Just a quick patch with a few bug fixes and resolution scaling changes.

Gameplay Additions and Changes

• Improvements to AI judgments about which planets should be offered/demanded when suing for peace.
  
• Added a "queue refit to recent design" option to the ship refit pane.

Fixes

• Fix for a bug that was preventing Android colonists from suffering from overcrowding.
  
• Added a fix for some performance issues affecting older Intel HD Graphics drivers.
  
• Added a change to improve game stability on older hardware when memory utilization reaches 2GB.
  
• Starmap star names and ETA text should no longer get smaller when the game is played at low resolutions.
  
• The zoom level at which fleet icons transition from small ship art to rocket icons now happens at higher zoom-out stages when playing at 4K resolution.

Happy communing!

Hudson: Well that’s great… that’s just fuckin’ great, man. Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? We’re in some real pretty shit now, man!
Hicks: Are you finished?
Newt: I guess we’re not going to be leaving now, right?
Ripley: I’m sorry, Newt.
Newt: You don’t have to be sorry. It wasn’t your fault.
Hudson: That’s it, man. Game over, man! Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?!
Burke: Maybe we could build a fire, sing a couple of songs, eh? Why don’t we try that?
Newt: We better get back, ‘cause it’ll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night. Mostly.

Gameplay Additions and Changes

• A new "Faction Relations" pane can now be found in the Intelligence Briefing screen under Diplomacy. This is a visual display of which contacted factions are at war, have open ports treaties or alliances.
  
• Added +1 System Slot to the Phidi "Armed Merchant" and "Military Transport" hulls.
  
• Humans now start with an extra 100 coins in "Marathon" games.
  
• Increased Stellar Surge Beam damage.
  
• Updated Stellar Surge Beam animation.
  
• Added a "Dangerous Rising Power" issue that may cause weaker empires to resent and fear you.
  
• Various changes to the way AIs evaluate and offer peace treaties.
  
• The "alien rulers" penalty should no longer apply to the populations of annexed empires.
  
• Added a 'None' option to 'Native Races' advanced map setting.
  
• Annexed outpost transports should now be scrappable.
  
• Lowered the rep penalty for refusing to abandon a colony site, when requested.
  
• Added a small rep penalty for denying the AI a colony site using military intervention.
  
• Allied AIs should now request permission before building colonies inside your territory.
  
• Updated the planet texture management system to make more efficient use of memory.
  
• Tweaked AI Humanity behavior to better deal with starvation in the early game.

Fixes

• Fix for a rare bug related to space habitats.
  
• Fixes for various display issues when the game is played at 4K resolution.
  
• Fixes for marauder tech and fleet scaling on 'marathon' and 'epic' game speeds.
  
• Fix for a rare bug in the ship status pane.
  
• Fixes for some rare bugs involving captured transports.
  
• Splinter colonies should no longer offer to join monster factions.
  
• Stations should no longer be able to retreat from combat (except for Tinkers' stations).
  
• Attempting to trade with Marauders who have captured an outpost should no longer cause an error.
  
• Fix for an error in the tradeship recall hover text.
  
• Completing combat should no longer cause harpies to be assigned negative crew values.
  
• Planetary shield values are now displayed correctly when viewing a planet's defenses.
  
• Fix for a bug that could cause the "Build Outpost" button to be displayed in place of the defensive actions buttons.
  
• Fix for a rare bug in the planet info pane.
  
• Fix for a bug that could cause androids to lower the population growth rates of other colonists.
  
• Minor fixes for the allied "colony request" event.
  
• Fix for a bug that could occur when switching to a queued "City Planning" activity while low on food.
  
• Fix for a bug that could case "error in the food shortage report" exceptions.

Hicks: Hey, listen. We’re all in strung out shape. But stay frosty, and alert. We can’t afford to let one of those bastards in here.
Vasquez: All right... vamonos!

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only the bug fixes will remain.

Gameplay Additions and Changes

• It is now possible to pan the map during AI turns. If you find that this negatively impacts performance on slower graphics cards, this feature can be disabled by turning on the Simplified Graphics option.
  
• Added option "AI Turn Zooming" that additionally allows map zooming during AI turns. This optional feature may impact performance on some machines, so it is disabled by default.
  
• It is now possible to reverse engineer captured starships at any time, rather than only when you first capture them.
  
• Human missile cruisers now have 1 size 3 Torpedo mount (up from 2 size 1 mounts).
  
• Added a new UI option to the Options pane: 'Capitalize Outpost Names'. The names of star systems with only an Outpost (and not a colony) are normally displayed on the map in lowercase to differentiate them from other systems; this option disables this.
  
• In the Galactic Council, AIs will no longer vote for allied empires if those empires have fleets that they judge to be weaker than their own.
  
• Starting a war should now implicitly cancel all outstanding diplomatic requests between the two warring empires.
  
• Captured stations around planets destroyed by bombardment will now be destroyed when the planet's population is destroyed.

Fixes

• In tactical combat, it should no longer be possible to issue a move order to a ship that is still in the process of exploding.
  
• Fix for a bug that could prevent mercenary ships from being properly captured.
  
• Refitting a military transport to a design that lacks transport space should no longer cause an error.
  
• Fix for an error that could be triggered by rushing a ship's production, then changing the underlying design.
  
• Some 'End turn' and 'Load Game' UI transitions should be smoother.
  
• Refitting a station that contains habitat modules will no longer cause any population living in those modules to disappear.
  
• Workaround for a bug caused by destroyed Marauder companies that controlled captured outposts.
  
• Fleets should no longer choose hyperspace anomalies as possible retreat destinations.
  
• Fix for a bug triggered by scuttling captured stations.
  
• Fix for a rare bug that could cause crashes inside the AI research logic.
  
• Fix for a bug that could cause ship hulls from different races to share construction progress.
  
• The "demand you stop trading with our enemies" event now has a cooldown to prevent excessive repeated demands.

I can see a future in which we will meet again.

Hudson: Is this going to be a stand-up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?
Gorman: All we know is that there is still is no contact with the colony, and that a xenomorph may be involved.
Frost: Excuse me sir, a what?
Gorman: A xenomorph.
Hicks: It's a bug hunt.

Fixes

• Fix for a rare bug that could cause multiple splinter colonies to spawn on the same planet.
  
• Fix for a bug that could occur when colonizing a planet with an existing outpost.
  
• Fix for a bug that could cause an uncompleted battle to be treated as a stalemate.
  
• Fix for a bug in the AI end turn logic.
  
• Fix for a naming error in planetary bombardment reports.
  
• Fix for a formatting error in the empire annexation report.
  
• Fix for a bug in the logic for tracking tinkers' Dzibix connection state.
  
• Attempted fix for a rare 'invalid bombardment request' bug.
  
• Fixes for bugs that could cause an 'error in the food shortage report' warning.
  
• Fixes for assorted typos in the in-game text.
  
• Fix for a rare bug in the AI fleet routing code.
  
• Fix for a UI glitch that could cause star names and territory outlines to not update immediately after territory changed hands.

Gameplay Changes

• There is now a chance for Gremak to gain the option of annexing Marauder companies they're already in contact with.
  
• 'Marauder Weaponry' and 'Stupendous Energy Physics' can now always be reverse-engineered from captured ships.
  
• Decreased the number of heavy weapons that can be mounted in most siege mounts from 3 to 2.
  
• Increased the damage of Ion Artillery.
  
• Increased the number of siege weapons that can be mounted on Dread Stars from 2 to 3.

Vasquez: I only need to know one thing: where they are.

That transmission... Mother's deciphered part of it. It doesn't look like an S.O.S. It... it looks like a warning.

Today's update contains some significant changes to economic balance and AI behavior, as well as a number of UI and gameplay improvements. As always, your feedback and suggestions are important to us, so keep them coming!

We've felt for some time that it was a little bit too easy for factions to field impossibly (and sometimes game-breakingly) large fleets, and so we have substantially adjusted economic balance by increasing ship upkeep costs and curtailing the number and value of trade routes. Players must now invest more in economic support infrastructure as their fleets grow larger than a certain size.

Because these smaller fleet sizes negatively impacted the capability of AI factions to present a challenge on the harder difficulty levels, we also spent a lot of effort to improve AI play. We feel that the AI now plays a better game, to the extent that we ended up reducing some of the bonuses the AI receives at easier difficulty levels.

We also were finding the Gremak advantages to be a bit lackluster in many games, and so we juiced them up a bit.

Gameplay Changes and Additions

• Gremak empires now receive additional resources when sacrificing slaves with Forced Labor and science Experiments.
  
• Added the Gremak-exclusive 'Chattel Pharmaceuticals' technology, which improves Forced Labor yields and Slave experiments yields.
  
• Increased the starting population of Gremal by +1 Enfi.
  
• Assault marines and Marauder raiders now have a base combat power of 1.5 (up from 1.0).
  
• Algorians and Lummox native population can now be enslaved and Harmonized.
  
• Capped marauder bribe costs so that larger player empires are not asked for absurd tribute levels.
  
• Marauders will now be less easily threatened into forming trade relations with you.
  
• Trade ship and mercenary recall times will now scale with your empire's drive technology.
  
• Annexing an ally will now give you access to all their technologies and ship designs.
  
• It should no longer be possible to salvage or reverse engineer ship technologies if those technologies do not appear in your tech tree.
  
• Annexed empires will now also contribute trade ships and transports to their new empire.
  
• Androids now have higher population caps on Barren worlds.
  
• Taking control of a planet with Androids will now unlock the 'Androids' technology.
  
• Ships may now repair or use instant refit if appropriate allied infrastructure exists in the system.
  
• Retreating ships may no longer "retreat" towards the system they're leaving.
  
• Increased the tactical speed of Ashdar Battlecruisers and Fleet Carriers.
  
• Removed one system slot from the Ashdar Fleet Carrier, and decreased its upkeep costs.
  
• Removed one system slot from the Gremak Assault Carrier.
  
• Understaffing penalties now apply to bonus production from special resources (affects Artifacts, Opil, Gems, Super Grain, and Precious Metals).

Economy Changes and Additions

• Factions now receive a base income of 10 coins/turn.
  
• Increased ship upkeep costs.
  
• Reduced ship refit costs.
  
• Reduced foreign trade route income from 3 coins to 2 coins.
  
• Foreign trade routes now provide less income per route for additional trade treaties after the first.
  
• Each empire can now have no more than 1 foreign trade route for every 2 domestic trade routes.
  
• Humans now receive a 50% discount on ship upkeep costs.
  
• Increased Torpedo Destroyer upkeep costs.
  
• Reduced the amount of trade capacity provided by markets from 2/4/6 to 1/2/3.
  
• City planning no longer benefits races that do not consume food.
  
• Overcrowded population no longer contribute to resource production or improvement staffing.
  
• Discontent population and Viscids no longer contribute to improvement staffing.
  
• Tinker mobile stations no longer have 0 upkeep when not deployed in orbit.
  
• Outposts no longer increase your empire's trade capacity.
  
• Increased Market understaffing penalties.
  
• Doubled the capacity of the Ashdar Missile Cruiser's Torpedo hardpoints.
  
• Yoral Torpedo Destroyers now have 3 Torpedo hardpoints (reduced from 4).
  
• Increased the upkeep costs of Ashdar and Gremak Light Cruisers.
  
• Stations orbiting a settled colony now never cost upkeep.
  
• Outposts in orbit of unsettled planets now do cost upkeep.
  
• Reduced the influence costs to hire mercenaries.
  
• Increased the build costs of Stargates.

UI Changes and Additions

• The "Raider Activity" selection in the Map Settings screen the now also affects the number of Pirates/Marauders/Harpies present at the start of the game. "High" represents the pre-patch raider density; "Low" reduces that by about half, and "None" removes raiders entirely from map generation. Note that Arda Seed units will still spawn in Hyperspace Anomalies even on the "None" setting.
  
• A warning icon will now appear over understaffed improvements.
  
• Crew bonuses from a designs pre-loaded ground units should now be better reflected in the UIs.
  
• It is now possible to pre-load assault shuttles using any ground unit type.
  
• Fixed the coloring of Tinkers ground units.
  
• Added a warning to save games that were started with a significantly older game version than the current one.

AI and Difficulty Changes and Additions

• Reduced player starting improvements on 'Brutal'.
  
• Reduced AI research advantages on 'Brutal' and 'Hard'.
  
• Removed AI coin production bonuses from 'Normal' and 'Easy'.
  
• Adjusted the AI's aggressiveness in certain situations.
  
• Adjustments to AI behaviors and advantages on Hard/Brutal difficulties.
  
• Updates to AI ship refitting behaviors.
  
• Updates to AI report handling internals.
  
• AI controlled fleets are now significantly less likely to retreat.
  
• Ships controlled by the player and set to "autocombat" should now be less likely to retreat.
  
• Increased the chances of allied empires choosing to merge over time.
  
• Various changes to AI behaviors and advantages.
  
• Expanding into an AI's territory using mobile stations will now trigger appropriate diplomatic consequences.
  
• AIs should be less likely to start new wars immediately after making peace.
  
• Allies should no longer request that you abstain from colonizing planets.
  
• Improved AI fleet management.
  
• AI factions should now be less likely to join wars between other factions.
  
• AI empires should now sometimes hire mercenaries.
  
• Increased AI priorities for researching and building markets.
  
• AI factions should once again favor placing assault shuttles in ships with the "Berth" hardpoint.
  
• If you refuse an ally's offer to help in a war, they should wait at least 10 turns before offering to help again.

Fixes

• Fix for a bug that could cause transports from destroyed empires to wander the map endlessly.
  
• The allied settlers event should no longer cause a bug if the allied empire is annexed or destroyed during the turn.
  
• Fix for a formatting error when designing planetary defenses.
  
• Fix for a bug that was causing unruly races to fight on both sides of a planetary uprising.
  
• Fix for a bug that could cause the AI to simultaneously declare war and issue an ultimatum.
  
• Fix for a bug that was preventing AIs from attacking minor factions and rebels.
  
• Fix for a bug in the calculation of free population transport ships.
  
• Corrected a UI glitch that caused planetary defenses to show incorrect upkeep values.
  
• Wiping out a planet via planetary bombardment should no longer cause fleet control UI glitches.
  
• Fix for a bug in the logic for setting up colonize intervention battles.
  
• Another fix for a bug that could lead to "error in the food shortage report formatter" warnings.
  
• Workaround for a driver bug that could cause a hang while starting the game on a secondary monitor.
  
• Fixes for bugs that could lead to "error in the food shortage report formatter" warnings.
  
• Attempted fix for a rare bug triggered by annexing empires.
  
• Fix for a bug that could cause rushed ship production projects to be cancelled.
  
• Refusing to cede a planet to a faction you're at war with should no longer cause an error.
  
• The "Build Outpost" banner should no longer appear over planets that are under attack.

(Click here to view the complete development changelogs, and here to view the development roadmap post.)

That's all for now. We have more updates in the works, so see you soon!

I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies.

Come with me if you want to live.

Last month's patch was a big one, and so predictably there were bugs to hunt. Today's patch contains mostly bug fixes, and we also made some balance adjustments to the AI on "Easy" difficulty. As always, your feedback and suggestions are important to us, so keep them coming!

Gameplay Changes and Additions

• AI-controlled factions now have an additional handicap when playing on the "Easy" difficulty level (ships cost additional Labor).
  
• The technology 'Cybernetic Organisms' is now available to all factions. This allows Harmonized population units to be De-Harmonized, and increases Battle Mech strength by +2.
  
• Unescorted transports carrying civilian colonists will now surrender to the enemy if attacked.

Fixes

• Eliminating an empire by capturing its last outpost should no longer cause an error.
  
• Fix for a coin rounding issue in the resource request event.
  
• Fix for a bug triggered by battles that included fleeing population transports.
  
• Destroying a colony immediately after creating it should no longer cause an error.
  
• Fixes for several bugs involving invalid starvation warnings.
  
• Fixes for several "likely bug in the attack confirmation logic" warnings.
  
• Fixes for logic errors in the "please do not colonize" requests.
  
• Reverse engineering captured ships should no longer cause errors in the technology queue.
  
• Updated the logic used to determine resource request quantities to better take into account what the player can practically afford.
  
• Destroying a ship while it's being refitted should no longer cause an error.
  
• Transports arriving at an outpost planet should no longer cause an error.
  
• Colonist morale modifiers should now persist when populations are transported between worlds.
  
• Agreeing to embargo an empire you don't have a trade charter with should no longer cause an error.

(Click here to view the complete development changelogs, and here to view the development roadmap post.)

The unknown future rolls toward us. I face it, for the first time, with a sense of hope. Because if a machine can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too.

Greetings, interstellar tyrants!

Today's patch has been a long time in the making: it includes extensive changes to the AI and diplomacy system, difficulty level balance, and adds an oft-requested Victory screen, complete with a stat graphs display. As always, your feedback and suggestions are important to us, so keep them coming!

Upon achieving one of the victory conditions (Conquest, Diplomatic or Allied Victory), a Victory pane will become visible in the Diplomacy menu. This includes options to view a Graphs screen (with selectable displays to compare Population, Military Strength, Scientific Progress, Metal Production, Available Labor, Total Income, and Science Production), exit to main menu, or to continue playing. If the player chooses to continue playing, no further victory conditions will trigger.

The Graphs screen can also be accessed during a game (with display subject to faction visibility) by selecting the Intelligence Briefing option in the Diplomacy screen (or by hitting Ctrl-G). (Note that in games saved prior to the patch, graph data will be missing for pre-patch turns.)



The artificial intelligence (AI) for the computer-controlled opponent factions has been substantially reworked. We have added a variety of new behaviors and diplomatic events. In particular, AI factions have more context-sensitive behavior regarding its friends and enemies; it can now more capably offer or request help from an ally, and it is more likely to take offense when one is friendly to its enemies. Since the AI opponents now play more effectively, we have also extensively tweaked the balance of the various difficulty levels, removing some bonuses that the AI received on "Normal" difficulty setting, and giving the player some extra bonuses on the "Easy" setting. Even so, players may find difficulty levels above "Easy" noticeably harder than prior to the patch.



Gameplay Changes and Additions

• Changed balance and AI advantages on Normal, Hard, and Brutal settings. Players may find games on settings above "Easy" to be noticeably harder.
  
• The AI no longer receives resource bonuses on 'Normal' difficulty mode.
  
• The player now receives resource bonuses on 'Easy' modes.
  
• Torpedoes can now be placed in heavy hardpoints.
  
• Orthin and Gremak can now research Heavy Missiles.
  
• Strike fighters will now attack starships using beam weapons if their beam weapons are more powerful than their missiles.
  
• Significantly reduced the range of anti-missiles.
  
• Reduced marauder ship spawn rates.
  
• Reduced the strength of Marauder fleets.
  
• It is now possible to deploy outposts around planets you already control.
  
• Added several new diplomatic issues.
  
• Added the 'Expansion Request' event.
  
• Added the 'Trade War' event.
  
• Added the 'International Incident' event.
  
• Added the 'Wreckage Analyzed' event.
  
• Added the 'Technology Captured' event.
  
• Reduced the research cost of 'Defense Grid'.
  
• Increased many agreement influence costs.
  
• Increased upkeep costs for mid/late game ship hulls.
  
• Phidi no longer start without the 'Military Doctrine' technology.
  
• Changed the hiring cost formula of mercenaries; in most cases this is an increase.
  
• Decreased the spawn rates of mercenaries.
  
• Increased the cost of the 'Artificial Organisms' tech.
  
• Increased mid/late game strategic fleet speeds.
  
• Upgrading tanks no longer increases their build or upkeep costs.
  
• Increased the number of stars in 'small', 'normal', and 'huge' maps.
  
• Citizens from allied factions will now sometimes offer to join your empire.
  
• Allying with an alien faction now removes the "Alien Rulers" morale effect from colonists of their race in your empire.
  
• Increased the research cost of 'Battle Mechs'.
  
• Galactic council votes can now influence reputation.
  
• 'Graviton Physics' and 'Advanced Field Theory' now grant increased tactical speed.
  
• Increased mid/late game science boosts from experimenting on slaves.
  
• Reduced the number of technologies offered by the Herald.
  
• Updated mechanics for ancient data archives.
  
• Tinkers AIs should now make use of Asteroid Outposts.
  
• Changes to the random number generator used in planetary bombardment / invasions to improve the accuracy of the predicted outcome display.
  
• 'Artificial Sentience' now provides +15 science on all worlds instead of +1 improvement slot.
  
• 'Adaptive Energy Grid' now provides +10 labor on all worlds instead of +1 improvement slot.
  
• 'Social Engineering' now unlocks a varying number of improvement slots depending on planet size.

AI Changes and Additions

• Various tweaks to the Strategic AI. (Thanks to Harpy Eagle for his contributions.)
  
• The AI's ship building strategies should now reflect its research strategies, and vice versa.
  
• A variety of fixes and improvements in the AI's economic logic.
  
• A variety of fixes and improvements in the tactical combat AI.
  
• Significant changes to AI behaviors around starting and stopping wars.
  
• The AI should now be less likely to spam colony ships.
  
• Adjustments to the AI's handling of planet production changes.
  
• The AI should now pursue more varied research paths.
  
• The AI should now sometimes transfer population units between planets.
  
• AI's will now be more likely to cooperate with allies.
  
• AI's should now wait at least 15 turns between making peace and restarting a war.
  
• AI's may now demand that you stop trading with their enemies.
  
• AI's may now demand that you release their people from slavery.
  
• AI's may now issue ultimatums before starting a war.
  
• AI's may now insist that your fleets stay outside their territory.
  
• AI's may now request to start joint wars against third parties.
  
• AI's may now demand that you return control of colonies they have a historical claim to.
  
• AI's may now object if you establish colonies/outposts in their territory.
  
• AI's may demand control of splinter colonies founded by members of their own species.
  
• AI's may offer gifts to friendly players.
  
• Allies should now better cooperate when routing defensive fleets.
  
• Tweaks to the logic governing AI tactical retreats.
  
• Changes to the AIs "sue for peace" logic.
  
• Changes to peace concessions.
  
• Changes to formula used in resource request events.

UI Changes and Additions

• Added a Victory screen that includes a Graphs screen.
  
• Added an "Intelligence Briefing" option to the diplomacy screen which will display Graphs for known factions (hotkey Ctrl-G).
  
• Added a Credits pane to the Main Menu.
  
• Added various faction-specific weapon art assets.
  
• Updated the layout scheme for population icons in the planet information screen.
  
• Added a 'Max Pop' option to the list of sorting criteria in the Planetary Report

Fixes

• Fix for a low level bug in the AI task dispatching logic.
  
• Added debugger hooks for VS Code.
  
• Fix for a bug involving intercepted AI transport fleets.
  
• Fix for a bug involving AI City Planning.
  
• Fix for a bug in the city planning food consumption logic.
  
• Fix for a bug caused by absorbing an empire that contained outposts.
  
• Fix for a star shader glitch affecting many cards using newer AMD drivers.
  
• Attempted workaround for a bug affecting ship designer part placement.
  
• Fix for a bug in the AIs handling of captured ships.
  
• Fix for a bug in the war/peace logic.
  
• Fix for a bug in the AI improvement selection logic.
  
• Fix for a bug caused by reverse engineering captured Tinker technologies.
  
• Fix for a bug involving ignored ship capture reports.
  
• Transferring control of planets will now also transfer control of all orbiting stations.
  
• Tinkers should no longer request food aid.
  
• Fix for a bug caused when one AI empire absorbs another.
  
• Fix for a bug in the "empire eliminated" report.
  
• Transfers of planetary ownership should no longer leave invalid "encounter" reports on the starmap.
  
• Fix for a bug caused when transports arrive at a planet that has changed allegiance.
  
• Annexing a planet will now reduce its planetary defense level to match what is permitted by your technology.

(Click here to view the complete development changelogs, and here to view the development roadmap post.)

We hope you enjoy these changes. Until next time: good luck, Emperor!

I bid you a formal welcome, Captain.

Today's patch contains a number of updates and tweaks to the base game, adds a new strategic territory overlay, and new functionality for the Orthin capacitors. As always, your feedback and suggestions are important to us, so keep them coming!

As part of their mania for high energy physics, the deep-water dwelling Orthin have developed a unique high pressure metallurgy that allows for ultra high capacity energy transmission subsystems, enabling their vessels to mount unusually powerful beam weaponry. The elegant and elaborate cooling mechanism used by these high-pressure superconducting busbars takes up a significant amount of the ship's hull infrastructure, but also allows for the possibility of useful components being attached to this subsystem.

Each Orthin military hull of cruiser size and larger now has a single special “Busbar” hardpoint. The busbar can accept four different components, the latter two of which are new:

• Blast Doors (Titanium Construction): increases armor
  
• Shield Regenerator (Deflector Screens): increases shield regeneration rate
  
• Shield Capacitor (Shield Capacitors): stores a portion of damage absorbed by shields for later offensive or defensive use
  
• Power Converter (Zero-Point Energy): provides additional power

Shield Capacitors
The Shield Capacitor is the primary target for the busbar slot, and it provides additional tactical actions. Whenever a ship equipped with a Shield Capacitor takes shield damage, a portion of the energy is stored in the capacitor. This energy can be released at any time and used either to boost shields or overcharge weapons. The "SHIELD BOOST" and "OVERCHARGE" buttons in the tactical UI show the current charge of the capacitor. Clicking on either action will spend the current stored energy on the appropriate function. Once the capacitor is fully charged, no additional energy can be stored until the capacitor is discharged.

• SHIELD BOOST: applies the stored energy to reinforce shields. Damaged shields are restored up to the reinforcement amount. Reinforcement over the normal maximum shield strength lasts until the next turn.
  
• OVERCHARGE: diverts stored energy to the main weapons. Only affects direct fire weapons in the retractable forward hull slots and any siege hardpoints; does not affect missiles, fighters or point-defense weapons. The available energy is divided amongst the eligible weapon mounts.

Outpost Transports can now be used to deploy a custom station equipped with any available station module (including a Space Habitat or Construction Module). Editing the Outpost Transport in the Ship Designer will now edit the payload station rather than the transport itself. For example, to create a deploy-able space habitat:

• From the Ship Designer, select "New Design"
  
• From the New Design list, select "Outpost Transport"
  
• Add the appropriate components for your custom station
  
• Type in a descriptive name (such as "Habitat") and save the design

Done! The "Habitat Transport" will now be available in your build menu, in addition to the existing Outpost Transport (or any other custom versions you design). Note: be sure to embark colonists aboard a Space Habitat station before leaving!

Already built Outpost Transports in older saves may not work, so you may need to scrap them and build new ones.




Gameplay Changes and Additions

• Orthin 'Capacitor' hardpoints have been renamed as 'Busbar' hardpoints. The Orthin Dreadnaught now has only 1 Capacitor slot. (Old designs may need to be edited.)
  
• Orthin ships equiped with Shield Capacitors now have access to the "Overcharge" and "Shield Boost" special abilities.
  
• Orthin players can now unlock the 'Power Converter' busbar component after researching 'Zero-Point Energy'.
  
• Colony ships can now colonize a planet if the colonists on board would be comfortable there, even if the owning faction's race would not.
  
• Editing an outpost transport design now edits the design of the created outpost.
  
• Outpost designs are no longer required to include a fuel depot.
  
• Outpost designs that include Space Habitats can now embark colonists prior to deployment.
  
• Outpost transports built in old saves will no longer function.
  
• Colonists in deployed Space Habitats now consume food.
  
• Viscid now have the 'vermin' trait, making them immune to starvation.
  
• The 'Energy Refocusing' technology is being retired, and will not appear in new games.
  
• Added the 'Supergrain Discovery' planetary event.
  
• Reduced the frequency of some Star Harpy events.
  
• The Phidi Torpedo destroyer, human Missile Cruiser, and human Battleship all now have 'Torpedo' rather than 'Missile' hardpoints.
  
• It is now possible to place 'Blast Doors' and 'Scanners' in a Heavy hardpoint.

UI Changes and Additions

• Added an empire territory overlay to the strategic map. It can be enabled or disabled with 'Show Empire Territory' in Options. The Empire Insignia displayed on the overlay can also be independently disabled.
  
• Fleet destination lines can now be disabled with 'Show Fleet Route Lines' in Options.
  
• Most options in the Map Settings screen now default to the values used in the most recent savegame.
  
• Replaced the 'Pirate Activity' advanced setting with 'Raider Activity', which now also controls the level of Star Harpy activity.
  
• A warning icon will now appear at systems blockaded by enemy ships.
  
• In tactical combat, +healed numbers will now appear when ships regenerate shields or armor.
  
• Clicking on a planet's special resource icon will now open the planet info entry for that resource.
  
• Clicking on a fleet's empire icon will now start a conversation with that empire, if possible.

Fixes

• Fix for a tech tree bug that could be triggered by reverse engineering Fusion Torpedoes while playing as Orthin or Gremak.
  
• In the case that battle salvage unlocks techs that are impossible to research, the player will no longer receive a "tech unlocked" notification.
  
• Fix for a bug that could be triggered when Vindicators retarget on a new ship.
  
• Fix for a bug that was preventing the Shield Piercing abilities of the Force Lance from working as intended.
  
• Removed redudant post-battle 'technology unlocked' notifications.
  
• The components list should no longer show incorrect small craft graphics when designing planet defenses.
  
• The 'hail fleet' option should no longer appear when an empire you are at war with attempts to colonize a planet.
  
• It should no longer be possible for the food cost of City Planning to be negative.
  
• Fix for a game state maintenance bug affecting battles in which the right-click inhibit weapon fire toggle had been used.

(Click here to view the complete development changelogs, and here to view the development roadmap post.)

Well then, we bid you farewell.
We hope to see you again
though with you sitting here, dead in space
vulnerable and alone
we won't hold our breath.

Good luck, Captain.

I bid you a formal welcome, Captain.

Today's patch contains a number of updates and tweaks to the base game, adds a new strategic territory overlay, and new functionality for the Orthin capacitors. As always, your feedback and suggestions are important to us, so keep them coming!

As part of their mania for high energy physics, the deep-water dwelling Orthin have developed a unique high pressure metallurgy that allows for ultra high capacity energy transmission subsystems, enabling their vessels to mount unusually powerful beam weaponry. The elegant and elaborate cooling mechanism used by these high-pressure superconducting busbars takes up a significant amount of the ship's hull infrastructure, but also allows for the possibility of useful components being attached to this subsystem.

Each Orthin military hull of cruiser size and larger now has a single special “Busbar” hardpoint. The busbar can accept four different components, the latter two of which are new:

• Blast Doors (Titanium Construction): increases armor
  
• Shield Regenerator (Deflector Screens): increases shield regeneration rate
  
• Shield Capacitor (Shield Capacitors): stores a portion of damage absorbed by shields for later offensive or defensive use
  
• Power Converter (Zero-Point Energy): provides additional power

Shield Capacitors
The Shield Capacitor is the primary target for the busbar slot, and it provides additional tactical actions. Whenever a ship equipped with a Shield Capacitor takes shield damage, a portion of the energy is stored in the capacitor. This energy can be released at any time and used either to boost shields or overcharge weapons. The "SHIELD BOOST" and "OVERCHARGE" buttons in the tactical UI show the current charge of the capacitor. Clicking on either action will spend the current stored energy on the appropriate function. Once the capacitor is fully charged, no additional energy can be stored until the capacitor is discharged.

• SHIELD BOOST: applies the stored energy to reinforce shields. Damaged shields are restored up to the reinforcement amount. Reinforcement over the normal maximum shield strength lasts until the next turn.
  
• OVERCHARGE: diverts stored energy to the main weapons. Only affects direct fire weapons in the retractable forward hull slots and any siege hardpoints; does not affect missiles, fighters or point-defense weapons. The available energy is divided amongst the eligible weapon mounts.

Outpost Transports can now be used to deploy a custom station equipped with any available station module (including a Space Habitat or Construction Module). Editing the Outpost Transport in the Ship Designer will now edit the payload station rather than the transport itself. For example, to create a deploy-able space habitat:

• From the Ship Designer, select "New Design"
  
• From the New Design list, select "Outpost Transport"
  
• Add the appropriate components for your custom station
  
• Type in a descriptive name (such as "Habitat") and save the design

Done! The "Habitat Transport" will now be available in your build menu, in addition to the existing Outpost Transport (or any other custom versions you design). Note: be sure to embark colonists aboard a Space Habitat station before leaving!

Already built Outpost Transports in older saves may not work, so you may need to scrap them and build new ones.




Gameplay Changes and Additions

• Orthin 'Capacitor' hardpoints have been renamed as 'Busbar' hardpoints. The Orthin Dreadnaught now has only 1 Capacitor slot. (Old designs may need to be edited.)
  
• Orthin ships equiped with Shield Capacitors now have access to the "Overcharge" and "Shield Boost" special abilities.
  
• Orthin players can now unlock the 'Power Converter' busbar component after researching 'Zero-Point Energy'.
  
• Colony ships can now colonize a planet if the colonists on board would be comfortable there, even if the owning faction's race would not.
  
• Editing an outpost transport design now edits the design of the created outpost.
  
• Outpost designs are no longer required to include a fuel depot.
  
• Outpost designs that include Space Habitats can now embark colonists prior to deployment.
  
• Outpost transports built in old saves will no longer function.
  
• Colonists in deployed Space Habitats now consume food.
  
• Viscid now have the 'vermin' trait, making them immune to starvation.
  
• The 'Energy Refocusing' technology is being retired, and will not appear in new games.
  
• Added the 'Supergrain Discovery' planetary event.
  
• Reduced the frequency of some Star Harpy events.
  
• The Phidi Torpedo destroyer, human Missile Cruiser, and human Battleship all now have 'Torpedo' rather than 'Missile' hardpoints.
  
• It is now possible to place 'Blast Doors' and 'Scanners' in a Heavy hardpoint.

UI Changes and Additions

• Added an empire territory overlay to the strategic map. It can be enabled or disabled with 'Show Empire Territory' in Options. The Empire Insignia displayed on the overlay can also be independently disabled.
  
• Fleet destination lines can now be disabled with 'Show Fleet Route Lines' in Options.
  
• Most options in the Map Settings screen now default to the values used in the most recent savegame.
  
• Replaced the 'Pirate Activity' advanced setting with 'Raider Activity', which now also controls the level of Star Harpy activity.
  
• A warning icon will now appear at systems blockaded by enemy ships.
  
• In tactical combat, +healed numbers will now appear when ships regenerate shields or armor.
  
• Clicking on a planet's special resource icon will now open the planet info entry for that resource.
  
• Clicking on a fleet's empire icon will now start a conversation with that empire, if possible.

Fixes

• Fix for a tech tree bug that could be triggered by reverse engineering Fusion Torpedoes while playing as Orthin or Gremak.
  
• In the case that battle salvage unlocks techs that are impossible to research, the player will no longer receive a "tech unlocked" notification.
  
• Fix for a bug that could be triggered when Vindicators retarget on a new ship.
  
• Fix for a bug that was preventing the Shield Piercing abilities of the Force Lance from working as intended.
  
• Removed redudant post-battle 'technology unlocked' notifications.
  
• The components list should no longer show incorrect small craft graphics when designing planet defenses.
  
• The 'hail fleet' option should no longer appear when an empire you are at war with attempts to colonize a planet.
  
• It should no longer be possible for the food cost of City Planning to be negative.
  
• Fix for a game state maintenance bug affecting battles in which the right-click inhibit weapon fire toggle had been used.

(Click here to view the complete development changelogs, and here to view the development roadmap post.)

Well then, we bid you farewell.
We hope to see you again
though with you sitting here, dead in space
vulnerable and alone
we won't hold our breath.

Good luck, Captain.

Greetings, galactic despots! We hope you've had a triumphant holiday campaign season. Today's patch includes some expanded functionality for the Legacies features, including some new weapons and technologies. Next we will be working on improving some of the base game systems, including AI, diplomacy, tactical UI and victory conditions. As always, your feedback and suggestions are important to us, so keep them coming!

The Herald of the Arda Seed now tracks faction reputation with the player. Completing peaceful trades with the Herald will increase reputation over time, while destruction of Arda Seed units or intrusions into Hyperspace Anomalies will decrease reputation. The roster of items which the Herald will offer for sale is also now dependent on reputation; more advanced items will require higher reputation.

In addition to existing technologies, the Herald will also now sell Codexes for new technologies that are otherwise unobtainable. Once a Codex is obtained, the new unresearched technology will appear in your technology tree and will be available for research. New technology codexes that can be purchased from the Herald include:

• 'Pulse Generators' allows the player to build a version of the Steward Electrocyte shield/weapon system.
  
• 'Plasma Torpedoes' allows the player to build a torpedo version of the Protean.
  
• 'Arda Thrust Vanes' increases the tactical speed of all vessels.
  
• 'Arda Focusing Lens' unlocks a beam weapon modificiation that increases range.
  
• 'Arda Puzzle Box' improves morale of all colonists.
  
• 'Arda Persuasion Matrix' improves reputation with all foreign factions.
  
• 'Arda Fabrication Techniques' increases the Labor output of Factories.
  
• 'Core-Tap Mining' unlocks Tier 3 Mines.
  
• 'Warp Node Attunement' allows Hyperspace Anomalies to improve your fleets' range as if they were your own bases.
  
• 'Warp Node Dynamics' increases hyperspace speed and range.
  
• 'Harpy Repellant' prevents Arda Seed units from automatically attacking your fleets in real space.

Some of these Codexes can also be looted from destroyed Arda Seed or Star Harpy units.




Changes and Additions

• The Herald of the Arda Seed now tracks reputation with the player's faction, and available purchases are now dependent on reputation level.
  
• Players may now purchase and discover Codexes, which unlock previously unavailable technologies for research.
  
• The Tinkers' Bomber has been replaced by the Vindicator, which is an expendable multiple-warhead manned missile which can be launched from torpedo hardpoints as well as hangars.
  
• Arda Seed Proteans will now use an offensive suicide attack after closing on enemy ships.
  
• Added five new achievments related to the Legacies DLC.
  
• The mining activity now provides +50% output per mine (up from +33%).
  
• Earthquake random events are now limited to destroying at most 2 improvements.
  
• Added the 'minerals discovery' random event.
  
• Added the 'artifacts discovery' random event.
  
• Increased Market Coin production from 4/7/12 to 5/10/15.
  
• Increased second and third tier Factory Labor production.
  
• Adjusted Dread Star production costs.
  
• Added a 'hostile environment' upkeep cost for colonies in harsh environments. This new mechanic is suppressed in any game started prior to r21718 so that it will not affect existing saves.
  
• AI empires should be less likely to choose to colonize hostile environment worlds.
  
• Marauder factions should be less hostile to AI empires.
  
• AI empires will now make use of outposts to extend range.
  
• Increased the planetary bombardment power of carriers.

Fixes

• Fix for a rare bug that could be triggered when Harpy fleets returned to their source HSA.
  
• Losing a planet should now reliably resolve all pending construction complete warnings pertaining to that planet.
  
• Fix for a bug caused by unresolved attacks against fleets belonging to a defeated empire.
  
• Fixes for bugs that could be triggered by refitting ships while in the process of issuing a move order.
  
• Fix for a production display bug affecting planets with space habitats.

(Click here to view the complete development changelogs, and here to view the development roadmap post.)

That is all for now!