Version 1.24 released

June version focuses on survivability of Parasites. I got reports that Parasites were getting extinct before the player had the chance to deal with them, especially on higher difficulty levels, which was not fun. So, in this version Parasites got “mind control waves” affecting primitive organisms which makes The Have afraid to even approach Parasites controlled planets. Also they got better planetary defences which makes their homeworld harder to crack by civilized races. During tests Parasites were able to survive in most cases (still their survival is not guaranteed, but even if they did extinct it was happening much later). In addition there are traditional fixes and interface improvements.

– [feature] Parasites got unique ships (before those were shared with The Hive). If you play from the old save they will have the old style ships initially but they will replace those with the new ones.

– [balance] The Hive is afraid to attack Parasites planets.
– [balance] Parasites planetary defences quality greatly increased.

– [interface] Added unique image for Finance screen (replaced the generic bureaucrat).

– [fix] Fixed the welcome and victory messages always referring to male even if Empress option was chosen.

Version 1.23 released

May version finishes the experimental Empress option (mostly added the alternative graphics) and moves it to regular features. In addition traditional bug fixes and interface improvements.

– [feature] Emperor’s sex moved from experimental to regular features.

– [interface] Added summary of courtiers to the Empire/Summary tab (technically not as important as officers/governors screen, but I suppose some players might find use for it, plus it’s kind of consistent to have all 3 groups of imperial officials listed).
– [interface] Added images for Empress option.

– [fix] Admiral reporting “retake planet” listing wrong planet name.
– [fix] One combat icon not being displayed (no one noticed or reported it because no one knew it should be there :D).

Version 1.22 released

April version focuses on alien armadas. Those got rebalanced and made more logical and dangerous. Especially their behaviour is both more logical and dangerous. Those changes should make armadas a non trivial threat. Also added new ironman mode “Superstrong Alien Armadas”.

– [feature] Added Ironman mode “Superstrong Alien Armadas” (Alien Armadas are much stronger (x3); No limit to number of armadas an alien race can send (cooldown still applies)).

– [balance] Alien armadas behaviour changed, now those stop to conquer a planet. This makes them much more dangerous!
– [balance] Alien armadas rebalanced, fewer ships per wave and reversed the waves strength (now the first wave is the strongest and the last one the weakest).

– [interface] Added image for Armada report.

Version 1.21 released

March version is out! Introduced ironman modes to make the game harder for people who desire it so. For example “Surrounded by Idiots” ironnman mode makes all imperial officials less competent and harder to get rid of. All ironman modes are cumulative so you can choose any number of those and they all combine. In this version there are two ironman modes “Surrounded by Idiots” and “Surrounded by Thieves” and most likely there will be more in future. Also traditional interface improvements and one experimental feature.

– [feature] Ironman modes introduced (intended to make the game harder, can be enabled upon game start via Advanced Customization options).
– [feature] Added Ironman mode “Surrounded by idiots” (all imperial officials get 2 rolls for competence and the LOWER one is used; firing a courtier costs 6 PP instead of 3 PP).
– [feature] Added Ironman mode “Surrounded by thieves” (all courtiers and governors have a 75% chance to start with additional +2 Corruption; money lost due to corruption is increased by 1/3).
– [feature] Experimental feature “Emperor’s sex” which allows you to select if the ruler is male or female (enable experimental features in options to see it). It’s partially working, but it’s quite complete so most likely in the next version it will be moved to regular features.

– [interface] Added image for Prestige Loss report.
– [interface] Added image for Audience Day report.

Version 1.20 released

This update is intended to upgrade interface and art assets. The requested easier display of squadron bonuses on the screen where you decide on the squadron composition is done now, it shows only the most important core bonuses, for full bonuses use the old Analyze squadron composition button. Also a minor change to events.

– [balance] “Corruption goes rampart” event affects only civilians now (courtiers and governors).

– [interface] “Find Homeworld” button on intelligence screen.
– [interface] Displayed core planned bonuses (escort coverage, command bridge, communication) on Fleet shipyard & squadron screens (slightly more convenient since now you don’t need to click “analyze squadron composition” button to see those).
– [interface] New image for Empire/Intelligence screen.
– [interface] New image for Industry/Rare resources screen.

Version 1.19 released

First update in 2018. That one focuses on graphical improvements. Courtiers, departments and events graphics improved. Also, statistics of governors (on Empire/Summary tab) which should give you a clear picture how many governors of what competence you have.

– [interface] Departments are color coded now. All courtiers portraits got collars colored by department they are assigned, department stats have bars to indicate the department and departments names on the court screen are color coded well. Overall, it’s much easier now to spot who belongs to what department.
– [interface] Added summary of governors/officers to the Empire/Summary tab. Basically, you have a lot of stats about competence/loyalty/corruption of various officials. With percentage bars 🙂
– [interface] Moved rebels to a separate sub summary to avoid clutter on the summary screen (especially since most of the info about rebels is on the top menu tooltip anyway).
– [interface] Added image for admiral report. Also admiral reports now have a Find button to track the target planet.
– [interface] Added image for industry (shipyard production) report.

– [fix] Admiral reporting “in warp” and “admiral orders reconquest of lost planet” bug.

Version 1.18 released

A bit of everything. Balance adjustments, interface improvements, new art assets, new character names, bug fixes, etc.

– [feature] Ethnics for characters (different name themes). Now characters can have different flavours of names.

– [balance] Slightly increased the effect of Fleet budget (finances).
– [balance] Doubled trade income.

– [misc] All fleets start with default squadron composition (to avoid confusion).

– [interface] Added tonnage per squadron (and projected tonnage) to Shipyard tonnage tooltip.
– [interface] More art assets for character portraits (hair and beard styles).

– [fix] Sometimes sound not playing on game logo screen.
– [fix] Autonomous fleet sometimes ignoring cancel conquest order.