Commanders,
Thanks so far for an exciting launch week! It's been great seeing others play the game. Thanks for everyone's feedback on discord, BGG forums, and the Steam discussions. These feedback points are immensely helpful - there are just some areas that I don't know what the best answer is, and being able to discuss with other passionate players is really awesome.
If you find more bugs, using the in-game reporter is the best way to get us feedback, as it transmits your saved game to the server and I'm able to load it locally for direct testing on the issues encountered. Feel free to also head over to the Steam discussions or, even better, the Discord to talk about the issue!
There's quite a few things we have planned. In the short term, here's the list:
True Solo Mode
There's been a lot of asks about the true Solo modes with the board game. As someone who doesn't really ever do solo modes in board games, I was loosely aware of the modes in Space Empires; and, I thought those modes had only shipped with the board game's third (and most recent) expansion. This content was planned for that expansion. That was a big miss and I apologize for not having the original Solo scenarios implemented at launch. I'm working on this actively and should have something ready going into next week.
AI Quality
Thanks for everyone's feedback on the state of the game's AI. This is something that can always be improved and will be continuously iterated on. I am currently iterating on more AI-vs-AI experiments, specifically around improving:
Home system exploration pathing
Better utilization of techs
Smarter combat decisions
Fixing known dumb decisions (i.e. suicide minesweepers)
Much better team play / more than 2P play (right now it likes to dogpile the human player :rip:)
I know the state of the AI could be better right now, and I promise it is something that I will continuously experiment and tinker with for the coming weeks and months until we get to a reasonable base-state.
Steam Deck Optimization/Layout
In our haste, the new UI was top of mind but we neglected to optimize the layout for Steam Deck/smaller screens. This is something we're actively working on and will have something out soon. Thanks so far for everyone's feedback.
Blood Brothers Team Mode
This one takes a bit more code changes to facilitate - but it'll be in there soon, for single and multiplayer.
Hotseat Mode
There were some requests in the last few weeks for Hotseat mode, and this is something that we're planning to add in the near-term.
Account Progression
We've got some ideas baked up for a progression system, namely around a military-inspired campaign/award badging system. I hoped to have this ready for launch, but had to focus attention on other small clean-ups. Through the weekend, Jake and I are going to harden this and we should have something to show early next week.
Multiplayer Ranked
Thanks so far for everyone's input on a ranked system! Rather than rush into a Season 0 at launch day, it's been helpful to let launch week play out and get some feedback. We'll have something foundational in place here soon, and then we can give a Season 0 a go and learn about best or better ways to do following seasons.
Game Replays / Game Stats
For multiplayer - I'm planning out how to facilitate a full game replay. This way, when returning to an async game, you could see what happened since the last time you logged in. There are some deliberate design decisions I need to make here that have some database impact, and I'm still thinking through them.
Additionally, while we have a rudimentary 'game stats' rollup at the end of games - this is not wired up for multiplayer and it is generally very v0. My partner, Jake, had come up with a graphing/introspective screen (like other 4X titles) last month but we never got around to polishing and finishing it. I think a detailed view of post-game here would be fantastic, and I really want to get it right, so I'm just giving it some extra thought before rolling it out for all game types. Happy to get some input here!
Expansions
Did someone mention Titans? There's been a number of people asking about the expansions. As Jim Krohn, the board game's designer, told me on the phone last summer: "if you pull this off, we won't let you stop at just the base game." And, believe me - I want to play the expansion content just as much as anyone else; I rarely get to play it in board game form. More to follow!
FIXES
All original box scenarios are now implemented
UI colors toned down, specifically the red player UI
Fixed issues related to ships paginated in a combat class during combat
Combining ships mid-battle no longer freezes the fight on a combat group that no longer exists
Doomsday Machines are treated as the attacker
A destroyed ship is no longer reported as having retreated, and real retreats name both hexes
Targeting reticles come off the map when the battle ends
Nothing can be left sitting inside a Supernova
Shipyards and Bases can't move anymore
Fixed MS Pipeline income calculation
An MS Pipeline chain that aided a move is locked for the rest of the turn
You can now colonize a destroyed Homeworld
Skipping reveal animations now reveals the terrain (without the animation)
Tech and bullion spends were leaking in multiplayer
Fixed multiplayer freeze where AI was winning bid and not selecting turn order
Single player tells you why the engine refused an action instead of just refusing
Board rotation maintains across re-loads
3P random map - home system colors are visible (to differentiate deep space or not)
Tutorial identifies command key for multiselect
FEATURES
Optimization pass: significantly reduced VRAM and render latencies, this should solve issues on older hardware
Added a 'low graphics mode'
Fire for Effect: select a shooter and a target, and your side will continue firing until A. target destroyed or B. it is the enemy's action
Can spectate multiplayer games in progress
Saved game deletion
Discord notifier fires for newly created multiplayer games
Translation pass on new copy
Colonies now indicate "+1" for valid MS Pipeline setups (for income)
Codex updated for MS Pipelines
Brett