DarkSpace verison 1.670 released...

Drafell

A few days ago we released version 1.670 of DarkSpace.

This patch features a huge overhaul of the game balance, finally implementing the updated Dreadnought and Station Layouts and a major change to how repair affects ships.
There is also a noticeable improvement in the graphics engine due the addition of shader support.

Remember, DarkSpace is free to play, so join up today!

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Patch Log:
- Halved the damage and doubled the fire rate of all core weapons (Stellar Incinerator, QST, Ion Cannon) - effectively reduces single volley damage while keeping the overall DPS of these weapons. Ammo has been adjusted where applicable.
- New Cruiser layouts!
- Torpedo changes:
* Anti-Matter:
* 10% damage increase.
* Range: 480 gu.
* Speed: 60 gu/s.
* Splash: 10 gu.
* Proton:
* 10% damage increase.
* Range: 560 gu.
* Speed: 65 gu/s.
* Splash: 30 gu.
* Fusion:
* 10% damage increase.
* Range: 640 gu.
* Speed: 80 gu/s.
* Splash: 10 gu.
- [GCQL] Mutes can no longer be removed by reconnecting or changing channels.
- Muted players can no longer talk in-game via global channels (/yell, /team, and /faction).
- Added new drive flare effect for missiles - only available at medium or high detail setting
- New Utility Ship layouts (Transports, Engineers & Supplies)!
- Flux Wave now only affects enemies.
- Pulse Wave now only affects the enemy's projectiles and has a 65% chance of destroying each projectile it hits.
- All damage-orientated beams have had their damage and energy efficiency improved. Second tier beams have had their damage vastly improved.
- Stations have had their max speed lowered by about 45%.
- Missiles are more likely to aim for your ship now, rather than your shapely behind.
- New Dreadnought layouts!
- Fixed an exploit wherein you could initiate a jump and cloak.
- Fixed the issues with an Interdictor going through a Jump Gate and keeping ships dictored. Also fixed an issue with going through a gate to escape an Interdictor causing you to get stuck.
- Cloak will no longer display a faux cooldown when activated.
- Including %t in a message in-game will replace %t with whatever you are targetting.
- Reduced energy drain of Tier 2 and Tier 3 missiles, also increased AoE radius of Tier 1 missiles by ~90%, Tier 2 missiles by ~35%, and Tier 3 missiles by ~5%
- Armor rings now are colored depending on if you have shields or armor on the ship. Shields on defensive mode have an extra layer of white to indicate an arc in defensive mode (purely cosmetic)
- Swapped out old K'Luth psi/shredder missiles for new Psionic Missile and Shroud Missile.
* Psionic Missile: high energy drain - medium-high damage - payload scales with ship class - no ammo usage
* Shroud Missile: medium energy drain - medium damage - payload scales with ship class - uses ammo - high negative signature
- Fixed a bug with Ablative armor giving beam energy damage resistance, instead of kinetic energy.
- Tweaked energy drain values of the Psi Cannon and the Stellar Incinerator.
- Significantly increased the energy drain of all core weapons.
- Increased Planetary Siege Missile damage output significantly.
- Shield rotation will now charge shields at a rate of 20%, up from 10%.
- Reactive shields now have 20% resistance to all damage types except ELF and EMP, which have -20% resistance.
- Tweaked AHR to repair all ships' hull to full over 10 minutes. AHR gadget repair rate also changed to now require 5 minutes to fully repair all gadgets (not counting the ship's automatic single-gadget repair feature).
- Increased Ablative Armor's weakness to energy-based weapons.
- New layouts for all player-faction Stations!
- Planetary depots will now repair all ships within 500 gu, and have a 1-per-panet limit.
- Team chat is now coloured teal instead of gold.
- Supply Stations now have a repair field device similar to how depots function.
- Bump mapping has been applied to all ICC, UGTO and K'Luth ships.
- Medusa can now do Specular Hightlighting via shaders. This has been enabled in DarkSpace.
- Stations have lost one reload which has been replaced by an AHR-esque gadget named "Damage Control". This will repair the station and it's gadgets when the station is damaged.
- Planetary damage has been increased on all non-pd based defence bases.
- AHR and the new Damage Control can now only be reloaded by planets, depots, and platforms.
- HCL's and AD's cannot be used for PD now.
- Released: July 23rd, 2011
- HOTFIX: AHR and DC now repair armor, and costs ammo to do so. K'Luth Organic Armor regeneration rate lowered to compensate.
- HOTFIX: K'Luth stations have had their DC's replaced for a couple of weapons each.
- HOTFIX: Players getting their jumps aborted has been fixed.
- Released: TBC

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