We've got truly exciting news for fans of Endless Space 2 today: The Nakalim are reawakening thanks to a new patch! We had received a lot of feedback about the Awakening DLC, both about the new gameplay features it adds and the faction featured in it: Many players felt that the content of this DLC did not live up to its promise, so we knew big changes had to be made. While we were working on that, we also took the opportunity to overhaul the balance of space combat. Some of you may have already been testing this on a beta branch, but the patch is now ready for full release so all our players can enjoy the many changes.
Before we talk about the features of this patch, we want to take a moment to thank the people who helped us make this a reality. We contracted our VIPs Cyrob and CaptainCobbs to work on this patch, because we knew they understood the game at a deep level and were also familiar with the relevant community feedback. They in turn consulted ChaosWillRise and Frostgremlin for advice and help with the combat rebalance.
Now, what does this new update bring to the game and to the Awakening DLC? Let's briefly cover some of the highlights (but the full patch notes are available for the curious at the end of this post):
Combat Rebalance (base game)
Reading the strategy discussions and feedback in our community, we could see that only a few combat strategies were considered powerful by experienced players. We want our players to feel like they can experiment with different approached to combat and adapt to their enemies, so we have made extensive changes to the balance of ships and modules to encourage more varied tactics and fleet compositions as well as strategic counterplay. You can find an extensive list of changes in the full patch notes, but here's a short summary of important changes:
Weapon and Defense modules were rebalanced, including a significant buff to shield capacities
Flak and missile fire rates were adjusted for better interactions between them
Special weapons (e.g. Swarm Missiles, Railguns) have been rebalanced so they should fill specialized niches
Support module have been rebalanced, including modules that can only be mounted on Coordinators or can only affect each flotilla once
Rebalanced battle tactics including new powerful but specialized tactics as curiosity rewards
Academy Difficulty and Expansion (Awakening)
One common complaint about the Academy in the Awakening DLC was that they expand too quickly and interfere with your expansion by claiming systems and sieging yours. At the same time, their fleet was too powerful to pick a fight with them until later in the game. While many players disliked the impact this had on gameplay, some also felt it did not make narrative sense for Isyander's organization. With the Re-Awakening Update, we are introducing a few changes that should help players get their desired experience:
Academy fleets will no longer siege player systems while you are at neutral relations with them
The strength of Academy fleets now scaled with Academy level and starts much weaker than before
The Advanced Game Setup screen now includes a setting for how much the Academy will expand, from not at all to aggressively
The Academy Difficulty setting on the Advanced Game Setup screen has been expanded with an additional "Endless" level of difficulty
Academy Diplomacy (Awakening)
For those players who enjoy the added challenge of dealing with the Academy, or who like the idea of more actively supporting or opposing Isyander's plans, we have also expanded the ways to interact with the Academy and rebalanced some of the roles. The key features of this change are:
Added new interactions with the Academy accessed on a separate screen:
Earn favor with the Academy by donating during role assignment
Nakalim may also donate systems to gain a lot of favor
Spend favor to use various interactions, like requesting control of an Academy system
Each faction also has access to one unique action
The Master of Dust has become the Legate: Declare Crusades against other empires to let other players attack them freely
Expanded Nakalim Affinity (Awakening)
Given the feedback we have seen about the Nakalim, we realized that many players felt this faction was not living up to the promise of awakening an ancient empire. Dealing with their slow research was an uphill struggle, while the affinity did not provide many tools to compensate for this. To address this, we have expanded the Nakalim Affinity with new features that should improve the feeling of reclaiming old glory. Some of the core changes are:
The Last Empire: Nakalim now suffer a 50% penalty to planetary FIDS production by default, but this penalty can be removed by using relics to construct the Temple planetary improvement. With enough Temples, you will be able to construct Cathedrals of the Lost as system improvements, which give huge bonuses to the system and unlock Relic Slots for your empire that provide powerful boost.
Well-founded: The Nakalim begin the game with knowledge of their entire constellation (or a large radius on single-constellation maps)
Slumbering Ruins: You can find "Slumbering Ruins" that will give new colonies a big boost if awakened by a Nakalim player
Beliefs not Breakthroughs: This trait now allows you to trade technologies with other empires at increased cost, but science gained from ship destruction after battles is reduced.
Rebalancing: Various adjustments to faction traits used by the Nakalim, Nakalim-specific system improvements and hero skills, and the spawn distribution of relics
Based on the feedback we got from our beta testers, we're confident that these changes will allow all our players to explore new battle tactics and fleet compositions, while enriching the experience of dealing with the Academy or restoring the ancient empire of the Nakalim.
To celebrate the release of this update, we are putting Endless Space 2, the Awakening DLC, and all other DLCs on sale! Now is a great time to round out your collection and explore these new options.
Have fun,
The Amplitude Team
Get Involved!
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Endless Space 2 Re-Awakening Update: Version 1.5.60
Combat Changes (base game)
Weapon/Defense/Support Module related changes:
Defense module stats are rebalanced, and Shield Capacities are substantially buffed.
Weapon DPS values, fire rates, effective ranges, Weapon Hull & Shield penetration values are tweaked.
Strategic modules, EMP Weapons, Railguns, Swarm Missiles, Blast Effect Batteries, and Squadrons are adjusted in terms of their stats, effects, and use cases.
Support modules are balanced, some are reworked, and new ones are added. Flotilla-wide effects are expanded.
Ship Hull changes:
Ship Health, Hull weakness, and manpower capacities are adjusted. Carriers are significantly nerfed.
Coordinator and Protector ship bonuses are significantly buffed, and new effects are added.
Ship targeting priorities are changed and made visible in the ship design view under the ship "Role" UI.
New Attacker and Protector Ship Hull Upgrades are added to the tech tree, increasing their module multiplier to x1.25
Battle Tactics changes:
Battle Tactic effects, ranges, and tech stage placements are changed. Their UI is made to be more descriptive.
New situational but powerful battle tactics and upgraded versions of existing tactics are added to the curiosity rewards.
Squadron changes:
Squadron movement speeds are substantially buffed.
Fixed squadrons dealing significantly more damage than intended
Squadron stats are adjusted in line with new squadron roles: Light & Heavy Bombers, Interceptor & Strike Fighters.
Mechanics & Other Changes:
Flak damage, Flak fire rate, and projectile health values are adjusted. Flak targeting orders are adjusted. Swarm missile, BEB, EMP missile, and normal missile fire rates are aligned. UI is updated to provide more information.
Fixed Evasion: Evasion used to provide only half of the intended effect; now works correctly.
Ship level-up effects are adjusted.
Fixed ship experience on construction.
New tags for modules are added: "Only once per ship" "Only once per flotilla" "Can only be used on Medium Support Ships"
Curiosity rewards and drop rates have been rebalanced.
Re-added removed technology "Vacuum Protection", moved the following items onto it:
"Weapon Interference Beam" unlock with either Advanced Game Theory or Tensor Algorithms
"Shield Interference Missiles" unlock with either Advanced Fusion Power or Hyperium Magnetics
Cleaver module has had its damage and manpower damage increased to match its tier
Academy Changes (Awakening)
Reduced Academy Aggression
Academy fleets no longer siege player colonies and outposts while at neutral relations
Academy fleet power now scales with Academy level and starts much lower
Introduced "Endless" Difficulty setting for the Academy
Introduced "Academy Expansion" setting
Adjusted the speed at which the Academy gains levels to better align with players
Introduced Academy Diplomacy
Improve your relationship by donating during role assignment periods
Nakalim gain favor by donating systems to the Academy
Ask for favors at the cost of relations
Each faction has access to one unique favor
Adjusted Legate role (formerly Master of Dust): can declare a Crusade against a player, which allows any other empire to attack their fleets regardless of their diplomatic relation.
Each major faction now has its own preferred Academy roles
Academy ship equipment and fleet strength have been entirely reworked
Ships loaned from the Academy are now prohibited from invading
Nakalim Changes (Awakening)
Gameplay Affinity: The Last Empire
-50% Base FIDS on Planets by default
Can build Temples (Cost 1 Relic and 1 Turn), which remove the FIDS malus and convert Base Science into Influence.
Systems that have temples on all planets can build a Cathedral (Cost 1120 Industry, no Relics), which provide the following bonuses on their system:
+10% FIDSI
+30% Influence Radius
+5 Vision
5% Enemy Health damaged per turn of Fleets in Influence Radius
20% Friendly Health repaired per turn of Fleets in Influence Radius
Increases number of total empire relics that can be allocated (See below)
Cathedrals provide empire relic slots, which provide powerful empire-wide bonuses and require multiple relics to activate. Any bonus may be activated at any time, but only one per Cathedral may be active. These replace Food/Industry/Dust/Influence relics, and are toggleable on / off. Empire relics focus on increasing one of the innate strengths of the Nakalim, with one changing based off of leading political party
Exploration Slot - +25% Movement Point efficiency, +5 Vision Range on Fleets & Systems
Expansion Slot - +1 Colonization Threshold per Cathedral, No disapproval from planet type on planets with temples
Diplomacy Slot - provides a constant amount of minor faction relation and increased influence radius
Political Slot: Get bonuses for all elected parties, but government types with fewer political parties get more powerful bonuses
Industrialist - +50% Strategic Deposit Generation on Temples
Unassigned relics generate 50 science, can be upgraded via empire improvements
Adjusted relic spawning formulas to respawn them once they reach a certain threshold and to focus their spawning location on getting further and further, eventially stopping near the middle of the galaxy.
Trait: Beliefs not Breakthroughs
Planets do not generate science
Systems only produce half science
Science gained from battle rewards is halved
Technologies can be traded at higher than normal cost
Trait: Forgotten Lore
Technologies granted by Forgotten Lore now do not reduce the Sophon research bonus
Created a lower level version of Forgotten Lore that only unlocks tier 1 technologies
New Trait: Slumbering Ruins
Some systems will be marked as Slumbering Ruins per Nakalim player. These systems are marked to all Nakalim players, and retain their status even if colonized by another empire or obliterated (though, owned by another player it needs to first be conquered, or if obliterated it needs to be repaired).
The system can be awakened from its dormant state by colonizing it.
Awakening a Slumbering Ruin provides a small amount of Major Population, a few early game buildings (if not already constructed), and a temporary flat FIDSI bonus.
Once Awakened, a system cannot be reawakened by another Nakalim player, but all Nakalim players can see that it was reawakened.
New trait: Well Founded
Starts with the area around them revealed (Starting constellation on non-unique galaxies, radius of systems around them on unique galaxies)
Trait: Apathetic Colonists
Outposts generate 25% less food
Colonies ship 25% less food to outposts
Systems can now be gifted to the Academy as an invasion outcome
Added an "Align" Minor Faction interaction that allows "vassalizing" a minor faction
Nakalim heroes: Rebalanced most skills
Nakalim Population
+2 Approval (+1 Approval Spliced)
+2 FIDSI on Happy (+0.5 FIDSI Spliced)
Collection Bonuses
10 Population: Boosts Religious politics
20 Population: +10 Approval on systems with Nakalim
50 Population: Unlocks a new offensive and defensive ground battle strategy
Relics can now be collected while a fleet is cloaked
Nakalim now start with a colonizer and 2 explorers
Modding Changes
Adding new modifier operations, Minimum & Maximum
Increased the ability of modders to change Academy diplomacy, AI, ship spawns, etc.
Exposed multiple new formulas in the registry, along with the ability to revert the academy back to using "stress" instead of relying on academy levels
Other Changes
Slightly increased infantry health and damage
Unfallen now start with an additional vineship
Influence conversion unlock tech has been moved to T2 Empire Development
Explorer hull upgrade tech has been moved to T2 Science and Exploration
Reduced the military support requirement of the Sophons Quest "Chapter 2. Seeding the Cloud - Part 1" and the "Masters of the Arena" quests so that they were reasonably achievable
Changed screen placement of several T3 &T4 Military technologies (no gameplay changes)
Clarified some confusing tooltips
Dust Bonanza no longer has an upkeep cost
Denarque University industry cost reduced by 2/3
Improved AI from using some incorrect module combinations
Bugfixes
Battle Result Notifications no longer block the turn, while keeping the big stability improvement that originally caused this issue (Note: This fix works for Single Player and Multiplayer hosts only, but not Multiplayer clients, who will still need to dismiss the battle report notification to let the end turn progress)
The Academy's aggression & power level scaling has been fixed
Isolated systems are no longer blocked from being colonized by the quest Death Without a Corpse
Horatio's Main Quest: Chapter 2 (Industrialist) will no longer get stuck if another empire destroys the fleets (It will complete)
Relics gained from converting will always be 2, it is no longer scaled by gamespeed which resulted in 1.33 relics on slow
Quest "Forged in Battle" Now is 25-55 turns instead of 10-70 by galaxy size
System Trade Value no longer scales with Game Speed
The mining probe lifetime of multiple Behemoth modules is no longer additive, now taking the highest instead
Influence gained from Lumeris pop bonus is now shown in the Empire Influence tooltip
Unfallen Terraform Options (Hot types to Forest) now use the forest art (previously all were Savannah)
Optics Research Lab's yield is now shown in the System Science Tooltip
All Singularities now affect heroes as intended
The Diagnostics.xml file should no longer be filled with errors if the Nakalim main menu screen is displayed
Fixed Nakalim being after the Umbral Choir in the faction selection
Behemoths no longer shown under Faction Hulls for every faction
Capped many cost reductions from reaching 0%
GasWarm now has the Temperate tag
Fixed Custom Umbral Shadows not having GUI Elements
Fixed Influence Radius flickering and huge influence border growth projects
Fixed many slots on Academy ships not functioning properly
Fixed Behemoth Mining not properly transferring its FIDSI to your planets
Fixed some icons some icons appearing as much lower resolution than they should
Fixed malus for missing colonization tech not showing up in planet FIDSI breakdowns
Fixed some empire relic effects not toggling correctly
Fix miscellaneous tooltips from not showing up properly / being duplicated
Fixed starting Behemoth modules not unlocking when you research the Behemoth hull technology
Fixed Bait / Jammer modules not correctly applying movement effect
Added missing EmpireAttitude localization strings
Adding missing warning strings
Fixed many typos
Fixed Hero Skill GUI showing an incorrect amount of available relics
FIDSI per Population bonuses on Planets no longer appear as though they are giving you a large percentage
Fixed Aligning a minor faction not failing any assimilation quests associated with it
Fixing colonization module tooltip appearing in the incorrect category
Fixed some modules appearing as though they require a different strategic resource in the tech tree
Minor factions can no longer run out of quests to give
Fixed brainwashed faction still allowing their boosts to be used
Fixed terraformation not showing difference between planet FIDSI
(Re)Awakening Update Beta Branch - Academy Overhaul
Hello everyone! Thanks to all of you that has been around playing the beta version and giving feedback.
If it is the first time you heard about this Patch. Here you have the first blog that contains a general idea about it.
Today we have an update to the build that brings a lot of changes.
Changes
Ruins can no longer spawn on Minor Faction systems, their spawn ranges have been tweaked to be more fair.
Slightly increased infantry health and damage
Xirmisala assimilation traits and law have been reworked
Relics can now be collected while a fleet is cloaked
Diplomacy relic effect has been entirely replaced due to community feedback. Now provides a constant amount of minor faction relation and increased influence radius
Added new Nakalim minor faction interaction, Align
Nakalim politics have been adjusted
Nakalim now start with a colonizer
Unfallen now start with an additional vineship
Cathedrals now damage enemies within their system's influence radius
Each major faction now has its own preferred Academy roles
Added an "Academy Expansion" slider
Added Endless difficulty for the "Academy Difficulty" slider
Ships loaned from the Academy are now prohibited from invading
Influence conversion unlock tech has been moved to T2 Empire Development
Explorer hull upgrade tech has been moved to T2 Science and Exploration
Academy ship equipment and fleet strength have been entirely reworked
Increased the rate at which the Academy levels up to more match player progression
The "Master of Dust" role has been replaced with the "Legate", which has the primary benefit of choosing a faction to declare a Crusade against, which allows any other empire to attack their fleets regardless of their diplomatic relation.
New
Academy now has its own diplomacy screen, accessible by clicking on the icon above their systems or by the Academy button in the diplomacy menu.
Factions who participate in the Academy auction will receive an amount of relation points, which can be redeemed for a selection of favors from the Academy.
The Nakalim may donate systems to the Academy for a large amount of academy relation. They also have a new faction trait with grants a variety of Academy-related bonuses
Each faction has a unique favor they may ask the Academy for.
Modding
Adding new modifier operations, Minimum & Maximum
Vastly increased the ability of modders to change Academy diplomacy, AI, ship spawns, etc.
Multiple new formulas exposed in the registry, along with the ability to revert the academy back to using "stress" instead of relying on academy levels
Combat Rework
On the combat and game balance side of the changes, ChaosWillRise provides the following breakdown of goals & changes.
“The most prominent combat-related problems known in ES2 can be summarized as:
The discrepancy between the effective defensive capabilities provided by Shields & Plating modules, and the resulting unilateral play style.
The lack of fleet composition variety in terms of ship types, their amounts, and the individual builds of the ships.
The lack of countermeasures against specialized fleets (EMP, Critical Strike, Squadron, Carrier)
The patch aims to address these major issues, and by doing so, hopes to revitalize the untapped parts of the combat system and enable the experimentation of different play styles. It balances existing modules, ships, battle tactics, and many other combat-related components, enabling even deeper gameplay. It also fixes some of the faulty mechanics and makes the UI more descriptive. Thus, players who desire to dive deeper, can understand the meaning behind the numbers and better strategize. On top of that, it adds new battle tactics, new modules, new unlocks, curiosity discoveries, and rearranges combat-related technologies. Have fun exploring!”
Weapon/Defense/Support Module related changes
Defense module stats are rebalanced, and Shield Capacities are substantially buffed.
Weapon DPS values, fire rates, effective ranges, Weapon Hull & Shield penetration values are tweaked.
Strategic modules, EMP Weapons, Railguns, Swarm Missiles, Blast Effect Batteries, and Squadrons are adjusted in terms of their stats, effects, and use cases.
Support modules are balanced, some are reworked, and new ones are added. Flotilla-wide effects are expanded.
Ship Hull changes
Ship Health, Hull weakness, and manpower capacities are adjusted. Carriers are significantly nerfed.
Coordinator and Protector ship bonuses are significantly buffed, and new effects are added.
Ship targeting priorities are changed and made visible in the ship design view under the ship “Role” UI.
New Attacker and Protector Ship Hull Upgrades are added to the tech tree, increasing their module multiplier to x1.25
Ship Hull changes
Battle Tactic effects, ranges, and tech stage placements are changed. Their UI is made to be more descriptive.
New situational but powerful battle tactics and upgraded versions of existing tactics are added to the curiosity rewards.
Squadron changes
Squadron movement speeds are substantially buffed.
Squadron stats are adjusted in line with new squadron roles: Light & Heavy Bombers, Interceptor & Strike Fighters.
Mechanics & Other Changes:
Flak damage, Flak fire rate, and projectile health values are adjusted. Flak targeting orders are adjusted. Swarm missile, BEB, EMP missile, and normal missile fire rates are aligned. UI is updated to provide more information.
Evasion used to provide only half of the intended effect, now works correctly.
Ship level-up effects are adjusted. Ship experience on construction now works correctly.
New tags for modules are added: “Only once per ship” “Only once per flotilla” “Can only be used on Medium Support Ships” Curiosity rewards and drop rates are reworked.
Bugfixes
Fixed Influence Radius flickering and huge influence border growth projects
Fixed building a Cathedral putting you over the production limit
Fixed many slots on Academy ships not functioning properly
Fixed Behemoth Mining not properly transferring its FIDSI to your planets
Fixed some new content missing their images
Fixed some icons some icons appearing as much lower resolution than they should
Fixed Nakalim planet FIDS malus not applying
Fixed malus for missing colonization tech not showing up in planet FIDSI breakdowns
Fixed some empire relic effects not toggling correctly
Fix miscellaneous tooltips from not showing up properly / being duplicated
Fixed some new tooltips having variables that do not resolve
Fixed starting Behemoth modules not unlocking when you research the Behemoth hull technology
You can access this beta version by going to to the Betas tab of the game properties on Steam and choosing the patchpreview branch. If you try the beta, please make sure you have disabled all mods. (If you previously used a mod that adds additional options to the new game settings, make sure to return to settings available in the base game before turning off the mod.)
Thanks to CaptainCobbs, Cyrob and the rest of the team for the amazing work they are doing on this patch!
Do not hesitate to share any additional feedback you have!
(Re)Awakening Patch Beta
Hello everybody!
We've got one last surprise for you for this Endless Summer: A beta for an upcoming Endless Space 2 patch.
As we mentioned during Amplified, we have contracted our VIPs CaptainCobbs and Cyrob to help us improve Endless Space 2 and the Awakening DLC in particular according to the feedback from the community. We have been working on this for some time, but so far only a beta version of the bugfixes had been available. Now, we're finally ready to release a beta of some of the upcoming design and balance changes, and we're eager to hear what you think.
You can access this beta version by opening the game's properties on Steam, going to the Betas tab, and selecting the PatchPreview beta branch.
Please be aware that this is a work in progress. Some changes may be incomplete, and several will have UI errors, including missing localization (though most string names should explain what the effects do). These will be addressed for the official release, but as we want your feedback on the new Nakalim, we did not want to delay this beta.
Here's a summary of what you can find in this version:
Changes Implemented in This Beta:
Note: For many of these changes, localization has not been done yet, so they may display localization keys instead of localized text
Reduced Academy Aggression
The Academy will no longer siege your systems while you have neutral relations with them, and their fleets should now be smaller and less aggressive in the early game, as we fixed a bug with the scaling of academy "stress" across the game.
Nakalim Changes
The Nakalim have been changed significantly to alleviate some of the aspects our players found frustrating and put them on a more even playing field to other factions across the game, while trying to maintain their theme of an ancient empire reclaiming their lost knowledge and holdings.
Gameplay Affinity: The Last Empire (changed)
-50% Base FIDS on Planets by default
Can build Temples (Cost 1 Relic and 1 Turn), which remove the FIDS malus and convert Base Science into Influence.
Systems that have temples on all planets can build a Cathedral (Cost 1120 Industry, no Relics), which provide the following bonuses on their system:
+10% FIDSI
+30% Influence Radius
+5 Vision
5% Enemy Health damaged per turn of Fleets in Influence Radius
20% Friendly Health repaired per turn of Fleets in Influence Radius
Increases number of total empire relics that can be allocated
Cathedrals provide empire relic slots, which provide powerful empire-wide bonuses and require multiple relics to activate. Any bonus may be activated at any time, but only one per Cathedral may be active. These replace Food/Industry/Dust/Influence relics, and are toggleable on / off. Empire relics focus on increasing one of the innate strengths of the Nakalim, with one changing based off of leading political party
Exploration Slot - +25% Movement Point efficiency, +25% Vision Range on Fleets & Ships
Expansion Slot - +1 Colonization Threshold per Cathedral, No disapproval from planet type on planets with temples
Diplomacy Slot - Increased bonus from Co-Operative Protocol, Can use all minor faction boosts regardless of personality type
Political Slot: Get bonuses for all elected parties, but government types with fewer political parties get more powerful bonuses
Industrialist - +50% Strategic Deposit Generation on Temples
Unassigned relics generate 50 science, can be upgraded via empire improvements
Adjusted relic spawning formulas to respawn them once they reach a certain threshold and to focus their spawning location on getting further and further, eventially stopping near the middle of the galaxy.
Well Founded (new trait, not localized yet)
Starts with the area around them revealed (Starting constellation on non-unique galaxies, radius of systems around them on unique galaxies)
Forgotten Lore (changed)
Default Forgotten Lore trait remains unchanged: Starts with first 2 tiers of techs researched, Sophons not affected
Added an alternate "Forgotten Lore" trait that only unlocks the first tier to be used by custom factions
Beliefs Not Breakthroughs (changed)
Planets do not generate science
all science improvements are 50% less effective
Trading technologies with other empires is possible but very expensive
-50% Science per CP from Scrapping
Slumbering Ruins (new, User Interface not finished)
Two systems will be marked as Slumbering Ruins per Nakalim player. These systems are marked to all Nakalim players, and retain their status even if colonized by another empire or obliterated (though, owned by another player it needs to first be conquered, or if obliterated it needs to be repaired).
The system can be awakened from its dormant state via some sort of fleet action that takes 8 turns, or an influence constructible if the system is already colonized.
Awakening a Slumbering Ruin provides a small amount of Major Population, a few early game buildings (if not already constructed), and a temporary flat FIDSI bonus for about 10 turns.
Once Awakened, a system cannot be reawakened by another Nakalim player, but all Nakalim players can see that it was reawakened.
Slumbering Ruins systems are specially targeted by quest rewards, temples, and cathedrals (we'll decide on the bonuses later).
Apathetic Colonists (Changed, new effect not localized yet)
Outposts generate 25% less food and are shipped 25% less
Nakalim Heroes (Changed)
All but one hero skill have been adjusted
Nakalim Population Traits (Changed)
Population Trait: Fervent Diligence
Primary: +2 Approval (+1 Approval Spliced)
Secondary: +2 FIDSI on Happy (+0.5 FIDSI Spliced)
Collection Bonuses not implemented yet
Politics
Religious
Anti-Scientist
Preservationists (Militarist -> Ecologist)
Xirmisala Citizens (Changed)
Starts with Xirmisala citizens
Xirmisala Traits
Primary: +1 Food
Secondary: +4 Dust on Happy
Collection Bonus and Assimilation Traits not implemented yet
Politics:
Religious
Anti-Scientific
Pious (Pacifist->Religious)
Bugfixes
Battle Result Notifications no longer block the turn, while keeping the big stability improvement that originally caused this issue (Note: This fix works for Single Player and Multiplayer hosts only, but not Multiplayer clients, who will still need to dismiss the battle report notification to let the end turn progress)
The Academy's aggression & power level now starts at 0 and grows slower, before it started out near or above max due to the galaxy generation process triggering it
Isolated systems are no longer blocked from being colonized by the quest Death Without a Corpse
Horatio's Main Quest: Chapter 2 (Industrialist) will no longer get stuck if another empire destroys the fleets (It will complete)
Relics gained from converting will always be 2, it is no longer scaled by gamespeed which resulted in 1.33 relics on slow
Quest "Forged in Battle" Now is 25-55 turns instead of 10-70 by galaxy size
System Trade Value no longer scales with Game Speed
The mining probe lifetime of multiple Behemoth modules is no longer additive, now taking the highest instead
Influence gained from Lumeris pop bonus is now shown in the Empire Influence tooltip
Unfallen Terraform Options (Hot types to Forest) now use the forest art (previously all were Savannah)
Optics Research Lab's Yield is now shown in the System Science Tooltip
All Singularities now affect heroes as intended
The Diagnostics.xml file should no longer be filled with errors if the Nakalim main menu screen is displayed
Fixed Nakalim being after the Umbral Choir in the faction selection
Behemoths no longer shown under Faction Hulls for every faction
Capped many cost reductions from reaching 0%
GasWarm now has the Temperate tag
Fixed Custom Umbral Shadows not having GUI Elements
Planned Changes
There are some other changes we want to make, but which were not ready in time for this beta. Nonetheless, we'd like to give you an overview of what we're working on:
Adjusted Academy Roles
Nerfed fleet for the Spear, including inability to invade systems
New "Rally" system defense strategy for ground battles
Nakalim Specific Science System Improvements
Nakalim Quest Rebalance (Objectives and Rewards)
New Nakalim Population Collection Bonus: 1. +Religious, 2. +15 Approval, 3. Improved Orbital Bombardment strategy, Improved Rally strategy
New Xirmisala Population Collection Bonus: 1. +Religious, 2.+15% Dust on Systems, 3. Collection Law - Dust Sensitive: Reveals Arcane Curiosities, which when searched will provide a large amount of Dust
New Xirmisala Assimilation Traits
Once we are satisfied with the changes to the Nakalim and the Academy, we would also like to examine the combat system and the economy to see what needs rebalancing. However, we will need to assess if we will have the capacity and time to do this once the Awakening improvements are finished, so this more general balancing pass may not happen.
We hope you'll enjoy playing with the new Nakalim, even if we have more changes in store for them and the Academy, and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Endless™ Day - Comic of Endless Space 2: Stories, Endless Dungeon pre-order...
It is the second day of Amplified and it is time to go with Endless Day. Today we have quite a few news, but perhaps the most notable will be the beginning of Pre-Orders on Endless Dungeon.
ENDLESS™ SPACE 2: STORIES & MORE
We know most of you have been reading the different Endless Space 2 Stories that we have been publishing in the reward section. But we didn’t want to stop it there.
That is why we have partnered with the publisher, Titan Comics, to have a physical edition which will contain all the Endless™ Space 2: Stories, that will be releasing on the 7th of March. Apart from the stories, this edition will bring more lore and some “behind the scenes” of the design.
If you are interested and wanted to pre-order it you should check Amazon, or if you are in the UK you can go to Forbidden Planet.
Now that we are talking about Endless Space 2... Super excited to announce that we are working with some members of the community on a patch for Endless Space 2, with a focus on the last DLC, Awakening, and some bug fixing and balance. Keep an eye as we might release a Beta, Soon™, for you to try the different changes and get extra feedback on it.
ENDLESS™ DUNGEON – PREORDER & PLAY NOW
Yes! It has been a long time, and we want to finally share with you that the release date for Endless Dungeon will be 18th of May 2023
With that wonderful news we wanted to start the pre-orders today, which will grant you access to a closed OpenDev, “Final Rodeo”, for the next 10 days, until the 30th of January, to try new things, compared to the latest “Second Chance” OpenDev.
What a trailer, I got goosebumps. I know... I am biased because I am working here... perhaps ?
So before we go into the details, to get access to the “Final Rodeo” you will need to preorder the digital Last Wish Edition. At the end of the blog we will explain in more detail all the different editions.
I know a lot of you will be asking what content will be available on "Final Rodeo", here you have it:
New Boss: Yes, you can meet the Shelldiver (where? Well, we will let you discover it). What about the previous boss, Bug Momma? You already, more or less, know how to handle survive her.
New Hero: Meet Comrade (the Gunsmith):
Passive: Can heal generators and research machines
Active: Place the Gunny turret (neutral damage). No turret slot needed
Ultimate: Gunsmith becomes the Smith gun. Immovable, his weapon switches to a heavy-neutral damage- gun with high knockback
Apart from the Gunsmith, you can play Bunker, Blaze and Shroom. Zed is taking a nap right now.
New event, the blackout: during your runs you may find some terminals (max 2), with which you can interact to get extra science. But once you have discovered two, it could happen that the entire district gets dark, and you will have to go back to those terminals to hack them to restore the electricity
New languages (Ohhh Yeah!!): most parts of the game will be available in > English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese
New weapons, hero chips, beverages etc.
Here is all the different content that will be available in the digital editions on PC and the physical edition (pre-orders will start Soon™), which will include an exclusive card game and the digital art book. Note that to get access to the closed OpenDev "Final Rodeo": It will be available only with the PC Last Wish Digital Edition.
BEFORE FINISHING...
We wanted to take the opportunity to remind you of the different rewards that started alongside Amplified 2023.
We are giving Dungeon of the Endless, DOTE (while supplies last) for FREE + the DLC, Deep Freeze
IF you are subscribed to our newsletter, you will get the DLC, Deep Freeze for DOTE
We are have some Stretch goals going on with you, the community, with quite a few interesting rewards, such as the Hero Creation for Endless Dungeon, Rescue Team DLC on DOTE or the Lost Symphony Soundtrack for ES2
That’s All Folks, hope you are excited about everything that is happening in the Endless Universe, but hey, we will have more exciting news prepared for you this year.
- The AmpliTeam
Studio Anniversary Streaming Dates
Hola / Hello
Today we have short news for you, next week we will have Amplified, which is our Studio Anniversary. During these 3 days (from the 18th - 20th of January), we will be streaming content about all of our games.
What can I say about it? You don't want to miss it, there will be some interesting news!
See you next week, The AmpliTeam
Amplified 2022: Endless Day
Amplified may be coming to an end, but there's still time to talk about the Endless! Space, Legends, and Dungeons, you name it, we got it all for you today:
You've seen her in previous trailers, and you've voted on her nickname, but today we want to take a closer look at Zed, and how she ended up on this blasted station:
[previewyoutube="r15ydDSFIls;full"]
We're sure crashing into an Endless wreck wasn't the end she had in mind when rocking out. Maybe she'd be better off with a different style of music? Well, it's up to you, in our new vote on an alternate skin for Zed:
Being stuck in deep space isn't for everybody. For those looking for a more grounded experience, we're releasing the Endless Mod through mod.io, a cross-over putting the Endless Universe in Humankind. It was worth the wait, as the mod is full of new content:
And best of all, if you finish a game with this mod, you will unlock none other than Horatio as a persona!
[previewyoutube="TiRxfLGxhuA;full"]
Of course, Humankind fans may not have experienced the perfection of Horatio before, so they might not know what all the fuss is about...
Well, great news: From now until Monday at 7pm, all the Endless games are free to try on Steam! So if you haven't played them before, give them a spin. You'll even contribute to our community challenge and unlock more rewards for Humankind.
For our fans of Endless Legend, we got a double treat: The Official Auriga map, and the Official Auriga Map! Wait...
No, that's right, we got not one, but two versions of the official Auriga Map for you! We're happy to present you the official Auriga map for Humankind, courtesy of our VIP PangolinAdvisor and available through mod.io! We look forward to hearing your tales of human history on Auriga, though if you're just looking for a map to stick on your desktop, or to use in your RPG campaign, a high resolution map of Auriga is now also available in the rewards section!
Finally, we got the final entry in the Endless Space 2 Stories: Marusia's Prayer. Witness the fall of the Nakalim empire and their young heir's fateful bid to save her people. Check it out in the rewards section.
We hope you had fun with Amplified 2022 and all the new rewards!
- The Amplitude Team
Amplified 2022: Kicking Off
Let's get this party started!
We're here to celebrate Amplitude Studios: 11 years, 5 games, and an amazing community! Over the next few days, we'll be adding more rewards to Games2gether for all of you to enjoy, hang out with you and our guests on Twitch, and even pose a couple of challenges to you!
Speaking of challenges, like almost every year, we are holding another Community Challenge for the duration of Amplified: From now until Monday, January 24th, 7PM CET, every match you start in Humankind, Endless Legend, or Endless Space 2 will count towards unlocking additional Humankind rewards for all players. The first reward is a set of player emblems inspired by African cultures, and further rewards will be revealed as we get closer to unlocking them. The final two rewards in particular are quite interesting. All rewards unlocked in this community challenge will be added to the game when they are ready at a later date.
In the meantime, we have several other rewards for you to enjoy:
The beautiful Amplified keyart is available in various formats for use as a wallpaper, from your desktop to your phone or perhaps your social media banners. This time, we even have an animated version for your phone!
You can also unlock a new Cultural Wonder for Humankind right now, the Great Zimbabwe! To claim it, you need to subscribe to the Amplitude newsletter (or already be subscribed), then go to your rewards page and redeem this reward to add this wonder to your game.
Finally, and perhaps most exciting, we have a giveaway courtesy of our colleagues at Relic: Company of Heroes 2 for Steam! The ultimate WWII RTS platform, the base game gives you access to two classic multiplayer armies from the Eastern Front: the Red Army (SOV) and the Wehrmacht Ostheer (GER), as well as an epic single-player campaign that will familiarize you with the classic Company of Heroes gameplay experience. This offer is only valid while supplies last, though, so don't sleep on it!
That's all for today, but come back tomorrow for Humankind Day, with news about the future of Humankind, community challenges, and more!
Dark Matter DLC and Pug Hero Available Now
At Amplified back in late January, we announced 2 new DLCs for the Endless Universe games, Dark Matter for Endless Space 2 and Monstrous Tales for Endless Legend. Unfortunately, we had to shift their release back twice for various reasons, but today both DLCs are ready to be played, alongside some new free content!
So, what do you get with Dark Matter?
A heap of new quests exploring some of the more surreptitious elements active in the Endless Galaxy. Face the threat to your wealth posed by the Autonomous Bastards Collective. Get involved in the machinations of the Academy and its heroes. Race to uncover the secrets of an ancient Endless superweapon, before somebody else gets a hold of it and tries to point it at you. This, and more, awaits you in about a dozen new quests, including one new multi-chapter quest, with stunning new art.
Even if you don’t pick up the new (or any of the old) DLCs, we still got some new content for you to enjoy: The pug hero!
Sbejru Mashmir follows a long line of pugs in Endless games, and an even longer line of Aurigan pugs, tracing all the way back to the famous Ayairi Whairydd of Dungeon of the Endless fame. Your star systems will be in good paws under her oversight, but be careful not to cross her: She knows how to use that hammer for more than just construction.
The free update also includes the Tech Tree Lore Rewrite (currently only in English; other localizations will be patched in later), and from here we will move to try addressing several issues with the game and specifically with Awakening:
We may not be able to address all of these for the next (non-localization) patch, but we will endeavor to fix as many issues raised by the community as we can.
In the meantime, have fun with the new content!
An Update Regarding Dark Matter and Monstrous Tales
Today we want to share some news about the Monstrous Tales and Dark Matter DLCs that some of you may have already guessed at:
We are moving the release date of these DLCs to May 6th.
Why would we move the release date again, if we have already moved it once for the sake of bugfixing? This decision is not just about polishing, though we continue to do so as we test the new quests with our VIPs. We also want to be able to deliver some (anticipated) content to be released alongside the DLCs.
In particular, here’s what we’re working on for Endless Space 2 for the free patch that accompanies the release:
Pug Hero
Fans of the Endless Universe can tell you about an element that connects all of the Endless games. Dust? Well, of course, that goes without saying, so we’re not talking about that. The Vaulters? Horatio? He’s too perfect to be left out. No, we’re talking about the pug. Roving Clans Settlers were accompanied on their arduous treks by their best friends, as was the trader in Dungeon of the Endless. But wait... Endless Space 2 does not have a pug! Yet.
Unlocked as a reward for Endless Day 2019, Sbejru Mashmir has finally concluded their Academy training and is ready to join the roster of heroes in Endless Space 2. A descendant of the legendary Ayairi Whairydd, companion of the dungeon’s merchant and smartest being on Auriga, Sbejru Mashmir has a lot to live up to! Luckily, they brought the family hammer (though honestly, we’re not entirely sure if that is the same hammer passed down the generations, and we’re reluctant to ask...)
Tech Tree Lore Pass
Over the years of working on Endless Space 2, we added, changed, or moved many technologies and their unlocks, either for balancing or to fit additional content. At one point, we started feeling that the descriptions no longer quite matched the gameplay effects of some technologies, but we weren’t sure if that might have just been us staring at it for too long, so we asked you what you thought. The vast majority agreed that the tech tree needed a lore pass.
As the gameplay aspect of the tech tree was still in constant flux, we decided to hold off on changing the descriptions to give the game designers freedom to change technologies as needed. Once the gameplay changes had settled, we had to take some time to examine which technologies needed new descriptions, and also to take stock of some other problems in the tech tree that should be addressed, like a few missing icons. With that done, the writers could get to work on the new descriptions while the bugs were being fixed, and once the new text has been localized, we’ll be ready to share the reworked tech tree lore with you.
We hope that all of you will enjoy this new and updated content that will be added in the patches accompanying these DLCs, and will have fun exploring the mysteries of Auriga and the Endless Universe in the new quests of Monstrous Tales and Dark Matter.
- The Amplitude Team
Dark Matter DLC Release Delayed
At Amplified a few weeks ago, we announced Dark Matter and Monstrous Tales, two new DLCs for Endless Space 2 and Endless Legend that would add several quests shedding light on the mysterious past of the Endless Galaxy and the mythical (some say monstrous) creatures of Auriga.
When we announced them, we were planning to release these DLCs in late February, but unfortunately we will not be able to meet that release date. Due to Covid, bugfixing for the DLCs has been progressing more slowly than expected, and we want to take some extra time to polish the new content. For that reason, we have decided to move the release of these DLCs to the second half of March.
We hope you will understand this decision. Thank you for your patience. - The Amplitude Team
