0.392.4 - The Enceladian Order

Strike of The Geologist Union ended

Today marks the end of the long-running Geologist’s Strike, spanning the planetary system. The conflict over the use of AI to phase human labor out of geological surface operations on Saturnian moons has run for over two years. Specific to orbital operations, this means the resumption of services in drone system management and mineral mapping.

New Enceladian Order

Fulfilling his electoral promises, the new president of Enceladus Corp has increased the tax exemption on inherited spaceworthy ships from 7,000E$ up to 35,000E$. While this move would help small family-based excavation companies, tax experts note that the very same bill established a general 9% shipcare contribution that, despite the promises, will increase the effective tax burden on most independent miners.

Obonto Habitats declare neutrality

With the escalation of hostilities within the A-Rings between Vilcy security contractors and anarchist refugees from Ganymede, Obonto Habitats declared neutrality in the conflict, offering to trade with any ship that would approach their stations with no ill intent.

Maintenance Records

• Expanded tutorial with additional in-character notes left for new players.
  
• New Geologist tab in your Onboard Maintenance System, with local mineral excavation map and ability to control remote drone systems, focusing them on specific minerals or specific values.
  
• Improved artificial intelligence of ship-mounted mining companions and cargo containers. You can now order a return to your cradle if you launch any of them by mistake, and the docking protocol will now align them correctly and bring them close enough for you to catch without moving your ship. You still need to power up your cradle to catch them.
  
• Changed the icons for stat comparisons when hiring a crew to make it clear that you are upgrading or downgrading your current staff.
  
• Improved persistence of dialogues. Stations will not change their minds on what they want and who is aboard if you fly far enough and return to them.
  
• Increased the patience of your crew when you forget to pay their salary.
  
• The dealer will now ask for confirmation when buying or selling ships.
  
• Obonto habitats will not get offended anymore if you fire on independent miners.
  
• Removed a view button on the Dealer screen, which did the same as clicking the ship name.
  
• Mineral market polishing: highlighted month changes, all the numbers formatted the same way, added missing padding.
  
• If you lost a rock from the cargo hold, your cargo hold value would display state before losing that rock.
  
• Moved the OMS mechanic hotkey display to another column to make the power buttons more prominent.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused drones and ammo contained in onboard storage of drone systems and mass-drivers to disappear upon launching from Enceladus.
  
• Gimballed thrusters could operate well below their minimum power when pointed in the wrong way, causing your autopilot to use up propellant without getting any meaningful thrust.
  
• Fixed several graphical glitches inside the Space Bar and made it easier to spot the entrance.
  
• In some cases, you could launch the game without getting keyboard focus on any of the buttons, making it impossible to start playing without using a mouse.
  
• Updated translations.