Lord of Rigel opened to Early Access on October 4, 2022. We initially aimed for a nine month Early Access period but based on your feedback more substantial overhauls to the game UI and AI were done over Early Access. Over 2023 we completed the core features in the Early Access Roadmap, and this year we've done additional optimizations, bug fixes, and new features.
We're pleased to announce that August 26 is the planned end of Early Access,
Your feedback and reporting has been crucial over the past year and a half, and over Early Access we've implemented the following key features:
Lithovore and Mechanoid species- The Tulocks and Synth
Custom species
Gigantic and Legendary Galaxies
Elder Species- The Rigelans and Arcturans
Diplomacy Victories
Final War
Galactic Tension and the Doomsday Clock
Megastructures- Dyson Spheres and Ringworlds
Additional ground combat units
Research Victory
Grand Menaces
In addition to these we've added numerous quality of life features based on your feedback (not an exhaustive list, but the major ones):
Leaders
Ship Refitting
Strategic AI overhaul
User Interface reskin and color selection
Event ticker filter
System sidebar in colony view
Cycling between systems and colonies in system and colony view
Player engagement options (chase, evade, circle) in tactical
Auto ship design generation in ship designer
Post combat report
Ship info tooltips
Loading and saving build queue presets
Sharpness graphics setting
AI personality type indicators in diplomacy and info screens
Build queue item movement
Threat diplomacy options
Tactical scan option
Advanced New Game Settings
Soundtrack and Art Book
With the release we'll also include the Lord of Rigel Art Book which has additional universe background and the full soundtrack will be available. A preview of the soundtrack is online but the released version will have additional tracks.
Artbook Preview
Lord of Rigel Soundtrack in Steam Player
Soundtrack Preview
For Returning Players
If you are returning to LoR after a while please check in the FAQ on deleting persistent settings and the input save files and .ini. Over early access we've done many changes to these files so starting with fresh settings and game saves will solve issues you might have with odd key bindings and setting behaviors.
We want to focus on any remaining game breaking bugs and critical balance issues but welcome any additional quality of life improvements. Through EA we've incorporated the vast majority of player feedback as new QOL improvements.
As for LoR past 1,0, there are some smaller content updates we hope to implement (More leaders, additional technologies, monsters).
Release Build 2024.10
Ticket #1855 Elder and faction 0 spawn issue on 256 10 faction galaxies
Ticket #1856 QOL- Difficulty bonuses for AI when player has overpowered custom species
Ticket #1857 QOL- End game score points for victory conditions
Ticket #1858 Unable to hire rescued heroes if treasury is low
Ticket #1859 Case where gifted tech revealed hyperadvanced techs too early
Ticket #1860 Case where research complete message is not appearing when retreating from combat
Ticket #1861 QOL- Tactical ship scan disabled for stealthy ships
Ticket #1862 Warpout message for starbase when it is selected
Summer Solstice Update and What's Next
Current Update
The latest update for LoR includes a number of optimizations to end turn, AI, and fixes for issues reported by the community. These fixes range from adjusting diplomacy dialog tied to spy threats to fixes for cases where ships may not have repaired, players could add multiple leaders to a single slot, or cases where fleet data didn't refresh when refitting ships in a fleet until the next turn.
Quality of life wise a new end game technology that increases the rate leaders gain experience has been added in addition to some adjustments to diplomacy filters to hide defeated factions.
What to Expect Next
At this stage we have all of the core features we've aimed to implement into Lord of Rigel. More AI optimizations and performance optimizations are planned and our main focus is any reported critical issues to fix over the summer before 1,0.
Some planned minor updates for the next patch include AI difficulty adjustments for custom species and some additional end game score bonuses for different victory types.
Image 1. A look into the temporal flux cutscene
What to Expect Post Release
Our plan is continued support on critical bugs, and there may be minor content updates in the form of additional leaders, random events, and monsters. The current game has a substantial amount of space monsters, random events, and leaders so these will be small additions.
Reporting Issues
If you have a critical bug, please reach out to us at contact@rhombus-studios,net Save files are also helpful for reproducing any issues
Image 2. Your saves continue to be helpful for narrowing down any issues
Early Access 3 Patch 2024.9
Ticket #1551 Uncreative species not getting fuel tech in some games fix
Ticket #1850 Multiple leaders being assigned to same slot fix
Ticket #1853 Ship repair fix
Ticket #1852 Refitting a fleet deleting data fix
Ticket #1847 Negative industry color fix
Ticket #1849 QOL – Leader XP Gain tech added
Ticket #1851 QOL Diplomacy filter hides dead factions
Ticket #1846 Adjust spy threat dialog
Ticket #1854 Research softlock fix
June Update
Greetings Lords of Rigel, while real summer starts later this month we're plugging along on our goal of quality of life features and bug fixes on the road to 1,0 thanks to your input and save games.
The next update will include performance and quality of life fixes including:
Fixes for uncreative species research when gifted technologies
End turn optimizations
Adjustments to threat dialog
Ground combat balance of power display accuracy increase
Hiding dead factions in diplomacy filters
New late game technology for leader XP gain bonuses
Image 1. Rebel scum taking a ringworld, and leaders defecting
Image 2. New endgame technologies
Image 3. Artbook Preview
Your games have been crucial for making sure that systems like rebellions have been working correctly and has allowed for continued tweaks to the AI and finding places where end turn processing might have issues in very long games.
Again, please keep sending us your save files and any issues you might be facing to: contact@rhombus-studios,net
Early Access 3 Patch 2024.8
Ticket #1843 QOL – Random seed button added to New Game menu Ticket #1838 Initial turn population tooltip fix Ticket #1839 Empire Menu closing on spacebar fix Ticket #1663 QOL – Add Income breakdown on click of treasury Ticket #1837 QOL – Leader skills and tech tooltips Ticket #1836 Leader experience tooltip update fix Ticket #1841 Turn stalling if no recruitable leader present fix Ticket #1845 QOL – Achievements for New Leader Hire and Max Rank Ticket #1840 Housing bonus tooltip disappearing on population increase fix Ticket #1842 Subspace Conduit filtering in Build Queue fix Ticket #1844 QOL – Advanced Leader Tech (Additional Leader Slot) Ticket #1835 GNN Ranking Infinite Loop fix Ticket #1826 Lost Colony GNN Event fix
New Leaders, Technologies, Optimizations, and Quality of Life Improvements
What's in the next update?
Greetings Lords of Rigel, the next update is coming along and to give a sense of what to expect with the next patch it's a combination of bug fixes and new quality of life features requested.
Bugfixes:
Fixing cases where fleets can have very long travel times
Leader system experience UI display fixes
Turn stall fix for cases where all leaders in pool are dead, hired, or not present (fixes a tutorial issue, some end games, and older games)
Housing bonus in tooltip display no longer disappears on a turn when population increases
Fixes for cases where subspace conduit wasn't filtered correctly in build queue
Image 1. Fixes for leader experience display
Tweaks/Optimizations:
Minor optimizations to end turn and economy processing time
Minor AI improvements and optimizations
Quality of Life Improvements/Features
Random button in new game to set new seeds
New leader that also helps with bad Uncreative game starts (no fuel techs, no good systems in range)
New technology (Xenomanagement, adds an additional leader slot)
Income breakdown when clicking on bottom bar
Lost colony GNN event occurs before new colony prompt
Empire tutorial UI has additional information on leaders
Image 2. New Random Seed Option
Image 3. New Leader
Image 4. Xenomanagement Tech
While it may still be a bit of time before this update rolls out, your save games and feedback have been useful in optimizing the game and adding more quality of life features.
Feedback and bug reporting?
If you encounter any game breaking issues please send saves to contact@rhombus-studios,net
Major Update- Leaders, Tactical Timer, and Advanced Game Settings
EA3 Patch and Release Candidates
Greetings Lords of Rigel, this patch adds in our last major features to the game Leaders and Advanced Game Settings.
At this point we are asking the community for saves if encountering any game breaking bugs or issues with the intent of updates aiming for 1.0.
The LoR art book and soundtrack we plan to release with 1.0 this summer.
Image 1. Example from LoR Artbook
The full soundtrack will include more tracks.
For Returning Players
If you are returning to LoR after a while please check in the FAQ on deleting persistent settings and the input save files and .ini. Over early access we've done many changes to these files so starting with fresh settings and game saves will solve issues you might have with odd key bindings and setting behaviors.
Advanced game settings let you adjust victory conditions and can also adjust random events and the total number of planets in a system.
For balancing reasons we've kept the planet range between 5 and 10. For those who want a more oldschool MOO2 style game or faster pace in larger galaxy sizes we recommend reducing the maximum planet count. However, the game is balanced for more hostile to life galaxies and the higher orbit count is to offset that.
Image 3. Advanced settings
Leaders
Leaders are cabinet members that apply empire wide bonuses. Leaders can be sometimes rescued and hired for no cost from empty systems or after defeating a space monster guarding a system.
Leaders can be lost is a capitol is destroyed or during rebellions.
Assigned leaders gain rank over time which increase the bonuses they offer.
Leaders provide bonuses empire wide to colonies, the overall empire, and fleets.
There are over 20 leaders with over 15 skills that can impact nearly every part of your empire.
Early on some concerns were voiced about "where are the really alien aliens?" in Lord of Rigel and you'll find that many of the leaders are unique and represent species with strange biologies.
Image 4. Leaders
What's next?
If you encounter any game breaking issues please send saves to contact@rhombus-studios,net
We want to focus on any remaining game breaking bugs and critical balance issues but welcome any additional quality of life improvements. Through EA we've incorporated the vast majority of player feedback as new QOL improvements.
As for LoR past 1,0, there are some smaller content updates we hope to implement (More leaders, additional technologies, monsters).
Early Access 3 Build 2024.7 Hotfix
Ticket #1835 GNN Infinite Loop Fix
Early Access 3 Patch 2024.7
Ticket #1829 Scrapping outposts in System and Colony View not updating UI fix
Ticket #1828 Blockades occurring in systems with no hostile fleets fix
Ticket #1830 Purchased Warp Enhancers not clearing from build queue if already built fix
Ticket #1831 QOL – Tactical combat scan ability
Ticket #1834 Trade Goods and Housing removed from build queue after turn
Ticket #1833 QOL - Advanced New Game Settings added
