Tonight at 7 PM EST (4 PM PST,) we're going to have our first live test of the new Capture Wars mode! This test will be open to everyone who has upgraded to version 14.6 (so that we can stress test it - as with any beta test, expect bugs.) The goal in this scenario will be to choose a race, and then capture as many sectors as possible for your race. You'll be considered hostile to every other race in this mode, and sectors can be both lost and recaptured. Friendly fire is turned off for ships of your race, and Hive will control any uncaptured sectors. The scenario is intended to persist for a number of days at a stretch, once we take it out of beta.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For the purposes of this test, anyone is allowed to participate. However, once the scenario goes live for serious playing, only upgraded accounts will be able to participate in Capture Wars, even for joining ships. Each upgraded account will also be locked to their chosen race in this mode, for the duration of the war. No switching sides mid-game. (You'll still be able to use the other races' ships in other scenarios, so don't worry about that!)

For those wondering why CW will be an upgrade-only game mode, please bear in mind that we give you access to most of the content in the game for free. At worst, someone who has upgraded must be the one to launch a ship. We think it's more than fair to let you keep doing that with the existing content. CW is different, since it's our first crack at a persistent game mode. It will also lay the ground work for more persistent content in the future. A one time upgrade (for life, mind you) at a cost of $5 isn't too much to ask for that access.

As usual, we'll be on our Teamspeak server tonight, so join us, won't you? ts.quintet.us:5

We may also be streaming to our Twitch channel.

Also in 14.6:

- Carmine has added major improvements to assist the game's stability for our Linux users.

- Passwords on ships now persist upon returning to the lobby.