Attention interloper - heed this recorded message!
This world, Earth, may not be approached for any reason.
Today's Tech Tree Update adds a tree view and improved functionality for the Research screen. Our ongoing effort to improve the game continues, so your feedback and suggestions are important to us. Keep them coming!
Research Screen Tree View
For starters, the behavior of the "Set Research" and "Queue Research" buttons has changed. "Set Research" will now automatically queue any needed prerequisites to the selected tech. "Queue Research" can now be used to queue any number of techs in any order, regardless of prerequisites.
To enter the tree view, click on the tree icon at the top of the technology list in the Research Screen.
In addition to the familiar Queue Research and Set Research buttons, which work the same way as in the List View, the Tree View presents a scrollable pane displaying the technology tree. The tree view pane can be scrolled by using the scrollbars on bottom and right, or with the arrow or WASD keys, or by clicking and dragging within the pane. Left-clicking on a technology node will select it and activate the Info pane for that technology. Clicking "Set Research" or right-clicking on the node will begin research on that tech (or any required prerequisites, which will be automatically queued). You can manually queue techs by selecting a tech node and clicking "Queue Research", or by shift-left-clicking on a node.
Each technology node displays the name of the technology, an icon for the field of research (Physics, Construction, etc.), and icons representing any hulls, components, or special abilities unlocked by that technology. The number of turns to research the technology at current research rates is listed in blue. If the tech is locked (it has unresearched prerequisites), the title will be blue and there will be a lock icon at right. If the technology has additional prerequisites that are not represented by the visible lines, you will be able to see a small icon overlay at the upper left of the node. All elements can be investigated with a mouseover tooltip.
You can return to the List View at any time by clicking the list icon at the upper left, and you can close the Research Screen by clicking the X in the upper right, or the testube icon at the top bar. If you exit Research while still in the Tree View, you will still be in the Tree View whenever you return to the Research screen.
Patch Notes for 11 April 2017 (ver. 20298)
Changes and Additions
The tree view of the research screen is now available and can be viewed by clicking on the tree view icon shown at the top of the technology list. You can return to the list view by clicking on the list icon at the top left of the tree view.
Clicking "Set Research" in either view will now queue any necessary prerequisite techs.
You can now queue techs in any order using either view by selecting techs and clicking "Queue Tech" (or shift-left-clicking in the tree view).
The portion of the 'Primary Beams' prerequisite that included 'Turbolasers' now instead includes 'Advanced Turbolasers'.
'Hyperspace Cloud Computing' has been renamed to 'Hyperspace Cloud'.
The Yoral Frigate hull is now unlocked by 'Interstellar Expeditions', rather than 'Titanium Construction'.
Fixes
Opening the dropdown menu in the embark population dialog should no longer trigger an exception.
(Click here to view the complete development changelogs, and here to view the development roadmap post.)
This drone now leaves to inform the masters of your transgressions.
You are commanded to remain here and await the arrival of the masters.
Disobedience will be punished.
Development Update: 17 March 2017
We come in peace. Mostly.
Today's update includes a few bug fixes, and some preparatory work for our next big feature, which is the technology tree view. As always, work continues to improve the game, so your feedback and suggestions are important to us. Keep them coming!
Patch Notes for 17 March 2017 (ver. 20026)
Changes and Additions
The \Mods\ subdirectory can now be used to install and manage user-created mods. For instructions, please read the MakingMods.txt file in the \Mods\ directory.
Unlocking 'Dreadnoughts' no longer requires 'Duranium Construction'.
Removed the redundant 'Small Craft' prerequisite for 'Light Carrier'.
Removed the redundant 'Graviton Physics' prerequisite for 'Star Gates'.
Removed the redundant 'Fusion' prerequisite for 'Plasma Focusing'.
Bombardment notifications now contain more information.
Added on-hover tooltips for terraforming projects.
Fixes
Fighters and bombers should now automatically upgrade to use the latest available munitions/weapons, without requiring that the mothership be refitted.
Strike fighters should now correctly switch between attacking with energy weapons or missiles, depending on their target.
Fix for a rare bug that could cause a crash when closing the ship designer pane.
Applying an autodesign template to a planet defense design should no longer cause an exception.
Fix for a rare bug that could cause fleets to disappear after issuing a movement command.
Rejecting the results of a galactic council vote should no longer cause an error.
Fix for a gunport animation glitch affecting several heavier Orthin hulls.
The 'Ancient Guardians' faction should no longer appear in the faction list.
Fix for a bug that could prevent raider units from embarking from low-population planets.
Disabling 'advisor suggestions' should now suppress special resource notifications.
You should now receive at most 1 special resource notification per resource per game.
(Click here to view the complete development changelogs, and here to view the development roadmap post.)
In the Works: Tree View for Research Screen
Probably the most requested feature (and the most bemoaned missing feature) is a tree view for the Research Screen, and it has been at the top of our list as well. Because our tech tree has a complex set of prerequisite inheritances, and because the tree is different for each faction, figuring out a consistent way to display it took some work. But we think we've got it figured out.
This view will be in addition to the current list view; the player will be able to toggle between the two views at will. The tree view will contain most of the functionality of the list view, including the same technology information pane in a pop-up form. It will also allow the player to queue research items in any order.
Here is a mockup of the new screen's graphical elements:
Here is a test layout of the logical tree structure (Yoral version):
The tree is dynamic in the sense that each faction can have a different tree layout, and nodes can be added to a tree during a game, which will allow the potential for a faction to unlock technologies through gameplay that would not normally be available for research to that faction.
That's all for now. Until next time.
Development Update: 03 March 2017
This is commercial towing vehicle Nostromo out of the Solomons, registration number one-eight-zero-niner-two-four-six-zero-niner, calling Antarctica traffic control. Do you read me? Over.
Today's update includes a number of bug fixes, along with a few UI refinements. Work continues to improve the game, so your feedback and suggestions are important to us. Keep them coming!
Patch Notes for 03 March 2017 (ver. 19894)
Changes and Additions
The Planetary Report now has a drop-down selection that allows the list to be sorted by population, production activity, name, labor, coin, science, food, or metal output.
If an enemy empire bombs and then invades one of your planets, you will now receive a notification for the bombardment in addition to the notification of invasion. (Previously there was only the invasion notification.)
Updated item display for the colony base, terraforming, and artificial planet projects.
The 'Repeat Build' special action can now be added to the queue using either a right or left click.
Right-clicking on a ship in the CHOOSE SHIP FOR REFIT subpane now has the same effect as left-clicking the 'Queue Refit' on hover button.
Fixes
Fix for a rare bug that could cause planets to stop taking bombardment damage.
The on-hover text for artificial planets should no longer incorrectly assume that planet slots occupied by gas giants are unavailable.
Attempting to launch assault shuttles from a ship with 0 crew should no longer cause a crash.
It should no longer be possible for planet projects to have negative buy costs.
Weapon modifications should no longer persist after selecting one of the autodesign options under the 'Hardpoints' menu.
The Project/Ships/All tabs are now disabled in the "CHOOSE SHIP FOR REFIT:" subpane.
Fix for possible data corruption in the Orthin mercenary art.
The 'EXIT' button in the mercenary exchange bottom bar will now work as intended.
Fixes for formatting problems that could occur in the tech advance report for several physics technologies.
Outpost planets should no longer incorrectly display 'Chance to Revolt' warnings. (Outposts can't revolt.)
Fix for a crash that could be caused by rolling back time to a moment when the currently displayed ship or station did not exist.
(Click here to view the complete development changelogs, and here to view the development roadmap post.)
This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.
Development Update: 16 February 2017
Greetings, Earthlings!
Today's patch includes some adjustments to ship refit mechanics along with a number of bug fixes. Work continues to improve the game, so your feedback and suggestions are important to us. Keep them coming!
Patch Notes for 16 February 2017 (ver. 19835)
Changes and Additions
Unfinished production projects now show a progress bar on the item in the production menu so that you can clearly see which items already have had work done on them.
Refit projects can now be queued.
Ships undergoing a refit will no longer be removed from the galaxy map, but instead will be marked as "inactive" during which time it cannot move or fire its weapons.
Performing a fast refit or mass refit for coin will now mark the affected ship(s) as inactive for one turn.
The fast refit and mass refit feature now require that ships be stationed in a system that contains an orbital facility capable of performing the refit (or that the player's faction has researched the Low Orbit Refits technology).
Fast refit, mass refit, and queue refit are now available as on-hover actions in the CHOOSE SHIP FOR REFIT production menu sub-pane.
Damaged ships will now display red 'hull integrity' bars in the fleet and ship status panes.
Added extra UI feedback in the case that planets may not be able to complete their production due to metal shortages.
The NEWS UPDATES text will now include a warning message if you appear to be running a version older than the latest major patch.
Fixes
The 'Buy Slaves' option in the Marauder encounter should now open the appropriate trade screen if selected.
Tribute/bribe payments should now appropriately be deducted every turn, instead of just once.
Fix for a bug that could prevent the AI from taking full advantage of its trade capacity.
The AI should now make better choices when deciding where and when to build ground forces.
Scrapping a ship while it's undergoing a refit should no longer cause a bug.
Refitting a colony ship should no longer destroy any colonists it's carrying.
Using the 'embark colonists' button from the ship status screen should now properly trigger the Choose Population dialog when a planet with more than one type of population/ground units is selected.
Fix for an error that could be triggered by destroying the homeworld of a raider company that controlled multiple planets.
The 'ambivalent' racial trait should now work as intended.
Groups of Marines and Raiders should no longer be referred to in the tooltip as 'Marineses' and "Raiderses', my Precious!
Fix for a bug that was preventing ground units from storing incomplete production progress.
Fix for a bug that could give extra wrenches to planets suffering from a metal shortage.
The Plasma Cannon's firing sound effect should now trigger properly.
Fix for a rare exception that could occur while embarking colonists.
Fixed some erroneous tooltips in the technology descriptions for Fusion and Advanced Field Theory.
(Click here to view the complete development changelogs.)
Communication terminates.
Development Update: 03 February 2017
Juffo-Wup is All… omni-existent, spreading and changing the Non into Juffo-Wup. You are Non, who must become Juffo-Wup or Void. We are the agents of Juffo-Wup.
In our zeal to please the All with our shiny new super-dreadnoughts, we let a few errors slip through that we're fixing with a patch today.
Patch Notes for 03 February 2017 (ver. 19673)
Fixes
The number of hardpoints on Super-dreadnought hulls has been increased. Be sure to refit any super-dreads that you have already built to receive the benefit of this change.
Planet defense designs should now have tooltips and better sorting in the Edit Design pane.
It is now possible to edit and rename the special station design used when building outposts.
Fix for a data corruption issue that could be caused by refitting an Outpost to a design that did not include a fuel depot.
Outposts captured in battle should now cause control of the planet to change to the captor's side.
(Click here to view the complete development changelogs.)
Juffo-Wup fills in my fibers and I grow turgid. Violent action ensues.
Development Update: 02 February 2017
Meanwhile, back at our heroes' secret hideout...
We couldn't be more pleased with the reception the game has received in its first two weeks, and so we thank you!
Today's patch contains a number of bug fixes, along with a new starship hull type: the super-dreadnought! We will continue to work to improve the game with regular updates, so your feedback and suggestions are important to us. Keep them coming!
Super-dreadnoughts
The Ancients who fought the Great War which left the galaxy in its current sorry state had formidable technologies, and vessels larger and more powerful than those that are built by their modern descendants. The detritus of that conflict still litters the galaxy, and ancient hulks of these great warships can still be found. So formidable was the Ancients' automation technology that some of these hulks are not altogether dead; a few still have active systems that make them unimaginably dangerous -- and potentially priceless to those who would like to reverse-engineer these systems.
The Super-dreadnought is a new hull to fill the size gap between battleships and dread stars, available to all playable factions through research or salvage.
Patch Notes for 02 February 2017 (ver. 19661)
Changes and Additions
All playable factions can now research and build Super-dreadnought hulls.
Maps in new games have a chance to encounter automated Ancient Super-dreadnoughts lurking in certain systems.
Added new artwork for several of the Primary Beam mounts.
Changed the "Enable Tutorials" option to "Enable Advisor Suggestions."
Mineral rich/mineral poor and 'starships ready' notifications are now classified as 'Advisor Suggestions', and can so be enabled/disabled along with the other help messages.
Android workers can now be found in certain rare derelict settlements.
Fixes
Shield Regenerators and Blast Doors can now be placed in hardpoints without regard to whether they are turrets or fixed mounts.
Updated fighter docking animations so that fighters no longer appear to explore upon landing.
In the Ship Designer, expanded the drag and drop hot region for hardpoints to cover the whole item, rather than just the icon.
Adjusted the logic used to select improvements when a colony's production has been automated. Labs should no longer be auto-selected when there are no more technologies to research.
Updated troubleshooting section for the game manual.
Fix for a bug that could cause an exception after using the instant refit feature on a Stargate.
Fix for a bug that could be triggered by using the instant-refit feature on the Human's starting heavy cruiser, leading to a range of possible secondary bugs.
Fix for a bug that could cause ships originally built by other empires to have glitches with their instant-refit action.
Fix for a bug that could case a black-screen while editing certain Orthin designs.
Fix for a bug that could be caused by destroying a marauder base while the marauder fleet was away raiding for slaves.
It should no longer be possible to send slaves or Phidi cultural missions to planets you do not control.
Accepting a Phidi cultural mission when you do not have enough transports to carry the colonists should no longer cause a bug.
Destroying a pirate raid while it is still forming should no longer cause a bug.
Destroying a planet that is under attack by a third-party AI should no longer lead to a 'tried to start a battle during end turn processing' exception.
Fix for a crash present in maps where all sides were playing as 'Humanity'.
(Click here to view the complete development changelogs.)
To be continued...
Classic 4X Space Title 'Stars in Shadow' (PC) OUT NOW
Four months of hard work in Early Access pays off today, as developer Ashdar Games releases its classic 4X turn-based strategy title Stars in Shadow (PC) on Steam and various other digital download platforms. Time well-spent in the Early Access program has secured much useful feedback and advice from the 4X community, and has ensured that the game is now packed with tons of new features.
Two brand new factions have been implemented, strategic zoom is added, as well as the Galactic Council. Moreover, various new minor races can be discovered and the option to use slaves for scientific experiments is now made available to all players.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On19OBgvBR0
Sven Olsen, lead developer of Ashdar Games says: “It’s the achievement of a goal that we’ve been working towards for more than six years, so we’re pretty excited about it. On the other hand, there’s still a lot we want to add to the game, so it doesn't feel as if the project is coming to an end but rather a new chapter in which we plan to work on many new additions to the Stars in Shadow universe..."
Stars in Shadow is now available on Steam and all other major digital portals at a SRP of $24.99. Publisher Iceberg Interactive has set a 25% discount for the duration of the launch week.
Development Update: 19 January 2017
Salutations, sky marshals!
Welcome to the released version of the game! It’s the achievement of a goal that we’ve been working towards for more than six years, so we’re pretty excited about it. However, this is not the end of the road; there’s still a lot we want to add to the game. In addition to the requisite fixes and balance changes, we'll continue to add features and content with regular updates.
Special thanks to our beta testers and those who tried out Early Access and provided crucial feedback! Your helpful comments and suggestions have helped to make this a better game, and will continue to do so. Keep them coming!
Patch Notes for 19 January 2017 (ver. 19500)
Changes and Additions
Added a new UI option 'Color planets by Habitability'. This color-codes the planet icons circling the stars on the strategic map by habilitability: white are colonized, gray are uninhabitable, orange have max populations of <8 for your factions, and green have max populations of 8 or more for your faction.
Updates to the Ship Designer frames.
It is now possible to access various auto-design features from the Ship Designer panes.
It is now possible to filter the list of components shown in the Ship Designer panes.
Anti-missiles can now be placed in light weapon hardpoints.
All light weapons can now be placed in heavy weapon hardpoints.
Updated frames and buttons for the strategic ship info panes.
It is now possible to instantly refit ships using coins.
It is now possible to rename ships.
It is now possible to refit a ship to an existing design by accessing the added Hardpoints dropdown menu in the designer UI.
It is now possible to suppress the display of obsolete parts in the ship design pane.
Added a 'Mass Refit' option to the ship status pane.
Weapon damage range information now appears in the available component list.
The "Embark Colonists" pane now includes an option for loading colonists to transports in orbit.
Added a "Game Speed" option to the map settings screen.
Updated the Research screen frames/tooltips.
Battle shields should now prevent 50% of damage from kinetic weapon fire.
Force lance attacks should now pierce all shields other than the Temporal Aegis.
Added new tutorial notifications in the event of founding your first colony and initial marauder/pirate battles.
New tutorial text explaining the Fertility mechanics (displayed with the first starvation warning notification.)
Various updates to the in-game documentation text.
It is now possible to exit the game directly from the game menu pane.
Added implementation and description text for several missing technologies.
Fix for a bug that could cause glitches during strike fighter animations.
Planet disaster events should no longer strike outposts.
Boarding a ship now requires that one of its shields is down.
Transporters now function as described.
All embarked units now increase the crew rating of their cost ship by +50.
Embarked Assault Marines increase crew ratings by +100.
Assault Shuttles now make it possible to board mobile enemy ships within range 8.
Doubled the number of small craft per hangar mount.
Added the ability to disband ground units via the population info pane.
Ships equipped with one or more Stellar Surge Beams may now destroy hostile planets.
Optimized load-pane rendering.
Researching the 'Planet Construction' technology will now allow you to build planets.
Added new art assets for Orthin, Yoral and Phidi leaders, Stellar Surge Beam, Transporters and AutoRepair Systems, Farms, Mines, and Markets, and faction-specific fighters and shuttles.
Bug Fixes
Clicking on a grey 'Propose' button while the trading pane is open should no longer cause an error.
Removed some rounding logic in the population growth rules that was causing confusing behavior.
Fix for a bug that could cause a planet to revolt and then immediately rejoin its parent empire, leading to corrupt game data.
Fix for a bug that could cause an "ai started up a battle during end-turn" exception.
Fixes for some missile animation glitches.
Preemptively attacking a raiding pirate fleet should no longer cause a error.
Fix for a bug that could cause a starvation notification to persist after the cause of the food shortage had been addressed.
(Click here to view the complete development changelogs.)
Enjoy the game, and see you again soon!
Stars in Shadow, a Vivid Tribute to the 4x Classics, Will Release January 19th, 2017.
Launch trailer released for turn-based space strategy title.
Haarlem, The Netherlands – January 10th, 2017 – Publisher Iceberg Interactive is pleased to announce that turn-based 4x space strategy title Stars in Shadow (PC) will launch on Steam and other digital platforms on January 19th, 2017. During its time in Early Access, the game has been lauded as a great ‘tribute to Masters of Orion’ by the dedicated Steam community. As a result of the positive feedback and praise, developer Ashdar Games is looking forward to fully releasing the title to all fans of the 4x genre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwgwJtP8U0s Stars in Shadow is set to release January 19th, 2017 on Steam and other digital download platforms at an SRP of $24.99.
Development Update: 28 December 2016
Season's greetings, holiday revelers! And by "holiday revelers," I mean of course "ruthless galaxy-conquering despots."
Mostly housekeeping updates in this week's build, but we have enabled some Steam achievements and the oft-requested ability to rename star systems. As always, we thank you for your Early Access support and for your helpful feedback and suggestions. Keep them coming!
Patch Notes for 28 December 2016 (ver. 18806)
Changes and Additions
You can now rename star systems under your control by clicking on the large system name text while the star is selected. Planets which have a name based on the system name (e.g., "Rastaban II") will automatically be renamed.
Made some low-level engine updates to allow the integration of various Steam API features.
56 Steam Achievements are now active and able to be unlocked.
Increased the wrench cost of Colony Ships.
Antimissiles will now autofire like other point defense weapons.
Added an end turn warning in the case that you do not respond to a request from an alien emperor.
A second left click on a report notification that pertains to a planet should now reliably open the relevant planet's info screen, where applicable.
Bug Fixes
Fixes for bugs/animation glitches that could occur when antimissiles fired from planetary defense bases.
Opening the galactic council pane after declining to call a council vote should no longer cause an error.
It should no longer be possible to simultaneously destroy and capture the same planet.
Fix for a rare bug that could be triggered when Marauders dispatched raiding fleets.
(Click here to view the complete development changelogs.)
Hope you're having a happy holiday, and we will see you in the new year!
