Patch notes for Commander Update (V0.8.8.0, Build ID: 822379)
This update adds Ship Captains and Planet Leaders to the game! Hundreds of small single-pilot ships were flung back in time during the final battle with the Revenants and now wander the stars looking for signs of civilisation. Roughly once every 150 turns, a legendary ship captain or planet leader will find your empire and offer to work for you in exchange for some money.
Each commander has various bonuses, some of which are flat bonuses and some of which increase every level. Ship Captains and Planet Leaders have an XP rating between 0 and 1000, gaining 1 XP every turn and a new level every 100 XP for a maximum level of 10. Each commander also has a minimum game turn before they'll show up, so the best commanders will be revealed as the game progresses. Some are also restricted to particular races or races with particular traits. Note that the commanders all currently use the same placeholder image, and that we'll be replacing this in the future.
Planet Leaders
Planet Leaders can be assigned from the Services tab on the planet screen. They give bonuses across the entire planet to stats like percentage bonsues to research, food production, metal production, energy production, shipyard build capacity, ground combat rating, troops per city, city shield efficiency, and ground turret damage. They can also give flat research per turn, money per turn, or a global diplomacy bonus.
Ship Info Window
The Ship Info Window has been completely overhauled, and now shows the ship's main stats and a visual list of its weapons, modules, ship crew, and ship captain. To get into the ship info window for a particular ship, just right click the ship in the fleet or system window. From there, you can look at its stats and assign a captain.
Ship Captains
Ship Captains can be assigned to a ship from the Ship Info window and provide bonuses to beam/projectile/drone/missile/bomb damage, ftl speed, dodge chance, armour HP, shield HP, shield recharge rate, armour regeneration, combat speed, combat bonus when boarded by enemy marines, reactive strike damage, beam weapon range, projectile gun range, missile speed, drone speed, or crew XP. They can also have flat bonuses to research per turn, money per turn, or a global diplomacy bonus.
Crew XP and bonuses:
Ship Crew now have an XP rating between 0 and 500, gaining a new level every 100 XP for a maximum level of 5. Each creman has a chance of being an elite crew member who starts at level 2 with 250 XP and can reach a maximum of 1000 XP for a maximum level of 10. Elite crew also have a chance of rolling as scentists or engineers rather than civilians and soldiers. Crew currently gain XP each turn when in orbit of a planet with a Training Facility, and in a future update we'll add XP to crew after each successful battle.
Crew levels are currently used in the ship boarding code, which will become apparent when we iterate on fleet combat and add boarding options. We also plan to have each crew member contribute a bonus to the ship based on their level, such as a bonus to weapon damage, shield recharge, or armour hitpoints. If a crew member is killed in combat (say by boarding marines), they are replaced with a rookie crew member at 0 XP the next time you visit a space station.
Full patch notes
Cheers,
-- Brendan, Lead Developer