Big improvement to how commodity trading is done, much easier to meet Energy demands. Maybe it's too easy now. We've also done a major rebalancing of early game space units. Also added a new facility to help defend your homeworld from pirates in the early game.
FastTrack v.805:
Combat stats of all early game units rebalanced. Battles should be much more interesting.
Resource department, market trades, new controls to set "target supply" for each commodity
--- Locking the commodity will reset the slider to neutral, but can be adjust to order more trades
Resource department, market controls, Build Export now allows putting goods into "crates" in your space dock which can then move to your transport ships
--- This system for setting crates size has some inherent flaws and is a temporary solution. How you set the quantity for the crate will be changed in a future update.
Space Engineers are now capable of dropping on planets. Can be consumed to produce a spaceport on new worlds to exploit them.
Pirate crews increased so they can capture and be more piratey
New Defense Platform facility added for system level, early homeworld defense
Terrain graphic optimizations
Pirates will declare war if a faction incurs (crosses into their territory)
Resolved conflict between mouse drag and mouse right click
Internal DaysPerYear changed to 100 from 365 (should be fine…)
Various minor UI fixes, engine fixes and optimizations
Tutorial 2 much improved, nearly complete
Tutorial 3 updates (still ends abruptly, but working)
Tech tree balance of "leads to" technology links improved
This version makes some significant changes to how new planets are claimed by factions. Each Orbital Station you build establishes a colony at that planet. Orbital Station used to be called Space Dock, but that name caused confusion. A few names were updated. We've also added some new facilities including the Harvester. Orbital Stations cannot be placed on asteroids, instead you build a harvester nearby and it sends workers to the asteroid.
Major fixes have also been down to how colonies are created. The engineering ships and colony ships now bring along a "starting stock" of goods and some population so you can get things running in your new colony. The trading system had major fixes so you can use diplomacy to ship resources to and from colonies. We also fixed the crate system that lets you micromanage resource trades if you choose.
Space combat balance also got another full pass with massive changes. Space battles should be more interesting now, but more changes are likely.
FastTrack v.819:
Building an Orbital Station now creates a colony at space level
--- Faction no longer dead if no planet
--- Engineer includes starting FInished Goods and starting military personnel to get more facilities online
--- Added Orbtial Storage facility for system level. Replaces Spaceport for planets with no surface. Trade of resource requires either a Spaceport or an Orbital Storage
Some facilities renamed to reduce confusion
Fixes to ownership when an orbital station is destroyed/captured
Fixes to Resource department, creating crates for transport
Fixes to Diplomacy screens for interaction with colonies
--- What was a Space Dock is now an Orbital Station, etc.
New facility - Harvester.
--- Set rally point on an asteroid to "mine" for Ore resources. Spawns 2 workers.
Beacon changed from "facility" type to "unit" type. Might still have some odd behaviours
--- Button added to system level UI, top left, to cycle through beacon locations.
Building Spaceport on non-breathable planets works to place initial Outpost, but expansion/capture of territory still no working (in progress)
Orbital Station Launch Pad facility added. If someone blows up your Orbital Station, you can build this on planet to launch a new station.
Ability to switch to colony at system level added. More UI elements planned to make switching to your colony easier. Watch for this in future updates.
Beam weapons no longer provided by default, must be researched for ships to use them.
--- tech tree updated for clearer path through beam weapons
Tech Tree change - removed Dark Matter from the game. Trade can now meet required power needs, Dark Matter created some issues
Unit selection updated. Empire can still select colony units but as colony the player cannot interact with the empire's units, only it's own units
Drones no longer allowed to deploy beacons, only Survey Ships and Engineers.
Game lobby, advanced options, players can now select a starting force size of up to "massive" space fleet. Affects all spacefaring regions.Not in multiplayer yet.
Combat stats of space units and weapons platforms rebalanced again, further improvements
Tutorial chapter 2 complete, progress on chapter 3
Various UI and Graphic fixes
OMN now show on level up hex
Space facilities no longer need hex loyalty to use destroy command
The colony system has gone through further significant changes. Testing from the last update quickly revealed that it was causing players to have too many different colonies, many of them very minor strategic positions for the player. The new rules attempt to keep clusters of colonies under a single owner if they have only system level assets. The clearest example is a player adding orbital stations to the moons of their homeworld now retains ownership of those stations and by extension any shipyards built there. If players later establish an outpost or colony on one of those moons, the orbital station ownership shifts to belong to the colony.
This update also unlocks 3 more races; the Breel, the Gulthian and the Dicapse. This brings the number of playable factions up to 13. We've also reduced the galaxy sizes. In testing we found it spread players too far across the galaxy. This will continue to be evaluated and additional advanced options for size are planned.
FastTrack v.829:
Three new factions available
Changes to colonization system
--- Orbital stations on moons will stay owned by the same faction where possible
--- Taking a planet will switch the Orbital Station ownership when relevant
--- Fixes to taking territory on non-breathable worlds
--- Colonies of colonies become colonies of the empire
--- Colonies providing initial stock of goods and personnel
Fixes and improvements to diplomatic trades
Galaxy sizes reduced by half - may be increased again later in development
Ballistic shot graphic colour at space level updated
Improvements to Tutorial chapters 2 and 3
Fixes to 3D model lighting system
Improvements to galaxy generation - asteroid placement
Fixes to resource trading with Merchant AI
Fixes to crate management
Fixes to beam weapon system
Updates to game cursor system
Various sound, UI and graphics updates
Unit Orders list now has tooltips for order details (partially written, ongoing)
Planet type names shown, might create some mismatch types (work ongoing)
4K scaling fixes to slider bar graphics
Tech tree changes, FTL transport ship now available earlier
Two major changes in this new update. First is that in the game lobby, advanced options, a slider has now been provided to set the exact number of systems you would like in your galaxy. This goes from 2 to 200. The default sizes remain 25 / 35 / 50 / 75 / 100. Second is that population migration has been implemented. New minister priorities have been added for setting if you'd prefer an immigration or emigration policy for a selected world. This allows players to use their governors to shift population between planets. The governor priority screen is also being rebuilt, so is functional but very ugly at this time.
We've also continued work on the colony game mechanics, those should be mostly complete at this time. It's now possible to claim territory on non-breathable worlds and expand the area you own. Colonies also have proper access to ship designs for their faction if they have the required technology.
The tutorial system has also gotten some updates with an improved highlight circle, more use of highlights, and an audio cue when an objective is completed. That's smaller stuff, but could be very helpful for new players.
FastTrack v.846:
Advanced Lobby option now allows setting galaxy to any size between 2 systems and 200 systems
Migration system implementation in progress
--- Homeworld will constantly send population to the colonies until equal in size.
--- Treaties added to set immigration/emigration policy, but don't change the policies yet. Due for next update
Fixes to trade and treaties with colonies and other regions
Fixed colonies access to unit designs
Updated research list UI to show what techs provide unit designs
Fixed supply growth on non-breathable worlds. Cannot capture with units, only with engineers and extending supply levels.
Optimizations of galaxy creation code
Major rebalance of planet types and atmospheres. New visuals added, still in progress for more
Fixed alien world terrain tree textures
Updates to AI facility build routines
Additional ship models for recently added races (Breel, Gultian, Dicapse)
Ore Harvester facilities auto select nearest asteroid for harvesting
Added suggested location for placing new colony on planet (shows as circle with star)
Game speed bars red when paused
Help message highlight circle updated
Audio cue plays when an objective is completed
More on map notifications for both valid and invalid actions for better feedback
Fixes to custom cursors
Fixed flag of homeworld changed if you use an engineer to build a spaceport on the homeworld
Fixed some multiplayer sync errors but some may still remain
AI will stop handling emails while player is "switched-to" that player
Fixes to self destruct order, added to right click list of options at location with a beacon
Fixed latest headline for alert messages
Updated grid/hide conditions for quick action buttons on unit lists in Command
Governor Priority popup redesign started - looks ugly for now but works better
No longer allowed to build cities on worlds of incompatible atmospheres
Updates to planet popup but work still in progress
Updates to planet HUDs to better communicate colony parents and planet ownership
Quick turnaround for this fasttrack as it was discovered that the last fast track often didn't create a valid galaxy level.
This version has a lot of fixes, but also makes big improvements to how players can use the AI to reduce their own micromanagement frustrations. The "low" overall initiative is now balanced to just survey around the system a ship is in. They won't go running all around the galaxy until you set it to much higher levels.
FastTrack v.853:
Fixed a bug that would delete the galaxy. Oops
Fixes to scrapping code
Fixed potential unit orders multiplayer sync issues
Fixes to capture orders and feedback messages
Fixes to planet types (ongoing)
Additional texture work for gaseous world (purple trees)
Improved AI unit selection system for responding to orders vs. specialty units
Fixes to units retreating constantly/can't find a base
Tutorial updates
Fixes to potential crash on harvesting
Fixes to potential crash with Orbital Station popup
Fixes to potential crash on faction info tooltip from faction emblem
Performance fixes for Merchant AI ship inventories
Since we made some good progress on AI, we wanted to get another fasttrack pushed out. As of this new build, the various parts of the AI have been connected together such that it is now capable of assembling an invasion force, moving an invasion force, and deploying an invasion force. The AI will also take some basic strategic actions to support the invasion, but we plan to continue expanding and diversifying the AI tactics.
We've also made some big changes to the tech tree and the planet types, but AI tends to be of greater interest to most players.
This update will be a much larger download than normal due to a minor validation that was needed for all 3D model textures. Because of this, they are all seen as having been updated.
FastTrack v.867:
Basic AI space invasion implementation (testing ongoing)
Build Spaceport order renamed to Build Outpost (function is unchanged)
Major balance updates to planets composition and planet visuals
Major tech tree updates
Fixed action buttons in transport ships to manually pick up/drop off crates at stations
Updates to planet popup, controls of planet actions and governor priorities at system level
Tutorial Updates
Minor format validation on ALL game textures.
On map feedback for actions updated, new messages added
Fixes to capture of facilities
Fixes to trade between colonies and merchant AI
Fixed carrier capacity for transport ships of some factions that were zero
Doubled move speed of planetary and stellar transport ships
Various UI and graphic fixes
Updated slider graphic to have notch, but currently positioned too high
Further fixes to avoid "information bleed" of players seeing info on undiscovered factions
Fixed bug where building an orbital station changed player faction to AI controlled
Fixes to unit orders, player vs. AI action priority
Fixes to AI use of hotspots
Fixes to governor priority checking for governor actions
Updates to what planets each race can start on
Fixes to various 3D models for scale and components
Fixed game option to play with Fog of War turned off, regions properly "discovered"
Adjustments to order of availability for some treaties
Fixed player elimination if focused on a colony when the colony dies
Fixes to research not being used by some AI factions
The big addition this time is FTL pathing and waypoint support! Orders to systems out of range will now cause ships to make multiple jumps to reach their destination.
Further improvements have been made to AI, tech tree and the planet types. A lot of housekeeping changes in this update.
FastTrack v.874:
Fixed bug where planets would begin to "repair" and slowly increase in size (oops)
Fixed ship upgrade component system ( +5% is different than =5%...)
AI Invasion process updated (work ongoing)
FTL pathing added for long distances, AI and player units, including waypoints
Colonies can no longer declare war on parent region
Parent regions will auto accept offers made from colony
Planet types and visuals updated
Each faction now has a specific homeworld, all homeworlds have at least some food
Faction lore and storyline updates (work ongoing)
Tutorial updates
UI and Graphics updates
--- Slider bar shuttle position fixed
--- Advanced Orders at lobby, button is moved to lower right of basic options
Much of this update is ongoing fixes to existing processes, but there is now a "galaxy shroud", blackness where players have not yet explored. It still has issues if not playing on a 1920x1080 resolution, but we're working on that.
FastTrack v.885:
Fixes to FTL AI pathfinding and FTL orders
Optimizations to day end processing
Units won't move into neutral territory. Still don't exit if ownership changes, to be fixed later.
Units path around the star
Stars now have a "danger zone", units will take damage if they are too close.
Internal engine fixes to combat system and movement system
Addition of galaxy shroud
Tech effect for adjusting FTL charge speed implmented
Minor races now selected randomly
Various UI fixes, graphics fixes, message fixes
Colony trading added
Planet resource deposits are now rebalanced. Some planets are rich in resources, others nearly barren.
Top centre UI for "factions present in system/at planet" redesigned.
--- Shows parent regions, mouse over for list of colonies
Fixed "build a colony on allied planet converts faction to yours" bug
List controls in lists of regions updated (state department and bottom right)
Negotiations Popup redesigned, fixes to available categories
Adjustments to starting relationships for different region types (pirates, colonies, etc.)
List of galaxy types clipped to the 3 working types
Fixed bug where ships jumping to a system without beacon could arrive in the Oort cloud
First pirate leader picture added, more to come
Galactic Almanac button moved from lower left UI to lower right
A few more quick fixes. We've also added an "automate" option to the unit details popup, the orders panel, and unit Rules of Engagement. When clicked, it puts the selected unit(s) under full Governor controls. Clicking the button again will return them to player control. Because of this new option, we've decreased the default space initiative to none. Players will need to either select automation or increase initiative if they want the Governor to move around their space units. Land and Air units do still default to some Governor control.
There was briefly a 904 available, its changes are included here;
FastTrack v.907:
New option - Automate Unit
Decreased default space initiative to none
Survey progress shown in 25% increments
Fix to conquest of pirate faction
Fixed Ore Harvester Minions going to unsurveyed asteroids