With the launch of the revamped New Player Experience we’re finally ready to welcome the potentially massive number of new players that being Greenlit on Steam means. It’s been a long road to this point, and we’re excited to see what the future brings. However there’s one last change that we haven’t mentioned before as this one is different from the previous upgrades to Perpetuum.

Payment model change

During and since our Steam Greenlight campaign we’ve gathered a lot of feedback from players not familiar with the game. This feedback was overwhelmingly positive, however there was a single recurring complaint that we couldn’t ignore. We’ve thought and talked about this for a long time before coming to a decision, and in the end we decided that the best chance for Perpetuum to grow with this new audience is to do something about the subscription system.

On April the 2nd, as a last step in preparation for our upcoming Steam launch, Perpetuum is going to change its payment model.

The subscription model will be dropped in favor of a single purchase when players join the world of Perpetuum, and augmented with optional in-game purchases of previously unavailable services and cosmetic upgrades. The price of the single and final purchase of the game will be comparable to 3 months of subscription time in the past: 28.99 USD/EUR (VAT included).

In anticipation of the influx of new players, we will suspend our 15-day trial and free reactivation options on the same day. The payment model change combined with our Steam launch is a disproportionately large step for us compared to our recent years, and we want to make sure that we can provide the highest possible quality of service for the players who purchase the game.

A gift for our active players

As a thank you for supporting us over the years and helping us to get to this point, all players who had at least 3 months of game time ever(!) on their account by April 2 will receive Perpetuum for free. The 3 months can be anywhere in the past, reach into the future, be continuous or intermittent, doesn’t matter. We check for redeemed game time codes or monthly subscriptions. We also take ICE into consideration, but it’s important that we count consumed ICE items, and NOT redeemed ICE codes.

So if your account currently has had only 1 or 2 months of game time so far, this is your opportunity to extend it to 3 months and get the game for good.

The accounts that have less than 3 months of accumulated game time on April 2 will be deactivated, and can only be used again if you purchase the game for the full price.

We have set up an eligibility check on our website, so you can verify whether your account has enough months to receive a free copy or not.

EP system changes

The system most affected by the change is the EP system. It’s not being removed, and the core of the game will be kept as it has always been, however several adjustments need to be made in order to make it work.

First off, for the purpose of easier management, instead of receiving one EP every minute, players will be receiving the EP in daily packages. All accounts which own the game will accumulate Extension Points daily, however this raises the issue of older accounts having more EP without doing anything. In order to avoid the issue of inactive players gathering EP indefinitely, we’re introducing a new rule: EP will only gather on an account for three days after being last online. We’re confident that this isn’t such a big requirement for active players, but it will make sure that inactive players can be caught up to in terms of EP.

The second major change concerns the level playing field in Perpetuum. The EP system has always been one of the core systems guaranteeing that equal progress can be achieved for all players in the game. This won’t change, however we’re raising the bar a bit: for players willing to support us each month we’re introducing the EP Boost. This service will be available as an in-game purchase and will grant players a 50% boost to all EP earned for 30 days. The pricing of this service will be comparable to the monthly fee we’re replacing.

Perpetuum Credits

We’ll introduce a new type of currency that you’ll be able to purchase for real money - we’re simply calling it Perpetuum Credits (PC).

The following items will be available to purchase for Perpetuum Credits:

• EP booster
  Activating an EP booster on your account will increase your EP acquisition rate by 50% over the normal rate for a month. It will also make sure that you receive your EP supplement for every day as long as it is active, even if you miss to log in for more than 3 days.
• EP reset
  Reset the extensions of a character to starting levels, and free up all the EP spent on them. The EP can then be spent again for any character on the account. The EP reset item will also free up all EP penalties caused by character deletions. UPDATE: Based on your feedback and after some internal discussion, we have decided to not offer EP resets for now. The extension downgrade feature might even make a separate EP reset unnecessary, we'll see how people will use it.
• Extension downgrade
  Currently extension downgrading is only available for 30 days after an account is created. We will remove this limit, and make level-by-level downgrading for Perpetuum Credits available to everyone. Also, there will be no level limit for downgrading, you’ll be able to downgrade even from level 10, down to the starting level of the extension.
• Character rename
  Makes you able to rename your character. To avoid abuse, character information windows will publicly list all past names.
• Corporation rename
  Change the name and short ID of your corporation. This will be only available to CEOs and deputy CEOs.

This is only the initial list of items, and we plan to introduce some more in the future, like the long awaited robot paint option. We’d like to stress that these will be only convenience or cosmetic items - no player will get the upper hand in the game by throwing wads of cash at us.

Any subscription that spans beyond the day of the payment model switch will be converted to the appropriate amount of PC and added to the account. UPDATE: see a detailed explanation here.

We'll roll out these changes to the public test server on March 20, so you'll be able to see how this all works before it goes live.

Gamma reset

We’d like to quickly address this as well in this blog because the plans for gammas have changed around too many times.

So if you haven’t heard about this yet, we’re going to reset gamma islands, with the necessary reimbursements. The reason for this is that we’re changing the rules for terraforming and building limits for a better gamma gameplay and balance, and unfortunately there is no way around a reset.

The initial plan was to do the reset before the Steam launch, close down gamma, and reopen it whenever we feel it’s ready. However, we have made considerable progress and we might be able to avoid a closedown. So the current plan is to do the reset and the reimbursement on the day we launch on Steam, and start right away with a revamped gamma experience. If we encounter any showstopper issues connected to this, the reset will still happen on the day of the launch, and we’ll revert to the original plan.

As for the reimbursements, the details are still being worked out, but here’s what we already know for sure:

• Reimbursing buildings and items in them is straightforward because they all have a specific owner. Items will be reimbursed as they are, either to characters (if in private storage), or to corporations (if in corporation storage). Buildings will be reimbursed by returning the foundation item and the appropriate amount of construction blocks.
• Reimbursing terraforming is the tricky part. There is simply no way to know how much or where an individual character or a corporation has terraformed. Pretty much the only thing we are able to do is a fair approximation based on gamma activity. So the plan is to check which corporations ever had a gamma terminal in the past (counted up until today, to avoid abuse), and we’ll give out a package of terraforming charges for each terminal they have ever placed.
• Both individual characters and corporations will be able to set a target terminal for the reimbursement within the game. The selection interface for this will be included in the payment model patch. If you miss to set a target terminal, we will use the TM Alpha terminal by default, so nothing will be lost.

Q&A

So when will you actually launch on Steam?
- The exact date of our Steam launch will be announced on the day of the payment model patch on April the 2nd.

Will I be able to transfer Perpetuum Credits between accounts?
- No.

Will I be able to trade Perpetuum Credits in the game for NIC?
- No, but we’re keeping this option open for the future.

My account’s validity is beyond the day of the payment model switch! What will happen to my subscription after that?
- Your extra subscription time will be converted to the appropriate amount of Perpetuum Credits and added to your account. See a detailed explanation here.

How will I get my free copy of Perpetuum?
- If your account had at least 3 months of game time through the years, your Perpetuum account will automatically be converted to a lifetime account on April the 2nd. If you have less than 3 months of game time so far, you can make your account eligible for the free copy at a reduced price by purchasing the missing months in our store until April the 2nd. Check your account status page to verify its eligibility.

What will happen to unused ICE items?
- ICE will be discontinued and market orders for ICE will be cancelled during the payment model patch. Then, all ICE items in private storages and cargos will be converted to the appropriate amount of Perpetuum Credits and added to the owner's account. ICE in corporation storages will be converted and added to the account of the CEO, so make sure you move out any ICE items to personal storages if this doesn't fit for you.

What will happen to recurring subscriptions?
- All recurring subscriptions will be stopped on April the 2nd.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have in the comments and we’ll include it here! Details about the Steam launch and everything you need to know about it will be announced after April the 2nd.

...know then, that it is time to talk about how new Perpetuum players will experience their first hours in the near future. As you may know, this will be the third feature patch that we have planned before launching on Steam, after the already finished revamp of the research and assignment systems. I wanted to write "final patch", but we’re going to have an extra one, which will contain features and changes connected with our entry to Steam. Details for that will be announced during January - expect a few surprises. But for now, let’s see how the new tutorial stage will look like.

Welcome to Perpetuum, you screwed up

For the veterans who don’t remember how our current start of the game looks like anymore, a quick recap: create your avatar, select faction, school, major, starting corporation, and spark. All that without the slightest knowledge of what your selections actually mean in a game that you haven’t played yet.

We put a quick band-aid on this process recently by providing a selection of only four presets to the four factions with some general descriptions of what you can expect when you choose one. Still, looking at some shiny robot pictures and a few hints still isn’t up to par with experiencing the game itself.

This became really apparent from the number of requests we get from new players who ask for a character reset after a few weeks of play, because they have realized they screwed up their character (although that is mostly a misperception, but that’s another story). And the only thing we can do is advise them how to bring out the best of their characters (read: let them rot in their misery), because any special reset would be unfair towards the rest of the players.

Split personalities

So to remedy this problem, we’ll let you play before you actually play for real, and give you the opportunity to experience what this whole thing is about before asking you to make irreversible decisions.

The initial character creation will consist of nothing else than creating your avatar (shh, it’s okay...) and giving it a name. That’s all, right after this you’ll find yourself in a terminal. Which is no ordinary terminal of course, but part of a virtual training program. Yes, that’s virtual reality inside a virtual reality. Perfectly normal stuff.

Obviously, the Syndicate would never send the expensive spark of an Agent through a wormhole to the wilderness of Nia without proper in-house training. No Sir, that would be very irresponsible of them.

The island of noobs

That’s why they have created a whole virtual island, where every wannabe-Agent is sent to at first, cybernetically speaking. Being only virtual, the island is almost completely sealed off from the main Earth-Nia network. I say "almost", because the lovely Syndicate programmers managed to interlink the basic communication lines, so new and old can still chat about their experiences together. But other than that, nothing gets in and nothing gets out.

Sidenote: initially our plan was to create solo instances for this, but as it turned out that would require too many core changes throughout the game, and we have decided that this is not the right time for such experiments. In some aspect there will be multiple instances of training islands, but these will be "hard" instances that we’ll use in conjunction with queuing and load balancing. However, this is not something that we could use for missions for example. But fear not, proper instances are still on our todo.

So the island has some very special rules to make the learning process faster and more optimal:

• As they are only some sort of husks yet, all Agents are created uniform in their skills, meaning level 5 of all extensions
• Plenty of NIC to experiment with them too (and possibly EP - that’s still a question due to its account-based nature)
• Most standard items are available on the market at virtually no cost
• Robots and equipment are not lost upon destruction

It is literally a virtual playground where you can try almost anything without any second thoughts. We can do this without compromising the actual economy because as said, nothing gets out.

How do I get out though? Well, I’m glad you ask, I even have a screenshot of it:

What you see here is a part of the training island, with a central in-zone entry teleport, and four exit teleports. Each one of the exit teleports represents a faction preset selection: choose one to go through, and the selected preset (extensions, starting location, etc.) will be applied to your character and you will be transferred through the wormhole into the real world. While that happens, your character will be stripped bare of everything you gathered or did to it while on the island. Except for the real-life experience you gathered of course - that’s something you should keep.

Prepare for liftoff

Even though you’ll have nothing to lose, we won’t just simply throw you into the sandbox and let you figure everything on your own. Although I’m sure there are some who prefer it that way, we’ll provide some guidance in the form of a rookie-checklist.

This checklist, as the name suggests, will contain a number of tasks that you should do to become a useful and successful Syndicate employee. This checklist will basically replace our current sequential tutorials, but it will cover much more than the current basics of movement/camera, targeting, module activation, equipping, etc.

It’s pretty similar to an achievement system and the best thing is that you’ll be able to easily track and review all the tasks you have already completed. Reviewing them will even work after you have left the training island, so it’ll be a handy collection of quick how-to’s.

And the part where I wrote "you should do them" actually means you have to do at least a percentage of them to get out of training. I know, alt characters and stuff, and we’ll try to make the limit as painless as possible, but there will be actually a reward for completing the tasks too.

There will be a few milestones for specific stages of completion, and if you reach those milestones, your final character (the one on Nia) will receive some useful starting supplies, based on how well you did during training. This could mean some ammo or module packs for the first milestones, but it could be even light and assault robots for higher milestones, or when you complete the checklist at 100%.

Closing

I think it’s apparent that of the three, this patch is the most content-heavy, so that’s why we are a bit late with it. Testing of this new tutorial is slated for January, but that means a very tight schedule for us. Which brings me to why we didn’t really have time to prepare anything for Christmas.

A good percentage of why we are late with something can be attributed to things that are sidetracking us (critical bugs, server crashes, exploding toasters), and we really want to get you more ingame buddies already. But once we’re there, I promise we’ll have a party. So apologies, crossed fingers, and last but not least, Happy Holidays for everyone!

By now you should know that we have three updates planned before we can somewhat confidently launch on Steam: the revamp of the research system, the first stage of the assignment system revamp, and the reworking of the tutorial/new player stage. The research revamp has been successfully deployed in July and you don’t really complain about it a lot, which usually means it’s awesome.

Since then we’ve been working on the assignment system, which has now arrived at a state where we can share the details with you.

What’s wrong with the current assignment system?

Well, most of it. The current system was put into the game way before sentient robotic beings have evolved and Nia was still ruled by pink rainbow-puking ponies. So it’s old, really old. It was basically put in to have missions in some way, any way.

The player is presented with a long and stale list of a gazillion missions which just gets longer and longer the higher he gets on the relation ladder. With time he finds out which missions provide the most rewards for the least effort, and then he does those over and over, degrading the whole assignment system into a glorified grindfest.

Assignment levels and categories

So instead of presenting you a long list of assignments, they will be gathered under clickable boxes which are arranged by level and category, as it is visible on the picture below. Categories currently mean combat, industrial, transport, and training assignments, but this may be expanded in the future. The level system is pretty much the same here too, ranging from 0 to 6 as of now.

In this first stage of the assignment system revamp, we are using our existing assignments, and gather them under the boxes so the system can randomly select one upon request. For the most part this is doable, but there are a few location/level/type combinations where we need to push some assignments up or down a level to have enough assignments in the random pool to choose from. This also means that some locations won’t have some levels that they do have now. This is a transitory solution until we do stage 2 of the revamp, which will introduce true random assignments.

Requesting an assignment

By clicking on a box, the system will then give you a random assignment with the appropriate category and level of that particular box.

Doing so will bring up an assignment information just like now, but with one important change: there is no accept option after you click on a box - the assignment is already active by then. This is necessary to prevent players from cherry-picking from the random assignments. Aborting is of course possible, with a penalty (see below).

Once you have requested an assignment from a box, you cannot request a new one from the same box until you either complete or abort it (or let it expire). In other words, you can only have one active assignment from a particular location, level, and category combination.

Parallel assignments

Due to the above, we will remove and reimburse the Parallel assignments extension from the game as it will lose its usefulness. However, you will be able to freely request an assignment from every box at every location at once if that’s what you desire.

The new panel on the right of the assignments window will help you keep track of your active assignments all over Nia, as it will sort them by the locations where you have requested them.

Remote assignment discovery

The current "all assignments" tab which lists available assignments in remote terminals will be removed as it wouldn’t work in the new system. Instead we’ll include the available levels and assignment types in terminal and outpost information windows which can be opened for example through the world map (and which are already used for facility infos too).

Chained bonuses and penalties

A brand new feature coming with this system is the concept of reward multipliers and penalties.

You can get a positive bonus by successfully completing assignments one after another without failing. The bonus means an increasing multiplier to the NIC and relation rewards of the assignments, so with every successful assignment, you’ll get increasingly larger rewards for your next assignments than you would normally get. However, if you fail to do just one assignment and break the chain (by aborting it or letting it expire), the multiplier will immediately fall back to zero.

Likewise, you can also get a negative bonus. If you keep aborting assignments one after the other, you’ll get an ever increasing negative multiplier to the rewards of your next assignment. Like in the case of the positive bonus, it is enough to complete just one assignment to get the reward multiplier back to normal. (After you get your reduced reward for that one of course.)

These bonuses are not global: every location, level, and category combo (so simply said: a box) has its own bonus tracker. Both positive and negative bonuses will have an expiration time, so they will slowly crawl back to the zero point if you don’t touch that box for some time (technically after their last bonus update).

Relation changes

We’ll make things more simple and straightforward here by abandoning relation gains toward subsidiary NPC corporations and instead you’ll only gather relation points toward the three big megacorporations: Truhold-Markson, ICS, and Asintec. As you can see on the above picture, these will be now shown on the top of the window for easy tracking. We’ll retain the current NPC corporations in the game, but they will only serve a lore function as the contractors of the assignments.

This change has the consequence that we will have to convert all your current NPC corporation relation points to a single value per megacorporation, and this will happen by averaging the subsidiary corporation relation points within a megacorporation. For those who have only gathered relations toward one particular assignment type contractor (e.g. combat assignments), this might result in that you won’t be able to do the same level assignments like now, because the zero relations will drag down the average. However, we think this is the right way to make this change fair for everyone.

Level relation limits

Currently the relation points necessary to unlock a particular level of assignments are all over the place. We’d also like to make this more straightforward by simply assigning relation 0.00 to level 0, relation 1.00 to level 1, and so on. Some relation reward balance changes will be necessary here in order to lessen the grind between some levels (level 0 to 1 in particular).

Testing and release

We’re still right in the middle of implementing all of this, but we’ll have a short testing period for the new assignment system on the public test server as soon as we are done with it. The deployment to the live server will probably happen somewhere in the beginning of October.

The next blog will talk about the final major stage before the Steam launch, the tutorial revamp.

It’s been coming a long way, but we’re confident it was worth it: the new research system is finished. Actually you can try it out right now, since we’ve created a new public test server for it. All the information you need to access the PTS are at the end of this blog, but first let’s see what this is all about.

Tech trees

The main concepts of the new techtree-based kernel research system have been covered in the previous posts, so I’m not going to repeat them all. Here are the most important “good-to-know” points, and some decisions that we have made for its final incarnation:

• Researching a kernel happens the same way as before: right-click, research. 1 kernel contains 1 RP (Research Point), but robots drop multiple kernels now.
• Every item in the knowledgebase requires up to 2 types of RP to unlock. Usually this means factional RP plus common RP, but for T4 items the common RP is replaced by hi-tech RP. Common technology uses only common RP, but double the amount (as if it were common+common), and hi-tech comes in for T4 items here as well (this is of course not doubled anymore, since it replaces one common part). Colony buildings use pure common RP for T1, common+hi-tech for T2, and pure hi-tech for T3.
• Robots have a 5x RP multiplier.
• After much consideration, we have decided for a 3x RP multiplier for the corporation tech trees.
• You cannot research kernels directly into the corporation RP pool. First you need to research kernels for yourself, then donate the points into the corporation pool. Donation is strictly one-way, there is no option to get back what you have donated.

• If you research an item in both your personal and corporation tech tree, that item will receive a production bonus. This bonus halves the material requirements when producing a prototype item (so a 5x material multiplier instead of the normal 10x), and adds a fixed 50 points material efficiency bonus when producing the item in a factory. Items receiving the bonus are marked with yellow text in the facilities.
• We have introduced 6 new complexity 1 research extensions, for each type of technology (Common, Nuimqol, Pelistal, Thelodica, Nian Industrial Trust, and Modular Private Colonies). The tech trees in the knowledgebase are laid onto a 10-column grid, and each level of a research extension will allow you to unlock items in that column for the relevant rechnology (e.g. Research: Nuimqol technology level 4 enables unlocking items in column 4 of the Nuimqol tech tree).
• Researching in the corporation knowledgebase requires the same extensions, there are no separate corporation or CEO extensions for this purpose.
• We have a new Research access setting for corporation members, with 3 settings: none, limited, and full access. None means obviously no access at all to the corporation knowledgebase, it remains invisible for that member. Limited means the member can see and use the benefits of the corporation knowledgebase, but not spend RPs to unlock items. Full access means that the member can see and use the known tech, and unlock items. CEOs and Deputy CEOs have forced full access.
• It is possible to research kernels and unlock items while on the terrain. (Kernel research on terrain will not work, sorry.)
• Kernels on the market can be now found under "Industrial implements".

Knowledgebase conversion

We have determined the new Research Point cost of every item in the new system. During the patch we will take every character’s current knowledgebase with all its known tech, calculate the RP cost of all known items (including partially researched items’ cost as a percentage), and return the RP sum to that character’s available RP pool. This effectively means that you could rebuild the same knowledgebase you had before (provided you have the required extensions), if you wish to do so.

We are aware that the new extension requirements could be an obstacle for some in achieving this, however we also feel that the ability to specialize and pick exactly what items you want to unlock compensates for this quite well.

Kernel conversion

The current 99 different kernels types will be replaced by only 6: Pelistal, Thelodica, Nuimqol, Industrial, Common and Hi-tech. The first 4 factional kernels will be dropped by the appropriate NPC factions. Common kernels will be dropped by rank 1-3 NPCs in all factions, and Hi-tech kernels will be dropped by rank 4-5 NPCs in all factions, as well as observer and officer/starred type NPCs. (As there will be no special observer kernels anymore, their special research properties will be turned into much more dropped kernels instead.)

The drastic reduction in kernel types not only helps us in easier balancing, but should also revitalize the trading of kernels on the market, which has been hopelessly fragmented so far.

One kernel will simply contain 1 RP of that type. So for example a 3rd star Devastator, which is a rank 3 Arbalest NPC, will drop 160 Common and 80 Nuimqol kernels on average, and you’ll get exactly that amount of RP when you research them. (We use a +/- 20% interval in the case of NPC kernel drop randomisation, so that could mean something between 128 and 192 Common kernels in this example.)

During the patch we will convert all kernels in personal storages, corporation storages, robot cargos, and field containers to the appropriate number of new kernels. We will also have to cancel all sell and buy orders on the market for all kernels, since we can’t convert them while on the market (and their prices will likely drastically change too).

Structure kernels will also cease to exist and won’t be available in the Syndicate Supplies store anymore. The new system uses Common and Hi-tech kernels for colony building research, and we’ll convert existing structure kernels to them as well.

Prototype robots

We’re introducing prototype variants for all standard robots, so it will no longer be possible to reverse engineer a standard robot. In order to produce a standard robot CT, you will have to unlock it in your knowledgebase, produce a prototype variant of it in the prototype facility, and then reverse engineer it. All prototype robots roll out with pure white paint.

Prototype robots receive a few bonuses over their standard counterparts:

• +1% to CPU and reactor performance
• +10% to sensor strength
• 10 seconds base locking time instead of 12.5 seconds

Test server

As mentioned, we do have a public test server for all the new stuff, so you can try it out and then we hopefully don’t have to make 3 server restarts and 2 rollbacks on patchday.

Now, our test server is only one lousy machine as opposed to the 3 beefy ones that run our live world, so initially there will be only one island active, New Virginia. If everything is smooth we'll activate a few more islands later, but testing the NPC->kernel->research->prototype->produce process should be doable on a single island too.

We have copied over a recent snapshot of your accounts and characters, so that’s what you can log in with. However, since we’ll only have New Virginia, all characters have been transferred to TM Alpha terminal. That means you won’t be able to access your stuff that isn’t already there (or one of the NV outposts), but since every one of you received a gazillion of NIC, it shouldn’t really be a problem. Every account on the test server has also received an extra 300 000 EP for testing purposes.

The installer for the test client is available for download here:

http://content.perpetuum-online.com/files/perpetuum_setup_test.exe

The install process is just the same as for the normal client, and it even won’t overwrite your normal Perpetuum shortcuts anymore like in the past. Unless you install it to your normal Perpetuum directory, cause it will obviously overwrite the whole thing then :)

After it’s installed though, feel free to copy over your Local.gbf file from your normal installation so you don’t have to configure your settings and arrange your windows again.

There is a dedicated forum topic for this testing session, where you can post your feedback and any bugs you find, and where we’ll update you on the status of the testing:

http://forums.perpetuum-online.com/topic/6091/new-research-system-testing-july-2013/

Testing will commence throughout the weekend and will end some time in the middle of next week. The plan is to deploy the patch to the live server towards the end of next week.

That is all, see you on the test server, and thanks in advance for the help!

I’m happy to tell you that the development of our new research system is slowly approaching the finish line. Last time I have shown you the tech tree layouts, and as promised, now you’ll get a glimpse of how it will actually look in the game. Not only that, but we’ll also have a look at how our entry to Steam is coming along, which is also being developed in the background.

For science!

Your new playground for item research will have a separate place of its own in the main menu, so we’ll remove the current knowledgebase from the already overcrowded Agent profile window.

Now this is only a design mockup, since the guys are busy with its integration even as I’m writing this, but you’ll get the idea:

As you can see, the window includes both tabs for personal and corporation research, and just like in the case of the colony management interface, the latter will be only visible if you have the proper “read rights” in your corporation.

On the top you’ll always be able to see your or your corporation’s overall research progress for great e-peen justice, and of course the Research Points available to spend per type. The "Donate" button, available only on the corporation knowledgebase tab, will allow you to transfer RP from your own pool to the pool of your corporation. (Doing it the opposite way won't be possible.)

The grid is obviously where the magic happens, all the items available for research will be laid out there, like you’ve seen in the previous post. Locked items will be dimmed and will show the required RP amounts and types. What may not be obvious at first are the icon frames: green is the color of the personal knowledgebase, and yellow is the color of the corporation knowledgebase. Unlocked items will have a solid frame with the appropriate color depending on which knowledgebase you’re looking at, and a dashed frame will mean that the item is unlocked in the other knowledgebase. Items with a double green-yellow frame mean that they have been unlocked in both your personal and in the corporation knowledgebase as well, and receive a production bonus.

While we’re at it, I should mention that this bonus will affect production in the factory and in the prototype facility as well. In the factory the item will receive a yet-to-be-determined material and time efficiency point bonus, and the prototype facility will work with halved material multipliers (5x instead of the normal 10x). This should make it well worth to aim for this combo research bonus.

Since it has caused some uproar on the forum, you have probably heard by now that we’ll also introduce new research extensions, which will enable the unlocking of items on a grid column-per-extension level basis. The level of these extensions and consequently the availability of research will be indicated by the dark blue and lighter blue grid background, as you can see on the above image. I should also tell you that these extensions will have a complexity of 1, so they shouldn’t be so heavy on your EP-wallets.

The current “Research” extension will be removed from the game and we’ll of course reimburse the EP for it. We have considered to keep it and let it provide a point bonus when consuming kernels, but it felt like a mandatory extension for everyone interested in research, so we dropped the idea.

We are also considering a buyback option for already researched items, where you could regain spent RP with a certain loss of points. This may not be available from the get-go, but we’re developing the system with this in mind.

Now the only major thing left to do is to determine the point cost of all the items and how many kernels the NPCs should drop. (As mentioned earlier we’ll replace the current annoyingly large number of kernel types with just a few, 7 to be precise.)

Once that is complete, we’ll try to put together a test server for anyone interested in helping squishing some bugs. We’ll keep you posted when the time comes.

Building up steam

Besides pushing the new major features, the Steam integration is also coming along nicely in the background. Although it wasn’t mentioned in the patch notes, the recent updates did some fixing with the Steam overlay, which works properly now. We already have a working (but yet hidden) Steam account linking option on our website, which already makes it possible to log into the game through Steam, without having to enter an email and a password in the game.

How exactly account linking will work and all the details will be revealed in a later post, once we have it all set up and ready.

I’d also like to stress that using Steam will be entirely optional: if you don’t have it or don’t want to use it, you will be able to continue playing with the normal game client just like now.

Lastly, what would a Steam integration be without achievements? I’m happy to tell you that we’re working on that too, and we’ll have some interesting achievements to aim for when we launch on Steam.

When? If all goes well, we’ll be there by the end of summer.