Here are the details on our latest game update!

Evolving Storyline - V'rix stab at the heart of the Progen Republic

Humanity suffers a stunning blow as the V'rix draw first blood and seize the mighty Progen Citadel of Praetorium Mons. Primus planet lies in ruins after a V'rix assault captures the base that was once home to Primarch Kahn himself. Amid the carnage, the leadership of the Progen lies in shambles, with the head of all Centuriata, Legatus Var, missing in action. The war continues in earnest, as the struggle to control the Ancient Gates comes to a head. While Jenquai forces fight a desperate battle against the invading V'rix and their deadly hive weapon, Terran EarthCorps forces square off against First Emissary Merjan in her bid to do the impossible and open the way to Aquitaine sector. Meanwhile, shadowy conspiracies and fanatical zealots make their plans to seize power. Players will face hard choices as they choose sides in the galactic struggle to control the fate of humanity.

If you happened to be registered at Praetorium Mons, you'll find your new point of registry is Arx Tiberius in Tarsis Sector. Likewise, if you logged out in Praetorium Mons, you'll find that you were evacuated along with the rest of the station to Arx Tiberius.

Factional Relationships

Speaking of changes in the galaxy, we've updated the relationships between the factions to reflect the way the different groups regard one another now. You can view these relationships by visiting the Factions section of Game Info on the Earth & Beyond website. (Game Info >> Factions or http://www.earthandbeyond.ea.com/game_info/faction.jsp) Green squares indicate faction improvements (positive faction), red squares indicate faction loss (negative faction), and white squares indicate that no factional changes occur.

For example:
If you kill TerranPsi...

• Your faction will improve with Centuriata, InfinitiCorp, Mordana, and V'rix factions.
  
• Your faction will get worse with Alliance, Hyperia, TerranPsi, Pirate, and Sharim factions.
  
• Your faction won't change at all with Anseria, Collegia, EarthCorps, Sabine, Sha'ha'dem, and Shinwa factions.

There are always ways to adjust your faction with each group, though you may need to make choices about which groups you wish to remain friendly toward you.

We've also fixed a bug that caused your faction with starbases to be displayed incorrectly on your nav map. Now you'll be able to tell how welcome you will be at a starbase based on the color of the starbase icon. Green indicates you have good faction with the base, yellow indicates neutral faction, and red indicates hostile faction. You will not be granted authorization to dock when the station icon is red on your nav map.

Prospecting/Refining

We've made some improvements to prospecting and refining in this month's patch. Here are the highlights:

• We've increased the amount of exploration experience you gain from prospecting (or being grouped with a prospector).
  
• We've added an experience bonus for clearing out an asteroid or hulk as incentive not to "cherry-pick" the best ores and leave the rest.
  
• We've added more high tech resource fields to the galaxy. They're all over so you'll want to look around in places you normally do not.
  
• We've increased the quantities of higher tech ores that can appear in asteroids.
  
• We've changed the loot tables for resource hulks to include several items, especially devices. Some of the higher tech level devices can be found by visiting your local prospector.
  
• We've implemented a "Refine Stack" button.
  
• We've removed the ore vendors from the game.

Looting Changes

We've made a couple of changes to looting rights that I would like to explain here in more detail. These improvements are due to numerous community suggestions and ideas. Here's what we've done:

• The loot timer, or the amount of time that you have to get the loot off a hulk, has been increased to 30 minutes for many of the epic encounter boss mobs.
  
• On these epic encounter mobs with extended delay times, the hulk is locked for the entire duration of the decay time, such that only members of the group that got credit for the kill (or another player/group they designate), can loot the hulk.
  
• We've added a new function that permits the leader of the group that got the kill to assign looting rights to another player or group. This looting rights command works for all hulks in the game, not just the epic encounter mobs.

• /loot - Displays help information when you have nothing targeted. When a hulk is targeted, you will receive information about who has looting rights and how much time is left before the hulk decays.
  
• /loot add - Gives the specified avatar looting rights for the targeted hulk.
  
• /loot remove - Removes looting rights to the targeted hulk for the specified avatar.
  
• /loot gadd - Adds the group of the specified avatar to the looting list for the targeted hulk.
  
• /loot gremove - Removes the group of the specified avatar to the looting list for the targeted hulk.
  
• /loot release - Releases all looting rights for the targeted hulk, allowing anyone to loot from it.

If there is only one person with looting rights to a hulk and they lose their connection to the game, gate or dock (leave the sector) or log off, then the hulk will be open to anyone to loot.

Skill Tweaks

We've heard your concerns about being chain-menaced and in response we've added a new 15-second immunity to menace after you've been menaced and then regained control of your ship. What used to happen is you'd get menaced, then menaced, then menaced. Now you'll get menaced, then after you regain control you'll have 15 seconds before the mob has a chance to menace you again. We've also adjusted Environment Shield and Rally in the same manner that we adjusted Repulsor Field recently, to allow items to affect the skill's use. As a result, Rally and Environment shield have been improved slightly.

Community

Congratulations to Deliverator, Flarisu, and Ickypick, whose winning slogans in our Corporate Copy contest make their appearance in Earth & Beyond this month! The next time you're watching the ads in your preferred starbase, see if you can spot their contributions to the galaxy.

• "Possession is ten tenths of the law" (InfinitiCorp winner - Deliverator)
  
• "Administering ample satisfaction, Tada-O" (Tada-O winner - Flarisu)
  
• "Before they GET you... GETCo!" (GETCo winner - Ickypick)

Members of our team will be attending GenCon (www.gencon.com) from July 24th through the 27th in Indianapolis, Indiana. We'll be demonstrating Earth & Beyond and hosting a competition for attendees. If you're attending GenCon, be sure to visit us in our booth and say hello.

We'll also be holding a fan gathering on Saturday, July 26th from 4:00p until 10:00p at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Historic Union Station in Indianapolis. Check out our announcement about the event by visiting the website news area (www.enb.com) on the homepage. If you think you're going to attend, be sure you RSVP using the form on the site, to be sure you get your official Earth & Beyond Fan Gathering t-shirt. If you don't reserve a spot we can't guarantee you'll get a shirt! We'll provide some snacks and drinks will be available for purchase. In attendance will be: Arcturus, community coordinator; Cerdith, community manager; Craig, executive producer; Davebot, lead content designer; DraconisRex, director of customer service; Klaata, creative director; Niobe, community coordinator; Proffit, marketing director; Rainre, community coordinator; and Zoren, designer.

We've scheduled chats and contests for the day as well. We hope to see you in Indianapolis!

Just in from Net-7...

Primus overrun; Progen leaders missing
Progen forces are scrambling after a series of stunning defeats and setbacks. In recent days, Primus planet has been overrun and occupied, with hostilities there also resulting in the partial destruction of Praetorium Mons.

To further compound Progen losses, one of the Centuriata's greatest warriors, Legatus Amah, was found dead inside the hulk of her ship; controversy is arising over whether or not Amah will be Called Forward. Primarch Anjuren Kahn is calling for retaliation on the V'rix in Primus, while Sabine leader Vinda has refused to consider a Call Forward for Amah.

Still another prominent Progen, former Centuriata leader Var, is also now missing. After a secret mission to Sol, Var has disappeared and warriors are searching frantically for him; Var was last seen in the Akeron's Gate sector. Anjuren Kahn has made it a "personal crusade" to find Var. Meanwhile, new Centuriata leader Memnon, who was picked to replace Var, has moved his home base to Arx Tiberius and is also calling for retaliation against the V'rix.

And as if Kahn needed yet another reason to fight the V'rix, the famed Medals of the Mondara Shear have apparently been captured by advancing V'rix. Kahn has also launched a campaign to recover the badges of honor.

Leaders scramble as V'rix advance
Leaders of various political factions across the galaxy are scrambling to respond to the spreading V'rix invasion. With Primus planet and Praetorium Mons overrun and captured, and Progen leaders scattered, missing, and in disarray, other galactic leaders are also jockeying for position.

Net-7 has noticed a heavy increase in communications traffic to and from several prominent leaders, which seems to indicate evolving plans and instructions for dealing with the V'rix invasion. Numerous pilots, both military and freelance, also appear to be visiting leaders for new assignments.

In related news, Net-7 is hearing unconfirmed reports of a hidden Progen gene repository which has apparently been captured by the V'rix on Primus planet. Progen leaders are already blaming each other, while assessments of the incident are still pending. More news as this situation develops.

Mysterious reports from Glenn
Vague reports have reached Net-7 concerning an apparent shipping accident in the Glenn sector. However, one source specifically mentioned that this is actually an ýincidentý rather than an "accident," and also said a private investigator is snooping around and asking about "stolen prototypes".

No further details are known at this time, but Net-7 has an investigative team en route to determine what has occurred, and whether there is actually any news to report. We'll bring you further details when, and if, they are warranted.

Bunyip still growing
Scientists at the Glenn Commission Science Exhibit released an update today regarding the popular Bunyip hatchling. The creature is still growing, and has apparently reached a stage of early maturity. Fittingly, scientists are now referring to the creature as simply "Bunyip." The report notes: "Indicators of ongoing maturation continue to emerge, particularly in digestive development, tail elongation, and motor skills. Maturation is progressing somewhat more quickly than anticipated."

The caretakers of the exhibit also said they are continuing to see signs that some visitors are feeding the Bunyip, which is a serious violation of commission rules. Exhibit officials have reiterated their requests that visitors refrain from feeding all confined creatures, especially the Bunyip.

"Of course, we urge people not to feed any of the creatures in our exhibit, but in the case of the Bunyip, this is particularly important. We are still trying to determine the Bunyip's nutritional and dietary needs, and we don't know how it might be affected by the various types of food that visitors have been feeding it. Please leave the feeding to us, as we need to gauge the effects of various dietary supplements."

Enjoy!

- Cerdith

Here are the details:

General

• V'rix ships have continued their advance.
  
• Added a means for players to grant looting rights to others outside of their group.
  
• Updated the starbase messages you hear in space near Net-7 to reflect the evolution of our story.
  
• Added new art for starbase ads created by players in our "Corporate Copy" contest.
  
• Updated the rules of conduct to add a section regarding scamming.
  
• System messages can no longer be filtered from view.

• Many NPCs have more to tell you about current events; several of them offer new missions.
  
• Some old story-related missions have become obsolete: The Railroad begins (P3889), What Landauer Knew (Herrera), Unlocking the Maelstroms (Merjan), The Sabura Map (Cassel), After the Codex! (Vinda), Into the Maelstrom (Var), The End of Amah (Memnon), The Silk Exchange (deWinter), The Red Quarto (Gray Feather), Banner of the Shinwa (Silva), The Two Realms (Tzu), Seven Gates to the Ancients (Ariad).
  
• Job terminals will now display the time remaining until another mission can be taken in seconds when the amount of time is less than one minute.
  
• Terminal and push missions will now give proper messages when forfeited.
  
• Push missions will no longer send players to eliminate targets in the area where a gate/starbase turret exists. (The turrets were killstealing!)
  
• Fixed a bug in the Progen Warrior Build Weapons training mission where Adrasteia sent you looking for the wrong components.

• Increased the spawn frequency of all Ten-Gu boss mobs in Cooper sector.
  
• Increased the chance to spawn the experimental drone boss in Blackbeard's Wake.
  
• The relationships between factions has changed to reflect the current state of the story. There are now multiple ways to raise and lower a given faction in the game.
  
• Added extended corpse timers (30 minutes) to certain mobs in the galaxy.
  
• Made a small change to the rogue drones surrounding the Precursor Alpha.
  
• Fixed a bug that was preventing the Ten-Gu Harvester from respawning correctly.
  
• Manes will only spawn a single essence when killed.
  
• Fixed a shortcut display bug when activating the Sharim Crystal on a Voltoi.
  
• Fixed a bug where the gate guard turrets in Earth sector were in the wrong place.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused projectiles and beams to almost always miss when attacking Einherjar Woden.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Dejected Cygni Miner had no visuals for its weapons.

• Menace has been changed such that it cannot be used on a target for 15 seconds after a Menace wears off. This change only applies to mobs using Menace on players.
  
• Both Environment Shield and Rally have been adjusted to allow items to affect the skill's use. As a result, both skills have been improved slightly.
  
• Combat Trance will no longer display a question mark when activated. The icon will be correct.
  
• Power Down will now display an icon at all levels of use.
  
• Fixed a bug where the most recently dragged skill shortcut changes to the highest level of that skill when a target is selected/deselected.
  
• Fixed a bug where after you drag a skill and change its ability level without using it, it would revert back to the old ability level.

• Bad Things(tm) have happened on Primus Planet.
  
• Decreased the amount of time it takes to gate between sectors.
  
• Added the ability to refine a stack of resources.
  
• Increased exploration experience gained for prospecting.
  
• Added experience bonus for fully harvesting a resource.
  
• Added more high-tech resource fields to the galaxy.
  
• Changed the loot tables for resource hulks to include several new items.
  
• Increased the quantities of higher tech level ores that can appear in asteroids.
  
• Changed the docking and registration distance for starbases on planets to 2.5k (from 5.0k). This is intended to reduce the frequency of death loops due to exiting starbases too close to hostile mobs.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused starbase icons to display as the wrong color for your faction.
  
• You will no longer face the stargate you just came through when entering Asteroid Belt Gamma from Saturn.

• Removed NPC ore vendors from the game.
  
• Dismantle failures are now reported to your group.
  
• The following items have been removed from all loot tables, made no-manufacture and no-trade: Martyr's Heart device, Antlia line of devices, Chlorosynthesis device, Warrior's Heart line of reactors, Deadly Surge reactor. New items will be placed on the affected loot tables in a future patch.
  
• Slightly increased the drop rate of EarthCorps Stranger Ships reports.
  
• Added tooltips to the player trade interface.
  
• Added an error message to the player trade interface if you try to trade more credits than you currently have.
  
• Added the category color indicator for override devices.
  
• Increased the amount of time that analyze result messages stay on the screen, making them easier to read.
  
• Fixed a bug in vendor inventory listing that would sometimes result in a blank slot at the top of each category.
  
• Fixed a bug in the Jenquai Technology item description to reflect the fact that they are no longer in demand at Chernevog Station.
  
• Fixed a bug introduced with the June patch that caused components recovered from dismantled items to retain the quality of the dismantled item. All recovered components are back to 100% quality.
  
• Fixed a bug in the manufacturing interface where schematic lists appeared on top of the sorting buttons.

• Refined the guild interface to dynamically enable/disable buttons based on player guild permissions.
  
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't remove a group member if they were in another sector or starbase.

• Disabled the mission forfeit button when you are speaking with an NPC.
  
• Fixed the adjustable tooltips delay so it really works.
  
• Fixed a bug where clicking the "More" button quickly in talk trees could cause some response options to be skipped.
  
• Fixed a bug in the Refine and Manufacture interfaces where an error message would be displayed when you ran out of components.