First a brief recap: Last week we added a server-side update that caused "debris" to drop for capital ships, in addition to the "hulks" that were spawned on-destruction in the prior patch. The debris lasts for 24 hours, much like the hulks.Tonight we've released a server-side update that enables additional commands which may be issued remotely to Capital Ships. The following commands may be issued to Capital Ships, via /msg, including:park - Ship will hold position.follow - Vessel will follow the owner, within the sector. It will not jump to other sectors.follow "name" - Vessel will follow the given character, within the sector.defend "name" - Vessel will attempt to defend the character against other Capital-scale attackers.attack "name" - Vessel will attack other capital-scale ships, using only its primary equipped addon.cease fire - Ship will cease any weapons fire and park in place.patrol - Vessel will fly a circle through preset points in the given sector, it will not defend itself.prepare for docking - Ship will turn the primary docking bay towards the location of the owner at the time when the command is issued. It will not "track" the owner's ship. The command can be issued multiple times if adjustments are needed.mine - The vessel will mine using a mining beam equipped in the primary port. If the owner has a specific asteroid targeted on radar, the ship will mine that asteroid. If no asteroid is selected, then the capship randomly chooses an asteroid to mine (within 6km of the center of the sector).All of the above commands will temporarily cease operation if the sector goes into an "offline" state, after the last player leaves the sector. Mining, patrolling and combat are not "simulated" in non-running sectors for player capital ships, at the moment. Whenever the sector is started again, by a player being present, the capital ship will be re-instated with whatever commands were last issued, and will pick up where it left off. Thus, a player will need to be present in a given sector for the capship to meaningfully mine, for instance.Happy Holidays, everyone!

First a brief recap: Last week we added a server-side update that caused "debris" to drop for capital ships, in addition to the "hulks" that were spawned on-destruction in the prior patch. The debris lasts for 24 hours, much like the hulks.Tonight we've released a server-side update that enables additional commands which may be issued remotely to Capital Ships. The following commands may be issued to Capital Ships, via /msg, including:park - Ship will hold position.follow - Vessel will follow the owner, within the sector. It will not jump to other sectors.follow "name" - Vessel will follow the given character, within the sector.defend "name" - Vessel will attempt to defend the character against other Capital-scale attackers.attack "name" - Vessel will attack other capital-scale ships, using only its primary equipped addon.cease fire - Ship will cease any weapons fire and park in place.patrol - Vessel will fly a circle through preset points in the given sector, it will not defend itself.prepare for docking - Ship will turn the primary docking bay towards the location of the owner at the time when the command is issued. It will not "track" the owner's ship. The command can be issued multiple times if adjustments are needed.mine - The vessel will mine using a mining beam equipped in the primary port. If the owner has a specific asteroid targeted on radar, the ship will mine that asteroid. If no asteroid is selected, then the capship randomly chooses an asteroid to mine (within 6km of the center of the sector).All of the above commands will temporarily cease operation if the sector goes into an "offline" state, after the last player leaves the sector. Mining, patrolling and combat are not "simulated" in non-running sectors for player capital ships, at the moment. Whenever the sector is started again, by a player being present, the capital ship will be re-instated with whatever commands were last issued, and will pick up where it left off. Thus, a player will need to be present in a given sector for the capship to meaningfully mine, for instance.Happy Holidays, everyone!

VO 1.8.538 (tonight) includes:- Some capital ships now leave behind hulks when they explode, which persist for 24 hours in the universe. Hulks do not appear in sectors with stations.- Unaligned pirate capital ships now patrol the debris field, instead of staying still.- Blockade convoy capital ships now stay near the wormhole when the sector restarts, instead of always coming in from 5000m.- Leviathan hive skirmish missions have been reverted to re-starting even if players are in the sector, leading to Queens respawning more often.- Fixed issue with player capship turret list is sometimes being empty.- Fixed issue with current ship's weapon group loadout not getting saved and used when buying back your last ship.- Any changes to weapon groups while in flight are now applied when buying back your last ship.VO 1.8.537 (last week) included:- Corrected the Corporate Sector Run 4-hour notification text to say 4 hours instead of 1 hour.- Corvus Strikeforce should now chase a TempKoS player when they launch from a Corvus station.- Ship Unequip actions now check for available storage space and prompt to rent more when necessary.A mixture of fixes and gameplay changes, as we continue to work on larger projects. The "hulk" feature has been a goal for a long time, and has some interesting long-term possibilities, like creating a more persistent history of battles in the game, as well as possible "locations" where people might hunt for drops, items, or special NPCs.Have a great weekend, everyone.