Exploration has been one of our biggest objectives when we started Interstellar Rift. Today we take the first step to realising that goal. Today we implement the first version of infinite universe generation. Up to this patch there were no asteroid fields beyond 100 kilometers from the starting station. Now the game will start to continuously generate new asteroid fields and stations the further you fly out.

This first iteration will have several space stations, mineable asteroid fields and large asteroids. But now that the system is online we can gradually start to add new things to the universe generator to fill your universes with cool new stuff.

In addition to the universe generator we are also adding a new resource recipe. You will now be able to create steel by combining 2 units of iron and 1 unit of carbon. Steel has been added to the required resources of all tech 2 devices and some of the smaller devices. But don’t worry you wont need stand next to your life support huffing as much oxygen as possible in order to acquire carbon. Since carbon is now abundant in all asteroid fields as it can be found as an additional resource found in most asteroid types.

But wait there’s more. Because you can now spend much more time and fly much further trying to find new stations and resources it may be hard for your friends to find you, therefore we are adding a new ship device, the transponder. The transponder allows you to send out a signal which can be picked up from 150 kilometers away when activated. You can set the transponder to transmit any message you want.

There has also been a revamp to the engine display in the cockpit to make it a little clearer which engines are online, or are functioning at a lower capacity.

Please note that you will have to rebuild your server from the admin menu so that the universe generator will engage. however this means that all of the ships that are stored in the Store-o-Tron will be removed and the resources will be refunded to the individual players

NOTE: to continue with an old galaxy the world has to be rebuild, to do this the Admin can press F8 and hit rebuild world. This might take a couple of minutes.

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 right here, on our Steam forums.