Updates to Star Ruler have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

An IRC has been added to the game to allow players to network, major aspects of the game have been rebalanced (research, weapons, defenses, etc.), analyzers now capture blueprints from disabled ships, the new game window has been greatly overhauled, the game has been greatly optimized resulting in a large boost of FPS, and some new subsystems have been added to the game (listed in the full patch notes).

Fixed:

• Multiple colonizer modules on one ship now correctly sums the structure count.
  
• Crash on return to main menu for mods using tag{} blocks in shipsets.
  
• Ships moving to a target that gets destroyed flying towards the quasar.
  
• Disabled ships getting station icon on load.
  
• Ships following a planet after a transfer order.
  
• Loading a game with 0 research rate would lead to an empty sub system / structure list.
  
• Crash when constructing ships on a planet / dry dock in deep space.
  
• Ships with control but without fuel could still use their thrusters every second tick.
  
• Sub Systems did not have their onDeactive binds called when scuttled or retrofitted.
  
• Space port trade now happens in the planet tick, leading to less wasted trade rate.
  
• Fetch orders were not leaking control to subsequent orders until fetching for the first time.
  
• Haulers could get stuck doing nothing waiting for a resource to become available instead of trading in different resources.
  
• Superfluous explosion sounds were playing when scuttling / retrofitting or when colonizing a planet.
  
• Ringworlds were being constructed at the wrong position.
  
• Ringworlds constructed on larger stars (ie the quasar) would appear inside the star.
  
• The ringworld structure size bonus was not applying correctly.
  
• Using a jumpdrive could render the jumping ship unselectable.
  
• Ships parked in orbit using a jumpdrive would not pick a new orbit correctly and fly off into the distance.
  
• Offline planetary structures could not be removed.
  
• Asteroids and comets were not working for multiplayer clients.
  
• Ships constructed after load would not be assigned their proper automation (fetch, deposit, work) orders.
  
• Capturing another empire's design will no longer spam duplicates each time.
  
• Haulers ended up with wrong / negative cargo after trading with a planet that had cargo storage.
  
• Haulers would end up filled with one particular resource (usually adv. parts) when its supply outweighed demand.
  
• Hovering over the +/- resize buttons while holding shift in the blueprint editor now correctly displays the effect of an increment/decrement.
  
• In the blueprints window, dragging a sub system to an invalid position would sometimes return it to the last valid position, rather than the nearest valid.
  
• We have discovered that a particular function in OpenGL is quite slow; fixing this improved framerate significantly.
  
• Sub-menus in the right-click menu will no longer move off screen.
  
• Objects could push each other to ridiculous speeds.
  

Changed:

• Shields now have a % chance to block or leak all damage from kinetic weapons entirely, rather than always blocking a % of the damage.
  
• Objects larger than scale 3600 are now visible everywhere to everyone.
  
• The system window's build on best algorithm now prefers shipyards over other structures.
  
• The main menu planet now chooses a random texture.
  
• Only one ringworld can be constructed per system. Attempting to construct additional ones will simply fail.
  
• The Analyzer now captures the design of disabled ships. Each attempt has a chance to succeed, which improves dramatically with bigger ships and analyzers.
  
• Ringworlds are now unlocked at MegaConstruction 22, Gravitics 16 and Spatial Dynamics 16.
  
• Haulers only supply when storage is under 45%, to avoid attempting to race against space ports.
  
• You can now hold shift when dragging sub systems in the blueprint editor to snap to a grid.
  
• When dragging sub systems in the blueprint editor, they can no longer leave the circle (you will see them where they would normally snap to).
  
• Dry Docks automatically fetch resources from the planet they are orbiting, if the planet has any.
  
• The mouse over information and object information panel now display hitpoints of all objects, not just the ones owned by you.
  
• You can now set individual settings, difficulties, names, colors, and cheating or not cheating for Empires in the New Game window.
  
• You may now add far more than 10 opponents if you wish; caution: larger numbers of opponents can rapidly degrade system performance.
  
• Sped up base panning speed.
  
• Updated Translations: Polish.
  

Balance:

• Shields are now more effective, particularly for larger ships.
  
• Planetary shields are now much stronger.
  
• Increased power cost of middle-tech weapons.
  
• Power generators produce significantly less power.
  
• Bridges and Computers produce significantly less control.
  
• Increased mass of armor.
  
• Decrease gains to science labs from general sciences research. (Getting to level 10 takes about twice as long, level 20 four times)
  
• Missiles and Torpedoes now have longer range.
  
• Increased overall laser damage to compensate for their short range.
  

Added:

• The blueprints tab now displays statistics for the currently selected design.
  
• The loading screen displays random gameplay tips from a moddable / localizable list.
  
• "Stockpiling Protocol" civil act: makes space ports keep resource levels at 95% instead of 50%.
  
• Added a patching program which downloads patches from our server and installs them itself. Must be run from Star Ruler.
  
• AI Personalities may now specify a shipset for the AI to use.
  
• "Refresh Automation" option in the right-click menu: adds back automation orders (fetch, work, defend, etc) after clearing them.
  
• Destroyed planets now leave behind a bunch of asteroids based on the amount of ore they had left.
  
• Added three new tracks by Artem Bank.
  
• Economic Sub Systems for ships: Metal Refinery, Electronics Fabricator, Advanced Parts Assembler, Export Dock.
  
• Graviton / Anti-Graviton beams: Repulsor, Attractor, Interdictor.
  
• New Sub Systems: Quantum Battery, Matter Generator, Overcharged Laser, Internal Defenses.
  
• Lobby System to Multiplayer and Singleplayer.
  
• Detailed Statistics sub-window for the Blueprints window.
  
• Lobby Chat window for both the main menu and in-game that connects to the new official irc channel.
  
• "Give Vision" clause for treaties. Does what it says on the tin.
  
• Ability to set teams between players before starting the game.