2026

Released

Status: Released Public Release: 2026-08-05 Steam Branch: Public

Update 0.42 introduces a three-layer protection system on ships and stations, procedural NPC loadouts, armed sector stations, and a unified red enemy indicator in sector map and minimap.

• Three-layer protection system for spaceships: Damage now hits the shield first, then the armor, and finally the hull. Excess damage immediately cascades to the next layer. Shield and armor systems use existing primary-system slots; ships without these systems have 0 maximum points, but all three bars remain visible.
• Three armor systems with world blueprints: Three passive primary systems without MK progression tiers, fully researchable and installable.
• Three shield systems with research and blueprints: The new primary-system generators smallShield, mediumShield, and largeShield, analogous to the armor systems.
• Destructible and armed sector stations: The 11 normal and 7 exotic inhabited sector stations become independent prefab variants with fixed station-system loadouts. Each station has very high hull values, dedicated armor, shield, and weapon slots, fights pirates autonomously, and retaliates against attacks. Home station and abandoned station remain unchanged.

• Danger-level-based NPC ship templates and procedural systems: The previous hand-crafted civilian and pirate combo prefabs are removed from the active spawn flow. Each hull now has a clean NPC template without built-in systems; danger-level profiles pick the hull, and the shared ship-systems manager then installs a complete, energetically valid slot loadout.

• Red display of hostile ships and stations in sector map and minimap: Hostility is read uniformly from HostileObject. As soon as a ship or station becomes hostile, object list, minimap, sector map, and world name update automatically. Neutral objects keep their previous colors.
• Short-range scanner layout adjusted: Content is no longer clipped.
• Selected sector object is pinned to the top of the list.

• Station computer UI display error fixed.
• Precision laser display error fixed: the misleading “MK3” suffix was removed.
• Ship-system icon display errors fixed, including the permanently repaired IonEngine icons.

Released

Status: Released Public Release: 2026-07-29 Steam Branch: Public

Small maintenance build with three targeted fixes for a calmer sector-loading experience and a more consistent weapon feel.

• Precision laser visual tweak: The blue beam of the precision laser is now visually a bit slimmer.

• Home Sector loading screen flicker: The sector loading screen UI no longer flickers on scene change in the Home Sector.
• Shipyard maneuvering thrusters: The maneuvering thrusters no longer start automatically in the shipyard.

Released

Status: Released Public Release: 2026-07-28 Steam Branch: Public

Update 0.41 introduces a high-precision long-range weapon and improves savegame reliability. It also fixes a mining-loop bug and a Home Sector display glitch.

• Precision laser — new ship weapon: A new high-precision ship weapon that fires short, focused blue-turquoise pulses for extreme-range combat. It deals devastating damage, but requires very high energy and has a long charge time.

• More robust save system: The save system has been hardened to handle edge cases more reliably.

• Mining loop fix: Items added to an in-progress mining operation are now registered safely. Their mining duration is added to the running operation, and progress counters are only incremented on a successful extraction. Infinite loops are prevented.
• Home Sector display fix: A display glitch in the Home Sector has been fixed.

Released

Status: Released Public Release: 2026-07-20 Steam Branch: Public

Update 0.40 extends the object list and short-range scanner with new Blueprint, scan, and action features. Blueprint drops are now deterministic by source ID, time-spawned civilian ships are capped sector-wide, and every ship system sprite has been unified into a single visual design.

• Blueprints in the object list: Blueprints are now displayed in the object list of the Objects UI window.
• Direct attack and scan actions in the object list: The object list now supports direct attack and scan actions for eligible targets.
• Scan icon button in the object list: A new icon button enables direct scanning of an object from within the object list.
• Manual short-range scanner button: The short-range scanner window can now be opened at any time via its own dedicated button.
• Localized Blueprint rarity labels: The rarity of a Blueprint is now shown in the short-range scanner using the existing localized UI labels, instead of the English internal enum name.
• Civilian ship cap (sector-wide): Time-spawned civilian ships are now limited to a maximum of twelve ships per sector. The limit is shared across all active spawners.
• Civilian ship slot release: Destroyed or despawned civilian ships automatically free their slot in the sector-wide limit.

• Unified ship system sprites: All ship system sprites have been reworked into a single, consistent visual design.

• Conditional action icons: The action icons of an entry in the object list are only shown when the respective action is available for the target.
• Localized warning symbol tooltip: The spaceship warning symbol in the home sector now has a localized tooltip.
• Blueprint tooltips in short-range scanner: Blueprint entries in the short-range scanner list now have a dedicated tooltip.

• Stable Blueprint drops by source ID: Blueprint drops are now selected reliably by their source ID and no longer depend on the periodically reset Unity random seed.
• All 800 Blueprint templates droppable: As a result, all 800 Blueprint templates can now be selected as drops reliably.
• Savegame-compatible civilian cap: The sector-wide civilian ship limit is fully compatible with existing savegames.
• Existing Blueprints unchanged: Already generated Blueprint entries remain unchanged. The new selection method only applies to future Blueprint drops.

Released

Status: Released Public Release: 2026-07-16 Steam Branch: Public

Update 0.39 improves control, the first-session flow, NPC behavior, and sector performance. It adds configurable keybindings and consistent Steam Deck controls, while making the first jump clearer and tightening pirate behavior, Blueprint handling, and a range of smaller systems.

• Full keybinding system: The former static control overview is now a dynamic, scrollable binding list with separate keyboard-and-mouse and controller sections. Custom bindings are saved globally and loaded automatically on the next game start.
• Improved onboarding and first sector jump: The flow from the home sector to the first jump is clearer and more robust. New saves now begin with the intended story introduction and complete starting equipment. The player's ship can be selected directly in the home sector and shows its status, warnings, and a highlight ring on hover. Sector jumps are only enabled when all required conditions are met, and the Shipyard provides a direct recovery path.
• Steam Deck controls: Core Steam Deck controls now follow a standard Xbox-compatible gamepad layout for sticks, the D-pad, ABXY buttons, triggers, shoulder buttons, and Start.
• Optional trackpad and back-button bindings: Trackpads and back buttons remain optional additions rather than replacements for core controls. The right trackpad can act as a mouse, its click as a left mouse button, and back buttons can be assigned as additional bindings for existing controller buttons.
• Improved pirate pursuit: Pirates no longer pursue targets almost indefinitely. They abandon chases more reliably and can be lured near civilian ships to distract them.
• Improved beginner tip: The first hint now points directly to the player's ship instead of the Star Map menu.
• Movable tips window: The tips window was reduced from 910 × 650 to 760 × 520 pixels, opens on the left side of the screen, and can be moved by its title bar. Its position is retained within the current scene and reset when changing scenes.
• Ship scale pass: Several spaceship sprite sizes were adjusted for more consistent scale between ships.
• Louder hyperspace jump sound: The sound effect for jumping into hyperspace is slightly louder to make the jump feel more powerful and immersive.
• Camera-dependent sector particles: Persistent particle systems in safe sectors now pause their simulation completely when outside the camera view and resume without expensive catch-up simulation when visible again.
• Audio and effect pooling: One-shot ship explosion sounds and effects are reused through a sector-local pool. Effects are released based on their actual state, reducing unnecessary creation and destruction.
• Clean NPC sleep state: Sleeping NPC ships now stop audio and particle effects completely. On waking, only the effects required by the responsible gameplay systems are started.
• More efficient sector updates: Expensive checks during sector runtime are throttled more deliberately or driven by events. Movement, weapon control, collision reactions, and smooth animations remain fully active per frame.

• Blueprint decryption button: Fixed an issue where the button could become clickable again while decryption was still running in the Station Computer.
• Localization strings: Corrected several localization strings that were displayed incorrectly.
• Blueprint weapon accuracy: Blueprint weapon inaccuracy on the player's ship is now calculated correctly.
• Blueprint reliability: Fixed several issues related to Blueprints.
• Ship and sector selection state: Ship and sector selection states are now synchronized more reliably.
• Sector jump validation: Invalid or incomplete sector jumps are now reliably prevented.
• Additional regression coverage: Added further tests for ship selection, jump readiness, and the game-start flow.

Released

Status: Released Public Release: 2026-07-11 Steam Branch: Public

Update 0.38 deepens the cargo loop and tightens ship handling. Persistent cargo drops in the sector tie combat and salvage together; cargo weight now affects flight dynamics; every ship in the game gets a new sprite set.

• Persistent cargo drops in the sector: The previous “destroy” buttons now drop ship cargo at the current ship position. Works in flight and from the extraction screen. Nearby active loot containers are preferred; otherwise a new lootable container cluster spawns. Dropped cargo is persisted per sector and per savegame and is restored on the next sector entry. Station cargo stays put and is not teleported into the sector.
• Cargo weight affects flight handling: The player's cargo hold fill level increases the ship's effective weight linearly. An empty hold has no effect; at 100% fill the ship is 10% heavier, about 9.1% slower, and less rotation-agile. The effect remains noticeable against the existing speed caps.
• New sprites for all spaceships: Every spaceship in the game has been re-sprited.
• Sound effects for blueprints and data scans: Decrypted blueprints get their own sound effect; the sector now plays a sound when a data scan finds new data.
• 800 blueprints for ship systems: The game now contains 800 ship system blueprints in total. Pirate debris fields can now spawn multiple blueprints at once.
• Blueprint management in the station computer: The station computer now has a dedicated blueprint manager. Decrypted blueprint entries show the same ship-system tooltip on hover as blueprint systems in the shipyard; encrypted blueprints and other list entries remain unchanged.
• Category icons for blueprints: Blueprints show the matching system slot icon from `Assets/Sprites/Ship System Slots/`, tinted with the existing category colour. The icons appear in the short-range sensor and in the blueprint lists and detail views of the station and ship computers.
• Automatic cleanup of identical blueprint duplicates: Decrypted blueprints are merged automatically when their template, affixes, and gameplay-relevant values are identical in their UI-rounded display. Existing savegames receive a one-time, idempotent migration; installed blueprint references are remapped to the remaining copy.
• Tooltip system overhauled: The tooltip system is now more robust and reacts faster.

• UI colour no longer fails to update when the alarm state changes.
• The pirate laser no longer sticks: target information is now stably cached for the shot.
• Shipyard: building certain ship systems was incorrectly blocked — fixed. The currently installed ship system is now shown more clearly in the sidebar.
• Fixed a tooltip bug where some ship system tooltips failed to show their data reliably.
• Fixed a blueprint bug where blueprints could actually be lost when switching stations.
• The heavy flicker during manual laser fire has been reduced.
• Fixed a tooltip display error in the station computer.
• Fixed a tooltip bug where some ship system tooltips failed to show their data reliably in the shipyard.

Released

Status: Released Public Release: 2026-07-08 First Beta Build: v0.37-b1 (2026-06-28) Latest Beta Build: v0.37-b2 (2026-07-01) Steam Branch: Public

Update 0.37 adds a second layer of strategic depth to Astrosphere. Sector activity now feeds back into shipbuilding, projectile combat, the economy, and the station database — each system pulls weight because the others do.

• 18 unique stations: The game world now contains 18 individually designed stations.
• New Ship Purchase window: A dedicated, clearer UI window for buying ships replaces the previous interface.
• Tooltips for all interactable objects: Every clickable object in the game world opens a tooltip. Hovered objects show at a glance what they are and whether you have already scanned them. Scanned objects show their contained resources in the tooltip.
• Intelligent lead-prediction: Automatic projectile weapons now compute an intercept course per shot using position, range, projectile speed, and the target's and ship's velocity. Manual fire and beam lasers are unchanged. Player, pirate, and civilian weapons all use: relative target velocity = target − shooter; dynamic lead direction; world velocity = ship velocity + lead direction × projectile speed.
• Scan-only sector exits and anomalies: Sector exits and in-sector anomalies now only respond to the player ship if the specific anomaly was scanned first. Flying through an unscanned anomaly does nothing.
• Extended ship sidebar: The ship image on the right now shows every system slot. Occupied slots use the matching system icon with a uniform colored border matching the system-type color from the Shipyard. Hovering shows system details as a tooltip.
• Weapon range circles with Shift: Holding Shift in a sector shows a separate range circle around each active player weapon's actual position. Controllers use the left shoulder button. Clicking a weapon marker in the ship sidebar toggles that specific weapon on or off. The state is per-flight and not saved.
• Dynamic per-sector economy: Each sector now has a stored dynamic economy index. The index shifts in small steps every 30 seconds during unpaused sector playtime, trends back toward the sector's base value, and stays within ±20%. The Trading dialog shows a simple line chart above the item list with the current percent value. Chart history lives only in RAM for the current sector session.
• Station computer with scan database: The station computer is now a fully functional UI window.
• Second tooltip tier for resource sources: Cost tooltips get a live switchable information tier. Left/right Alt (or LB) shows for each required resource the known source locations from the station database, grouped by danger level.
• Station computer “Blueprints” category: The station computer gains a new “Blueprints” category. Files downloaded successfully from a sector are only transferred on a successful return, decrypted once, and then offered as reusable system variants in the Shipyard.
• Ship computer synced with station computer: The ship computer is synchronized with the station computer before every sector jump and contains all data on resources, objects, etc.
• Blueprints in sectors: Blueprints can spawn at containers, debris fields, and other points of interest in sectors. They contain encrypted ship systems that are decrypted in the station computer and installed in ships multiple times.

• Station visual consistency: Existing stations have been overhauled so their styling is now uniform.
• Steamworks integration updated: Stability and performance improvements behind the scenes.
• Weapon inaccuracy applied to projectile lead: Automatic projectile shots now factor in effective weapon inaccuracy. The lead calculation still applies but gains a randomized impact offset per shot.
• Extraction UI: The extraction UI now also shows all new data scanned in the sector.

• Sector discovery price: Fixed a display error where no price was shown when discovering new sectors.
• Phantom buttons: Fixed buttons appearing when they should not have been shown.
• Loot and Mining UI close handler: Corrected the global closeUI handler so Loot and Mining only respond when their own window is open. The current world-object selection is preserved across opening and closing other UIs.

2026-06-28

Status: Beta Beta Release: 2026-06-28 Steam Branch: Beta

• Streamworks integration updated: Stability and performance improvements behind the scenes.
• Build ship renamed to Buy ship: The action has been renamed to better reflect what it does — acquiring ships for your fleet.
• Buy ship window redesigned: The window has been redesigned with more space and a clearer layout, so comparing and purchasing ships is faster.

• No known major issues.

This build is available on the beta branch and may change before the public release.

• This beta build may affect existing save data. Use a separate save file when testing.

2026-07-01

Status: Beta Beta Release: 2026-07-01 Steam Branch: Beta

• World-object tooltips in sectors: Hovering a world object in a sector now opens a tooltip. The tooltip respects the configured sensor range and ignores the player ship and UI elements, so the cursor only snaps to real sector objects.
• Tooltip content layer: A scan-dependent builder supplies the contents: scan-dependent details, current ship status, and up to four aggregated resource entries at once. World and UI tooltips for owner-specific objects continue to come from the shared TooltipController; the tooltip canvas is wired accordingly.
• Dynamic lead for automatic projectile weapons: Automatic projectile weapons now compute an intercept course per shot using position and range of both target and shooter, projectile speed, and the actual target and ship velocity.
• Scan requirement for anomalies: Sector exits and in-sector anomalies only respond to the player ship if the specific anomaly was scanned first. Unscanned anomalies do nothing when flown through — scan first, then interact.
• System slots in the ship image: The ship image on the right now shows every system slot. Occupied slots use the matching system icon with a uniform colored border matching the system-type color from the Shipyard. Hovering shows the existing system tooltip.
• Weapon range and per-weapon toggle: Holding Shift shows a separate range circle around each active player weapon's actual position in the sector. Controllers use the left shoulder button. Clicking a weapon marker in the ship sidebar toggles that specific weapon on or off. The state is per-flight and not saved.

• No known major issues.

This build is available on the beta branch and may change before the public release.

• Saves from v0.37-b2 may not be backward compatible with v0.37-b1. Back up your save before switching back to the older beta build.

06.27.2026

This update improves the way ships behave in space. NPC ships now react more dynamically, pirates use more varied behavior patterns, and civilian ships move and respond in a more natural way. The update also adds a new hyperspace arrival effect and expands repair options during exploration.

New:

• Hyperspace arrival effect: Added a new effect for ships jumping out of hyperspace.
• Sector repairs: The player ship can now be repaired at space stations inside sectors.
• Repair pricing: Sector-based repairs cost credits and are three times more expensive than repairs at your own station.
• NPC hyperspace escape: NPC ships can now escape into hyperspace when they are heavily damaged in combat.

Updated:

• NPC behavior: NPC ships now react more dynamically.
• Pirate behavior: Pirates now use different behavior patterns and react more naturally.
• Civilian behavior: Civilian ships now have more natural behavior.

06.23.2026

New Features:

• Objects window: A dedicated UI window lists every object currently detected within your sensor range, updated in real time as contacts enter or leave.
• Direct target designation: Mark a target from the new Objects window and your ship will automatically engage and fire on it.
• Automatic red alert: The red alert state now self-clears as soon as no enemies remain in sensor range.
• Sector-based economy: Each sector maintains its own supply and demand profile, so item prices shift per sector — where you buy and sell now matters.
• Localization overhaul: All translated text was revised for clarity, consistency, and tone across supported languages.
• CJK character update: The Chinese, Japanese, and Korean character sets were refreshed so newly localized strings render correctly.

04.08.2026

New Features:

• Ship damage persistence: Ship damage now persists when returning to the station and can be repaired in the Shipyard.
• Damage indicator: Damaged ships are now marked with an icon for better visibility.

Updated:

• Star Map updated; previously selected sectors and ships are now automatically preselected.
• Improved ship selection and Ship Designer; the Ship Designer now selects the last ship you used.
• Improved Steam Deck and gamepad support; reworked input mode switching for more consistent controller and keyboard/mouse behavior.
• Improved gamepad text input.
• Improved waypoint synchronization between the game world and the sector map.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where distant stars were not visible on the Star Map.
• Fixed a Research UI issue where colors did not update correctly when resources changed.
• Improved UI closing behavior across several menus.
• Improved tooltip cleanup and reliability.
• General bug fixes and stability improvements.

**01.12.2026 **

New Features:

• UI Scaling option: You can now adjust the overall UI scale in the Options menu.
• Star Map UI redesign: The Star Map got a complete UI overhaul.
• Extraction UI redesign: Improved layout for a much better overview while extracting/looting.
• Controller support (in-sector): You can now control your ship with a controller while flying around in a sector.
• Delete confirmation popup: Added a confirmation dialog when deleting a sector (to prevent accidental deletes).
• Tutorial → Tips Window: The previous tutorial has been removed and replaced with a Tips UI window featuring short, mini tutorial-style tips.

Updated:

• Research UI adjustments
• Tooltips scaling behavior: Tooltips are now +10% larger whenever your global UI scale is set above 100%
• Sector Map UI adjustments
• Top UI bar updated and slightly enlarged
• Updated fonts for Chinese / Japanese / Korean
• Additional small code improvements and cleanup