We're very pleased to bring you this month's update!

Evolving Story

After months of cryptic communications and debilitating scans, tensions with the mysterious V'rix have reached the breaking point. From his great warship in 61 Cygni, Primarch Kahn has declared war against the alien interlopers, drawing all of humanity into a galactic clash. As the Progen Republic throws its military might against the V'rix, all the inhabitants of the Earth & Beyond universe will find their lives impacted by the conflict. Players will find a spectrum of reactions to the war from faction leaders and characters within the game, ranging from enthusiastically jumping on the war-wagon to urging caution and restraint. Players can expect a multitude of opportunities to make personal choices about which side of the war they want to be on.

Guild Management

We have added the ability for guilds to modify their ranking structure. This includes 5 new ranks (giving you a total of 10), the ability to rename ranks, and the ability to set permissions on a rank-by-rank basis. Use '/gc help' while in the game to view syntax. We are also updating the guild UI to display all members of a guild (both online and offline) and have automated the replacement of guild leaders who have gone inactive for an extended period of time (30 days) leaving their guild leaderless. Some guild management functionality requires a small credit fee. For more information on the guild management changes, visit the 'In The Works' section of the Earth and Beyond website (www.enb.com).

Balance Changes

A first round of balance changes and corrections to bugs that affected balance has been made this patch as well. Here are a few of the major changes:

• We've reduced the chance of equipment losing quality when they are damaged by Explosive, Plasma, EMP, and Chemical weapons to better balance the risks of quality damage across all weapon types.
  
• High quality beam weapons (over 100%) now inflict more damage.
  
• Low quality missile launchers (under 100%) will take longer to reload than before.
  
• We are introducing a level band for combat experience based on the highest combat level (CL) in the group. The formula for this is ((Highest CL / 10) + 5). A CL 50 player can group with people down to CL40, and everyone in the group would get XP as they do now. So, if 2 CL50's, a CL45, a CL40, and a CL30 were grouped together, the 2 50's, the 45 and the 40 would receive experience as normal. The CL30 would be outside of the level band, and would receive much lower combat XP than they do now.
  
• We've reduced the radius for shared experience to 15k. Group members who are more than 15k away from the point where XP is awarded (where the mob is killed, where an ore is prospected, etc) will no longer receive experience. This 15k limit also applies to the benefits you receive for grouping with other players.
  
• Made changes to the Rally skill. The largest change is that you can no longer stack rally multiple times. The range of the buff will now be in parity with the range shown in the skill interface. The amount of signature reduction and the amount of resistances have been reduced slightly. Aggro will now be gained only by the user of the skill, not the recipients.
  
• You receive more experience when you analyze, manufacture or refine.

Kahn declares war on aliens!
Primarch Kahn has declared war against the V'rix. Net-7 has sent reporting teams to investigate the implications for other cultures throughout the galaxy, and some experts are already warning that Kahn's move threatens to draw all of humanity into a galactic clash. Multiple sources have indicated that Kahn decided to declare war after recently finding the wreckage of Amah's internment shield. Meanwhile, Kahn is continuing construction on the Cygni Defense Shield.

Bunyip season ends; hatchling at science exhibit
The Bunyip egg-laying season has come to a close and the Bunyip hunters have gone away for another year. However, this year there's a new twist to the Bunyip story. A live Bunyip was successfully hatched in captivity recently, and this living Bunyip Hatchling can be found in the Glenn Commission Science Exhibit!

New Výrix ships reported,
Net-7 has received unconfirmed reports of new V'rix ships appearing in the galaxy. Early reports indicate that the ships are versions that have not seen before, and that they appear to be more aggressive than previously seen. Pilots who encounter new V'rix ships are encouraged to contact a Net-7 reporter (in addition to the appropriate authorities in the area) for further investigation. Please stay tuned to Net-7 for more information as it develops.

Enjoy!

- Cerdith

Here are the details!

General

• The /tell command is no longer case sensitive.
  
• Gamma correction now works in windowed mode.

• Many NPCs have more to tell you about current events, several of them offer new missions.
  
• Push Missions have been improved and are more closely tied to the story.
  With the Bunyip Egg-laying season gone for another year, interest in the eggs has declined drastically.
  
• Terminal and Push missions will no longer list reputation as a reward if there is actually no reputation being given.
  
• Dialogues will no longer close automatically when your targeting computer automatically selects a new target when you are warping.
  
• Fixed the decorative Maintenance Bots in Zweihander Space Sector so that it can no longer be killed.
  
• Push missions will no longer count towards a player's limit of 2 terminal missions per 6 minute period.
  
• Roland Holmes will now spawn in a smaller area. He will also get into fewer fights with the storm clouds depriving players of credit for destroying his ship for quests.

• Reduced the chance of equipment losing structure when the quality came from Explosive, Plasma, EMP, and Chemical, bringing it in line with Impact, and Energy Damage.
  
• High quality beam weapons (over 100%) now inflict more damage.
  
• Low quality missile launchers (under 100%) will take longer to reload.
  
• It is now possible to gain Mordana faction from killing other mobs in the game.
  
• Reduced the Mordana scan range.
  
• Updated the Red Dragon base encounter so that cargo pods no longer spawn. The loot will instead appear on the Command Center after it is destroyed.
  
• We are introducing a level band for combat experience based on the highest combat level (CL) in the group.
  
• Revised the range of shared experience to 15k.
  
• Revised the loot tables for some Voltoi.
  
• Revised the loot tables for some Ten-gu.
  
• Fixed a bug that made it possible for players using missile, chemical or plasma weapons to retain aggro while incapacitated. This would result in the player being immediately attacked when jumpstarted.

• Made changes to the Rally skill. The largest change is that you can no longer stack rally multiple times. The range of the buff will now match with the range shown in the skill interface. The amount of signature reduction and the amount of resistances have been reduced slightly. Aggro will now be gained only by the user of the skill, not the recipients.
  
• Skills that are no longer valid during activation (such as changing targets to an illegal target or moving out of range of the target) will now give an audible beep.
  
• The icon for the Jumpstart skill has changed.

• The Glenn Commission Science Museum has a new exhibit.
  
• Added new components, harvestables and refined resources.
  Prospectable objects (including hulks) with more than 8 items now have a scrollbar on their inventory, instead of requiring users to close and reopen the object. The inventory adjusts to fill spaces when items are removed.
  
• Reduced targeting "size" of Aragoth Prime in Aragoth Prime Sector. This should reduce targeting problems when near the sun.
  
• Reduced visual distance of asteroids which was causing bad frame rates in Aganju Sector.
  
• The Launch Platform on Endriago planet has had its power turned down a little bit. It will no longer launch ships 33k away from the outer reach of the planet.
  
• The Turret guardian for the Sirius Gate in Europa is now above the gate, where it should be.
  
• Fixed the exit location for the gate from Lagarto to Mars Beta so that you appear near the gate.
  
• Fixed the Watcher Turrets in Europa so that they can no longer be damaged.

• You now receive more experience when you analyze, manufacture, or refine.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused buffs on high quality items to not function.
  
• Debris has been put back on the appropriate treasure tables.
  
• Modified (lowered) the frequency of the component drops from the Tada-O Gate fodder.
  
• Made an adjustment to the recipe of the Ten-Gu Spines. Propellant was added to the recipe and the Power Coupling was removed.
  
• Pietus Tuccius has grown tired of her merchant banner becoming tangled with the wall in Arx Magister. She has moved her kiosk slightly.
  
• Dragonflame Missiles have had their unique tag removed.
  
• The Drone Plasma Laser is now a plasma weapon.
  
• Removed the K3 Plasma pack from the recipe of the Ten-Gu Energy Shards.
  
• Altered the recipe for Heavy Shikari Armorplate. It is now more in line with other recipes.
  
• Fixed the Tada-O Menace Chem Bullets. They are now manufacturable and storable.

• Added Guild Rank Management system. We have increased the number of guild ranks from 5 to 10. You can now customize the names and responsibilities of the ranks within your guild. Use "/gc help" to see all of the new slash commands.
  
• Modified the rate at which guilds gain guild levels.
  
• Job terminal missions will now count toward guild statistics.
  
• Revised the range of shared experience to 15k.
  
• Fixed a rare bug where high level players could see negative values for guild contributions. (Thanks to Reactorbuilder of Executives of Infinity on Andromeda for reporting it.)

• The faction display is no longer limited to 16 factions.
  
• Loot interfaces with more than 8 items now have a scrollbar on their inventory, instead of requiring users to close and reopen the object. The inventory adjusts to fill spaces when items are removed.
  
• More information about buffs/debuffs is now displayed when you mouse-over their icons.
  
• Fixed problem with occasional freezing of the buff panel.
  
• Corrected a text wrapping bug in dialogues.
  
• Fixed some interface rendering errors on ATI video cards.
  
• Pointer wrap around on the Navigation map works for all directions.
  
• Fixed a problem where if you attempted to tractor loot while having a destroy item confirmation box open, you would not be able to loot until the box went away, and not be able to destroy the item until clicking a second confirmation box.
  
• Navigation paths that were set prior to docking are now cleared from the star map when inside a starbase.
  
• Fixed a problem where it was difficult to click on your ship to leave the starbase when you changed your equipped items within the starbase.
  
• Players with items in the overflow inventory will now receive a reminder when they log in. The /overflow command will allow you to check your overflow inventory.
  
• Fixed a problem with chat scroll bars not appearing after changing the chat window layout until the player received a new line of text.
  
• Fixed a crash to desktop bug that occurred when using the screenshot command.
  
• NPCs will now stop speaking with you if you attack them.