Since our last Flight Log here we have crossed 1,586 registered pilots and 15,608 missions flown more than 3,600 of those missions in the last month alone.And we have closed the loop.The game now runs a complete industrial chain. Fly to an asteroid and mine it by hand. Refine the ore into elements. Synthesize the elements into components. Fit those components to your ship. Every stage happens at a real location you have to physically travel to, and every stage is run by players.Here is what landed across Alpha 5.4.
## Synthesis the chain closes
Refining turned rock into elements. Synthesis turns elements into equipment. Pilots now produce Mining Laser Crystals, planetary Mining Tips, Graphene Crystals, Exotic Scanning Dust and combat Nanobots, either for their own ships or to sell to other players.
It works like a real supply chain, because that is the point. Acquire a Blueprint from an HQ store, gather the materials, train the pilot skill, fly to Terminus starbase, start the job. Two synthesis modules run at Terminus today, with player-installable versions coming. Premium blueprints will drop from the harder encounters.
Nothing in that chain is a menu you click through. The ore has to physically exist, in a cargo hold, in the right place.
## Combat has teeth
Armor Nanobots let you repair your hull mid-fight straight from cargo, so a damaged ship can stay in the fight instead of limping home. Alien Beacons pull enemy attention onto the ship that deployed them, which makes coordinated fleet rescues possible for the first time.
Manual flight controls have been rebuilt from scratch and are far more responsive. Combat is skill-based now, not a dice roll you watch.
## The pilot roster cap is gone
Hire as many pilots as you like. Keep them At Ease on the bench and put up to three On Duty at a time. Hiring cost is based on a pilot's actual stats instead of doubling with every hire, so a Rookie stays cheap and a specialist costs what she is worth.
Faction reputation is also live. Missions now build standing with their faction, and higher standing unlocks missions closed to everyone else, which pay considerably better. It is the foundation for full mission arcs with progressive rewards.
Every ship's fuel tank has also been made significantly larger. Long hauls need far less babysitting.
## Live right now: the Bulla Augusti
Our August expedition is open, and this one belongs to the industrialists. Two rewards wait at the end, and they are built to be used together.
The Trucker Augustus 90 cargo, 15,000 nuclear fuel, 5,000 armor. The heaviest hauler in the game, and a premium non-tradeable hull. There will only ever be as many of them as there are pilots who earned one.
The Featherweight the first Pilot ever offered as an expedition reward, specialising in cargo efficiency. She shrinks both the space your cargo occupies and the mass it adds. Put her aboard the Augustus and the numbers get silly.
We have also opened Ares Rampart, a new outpost with a Shipyard for post-battle repairs and an HR office hiring two pilots you cannot recruit anywhere else: Ironsight, a combat specialist, and Broker, a trader. It is run by the Bulwark Order, who launch a new expedition against the aliens next week.
## The promise has not changed
Free. No download. Runs in any browser, even on old ThinkPads and phones. Persistent 24/7. Nothing ever resets. The asteroid you mined last month is still mined.
Come fly with us: space.zerog.liveStill 3 old Italian engineers, still part-time, still running on passion and coffee.
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