Sector, welcome to 2023!

We wish you all the very best in 2023. What you're reading now is our very first promotional post which we've prepared for you ahead of time. Assuming everything went well, the Winterflame Festival Grounds should now be closed off for another year. For those who completed Winterflame quests, we'll be setting out to doling out your rewards! Additionally, thanks to everyone who submitted their New Year's Commendations! We'll be preparing those for you as well!

And now, on to this month's theme: Hacking. The Missioncontrol board has been reset, batteries are once again available for purchase on the website, and this month's board is fully stocked with new and fun toys for all ye cybersleuths.


First up, fire off those batteries at the Mission Control board for your chance to win one of these NEW artifacts:

* Hacking Ops Efficiency (hacking_efficiency): Reduces the Ops cost of doing actions when hacking by 1, to a minimum of 1.
* Fray Connections (fray_connections): Once every 48 hours, you may CONTRACTS RECONNECT to reset your Fray contract cooldown.
* Faster Hacking Movement 2 (hacking_movement_2): Hacking movement is 50% faster

Or maybe, land a lucky shot and receive one of these new promo items:

* A "D4T4 C0RRVPTED" edition of the DataStream Zine (1 tradein credits): This 'zine appears to be the latest issue of tech-fashion publication DataStream Magazine, featuring a cast of attractive holo-models sporting the top gear of the year.
* A sleek mask covered in binary inscriptions (8 tradein credits): A hacker's mask for hiding the wearer's mindsim identity.
* A sturdy desk of black stained transteel (30 tradein credits): The HackerDesk TM allows hackers of all levels to hone their skills at home with trial runs and custom grid schemes. When not in use, this desk can be placed in Incognito Mode so your hacking identity can remain a secret.
* An ornery vent rat (25 tradein credits): This small creature is almost as angry as it is hungry, but it could probably grow to love you if given enough time and sustenance. Be sure to feed it every day to avoid (too many) bites!
* A friendly Desk Buddy bot (10 tradein credits): This friendly Desk Buddy adds a touch of fun to your home, sharing performances of well known spacers from around the sector. Notable figures include Rahn Dee, Corwin Meron, Mahdi Barat, Gaze Ditutah, and many more!
* A custom AdTag (15 tradein credits): This custom AdTag allows you to add a custom sales message to any items stocked in your shop.

Returning to the Mission Control board, we also have:

- Faster Hacking Movement (hacking_movement): Hacking movement is 25% faster

And for items:

- A LiteReel Elite personal holoprojection kit (20 tradein credits): This LiteReel Elite personal holoprojection kit allows the user to program up to 10 scenes to display in a rotating overhead holo-theater.
- A handheld slicer's terminal (30 tradein credits): Practice your hacking anytime, anywhere. This portable terminal allows you to choose from five challenge levels, and comes with a built in progress meter to keep track of your personal best.

At various intervals, Mission Control has some BIG PRIZES! This month's big prizes are:

- Every 50 shots: 50 credits
- Every 150 shots: a handheld slicer's terminal
- Every 2000 shots: a free class token

The board is also chock-full of all sorts of miscellaneous winnings: 100 Credits, 100000 Marks, 16 Credits, 25 Credits, 25000 Marks, 50000 Marks, a collectible card packet, a crate of workshop parts, a large artifact, a major artifact, a minor artifact, a random autofeeder, a random fish baggie, a random item, a random minipet, a random personal genekit or zine, a random room unlock, a random ship customization or zine, a random tells modulator, a random vehicle, and a small artifact

We also want to take a quick moment to mention that during Q1 2023, we don't intend to do any mid-month rollovers. Instead we'll be getting a head start on preparing rollovers well in advance. That way, we can focus our efforts on making sure new items and artifacts are as fun and polished as possible, and have more time to work on the core mechanics of the game! Speaking of which, you'll be hearing from us shortly about the status of the Conflict Rework as well as our plans for afterwards, so keep your eyes peeled! Also keep your eyes peeled for a brilliant new hacking questline coming this month from the paws of our very own Argus.

Regards,
The Starmourn Team