When are we actually gonna get new stuff that we can actually buy or obtain without locking out future storylines?

[mingmingaruns]

We haven't got any new stuff that's really obtainable for a while now, most stuff in the last like 4-5 updates aren't even obtainable without aggroing factions or just absolutely worthless at that point in the game...

[mingmingaruns]

There are also a lot of things in the game files (ie. the Republic Battleship, and some Hai and other tier 1.5-2 weapons) that have been there for like a year or 2 now and still isn't obtainable without mods.

[Hecter94]

There are several outfits and ships that are never intended to be obtainable.
Some others are planned to be obtainable but are waiting on their associated storylines to be further developed.

Since volunteers do everything, there is no real timeframe; it's whenever people feel like it.

[Bugscuttle]

There is no shortage of new, good stuff. Just head South. Or East. No free lunches, but plenty of cool, new outfits if you work for them.

[Rocket Witch]

Writing missions is hell and literally harder than 3D-modelling ships (seriously, speaking from experience). It takes vastly longer to get all the syntax right and playtest a million times using various playstyles, and gather feedback from others whom do the same, and then iterate on it – and we still end up with mission chains that are easily broken with nearly-zero handling cases for failing or aborting even a single part of them.

So, making storylines takes maybe 1-2 times as long as everything else combined (foundational background lore, systems/planets/ships/outfits and their assets/stats/descriptions), it seems. The recent Avgi and Successors both took ~3 years to develop to their current states, so I'd give them a ≥50% chance of them (and most of the things with signs of activity that precede them: Hai, Coalition, Gegno) being mostly complete by 2029.

[Midnight Plugins]

Writing missions is hell and literally harder than 3D-modelling ships

Depends on experience. I find writing missions easy in Endless Sky. I am totally clueless for 3D modeling ships/outfits.

Check out the Lost in Midnight plugin available on the official Endless Sky plugin list to see my work!

https://endless-sky.github.io/plugins.html