Orbit Imperium 0.3.0

Orbit Imperium 0.3.0 adds Heavy Fighters and Cruisers, Laser and Ion Technology, and Light Laser and Ion Cannon defenses. There are more choices in what you research, what you build, and what you send into a fight.

We've also spent time on the parts of the game you use every day. You can name your planets, move from coordinates straight to the galaxy, and see more useful information before committing resources or launching a fleet.

# More ships, research, and defenses

• Heavy Fighters require Shipyard 3, Armour Technology 2, and Impulse Drive 2. They have rapid fire against Small Cargo ships and Espionage Probes.
• Laser Technology requires Research Lab 1 and Energy Technology 2. Reach Laser Technology 3 with Shipyard 2 to build Light Lasers.
• Ion Technology requires Research Lab 4, Energy Technology 4, and Laser Technology 5. It opens the path to Cruisers and Ion Cannons.
• Cruisers require Shipyard 5, Ion Technology 2, and Impulse Drive 4. Their rapid fire is effective against Light Fighters, Rocket Launchers, and probes.
• Ion Cannons require Shipyard 4 and Ion Technology 4, adding a defense with stronger shields to your options.

New content requires explicit universe activation after deployment. The official server's deployment and activation are being coordinated with this release; self-hosted universes follow their operator's rollout.

# Less work to get around

Building, research, shipyard, and defense details share a clearer layout with costs, requirements, benefits, and active work close to the action controls. Orders confirm beside the button you used. Building and research links keep the selected planet, and resource production settings are available from the menu.

Galaxy views bring mission actions closer to their targets. Coordinate links open the right galaxy location, fleet dispatch previews arrival and return times, and fleet details load before switching planets. Compact controls and fleet rows fit smaller screens more reliably.

Reports have more useful previews and simpler detail screens. Opening a report marks it read. You can delete reports from your own list and restore them later; other players' copies stay intact. Espionage buildings follow the same order as the catalog, and probe-only espionage returns no longer add redundant reports.

# Planets, players, and sessions

You can rename your planets, and those names appear throughout the game. Public supporter names and cosmetics can appear alongside player identities. These are cosmetic; they add no gameplay advantage.

Active play renews the sign-in session, with a 30-day inactivity window. Background updates alone don't keep a session alive, and signing out still ends it. Optional analytics failures no longer interrupt the game. The homepage now includes a direct link to the Discord community.

# Upgrading a self-hosted universe

Back up your database and retain your previous image and active rules. Install orbit-imperium:0.3.0 across every API, worker, and operator process before activating content. Startup adds migration 15 for optional planet names. Existing unnamed planets retain their fallback labels.

For Accounts-backed installations, deploy the companion Accounts support for /api/auth/game-session/renew before this Orbit version. The rolling-session guide explains renewal and compatibility. Local authentication also supports the new inactivity window.

Deployment preserves saved universe rules. Start from a live export, retain its universe ID and base revision, and use the supplied preparation scripts for content you haven't enabled yet. Enable Impulse Drive before Heavy Fighters; Laser Technology before Ion Technology; and Ion Technology before Cruisers or Ion Cannons. The Light Laser script enables Laser Technology and Light Lasers together. Review orbit rules diff, apply with the deployed binary, then export again and run orbit audit. See the rules operations guide, Heavy Fighter guide, Laser guide, and Ion guide. The additional scripts are scripts/prepare-cruiser-rules.mjs and scripts/prepare-ion-cannon-rules.mjs.

Activation retains existing progress and accepted work. Refresh clients after activation. Keep definitions needed by owned units and paid jobs; don't downgrade to a binary that cannot read the active content. Beginner protection's multiplier is now configurable per universe; existing rules retain the default multiplier of five unless an operator explicitly changes it.

The game no longer bundles /source.tar.gz or its download link. Source remains available from the repository at the release tag, including GitHub's source archives. The release provides a Linux amd64 Docker archive and SHA256SUMS. License and dependency notices remain in the image.

See the GitHub release for downloads and the full source comparison for all changes.

Moons, expeditions, and colony abandonment remain unavailable. The official beta may reset before full public launch; this update does not reset the universe.

Play Orbit Imperium or join us on Discord.