Some pretty major changes in tonight's release. Here are the patches from the last couple of weeks:VO 1.8.524 includes:- Secure In-App Purchase is now available in the game-client, on native PC platforms, using Guild Software's existing in-house credit card handling. See in-game Options for details.- Freemium gameplay access is now possible from all platforms, including PC, along with the usage of Crystal.- Freemium is now the default for new PC accounts, instead of Trial.- Freemium and Lite accounts may now submit Events.- Freemium and Lite accounts may now create Guilds, and serve as Council.- All level caps have been removed for Lite and Freemium players.- Lite Members now gain access to build and use Goliath-class capital ships (also retains 50% higher daily crystal limits from bots).- Technically, all players may now construct Capital Ship components, but final assembly and usage is limited by membership tier.- Added more internal analytics to help monitor the changes. On-going business model changes may be expected (crystal tweaks, etc).- Premium access still includes: Tridents, less aggressive AFK logoff, LTS benefits, etc. New content will be added to the Premium tier, along with other benefits.(Last week on 08/07):VO 1.8.523 included:- First-gen, non-public testing of a new cross-platform "In App Purchasing" system, tied to our own billing backend.- Security updates and improvements for the game client, related to upcoming IAP features.- Fixed problem on Windows causing threaded renderer to not properly utilize systems with non power-of-two core counts.- Mitigated a rare concurrency issue with threaded job system.- Players now respawn more quickly after death, particularly for high-ping players.- Network protocol "streaming" mode is now enabled when a player leaves a sector, for faster transitions on high-ping connections.Obviously, tonight's release includes very significant changes to the game's business model and availability, which have been planned for a very long time and we're happy to see them finally released.We'll be discussing them in greater detail in the next Newsletter. Stay tuned!