RELEASE NOTES

What's new in the galaxy

Version Releases in the last 30 days: 328

Asteroid Dominion is actively progressing with new releases shipping continuously. This page is a summary of what's changed — new features, gameplay tuning, UI polish, accessibility improvements, and content additions you'll see in-game.

For real-time discussion of updates, feedback on balance, and bug reports, join our Discord community or follow @Sand_Box_Studio on X for patch notes and behind-the-scenes progress.

September 14, 2026

v00.2646A Front Page That Shows Up FastThe front page art now appears the moment the page opens. • The four faction ships and their asteroid are on screen right away, on desktop and on phones, before the rest of the page finishes loading. Blink and you will still see the fleet.

v00.2640-v00.2644Badges on Claimed RocksClaimed asteroids now fly their colors, and the front page got livelier. • Every claimed asteroid shows its faction badge in the center, sized to fill as much of the rock as fits, with the same glowing gradient as the ship stripes. • On desktop, the Concordium ship on the front page chases your mouse - move away and it flies back into formation. • The four faction ships on the front page are twice as big. • The front page art shows up sooner, instead of waiting for a galaxy to be found. Plant your flag where the whole galaxy can see it.

v00.2635-v00.2638Faction Badges and a Golden UnboundEvery ship now flies its faction on its hull. • Faction badges on every ship: a triangle with an infinity symbol for the Concordium, a broken triangle with snapped chains for the Unbound, an X for Outlaws, and a winged skull for the Bone Collectors. • The Unbound are gold now - their ships, bases, drones, gates, arrows and faction buttons all switched over. • Ship hulls have a glowing gradient stripe and edge, and new wing panels. • The Factions page shows all four ships side by side. Read the badge before you pick the fight.

September 13, 2026

v00.2631-v00.2632Retuned Zoom SlidersBoth zoom sliders have new stops. • Camera Zoom now runs 0.4x, 0.6x, 0.8x, 1.0x, 1.1x, 1.2x, 1.3x, 1.4x and 1.5x - bigger steps at the wide end, finer steps up close, and you can pull in tighter than before. • The camera starts at 0.8x while you thrust and 1.3x when you are still, so the default view sits closer to your ship. • The galaxy map zoom stops are now 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x and 6x, and the map opens at 2x. Find the view that fits how you fly.

September 12, 2026

v00.2627-v00.2629A New Cockpit and a New Front DoorThe last two pieces of the new look are in. • The cockpit frame around your view is now built on the hexagon - the same shape as the Command Center, the turrets and the drones - with a hex frame, six spokes and a lattice fading out behind it. Your view of the galaxy is still a perfect circle. • Phones and fullscreen get that same cockpit frame. • The front page opens on a big free asteroid with a ship from every faction flying over it - drawn with the same code as the ships you fly in the game. See it from the pilot's seat.

v00.2607-v00.2625A New Look for the GalaxyThe whole galaxy got a new coat of paint - still drawn by code, every frame, like everything else in Asteroid Dominion. • A deeper background galaxy: round stars, drifting dust and a darker center, so the action stays easy to read. • New ship hulls, with your faction stripe running to the nose and engine glow on the rear. • Ships come apart when they are destroyed. • Asteroids carry mineral veins, and free rocks have a brighter outline. • Turrets, Command Centers, Mining Rigs, Shield Generators, Gates and Space Hangars are rebuilt under one light, with running lights. • Shield domes and gate walls show a hard shell that thins as the shield drains. • Drones and both kinds of shots are redrawn - your own fire stands out. • The front page gets out of your way faster on slower machines. Fly out and see the new neighborhood.

September 11, 2026

v00.2604A Correction To Our Own Release NotesThree older entries thanked our Test Squadron and our Discord community for "hunting down" and "catching" bugs. Most of those bugs were found by Zeke, reading his own code - plus friends, family and players from Reddit. The thanks were sincere; the credit was not accurate. Those entries now say what is true, and the originals are still sitting in our Discord where they were first posted. Going forward, bug notes thank everyone who tests and reports, and ask you to report the next one. They will not claim who found what unless it is true. Found something? Report it and help us squash the next one: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2603How This Game Is MadeThe About page now says plainly how Asteroid Dominion gets built, and who builds it. • Sandbox Studios is one person. Jaine and Zain are AI studio characters, not employees and not a press office. • The art is procedural - drawn by code, every frame. The 108 sound effects are synthesized in code. • The four music tracks were generated with an AI audio tool. The briefs, the rejection pass and the placement are mine; the composing is not, and I make no claim of copyright in the raw generations. • At 200 subscribers, which is just past the point where the game pays its own server bill, a human composer gets commissioned. At 500, marketing goes to a human partner. Composers, the door is open early: asteroiddominion@gmail.com Read the whole thing: /about

September 9, 2026

v00.2594Two of Them Are Coming for YouThe Bone Collectors have started keeping a list. Two of their weakest pilots now pick one target and work it together - your ship, or one of your buildings - and they stay on it until it is gone or they are. Then they move to the next name on the list and start again. Forever. • They do not announce it. Nothing lights up and nothing warns you. You find out when they arrive. • They pick the SAME target, so they arrive together. • They stop taking orders while they are working. The Marrow King can rally them, call them home or hand them a job, and they will not answer - the hunt outranks him. • A pilot who has just spawned is left alone for their first two minutes. Their buildings are not. • During a Bonefall they drop the list and join the swarm like everybody else. • It is always the weakest two, so as they level up the job passes to somebody else. If there are no player ships and no player structures left in the galaxy, they shrug and go back to hauling rocks with the rest of the swarm. Go find out who is on the list: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2592Your Survival Timer Stays ReadableBUG SQUASHED - The Survival Countdown Got Buried Under Everything Else. When the galaxy picks you as the Global Target, YOU ARE THE TARGET appears at the top of your cockpit with a countdown under it - the seconds you have to stay alive to win the bounty. It sits in the same spot as the loudest moments in the game. A Bonefall warning, the Bone Collectors arriving, the kill you just made - every one of them printed straight over the top of it, and the number you were watching turned into a pile of overlapping text at exactly the moment you needed to read it. Now the countdown gets out of the way. The moment anything else claims that space it fades out, and the moment that alert clears it fades back in, still counting. Nothing is lost - your timer is exactly where you left it. Your position and gravity readouts are untouched, because they were never the problem: they are always on screen, so hiding from them would have hidden the countdown for its whole life. Our Test Squadron flies into things on purpose so you do not have to. Tell us what you hit: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

September 8, 2026

v00.2584-v00.2590Bots Get Back to WorkImproved what your faction's bots do when they run out of jobs, and how a commander pays for what it builds. • A bot with nothing to do now flies with its faction commander instead of holding station on its own. It escorts, it fights alongside it, and it grabs the other end of whatever rock the commander is towing. • Outlaws are the exception, and that is on purpose. They are loners - they go and work on their own bases instead of forming up behind anyone. • A commander that cannot find a rock worth claiming goes mining rather than waiting for one. Clearing rocks out makes room for new ones to drift in, so the rock it is holding out for turns up sooner. • Commanders empty their whole hold into their Command Center before heading back out. They used to drop off a fraction and turn straight around for more. • Every faction now fetches the asteroids it can actually use. Each one has its own idea of what is worth claiming - the Outlaws and the Bone Collectors will settle for a smaller rock than the Concordium ever would - and their haulers finally go by their own faction's standard instead of everyone holding out for the rarest rocks in the galaxy. Go watch your faction get organized: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2578-v00.2580Your Base Holds Your SpotYour place in a galaxy now follows your base instead of your last sign-off. • Leave a structure standing and your spot is held for as long as it survives - whether that is days of quiet or minutes under heavy fire. • When your last structure finally falls, a grace countdown begins, earned from the time you put in. • Subscribers get 30 hours before space dust starts wearing their structures down, instead of 24 - and the same grace countdown on top of it. • Come back before the last one goes and your base repairs itself. Sign in and every clock resets; nothing counts down while you are flying. Go claim your rock: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

September 4, 2026

v00.2573-v00.2574Your First Three MinutesNew here? Your first three minutes each day are on us. If you have played less than three minutes today, dying costs you a one-second countdown - then you are straight back out there. No sitting on the death screen while the galaxy moves on without you. • Every pilot gets it, no exceptions. • It resets every day, so tomorrow's quick session gets the same gentle start. • After three minutes of play, the normal respawn timers take over. Good luck out there: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

August 31, 2026

v00.2557Getting Ready for Early AccessWorking on marketing. Getting ready for Early Access! • The front page has a new look. The clip behind the Play button now shows a real base under attack - turrets firing, shield dome up, enemy ships closing in. • It gets there quicker. The front page carries about a third of the video weight it did before, which makes the biggest difference on a phone. Come say hello: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

August 29, 2026

v00.2549-v00.2553BUG SQUASHED - Bots That Would Not Take No for an AnswerBots asking you for things have stopped pestering you. • A bot that shouted for hauling help every three seconds - forever - now goes quiet once everyone nearby has already turned it down. • The X emoji finally means what it looks like. It cancelled the order but never stopped the asking; now it also silences the bot that was bugging you for 30 seconds, the same as a thumbs-down. • Your refusals always land. If you had just used another emoji, your X or thumbs-down could be quietly swallowed and the bot would carry on regardless. It never is now. • A bot that tells you it has nothing to spare is not asked again the moment it switches jobs. Its tank did not refill because it changed its mind about what to do. Our Test Squadron helps us hunt these down - come join them: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2554Circle Asteroid Knows Which Rock You MeanCircle Asteroid now picks its target in a set order instead of guessing. 1. The asteroid you had harpooned when you pressed it. The rope lets go, but that rock stays your target for as long as it exists. 2. Your own nearest claimed asteroid. 3. Your faction capital. 4. The nearest free asteroid big enough to build on. So grabbing a rock and hitting Circle keeps you on that rock, and a pilot with nothing on the rope guards their own base before anything else. One change to watch: a teammate's ordinary asteroid is no longer picked - your own claims and your capital come first. Go park on your rock: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2555The Marrow King Holds His CapitalThe Bone Collector commander has stopped trying to march on the enemy himself. When he runs out of Command Points he still calls the war - every eligible Bone Collector gets the order to go - but he and his two tanks now circle their own capital asteroid instead of leaving with them. He keeps calling in reinforcements as they free up, and anything that picks a fight at his capital still gets one. His rally is politer too: bots already in a fight, fleeing, out of fuel or under your orders are left where they are instead of being yanked away mid-scrap. Somebody is still guarding the bone yard: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2547Your Own Rocks Are On Your SideAsteroids claimed by your faction no longer damage your structures when they drift into your base. Friendly rocks already passed freely through your shield domes and gate walls - now they arrive without knocking your turrets down. Unclaimed and enemy rocks still hit exactly as hard. Go park a friendly rock in your own base: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

August 28, 2026

v00.2540-v00.2545Fresh Pilots Get a Head StartThe Bone Collectors have changed who they come after, and bot Speedsters have retuned their build again. • Your first two minutes are your own. For 120 seconds after you sign in or respawn, the Bone Collectors will not pick you as the pilot they cross the map for. If one already had you locked, it lets go. • A Bonefall ignores all of that. When the red moon is up, everyone is fair game. • The permanent Bone Collector commander and its two tanks now hold their own sector until the faction has seven asteroids claimed and towed home. Until the base is finished the whole pack stays in and builds it. • Once it is finished, the commander and the tanks stay home for good. They break out only to chase something that picks a fight with them. Their speedsters and haulers go back to roaming. • Speedster bots are easier to bring down. They have traded armor, shielding and gun damage for fuel and cargo space, so they hit softer and haul more. A maxed one is noticeably squishier; a fresh one is barely changed. • Haulers let go of a towed rock twice as far from home as they used to, which frees the towing crew for the next job sooner. The Bone Collectors treat you differently now: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

August 27, 2026

v00.2532-v00.2533Faster into the FightThe game now downloads about half as much code as it used to. Same game, same everything - it just gets you into the galaxy quicker, and it makes the biggest difference on a phone or a slow connection. Nothing to do on your end.

v00.2530Come Back, Call Off the HuntBUG SQUASHED - Your Base Stayed A Target After You Got Back. Stay away for more than a day and your base starts to rust. A rusting base can be picked as the Global Target, and then the whole galaxy comes for it. Sign back in and the rust stops right away. That part always worked, and your buildings start repairing themselves the same second. The bounty did not lift, though. Your base could stay lit up as the Global Target, with raiders inbound from across the map, for up to another minute and a half while you sat on it wondering what you had walked into. Now the hunt is called off the moment you are back. A base whose owner is still away stays fair game, exactly as before. The Test Squadron catches most of these. If something looks wrong out there, say so: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2521Speedster Bots Pack HeavierThe bots flying the Speedster plan have retuned their build. • More cargo, and it fills faster. A Speedster bot hauls noticeably more per run than it did yesterday. • A little less top speed to pay for it. If one has been chasing you down, that just got a bit easier to survive. • Braking is untouched, and it is still the best of the three by a wide margin. This one is for the bots only - your own Speedster button on the Player Stats screen is exactly where you left it. Tell us how they fly: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2514-v00.2518Subscriber CelebrationsImproved the subscriber process. More Celebrations! • Subscribe and the galaxy throws confetti. A big THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING lands on your welcome screen with everything your subscription gets you. • The death screen no longer goes quiet for subscribers - it now offers to help you INVITE FRIENDS instead. • If you cancel, the button says RE-SUBSCRIBE for as long as your paid time is still running. Nothing is taken away early. • If a payment ever fails, you get three days of grace and a clear warning, instead of losing your perks the moment your bank hiccups. • Once a day, subscribers collect 1000 experience points straight from the welcome screen. Come back tomorrow and it is waiting again. Come celebrate with us: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

August 26, 2026

v00.2510Factions Finish the Job FirstImproved when the Outlaw, Concordium and Unbound fleets go after the Global Target. They now build their territory before they go hunting. • A faction ignores the Global Target until one of its commanders has claimed its full set of asteroids - and every faction wants a different number, so the Outlaws are ready long before the Concordium are. • It also stays home while any of its claimed rocks is still stranded outside its territory. There is a rock to tow, so somebody tows it. • Once the house is in order, its SPEEDSTERS go. Tanks and commanders never do - they hold the ground and keep building. • Bone Collectors are unchanged. They hunt first and always have. • A bot that is refused does not stand around: it drops back to building, hauling and mining, which is where you will now find three of the four factions early in a galaxy. One thing that has NOT changed: if the Global Target flies into a bot's face, it still gets shot at. This is about who crosses the map for you, not about who fights you. Somebody will come looking eventually: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2508Your Run Ends When You DoImproved how your score is counted at the end of a life. A run now closes the moment your ship does. • The score readout reads 0 while you are on the death screen. Your score for that life is already banked and shown on the death card, and the number on the HUD is the run you are flying right now - so with no ship, it is zero. • Nothing you own keeps scoring for you once you are gone. Your turrets, your drones and any rounds already in the air no longer add points to a run that has ended. • A kill your own ship landed in the same instant you died still counts, exactly as before. You flew that one. Your lifetime high score is untouched by all of this - it is still the best single run you have ever put together. Come tell us how your best run ended: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2507The Factions Spread OutThe Bone Collector, Unbound and Outlaw home sectors have each moved 1000 units back out from the core. Concordium keeps its own southern position. • More ground to hold. There is a longer run between one faction territory and the next, so your home space is more yours and a raid takes more commitment to reach you. • The four homes stay evenly spaced. Bone Collectors north, Unbound east, Outlaws west, all at the same distance out, with Concordium south on its own line. • Where your bots patrol and defend moves with the sector, so your faction holds the new ground automatically. Your neighbors are further out than they were: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2505Rings Line Up StraightImproved how linked bases point at each other. Now that gates chain your asteroids into triangles and rings, every rock in the chain turns to line its Command Center and its Gate up with its neighbors. Before, only an asteroid sitting at the very END of a chain would swing itself straight. The moment a rock carried two connections - which is every rock in a ring - it stopped turning at all. So the bigger your empire got, the less tidy it looked. A rock in a ring is being pulled two ways at once, so it settles on the best compromise between its neighbors rather than obeying one and ignoring the other. If the two pulls genuinely fight each other, it holds still instead of spinning. Each end now aims at the other STRUCTURE rather than the middle of the other rock, so the wall and the buildings agree on one line. Go build a ring and watch it tidy itself: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2502Tap the Galaxy Map to Fly ThereAdded a new way to give your ship a destination. Touch anywhere on the big galaxy search map and your ship engages STAY at that spot and sets off for it. A green crosshair marks the place you picked, so you can watch where the ship is headed while it crosses the map. Touch somewhere else and the mark moves - there is no need to stand the program down and start again. Everything that already ended STAY still ends it: the big red CANCEL, the Escape key, and pressing the Stay button again. When STAY ends, the crosshair goes with it. It works with a thumb already on the joystick, which is the whole point - steer with one hand and pick your next destination with the other. Go point at something far away: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2501Gates Build Rings, Not Double BridgesImproved how gates choose their partners. Two asteroids can now share only ONE gate bridge between them, and the result is that your bases chain together instead of pairing off. Before, two rocks could spend both of their connections on each other - one gate to the other's Command Center, and back again. That looked fine with two rocks. With four it meant two isolated pairs and nothing joining them. Now each rock spends its gate on one neighbor and its Command Center on another. Three rocks make a triangle. Four make a ring. Add a fifth in range and it joins the chain. Nothing you have already built will be pulled apart to make this happen. Existing bridges hold, and new rocks link around them. Go build a ring: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2500Bots Shoot What Is In Front of ThemImproved how bots use their weapons. They now fire on whatever they happen to be pointing at, with the right tool for it, instead of only ever attacking the one thing they picked as a target. A bot chasing you across the map used to fly straight past an enemy turret with its gun silent. Now it shoots on the way through. The rule is simple: whatever is FIRST in front of the nose and in range. Enemy ship or enemy structure gets the gun. An unclaimed rock or an enemy shield dome gets the mining beam, which they have been doing since earlier this month. It will not fire through a friend. If a teammate is closer than the enemy, the shot is held, because the round would hit the teammate first. Same for a live shield dome, which absorbs rounds entirely - that is beam work, not gun work. Bots do not TURN to take these shots. They fire at what is already in their sights while they get on with whatever they were doing. Expect firefights to feel busier and expect to take fire from bots that used to ignore you in passing: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2499Drones Join the SiegeBUG SQUASHED - Your Drones Ignored The Enemy Base Next Door. Companion to the turret fix. Space Hangar drones could only ever chase SHIPS. Park your hangar beside an enemy fortress and the drones would fly their patrol ring around it, over and over, while the base sat there untouched. Now a drone with no enemy ship inside its engage ring will pick the nearest enemy structure and attack it. Its rounds already knew how to break structures and drain shield domes - they simply were never pointed at one. The rules you would expect all hold. A live pilot always comes first. A base that gets destroyed, or changes hands while a drone is inbound, drops the chase mid-flight. Friendly bases are never targets, and two rival Outlaws still count as enemies to each other. Between this and the turrets, a fortified rock now genuinely defends its neighborhood. The Test Squadron is still out there breaking things. Come break some with them: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2498Turrets See Bases NowBUG SQUASHED - Two Enemy Bases Would Sit Beside Each Other In Silence. Park a claimed asteroid next to an enemy one, both bristling with Anti-Air, and nothing happened. No shots, no sparks, just two fortresses ignoring each other. Anti-Air turrets could only ever aim at SHIPS. An enemy base was not something a turret could see, so it never locked on and never fired. Turrets did damage enemy shield domes, which made this look half working - but only when a dome happened to drift across a line the turret had already locked onto a pilot. Now a turret with no ship in its arc will lock onto the nearest enemy structure in range and open fire. If that base has its dome up, the beam stops at the bubble and drains it, exactly as it does when you are the one flying at it. Break the dome, then break the buildings. A live pilot still comes first. Any enemy ship in the turret's arc takes priority over a base, every time, so this never costs you a shot at the thing that is actually shooting back. Go park something hostile next to a fortified rock and watch: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2497Your Escort Shoots Back at BasesBUG SQUASHED - Your Escort Watched You Get Shot By A Turret. Rally your faction bots with Follow Me, fly them into an enemy base with its turrets firing, and they would sit there tailing you and take it. Fly at an enemy SHIP and they broke off and fought it perfectly, which is what made this so strange to watch. The reason: the escort program only ever looked for enemy ships. A base was not something it could even see, so there was nothing to decide and nothing happened. Now your escorts engage an enemy base the same way a free bot does - dome first, then turrets, then the rest - and they hold the same standoff so they are not flying into the guns. Two things they still do: an enemy SHIP outranks a base, so they will always peel off for a live threat first, and they stay leashed to you. Fly past a base and your escorts come with you instead of staying behind to finish it. Thanks to the Test Squadron, and to everyone who posts what they run into: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2496Tall, Wide, and Everything BetweenImproved how far each faction spreads before it starts making its bases stronger. Every faction now has its own number of bases to finish first, and they are not close. • Outlaws want just TWO. They go tall: two bases, then everything goes into levelling up what they already hold. • Unbound want three. • Concordium want five, as before. • Bone Collectors want SEVEN. They go wide, and they will keep founding new bases long after everyone else has switched to upgrading. All of them still have to FINISH every base before a single upgrade is bought, so a half built seventh base holds the Bone Collectors back the same way a half built second one holds the Outlaws. What you will feel: an Outlaw base you leave alone gets dangerous fast, while Bone Collector territory grows across the map before it gets tough. Two very different problems. Pick your fight: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2495Every Capital Starts BigImproved which asteroids the AI commanders will claim, and it is now different for each faction. Every commander must found its FIRST base on a rock that can carry five structures or more. No faction starts on a pebble any more, so no capital is stuck half finished because it never had the room. After that first claim they part ways: • Concordium never lowers its standards. Five slots or nothing, forever. • Unbound will settle for four. • Outlaws and Bone Collectors will take three, so they spread wider and faster on rougher ground. What this means on the map: fewer stunted two-structure outposts, more bases that actually finish, and four factions that expand at visibly different speeds. Everything below a faction's bar is left alone as an ordinary mining rock. Everyone is settling somewhere new: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2494Every Faction Builds a GateImproved what the AI commanders build. All four factions now follow the same ten-slot plan: Command Center, Mining Rig, Anti-Air, Shield Generator, GATE, Space Hangar, and on from there. Until now only Concordium built a gate, and only Concordium built Space Hangars. Everyone else stopped at a second Mining Rig and more Anti-Air, so you would never see a Bone Collector gate wall no matter how long their commander lived. Expect the map to look different. Gates only form a wall when they can reach a friendly Command Center on a nearby rock, so as the other factions spread out you will start seeing their walls go up where there were none. The factions are still far from identical, and more of that is coming: what SIZE of rock each one is willing to claim, and how wide it spreads before it starts upgrading, are being set per faction. Go see whose walls are up: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2493Hand Over the Ship, Keep the GunsImproved what happens when you engage an AI function. Press STAY, HUNT, CIRCLE ASTEROID or BUILD and Auto Fire now switches on with it. The reasoning is simple: if the ship is flying itself, you are not on the trigger. Now it can defend itself while it works. Turning a function off leaves your guns exactly as you had them, and CANCEL still stands everything down at once, Auto Fire included. Auto Fire also remains its own toggle, so you can always switch it back off and keep the program running. Come tell us how it flies: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2492Two Minutes of PeaceImproved how the Global Target is chosen: you can no longer be picked for the first two minutes of a life. The clock starts fresh every time you sign in and every time you respawn, so you always get a window to get your bearings, pick a direction and build some speed before the whole galaxy can be pointed at you. After two minutes you are fair game again, and the longer you survive the more likely the bounty finds you. That part has not changed. Watch the target feed: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2491The Map Draws InThe Bone Collector, Unbound and Outlaw home sectors have each moved 2000 units in toward the core. Concordium, which moved south earlier today, stays where it is. • Everything is closer together. The run between two faction territories is shorter, so you will meet enemies sooner and more often. • Less drift at base. Your home used to sit well outside the gravity field, which meant a constant tug toward the center whenever you parked. That tug is now about a third of what it was. • More room at the edge. Respawns land further inside the world, and faction bots patrolling their own ground no longer wander onto the line that turns them around. The four home sectors are more evenly spaced than they have ever been. Go meet your new neighbors: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2490Speedster Learns to Patch ItselfThe Speedster plan has been reworked. Tank and Commander are untouched. • Hull repair is up sharply, and the shield pool comes down to pay for it. Speedster now heals itself between fights instead of soaking damage during them. • More cargo, and it fills faster. A Speedster run brings back noticeably more than it used to. • A little less top speed. Fuel Max is now the single biggest line on the plan, so the range you picked up last week is still there. • Braking is unchanged, and it is still the best of the three by a wide margin. That is still the Speedster's signature. Every bot flying the Speedster style runs these same numbers, so the pilots you meet out there have changed with you. Press it on your Player Stats screen and see where your points land: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2489Concordium Pushes Further SouthThe Concordium home sector has moved another 1,500 units south. That puts cyan territory well out from the core. Spawns land deeper south, the ground your faction bots patrol and defend moves with it, and a hauler's run home is longer than it was. The other three factions have not moved, so the distance between Concordium and everyone else has changed too. If you fly cyan, go re-learn the neighborhood: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2486Build Lets Go of the Rock TooBUG SQUASHED - Build Dragged Your Rock Around The Whole Job. Harpoon an asteroid, then press Build, and your ship went off to work still towing it - out to mine for materials and back again with the rock in tow the entire time. Now the rule is one line with no exceptions: every AI action except STAY reels the harpoon in the moment you engage it. STAY still holds on, because parking with your rock is sometimes exactly the point. One thing you will see and it is meant to happen: press Build while towing and the rope comes in, then Build throws its own harpoon at whichever rock it picks - usually the same one you were holding. The quick let-go-and-re-grab is the rule working. Report anything that looks off and the Test Squadron will go and look: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2482Auto Fire Shoots Back at BasesAuto Fire used to see ships and unclaimed rocks. Now it sees the whole battlefield. • An enemy shield dome gets the mining beam, which is the tool built to break shields. • Enemy structures and enemy claimed asteroids get projectiles, once no dome is protecting them. Break the rock and everything standing on it goes with it. • BUG SQUASHED - Auto Fire Emptied Your Magazine Into A Shield Dome. A ship sheltering inside a live dome absorbed every round you sent at it, and Auto Fire kept sending them. It now beams the dome instead, and goes back to the gun the moment the bubble drops. ⭐ THE BIG CHANGE: whatever is CLOSEST TO YOUR NOSE wins. Auto Fire never turns your ship, so it now shoots the thing you are actually pointing at, with the right weapon for it. Before, an enemy anywhere in range would lock out your mining beam even when they were nowhere near your sights. The two weapons keep their own reach - the gun is longer than the beam. Our testers hunt these all week. Bring them the next one: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2481Your Ship Lets Go of the RockBUG SQUASHED - Your Harpoon Never Let Go. Hand your ship to the AI while you are towing an asteroid and it would drag that rock through everything it did next. Send it hunting, it towed the rock into the fight. Send it off to mine for build materials, it towed the rock the whole way. Run it low on fuel and watch it head for a Command Center still hauling. The release existed in the code. It was calling the wrong thing - the part that cuts ropes OTHER ships have attached to you, rather than the one you are holding - so it quietly did nothing, in four separate places. Now: press any AI action other than STAY and the rope reels in. Drop into a survival move and it reels in. BUILD is the one exception, because that program is meant to be holding a rock. Keep telling us what breaks - between you and the Test Squadron, it works: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2480Your Cannon Finds Its VoiceThe projectile slider now changes how your gun SOUNDS, not just how it fires. Slide it down toward the slower, heavier rounds and the cannon drops into the bass. Slide it up toward the fast, light rounds and it thins out and turns bright. The middle notch is exactly what you have always heard. It is your gun only. Other ships still sound like themselves, so a firefight does not change character just because you moved your own slider. Run it top to bottom and listen: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

August 25, 2026 - August 25, 2026

v00.2477-v00.2478The Whole Site Loads LighterA big trim to what your browser has to download before you play. • Removed an animation library that was being loaded on every visit and never actually used. It was the last piece of code we pulled in from an outside host, so the game and the site now run entirely on our own files. • Stripped about 90 KB of developer notes out of the pages themselves. They were never visible, they were just being sent to you anyway. The main page alone is down from 219 KB to 135 KB. Nothing changed about how anything looks or plays. There is simply less to wait for.

v00.2475Concordium Shifts SouthThe Concordium home sector has moved 1000 units further south. Concordium pilots now spawn a little deeper out from the core, which changes the run home, the ground you defend, and how far a hauler drags a rock back to base. If you fly cyan, the neighborhood is different this week. Go have a look.

v00.2474Every Gate Finds Its PartnerBUG SQUASHED - The Third Gate Sat There Doing Nothing. Build three asteroids that each carry a Command Center and a Gate, park them close enough, and only two of them would ever link up. The third gate just sat there, powered, in range, and unconnected. It was not a range problem. Each gate grabbed the nearest free Command Center in turn, and a gate that went first could take the only partner a later gate could reach. Gates now solve the whole board at once, so if a full set of connections exists, you get it. One Command Center still connects to exactly one gate. Links you already have will not be pulled out from under you. Found in the Test Squadron flight deck - come break something with us: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2473The Upgrade Plans Get RetunedTank, Speedster and Commander have all been reworked, and you will feel this one. • Fuel Max is now a major share of every plan. All three builds run a lot longer between refuels. • Speedster trades raw top speed for range and control. Less engine, far more fuel, the best braking of any plan, and a little more cargo. • Tank and Commander give up nearly all their braking to pay for that fuel. Both take noticeably longer to stop. Every bot in the galaxy runs these same three plans, so the pilots you meet out there have changed too. Press one on your Player Stats screen and see where your points land: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2467-v00.2471The Commanders Get AmbitiousEvery faction has one Commander, and they just stopped thinking small. • A Commander now works toward a five base empire. It claims a rock, fills every slot that rock can carry, then goes and claims the next one - and it will not spend a single point on upgrades until all five are standing complete. • Once they are, it upgrades all five together. Every base to level two, then every base to level three. No favorites. • Lose a structure and rebuilding it jumps the queue. • Run a Commander out of Command Points and it goes to war. It fires the arrow at a rival sector, picks up every friendly bot it passes, and fights until it dies. Then it does it again. • Commanders can now reach level 20, and the rest of the cast level 15. The Marrow King has no ceiling at all - the Bone Collectors just got a leader who never stops growing. • Every pilot in the galaxy, including you, now spends ability points on the same three Auto Upgrade plans. Tank, Speedster and Commander have all been retuned, so press one on your Player Stats screen and see where your points land. Go find out what a finished Commander base looks like: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

August 24, 2026

v00.2466Mining Gets Its ClipThe Mining page now has real footage on it: the beam locked on an asteroid, the rock giving way, and the resources drifting back to your ship. It is also the newest entry in the in game Tutorials screen, as Real Play: Mining A Rock. Press play on the Mining page, or open Tutorials from the ? button.

v00.2464-v00.2465Watch Real PlayReal footage from a live session is now on the site and in the game. • Five guide pages have gameplay video on them: Building, Combat, Events, Getting Started and Ai Bots. Watch a claimed base take raiders, a Bonefall run its clock down, and a rock get hauled in on the harpoon. • Nothing loads until you press play, so the pages stay as quick as they were. • Four new clips in the in game Tutorials screen, under Real Play. The first ten are built to teach you one thing each. These four are just the game, unedited: a finished base, raiders at the dome, a Bonefall, and being marked by the hit list. Open Tutorials from the ? button, then Learn Tutorials. Come tell us what you want filmed next: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2455-v00.2461Raiders Bring the Right WeaponShield domes just became a fight instead of a wall. • Enemy bots now cut a dome down with the mining beam, which is the tool built to break shields, and only switch to their guns once the bubble is gone. Hiding a ship inside a dome used to make you untouchable by them. It does not any more. • They close in to beam range to do it, and they steer around the whole bubble instead of clipping its edge. • The global target is picked from a wider pool when a galaxy is quiet, so a lone pilot is no longer the only name in the hat every single time. • Emoji fireworks are half as loud, and you will hear at most one every couple of seconds. Every firework still lights up - a busy sector just stops being a wall of noise. • BUG SQUASHED - The Comms Flyout Came Back From The Dead. Leave the emoji flyout open when you die and it was still hanging there after you respawned. • BUG SQUASHED - The Gold Level Up Ring Kept Vanishing. Open Settings, the Emoji flyout, an asteroid, anything on the right, and the gold ring on your ship button disappeared. It now stays put unless you are already on the Player Stats screen. • BUG SQUASHED - The Close Button Ignored Your Second Thumb. On a phone, holding the joystick with one thumb made the red X unpressable with the other. Fire, mining beam and harpoon always worked; the X did not. It does now. Two more found and fixed. Keep them coming - the Test Squadron cannot hit everything: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2454The Upgrade Screen Reads CleanerThe build screen on a claimed asteroid got a pass. • Every stat now gives the upgrade its own line. The name and what you have got sit on top; underneath, what the next level buys you and exactly what it costs in materials and build time. • The integrity bar is gone. The numbers beside it were already saying it. • The three rules that never change - one Command Point a level, materials double, build time doubles - used to repeat on every single structure. They are now listed once, at the bottom, under Additional Details. • Your Command Points stay pinned to the top of the panel while you scroll, so you can always see what you have left to spend. Spend the lot and they flash at you.

v00.2448-v00.2452Bases Show Their WoundsYou can read a base at a glance now. • A damaged structure throws off red sparks, and the worse the damage the heavier they come. • A structure being patched up by its Command Center flashes white and green while the materials go in. • Destroy one and it bursts apart in red. • Pop a shield dome and the whole circle blows outward in the faction colors. • And a Command Center goes out hard. It detonates with a shockwave carrying the full weight of its integrity, and anything nearby gets thrown clear - including whoever killed it.

v00.2443-v00.2446Bots Pick Their FightsEnemy bots got smarter about what they go after. • Rust draws raiders. Leave a base alone long enough for it to start rusting and bots will cross the galaxy to tear it down. A base you are still flying for gets left alone. • A bot fights whatever is actually closest. Ships still come first, but let one drift off while a turret or a shield dome sits right on top of the bot and it switches targets. Close back in and it comes straight back to you. • And they mine on the move. An unclaimed rock that drifts into their path takes a beam through it, mid-chase.

August 23, 2026

v00.2438Hide the Crown If You LikeNot a fan of the high score sparkle? Settings has a new High Score Indicator switch, right below the sound toggles. Turn it off and the crown, the aura and the gold wake disappear for you - on your own ship, on every other pilot, and on the galaxy map. It only changes what YOU see. If you are top of the board, everyone else still sees your crown and can still come find you.

v00.2435-v00.2437The Leader Wears White and GoldTake the top of the Current board and the whole galaxy can see it. • Your ship carries a steady white ring with a slow gold bloom around it, and your engine wake turns white and gold, shedding gold sparks behind you as you fly. • Your crown now shows on the galaxy search map as well, so the leader can be found from anywhere in the galaxy. • A Commander who takes the lead flies their pennant out to the side, clear of the crown. Catch them if you can.

v00.2433The Crown Rides HigherTake the top spot on the Current board and your crown now sits clear of the ship, resting on the rim of your aura instead of down on the hull. Easier to spot from across the field - and just as easy for everyone hunting you.

v00.2426-v00.2427Auto-Aim Reads the TargetAuto-Fire used to wait until a target sat dead center before it would shoot, whatever the target was. A freighter-sized rock right beside you and a speck at the far edge of your range were held to the same hair-thin line. Now it reads the target. Big or close, it opens up sooner. Small or far, it holds until the shot can actually land. A raised shield makes a ship a wider target, and your guns treat it that way. • BUG SQUASHED - Auto-Mining Burned A Beam Into Empty Space - with an AI function flying you to a rock, the mining beam switched on while the ship was still swinging round, and swept past the rock the whole way in. It looked like the beam was aiming ahead of the target and missing. It now fires when the beam can actually reach the rock, and not before. The Test Squadron rides along on these. Come fly badly with them: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z

v00.2429-v00.2430Concordium Builds ProperlyConcordium commanders have stopped claiming every pebble they drift past. They now hold out for a rock big enough to carry a real base - five structures or more - and mine the rest. What they put on it changed too. Command Center, Mining Rig, Anti-Air, Shield, then a Gate every time, with Space Hangars and more turrets after that. And they finally UPGRADE. A commander with points to spend now pours them into its own base instead of sitting on them - the mining rigs first, so the base keeps paying for itself, then the shield, the guns and the rest.

August 20, 2026

v00.2424Your Ship Picks Up After ItselfFly with an AI function on and your ship now sweeps up what is lying around. Finish a rock, win a fight, and the fuel and materials right there get collected instead of drifting off and timing out. It only happens when there is nothing better to do. Anything dangerous - running, dodging, fueling up, fighting back, or a hunt already underway - comes first, every time. Your ship will never wander off after a scrap of salvage while something is shooting at it.

v00.2423Bugs SquashedThanks as always to our Test Squadron, and to everyone reporting what they hit in Discord: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z BUGS SQUASHED 1 • BUG SQUASHED - Your Ship Ignored The Fuel It Just Mined - fly with an AI function on and a low tank, and your ship would go mine a rock for fuel, then park just out of reach while everything it freed floated nearby and timed out. It now takes any fuel drop within reach first, and only goes mining when there is nothing floating.

v00.2422Hunt Calls Off the TrucePress AI Action HUNT while Safety Mode is up and your ship makes the call for you - the truce ends on the spot. Your guns take the usual two and a half seconds to come back online, and the chase starts the moment they do. Committing to the hunt is the whole decision; you do not have to stand your ship down first.

v00.2418Nobody Falls Off the BoardStay away long enough and the galaxy lets your seat go - but your record does not leave with it. The daily State of the Universe board still ranks you, under the galaxy you were last flying in, marked "last known" so nobody mistakes it for where you are right now. Your name keeps its place until somebody takes it from you.

v00.2420Bugs SquashedThanks as always to our Test Squadron, and to everyone reporting what they hit in Discord: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z BUGS SQUASHED 1 • BUG SQUASHED - Tutorial One Taught The Wrong Number - the first tutorial said a 15-second mining run takes you from 240 fuel to 1,276. Mining pays better than that now, and the clip had not caught up. It has been re-recorded from a live run and reads 1,977 - which is what you will actually see on the gauge.

v00.2407-v00.2413Bugs SquashedBugs get found here at the desk, and by friends, family and Reddit players willing to fly into things on purpose. Thanks to all of them. Report yours in Discord: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z BUGS SQUASHED 3 • BUG SQUASHED - Two Champions Never Named - the daily State of the Universe board always read "unclaimed today" for Biggest Score and Longest Survival, even on days somebody had taken both outright. Both now name their holder, and every past board has been filled back in. • BUG SQUASHED - Your Territory, Unaccounted For - sign off holding a base and you could be moved out of your galaxy while you were away. After that, nothing that happened to your structures or your claimed rocks ever reached your welcome-back screen. You now keep your place in the galaxy for as long as you still hold ground, and the screen tells you what happened to it. • BUG SQUASHED - Bases That Never Wore Away - a base left behind by a pilot who moved on stopped rusting entirely and simply sat there. Rust is back on the job.

v00.2412Which Galaxy Is This?Your welcome-back screen now names where you are - Welcome back to Galaxy 10001! And when you land somewhere new, it says so, and tells you which galaxy you were flying in last time. No more wondering where you woke up.

v00.2395-v00.2404Bugs SquashedThese came from friends, family, Zeke reading his own code, and players from Reddit. Thanks to everyone who tests and reports. Found something? Tell us and it gets fixed: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z BUGS SQUASHED 2 • BUG SQUASHED - Sluggish Steering On A Slow Connection - on a poor connection the joystick could feel like it was ignoring you completely. Steering now answers the same way every other control does, wherever in the world you are playing from. • BUG SQUASHED - Discord Link In The Notes - the invite link in these release notes is a real, clickable link on the Release Notes page now.

v00.2397-v00.2401Crowns and ColorsYou can read a fight at a glance now. • A gold crown rides above whoever sits at the top of the Current high score board. It comes with a warning: the leader also wears the gold aura of a hit list target. Take the lead and the whole galaxy can see you. • Faction Commanders fly their colors - a pennant above the hull in their own team color. Commanders are the ones that claim rocks and turn them into fortresses, and now you can pick one out of a crowd.

v00.2400No Truce for the HuntedWhen the hit list calls your name there is nowhere to hide. Safety Mode ends the instant you become the target, and the Safety button reads YOU ARE TARGET until the bounty moves on. Everyone is coming for you. Fly.

v00.2405Your Guns Work for YouYour turrets and drones earn for you, as long as your ship is still flying. Their kills add to your score while your hull is alive, and they hand you experience as well when you are signed in and in the seat.

v00.2403Know Your ConnectionA BAD PING warning now sits on the left of your cockpit whenever your connection is running slower than 150ms. If the galaxy ever feels heavy, that is why - and now you can tell a slow connection from a slow ship.

August 19, 2026 - August 19, 2026

v00.2375-v00.2391Bugs SquashedFound by Zeke, friends, family and players from Reddit. Thanks to everyone who tests and tells us what broke - the next one could be yours to report: https://discord.gg/bkyRZeAj6Z BUGS SQUASHED 11 • Death Screen Reset - Reset all upgrades would not bring up its ARE YOU SURE prompt while you were dead. Now it opens, and you can redesign your ship from the death screen. • Death Screen Rename - Change Ship Name would not bring up the name list while you were dead. Now the list opens there too. • Close Quarters Bots - enemy ships stalled nose-off when you got right on top of them, and often held their fire. Now they snap around and shoot. • Lifetime Board - a brand new lifetime high could take minutes to show up. Now opening the Lifetime tab pulls a fresh board. • AI Console - with a side panel open, the console stopped covering the joystick. Now it stays put while an AI function is flying. • Welcome Back - the panel reported zero time away. Now it reports how long you were really gone. • Hunt Button - the AI Action Hunt button did nothing when pressed. Now it engages. • Shield Burst - the burst of your colors trailed behind the shockwave. Now it rides out with it. • Found A Base - the button let you start a base with too small a hold. Now it waits until you have the materials. • Faction Pages - the site still offered Bone Collectors as a faction to join. Now it lists only the three you can actually pick. • AI Guide - the guide described autopilot controls the game no longer has. Now it describes the four AI functions you actually fly with.

v00.2390-v00.2392Know Your CargoYour engine repair signal now shows how many materials the repair still needs, right beside the wrench. And the mining button tells you where your cargo is going: SHIP REPAIRING while materials feed your engine, TRANSFER TO CC while they flow into a Command Center. It stays up for two seconds after the last material leaves your hold.

August 18, 2026

v00.2379Points WaitingGot unspent level-up points? The gold badge sits right there on the death screen now, so you can spend them before you fly again.

v00.2373Break In ColorBreak your shield and it doesn't just shove — it throws. A wide puff of your faction color blows outward with the shockwave and drifts for a few seconds after. Now everyone nearby knows exactly who just cleared the room.

v00.2369-v00.2370Wings OnCall a truce and the galaxy can see it. White angel wings and a halo circle your ship while Safety Mode holds, beating slow and steady. Cancel it and they flare red — that's the moment the bots can see you again and your guns are still coming back online. Everyone else sees them too, so nobody has to guess who is out of the fight.

v00.2361-v00.2367Safety ModeHold the Safety button for a moment and your ship calls a truce. While it is up you can mine, haul and build. You cannot fire, your beam will not scratch a ship, a structure or a claimed rock, and your harpoon only takes hold of open asteroids. Auto-Fire can stay on. It just mines. Most of the galaxy lets you pass. Outlaw raiders look straight through a pilot under a truce, and Concordium and Unbound patrols will not start anything with an Outlaw flying one. The Bone Collectors do not care. They never do. A fight already underway does not stop. If something already has your name, it keeps coming. Ending it takes two and a half seconds to get your guns back, and every bot sees you again the instant you call it off. There is one fast way out: break your shield. The blast still lands, and your truce goes with it.

August 17, 2026 - August 17, 2026

v00.2354-v00.2355Make Them Regret the RopeFly with any AI function engaged and get harpooned: your ship turns on whoever grabbed you and opens fire, as long as you have fuel. Your AI also picks its targets from farther out. Cut them loose the hard way.

v00.2351-v00.2353Your Build AI Reports InYour Build AI scouts the whole galaxy for a site, mines what it needs to fund the job, and calls out what it's doing on the AI banner — TRAVELING, GATHERING, BUILDING. Go build an empire!

v00.2350One AI at a TimePick STAY, BUILD, HUNT or CIRCLE ASTEROID and your ship commits. Choosing one stands the others down, so the button that's lit is always the job it's doing. One press, one plan.

v00.2345-v00.2347Hold Your GroundAnti-Gravity now holds your ship against the galaxy's currents, and lets you glide further when your engines are cold. • Wormholes, boundary pull and enemy shield bursts all shove you around less • Your own thrusters are never resisted -- you still go exactly where you point • Ease off the throttle and you settle far quicker than you used to • Harpoon a pilot who has invested in it and you may find yourself being dragged toward them instead Every level buys a share of what is left, so it climbs forever and never quite arrives -- the void always keeps a little grip on you.

v00.2338The Rocks You HeldThe welcome-back screen now also counts the claimed asteroids that slipped out of your hands while you were signed off. Structures destroyed, rocks lost, ships your guns took down -- the whole story of your absence on one screen, waiting when you get back.

v00.2341Kill the Power PlantThe Command Center runs everything on its rock. Destroy one and the whole base goes dark -- turrets, shield generator, hangar and gate all stop and show it. Only the mining rig keeps working, because it feeds the Command Center rather than drawing from it. Aim for the power plant.

v00.2340Rust Never SleepsSpace is not empty. Dust and debris grind away at anything nobody is maintaining, and over the decades a neglected structure simply stops being one. Your welcome-back screen now names rust as the culprit when that is what happened, and keeps it separate from the raiders -- so you always know whether you were attacked or just away too long.

v00.2337Who Hit Your BaseCome back from a spell offline and the welcome screen now tells you which of your structures were destroyed while you were away, and who did it. One and it names the structure; several and it names the raiders. Your base keeps the receipts.

v00.2336What Your Guns DidYour welcome-back screen now reports the kills your assets made while you were signed off. One and it names them; several and it tells you how many, and whether it was your turrets, your drones or your own drifting hull that did it. Sign off defended and come back to a scoreboard.

v00.2335Your Drones Fight for Your RecordA drone of yours that rams an enemy ship out of the sky now credits the kill to you -- it counts on your kill total and on the day's board, the same way your turrets already do. Their death card names you and your drone, and your faction gets the last word.

v00.2334The Last Crew SlotThe team on the About page has one more member, and it is you. We ship a tested change most days of the week, so a good suggestion made on a Monday is often flying by the weekend. Tell us what feels wrong, what you would build differently, and what we have not thought of yet. Come find us on Discord.

August 16, 2026

v00.2333Welcome BackSign in after time away and a recap now meets you: how long you were gone, who destroyed your ship if anyone did, what that run scored against your best, and whether the hull you left out there is still flying. Your galaxy never stops -- now it tells you what it did.

v00.2331One Tap AwayOn a phone, the menu bar now slides up out of your way as you scroll and parks PLAY FREE NOW at the top of the screen. Read the whole guide, then jump into the galaxy the second you are ready -- the button is always one tap away.

v00.2330Meet the TeamThe About page now introduces the crew behind the galaxy: the developer who never sleeps, the twins running marketing and onboarding, the test squadron who break things on purpose, and River, our Chief Bone Collector. Every portrait is AI-generated, and we say so.

v00.2328The Daily CrownThe daily State of the Universe board now names the day's champions -- most kills, biggest score, and longest survival -- right alongside the galaxy standings. When a title changes hands it names who lost it, too. Go take one.

v00.2323Your Engine Speaks UpA wrench now appears beside your speedometer the moment engine power drops below 95%, with the exact percentage under it. It flashes while power is falling, glows green while materials repair it, and gets out of your way entirely once you are back near full.

v00.2322Get Back In FasterYour respawn wait now starts at 15 seconds and only climbs if you keep dying -- 15, 20, 25, on up to 40 -- and the whole thing resets every day. Die within a minute of spawning and it is always 15 seconds and does not count against you. Subscribers respawn in 10, always.

August 15, 2026

v00.2316No Box Stays No BoxButtons that sit quiet without a box keep it that way when your ship is in danger and the HUD glows red. Lit-up green buttons still redden along with the panel -- except STAY, which answers with its bright green icon and never a frame.

v00.2314-v00.2315Hold the Circle, Pick Your WeaponPress and hold anywhere in the center circle and your ship runs whichever weapon you picked last -- projectile, harpoon or mining beam. A quick tap still fires a single shot. Same on desktop and phone, and every new life starts you on the harpoon.

v00.2312Commanders Travel LightA commander tows home only the rocks it can found a base on. If its rope lands on a claim that belongs to someone else, it releases on the spot and gets straight back to work.

v00.2311Bring the Base HomeIdle ships now go and fetch a claimed asteroid that has drifted out of your domain, tow it back, and let go once it is safely inside. A base that wanders off gets brought home.

v00.2308-v00.2310The Arrest BitesA Concordium arrest now locks a ship the instant the rope lands.

v00.2303-v00.2307Your Builder Knows Its RocksYour builder sizes a rock up before it commits: it seeks and ropes only asteroids it can actually build on, lets go the moment one turns out to be a dead end, and moves straight on to the next step. Bot mining beams now burn only while there's rock to mine.

v00.2298-v00.2301Your Builder Wastes NothingCatch a small rock on the harpoon while building and your AI cashes it straight in for fuel and materials, then lines up the next one. Also, now bot response time feels more real.

v00.2297Off Means OffSwitch an AI function off and its button drops straight back to its clean, icon-only look -- on a phone exactly the same as on a desktop.

August 14, 2026

v00.2292-v00.2294One Press Back to ManualYour AI panel now sits beside the top-right radar: a slim see-through slab naming the function that's flying, with CANCEL under it, breathing softly. Press anywhere on it and the ship is yours again. Auto-Fire's pip reads AUTO / FIRE / ON.

August 13, 2026

v00.2290Auto-Fire Gets Its Own LightSwitch Auto-Fire on and a red targeting pip lights up beside your top-right radar, breathing softly while your guns do the work. It sits out of your way instead of over your ship -- and one tap on it stands your guns down.

v00.2283-v00.2284The Daily Universe BoardEvery day the State of the Universe board lands in our Discord: the most powerful commander anywhere, and the top galaxies ranked by command points in use. Come see who's wearing the crown -- then go take it.

v00.2282Armor Up Your BaseIntegrity is an upgrade now. Open a structure on the Asteroid screen and buy it a level: a Command Center goes 800 to 1,600, a turret 225 to 450. Same terms as every other upgrade -- the price doubles each level, and the building sits offline while the work is done.

v00.2281Every Structure Its Own PriceStructures are not one size fits all now. A Mining Rig goes up in 5 seconds for 50 materials; a Space Hangar takes 23 and costs 225. The tougher the building, the longer it takes and the more it costs -- and upgrades double from its own price. Command Centers now stand at 800 HP.

v00.2279-v00.2280Dial In Your CameraYour Camera Zoom slider reads left to right now -- drag left for a wide view, right to pull in close. The left knob sets how far the camera flies out while you're thrusting, the right knob how tight it sits when you're still. Nine rungs from 0.4x to 1.2x, a tenth at a time.

v00.2269-v00.2277Mining and ProjectilesHoned in the Mining & Projectiles on Asteroids. Re-balance is working great!

August 12, 2026

v00.2267Anti-Gravity Has No CeilingYour Command Center's drift resistance no longer stops at level 19. Every level now buys a share of what is left, so it climbs toward 100% forever and never quite arrives -- the void always keeps a grip on your rock, however deep you dig.

v00.2266The Base Goes DarkUpgrading a Command Center now shuts down the WHOLE base for as long as the work takes -- turrets cold, dome down, drones grounded, every structure on the rock flashing the same countdown. Your base is at its most powerful and its most exposed on the same day. Time it well.

v00.2262-v00.2263A Bay That Keeps UpYour Command Center's Material Bay now DOUBLES with every level, so a growing base can always afford its next upgrade. And Building Speed is worth 10% a point now -- ten points cuts every build cost and every wait clean in half.

v00.2260-v00.2261Build Cheap, Upgrade DeepStructures cost 50 materials to build. Every upgrade level after that doubles -- 100, 200, 400 -- and so does the time the structure spends offline while the work happens. Put points into Building Speed on your ship to cut both the cost and the wait.

v00.2257Tougher DronesYour Space Hangar can now armor the drones it builds. Every Drone Health level adds 25 HP to every drone that rolls out, so a swarm that used to pop to one volley stays in the fight and keeps shooting.

v00.2244-v00.2250An 8-Day Free TrialAsteroid Dominion just got more free! Play free with ads, or start an 8-day FREE trial and go ad-free. • No ads. Ever. • Back in the fight 3x faster -- 15 seconds, not 45 • Your seat is held -- hold territory and it stays yours • Skip the line when the universe fills up

August 11, 2026

v00.2242The Confetti Takes Its TimeSurvive a Bonefall and the Bone Collectors' retreat confetti now drifts down at half speed -- twice as long to fall from the top of your screen to the bottom. Stand in it a while. You earned it.

v00.2220-v00.2237The Whole Ship On One HandTwenty new shortcuts. 1, 2 and 3 pick a weapon. S, C, V and B run your ship's AI and F lets the guns aim themselves while you fly. G opens comms, Z blows the shield, and M, L, P, O and I open your screens. Press ? for the full card -- then change any key you like in Settings.

v00.2217The Button Tells You It Has HoldThe action button on an opponent's panel now flashes while your ability is actually running, so ARREST, LOOT and EAT say they have hold of something instead of sitting there looking idle.

v00.2215-v00.2216The Rope Does the TalkingLand a harpoon on an enemy and your faction ability fires on its own -- no second button. And you can now read what is happening to any ship across the field: a hull strobing red and white is being eaten, blue and red is under arrest, gold is being emptied out.

v00.2213Your Death Card Keeps Its FrameThe death card you share now carries the machined bezel you see on screen -- corner-cut, lit in death red, and clear of the brand line along the bottom. What you post looks like what you were handed.

v00.2212They Blow the RopeHold a ship on your harpoon too long and it detonates its own shield to snap the line. The blast shoves you off, hurts anything standing close, and the ship runs. Even an ARREST cannot hold something that would rather explode than be held.

v00.2210Arrests Are Shorter NowA Concordium ARREST locks your engine and weapons for 2.5 seconds. The police strobe still spins up first, so snap the tether before it finishes and you never stop flying at all.

v00.2206-v00.2209Rope a Ship, Get a FightHarpoon a ship now and it turns on you. Anything on the end of your rope stops trying to run, comes around to face you and opens fire -- and if its tank is dry it will aim its hull at you and ram instead. Bring more than a harpoon.

v00.2202One Tap to Your Home ScreenSettings has a new Install Quick Link button at the bottom. One tap puts Asteroid Dominion on your home screen with its own icon, so you are back in the black in a single press -- no store, no download, always the live game.

v00.2200It Opens the Way You Hold ItLaunch Asteroid Dominion from your home screen and it opens the way you are already holding your phone. Sign in in portrait, tap PLAY, and the cockpit takes over the whole screen in landscape -- one turn, exactly where you want it.

v00.2196-v00.2199Your Death Card, ReframedYour death card is now exactly what you saw through the cockpit ring, squared off to pull in the corners the radars were covering. Your ship sits dead center in your faction's colors, framed by a heavier machined bezel. Go out looking good.

August 10, 2026

v00.2173Structures, Locked InBases, rigs and generators are locked in solid across every galaxy in the universe. Build tall 'til the stars run out.

August 9, 2026

v00.2156-v00.2167The Whole Site Gets LighterEverything loads lighter. Pages now come down about three quarters smaller, and artwork, music and tutorial clips stay put between visits instead of being fetched again every time you open one. The game itself is untouched -- this is all in how it reaches you.

v00.2162The Last 3x FallsOne more page was still promising a 3x gravity storm. It is 1.5x, and has been for a long time -- every page finally agrees.

August 8, 2026

v00.2155Two More Pages Catch UpThe Guide still promised daily Discord winner announcements that stopped a while back. It now says what is true: the three daily categories live in game on the High Score screen, and the daily Discord post is the State of the Universe board. Our privacy policy now matches too.

v00.2138The Highscores Page Tells the TruthThe Highscores page had drifted away from the game it describes, so we went through it against the actual code. The daily kill board is Most Kills -- a count of how many ships you take down in a day -- not the single biggest takedown; it has worked that way for months and the page still described the old rule. Longest Survival is measured by the clock and keeps running while your ship sits in the world after you log off, which is worth knowing before you plan a run. The hit list does not pick the top scorer at all: it leans toward whoever has been alive longest, it can land on your base instead of your ship, and there is a quiet 90 seconds between targets. And the gravity storm is 1.5x, not the 3x the page had been claiming in four places.

v00.2140The Death Card Gets a FrameYour death card now sits in a machined bezel, cut at the corners and lit in the same red as the rest of the death screen -- so it reads as a mounted plate rather than a picture floating in the dark. The card itself is untouched: nothing is tinted, nothing is covered, and the brand line along the bottom keeps well clear of the corner cuts. The image you share is exactly what it always was.

v00.2139One Screen for Your Own RockYour claimed asteroid used to look like two different places. Harpoon it and you could build but not upgrade; open it from the Asteroid Button and you could upgrade but the budget was missing. It is one screen now, whichever way you get there -- build, upgrade, mount slots and your Command Points, all in the same place. Everything is paid for by the base itself, so you do not need to fly back and rope a rock you already own. The one exception is unchanged: founding a Command Center still takes a harpoon, because that is what claims the rock.

v00.2137Four Frames That Would Not LeaveThe death screen hides your four corner radars, but their metal frames were staying behind -- four empty outlines floating over your death card. They are gone now, and so are the ones that used to hang around after you hid the interface. A frame now leaves whenever the thing it is framing does.

v00.2136Tutorials While You WaitThe tutorials now open on the death screen. They always should have -- waiting out a respawn is the one moment in the game with nothing else to do -- but the death screen was quietly hiding the panel the instant it opened, so the button did nothing. Hit "?", then "Learn! Tutorials!", and watch a couple while the clock runs down.

v00.2135One Tap Off Auto-FireWhen Auto-Fire is the only thing running, the cockpit notice gets out of your way and does more at the same time. The panel behind it and the separate CANCEL button are gone; what is left is a smaller plate reading AUTO-FIRE over ON, and the plate itself is now the button -- tap it and Auto-Fire stops. It is the shortest way out we can give you while you are still flying the ship yourself. Nothing changes when an auto-pilot has the helm: those notices keep their full panel and their own big red CANCEL, because that is the one you are looking for.

v00.2133Powerful Means BuiltThe Most Powerful Galaxies board in the High Score screen now ranks on command points actually spent building, and it counts every commander who calls that galaxy home whether they are logged in right now or not. It used to measure what people could build rather than what they had, and only counted whoever happened to be online that second -- so a galaxy's standing swung with the clock instead of with the work. It is the same number the new daily universe board uses, so the two finally agree.

v00.2127-v00.2131The Universe Gets a ScoreboardTwo things landed. Every update we ship now posts itself to our Discord the moment it goes live, each one as its own thread you can reply to -- so if you like something, or hate it, you can say so right under it. And the Highscores page has a new daily board: the single most powerful commander in the universe, the leading galaxies ranked by the command points their players have actually spent building, and the top pilot in each. It is taken fresh every morning, and every previous morning is kept below it, so you can watch a galaxy climb.

August 7, 2026

v00.2126Tutorials, Inside the GameHit the "?" button, then "Learn! Tutorials!", and you get ten 15-second tutorials that play right there in the panel -- fuel and mining, the harpoon, claiming your first rock, build order, the shield dome, turrets and drones, picking your build, and what happens when you run dry in a fight. Pick one and it fills the panel on repeat; "< More Tutorials" takes you back to the list. No new tab, no leaving your ship. Nothing downloads until you tap a tutorial, so it costs you nothing to have them there. Every one of them is real footage of the real game -- and we checked every caption against what the ships actually do.

August 6, 2026

v00.2120A Cancel Where You Are LookingThe auto-pilot banner and its big red CANCEL now sit in the middle of your cockpit as well as down in the corner, so the way out is always where your eyes already are. It names the function that is flying, and underneath it tells you what your survival instincts are doing about it right now -- dodging a rock, running for fuel, standing and fighting. Auto-Fire gets a banner of its own at last: it never took your joystick, so it never had one. And when a Bonefall warning takes over the top of your screen the label steps politely aside, but the button never does.

v00.2119The Cockpit Goes QuietWhile an auto-pilot is flying for you, the middle of your screen now stops taking input entirely -- no steering, and no click-to-fire or hold-to-mine in there either. It was still quietly firing shots you never asked for. Your weapon buttons are untouched and work exactly as before, and the moment you cancel, the cockpit is yours again. Auto-Fire on its own changes nothing: you are still the pilot.

v00.2118CANCEL Works On Your PhoneOn a phone, the big red CANCEL and the X / Y / tolerance arrows on the auto-pilot console did nothing at all -- your finger never reached them. They work now. The mouse and the Escape key always did, which is exactly why this went unnoticed for so long.

August 5, 2026

v00.2110-v00.2111A Lighter ConnectionYour cockpit only ever shows a circle, but we were sending you ships from well outside it -- space you cannot see past the console. Now we send what you can actually look at, and far-off ships update at a calmer rate than the ones in your face. It simply runs lighter.

v00.2086Auto-Build Actually BuildsAuto-Build used to fly you to a rock, throw a harpoon and then just sit there. It now runs the same fortress program the Commander bots use: Command Center first, then a Mining Rig, an Anti-Air, a Shield Generator and more turrets as the rock has room. Short on materials? It lets go, mines until it can pay, and comes back. It will not touch the rock it is building on, and it never tows anything home -- that stays your call.

v00.2085Build Gets a Cancel ButtonAuto-Build now behaves like every other auto-pilot function. It gets the control plate and the big red CANCEL, so you are never stuck holding a job you cannot put down. It also inherits the whole survival ladder it was missing: a building ship now steers around asteroids, runs when it is badly hurt, goes for fuel, and drops the tow rope to fight off anyone who jumps you before picking it straight back up. And switching an auto-pilot OFF now really does hand you back the stick.

v00.2083Hunt Closes In for the KillYour Hunt auto-pilot used to fly toward a target and then politely stop a long way short. Now it hands over to the same close-quarters fighting brain the bots use as soon as it gets near: it presses in, leads its shots and holds a proper firing distance instead of parking. It also stops being distracted -- with a target picked, a random ship drifting past no longer steals your aim.

v00.2082A Hunter Does Not Get DistractedA bot that has picked you as its target now STAYS on you. Until today, any other ship that drifted close would pull it off the chase -- so a hunt could be abandoned for somebody who just happened to be nearer, and the hunter never arrived. It locks on now: it closes, it fights the ship it came for, and it does not swap. It will still turn and defend itself if you get right on top of it.

August 4, 2026

v00.2081It Shoots Back, but Stays PutYour auto-pilot will now defend itself without wandering off. Get jumped while holding a Stay spot, orbiting a rock or building, and the ship turns and fights -- but only as far as its leash: the moment the attacker backs off, it goes straight back to the job. Building drops the tow rope to fight and picks it back up afterwards. Hunt is untouched, because chasing is the whole point of Hunt.

v00.2079Your Auto-Pilot Goes for FuelRun low and your auto-pilot now goes and gets more instead of coasting to a stop. It heads for whichever is closer -- a friendly Command Center with fuel to spare, or a rock it can mine -- and a base wins a tie, because drinking from one is far quicker than chewing scrap. It keeps at it until you are properly topped up, not just until the warning light goes off.

v00.2078Ships Refuel at Your BaseYour Command Centers have been handing out fuel to any friendly ship that drifted close since we built them -- but nobody ever went there on purpose. Low-fuel ships now FLY to a friendly Command Center that has plenty to spare, park in range and drink. It is far quicker than chewing rocks for scraps, so a well-stocked base is suddenly worth a lot more to your whole faction.

v00.2077The Auto-Pilot Knows When to RunBadly hurt with something hunting you? Your auto-pilot now breaks off and runs. It watches your HULL, not your shields -- shields come back on their own, so those only ever caused a quick sidestep, while dropping under a third of your health with an enemy within range now gets you out of there. It still steers around asteroids on the way, because fleeing into a rock is not an escape.

v00.2076The Auto-Pilot Sees RocksYour auto-pilot now flies AROUND asteroids instead of into them. Ask it to return to a Stay anchor, orbit a rock or chase a target and it will pick a side, arc past anything big in the way, and go straight back to the job -- the same dodging the bots have used for months. It leaves the rock you are mining alone, and a ship parked inside its Stay box stays parked with the engines off.

v00.2072Subscribers Get Their Place BackSubscribers move to the front of the waiting line again. That priority was promised on the About and Terms pages but had quietly stopped working, so this puts it right. One rule stands above it: whoever has already been shown as #1 keeps that spot and is served next, subscriber or not. We will never bump somebody we have just told they are next.

v00.2069The AI Has This CoveredWhen an auto-pilot function is already firing a weapon for you, that button now goes gray with a single line through it. Auto-Fire marks the projectile and mining buttons; BUILD marks the harpoon. It is a hint, not a lock -- every one of them still works exactly as before, and using one does not switch the AI off. It is simply telling you that you don't need to press anything.

v00.2068The Auto-Pilot Keeps the ShipHand your ship to an auto-pilot function and it now KEEPS it. Nudging the stick, the arrows or a thruster key no longer quietly switches the function off mid-job -- which is what used to happen, often by accident, right after you asked for it. It flies until you say stop: the big red CANCEL, the Escape key, picking a different function, or switching the one you are on back off. Your weapons still fire the whole time.

v00.2067Escape Takes the Ship BackPress Escape and every auto-pilot function switches off at once -- navigation, action, and Auto-Fire together. It is the same big red CANCEL, on a key. It matters most for Auto-Fire, which leaves your joystick alone and so puts no CANCEL button on your screen at all. With nothing running, Escape still does whatever your browser does with it -- we only take the key when we have something to hand back.

v00.2066The Auto-Pilot Pays for FuelFlying under auto-pilot used to be FREE. The fuel gauge only ever watched your hands, so a ship the computer was flying at full burn was billed as though it were drifting -- while a bot doing the exact same thing paid the full rate. The gauge now watches the ENGINES, so an auto-pilot burn costs what your own thumb would have cost. Parked inside a Stay box still costs nothing extra: the engines really are off in there.

v00.2065Auto-Fire Stands AloneAuto-Fire is now its own switch, and it is the one auto-pilot function that runs while YOU fly. Leave it on and your ship shoots any enemy that crosses your nose, or burns the beam on an unclaimed rock ahead when nothing is hunting you -- all with your hand still on the stick. It never steers for you, and your own weapon buttons keep working right through it. You now spawn with it ON and nothing else: cover, while you get your bearings.

v00.2064Steer the Stay MarkThe auto-pilot console now shows the mark you are holding -- X, Y, and the size of the box you are allowed to drift inside -- each with a left and right arrow that shifts it by fifty. Nudge the mark a few hundred units without flying anywhere, or open the box out to nine hundred so you can wander and fight near it, or pull it in to a hundred and sit tight. Only Stay has coordinates, so only Stay shows them.

v00.2063The Auto-Pilot ConsoleHand the ship to an auto-pilot function and the rotation joystick now steps aside for a console: a panel telling you which function is flying (STAY, ASTEROID, HUNT) and a big red CANCEL to take the controls back. The stick fades out while it is up, because it is not yours at that moment -- and it comes straight back the instant you cancel. Auto-Fire on its own leaves the joystick exactly where it is; you are still flying.

v00.2062A Truer Stay MarkWhen you press Stay, the mark now lands exactly where your ship is. It used to be set from the position your screen had drawn, which trails the real thing by a fraction of a second -- at speed that put your mark a good twenty units behind you. The server sets it now, so the coordinate you are holding is the coordinate you chose.

v00.2061Evade Stops Running from NothingWhen your shields go down under auto-pilot, your ship dodges the nearest danger. It used to pick that danger from the ENTIRE galaxy, so it would burn full thrust away from a harmless rock thousands of units off and leave you somewhere you never meant to be. It now only reacts to things within 1500 units, and if nothing is close it simply carries on with the job you gave it. Bots got the same sense.

v00.2056Stay Gets Some SlackAuto-Pilot Stay no longer pins you to the exact spot. It now holds a box around your marked coordinate -- 500 units by default -- and inside that box the engines are simply off, so you drift instead of burning fuel fighting every nudge of gravity. Wander out of the box and it flies you back in. Idle drift costs a quarter of what full thrust does, so a parked ship lasts a great deal longer.

v00.2055Stay Actually Comes HomeAuto-Pilot Stay now flies back to the spot you locked in, properly. Before, a ship knocked off its mark crept back at a few units a second -- from a thousand units out that was over six minutes, so in practice it never made it. It now burns straight back at full speed and brakes onto the mark. Get rammed, get shoved: it returns.

August 3, 2026

v00.2051Privacy Policy UpdateWe now keep a simple count of which sites and platforms players arrive from, so we know where to spend our time telling people about the game. Outside Europe, the UK and Switzerland that uses one first-party cookie holding a random ID and nothing about you -- no name, no email, no ads, never shared. In those regions we set nothing at all and just keep an anonymous daily tally. The Privacy Policy has been updated to spell all of this out.

v00.2050The Radars Get Their RimAll four corner radars now wear the same machined rim as the rest of the cockpit -- but only where they actually have a corner. Their curved edge is left exactly as it was; just the three real corners are cut, with a bright marker in each. The radar itself is untouched, so everything still draws and reads the way it always did.

v00.2049Finer Marks Across the BoardThe bright markers sunk into every cut corner are thirty per cent finer -- joystick, cockpit ring, every button, both zoom sliders and all twelve pop-up screens. Nothing moved or changed size; the rim just reads less shouty, and the dark slot behind each mark slimmed with it.

v00.2048Stay Shifts RightThe Auto-Pilot Stay button has moved five across to the right. It used to sit squared off against the right edge of the speedometer; it now overhangs it slightly. Nothing else moved and the button is the same size, so every tap lands where you expect.

v00.2047Stay Lights Up, Not Boxes UpSet the Auto-Pilot to hold position and the Stay button no longer draws a green frame around itself. The map pin in the middle fills solid bright green instead, and drops back to a clear see-through outline the moment you switch it off. The frame still flashes under your finger when you press it, and still goes red with everything else at low fuel.

v00.2046One Last Undersized RimA fix, and the last of the family: the Auto-Pilot Stay button's machined rim was still drawing at ninety per cent of the button, tucked inside its own edge, when every other button was corrected back in v2040. That button had its own icon-sizing rule which quietly outranked the correction. Its rim now fills it like the rest.

August 2, 2026

v00.2045The Camera Zoom Slider TooThe two-handled camera zoom slider beside the camera button has taken the same machined rim as the map zoom slider -- cut corners with a bright marker in each. The two handles, the range bar between them and the notch ticks are all unchanged, and so are its size and position. It reddens with the rest of the cockpit at low fuel.

v00.2044The Map Zoom Slider Joins InThe five-notch zoom slider beside the galaxy map has swapped its plain green rectangle for the machined rim the rest of the cockpit wears -- corners cut at forty-five degrees with a bright marker sunk into each cut. It stays green, it goes red with everything else when fuel runs low, and it has not moved or changed size, so the drag feels exactly as it did.

v00.2043The Speed Number Fits Its FrameThe dark band behind your speed reading has been narrowed. It used to run wider than the top of the speedometer and sit right on top of the two bright corner markers; it now fits the flat span between them. Same place, same height, same digits -- it just stops overlapping the gauge it is sitting in.

v00.2042The Speedometer Gets Its Point BackThe speed gauge comes down to a proper point again. The corner-cut restyle had sliced the bottom tip off and laid a bright marker across the gap; the tip is back, and it is sharp. The rising speed fill now runs all the way down into it instead of stopping short. The two cuts at the top are unchanged.

v00.2041No More Square Corners In the RedA fix: when your fuel ran low, every button, screen and the cockpit ring quietly put its OLD square box back on underneath the new cut-corner rim -- so a hard ninety-degree corner poked out from behind the very marks that were meant to cut it off. The red warning now runs through the rim itself, corners and all. Everything still floods red exactly when it did; it just stops fighting with its own frame. The Player Stat, Health, Shield, Fuel and Asteroid buttons keep their old look, as before.

August 1, 2026

v00.2040The Button Rims Come Out RightA fix: since the machined-rim restyle, every button's new frame has been drawn correctly and then quietly shrunk to about two thirds size before it reached you -- so the rim ended up the same size as the icon it was meant to frame, crowding it instead of framing it. The Main Emoji button is the clearest case. Rims now fill their buttons the way the emoji panel's always did. Nothing moved, nothing changed size, every tap lands where it did before.

v00.2039Five Buttons Keep Their Old LookThe Player Stat, Health, Shield, Fuel and Asteroid buttons have gone back to the plain box they had before the machined-rim restyle. Everything else in the cockpit keeps the new one. Nothing moved and nothing changed size -- only the frame these five draw.

v00.2038The Whole Cockpit Flashes TogetherA fix: the cockpit ring and the pop-up screen frames were meant to turn red with everything else when your fuel runs low, and were quietly staying cyan and green instead. They flash with the rest of the board now, so low fuel reads as one warning rather than a few things going red while others carry on as normal.

v00.2037Every Screen Gets Cut CornersSettings, High Scores, Player Stats, the Asteroid panel, Messages, Fleet, Galaxy Search, Info Log, Troubleshoot, Auto-Pilot and Change Name have all swapped their plain rectangle for a pane of etched glass -- corners cut at forty-five degrees with a bright marker on every cut. Same size, same place, same everything inside. The whole cockpit now reads as one machine instead of a set of boxes that happen to sit near each other.

v00.2036Buttons Get a Machined RimWhen a button lights up, the plain square box it used to draw is now a proper panel: corners cut at forty-five degrees, a bright marker sunk into each cut, and a milled rim around the whole thing. Green when a screen is open, cyan while you press, red when fuel runs low. The buttons that hide their box when idle still hide it -- nothing appears until you touch it or switch it on.

v00.2035The Cockpit Ring OpensThe big circle around your view is no longer a solid hoop. It is a fine line broken at the four diagonals, with a bright marker either side of every break -- so it frames the view without walling it in, and there is noticeably more sky. It stays put exactly where it always was. It also finally turns red with the rest of the cockpit when fuel runs low, instead of glowing calmly while the screen edge beside it flashes.

v00.2034The Speedometer Opens UpThe speed gauge has lost its dark backing. The three corners of the triangle are cut now, each cut carries a bright marker, and the outline itself is a thin line wrapped in a glow -- so the empty part of the gauge is genuinely empty and you can see the stars straight through it. The speed reading inside is unchanged. It also joins the rest of the cockpit in going red when your fuel runs low, instead of sitting there calmly while everything around it flashes.

v00.2033The Joystick Lights Up When You Grab ItThe flight stick has dropped its solid ring for a broken one -- four arcs of light with a bright marker at each break, sitting open so you can see the stars through it. Take hold of it and the whole thing changes character: the ring fills in, the light goes green and the markers sink into a machined rim. Let go and it fades back to the quiet version. You can now tell at a glance whether you are flying or drifting.

v00.2032Your Weapons Get a Control BoardThe six controls in the bottom-right corner have stopped being six separate boxes. They are one console now: a single pane of dark glass with each control set into it, lit corner brackets marking what is live, and one soft glow around the whole group. Green means running, and when fuel gets low the entire board goes red together -- the fire-rate slider included, which used to sit there calmly while its neighbours flashed. Nothing moved and nothing changed size, so every tap lands exactly where it did yesterday.

v00.2031Auto-Fire and Safety SwitchesThe two blank frames beside the fire button are blank no longer. Auto-Fire carries the old AI button's cartridge glyph; Safety carries a pair of angel wings. Press either and it lights green and reads ON. Press again and it grays out, takes a slash through the icon and reads OFF. Two switches, four states, no guessing which way they are set.

v00.2030A Bigger Stay ButtonThe auto-pilot Stay button has grown to match the three orders across the corner, icon and all. It keeps its top-right corner exactly where it was -- still squared off against the speedometer, still tucked under the speed readout -- and grows down and to the left. All four standing orders are now the same size.

v00.2029The Auto-Pilot Column Squares OffCircle Asteroid, Attack Ship and Build On Asteroid have each shrunk a little and closed up edge to edge, so the three of them together now stand exactly as tall as the fire-rate slider across the corner -- one third of it each. Icons scaled down to match. The bottom-right corner finally lines up on both sides.

v00.2028The Auto-Pilot Icons SoftenStay, Circle Asteroid, Attack Ship and Build On Asteroid were drawing their glyphs in a hard opaque white while every other button on the HUD uses a softer see-through one. They now use the same one, so the whole bottom-right corner reads as a single set instead of four icons shouting over the rest.

v00.2027Three More Frameless ButtonsThe emoji button, the galaxy map button and the camera zoom button have all dropped their boxes -- idle, they are just the icon, the way the top-right row already reads. Press one, or open what it controls, and the frame snaps straight back. Same tap targets, less chrome on your view.

July 31, 2026

v00.2026Auto-Pilot Buttons Go FramelessStay, Circle Asteroid, Attack Ship and Build On Asteroid have dropped their boxes -- idle, they are just the icon, the same way the top-right buttons already read. Press one or set it running and the frame snaps back so you can see at a glance which order is live. Cleaner corner, same big tap targets.

v00.2025Finer Galaxy Map ZoomThe galaxy map's five zoom notches have been retuned to 1x, 1.5x, 2x, 4x and 6x. The gentle end of the slider now has a proper half-step for picking your way around nearby space, and the far end tops out a little lower. Same five notches, better spread.

v00.2024A Quieter Fuel GaugeThe fuel ring and its yellow bolt now stay dark until you are actually below 80% of a tank, instead of lighting up the moment you burn a drop. A topped-up ship reads clean; when the ring does appear, it means something.

v00.2023The Mining Button Gets Its RockThe mining button finally looks like what it does. The cargo crate has shrunk into the top-left corner with your hold count squared off beside it, and the space that frees up now carries a proper pickaxe-and-asteroid glyph at full size. Same button, same cargo gauge, far clearer at a glance.

v00.2022The Auto-Pilot Menu RetiresThe AI menu button and the four orders behind it -- Target, Go Mining, Shield Defense and Evade -- have left the screen for good. What is left is the four that matter, sitting out in the open: Stay, Circle Asteroid, Attack Ship and Build On Asteroid. One less menu between you and the order.

v00.2021Auto-Pilot Orders Always On ScreenCircle Asteroid, Attack Ship and Build On Asteroid no longer live behind a fly-out -- they are simply on screen the whole time you are flying, right alongside Stay. Four standing orders, four permanent buttons, no menu to open first.

v00.2020Three Big Auto-Pilot ButtonsCircle Asteroid, Attack Ship and Build On Asteroid have all grown to the size of the AI button and now stack in a single tall column in the bottom-right corner, edge to edge, with icons scaled up to match. Bigger targets for the three orders you actually give.

v00.2019Stay Moves to the SpeedometerThe auto-pilot Stay button has left the bottom-right corner and taken up station on the speedometer column, tucked directly under the speed readout and squared off against the gauge's right edge. First of several moves reorganising the auto-pilot controls.

v00.2018The AI Button Shifts RightThe AI button has slid across to sit a hair off the bottom-right radar -- the same small gap the speedometer leaves against the radar in the opposite corner. Both bottom corners of the HUD now breathe the same way.

v00.2017A Channel Between the SlidersThe two stacked slider frames beside the fire button no longer touch. The lower one has given up a sliver of height so a clean gap opens between them -- the very same gap that runs between the fire button and the harpoon button next door, on the very same line. The sliders now mirror the buttons they flank, exactly.

v00.2015A Bigger AI ButtonThe AI button in the bottom-right corner is now about half again as large, growing up and to the left so its right edge -- and the gap to the Stay button beside it -- stay exactly where they were. Its icon grew with it. Easier to hit mid-flight, especially on a phone.

v00.2014A Third Slider Joins the StackThe far side of the fire button now carries two stacked slider frames instead of one tall one -- the upper sits level with the fire button, the lower with the harpoon and mine buttons. They are the housings for auto-fire and for a safety, and both are quiet for now: nothing to drag, and they take none of your taps.

v00.2012The Weapon Cluster Tightens UpThe fire, harpoon and mine buttons have all grown a little taller, closing the channel between them to the same narrow gap that runs between the fire button and the slider next to it. Every button in the cluster is now separated by exactly the same amount of space, whichever way you look at it.

v00.2010A Second Slider AppearsA new slider frame has taken up station on the far side of the fire button, mirroring the fire-rate slider on the other side -- same size, same cyan, same gap. It is the housing for auto-fire, and it is quiet for now: nothing to drag yet, and it takes none of your taps.

v00.2009Taller Harpoon and MineThe harpoon and mining buttons have grown upward to close most of the gap under the fire button, leaving just a thin channel between them. Their feet stay planted on the same line as the fire-rate slider, so the whole cluster still squares off at the bottom -- there is simply more button to hit now.

v00.2008A Taller Fire ButtonThe fire button has grown downward into the room the harpoon and mining buttons just vacated -- it is now half the height of the fire-rate slider beside it. Its top edge has not moved a pixel, so everything lined up against it stays lined up. A bigger target for the control you hold down most.

v00.2007The Speedometer Gets Some DepthThe speedometer now shades the way your ship's hull does -- lifted and bright at the point, full color through the middle, deepening toward the top -- and the fill carries a soft glow in its own color so it has an edge against the stars. Forward still blue, reverse still crimson, both with a lot more depth to them.

v00.2006Hints Line Up with the MapThe Hints, Tips & Tricks panel on the death screen now runs out to exactly the same right edge as the galaxy map sitting above it, instead of stopping a few units short. Two panels, one clean line down the left of the death screen.

v00.2005Harpoon and Mine Drop to the FloorThe harpoon and mining buttons have moved down to sit flat along the bottom of the controls, level with the foot of the fire-rate slider beside them. They drop into the gap the old fourth weapon button left behind, so the whole right-hand cluster squares off along one line.

v00.2004A Wider Fire-Rate SliderThe fire-rate slider on the right is now as wide as the emoji button above it, so the two line up down their left edges instead of stepping in. The fire, harpoon and mine buttons all slid across to make room, keeping exactly the gaps they had -- and they now sit a touch further from the edge of the screen.

v00.2003Speedometer In Faction ColorsThe speedometer now fills in shield-dome colors and lets the stars through. Forward climbs in Concordium blue, reverse in Bone Collector crimson -- reverse used to borrow the health-warning red, which said the wrong thing. The whole fill is a good deal more see-through than it was.

v00.2002The Asteroid Button Looks Like an AsteroidThe rock in the Asteroids button was filled flat black, which is not what a rock out there actually looks like. It now carries the same lit gray stone and the same shadowed craters the asteroids in the playfield do, lit from the upper left exactly as they are. The team-colored outline is unchanged.

v00.2001The Camera Button Sits StraightThe camera zoom button on the left -- and the zoom slider that swings out from it -- were sitting slightly low in the space between the event feed above and the galaxy map below. They now sit dead center, with the same gap top and bottom.

v00.2000Two ThousandBuild number two thousand, and it is a tidy-up: the round Player Stats button in the top-left and the matching Asteroids button in the top-right are both a little smaller now. Same icons, same taps, a bit more of the galaxy showing past the corners.

v00.1999The Speedometer Fills UpThe speedometer wedge now fills as you fly. Full throttle forward climbs blue from the bottom point to the readout in a second and a half; full reverse climbs red. Turn while you burn and it settles at the halfway mark and hovers there. Let go and it drops away in under a second.

v00.1998Your Speed Moves to the SpeedometerThe speed number has left the middle of the steering joystick and now sits in a dark readout band across the top of the new speedometer wedge, where the shape is widest. Same number, off your thumb, and on a panel you can actually read it against.

v00.1997Guides from Inside the GameThe Troubleshoot screen now opens with a gold "Learn! Tutorials!" button above the diagnostics. Tap it and the Getting Started guide opens in a new tab, so you keep your ship and your session exactly where they were. In-game tutorials are on the way.

v00.1996The Tutorials Hint Finds You When You DieClose the High Score panel on the death screen and the "Learn! Tutorials!" pointer appears, aimed at the question-mark button. It is the moment you are most likely to want a guide, and it shows on its own rather than dragging the whole spawn tutorial back up with it.

v00.1995A Hint That Points at the GuidesA new spawn hint reads "Learn! Tutorials!" and points at the question-mark button in the top-right row. It appears with the rest of the new-player hints and fades on the same timer, and like all of them you can switch it off under Settings.

v00.1994Room for One More HintThe High Scores pointer that appears when you spawn now runs its line further down the screen before the label, clearing space beside the button stack for another hint. The arrow still points at exactly the same spot on the High Score button.

v00.1992-v00.1993A Better Wait for Your Death CardOn phones the death screen now waits another half second before taking over, giving a small device more time to finish your death card. And if it is still not ready, the middle is no longer blank -- the card's skull is drawn there with "Loading Death Card . . ." across it.

v00.1991The Speedometer Is a WedgeThe speed gauge no longer wraps around the left joystick. It is now a tall triangle standing on its own in the lower-left corner -- squared off at the top right, angled down the left side -- lined up with the galaxy map above it and the fire button across the screen, and well clear of your steering thumb.

v00.1990Both AI Buttons In One PlaceThe auto-navigation Stay button has crossed the screen. It used to sit alone in the bottom-left corner; it now sits directly beside the AI button in the bottom-right, so both AI controls are within a thumb of each other. It does exactly the same thing -- tap it to hold your ship where it is.

v00.1989The Landscape PLAY Button SparklesThe gold PLAY button on the "turn your phone sideways" screen now carries the same gold twinkle and shine as every other Play button in the game. It was the last one without it, and it is the one every phone player taps to get in.

v00.1988Finding Galaxy, Right AwayThe Play Free Now buttons now read "Finding Galaxy . . ." from the instant the page appears, instead of showing their normal label first and switching over a beat later. They were always meant to -- the message just could not start until the rest of the page had finished loading.

July 30, 2026

v00.1986Bots Stop Clipping the Rock They Just DodgedBots now spot a big obstacle early enough to fly around it rather than swerve at it, give small rocks a proper gap instead of a percentage of not much, and hold their detour until they are actually past the rock. They used to drop the dodge the moment a rock went alongside them, which is exactly when they were closest to it. Far fewer bots clip the thing they were avoiding.

v00.1985Bots Fly Around Domes, Not into ThemBots now measure their detours against the thing that actually stops them: a shield dome is far bigger than the rock underneath it, and a ship with its shield up is wider than one without. They also need more room to leave a dodge than to enter one, so they stop swerving back and forth past the same rock.

v00.1984Bots Stop Crying WolfA bot that finished one job and immediately picked up another was flashing the red cancel X -- announcing it had abandoned an order at the exact moment it took one on. The X now appears only when a bot genuinely drops the order it was carrying out, which is what it always meant.

v00.1983Bots Look Where They Are GoingBots now steer around asteroids while chasing or attacking, instead of falling back to a last-second swerve and clipping rocks on the way in. The wide look-ahead they use everywhere else had never once run in a fight. They also stopped dodging the very base they were sent to attack, so defended bases fall noticeably faster.

v00.1982Enemy Bots Can Crack a Shielded BaseBots besieging a domed base now go for the shield generator first, and hold station outside the bubble until it is down instead of drifting into the dome and getting shoved back out. They used to pop a dome, start on the turret, and watch the dome come straight back up -- in testing a defended base survived four solid minutes and lost nothing. The same base now falls. Once the generator is gone they close in to finish the rest. Undefended bases go down exactly as fast as before.

July 29, 2026

v00.1981Hold to Fire Without Losing Your FingerHolding the fire or mine button on a phone should no longer buzz and drop your touch part-way through. The page was leaving the browser free to treat a long press as its own gesture, so the phone would claim your finger mid-burst. The joystick and the steering circle already blocked that; the weapon buttons now do too. Tap-to-fire is unchanged.

v00.1980Drones Get Their Own Gun SoundYour drones no longer sound exactly like your own ship firing. They now have a short, light pip of their own instead of the pneumatic whoosh your cannon makes, so a swarm working over a target reads as drones rather than as phantom shots from your own guns. Enemy drones use the same sound, and there is a separate on/off switch for it in Settings.

v00.1979The Fire-Mode Slider Slides On PhonesYou can now drag the weapon cadence slider up and down with your finger. On mobile it had been acting like five separate buttons you had to tap one at a time -- the browser was reading a vertical drag as an attempt to scroll the page and quietly stealing the touch halfway through. Tapping a rung still works exactly as before.

v00.1978The Fire-Mode Slider Shows Its TradeThe five rungs on the weapon cadence slider are now bullets instead of plain tick marks. The top rung draws five small shots, then four, three, two, and finally one big one at the bottom -- so you can see the deal at a glance: slide up for a fast stream of light hits, slide down for slow, heavy ones. Same five settings as before, they just tell you what they do now.

v00.1976New Bases Come with a Mining RigClaim a rock and its Command Center now starts stocked with exactly enough materials to build one Mining Rig. Founding a base used to leave you with an empty store and nothing you could build until you parked alongside and drained your hold in -- which was awkward, because the Rig is the very thing that fills the store. Now you can found a base and get it earning straight away.

v00.1975Friendly Rocks Drift On ThroughAny asteroid claimed by your own faction now passes straight through a friendly shield dome, whether that rock has a dome of its own or not. Domes were bouncing allied asteroids apart hard enough to drag neighbouring bases out of Gate range. Enemy and unclaimed rocks still bounce off, a LOCKED asteroid still keeps everyone out, and Gates already worked this way.

v00.1974Sparkles Spill AgainThe gold twinkle on the Play Free Now and Subscribe buttons sparkles on top of the pill and slightly past its edge again, the way it was meant to. It had been clipped flat to the button box to stop one oversized button throwing stars off the side of the screen -- the Subscribe button on the death screen is now a touch narrower instead, so every button gets its sparkle back.

v00.1973Tap a Scene to Enlarge ItThe "Scenes from the Galaxy" pictures on the front page now open full-size when you click or tap one. It opens right on the page rather than sending you off to a bare image, so everything stays exactly where you left it. Arrow keys or the side arrows flick through all ten, and Escape, the X, or a tap outside closes it.

v00.1970Gates Hold Their Pair ApartA Gate now gently pushes its two linked asteroids away from each other whenever they drift closer than half its maximum link distance. Gates already stopped a linked pair flying apart; now they stop the pair collapsing together too, so your shield wall keeps a span you can actually fly through instead of two bases piling into each other. It is a soft nudge that fades to nothing at the halfway mark, not a hard barrier.

v00.1969Your Own Domes Stop ShovingTwo shield domes from the same faction now pass through each other instead of bouncing. They were shoving each other's asteroids apart hard enough to drag neighbouring bases out of range of their own Gate -- so upgrading a shield could quietly break a Gate link you already had. The rocks themselves still bump normally, enemy domes still bounce off each other, and a LOCKED asteroid still keeps everyone out, teammates included.

v00.1966-v00.1967Ask a Bot What It Was ThinkingBots now keep a short diary of every decision they make -- what happened, what they did about it, who or what they did it to, and where. A line reads "Enemy Close by | ENGAGE | Bone Widow | 400, 0". It records the MOMENT a bot changes its mind rather than checking in every couple of seconds, so the split-second swerves and hand-offs show up instead of being missed between glances.

v00.1965Build On Your Base from AnywhereThe Asteroid screen finally lets you do what the last update promised. Open the CLAIMED tab, pick any rock you own, and the build catalog is right there -- no harpoon, no flying back. The screen used to hide it and tell you to go and hook the rock first, which stopped being true when bases started funding their own growth. Claiming a NEW rock still needs the harpoon, and the Command Center tile says so.

v00.1964The Panel Counts the Right StoreThe Asteroid screen now shows you which store each job is paid from, and how full it is. Every build tile says either "Your hold" or "Base tank" with the real number beside it, and if there is not enough it tells you how much more is needed instead of just refusing when you tap. Upgrade steppers do the same. Founding a new base still spends your ship's hold -- everything after that spends the base's own.

v00.1961-v00.1963Your Base Pays for ItselfBases now fund their own growth. Claiming a rock still costs materials from your ship and still needs the harpoon -- but everything you build or upgrade AFTER that comes out of that base's own Command Center store. Which means you no longer have to fly back and re-harpoon a rock you already own just to add a turret. Park beside your Command Center to top its store up, and put a Mining Rig on early -- it fills the store for you.

v00.1960Thumbs Down Means Stop AskingGive a bot a thumbs down and it takes the hint. A bot asking for help hauling used to repeat itself every few seconds no matter how you answered -- the thumbs down drew a nice picture and did absolutely nothing. Now it puts that bot on mute for 30 seconds, so it stops asking AND stops recruiting a crew. It can still flash a green thumbs up to accept an order, and the X still calls a bot off a job entirely.

v00.1959Asteroid Tiers Start at OneAsteroid Tiers now count from 1 instead of 0, so the number on the Asteroid screen finally matches the way tiers are described everywhere else. Nothing about the rocks changed -- the same asteroid you claimed yesterday is the same size today, it just reads one higher. A rock holds one fewer structure than its Tier number: a Tier 6 rock has 5 mount slots.

v00.1955Bases Need Room to GrowThe smallest asteroid you can claim is now the one with THREE mount slots, up from two. A two-slot rock only ever held a Command Center plus one thing, which was never really a base -- now every claim you make has room for a Command Center, a Mining Rig to power it, and something that actually does a job. Smaller rocks are still worth harvesting.

v00.1954Small Rocks Pop In One HitThe smallest asteroids -- the ones you see most often -- now break apart from ANY hit. One shot, one pass of the mining beam, or just flying into one. You get the drop and the experience either way. New pilots no longer have to chip away at a pebble with a starter weapon, and there is a lot less debris cluttering a fight.

v00.1952Bots Keep Hold While DodgingA bot towing an asteroid used to DROP it the moment something got in its way -- then swerve, fly back, re-harpoon the same rock, meet the same obstacle, and drop it again. Forever. Steering around a rock is part of hauling it home, so the rope stays put now. A bot that genuinely panics and flees still lets go.

v00.1950Drones Fire TracersDrone rounds no longer look like your ship's. They are half the size and draw as a thin glowing tracer bolt with a white-hot core, instead of the ion pulse your own guns fire -- so in a messy fight you can tell at a glance which shots are coming from a hangar and which from a pilot. They hit exactly as hard and as accurately as before; only the look changed.

v00.1949Hook a Rock, See the RockHarpooning an asteroid opens the asteroid screen again, straight onto the HOOKED tab, the way harpooning a ship opens the opponent tab. This broke two versions ago when the old weapon button was retired -- the button was quietly the only thing that opened that screen for you. Close it while still hooked and it stays closed.

v00.1948Three Small SharpeningsA few readability fixes: • The Players column on Most Powerful Galaxies now spells itself out -- "on_15 | res_35 | max_50" • Capital City stars on the galaxy map are black instead of gold, so they stop competing with the gold bounty ring • The big-asteroid arrow's white outline is half as thick -- it was heavier than it needed to be

v00.1947The Opponent Tab Stays PutFixed: the OPPONENT tab vanished mid-fight while you were still roped to the ship -- it dropped out the moment an arrest locked on or a hold ran dry, which are exactly the moments you wanted to be looking at it. Both harpoon tabs are now just the harpoon icon instead of a word, so the other tabs get their width back.

v00.1946One Less Button to Wonder AboutThe fourth weapon button -- the one that sat there saying "Need Harpoon" most of the time -- is gone. It was six different controls sharing one word, which is why it could never tell you anything useful. Both of its jobs now live where the information is: • Rope a rock -> the asteroid screen's HOOKED tab, with CLAIM NOW or the reason you cannot • Rope a ship -> the new OPPONENT tab, with EAT, ARREST or LOOT beside their stats

v00.1944-v00.1945Know Who You Have HookedHarpoon an enemy ship and the High Scores screen now opens on a new OPPONENT tab: your faction move (EAT, ARREST or LOOT) as one big button on top, and everything about the ship you are holding underneath it -- health, shield, fuel, engine, cargo, level and score. You have never been able to see any of that before. Now you can tell whether a hold is worth looting BEFORE you spend the rope on it.

v00.1943The Claim Button Speaks UpHarpoon a rock and the asteroid screen's HOOKED tab now opens with one big button at the top. If you can take the rock it reads CLAIM NOW and does it in one tap. If you can't, it tells you exactly why and what to do about it -- "need 40 materials, go mine", or "need more command points, go level up". No more guessing at a grayed-out button.

v00.1942How Busy Is That Galaxy?The Most Powerful Galaxies board now has a Players column, reading something like "o15 | r35 | m50". That is 15 pilots online right now, 35 seats currently spoken for, and 50 seats in the galaxy. Online and held are two different numbers -- a seat stays yours for a while after you sign off, which is why the middle number can be the bigger one.

July 28, 2026

v00.1941See the Emojis FireThe Commands page now shows every emoji command as a looping animation of the real firework -- so you can see what Follow Me or the red Alert actually looks like when it goes off, instead of just reading the name. Four pages that had no picture at all now do: Commands, Ai Bots, High Scores and the base panel on Building. And the death card finally appears on the Combat page.

v00.1936-v00.1939Every Picture, RedrawnThe whole site's artwork has been redrawn from the game's own rendering code -- the landing gallery, every page header, and eighteen new pictures besides. The old set had ships and asteroids drawn about two and a half times too large while turrets and command centers stayed their real size, so bases looked far punier than they are. Everything is now at true scale against each other. There are pictures of things that have never had one: the shield dome, the gate wall, a hangar launching drones, a haul crew towing a rock. And the controls page has a proper annotated keyboard diagram at last.

v00.1921-v00.1925Odds and EndsThree small ones from the same pass: • The asteroid screen's "Base Tanks" is now "Stored Resources" -- the card lists materials as well as fuel • The Sign in with Google button on the landing page no longer pulses (every PLAY FREE NOW button still does) • "your progress never resets" now sits on its own line, in the same cyan as "free" and "24/7"

v00.1933Commanders Will Pay for ItA Commander with no command points left to rebuild a lost Command Center now undoes its own most recent purchase to fund one -- scrapping the last structure it built, or selling back the last level it bought. It will not tear down another base's only Command Center to do it, and it only ever undoes one thing at a time.

v00.1931Bots Fly Around Rocks ProperlyBots no longer bounce off the asteroids they were trying to avoid. Instead of a fixed swerve held for a fixed time, a bot now picks the cheaper side of the rock, aims for a point clearing it by its own radius plus a margin, and cuts the detour the moment the way is clear. Big rocks get a wide berth, small ones barely slow it down, and it spots one blocking its path from twice as far out.

v00.1930Commanders Rebuild FirstSnipe the Command Center off a bot's base and its Commander now drops everything to put one back -- ahead of its Capital City, ahead of any other build, and before towing the rock home. A base without a Command Center has no fuel or materials tank, so its turrets and dome are dead weight until it has one. And if the Commander is out of materials, it goes mining first.

v00.1929Fleeing Means Letting GoA bot that breaks off to evade or flee now cuts the harpoon holding a SHIP, not just the rock it was towing. It used to run while still tethered to the enemy it was running from. Bone Collectors are the exception: they keep the rope, because they are still eating you -- but they do drop their asteroid.

v00.1928-v00.1932Bone Collectors Bite HarderA Bone Collector now EATS for 5% of its OWN max health every second, so the tougher one hunting you is also the faster one chewing through you. Get roped by three at once and all three stack. The bite also out-paces your health regeneration by exactly that much, whatever you have spent on it -- so regen no longer changes how long you last in the jaws.

v00.1927New Faction, New NameSwitch factions on respawn and your ship is renamed to fit. Every faction has its own pool of names, so carrying a Concordium name into the Unbound never sat right -- and it kept that name locked away from your old faction. Now you get a fresh one on the way in, and the old one goes back on the shelf.

v00.1926-v00.1935Follow the Big RockThe black-and-white arrow that points at the largest unclaimed asteroid is actually visible now -- a heavier white edge and a glow, like the faction arrows have -- and it sits at the same distance from the center as the red, yellow and blue arrows do.

v00.1923Upgrades Take TimeLevelling a structure now takes 10 seconds, and the structure is OFFLINE for them -- same countdown a new build shows. A turret being upgraded is not firing, a dome being upgraded is not up, and a Command Center being upgraded is not holding its rock against the currents. Upgrade between fights, not during one.

v00.1922Building Costs MaterialsMaterials are now a real currency. Every structure costs 100 materials to build, and every stat level and anti-gravity level costs 100 too -- on top of the Command Point. It comes out of your SHIP'S hold, not the base tank, so mining is what funds building now. Bots pay the same price, so a Commander has to go mine before it can fortress.

v00.1920Capitals Stand OutCapital Cities are much easier to spot on the galaxy search map. A capital now draws as a big faction-colored disc -- sized off the largest rock on the map -- with a solid gold star sitting inside it. Your own claims keep their star, so at a glance: gold star means capital, plain star means yours.

v00.1919Distant Drones Go QuietCombat you cannot see no longer makes noise in your cockpit. Your drones defending a base on the far side of the map used to fire and land hits directly in your ear, because their shots are credited to you. Now every shot and every hit -- yours included -- is only audible if it happens inside your view.

v00.1918The Gate Wall AppearsThe shield wall spanning a live gate link is now drawn in the world -- the same hex tiling, faction rim and drain-to-red the shield dome uses, stretched into a capsule between the two linked rocks. It absorbs, flares and reboots on screen exactly as it always has under the hood.

v00.1917Drones On ScreenDrones launched from a Space Hangar are now drawn in the world -- the Guardian hull, armor ring, wings and engine trail, in the owner's faction color. Watch for the sensor eye pulsing as one lines up its next pass.

v00.1907-v00.1915Your Base, RebuiltThe Asteroids screen is a proper base console now. • A new HOOKED tab appears the moment your harpoon bites, showing that rock in full -- size, mass, drift, owner, every structure on it -- whether it is free, yours, or somebody else's • CLAIMED and TEAM read like your ship's stat screen: one card per structure, every stat and its level • The tabs stay put instead of sliding around when you grab or release a rock

v00.1907-v00.1912Pick Your SpotEvery asteroid has a fixed ring of mounting slots -- as many as its size -- and now you can SEE them and CHOOSE. Tap a slot on the rock diagram and your next structure goes exactly there. Empty slots are listed and numbered, so "is there room?" is something you look at, not something you count.

v00.1913Level Up Your BuildingsStructures you own can now be levelled up and back down, right on the asteroid screen. • Every stat shows its level, its value, and what the NEXT level buys before you spend • One command point per level, and the cost sits under every card • Turret damage, dome power and radius, rig output, hangar drones, gate reach -- all of it • Sell a level back any time and the point returns

July 27, 2026

v00.1902Domes Power UpYour shield dome now charges up instead of snapping on. Build a Shield Generator and the bubble rises over a few seconds as your base feeds it power -- and after a server update, every dome charges back the same way. A dome still filling can be pushed through, so give it a moment.

v00.1895-v00.1899Gates Connect, Bots Get TougherFixes and polish from live play: • Gates now link rocks that sit CLOSE together -- the shield fits the gap instead of refusing to appear • A glowing line shows a live gate link, amber while the wall is still powering up • Claimed asteroids are FACTION-COLORED on the search map again, not all blue • Bots now train all the way to level 15 • No more drilling racket when your mining beam drifts across a teammate

v00.1885-v00.1894The Hangar Fights BackYour SPACE HANGAR now builds DRONES and throws them at anyone who comes near. • 3 per hangar, one more for every level • 50 materials + 35 fuel each -- your first real reason to mine materials • They launch when an enemy closes in, or when a friendly calls one out • Always under thrust and unable to brake, so they fight in sweeping arcs • 30 seconds of fuel, then home to refuel and go again • Two shots kill one -- so shoot them, and watch the hangar build more

v00.1875-v00.1884Build a GateA new structure: the GATE. Twin pylons that hunt for a friendly Command Center on another asteroid in range and lock on. The two rocks then hold station together, and a shield wall snaps across the gap -- enemy fire dies on it, enemy ships and loose rocks bounce off it, your own faction flies straight through. • One link per gate, one per Command Center • Level it up to reach further • Lock your rock and only you can gate to it • Run out of fuel and the wall drops -- but the link holds

v00.1878Say Hello to the Space HangarThe Factory is now the Space Hangar -- same structure, same rim-mounted bay, a name that actually says what it is. You will see it on the build screen, in the guides, and anywhere the game names your buildings. Nothing you have already built changes.

v00.1874Lock It or Lose ItYour faction's bots now recover ANY unlocked claim that has drifted out of the domain -- yours included. Want a forward base to stay exactly where you parked it? Lock it. An unlocked base is fair game for the tow crew; a locked one gets left alone.

v00.1872-v00.1873Capitals Come FirstThe Capital City is now the fleet's first job. If it drifts out of your domain, bots haul it home ahead of any other rock -- size no longer decides which gets fetched first. And a Commander builds out its own capital before any of its other bases.

v00.1868-v00.1870Capital CitiesEvery faction now has a Capital City -- whichever of its claimed asteroids holds the most command points. Find them on the galaxy search map: a star ringed in gold, for all four factions, so you can see exactly where each side's stronghold sits. Wounded bots now run for their capital when they flee. Outlaws get a capital too, and since only the strongest Outlaw base claims it, it is a title worth taking.

v00.1864-v00.1867Sound the AlarmA new red alert emoji joins your comms wheel. Fire it and every friendly bot nearby sharpens up -- their enemy-spotting range jumps 50% for a moment, so they find threats they would have flown straight past. Bots use it too: when one spots an enemy it now shouts the alert instead of the old red X, so a burst of them across your screen means contact.

v00.1863A Wider Galaxy ViewThe galaxy search map now opens one notch further out than before, so you see more of the map the moment you pull it up. Drag the zoom slider wherever you like -- it just starts wider.

v00.1861Bases Keep Their FuelA Command Center with a Mining Rig was quietly donating its entire income to any docked ship forever -- it hit the 50%% floor and just pumped out whatever the rig banked, so the fuel line never switched off and the base never built a reserve. It now stops at 50%% for real and saves up to 65%% before the next hand-out.

v00.1857Turrets Hit Domes TooAnti-Air beams now stop at an enemy shield dome and burn it, instead of shooting straight through into whatever was hiding inside. Park behind a live dome and it will actually shield you. Your own domes still let your turrets fire out freely.

v00.1856Domes Stop Mining BeamsA shield dome used to ignore mining beams completely -- raiders just drilled the rock straight through the bubble. No more. An enemy beam now stops AT the dome and burns it, and the rock behind stays untouched until the shield is down. Shoot the dome out first, then mine.

v00.1855Quiet On Your Own RocksPoint your mining beam at a rock you or your faction already own and the drill goes quiet. It never actually mined a friendly claim -- the noise was the only thing suggesting otherwise. The beam still connects and sparks; it just stops pretending to work.

v00.1854Bigger Emoji BurstsEvery emoji you fire now paints a picture 30% bigger before it blows apart. Thumbs up, skull, shield burst, haul, the lot -- the shape holds larger and reads clean from further across the map. The explosion itself is unchanged, so it still scatters exactly how you know it.

v00.1853Every Update Patches You UpA new version now starts you clean. The moment a fresh build goes live, every ship still in the galaxy -- yours and every bot -- comes back with full health, shields, fuel and engine power. Your survival score carries straight through: an update is not a death, so your run keeps going.

v00.1851The Arrow Tells the TruthThe white arrow on your cockpit ring only points at asteroids nobody owns now. It had been treating Outlaw-held rocks as free and sending you off to somebody else's base -- it now skips every claimed asteroid, all four factions included, and still picks the largest one going.

v00.1850The Blast Cuts the LineShield Burst now snaps every harpoon line the shockwave touches -- yours, theirs, anyone's -- even a rope strung clean across the blast with both ships outside it. Any harpoon still in flight when the wave hits it misses and reels straight back. Tow crews beware.

v00.1847-v00.1848Nothing Gets Left BehindA base that drifts out of your faction's domain is now spotted from clear across the map, and bringing it home outranks claiming a new rock. Crews also tow bases deeper in before letting go, so a parked base drifts far longer before anyone has to fetch it again.

v00.1843-v00.1845Commanders Get to WorkYour Commanders got their act together. They no longer call the fleet to escort them toward a rock they never found, they tow their own drifting bases home and finish them, and a Commander that is out of command points gathers rocks instead of hovering in place.

July 26, 2026

v00.1842Bases Hold a ReserveYour Command Center now keeps something in the tank. It only starts topping off docked ships once its own fuel reaches 65%, and stops handing out at 50% -- so a base builds a real reserve between fill-ups instead of pumping away every drop the moment it lands.

v00.1841Your Claims Stand OutThe galaxy search map saves the star for you. Only the asteroids YOU claimed draw as a bright star in your team's color. Everyone else's claims are steady blue circles, a size up from a free rock -- so one glance tells you what is yours, what is taken, and what is still free.

July 25, 2026

v00.1827-v00.1839Share the LoadYour fleet looks out for each other now. When a bot runs low on fuel -- or on the materials it needs to keep its engine strong -- it calls out with an emoji, and a nearby ally answers: another bot flies over to share, or you give a thumbs-up to top it off from your own reserves. A new Materials emoji marks the cargo calls, and colored lines trace every hand-off -- fuel-blue and materials-mint. Park by a friendly Command Center, too, and your mined materials pour straight into the base.

v00.1817-v00.1826Spot Your ClaimsTelling your rocks apart just got easier. The asteroids you've claimed now wear the same dotted white ring that blinks around your own ship -- a glance says it is yours. And on the galaxy search map, claimed asteroids stand out from the free ones, so your whole empire reads at a glance.

v00.1824-v00.1825Bots Lend a HandGrab a rock with your harpoon and fire the Haul emoji: nearby friendly bots now latch onto the SAME rock and help drag it wherever your nose points, then fall in behind you the moment you let go. And they have picked up some manners -- a bot will never chew up an asteroid a friendly is already towing home.

v00.1812-v00.1814Bots Storm the BaseWhen your bots go after an enemy base, they lay siege to it. They hold back at range and pop the shield dome first -- nothing inside can be touched while it holds -- then work through the defenses in order: anti-air turrets, the shield generator, then the rest, and the rock itself last. Enemies sheltering inside a live dome are left be until the bubble drops. Bring a bigger fleet.

v00.1805-v00.1806Structures Take Time to BuildEvery structure now takes ten seconds to build. While it goes up it flashes with a countdown ticking down to zero -- and it does nothing until it is finished: turrets hold their fire, shield domes stay down, mining rigs and Command Centers sit idle. Your claim on the rock is instant, but the base itself needs a moment to come online. Plan your builds before the shooting starts.

v00.1787-v00.1792Detonate Your ShieldA new emoji joins the comms wheel: Shield Burst. Slam it and your ship's shield explodes outward. • A shockwave flings every ship and rock near you away for over a second • It blasts nearby enemies, unclaimed rocks, and enemy structures • The cost is everything: your shield drops to zero, three quarters of your max fuel burns off, and any harpoon line snaps • An enemy shield dome soaks the hit first -- pop the dome before the blast can reach what is inside A bigger shield makes a bigger bang, so a maxed-out shield goes off like a weapon. Use it wisely.

v00.1794Bots Give You RoomYour faction's bots stopped crowding you. When a lower-ranked bot ends up overlapping you -- or a higher-level teammate -- it now peels away to give space. Same-level and higher bots hold their ground, and you can all still fly through each other; the little ones just have the manners to move aside.

v00.1782-v00.1783Bots Know Their HomeTwo fixes for where the fleet lives. The ten named Bone Collectors respawn reliably again after every death -- only the extra Bonefall swarm waits for the red moon. And every faction now spawns tight inside its own home domain instead of drifting toward the galaxy core, so you will find each faction right where it belongs.

v00.1781A Little SparkleThe Play Free Now and Subscribe buttons catch the light now -- a scatter of gold twinkles and a gleam that sweeps across every few seconds. Small touch, warmer welcome.

v00.1777-v00.1778Engines Mend ThemselvesYour engine power now recovers on its own. While you have fuel it climbs back a point every second, and materials you collect patch it faster still -- ten materials per point of engine. Run the tank dry and it fades as before, so keep fuel aboard and your engine heals itself.

v00.1776No More Frozen ShipsFixed a bad one: a ship left offline for a long stretch could come back frozen -- stuck at full health, going nowhere. Now your ship keeps running the whole time you are away and drains to a clean end, so you always return to a fresh spawn instead of a locked-up wreck.

July 24, 2026

v00.1718-v00.1741The Bots Grew UpThe biggest bot overhaul yet -- the whole fleet got smarter. • They take real orders: DEFEND a spot, PATROL an area, HAUL a rock, bring FUEL -- and answer with an emoji • They obey a chain of command -- a player outranks a bot, a commander overrides a squadmate • Left alone, a bot picks its own job and flashes a ? while it decides • They flee to cover when hurt, dodge when their shields drop, and break off to refuel before they run dry Watch a squad long enough and it reads like a crew, not a swarm.

v00.1735-v00.1740The Hunt Gets PersonalThe galaxy bounty plays favorites now. It hunts the pilots who have lasted the longest, not a random name -- outlast the room and you paint a target on your own back. And the bounty can be an enemy BASE, not just a ship: when it is, your map lights it with a ring and an arrow, and it is named for its owner -- "New Target: Zeke's Command Center." Go take it.

v00.1738The Bonefall Finds a RhythmThe Bone Collector swarm follows a real lifecycle now. When the red moon rises, the extra hunters boil up from inside Bone Collector space, keep coming only while it lasts, then scatter for cover in its final seconds before fading back into the dark. The ten regulars ride out every one.

v00.1772Commanders Build EmpiresFaction commanders no longer sit idle with command points to spare. A commander goes and claims a fresh asteroid -- rallying escorts to help harpoon and tow it home -- then fortifies its bases into strongholds, stacking a Mining Rig, then a Shield Generator, then Anti-Air. Give one time and a claim becomes a fortress.

v00.1768Orders ExpireCommands to the bots now run out on their own. A player's order lasts four minutes, a bot-to-bot order two, and any order ends the instant the commander who gave it dies. Give a fresh order and the clock resets -- no more escorts still loyal to a pilot who is long gone.

v00.1766Taunts In Your VoiceHit self-destruct and the farewell is now spoken in your own faction's voice, not always the same one. Concordium, Unbound, Outlaws and Bone Collectors each sign off their own way.

v00.1770Cleaner Death CardsYour death screenshot is tidier now. The floating player names are hidden the instant the shot is taken, so nothing blocks the action in your shareable death card. Go out in style -- and tell your friends!

v00.1760Reliability PassA behind-the-scenes reliability pass -- combat, deaths, and stat recovery all run tighter and more dependably now. Nothing to do on your end; just a smoother, steadier ride.

v00.1759New: AI Bots GuideA new AI Bots page joined the top menu, between Highscores and Release Notes. It is the full player guide to commanding the fleet -- which emojis order the bots around, what each order makes them do, and how the chain of command works. Go rally a squad and try it.

v00.1758Spot Your Own RocksYour claimed asteroids now wear your mark. On the playfield, an asteroid YOU claimed gets a bright white ring inside its outline; on the galaxy search map, a white star. Teammates' claims still show the faction color -- now you can tell at a glance which bases are yours.

v00.1757Bots Steer Around LocksBots now give locked bases a wide berth. Since a locked shield turns friendly ships away, bots swerve around a locked asteroid well before they reach its dome instead of bouncing off it -- so your locked base no longer collects a traffic jam of your own fleet.

v00.1756Lock Out Your ShieldLocking a claimed asteroid now seals its shield too. While a rock is LOCKED, friendly ships bounce off its dome just like enemies -- only you, the owner, can fly inside. Locked rocks already turned away friendly harpoons; now the whole base is yours alone until you unlock it.

v00.1755Your Claims Are YoursClaimed asteroids are now owner-only. You can build, upgrade, and tear down structures on the asteroids YOU claimed -- but not on a teammate's claim, and they can no longer touch yours. You still see each other's bases; you each just manage your own.

v00.1754See the Fuel FlowFuel transfers now show a line. When a base or a friendly ship is topping off your tank, a glowing blue dotted line runs between you with a lightning bolt pulsing in the middle -- so you can see the refuel happening at a glance. It vanishes the moment the transfer stops.

v00.1752-v00.1753Ask a Bot for FuelRunning low? There is a new fuel-bolt emoji. Fire it near a friendly bot: if it has fuel to spare it gives a thumbs up, flies over, and tops off your tank; if it is low it waves you off with a thumbs down. It stops once you hit 95% (or it drops to half), then gets back to whatever it was doing.

v00.1751Refuel at Your BasePark a friendly ship right next to your Command Center and it tops off the tank. As long as the base has fuel to spare (above half full) and you are within docking range, it pumps fuel into any friendly ship running low -- yours or a teammate's. Keep a Mining Rig running and your base doubles as a fuel station.

v00.1750The Big Red ButtonA new button sits at the very bottom of your Ship Stats screen: Self Destruct Ship. Press it (we dare you), confirm you are sure, and your ship goes up in a spectacular blast -- straight to the death screen. Something may be waiting there to say I told you so. You were warned about the big red button.

July 23, 2026

v00.1715Hunters Lay SiegeBounty hunters have a new target: your base. The galaxy's HUNTER ships now roam the map to seek out and lay siege to enemy structures -- even one whose owner logged off an hour ago. An established base draws them from anywhere, so keep those defenses fueled and your turrets manned.

v00.1714Bots Attack Your BaseBots have their eye on your base now. When there is no enemy ship to chase, a bot opens fire on the nearest enemy structure it runs into -- turrets, mining rigs, command centers, all of it. Keep your defenses fueled and your shields up, because your base is a target even when you are not around.

v00.1713Bots Dodge AsteroidsBots got sharper reflexes. When one is barreling toward a big asteroid it now banks left or right to swerve around it, instead of plowing straight in. Watch them weave through the field like they mean it -- and if they still clip a rock, their shields kick in and they juke clear.

v00.1710-v00.1712The Hunt Closes InBots hunt harder. They'll chase the bounty from anywhere on the map, and pounce on any ship that runs out of fuel -- stranded is easy prey, so keep your tank full. Each faction grabs before it guns, too: Concordium arrests, Unbound and Outlaws loot your cargo, Bone Collectors eat you alive.

v00.1707-v00.1709Smarter Bot MiningBots stopped loitering at asteroids. They mine only when they need fuel, and if you attack one at its mining rock it defends the spot -- but it will not chase you if you run. They always dodge when their shields are down, they hunt the nearest threat before chasing a bounty, and they stop hanging around your claimed bases.

v00.1706Out of Fuel WarningWhen a base runs dry, its powered-down shields and turrets now flash white and red with a red fuel bolt, so you can spot at a glance which structures need fuel. Build more Mining Rigs or let the tank refill to bring them back online.

v00.1705Turrets Hit Harder, Burn FuelAnti-Air turrets now hit for 50 (up from 30) and run on fuel like your shields. Each turret draws from your Command Center every second, so keep a Mining Rig running -- if the base runs dry, its turrets power down and stop firing until the fuel returns.

v00.1704Shields Run On FuelShield domes now run on fuel. A Mining Rig feeds fuel into your Command Center, and your Shield Generator burns it to recharge after taking hits. Under heavy fire your base can run dry -- the dome powers down until the fuel returns. Watch your base Fuel on the asteroid screen.

v00.1701Rebuild Your Command CenterLost your Command Center to an attack but still hold the asteroid? You can rebuild it now -- harpoon your claimed rock, open the build menu, and the Command Center is back on offer. One per asteroid, and only the owning faction can place it.

v00.1700Bases Got TougherEvery structure is far tougher. Command Centers, turrets, mining rigs and shield generators all jumped from 100 to 250 health, so your base stands up to a real siege. Fresh builds spawn at full strength. The first of several base upgrades rolling out now.

July 22, 2026

v00.1689Thirty Real TipsThe death-screen tips panel doubled from 15 to 30, and every one now matches the live game. Drifted advice is fixed -- gravity storms pull 1.5x on a nine-minute cycle, the bounty target is a huge payout, and the whole cockpit reddens when you are in danger. Fifteen new tips cover faction harpoons, claiming rocks, shield domes, wormhole slingshots and more. Die a few times and read them all.

v00.1688Everyone Has a JobThe named pilots now play their roles. Some haul asteroids home to claim them, some guard their faction base and never stray far, and some hunt the hit-list bounty across the entire map. They all still fight, flee and grab loot the same -- but watch them long enough and you will learn who does what.

v00.1687Rivals Worth BeatingThe named pilots level up as they fight -- up to level 10 on their own. Push your own level higher and they rise to match you, so the galaxy scales to the best player in it. They never out-level the room, and they never reset back down.

v00.1685The Swarm ReturnsThe Bonefall is back to full strength. When the red moon rises, fifteen extra Bone Collectors boil out of the dark to hunt alongside the ten regulars -- twenty-five in all -- then fall back when it passes. The named cast always survives to the next one.

v00.1684Meet the RegularsThe anonymous bots are gone. Every faction now flies a fixed cast of named pilots who come back after every death, keep the levels they earn, and are still there tomorrow. • Concordium sends Arbiter Prime, Apex Consulate, Empyrean Marshal and four more • The Outlaws field just three: Contraband Queen, Blackhold Jack, The Debt Collector • Unbound run five, Bone Collectors ten • They keep their names and their progress for as long as the galaxy lives Learn who hits hardest. They are going to learn you.

v00.1682Forty New Ship NamesForty new ship names join the pools, ten per faction, and every one is pickable right now from Change Ship Name on the Player Stats screen. • Concordium gains hard-edged titles of office • Unbound gains drifters and dead-eyes • Outlaws gain names that sound like a debt coming due • Bone Collectors gain things you would rather not meet Names stay unique inside a galaxy, so if you are flying one, you are the only one.

v00.1680-v00.1681Weapons Hit HarderWeapon Damage got a rebalance. Base damage is up, and every point you put into Weapon Damage is now worth three times what it was. • Base damage 25 -> 30 • Each upgrade point +5 -> +15 • A heavily upgraded weapon hits about two and a half times harder than before Mining tracks your weapon damage too, so a strong gun now chews through rock faster and drops more.

v00.1676-v00.1678Building Speed Gets a ButtonBuilding Speed was a real upgrade with no way to spend or refund it by hand -- only AUTO UPGRADE could put points there, and nothing could take them back. Those points were stuck, and your ability point total read low because of it. • Building Speed now has its own card at the bottom of Player Stats, with + and - like every other stat • Reset all upgrades gives those points back at last • AUTO UPGRADE can now move points off Building Speed, not just onto it If your point total ever looked short, hit Reset all upgrades once to get them back.

v00.1671-v00.1675Call for a HaulA new HAUL emoji joins the comms wheel -- two ships towing an asteroid home. Fire it and nearby allies drop what they are doing and come help you tow. • Bots shout it at each other too, so you can see a crew forming • A bot that accepts answers with a green thumbs up • The X emoji still calls everyone off • The trade emoji is now just a signal -- haul took over the job

v00.1670Finding GalaxyThe landing page used to hide the PLAY buttons entirely while it connected to a galaxy. Now they are there the moment the page loads, glowing, and they tell you what is happening -- "Finding Galaxy . . ." -- then switch to their real labels the instant the galaxy is ready.

v00.1668Command Points Stay HonestSelling Command Points back could push your Max below the points your structures were already using -- leaving Max 1, Used 6 and Free at MINUS 5. The minus button now stops at the capacity you are actually using. • Sell back down to Max = Used, and no further • Remove a structure to free the point, then sell it back • Enforced on the server, so it holds however you get there

v00.1666-v00.1667Auto Upgrade PresetsThree AUTO UPGRADE buttons on Player Stats. One tap re-spends every ability point you have. • TANK -- hull, shields, staying power • SPEEDSTER -- thrust, handling, fire rate • COMMANDER -- command points, cargo, building Command capacity your structures already use is safe.

July 21, 2026

v00.1663Arrows Point at Real RocksThe big white asteroid arrow could point at a giant rock so far outside the charted world it never showed on your galaxy map -- and your bots chased it too. Fresh rocks drift in from past the map edge and nothing filtered them out. Now if the arrow points at it, you can find it.

v00.1661Your Death Marker StaysOn the death screen, the skull marking where YOU died now stays on the galaxy search map until you respawn -- it no longer fades after a few seconds while you are still looking at it. Every other pilot's death skull is unchanged.

v00.1658-v00.1660Lock Your AsteroidYou can now LOCK a claimed asteroid so only YOU can harpoon it. Open the Asteroids screen, find your rock, and hit LOCK on the ACCESS row. • Unlocked (the default) -- your whole faction can harpoon and tow it • Locked -- owner only, and any teammate rope already on it snaps • A locked rock is outlined with a DASHED line so everyone can see it • Only the owner can flip it, and it unlocks just as easily Stop your own team dragging your base across the map.

v00.1657Wider Death ShotThe screenshot baked into your death card now pulls back 15% further, so more of the fight around your ship makes it onto the card. More wreckage, more context, better screenshots.

v00.1655Anti-Gravity RebalancedCommand Center anti-gravity got a big rework. Just having a Command Center on your claimed asteroid now resists 50% of the galaxy's currents -- up from 10%, for free. • Base resistance 10% -> 50% • Each upgrade level +2.5% (was +5%) • 19 levels, topping out at 97.5% Your base holds its ground far better out of the box, and the upgrade path is a long tail on top of that.

v00.1654Claimed and Team TabsThe Asteroids screen now splits your holdings into two tabs, each with a live count. • CLAIMED -- the asteroids you personally claimed • TEAM -- the ones your faction claimed Page through each tab separately, so a long list of your own rocks no longer buries your team's.

v00.1652Hands Off My RockClaimed asteroids can no longer be harpooned by enemies at all. Nobody outside your faction can hook your base, tow it, reposition it or walk it across the map -- and if a rock gets claimed while an enemy rope is already on it, that rope snaps. • Your own faction can still harpoon and move your claims • Unclaimed asteroids are unchanged -- anyone can hook those • Outlaws stay solo: another Outlaw cannot touch your claim • Ships can still be harpooned as always

v00.1651Escorts Actually PullYour escort crew was holding the rope but not pulling. A bot that hooked your asteroid went straight back to flying formation behind you, so its tow line hung slack and added no force at all. Attached escorts now pull along your heading the moment the rope lands -- a rallied crew moves a big rock noticeably faster.

v00.1650Let Go of the RockFixed a nasty one: a bot that switched jobs kept its harpoon attached and dragged the asteroid along behind it. Worst case, a low-fuel bot went looking for fuel while towing a mountain, crawled the whole way, and starved. Bots now reel the harpoon in whenever they change task.

v00.1649Defend Your Own TurfBots will finally fight at their own faction home. Three of the four home sectors sat inside the deep-space boundary zone, so a bot standing on its own doorstep kept turning for the galaxy center instead of shooting back. The boundary now sits well outside every domain.

v00.1648Hooked On SightBone Collectors now come at you with the harpoon already loaded instead of drawing it once they are on top of you -- and they stop wasting hooks on prey they have dragged home. Two ropes on a target is still the limit.

v00.1647Bone Collectors RefuelBone Collectors now know when to stop. Their order of business is fixed: a Bonefall first, then whoever is marked on the hit list, then fuel -- and only then everything else. A starving Bone Collector will finally break off to feed its tanks instead of flying on fumes.

v00.1646Half Fight, Half HaulJump a hauling crew and they no longer all drop the rock -- or all ignore you. Half of them (rounded up) cut the rope and come for you while the rest keep towing. Kill them or leave, and the fighters go straight back to the job.

v00.1645Parked Means ParkedBots now tow a strayed faction asteroid right into the heart of the domain before letting go, and they will not go back for it unless it drifts a long way out again. No more shuffling the same rock back and forth.

v00.1644Put It Down and Walk AwayFixed: friendly bots could get stuck in a loop on one asteroid -- harpoon it, haul it, drop it, grab it again, forever. They were checking whether THEY had got home instead of whether the ROCK had. Now they tow until the asteroid is actually inside the domain, then let go for good.

v00.1643Grab That Rock with MeYour escort crew now works the harpoon with you. Rally friendly bots with FOLLOW ME, harpoon an asteroid, and they will rope the same rock and pull alongside you -- then let go the moment you do. • Every extra harpoon adds real towing force, so a crew moves a rock fast • They keep escorting you the whole time • Trouble nearby? They drop the rope and defend you first

v00.1642Your Forward Base Stays PutBuild a base out past your faction's territory on purpose? It stays where you put it. Friendly bots now only recover rocks claimed by OTHER BOTS, so they will never haul your forward outpost back home behind your back.

v00.1631-v00.1638Anchor Your AsteroidYour Command Center can now generate an ANTI-GRAVITY field, upgraded from the Asteroid screen. Level it up and your rock stops drifting on the currents, so a base you place stays where you put it. • Each level costs a Command Point, up to 95% at level 17 • Wormhole pull, the deep-space push and the boundary drag all fade as you upgrade • Your own faction can always move your rock; collisions still land as normal • Bots now bring strayed faction rocks home before claiming new ones

v00.1628-v00.1630A Real Place In LineThe waiting line now gives you a true position number — when it says you are 5th, you are 5th, and nobody jumps ahead of you. • If the line itself is full you get a HOLD TIGHT screen that keeps checking for you • Waiting costs you nothing and slows nobody else down • Subscribers still skip the line entirely

v00.1618-v00.1622Crews Call for BackupHaul crews got a lot smarter. A bot only starts a haul if it can actually claim the rock -- then it CALLS for help, and allies who hear it pile on to tow, whether or not they can claim anything themselves. Pass a crew mid-tow and they will wave you in. • Crews are no longer capped at three -- more hands, faster haul • Your orders always win: tell a bot to follow you and it drops the rock and comes • Bots now wait between shouts, just like you do

July 20, 2026

v00.1612-v00.1616Crews Haul AsteroidsFaction crews have gone to work! Bots now fly to the biggest unclaimed asteroid, harpoon it together, plant a Command Center to claim it, and haul the whole rock home to their domain. • Bots no longer mine claimed asteroids -- your base is safe from them • Fire the HAUL emoji to order nearby allies to come help haul

July 19, 2026

v00.1576-v00.1578Dome FixesThree fixes to the new shield domes. The bubble no longer lingers on screen for a moment after it collapses -- when you see a dome, it is really there and really stopping shots. A dome that drains mid-fight stops swallowing rounds the instant it fails, so your follow-up shots get through. And an asteroid battered small against a dome now properly loses a structure it can no longer carry. Trust what you see!

v00.1570Domes Fail with StyleA dome that runs out of strength no longer just blinks out -- it flashes and CAVES IN, a shock ring racing inward as the bubble fails. Five seconds later it comes back with a ring sweeping outward as the generator brings it online. Now you can see a base lose its shield from across the sector!

v00.1569Domes Deflect AsteroidsDrifting asteroids now bounce off your shield dome instead of grinding into your base. The whole rock and everything built on it shrug off the impact as one piece -- only the shield pays, and the asteroid takes the beating it would have taken hitting bare rock. A shielded claim finally rides out the traffic!

v00.1568Domes Turn Ships AwayEnemy ships can no longer fly into your shield dome -- they BOUNCE off the edge of the bubble. The ram hurts them and drains the dome, exactly like slamming into the rock itself, so a shielded base is now genuinely hard to get close to. Your own faction still flies straight in. Knock down the dome first if you want aboard!

v00.1567The Shield Dome Is RealYour Shield Generator's dome now actually SHIELDS. Enemy fire is swallowed at the edge of the bubble -- your rock and everything built on it take nothing while it holds. Friendly shots fly straight through, both ways, so your own turrets keep firing out. Drain the dome and it collapses for 5 seconds, then reboots and slowly recharges. Watch it thin and glow red as it takes a beating!

v00.1564-v00.1566Turrets Are TargetsYou can now break enemy structures directly! Fire hitting a turret (or a fast asteroid slamming one) damages it -- and it FLASHES red as your shots land, just like your own ship does. Enough damage destroys it; take out the last structure and the rock un-claims. Snipe the guns, let the rocks do it, or grind the rock the old way!

v00.1562-v00.1563Fire-Mode Tune-UpThe fire-mode slider now fires more deliberately at every setting -- heaviest (bottom) about one shot a second, fastest (top) a handful per, with the same damage and fuel per shot. And rival AI ships now use the balanced middle setting too. Pick your cadence, make each round count!

July 16, 2026

v00.1560-v00.1561Fire-Mode SliderA new slider next to your Projectile button trades power for speed. Slide UP to spray faster but weaker shots (great for chasing jukers); slide DOWN for slow, heavy, fuel-efficient rounds. Five settings, and it starts balanced in the middle. Find your fight!

v00.1559Fire the Harpoon InstantlyThe harpoon now launches the moment you trigger it, even right after firing your gun. It used to share a cooldown with your projectiles, so a quick shot could leave the harpoon stalled for a few seconds. Hook and haul with no delay!

July 15, 2026

v00.1557-v00.1558Stand DownFire the X emoji near friendly AI ships you've given orders (Follow Me or a colored arrow) to cancel those orders -- they flash a thumbs-up and return to their normal routine. Only cancels YOUR orders, and only on nearby ships.

v00.1556Pit StopAI ships you've given orders (Follow Me or a colored arrow) now flash a red X and peel off to refuel when they run low -- then return to the job you gave them. No more wingmen coasting dead in the water.

v00.1555Send In the FleetFire a colored arrow near friendly AI ships (Concordium/Unbound) and they charge to that color's sector -- blue=Concordium, yellow=Unbound, red=Bone Collectors, white=Outlaws -- fighting through enemies on the way, and they ack with the matching arrow. Command your squadron!

v00.1554Kid-ProofingRight-clicking during play no longer pops up the browser menu -- a common way for younger pilots to accidentally close the game mid-flight. Right-click still works normally on the website pages.

v00.1553Pop SmokeFire the Smoke emoji while an enemy AI has you locked in a dogfight and it keeps blasting the spot you WERE for over a second -- buying you a window to slip away before it re-acquires you. Pop smoke and vanish!

v00.1552Rally Your EscortFire the Follow Me emoji near friendly AI ships of your own faction (Concordium or Unbound) and any within range flash a green thumbs-up and escort you -- fighting off enemies that get close and sticking with you until you fall or they do. Call in your wingmen!

v00.1551The Hunt Is OnWhen a new Hit List bounty is called, AI hunters now flash a faction-colored Arrow the instant they lock on -- blue for Concordium, yellow for Unbound, red for the Bone Collectors, white for Outlaws. If the arrows start pointing your way... run.

v00.1550Bone Collectors FeastWhen a Bone Collector harpoons your ship and starts EATING it, they now flash a menacing Skull explosion to mark the meal. See the skull? You're on the menu -- break free fast!

v00.1548Harpoon Hold to RepeatOn desktop, holding the left mouse button with the harpoon selected now fires it again on every miss until it latches onto a target -- no more firing once and stopping. A quick click still fires a single projectile, and a harpoon that connects stays attached so you can build.

v00.1546One AI Command HubYour Auto-Navigation and Auto-Action controls are now a single pop-out hub -- tap the AI button in the bottom-right and every option fans out at once. And 'Stay Put' is now its own one-tap button in the bottom-left corner. Cleaner cockpit, quicker commands!

v00.1544White-Out FixSquashed a rare glitch that could turn your cockpit view solid white and keep it that way (even on the death screen) until you refreshed the page. The view now resets itself cleanly every frame.

v00.1541New Weapon ControlsWeapon buttons are now tap-to-fire-once, hold-to-repeat. Tap Mining or Harpoon and it becomes your left-click hold action too -- a quick click still fires a shot. A harpoon now stays stuck once it connects: tap again to release, or hold to yank it and re-fire.

v00.1540Grab the Stick AnywhereThe flight joystick is easier to grab: its touch and click area now stretches as a circle all the way into the bottom-left corner of the screen, so your thumb catches it every time -- even past the edge of the visible ring.

v00.1537Reverse On the MouseFlying with your mouse? Pull the cursor onto your own ship -- inside its shield bubble -- to fire reverse thrusters and back straight up, just like holding the joystick at center. Slide the cursor back out to fly forward again.

v00.1535Claimed Rocks On the MapClaimed asteroids now show in their owner's faction color and 30% bigger on the galaxy map and your corner radars -- see who controls which rocks at a glance, instead of every asteroid looking the same gray.

July 14, 2026

v00.1529Auto Build Flies AgainFixed the AUTO BUILD button on the Asteroid screen -- it once again flies your ship to the nearest claimable asteroid and harpoons it, ready to build. (A recent auto-pilot change had left it only acting on a rock already right in front of you.)

v00.1528Command Points UnstuckFixed a bug where your Command Points could show as all used up with no structures to show for it. Available Command Points now always match the structures you actually own, and switching teams frees the points from your old team's structures.

v00.1527Shield GeneratorA new structure for your claimed asteroids: the Shield Generator -- a reactor that projects a glowing hexagonal energy shield around the whole rock. It has its own health and belongs to you. (The shield is a look for now; protection comes later.)

v00.1525-v00.1526Claim Rocks with a Command CenterThree new structures -- Command Center, Mining Rig, and Space Hangar. To claim a fresh asteroid, build a Command Center first: it stakes the rock for your team and unlocks the Mining Rig, Space Hangar, and Anti-Air turrets on it. Each has its own health and belongs to you.

v00.1524Reconnect to Your ShipRefreshing your browser no longer sends you back to your faction home -- you now reconnect to your ship right where you left it in the world, instead of respawning from scratch.

v00.1522Bigger Radar BlipsShips on your four corner radar maps are much bigger and easier to spot -- sized to match the ships on your galaxy map at its default zoom. No more squinting for that tiny triangle.

v00.1521Smoke Flies Your ColorsThe Smoke comms emoji now billows in YOUR ship's faction color instead of plain gray -- pop one and the whole sector sees whose smoke it is. Every other emoji keeps its own color.

v00.1520Death Screen ButtonsThe respawn and Subscribe buttons on the death screen are easier to read: 15% bigger text on a slightly slimmer button, still centered right where they were.

v00.1512-v00.1519Controls + PolishA pass of control + UI polish: on desktop your joystick now mirrors your mouse steering; the weapon buttons line up neatly under the emoji button; your respawn burst and the smoke signal linger a beat longer; the galaxy-map zoom slider went square-edged; and the High Score ship icons now sit inline with each name.

v00.1498-v00.1511Death Card Takes OverThe Death Card takes over the whole screen -- full height, with red pulses flashing in sync around both the card and your screen border. Your run tallies (kills and asteroids destroyed) always show right on the card; tap the round kill-count skull to SHARE DEATH CARD. Show off your best runs!

v00.1488-v00.1492Death Card, Front and CenterThe moment you die, your Death Card now appears front-and-center on a clean screen -- the cockpit circle, corner radars, and repeated stats are cleared away. Tap SHARE DEATH CARD to share it right there; the old pop-up card view is gone. Show off your best runs!

July 13, 2026

v00.1487Defend Guards Your BaseDefend (with GO on) now guards your turf: your ship flies to your nearest claimed rock and holds there, firing on any enemy that comes near. No claim yet? Faction ships fall back to their home base; Outlaws go hold the biggest unclaimed rock in the field.

v00.1486Evade ModeNew Auto-Navigation: EVADE. Turn it on and your ship constantly jukes away from the nearest danger -- rocks and enemy ships alike -- weaving with a little unpredictable wobble so incoming shots have a harder time tracking you. Your on-demand get-me-out-of-here autopilot.

v00.1485Hunt ModeNew Auto-Action: HUNT -- your ship flies like a veteran pilot: it chases down the nearest enemy, LEADS its shots (aiming where the target is going, not where it is), and opens fire, prioritizing the current bounty. Jink and weave and you can still throw its aim off.

v00.1484Auto-Actions Fire In PathAuto-Nav and Auto-Action are now independent -- mix them freely. With GO off, your Auto Mine + Defend fire only on targets already in your path; turn GO on and they seek out the nearest target for you. Steer manually and your auto-fire keeps covering you.

v00.1483Stay Near AsteroidAuto-Navigation upgrade! The "Stay near asteroid" button now ORBITS -- your ship circles your nearest claimed rock to guard your base, or the nearest big asteroid if you have not claimed one yet. Set it and let your ship hold the perimeter.

v00.1482Auto-Pilot Controls RedesignedYour AUTO controls got a sleek upgrade! The old panel is now two quick pop-up menus built right into your cockpit -- tap the bottom-LEFT button for Auto-Navigation and the bottom-RIGHT for Auto-Actions, each with fresh icons that make your autopilot options clear at a glance.

v00.1480Engine Spins UpLeveling up Engine Power now raises your max power instantly, but your current thrust spins up to it gradually -- fueled over time, the same way your shield recovers -- instead of an instant jump plus a big one-time fuel hit. Your engine also recovers this way after you run dry and refuel.

v00.1478Emoji Comms FlyoutTapping the emoji button now pops the comms emojis open right there as a grid of buttons, the same size as your other controls -- tap the emoji button again to tuck them away. No more separate panel. A few empty slots are waiting for more emojis to come.

v00.1477Bigger Smoke SignalThe Smoke comms emoji now erupts 5x bigger and 5x faster -- a huge, fast-billowing cloud instead of a little puff. The other emoji explosions are unchanged. Pop one and let the whole sector know.

v00.1475Bigger Death Card ViewThe View Death Card screen got a glow-up: the card now fills the full height of your screen, with a taller stacked Share Death Card button on the right and the tap-to-close hint on the left. Bigger card, easier to share.

v00.1474Item Drops Glow UpFuel and material drops got a glow-up: instead of a flat diamond, each pickup is now a glowing energy cell -- a white-hot core with a pulsing halo and radiating ion rings (blue for fuel, green for materials). Same colors, way more juice.

v00.1473Death Card PolishThe death card looks sharper: the red border and YOU DIED text are now a true, deep red (they leaned pink against the card's deep-space blue), and the shareable screenshot captures a bit more of the scene around your ship.

v00.1472Asteroid Size RulesAsteroid sizes shook up: the tiniest rocks (size 1) no longer appear -- rocks vanish when mined that small, dropping a final loot burst. Size 2 rocks can now be HARVESTED for fuel + materials, and you now need a size 3 or bigger rock to claim and build on.

v00.1471Clearer Build PanelThe build panel structure cards got the same legibility pass: each structure (like the ANTI-AIR turret) now shows a big icon with clean Health / Damage / Range / Reload / Cost rows -- laid out like your ship stats -- instead of cramped, tiny text.

v00.1469Clearer Asteroid ScreenGave the Asteroid screen a legibility pass: the title, stats, structure list, and build info now use our standard, easy-to-read text sizes on every device -- no more squinting, and every detail is still there.

July 11, 2026

v00.1462-v00.1468High Score TabsThe High Score screen is now tabbed: Current (everyone online), Team (your faction, bots included), Kill Count (your session kills and deaths per opponent), Lifetime (top 30 pilots across every galaxy), and Galaxy Power (the galaxies ranked by their pilots strength).

v00.1460One Game at a TimeYour account now plays in one place at a time. Sign in on a new device and your ship picks up there -- the old device shows a friendly "signed in elsewhere" screen with a one-tap button to grab the game back. No more shared-ship weirdness across two tabs.

v00.1454-v00.1457Death Screen Tune-UpA red-themed cleanup of the death screen: the galaxy map dropped its odd blue-cyan tint, and the Hints, Tips & Tricks panel now matches your red High Score. Close it with its X, reopen it with the corner ? button, and hints now auto-advance every 10 seconds.

v00.1453Galaxy Map FixSquashed a hiccup where the Galaxy Map button could light up on spawn without the map actually opening -- you had to click it twice. It now opens reliably the first time, and an open map no longer closes itself when you resize the window.

July 10, 2026

v00.1451Comms Panel, RestyledThe COMMS emoji buttons got a fresh coat: each icon is now a bold mark on its own square, color-tinted chip, and the skull matches the one on your death card. Cleaner, brighter, and easier to spam mid-fight.

v00.1450Emoji Fireworks RebornThe comms emoji you fire now ignites with a flash, snaps into its shape, then bursts with a shockwave and trailing sparks -- bigger, brighter, juicier. Real thumbs, a proper skull, a clean question mark, and a fat smoke cloud. Go spam some hearts and skulls!

v00.1449Mind the LeadEnemy pilots now aim where you are GOING, not where you are. Fly a straight line -- even just drifting on the current -- and their shots will find you. The counter is to keep changing course: a hard, unpredictable juke still throws their aim off. Straight-line flying just got dangerous.

v00.1448Sharper ShootersEnemy pilots got a gunnery upgrade. They now keep their aim locked on you the entire time they chase you -- not just at point-blank -- and they sight in on a target faster and tighter than before. Closing the distance no longer buys you a free pass.

v00.1447Straight into the FightEnemy pilots used to warp in and sit frozen for a beat before reacting -- an easy kill, and it looked broken. Now they drop straight into the action the moment they arrive. The galaxy feels more alive, and a touch more dangerous.

v00.1436Death Screen UnstuckA ghost of the old sign-in screen could paint itself over your death screen -- brand text in the corner, and every button dead to the touch. You could see RESPAWN. You could not press it. That panel is gone for good, so the death screen is always yours to click.

v00.1435Waiting Room, TidiedThe queue you see when the galaxy is full is tidier: About Us in the top-left corner, Settings in the top-right, High Score stepped aside. The real fix is underneath -- opening Settings while you waited used to trap you there with no way out. Now there's a red X.

July 9, 2026

v00.1427Your Tally, ShareableYour death card now carries the run's scoreboard in its bottom corners: the skull and your kill count on the left, the asteroid and your rocks-destroyed count on the right. They only show up if you actually earned them. Go die spectacularly and post it.

v00.1425Rocks BrokenThe skull in your top-right radar counts the ships you've destroyed. Now a white asteroid in your bottom-right radar counts the rocks you've cracked. It appears on your first kill, sticks around on the death screen so you can admire the damage, and resets when you respawn. Only the final blow counts -- grind a rock down and walk away and it belongs to whoever finishes it.

v00.1417-v00.1418Hear the FightOther ships are no longer silent. • Another pilot firing their cannon inside your cockpit view now makes a sound • So does their shot landing on someone else's hull • Both fade with distance and cut out entirely past the edge of the circle -- you hear what you can see • Your own gun and your own hit-marker still ring loudest • Two new Settings toggles if you want the silence back

v00.1416Music Sits BackThe soundtrack now sits further back in the mix, so the guns, the mining beam, and the alarms all cut through it. Your Music slider in Settings works exactly as before across its full range -- the whole range is just gentler now. Sound Effects are untouched.

v00.1415Hints, Tips, & TricksDeath is a teaching moment. A new panel in the corner of the death screen serves up 15 hard-won hints -- shield reboots, gravity storms, why Outlaws have no friends. You get a random one each death, and arrows to browse the rest while you wait to respawn.

v00.1413Feel the TeethBeing EATEN by a Bone Collector now flashes your heart red the moment the teeth go in, instead of waiting until your hull is nearly gone. Their bite drains straight through your shields, so you deserve to see it coming.

v00.1411Re-Design Your ShipBuilt your ship wrong? The Player Stats screen has a new Re-Design Ship section: one button walks every upgrade back to Lv 0 and hands you back every ability point you spent. It asks first. Respec into a miner, a brawler, whatever the galaxy needs.

v00.1409Cargo GaugeThe mining button's crate is now a live cargo gauge. It fills from the bottom as you haul, with the amount shown inside the box. Past 75% the bar turns Outlaw ghost-green; at max it burns Bone Collector red. No more guessing when to run for home.

v00.1408Fortified ClaimsClaimed asteroids now shrug off enemy fire. Rival mining lasers and projectiles do a third of their normal damage to a claimed rock, and enemy mining drops no fuel or materials at all. Cracking someone else's base is a commitment now, not a snack.

July 8, 2026

v00.1402Cleaner StructuresTurrets got a redesign to match your ship -- one clean silhouette, a faction color gradient, and a bright glowing edge instead of the old bolted-together tank. The barrel still sweeps to track targets and kicks back with a muzzle flash when it fires. Sleeker skies.

v00.1398Seamless StarfieldCleaned up a faint square-edge seam that could occasionally show in the deep-space background -- the nebula and star layers now tile perfectly seamlessly as you fly.

v00.1397Vital Signs in ColorYour Health, Shield, and Fuel icons now change color as they run low: the heart glows red, the shield Concordium blue, the fuel bolt Unbound yellow -- status at a glance. Drop into the danger zone and the icon flashes white and red.

v00.1395Galaxy SkiesThe space behind your cockpit now carries the same deep-space galaxy backdrop as the website -- a faint wash of blue, purple, and teal nebula instead of flat black. Same stars drifting by, just a richer sky to fly through.

v00.1392-v00.1394Fly with Screens OpenSteering from the center circle now keeps working while a side screen is open -- High Score, Settings, Player Ship, About -- on both desktop (mouse) and mobile (touch). No more freezing up the moment you pop a panel. Glance at your stats and keep flying.

v00.1391Mine for FuelMining pays off now. The laser ticks twice as fast and every hit drops far more fuel and materials, so working an asteroid actually refuels you -- even from bone dry. Run empty, find a rock, and mine your way back into the fight.

v00.1390BonefallThe galaxy-wide feeding frenzy every 15 minutes now has a name: Bonefall. When the Bone Collectors swarm and the sky runs crimson, the event bar lights up with "Bonefall! - Feeding Time!" Survive the whole thing for your XP bonus. Read the warning, pick your ground.

v00.1389Vital SignsYour Health, Shield, and Fuel buttons now show a glowing arc of how much you have left. It stays hidden when you are topped off, appears the moment you dip, turns danger-red under 50%, and the button flashes red when that stat drops below 25%. Know your status at a glance.

v00.1384-v00.1386Bots Take a BreatherKill an enemy bot and its slot now stays open for 15 seconds before a reserve fills in -- so thinning a rival faction actually sticks for a beat instead of an instant replacement. Bone Collectors follow the same rule too, except during a Bonefall -- then they keep right on swarming with instant respawns.

v00.1382-v00.1383Your Ship Lives OnLogging off no longer freezes your ship in a safe bubble -- it stays live in the world, burning fuel and fully in play: asteroids, enemy fire, turrets, and rival hunters can all destroy it while you are away. AI keeps flying, manual coasts. Come back to your ship, or a respawn.

v00.1381Cause of DeathYour death card now names exactly what got you -- Death by Projectile, Pilot Error, Turret, Bonefall and more -- stacked right above who (or what) finished you off. Sharper skull, cleaner layout. Share the story of how you went down!

v00.1380Bases Need a PilotClaim a rock and mount turrets, but do not vanish forever -- once an owner has been offline more than 24 hours, their structures take slow maintenance damage (1 HP a minute) until they log back on. Bases left abandoned eventually crumble and free the asteroid for someone new.

July 7, 2026 - July 8, 2026

v00.1376-v00.1378Bolder Death CardYour shareable death card got a bold new look: a deep-space backdrop that matches the site, a red border, and a giant skull outlined in glowing cyan framing your final moment -- now with a cleaner layout that fills the whole card. Go share your best deaths!

v00.1373Skull Kill CounterA skull now keeps your kill tally on the top-right radar. It shows up the moment you destroy your first ship and ticks up with every one after -- and it sticks around on the death screen so you can admire your final count. Resets to zero when you respawn.

v00.1372Warp-In FlashEvery ship now warps in with a quick burst of its faction color -- a spherical flash of particles radiating out from the spawn point. Spot fresh arrivals, respawns, and your own jump-in at a glance.

v00.1368Dodge the TurretsAnti-air turrets can be dodged now! When one locks on it charges briefly and paints a glowing targeting line -- slip off the line before it fires to miss the shot. Hold still and it tags you. The beam hits the first enemy on its path, so you can bait it into others.

v00.1367Turrets Sit FlushStructures you build on an asteroid now sit flush against its rocky surface instead of hovering above it. They tuck into the real jagged edge -- always touching the rock -- so your turrets and bases look properly planted, no matter the asteroid shape.

v00.1366Tidy Base BuildingStructures you build on an asteroid now snap into evenly-spaced slots around it instead of piling up wherever you harpooned -- no more overlapping turrets. Each rock holds up to its size in structures, spread out neatly, and they keep their spots as you add more.

v00.1365Deadlier Death CardThe death-card skull got meaner: the bone is now a faint ghost with darker eye sockets and a red glow burning around it, reframed to sit cleanly between YOU DIED and your ship name. The View Death Card button skull picked up the same red glow.

v00.1363Skull Death CardYour death screen and shareable death card got a skeletal makeover: the View Death Card button now wears the exact same skull as the fallen-ship markers on the galaxy map, and a big glowing skull now looms behind the death card itself -- bright in the open, ghosting behind the action. Share your best deaths!

v00.1361Fuel Matters MoreFuel is now a real resource to manage. Your engine burns through it a lot faster, so plan your bursts, coast when you can, and scoop up the blue fuel pickups that mined asteroids drop. Fuel-capacity upgrades were retuned too. Run dry and your ship starts failing -- watch the gauge!

v00.1360Power to Weight StatA new Power to Weight readout on your Player Stats screen shows how nimble your ship is: engine power vs ship mass. Pile on cargo and it drops -- Nimble, Laden, Heavy, Overloaded -- so you can spot when you are getting too heavy. Upgrade your engine to haul more and stay fast.

July 6, 2026

v00.1358Safer RespawnsNo more respawning stuck inside an asteroid or right on top of an enemy. Respawns and first spawns now drop you into clear space near your faction home, keeping a buffer from enemy ships -- and a wide berth from Outlaws.

v00.1355-v00.1356Factions ReshuffledThe faction home territories have moved: the Bone Collectors now haunt the NORTH and the Concordium hold the SOUTH -- closer to the galaxy core. The Unbound keep the East and the Outlaws the West. Same factions, same colors -- new corners to call home.

v00.1354Cleaner Event BannersBig center-screen event banners -- like the Bonefall countdown -- no longer sit on top of your position and gravity readout. The X/Y and gravity display now fades out while a banner is up, then fades back in once it clears.

v00.1351-v00.1352Skull Death-Card ButtonThe View Death Card button is now a big round skull with a clear VIEW DEATH CARD label, tucked under the galaxy map on the death screen -- tap it to open your shareable death card.

v00.1350Death Skulls on the MapWhen a ship is destroyed, its marker on the galaxy map turns into a skull in that ship's color for 10 seconds before it fades away -- so you can see at a glance who just went down, and where.

v00.1346Mobile Tap-to-ShootFlying by touch in the center circle got a big upgrade: • Quick tap = fire a shot (tap fast to fire fast) • Press and hold to fly -- always turns toward your thumb, and burns toward it once you pull past the center dead-zone • Rest near the middle to aim without drifting

v00.1344Longer BonefallThe Bonefall now lasts a little longer (100 seconds) so it lines up with the Bone Collector battle music from start to finish. Survive the whole thing for your XP bonus.

v00.1343Closer Default ZoomThe standard camera zoom now sits closer to your ship -- a tighter resting view and less zoom-out when you thrust, so the action stays big and readable. Your own saved zoom still sticks; the standard only re-applies if you have not played in over a day.

v00.1342More Ship NamesThe name pool just grew -- 39 new faction-flavored ship names are now in rotation, so you'll run into fresh crews across the galaxy. Concordium, Unbound, Outlaws, and the Bone Collectors each picked up new call signs -- over 230 unique names now.

July 1, 2026

v00.1326Pick Your Ship NameYour ship name is now yours alone. • Every ship in your galaxy now has a unique name -- no more duplicate crews • Over 200 faction names in the pool • New: open your Player Ship screen and tap Change Ship Name at the bottom to pick a different unused name for your faction

v00.1341Under-Attack AlarmsWhen an enemy is eating, arresting, or looting you, each now has its own distinct repeating alarm so you instantly know which effect is draining you.

v00.1340Harpoon Reload TicksAfter you retract your harpoon, you will now hear a soft ticking while it reloads -- when the ticking stops, your harpoon is ready to fire again.

v00.1339Close-Button ClickClose, back, and exit buttons now have their own distinct click sound, so closing a screen feels different from opening one.

v00.1338Reverse Thruster SoundFull reverse thrust now has its own distinct rumble (it used to borrow the forward one). Slam the throttle down and you will hear it kick in.

v00.1337Remastered Sound EffectsWe are remastering the game audio! The mining laser is now a deep welding-torch, impacts and asteroid smashes hit heavier, pickups and level-up got richer, and the harpoon and blaster were retuned. More sound polish on the way -- turn your sound on and have a listen!

v00.1336Shred Small RocksYour mining laser is now super-effective against the smallest (size 1) asteroids — it tears through them about 5x faster. Perfect for quickly clearing little rocks and topping up fuel and materials.

v00.1335Command Points Up TopOn the Player Stats screen, Command Points now sits at the very top, above Health — so your build-and-claim capacity is the first thing you see when you open your ship.

v00.1333-v00.1334Reliable New-Player HintsThe pointing tips that show you the controls are more dependable now — they play alongside the galaxy map, and on phones they replay right after you tap the fullscreen prompt, so taking your time there no longer means missing the quick tour.

v00.1331Weapon Buttons RestackedThe weapon buttons have a new vertical order: Shoot on top, then Harpoon and Mine in the middle, and Harvest/Build on the bottom. Same sizes and same spot on screen — just restacked so your most-used controls sit where your thumb expects them.

v00.1330Bigger Asteroid BoomsDestroying an asteroid now throws a bigger burst of debris. Blow up a claimed asteroid and the debris flies in that faction's colors.

v00.1329Mine On EmptyRun out of fuel? You can still fire your mining laser. Mining an asteroid drops fuel and materials, so an empty tank is no longer a dead end — mine your way back into the fight.

v00.1328Galaxy Map On SpawnThe galaxy map now opens automatically when you jump in and every time you respawn, and its zoom resets to the standard view so you always get your bearings fast. Your own camera zoom stays how you set it (it only resets to standard if you have been away a couple days).

v00.1327Sharper Death CardsAnother polish pass on your shareable death card. • The taunt now wraps neatly instead of running off the edge • The shot of your final moment is zoomed in even tighter on your ship

v00.1324Snappier TurningTurning got sharper. • Big turns now whip around about twice as fast when you steer with the joystick, your cursor, or touch • Mobile: the center circle now turns your ship even while you hold a thrust button, so you can steer and throttle at once

June 30, 2026

v00.1319-v00.1322Sharper Death CardsThree upgrades to your shareable death card. • Shows WHO roasted you, signed by your faction voice • The Share button now lives right on the card preview • Taller card with a bigger, zoomed-in shot of your final moment -- looks great shared from your phone

v00.1316-v00.1318Custom Death TauntsEvery death now serves up a custom taunt, and who is roasting you depends on your faction and what got you. • Concordium answers to the Grand Commander • Unbound gets ribbed by a Friend • Outlaws get judged by a cold ship A.I. • Rivals, Bone Collectors, asteroids, even an empty fuel tank each earn their own jab Screenshot your best deaths and share them!

v00.1297-v00.1311Fly with Your CursorA whole new way to fly — and the joystick and throttle are still right where they were. • Desktop: hover your mouse anywhere in the center circle and your ship turns and burns toward it — click to fire, hold to mine • Rest the cursor near your ship to aim and shoot or mine on the spot without drifting off • A glowing sonar beacon marks your cursor as you fly, turning red in the rest zone • Phones: drag in the center circle to steer your ship

v00.1308-v00.1310Clearer In-Game NudgesTwo friendlier on-screen prompts. • The Add Shortcut / Invite prompt is now a tidy square you can dismiss any time with a red X • Got unspent level-up points? A gold "Use Points!" badge now pulses on your ship button — tap it to open your ship and spend them

v00.1295-v00.1307Combat & Movement TuningA feel pass on weapons and speed. • Cannon shots fly at a more readable pace — no more blink-and-miss bullets • The harpoon throws a touch slower with a longer cooldown, so it is a deliberate grab instead of a spam button • Your starting engine got a boost, so a fresh ship moves faster off the line

June 29, 2026

v00.1280New About IconThe About button has a fresh look: a little open treasure chest with a sandcastle inside, a nod to Sandbox Studios. Same button, same About page, just a touch more personality.

June 28, 2026

v00.1277No Music Stutter on PlayTapping Play no longer starts a sliver of the soundtrack that immediately cuts off when Google sign-in opens. The launch sound still plays, the music starts cleanly once you are in, and the "Tap for sound" button still starts it instantly.

v00.1276Sound Effects Fixed on MobileFixed game sound effects — weapons, mining, pickups, the new rocket thrust — staying silent on phones even though the music played fine. Sound now reliably switches on with your first tap once you are in the game.

v00.1275Smoother Mobile Sign-InOn phones, tapping Play now keeps you on the cockpit launch screen straight through Google sign-in — a "Signing in..." ring instead of bouncing back to the home page — then the fullscreen Play button appears the moment you are in.

v00.1274Rockets OnThe Play button now launches you in with a deep rocket-engine roar instead of the chime — and your ship gives a one-shot "rockets on" rumble each time you punch forward thrust. Prefer quiet? Toggle it under Settings > Sound Effects > Rocket thrust.

v00.1273Better Sideways Start (Mobile)The "go fullscreen" screen now looks right when you are already holding your phone sideways — title, PLAY, and tagline lay out cleanly in a row instead of overlapping. Held upright, the title also sits clear of the launch ring.

v00.1272Consistent Site MenuEvery page now shares the same top menu, so you can jump straight to How to Play, Guide, Factions, Combat, Mining, Building, Highscores, Release Notes, or About from anywhere — and the menu highlights the page you are on. Tidier on phones too.

June 27, 2026

v00.1265-v00.1267New Launch & Respawn SoundsTwo new signature sounds to make jumping in feel like an event. A bright rising windchime when you tap Play and launch into the galaxy, and a magical shimmer when you respawn from the death screen or tap into fullscreen on mobile.

June 26, 2026

v00.1260-v00.1264Faster Respawns + Support the GameA reworked death screen, plus a new way to support the game. • Free respawn wait cut way down — back in the action much sooner • Subscribers respawn in just 10 seconds, fully ad-free • One small banner returns on the play screen for free players • Subscribe still opens with an intro offer

June 25, 2026

v00.1247-v00.1250Add to Home Screen + Invite FriendsAsteroid Dominion is now one tap away. • Add a shortcut to your phone home screen or desktop taskbar — it always opens the live game, no download • Invite friends straight from in-game with the new share button • A proper game icon in your browser tab and on your home screen

v00.1243-v00.1246Smoother Mobile & Tablet StartA cleaner launch on touch devices. • Redesigned full-height cockpit-viewport fullscreen gate with a big gold PLAY • Fixed music that could go silent or cut out through the fullscreen step • Tablets and small touch screens now get the same fullscreen + touch controls as phones

June 23, 2026

v00.1240New-Player HintsNew here? Bouncing labels now point out the key controls — Galaxy Map, Zoom, Turn Ship, Shoot, Go!, and High Scores! — when you first jump in and each time you respawn. They fade out on their own (and vanish the moment you open a screen). Turn them off any time in Settings > Display > New-player hints.

v00.1239Cleaner Game StartThe game no longer opens with the galaxy map and High Scores covering your view — both now start closed, so you drop straight into the action. And when you open the galaxy map, it now starts at the middle zoom notch (centered partway on you) instead of fully zoomed out.

v00.1238Asteroids Spin When HitAsteroids now visibly tumble when a collision knocks them spinning — the rotation was always in the physics, it just was not being drawn. Any structures built on a rock now turn with it. Rocks still start still and only spin from impacts, then gradually slow back down.

v00.1236-v00.1237Music Starts Right AwayFixed background music that could stay silent when you entered the game until your first respawn — it now starts as soon as you are in. Browsers block sound until you interact, so the landing page now has a Tap for sound button — tap it (or anywhere, or just scroll on a phone) to start the music.

June 22, 2026

v00.1228-v00.1230Names, Glowing Shots & Ship TrailsMore of the new look, all procedural. • Other ships now flash their name as they enter your view, then it fades — switch it off in Settings > Display • Your cannon fire is now a glowing energy pulse in your faction color, with a trailing wake • Every ship leaves a colored comet trail as it flies — the faster you move, the longer the wake

v00.1220-v00.1226A Whole New LookThe biggest visual update yet — and it is 100% procedural, so it loads instantly with no image downloads. • A new space-style font across the whole game and site • A deep starfield world you can customize in Settings > Display > Customize • A sharper cockpit frame around your view • Redesigned ships with engine plumes, a dashed YOU marker, and a white/red flash when you take damage • Varied, textured asteroids that grow more detailed the bigger they get

June 15, 2026

v00.1213-v00.1215Smoother Mobile StartA cleaner launch on phones: the fullscreen prompt now appears first with no flash of the game underneath, your cockpit and the world are there the instant you sign in, and the loading screen clears in about a second once the world is ready.

June 14, 2026

v00.1199-v00.1200Sign-In Works EverywhereFixed Google sign-in for players on Edge, Brave, and Safari, where the button could hang and do nothing. Sign-in now uses a standard secure redirect that every browser handles — tap Play, pick your Google account, and you are in. Returning players sail straight through.

June 13, 2026

v00.1151-v00.1163Rebuilt Info PanelsThe side panels — Settings, High Scores, Log, Help, About — were rebuilt with a fixed title bar over a clean scroll, plus a one-tap red X that closes any open panel (it works on the death screen too). The top control buttons are now a tidy horizontal row, and panel text scales to your screen.

v00.1147-v00.1150Death by Fuel + Clearer KillsRun your tank dry and you will now truly be lost in the black — a proper Out of Fuel death instead of drifting forever. The death screen also names the real cause for mining-laser, turret, and Bonefall kills, instead of a generic fallback.

June 12, 2026

v00.1133-v00.1146Two New Zoom ControlsAdded two ways to zoom. • A slider on the galaxy map zooms in and keeps your ship centered — from the whole galaxy out to 8x in • A camera slider sets how close or far your view sits when resting versus moving Both remember your settings between sessions. Also fixed some unresponsive taps on the on-screen controls.

June 10, 2026

v00.1094-v00.1097Build from the Asteroid ScreenBuilding structures is back: harpoon a rock, open the Asteroid screen, and build — manual building had quietly stopped working. The Asteroid and Player Stats panels were also matched up so they look and behave the same.

June 8, 2026

v00.1025-v00.1043Reworked Flight ControlsA big controls rework for smoother flying. • Steer with the left joystick — point it the way you want your ship to face • The right throttle is full forward at the top, neutral in the middle, reverse at the bottom • Each weapon — cannon, mining laser, harpoon — is now its own on/off toggle • Everything works with touch, and on desktop with the mouse

June 6, 2026

v00.1024Loading Waits for the GameThe loading screen now stays up until the game world is actually ready (and at least 1.2s), and you can no longer accidentally sign in through the splash before everything has loaded. A smoother, more reliable start.

v00.1023Bots Aim Like PlayersEnemy bots now shoot like a real opponent. They open loose and a little wild, then dial in the longer they fire at you — fastest if you hold still or fly straight — and you can throw their aim off by juking. Never pixel-perfect, but sitting still is now dangerous.

v00.1020-v00.1021Bone Collectors Get ScarierThe Bone Collectors are nastier. • The two that harpoon you now EAT — draining your health (and healing themselves) while they haul you toward their turf • Fixed a Bonefall bug where the rest of the pack just latched and unlatched harpoons instead of attacking; they now open fire

v00.1019Steadier Camera ZoomThe camera no longer bounces in and out. It zooms out smoothly whenever you are moving, holds steady for 1.5 seconds after you stop, and only then eases back in — so quick taps on the controls keep a stable view instead of pumping the zoom.

June 5, 2026

v00.1016No More NEW TARGET PopupRemoved the big "NEW TARGET" text that flashed over the center of the screen for 5s whenever the hit list picked a new target — it blocked your view. The new target still shows in the event feed, and you still get the "YOU ARE THE TARGET" warning when it is you.

v00.1012-v00.1013Cleaner Top-Center HUDCleaned up the top-center HUD. • HUD text now scales consistently: small on phones, growing to a set max on laptops, then holding — no more oversized center readouts beside the radar labels • Nudged the gravity arrow and its event badge (1.5x / 2x) left so they no longer overlap the "G:" value

June 3, 2026

v00.1001Death Screen RedesignReorganized the death screen. • Ship name + level now sits above YOU DIED, in green • A big green SCORE line shows your survival score and seconds survived • Killer and damage are on their own lines • Tips and taunts now read as a quote signed by the dev • Respawn buttons moved to the bottom

v00.1000Radar Labels Fit CleanlyTuned the HUD text so it reads well without overflowing. • The four corner radar labels now wrap to two lines and stay within their radar, so long ship and faction names no longer run into the center • HUD text size now clamps between 15 and 22px, legible on phones and not oversized on big screens

v00.0999Cleaner Death ScreenThe HUD readouts (ship name, score, galaxy rank, team, X / Y, Gravity) now hide while you are on the death screen and reappear when you respawn, keeping the death screen uncluttered.

v00.0998Readable HUD Text on PhonesHUD readouts no longer shrink to a few pixels on small screens. The four corner radar labels and the top-center X / Y + Gravity now use a 20px minimum size, so they stay legible on phones and still scale up on bigger displays.

June 2, 2026

v00.0997Tidier Top-Center HUDSlimmed the readout at the top of the viewport: the Speed line is now hidden, and the Gravity strength plus its direction arrow moved up to sit right under your X / Y coordinates.

v00.0996Radar Labels Cleaned UpEach of the four corner radars now shows one clear label instead of a stack of numbers. • Top-left: your ship name • Top-right: your current survival score • Bottom-left: galaxy rank • Bottom-right: your faction (Outlaw if unaligned)

v00.0994Mobile Radar FixThe four corner minimap radars show correctly on phones again — they were getting hidden behind the cockpit panel in fullscreen after the panel texture started tiling. Mobile now matches desktop.

v00.0992Camera Zoom TuningTuned the camera zoom again: it now rests at 1.5x and eases out to 0.75x (a wider view) when you thrust.

v00.0988Auto-Update on New VersionsNo more frozen game after an update ships. The game now checks for a new version every 60 seconds; when one lands you briefly see "New Version Shipping to You Now!" and it reloads so you are instantly back in sync on the latest build. Your progress is saved, so nothing is lost.

v00.0987Sign-In Screen Tidy-UpTidied up the sign-in screen. • Removed the highscore button and the bottom-right info text • Added a "Join Our Discord" link to the top-right menu, and reordered that menu (About and Getting Started up top)

v00.0986Movement & Camera TuningAnother movement and camera tuning pass. • Gravity pull softened again (0.7 -> 0.5) • Camera sits a touch more zoomed in (rests at 2.2x, eases out to 1.1x on thrust) • Engine top thrust lowered (40K -> 30K), but each Engine upgrade now adds more (+2000 -> +3000)

June 1, 2026

v00.0981-v00.0984Mobile Frame FixesFrame-around-the-viewport fixes so phones match desktop. • Cockpit texture now tiles in fullscreen (was a single tile) • Pulsing edge no longer offset low/right • Pulsing edge is a clean inset glow (removed a stray hard border) • Viewport circle now the same size as desktop

May 31, 2026

v00.0980Movement & Camera FeelA movement and camera tuning pass. • Gravity pull softened (force constant 2 -> 0.7) — drifting is gentler • Camera now sits zoomed in (rests at 2x) and eases out to 1.2x when you thrust • Engine top thrust lowered (90K -> 40K) and each Engine upgrade adds less (+4500 -> +2000)

v00.0979New Studio TaglineSandbox Studios has a new tagline: "Where your game is never over." You will spot it on the loading screen and around the site.

v00.0978Mobile UI CleanupTidying up the on-screen buttons for phone players. • Removed the redundant red exit-fullscreen arrow — it overlapped the Settings gear. To leave fullscreen, just swipe up from the bottom of your screen (your phone already does this).

May 29, 2026

v00.0966-v00.0970Smoother Mobile StartPhone players: getting in is way cleaner now. • Sign in right away in portrait — no more tap fullscreen, then sign in, then tap fullscreen again • One PLAY tap drops you in (it handles fullscreen + landscape) • Loading and sign-in screens trimmed for a minimal first impression

May 28, 2026

v00.0961Mining Laser OverhaulBig rework of the mining laser. harvestingRate is now 1+harvestEff (was 1+harvestEff/100, so each harvest pt is 100x more potent). Four split formulas: • Mass damage = weaponDmg / harvestingRate (mining gets SLOWER per tick as you upgrade harvest) • Item value = weaponDmg × harvestingRate / 10 (bigger drops per tick) • Player damage = harvestingRate (decoupled from weapon — harvest-heavy build is now a strong PvP laser user) • Fuel cost = harvestingRate (also decoupled from weapon) Net: mining is now reliably profitable on fuel; heavy harvest = slow mining + massive yield per rock.

v00.0960Bullet Fuel Cost Tuned UpBullets cost real fuel now. v0944 had per-shot drain = weaponDamage / 25 = ~1 fuel per shot at base stats, which felt like firing was free. v0960 drops the / 25 — each shot now costs weaponDamage in fuel. • Base stats (wd=25): 25 fuel/shot, ~62.5 fuel/sec sustained • Heavy weapon (wd=165): 165 fuel/shot, ~412 fuel/sec sustained Fuel Efficiency upgrades still discount this asymptotically.

v00.0958External Links Open in Background (Take 2)The v0950 attempt at "open new tab in background" was being ignored by modern browsers (anti-focus-stealing protections). v0958 switches to a synthesized Ctrl+click (Cmd+click on Mac) on a temporary anchor — same gesture a power user does manually, so the browser actually honors it. External links now reliably stay on the game tab.

May 27, 2026

v00.0949-v00.0956Polish Round: Gravity, Sounds, Minimaps, LinksA wave of small play-test fixes. • Gravity storm phase reduced from 3x to 1.5x (was too punishing) • External links now open in a BACKGROUND tab so you stay on the game • No UI sounds while the death screen is up • Stat +/- buttons play the standard click sound • Minimap player markers changed from circles to upward triangles (asteroids still circles) • Asteroid-collision sound reworked: single deeper louder kick with smooth 1.5s fade-out instead of multi-echo, only fires for collisions visible on-screen

v00.0945-v00.0948Combat Death + Kill RewardsSeveral combat-feedback updates. • Fixed: ANTI-AIR turret and mining-laser kills now properly trigger death (you could previously be stuck at 0 HP until another damage source landed) • Kill bonus = the victim's seconds-survived added to your XP — long-lived targets are worth a LOT more • Survive a Bonefall: +1000 XP shown as a "+ 1000 XP ! ! !" line under the retreat banner • Bone Collectors that retreat at Bonefall end now explode + drop fuel/materials

v00.0943-v00.0944Fuel Economy RebuiltFuel actually matters now — flight used to be effectively free. • Forward thrust drains fuel (~40/sec at base stats → ~3:45 of continuous thrust) • Reverse thrust drains half (~20/sec) • Even idle drift drains slowly (~10/sec) • Bullets cost a bit, scaling with weapon damage • Harpoon is FREE — mechanical action, not a weapon • Mining laser now costs fuel per second of use • Upgrade Fuel Efficiency for an asymptotic discount on every fuel cost (no upper cap)

v00.0936-v00.0938Death-Screen TimingTighter pacing on the death screen. • "Respawn in N..." countdown reduced from 10s to 3s before the action buttons appear • Free-respawn wait raised from 60s to 90s so Subscribe / Watch-Ad have stronger pull • Total worst-case time-to-respawn-free: 93s

v00.0929-v00.0934Sign-In Screen PolishSeveral visual fixes to the sign-in screen. • Flashing "Click Anywhere" hint on left + right edges until you make any click (browsers require a gesture before audio can start) • ASTEROID DOMINION title stays visible after the loading splash (was disappearing) • Solid black background behind the sign-in form (no more cockpit-panel pattern leak)

v00.0928Three Combat SoundsSplit the old ambiguous "asteroid hit" sound into three distinct cues. • Bullet hits asteroid → quick thud (every hit) • Asteroid hits asteroid → deep kick drum with 2-3s echoes (rare, big rocks only) • Bullet hits player → CoD-style hit-marker confirmation

v00.0927Sound Tuning Round 3More sound-design tweaks. • Deep kick-drum boom on big asteroid hits • Pickup sounds for fuel and materials • Manufacturing crackle for mining • Mission-accomplished fanfare for kills • Bigger subscription celebration • Real firework sound for emojis • Louder, longer gravity storm

v00.0926Sound Tuning Round 2Another sound-design pass. • Alarms while you are out of fuel or in serious danger • Positive chime when any danger clears • Triple-beep on new hit-list target • Level up redesigned as a trumpet fanfare • Gravity storm 3x louder

v00.0925Sound TuningRound of sound-design tweaks based on play-testing. • Bullet sound swapped to a wire-twang feel • Anti-air turrets now have their own pew sound • Three harpoon sounds redesigned (launch, attach, retract) • Mining laser pings as it sweeps for a target • Mining hit pulse now sounds like a welding torch

v00.0924Harvest + Build SoundsTwo new sounds for the BUILD button outcomes. • A heavy crunch with a metallic clink when you harvest a tier-0 asteroid • A rising arpeggio with a placement thunk when you build a structure Click feedback for the two BUILD actions that were silent.

v00.0923Mining Laser SoundsTwo new sounds for the mining laser. • A rising power-up when you activate the beam • A quiet welding tic every second while you are locked on something Gives mining a tactile rhythm.

v00.0922Harpoon SoundsThree new sounds for the harpoon weapon. • A mechanical thunk when you fire • A metallic ring when the barb attaches • A wire-twang as the cable reels back in Getting harpooned by someone else? You hear the attach too.

v00.0921Music PolishTwo soundtrack fixes from player feedback. • Death-screen song no longer loops forever — if you linger, the regular music returns • Fixed a bug where some respawns played no music at all

May 26, 2026

v00.0904-v00.0909Soundtrack!A whole soundtrack arrived. • New main theme • Normal Loop cycles through two tracks • Moody death-screen track • Bone Collectors track when you're hunted • Starts on first click, default 30% Go listen!

May 25, 2026

v00.0896-v00.0903New Name, New HomeThe game is now Asteroid Dominion at asteroiddominion.com. Same game, same gameplay, fresh identity. The old web address still works and forwards to the new one. Tell your friends!

May 20, 2026

v00.0890-v00.0892Discord UpdatesTwo Discord updates. • Every "Join our Discord" link across the site now works for new players — the old links pointed at a members-only channel. • Top Kill on Discord now celebrates the player with MOST kills in a day, not the single biggest takedown.

May 18, 2026

v00.0867-v00.0873More Security HardeningMore invisible-but-important security work landed. • Database connection strings now stored as cloud-managed secrets • Browser security policy switched from monitoring to enforced • Tighter per-IP rate limits on public endpoints • Defensive escaping on kill notifications Game plays exactly the same.

May 13, 2026

v00.0845Ad Policy ComplianceMajor ad-behavior rework for ad-network compliance. • Forced 10-minute fullscreen ad removed (now opt-in via Watch Ad button) • Free 60-second respawn countdown alongside Subscribe and Watch Ad • Banner skipped on loading splash and queue screen • Refresh on real screen transitions only

v00.0844Eleven New GuidesEleven new deep-dive guide pages: Factions, Controls, Combat, Mining, Building, AI, Galaxy Events, Leveling, Survival Tips, Getting Started, and Highscores. Each one is the comprehensive reference we wish we'd had — math, timing, and tradeoffs spelled out.

May 7, 2026

v00.0827-v00.0831SEO + Ad-Network ReadyAdded the standard signals search engines and ad-network crawlers expect across every public page. • Page titles, canonical URLs, social-share images, Twitter Card tags • Structured-data markup describes the game in machine-readable form None of this affects gameplay.

v00.0822Auto-Cleanup of Abandoned StructuresTo keep the galaxy from filling up with abandoned structures, structures owned by long-absent players are now auto-cleaned. • Requires the owner offline 24+ hours AND ship destroyed at disconnect • Asteroid unclaims if no structures remain • Returning within 24h or logging off alive keeps your structures safe

v00.0824Bug Fix: Stale Harpoon GraphicsFixed a long-standing render bug: the visual harpoon would stay on screen indefinitely after a missed harpoon retracted, until an unrelated harpoon fired nearby. No gameplay change — harpoon flight, attachment, retraction, and rope physics are unaffected.

May 5, 2026

v00.0820-v00.0821Galaxy Doubled in SizeThe galaxy doubled in size. Every spatial constant scaled together so gravity rhythm and asteroid drift feel the same. • Engine power unchanged — traversal takes longer • Crossing the central dead zone may consume fuel • Galaxy + search maps auto-fit the new scale

May 4, 2026

v00.0814-v00.0819Performance OverhaulSignificant performance work for smoother combat under load. • Five per-tick state updates merged into one (less network overhead) • Spatial indexing replaced linear scans for who-sees-what • Object pooling cut garbage-collection pauses • Stationary items + structures skip broadcast when nothing changed Tail latency dramatically improved.

v00.0809Version History on the Sign-In ScreenA new VIEW VERSION HISTORY button on the sign-in screen reveals the complete release history without leaving the page. Tap the X or press Escape to close. Only appears on sign-in, never during gameplay.

v00.0805Frame-Time Stats (Admin)Added always-on per-tick timing in the game loop for admin performance monitoring. • Phase durations for physics, collisions, item pickup, network broadcasts • Total frame time over a rolling 5-second window • Garbage-collection pauses captured separately No player-side effect.

May 3, 2026

v00.0797-v00.0803Security Hardening PassA comprehensive security review shipped seven behind-the-scenes updates. • Operator alerts via private Discord on server errors • Stronger input validation rejects malformed messages silently • Stricter browser security headers vs clickjacking • Payment flow derives identity from verified sign-in Game plays exactly the same.

v00.0796Death Screen PolishThe death screen now uses a solid black background instead of the tiled cockpit-panel pattern. Cleaner mood that matches the pre-sign-in splash. Pattern returns the moment you respawn. The central circle (death stats + frozen scene) is unaffected; only the outer frame changes.

v00.0794Mobile Fullscreen GatePhones and tablets now require landscape fullscreen to play. • Glowing FULLSCREEN button before sign-in; tapping enters fullscreen + locks landscape in one gesture • Exit fullscreen mid-game and the gate reappears • Same gate if you rotate to portrait Desktop unaffected.

v00.0791-v00.0795Cross-Device PolishUpdates that make the game feel native on every device. • Touch sliders on iPad Pro landscape; keyboard on narrow desktop (device-detection, not viewport-width) • Removed gray tap-flash on iOS Safari • Stopped long-press menus on stats + canvas • Suppressed pull-to-refresh mid-fight

May 2, 2026

v00.0786-v00.0790Privacy Policy + Terms of ServiceAdded comprehensive Privacy Policy and Terms of Service pages. • /privacy: data collected, third parties, cookies, EEA/UK/CA rights, children-under-13 • /terms: eligibility, account responsibilities, acceptable use, subscription terms • Linked from site footer AND in-game About screen alongside Guide + Version History

v00.0770-v00.0785Architecture Cleanup PassA behind-the-scenes architecture cleanup pass — same gameplay, cleaner code. • iPad on iPadOS 13+ now correctly detected as touch (was falling through to desktop UI) • Particle bursts now use the canonical team-color palette • Several utility helpers deduplicated across files

April 30, 2026

v00.0768-v00.0769Daily Highscores in DiscordThree new daily leaderboard categories with Discord announcements. • Top Kill, Biggest Single-Life Score, Longest Survival • Daily winners posted to dedicated Discord channels every morning at 08:00 UTC with custom-colored embeds • Records reset daily — every day starts a new race

v00.0760-v00.0767Death Photo CardShare your death moment as a polished image card. • YOU DIED in dramatic red with triple-layer white halo • Zoomed screenshot of your final moment + level, score, survival time • Mobile: native share sheet to text, email, Discord, anything • Desktop: copies to clipboard AND downloads as backup

v00.0755-v00.0758Subscribe Geo-GatingThe Subscribe button now appears only for visitors in the United States, where Sandbox Studios is registered to collect subscription payments. International players continue to enjoy full free-tier access. Geo-detection happens server-side at page-load.

v00.0742-v00.0751SFX Engine + 20-Sound LibraryProcedural sound-effect engine — every sound built at runtime via Web Audio (no audio files, no licensing). • 20-sound library: combat, mining, UI clicks, hit-list alerts, Bonefall, faction actions • Per-sound test panel in Settings • Voice caps prevent walls of sound under heavy fire

April 29, 2026

v00.0729-v00.0741GAME IS FULL Queue + Subscribe-to-SkipPer-galaxy player cap (50) with a proper queue when full. • GAME IS FULL screen shows your queue position • Settings + Leaderboard still work while waiting • Subscribers bypass the cap automatically • Subscribe-to-skip jumps you in immediately • Watch-Ad-to-skip also available

v00.0703-v00.0723Daily Admin DigestNew admin-only dashboard at /admin consolidates yesterday's player metrics, cohort lists, and the three daily highscore winners into one view. Historical days freeze once they pass — numbers can't change. Helps us spot which features land and which players dominate.

April 28, 2026

v00.0721-v00.0728Admin Login Fix + Facebook Sign-In RemovedTwo cleanup items. • Admin login crisis resolved (required configuration now fails fast at boot) • Facebook Sign-In fully removed — Google Sign-In is the only auth path

April 20, 2026

v00.067626 New Ship Names26 new ship names across all four factions bring more flavor to the roster. Each faction has its own naming style — Concordium ships sound official, Bone Collector ships sound feral, Unbound ships sound rugged, Outlaw ships sound rough.

April 19, 2026

v00.0670-v00.0675About Page LiveNew /about page covers what the game is, the key features, the studio, and how to support development. Linked from the in-game About screen via a redesigned clickable header that matches the other info-box buttons.

April 17, 2026

v00.0661-v00.0666Subscriptions LiveOptional ad-free monthly subscription launched. • Subscribers see no ads • A one-time intro offer for new subscribers (anti-abuse on re-subscribe) • Auto-renews monthly via Stripe; cancel anytime

v00.0651Faction Ship Actions + Command PointsPer-faction ship-to-ship actions when you harpoon another player. • Bone Collector: EAT (drain HP from target; bots only) • Concordium: ARREST (lock target's engine + weapons 7s) • Unbound / Outlaw: LOOT (take target's materials) Command Points cap how many structures + ships you control.

April 16, 2026

v00.0635-v00.0641BUILD & CLAIM + Loading SplashTwo big additions. • BUILD & CLAIM: harpoon an asteroid, click BUILD, place an ANTI-AIR turret. The asteroid becomes claimed by your team. Same-team friendly-fire protected. • Loading splash screen with animated dots replaces the previous cold start.

April 13, 2026

v00.0577-v00.0578Faction Rename + 80 New Ship NamesFactions renamed for clarity and IP safety. • Alliance → Concordium • Independents → Unbound • The bone-themed faction is now the Bone Collectors • Outlaw (formerly NONE) is the no-team state Plus 80 new ship names — 20 per faction — each with the faction's own naming style.

April 8, 2026

v00.0537Minimap RankingsMinimap now shows your standings at a glance: Lifetime Score, Universal Rank, Survival Rank, Galaxy Rank, and your Team Place + Score.

v00.0524Small Asteroid Safe RadiusTiny asteroids (radius 19-31) no longer damage your ship on contact. You can fly through them safely; only larger asteroids deal collision damage.

April 5, 2026

v00.0483-v00.0491Weapons Arsenal ExpandedThe weapon system grew up. • Harpoon with rope tether + attachment + retraction • Weapon toggle: Bullet / Harpoon / Mining (3-state cycle) • Mining laser visual rework • Kill notifications; weapon damage +5/level • Asteroid bandwidth cut ~80% (delta compression) • Leaderboard 3-column with player level

April 4, 2026

v00.0480-v00.0482Death-Screen Team ChoiceOn death, choose which team to respawn on. • Pick Alliance, Independents, or Outlaw (Bone Collectors became bot-only) • Sector-biased respawn near your team's home • Bonefall pre-warning countdown 10s before the Bonefall • Fixes: dead-player invulnerability, respawn-button overlay block

April 3, 2026

v00.0472-v00.0479AI Bots + Hit List + BonefallThree big additions that bring the galaxy alive. • 12 AI bots (same physics + XP as humans; persist between sessions) • Hit List: every 90s a target is picked; kill them for 10x XP • Bonefall: every 15 min all Bone Collectors hunt for 90s • Admin reset buttons + performance overlay

April 1, 2026

v00.0467-v00.0471Death Screen + Team Arrows + Dual LeaderboardMore April 1 polish. • Death screen: 10s overlay with killer info, score, and camera hold • Danger pulse: red flash on zero fuel / death / low health • Dynamic player mass (fuel + storage) • Team direction arrows on the circle border pointing to nearest ally • Dual leaderboard: Lifetime Leaders + Current Galaxy Leaders

v00.0459-v00.0466Shield + Fuel Economy + ScoringThree combat-economy systems shipped same day. • Shield absorbs damage; 5s reboot with red flicker on break • Fuel economy: 90K max, shooting costs fuel • Scoring split: survival (this life) + lifetime high • Asteroid armor scales with mass • Engine + bullet speed scale with player stats

March 31, 2026

v00.0454-v00.0458XP, Levels, FragmentationMajor progression and combat additions. • XP/level system (7 XP sources, doubling thresholds, ability points to spend on stats) • Stat upgrade buttons in the player panel • Large asteroids fragment on collision • Item drops from destroyed asteroids (materials, 10s expiry)

March 26, 2026

v00.0414-v00.0434Smoother Rendering + Camera ZoomFoundational rendering improvements. • Smooth 60 FPS rendering using time-based interpolation • Spatial filtering: only nearby entities sent to each player • Camera zoom-out when thrusting forward (1.5x view, 3s interpolation) • Sign-in screen info block with version + studio + Discord links

February 25, 2025 - March 25, 2026

v00.0001-v00.0413Hello WorldBefore the recent releases listed above, an extensive foundation phase brought the game from its first commit to a playable state. Highlights of that work include the original server architecture, the rendering engine, the physics system, the multiplayer networking layer, and the core gameplay loop. • Game foundation • Server architecture • Rendering engine • Physics system • Networking protocol • Core gameplay loop • AI patrol and engagement • Faction balancing • Asteroid generation • Wormhole gravity • Multiplayer sync

January 2025

PrologueThe Rebuild BeginsThe project comes back off the shelf, and this time it is built for the web. Learning Javascript, CSS, HTML and cloud hosting from scratch turns a shelved Unity prototype into something that runs in a browser tab with no download and no install. • Unity and C# retired in favor of the browser • Javascript, CSS and HTML learned from the ground up • Cloud hosting and live operations added to the list Every entry above this one in the timeline grew out of that decision.

December 2024

PrologueThe Conversation That Started ItZeke and his friends spend an evening listing what they dislike about modern games. The list is specific: updates so large you wait through a download before you can play, onboarding screens that will not end, quests that demand hours before anything happens, and time played that earns you nothing you keep. • No forced downloads • No long onboarding • No quest gate before the game starts • Time played should always earn something That list became the design brief this game is still held to.

2018

PrologueThe Project Goes QuietLife takes priority and the project stops. There is no release, no announcement and no final build. The files simply go quiet and stay that way for years. It is the ordinary way most independent games end, and very nearly the way this one did.

2017

PrologueOut To The BlackThe first version of this game is built in Unity 3D and C# under the name Out to the Black. The core premise is already in place: a shared galaxy, asteroids worth claiming, and a ship that has to earn everything it carries. The name became Asteroid Dominion much later. The premise never changed.

2016

PrologueLearning To CodeZeke learns to code and joins the indie development community. A first game is built and released to Google Play, passes a thousand downloads, and earns nothing at all. A commercial failure by every measure that counts. • First game built and shipped • Over 1,000 downloads • No revenue It taught more than a success would have, and everything here started there.