Hello again Sector,

It's March 1st somewhere! The Cosmpiercer Overhaul is now LIVE!

In case you're unaware, March 1st marks the release of a major overhaul to our Cosmpiercer system, and the release of the new Mercenary system. The new mechanics have been outlined in a revised HELP COSMPIERCERS, and you can read all about Mercenaries in HELP MERCENARIES. If you missed our recent devblog on the subject, you can catch up with that here: https://www.starmourn.com/2023/02/26/cosmpiercer-overhaul-everything-you-wanted-to-know/

Some other changes that have gone live with this release:

- Insured ships no longer delete items in any way when being rebuilt. EVERYTHING on your ship will be EXACTLY where it was. Just make sure it's insured!
- Insured ships now retain the bulk of their commodities after death. A portion of them are destroyed, and another portion are dropped.
- COSMPIERCER WARP is now a default power once again.
- COSMPIERCER CREWWARP has replaced COSMPIERCER WARP in COSMPIERCER ABILITIES
- Captaincy Overload now has a maximum range of 60, down from 120, but its cooldown has been reduced to 30s from 60s.
- Interdiction webs can no longer be deployed in close proximity to Cosmpiercers (nor can they be deployed near Cosmpiercer Space Control Points)
- Cosmpiercer participation tracking is now more reliable. If you're on a ship in a besieged Cosmpiercer zone, or on the Cosmpiercer, you're a participant.
- Cosmpiercer participation tracking for Vouchers and faction influence no longer requires victory, but simply participation.
- The lockout timer for hacking Cosmpiercer terminals has been reduced to the minimum.
- The new 'Mercenaries' power has been granted to Marshals and Space Marshals in Scatterhome. If you wish it applied elsewhere, please hold a REFERENDUM!
- The old and seldom-used COSMPIERCER LOCKDOWN command is now gone.

We hope you enjoy the fresh Cosmpiercer experience! We'll be monitoring for bugs and your feedback. In particular, while we've done our best to adjust the difficulty of Ishvana Cosmpiercers in development, encounters of scaling difficulty are incredibly difficult to balance right the first time in a test environment. Let us know what you think, we'll be here listening!

Pew pew,
Neritus