Version 0.74 released

This version was a big redesign of the Great Council. I reviewed how it works, disassembled it and basically redid it from scratch using the parts that worked. Now it’s all more clear and logical, plus you can make a speech to alter the voting! Another feature is robots and androids population (build your own citizens). There is also a bunch of very nice interface improvements, the traditional removal of several features that were assessed as too weak and rebalance.

– [feature] The Great Council redesign.
– [feature] Three additional glorious achievements from Centralization.
– [feature] Robots (population type) introduced. Must be enabled via technology “Mechanical Servants”, this population is automatically manufactured depending on number of cities and provide labor only (everything explained in tooltips).
– [feature] Added option to mass order to mark for conquest even unexplored planets of that race.

– [misc] Aristocracy tax now affects opinion of noble houses.
– [misc] Adjusted initial budget points allocation.

– [removed] Ministry actions removed (only one action was implemented and it was not very useful anyway, better is such things are handled via audience events).
– [removed] Removed planetary markers concept (it looked great on paper but I could not find a way to make those work in game, those might be back in future in some other form).
– [removed] Removed unused Intriguer and Easy to Bribe traits.

– [balance] Rebalanced reforms (houses support and popular support grant higher bonus, reforms take longer to finish by default). Which means that now assuring a proper house support before attempting a reform is much more important.
– [balance] Number of glorious achievements required for coronation increased from 12 to 15 (because of additional sources of glorious achievements).
– [balance] Administrative points for audience events rebalanced (overall, on average audience options now require more administrative points).
– [balance] Opinion of houses for audience events rebalanced (on average audience options now affect houses opinion more). This change is intended to better reflect the opinion needed per reputation tier and make it more meaningful.

– [content] New technologies (robots related).

– [interface] Added mass orders tab on diplomacy screen (according to feedback many numerous first time players had trouble finding this option on the planet screen, it should be much easier to find now).
– [interface] Option to rename fleets and ships.
– [interface] Ships quick selector on Ships screen (ships marked as obsolete will be skipped by quick selector).
– [interface] Aliens quick selector on Intelligence screen.
– [interface] Beautified encyclopedia slightly (note: encyclopedia has no content yet).

– [fix] Incorrect population summary.
– [fix] Banquet option window now was not reacting properly to ESC key.

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).