Build 0.13.0 is out on Steam! I managed to add several important quality-of-life fixes as well as a couple of major gameplay changes to it. Let’s dive right in!
Custom Games
I reorganized the custom game screen where you can now add and remove AI players and customize their races and initial bonuses (more on that later). I also removed several settings that weren’t used by anyone.
Another new feature that was added to this screen is the random seed that the game engine uses to generate the map. It gets reset every game but you can now change it to whatever you want. For example, if you liked a specific map setup then you can set the same seed for your next game and essentially play the same game but may be try different strategies and initial conditions.
New Race
I added the 5th race—called deus—to the roster. Deus represent enhanced beings that branched off from humans many millennia ago. They live and breath technology and science, so every location occupied by deus increases your research speed and research points.
Since there’re five races now I decided to add two combat bonuses per race against two other races. Combat bonuses work the same way Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock outcomes work. Let’s see if this system creates more interesting and fun battles.
Gameplay Changes
Many beta testers felt frustrated with negative effects of races and research that come hand in hand with bonuses. I understand the frustration, so I decided to try a version of research and races without any negative effects. Let’s see if that works!
Any game now begins with an initial bonus that can be set in the settings. Currently there are only four different bonuses: extra population, minerals, energy, or a little bit of everything. Depending on the bonus and the initial race combination, early game becomes very exciting and every time players face a different puzzle of how to approach growing their economy.
Finally, I added a change to how research points are collected. Before, they were based on the number of locations. I changed it, so research points are just another property that can be increased through various means (on top of the number of occupied locations). For now, this property was added to the new deus race but I expect it to be added to structures and research in the future.
Originally published on Vasinov Games.