Starlanes 2.0

The most advanced skill on Alexa has gotten a recent upgrade. There have been several new features that enhance gameplay and usability.

Configuration

Five new ships have been added. Or, rather, the ability to change your ship into one of six types. Each is optimized for a different game function: transition distance, carrying capacity, or overall range.

Tide

The geography of connected worlds is no longer fixed. At high tide, it is easier to reach certain worlds, and at low tide, it is harder. This enables new strategic techniques that can take advantage of the geography.

Leaderboard

The leaderboard is now available in-game. Additionally the concept of faction leaders has also been introduced. Whoever is top of the leaderboard for their faction is the leader and has access to special commands.

Messages

One of the perks of being faction leader is the ability to send faction members messages. This was added for administration, but now there is a command that will let you reply messages in case you miss them. This gives a much better sense of community.

Fuel

Unlimited travel is no longer allowed. You have a certain amount of fuel that regenerates over time. Fuel is only expended while transporting drones. If your hold is empty, you can travel anywhere you like. This prevents highly active users from dominating the game and makes you think more tactically about your moves.

Badges

Gameplay is now rewarded with a badge based achievement system. As you conquer or explore systems, these are noted at bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels. You can query your own badges in game or see others on the leaderboard.

Briefing

You can ask for a daily briefing that will give you a rundown of recent activity and combats. This is very useful for working out when someone is messing with a world you've taken as your own.

Tutorial

In case you get lost in all the new features, there is a much-needed tutorial system. This walks you through the basic gameplay and gets you started with the game concepts. You even get a badge for completing it!

Knock Knock

The updates here are not quite as comprehensive as for Starlanes.

The interaction model has been tweaked to avoid more false "quit" matches. It used to drop the conversation with just an "OK" rather a lot. It's much better at that now.

The Help, Repeat, and Cancel features have been added. Although "help" is more humorous than helpful.

Lastly, sometimes after a joke is done, there is some sort of canned "ba-da-bum" noise. Tres amuse.