios.
• Phantom artwork is now in for their dialog in Sector 2.
• Removed faction selection from item display as now accessed via Assembler.
• Discovered legendary equipment is now shown in Statistics panel.

Balance Changes

• Heat build-up now stops as weapons disable when dodging.
• Rare items will no longer spawn with 2 global and only 1 regular modifier.
• Sparks (friendly repair ships) now come from the Assembler instead of the Mothership.
• Halved amount of time Species-XI ships will spend phase shifted when attacking.
• Enemy ships will now only phase shift when targetting the player.
• Reduced sell / buy credits of different / rare / legendary items by -50%.
• Reduced price of large consumables by 50%.
• Legendary weapons no longer have modifiers outside acceptable ranges.
• Legendary weapons no longer have negative modifiers.
• Adjusted effectiveness and base resistance of infinity stones passive item.
• Adjusted effectiveness and base armor of bulwark passive item.

Quality of Life / Accessibility

• Button / key bind added to skip the intro cutscene.
• Action will now pause during dialog if any enemies target any friendly ship.
• Overheat sounds played in settings now play at the selected volume.
• Updated all tutorial artwork to reflect current graphics.
• New setting added to disable mouse aiming for keyboard-only play.
• Equipment comparison tooltip now shows item level.
• Admiral image added to corner of Mothership panel.
• Fixed color of binding displays to match their backgrounds.

Bug Fixes

• Auto weapons no longer fire during dialog display.
• Fixed bug with required level modifier not giving weapons higher stats.
• Combining velocity and strafing controls no longer results in faster acceleration.
• Fixed issue with grapples not disconnecting once attached.
• Fixed issue with some weapon types not activating / de-activating correctly.
• Enemies with cone attacks will now correctly shoot where their warnings predict.
• Fixed issue where auto tesla coil would still animate while out of range.
• Fixed display issues in mothership panel on 120% UI scale.
• Invisible weapons no longer show on ship images in navigation or missions.
• Controller disconnection no longer pauses the intro cutscene.
• Fixed null pointer if you manage to leave an encounter while dialog is still active.
• Fixed thermal resistors not giving any thermal resistance.
• Fixed null pointer when clicking empty slots in cargo.
• Fixed bosses in Sector 1 giving the wrong missions if reached at low level.
• Targeted ships now correctly show their name below instead of class.
• Target reticle is no longer blurry around the edges on larger ships.
• Fixed null pointer when clicking on unscanned thrusters.
• Fixed parse error when using 'xp' command incorrectly in developer console.
• Fixed issue where dragging stackable items onto each other would not merge them.
• Fixed background of mothership sale items being too bright.
• Fixed null pointer in NavigationHighlight.Update().
• Fixed quick sell section of mothership panel not being translated.
• Fixed global light error during loading scene.
• Fixed auto launchers remaining active when they should not.
• Fixed null pointer in HUDWarningGlow.UpdatePulse().
• Shortcut keys no longer activate when typing in discard / sell quantity box.
• Intercept encounters will now show the correct message when failed.
• Fixed navigation highlight with controller appearing below cargo panel.
• Removed duplicate recharge item stat on Auto Stinger Launchers.
• Fixed infinity stones not giving thermal resistance.
• Fixed toggle / checkbox UI elements not paying navigation audio on mouse-over.
• Slot selection for Swap and Equip no longer includes the item being replaced.
• Hitting escape while dragging an item no longer hides the item from display.
• Fixed item stats error when opening projectile details of some weapons.
• Fixed memory leak in ship designer due to manual garbage collection.
• ESA will no longer randomly threaten to kill you when you encounter Shadow in Sector 2.
• Comparison tooltip no longer goes off the bottom of the screen.
• Statistics display now scrolls on 120% UI scale.
• Fixed credit value on player bar not updating when credits picked up from containers.
• Slot unlocking tutorial no longer pops up 5 levels early.
• Fixed infinity stones and thermal resistance not improving with level.
• Fixed controller tab navigation on stats core panel.
• Fixed dev tool / difficulty warning display overlapping tabs on Steamdeck.
• Fixed controller tab navigation in assembler panel.
• Lowered priority of UI sounds so they hopefully don't interrupt music.
• Turret launchers will no longer get construct speed modifiers.
• Fixed binding display in settings overlapping label on 120% UI scale.