Master of Orion - Patch Notes v45.3

General

• Fixed combat chances so it is not affected by Civilian Ships
  
• Changed retreat position to use the fleet's last Node filtered by canTravelTo
  
• Added Stop camera re-focus during AI turn as an option
  
• Added Timeline option to game setup to control how frequently the game is saved, including the ability to disable the Timeline
  
• Pirates can now build Cruiser-class ships (Ravager)
  
• Space Monsters will now roam within their star system and attack settled colonies
  
• Added Victory Scenes placeholders
  
• Pirate colonies now spawn near every major race, not only player controlled ones
  
• 19 achievements were implemented
  
• It is now possible to choose a random race and set your opponents to random in game setup
  
• Easy and Extreme difficulties have been added
  
• Excellence has been renamed Score to better convey the type of victory condition it is
  
• Many additional technologies now require a decision
  
• Custom race creation has been updated with new traits, and the point costs have been adjusted to coincide with 10 starting points, rather than the previous system's 100
  

Artificial Intelligence

• Colony ships will move and colonize in the same turn now
  
• Additional improvements have been made to colony management AI
  
• Personality now factors into colony needs
  
• AIs now use heuristics when deciding in which colony to build System Unique Research Buildings
  
• Refresh Strategic Analysis before evaluating a deal, to avoid strange behaviours
  
• Updated General Strategy: if a civilization is still marked as Bad Relations or Opportunity, then continue war
  
• Economy Manager now handles different reserves. Each AI transaction is validated against the specific reserve
  
• Exposed Threshold for Cold War Disposition
  
• Added Assist, useful for escorting civilian ships (Colony Ships and Transports)
  
• Added Fleet: Destination pair matching algorithm with ETA Cache
  
• Improved report on AutoPlay AI
  
• Considers racial tech biases when trading techs
  
• Improved evaluation of Offensive Pact, will now consider warInclination trait if ally
  
• Allies will be twice as likely to accept an Offensive Pact
  
• AI now builds Scientific Victory buildings and buyout buildings more smartly
  
• Improvements for research evaluation algorithm, will consider blackboard requests with more importance
  
• Updated Investment Strategy to try to stop others from winning
  
• Ship building now considers war status.
  
• Invasion will now consider hostiles in their path to destination, it will request assistance and assemble a convoy in order to complete its mission
  
• AI will pick the one it's angriest at and is weakest, when picking bad Relations
  

Balance

• We have overhauled many race traits in the game and have introduced new traits for a number of races, including the iconic Creative and Uncreative
  
• Trade Goods project is now available at the start of the game
  
• Population growth has been adjusted
  
• Maintenance cost removed from Colony Base
  
• Colony Base no longer provides a bonus to Research, Food or Production
  
• Deep Sea Cooling can no longer be built on the Swamp biome
  
• Technology Victory formula modified. Now Research Score factor is 0.25 instead of 1
  
• Made global balance factor RESEARCH_SCORE_FACTOR apply only to accumulated research points
  
• Fixed gameplay rule, bombarding a colony will leave at least 1 population as the last possible target
  
• Planet biomes have been overhauled to increase the disparity between biomes, particularly when it comes to available food
  
• Reduced Silicoid growth rate further to bring it more inline with food-based growth rates
  
• Updated Silicoid personality traits (primarily used by AI to determine how they interact with other races)
  
• Rebalanced share charts
  
• Command Points discount added to small ships
  
• Research treaty cost changes
  
• Toxic Processor, Gravity Generators and Planetary Radiation Shield buyout restriction removed
  
• Added a global value for initial colony food supply, to avoid citizens dying in the first turn on unsustainable colonies
  
• Restored Full Claiming of controlled systems, whether I have a colony in there or not to support the new Alliance system
  
• Removed Food flat bonuses from colony base
  
• Rebalanced Offensive Pact and Defensive Pact evaluation, considering strategic importance
  
• Changed PEACE Diplomatic Status to NEUTRAL
  
• Added NEUTRAL Diplomatic Status need for Non-Aggression Pact
  
• Changed the way Combat Chances are shown to make them more predictable for the player
  
• Changed research treaty cost
  
• Production cost for Toxic Processor increased from 80PP to 160PP
  
• Production cost for Gravity Generators increased from 100PP to 160 PP
  
• Production cost for Planetary Radiation Shield increased from 145PP to 185 PP
  
• Changed Economic victory so the condition takes into account the size of the galaxy and changes accordingly
  

Tactical

• Amoeba and Squid now approach within melee distance and try to stay at that distance
  
• Behaviour: Orion's guardian tries to fight and Blink away to recharge his shields
  
• Added special targeting options for the special modules
  
• Power Boost Special for Military Outpost
  
• Added Hold action
  
• Basic intro transitions to avoid starting directly in abstract view
  
• Fix for Weapon Ranges
  
• Several UI updates to buttons and controls
  
• Anti Cloaking device added
  
• Added different deploy position for defenses/outpost structures and fixed opening move when the structure is an outpost
  
• Rate Of Fire battle pacing revamp + AutoFire feedback improved
  
• New Bomb Weapons for Space Monsters
  
• Height projection lines not drawn if ship is concealed
  
• Added Artemis System network, Phasing Cloak and Cloaking Device
  

Diplomacy

• When you end an audience, you are now sent back to the diplomacy screen rather than the galaxy screen
  
• Reduced the rate at which the AI will offer gifts
  
• Removed Colony Cessions from Deal Feedback in Trade Table, when not negotiating Cease Fire
  
• Fear value now exists only if enemy is actually afraid
  
• Afraid status is now set if race feels threatened
  
• Unfair deals require a difference of at least 1000 credits before being evaluated as demands
  

User Interface

• When clicking on a victory condition in the Path to Victory, it now flips to a new pane that displays information on what is contributing to your score for that victory type
  
• Espionage risk assestment is now indicated before a mission
  
• Improvements for race skills icons
  
• Workers can now be moved in bulk
  
• Added armor count to bombing estimation
  
• Added YELLOW color for "balanced" compare bar for combat chances
  
• Hide Disposition and Info if Race is defeated
  
• Added subtitles to GNN
  
• Fixed tooltip context on uncolonized planets
  
• Added Weapon Types to weapons descriptions
  
• Added Resource tooltips
  
• Added feedback for bombing and fighting in Starmap
  
• Breakthroughs are now Tech based and can show multiple techs when stolen / found in anomalies / traded
  
• New EULA design
  

Localization

• New Terran Emperor Spanish LA
  

SFX

• Ambient sounds for all races added to audiences
  
• Fixes on Play/Stop Ambience Music in Audience
  

Art

• New shaders and new materials for holograms.
  
• New Monsters modules added (Squid, Dragon, Eel, and Amoeba)
  

Bug Fixes

• Fix for LOC-264 System tags are empty in Korean localization
  
• Fixed Czech not being selectable (title was overlapping the dropdown row blocking the mouse)
  
• Fixed total Colonies in Score
  
• Alliance Diplomatic Status being shown as Peace.
  
• Fixed Very Hard difficulty not appearing in Match Setup
  
• [Linux] Fixed materials for for Klackon & Alkari mentats
  
• Fix for The "Ultraplanar Dimorphic Prospector is complete" has an error on it's key
  
• Fixed several Blur issues
  
• Fix for Clear unique buildings when a revolted colony returns to its civilization control
  
• Fix for Mrrshan empress Council win fix
  
• Fix for Klackon emperor council fix
  
• Fixed Timeline issues
  
• Fix for Long names overlap Multiplayer players amount
  
• Fix for Race card changes to none on match setup
  
• Fix for missing automerge action when user selects disengage in a node
  
• Fix for Star Bases have no Weapons:
  
  
  
  • Reduced Hull Class on all Planetary Defenses (4/5/6 -> 4)
    
  • Increased Hull Size (300/450/800 -> 450/600/800)
    
  • Removed several Special Systems from Planetary Defense BPs
    
  • Estimated Effective Space for each Structure: 70/180/290 (After Drive, Shields, Specials and PDs)
    
  
  
• Fix for severe fps drop in Ship Design screen
  
• Fix for Retreat now analyzes its chances using ALSO the Shield Integrity, not just Hull Integrity
  
• Fix for Capital tooltip text overlaps a button on Build at planet screen in Russian localization
  
• Fix Candidates Controllers of Mrrshan, bulrathi, Darlok, Human and Terran Emperors. Tie animations on the left side weren´t working
  
• Fix for Validation of share charts to read relationship in the right direction
  
• Fix for Bad citizen allocation when dragging to blocked tiles
  
• Fix for 4K display issues, Strategy Controls and Tactical Controls buttons scale wrong
  
• Fix for Hull Capacity points do not refresh when removing weapon. Points are calculated using the previous values taking into consideration the weapon that was removed
  
• fix for After using Active Specials you will retreat
  
• Fix for Multiple combats on same turn by same races caused a SoftLock
  
• Fix for Player is able to exploit 'Vote for' while trading with AI
  
• Fixed EULAS
  
• Fix to allow civilian ships to guard over nodes
  
• Fix for incompatible perks.
  
• Fix for Planetary stock exchange
  
• Timeline/Path to victory bug fix
  
• Custom Race - Lithovore trait cost
  
• Fixed a crash in multiplayer after player leaves the game and is replaced by AI.
  
• Fix for All passive specials except Wide Area Jammer have Cooldown and Range in these special modules tooltips.
  
• Fix for Troop Transport Description Update (English and Spanish LA)
  
• Fix for colonial taxes no longer depend on the presence of a building, feature was disabled.
  
• Fix for After Pirate Base destruction, Pirate Raider loses control and stays at the same place and do not perform any actions.
  
• If no DLC defined, dlcs are available by default
  
• Fix for Admiral Victory Chances evaluation for Retreat now uses REAL hull Integrity instead of Strategy's HP.
  
• Fixed AI issue when ETA is 0 when calculating Building Score
  
• Fixed AI issue with System Unique buildings not being properly considered when scoring them
  
• Fixes for intro cinematics when colonizing
  
• Fix for softlock when abandoning a battle
  
• Fix for open Borders & Alliance will not allow colonization in systems where I already am
  
• Fix for hide action buttons while fleet movement
  
• Fix for Empire TopBar not becoming visible after Tutorial Match
  
• Fix for Scientific victory building progression. Buildings of 2nd and 3rd stages now upgrades the previous one
  
• Fixed Stealthy perk having the wrong value
  
• Fixed Automated Repair Unit interceptors beams 'fire' at the center of tactical battlefront after passing the half of the battlefront
  
• Fixed The ships models disappear after using the Timeline
  
• Fixed It is possible to spin the ship model on the Blueprint Slot Editor screen
  
• Fixed Disengage button still active after fleet movement
  
• Get Chances Against now doesn't throw an error if provided with only civilian ships. Just returns a "0% winning chance"
  
• Prevented Retreat to same node
  
• Fix options issues for 4k displays
  
• Fix for Colony Ship, Space Factory, Scout, Interplanetary Security transmitter and Global DNA scanner holograms
  

Early Access 5

• We’re implementing our first pass of a significant rework of race traits, including the way they’re presented to you and some of the traits available (e.g. Psilon now get Creative, which unlocks all “choice” techs rather than making you choose)
  

• It’s now possible to move multiple population between resource cells at a time
  
• Tooltips have been added for specials and we’ve modified the way security is displayed to be more clear
  
• Autobuild now uses the improved AI colony management logic and prioritizes infrastructure (food, production and research) before things like security and defense
  
• The build window should no longer randomly reorder the icons each time you open it
  

• We’ve added even more choices, not only to support the racial trait additions but also to add more meaningful decisions (e.g. Deep Sea Cooling and Soil Enrichment Facility are now choices in the same tech)
  

• Excellence has been renamed Score to be more clear in how you achieve that victory
  
• We’ve added functionality to the panels in the Path to Victory screen that provides context to the actions / elements of gameplay that are generating progress for that victory condition (e.g. ship / structure contribution to Conquest score)
  

• We’ve replaced “Reduced Duration” with “Reduced Risk” as a bonus that you can unlock in the tech tree (many of them are choice techs) to make Espionage missions easier to complete
  
• Mission success chance will now display, giving you an idea of how difficult it’s going to be to complete the mission at a given colony
  

• When exiting out of an audience that you’ve started, you’re now taken to the diplomacy screen rather than the galaxy screen
  

• We’ve completed a balance pass on trait costs during custom race creation
  

• It’s now possible to set your opponents to random
  
• A Timeline setting has been added to specify how frequently the game should be saved, including the option to disable the Timeline feature completely
  
• When choosing Pre-Warp, pirates will no longer spawn until a player has unlocked space travel
  

• When editing a blueprint, the changes to stats (e.g. Attack Rating) will update in realtime as you add/remove components
  

• A “Hold” order has been added
  

• Columns for Pollution and Morale have been added
  

More to Come

• It will be possible to view race traits within a match
  

• A “Clear All” button will be added to blueprint editing
  

• Further refinements to colony management AI to reduce the usage of pop for research in early stages of colony growth
  
• Refinement to AI expansion so that they do a better job of expanding to new star systems with each colony early on instead of colonizing multiple planets in the same systems
  
• More focus on pollution structures for the AI instead of wasting valuable turns on the pollution cleanup project
  

• Counterespionage will start automatically upon an agent’s arrival at one of your colonies
  

• A confirmation popup will be added for war declarations
  

• More clarity on pollution, what causes it and how to manage it
  
• Newly built colony ships will no longer be merged into a combat fleet that is guarding the planet
  

• More difficulty levels are coming
  
• The Balanced Starting Conditions setting will be made more clear as to what it does
  

• Custom Races!
  
• The turn timer will have an audio cue added when it’s about to run out
  
• The turn timer will be updated to display while you’re viewing other screens than the galaxy screen (e.g. ship design)
  
• An indicator will be added to the chat window when it’s minimized to let you know there’s new messages
  

• We will allow you to define a timer that auto-pauses combat at the desired intervals
  

Version 44.4.1 Patch Notes

• Fixed issues with Automated Repair Unit that prevented it from working
  
• Fixed issues with Meklar audio
  
• Fixed output_log logging messages incorrectly
  

AI

• The AI should play fair and use the same information as the human player
  
• The AI should provide good feedback and a coherent narrative to the users through their actions and diplomatic interactions
  
• The AI should be challenging
  
• The AI should play according to their racial traits and characteristics
  

Strategic AI

• Improved analysis to evaluate the war effort
  
• Improved analysis to pursue different victory conditions
  
• Improved overall threat awareness
  
• Improved Offensive strategies
  
• improved Defensive strategies
  
• Improved specific tactics for invasion and bombing
  
• Improved handling of space pirates
  

Management AI

• The AI is more efficient at deciding what structures to build and when according to the type of planet and the stage of progress of each colony
  
• The AI is now much better at handling its finances allowing races to shoot for a bigger empire and armadas
  
• Colonization rules are more aggressive if interesting planets are available
  
• Now the AI can Terraform their planets and use the space factory to build new ones
  

Diplomatic AI

Espionage

• Mission tree now allows to add missions to a queue
  
• We improved the feedback for Spy selection
  
• We removed the camera automatic focus upon selection to improve Target Colony selection
  
• Acquire Data mission now reveals enemy colonies offering more colony targets
  
• Decreased spawn rate for spies to improve the game’s rhythm and make the Espionage Training Facility more relevant
  
• New mission added: Steal Charts
  
• Revolt duration capped at 20 turns
  
• Rebalanced duration for certain missions
  
• Other minor UX improvements
  

Tactical Battles

• We increased the size of the map to add strategic depth and open up more chances to perform maneuvers
  
• We rebalanced weapons and shields to increase the survivability of ships
  
• We added range dissipation, shield piercing and armor penetration
  
• We improved overall performance to support even larger battles
  

Ship design

Removal of Minor Civilizations (temporary)

General

• Starting Age option added to match setup (Options: Pre-warp, Post-Warp and Advanced)
  
• Production speed and Population growth speed options added to Advanced section of match setup
  
• Savegames are now ordered by date
  
• Added new galaxy model to reduce brightness of the core
  
• Removed mouse drag in match setup
  
• Added new text to the GNN news ticker
  
• Added Host Migration timeout (15 seconds) to multiplayer and an error message to allow players to continue the game in single player mode
  
• Optimized batch rendering; Reduced vert counts drastically improving performance in lower end systems
  
• Fixed issue where Quick match AI players were not being properly loaded, resulting in only AI present regardless of Galaxy size
  
• UI tweaks for both tactical and ship design tooltips
  
• Added graphical indicator for non-assimilated pop in colony management
  
• Minor Civilizations have been removed from the game temporarily
  

Linux

• Fixed an issue in Ubuntu that prevented the user changing resolution when in windowed mode.
  
• Fixed an issue with Ubuntu that prevented users to switch to full screen (this is a partial fix as Full screen is only working at the monitor's native resolution).
  

Gameplay & Balance

• Colony ship, Troop Transport, Civilian Transport and Space Factory blueprints are now auto-upgraded.
  
• Moved one of the Technological Victory buildings from Moleculartronics to Multi-Dimensional Physics technode
  
• Re-balanced planet composition (improved algorithm for diminishing returns)
  
• Silicoid Population growth speed reduced
  
• Uber-planets have been adjusted to play more like the Gaia biome
  
• Races with Uber-planet perk now start the game in a planet with the Biome they can Uber-terraform
  
• Additional wormholes added to Circular Large and Circular Huge galaxies
  
• Troop Transports no longer remove marines from the colony
  
• Increased minimum number of shares desired by races for better balance of the GMF
  

Diplomacy

• Diplomacy balance update to improve strategic decision-making of AI
  
• Made it less likely that the AI will reject reasonable deal proposals
  
• Tech trades: Made it less likely that the AI will also offer credits as part of trade
  
• Improved analysis for Candidate Ally selection (both Defensive & Offensive)
  
• Tech trades will only be offered by races with which you have a good disposition
  

Espionage

• Acquire Data mission now reveals all current colonies of target
  
• New mission: Steal Charts
  
• New functionally allows queuing future missions
  
• Added queue info to spy mission description
  
• Overall missions duration adjusted
  
• Revolt mission effect now last 20 turns
  
• The camera no longer automatically changes zoom level or centers on a spy when selecting them
  
• A "spy location" button has been added to the Espionage window allowing you to quickly switch the camera to the colony the spy is located at
  

Artificial Intelligence

• Improved efficiency for Production
  
• Improved offensive and defensive strategies
  
• Improved planetary ratings and potential colonization awareness
  
• Improved Engage command to allow for multiple actions in the same turn (i.e. Engage and Bombard)
  
• Defensive fleets now take into account immediate hostiles and empire under threat scenarios
  
• Uses radars to determine settlement orbital defenses if possible
  
• Added Blockade and EngageToBlockade targets
  
• Changed engage distance for bombarding pirate settlements from Distant to Neighbors
  

User Interface

• New multiplayer top bar added
  
• Improved Match Setup screen
  
• Improved Ship Design Screen
  
• Race information panel added to Audience screen
  
• Improved Espionage screen
  
• Improved Invest pop-up
  
• Fixed Build pop-up alignment and added minor improvements
  
• Establish Embassy deal renamed to Accept Embassy
  

Tactical

• Range Dissipation and Armor Penetration now affect Weapon Damage
  
• Increased the size of battlefields
  
• Fixed multiple bugs and Improved Overall performance
  
• Fixed several modifier bugs and reworked the Continuous Fire mod
  
• Added a simple Tactical Tutorial
  
• Implemented AI Groundwork for Opening Moves and added new Targeting Profiles
  
• Fixes and tweaks on tactical intro
  
• Ships no longer attempt flanking maneuver against structures
  
• Reduced size of Pirate Ship collision box by 50%
  
• Fix for collision check parameters for asteroids and added a safeguard condition to choose which behavior to use
  
• Added a base accuracy for energy weapons
  
• Re-balanced DPS and Ship Survivability
  

Ship Design

• Tooltip upgrade showing HULL SPACE USED.
  
• Fix for creating new ships, now the screen handles the info properly
  
• Fix for attack rating scale factor
  
• Fixed typos and made improvements in weapon and module descriptions
  

Localization

• Several fixes on dialogues and descriptions
  

Sounds Effects

• Meklar Emperor SFX added
  
• Emperors' audience SFX added
  
• Audio notifications for Spies added
  
• More audience sounds added and updated for all races
  

Notable Bug Fixes

• Fixed exception caused by selecting Build on a Worker Ship when is about to merge with another ship.
  
• Fixed softlock when ordering a Spy to Hold.
  
• Fixed a softlock in the tutorial after switching planets with the keyboard arrows.
  
• Fixed the Buy button not always working properly.
  
• Fixed freeze when trying to use the "Stasis Field" special (special not yet implemented)
  
• Fixed the battle with the Orion Guardian lasting forever when simulating certain scenarios.
  
• Fixed the emperor's voice not stopping when skipping the Council
  
• Fixed bug in Tech tree that caused some Tech Nodes to appear as locked when they were in fact available
  
• Fix for tactical weapon tooltips and combat speed tooltips from enemy ships
  
• Optimization fixes to Navigation Caches and AI_CanTravelTo/Fleet's FindPath
  
• Fix for items missing when upgrading blueprints
  
• Fixed incorrect Pollution perks descriptions
  
• Fix for a blueprint sometimes becoming overweight after autoupgrading
  
• Fixed two AI asking for Share Charts at the same time
  
• Fix for diplomatic deals spamming when the first one is invalid
  
• Fixed update for blueprints not showing when discovering a new computer
  
• Crash on early game when reaching unknown civilizations
  
• Fixed biological bombs so they don't affect Attack Rating
  

Completed as of Early Access 3:

In progress as of Early Access 3:

Planned for the next major update: