With this update the crew of ships and other vessels will now gain experience points from combat which can increase crew rank. The ranks can be seen on ship stats plus their XP toward the next level. There are 5 ranks (Novice 0-10 XP, Veteran 10-30 XP, Elite 30-100 XP, Heroic 100-500 XP and Legendary 500+ XP). Ranks provide bonuses in combat to ships toward targeting, defense, critical strikes and boarding combat.

Other changes
* Invade orders will no longer count or use troops from other task forces in the same system if they have different invasion targets.
* Non-combatant ships will now flee from their own systems if their side is losing the battle.
* On Invasion a colony's native race will now be shown correctly instead of the occupying race.
* Overtaking an outpost from another race without a population will now set the native race to the occupying race if they can live on the planet.
* Embargo pacts are now cleared automatically when relations turn non-hostile
* Colonization orders will now display an ETA if the target planet is in a different sector
* Expiring armistice pacts will now give a turn message
* Newly built ships will no longer count toward defending a planet (annulling a blockade check) until a full turn has passed.