October is over. The Congregation of T’rath has been chased back to the shadows – for now. It’s a new month, and the citizens of Starmourn have new things to pay attention to. For the development team, a new month means a new theme!Â
Hey Starmourn, question for you: Who among you is mindlessly staring into space, doing nothing but breathing softly? Answer: All of us, because November’s theme is HACKING. That’s right, the hacking skill has been expanded. Hacking now has more levels, new ways to gain experience, a chance for you to get a limited-edition new minipet, new abilities, and a new, mysterious organization lurking in the background.
While we normally like bragging about every little detail of our new features, this month, we’re going to leave most of the changes to hacking a surprise for you to discover on your own. That said, there’s a few things you should probably know right now:
- Hacking can now go up to level 21 (instead of being capped at Guru (19))
- The ONLY way to gain hacking experience past 19 is to complete contracts. Completing contracts grants hacking xp anyway (and quite a lot of it at that) but to level past 19 nothing else will grant you hacking XP.
- There is now a top hackers honors
Still, the best way to learn everything that’s new will be to log in and check out your hacking skill – maybe give a few of those new abilities a try, just to see what happens.
Maybe you’ll be pointed in the direction of someone in game who might know more?
The Worldbreaker’s Wheel
A new month means a new promotion, too. The Worldbreaker’s Wheel has new hacking-related prizes for you to collect – so get spinning! Remember, if you log in and play for at least an hour every day, you’ll get a free spin. For more spins and better chance at awesome rewards, we have star-stamped gaming tokens available here, under “Artifact Packages”. 100 credits gets you a spin token, too!
Among the prizes on offer, information specialists such as yourself might be particularly interested in:
- FRAYSys Spiders – These mechanical, spider-like devices allow you to DOORJAM and completely lock a targeted door for 5 minutes. Think of the possibilities!
- FRAY_OS Priority Contracts – Reduces the cooldown on CONTRACTS by 4 hours. What are contracts? Remember to check AB HACKING…
- a modified IdentTech holoprojector – Ever had someone you were -really- interested in? The IdentTech holoprojector scrapes the commsphere with a sophisticated, smartsearch algorithm keyed to your target, collecting personal details and creating a lifelike projection of them so you can look at them all day long.
- DRONE KILLER DELUXE – This bulky signal jammer was developed to stop synthetic life dead in its tracks. If you run into problems out there and need an emergency solution to a malfunctioning bot, or just want to deal with a pesky security drone giving you grief for some (totally unjustified!) reason, point this thing at them and see what happens.
Other items and artifacts available for winning from the Wheel:
- ADH Enzyme Boosters
- Digestion Regulators
- Hacking Damage lvl 3
- Hacking Ops lvl 3
- Hacking Movement
- No Rankings
- Any of our already existing minipets
- RoamTek tents
- Novelty holocameras
- Matter articulators
And more!
We hope you enjoy the new abilities, items, and treats we’ve prepared for you this month. This is an update that’s near and dear to the hearts of the devs, since we’ve all been hacking fans from the beginning.
Again, to learn more about the new changes to our wildly popular hacking minigame, you really need to log in and try them out yourself – we don’t want you to miss it! So get out there, everyone, and start interpreting galactic law in creative ways.
01010011 01100101 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101111 01101110 00100001 – <3
Over the next month or two, you can expect big changes to come to the internet’s favorite science fiction text-based game. From roleplay events to PVP overhauls to new enhancements and talents to earn for play after level 75, we’re working hard to deliver new and better content to our playerbase. Keep reading to learn the details of what’s coming up in Starmourn!
The Congregation of T’rath
Events are unfolding this October, and the cult of T’rath continues to spread its passionate message across the Sector. While players have been participating throughout the month, we will occasionally plan to run things on a larger scale to provide more grist for your roleplay.
As such, there is a recommended playing time scheduled for this coming Saturday, October 19th, at 4pm Server Time (eastern time). We won’t spoil any surprises, but if you log in around then, you’ll probably see or hear something!
Cosmpiercers and PVP Overhaul
We make no secret about the fact that we like conflict in our games – it can be fun to use your skills, hone your abilities, be competitive, and feel the adrenaline rush of a good fight – winning or losing. That’s why we’re spending a good chunk of our development time on Cosmpiercers, along with a new system for encouraging “land based” pvp to get people exploring and encountering one another out in the world.
Cosmpiercers will soon require a resource obtained from various planets in the game to maintain an active charge. Active Cosmpiercers allow factions who control them to unlock faction-wide bonuses and abilities.
Here’s a little preview of the various abilities you can look forward to playing with when this system finally drops! Please note that these features are in development, and subject to change as we continue testing!
- SHIP ABILITIES
- Gain the existing ‘cosmpiercer survey’ in any zone.
- Random gatewarp from anywhere.
- Temporary weapon boosts.
- New ship maneuvers.
- PERSONAL (ROOM CONTROL)
- A short term room effect that turns all damage and subsys damage into healing.
- A short term room effect that reflects all damage and subsys damage to the attacker.
- Movement impairing effects
- Healing abilities that affect everyone in the room.
- PERSONAL (COMBAT/HUNTING)
- Heals and subsystem heals
- Cosmpiercer ability sapping for other players
- PERSONAL (INFO/UTILITY)
- Full diagnose
- Mob sense
- Check another player’s cosmpiercer ability status
Play after Level 75
We’ve been in beta for awhile, and that means quite a lot of you are at your level cap already. While we love what that says about your passion for the game, we also know we want to keep giving you things to do in Starmourn to infinity and beyond.
We’re currently working on developing a system which will allow you to keep gaining experience after hitting the level cap. After hitting level 75, you’ll be able to accumulate experience which you can spend on a brand new talent tree.
The new talent tree features critical hit increases, a bartering skill that increases your junk value, a Galactic Diplomat talent which will decrease your quest cooldowns, and more! You’re sure to find something of value in it that will keep you interested and invested in play after level 75. To get a full preview of everything that will be available when development is complete, check out this forum post!
We’re shooting for the stars
The features and events we’ve described in this post only scratch the surface of what we’re talking about on the development team. We’re excited to start unveiling these things, and more, to you over the next couple of months. Stick around, because the fun is just beginning. See you all in space!
The capital city of the Celestine Ascendancy presents a neon face to the rest of the galaxy. Litharge. Commercialized, hectic, and loud. Corporate and overcrowded, it is a vivid example of urban density, its immense size capable of swallowing a small country with room to spare.
A place of such dramatic excess was bound to attract an opposing extreme at some point. Enter the Congregation of T’rath, a group of religious zealots operating out of Litharge. Though initially they presented a peaceful face to the city, their message has since shifted to be uncompromising and violent, with a severe and vocal hatred of the Internal Neural Replicator life extension technology put into widespread circulation by the Atarsid race.
In the later days of Deca, in the year 941 A.E., an explosion occurred in Scrapston, a borough of Litharge. The explosion followed an altercation of unknown provenance between citizens Argo T’rath, Clover Moonchild, and a nameless zoo animal.
Led by Ata Aurazi (the newly appointed Guardian Prime), Ren, Urid Lockwood, Grek Lockwood, Kass, and others, an investigation was launched into the source of this explosion. To respond to what appeared to be a terrorist threat, Immortal security guards were reassigned to Scrapston, only for a second explosion to occur moments later – this time at the Celestine Crossings. The planetary transit authority summarily grounded all planet-based shuttle services to the station, and halted the elevator while order was restored by the Immortals. After approximately a day, transport services were re-opened.
In the aftermath, it appears that the cloning facilities assigned to Glisal II by the Hon-En-Tur Exaltation were destroyed by a terrorist threat calling themselves the Congregation of T’rath. Atarsid representatives have assured the Celestine government that INR information is being rerouted to Omni Station. When they feel the threat has been dealt with, they will work to restore the facilities.
Representatives of the Jin have disavowed the so-called leader of these zealots, Shoko T’rath, and his message of hate. Commander Commander Amasna Hook, of the Blood Ark, has stated unequivocally that: “T’rath is a peaceful God, and his motives are not to hasten death, but to welcome it when it eventually comes. Most Jin who can afford one will have an INR installed at birth.”
Shoko T’rath, Argo T’rath, Leilana T’rath, and Frixxi T’rath were removed from the faction by the Guardian Prime for reasons of terrorism, but the popularity of their message continues to grow, with new members of the Congregation found on every street corner. It is a time of tension and uncertainty, with identity-hiding masks and the sheer size of the city making it difficult to pinpoint the leaders of the cult.
The Celestine Ascendancy remains in a state of high alert.
This month, Starmourn invites you to sharpen your pencils and put your thinking caps on, because there’s a whole bunch of new things for you to cram into your brains. Get ready to read about new multiclassing options and tradeskills, along with a sneak peak about what’s coming later in the month!
Multiclassing
Starmourn has a lot of stuff to do, but until now, you had to stick to a single class to experience our content. Not anymore! (Cue training montage music.) With the introduction of Multiclassing, the options for your fun quadrupel. Though you can’t be multiple classes at the same time, you can switch between the ones you know in the class switching rooms on the appropriate Battlemaster’s homeworld.
(Unless you’re a Nanoseer, and want to be a Fury, or vice versa. Sorry, kith users – Star and Void don’t mix!)
We have plans to integrate more options for PVP in the near future, so get a couple classes under your belt to experience the full potential of the game.
Mixology
Want to make a pumpkin spice latte? Now you can! Actually, you can’t, because there are no pumpkins in space, but you could probably invent the Starmourn equivalent with the brand new Mixology tradeskill, which is all about crafting drinks. Tea, karaffee, seltzer, and slushies are all waiting for you, along with more complex beverages like wine and spirits.
We’ve opened distilleries and breweries throughout the game, allowing players to purchase the equipment they’ll need to properly utilize the Mixology tradeskill. Lab tables, stills, and workbenches will let you brew your drinks, and there are plenty of empty casks, canteens, wineglasses, carafes, flasks, and mugs available to let you serve your concoctions to friends.
Furnishing
The other new tradeskill we’ve introduced is Furnishing! Interior decorators, put your party hats on. The Furnishing tradeskill will allow you to craft furniture to your heart’s content, from beds and tables to more exotic things like glow globes and rugs that really tie the room together.
Most of the items you make will have proplike functionality, too! Flip tables, take cover behind your own fancy captain’s chair, and cuddle up on your feather-stuffed mattress.
By the way – if you want to learn BOTH of these tradeskills – you can! Just like multiclassing, we’re now allowing you to learn more than one tradeskill (up to a total of two).
Lessons
We don’t normally offer lessons on our website, but this month, in honor of our back to school theme, we’re allowing players to stock up on lesson packages to start the school year off right. See you at graduation?
What’s Next?
The month is just beginning. Keep playing. We’ll have more features and things to learn for you to explore later in the month…if you feel like being sent to the principal’s office, that is. But hey, every learning institution needs a bad crowd, right?
Stay smart, spacers!
In the depths of space, unauthorized refineries and autofactories have been sighted, all of them belonging to rogue organizations or independent space pirates.
Courageous space adventurers can now engage with these pirate installations and lay waste to their manufacturing and harvesting efforts and be generously rewarded for their efforts.
Attacking one of these locations will immediately trigger a response from the besieged platform and you will find yourself pitted against powerful defensive systems. Be sure that you’re well prepared, well equipped and bring some friends along!
Once you manage to defeat the defenders, you may continue your efforts to outright destroy the pirate refinery/factory or, if you’re feeling even more adventurous, you may dock at the station and attempt to send the installation into overdrive by hacking into it. A successful hack will trigger an overload sequence that will have the same end result, that of destroying the installation, but the rewards will be greater!
Why would you not always opt to do this? Well, we ‘forgot’ to mention that whenever a pirate installation is under attack, the whole area becomes OPEN PK! So, time is of the essence unless you want to be pitted against other would-be space looters that would like a share of the prize.
Come find out more about this new mechanic and how these places get discovered on our forums and come play Starmourn to experience it for yourself!
The whole world is a stage… YOUR STAGE!
You step up on the stage and the lights dim, a spotlight in the ceiling casting a cone of light on your frame. The audience quiets down.
You focus for a few moments, gathering your wits and getting in the zone, relaxing your muscles as the song is about to begin.
Finding a rhythm, you bounce your head and tap your toes upon the floor before launching into a percussive beat. Your kithdrums come to life as your hands dance across the bright kinetic sensors, lighting up in an array of colors bright and dark, each corresponding with a synaesthetic play of sound. Faster and faster the beat goes, unfolding in complexity.
Catchy and electrifying, the drums flash beneath your hands with each jolt of kith sent beneath the sensors, humming and chanting out a ricochet of sound. As the vibrations ignite the body of the drums, you build the performance to a head-banging crescendo.
Lifting your hands away from the sensors, you let the beat you’ve built play out to its final conclusion. The complex play of light and sound rocket within your drums, echoing the prior tempo until each beat starts to unwind. With a final thrum, the kithdrums fall still, and the final flash of light dies out…
Find your musical calling
The above is an excerpt of how performing music in Starmourn goes. Have you ever dreamed of becoming a nano-rock star? Do you aspire to be the next streampop icon? Or do you just like to jam to dreamfunk beats? Whatever your desire, you can now learn to play an instrument or sing with your voice and perform in front of audiences in the world.
Anyone can do this, there is no upfront cost or level restriction, the only thing that is required of you is your dedication. You will first choose an instrument and, once this very important decision is made, you can travel to venues around the world and start performing for people. The more you do this, the better you get at it and the better the reaction from the audience (and the tips you gain in return).
Create the next big band
But performing for tips is merely the tip of the iceberg!
Once you are somewhat skilled in music, you may start your own band or join an existing one. Team up with other players (or be a solo act!) and go big! You gain the ability to plan concerts and have people from all over the Sector come and see you play.
Concerts allow you to make your own custom performance. Dazzle your audience with colored emotes, keep them engaged and carve your name into the Starmourn halls of fame! The more people show up, the more band popularity you gain. The higher your popularity, the higher your earnings!
Your songs will echo unto eternity!
Lights, void energy, words and music all blend into one as you will compete with Starmourn’s already established panoply of famous bands! Do well enough in the long run and your songs might actually make it into the LUCENT playlists that anyone can listen to at any time via their Soundwavez™ devices!
The stage is waiting for you… will you take up the microphone and entertain us?
Think we're pretty cool? Tell your friends!
