VO 1.8.57 includes:

- New starting locations and training weapon for new characters.
- Matrox TripleHead2Go Surround Gaming support.
- Sector player list sort mode is now saved.
- Hive Skirmish missions give free repair and ammo refill
in Hive Skirmish capships.
- Border Skirmish capships now start in formation and stay
close to their original position.
- Battle music starts in BS and HS sectors.

A total redux of the tutorial missions, and other aspects of the newbie sector implementation (that impact the upcoming Friendly Fire changes, etc) have not yet been implemented. They should appear next week.

Please make us aware of any improvement to Border Skirmish as a result of tonight's changes.

As an unforeseen repercussion of this newbie sector change, some recent newbies are left at "old" newbie sectors, at less than Combat 1, with no training missions (as those were all moved to the "new" newbie sectors).

At present, we recommend that said people delete their newbie characters and re-create them. They will then be placed in the updated sector.

We've posted a sub-combat-1 Mission to Capitols to inform people of this. Please help any confused newbies you see.

Also: I forgot to remove the extra turrets from Verasi as part of the universe update. The pirate community may now pillory me for said transgression.

I'll try to pull them out next week.

wow, this is an ace update. Great work!

nah, you'll get around to it eventually. We have gotten used to it after all

Love the newbie sector. I expect to have a lot of fun there! Kidding.

Anyways, at this point, its very laggy. Half my shots didn't score. Also, when I shot at the npc's in ec's no one came out to say hello.

The only change I'd recommend would be to have it be only one sector, possibly represented in all three places so that the new players are packed closer together, since the biggest complaint I hear on 100 is 'Where is everyone'. This could also give them time to play for a bit before choosing their nation.

Great concept. Get rid of the lag and give the defenses some anger management and it'll be well done.

if you have everyone in the same sector, it would have to be unmonitored else all of the new players would mess there faction up shooting each other and if its unmonitored then its an uber easy target for new player killing, unless the sector gets locked and only low levels can enter

I'd like to see them choose their faction when they leave the nest. Show them a little of what each nation has to offer before being forced into a decision. In which case, they could be unaligned and unable to damage each other. Also, the sector should be locked. Otherwise, your going to have griefers figuring out how to create a serco alt, tote it over to UIT and killing UIT newb's. Just saying.

Also, I'd like to see the turrets renamed. Calling them Newbie Turret Whatever doesn't do much for immersion. At the very least call them Training Sector, or maybe Eden or some such. But thats just me nit picking.

Border Skirmish:

Just finished a 1.5 hour mission. Connies and Tridents now hover around their HACS. Looks like their jump point is near their respective HACs as well which is good.

Teradon behavior looks unchanged which is not so good since 1) the Itani Teradon still spawns practically on top of the Serco HAC and proceeds to wreck havoc and 2) the Serco Teradon if it survives killing its Itani counterpoint then turns and attempts to solo the Itani HAC; usually unsuccessfully unless it was fortunate enough to start with its shields intact (or it will attack one of the nearby Tridents or Connie). Battles look to be more static now and even more dependent on luck with the prime determinent being Teradon behavior.

Also, it looks like the Teradons still do the backup dance and slowly move away from the main battle which is ok since one is likely to kill the other eventually and return to the fight. The problem before, as I saw it, was not that ships would drift away from their HACs; it was that they would do so forever if they weren't damaging one another; having the ship backing away stop if it gets further than about 10km from its HAC might be better as it would still be close enough for reinforcements from one side or another to break the stalemate.

Also, the loss of the coordinated attacks against HACs makes for longer and less interesting battles; there is no ebb and flow to the fight with the cappies stuck by their HACs. Anyway, BS is steadily improving; looking forward to the next iteration.

i agree with you there fist, that the names should be changed. But there isnt any way of stopping an alt being formed and sat there shooting new players, unless if u are an alt u dont start there

[EDIT] I just did a BS and the teradons spawned on top of each other away from either sides hac and other heavy ships. Also neither sides hac/connie/trident moved, and the two groups remained around 2k from each other, so it was a very long battle of killing the vultures and hogs that came to close to either side.

I'll probably stick with the nation-specific sectors, but a lot of other stuff is going to change.

The sectors will become "locked", so anyone who leaves and passes Basic Flight will become KoS there (with an informative popup if they plot a nav route to there from outside). All the people within the sector will only have access to Training Blasters, so they can't hurt each other.. only bots.

There will probably be some sort of exception (mission tree, maybe) for "mentor" types who have an exemplary no-team-kill record and want to help out newbies in the starting sectors.

We'll definitely add more immersive names and things, as well.

[EDIT]: We will be making ongoing changes to BS. I expected some of this stuff, and we'll have to improve on the whole "capships stick around, but don't sit in one place" thing.

I like the recent changes.

Also the idea of allowing access for mentors to newbie sectors. I have just been going to suggest it. :) I spent a lot of time helping newbies. Learning them basic things, following them on missions with a repair module, or even learning them which hole they have to dock to. :) I often was just sitting hours in the front of the station repairing returning players. Prepare the missions or whatever it would be prior to locking the newbie sectors, please.

I agree with FistOfRage that the sectors are (at least a bit) laggy. I am pretty fine but I have quite high-end hardware. Anyway, I feel it is worse than in regular sectors. If we want to impress fresh players in their first experience ... lagging is a big no-no. I'll test on another PC.

the newb sectors look pretty sweet.

Newbie sectors are truly a playground!
was a lot of fun just futzing around in there today. They really should help keep new players. Really gives them a "hey, this is what VO is about" feeling. Everything about it is just perfect, and from what I hear with new missions for the area things are going to just get better.

Really darned good job guys. Now if only we could get another giant promotion with these newbie sectors in place :).

Very good update, well done .

One interesting side effect of the BS changes seems to be that Trident behaviour in HS criticals is much improved. The trident now attacks the queen as she mines . The overseers and queen then return fire , often killing the trident .

One question. Since you've got the Newbie sectors in place now, are you going to cut back to one capital system per nation? I honestly never understood having more than one anyway tbh.

Wow! Soon(TM) is happening! Great job devs, keep up the good work!!!

-Calder

Outstanding changes!

The Tridents certainly seem to have perked up considerably. Their running fights with the Queen and her posse really add zest to the battles and make docking with the Tridents, which are in almost constant motion and under heavy fire, an entertaining challenge.

I went into my first hive fight of the day expecting to casually dock and refit at leisure. Not a chance! You have to fight your way to the door and then try to get aboard as the Trident bucks and dodges. Great fun!

I made a point of visiting all three training areas and they are excellent. I am particularly interested Incarnate’s suggestion that there be some sort of mission tree for prospective mentors to get access to the training area. Excellent!

Does anyone have any ideas as to what such a tree should include? I think POS in the nation one is applying for should be a base requirement but wonder what other suggestions people have to add to such a tree.

Well everything I have tried of the new updates so far has turned out to be first rate so a big well done to the Devs and keep up the good work.

"Does anyone have any ideas as to what such a tree should include? I think POS in the nation one is applying for should be a base requirement but wonder what other suggestions people have to add to such a tree."

In my opinion, POS and Mentor Level I or II badge.

And I agree with you on problems with central skirmishes. Even the queens keep moving now, fighting the cap ship.

Moreover, I think there should be more skirmishes or they should respawn faster. I see players permanently waiting for a skirmish to show up in the list. I am talking about small, common and large ones.

BS has always been entirely dependent on teradon spawn/behavior which is due mainly to the current imbalance of the cap ships. The teradon is currently the only real "anti-cap ship" cap ship. I'm pretty sure the devs are aware of this though. Oh and:

"The pirate community may now pillory me for said transgression."

Pillory!