Version 0.61 released
This version is a mix of small redesign, cleanup and rebalance. Basically, I removed tiny bits of outdated features and managed to replace them with something that is more logical, more fun, easier to explain and looks prettier on the screen. All of those at the same time (as you can imagine I very rarely manage to pull off something like that, so I’m very content). Fleet screen now has bars with average officers’ stats and with all effects listed in tooltips. Staff officers were redesigned, now they provide bonus vs certain alien races. The staff can be promoted/demoted which allows you to decide which bonuses you want to focus on. Also, it let you to change your mind, at a cost of course, if you want to wage a war against another target for example. Note that not all of those effects are handled by the battle engine yet, I wanted first to gather your feedback before the full implementation of those. Next are the old ministry related events. I can’t imagine I have delayed it for so long (and even more surprising is that you never complained about those), but finally, all those events are up to date with Stellar Monarch 2 mechanics. Yay! There is also an early attempt on house traditions perks (some effects are placeholder but otherwise it’s fully functional), rebalance of rebel points (which are not really meaningful yet since the rebellion is not implemented, but I wanted to fine-tune the numbers before I start implementing the actual rebellion) and two new extra rules which can be enabled via options. There is also a bunch of smaller improvements and fixes.
– [feature] Tradition house perks, unlocked by relations with a noble house (Neutral/Cordial/Friendly). Each relation tier unlocks one perk. Note that some effects are a placeholder in this version and will be replaced with proper effects in future.
– [feature] Two additional optional extra rules “At the Brink of Rebellion” and “Rebels Everywhere”.
– [feature] Imperial High Command staff grant tactical bonus vs certain alien race (each officer specializes in different aliens). The bonus depends on the staff rank.
– [feature] Ability to promote/demote Imperial High Command staff.
– [misc] Negative rebel points (reduction) are now only generated by the Court, Stability and events (all other factors can only add rebel points but never remove any).
– [misc] Cleanup of audience events/effects (removed instances of obsolete project pts, finished tooltips for conditional personnel modification, etc).
– [misc] Natural Born Leader trait also affects Vice Admirals.
– [misc] Officers who are supporters of houses with Warlords tradition get +1 Competence.
– [balance] Required 5’000 rebel points (previously 10’000) for rebellion to reach 100% readiness.
– [balance] Court and planet rebel support affects rebel points generation significantly more.
– [balance] Corruption trait of officers impact increased, also now affected by officer’s rank (similar to Courtiers).
– [content] Cleanup up of ministry related audience events (all of them are finally redone to match the SM2 mechanics).
– [interface] Replaced unused readiness/morale bars with average officers’ stats bars (Competence/Loyalty/Charisma) on Fleets screen.
– [interface] Audience options tooltips show the number of turns a temporary modifier effect will last.
– [interface] Noble Houses traditions tooltips list the effects for house supporters (Old Aristocracy and Warlords bonus).
– [interface] Tooltip for officers stats states the exact impact of stats depending on military rank.
– [fix] Bug where every noble house head shared the same name if the custom emperor’s name was chosen.
– [fix] Other potential vulnerabilities fixed (code review).
Compatibility note: NO CHANGE, this version works with v0.60+ savefiles (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).
