Changelog looks something like this:
R198
!Savegames not compatible!
+ 2 artifacts (one inspired by no mans sky, but mine is better

+ new hiring system
+ new shop
+ bugfix: creatures that can shoot shoot again
+ rewrote space combat code
+ beam weapons have reduced damage at longer ranges.
+ missiles are now missilier
+ If you manage to destroy a space station now you get to loot the place
+ Balancing: toned down enemy ship speed
+ Balancing: Patrol quests no longer pay ridiculous amonts of money
+ Balancing: Bonuses toned down
+ Balancing: slightly higher chance for aliens
+ Generally a lot of balancing and turning knobs one way or the other
+ New Tutorial mode
+ Polish: first time starting you get asked where you prefer your system maps (Another hint that they exist for new players)
+ Polish: Optional animated moves
+ Polish: No more false duplicate key warnings
There are still some issues, and I haven't polished and played as much in the last week as I would have wanted to, but I still think it's the best version so far. Linux sound version will be published as soon as I remember how to compile that

Special thanks to spacehamster who cleaned the forum, and also spent some time testing the new version this week.
New version can be found