Bugfixing release. Andy has done some major work to the network layer, specifically to the MTU Path Discovery code. Some people have been experiencing crashes related to packet fragmentation, due to bugs in the older code, and this is a bit of a rehash to improve stability and performance. Any time we touch the network layer it's a little scary.. because there are so many varied routers and devices out on the internet, you're never exactly sure how things are going to work until you put it into production. But, hopefully things will go smoothly and this will result in an overall performance and stability improvement for everyone. Users who have been unable to connect due to MTU problems should also try re-connecting, their issues may have been fixed by this patch.

Michael has made a lot of fixes to the Hive and the related "Hive Skirmish" missions. Please check out the Hive Skirmish and report any problems to him via the messageboard.

I'm deep in the midst of another UI redux, this one for the purpose of improving our new-user experience and introducing an all-new Tutorial system (if anyone is interested, I'm starting to edit on the design wiki again). Hopefully the new tutorial will make the game much less confusing and frustrating for newbies, and give people a smoother introduction to the game universe. However, this is taking me away from short-term game improvements, so the only graphical changes in this version are some bugfixes to the planets (Sedina D14, which was using the wrong bumpmap, credit to tumblemonster for pointing it out to me) and some changes to the Queen/Teradon/Trident explosions (they now do slightly less damage but much greater Force).

Ray is working with me on the new UI stuff, and this new version includes a bunch of changes to how the interface works.. which no one will notice at all. The changes are important to the implementation of the new tutorial and other UI improvements which should be seeing the light of day within 2 to 2.5 weeks. Once the new user experience is improved, we'll be in a better position to start marketing the game more heavily. Additionally, we'll start focusing on more significant core gameplay changes at that point. I know a lot of users have volunteered to help in the marketing in any way they can, please stay tuned to the messageboard for information on how you can help, over the next couple of weeks.

Luis has several new ships ready to roll, but I haven't had time to integrate and test them. I'll be getting back to that as soon as I can.

The update next week will hopefully be a little more interesting, with some more content changes, ai changes and the like. Until then, please stay tuned, and test the infrastructural changes that will lead up to more apparent alterations to gameplay. As always, if you find any problems, please post to the messageboard.

Changelog:

- Mission bugfixes (Trade Guild, Mining Tutorial, and
Recon/Spy missions particularly)
- Minor graphical fixes (planet bumpmaps, etc).
- Lessened damage and increased force of Queen explosions
- Network bugfixes and performance enhancements
- Fixed various Hive Skirmish bugs