Welcome to our 160th newsletter on Star Atlas! This weekly newsletter, published by Aephia Industries, focuses entirely on the development of this ambitious game. Here, we try to aggregate all the newsworthy tidbits revealed [mainly by the team] throughout the past week.
The past week was a big one; the team launched Local Markets and the new RFR replacement, Faction Infrastructure Contracts! Together, these features represent the new Dawn of the Freighter update to SAGE.
In other news, a new partnership has been announced, and of course, the Golden Carnival is still going full steam ahead. Last but definitely not least, the team is hosting an end-of-year Town Hall this Wednesday!
SAGE: Dawn of the Freighter
This past week, the team launched a significant update to SAGE, marking a major new milestone in its evolution! The team has dubbed this release, the successor to Starbased, Dawn of the Freighter!
The update consists of two new features:
- Local Marketplaces
- Faction Infrastructure Contracts.
We’ll go deeper into these below!
SAGE – Starbased – Local Markets: Start screen
Local Markets are Live!
This past week, the much-anticipated Local Markets were introduced to SAGE as part of the Dawn of the Freight update! This represents a big leap forward in SAGE’s economic gameplay and adds a whole new layer of strategy to the game!
Local Markets bring a new approach to player-to-player trading within Star Atlas. Unlike the Galactic Marketplace, these markets operate within individual star systems, meaning all trades are confined to the system where they are initiated. This decentralization creates distinct regional economies where the availability of goods and prices can vary based on local supply and demand. As a result, players need to carefully consider the location of their trading activities and may find opportunities in moving goods between systems.
This change emphasizes the importance of logistics and strategic planning in the game. With trade now tied to specific locations, players will need to consider factors such as travel distances, fuel costs, and potential competition within a region. Local Markets mark a shift toward a more dynamic and immersive economy, making every system a potential hub of activity or scarcity, depending on player behavior.
We wrote a Guide on Local Markets, providing more in-depth information and clear instructions on how to use this new feature.
Star Atlas – Faction Infrastructure Contracts
Faction Infrastructure Contracts (RFR) are Live!
Going live alongside Local Markets (albeit one day later), the team relaunched a new, upgraded version of their Request for Resources ATLAS emission mechanic, dubbed Faction Infrastructure Contracts! This new version comes with deeper in-game integration and is reliant on the new Local Marketplace functionality that launched alongside it.
These contracts allow players to craft specific items in-game and sell them back to the team for a fixed amount of ATLAS, providing a new avenue for earnings. Unlike the previous iteration, this new system doesn’t impose a strict daily cap on the amount of FICs players can create, though theoretical limitations still exist due to one of the FIC’s ingredients, SDUs, being reliant on the scanning mechanics. This reintroduction aims to complement the existing Loyalty Point-based earnings, addressing issues where players within factions competed against each other for daily ATLAS allocations, which inadvertently discouraged recruitment.
We also wrote a Guide on Faction Infrastructure Contracts, which we recommend reading if this is all new to you.
Note: At the time of publication, the initial supply of buy-orders ran out at some Starbases. There is, however, no hard limit to these. The team will replenish these at their earliest convenience!
Fees Glitch
As mentioned in our guide, the team intended to levy a fee on FIC sales, similar to the sales fee on the Galactic Marketplace. However, due to a miscommunication, the first batch of FIC purchase orders was created without this fee applied.
Michael (CEO) and the team identified this, and they will attempt to remedy it with the next batch, which should go live later today (time of publication).
Star Atlas – State of Star Atlas Town Hall – December 18th
EOY Town Hall – State of Star Atlas
The team officially announced that this Wednesday, December 18th, they will host a two-hour end-of-year Town Hall event. It’s dubbed the State of Star Atlas, which seems like a fitting topic for closing out the year! The event will replace the Atlas Brew for that day and, reportedly, will include some interesting alpha!
Michael has clearly hinted that they will unveil the roadmap for 2025. Overall, this promises to be an event you do not want to miss!
Star Atlas – Golden Carnival 2024 – Schedule
Golden Carnival
Week 6 of the Golden Carnival is in the rearview mirror, which means there are ten more weeks left!
Last week, 91 prizes sponsored by Busan and Ogrika were distributed to Star Atlas players who submitted Golden Tickets. Over 2.2 million of these tickets were submitted, considerably less than the 2.8 million we saw in week 2 when the same prize pool was available. Some Solana congestion issues were ongoing leading up to the deadline this past Friday, which may have caused some procrastinators to miss out.
Meanwhile, week 7 has kicked off! This will be another week brought to you by Fimbul, which means the Fimbul BYOS Tankship is on the menu again!
The official in-lore introduction for week 7 reads as follows:
Soldiers of fortune, revolutionaries, and rebels—rejoice! Fimbul, the stalwart manufacturer of the resistance, returns to the Golden Carnival with a new array of distinctive vessels. Submit your tickets, dare to test your fate, and trust in the cosmic currents. For if fortune smiles, you may soon command the legendary Tankship, a symbol of power and defiance in the Galia Expanse.
Star Atlas x Valley
Partnership with Valley
Valley, a Web3 Arcade Company and Indie Game Development Studio, announced a partnership with Star Atlas last week! They will develop an arcade-style game, using Star Atlas IP, that will be playable on the future Valley Arcade Cabinets, as well as on their Web Arcade solution.
If everything works out, the game will also find its way to virtual arcade cabinets in Star Atlas in return!
Holiday Break
The team will take their customary 2-week holiday break from December 21st until January 5th. That means this newsletter will take a break on December 30th and January 6th, as there won’t be any team-related news to report on. This means that after next week’s newsletter (finding its way to your inbox on December 23rd), you can expect the next one on January 13th.
You’ve reached the end of this week’s issue! See you next week!