Stardeus "Ship Combat" Major Update

We are excited to announce the release of the Ship Combat major update! Let's take a look at the noteworthy changes it brings.

A day in the life

At last, the Stardeus Universe won't feel as lonely anymore. You will encounter NPC spaceships that are busy going about their own adventure. You will be able to interact the same way they interact with each other. As a player, you won't get any special treatment. While there will be some scripted story events involving NPC ships, most interactions will happen organically.

Live and Let die

Ship to ship combat was the most requested feature of all time, and it's finally here! All ships (including space stations) can be attacked. Ships will also be able to attack each other and YOU! It's even possible to fight more than one opponent at once!

Ship combat is inspired by two legendary games - Starsector and FTL. If you've played those, the combat will feel familiar.

Several new ship devices were added to make combat possible:

• 5 types of weapons (Ballistic, Laser, Missile, Plasma, and Point Defense)

• Shield Emitters replace Quantum Barriers and protect the entire ship regardless of placement

• Flux Capacitors will charge your DeLorean increase the amount of damage your shields can absorb before overloading

Please, take the Ship Combat tutorial to learn all the new mechanics and complete the new "Make Ship Combat Ready" quest to arm yourself acordingly.

Defeating a ship turns it into a Derelict that you can approach and salvage. The destroyed ship’s surviving loadout may appear as loot.

Ship Interactions

Several types of interactions can happen between ships - either between you and NPCs, or between NPCs themselves:

• Hail: Any ship can hail another to initiate a chat and trigger interactions

• Attack: A ship can attack another or join an ongoing battle

• Give Gift: A ship may offer gifts to improve faction relations

• Ask Fuel: A low-fuel ship can request fuel, affecting relationships

• Trade: Some ships are open to exchanging goods

• Extortion: Pirates may demand ransom under threat of combat

• Follow: A ship may tail another out of curiosity or with later intent

• Avoid: Threatened ships try to escape and hyperjump away

• Ignore: Ships may ignore you, which can be a relief when it’s pirates

• Surrender: Only in combat, and not guaranteed to work

• Insult: Throw insults and see what happens

Return Beacons

Found a resource rich sector you'd love to revisit? Drop a Return Beacon and make it one hyperjump away! This fast travel system is so good it should probably be illegal.

Warp Drives

Two new engine types make exploration easier. The Warp Drive lets you jump anywhere in your current region. The late-game Alien Warp Drive lets you warp to any region, regardless of distance. Forget hyperlane restrictions.

UI Enhancements

The UI continues to improve. v0.13 introduces locking tooltips and clickable text links to codex entries or object locations. If it's underlined, you can click it.

As always, there's soo much more.

You can read the full changelog below.

And, until next time; be safe out there, space cowboy.

The Changelog

v0.13.0 (2025.05.07) - [Major] Populate the universe with NPC ships of other factions -