Contents
- Range-Finder:
The Range-Finder is finally here.  How does it work?  The person using the Range-Finder can point at enemy ships to reveal their distance.  This information can then be communicated to other parties on your crew via the normal communication channels.  Additionally, if a gunner hops on a gun while the Range-Finder is actively being used on an enemy target, the gunner can see indicators on their reticule that will help them aim and lead more effectively.  In the heat of combat, the ships are constantly moving and changing directions, so think of the range-finder as a guide as to generally where to aim instead of something that will give you pin-point accuracy.  The Range-Finder takes up a Pilot skill slot just like the Spyglass and it will require someone’s time away from their normal responsibilities to help range-find.  Strategize wisely!
- 4v4 Battle on the Dunes
- Christmas hats!  Christmas comes early in GoIO.
From now through New Years, if you log into the game, the new Christmas hats would be  unlocked for you and waiting in your inventory!

Features
- Match Scrambling:
Matches created now have a scrambling feature enabled by default.  Scramble means that after a match, randomly selected ships on a team (with all the crew members together) will switch places with ships on the opposite team.  The idea behind scramble is to take strides towards more balanced matches and to encourage people to play with and get to know others.  The scramble feature will come with its tooltips and visual effects when ships are being scrambled.  If a ship is switching sides, the ship will flash for a short period of time, and a scramble/shuffle icon will display next to it.  Both scrambled and unscrambled matches will have new indicators in match list.  The scramble feature can be toggled off at match creation.
- Crew and ship slots swapping:
Players in the match lobby can now request to swap places.  A crew member can request to swap slots with another crew or a captain.  A captain can request to swap an entire ship (with all the crew members together and intact) with another captain.  To use this, simply click on the name of the person with whom you would like to swap with to open the player menu.  In it, look for Swap Slot and Swap Ship. Once clicked, a request is sent to the recipient through Notifications. Once the recipient accepts, the swap takes place.  Please note that if someone already moved places, then swap request is no longer valid and will have to be resent.
- New match end experience:
When the match ends, there is now a new victory screen, showing the winning team in team poses, complete with player characters in full outfits on ship decks.  Progress and stats from the match will also be displayed.
- New spawn system:
At ship death, the captain is now able to choose where to spawn—this means all spawn points for all maps have been tweaked to facilitate for this added user choice.  This solves several issues with the previous spawn system and will further facilitate team coordination with spawn coordination across team ships.  Decide whether to head straight back into combat or wait for your teammate to die to spawn together.  However, please note that there is waiting time limit so you can’t wait for your teammates forever!  Once the time limit is up, a random spawn point will be selected for you to spawn at like before.
- See players on other ships:
It’s finally back!
- Ability to turn profanity filter off:
There is now an extra selection in Options to turn profanity filter completely off, if you so choose.
- Additional team voice chat channel in match lobby:
An additional voice chat channel is now added to match lobbies.  Currently, when you hit X in lobby, you get to talk to everyone in the match lobby.  We’ve now added another channel for you to talk to just your team, so you can now coordinate through voice.  To use it, simply hit C.
- Improvements in Novice matches:
We’ve added more tooltips to help new players find their way around in game better.  Quick Join and Match tooltips now better explains Novice matches and the idea of scramble.  New tooltips are added to the main screen and ship customization to better explain what Novice and preset loadouts mean, and how to play without preset loadouts.
- Expanded Practice mode:
You can now practice with up to 2 ships on either side in addition to just your own ship
- Altitude meter improvement:
Adjustments to the helm altitude meter have been made so that altitude displays are clearer and more accurate.
- Database and server optimization to better optimize lobby loading
- Server filter setting saved:
Once you select your server region when creating a match, that selection is now saved even after you log off.
- New 1st person landing animation

Balance
- Spawns for all maps have been tweaked to accommodate for spawn selection
- All capture point maps (Crazy King and King of the Hill) have decreased capture times due to new spawn logic
- Due to server data reconfiguration, all desert maps (Dunes DM and Scrap KOTH) all use the same clouds.  In other words, there are moving clouds on all Dunes DM maps.  Don’t worry, the power of the roving sandstorm has been decreased overall.

Fixes and Optimizations
- Optimized Achievement Checklist networking – It no longer uses too much bandwidth leading to lag spikes in less stable network conditions
- Simple majority (5 out of of captains ready can now start a 4v4 match
- Both chem spray and extinguisher do not add fire immunity without cooldowns
- Fixed fire extinguished effects display
- Fixed inconsistencies in verifying Novice status
- Fixed issue of chem spray switching to repair tool leading to component invincible to fire
- Fixed issue of tool selection at match end causing main menu background to disappear
- Fixed ship respawning outside tutorial map boundaries
- Leveling up in Party now updates correctly
- Fixed camera shake and other continuous firing effects not stopping at match end
- Flamethrower and Mercury effects now blocked by terrain
- Improved issue of spyglass marked-ship brackets not affected by lens distortion effects
- Fixed formatting of Blocked Player tab in Social
- Fixed minimap and text not displaying correctly on tutorial loading screens
- Fixed issue with not being able to re-enable voice chat after disabling it
- Fixed issue with voice chat volume adjustments not working
- Fixed cases of user interface showing invalid data
- Fixed issue of match scores not updating correctly for player rejoining match
- Fixed issue of match failing to start if someone disconnects during match creation
- Full match now properly displays the correct messaging and no longer causes someone to be stuck in loading screen
- Fixed issue of reload restarting when mounting gun close to reload complete
- AI crew now in the correct class costumes
- Fixed issue with repairing side engines of Pyramidion
- Fixed 2ndary dye effect of Fixer costume
- Fixed lag spikes due to very large messages blocking the pipe