VO 1.8.362-365 included:

- Strike forces now include new "Power Seeker" NPCs, who fire energy-draining weapons.
- Tab-complete on mobile devices now work the same way as on PCs.
- Fixed issue with friendly IFF not getting set on turrets for conquerable station user keys when the station is first conquered.
- Fixed the text at the end of the Offline Training Simulator to reference free-to-play instead of trial accounts on mobile devices.
- Fixed issue with gamepads on Android and joysticks/controllers that don't have any D-pad/POVhat on PC platforms rapidly scrolling through menu items.
- Fixed issue with flight controls getting changed by plugged-in but unused joysticks/gamepads on all platforms.
- Fixed mouse becoming visible when using the mousewheel while flying in space.
- Fixed issue with not being able to toggle the navmap and mission log with the n/m keys while in space.
- Improved usability of the UI when using a gamepad.
- Added ability to use a gamepad in the navmap to manipulate your navigation route. When the navmap is highlighted, press A to activate it. Then use the D-pad to highlight a sector and press A to select it or long-press A to add it to your existing route.
- The gamepad help menu now highlights the relevant controls in the Offline Training Simulator.
- The HUD is now locked to the ship instead of the player's view in the Offline Training Simulator demo scene when in Rift VR mode.
- Keychain list is now properly sorted by id. Owner keys and their user keys are first, with user keys second.
- Fixed issues with Offline Training Simulator not properly explaining gamepad controls when in Oculus VR mode.
- Fixed backwards controls with horizontal scrollbar when manipulated with the D-pad.
- New characters should now be automatically joined to channels 100 (general chat), 11 (nation chat), and 1 (help chat).
- The 'Continue' button in missions should now always be the default focused button.

We've had a number of frequent releases going on recently, across a range of topics. Tonight we add a little to gameplay with some strike force tweaks (other NPC changes coming), but previously in the week we've seen everything from VR updates, to Android fixes, to game-controller improvements, etc.

VR is a pretty important part of our long-term goals, and this also requires good gamepad/controller support in the menu interface, since one is basically "blind" when wearing a VR headset. But, beyond this, we're the game is also starting to appear more frequently on Android-based platforms with "10-foot" experiences (console-like), such as Smart TVs, set top boxes, and other hardware.

To this point, the game is currently being featured and promoted across Sony Bravia Smart-TV sets, which are basically Android-powered televisions that can natively install and run the game. This is a pretty niche market right now, but controller improvements targeted for VR will also help these users, as well as potential players on the Amazon FireTV, or possibly a future release on Apple TV or other similar types of devices.

We're still pushing hard on the 1.9 release goals, which were delayed for several months by our unplanned server migration over this summer, but we're still headed firmly in the right direction. The 1.9 goals do include a number of gameplay-specific goals, like some improvements to station defense and kill-on-sight concepts, along with some new expansions of NPC behaviours, and deeper complexity to the combat system.. all of which will allow a more meaningful release of the long-awaited expansion of the Trident capship family. It's has been frustrating (for us) to have had this all be delayed, but you should start to see some bot changes and game tweaks every week now (with any luck), which is a good sign that we're headed towards the final stretch in the 1.9 goals. Some changes may be big, others may be small, but they're taking us where we want to go.

We hope you're all looking forward to 1.9 as much as we are! Have a great weekend, everyone.