Version 4.81 introduces almost three hundred new systems into the mod, 29 of them clan systems. Many original Freelancer limitations were removed: maximum item price is now 1 billion instead of 10 million, player credit limit increased to 2 billion. Capital ship shields and turrets have several ranks now, making balance issues a thing of the past. 4.81 also features a number of notable new ships and items, everything carefully tested. See complete changelog below.
Note that this is first beta, so modification bugs and errors shouldn't be a rare thing. Report every issue that you find, even if it seems unimportant, in our Bugs and Suggestions thread.
- New ships:
Nomad Cruiser
Scimatar (Advanced Dagger)
More new ships will come in next beta releases.
- 282 new systems, including 29 populated clan systems. See more details on new systems below 4.81 changelog.
- 29 new Guardian factions that inhabit clan systems.
- Player credit limit increased to 2 billion.
- Maximum price of ships, items and goods increased to 1 billion (from 10 million).
- NPC faction tag is now gained at slightly lower reputation.
- Ship visible distance increased, 'Far' display distance increased, docking initiation distance doubled.
- Capital ship turrets re-ranked: battleships can equip only level 10; cruisers - only level 9; gunboats and transports - level 8 and below; freighters and fighters - level 7 and below.
- Capital ship shields re-ranked: battleships can equip level 10 and below; cruisers - level 9 and below; gunboats and certain transports - level 8 and below; other transports, trains and freighters - level 7 and below.
- 8 new shields added for capital ships and transports, all shields available for purchase.
- All station and weapon platform turrets became more powerful.
- Battleship cruise disruptor added, stats for previously added CDs improved.
- Nova and Mortars became energy weapons (to deal with battleship immunity issues).
- Supernova Mine damage and price reduced, item renamed into Nuclear Mine.
- Faction reputations will now change in a different and more complicated way, including The Order reputation.
- Former Freelancer ID renamed into Civilian ID.
- New Freelancer ID allows unlawful activities; may be purchased after level 35 as an alternative to Neutral ID.
- One more armor upgrade and new credit card (100 million) available.
- More pilots will eject from certain ships.
- Ships are sold for 50% price, not 80% like before.
- Bribes became more expensive.
- New modification of Slipstream available (old one is now useless and needs to be re-bought).
- Inverness base renamed into Mull base (Inverness is new system name).
- Singleplayer: campaign capital ships have weaker hull now.
- Special administrator faction and items available.
- Various bug fixes and infocard corrections.
Note on new 4.81 systems
Most of 282 new systems added in this release are not populated, containing only jump holes and suns. Those systems are basis of Discovery mod future development, which might even include player-made content.
Out of those 282, 29 are clan systems that already contain bases and encounters. Those encounters involve Guardian factions. Player reputation with Guardian factions depends on reputation with appropriate original faction, but be careful: all Guardians are hostile when you start the game, and you'll have to earn their loyalty.
Clan systems do not contain any exclusive equipment and are not part of profitable trade routes. You won't ever need to visit them if you don't like to.
Note that all original paths between systems remain intact, and you'll find all familiar jump gates and jump holes in places where they were. Jump holes to new systems are located in outer regions of original systems, but never too far away. None of these jump holes were placed inside asteroid fields or nebulas, making life of large ship owners a little easier.
Discovery navigation map will be included with the mod (discoverymap.gif file). However, many paths betweens systems are less obvious than you may think.
Beta 2 fixes several major bugs found in 4.81 beta 1 and should help in tracking server stability issues. Additionally, there are some minor corrections related to ship balance and fixing infocard errors.
![[Image: discoverymap.gif]](http://discoverygc.com/files/discoverymap.gif)