Version 1.23 released

This version has several balance tweaks (mostly related to the expansion but not only), interface improvements (clarification how things work) and manual improvements (more topics covered). In addition, Fighters get an interesting change, now those can target ships with shield up, but at a penalty, so Fighters became more valuable now. Next, I was playing with Communication Towers mechanic, got a new idea for it but I’m not sure it would be better, so for now I put it as an optional extra rule which you can enable if you wish. The last thing is improvement of safe mode (which you run where you encounter problems), to address some rare issue with some GFX cards.

– [feature] Fighters can target ships with shields up (but as the last resort since half of the bombs will bounce off and miss if shields are operational). This makes Fighters and Heavy Fighters more useful since they can always find a valid target for a bomb run.
– [feature] Extra rule (must be enabled on game start) “Alternative communication towers mechanic”. It alters communication towers mechanic, those become much cheaper (including upkeep) but you have to place those adjacent to each other.

– [interface] Adminstrative pts tooltip show how much total you get per turn.
– [interface] Improved legislation pts tooltip.
– [interface] Improved political marriage tooltip (arranged marriage sources explained).
– [interface] Improved megalopolis tooltip.
– [interface] Improved planetary battle report a bit.
– [interface] Added range of starbase to “build starbase” button tooltip.
– [interface] Starmap Base map mode shows also range markers.
– [interface] Main menu news notice box beautified.

– [misc] If safe mode is enabled the game limits frame rate to 30 FPS (to prevent potential CPU/GPU overheat).
– [misc] There is a delay of 1/10 of a second between pressing End Turn multiple times (to prevent overheat on some machines, plus it partially prevents accidentally holding ENTER key). The delay is disabled when in Tester Mode.
– [misc] Auto limit FPS (for a few seconds) when running the Game Mode first time (like after New Game or loading from a save) to prevent “underheat” on some GPUs.
– [misc] Removed “Purchase expansion” button if expansion is present.
– [misc] Hawk Eye and Combat Recon ship hulls had data link bonus but no Data Link itself (illogical).
– [misc] Other small changes.

– [balance] Base Rebel points growth +5.
– [balance] Ships manufacturing cost increases/decreases with difficulty level.

– [expansion] if Expansion #1 active Base Rebel points growth +5 (to offset Propaganda Tradition gain).
– [expansion] Industrial Mongers tradition: +25% Food processing efficiency bonus per level (previously +50%).
– [expansion] Intrigue increases each audience a bit (affected by difficulty level).
– [expansion] Star Knights regular operations (and Master of the Order) event options made weaker and more expensive in terms of Intrigue.

– [manual] Chapter #3 added Secrets, Favors, Great Council, Banquet, better explanation of Political Marriage.
– [manual] Chapter #5 added Centralization, Stability.

– [fix] Create dynasty screen showed uniform of the Emperor as if this was a vassal house.
– [fix] Small cosmetic fixes.

Reminders
You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!

Version 1.22 released

This is a minor version, the first one that supports the upcoming “Old Dynasties” expansion (which is out tomorrow!), so mostly small technical changes. But it also has two nice features. First, new random events were added, those were originally planned for the expansion, but since I got more new events than I planned, I decided to move some to the base game instead. Second, a kind of modding was added. Now audience events can be written in a simple scripting language, so you can add your own if you wish!

BTW, this version incorrectly says “the expansion can be purchased” instead of “wishlisted”, but it will “fix” itself tomorrow when the expansion is out 🙂

– [feature] This version allows writing your own events (modding), since events system was exposed to LUA (a simple scripting language). In “data/content/” folder you have various files you can edit (note that those will break saves compatibility in most cases) and documentation (most effects are described, with parameters). There are also hints which allow you to disable hardcoded events, etc (for easier testing of new events). Overall, it’s a bit crude, and I would recommend to wait for future version before using it (it might be improved/extended), but overall it works.

– [content] New random audience events (mostly for early game).

The expansion can be wishlisted/purchased here (Steam/GOG):

“Old Dynasties” expansion on GOG

Reminders
You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!

Version 1.21 released

This version is the last one before the new expansion is out and contains various improvements which went to the base game during the expansion development. A new feature, when you accumulate a lot of secrets the Head of the house will visit you on their own and propose some deal (many people were forgetting about the Secrets mechanic, now it’s much more straightforward and you don’t need to remember to capitalize on known secrets). Simplified interaction with the head of the house (now there is just a single “Summon to audience” button). Changed randomization of some important events to prepare for influx of new regular random events in the expansion (so those do not compete with each other and so the periodic events are truly periodic no matter how many regular events there are). Manual has been updated. Many usual adjustments and improvements (interface related mostly) and fixes (one quite important).

Also, do not forget to wishlist the expansion now!

– [feature] If you know at least 3 secrets of a house, there is a chance the head of the house will appear during an audience and offer you some deal to forget those (you also have an option to expose them).

– [misc] “F.E.D. Directorship meeting” events are now guaranteed to be called regularly over time (removed from random events pool).
– [misc] Simplified “Summon head of the house to an audience” (merged into a single button).
– [misc] Spouse of a head first dialogue option requires 3 secrets instead of 5 for exchange of favors (to make it in par with the new event where the head visits and offer favors for forgetting secrets).

– [interface] Audience Prev/Next buttons got hotkeys (“<" and ">“).
– [interface] House screen got Prev/Next buttons. Note that those selects houses based on order of seniority (not relations).
– [interface] Mini buttons for houses now also close Help if open.
– [interface] Event effect tooltips showing person stats (Competence/Loyalty/Charisma/Authority/Monarchism) colored with the custom stat’s color.
– [interface] Event effect tooltips showing house stats (Authority/Monarchism) colored with the custom stat’s color.
– [interface] Interact with house button slightly bigger.
– [interface] Tooltips for all alien relations change now shows the aliens crests.

– [manual] Updated manual (also added special [u] tag for displaying colored hotkeys).

– [fix] Ships never miss (the whole accuracy system was broken).
– [fix] Rename house UI window open when switching to another house.
– [fix] Reform slider was missing button arrow icons.

Reminders
You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!

Version 1.20 released

In this version combat mechanics were adjusted, improved, fixed and clarified. It’s a bit fuzzy what is a new feature, what was wrongly explained and what was broken (it was a mixed bag of stuff), so I just listed all those as “misc”. Some stuff was also simplified (like missiles locking each combat round instead every second round). I also took the opportunity and redesigned and expanded the armor type vs weapon type dynamic. Overall, this version cleaned up some messy stuff related to combat. Oh yes, also traditional small fixes (spelling related mostly).

– [misc] More hull types and weapon types (Laser, Particle Beam, Plasma Gun, Graviton Lance), also Ion renamed to Particle Beam. Added to weapon tooltips the exact effect. Some hull types now have a different weapon type.
– [misc] Missiles attempt to lock on a target enemy ship each combat round (not every second round). The average number of missiles locking per combat round is similar (the change is only to make it less confusing).
– [misc] 50% damage goes to Shields and 50% to Hull (was explained incorrectly in the tooltip). Actually, I was wondering which one is the bug, the mechanic or the tooltip. Decided it’s the tooltip, since 50:50 has some advantages with rounding and is overall easier to grasp.
– [misc] Now aliens can start with Guided Missiles.
– [misc] Other combat related adjustments/fixes.

– [interface] Squadron statistics and espionage tooltip has added that Fighters/Heavy Fighters carry 1 bomb each (and how much damage those deal). Also improved missiles tooltip to make it more clear how those work.

– [fix] Armor ship component was not working.
– [fix] Description of Shields fixed (damage reduction incorrectly listed) (as 1/3 while it’s 50%):
– [fix] Incorrect tooltip info (listed as Hardened Shields instead of Hardened Armor).
– [fix] Incorrect position of some interface elements.
– [fix] Several text related fixes (wrong emperor pronoun in one place and other small stuff).

Reminders
You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!

Version 1.19 released

This version is one big bug fix. Well, it has one measly interface improvement as well, but other than that, just fixes. Actually, there are many more changes, hidden deep inside, but those are made as a preparation for the upcoming expansion, so more like things that needed to be done but not visible to players at all. In short, the most boring update ever. Move along, nothing to see.

– [interface] Mini house buttons (on the top of the screen) sorted by relations/opinion.

– [fix] Was possible to get diplomatic/infiltration progress towards an extinct race.
– [fix] Was possible for an Admiral to sent negative number of squadrons in some cases.
– [fix] Safeguard against potential memory overflow error.
– [fix] Safeguard against squadron templates with no ships (which could cause negative production). Now at least one ship is guaranteed.
– [fix] Events could include options to add Popular Support to reforms that were already passed. Now all such options only pop up if the reform is not passed yet.
– [fix] Bio Chemical bombs were not destroying defensive installations.
– [fix] All constructions (star bases, etc) upkeep was positive (those added money instead of deducting).
– [fix] One of the previous versions broke budget changes counter, fixed.
– [fix] Turns to research could have been displayed as negative (if there was an abundance of research points).
– [fix] Replacing leaders of the house (rebels punishment option) made the head of the house broken (banquet, phantom person on planets display, etc). In addition to the fix, old saves will have this auto corrected on load.
– [fix] Offensive squadrons were not converted to defensive squadrons upon planet conquest in some cases.
– [fix] When automatic queue of technologies option was used the highest unlocked tech level was not updated (and therefore sometimes too low).
– [fix] Various spelling mistakes.

Reminders
You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!

Version 1.18 released

This version is a bag of various changes. First, the bankruptcy mechanic was redesigned. Now you don’t get a direct stability drop from negative treasury but it causes a small penalty to administrative points generation and triggers bankruptcy audience events. The end result is similar, the fall of the Empire due to stability drop if treasury is negative for too long, but now you have more options to react to it and you can pretty safely allow to run negative for a few turns. A similar mechanic for private treasury was introduced, but with less severe penalties and events. Next, the Houses minimap mode was removed. This was a think I thought for a long time but I don’t want to drag it any longer. The placement of fiefs is too distracting, sure, it looks cool but it plainly do not work. And I don’t like to keep things that do not work, so removed. Now the exact placement of fiefs is irrelevant. Next, a small rebalance to Centralization was done, the tax efficiency boost might seem like not useful in practice but it’s logical, intuitive and might become more important once I implement some events I planned for future. The last thing is a bunch of smaller changes and traditional fixes.

– [feature] Negative Imperial treasury causes penalty to Administrative pts generation (at least -10 per turn, increases over time).
– [feature] Negative Imperial treasury triggers an event each audience which makes you select one penalty (default being Stability loss). The longer the deficit the higher the penalty.
– [feature] Negative private treasury causes penalty of Authority -10 for the Royal House (lifted after balance is positive).
– [feature] Negative private treasury triggers an event each audience which makes you select one penalty.

– [remove] Removed stability drop from negative money mechanic (replaced with Bankruptcy audience events).
– [remove] Removed Houses minimap mode (it made an incorrect impression that the location of fiefs is very important). Also removed all mentions of Noble Houses Homeworlds from all tooltips.

– [misc] Mechatrons will now run out of supply after around 100 turns after unburrowing (no more reinforcements). There is a proper event announcement about it.
– [misc] Hidden battle markers on starmap when there is no Recon (it was plain confusing).
– [misc] Removed dev “triangle” notice (to avoid confusion).
– [misc] Removed the option to Expand Ministry of Protocol (Ministry of Protocol has no bonus, therefore the option was pointless).

– [balance] Centralization decreases legislation points needed to pass laws to -2% per Centralization point (before -5%).
– [balance] Centralization increases Tax Efficiency by +1% per Centralization point.

– [interface] Improved Corruption tooltip to clarify that all income is affected by Corruption.
– [interface] Houses summary screen lists grudges next to relations.
– [interface] Rebels tooltip improvements: Removed rebel points gained from events (this information is redundant here and just confusing) and cleaned up the tooltip so % modifiers are listed separately.

– [fix] Cities started being constructed before colonization is completed. Same for infrastructure points generation.
– [fix] Main menu help right side section items (left side was correct) “Back” button closing the whole help screen instead of moving one level down.
– [fix] “Unexplored” was off on the planet short info box.
– [fix] Spelling corrections.

Reminders
You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!

Version 1.17 released

This version fulfills one of my secret desires as the designer. It finally gets rid of diplomatic corps as a separate entity and integrates diplomats directly into the court. I know, I know, it’s not that important to you as a player but for me it’s super nice. I mean it’s very clean design wise, I no longer need to take into account loyalty of diplomats to rebel points generation (since now they are courtiers and standard rules apply), it also, indirectly, allowed me to improve tooltips of personnel (since now I can say “In addition to being a Courtier, those additional rules apply because the character is appointed as a Diplomat)”. Next, I was watching some YouTube videos and read through various forum posts and based on those I incorporated several small changes and improvements to the interface and the game balance. Overall, the game is now slightly more streamlined without losing any depth (actually a bit of depth was added), which is always a desired outcome. Only one fix, if we not count spelling corrections, which is kind of nice since it seems I start to run out of bugs to fix, even the most obscure ones.

– [feature] Removed Diplomatic Corps, now you appoint diplomats among courtiers (there is one diplomat position for All Minor Races and one for each major race). Note: You need to appoint Diplomats among courtiers if you have an old save (otherwise you will have no diplomats).
– [feature] Extra optional rule “Visible Technologies”. When selected will make all technologies visible regardless of level.

– [misc] Removed bonus to All Ministries Efficiency from the court (the Administrative points gain is more than enough to make you care for Competence of courtiers, so the effect was redundant and was not affecting any decisions anyway and was just adding to the interface and mental clutter).
– [misc] Banishing a Courtier from the Court requires stripping the Courtier of all positions first.
– [misc] Level of Ministry renamed to Efficiency of Ministry (more logical and consistent with other similar effects).
– [misc] Color of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Justice switched (for more intuitive Diplomats color, since they use a variant of the color of the Foreign Affairs Ministry).

– [balance] Technologies rebalance (effects slightly adjusted, tier of some technologies adjusted), one new technology added.
– [balance] Budget (Administration) grants Administrative points (+5 per tier).
– [balance] Budget (Administration) reduced Tax Efficiency bonus.
– [balance] Budget (Administration) increased All Ministries Efficiency bonus.
– [balance] Agricultural Standards Act and Mining Standard Act (laws) made significantly stronger.
– [balance] Will Of The People Act (law) increases reform speed by additional +25% instead of +10%.

– [interface] Summary/Empire list all dynastic perks.
– [interface] Bonuses tab on Summary/Empire which lists all bonuses (identical to stats on Technologies screen).
– [interface] House button tooltip shows wealth, FED shares and has proper colors for Authority and Monarchism.
– [interface] Authority and Monarchism on Houses summary screen.
– [interface] Tax changes are instantly updated (to see how it affects happiness without waiting for the next turn).
– [interface] Top bar tooltips improved.
– [interface] Court screen shows stability bonus from houses.
– [interface] Better tooltips for courtiers competence, loyalty and charisma (with extra notes depending on the role like minister or diplomat).
– [interface] Various small interface improvements (colors, tooltips, etc).

– [fix] Removed incorrect aliens aggressiveness report (this was leftover from first Stellar Monarch mechanic which was never used in the sequel).
– [fix] Minor spelling fixes.

And one more thing… it’s not official yet but there are quite high chances the next project would be an expansion to Stellar Monarch 2. Drop by Discord or Steam forums to discuss possible expansion.

Reminders
You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!