The Rifts have opened – Interstellar Rift Development Update 054

There are Skrill on the port bow, the invasion has begun.

 

In this patch we’ve introduced the first incarnation of the interstellar Rift mission system. Players will find the new bulletin board terminals on the starter stations of all the factions. From there they will be able to accept missions which they can complete for monetary, reputation and resource rewards.This first version will only feature kill missions where you encounter drones, and our new alien enemy. In upcoming patches we will expand the mission system to include trade missions, exploration and multi-tiered missions with additional objectives.

Skrill
by SplitPolygon
on Sketchfab

The first of these alien species are called the Skrill and it appears they are the vanguard for a much bigger invasion.

The major powers in the the galaxy have started handing out missions to stop these vile new creatures

So with this update we also see the first implementation of true NPC enemies these new enemies will react based on your action in combat as well as the strength of your ship. Right now it’s rather basic as we improve them over time they will become more formidable. The Skrill will team up if they find someone or something they don’t like, and gather around objects they find in space.

Killing these creature will also allow you to salvage a new resource which can be sold for a nice fee and in the future will also have a more practical use.

We’ve also changed the way targeting works. Now target markers will only show their name when you aim your ship at them. In addition we’ve also added in the ability to target everything regardless of how far away it is. We hope to reduce the sometimes excessive amounts of screen clutter that could occur when there were too many objects clustered in a single area.

The notification system has been updated to show multiple status messages at once, and these messages are now shown in the upper left of the screen, no longer obstructing your view.
As always we hope that you enjoy this weeks update and if you would like to know more and  see sneak peeks at upcoming patches please follow us on facebook, twitter, our own forums or our Steam forums.