As always, thanks to the former and current patrons of Unending Universe on Ko-Fi. Also, thanks to everyone who actively tries to help UU - to regular players for their commitment, to people who share their ideas and opinions about the game for their time. I appreciate it!

Fixes and changes

Fixed a bug that allowed missiles to be fired at the Mysterious Artifact.

Fixed a drone indicator appearing incorrectly during the Mysterious Artifact event.

Balanced sound volume during boost/debuff from other players.

With the speed toggle enabled, the speed after jumping into a new system is displayed correctly.

For an unfinished daily task: Patrol, the name of the patrol system remains the same when accepting new tasks.

Changed the gold icon.

Increased rewards for completing the Final Trial,  reaching level 10 and 20

Shields

Shields have been made dependent on ship speed. Previously, this was without consequence, but now, if the speed drops below 20, the shields will stop working (value = 0).

Kaeronite

A new dialogue option has been introduced for Malika and Shana:

So what is this kaeronite? Kaeronite is a new mineral that, when combined with methane and magnetite, allows you to upgrade items to level 10. Obtaining kaeronite will be possible in any loot (similar to Fragments of Disk),  depending on luck and the player's level - the lower the level, the higher the chance of getting kaeronite.

The introduction of kaeronite also changed the appearance of upgrade panel, which now has two options:

Prices for upgrades (subject to change) are as follows:

Binoculars

This is an idea that Indy suggested to me (thanks for all the feedback). I liked it and it wasn't too hard to do, so I managed to add it in this update. I think it's a really cool addition, and I hope you like it too.

Few screenshots:

If anyone hasn't seen it yet - a video showing an example of how on-board binoculars work:

Around the game

Everything is moving towards keeping the game server running 24/7. I've pretty much sorted out the things that were preventing from doing this, and now the server will be up from 4 p.m. to 2 p.m. (Central European Time). That's 22 hours... I'm saving those two hours for maintenance break: for adjustments, cleaning database, resetting settings (the server desperately needs it), and other unforeseen matters. This downtime will undoubtedly be longer if new updates are being installed.

The introduction of kaeronite is intended to make it easier for players to upgrade items, which will help them build good equipment for all their ships much faster. Methane and magnetite will become more important, but there are plenty of these resources in the game, either from loot or from daily tasks.

This update isn't a small one, so if you find any bugs, even minor ones, please report them immediately. It's hard to catch everything early in testing, and sometimes changes impact other things, making them difficult to find (and fix) immediately.
I also ask active players for feedback. Tell me what you like and what should be changed. Share your ideas and observations. I want you to know that this helps determine the direction UU should go.

As always, I encourage you to promote the game on various space gaming forums, Discords, YouTube, and other social media platforms. So if you enjoy UU, please take a moment to do so.

Until next time.