FYI, there's an "experimental" new Valkyrie variant, with a thinned profile, that's now in the game but not yet available to purchase. It'll require some new missions to acquire, and is there literally for experimentation with a differently shaped valk.

Also, Mac users may notice some graphics problems with certain ships and asteroids and things. This is an unforseen bug with the new shader architecture, which Ray is fixing as quickly as he can.. but it'll probably be a day or two before it's fixed. Hopefully sunday. Everything will continue to work fine, it'll just look funny. As a workaround, you can go into Options -> Video and disable shaders for now.

Also, the floating cargo model has been replaced with little "present" or gift boxes. Happy holidays :).

You got the presents in before anyone even posted to ask for them!

And before anyone starts shouting that this update does nothing to cure cancer among the !Kung! tribespeople, let us remember that these items were "low hanging fruit" - things that could be done during what would otherwise be lost time while waiting for others to complete their parts of larger projects.

Thanks devs!

Yeah, most of the work is still ongoing with the back-end, and the fog isn't ready for prime-time yet (although the new shader architecture is part of it, and clearly still has a few bugs).

New Valk looks pretty sweet! When can I fly it?!

A valk that looks MORE like me car?! Teh awesome... screw zee mission, let us test!

Ok, in an effort to get the new Valk into testing as quickly as possible, I've just posted the "Itani Test Pilot" mission to Itani Research stations. It requires 5 Combat, 5 Light Weapons. Since I kinda rushed on this, I haven't tested the mission, but it should work (although it may not be easy).

IF IT HAS PROBLEMS.. please post and let me know. I'll fix it as soon as I wake up. The only potential issues I forsee is the occasional weirdness we've had with the TPG test pilot mission, or bots killing each other by running into one another.. but I made this one differently from the TPG missions, so hopefully it won't exhibit the same problems.

There's just the one mission, and then you have access to purchasing the new Valk.

Ok, just tested it, and it works. It's somewhat intense though, heheh. Fun stuff. Parts could use improvement and polish, but it does give access to the ship if you finish, and it's pretty straightforward.

This is quite a suprise, thanks Incarnate. :)

I think this mission is too hard. The first six bots are all high end ships incuding a spammer hog. If you manage to beat them (once in 8 tries for me) you then face 2 Proms and 2 Serco vults. The first six bots act just like NPC pirates. They can't be spread out because they're alll too fast, so you end up blind in a hial of agt flare and n3 fire.

Bottom line, love the idea, can't want to fly the ship, but I don't think a single pilot can beat this mission without some severe luck. The one time I managed to get to the final 4 ships was because I was by chance sent to a sector with unmapped roids I could hide behind and drop lmines. I was still out of ammo by the time I got to fighting the 2 proms and 2 sercovults.

Eek.

New VALK? gotta see that !

Ok i take everything i said back.
Mission is doable in a devbus for sure, we mortals who need to use valk, ibg or any other ship cant really do it.
First wave, hog, 3 vults, cent and raptor at once and if you manage to survive that, prolly at 5-10% health left you need to kill 2 more proms and 2 SVGs ganking you at the same time?

All you true unbelievers. I have the new X-1, if I can beat this anyone who is actually good should be able to do it, and in a ship other than the dev bus ;)

I used an IDF with an Ultra Charge and 3xlaw and chainfire bind.
The first batch of ships is (6 ships) 1xhog + 1xraptor + 1xcent + 3xvultIII . The trick was to select the hog right after the first batch warps in and turbo to him (they warp in a bit appart) and cut him out of the fight before his buddies get there, otherwise you have to deal with an AGT and flares while fighting everyone at once. If you do this the other ships are a trivial matter for any good pilot (just like hunting unrats). Once you get the first batch a second batch (4 ships, 2xprom + 1xsercvult + 1xcent), this sounds hard but I didn't take one hit against this batch, the proms DO NOT have AGT's XD XD XD, just kill of the vult and centurion and run circles around the proms till they empty their flare tubes then go in for the kills :)

NOTE: Do this hit and run style. Run to a safe distance, select the nearest bot, turn toward him and run in, hit him with a battery full of energy than turbo away. Rinse, Repeat, ???, Profit?

UPDATE: this took me about 6 tries.

UPDATE2 (first impressions): I haven't had much of a chance to take it into combat yet, but so far I love it :) The slimmer profile is way cool, additional changes from the IDF are +600 armour and +100kg. So it's a little heavier but has a little more armour. I have a feeling once I start fighting in this It will rule :)

I took the mission in a IBG, took out the gat firing hog first, then the rest was a walk int the park

The mission is fine, the X-1 rocks, but could you please restrict it to itani-only? I really don't think the Itani would trust a prototype with anyone other than fellow Itani.

mission is easy won it on the first try. but the ship looks ugly. like somebody stepped on it..

Am I really the only who liked the old shape? :P

As a kludge, it is an awesome look :) I'll have to try it on a non ATI Rage card later

Goddamnit. I knew you would wait to put in a new valk till just after I canceled my sub. (sigh) Resubscribing for a month to check it out... but only a month! =P

I love how everyone compares it to the IDF. Thats silly, seeing as the ship is IDENTICAL to the Vengeance, +1 slimness.

I beat it on the second try:

Valk Vengeance, UC cell, 2x AAP, flechette mkII in the center, all chainfired.

Turbo to the hog as they said, waste it with extreme prejudice. Then doing the old straferoll with backward thrust was fine, continuously switching targets and driving them back. First wave dead.
For the second wave, I again concur on the main point: waste the lights first. The proms can't hit you for shit if you're moving.

why do we have to go through these gankfest missions to get a ship?

we had the same ordeal for the raptor. must we for the valk?

no, really?

Because people have asked for more things to do , and a reason for doing them. I prefer it this way.