Yesterday, Unity announced a new update to their terms of use. In this update, they provided information on a new fee that will take effect from January 1st 2024, the "Unity Runtime Fee". This fee is retroactive, even for developers that have previously agreed to different terms. How will this fee affect Merchants of Sol? It is hard to say exactly how much this fee will affect Merchants of Sol, nor any other developer. However, as an indie developer, this could have a substantial impact on the future of the premonitions series. While the fee seems insignificant at $0.2 after $200,000 of sales. This fee applies to installations rather than sales. If a player installed their game on two devices this would amount to a fee of $0.4. If they reinstalled the game on a device that it had previously been installed on then the fee would, again, double. Unity says: "The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end users device as well as distribution via streaming is considered an install." This change will take effect on January 1st 2024. By that time, Merchants of Sol will have migrated to Unreal Engine 5. What will happen now? Given the extremity of this fee over the lifetime of a games development and release, Merchants of Sol will be migrated to Unreal Engine 5. This is going to delay the release of Merchants of Sol substantially. This news is disappointing, to say the least. It has severely affected my trust in Unity, especially that they would retroactively apply this update to developer licenses that have already been agreed. Therefore, until further notice, releases under the title Premonitions will be made using Unreal Engine 5. While it is possible for me to circumvent these changes by changing engine, it will not be so easy for other developers, especially those who have already released their games, to make this change. From the 1st of January, these developers will be subject to the Unity Runtime Fee, and there will be little that they can do about it. Even if these developers had release their game many years ago, even if that game had been long since forgotten about, these fees will still apply to that game. So, finally, I'd like to ask that you support these developers however and wherever you can. One such action could be to contact Unity directly in order to file a complaint against these new fees. However, I would also like to ask that anyone who takes action to support these developers remember that, if you do contact Unity, that you are speaking to another human being. Please try to be civil in any action you take in supporting developers against this change. As always, thank you all for listening. Feel free to discuss the changes both to unity and to Merchants of Sol, below. If you have any questions then I'll try to answer them. I look forward to bringing you more updates on the progress of Merchants of Sol in the near future. Jessica

There is much to be said on the topic of politics, especially on Mars. But perhaps it's most appropriate to begin with what it looks like. The Martian Federal System Mars is a federal state. It has a senate which presides over "reserved powers" such as taxation but it also provisions many powers to the regional authorities. Each region is defined by a "sector", of which there are a dozen sectors on Mars. The authority of each sector is provisioned to an elected governor, whom represents their people within the sector, but not the senate. This is the design of the Martian federal system. Elections There are two types of election that occurs on Mars at different intervals. There are the regional elections (to select a new governor) and the senatorial (federal) elections. The regional elections occur every four years (2,748 days). Whereas federal elections occur every eight years (5,496 days). Every citizen of Mars has the right to vote and to stand for election. As a citizen of Mars, you'll have the opportunity to do both. The Law As I said earlier, Martian law is divided into federal powers and regional powers. The law applies to matters such as criminal activity, taxation, war and conscription, drugs, weapons, employment, among other things. Citizens of Mars, including you, will be expected to understand and follow the law or face punishment if caught. Political Figures Governors and senators are considered "political figures". These people are elected based upon their qualities during a campaign. Their qualities are determined by their background. If their qualities align with those desired by a society then they are more likely to be elected. However, there are several other factors that can affect this outcome. Policy Outcomes Every politician (both federal and regional) has the opportunity to push for changes to the law. They're more likely to push for change if they feel strongly about the subject. This is determined by their qualities. The policy changes that they push for might be substantial or insubstantial, this is dependent on their desire for change. Political Intrigue If you have a strong desire to make political change then it is unnecessary to wait for an election. There are several actions that you can take in order to shift policy outcomes in your favour. One such action is bribery (or lobbying, if you want to make it sound less morally corrupt); another, more extreme, action is to assassinate your political opponents. That's all for today There's plenty more to talk about but that'll have to do for now. As always, if you have any questions then please post them here and if I have an answer then I will try to respond. I'm also in the process of setting up a discord server for "Premonitions" and "The Merchants of Sol". The link will be made available with the next update so check that out if you feel inclined. It'll be a more convenient way to get consistent updates about The Merchants of Sol and a means to chat if you have any questions or want to talk about Premonitions. Thanks for all the support, Jessica

As you may, or may not, have noticed, today the name has been updated from Merchants of Sol to Premonitions: The Merchants of Sol. This is to indicate the first of a series of changes to the game and its development. In this announcement, I plan to update you all on several things, including: whats new, whats being worked on, what to expect in the coming months. Its been a busy time for me, working on this project. Its seen a lot more popularity than I ever could have expected. First of all, Id like to thank everyone that has supported me so far on Steam and everywhere else. The growing number of wish lists and followers of The Merchants of Sol has been a huge inspiration for me and an incredible motivator that has kept me working hard. Its my only hope that the game will bring you all a lot of joy and entertainment. But, anyway, onto the announcement:

Why was the name changed?

I have a confession to make..

Factories..!

Lore

Modding

Achievements

Press (review) copies

That's all for today

Though the game is still in early development I feel it's important to keep you all up-to-date on progress as well as share any other news. This one is going to be rather long winded as it's the first one and will set the ground-work for later updates. It'll also give insight into the development process and decisions regarding release. Early Access There will be no early access for this game. It will be released as a finished product and have gone through several testing/bug fixing phases before release. Currently the game is planned to release on the 1st of June 2023. Progress is going well and it looks like that target will be reached. Beta Access There will be a beta testing period during which a currently unspecified number of people from the community will be offered the opportunity to test the game and leave feedback. Those who are accepted to the beta testing program will be provided a beta production key during that period. Anyone who participates in the beta will be offered a full steam key upon release for free. Press Keys There will be an opportunity at a later date to apply for press keys. This will be announced in this forum along with the requirements to apply. Platforms and Languages The game is supported on Windows, Linux, and SteamOS. There are currently no plans to support MacOS. As for languages, on release the game will only be available in English. However, on release, the plan is to support more languages. Modding Support Modding support is discussed lightly on the store page so I will elaborate further here. From the very beginning modding support has been a core value of this project. A modding tutorial will be posted and pinned to this forum upon the release of the game. It is my hope that modding will be as simple to access as possible. Across several files are stored ship, planet, event, quest, and dialogue data. These are stored in simple configuration (.ini) files which can be accessed from most text processing apps. Though the amount of data may seem intimidating at first every effort has been made to make this game as easy to modify as possible. As such, upon release, the game will include a modding tool to easily access and edit this data. State of the Game So far progress has been swift. Much of the modding support and essential components have been implemented. The game is currently in a state of early play. It will not be long until the game enters into early alpha testing. What's being worked on

• Adding all of the events + modding support for events
• Finalising the story
• Implementing manual belt travel
• Achievements / Cards

• Ship data + modding support
• Planet data + modding support
• Dialogue and event system
• User interface and control
• Ship management system

The Merchants of Sol

The Story

Your actions matter.

• War - For as long as the resources flow across the system, to the colonies, then peace is maintained. Colonies will fight planetary and interplanetary wars over resources and territories. These wars can be lucrative but can also be disastrous for the movement of goods.
  
• Death - For many colonies, their basic needs are met by the merchants. Food, water, oxygen, medical supplies, among other things cannot be produced on fledgling colonies without the resources or equipment to do it. Sure, death can be bad for business but necessity drives profits.
  
• Prosperity - Of course, you could also provide everything that a colony needs and see them prosper. After all, a prosperous colony is a rich one. And a rich colony is ripe for abuse.

Tools to success

• OSINT such as procedurally generated news for regional and system wide information.
  
• Market charts for stock exchange and market manipulation.
  
• Insider trading can be effective. Getting friendly with the owners and operators of regional businesses can give you valuable information into the market.
  
• Signing contracts to fulfil tasks for government or private businesses can give a steady flow of income. But be sure to complete these assignments or you might face a breach of contract.
  
• Use criminal, or morally objectionable, activities to make more money! Bribe government officials to favour a certain course of action, plot to murder those that get in your way, fund propaganda campaigns to further your aims, smuggle illegal products through planetary blockades, forge visa papers or government documents to access restricted areas, there's many ways in which you can go about making money.

A living, breathing universe.

• OS: Ubuntu
• Processor: AMD Athlon 1000Memory: 500 MB RAMStorage: 100 MB available spaceSound Card: N/AAdditional Notes: Tested on Ubuntu 20.04.4 64-bit
• Memory: 500 MB RAMStorage: 100 MB available spaceSound Card: N/AAdditional Notes: Tested on Ubuntu 20.04.4 64-bit
• Storage: 100 MB available space