Hello Sector Lords!
I am releasing the first Road to 1.0 Content Patch into an opt-in test branch as there are many new and expanded mechanics that will require alot of playbalancing and possible bugfixes so instead of making it a general release it will be in a test-branch until October when it's been thoroughly tested.
To access the test branch, go into your game properties in Steam, select Game Versions and enter in roadtoonelaunch for Windows or roadtoonewebview for Linux/Steam Deck
What's new!
There are now some initial game setup options that be set upon starting a new game. You can now set the number of turns between Epochs, for those who want a more evenly paced game. Epoch settings have no effect on final score. You can also opt-in for dynamic lanes which will bring a new layer of decision making into the game. The more a warplane is travelled by ships (you, npcs, rogues, captains, pirates etc. etc.) the more turbulent the warplane becomes and can cost upto 3X to traverse. So a tradelane that you're running may no longer be profitable when factoring in fuel costs.
Planets will also have positive and/or negative traits which will affect a variety of factors for any colony on them. This means there will be trash tier worlds and garden of eden ones.
Each Alien Faction now offers a unique commodity for sale at their Ports. These commodities are not tradeable but are used in Citadel Construction, some Colony Upgrades, and Anomaly Research. Access to these commodities are contingent on your relationship with them. Hostile factions will deny you docking at Ports in their territory period. If you are allied with factions that are hostile to that faction they will not sell their commodity to you. So what can you do??
You can either try to broker a peace agreement with the warring parties by visiting their Capital World and ferrying envoys and starting peace talks to open up trade again.
Or you can talk to their Fleet Commander on the Faction Flagship and back their war efforts in exchange for a share of the commodity loot from their raids.
So what do you do if one of the Alien Factions has colonized a prime world that you want? You can't simply invade it as a private entity. That's outright piracy and will have you shunned by the entire galaxy. So what do you do? You can hire Covert Ops agents to try and subvert the colony so they declare their independence and join you! To start a subversion mission, you need to find at least 1 port with a Black Market Hub and have enough standing with the underworld to unlock the option.
Fleet Combat has received a much needed facelift and some mechanic changes.
You now have the ability to order your most damaged ships to the back of the line to be shielded by stronger ships and to repair damage.
There is also now a new configurable CRT effect, a rolling distortion bar that covers the fullscreen and replaces the old green holographic scanline in the map window.
Playbalancing Changes:
Skill checks have been added to certain Sector Incidents.
Initial Trade Pacts Treaties now cost Standing and Influence rather than credits.
Combat Balance changes.
Port Stock/Regen changes.
Faction Interaction Ripple Effect changes.
and more!
There's quite a lot here, so that's why this release is in a test-branch first as I am absolutely sure I have introduced some bugs, or even gamebreaking ones, and hoping to have this as the main branch sometime in October.
Thanks for playing!