[NOTE OF INTENT]
The patch coming along the Hissho expansion packs quite a few changes.
Jhell, backstabber extraordinaire and Lead Game Designer on Endless Space 2, wrote the following:
“We wanted players to have more options after invasions, and how they went about their invasions. The manpower modules will now be much more effective, as they’re going to also increase the deployment limit, and there are choices to be made about sieging a system or swarming it with numbers. You will also be prompted on what to do after a successful invasion: occupy the system, pillage the system, or simply raze it. This should allow huge empires to more relentlessly wage war, leaving only a trail of razed and pillaged systems in their wake. We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but some empires have unique outcomes replacing regular pillage or raze actions.
The ground battles visual pacing has also been heavily tweaked; no more will you see two blobs of units against each other, now each ground battle tactic has its dedicated visual formation, unit types attack independently, and impacts are focused on units.
Another focus to wage war as comfortably as possible was to rework how diplomacy is handled during Isyander’s “metaplot” quest. You will now be able to attack foes AND friends on Lodestone nodes, provided you are on different teams. Your allies will hopefully understand that it’s “nothing personal, kid”.
On a different note, to acknowledge that the galaxy is a violent place, we’ve added the “System Relics” feature. Significant events like huge space or ground battles taking place on star systems may now leave permanent traces, and some anomalies or new curiosities may even emerge… All of this visible in scan view.
Lastly, to make them on par with the military victory conditions, the non-military ones have been reworked to last longer so you can enjoy the late-game content longer regardless of the victory type you’re pursuing.
Along with numerous fixes and the content of the expansion, you should now be able to utterly lay waste to the whole galaxy.”
[HISSHO EXPANSION CONTENT]
- New Major Faction: the Hissho
- Main gameplay (Affinity, Traits, Population, Technologies) - see enemy pathfinding
- New specific resource: Keii
- New theme music
- New unique planet: Uchi
- Hissho main quest
- Hissho Fleet
- 1 leader + 4 new Hissho heroes
- New Hissho technologies New Hissho Empire & Star system improvements
- New Minor Faction: the Illo
- New Illo Hero
- New Feature: Behemoths
- New quest introducing Behemoths and unlocking specific technologies
- New ship hull: Behemoth (Economic, Scientific, Military)
- New ship hull: Obliterator (Can destroy a whole system)
- New ship hull: Juggernaut
- New Behemoth specific modules (Mining probes, Planet rejuvenation, ...)
- New faction specific modules (1 per existing faction)
- New Behemoth technologies New Behemoth Empire & Star system improvements
[FREE UPDATE CONTENT]
Reworked Ground battles
- New setup and report screens
- New features: Winning a ground battle now gives you the following options
- Occupy
- Raze
- Pillage
Some factions have specific variants of these actions.
- Battle simulation changes
- Implemented new damage computation (damage bonuses/maluses are now properly computed)
- Implemented new bombardments (bombardment damage is shared between unit types)
- Implemented new improvements/populations destruction (may destroy more than 1 of each - Blitz can now be quite destructive!)
- Academy questline
- Alliances no longer matter when orbiting Lodestones: you may now attack an alliance member who is part of the opposing faction without having to fear any diplomatic repercussions.
- Improved feedback around lodestones and lodestone specific battles
- Music
- The Surround soundtrack was completely re-encoded in WMA. It is available in the following install folder:
..\Steam\steamapps\common\Endless Space 2\OST\Surround
- Vodyani
- Added Vodyani "anchored Ark protection" module: an Ark with this module equipped will not be attackable in space battle while attached to a System (it can still be attacked via Invasion)
- Vodyanis can now use the pacific conversion feature: it will convert 1 population unit on the target system and grant 500 Essence
[IMPROVEMENTS]
- Hissho Minor faction is now called Yuusho
- Updated Core cracker quest restrictions
- Rearranged technologies in the Technology tree to add the new content
- Reworked Victory conditions:
- Wonders: - Wonders can now only be built one at a time - Wonders can now only be built one at a time - Wonders base costs increase with each Wonder built - Wonders cost more to buy out
- Economy - Increased required Dust from 450k to 700k (notifications have been updated accordingly)
- Science - Technology cost reduction impact lowered by 50% on victory technologies - Moved Science Victory Technologies to an Era 6 placed between quadrants - You will now need to unlock techs from 2 different quadrants to unlock this Era 6
-
Academy Quest "Ghosts and Dust" is now deactivated if one of the living Empires uses the Hissho affinity (objective requires a Happiness contest)
- Added a feedback when a fleet in guard mode intercepts an opponent’s fleet (The fleet will also appear and cycle in the “idle” fleets)
- Sleeping fleets no longer wake up when they notice an enemy they were already aware of
- The stage unlock notification is now an auto pop-up
-
Reworked the Empire Information toggle in the empire introduction notification in order to make it more visible/appealing
- Temporary effects listed on the side panel of the system management view now only shows icon if there is too many of them (more than 2 lines).
- Added info on star system label when a home system is destroyed.
- Added different backgrounds for the Victory window
- Added technology hints to the fleet action buttons
- Fully destroyed home systems no longer count towards required colonized home planets count
- If all home systems are destroyed, the victory is no longer attainable, unless the planets are "repaired"
- Creating a ship or ship design now takes slightly less time
- Starting the game now takes less time and memory
- A tutorial is triggered when researching the technology that unlocks Behemoth Hulls when using Advanced or Expert tutorials
- Added some distance between flotilla in space battle to make space for the Juggernauts.
- Updated Golden Age effect to be more readable
- Added message explaining why a law isn't activatable when its upkeep would be too high for the player's stock + net influence
- Added dynamic costs for research stages depending on whether DLCs are active or not
[BALANCE]
- Custom Factions:
- Made corsair and pirates slayer mutually exclusive
- Diplomacy:
- Increased cooldown of Cold War Attack contextual term from 1 to 3 turns
- The contextual diplomatic term "remove tendrils" no longer removes tendrils that are completed, only the ones in progress
- Heroes:
- Modified Haroshem hero political alignment to fit his description
- Factions:
- Vodyani Arks: Base HP increased from 10000 to 14000
- Ground Battle:
- All manpower modules for ships now also increase manpower deployment limit Added manpower deployment bonus to all defensive improvements (to accompany modules)
- Changed manpower upgrades resources so each unit has the same progression in terms of strategic tiers
- Linked conscription to ownership: You can now only use it if you have more than 50% Ownership on the system.
- The amount of Manpower you get also depends on your current Ownership (multiplication): for example, if you use Conscription on a System with 75% Ownership, you'll gain 175 * 0.75 additional Manpower on the System
- Added a bonus to attacker manpower deployment limit in case they have remaining ownership on the system (currently 400 * ownership)- Added effect to "Para-raiders" tactic: it now has 90% health multiplier and 110% damage multiplier
- Besieged systems no longer lose manpower the turns they have been invaded
- Economy:
- Reduced average and abundant strategic deposit value from 3 to 2 and from 5 to 3 respectively
- Ship retrofit no longer refills the ship's probes/mining probes stock
- Added a “+2 Vision to all systems” effect on the "Ultra-IR Astronomy" unlock
- Outposts no longer leech growth from a parent system when they are full
[QUEST]
- Due to Ground Battle changes, a large amount of quests have a new way to be failed: if one of their system is razed or captured (but not pillaged in case of invasion)
- The third objective (Bullet) of "The Gunfather" quest is now unlockable if the player possesses non-custom Riftborn
- The quest fleet for "Flight of Eyder" now roams in order to reach a special node
- A large amount of Quests, system improvements, technologies, populations bonuses, … have been updated to be used by Hissho
- Quests will not grant net science bonus as reward anymore.
- The Metaplot's planets cannot be destroyed anymore
- Isyander's quest: players will not be able to colonize the loadstone, no matter the winning team
- Added technology era 6
- The second part of the endgame academy quest is now won when a team has secured more than half of the objectives, instead of when all objectives have been secured. Unsecured objectives will be transformed as if they had been secured by the winning team
[FIXES]
- Fixed supremacy victory alerts being fired on turn 1 when only 2 players are in the game
- Fixed a situation where the game failed to restart after failing to start once
- Fixed rare error occuring when the game was quick-saved in the same frame a fleet action concluded
- Fixed rare blocking error occuring when a fleet is destroyed while exploring a curiosity
- Special nodes and quest nodes are not selected anymore for the "A Fly in the Ointment" quest
- Fixed some saves failing to load because of Guardians not having spawned
- Fixed military ship cost increase being a reduction
- Fixed an issue where the hero ship upkeep costs were still displayed in the Hero Ship Design Screen
- Deposits now remain when a planet is destroyed
- Fixed an issue where the skip button hitbox in election window was not right
- Fixed Minor factions being assimilable while a ground battle outcome was being picked
- Fixed trying to remove populations not concerned by growth (like Riftborn) when having a negative growth on a colonized star system
- Fixed memory issue when a battle was pending
- Fixed Depletion not being shown on uncolonized planets, and not being counted for Hissho Mining probes
- Fixed an issue where the tooltip from the Lodestone recovered/destroyed system displayed misleading information about its effect
- Eternal improvements are not added twice when a system is captured anymore
- Fixed an issue where war momentum in battle notification was not displayed if the value was 0
- The second objective of the "To do, or not to do... (Part 2)" quest is now available
- Fixed an issue where long technology names overlapped the buyout technology option in the empire banner
- Fixed issues related to migration & Riftborn/Guardian populations
- Fix the Vodyani base improvement not being built on the first turn
- Fixed error when Vodyanis capture Riftborn system with Influence
- Fixed an issue where the displayed tooltip effects of a colonizable planet made reference to the Approval mechanic when overcolonization limit had been reached
- Fixed a cause of freeze when quitting the game
- The technology helper no longer suggests incorrect faction-specific technologies anymore (for instance, Sophon technologies for the Unfallen)
- Fixed Vaulters Leader Background visual issue
- Fixed critical error on Riftborn outposts which caused the game to get stuck
- Fixed critical error on ship repair cost AI synchronization
- Fixed an issue where Pirates would not be Cordial with anyone when several players had maximum relation with them
- Fixed overlapping module slots on the Leecher hull when using a custom Vaulters faction with the Ship Bound affinity
- Fixed ships sold on ht Marketplace not being listed if the maximum number of stocked ships is reached
- The "Founders Keepers" quest will not fail anymore if the quest planet was destroyed
- Fixed an issue where the Horatio 50 pop collection bonus were incorrect
- Fixed an issue where fleet lines would occasionally have bad alignment
- Fixed the champion's pod that wouldn't appear on custom faction with the Vaulters visual affinity
- Fixed tooltip of diplomatic term "technology exchange" displaying unlocks of the empire which proposes the exchange, instead of the empire which receives the technology.
- Fixed Gnashast strategy pre-battle damage
- Fixed an issue where the game did not remember the "Tactics" set if a card was swapped with a newly added card
- Fixed errors in tech helper data
- Custom factions using the Metafolding affinity will no longer have a duplicated technology in Empire & Development quadrant stage 4
- Custom factions with United Empire visual affinity and Involuntary Nomad trait will no longer have access to a Colonizer hull
- Fixed rip singularity not working properly in some cases.
- The "Zelevas Incarnate" unique improvement will now properly display all of its effect in the star system management view
- Fixed Trade Companies requiring 0 XP for their first 3 levels
- Fixed "Coordinated Bunkers" not applying the siege damage reduction in all cases
- Fixed ground battle being replayable only once instead of once per turn as long as the bubble is present
- Fixed any empire being able to replay a space battle instead of the one who owns the singularity.
- Fixed Vineships being scrapped in higher priority than colonizers
- Planetary colonization industry cost inside a star system is now correctly linked to game speed
- Fixed memory leak in planet rendering process.
- Fixed Supremacy victory not working well with planet/system destructions
- Fixed an issue where a team’s legend in the diplomacy screen during the metaplot was inaccurate
- Fixed Lumeris ship design (small defender lacked an engine on base design)
- Fixed an issue where the user was not informed if a Contextual Diplomacy exchange was occurring between other players when hovering over the End Turn button
- Fixed bug colonizer affinity visual Vodyani & Lumeris (had attack slot but couldn't fill it)
- Fixed salvo pooling being completely broken
- Fixed an issue where hero ship upkeep cost were still displayed in the Hero Ship Design Screen
- Fixed an issue where war momentum in battle notification were not displayed currently if value is 0
- Fixed an issue where Long technology names overlapped the buyout technology option in the empire banner
- Fixed the Vodyani's base improvement not being built on the first turn.
- Fixed an issue where whispered messages were not received by players who joined ongoing sessions
- The technology helper does not suggest incorrect faction-specific technologies anymore (for instance, Sophon technologies for the Unfallen)
- Fixed infantry bonus damage on planes going over 100
- Galaxy Age will now have an impact on galaxy generation
- Removed Horatio specific tag from the "Neural Robotics" tech as the unlocks were similar to the regular one
[MULTIPLAYER FIXES]
- Fixed desync happening when Unfallen factions vine a minor faction's system
- Fixed an issue where whispered messages were not received by players who joined ongoing sessions
[SOUND FIX]
- The Vaulters Leaders no longer plays her voice line when selecting her in the Faction Choice screen, even with sound deactivated
[AI]
- Massive performance update.
- AIs now understand more improvements and gains from previous content and are capable of using them in the right context. eg:
- Multiple FIDS and FIDSI gains are now properly understood as such
- Overcolonization is now considered as a usable / needed resource
- Ground battle understanding has been reworked.
- AIs now better understand their chances of winning
- AIs are more inclined to invade winnable systems
- AIs will chose their tactics in a more sensible way (e.g. based on incoming reinforcements)
- AIs will now act properly on Metaplot nodes: they will attack the other team members and will not attack the same team members, regardless of their diplomatic status.
- Vodyani AIs will now use Anchored Arks modules when possible.
- Various improvements:
- Better production of colonizers, war fleets and explorers
- Diplomacy contract balancing offers more constant results
- Avoid being stuck in a war state with an AI
- Proper law activation and deactivation
- AIs no better avoid empty modules in ship designs and can a wider variety of modules
- Hero ship are now properly retrofitted
- Fixed a bug when AI attacked a system
- Fixed a bug when achieving elimination victory
- Fixed a bug when AI could get stuck upon dealing with a new ground battle