Map presets have been added, along with general improvements.

Added

• Map presets -> Save map settings, in the main menu, in a similar way to empire presets.

Improved

• Pause menu -> Map settings text -> now displays all map settings rather than a few.
• Empire icon -> Added subtle shadow to icons for more visual depth.
• UI -> Button -> More buttons now have a click SFX in main menu (delete button).

Changed

• Map seed -> Seed now supports being saved as text instead of just numerical.
• Starbase -> Damage dealt for each level changed from `16`, `32`, `48` to `16`, `24`, `32`.

Fixed

• Ship builder -> Combat mode -> Ships only shoot once after engaging combat mode.
• Galaxy -> Visual spawns inside ubiquity.
• Main menu -> UI -> SFX not balanced for some selector inputs.

Removed

• Music -> total tracks reduced from 68 to 50.

https://wiki.newstarsgame.com/Update_1.10

Update improving empire customization and stability.

Added

• Add: Create Game -> Saveable and loadable empire presets.

Improved

• Create Game -> Empire -> Wider range of popular standardized colours, and doubled amount of colours to choose from 32 to 64.
• Ubiquity -> Starbases -> Replace old turret prefabs with new turrets.
• Create Game -> Allow empire presets a chance to spawn in (if enabled by player).

Fixed

• Fix: Create Game -> Map size setting not initially synced with actual value (i.e. appeared as 'duel' when map size was actually 'small').
• Fix: Create Game -> Clicking 'Main' to exit origin selection and 'Play' randomizes the empire being customized, resulting in lost customization.
• Fix: Fleet panel -> Esc key cancels fleet orders, when it used to close panel.
• Fix: Create Game -> After starting game, galaxy visual sometimes does not match customized visual type.

Changed

• Hyperlanes -> Base hyperlane density from 0.4 to 0.5.

Removed

• Remove: Create Game -> Map -> Cached/saved values -> Conflicts with network synced value leading to unexpected map generations.

newstarsgame.com/changelog

It's been a while since the last dev log. Here are some recent developments for New Stars, with emphasis on empire customization.

Empire Presets

Many games have a feature where you can save customizations. New Stars now has this!
Six new default empire presets have also been added. Also, empire presets have a 5% chance to spawn in the galaxy, unless you toggle their ability to spawn by clicking the alien icon.
The six default presets cannot be deleted since they have plot armour, and may also be changed later. In addition to improving empire customization, some bugs have been fixed that caused empire customizations to be lost when navigating the main menu.

New Stars Wiki

I am excited to announce the an official wiki has been launched at wiki.newstarsgame.com. Players have suggested this before, and its implementation is underway.
This is a work in progress, and content is gradually being added. Note that 100% uptime cannot be guaranteed, since it is locally hosted, and as of writing, the server has a restart schedule of every 12 hours. You can check uptime graphs at newstars.statuspage.io.

Changelog

The changelog has been moved to wiki.newstarsgame.com/changelog, where new update changes will be listed.

New Worlds

The 'New Worlds' demo is complete and is available on newstarsgame.com/new_worlds.
Note: New Worlds is not a separate game, but a simple demo/prototype of a new colony system. I am not likely to integrate this colony building system to the game since there is already too much to do, although it has been around for 4 months now and has been released since the last post.

Other Changes

Other changes include galaxy visual improvements, optimizations and bug fixes.

Galaxy Visual Improvements

Customize the galaxy visual from main menu.

Adaptive Hyperlane Colours

Hyperlanes better match with galaxy colours. This only changes the blue and gold galaxy hyperlane colours.

[hr][/hr]

Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Read the Wiki: wiki.newstarsgame.com. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game.

Fixed

• Fix: Combat -> Min range on turrets often freezes battles indefinitely [ships automatically moving towards targets results in no shots being fired].
• Fix: Combat -> All projectiles are not visible in combat (outside ship builder).
• Fix: Saving system -> Saving sometimes corrupts for the yearly auto save (race condition).

Improve

• Combat -> When a turret exceeds min range, its damage is halved, instead of 0.

Note

• Laser turrets visuals don't currently work, but all other turret projectiles should now appear as expected.

https://wiki.newstarsgame.com/Update_1.8.X#1.8.2

Techs and building costs are now in-line with the wiki and are a lot more consistent.

Fixed

• Fix: Tech -> Base cost ignores prerequisites for non-repeatable technologies
• Fix: Graphics -> VSync not applied when starting game, if previously enabled [required manually re-enabling after starting game].
• Fix: Colony -> Building base costs are very inconsistent and unpredictable.

Added

• Wiki -> wiki.newstarsgame.com
• Main Menu -> Galaxy visual selectable from main menu
• Pause Menu -> Restart button to pause menu

Improved

• Galaxy -> Hyperlanes are now coloured to match galaxy

Removed

• Empire -> Naval capacity (not union naval capacity) -> Arbitrary bottleneck to expansion

Note

• Previous saves may no longer restore the galaxy same visual (before this update), but future saves now will.
• There is still a bug preventing some settings such as 'Galaxy Visual' from syncing after exiting to main menu and starting a game, although this is not new.
• The new wiki is being developed, so this update was heavily delayed.

Changelog: https://newstarsgame.com/changelog

Added

• Add: Scroll Camera -> You can now move by hovering to corner of screen

Improved

• Ubiquity -> Planet HUD -> World indicator shows colour of planet, rather than suitability for clarity
• System Name Text -> Planet HUD -> World indicator shows colour of planet, rather than suitability for clarity

Optimized

• Events -> New event batching system that supposedly makes events run more efficiently

Fixed

• Fix: Planet HUD -> Name text becomes grey in system that is being explored, making it hard to see
• Fix: Planet HUD -> World indicator is not shown until planet is fully explored

Development on New Stars started two years ago today. Here are some recent changes.

More Optimizations

• Saving the game no longer lags.
• AI now mostly uses multithreading.
• Unnecessary event calls have been reduced which decreases CPU load as well.

Other changes and bug fixes are viewable at newstarsgame.com/changelog. I now plan to focus more on optimizing daily lag spikes in future updates, since most monthly calculations have already had multithreading optimizations. [hr][/hr]

'New Worlds': Colony Management Prototype

I'm working on a new demo for a colony management prototype (built from scratch), which is planned to eventually be playable for free on newstarsgame.com when it is ready. The idea is that interacting with a more tangible procedurally-generated world that you can see, will likely be more enjoyable and engaging than an imagined world from a UI panel. You can see a preview of its current state here:
It might not have No Mans Sky level of detail in world generation, as it's in its early stages, but there is a lot more features planned with it. If the future demo goes well, it's possible to integrate it into New Stars. [hr][/hr]

Development Update

Development will be slower until June, due to IRL exams. Admittedly, I didn't do well in the last exams, as a significant amount of my time dedicated towards releasing the project, so it means I will have to resit them, and the game may take slightly longer to reach a full-release state. [hr][/hr]

Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Playtest New Stars: adamjr.xyz. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game.

Improved

• Improve: Colony -> Add info to tooltip about migration for clarity.

Optimized

• Optimize: Starbase Label HUD -> Should only update when siege progress changed, colony created, or month passed.

Note: 'GATEWAY' Update

• The 'Meta' update mostly focused on post early-access support, and optimizing monthly updates.
• This update will continue this, but may largely focus on reducing daily lag spikes.
• Development may be a lot slower during this period, due to external events, so it may take a few months longer to complete NS to a full release standard.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

Animated combat fixes.

Fixed

• Fix: Fleet -> After battles, fleets sometimes enter FTL in the middle of systems.
  • When a fleet enters a battle, the order that was paused assumes the last position before the battle started, therefore ships appear to teleport out of nowhere, when resuming order, after battle ended.
• Fix: Seamless VFX -> Meteor VFX spawns while viewing system or ship builder.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Animated Combat -> Projectile VFX is not scaled correctly.

Tweaked

• Tweak: Combat System -> Increase pace of battles (damage effectiveness increased).
• Tweak: Animated Combat -> Remove ship movement speed reduction during battles.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

Patch for inevitable combat bugs that were created from the pathfinding rework star system rescaling.

Improved

• Improve: Ship Builder -> Toggling should re-open Ubiquity if Ubiquity was open.
• Improve: Animated Combat -> Restore old burnout material that is less ugly.

Fixed

• Fix: Interaction Manager -> Diplomacy Panel -> Clicking away does not close.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Solace turret ambience is sometimes heard during battle.
• Fix: Animated Combat -> Explosion VFX not visible when ship is destroyed.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.6.1 'META' [26.02.2024]

Patch of crashing bug, and Ubiquity bug fixes.

Fixed

• Fix: Starbase Panel -> Opening panel crashes game.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Initial Load -> Ship colours are incorrect on initial load.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Ship trails do not appear the first time a star system is being viewed.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog. [hr][/hr] Includes changes from v1.6.0:

1.6.0-prerelease 'META' [23.02.2024]

AI is now mostly multithreaded.

Optimized

• Optimize: AI -> Colony and military calculations now use parallel processing.

Tweaked

• Tweak: Cooperative Militarist -> Join Wars -> Can invite to wars when the recipient has an open attitude with the enemy, instead of cautious.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

Bug fixes and optimizations.

Fixed

• Fix: Resource Manager -> Occupation cost shows without occupying starbases.
• Fix: Battle -> Retreat -> Sometimes retreats to systems with enemies in, meaning the battle continues.
• Fix: Load Save -> Does not update resource count.
• Fix: Agendas -> Opinion modification does result in correct values.

Optimized

• Optimize: AI agendas and AI opinion calculations now use parallel processing.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.5.0 'META' [09.02.2024]

Over 2 weeks in the making. Reduction in monthly lag spikes with parallel optimization for AI, and saving.

Optimized

• Optimize: Saving System -> Parallel optimization for saving, eliminating lag spikes from saving/auto-saving.
• Optimize: AI -> Parallel optimization for AI starbase, and diplomacy handling.
  • Diplomacy handling was the laggiest part of the AI.
  • Foundation added for further AI optimization.
  • There should now be a noticeable reduction in monthly lag spikes.
• Optimize: Events -> Some non-critical events are no longer received, especially when the player is not involved, preventing lag.
  • Updates affected include: relations changed, colony orders, starbase orders, and fleet orders.

Improved

• Improve: Tooltip -> Right-click to toggle pin tooltips in place.

Fixed

• Fix: Animated Combat -> Ship movement was too slow when moving towards the target.
• Fix: Animated Combat -> Temporary workaround to allow random turrets to fire visually to fix turrets not appearing to fire when expected.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Ships spawn out of bounds, on saves before `v1.3.0`.

Changed

• Change: Colony -> Now uses ID of colony number, not parent system ID in saves.

Tweaked

• Tweak: Galaxy -> Increase galaxy visuals scale for duel map size.
• Tweak: Camera -> Increase movement speed in ubiquity system by `1.5x`.
• Tweak: Main Menu -> Scroll sensitivity of create empire/map increased.

Balanced

• Balance: Tech -> Repeatable starbase capacity techs now give `+2` instead of `+1` designation slots.
• Balance: Occupation Cost -> Reduced base cost of occupation from `1` to `.5` per occupied starbase.

Behind the Scenes

Addition of e2e tests to improve stability.

Note

Save files before v1.3.0 (12th January 2024) previously have loaded fleets out of bounds, due to star system rescaling, but are now repositioned within the boundary. View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

This is a summary of development for New Stars in January. The 'Meta' update focuses on stabilizing and optimizing the game with long-term improvements, while also implementing some features based on player feedback. Last January focused on reworking core calculations to support a client/server model, but this January focuses on reworking core calculations to use parallel processing for long-term performance improvements.

Improved Ship Pathfinding

Ship movement and pathfinding has been redesigned and is now a lot more stable.

Before

Previously ships often got stuck when moving around planets.

After

Ships now curve around planets instead of following a polygon around the planet, resulting in smoother movement.
Ships also better avoid collisions with other ships in battle, or while in formation.

Multithreaded Optimizations

New multithreaded optimizations are being introduced for heavy CPU calculations with a lot of potential to reduce lag spikes, implementing parallel processing.

Fleet Pathfinding Optimizations

Fleet pathfinding now uses parallel processing and large lag spikes no longer occur when pathfinding across long distances.

Galaxy Size Changes

Huge: Now spawns with 300 stars instead of 500. Large: Now spawns with 250 stars instead of 400. Medium: Now spawns with 200 stars instead of 300. Small: Now spawns with 150 stars instead of 200. Tiny: Now spawns with 100 stars instead of 150. Galaxy sizes were way to large, and increments of 100 stars didn't make much sense for the size of the game. [h4]Duel - New Galaxy Size[/h4] In addition, a new 50 player map has been added, which is most suitable for 1v1 scenarios or quick games.

What's to come...

There is significant potential with parallel optimization in terms of reducing lag, however it requires an extensive codebase redesign, but I believe it'll be worthwhile. Hence, updates during this period may be slower than they were before. View all changes at newstarsgame.com/changelog. New Stars continues to be in active development, so if you would like to inform future updates/improvements you can do so via this form. [hr][/hr]

Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Playtest New Stars: adamjr.xyz. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game.

1.4.0 'META' [25.01.2024]

Pushing previous beta update to all users. [hr][/hr]

1.4.0-prerelease 'META' [22.01.2024]

More optimizations, new galaxy sizes, and provisional removal of half-added features.

Added

• Add: Map -> Map -> Duel map size - 50 stars galaxy.
• Add: Create Map -> Option to select duel stars galaxy map.
• Add: Create Map -> Recommended settings for duel stars galaxy map such as player count etc.

Optimized

• Optimize: Resource Manager -> Reworked to use multithreading for most monthly resource calculations.
• Optimize: Pathfinding -> Reworked to use multithreading for calculating routes, to reduce lag spikes.
• Optimize: Fleet -> Eliminated large lag spikes when moving fleets (on modern CPUs).

Fixed

• Fix: Start Game -> Does not open Ubiquity and spawns in the center of galaxy.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Regular starbase labels appear huge.

Changed

• Change: Resource Manager -> Space entity players no longer have resource calculations, reducing lag.
• Change: Map Generator -> Star counts for each map size are now `100`, `150`, `200`, `250`, `300` instead of `100`, `200`, `300`, `400`, `500` for new games.
  • 400-500 stars is impractically large.
  • Double the smallest map size is too large of an increment.
  • Galaxy visuals were generally poor on map sizes of >300 stars.
  • Loading saves from old map sizes has been tested to work as normal.

Removed

• Remove: Celestial Squid -> No longer spawns in galaxy, because it is currently too broken.
  • The celestial squid may appear again when more bug fixes and polishes have been done.
• Remove: Blue galaxy smoke from gold galaxy.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.3.1 'META' [17.01.2024]

Experimenting with running monthly calculations on multiple threads, to reduce lag spikes.

Fixed

• Fix: Pop manager -> Population of clans does not increase.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Opening a system is very laggy from new ship pathfinding system.

Optimized

• Optimize: Pop manager -> Reworked to use multithreading for colony population calculations, which should slightly reduce monthly update lag.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog. [hr][/hr] Here is the changelog for the update released exclusively to the beta branch:

1.3.0-prerelease 'META' [12.01.2024]

Total redesign of ship movement, and rescaling of ubiquity star systems, focusing on fixing pathfinding bugs.

Fixed

• Fix: Ubiquity -> Ships often get stuck around planets, or struggle to move around them, especially during battles.
• Fix: Loading screen -> Some text appears to overflow their backgrounds.
• Fix: Combat system -> Ships collide with each other in combat.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Space squids -> Beelines into planet roundabouts (so does fleet ubi position).
• Fix: Xeno Exterminator -> Raze Colony -> Multiple raze orders can be queued.

Tweaked

• Tweak: Ubiquity -> Systems now always spawn at 0,0 instead of at a slight offset.

Changed

• Change: Ubiquity -> Reduced size of star systems by 10x [due to limitations with new pathfinding system].
• Change: Ubiquity -> Starbases of unknown players no longer have empty HUDs.

Note

Following the post-release updates, there is a need for more careful and slower updates, like this one, deployed to the beta branch first. This update was delayed by a few days, since it was a huge rework and introduced many bugs that were internally fixed [20+ internally fixed bugs are omitted from the changelog]. This will likely introduce some bugs I have not found, so the update will be deployed on the beta branch first to gather feedback. Sometimes a step backwards is required to take 2 steps forward. [hr][/hr] View changes from previous updates: [url=https://newstarsgame.com/changelog]

1.2.4 'META' [05.01.2024]

Hotfix for colony siege not triggering, and some other fixes.

Fixed

• Fix: Colony -> Siege -> Colony siege is sometimes not triggered [due to an issue with new fleet stats].
  • This bug appeared after the previous update which modified siege calculations.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Fleet -> After opening a system, fleets initially don't appear in fleet formation and appear inside each other.
• Fix: Load save -> From in-game -> Fog of war duplicates and is not cleaned up [behind the scenes] when loading a save, which may cause memory issues.
• Fix: Load save -> Sometimes shows galactic core is visible at first in the initial star system.
• Fix: Load save -> From in-game -> Empire borders are not cleaned up [behind the scenes] when loading a save, which may cause memory issues.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.2.3 'META' [05.12.2024]

The first update of 2024. A step towards making the game stable.

Fixed

• Fix: Endgame screen -> Does not auto-pause time and allows controlling time while open.
• Fix: Endgame screen -> Scrollbar does not work and appears duplicated.
• Fix: Colony siege -> If nobody is enforcing siege, it should auto reduce.
• Fix: Solace ship builder -> Opens with the previous ship that was loaded automatically instead of unlocked preset.
• Fix: Colony panel -> Build queue is not visible when viewing an unoccupied enemy colony, when the starbase is occupied by self.
• Fix: Colony siege -> Civilian ships should not progress siege.
  • Siege progress is now determined by base damage, as opposed to ship strength.
• Fix: Cross-scene -> Music button -> Tooltip starts off as empty.

Improved

• Improve: Diplomacy panel -> Agreements -> Show if we grant the other empire border access.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.2.2 'META' [31.12.2023]

The last update of 2023, focusing mainly on ship fixes.

Fixed

• Fix: Ship builder -> Simulate combat -> Turrets do not shoot.
• Fix: Ship builder -> Simulate combat -> Turrets continue firing when the target is out of range.
• Fix: Ship builder -> Combat mode -> Turrets fire at rapid speed when engaged.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Combat -> Ship continues to shoot when paused (shooting ignores time scale).

Improved

• Improve: Ship builder -> Use gradient skybox instead of image background.
• Improve: Ship builder -> Add text to indicate turret range.
• Improve: Ship builder -> Target should move in and out to engage turrets at different ranges.
• Improve: Fog of war (FOW) -> Restore previous smooth fog of war (as shown in early-access post cover screenshot).

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

A short development log explaining the recent update on reworked combat system mechanics. Forever gone are the days of simply having damage and a slightly different costs for each turret.

New Turret Stats

[h4]Range[/h4] Only when a turret/ship is within range to an enemy, it shoots. [h4]Fire Rate[/h4] How often a ship fires. A fire rate of 0.10 means the turret is fired shots every 10 simulated days.

Turret Types

[olist]

Gatlings - Rapid fire at a short range, with low damage.

Lasers - Constant damage at a short range, with a constant fire rate.

Ballistic - Ballistic turrets have medium range and moderate fire rate.

Snipers - Railguns have a long range, low fire rate but deal the most damage per hit. [/olist]



[h4]Turret Types[/h4] Animated combat is supposed to animate what the combat calculations behind the scenes, and turrets now fire when required instead of randomly. [h4]Turret Limitations[/h4] Larger ships have more turret slots and HP. Smaller ships have less HP and turret slots but can still handle heavy turrets. Medium and heavy turrets can be unlocked with technologies.

Ideas for Presets

[h4]Gunboat: Swarmers[/h4] Agile gunboats equipped with gatling guns for rapid, close-range assaults. + Quick to strike with significant initial damage. - Vulnerable to long-range attacks; best used in swarms for effectiveness.
[h4]Heavy Cruiser: Snipers[/h4] Robust cruisers with railguns, designed to make the first impactful hits. + Delivers powerful initial blows with railguns. - Slower follow-up attacks due to the low fire rate; can be outmanoeuvred by swarmers.
There are 5 unlockable ship types and 13 distinct turrets, offering a multitude of strategic combinations. [hr][/hr]

Happy New Years!

I decided to improve existing systems, based on feedback, rather than plainly fixing bugs, to conclude Part 1 of the 'Meta' update and 2023. Thank you to all those who have supported development this year and provided valuable suggestions. [hr][/hr]

Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Playtest New Stars: adamjr.xyz. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game.

1.2.1 'META' [29.12.2023]

Bug fixes, especially with the main menu.

Fixed

• Fix: Skyboxes -> Appear lower quality on build due to unnecessary mip maps.
• Fix: Main menu -> Origin selection -> Origin description text is not legible enough, requiring cybernetic eyesight to read.
• Fix: Main menu -> Selecting empire icon and hovering over other input breaks preview icon.
• Fix: Pause menu -> Game settings were not applied correctly.
• Fix: Battle -> Retreat -> Does not work with new combat system.
• Fix: Start game -> Does not start with gunboat.
• Fix: Main menu -> Play -> Huge memory usage on 4K resolutions.
• Fix: Open galaxy map -> Borders initially do not have correct colours.
• Fix: Fleet -> Starter ships don't match preset ships.

Removed

• Remove: Main menu -> Ubiquity inspector -> Replaced 3D planet models with images of planet surface as it caused memory issues.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.2.0 'META' [28.12.2023]

Backend simulated combat improvements, and animated combat fixes.

Added

• Add: Solace ship builder -> Evasion stat into stats UI.
• Add: Combat system -> Use Solace turrets to deal damage in the backend.
• Add: Combat -> Min and max turret ranges.
• Add: Combat -> Rate of fire per turret.
• Add: Solace ship builder -> Rate of fire to turret stats.
• Add: Pause menu -> Open credits button.

Improved

• Improve: Ship Builder -> Turrets -> Should have stats on screen, instead of tooltip [for clarity].

Balanced

• Balance: Colonist -> Reduced from 75 to 45 power cost on standard speed.

Fixed

• Fix: Ship builder -> Background has tiling artifacts on ultrawide displays.
• Fix: Solace ship builder -> When fleet types are unlocked, filter type UI does not update after opening the ship builder.
• Fix: Pause menu -> 'New stars satellites' logo sometimes appeared duplicated.
• Fix: Credits -> Credits username appears in broken font.
• Fix: Solace ship builder -> Panels remain open when opened.
• Fix: Starbase panel -> Upgrade button tooltip showed technological advance required when can upgrade starbase.
• Fix: Pause menu -> Game settings info is not fully visible on ultrawide aspect ratio.

How Turret Ranges Currently Work

• When combat is being observed, accurate turret ranges are used from the animated ship position, otherwise if a star system is not open, turret range is based on the center of the fleet.
• This is because ship positions are not known by the server, only the client, as simulating positions on the server would be more difficult and require more CPU calls.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.1.0 'META' [23.12.2023]

Rebranding of main menu back to the original, and fixing of remaining known saving system bugs.

Changed

• Changed: Replaced November 2023 3D main menu background with July 2022 parallax background.

Fixed

• Fix: Load save -> From in-game -> Empire borders don't respawn.
• Fix: Load save -> In-game -> Does not restore icons, etc.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

Early-Access - Mistakes Were Made

The early-access launch hasn't gone smoothly so far for a few reasons. https://steamcommunity.com/games/2231270/announcements/detail/3871469509823929286

Miscommunication: State of the Game

In the last post, I didn't make it clear enough that the game only had the bare minimum early-access standard, but used overly-technical terms and didn't go into enough details. The original post draft was a lot more pessimistic. Here is an example of notes I had for the release post: - "the game is absolutely not finished" - "unfortunately, the game has a long way to go to be stable and polished" This was written when it was taking many extra days to fix and balance each playmode. I will say there were many issues after release that I have never seen in development such as device-specific GPU memory leaks, and device-specific memory leaks that are still not fully resolved. These require lots of time to fix, and delay features being added. I personally think the game is often fun to play, at least when things don't break, although I was not 100% happy with the state of the game on release but the release date was decided for 2023. I will say the state of the game is better now than it ever has been.

Miscommunication: Intended Scope/Scale of the Game

I didn't define a roadmap, because I don't know what the game will look like next year except from a lot more stable, which may have caused the current expectations not matching the scope of the game.

December 2022: When Times Were Simple

I first intended to release in December 2022, or January 2023. However, I decided to expand every aspect of the game, for better or worse, before releasing. This is what the game looked like over a year ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxy9r4FKq2w

2023: Overdevelopment

When I decided to improve the game at the start of the year, by adding animated star systems, animated combat for the purpose of depth, decoration, and polishing, although it increased the scope of the game. I think that may have also disproportionately increased expectations and did double development time as such.

Future Roadmap

There will be no hardcore development over a prolonged period of time. It won't happen because I have already done that for a year and it is unsustainable, and possibly a mistake in the first place. I plan to develop the game until it is a lot more stable/polished, and then we will see from there what to do, with improvements based on player suggestions, balancing, and many bug fixes. The 'shallow' mechanics such as combat could definitely be improved upon, if that is what players desire the most. However, time and resources may be limited so features will have to be prioritized.

Some things are overdeveloped, some things are underdeveloped

So even if workshop support, 1000 game events, localization, and multiplayer would hypothetically be added, the game would be still underdeveloped, as the other things players care about are ignored. I think this will change feature priorities. My idea for the scope of the game is similar to Northgard and Civilization inspired mechanics, with Stellaris inspired visuals, without the overly-complicated mechanics. I think that has been achieved, although the foundation is not set in stone, and content and polishing can still be added over time such as game events, turrets, origins etc.

What Went Well

Since I didn't start this project primarily for money, it is good that the release caused less attention than expected, but future development would have been harmed more if that happened, and focus would have been diverted away from bug fixes and improving the game.

2023 Plan

There has been 6 patch updates with many bug fixes since early-access release, and there is more to come. I may consider at least one or two features/improvement this year, but we will see.

New Pricing

As a result of all this I plan to reduce the price of the base game further by from $20.99 to $19.99. This will be effective on the 26th of December, after the 10% launch discount has ended, so the players who buy before the discounted price still get a better deal. [hr][/hr]

Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. Playtest New Stars: discord.io/adamjr. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game. Credits: - Star satellites icon by Lorc under CC BY 3.0

1.0.6 'META' [23.12.2023]

Hotfix fixing saving system bugs players encountered.

Fixed

• Fix: Load game -> Map does not generate correctly -> "Saved games will not work" -> The game was not generating the correct map size to load the save from.
• Fix: Load save -> Resource counts do not always update and show negative values.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.0.5 'META' [22.12.2023]

Bug fixes.

Fixed

• Fix: Colony -> Planet composed entirely of farmers is not producing enough food.
• Fix: Colony -> Population does not grow with 0 food, even though it is not starving.
• Fix: Star system -> Cannot colonize void world if a broken world is spawned before it.

Balanced

• Balance: Colony -> Capital buildings now produce 2 energy to offset deficits.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.0.4 'META' [22.12.2023]

More fixes and UI tweaks.

Added

• Add: Bug reporting interface -> Save files are now sent with bug reports, to make it easier to reproduce bugs.

Improved

• Improve: Colony panel -> Updated summary icons.

Possible Fix

• Possible fix: Game -> Game boots into windowed mode by default (default was set to windowed and 720p in player settings).

Fixed

• Fix: Create subject -> Does not update empire borders.
• Fix: Bug reporting interface -> Send button was missing tooltip info.
• Fix: Subject -> Subjects should join union when overlord forms union, as they are still subjects.
• Fix: Main menu -> Loading screen, load menu, etc., were not visible when opened.

Tweaked

• Tweak: Game event -> Colony extreme polar regions -> First option now gives `90` science instead of `100`.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.0.3 'META' [21.12.2023]

Some fixes.

Fixed

• Fix: Create empire -> Empire name and colours are randomly changed when creating a game -> "Unable to choose EU flag background colour as primary colour."
  • Also added official EU colours to colour picker.
• Fix: Animated combat -> Hyper-janky turrets when time is at 2x speed (turrets fire extremely fast).
  • Now turret firing speed is constant on all timescales.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Planet name appears in tooltip instead of "Unknown" for unknown systems.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Having around 20 ships in one system causes lag spikes every in-game day [optimize].
• Fix: Solace ship builder -> Hologram turrets are not affected by master volume or ambient volume.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> Ships often jump around when moving, especially in animated combat, especially at 2x time speed [happens after winning battle].
• Fix: Animated combat -> Ships continue shooting after destroyed.
• Fix: Silent state -> Stealth fleets should not meet players in system.
• Fix: Ubiquity -> When move fleet into Ubiquity hyperlane that is neutral, war confirmation does not show, leading to nothing happening.
• Fix: Fleet panel -> Fleet capacity UI adds up ship count instead of ship size.
• Fix: Game event panel -> Selecting option is not disabled when reopening the ping, allowing options to be selected multiple times.
• Fix: Occupy colony -> Sets colony of `22` population to `1`.
• Fix: Settings -> Vsync is not applied in-game when set in main menu.
• Fix: Animated combat -> Beam turrets beams are not visible.
• Fix: Solace ship builder -> Ship stats -> Some costs overflowed the ship stats UI.
• Fix: Fleet panel -> Fleet capacity for civilian ships (i.e., builders) shows 2/1.

Possible Fix

• Possible Fix: Crashing bug after playing game for "half an hour", then game does not re-open (may be device-specific).

Improved

• Improve: Ubiquity -> Hyperlane -> Improve tooltip to indicate whether borders are closed or not.

Tweaked

• Tweak: Game events -> Colony dangerous wildlife -> First option gives 120 instead of 100 food on standard speed.
• Tweak: Ion flux -> Changed icon for turret to not be a duplicate of ion stream.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.0.2 'META' [21.12.2023]

Some fixes addressing issues with screen resolution, and other suggestions.

Added

• Add: Settings -> Change screen resolution.
  • Ensure to reset Steam launch options that override resolution, or they may cause issues.
  • The in-game resolutions are: initial screen resolution, 3840x2160, 2560x1400, 1920x1080, and 1280x720.
• Add: Solace Ship Builder -> Tooltip for weapon stats in ship builder.

Fixed

• Fix: Solace Ship Builder -> Lens buttons overlay obstructs preset management UI.
• Fix: Loading Screen -> Shows black borders on top and bottom of the screen on some resolutions.
• Fix: Built -> Planet visuals -> Lower quality in built game as textures are set to low, but not updated automatically in graphics manager.
• Fix: Cross-scene -> Sometimes random empire borders are sometimes spawned in wrong places (fixed in previous update).
• Fix: Settings -> Anti-aliasing -> Selector has no effect on anti aliasing.

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

1.0.1 'META' [20.12.2023]

Hotfix partially addressing concerns regarding optimization by reducing lots of calls regarding star systems. The update name is now changing, since the 'ARGON' update has concluded.

Fixed

• Fix: Tips panel -> No systems are highlighted on the map when explorer fleet move tip is opened.
• Fix: Fog of war -> Sometimes appears glitchy when starting the game.

Improved

• Improve: Player -> Cache owned star systems to reduce hundreds of calls, thereby reducing CPU calculations [optimization].

View changes from previous updates: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

This is an medium scale indie strategy game, mainly developed by one developer over 20 months with a 3 figure budget. The game should improve in the long run, but in the short run there will be lots of bug fixes / hotfixes and focus on implementing urgent player feedback.

State of the Game - Minimum Viable Product

It's dumb to compare this game to other such games since there is an intergalactic distance between the game budgets, but for the sake of explanation, I will do it here. Watch the pre-recorded Steam stream to get an idea of the gameplay: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2231270 Me playing the game should give you a realistic and unbiased idea of what the gameplay looks like right now.

Pacing

Significantly faster-paced than Stellaris, slightly faster paced than Civilization, slower than Age of Empires. Choose your pacing from 1-2 hours to 5+ hours. Note that the 5-6 hours pacing is unchartered territory in terms of playtesting, since spending the last 2 months mostly fixing bugs has prevented me from playtesting much into the deepest parts of the game.

Hard to Learn / Overwhelming At First

Playtesters often remark that the game is hard to learn, although those with experience with other 4X games may have an easier time. There is a built-in narrated tutorial, but the game does lack a bit of required feedback in some places to help the player always know what they need to do.

Playmodes

Probably the most fun part of the game. Hide from other empires in the early-game with the Silent State stealth mode fleets, raze worlds with Xeno Exterminator, destroy hyperlanes with the Extreme Isolationist, form martial unions and defend the galaxy. There are 8 playmodes, 8 origins, 8 unique buildings, and 8-16 special abilities (depending on what you call a special ability). The live stream goes into more detail on these.

Exploration

Quite a few different types of exploration and game events for you to uncover such as white dwarfs, and undiscovered hyperlanes. It's good to keep things interesting, and sometimes chaotic.

War

The fleet movement is similar to Stellaris, but the main difference is that when you fully occupy a system and make a peace deal, it's yours to keep. I like to compare this idea system to Civilization wars. To occupy a colony, you surround it with fleets, which is called 'sieging'.

Colony Management

Try to build as many buildings as possible to always keep your empire growing. You may not fully upgrade your colonies on lowest speeds, without disabling the time limit (i.e. disabling time victory in main menu).

Starbase Management

Starbases are 'designated' which means specializing it from 4 different types: 1) Base -> Are regular default starbases. 2) Hub -> Collect system resources (upgrade to collect from neighbouring systems). 3) Dock -> Build ships (upgrade to build faster). 4) Fort -> Provide a defensive bonus (upgrade to improve defence bonus). 5) Capitals -> Inherits all abilities (automatically designated). Note that these have to be unlocked from technologies.

Technologies - Non-repeatables, and repeatables

There are non-repeatable techs which are researched first, then there are repeatable technologies which increase modifiers. Selectable techs are rolled at random so there is no tech tree at this time.

Visuals - Could be more polished

Animated combat is quite rudimentary but does the job. It looked okay in the trailer, although I am not 100% happy with the state of the animated combat yet. Sometimes turrets are not fired and battles are won, which I do wish to refine over time.

Possible performance issues on lower end systems

The game could be a lot better optimized. There is always a lag spike every 30 days in-game. This has always been a case, and happens when the game is calculating the next 'turn' (game is not turn-based, just an example). It would be hard and time consuming for me to optimize this, but not impossible.

Requires a good CPU

The CPU is critical since this game is mostly a simulation. An 8-core CPU such as the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X should be sufficient, along with the recommended 16GB of RAM. A 2GB VRAM GPU is also recommended - on the max settings. 4-core, 8GB RAM, and 1GB of GPU VRAM may be possible but you may have to opt for lower settings for things to run smoothly.

Saving

The saving system uses YAML, which allows you to customize things such as the difficulty in a text editor, then reload the save. Special attention towards making this system as stable as possible has been applied, but this may not always be the case in the real world. I'd say that saving/loading is one of the most important, if not the most important, systems in the game for things to work. The saving system is tested to work cross-platform with Steam cloud saves (Windows -> Linux).

A decent amount of bugs

While I believe I have removed the most critical bugs, there are still hundreds on the to fix, and only a limited amount can be fixed per day. Hundreds of bugs exist because this game is, at the very least, medium-scale compared to other strategy games. There is one bug observed that crashes the game, and requires a restart, although a fix has been applied a few hours before the release. I am hopeful that crashes do not become an issue. I will say that this is/was the only known bug that crashes the game right now, but this is likely to change with more playtesting.

Playable to the end, but 'quirky' at times

If for whatever reason there is a game breaking bug, 99% of the time you should be able to keep your progress. Bugs with the saving system are currently the highest priority to fix. Bugs can be reported in-game with the F10 key, or on the Steam discussions.

Not 100% Balanced, but Improvements Have Been Made

As I said, the game was grievously unbalanced at the start of the month, but things should be much better now. The release date extension of 4 days was instrumental in helping balance costs, upkeep, turrets, playmodes etc. although it's not close to being perfect. Some things may be unbalanced such as the alliance builder being able to easily ally half the galaxy. A playtester once used the ship builder to design ships with a 100 damage turret to easily win a war, but this was quickly patched.

Simple By Design

The game is (relatively) simple by design, and I preferred the approach of the simplicity of mechanics of Civilization rather than the doctorate degree required for playing a HOI4 for example. Also, this approach is better because there is only one main developer working on this game. One reason I made this game is because Stellaris games took me 100 hours on average, and every time I wanted to start a game, it was a major life decision - do I sacrifice 1-2 weeks just to finish this?

Main Menu

The main menu from Stellaris felt overwhelming since there was too much to decide on. New Stars has a similar problem of being very customizable at the start, which may be overwhelming to some, but starting a game shouldn't be as much of a life decision as games are much faster. While there is enough content for early-access, there is dramatically less content than other games such as Stellaris, for obvious reasons. That's one main reason why the game is also fast paced.

Visuals need polishing

For example, the animated combat is a bit more 'janky' in-game and needs more work, and animated ship movement may have the same problem. Note that animated combat / movement is just for decoration, and the real movement is calculated behind the scenes. When the animated movement attempts to mimic calculated movement, and gets out of sync, it may look glitchy when it recorrects it's position - such as ships teleporting randomly across the star system, but if you reopen the system, things should be resynced.

Lower price to reflect MVP state of the game

The pricing will be 10% lower than initially planned, until the game is a lot more stable and developed. Instead of 23.99 USD, the originally decided price, the base price has been reduced to 20.99 USD. The base price will be: 20.99 USD, and you will be able to purchase the game for 10% off at launch. Note this is not a mobile game, so will not be priced as such. The price could increase later in early-access to reflect a more-stable and developed state of the game. [hr][/hr]

Why am I releasing now?

Here are a few reasons for releasing this game now: + Release in 2023 as planned. + Players can access the game earlier and get a taste for it, instead of waiting for a few more months. + The price will be cheaper because the game is less polished. + Since I have spent the entire year purely developing this game, there will be something to show for it. The downside of this is that there is a higher risk of things going badly, since the game is in an MVP state, although I have done everything I can to prepare the game for release this month. [hr][/hr]

Plans for the game...

I won't yet spoil what may be added, because when I announced planned multiplayer support in January, I did not know that I would not have the resources to make the feature stable, as it would bring hundreds of more bugs. The same is true with macOS support. The short term priorities are playability: 1) Stability - bug removal, above everything. 2) Balancing - keep things challenging, but not too difficult. 3) Accessibility - making things more responsive and easier to learn/understand. These priorities may be overridden to account for player feedback such as urgent bugs that need to be fixed.

Roadmap

I don't have plans to publish a roadmap at this time. If features get added, they get added. If they don't they don't. Motivation for game development in the future is hard to predict. There are many features that I would like to add, and the TODO list is currently full - of bugs to fix. It's still possible to improve every part of the game with enough development time, such as the visuals: 2022:

2023:

2024: After 2023, we may transition into a more sustainable period of development, with more development breaks. This is because the current development time of 10+ hours a day almost everyday is somewhat unsustainable, and I haven't taken a break from this in a while. If the early-access launch goes well, and the short term priorities are accounted for, we can move onto adding more content sooner rather than later, and it may some time to get to this stage. View the changelog: https://newstarsgame.com

We have good news and bad news.

Bad News

I've decided to delay the EA release by a few days, for the greater good.

• The game will 100% be releasing this year as originally planned, and I don't plan on delaying any longer.
• This is a last resort because I am dealing with a complex bug that black screens the system, requiring a restart and preventing the game from launching.
• This is on top of the around 50+ bugs that need to be fixed for a smoother EA launch, and balancing.
• Balancing and playtesting each playmode is taking a lot longer than expected, so there is a lot of content in the game to playtest.
• You will hopefully have a smoother gameplay experience as a result of a later date.
• The release will be right before the Steam winter sale which may harm visibility, but I am sacrificing short-term sales for the sake of making the game as playable as possible.

The final release date will be:

20th of December 2023 at 05:00 GMT | 00:00 EST

Good News

• Here is a Steam key to the game: [spoiler]32QAG-FJLM6-WWDMD[/spoiler]
• If it doesn't work it has probably been redeemed.
• The base price of the game is planned to be lowered to reflect the state of the game (<$25).
• Bugs are getting fixed, and core features are getting balanced.

This update will be short, so I plan to announce more info about the what to expect in the game, on the release date. If you have questions about this or the game, please leave them in the comments, and I will do my best to answer them.

Here is the 19th development log, and probably the last pre-early access development update for New Stars. Cross-platform cloud saves, fog of war, bug fixes, removing macOS support, and more.

No macOS Support steamsad

I couldn't independently get the game to run on macOS, along with many other reasons, so sadly there will be no longer be planned macOS support, at least for the near future. MacOS is just built different. Linux, and Steam Deck users will continue to be able to play the game, because Linux is much easier to work with.

State of the Game

The early-access release will be a minimum viable product that is playable to the end. If the game crashes, a more stable saving system has been implemented so you can always keep your progress (hopefully). The game isn't or won't be 100% polished anytime soon, and will have hundreds of bugs when it is released. It's worth noting that some of the worst bugs have been removed since last update, and the game is a decent bit more stable. There may also be a lot of areas that are not balanced, although this will be partially dealt with next week. It's likely that the rest of the year will almost exclusively focus on fixing bugs, along with making the game more playable and balanced, while prioritizing player feedback.

Customizable, and Cross-platform Cloud Saves

With Windows, and Linux, cross-platform Steam cloud saves now work, and the saving system is a lot more stable and customizable.

Bug Fixes

There has been many bug fixes since last development log to further get the game ready for early-access.

Fog of War Added

This is a work in progress, but now undiscovered regions are covered in a mist.

This is significantly more optimized than the old fog of war, which was recently removed.

That's it for now...

There has also been some improvements to clarity such as narrated SFX, balancing and more. View updates notes at newstarsgame.com/changelog. This is probably it for the pre-early-access development updates, but updates will continue to be posted on the changelog. Thank you for reading. [hr][/hr]

Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Playtest New Stars: adamjr.xyz. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game.

Here is the third trailer, the early-access update and release date announcement. https://youtu.be/1TPh2GLhDgQ

The scheduled release date for early-access is:

16th of December, 2023.

Also, here is a summary of the notable changes in November:

'Argon' Update

This update focuses on preparing the game for early-access and adding some major improvements to the gameplay experience. Part 1 and 2 have been completed.

'Argon' Update - Part 1

Galactic Gold (Resource)

- Gold can be found on certain planets, and is used for purchasing things and maintenance etc. - You can exchange collected resources into gold in starhubs. - You can also export resources into gold from colonies. - New Financial Hub buildings creating 'Investor' jobs which produce gold on colonies. Also, some resource icons were reskinned and recoloured.

Victory Conditions (Time, Conquest, Survival, Ascension)

- Ascension victory means you can claim the galactic center to win. - Conquest victory means you can claim 51% of systems to win. - Survival, and Time victories mean being the last empire, or having highest score at the end of the game respectively.

New Seamless Borders

The cool 2D 'blobs' that indicate empire borders.

'Argon' Update - Part 2

Galactic Center - New Region of the Galaxy

Celestial Squid - The current 'final boss' of the game.

New Main Menu

4 New Galaxies (Visuals)

Animated Neutron Stars / Pulsars

Narrations to Beginner Tutorial

Here's the full changelog of the changes the changes in the last 3 weeks. [expand type=details]

'ARGON' 1-2 [2023.11.08 - 2023.11.29]

Add - Tips panel -> Click/hover SFX for action buttons. - Pings -> Form union and SFX (with event panel). - Pings -> Our/their siege complete. - Seamless -> Meteor VFX spawns randomly on the galaxy map. - Ubiquity -> Neutron stars with VFX. - Ubiquity -> Pulsars with VFX. - Victory conditions (configurable from main menu). - Mid-game event -> Open galactic center (cosmic convergence). - Univeral SFX (trailer) -> Lose battle SFX. - Pings -> Our/their liberation complete. - Ubiquity -> Pulsar prefab with emissions VFX. - Ubiquity -> Neutron star prefab with emissions VFX. - Ubiquity -> New blue galaxy to spawn in. - New 'Argon' galaxies. - New main menu background. - Added more playtesters to credits. - Added gold resource. - Various resource icons have been reskinned. - Replaced jumpscare tech complete sound with the same SFX used for starbase/colony queue complete. - Added gold resources, basic resources, advanced resources, time management tip screens to help new players. - Added the financial hub building, and the investor job which focuses on commerce and production. - Since gold is the main currency of the galaxy, there is no tech required to build it. - Added narrations to tutorial tips. Changed - Change: Colony Panel -> Population is now included in siege difficulty, for simplicity. - Game events no longer repeats the same event chains in systems, and this is saved with the game. - Added more playtesters to credits. Improve - Seamless -> Claims should have visible borders. - Improve: UI -> Player Headers now show "Unknown Player" for unknown players. - Improve: Siege -> Having any enemy fleets to the sieger or liberator will pause a siege. - Improve: Combat -> Optimization -> Ships no longer recalculate base stats while in combat, since it has no effect in battle and was CPU intensive. - Improve: Ubiquity -> Animated Combat -> Ships shoot less in larger battles (i.e. 100 vs 100) to prevent insane lag in large. - Note that large battles were originally intended to be something like 30 vs 30, and 100 vs 100 is unrealistically large. - Improve: Empire icons now center around known systems. - Improve: Colony Siege -> Siege status changes a day to give more realistic and responsive feedback. - Improve: Colony Panel -> Added affordance for colony panel upgrade. - Refined tips text to make it more clear to new players. - Logistical modifiers also decreased to allow faster-paced gameplay. Tweaked - Tweak: Asteroid appears game event is now twice as rare. - Tweaked asteroid game event probabilities. - Balance: Arid worlds are half as likely to spawn, and other world types are much more likely to spawn. - I have not seen rocky worlds in a very long time in the game. - Balance: Reduce minimum time it takes to explore planets from `8` days to `5` days. - Tweak: Void worlds now have a `15%` chance to spawn if there is a black hole, instead of a `25%`. Fixed - Battle Panel -> Retreat button is hard to see when not interactable. - Building -> Tooltip siege icon is not shown on tooltip manager variables (appears as text instead). - Built -> Ubiquity -> Space entity -> Does not play move animation when moving. - Claim Drawer -> Player icon remains after being defeated (opacity also does not update). - Cobalt -> In-game settings -> Clicking ESC button does not close panel. - Colony Panel -> Context menu -> Upgrade button not interactable when can upgrade. - Colony Siege -> Population adds to siege difficulty, instead of multiplying, making it feasible to siege large colonies. - Combat System -> New fleets that enter combat radius do not trigger in combat (this should be done passively). - Cosmic convergence -> Since event is triggered multiple times, duplicate hyperlanes spawn. - Cross-scene -> Hotkeys such as 'E' key are not registered by input manager. - Diplomacy Panel -> Basic tooltips for summary indicators. - Endgame screen -> Defeat -> Exit to menu button is missing. - Endgame screen -> Spectate button returns to menu. - Fleet -> Not visible when in FTL travel. - Fleet -> Trails colours appear white for all empires. - Galactic center -> Supermassive black hole spawns away from center on non-tiny maps. - Game Event Panel -> Asteroid event -> Disconnects client. - Game Event Panel -> Stretched ubiquity inspector panel. - Liberating text appears for 0% (when nothing is being sieged). - Load save -> Breaks game (occurred when loading save of 3 in-game years). - Optimize -> Asteroid fields are very GPU intensive. - Siege -> Does not work for colonies (i.e. capital colonies). - Solace Ship Builder -> Changing turrets disconnects client. - Solace Ship Builder -> Closing lens buttons hides lens buttons. - Solace Ship Builder -> Plays sfx randomly in game. - Space Squids -> Appears as pre-initialized player. - Space squids -> Should not have normal ship ambience sfx. - Space Squids -> Uninitialized without meeting all players. - Starbase Label -> Starbase label for colony shows starbase occupier as owner, when colony is not occupied. - Tips Panel -> Can be closed with ESC. - Tooltips -> Not wrapping correctly. - Turrets -> Don't look correct way (for sideways turrets). - Ubiquity -> Civilian ships have no trails. - Ubiquity -> Combat -> Beam turrets do not fire. - Ubiquity -> Combat -> Pirate ships don't shoot at anything. - Ubiquity -> Combat -> Shields activate when projectile is fired. - Ubiquity -> Combat -> Shields don't toggle when deactivated. - Ubiquity -> Combat -> Ships continue shooting when destroyed. - Ubiquity -> Combat -> Solace ships don't appear as destroyed when destroyed. - Ubiquity -> Combat -> Too many shots are fired from turrets causing lag. - Ubiquity -> Combat -> Trail colours are not applied correctly (sometimes). - Ubiquity -> Construction sparks appear for a few seconds in unclaimed systems. - Ubiquity -> Healing VFX shows after ships have finished healing. - Ubiquity -> Large ship movement is not smooth (use rotation speed ship stats). - Ubiquity -> Light intensity was not rescaled correctly resulting in dark planets next to stars. - Ubiquity -> One-ship fleets appear to not be centered correctly. - Ubiquity -> Orbit lines don't initialize until scroll up. - Ubiquity -> Planet bounds not recalculated when loading save in-game, causing ship pathfinding to break. - Ubiquity -> Ship -> Movement too fast on high FPS. - Ubiquity -> Ships -> Healing VFX -> Sometimes appears wrong colour (until ubiquity is reopened). - Ubiquity -> Space Squids -> Move animation does not play when moving. - Ubiquity -> When ships are in combat, orders can still be visualized. - Ubiquity -> Ships -> No fade between idle and move ambience (removed distinct engine move ambience). - Ubiquity -> Camera -> Map bounds did not cover entire system up to hyperlanes. - Colony Panel -> Building -> Tooltip shows cannot level cap error when acting as foreign business. - Fleet Panel -> Ubiquity inspector for ships displayed ships away from center and with trails. - Game Event Panel -> Current event sometimes uses image of previous event. - Fix: Ship builder -> UI for stats overlaps with turret selection on ultrawide displays. - Fix: Ship builder -> Ambient background does not expand correctly on ultrawide displays. - Fix: Cosmic Convergence -> When event is triggered multiple times, duplicate hyperlanes spawn. - Fix: Star system in the center of the galaxy spawns too high. - Fix: Input FPS practically doubled due to removal of deprecated code. - Fix: Key binding modals don't open assigned panels or show correct hotkeys. - Fix: Configured victory conditions not being respected. - Fix: Colony Siege -> Sieging a colony is unbalanced and completed instantly. - Fix star clan government type tooltip showing empty unique building and primary ability. - Fix: Ubiquity -> 'Object 51' no longer randomly appears in star systems. - Fix: Fleets that are not visible to the player are shown in known Ubiquity system. - Fix: Ubiquity build starbase animation -> not scaled correctly and appears too small. - Fix: Interstellar -> Vaporize links -> Does not go to nearest hyperlane. - Fix: Colony Panel -> Condensed colony building tooltips to address off-screen tooltips. - Fix: Tips panel -> Did not show correct background colors for species avatar. - Fix: Starbase label HUD not being displayed correctly in occupied systems. - Fix: Colony game events did not occur. - Fix: Quest panel -> Does not auto close when click away from panel. - Fix: Global cooling event does not occur. - Events -> Cosmic convergence -> Occurs multiple times. Changed - Change: Decrease star height deviation to prevent them from being under the map. - Changed: Main menu theme 'Planetary Nebula' to 'Beyond the Planets'. - Tweak: Ubiquity -> Solace gunboats are now one third larger. - Tweak: Map generation -> Non-binary systems are now slightly more common than binary systems. - Tweak: Stars -> Now slightly more visible to see them more easily on the map. - Game duration changed to keep the game fresh: - Online Speed -> Game duration went from `25` to `10`. - Fast Speed -> Game duration went from `36` to `20`. - Standard Speed -> Game duration went from `50` to `30`. - Half Speed -> Game duration went from `75` to `40`. - Half Speed -> Game duration went from `100` to `50`. - Upscaled space squid textures to from `1024x1024` to `4096x4096`. - Reduced space entity spawn cap by 2.5x. - Supernova and hypernova game events are now twice as likely to happen. - Map generation -> Stars closer to the galactic center are closer together. - Fleet panel -> Now shows military stats if player is known. - Repeatable techs are now only researchable after all non-repeatable techs are researched. - Tweak: Working class workers now cost `1` gold, and specialists now cost `2` gold in upkeep. - Tweak: Population -> Base growth rate changed from `1/10` to `1/9`. - Added gold to ship upkeep and lowered metals and energy costs for all buildable ships. - UI background now appears darker to blend in with the space background. - 'Asteroid appears' event is now 5x more likely. - I haven't had this event happen while playtesting in a very long time. - Add time manager controls affordance to pause indicator UI. - Tweak: Starport -> Build speed changed to `+50%` for Level 2, and `+100%` for Level 3. Removed - Removed: Old veil nebula VFX (caused too much lag). [/expand] The more readable changelog is available here: newstarsgame.com/changelog [hr][/hr]

Confusion

The biggest thing playtesters have issues with is that the game is confusing/hard to learn, while often noting that the game has enough content. While that is generally a problem shared with the genre, especially 4X games, this is a more long-term problem that will likely not be fully addressed in a single update. If you have played Stellaris, or other similar galactic 4X games however, the game should be naturally easier to understand, however a lot of the mechanics are different and have their own learning curves. This is why accessibility may be a bigger priority, over adding new features for example, in the near future at least.

Multiplayer?

I have not got round to working on multiplayer yet, since I decided to focus on improving the core game. While multiplayer compatible with Steam is already implemented, it is not stable enough to be released yet. The addition of multiplayer support may require hundreds of multiplayer-only bugs fixes, and I already have hundreds of single-player bugs to fix.

Argon - Part 3?

The plan for the last part of the Argon update is to focusing on playability, in order of significance: [olist]

Stability (Bug fixes)

Flow (Balancing)

Accessibility (Improvements to make game less confusing) [/olist] There is more than enough content in the game for early-access. Expansions to the game content can be done after early-access, although the main systems of the game are practically complete. In the past, I have got carried away with adding features, as opposed to fixing bugs. Adding features generally creates a lot of bugs, and sometimes removing features is often an efficient option to fixing/preventing bugs. Even after early-access, there may be an urgent need for hotfixes and improvements, therefore additional content will likely be worked on when things are more stable and if/when players are generally happy with the gameplay. [hr][/hr]

Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Playtest New Stars: adamjr.xyz. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game.

A few features and improvements that have been worked on, such as improvements with the solace ship builder, and bug fixes. October was a relatively slow month of development due to previous IRL events, but those events have passed.

Thank you for 1000 wishlists!

For half of 2023, I thought there were only 20 wishlists and it wasn't changing, but after realizing I was reading the wrong data all along, I was surprised that the real number was actually 50 times higher.

Some improvements have been made with ships...

Ships now go around planets...
Ships now have a destroyed explosion VFX...
Ships now indicate clearly if they are healing...
More changes: newstarsgame.com/changelog.

The last update before (early-access) release...

It is most likely that multiplayer support will be not be worked on for the upcoming early-access release in 2023, as I would rather double down on the core features and focus on getting them right first with mostly bug fixes and tweaks, and mainly focusing on animated combat and VFX for now. Here is how animated combat has evolved since December 2022: First prototype (Dec. 2022):
Second trailer (Apr. 2023):
In Development:
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Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Playtest New Stars: adamjr.xyz. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game. Credits: - Star satellites icon by Lorc under CC BY 3.0

Over the past few weeks, the ship builder has been rebuilt from scratch, and animated combat visuals are now more advanced. Ship models, ship trails, and more have also been upgraded, and the main 'Solace' update features are mostly complete.

New Ship Builder

The ship builder has been rebuilt from scratch.
It now focuses exclusively on turret selection with 13 new turrets to choose from, with more balanced ship stats. You can manage different ship presets, more easily than with the last ship builder, and rename them with ease. You can also randomize preset, simulate combat, and toggle cinematic mode.

Upgraded Ship Models

5 new ship models, with empire branding, and new turrets.




The ship colours are customized to match your empire's theme, and include your empire icon. The ships also have shield VFX which will activate when shields are active and are hit.

Ship Builder - Combat Mode

This will showcase the new turret VFX, which are all unlocked by default (for now), so you can try them all out.
Turrets may have different properties in future updates, and their own technologies to unlock them.

What will happen with old ships models?

Nomadic star clans will use the previous ship models for now, since they seem to match the theme of nomadic space pirates more.
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Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Playtest New Stars: adamjr.xyz. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game. Credits: - Star satellites icon by Lorc under CC BY 3.0

Development has started on the 'Solace' update. It is aims to consolidate the single-player gameplay towards an early-access standard by mostly focusing on bug fixes and refining the core gameplay, along with bringing lots of general improvements.

New Black Holes

No more black spheres. Black holes are now animated and distort light. Old black holes:
New black holes:

New Avatars

No more cute ai-generated creatures. Species avatars have been improved, and should now be more suitable for the sci-fi genre and are also human created. This format of avatars should replace any planned 'animated avatars' (for now at least) due to development constraints, and larger priorities.

Other News

UI Changes

The UI has changed to a cyan colour as 'Cobalt' did not match the gameplay very well. Also, outlines are now more thin. Additionally, new holographic SFX is replacing old sounds to maintain a more consistent and futuristic theme.
There has also been feedback about the icons being too basic, which is mostly true. This was a 'UI art-direction' taken from last year, although I am experimenting with a new style of icons.

Public Playtesting

Public playtesting is underway, and as of writing, 50 players currently have access. If you would like to request access, you can do so on the Steam page. Public-playtesting should continue for the near future, because it's better than no public playtesting, although closed-beta will also continue to provide another much-needed layer of potential feedback.
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Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Playtest New Stars: adamjr.xyz. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game. Credits: - Star satellites icon by Lorc under CC BY 3.0

Public playtesting has started, and access will be granted in small increments. The game will improve based on player feedback during this period. The bug reporting UI has also been added to efficiently report bugs or suggest feedback in-game.

Bug Reporting/Feedback UI

New bug reporting UI where you can suggest feedback or report bugs.

Public Playtesting

I expect public playtesting to last at least a few months, provided it is constructive towards improving the game, and it will be the last step before early-access. The intent is to use feedback to make the right improvements / bug fixes to the game.

Before You Playtest

PC Requirements: You must have a GPU with at least 1GB of dedicated VRAM, otherwise the game will probably crash while starting a game.

What is the current state of the Game?

- Multiplayer is disabled for the until it's playable. - There are currently [spoiler]93[/spoiler] known bugs, none of are known to crash the game, but that may change. - Some special abilities may not work in some scenarios (i.e. raze colony / peacekeeping). - Ship modules may not be 100% balanced. - If the game randomly stops responding to input, saving and reloading the game will likely fix it, but this should not happen often. - Switching scenes between main menu and game constantly may cause thought provoking bugs to occur. - Save the game may result in corrupted saves due to unaccounted for serialization issues, later in the game. - The 'Cobalt' UI apparently does not go well with the game, so it's experimentally a cyan background colour. - The animated combat needs a lot more polishing, although there have been improvements since the last trailer. - Player leaders are placeholders, and will hopefully be improved in the near future, although getting multiplayer to work is a higher priority. - Tips are being improved to be more beginner friendly, so feedback on tips would be helpful. TL;DR Overall, the game should be playable to the end-game years, although timing/pacing tweaks may be needed since the end-game has little playtesting. Expect bugs although they will be fixed eventually. Getting the core gameplay right and is the main priority for now.

What can I give feedback on?

Here are some questions that you can give feedback on. Note that feedback is optional, but it will help inform future updates into improving the game. Questions: - Do you know how to play the game based on the tutorial? - Does the game feel fun to play once you know what to do? - What is the your favourite mechanic, and why? - What is the mechanic that needs the most improvement, and why? Changes may be made based on feedback to further improve the game.

Where can I give feedback?

The preferred method is via the game 'Report Bug' button in the game pause menu, via Steam discussions, or via Discord.

How can I join the playtest?

Via the Steam store page. Access will be granted in small increments.
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Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Playtest New Stars: adamjr.xyz. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game. Credits: - Star satellites icon by Lorc under CC BY 3.0

In the first part of the 'Celestial' update, new animations compliment new special abilities added in the previous update, among other animations such as building starbases and more.

4 New Origins!

Aetheric Sanctifiers, Stellar Nomarchs, Spice Lords, and Abyssal Nomads have been added. These are available to a wider range of playmodes.

Ubiquity: Fleet Formations

Fleet formations have been implemented, and work well with fleets with ships of the same type.

Ubiquity: Animations

Build animations have been added to the game as they were on the TODO list since January.

Ubiquity: Asteroid Belts

Because why not?

Seamless: Fleet Animations

Lets you know what fleets are doing, without needing to check the fleet panel.

16 New Achievements

There are now achievements for winning a game with each origin type, and playmode. There are now 46 total achievements. For the full list of changes, view the changelog. [hr][/hr]

Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. View the Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog. Playtest New Stars: discord.io/adamjr. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game. Credits: - Star satellites icon by Lorc under CC BY 3.0

The biggest New Stars update is here. It combines two large updates into one. 'Interstellar' is for the 8 new playmodes, special abilities, and unique buildings. 'Cobalt' is for the new futurized and animated UI. Here is a detailed changelog of the update.

Added

Interstellar: 8 New Playmodes

Government types are now called 'playmodes' because governments have 2 special abilities or unique origins, and their own unique builiding. [h4]1. Megacorporations[/h4] The power of a megacorporation lies not only in economic might but also in their ability to manipulate politics, negotiate lucrative deals, and establish monopolies.

• Ability: ORDER OF BUSINESS (Purchase rights to build on foreign colonies).
• Ability: FORM MONETARY UNION (Gives economic bonuses).
• Building: LOGISTICS OFFICE (Collect foreign system resources).

[h4]2. Peacekeeping Pacifist[/h4] Peacekeeping pacifists assert their influence on others by enforcing their peace plans. They may peacefully interfere in wars by sending their own peacekeeping fleets to protect star systems.

• Ability: GALACTIC HARMONY ENFORCEMENT (Fleets can peacekeep in systems).
• Ability: PEACE CONVENTIONS (Truces last twice as long).
• Building: PEACEKEEPER ACADEMY (Love thy neighbours).

[h4]3. Alliance Builder[/h4] The Alliance Builder is a diplomatic powerhouse, specializing in forging alliances, maintaining diplomatic relations, and leveraging collective strength for mutual benefit.

• Ability: UNITE THE GALAXY (Form alliances/unions with clans).
• Ability: FORM DIPLOMATIC UNION (Gives opinion and defensive bonuses).
• Building: UNITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS (Love thy allies).

[h4]4. Cooperative Militarist[/h4] Forging a unique path between cooperation and aggression, the Cooperative Militarist emerges as a formidable force on the galactic stage.

• Ability: A UNITED FRONT (Invite other empires to wars).
• Ability: FORM MARTIAL UNION (Gives leader ability to build union fleet).
• Building: FORGE MATRIX (Ship building on steroids).

[h4]5. Hegemonic Subjugator[/h4] A dark and formidable force rises with the advent of the Hegemonic Subjugator.

• Ability: IMPERIAL HOLDINGS (Build on subject colonies).
• Ability: CLAN SERVITUDE (Integrate star clans).
• Building: IMPERIAL CITADEL (Love thy overlord).

[h4]6. Xeno Exterminator[/h4] The Xeno Exterminator embodies a relentless and genocidal crusade against all non-native lifeforms in the galaxy.

• Ability: PURGE DOCTIRNE (Raze worlds).
• Origin: SHATTERED WORLD (Spawn with additional military fleet).
• Building: GENE CLEANSING FACILITY (Cleanses sinful aliens).

[h4]7. Extreme Isolationist[/h4] In the far reaches of the galaxy, the Extreme Isolationist emerges as a testament to the power of seclusion and self-sufficiency.

• Ability: SOLITUDE IMPERATIVE (Builders can destroy system connections).
• Origin: FORGOTTEN OUTPOST (Start with additional colonist).
• Building: SECLUSION NEXUS (Start with additional colonist).

[h4]8. Silent State[/h4] The Silent State wields influence in the galaxy through covert operations and manipulation of behind-the-scenes politics.

• Ability: GALACTIC STEALTH IMPERATIVE (Stealth fleets).
• Origin: SHADOWY NEXUS (Start with intel bonus).
• Building: STEALTH OPERATIONS CENTER (Hide colony from other empires).

Interstellar: Unions

Unions are galactic federations, and allow specialized alliances with their own bonuses. [h4]1. Economic Union[/h4] Gives economic modifiers to members. [h4]2. Diplomatic Union[/h4] Gives diplomatic, and defensive modifiers to members. [h4]3. Martial Union[/h4] Allows the leader to build union fleets. Gives offensive modifiers to members.

Interstellar: Origins

[h4]1. Lost Colony[/h4] Start with one additional population, housing building, and minerals building.
[h4]2. Shattered World[/h4] Start with a full gunboat fleet.
[h4]3. Forgotten Outpost[/h4] Start with an additional colonist fleet.
[h4]4. Shadowy Nexus[/h4] Start with intel of 3 nearby empire capitals.

Fleet: Quantum Distortion

- Basically a 'jump drive'; Allows travel without using known routes in a limited radius. - Counters extreme isolationists and allows travel between isolated clusters. - Has it's own technology which is unlocked after frigate ships.

New 'Cobalt' UI

- The UI has been 'futurized' with animations. - Cobalt is the name of the primary colour of the UI. [h4]New Main Menu[/h4] - Select empire icon replaces randomization. - Select species avatar replaces randomization. - Select playmode with description panel.

[h4]New Settings[/h4] - Customizable keybinds. - A lot more graphical customization - Detailed summary of each settings input.

[h4]New Everything[/h4] Every UI panel has changed, so you will have to play the game for yourself to see it.


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Changed

Tweaks

• Special resources are more equally distributed across the map. - Void worlds now generate much more often, as antimatter was extremely rare. - Class O stars have a higher chance to spawn.
• Most base resources have been increased from +5, to +10 per month. - Momentum at the start of the game is now faster, as it took a while to get started previously.
• Peaceful clans now have one agenda. - This is so you can now meet conditions for open-borders with peaceful clans.
• Colonists now take 180 days to build, instead of 60.
• Game duration now affects logistical pacing. - Time to build fleets or colony buildings is scaled based on duration. - Resource costs are not currently affected, although this may change. - Exploration is constant on all speeds.
• Starter colonies, regardless of origin, start with an additional food building and 2 population. - Like in Civilization, colony starvation is localized to the colony. - This means that if a colony has a food deficit it will slowly lose population. - The extra population ensures that food is produced immediately.
• Each population uses 0.25 food instead of 1 food. - This means each food building job supports 4 population.

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Fixed

• AI military now works with merge/split.
• Game lacked special abilities or unique playstyles (i.e. all governments were too similar).
• Colony building is unbalanced (numbers need tweaking).
• Fleets go hidden in wormhole systems.
• Star system simulation have some graphical issues (lighting, star graphical artifacts etc.)
• Monthly updates are laggy and unoptimized, especially with AI.
• Simulated combat is inconsistent, and buggy.
• Seamless claims now fill correctly.

and many more random bugs...

Thank you for 937 wishlists!

It turns out I was reading that the game had '20' wishlists for most of the year, when in fact it was almost 50x higher. This update would not have been possible without your support.

Future Updates

New Stars has been in intensive development for almost 16 months, which includes almost 3,000 hours of development (according to Steam). This game was originally planned to take one year or less, for an early-access release, but the scope of the game was extended largely due to increased interest in the game. This means the game is better than originally planned. Now, there are a few more features to work on before and during early-access:

• Fleet Formations - not yet implemented.
• Improved VFX and SFX - more animations, better animated combat etc.
• Animated Avatars - these will probably be the most expensive assets, but the current placeholder image avatars are unanimated and uncool.
• Multiplayer Support - not fully implemented; focusing on core single-player gameplay first.

After adding these features, plus or minus multiplayer support, and the gameplay is deemed stable and is enjoyable during public playtesting, with validation of core areas of the game, it should be ready for early-access. In the December 2022 trailer, '2023' was the intended release year for early-access. I still plan to stick with that year. Changelog: newstarsgame.com/changelog [hr][/hr]

Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. Playtest New Stars: discord.io/adamjr. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game. Credits: - Star satellites icon by Lorc under CC BY 3.0

The fourth and last part of the 'Interstellar' update focuses on isolationist empires. Separate yourself from unfriendly aliens by destroying connections to your systems with extreme isolationists, or stay hidden in stealth mode with silent states.

Extreme Isolationist

In the far reaches of the galaxy, the Extreme Isolationist emerges as a testament to the power of seclusion and self-sufficiency.

Ability: SOLITUDE IMPERATIVE

[h4]Builders can destroy hyperlanes, and vaporize portals.[/h4] [expand type=details] Considerations: - It takes one in-game year to destroy hyperlanes, wormholes, or whiteholes. - Due to the immense energy required to alter the fabric of space, only one can be destroyed at a time. Strength: Prevents fleets from advancing. Weakness: Expensive; It also blocks travel for themselves. [/expand]

Unique Origin: FORGOTTEN OUTPOST

[h4]Start with an additional colonist fleet.[/h4]
[expand type=details]
[/expand]

Unique Building: SECLUSION NEXUS

This imposing structure represents a complete withdrawal from external influences and a commitment to self-sufficiency and autonomy. [expand type=details]
Jobs: Seclusionist (Produces: +1 Energy, +1 Minerals, +1 Metals, +1 Food, +1 Science) Bonus: +100% Amenities, 100% Suitability. Additional +1 Power if built in colony adjacent to capital. Restrictions: Non-stackable. The Seclusion Nexus is a secluded and heavily fortified complex, serving as a retreat and refuge for the Extreme Isolationist government. In their quest for isolation and independence, the Extreme Isolationist constructs the Seclusion Nexus as a haven of seclusion and self-sufficiency. This heavily fortified complex is hidden away from prying eyes, providing refuge and security for the government's leaders and select individuals. Within its walls, the Extreme Isolationist government can pursue their agenda of self-reliance, free from external interference. The Seclusion Nexus represents the government's commitment to maintaining distance from the outside world, embracing solitude, and safeguarding their unique way of life. [/expand] [hr][/hr]

Silent State

The Silent State wields influence in the galaxy through covert operations and manipulation of behind-the-scenes politics.

Ability: GALACTIC STEALTH INITIATIVE

[h4]Your fleets can activate stealth mode, making it invisible to other empires.[/h4] [expand type=details] Considerations: - Speed is halved while active. - Stealth mode is ineffective during combat. - Combat can still be triggered if an enemy fleet travels within combat range. - Fleets in stealth mode cannot be seen by other empires whilst in unclaimed territory. - Military and civilian fleets can activate stealth mode. Strength: Element of surprise; hide your fleet actions and movement. Weakness: In stealth mode, ships are slower and more vulnerable. [/expand]

Unique Origin: SHADOWY NEXUS

[h4]Start with intel of three nearby empire capitals.[/h4]
[expand type=details]
[/expand]

Unique Building: STEALTH OPERATIONS CENTER

This highly secure and secretive facility operates discreetly, hidden from prying eyes, and acts as the nerve center for the silent state's covert operations. [expand type=details]
Jobs: 1x Stealth Operative (Produces: +3 Science, -3 Energy) Bonus: Conceals colony as an uncolonized world to other empires. Restrictions: Non-stackable. The Stealth Operations Center is a clandestine facility dedicated to covert intelligence gathering and espionage activities. In the shadows of secrecy, the Silent State establishes the Stealth Operations Center to protect the colony's interests through covert means. This highly secure and technologically advanced facility houses skilled agents who specialize in intelligence gathering, sabotage, and espionage. Operating under a veil of secrecy, these operatives gather valuable information, neutralize threats, and advance the colony's agenda without attracting undue attention. The Stealth Operations Center embodies the Silent State's preference for subtlety and secrecy, utilizing covert operations as a means to maintain control and protect their sovereignty. [/expand] [hr][/hr]

Other Changes

Peacekeeping Pacifist: PEACE CONVENTIONS

Peacekeeping pacifists were missing something, so now truces last twice as long with peacekeeping pacifists.

Advanced AI Chat

The AI now has 1200 different chat combinations, depending on the government type, attitude and relationship. This should add lots of depth to AI interaction.

Tweaks

• Increased base monthly resources from +5 to +10
• Players start with 100 power, instead of 50

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Conclusion

This was the 'Interstellar' update - the biggest New Stars update. It was the most planned update and required the addition of hundreds of unit tests. Special abilities and bonuses mentioned are subject to tweaks. The update features will still need additional playtesting, along with some more AI tweaks. More details including the changelog may be provided in the near future when the update is ready for closed-beta release. [hr][/hr]

Stay tuned for more updates...

Feel free to comment your suggestions below. Playtest New Stars: discord.io/adamjr. Wishlist New Stars to support development. This page is intended to be a development preview, which may not reflect the final state of the game. Credits: - Star satellites icon by Lorc under CC BY 3.0