Version 0.60 released

This version has the new game screen redesigned and finished. You can select core ruleset, extra rules, customize emperor’s name/sex, spend dynasty points, etc. A few things are still missing (like customizing the royal house crest) but majority of it is finished. Next, introduced a new mechanic, the Grand Imperial Banquet. It basically allows you to invite all heads of the noble house in bulk and then chat with them on various topic (chat individually or make toasts to address certain issues). Please give me feedback what you think about this mechanic. It’s a bit rough right now but definitely within the mood of being the emperor. Next is a small thing which will become very important later, centralization mechanic which is right now an experimental feature (needs to be manually enabled). I also added a bunch of much needed new random events and cleaned up & finished the existing ones (except the dreaded ministerial events which are still unfinished). Overall, with this version I tried to finish some basic stuff that was long due and to take a step back and reflect on the gameplay and see what needs redesign or a different approach.

– [feature] Banquet can be organized which allows to invite heads of all noble houses and discuss various things (there is a button on Audience screen for this). It’s expensive and time consuming (Emperor’s focus points) but it allows to strike deals and smooth rough edges with relations.
– [feature] New game screen was redesigned and there is now “ruleset selector” which replaced the old rules checkboxes. Basically, now you select what options you want in bulk, tailored to a specific experience you desire (like if you want more/less randomness and control).
– [feature] Option to play without manual technologies selection (add to queue is disable then and the technology is selected by imperial researchers). This is to simulate even more “ruling from the heights of the imperial throne” premise since some people requested to have less control over such mundane tasks. You need to select “Hands off” ruleset to enable this option.
– [feature] New game screen now has “extra rules” which you can select in any combination you wish. Most of those make the game harder.
– [feature] 5 extra rules (Surrounded by Idiots, Surrounded by Traitors, Surrounded by Ugly, Surrounded by Thieves, Complex Laws).
– [feature] New game screen “Start Dynasty” button works now. It allows you to customize the Emperor/Empress (name, sex, portrait). Note that house customization (like crest selection) is not implemented yet but it will be in the same place.
– [feature] Start Dynasty allows you to select various dynastic perks (very similar to the ones from Stellar Monarch if you played the prequel). Unused dynasty points are converted to extra Stability (which is also done automatically if you select “Quick start”).
– [feature] Experimental feature (needs to be enabled by going to Options and checking “Enable experimental features”): Centralization. It will make a new parameter to be displayed on the top bar and this mechanic is going to be a very important one in future. Right now there is no way to increase Centralization level and it does not affect Coronation Ceremony, that’s why it’s marked as experimental.

– [content] Many more audience events. Also finished unfinished events (except ministries related ones).
– [content] Added banquet preparations related events (musicians, cooks, poets, etc offering their services).

– [misc] Renamed game modes to scenarios.
– [misc] Military ranks slight cleanup.
– [misc] Audience events are properly randomized now (in the previous versions some of the events appeared in a fixed order).

– [balance] Increased cost of laws.

– [interface] Top menu tooltips cleaned up, unified and improved.
– [interface] Bureaucracy tooltip on finances screen shows details what are the sources of bureaucracy bonuses/penalties.
– [interface] Escape key properly closes all windows in all parts of the game while always retaining/restoring the higher level window.

– [fix] Various small bugfixes.

Compatibility note: INCOMPATIBLE, this version will not work with old saves (note that each time a savefile compatibility is broken a new Beta branch with the old version is created so you can always finish your game in progress).