Jumpgate Evolution: Patches 1.0093 and 1.0094

The most significant item in the patch was the collection of changes to ECM equipment. The long-awaited ECM toggling function has now been enabled, and two new antimissile ECMs have been added. The new Jammer is a size 1 ECM that disrupts the guidance of missiles fired at your ship for 15 seconds, but drains a large amount of power when activated and takes 75s to recharge. The second new ECM is actually a redesigned PWD100. Formerly a single-use missile shield placed in the Modx slot, it is now a size 2 multi-use ECM. It still produces a shockwave that destroys any nearby missiles, but it now consumes about 18% of your fuel for each use, and can be activated again after 30s.

The PWD100 changes should go well with the third new piece of equipment: the Droptank. This is an external fuel tank mounted on a ship's missile hardpoints. When it is "fired", the Droptank completely refills your ship's fuel. Miners, artifact hunters, and even some combat pilots have expressed excitement over this new equipment. Miners typically expend large amounts of fuel maneuvering to new asteroids; additional fuel capacity should eliminate the need to dock before filling the hold.

On the economic side, stations now consume less water and food, and ore depots no longer automatically send ore to their faction's storage depot station (SDS). They now store all ore deposited in them until it is picked up by another pilot. Depots with available ore will broadcast their status to players, and any pilot entering a depot without ore will "purchase" a load of ore and be given a mission to deliver it to the SDS. Ore content of asteroids has also been increased by 20%, and asteroids which previously yielded no ore are now mineable.

The controversial /vouch command was also added in the patch. This command allows a rank 49 or 50 pilot to transfer political rating (PR) in his faction to another pilot. Some players have questioned the necessity of a feature that will primarily benefit pilots who have attacked civilians. Hopefully the reasoning behind this addition will soon be made clear.

Various small adjustments were also made to existing features. Ion cannons now have slightly less mass, the Injustice heavy laser now fires a bit faster (while doing the same damage per second), and the Warper pulse laser now has the same range as other pulse lasers. Negative PR will no longer automatically rise above -60, which should somewhat offset the effects of the /vouch command.

The official patch notes can be found here.