Welcome to our 239th newsletter on Star Atlas! This weekly newsletter, published by Aephia Industries, focuses entirely on the development of this ambitious game. Here, we attempt to aggregate all the newsworthy tidbits revealed, primarily by the team, throughout the past week.
SAGE C4 Phase 2 has arrived! The PTR now includes Combat V2, the Nemesis Engine, Cultivation Claims, regional governance, zXP support, and a new Goal system to help players find their footing. Beyond that, we take a look at Atlas Legends, a promising community-built trading card game, and look at the next DAO proposal that just opened up for voting.
Let’s dive in!
SAGE C4 – Phase 2
SAGE C4 PTR Phase 2 is live! The following features are now live:
- zXP tracking — C4 now tracks zXP, connecting participation in the PTR with the broader Z.ink ecosystem. After you have created your PTR account, go to https://z.ink/dashboard to link it.
- Combat V2 — Combat has been rebuilt around a much deeper set of variables, including stat modifiers, damage types, shield types, and more. Fleet composition and matchup decisions now matter in entirely new ways.
- The Nemesis Engine — Hostile NPCs can now spawn on-chain. The Nemesis Engine introduces persistent enemy activity and a new source of pressure across the C4 map.
- Cultivation Claims — Cultivation Claims produce unique organic resources used to craft stims, adding a new production path to the C4 economy.
- The Democracy Module — Phase Two also introduces C4’s first regional governance system. Players can configure Starbase fees and capture revenue, giving regional control real economic weight.
- Goal System — More on this below
Another big change is that the Council Rank’s God mode has been removed. However, Council Rank progression has been sped up for the PTR, giving players more opportunity to advance and test the systems tied to higher ranks. Regular playing should unlock max level in about 30 days.
The Atlas Brew #213 added some additional player-facing details. In issue 237, we reported that the team was targeting roughly 1-1.5 million zXP per Phase 2 test cycle. Michael (CEO) now put firmer numbers on it: 500,000 base zXP for a 30-day cycle (2-3 such cycles are expected before going live), rising as high as 1.125 million zXP when players have the full 2.25x multiplier stack from a z.ink subscription and daily check-ins.
In order to start earning zXP, go to the z.ink dashboard and click your profile in the top-right corner. Then go to Connections and hit Link PTR.
We also learned more about the PvP reward loop itself. Michael said winners should be able to come out resource-positive through a system built around redeemable medallions, partial cargo theft, randomized ship-based loot drops, and a burn mechanic meant to keep the broader economy deflationary. The catch is simple enough: none of it counts until you get it out. Players will need to extract those medallions and looted goods back to a safe starbase before they can cash out.
With Phase 2, the team also fixed the safe zone expansion. Now, when a faction controls all entry points around a fully owned region, it effectively turns enclosed interior sectors into protected territory until an attacker breaks through a border first.
SAGE C4 – Goals Tracker
Goal System
On the onboarding side, the team pulled some of the tutorial burden forward instead of waiting entirely for the bigger Phase 3 campaign. Joseph Floyd (aka Arades) created a new in-client Goal system that went live alongside Phase 2. It is a simple, sorted checklist with instructions and internal links, guiding players through careers, menus, hotkeys, and core gameplay loops.
This goal system goes quite deep. For example, it explains what you need to research, and all the steps required to craft ship configurations!
![Atlas Legends [WIP]](https://assets.aephia.com/wp-assets/ff6ba95e452302681ed0076b4673a1f4d11eca811b3042419bfaea1c45c6cda0.png)
Atlas Legends [WIP]
Game Map Guide
Meanwhile, we launched our first SAGE C4 Phase 2 Mini-guide, focused entirely on the Game Map in SAGE C4, which is what you are presented with when you first create an account and when you open the game.
More guides are coming!
Atlas Legends
One thing that definitely should not be skipped from last week’s Atlas Brew #213 is Atlas Legends, the trading card game that Jindo (community admin) has been building in the Star Atlas universe. What made this segment stand out was not just that a community member showed off a side project on the Brew, but that Michael treated it as something that could meaningfully plug into the broader Star Atlas ecosystem.
Jindo said he started the project roughly two to three months ago because he felt Star Atlas needed a proper trading card game built around its lore, stories, and art. The current build is already further along than one might expect: it has its own launcher, account system, casual multiplayer, bot matches, daily missions, and starter decks, with deck-building still to come. For now, the focus is firmly on getting the off-chain gameplay loop right before worrying about deeper Web3 hooks.
That off-chain-first approach is probably the right call at this stage, but there is already a bigger ambition behind it. Jindo said the long-term goal is to let players sit down and play the card game through Star Atlas multiplayer services using the same account flow, while Michael compared the idea to Gwent inside The Witcher and openly discussed a future where players might walk into a tavern or station bar and launch an Atlas Legends match from inside the main Unreal client.
DAO Updates
Last week also put the next proposal on the governance calendar. PIP-34 has just opened up, and it seeks to fund another season of one of the ecosystem’s recurring lore media projects.
PIP-34: Star Atlas Crew Adventure Series – Season Production
Follow the Star Atlas Crew as they face challenges in Galia. The series is an ongoing cinematic story rooted directly in Star Atlas lore. The episodes will bridge the gap and bring new players to the game. This proposal funds the production of one complete season:
- Two months of weekly episodes, each 4 minutes 50 seconds or longer.
- 12 or more weekly YouTube Shorts tied to each weekly episode.
The request of 13,576,392 ATLAS covers the content pipeline: writing, world building, environment creation, character development, animation, sound design, original music, editing, and distribution on YouTube and X.
Earlier seasons (1–5) are already publicly released, including the re-release of Season 1 (Reimagined). This proposal provides the resources for the next season, allowing the series to continue expanding the Star Atlas universe and offering consistent, lore-driven media.
Structure:
- Structure: 1-off PIP
- Voting Opened: Sunday, July 19
- Voting Closes: Sunday, August 2 (end-of-day UTC)
Early results (1 day, ~15M PVP committed):
- For: 28.9%
- Against: 78%
- Abstain: 0%
Note that, earlier this year, we covered an earlier, similar Crew Adventure Series funding request, which ultimately failed.
Sneak Peeks
The Sperasoft team has been at it again, though more and more overlap with their previous art posts is starting to occur. Here is some of the “new” stuff they posted last week:
- Ustur Combat – by Sperasoft
- MUD Exo – by Ivan Podzorov
- MUD Exo – by Alex Dmitriev
- Sogmian Male Head – by Alex Dmitriev
- Sogmian Female Head – by Semyon Sokolov
Star Atlas – Ustur Combat – Created by Sperasoft [Concept Art]
Star Atlas – Sogmian Male Head – Created by Alex Dmitriev [Concept Art]
Star Atlas – Sogmian Female Head – Created by Semyon Sokolov [Concept Art]
That is it for this week! Thanks for reading, and until the next!