RELEASE NOTES 4 August 2026
B Big Bang Smugglers
Release 4 August 2026

v2.0.9

Tavern retinues, NPC trader encounters, planetary minelaying, corp banners, and the Tesseract drive fix.

Changelog for v2.0.9.

Tavern retinues

  • Taverns at stardocks and pirate havens hire retinues on contract. Three tiers, each raising your combat power against NPCs.
  • Wages are drawn from your wallet every cycle. Miss a payment or lose a fight and the retinue deserts. Contracts run 48 hours maximum.
  • Federation Auxiliary and Cutthroat Company are available at opposite ends of the standing range.
  • Retinues apply against NPCs only. Player-versus-player combat and planet sieges are unaffected.

NPC trader encounters

  • Merchant ships encountered in space can be traded with: three deals each, priced against the live market anchors.
  • Traders deeper toward the rim may carry contraband, available above level 3.
  • Traders can also be robbed. Yield chance is derived from the same combat model as a real fight; resistance means a real fight.
  • Robbery costs alignment and guild standing, raises pirate standing, and in lawful space accumulates Federation heat until patrols engage on sight.
  • Two named merchant princes added to the galaxy roster.

Planetary minelaying

  • Planet owners with barracks can convert garrison fighters into mines in the planet’s own sector.
  • The mines are ordinary mines: they trigger on entry, decay, spare corp-mates, and can be destroyed.
  • Conversion is one-way, and the fighters spent are no longer available for siege defense.

Corp banners

  • Corporations can carry a Federation, Independent or Pirate banner, with membership tolerance, leader-set changes, and port-holding restricted by faction.
  • Disabled this season; enables at a season boundary.

Fixes

  • The Tesseract drive required level 100 while the season maximum is 50, making it unobtainable. It now requires level 40, matching its progression gate.
  • Internal: migration ordering guard.

Android: version 2.0.9 is live on Google Play. Web players are already on it.