This weeks experimental update brings with it quite a major change to the universe of interstellar Rift! Game progression has been cut up into separate tiers, or levels, that players will have to work towards in order to upgrade their ships and equipment.
Everyone will start at tier 0, using the equipment available at this tier players will be able to advance to tier one, two and finally three. Much like equipment is now divided into tiers, so are star systems! Meaning that each star system now has a corresponding tier level associated with it. In order to access these higher tier systems players will need to increase their reputation level with one of the four major factions, so that they will be able to purchase a tier appropriate navigation cartridge with which they can access these more dangerous star systems via the rift generator.
This also means that a lot of resources are now locked away per system, and the resource cost for a lot of devices has changed to accommodate this. Stores now only sell tier appropriate wares and missions only reference resources from their own tier.
We are also experimenting with starting the stores empty, and have them be filled by drones and visiting stations. This is something we will be tweaking during the experimental phase of this update.
All the starter stations now have a faction office where players can purchase basic items as well as faction navigation cartridges.
These new progression systems will be iterated upon in the next few updates, so your feedback is very valuable, please let us know what you think!
For full patch notes, and to leave feedback, see here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/363360/discussions/4/1727575977526474415/
Instructions on how to join the experimental branch can be found here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/363360/discussions/4/350542145693906320/
Thank you all for playing and see you starside!
-The Split Polygon Team