Hey, Junkers,

Two weeks have passed, which means we’re here with another patch.

The most significant changes you’ll notice are:

• new score system,
• the upgraded news screen,
• builder improvements,
• blueprint and shop UI improvements.

Note that on Friday Feb 24 there will be another content update with more new features and balance changes. We decided to split this week’s update into two to allow us more time to test and polish all the planned features so stay tuned for further changes.

New Scoring System
The biggest change you’ll notice is the new and fairer scoring system. With this change we’d like to address complaints about unfair match-ups, where high and low level players were matched together. We’re still examining the numerical balance so please let us know, what you think about the starter version.

• Score now reflects ship power in a match - Ships are now assigned a score value ranging from 60 to 240 at the start of each match based on their power rating compared to the average for the match.
• Team deathmatch victory condition has been changed from having the most kills to achieving the larger score in the time limit.
• Assists now matter more - Assisting in destroying a ship now rewards points proportional to the damage done to each contributing player.
• You can read all the details in this Dev Diary: https://galacticjunkleague.com/?a=news.detail&id=45&n=Dev-diary---23-----A-fairer-score-system.

Matchmaking

• The formula, which assigns ratings to ships has been tweaked to better reflect ship power at high levels.
• The minimum size of matches has been increased from 3v3 to 4v4.

Galactic Junk News Improvements

• The UI has been redesigned. It now includes one large screen and four smaller messages that scroll through it.
• The shop now links to the store as well.

Builder Improvements

• It is now possible to place Armor Plates on the blocks in front of missiles ( http://prnt.sc/ecd8pi ).
• The game now remembers block rotation after placing.
• The game now remembers the last selected skin.
• Two new block colors have been added - two shades of pink.

Blueprint Screen Improvements

The blueprint mechanic and the sale of ships in the shop was introduced shortly before the Steam release and we’ve felt that the UI and UX of these features need to be made more clear and user friendly. In the near future even more changes more changes are planned for the shop and blueprint screen (i.e dynamic price of bundles and ships based, on which blocks you already own, UI improvements and a tutorial for both blueprints and the shop).

• It is now possible to research blocks through the blueprint screen, if you own a ship blueprint that requires further research
• It is now possible to preview classes and class blueprints before unlocking them at Rookie Ship at lvl 10

Shop Improvements

• Block bundles (and ship blueprints which also include blocks) now include information about research requirements.
• The flow for buying a new ship has been improved. If you have met the requirements you get sent to the new ship’s hangar slot. If you haven’t met the requirements you’ll get sent to the blueprint screen.
• All purchases now have to be confirmed.

Other changes

• Nickname restrictions have been introduced.
• Offensive nicknames and ship designs have been changed or removed.
• In the past two weeks we have started banning disruptive players.
• The login screen now informs players about the status of their connection.

Bugfixes

• An code error has been fixed, which caused a portion of FPS drops.
• Several minor gameplay and UI bugs.