Welcome back, it's Galactic Overthrow patch day! Along with that, a version bump to 1.1.
There have been a lot of changes over the last few weeks while reacting to launch issues and feedback (thanks again for all of the reports!), and I'm bringing in a few new features and updates today. Because of this there's also been a version change to save files, prompting an update in version.
A note on the save files: When you launch the game your previous save will have a warning telling you that the game is saved on an old version and may be unstable. You can still play and there should be no crashes, but some of the advanced techs changed position and so there might be some weirdness with techs in that section. After a successful galaxy jump your save will be back to normal, or you can start over and get a few more of the new changes that have been added. Either way, I don't expect it to break in any horrible ways...
Additional Difficulty Mode
I've added "Extreme" to the difficulty selector. Right now both Challenge and Extreme modes likely still need a little balance tweaking, but adding a second option will give me more leeway to make both combinations of settings engaging for the players looking for that level of challenge. With just the one challenging option there just wasn't enough room for me to tweak some of the values to keep it challenging without being punishing. The end goal for the Extreme setting is to be a bit punishing and more difficult for progress unless you're very optimized (or lucky). Let me know if you try it and how much trouble some of the later jumps give you. (Warning: Extreme mode has a chance to produce unwinnable situations if you've lost too many planets, plan accordingly).
Balance Changes
Several of the previous updates included some balance changes, like changes to building costs, effects, some event costs and bonuses, etc. Additionally some more very small tweaks have been made in those areas but were mostly in the 1% to 2% change range, so nothing that will be all that impactful generally.
The two major changes to call out from todays patch are for the tech "Rapid Attack" and for the building "Frontline Fleet".
Rapid Attack
The goal of this tech was to give a significant fleet power / attack power upgrade in a part of the tree that is relatively far away from the production tech that doubles your fleet production. This way specializing on one side or the other would generally give you some options on where to take an aggressive build. This worked to a point, but as you progress through the game and the variance of planet strengths increases, it became something that was much too easy to game. Anytime there was a 2 strength planet next to a 15 strength one, the result was far more power than intended.
This tech has now been changed to only attack weaker planets on the second attack. If you plan and scout accordingly, it's still possible to get roughly double the power from your attacks (the intent) but now doesn't also let you significantly scale your power beyond that with too much luck.
Frontline Fleet
This building slot action has a power level I'm still currently happy with, and due to the cost scaling it does present an early boost that falls off in power as your progress. The original cap to the cost was set to 11, which eventually meant if you played far enough the benefit became much too strong for it's relative ease of access and tech requirements.
This has been changed to increase the cost cap to 25. I'll still be keeping an eye on this one, and potentially changing how it works in the future, but for now the increase cap means you can't rely on it forever. Potential new features coming in the future could also key off of this action, so I still believe it's valuable to keep it around.
Building Slot Refresh
This was mentioned in the Steam Discussion forums, but I want to call it out here. You now have the ability to spend Influence to refresh the building slots on a planet. This is essentially the "demolish" feature some players have been looking for but with some additional considerations.
I didn't want to have a specific demolish action, as one of my goals with the interface of this game is to keep it as simple as possible without confirmations and too many additional modal popups. Demolish also gives the impression that you'll lose something, and given how the building values scale in the game, the current value of a building is something also hidden from view to avoid clogging the details interface.
Refreshing the slots lets you continue building on a planet, and gaining certain benefits additional times if tech allows, without incurring negative stat impacts on the planet itself. This felt the best with the design of the game, but needed an appropriate cost to make it difficult to farm.
This is why it also has an influence cost (which increases per activation). Now that influence is used for Neutral Planets, Faction Events, and Building Refresh, it's a resource that requires more careful management. There aren't a lot of sources of new Influence in the game, so these costs start to be very impactful as you expand (neutral planets can be quite valuable specifically).
(other things highlighted in the forums but not mentioned here: Neutral planets, neutral events, some new tech and event options, automation, bug fixes, major sources of instability fixed)
Thanks everyone for trying the game so far, over 2000 players and the month isn't over yet. Looking forward to hearing how your experience is with the new features and hearing about anything else you'd like to see in the game! Always open to feedback and design discussions.
See you in the next one.