Version 1.31 released

Small update containing some fixes and an engine upgrade.

– [misc] Technical upgrade (new 3rd party libraries) also engine upgrade (small improvements like mute on focus lost).
– [misc] New buttons on main menu page (Discord, Website, etc).

– [fix] Rebels not progressing in the Birth of the Empire game mode. It also fixes your older saves.
– [fix] Crashes during Rename fleet when Delete key is pressed (it seems over the years no one ever tried to press that key, so the bug was unnoticed for so long :D)

Version 1.30 released

December version introduces a new ironman mode “Surrounded by Traitors” which makes maintaining loyalty of imperial officials much more tricky. Especially over time since the loyalty degrades more when time passes when this ironman mode is selected. This version also introduces a new event related to loyalty and interface improvements.

– [feature] Ironman mode: Surrounded by Traitors. Every 100 turns starting Loyalty of new imperial officials (courtiers, governors, officers) is reduced by -1 (up to -5), except political officers who are unaffected. Much higher chance for “Loyalty decreased” event. “Loyalty increased” event will never happen.
– [feature] New very rare event “Loyalty decreased”. Each imperial official has 50% chance for Loyalty -1. Note that this event is much more frequent if Surrounded by Traitors ironmode is selected.

– [interface] Summary of governors/courtiers/officers on Empire/Summary screen now also displays average competence/loyalty/corruption.
– [interface] Additional accessories for imperial officials portraits (more earrings for females and a new data visor for males). Note that with old saves you might have some existing portraits changed and might see some odd overrepresentation of certain accessories, it’s just a cosmetic thing and affects old saves only.
– [interface] Increased chance for accessories for female portraits.
– [interface] Reverted back to the old faction icons (while the new ones were more sharp and visible, I have to agree with some concerns raised on the forum that the old more blurry ones are more consistent with the style of portraits and since factions icons are displayed mostly on portraits making them look good with portraits is a priority, plus the imperial eagle which is displayed on governors portrait is a blurred one, so I suppose it’s more consistent to make all over portrait icons with blurred versions).

Version 1.29 released

November version focuses on two things. Making native alien population actually provide some in-game effect and replacing remaining icons with the new pixel perfect style. Also many icons/buttons were fine tuned and improved in terms of consistency, intuitiveness and visibility.

– [feature] Native alien population provide bonus to Farms and Mines output proportional to the number of natives.
– [feature] Advanced Customization option for extra native alien population.

– [balance] Presence of native population chance and quantity redone. Natives are never present on Terra (since Terrans are the original natives of this planet). Never on Barren and Lava, unlikely on Ice. Abundant (both chance and quantity of natives) on Jungle, Swamp, Terran planet types. Note this does not affect old saves since native population is generated on game start.
– [balance] Overall native population is more abundant in the galaxy. Note this does not affect old saves since native population is generated on game start.

– [interface] Faction symbols replaced with hand crafted pixel perfect art.
– [interface] Population icons (Terran, Civilized Aliens, Hostile Aliens, Natives) redone. Now it shows “heads” and overall is more intuitive (hostile aliens not only are marked red but also have vicious faces which should incite your natural urge to exterminate them on sight which is consistent with game effects :D). Also done used pixel perfect art.
– [interface] Interface elements (scroller, close, help) adjusted.
– [interface] Improved population display on planets (no 0m Terrans listed if there are no Terrans, which means a less cluttered interface).

Version 1.28 released

October version got improved graphics and interface. The small stuff that was considered too low priority until now. Also a new nameset (Eastern ethnic group).

– [interface] Top menu icons redone (credits, upkeep, stormtroopers, minerals, food, gas, etc). These were redone by a proper pixelartist.
– [interface] Scroller up/down icon buttons, close button icon, help button icon redone.
– [interface] Adjusted minimap bottom buttons sizes and position.

– [misc] Eastern ethnic group got a new nameset (Czech-like sounding). This nameset will be put in to courtier random name generator when Eastern ethnic group is selected (Ethnic Customization option available upon game start).

Version 1.27 released

September version introduced ethnic groups. A purely cosmetic feature which allows you to choose the feel of the names for your courtiers and other imperial officials. All namesets have been divided into 3 ethnic groups. Western group which holds names typical for Western Europe and North America, Eastern group which holds names typical for Eastern Europe and Oriental group which holds names typical to Asia. Also, if you want all of them at once you can use Mixed group. It allows you to adjust the feel of the game and it has no impact on the gameplay. In addition there are traditional small improvements, fixes, etc.

– [feature] Ethnic customization button added to the new game screen which holds cosmetic adjustments options.
– [feature] Ethnic groups introduced (Ethnic customization button). Now you can select Western, Eastern or Oriental ethnic group for your empire which determine the names for all characters. You can also select Mixed ethnic group which will use all those at once.

– [misc] Better names for characters (name generator prefers shorter first name + last name combinations so those fit better and a bigger font can be used in most cases).

– [balance] Different starting stats based on courtier’s faction (Economists tend te be less corrupted, Cancellists more loyal, Traditionalists more competent; Warlords and Genetechnologists no changes). It should add a bit of immersion (like Traditionalists who are the descendants of the old aristocracy being more apt to rule but not so loyal while Cancellists being bureaucrats who want no trouble and therefore being more loyal). It also allows you to predict slightly what to expect when you look at the faction affiliation of a courtier.

– [interface] Additional accessories for males (goggles, monocles).

– [fix] Emperor’s genetic makeup list in the chancellor screen not matching the genetic picks (it was a cosmetic problem only since the perks were accounted properly, so this fix just repairs the list of perks display).
– [fix] Small fixes.

Version 1.26 released

August version is all about interface. Numerous small changes aimed to make it more consistent, intuitive and easier to use. There is also a new “find planet” option on the list of planets screen, useful if you remember only the planet name and wish to find it quickly.

– [misc] default names for all fleets (a small thing but it’s more consistent for all fleets to have a default name upon game start).

– [interface] Reports tabs remember their position (requested by players).
– [interface] Find planet by name input box on list planets screen.
– [interface] New input text boxes (rename planet, rename fleet, save filename, etc). More intuitive and consistent with the one you have in your OS.
– [interface] Mouse cursor changes when hovering over a hyperlink. More intuitive and consistent with the one you have in your OS.

Version 1.25 released

July version includes a lot of behind the scenes work, most of it won’t be noticeable since it affects small & rare glitches and make internal mechanics more logical and consistent. In addition a bunch of interface improvements, especially the long requested sorted battle reports.

– [misc] Automated fleets now behave more like manual ones in terms on when those make decisions and move. So those will enter the battle instantly (like manual ones) but will react slower to the operational situation (like retaking planets) since they no longer can see what AI will do next.

– [interface] List of battles sorted. At the top space battles you lost, then stalemates, then won space battles. At the very bottom ground battles (sorted by invasion progress).
– [interface] ESCAPE key closes the current screen, only when nothing is open it opens/closes quick menu.
– [interface] Tractor Beams explanation added to Fleet/Shipyard context help.
– [interface] Ships in reserve count added to Fleet/Squadrons.
– [interface] Minerals used for ships production added to Industry report.

– [fix] Excess industrial facilities on some planets. Also improved the facilities building algorithm to make it a bit more intelligent.

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.