Version 1.43 released

A big autonomous fleets overhaul. I the last month or so I was brooding over how autonomous fleets should be tweaked to make them more intuitive and efficient. There are two big changes, one in how the offensive fleets process conquest orders and second is the introduction of patrol squadrons which are used by defensive fleets. As usual, all this is explained in tooltips ingame. One more change for the expansion, now you can prioritize planets for Astro Engineers which gives you more control over which planet is going to be terraformed next.

– [feature] Redo of autonomous fleets conquest orders processing. Now fleets can not “reserve” the conquest order but instead the first eligible (which has the target planet within area of responsibility) fleet that is ready will execute the order. So, now multiple fleets can prepare an offensive vs a target planet and the first one that’s ready will execute it. The remaining fleets that targeted that planet will retarget.
– [feature] Added patrol squadrons which are used as a fast reaction/reserve forces for defensive fleets. Those will be sent to newly colonized/conquered planets in order to strengthen the defences till the regular guard squadrons can be properly created and reinforced.
– [feature][expansion#1] Now you can prioritize a planet for Astro Engineers (for all purposes, Terraforming and satellites). A planet that is manually prioritized by the Emperor has a much higher priority on the Astro Engineers task list. The priority AE marker is shown on the starmap (similar to prioritize exploration marker).

– [engine] No more forcing dedicated GFX card if two cards are present (while it fixed wrong configurations on some machines it disallowed use of integrated card if the player wished so which was desired in some situations). Now it reacts to system configuration.

– [interface] New patrol squadrons selector on Fleet/Orders.

– [fix] Incorrect Stormtroopers gain.
– [fix] Game version was sometimes displayed incorrectly after loading an old save.

Version 1.42.1 released

Another quick update, mostly related to the expansion and spelling fixes.

– [balance][expansion#1] Double AE costs for all Astro Engineers actions (satellites, terraforming, megastructures). Note you can adjust some of those (via Advanced Customization settings) for example if you want to have earlier megastructures.
– [balance][expansion#1] Astro Engineer’s asteroid fields mining is scaled to the number of planets now (more intuitive and balanced).

– [misc][expansion#1] Now Astro Engineer’s asteroid fields mining will be auto enabled even if selected None priority if there are no other valid tasks available (zero waste policy).
– [misc] A lot of spelling fixes.

– [fix][expansion#1] Astro Engineers bug.

Version 1.42 released

A quick update based on the early feedback from the expansion players. I tried to improve here the most confusing and unclear things. The base game got small interface improvements as well.

– [interface] Small improvements and beautification of the interface.
– [interface][expansion#1] New technologies option moved to a separate box to make it more clear and visible.
– [interface][expansion#1] Added terraformation table explaining all the terraformation rules (on astro engineers screen).

– [fix][expansion#1] When all megastructure projects are done the event to select a new one still pops up during an audience.