New Planet Types
Astro Protocol 0.12 adds 6 new planet types to the game: Agriculture, Mining, Generator, Science, Industrial and Hub. These planet types can not be found from the map, but must be terraformed. These planets can be colonized by all factions. This adds more variety in how to terraform the planets and which terraforming techs to choose.
Agriculture, mining and generator planets generate gas, metals and energy respectively based on the number of other stations producing those resources adjacent to them. For example agriculture planet produces 1 gas for each hydroponic farm or gas extractor station adjacent to it.
Science, Industrial and Hub planets don't generate any resources but provide unique benefits such as extended network range, being able immediately move ships out of starport after they were built, etc.
New Anomalies
The update also adds new anomalies with new art. These anomalies allow players to terraform or colonize the planets they are found from. Also some existing anomalies have been improved and updated.
Upkeep Changes
We have also introduced some upkeep changes in order to improve the economy balance. Most importantly ships now have an upkeep of 1 energy in addition to the energy cost when moving or attacking with ships that are outside of network. In addition research labs have an upkeep of 1 gas which will make accumulating big number of techs and artifacts more costly. However artifacts no longer cost gas to obtain. Also the energy upkeep of planets has been removed.
Colonization
Colonization will not consume the ship that was used to colonize the planet. This makes it more of a strategic decision which ship to use to colonize and when, especially if there are enemy units nearby as they can exterminate your planet without losing their ship. Vanguard ships, which have colony pods special ability will not be consumed when colonizing a planet.
Improve Ship Specialization
In addition to improving Vanguard also Corvette special ability was changed slightly. But the biggest ship change is that long range ships can no longer counter-attack if they were attack from an adjacent tile. This incentivises using close range ships to screen and protect long range units instead of using only ranged units.
Smarter AI
AI has been improved on multiple fronts including:
More effective ship movement and combat
Better terraforming, colonization, and station building
Refined research and resource evaluation
Performance upgrades for navigation and decision-making
Try the Update and Share Your Feedback
With new planets, anomalies, and systemic overhauls, Astro Protocol 0.12 makes expansion more diverse, fleets more demanding, and every decision more meaningful. Try the update, experiment with new strategies, and let us know how these changes reshape your path to galactic dominance.
Thanks for playing and supporting Astro Protocol.
See you among the stars!