This is the brief list of changes. The Update is free for all players.
New Features
- Veteran Mode A harder and more challenging difficulty mode for experienced players has been added. This feature is available if you create a new company. Existing companies can be modified to use the new difficulty mode. This allows the current difficulty level for an old company to raise by about one step. This change is optional, but cannot be revoked afterwards. But, the game creates a save game, once you decide to activate the new mode for an old company.
- Buildings Quicklist A new management menu that lists all buildings in this sector has been added to the minimap. You can jump to each building by clicking in the list or using a shortcut (default "J").
- Consumption Stop It is now possible to stop your employees from consuming a specific good by selecting it in the residence menu.
- New assignment types NPCs now offer Escort and Distribution assignments.
- Timed assignments For a greater challenge, assignments can now be set to be fulfilled within a time limit. This feature is optional, you can activate it in the settings of your company. This new feature applies to all new companies (after game update to v 1.5) and to all existing companies that have been migrated to use the new difficulty settings.
- New Ornaments The update implements three new ornaments, the Veteran Statue (see below) and two classical ones: A bus stop and a lantern. These decorative items can now be built in temperate sectors.
- Veteran Statue This heroic building is a new type of ornaments as it is connected with conditions: It will be unlocked if you manage it to employ 1 million Investors on Veteran difficulty. Furthermore the statue is not available on a global level, but only for companies that unlocked the item.
- New difficulty settings Some options were added to the advanced settings that can be enabled to increase the difficulty. - Trader prices and refill: Adjust the amount and cost of goods offered at NPC traders. - Destructible ships: Ships that are destroyed in a crisis sector get replaced with rookie crews. - Inactive cost: Pausing a facility only halves its maintenance cost. - Demolish cost: Using the demolish tool costs resources. - Assignment rewards: NPCs can get very stingy with their rewards.
Balancing changes
- Rare Materials The average amount of Iridium given out for all optional assignments has been increased by 50%.
- Corporation Headquarter Increased HQ module effectiveness by 25%.
- Expansion Fee Distribution centers now get more expensive every time one is constructed.
- Administration Costs Heavy populated Sectors now lead to higher administration costs. They consist of upkeep for Transfer Routes and the Metropolis Factor that leads to a decrease of tax income. Tax income is reduced by 0.2% per 10,000 residents of one population level (up to a maximum of 23%). Administration costs are affecting older companies only after they have been migrated to use the new difficulty settings, but they will affect all new companies.
Interface Changes
- Added the Veteran Mode to the pre-defined difficulty settings during the corporation creation
- Updated the advanced difficulty settings during the corporation creation
- The administration costs for the new Metropolis Factor are now included in the credits balance tooltip
- Added a Buildings Quick View and a button to toggle it next to the Minimap button
- The News popup in the title screen now contains more information on the content of free updates
- Added a button to stop and resume consumption of goods in the residence menu
Improvements & Bugfixes
- Performance: The start up and several loading times have been improved
- Performance: Improvements for players with a large number of ornaments
- Effects: Smoothen the transition effect when switching between the Strategic Map and a Sector
- Fix: Fixed a bug that caused the Minimap Filter Checkbox to stay open
- Fix: Corrected the values shown in the Overtake Screen for the Sector "Vanha Plains"
- Localization: Coastal and mountain sites are now correctly translated for all languages
- Sound: Fixed a bug that caused sounds to be played during Crisis Sectors when the game sound was muted
- Achievement The achievement "Project Manager" will be enabled correctly in Uplay and the game (including the Action "Project Manager") if the correct requirements are fulfilled.
- World market Tundra goods are now properly considered in the world market. However, the world market has to be reset for once, making it temporarily unavailable on the update day (6th April 2016). The prices will go back to the starting Level, but they will automatically adapt quickly according to the needs and demands.