Hey @everyone,
as you maybe have read: 5.1 coming moost likely in few hours. This is not just a minor patch, this is to be honest a huge patch - if not deserves a major release. Anyways I will cover some very important topics in this announcement so please make sure to read them all!
Blueprint Class limit
Thanks again to @tomcat, @Xanif, @Mordgier and all the others testing 5.1 on our HWS Nova Test Server! The main problem is still present but some very good outcomes were made and a lot of feedback was done / will be done by Eleon regarding lagshots, collision and the rest.
Can’t spoiler too much but this is mostly tackled with 5.3. Hint: you know the game Robocraft? And how they are able to do nice smooth mass battles? … 
Anyways for now this means:
- if your ship got suddenly Class 7 and above you know you made some bad design decisions regarding triangles
- the biggest performance eater are lights. Try to use less but with higher light intensity
- because this was very performance hungry and reflects also some problems for the server
- so to not totally regret everything we will have a new class limit 4! It should cover both playstyles - PvP and PvE we hope.
HWS Universe 5.1
as some already know: sorry, but it is not possible to implement Asteorids into a current universe without wiping them. This is of course not what we want. Also we don’t want to place them manually everywhere. We will do it but only from time to time. But there is a solution some will fear, some will love:
Black Hole
It’s back! But now for real
These information we could get from this very dangerous and unstable orbit so far:
- every resource from all over the universe coming here together
- the center of the Black Hole Asteroid Cloud is very very dangerous
- Black Hole gets so many asteroids that it implodes every 24 hour - everything will be absorbed at that time - forever lost
- there are some unique wormholes possible from and to Black Hole - for example you can jump from Elemental Marketplace to Black Hole but not from Black Hole to Elemental Marketplace
Starter Systems redefined
Hell, it’s about time! Starter Systems are now - guess what? Starter systems. Once you left them you can’t go back anymore (only with fresh start but why should you do this… anyways we would have a plan B for that just in case). There are now wormholes and one way jumps possible. No restriction to 25 AU actually.
What you really have to know:
- in the very first beginning of HWS history I want to try something till 6.0 and see how it goes deep breath: no wipes! People don’t have to fear losing stuff. No excuses anymore. They can build up as good as they can and join then the bigger fun out there. One is for sure: they have to leave the starter system, sooner or later. For example because the marketplace wouldn’t be satisfied over time
- However this friday will be a final wipe to be able to set Asteroids there for the beginner!
- help can be still provided in the origin planets / Elemental Marketplace. Later we have plans to send OCD items from one player to another one
- Once again: make sure to be ready when leaving. Once you warped out of the Starter Orbits there is no comeback. Cries about “but my base with aaall my stuff is still there” will be forwarded to this announcement / the Guide. In very edge cases we see what we can do
Playfields redefined
Almost every playfield was touched again and changed proper to your feedback:
- Your feedback was considered so the sealevel on Starter Planets are reduced
- Gold on Lucifer and Gabriel removed / replaced with Iron
- A lot of resources everywhere on Homeworld. Worth the visit for sure
- Asteroids in every playfield except Black Hole can only be placed manually over time. With 6.0 this will be different of course
- Pentaxid on planets isn’t possible for the same reasons but will also be changed in 6.0 aka “Gas Station”
- some playfields will be surface wiped of course. That is the least we can do instead of a full wipe
NPC Trader
Next revival:
- The rotation bug is finally fixed
- LCD lock codes can be set
- From people I have the details will get their NPC Trader placed from now on. If I missed yours till sunday, write me a PM!
- Prices will be adjusted to some of @mcprouty analysis and following rework will be done:
- You also have to pay RP for a NPC Trader package now! 1RP per slot. If a NPC Trader package has 40 slots you have to pay 40 RP per package tn:buy.
- However there are discounts possible. If people sticked to a theme they get a 50% RP discount.
- There are 3 main themes and one sub theme possible:
- Theme Resources | Theme Weapons & Ammo | Theme Components (Constructor, Medikits, etc.)
- Sub theme is if you have only one item in multiple slots. For example 20 slots a 999 iron ore. This would cost you only 10 RP
- Last but not least the profit from packages for the Owner is reduced from 77% to 50%
- as soon as everything is smooth again I try to implement Elemental Garage and Elemental Blackmarket
Reputation Points (RP)
Here we go… the very hot discussed topic about grinding, farming, dying, gaining, lucking Reputation Points. This is how they work in 5.1:
- you still have to warp and hold the epic weapon close to your chest but now per day! We removed the stress to do this per hour. You now have one day time to preform this bonus
- in exchange you get 7 RP per day for doing this task
- there is a bonus… for the cool guys… maybe… if you have NO structure at all in a PvE playfield you get additional 7RP per day (14 in total per day possible). This is on the one side an attractive bonus to live in PvP but also a decision maker when you want to settle to restricted PvE planets to retain from all the thrill - it’s up to you
- and last but not least… you can buy RP now! The long announced new super feature starts from now on. Let me introduce: EGS - Elemental Galactic Services! Only in specific zones the command egs:? is available and with egs:buyrp:X you can buy X many RP! The formula is
Price = Amount * (RPPrice + (Player Bank + Player Credits) * 0.1). The amount is depended from the location. Easy locations = expensive. Hard to find locations = cheap. - EGS will grow more and more… stay tuned
Origins
The long forgotten Freelancer are raising from the dark - looking for their revenge!
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they are a full qualified Origin too now
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they can get RP by buying it in the EGS zone
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they have a fa:supply package (+fa:survival) too now
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the global scan will be now more popular I guess (#getrektdiandgents). However you won’t be forced to it anymore. It is toggleable with the command fa:scan. But keep in mind that everytime you toggle it on it will cost you 3RP! (toggle if off is for free)
HWS Auto Miner
Just a quick update (finally)
- Sathium is now counted as a common resource. Not 1/6 of the rare one anymore
HWS Connect
As you maybe saw HWS Universe is much nicer now. If other things are more smoother again I will start working on a lot of improvements and feature implementations - HWS 2 GO for example
HWS PDA and HWS Guide
Sorry, the day only has 24 hours and even though I am always working on it it is a lot of work. I try to finish the new PDA till the weekend and update the Guide along the way with all the new stuff
HWS Community / Tutorial Videos
@Achilles again topped himself and created more than 10 incredible awesome helpful HWS tutorial videos explaining everything you need to know about HWS in a very easy way.
They will be uploaded by the day and promoted in a special section ( FAQ / Get Support)
Donation rework - part I
So this is a very special topic which comes at the end and maybe not for everyone important but it is for us. Hands down: you, the community is really outstanding. Either with feedback, support or just the way you contribute to HWS in any way!
Some of you even give your hard earned money to us. That is something very meaningful to us and we appreciate this a lot! However there is a fact that we get less and less donations because well the game become more and more better / stable etc. Donator planets are the biggest boost right now but will be tackled later.
So with over 610 dollar per month spending to HWS, for me a regular 99 hours work week and providing any human-able kind of support in this alpha game possible we need to adjust our old donation model regarding to the future and keeping HWS online for all of you.
Packages
- with 5.1 we start right away with the package “Keep unlimited amount of credits”. This is just not realistic for the future… Beta… full release… so we cap this to 70 million credits. Luckily no one has more than 70 millions so there is no loss yet.
- from 01.02.2017 on we will adjust some prices of the packages:
- HWS Donator from 10 to 17 Euro -> package content will be updated to current slots (Pentaxid) and Zas + Eres will be set from 999 to 500. Fuel Pack will be replaced and increased to 56 Fusion Cells
- Perma Discord Channel from 5 to 7 Euro
- Keep Blueprint Resources after Full Wipe from 7 to 15 Euro
- Keep 5m credits from 10 to 15 Euro
- Keep unlimited credits change to 70m credits and from 20 to 30 Euro
This change is also explained because we keep it the way that once you bought these packages you keep them and even get refreshed after a full wipe (HWS Donator). This on the other side means that we are depended to new people because most of the long term player don’t donate again anymore.
Donation rework - part II (teaser)
Planets
This is the biggest change so the reason why it is now announced but will begin at 6.0 is that it reverts our statement “you keep the planet forever”. This is also not realistic if we think about the future… universes, performance, maintainability and the server costs.
- So for the current Planet donator nothing will change - except as already mentioned: you need to let me know if your planet should be still active for the next HWS saison (HWS 6.0, 7.0, etc.). Otherwise it will be commented out due performance reasons.
- But with 6.0 planets can be only bought for one saison. After the saison either you pay again or just let your planet deactivated till you want it again
- the price will be then reduced from 300 to 100 Euro
This change is also explained because the more stable the game will be the less full wipes we have to do. If it is accepted then it provides us a good feedback to keep the servers running. Also this will reduce problems regarding returning planet donator demanding their planet even though the universe is “full”.
As some people already experienced we are very strict if it comes to money and we don’t want a pay 2 win server nor are we selfish or greedy. We try to make it as transparent as possible and will always listen to your feedback.
However the best solution is if HWS monetize itself by donations so we can happily keep our work as before and hope you appreciate all of our efforts this way too.
Done - one of the biggest changelogs so far. I hope it was worth it 
I hope you had the same fun reading everything as I had fun writing it.
Before we leave and wait for that update I want to give a shout out to @Achilles and @Jascha doing such a great work! Maybe I am the guy eating all the hate, kudos, feedback and what not but never forget that I am nothing without my best helpers
Thanks guys and good night!
Your HWS Team
Edit 1:
#Wipe Time is now set to 7 days from 15 days.
Because we don’t wipe the starters anymore this is important. Also people who doesn’t play longer than 7 days are regarding our statistics general leaver.
Edit 2:
@everyone Disclaimer!! If you want to have the new textures in your (M)ap view clear your texture caches!
steam-games\steamapps\common\Empyrion - Galactic Survival\Saves\Cache
if it’s been fixed plus mine doesn’t have a huge amount of slots but gives some goodies