Release 17 is
finally ready.
Features, in no particular order:
1. Big speedups in core AIs, from turrets to capships.
2. Repair ships are now a Thing.
3. Rebalanced fighters, bombers, etc.
4. Rebalance to various weaponry to give it a better mix, especially Energy weapons that weren't quite efficient enough.
5. A working, if simple, Admiral AI.
6. Custom battlefields that adjust according to circumstances.
7. Capturable ships can sometimes spawn on battlefields; this is an early version of a more generalized "junk" system.
8. All AI factions will be present in any game size.
9. Fixes for various dialogs.
10. Slightly better balance for in-game captures; Boarding Shuttles use 2 Marines per attempt, whether or not it succeeds.
11. All Vanilla ships are in- the Pirates get the
Bulldog (Warhound), the Punk Junkers get the
Bishop (Heron) the Hegemony gets the
Monitor.
12. Most of the ships that were in earlier builds but "went missing" during transition away from Exerelin are back in. Stuff like Packers, the Hyperion, and more.
13. Easy, normal and hard starting modes give players different resources and ships.
14. Several new weapon systems, including the Devourer, the Nanobot Repair Gun, and others.
15. A new System, Flux Drain.
16. Adjustments to the RPG Character skills.
17. Leveled AI Admirals with skills.
18. Much more difficult late-game battles.
19. Overhaul of the Factions, to give them a more visually-consistent look (where appropriate).
20. A whole bunch of other stuff I can't be arsed to write down.
Basically, it's a huge update. It took way way too long, but it got a lot of major stuff done.
Also, no, it's not remotely save-compatible, so you need to start a new game... but it's pretty darn fun, if I do say so myself
As usual, balance suggestions, code crashes and missing text stuff are all welcome and helpful!