HWS Connect+ 6.0.0 Changelog
Released October 15, 2026
HWS Connect has been rebuilt from the ground up. HWS Connect+ is a completely new website: new technology, new design, and a lot of new features, while everything you used on the old HWS Connect is still there, usually in a better form.
A huge thank you to Moicky, who wrote most of it: more than 1,600 changes in about one month. 🚀
Below is what changed for you compared to the old HWS Connect. Questions, bugs and wishes are welcome in this topic or on Discord.
A real website now: links, phones and your own language
The old HWS Connect was one big page that switched content around. HWS Connect+ has a real address for every page and every server (for example /re/market or /rn/ocd).
- Share a link to any page, bookmark it, open things in new tabs, and the browser's back button works as expected.
- One server switcher in the header. Paired servers (RE EU ⇄ RE NA) are always one click away.
- Made for phones and tablets too: the menu folds into a hamburger menu and the pages adapt to small screens.
- Available in English, German, French and Russian (language switcher in the header).
- A clearer sidebar, grouped by topic (Dashboard, Player Info, Marketplace, Players, Structures, Tools …), and you can still reorder it in Settings.
- Pages load faster, and values like who is online refresh by themselves.
Your settings follow you
The old site kept your preferences in your browser, so a new PC or phone meant starting over.
- Hot View, watched players, quick-buy amounts, OCD GET lists, sidebar order, assistant hints and privacy options.
- No Save button: every change is saved instantly.
- Watched players can now notify you even when the HWS Connect tab is closed (browser push notifications, if your browser allows them).
- The Hot View can now show live survival bars (Health, Food, Stamina, Oxygen) while you are online.
- Take the guided tour once and collect 1,000 credits and 10 HWS DNA.
New: HWS Assistant
An AI helper is now built in. Click the chat bubble on any page, or write @ai <your question> in game.
- Ask about HWS commands, rules, items, the market, the garage or POIs.
- It can look at your own data (OCD, credits, skills, structures, market listings) to answer things like "what can I sell?".
- After you confirm, it can even do some things for you, like upgrading your OCD or buying from the market.
- It also gives short, helpful hints. You can turn them off in Settings.
New: Tools for builders and planners
A whole new Tools section, all built from the actual HWS server configuration, so the numbers match our game and not vanilla Empyrion:
- Structure Viewer: look at structures in 3D. Open your own blueprint files (they never leave your PC), preview any POI, or open your own and your faction's live structures and HWS Garage ships. Shows size class, CPU, thrust, fuel and more, estimates blueprint material costs, and can even turn an STL 3D model into a decorative hull blueprint.
- Item Tracer: everything about an item. Stats, recipes, which NPC traders sell or buy it, loot containers, enemy drops, missions and POIs it appears in. Supporters also see its market sale history.
- Crafting Calculator: plan what to craft. Raw materials, leftovers, construction steps, crafting time, crop farms, and tips to free up OCD slots.
- Shield Calculator: plan shield capacity and recharge for your ships.
- LCD Studio: design LCD and projector screens visually (text, live values, item counts, symbols, pixel art, even pictures) and copy the result into an LCD in game.
HWS Universe in 3D
The old Universe page was a table. Now it is a 3D galaxy map of our universe:
- Fly around the map (W/A/S/D), search systems, POIs and traders, and plan routes with the route planner.
- Favourites with your own notes.
- The Registry of the systems, playfields and POIs you have discovered in game. Master+ patrons can also read their faction mates' shared discoveries.
- Star Fragment locations for the Star Fragment Hunt.
- Playfield and star names all over the site (structures, garage, OAM, bank tax list …) now link straight into the map.
Everything else, rebuilt and improved
Every page from the old HWS Connect was rebuilt, and on the way we fixed a lot of old bugs and rough edges. Some highlights:
- New Factions page: every faction on the server with its origin, alliances, members and their roles.
- Player Stats: the header values that stayed empty on the old site now show up, and the stimpack boosts are labelled with their price and ask before they spend anything.
- Structure Commander: the 30-day wipe timers, the Manage commands with clear buttons, a 3D button for every structure, and structure thumbnails. EGS Stealth timers on their own tab.
- HWS Marketplace: Buy / Sell, Wanted and History rebuilt on faster tables with filters, sticky headers and item icons everywhere. The cross-server market for Master patrons is included.
- HWS Trader: owners edit their traders on "Your HWS Traders" with a live price, and the trader package review got a proper editor.
- Orbital Cargo Drone, Orbital Auto Miner, Elemental Bank, EGS, HWS Garage, Daily Loot, Vote, Cross Game Rewards, Skill Tree, Quests, Hunter Board, Kill Board, Online Players, Com Center, Proximity Log, HWS Events: all rebuilt, faster and easier to use. Commands sent to the game now show a clear "Sent to game" confirmation.
- Wide tables show small arrows at the edge. Rest your mouse there and the table scrolls by itself, no more fiddling with tiny scrollbars.
- The public Patreon tier list is now its own page, so you can compare tiers before you sign in.
Sign-in and safety
- Sign in with Steam or Epic Games, like before. A sign-in lasts 30 days.
- We never see or store your password: the sign-in happens on Steam's or Epic's own page.
What's next
Bigger features like the new Event Manager will keep growing from here, and every change from now on gets a short changelog in this topic with the new version number. Please report anything that looks wrong, especially on the pages you use every day. Thank you for playing on HWS! ❤️