Patch 0.1.8: Rock Grinder, Mining Drones, Drone Commands and Ship Presets

Thanks for all the feedback and support! if your request, suggestion, bug report isn't listed they are carried over to the next update!

NEW

Mining

• Rock Grinder: a Mining Guild-only frigate with a built-in spinning saw blade that cuts asteroids faster than any mining beam, and also cuts ships, drones and rockets.
• Mining Drones: a new drone that mines asteroids and brings the ore home, with its own look for every faction.
• Per-ore loot filter and a Melt All Ore button.

Drones and fleet

• Drone commands: Auto-Engage makes your combat drones hunt enemies on their own, Cursor Engage makes them go for the enemy under your mouse first. Press again to return to escort.
• Drones have an Operating Radius, and carriers get +1 drone per bay and +20% drone strength.
• Take the Helm in flight: switch to a fleet ship in the same sector by crossing over in an escape pod.
• Escape pods have their own sprite with thruster flames, and ejected officers fly out of the wreck in one.
• Ship Presets: save ship designs for your stations and fleet and have missing hulls bought and flown in.
• Scout fleet order and officer retraining.
• Fleet tab order chips and collapsible groups.

Trade

• Galaxy Buy-Order Board: post buy orders that traders across the galaxy fill.
• Contraband scans, with a smuggling premium at black markets.
• Inertial Cargo Dampener module and Item Lock.

Interface

• Map legend, leader markers and map search, and "Show Unlearned" in the Library.
• Lockable tooltips with nested Codex explanations.
• Message log options: bigger text, longer fade time, scrolling and personal notices.
• Damage per second in weapon dossiers.
• 13 new achievements.

Stations

• Station upgrades to any learned tier, more space from station enhancing, and upgrade kits for any MK.

CHANGED

• Sectors are about 30% bigger and keep their open space. (Requires a New Game)
• Every ore type is guaranteed to exist in the galaxy. (Requires a New Game)
• Exploration XP now drops off the more you explore and scales with your level.
• Ships slow down for gates, stations and waypoints instead of circling them.
• Cargo and mining drones avoid enemy guns and come home when shot at.
• Every key shown in game text follows your own key bindings.
• Your shots and your fleet's shots never damage your own ships, drones, stations or buildings.
• Faction stations now build and sell the station modules your construction needs, and haulers bring full loads from further away.
• Clearer enhance rows, fit badges and plan requirements.
• The event log wraps long lines.

FIXED

• Fixed: the Construction Materials panel said "No known seller" even when shops sold the part.
• Fixed: 8 station modules, including the Station Energy Recharger, could never be built.
• Fixed: swapping ships damaged them.
• Fixed: a new game could start with your ship below full hull.
• Fixed: station guards couldn't be posted at gates and circled their post.
• Fixed: Auto Course could fly into dead zones and its queue sometimes cleared itself.
• Fixed: production lines used up their inputs without power.
• Fixed: "Sell All" paid less than it quoted.
• Fixed: traders got stuck in a dock/undock loop.
• Fixed: the autopilot overshot on ships without side thrusters.
• Fixed: station weapon mounts didn't work as intended with drag and drop.
• Fixed: Mining Drones didn't show their own art.