New in Orbit: the quest log. J opens an overview of all contracts; on a controller hold Y, on a phone tap the contract panel, or pick CONTRACTS in the pause menu. The flight pauses, as in the skill tree.
- Tracked: Up to three contracts can be tracked, from any zone. Each has a fixed number and color: 1 amber, 2 green, 3 violet. Freshly accepted contracts are tracked automatically while a slot is free.
- Accepted: everything running, by zone, with description, progress, target with compass direction and distance, client and reward. TRACK and UNTRACK swap contracts, FOCUS picks where the big arrow points.
- At the stations: what the stations still offer, with reward and the way there. Accepting still happens when docked.
Target markers in flight. Instead of a single arrow, the screen edge now shows every tracked contract in its color: arrow with number, short text and distance. If the target is on screen, four corner brackets frame it. The zone’s duty (!) and the main goals, key half, guardian carrying a half and gate (◆), always show. Contracts in other zones lead to the zone border first. N (controller: tap Y) switches focus. The contract panel shows tracked contracts with colored number and bar, and the system map shows targets as rings in their color.
Fixed: endless ore and lost loot.
- A sold module kept its quality, and buying it back at standard price inherited it. Resale paid up to 1.7× — at every docking. Now the quality leaves with the sale.
- Orbit+: The base module of an equipped item could be removed and sold at a station and came back on the next click. Now it shows as “Orbit+ · from your item”, without a button, and a bought part no longer pushes it out.
- Orbit+: The two items from the Core dropped into space, and 3.4 s later the jump to the next system cleared everything. Now they come straight aboard, into storage when the hold is full. Loot left lying around jumps along.
- Orbit+: With full storage the new item was silently scrapped, even legendaries. Now the worst item goes, and docking tells you.
- The weapon level from the shop bypassed the ship-level cap. Now the cap applies there too.
- “Take on cargo” used up one of the three ware slots; about every third station had only two wares. Now there are always three.
Equipment that works.
- Long-range scanner: only worked in the Halde’s jamming nebula. Now places are discovered from 1.5× the distance everywhere, and location arrows reach 1.5× as far.
- Scanner (Ortung): arrow range grows with quality, legendary 4,550 instead of 2,600 px.
- Drill cooling and reactive armor now scale with quality. System map and all-round targeting work all-or-nothing and no longer get quality tiers.
- Targeting computer: reached 180° from epic and made the pricier all-round targeting pointless. Now at most 170°.
- Maneuvering thrusters now also work with mouse steering.
- Power-up capsules don’t run down inside a station’s safe zone. Shield recharge is only offered when the shield isn’t full; auto-aim and drill upgrades only when the system is switched on.