VO 1.8.591 includes (Jan 14th):- Ten all-new custom-made missions.- Fixed Vulkan driver crash on Windows devices that have both Radeon and Nvidia GPUs.- Fixed lighting artifact issue on MacOS OpenGL 4.- New installs from the Mac App Store on Intel macs running MacOS Monterey or newer will default to the Vulkan (Metal) driver with 2 dynamic lights and shadows to reduce stutter. Requires Mac App Store update, pending Apple approval.- Fixed issue with crashes on MacOS Monterey when installed from the Mac App Store. Requires Mac App Store update, pending Apple approval.VO 1.8.590 included (Jan 7th):- Ten new custom-made missions, branching out into different trees.- Added capship 'jettison' command. It jettisons items from the cargo hold, aside from ships in the hangar. It can only be used when the owner is in the same sector as the capship.- Fixed issue with being able to swipe too many times for the Ship Purchase tutorial on Android and iOS.- Fixed issue with custom items, like trophies, becoming blank if dropped by a player's remote capship when it is destroyed.- Fixed issue with the font size of accented letters being too small when using non-English languages.VO 1.8.589 included (Dec 31st):- Ten new custom missions.- Added the ability to change turret loadout during flight, on capships.- Swapping any turret would drop shields for five minutes, and any turret(s) being swapped would be disabled for five minutes from the time of respective swap engagement.- If multiple turrets were being swapped (in succession), the shield-down-timer would reset to 5 minutes from the most recent turret swap.- Turrets and shields are restored when docking to a station.- Turret cannot be swapped if it causes grid usage to exceed availablegrid power.Challenges with MacOS Monterey have apparently been plaguing a lot of games, and ours is no exception. Please continue to report problems on the Bugs forum, and we'll track down or work-around issues as quickly as we can. It is notable that, for the most part, these are "platform" problems (OS and driver bugs), and not actually "game" problems, which can make it a challenge to even figure out why they're happening.. let alone fix them. But, we'll continue to do our best.More fundamental game changes will likely re-appear after we get out from under all the unforeseen "platform-change" bug-fixing. Thanks everyone, have a great weekend.
We recently became aware of an exploit to the "Safari Cruise" mission that could yield an unusually large number of drops, when coordinating tactics across multiple accounts or players. The mission has been pulled offline for the moment, and the drops that were improperly obtained have been removed from player inventories.To reiterate what I wrote earlier this year, on the previous exploit: If you find something that confers an obviously significant advantage and yields an unusually high value in drops or rewards, REPORT IT.For one thing, anything Manufactured or gained via content generated from an Exploit is just going to be lost anyway, whenever we trace and remove the content; and that could include items traded to other players (much like the risks of buying stolen merchandise in the real world, we do not "refund" player trades on exploited game content; so be careful who you buy from, limit your trading to other responsible individuals).Plus, anything other than reporting the problem just ends up hurting the game. It absorbs time for us to do log forensics, it derails carefully-scheduled development plans while we do "emergency analysis" of potential gameplay problems, etc. We have lost months of development time to exploits in the past, which obviously could have been used instead to make the game better, if the problem had simply been reported.We *could* also have a game completely free of issues and exploits, but it would require us to also stop making gameplay improvements. So, if you want to see the game continue to get frequent additions and changes, then you need to be on board with reporting the inevitable problems. We don't have the benefit of a large Q/A team, we rely on our players to behave responsibly and report issues as they find them. It's part of the basic reality of an independent, actively-developed MMORPG.Please keep that in mind.
VO 1.8.587 includes:- Seven new missions, available in several new trees that expand with completion.- New capship command "turbo": engages turbo for up to 10km, on the current heading, then stops.- New capship command "gather": Ship will pick up floating ore. Can also specify type of ore, then only that type of ore will be picked up.- New capship command-chaining: Multiple behaviours may be engaged concurrently with the "add" command. So, a ship might be told to "patrol" and then "add attack hostile", causing the capship to both patrol, and attack enemies. Then one might also "add gather", causing the capship to patrol, attack hostiles, and gather floating ore crates.- "Turbo" and "Stop" tutorial-arrows now vanish once the player touches the respective button.- Fix for Strafe tutorial bug for older updating game installs where Roll was not bound to Tilt.- Updates to the iOS version, adds +ActivateTurrets, Localisations, Async Asset Loading, new Touch-Look flight model, improved battery efficiency, other features recently added to the Android version. Requires App Store update for the features to be available.As usual, the Holiday Promo is now active. Happy Holidays everyone!
VO 1.8.586 includes:- Ten additional missions, building out in trees based on mission completion.- Android adds very basic (alpha) tutorial support for Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish and Turkish.- Fixed issue with hidden HUD elements becoming visible when the HUD flashes.- Turbo and Stop buttons now flash and have animated arrows pointing to them in the Strafe Tutorial.- Capella can no longer be quickly destroyed by particular types of ship collisions.- Fixed issue with PS4 controller not displaying correct settings in the editable controller menu.- Fixed crash with Google Daydream VR mode.- Reduced HUD Shake intensity by half, on both PC and Android.A lot of other changes going on in the background, beyond what you see here, but this is what we were able to release in time for the weekend.Please report any problems on the Bugs forum of the game website. Thanks everyone, happy holidays!
VO 1.8.585 includes:- Six new missions have been added.- Added "/tkostime" command, to print a list of where the current character is TempKoS, and for how long.- Android and PC HUD (2D) will now visually shake slightly when Turbo is engaged.- Android and PC HUD will now flash green if you pick up cargo.- Android version will now auto-reconnect and use the last character, if the game was disconnected while backgrounded.- Fixed capship turret gunner exploit that allowed players to halve the fire-delay of certain turrets.- Fixed capship turret owner exploit relating to changing turrets quickly.- Fixed scanners causing false NFZ warnings.- Touch to Select on Android has been temporarily disabled, pending fixing a major issue.A lot more changes coming next week. Please keep us posted on any bugs you find, via the Bugs Forum on the website. Thanks!
VO 1.8.584 includes:- Four new missions: "Anti-Piracy Task Force", "Courier for Legal Documents", "Runaway Guardians", "Phase 1 Industrial Assay".- Toggling "+ActivateTurrets" now visually adds a small red "AT" to the left of the Distance graph, and also shows a brief "Turret Control Online" or "Offline" message in the chat log.- Android version now gives a small "haptic" (device vibration) when the user engages turbo, or when the user is struck by enemy fire.- Android "Language" Options dialog has been made larger and easier to use.- Android initial tutorial now starts with the HUD hidden, presents the text to the right, progress bar integrated into the text dialog.- Android now includes a "tilt" tutorial, showing the user how to rotate their ship.- Android "Back" menu is now unique for each initial tutorial.- Android initial "offline" tutorials now disable any touch buttons and regions that are not specifically needed for that tutorial, to avoid accidental confusion in early gameplay.- Android "Rings" tutorial flight-timeout no longer interrupts the Back or initial Continue dialog.- Android players can no longer physically collide with the outer "Ring" objects in the tutorial.- Android includes many other small tweaks to the initial tutorials, localization.Some new missions, a few later-game improvements, and a lot of changes to the early tutorial experience. More features are in the pipe, but were not able to be completed for release-time. Stay tuned. As always, please report any Bugs on the Forums (only Exploits, that need to remain secret, should be reported via Support Tickets). Thanks everyone!
VO 1.8.583 includes:- Four new missions: "Dragon Variations", "At the Heart of It All", "Nemeses" and "Safari Cruise".- New capital ship command-set help, by messaging "help" to a capship that is owned by the player.- Expanded Russian localizations on Android, including Gamepad controls and configuration.- No Fire Zones in Nation space no longer allow any weapon to fire (including PCB or repair-gun). Mining is allowed. Special "unlawful" weapons may become manufacturable that will be able to circumvent this barrier, and require smuggling across borders.- Added a notification when attempting to use weapons or turrets inside the NFZ of stations in Nation space.- Improved "highlight" features for Missions to more easily display control information, for new Tutorials.- Added "highlight" arrows that can point to the nearest docking bay, in space and on radar, for updated Tutorial usage.- Additional Tutorial analytics, to help determine when new players run into difficulties during tutorial missions.The NFZ changes were initially suggested by the userbase, to simplify handling of cases, including:- A player hiding within a hostile capship's docking bay, in the NFZ, and using the Strike Force to attack the capship. - A troll "attacking" new players using PCBs or Repair Guns to trick the new players into firing back and getting themselves Temp KoS'd.But, aside from this, the new change also drastically simplifies the new-user tutorials, which is part of the current goal-set. Explaining the old NFZ system was challenging, and the prospect of then trying to translate that explanation across many languages was even more of a concern. Simply "locking out" weapons is a hell of a lot easier, and seemed to help mitigate a variety of problems.VO is still fundamentally a "no absolutely safe place" game, and we may eventually offer special "black market" weapons that can be Manufactured in grayspace, and used within lawful No Fire Zones to attack, for instance.. in assassination type missions. But, this will at least be a controlled and rare case, compared to trolls taunting newbies, or various other challenges.As always, everything here is a "work in progress" and shouldn't be taken as cast-in-stone. If problems emerge with the new system, we'll continue to evolve it. The "Suggestions" and "Bugs" forums are available if people want to contribute constructive (and respectful) feedback around any of these issues.The current Russian localization can sometimes push the "old-style" interface out of alignment a little bit, due to longer words or phrases. It's still functional, but not ideal. The new-style interface is still in development, but we needed to start actively testing with translations, so this should all settle out and improve over time.That's all for now, Happy Holidays!
VO 1.8.582 includes (11/20):- New "Hive Queen Mining Beam": a new capital-class mining beam that is a rare drop from Hive Queens.- New AndroidTV dialog, on devices with no gamepad or other input, allows re-scan for new input devices.- Fixed problem with swapping right/left touch region inputs in Advance Options on Android.- Additional Russian translated content on the Android version.- New tutorial missions on Touchscreen devices.- New disconnection dialog on Android, makes it easier to reconnect to the server.VO 1.8.581 included (11/12):- New experimental/prototype Russian localization for Android.- Mission-based HUD Notification text is now displayed in the upper left over the chat region on Android.- Mitigated issue with Deneb Border War and Hive Skirmish missions not giving out awards.- Clarity and stability changes to some missions.- More anonymous analytics on the Android version.- Added support for localized missions.Russian support on Android marks our first "prototype" localization. This is not finalized, at all, and a lot of text is still going to be changing as we release the new user-interface, so expect that perfect translations are not the immediate priority. We will be seeking player input on translation quality, as things get further along.The new Hive Queen Mining Beam is the result of a Suggestions Forum thread, and now makes its way into production. These addons should further amplify the capabilities of capital ships for mining operations. But, the "drop" nature of the addon will likely keep it in demand for some time, and add further value to Queen Hunting.As always, please let us know of any problems via the Bugs Forum. Thanks much!
A lot of changes in the last couple of weeks..VO 1.8.580 includes (11/5):- New tutorial missions in initial rollout on touchscreen devices, will eventually be coming to other input models.- Improved client-side mission list refresh and update latency.- Replaced Dentek Collectors with Orun Collectors in the Training Sectors.- Players who take a Deneb Battle or Hive mission, but never participate in the battle, are no longer awarded any XP or credits.- Changed jump-in point selection to reduce the chance that players end up inside or beyond the asteroid ring in Sol I-11 and other sectors with asteroids near jump-in points.- Added ability for tutorials to highlight various HUD elements.- Various PCC mission editor improvements and new features.- Updated to Android Billing API v4.- Android 6.0 "Marshmallow" is now the minimum required to install Vendetta Online from the Play Store, for a variety of technical and stability related reasons.VO 1.8.579.4 included (11/4):- Touch-selection now works through the new Touch-Throttle and Touch-Look input modes. Quickly tapping an item in space will select it.VO 1.8.579 included (11/2):- New Touch-Throttle input mode for Android Touch devices. It is enabled for new installs, and disabled for existing installs. To enable, go to Advanced -> Controls -> Touch and press the 'Defaults' button.- Streamlined Android Touch-based initial offline training simulator, changed voice-over sounds.- Updated client-side mission cache and start requesting mission info for missions not in the cache earlier in the login process, allowing the mission list to be populated more quickly when logging in.- Added more anonymous analytics to the Android version.VO 1.8.578 (10/27):- Brakes now set the Flight-Assist Throttle when released on Android for new installs. Existing installs retain the previous functionality of resuming the set speed. A setting has been added to change this setting in Options -> Advanced -> Controls -> General -> Braking reduces F/A throttle.- Added features to be used in future missions.- Added more anonymous analytics to the Android version.VO 1.8.577 (10/22):- Two new Missions for beginner-level players.- Player and NPC ships should now be less-likely to jump-in very close to asteroids.- New mission-editor mechanics to better illustrate controls in tutorials (PCC).- Game Website Support-Ticket system now prevents accidental double-submission of tickets.- Game Website Support-Ticket system now uses a more mobile-scalable web design.- Changes and improvements to the administration interfaces of the ticket and other internal systems.- Game Website Forums now prevents users from editing or deleting posts after 15 minutes pass from the time the post was initially made.- PCC members may now only "bump" very-old threads (greater than 6 months) on the restricted-access PCC Forums.- New (anonymized) analytics to help assess new-user progress through tutorials, broken down by localiz
VO 1.8.576 includes (tonight):- Six new missions, three of them lower-level in Nation space, three higher-levels in Grayspace.- Leviathans are now excluded from the player-capship turret-drop limitations.- Fixed a problem with missile turrets firing too quickly.- Fixed issues when attempting to launch from a capship and enter a turret at the same time.- Fixed issue with storm exit points possibly being inside asteroids.- Fixed UI issues with AndroidTV devices.- Improvements to various game analytics.VO 1.8.575 included (last weekend):- Six new missions have been added to the game: two Itani, two Serco and two UIT. Each of them requires Combat License 4 or better.- Android version now includes improved experimental background-threaded loading for ES3 renderer. All asset types can now be background-loaded into the GPU.- "/report" command may now be used by Freemium players, and should be the preferred standard for reporting in-game toxicity or other issues.- Android now uses the "logo-style" game patcher, and does not show the patch notes (for the moment).- Further tutorial streamlining experiments with the Android version.- Removed "Replay" options in Android tutorials.- Button highlighting changes on the Android version, to make selection a little more obvious.- Fixed issue with animated green line in the Nav Menu.- Removed asynchronous background loading support from ES2 devices (Android) to try and fix reported ES2 problems on older hardware.- Improvements to various game analytics.Please note the "/report" system now being available to everyone, including Free players. People should use it thoughtfully and with care; but that is the appropriate way of reporting in-game abuse, toxicity and other chat issues, because it inherently includes the chat itself with the Report.Hopefully everyone enjoys the twelve new missions in the game! Many thanks to Phaserlight for that. Anyone else who would like to try their hand at creating missions should investigate the PCC (Player Contribution Corps), linked from the game website (you must be logged into the site with your game account).Beyond that, a lot of other development swirling around, as we try to wrap up some of our technical goals with background asset-loading and other features, which will prove critical to new content in the future.If you find any Bugs, please post about them on the Bugs Forum.Also, be sure to stop by for the Corporate Sector Run on Saturday, and Nation War on Sunday! Plus a mining Event called Corvus Mineral Research coming up on the 27th.