0.25.3 is Live!   Changelog:

Major Changes

• The exp curve has been smoothed out. The climb to level 20 is a bit slower, and the average player should be able to reach a maximum of about 5 levels higher than before
• The game text was given a sweeping overhaul, adjusting grammar, readability, spelling, and consistency. Localization efforts can now ramp up!
• Changed many game terms in minor ways. For instance, Hull Strength is now Hull
• Durability is now Shields

Balance Changes

• Blade: Blades not generated by the player no longer collide with enemy projectiles Blade: 1/s -> .8/s rate of fire. Player assembled Blades bypass this restriction
• Blade now works properly with Barrage, gaining the appropriate number of projectiles from Engineer and other sources
• Homing Strike Blades no longer collide with enemy projectiles
• Homing Strike Blades now use the 3 prong blade graphic
• Homing Strike: Now adds additional time before projectiles begin degenerating
• Armor Stacks no longer require damage to "hit" in order to generate. Any damage taken will do. Damage to proc an armor stack is accumulated fractionally
• Corrosion Stacks can now be gradually applied by burn damage (not damage from ignited enemies). Hits still generate 1 stack per hit
• Essence Sap has been reworked for clarity: When you damage an enemy, store 1.5% of your damage as Essence. Essence causes your hull to recover over time. You recover hull from Essence at a rate of 7% of your maximum hull /s. The amount of stored Essence cannot exceed 7% of your maximum hull
• Masochism: +4% -> +3% damage taken from enemies
• Dying Star: 10 -> 11 self damage /s. (To compensate for constantly having Armor Stacks)
• Sanctuary: ~+20% maximum recovery rate (achieved at minimum shields)
• Charged Shot: Adds even more damage and velocity with charge time. In many cases, this is now actually a DPS increase
• Salvo: +4% Stockpile rate for each additional projectile
• Salvo: Stockpile rate now correctly uses rate of fire (this was a long-standing bug)
• Barrage: Low and high damage have been lowered by 10%
• Barrage: Barrage now extends the time before projectiles begin to degenerate, compensating for some of the range lost to projectile size
• Fusillade: -20% -> -15% blast radius and total projectile damage. +20% spread -> +15%
• Antimatter Rounds now considers 10 stockpile worth 1 projectile for the purpose of calculating self-damage, instead of 5
• Siege Weaponry: self-damage has been reduced by 10%
• Adjusted the degeneration system, making it more consistent across different weapons
• Railgun: Base damage 155 -> 165
• Flak: Fussed with the effective range in light of degeneration changes
• Self Destruct: 50 -> 25 base damage
• Overseer: -2.5% -> -2.0% thrust per your max construct assembly
• Dart: 15% -> 50% Splash damage from base damage. This isn't intended to do more than provide quality of life
• Drones & Allies: Improved avoidance of dangers. This works with and without Evasion
• Changed the logic for whether weapons are offered with Overseer. If you have Overseer, they're now offered only if you have Integrated Weaponry or Loaded Mines, but not Hidden Power
• Seraph orbs and Station Omega orbs now ramp up to their full damage over 1 second. Because these are spammed, this helps with being "insta-gibbed" by them if they're spawned on top of you
• Scion uses the new beam-lance artwork from Reflexive Shields, turns a little faster, maintains its beam a little longer, and can spawn more Beamcasters a little more frequently
• Increased some enemy base hull values. Beamcasters: 150 > 175. Tentacles: 60 > 75. Serpents: 140 > 160
• Reduced Eclipse core base hull 750 > 700
• Cargo boxes can now screen wrap for 2 seconds after their creation

Input Improvements
Improved directional steering behavior for game pad:

• Fixed the odd "jerking" motion when starting to turn
• Turn intensity compensates for the size of the dead zone
• Refactored and minimized a bunch of the player input code
• Player input handling now performs directional strafe logic
• Directional steering mode allows arbitrary strafe/blink angle

Bug Fixes

• Ataraxia now recalculates by refreshing the loadout, which fixes some problems with it. This appears to also solve the weird Research-Banish interaction
• Gamepad Controls tutorial now shows the correct right stick used for steering
• Fixed a bug where small orbs could not screen wrap