This Colossal update started out as a month-long incremental update to overhaul the main menu and fill in some missing Diplomacy gameplay. We took the opportunity to add some huge diplomacy features, revamp the diplomacy AI, Spying, and more. Please note that all of your older save game files will be broken in this new version and won't load. This is unfortunately necessary as the galaxy and race data just isn't compatible with the new format.
Main Menu
We've completely overhauled the main menu screen, replacing the boring background image with a new animated scene of a rotating galaxy and a planet on the right hand side, all rendered using the in-game tech. The new screen now seamlessly switches to the New Game screen and also includes a panel in the middle of the screen that pops up to be used for everything from options to picking a save game to load.
Implemented Options menu. When the Options button is active, the panel in the middle of the screen now shows a series of toggleable checkboxes and sliders pulled directly from the Menu dropdown in the main game.
Implemented Load Game menu. When the Load Game button is active, the panel in the middle of the screen now shows all eight of the save game slots, the autosave and a shortcut to the most recent save game. The races present in that save are drawn in little hexes next to each save.
The Save Game directory now contains information on each race in the game and whether it has been eliminated. Older save game files may display this incorrectly, but new saves made after the patch will be fine.
Implemented the Story Mode and Challenge Maps menus. When each button is active, the panel in the middle of the screen now shows a list of playable missions and indicates whether they are locked and whether you've achieved the bronze, silver, or gold rating.
The UI for selecting Galaxy options when you create a new Sandbox game has been improved with new buttons and a header image.
The Galaxy options you select when starting a new Sandbox game are now saved to the Predestination.ini file and remembered next time you start the game.
The Race Select screen when creating a new Sandbox game has been renamed to Empire options and now has a header image
You can now select what colour you want your empire to be on the Empire Options screen.
You can now select which crashed ship type you want to start with on the Empire Options screen. The choices are Science Vessel, Asteroid Miner, Colony Ship, and War Cruiser.AI Memory System
Added a positive AI Memory event for when you give the enemy a gift.
Added a positive AI Memory event for when you make a fair deal in the enemy's favour.
Added a positive AI Memory event for every time you accept a deal that they've proposed to you.
Added a negative AI Memory event for Mistreating Citizens when you use violence to quell a riot random event on one of your planets. There's also a -10% Mistreating Citizens penalty if you have researched the Medical Testing technology and the other race hasn't.
Added a negative AI Memory event for launching a surprise attack on a planet without declaring war first. This penalty is larger if you are violating a peace treaty at the same time.
Added a negative AI Memory event for using a superweapon on a planet that has been banned by the Galactic Council, such as the Genesis Device or Stellar Converter.
Added a negative AI Memory event for firing biological weapons at an enemy city that kills their population and troops.
Added a negative AI Memory event for when your spy is caught on attempting the active part of its mission.
Added a negative AI Memory event for when the enemy rejects a proposal weighted in your favour.
Added a negative AI Memory event for when the enemy accepts a proposal even though it's weighted in your favour. This punishes you a bit for constantly making deals in your favour by making the enemy less receptive to your future offers.
Added a negative AI Memory event for breaking a treaty. The penalty is increased if the treaty was that race's idea in the first place.
Added a negative AI Memory event for any time you make a diplomatic threat using the new Threats and Coercions system. This forces you to use threats selectively as the enemy will be a bit less receptive for 100 turns.
Added a negative AI Memory event for every time you reject a deal that they proposed to you.
Added a negative AI Memory event for violating a star claim you've previously agreed to.
Added a -50 diplomacy favour penalty for being at war. With enough positive counter-points, it's possible to have a positive rating with a race and still be at war, which will make them more likely to make peace.
When you end a war by securing a peace treaty, the "Historic War" memory event is triggered, replacing the diplomacy favour penalty for being at war with a new -50 penalty that tapers off over the next 100 turns.
Added an AI Memory event for First Contact that can be either positive or negative
Implemented a new friendship / rivalry system to the Diplomacy AI. Races can now start the game with a predisposition toward liking or hating another empire in the game, decided at random during map generation. This modifies the value and duration of positive and negative memory events, having far reaching effects throughout the game.
Factored game difficulty setting into the friendship / rivalry system to make Hard and Impossible mode harder.
Factored game difficulty setting into the value of memory events to make the game naturally harder in Hard and Impossible mode, and promote more natural wars in those difficulty levels.
Added a diplomacy favour bonus for each treaty based on the treaty's length, so that long-standing friendships are more valuable.Threats and Coercions:
Threats are a way to strong-arm another race into accepting a deal that would otherwise be in your favour. They add weight to a diplomatic offer, but if the enemy rejects your proposal then the threat is carried out automatically. Coercions are a way to manipulate another race into doing your bidding, but you have to add a lot of value to the deal to get them to accept it.
Activated the Coercions panel in the Diplomacy screen to contain all threats and coercions.
Added Threaten Declare War feature. If the deal is rejected, war is automatically declared.
Added Threaten Cancel Treaty feature. All existing treaties you have with the enemy race show up here.
Added Demand Break Treaty feature. All treaties the enemy race has with other races show up here, and you can demand that they break them.
Added Demand Make Peace feature. All wars the enemy is involved in will appear here and you can demand that they make peace. If they accept, they'll construct a peace offering.
Added Demand Stop Spying feature. If the enemy is spying on any of your planets, you can demand that they stop. This will make them all switch from their active mission to the Hide mission for the duration of the coercion (50 turns).
Added Star Claim feature. All uninhabited star systems within range of both empires will show up here, and you can demand they leave the system alone. The AI will respect your star claims for 50 turns.
Implemented peace mediation mechanic. When both races in a war have been convinced to make peace, the peace agreement is automatically accepted.
Implemented Peace Mediator technology, giving a +10% global diplomacy bonus every time you mediate a successful peace treaty between two other races.
Implemented Star Claim AI: Whenever an AI race picks a valuable planet to send a colony ship or survey ship to, they will often contact any nearby races and inform them that the star is claimed by them.
Modified the Threat Psychology technology. It now adds +50% to the value of threats and coercions in diplomatic deals.Spying Gameplay:
Implemented the Covert Coordination technology. Allows you to add an extra spy to each enemy planet.
Implemented the Deep Cover technology. All spies gain an additional +1 infiltration rating per turn when in Hide mode. When installing a second spy on a planet, it inherits the current spy's infiltration rating.
Changed the spy bonus and chance roll algorithms. The first spy adds 50% of its infiltration rating to its offensive spy score and each additional spy adds 10% of its infiltration rating.
Split the Drop Pods technology into two separate technologies: Spy Pod and Troop Pod. Also re-organised the Sociology tree to add the new spying technologies as a small sub-tree.
Implemented Spying AI. This builds spy pods when the technology is available, selects enemy planets that would be ideal to spy on, and sends spies to infiltrate those planets. The spy hides until it has a high infiltration rating and then switches to an active mission depending on what mission would be best on that planet.
Spies now cost 0 to install. Instead, you now build single use stealth probes to carry spies to enemy planets that work like survey probes.
The Send Spy button when you right click on an enemy planet in the system window is now fully functional. It will light up if you have any idle spy pods in your empire, and clicking it will dispatch one to that planet. The same button can be found on the Planets menu's Exploration panel next to enemy planets.
The Spy Satellite now costs 500 metal and 100 BC and the description has been fixed so it now correctly says it gives a +50 spying bonus for 100 turns.
The Spy Pod now fits only on a probe hull and is limited to one per ship. It costs 1000 metal and 200 BC, which replaces the cost of installing spies.
Renamed Hack Computers mission to Espionage and added a passive component that steals 5% of the planet's research each turn.
Renamed Sabotage Computers mission to Sabotage.
Renamed Plant Bombs mission to Terrorism and added a passive component that kills 50 population each turn.
Renamed Incite Civil Unrest mission to Rebellion.
Tweaked the difficulty and success chance of all of the missions and changed the success chance algorithm. Each mission now has a base chance, onto which all positive and negative bonuses are applied to reach the final odds. Total bonuses are +0 to +110 defensive and +0 to +110 offensive
Modified the chance of being caught when executing a diplomatic mission. There's now a 25% chance of being caught on failure and a 10% chance of being caught anyway if you were going to be successful. This means there's no guarantee you won't be caught even if you have a massive spying bonus.Diplomacy AI & Improvement:
Added new Diplomacy text for when spies are caught or you reject an offer they've made to you
The AI race leaders can now sometimes take an immediate liking or disliking to another empire that will affect the weighting they give to positive and negative interactions. If a race decides they don't like you then you may have to work harder to avoid war, and if they like you then you can expect more favourable diplomatic deals.
Implemented Spontaneous Offer AI. The Diplomacy AI now periodically checks if the other empires in the game have something they want and constructs a diplomatic offer to try and get it. It will now trade for key technologies, barter any strategic resources it has for something worthwhile, and offer treaties when it's advantageous to its empire.
Implemented complex Spontaneous diplomacy AI that constructs realistic diplomatic offers and demands depending on a wide range of factors.
Added modifiers to the Diplomacy AI to account for the race's overarching strategic goal (Expand, Consolidate, Diplomacy, Defend, or Conquer)
Added modifiers to account for the AI's randomly selected leader personality type and your diplomatic history with the target race.
Added a special warning if you are caught spying on another race and have previously agreed not to spy on them. This causes a larger diplomatic hit than a standard caught spy.
Added a new Reject Deal button and moved the UI around to accomodate it. This button appears when the AI contacts you to make an offer.
Implemented new Scientific Advisor report: Evaluates the current diplomatic offer on the table and give you the estimated value of each side, a percentage chance that the other race will accept the deal, and a recommendation.
Implemented new Diplomatic Advisor: Gives you a breakdown of your current favour rating with the other race, showing the total contribution from each type of memory event and other factors such as legendary commanders and racial bonuses or penalties.
Implemented new Military Advisor: Gives you the estimated military strength of both races' fleets and planets, and tells you the race's current strategic goal (Expand, Consolidate, Diplomacy, Defend or Conquer).Buildings / Infrastructure:
Added model for the Coral Spire, the central Aquatic city building.
Added model for The Forge, the central Robotic city building.
Added model for the Heat Sink, a piece of Robotic infrastructure.
Added model for the Gas Harvester, a piece of infrastructure for all races.
Added model for the Metallic Coral Reef, a piece of Aquatic infrastructure.
Added model for the Fishing Coral Reef, a piece of Aquatic infrastructure.
Added model for the infrastructure and city biospheres. It should now be clear whenever something is surrounded by a biosphere, which costs an additional 1 BC/turn to run.
Added models for the Barren, Molten and Toxic biospheres with different colours of glass (Barren:Gray, Molten: Red, Toxic: Purple).
Added model for the ByteCoin Miner, a piece of Robotic infrastructure.
Added model for the Antivirus Tower, a Robotic building.
Increased the Damaged Mining Barge's metal output from 20/turn to 25/turn.
Increased the power output of the Fossil Fuel Power Plant from 50/turn to 75/turn so that the start of the game is less restricted.
Increased the power output of the Nuclear Power Plant from 200/turn to 250/turn to make it more effective.
Increased the power output of the Biofuel Reactor from 100/turn to 150/turn
Changed the Heat Sink building from a city building to a piece of planetary infrastructure. It now provides +10% research and metal production across the planet but takes up an infrastructure slot and must be built in an Ice environment.
Coral reefs now automatically plant 4 free deposits of the resource they grow (Coral for the Metallic Coral Reef and Fish for the Fishing Coral Reef) in empty hexes of the right environment. This is in addition to the deposits already there. The bonus is increased to 9 additional deposits with the Pre-Seeded Reefs technology.
The Auxiliary Hatchery reptilian building has been changed to increase population growth rate by 5% at the cost of 250 food per turn.
Removed the Auxiliary Forge robotic building has been removed as it kind of went against the design of the Robotic races by providing population growth.Misc Features / Changes:
Implemented the Fleets dropdown menu. This new dropdown shows all of your current fleets and provides shortcuts to open them. Moving ships have their destinations shown and stationary ships are labled as "Standing Fleet" with the system of origin displayed.
Ocean and Swamp planets no longer start with poorer mineral rolls. Instead, they generate part of their minerals as ore on land and part as coral in the oceans. This makes these planet types more viable for Aquatic races and less for other races.
Strategic resources such as Neodymium, Helium-3, and Coffee Beans will now always be found surrounded by other resources of the same type (e.g. Neodymium in an ore deposit and Coffee in a fertile soil deposit) rather than sitting out on their own.
Added the new Robotic technology "Upgrade: Cooling Vents" that increases research on all Ice type planets by 10%.
Renamed "Fuel Pellet Conservation" robotic technology to "Upgrade: Insulation" and increased its bonus from +25% fuel pellet production to +50%!
Improved the Biogenic Research technology. It now provides +25% research on all Toxic planets and no longer requires that you are researching the Biology & Geology field.
Temporal Rifts now have 10-14 turns before they open rather than 8-12, so it should be easier to reach them in time.
Adjusted Galaxy Size parameters to provide more options: Tiny is still 32 stars, Small is 48 (down from 64), Medium is 64 (down from 96), Large is 96 (down from 128), Huge is 128 (down from 180), and a new Colossal size is 180.
Adjusted Galaxy nebula generation algorithm to allow much larger nebulae without letting them overlap. Also improved the nebula detection algorithm so stars will now much more accurately determine whether they are inside one or not.
Adjusted the nebula graphics a bit, they should now be more visually appealing and there's a bigger difference between each Galaxy Age option. Ancient now looks round and washed out, while Primordial now sprawls across multiple star systems.
Improved the load speed on the Main Game screen's galaxy generation process.
Galaxies should now be more compact, with fewer stars lying far from the main body and less chance of getting stuck in a corner without anywhere good to expand to.
The Robotic race Forge option to construct new citizens now builds in smaller batches, allowing you to build 250 at a time rather than forcing you to build chunks of 1,000.
Added a new taskbar notification for when a Revenant fleet appears from a temporal rift but is going after another race.
The sensor sphere graphics now draw spheres for all of your planets and those belonging to races you have a sensor treaty with, so it should now be more obvious where you can travel.
Aquatic races no longer have access to the Carbonide Drills technology, so they only get a maximum of +2/turn from each Ore deposit. This helps even off the disparity between the Ore Refinery and Metallic Coral Reef.
Removed the Diplomatic Computer technology from the Robotic research tree as we've since
The Genetic Enhancement: Happy technology has been increased from +5% empire-wide morale to +10%, and the description has been corrected on the research screen.
The Research dropdown menu now draws the building, infrastructure or ship part in a technology in the bottom left panel when you mouse over the technology.
Added biosphere graphics to the Research dropdown menu when you mouseover those technologies.
The Diplomacy dropdown menu now displays a dotted line for Peace Treaty, Alliance Treaty, or War next to the line denoting how much two races like each other, so it no longer covers it up.Bugfixes:
Exploring a conquered enemy homeworld should no longer allow you to find free cargo and escape pods. This is intended to be something a race finds as it explores its homeworld in the Pre-Warp era.
Fixed bugs causing a number of Robotic technologies to be labled as non-racial.
Fixed a bug allowing the AI to trade away the endgame technologies that lead up to the scientific victory. These technologies must be researched by the player.
Fixed a number of text errors in the Research trees and diplomacy text
Fixed several Strategic Resource popups that had their text cut off because it was too long.
Added some automatic memory recovery to the Fleet Combat explosion code so that it should no longer crash with an Out Of Memory error and will instead stall for a few seconds when it runs out of memory. This is a temporary fix, and more rigorous solution is in the works for a future update.
Fixed a bug causing Ship Captains and Planet Leaders to be stuck at level 9 and never make it to level 10.
Fixed a bug causing Ship Captains and Planet Leaders with diplomacy bonuses to provide massively over-inflated bonuses.
Fixed some galaxy generation bugs causing too many stars to generate on Tiny maps and the gaps between stars to be too large on the Large and Huge maps.
Fixed a bug causing ship designs to not be deleted from the save game files when you save over an old slot. In rare cases, this could cause an obscure crash.
Fixed an incredibly unlikely crash that could happen if you rapidly clicked on the Music volume slider a whole bunch of times. Seriously.
Fixed a bug with the sliders in the options menu that caused the notch to be drawn in the wrong place if you used the scrollwheel to change the slider rather than clicking.
Fixed a serious Planet AI bug that could cause the AI to build too much of one thing or another when there's a lack of staff to run all the infrastructure on a planet or buildings haven't finished building. The AI now examines the planet as if everything is built and working before making its move. This results in more consistent behaviour, and planets should no longer fail to become established due to overproduction of food or energy.
Fixed a bug causing the completion status of your singleplayer missions to not be saved. This wasn't noticeable because we didn't have any way to see the completion status, but now we've added the Bronze / Silver / Gold icons on the main game screen.
Fixed a bug with the system window's scrollbar being the wrong height for the number of ships in the system sometimes.
Fixed a display bug where some menus would disappear while opening and closing the System window.
Fixed a bug where starbases wouldn't build ships that cost 0 command points when at the command point limit, and wouldn't build ships that use 1 point when they have 1 left.
Fixed a display bug on the Planet Screen in the city stats window where you can see the infrastructure attached to a city. Shipyards were accidentally drawing 100 times larger on this panel than they should have.
Fixed a bug where you could see the cloaked Revenant planet using the Planet dropdown menu's Exploration tab before it decloaked and revealed itself.
Fixed a bug in the United Colonies diplomacy text where it never replaced %latestweapontech% with the name of their latest weapons technology.
Fixed a bug where the coloured segments for colonised star systems could become misaligned because it was measuring them as non-bold text but displaying them as bold text.
The System window should now correctly update when you hit End Turn and a new ship is built. Previously it didn't update until closed and opened again
Attempted a fix for the problem where the AI fires weapons that are on cooldown in Fleet Combat. Didn't seem to work, more testing required.
Fixed a bug where the Auto button in Fleet Combat could start switched on if the previous combat ended with it switched on.
Fixed a bug where tooltips could draw on the First Contact diplomacy screen and wouldn't disappear until you left the screen.
When the Diplomacy AI fails to form a counter-proposal after rejecting one of your proposals, the offer is now properly reset back to a blank deal. Previously the AI would add elements to the offer to attempt to form a counter-offer and then reject your deal if it wasn't good enough, but the added elements remained on-screen.
The Diplomacy AI now correctly decides to cut off contact due to you repeatedly contacting them with poor deals. Previously it would decide to cut off contact but not actually end the current diplomatic session until you clicked on the Treaties tab.
Fixed a bug causing mouse clicks to go through the popup dialog box with the new mouse handler.
The Soldier Hatchery now correctly provides +10 security (enough for 2000 population) rather than +2.
Fixed a bug with some missing diplomacy text for the Z'loq
Fixed the robotic technology Bytanium Battle Armour being put in the wrong place in the research trees.
Fixed a number of file exceptions when loading images that don't have any corresponding mouseover image. This should speed up some of the screen loading.As always, these are as complete patch notes as it's possible for us to make but there may be some small things missing from them. Please continue to send in your crash and bug reports as you play V0.9.9.0 and we'll release follow-up patches to fix any major errors. Check out the latest Dev Update in the News section (to be posted shortly following this) for a clear breakdown of everything in this update.
Cheers,
-- Brendan, Lead Developer