NEBULOUS: Fleet Command 0.6.2.6 targets Alliance small-ship blobs

Patch 0.6.2.6 (build 260903-1430) for NEBULOUS: Fleet Command is out on Sept. 3, following a Public Test Branch cycle and 1.5 months of playtesting. Its main focus is Alliance (AN) small-ship blobs; its secondary focus is carrier gameplay and how anti-air and anti-ship loadouts interact.

OSP's primary anti-blob Bomb Shells are stronger:

• Fragments now retry to find the target's hull: 2x for 250mm, 3x for 600mm.
• 250mm: blast radius 500m (was 300), component damage 16 (was 12), armor penetration 22cm (was 30), 6 fragments per target (was 8), and 50% hit probability vs craft (was 100). This makes it more frigate/corvette-focused and less effective against heavier armor.
• 600mm: armor penetration 40cm (was 30) and damage probability vs craft/missiles 25% (was 15%), making it useful against ships up to light cruisers.
• Random effect multiplier is down to 2% (was 10), and burst particles were simplified to reduce performance impact.

Jamming LOBs now remember the last range to the jamming ship if a track was held within 30 seconds before jamming started. That lets time-fuzed shells fire on jammed LOBs until range changes. Jamming still covers advances and retreats, but is no longer blanket invulnerability.

The Strobe Correlator costs 15 points (was 25) and can now broadcast jamming LOBs to the sensor network. Multiple LOBs can be automatically crossed for a fireable fix—unless comms jamming disrupts it. EO seekers also stay jammed for 1 second after leaving a dazzler's area of effect, and all ACT(RADAR) seekers drop to 2.5s lock TTGI (was 3).

OSP gets the new SGM-3 Flail missile body. The SGM-2's limited cruise range forced maneuverability and damage tradeoffs to reach distant targets; the Flail gives OSP fleets long-range cruise missiles that stay highly maneuverable in the terminal phase.

All fighters are 25% faster. Loadout mass is now based on warhead type, with anti-ship warheads far heavier than fragmentation warheads. Heavy loadouts apply a -33% speed penalty instead of a turn-rate penalty. Pure anti-air loadouts get the full speed boost for interception, while strike-carrying craft fly at roughly their previous speed.

Speed updates: Tanto 112m/s (was 75), Barracuda 100m/s (was 65), Pike 130m/s (was 85). The overmass penalty now affects top speed instead of maneuverability and is decoupled from base frame mass. Formation movement uses the group's slowest speed, while independent movement uses true max speed. Barracuda base frame mass is 10 (was 11). Ceramic Tiling's skin-thickness buff is now +0.125 (was +0.05) with no turn-rate debuff.

• Skirmish-specific Seven Sisters map added from the campaign; more campaign maps are planned for skirmish later.
• Ship callsigns now show to teammates in fleet selection, lobby preview, and deployment screens.
• Flathead gains a C1 mount on the top stern; all thrusters and main engines have 25 damage threshold (was 15).
• Sturgeon bomber frame costs 12 points (was 15); WAKE(THERM) validator costs 3 points (was 4).
• R-1 rockets cost 1 point per 6 (was 1 each); FBU-15 Fragmentation Bombs cost 1 point per 3 (was 1 each). Barracuda and Sturgeon R-1 pods have 0 extra swap work; Sturgeon R-1 base accuracy is 0.05 (was 0.1).
• 35mm Nose Guns cost 0 points (was 2); Gun Pod ammo is 100 rounds (was 250); Gun Turret ammo is 300 rounds (was 1000). 35mm Flechette costs 1 per 250, has 3.3m collision radius (was 2.5), and Sturgeon 100mm Gun Pods cycle in 0.5s (was 1s).
• T30 Cannon and T81 Plasma Cannon damage threshold is 25 (was 15). OSP Skiff advanced radar sensitivity is -39 (was -37).
• Starter fleets updated, and tactical-view projectile particles are larger.

Bug fixes include AMMs ranging out against accelerating targets, bomb-shell fragments reporting damage to the wrong ship, WAKE seekers not seeing craft countermeasures, ML-9 Mine Launcher cost stacking, MLS launcher salvo sequencing, BSHRT continuous weapons firing off-target, tutorial objective triggers, Flathead nameplate overlap, and Solomon paint-mask issues.