Hey folks,

Last month, you had a whole Amplitude Free Week-end to play any of our games and unlock cool fleet skins for Endless Space 2. Today, these skins have arrived! Here's a quick look at the Renegade Fleets update.



Cravers "Prime"
The Cravers Prime are an offshoot of the hive closely tied to the Virtual Endless. Whether they are a threat or a boon to the nest, only time will tell...
(previously only accessible to early access players: now available to all!)



Sophon "Mavros" 
Though the Sophons are occasionally jealous of the swaggering, alpha-being image of the Mavros, in fact they believe that the Mavros are too erratic to do anything of value (i.e. serious research). However, every once in a while, the Sophons like to remind other civilizations that they are entirely capable of blowing up other people’s moons as well…



Unfallen "Firekeepers" 
The Firekeepers have the critical role of tending the brush fires that support the Unfallen life cycle. The fires both remove scrub to prepare the fields to receive a new generation of Firsts, but also melt the resin that covers and protects the incredibly hardy Unfallen seeds. These ceremonial hulls commemorate the dedication of this organization.

 

Vodyani "Heretic" 
When Isyander St. Shaiad decided to throw away his lifetime of beliefs in the Church of the Virtual Saints and become Isyander Shumèd, he changed more than just his name. He rebuilt his own Cloth and the armor of his ships in crimson and white, the colors that he believed were initially used on the Endless altars to the Lost. 



Lumeris "Buccaneer" 
A little piracy between friends was common before the relations between the Four Families became structured and formalized. While this hull cladding is a nod to those earlier times, there are also rumors that some fleets bearing these colors did not originate from Lancellum dockyards, but a rogue operation run by a shadowy figure known as Captain Roth.

 

Riftborn "Redshifted" 
Particles in zones inhabited by Riftborn are occasionally redshifted as a temporary adaptation to slow the local effects of corruption. This is an aftereffect of their time manipulation technologies, but has become an important tool in itself to offset some of the problems that their equipment—and ships—encounter in the Endless galaxy.



Horatio "Emerald" 
Horatio liked emerald green this weekend. That is all.


To celebrate the release of these skins, Endless Space 2 is discounted at 66% off, and the Vaulters expansion as well as Untold Tales & Lost Symphony content packs are 50% off for the next 48 hours. Now's a great time to complete your collection, or gift them to a friend!


NEW CONTENT - Renegade Fleets Skins

NEW CONTENT - Hissho Comic
The new Hissho comic, Blood & Blade, is available in your install folder, by default: C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Endless Space 2\Stories

NEW CONTENT - AI Modding
After a lengthy beta period, the AI modding is now available. More info in this thread:
https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/forums/75-modding/threads/27061-01-how-to-create-an-ai-mod?

[FIXES]
[AI]
Fixed a bug where the diplomatic anti-spam feature would work all to well: AIs can once again send contracts to players

[FLEETS]
Fixed Behemoth VFX lasting after destruction
Fixed Mining probe rate label being too large for the panel it was in
Fixed Core Cracker module tooltip saying it can be equipped on Arks although it no longer can

[HEROES]
Corrected the Senator skill for United Empire heroes
Hissho Clerical correction Overseer Hero skill now has an influence boost at level 2
Fixed some glitches in the armor of the starting Hissho Hero Kogewa Brightblade

[FACTIONS]
Corrected the formula of the "Aggressive" population trait for more consistency amongst the population traits
Honor Bound affinity no longer displays misleading information regarding starting with a Behemoth

[QUESTS]
Fixed various small errors & placeholders in quest text & rewards
The militarist objective of the Hissho main quest: "Chapter 1: The Blade and the Eagle - Part 2" no longer mentions Pirate lairs as a possible target for invasion

[DIPLOMACY]
Due to an issue, diplomatic counter-offers between players are disabled. Offers that are refused are still fully refunded
The "Accept" choice from "Remove Tendrils" contextual term notification no longer suggests that Tendrils will also be removed from Entwined planets
The tooltip of the Attitude Status no longer displays debug text when receiving a notification regarding an obliterated system

[SYSTEM MANAGEMENT]
Fixed debug text appearing in system growth tooltip when using Ancestral Reverence
Added a missing signal seeker Cravers system improvement visual
The Tooltip of the Virtual Dustylizer via Expedition Successful notification no longer displays debug text

[TECHNOLOGIES]
Placeholder description is no longer displayed for the tooltip effect of the System Development Level 4 Upgrade
Fixed Effects wording from level 4 system upgrade unlock which was inconsistent with the one from level 2 and 3 unlocks

[PERFORMANCES]
Fixed an infinite turn issue. The source of the problem is still being investigated, but the provided game saves should now be usable

Enjoy!

Patch notes 1.3.9


[OPTIMIZATION]

• General performance optimizations

[AI] 

• General bugfixes
• Fixed an issue when AI would not properly seek to unlock a technological stage
• Fixed an issue where pathfinding would use an invalid node
• Fixed an issue where Behemoths would not be able to restore planets properly
• Fixed AI Hissho being able to interact with pirates
• Fixed an issue where debug text was displayed when the United Empire AI proposed contracts or sent mood messages
• Fixed an issue where AIs would not send diplomatic contracts when they *totally* should

 
[BALANCE]

• Vodyani "Hunt" and "Raze" actions will no longer have an Approval penalty
• Changed Hissho population trait to +1 Manpower per turn
• Obliterator cooldown reduction exclusive tech is now at -25% on all game speeds

[IMPROVEMENTS]

• Added a scroll view to the Side Panels Area to avoid side panels exiting through the bottom of the screen in the System Management View in some rare cases
• Added a tooltip to inform players about unlocking population slots when upgrading their Arks
• Added a new Empire Improvement to unlock more Singularity slots for Riftborn empires on stages 3, 4 and 5 of the Science and Exploration quadrant

[FIXES] 
[BEHEMOTHS]

• Fixed health discrepancy issue between ship designer and ship design for Behemoths when technologies increasing Behemoths health were researched
• Fixed an issue where the Behemoth bonuses system label icon was not visible when playing as a custom faction with the Extreme Foremen Population Bonus
• Fixed an error when a Behemoth terraformation was cancelled due to fleets having moved
• Vodyani Behemoth-specific technologies in the Science and Exploration quadrant now have the correct Vodyani-specific icon
• Unfallen will no longer obtain an automatic Citadel shield on captured enemy Home Systems
• Fixed an inconsistency between the "Launch Mining Probe" tooltip and the tooltip of empire resources regarding mined resource income rounding
• Fixed Citadels having no upkeep (it is now feedbacked in the System Dust)
  • C3 Centers will also affect Citadel upkeep
  • Added a cap to C3 Center upkeep multiplier
• Technology stage cost reductions from Behemoths will now cap at 75% even if you stack Behemoths on a node
• Made starting with a juggernaut a faction trait instead of a specific of the Hissho affinity

 
[ECONOMY]

• Having low Approval while having a negative Dust upkeep will not generate Dust anymore

 
[POLITICS]

• The Z'vali unique law will now bypass blockades and sieges
• Fixed an assert upon accessing the Senate screen with an empty political assembly
• Added Keii cost to changing government for Hissho empires

 
[RELICS]

• Slightly increased probability for curiosities to spawn for pirate lairs and minor faction assimilation system relics
• The System Relics: Pre-Galactic Markers notification no longer lists the names of custom factions as debug text
• Fixed an issue where the anomaly spawned from Remains that are generated after ground battles did not have an image

 
[ACHIEVEMENTS]

• Fixed "Are you not entertained" achievement unlocking at the end of the turn it was actually unlocked

[FACTIONS]

• Fixed Illo assimilation trait
• Added missing tooltips for minor factions in the Custom Faction Screen
• Fixed minor relations bonuses and quests not being lost when the minor faction's system is razed
• Extracted unfallen specific empire improvement from coordination pact unlock (caused confusion)
• Fixed an issue where a misleading message was displayed on a system for pirate marks when the player plays as the Hissho faction
• The "Meditation" module for the Vodyani will no longer be displayed for custom factions with the Vodyani visual affinity
• Corrected the Sisters of Mercy Citizen trait not being grayed out when Illo Citizen was selected

[TECHNOLOGIES]

• Fixed an issue where debug text was displayed when hovering over technology unlocks from the "Research completed" notification
• Fixed issue with Hissho being unable to colonize Steppe and Tundra planets with Hardship ready
• Fixed Description of Fealty Fundation level 2 & 3 (used the same title and description as level 1)

 
[QUESTS]

• Fixed an issue where the reward for the Take Arms objective of the "To do or not to do" Sower population quest was not fully visible when playing as Hissho
• The "Words in Private" Behemoth quest is not triggered anymore when the Supremacy DLC is disabled
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip of the Academy Quest special Attack Fleet Action displayed an incorrect battle icon
• Changed the objective of Cultural Appropriation in order to add Dust-related buildings (like trading Companies" or "Buyout"
• Population quests are no longer triggered for custom factions
• The Pilgrims "Muddled Mystics" minor faction quest objective made reference to the Approval mechanic when playing with an Honor Bound faction, now it's over
• In Galvran "The Good Old Days" minor faction: "House" quest option made reference to the Approval mechanic when playing with an Honor Bound faction
• "Ghosts and Dust" Academy quest: if there is no Trade route: the quest is failed. There is no specific failure message (waiting for a proper translation)
• The "Reclaim" objective of the "Veneration or Vilification" Hissho population quest can be completed via invasion if Sykagoja is colonized by another faction

[SYSTEM MANAGEMENT]

• Fixed an issue where the Fealty Foundation Hissho specific planetary specialization displayed a placeholder icon in the system scan view
• Fixed an issue where the Fealty Foundation specialization was not grayed out when the user did not have enough Keii
• Fixed two issues with Hissho's ancestral reverence (couldn't be queued on Major Home System that belonged to other Major factions and had no effect if used on minor faction home system)
• Corrected the effect description tooltip of the "Resilience" trait
• Modified inner working of Ancestral Deference to solve a tooltip issue
• Fixed an issue where the Spaceport section of the System Command Banner exits through the base of the screen when a wrecked ark is present in the system
• Added a tooltip to warn players you can't reconstruct unique planets

[FLEET]

• Fixed an issue where the "Merge" fleet action button was available when selecting a non-specialized Behemoth and a Hero only fleet
• Fixed wrong base loadout of the Hissho medium coordinator
• Removed Kamikaze fleet action on Argosy of custom faction with Hissho gameplay + involuntary nomad
• Removed exception when healing the fighter bombers at the end of a battle
• Fixed vision sharing not working properly when a fleet is created
• Fixed mining probe (stacked even though they shouldn't)
• Fixed hissho specific mining module "Gouge of the Tonatsi" which didn't have a FIDS mining effect
• Fixed honor zone being displayed in scan view (MAC)
• Basic Entropy Missiles are now going straight to avoid missing
• Ground Battle: Fixed defender damage multiplier being multiplied by 1000 when applying the Amianthoid system upgrade recipe

[HEROES]

• Fixed an issue where the "Select a Hero" button in the Military screen fleet list was enabled for non-specialized Behemoths
• Hero Management Screen tutorial doesn't display a flat amount of turns before the next assignment in order to avoid confusion

[NOTIFICATIONS]

• Added a notification toggle option for the post ground battle decision notification in the Options screen
• Players are no longer falsely informed at the end of the ground battle cinematic when claiming a decisive victory against a pirate lair that they can choose the fate of the system
• Reduced the appearance parameters for the Remains notification in order to have them pop only for involved empires
• The Mining Probe tutorial does trigger when conditions are met: right after the Behemoth tutorial
• Several parts of the tutorial mentioned Approval when playing as Hissho
• The player is no longer falsely informed that the ground invasion may continue next turn when he is defeated during a failed ground invasion attempt
• Fixed an issue where the "Outpost alert" notification displayed the same image as the Hissho specific "Outpost maxed out" notification
• Added option to enable/disable notification about minor introduced in rev#40801
• Fixed Hissho outpost actions tutorial not showing up when the "Enable colonization cutscenes" option is set to true

[MULTIPLAYER]

• Fixed desync on hot join related to Special node control effects
• Fixed desync on unfallen colonization
• Fixed desync on visibility caused by guard/blockade combo
• Fixed desync on hot join caused by alliance & vision sharing
• Fixed desync on hot join related to relation with pirates

Hey guys and gals,

We still don't have a Gamescom booth this year, but as the Hissho would rightfully point out, you don't mess with tradition, so we're organizing another Beer2Gether at a venue near Gamescom! From 7pm until late, get ready to spend an evening of merriment and revelry with us!

A few more people will be coming this year. It'll be 7 members of the Amplicrew, so if you're looking to meet He-Who-Shall-Be-Blamed Ato, She-Who-Keeps-Clocks-Ticking Natco, Frontrunner for best Horatio haircut Frogsquadron, or any of the cool people at the top (we have some new faces, and they're eager to meet you!), and you're at Gamescom, here's your chance! 

As usual, we'll be joined by a bunch of our favorite community members, the VIPs, and also word is that some talented cosplayers will be joining us for our celebration, as the delegation for the Hissho empire. I hear they're here to negotiate something with a Yuusho representative whom you might have seen before...

Speaking of the Hissho, we'll have a trove of themed goodies, here's a hint below:




If you want to join us, simply fill out this form and we'll contact you closer to the date with more info!

Let us know in the comments if you plan on attending!

Visit the free weekend websiteto see collective hours played and which stretch goals have been unlocked!

Let’s face it, it’s just too hot to go outside. So why bother melting in record high temps when you have the perfect excuse to stay inside and kick ice on some super cool Amplitude games?

That’s right, we’re offering up ALL of our games to play for FREE on Steam this weekend :

• Start: Thursday at 8:00 PST / 16:00 BST / 17:00 CEST
  
• End: Monday at 10 AM PST / 18:00 BST / 17:00 CEST

Whether you’re a returning player eager to try another of our games, or an adventurer completely new to the Endless universe, we’ve got something for you...

FREE WEEKEND STRETCH GOALS

What’s that you’re saying? You already have everything? Well, first off, high five! Such a discerning customer... However, we’ve got something special there for you too. On our free weekend website, we’ll be putting up Stretch Goals that will be unlocked based on the total number of hours played by our community, across all of our games.

Last year, 240,000 participated in the Endless Space 2 free weekend, unlocking all six reward tiers in the process. This year, we're back with another Community Challenge!

Simply play Endless Legend, Dungeon of the Endless, or Endless Space 2 and reach 1 million hours of collective playtime to help the community unlock all the rewards, which include a Cravers Prime skin that was only available during Early Access, and as stretch goals, 6 additional fleet skins to unlock for ES2!


Have a nice (free) weekend! :)

- the Amplitude team

[NOTE OF INTENT] 

The patch coming along the Hissho expansion packs quite a few changes.

Jhell, backstabber extraordinaire and Lead Game Designer on Endless Space 2, wrote the following:

“We wanted players to have more options after invasions, and how they went about their invasions. The manpower modules will now be much more effective, as they’re going to also increase the deployment limit, and there are choices to be made about sieging a system or swarming it with numbers. You will also be prompted on what to do after a successful invasion: occupy the system, pillage the system, or simply raze it. This should allow huge empires to more relentlessly wage war, leaving only a trail of razed and pillaged systems in their wake. We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but some empires have unique outcomes replacing regular pillage or raze actions.

The ground battles visual pacing has also been heavily tweaked; no more will you see two blobs of units against each other, now each ground battle tactic has its dedicated visual formation, unit types attack independently, and impacts are focused on units.

Another focus to wage war as comfortably as possible was to rework how diplomacy is handled during Isyander’s “metaplot” quest. You will now be able to attack foes AND friends on Lodestone nodes, provided you are on different teams. Your allies will hopefully understand that it’s “nothing personal, kid”.

On a different note, to acknowledge that the galaxy is a violent place, we’ve added the “System Relics” feature. Significant events like huge space or ground battles taking place on star systems may now leave permanent traces, and some anomalies or new curiosities may even emerge… All of this visible in scan view.

Lastly, to make them on par with the military victory conditions, the non-military ones have been reworked to last longer so you can enjoy the late-game content longer regardless of the victory type you’re pursuing.

Along with numerous fixes and the content of the expansion, you should now be able to utterly lay waste to the whole galaxy.”


[HISSHO EXPANSION CONTENT]

• New Major Faction: the Hissho
  • Main gameplay (Affinity, Traits, Population, Technologies) - see enemy pathfinding
  • New specific resource: Keii
  • New theme music
  • New unique planet: Uchi
  • Hissho main quest 
  • Hissho Fleet
  • 1 leader + 4 new Hissho heroes
  • New Hissho technologies
    New Hissho Empire & Star system improvements
  • New Minor Faction: the Illo
  • New Illo Hero
• New Feature: Behemoths
  • New quest introducing Behemoths and unlocking specific technologies
  • New ship hull: Behemoth (Economic, Scientific, Military)
  • New ship hull: Obliterator (Can destroy a whole system)
  • New ship hull: Juggernaut
  • New Behemoth specific modules (Mining probes, Planet rejuvenation, ...)
  • New faction specific modules (1 per existing faction)
  • New Behemoth technologies
    New Behemoth Empire & Star system improvements

[FREE UPDATE CONTENT]

Reworked Ground battles

• New setup and report screens
• New features: Winning a ground battle now gives you the following options
  • Occupy
  • Raze
  • Pillage

Some factions have specific variants of these actions.

• Battle simulation changes
  • Implemented new damage computation (damage bonuses/maluses are now properly computed)
  • Implemented new bombardments (bombardment damage is shared between unit types)
  • Implemented new improvements/populations destruction (may destroy more than 1 of each - Blitz can now be quite destructive!)
• Academy questline
  • Alliances no longer matter when orbiting Lodestones: you may now attack an alliance member who is part of the opposing faction without having to fear any diplomatic repercussions.
    
  • Improved feedback around lodestones and lodestone specific battles
    
• Music
  • The Surround soundtrack was completely re-encoded in WMA. It is available in the following install folder:

..\Steam\steamapps\common\Endless Space 2\OST\Surround

• Vodyani
  • Added Vodyani "anchored Ark protection" module: an Ark with this module equipped will not be attackable in space battle while attached to a System (it can still be attacked via Invasion)
  • Vodyanis can now use the pacific conversion feature: it will convert 1 population unit on the target system and grant 500 Essence

[IMPROVEMENTS]

• Hissho Minor faction is now called Yuusho
• Updated Core cracker quest restrictions
• Rearranged technologies in the Technology tree to add the new content
• Reworked Victory conditions:
  
  • Wonders:
    - Wonders can now only be built one at a time
    - Wonders can now only be built one at a time
    - Wonders base costs increase with each Wonder built
    - Wonders cost more to buy out
  • Economy
    - Increased required Dust from 450k to 700k (notifications have been updated accordingly)
  • Science
    - Technology cost reduction impact lowered by 50% on victory technologies
    - Moved Science Victory Technologies to an Era 6 placed between quadrants
    - You will now need to unlock techs from 2 different quadrants to unlock this Era 6
• 
  Academy Quest "Ghosts and Dust" is now deactivated if one of the living Empires uses the Hissho affinity (objective requires a Happiness contest)
• Added a feedback when a fleet in guard mode intercepts an opponent’s fleet (The fleet will also appear and cycle in the “idle” fleets)
• Sleeping fleets no longer wake up when they notice an enemy they were already aware of
• The stage unlock notification is now an auto pop-up
• 
  Reworked the Empire Information toggle in the empire introduction notification in order to make it more visible/appealing
• Temporary effects listed on the side panel of the system management view now only shows icon if there is too many of them (more than 2 lines).
• Added info on star system label when a home system is destroyed.
• Added different backgrounds for the Victory window
• Added technology hints to the fleet action buttons
• Fully destroyed home systems no longer count towards required colonized home planets count 
• If all home systems are destroyed, the victory is no longer attainable, unless the planets are "repaired"
• Creating a ship or ship design now takes slightly less time
• Starting the game now takes less time and memory
• A tutorial is triggered when researching the technology that unlocks Behemoth Hulls when using Advanced or Expert tutorials 
• Added some distance between flotilla in space battle to make space for the Juggernauts.
• Updated Golden Age effect to be more readable
• Added message explaining why a law isn't activatable when its upkeep would be too high for the player's stock + net influence
• Added dynamic costs for research stages depending on whether DLCs are active or not

[BALANCE]

• Custom Factions:
  • Made corsair and pirates slayer mutually exclusive
• Diplomacy:
  • Increased cooldown of Cold War Attack contextual term from 1 to 3 turns
  • The contextual diplomatic term "remove tendrils" no longer removes tendrils that are completed, only the ones in progress
• Heroes:
  • Modified Haroshem hero political alignment to fit his description
• Factions:
  • Vodyani Arks: Base HP increased from 10000 to 14000
• Ground Battle:
  • All manpower modules for ships now also increase manpower deployment limit
    Added manpower deployment bonus to all defensive improvements (to accompany modules)
  • Changed manpower upgrades resources so each unit has the same progression in terms of strategic tiers
• Linked conscription to ownership: You can now only use it if you have more than 50% Ownership on the system. 
  • The amount of Manpower you get also depends on your current Ownership (multiplication): for example, if you use Conscription on a System with 75% Ownership, you'll gain 175 * 0.75 additional Manpower on the System
• Added a bonus to attacker manpower deployment limit in case they have remaining ownership on the system (currently 400 * ownership)- Added effect to "Para-raiders" tactic: it now has 90% health multiplier and 110% damage multiplier
• Besieged systems no longer lose manpower the turns they have been invaded
• Economy:
  • Reduced average and abundant strategic deposit value from 3 to 2 and from 5 to 3 respectively
  • Ship retrofit no longer refills the ship's probes/mining probes stock
  • Added a “+2 Vision to all systems” effect on the "Ultra-IR Astronomy" unlock
  • Outposts no longer leech growth from a parent system when they are full

[QUEST]

• Due to Ground Battle changes, a large amount of quests have a new way to be failed: if one of their system is razed or captured (but not pillaged in case of invasion)
• The third objective (Bullet) of "The Gunfather" quest is now unlockable if the player possesses non-custom Riftborn
• The quest fleet for "Flight of Eyder" now roams in order to reach a special node
• A large amount of Quests, system improvements, technologies, populations bonuses, … have been updated to be used by Hissho
• Quests will not grant net science bonus as reward anymore.
• The Metaplot's planets cannot be destroyed anymore
• Isyander's quest: players will not be able to colonize the loadstone, no matter the winning team
• Added technology era 6
• The second part of the endgame academy quest is now won when a team has secured more than half of the objectives, instead of when all objectives have been secured. Unsecured objectives will be transformed as if they had been secured by the winning team

[FIXES]

• Fixed supremacy victory alerts being fired on turn 1 when only 2 players are in the game
• Fixed a situation where the game failed to restart after failing to start once
• Fixed rare error occuring when the game was quick-saved in the same frame a fleet action concluded
• Fixed rare blocking error occuring when a fleet is destroyed while exploring a curiosity
• Special nodes and quest nodes are not selected anymore for the "A Fly in the Ointment" quest
• Fixed some saves failing to load because of Guardians not having spawned
• Fixed military ship cost increase being a reduction
• Fixed an issue where the hero ship upkeep costs were still displayed in the Hero Ship Design Screen
• Deposits now remain when a planet is destroyed
• Fixed an issue where the skip button hitbox in election window was not right
• Fixed Minor factions being assimilable while a ground battle outcome was being picked
• Fixed trying to remove populations not concerned by growth (like Riftborn) when having a negative growth on a colonized star system
• Fixed memory issue when a battle was pending
• Fixed Depletion not being shown on uncolonized planets, and not being counted for Hissho Mining probes
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip from the Lodestone recovered/destroyed system displayed misleading information about its effect
• Eternal improvements are not added twice when a system is captured anymore
• Fixed an issue where war momentum in battle notification was not displayed if the value was 0
• The second objective of the "To do, or not to do... (Part 2)" quest is now available
• Fixed an issue where long technology names overlapped the buyout technology option in the empire banner
• Fixed issues related to migration & Riftborn/Guardian populations
• Fix the Vodyani base improvement not being built on the first turn
• Fixed error when Vodyanis capture Riftborn system with Influence
• Fixed an issue where the displayed tooltip effects of a colonizable planet made reference to the Approval mechanic when overcolonization limit had been reached
• Fixed a cause of freeze when quitting the game
• The technology helper no longer suggests incorrect faction-specific technologies anymore (for instance, Sophon technologies for the Unfallen)
• Fixed Vaulters Leader Background visual issue
• Fixed critical error on Riftborn outposts which caused the game to get stuck
• Fixed critical error on ship repair cost AI synchronization
• Fixed an issue where Pirates would not be Cordial with anyone when several players had maximum relation with them
• Fixed overlapping module slots on the Leecher hull when using a custom Vaulters faction with the Ship Bound affinity
• Fixed ships sold on ht Marketplace not being listed if the maximum number of stocked ships is reached
• The "Founders Keepers" quest will not fail anymore if the quest planet was destroyed 
• Fixed an issue where the Horatio 50 pop collection bonus were incorrect
• Fixed an issue where fleet lines would occasionally have bad alignment
• Fixed the champion's pod that wouldn't appear on custom faction with the Vaulters visual affinity
• Fixed tooltip of diplomatic term "technology exchange" displaying unlocks of the empire which proposes the exchange, instead of the empire which receives the technology.
• Fixed Gnashast strategy pre-battle damage
• Fixed an issue where the game did not remember the "Tactics" set if a card was swapped with a newly added card
• Fixed errors in tech helper data
• Custom factions using the Metafolding affinity will no longer have a duplicated technology in Empire & Development quadrant stage 4
• Custom factions with United Empire visual affinity and Involuntary Nomad trait will no longer have access to a Colonizer hull
• Fixed rip singularity not working properly in some cases.
• The "Zelevas Incarnate" unique improvement will now properly display all of its effect in the star system management view 
• Fixed Trade Companies requiring 0 XP for their first 3 levels 
• Fixed "Coordinated Bunkers" not applying the siege damage reduction in all cases
• Fixed ground battle being replayable only once instead of once per turn as long as the bubble is present
• Fixed any empire being able to replay a space battle instead of the one who owns the singularity.
• Fixed Vineships being scrapped in higher priority than colonizers
• Planetary colonization industry cost inside a star system is now correctly linked to game speed 
• Fixed memory leak in planet rendering process.
• Fixed Supremacy victory not working well with planet/system destructions  
• Fixed an issue where a team’s legend in the diplomacy screen during the metaplot was inaccurate
• Fixed Lumeris ship design (small defender lacked an engine on base design)
• Fixed an issue where the user was not informed if a Contextual Diplomacy exchange was occurring between other players when hovering over the End Turn button
• Fixed bug colonizer affinity visual Vodyani & Lumeris (had attack slot but couldn't fill it)
• Fixed salvo pooling being completely broken
• Fixed an issue where hero ship upkeep cost were still displayed in the Hero Ship Design Screen
• Fixed an issue where war momentum in battle notification were not displayed currently if value is 0
• Fixed an issue where Long technology names overlapped the buyout technology option in the empire banner 
• Fixed the Vodyani's base improvement not being built on the first turn.
• Fixed an issue where whispered messages were not received by players who joined ongoing sessions
• The technology helper does not suggest incorrect faction-specific technologies anymore (for instance, Sophon technologies for the Unfallen)
• Fixed infantry bonus damage on planes going over 100
• Galaxy Age will now have an impact on galaxy generation
• Removed Horatio specific tag from the "Neural Robotics" tech as the unlocks were similar to the regular one

[MULTIPLAYER FIXES]

• Fixed desync happening when Unfallen factions vine a minor faction's system
• Fixed an issue where whispered messages were not received by players who joined ongoing sessions

[SOUND FIX]

• The Vaulters Leaders no longer plays her voice line when selecting her in the Faction Choice screen, even with sound deactivated

[AI]

• Massive performance update.
• AIs now understand more improvements and gains from previous content and are capable of using them in the right context. eg:
  • 
    Multiple FIDS and FIDSI gains are now properly understood as such
    
  • Overcolonization is now considered as a usable / needed resource
    
• Ground battle understanding has been reworked.
  • AIs now better understand their chances of winning
    
  • AIs are more inclined to invade winnable systems
    
  • AIs will chose their tactics in a more sensible way (e.g. based on incoming reinforcements)
    
• AIs will now act properly on Metaplot nodes: they will attack the other team members and will not attack the same team members, regardless of their diplomatic status.
• Vodyani AIs will now use Anchored Arks modules when possible.
• Various improvements:
  • Better production of colonizers, war fleets and explorers
    
  • Diplomacy contract balancing offers more constant results
    
  • Avoid being stuck in a war state with an AI
    
  • Proper law activation and deactivation
    
  • AIs no better avoid empty modules in ship designs and can a wider variety of modules
    
  • Hero ship are now properly retrofitted
    
  • Fixed a bug when AI attacked a system
    
  • Fixed a bug when achieving elimination victory
    
  • Fixed a bug when AI could get stuck upon dealing with a new ground battle
    

Hi folks,

Endless Space 2 Supremacy is coming to Steam this week, on August 2nd! We're very happy to be bringing another expansion to Endless Space 2, and we hope you'll like it, too! In case you're curious about what's coming up, we'll be publishing the game design documents over the next few days. Here's a closer look at the new major feature of the Supremacy expansion and everybody's favorite new toys, the Behemoths...


Common Gameplay 

A Behemoth is a ship which is larger than a Carrier. The Behemoth's ultimate purpose is to evolve and become specialized. For the most part of the game however, it will have a multi-purpose role determined by its equipped modules and can be used economically or militarily.


Behemoths 

• Behemoths will start with x1 multipliers on their modules. Unlocking new hull types will increase this multiplier up to x8
• Behemoths will start with a base of HP, and unlocking new hull types will increase this value
• A player will be able to field a limited number of Behemoths at a given time. This limit can be increased by researching more Behemoth-specific technologies (or building a specific improvement)

• A Behemoth is the only ship in its fleet. It has a specific size, role, and takes 10CP
• Behemoth content is unlocked in the tech tree as Behemoth specific technologies. Behemoth techs are visually distinct from regular ones
• A Behemoth's possible actions on the galaxy map are determined by its equipped modules

The actions are detailed below.

Support 
Mining

• The Behemoth will be able to place mining probes on uncolonized planets. The strategic and luxury resources for which the player has the technology will be mined
• Mining probes have a set duration

Government support

• Placing the Behemoth in orbit of an owned or allied system will provide FIDS bonuses to the system

Science 
Research

• Research: placing the Behemoth over a special node will provide research points and possibly other research discounts linked to Special node type
• Analyzer: placing the Behemoth over a special node will intensify the effect of the Special node for the system which has influence over it and/or generate strategic resources

Planet Improvement

All these modules require the player to have the corresponding anomaly/terraformation technologies unlocked.

• Anomaly Reduction: allows the Behemoth to reduce anomalies on neutral planets
• Terraformation: allows the Behemoth to terraform neutral planets
• Rejuvenation: allows the Behemoth to refill depleted planets and to reassemble destroyed planets

Military 

• Provides more military slots to the Behemoth
• Unlocks the tractor beam to be used in Behemoths or Carriers: prevents the enemy retreating from space battles

Specialization 

Once the corresponding Behemoth-tech has been researched, it can become specialized in the one that was unlocked. Specialization is permanent and changes the hull of the Behemoth. A specialized Behemoth can be embedded in a fleet alongside other ships.


Battleship

Largest and strongest military ship in the game:

• x8 Multiplier
• 10 CP
• Can unlock a special "Ion Wave" ability: destroys all fleets on node (including owned fleet) but leaves the Battleship deactivated for X turns (can't move on the map nor attack in space battle)

Obliterator

The Obliterator is a System destroyer which has a quite weak hull with a very limited amount of slots:

• Can fire a missile for free once every 20 turns
  • The action can be sped up by paying a Quadrinix and Orichalcix cost which decreases as the timer decreases

• The missile travels on the map and needs X turns to reach its destination:

• On impact, the missile will destroy the entire system:
  • All planets are destroyed
  • The sun type might change
  • All player owned assets are destroyed
  • Players can build a shield to keep their assets and suffer only 50% of damages on them
    • Citadels provide a native Obliterator shield (you can reach 100% protection on a Citadel, see below for more details)
• Systems with a sun type "None" can't be targeted by the Obliterator

Citadel

The Behemoth embeds itself onto a system and transforms it into a Citadel (so you don't have a ship anymore :)):

• Provides strong defensive bonuses to the system (more manpower, stronger local troops)
• Provides a native Obliterator shield
• Prevents free move for enemies on this node
• Provides a native guard on the system (no need to have fleets in orbit)
• Unlock specific Citadel star system improvements that can only be built on Citadels:
  • Planetary Batteries, which will fire during space battles (but won't take part otherwise)
  • Other improvements will focus on defense or industry/science

This should shake up the end game quite a bit, especially considering that we've started working on victory conditions to make them a little harder to reach (more on that in the patch notes tomorrow!)


What's the Behemoth look you like the most?