Four things landed in the galaxy with this update: three new worlds to explore and colonize, plus major changes to cloaking, hunting, and the galactic economy.
Three New Planet Classes
Toxic, Lunar, and Crystal planets can now be discovered throughout the galaxy alongside the existing worlds.
Each has its own environment, visual style, and colony economics. Scout them, claim them, establish a colony, and eventually build your Citadel on an entirely new kind of world.
Cloaking Isn't Complete Invisibility Anymore
Cloaked ships still disappear from radar, Computer listings, and Attack targets — but observant captains now have a chance to notice them.
In the zoomed sector view, a cloaked ship appears as an extremely faint 10% silhouette. You can't identify the ship, determine who owns it, or attack it simply because you spotted it.
But if you're paying close attention, you might realize you're not alone.
The Tachyon Pulse Generator
There's now a way to do something about that suspicious shadow.
The Tachyon Pulse Generator is a very expensive, single-use device available from the Stellar Hardware Emporium and usable only by top-tier hulls.
Fire one and it sweeps your current sector for cloaked vessels. Any cloaked ship caught in the pulse becomes identified and attackable to you — and only you.
But there's a catch: you still don't know what you're shooting at.
The pulse doesn't reveal fighters, shields, cargo, or other combat information. You'll know who's hiding there and you'll have a firing solution, but attacking is still a calculated risk.
The cloak itself never breaks. Everyone else still sees nothing, and your detection lasts only while that ship remains in the sector. Once it leaves, it disappears from your systems again.
The cloaked captain receives a log warning that a tachyon pulse may have exposed their position — but not who fired it.
The generator is consumed immediately whether it finds something or not.
The Federation also records an “unusual tachyon pulse” galaxy-wide, identifying the sector where it occurred... but not the commander responsible.
Someone just went hunting.
Trading Ports Recover Their Cash
Trading ports now have a healthier long-term economy.
Previously, a port that bought too much cargo without enough players purchasing from it could eventually run completely out of cash — and stay broke indefinitely.
Ports now maintain their own resting cash reserve. If trading drains a port below that level, its available cash gradually regenerates over time until the reserve is restored.
It never regenerates faster than its normal recovery rate and never exceeds its target reserve.
So you can still temporarily clean out a lucrative port.
You just can't bankrupt it forever.