The rest of the day: your own Colony Station, a living station economy and cloud backup

We were not done after the morning's digest. Eleven more releases went out in the second half of 2 October, v0.10.165 to v0.10.175, and this batch is about ownership and a galaxy that feels shared: your own harbour in orbit, stations that answer to every Star Captain at once, a backup of everything you have built, and a Station card that no longer vanishes when you play it. Here is the rest of the day in plain words. Every change is also in What's new, further down this page.

Your Colony Station

Your orbital station is now your own harbour. Reach Command Spire 3, sign the free Colony Charter (40 Alloys and 20 Components) and the station over your colony becomes yours. Ships that dock there pay harbour dues, and your levy share collects in the station's strongroom, even while you are away. Claim it from the Colony Station panel in Dominion, from the new Harbour dues strip on the Command Deck, or simply by docking your Flagship at your colony dock.

Build it up in stages. Put Galactic Credits and goods toward a Market Wing, Defence or the next tier whenever you like; nothing has to be paid in one go. Set your dues to Low, Standard or High, keep the crew paid and the station in repair, and mothball it before a long break. With the charter, the Command Relay and the Defence Platform can finally sit in orbit together, and a Platform beside the Relay is armed by your station's Defence.

Show it off. Other Star Captains can see your station on your player card: its name, tier, style and modules, never what is in the strongroom. Each faction's harbour already carries its own names and voice, and we are working on more ways to make every station feel like its people's.

A galaxy of shared markets

Stations share one appetite. Every station now buys and sells from a single appetite that every Star Captain draws on. The more a station has bought lately, the less it pays, and it recovers over a few hours. The Market tells you how eager each station is (buying eagerly, buying, well stocked, glutted) and marks a falling price with ▼. There is no cap on what you sell: when one market is glutted, the next one over pays more, and your first few sales of the day at any station always fetch a fair share of its price.

Mined ore sells everywhere. The old daily limit per station on mined ore is gone. Ore now sells like any other good, so sell a bay, then fly on to a hungrier market.

Stations call for what they need. A station running short of a good now calls for it on your local channel, in its own faction's voice, with a rough price. You hear stations within two gate jumps, never the whole galaxy. Calls show on the station Comms tab and in the star map's Local comms list, with a teal diamond on the map; Set course plots the route and targets the station when you arrive.

And the freighters answer. Haulers now fly goods to the stations asking for them, and every Star Captain sees the same ships. Their deliveries fill a station's need over a few hours, so if you want the best price, get there first.

Galactic Credits: running costs and faction speed-ups

Stations now charge for their services. Galactic Credits stay an in-game currency you earn by flying, and now there is more to spend them on. Repairs cost 0.1 GC a hull point, at half price in your own faction's space, and missiles 15 GC a salvo; run your hull below 30% and module damage adds to the bill. Every price shows on Services before you pay. Your colony dock still repairs for free, and with under 100 GC you are never charged.

Broker and docking fees, upgrades and the defeat bill. Station trades carry a 1% broker fee. Outside friendly space, your first trade or service of the day in a system pays its docking fee. Shipyards and Refineries can now upgrade a module for GC and materials, and it keeps its place in your fit. A defeat away from home bills the repair and a tow, and your first five are on the house.

Your faction's speed-up. In Dominion you can spend Galactic Credits to finish a quarter of a running build's remaining time sooner, once per build. Each faction does it its own way: Sunforge Vigil, Priority Writ, Tide Chorus, Spore Surge, Overclock, Rush Contract, Shadow Shift and, for the Gobbos, Bribe da Boss crew. Later in the day we cut its price to 1.5 GC per Metals-worth of what is left to build.

Pirate bounties, checked properly

No daily limit on Credit chips. Every pirate wave you fight is now checked against the waves that really fly in that system, and the chips you win are made for you on our side. That let us drop the daily limit on cashing Credit chips: cash every chip you carry, at any station. A wave's bounties and chips now arrive together when the wave ends, and a wave cut short by a reload, a jump out or a slow connection still pays for every kill. Honest play should feel exactly the same, only with fewer limits.

Cloud backup and email news

Your progress backs up as you play. On the hosted game, your colony, card battles, the Galactic Map war, your Star Captain level, achievements, settings and your Flagship's place and condition now back up as you play. It is on by default. Settings › Cloud backup has the switch, Back up now, a recovery key file for moving to another browser, and Delete my cloud saves. If a browser ever loses a save, the next page you open restores the newest copy and tells you what came back.

A new address is coming soon. Ultra War's home is moving to ultrawar.io soon. When it does, the old address will show a banner whose Move my progress button brings your colony, cards and Star Captain across in one click. Nothing changes until then.

News by email. Want Ultra War news in your inbox? Leave your address in Settings › News by email, in the Command Deck footer or at the bottom of this Devblog. Unsubscribe any time.

Across the galaxy

Every colony is on the map. Every colony now appears in the shared galaxy, so no one else is ever given your planet. Other Star Captains see an unnamed colony in your faction's colour, and your name only if you choose to show it (Settings › Privacy › Show my name).

Your home system has its old name back. If your home was moved into your faction's March, its system now carries your world's old name again (Orrenne I is back in the Orrenne system) and trades names with the system you left. Where another Star Captain already lives in either system, both keep their names.

Colony events speak in your own voice. Colony events and anomalies now speak from your own faction's point of view: the falling probe reads differently to a Solari scribe, a Hegemony signals officer or a Synthari analyst, and no event tells you what other factions think. Synthari advisors may slip the odd machine blip into their reports.

Skirmish

Stations take their place on the board. A played Station card used to seem to disappear. It never left the game, but the table did not show it. Now it docks at the left end of its owner's front line with its art, Hull bar and status. Your Station flies into your dock, enemy Stations slam into theirs, hits show on the Hull, and a destroyed Station leaves a wreck. On phones the dock is a slim strip above the row.

Also today

• The Devblog itself. This page went live today, with its first three posts, the full What's new feed and an RSS feed.
• Nine loading screens repainted, with level horizons, clearer scenes and room for the tips, including a new Veilborn ambush on a Spacers convoy.
• Resources show what you can spend. Dominion's resource bar now rounds down to whole units, so it no longer reads 29 Command while a 29-Command claim says you have 28.

Tell us what you find

Ultra War is in early access, alpha playtesting, so every report helps. Report a bug is in the top bar on every page of the game, and it takes screenshots. See you on the front.