Our first expansion, Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds, is now officially out on steam! Purchase it for $9,99 from the steam store page.
Along with the release of the expansion, the base game has received an update to version 2.0.0 containing a number of fixes and improvements. You can read about some of the main changes to the game below: Graphics

• Added a number of new post processing graphics options, including Bloom, Godrays and Chromatic Aberration.
• Many many more improvements to shaders and and lighting to improve graphics quality
• The visual surface of planets is now actually rendered to match the biome tile grid from the planet overlay. City lights will automatically appear where buildings are!

AI

• The AI has received numerous improvements to how it plays the game. Please report any bugs you find in its new behavior!
• You can now determine whether an AI is aggressive, passive and biased against humans separately from difficulty.
• You can now set the particular ways an AI cheats and how much it cheats at them.

UI

• The open tabs, quickbars, and camera location are now saved and restored when you load a game.
• Improved the planet requirement UI on the bottom left of the planet overlay.
• Added a Replace tool to the ship designer that replaces the subsystem you click on the design with the type of subsystem you have selected while keeping the same size.

Races & FTLs

• Mechanoid population above 1 now provides 2 labor, but population above the maximum no longer provides any.
• Tweaked the income values of mechanoid planets over population so they don't jump up and down as much.
• Fling Beacons now cost FTL energy to construct and have a small FTL upkeep.
• Tweaked the cost and duration of opening slipstreams based on the size of the generator.

Notable Fixes

• Fixed exploit for exporting labor more than once.
• Fixed exploit with Frugal trait where planets could be Level 2 without any tier 1 resources.

Note to Modders You will need to mark your mod as compatible with this version after you have update it to be so. To do this, either use the ingame Mod Editor to select a Compatibility value of 200, or add the following line to your modinfo.txt: Compatibility: 200 Any mods that haven't added this line will be automatically disabled on game start. Users can forcibly re-enable these mods if they want to, but are warned that the mods are incompatible and may break their game.

[ 2016-04-22 17:00:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Our first expansion, Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds, is now officially out on steam! Purchase it for $9,99 from the steam store page.
Along with the release of the expansion, the base game has received an update to version 2.0.0 containing a number of fixes and improvements. You can read about some of the main changes to the game below: Graphics

• Added a number of new post processing graphics options, including Bloom, Godrays and Chromatic Aberration.
• Many many more improvements to shaders and and lighting to improve graphics quality
• The visual surface of planets is now actually rendered to match the biome tile grid from the planet overlay. City lights will automatically appear where buildings are!

AI

• The AI has received numerous improvements to how it plays the game. Please report any bugs you find in its new behavior!
• You can now determine whether an AI is aggressive, passive and biased against humans separately from difficulty.
• You can now set the particular ways an AI cheats and how much it cheats at them.

UI

• The open tabs, quickbars, and camera location are now saved and restored when you load a game.
• Improved the planet requirement UI on the bottom left of the planet overlay.
• Added a Replace tool to the ship designer that replaces the subsystem you click on the design with the type of subsystem you have selected while keeping the same size.

Races & FTLs

• Mechanoid population above 1 now provides 2 labor, but population above the maximum no longer provides any.
• Tweaked the income values of mechanoid planets over population so they don't jump up and down as much.
• Fling Beacons now cost FTL energy to construct and have a small FTL upkeep.
• Tweaked the cost and duration of opening slipstreams based on the size of the generator.

Notable Fixes

• Fixed exploit for exporting labor more than once.
• Fixed exploit with Frugal trait where planets could be Level 2 without any tier 1 resources.

Note to Modders You will need to mark your mod as compatible with this version after you have update it to be so. To do this, either use the ingame Mod Editor to select a Compatibility value of 200, or add the following line to your modinfo.txt: Compatibility: 200 Any mods that haven't added this line will be automatically disabled on game start. Users can forcibly re-enable these mods if they want to, but are warned that the mods are incompatible and may break their game.

[ 2016-04-22 17:00:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds releases tomorrow, Friday April 22nd! You can read our final feature higlight about the second new race, "The First", below.

The First

Although their once great empire is gone, reduced to nothing but remnants by the ravages of time, the minds of those who chose to live forever still carry on. The planet Atrozal, hollowed out and brimming in circuitry; where a trillion souls discarded their bodies to be part of the final dream of the ancients. The First care little for the physical world, yet the arrival of the Heralds spells a threat even their paradise does not escape. Send out massive orbital replicators to find raw materials and convert entire planets into automated refinery worlds and computation hubs. The entire weight of this galaxy must be unified if we hope to stand a chance of surviving.

Silicon Continent

Because the First are a fully virtual race, they do not have any population or civilian infrastructure or any of that messy stuff. Instead, their planets are covered from top to bottom in industry and circuitry, each part performing the valuable task it was programmed to do.
The First have an entirely different set of buildings to place, and placing buildings is the only way they can make use of resource pressures. Having little use for food, luxuries or infrastructure, all planets are immediately at the level their resource requires, no lower and no higher.

Replicators

Rather than colony ships, the First take control of planets by using their Orbital Replicators. These giant orbitals filled with specialized manufacturing hardware and fitted with specialized thrusters can rapidly replicate and assemble entire factories for placement on the planet they are orbiting.
In order to control a planet, an Orbital Replicator must be moved to it. Only planets that have a replicator orbiting it can build any buildings.

Base Materials

One of the functions of the Orbital Replicator is placing enormous Transmuters on various planets. When the First deem a resource useless, such as food, they instead decide to convert the resource and the matter on the planet itself into Base Materials for further use in replication.
When a resource has been converted to base materials it can then be exported to a different planet. Various buildings require the continuous consumption of imported base materials to operate, so you will need to convert many different planets to fuel your industry.

Omake: AI Settings

The AI has received a number of improvements to how it plays the game, and you can now control parts of its behavior during game setup. You can also determine exactly in what way and how much an AI cheats, if you feel like teaming up for a comp stomp or just want a bigger challenge. Note that the AI improvements and settings will be available to all players through an update to the base game, and will not require the expansion to be purchased.

Multiplayer

In order to allow people to play multiplayer with as many others as possible, the expansion content automatically gets unlocked in multiplayer depending only on if the host player has the expansion installed. So even if you don't own the expansion, hop into a multiplayer game hosted by someone who does and you will be free to try out any of the new stuff!

[ 2016-04-21 17:41:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds releases tomorrow, Friday April 22nd! You can read our final feature higlight about the second new race, "The First", below.

The First

Although their once great empire is gone, reduced to nothing but remnants by the ravages of time, the minds of those who chose to live forever still carry on. The planet Atrozal, hollowed out and brimming in circuitry; where a trillion souls discarded their bodies to be part of the final dream of the ancients. The First care little for the physical world, yet the arrival of the Heralds spells a threat even their paradise does not escape. Send out massive orbital replicators to find raw materials and convert entire planets into automated refinery worlds and computation hubs. The entire weight of this galaxy must be unified if we hope to stand a chance of surviving.

Silicon Continent

Because the First are a fully virtual race, they do not have any population or civilian infrastructure or any of that messy stuff. Instead, their planets are covered from top to bottom in industry and circuitry, each part performing the valuable task it was programmed to do.
The First have an entirely different set of buildings to place, and placing buildings is the only way they can make use of resource pressures. Having little use for food, luxuries or infrastructure, all planets are immediately at the level their resource requires, no lower and no higher.

Replicators

Rather than colony ships, the First take control of planets by using their Orbital Replicators. These giant orbitals filled with specialized manufacturing hardware and fitted with specialized thrusters can rapidly replicate and assemble entire factories for placement on the planet they are orbiting.
In order to control a planet, an Orbital Replicator must be moved to it. Only planets that have a replicator orbiting it can build any buildings.

Base Materials

One of the functions of the Orbital Replicator is placing enormous Transmuters on various planets. When the First deem a resource useless, such as food, they instead decide to convert the resource and the matter on the planet itself into Base Materials for further use in replication.
When a resource has been converted to base materials it can then be exported to a different planet. Various buildings require the continuous consumption of imported base materials to operate, so you will need to convert many different planets to fuel your industry.

Omake: AI Settings

The AI has received a number of improvements to how it plays the game, and you can now control parts of its behavior during game setup. You can also determine exactly in what way and how much an AI cheats, if you feel like teaming up for a comp stomp or just want a bigger challenge. Note that the AI improvements and settings will be available to all players through an update to the base game, and will not require the expansion to be purchased.

Multiplayer

In order to allow people to play multiplayer with as many others as possible, the expansion content automatically gets unlocked in multiplayer depending only on if the host player has the expansion installed. So even if you don't own the expansion, hop into a multiplayer game hosted by someone who does and you will be free to try out any of the new stuff!

[ 2016-04-21 17:41:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds releases this April 22nd! We will be posting feature highlight posts every few days until the release.

The Invasion

In the new Invasion map, you are tasked with defending your isolated part of the galaxy from waves of ruthless invaders. Empires cannot declare war on each other in this co-operative map, but diplomatic trickery is of course still advised!
You start the game with your home system surrounded by 3 systems containing allied remnant defense stations. These stations were set up a long time ago to protect the galaxy from outside threats, and are vital in preventing the invaders from gaining access to the galaxy. Each system has 3 defense stations. If all of them are destroyed, the sytem will explode. If all three of the systems you are tasked with defending are gone, your empire will explode! No pressure.
When playing invasion, your flagships will not have any maintenance costs, so you can be free to build up your force to meet the waves of invaders.

Artifact Shards

Whenever you succesfully defeat a wave of invaders, they will drop an Artifact Shard. Unlike normal artifacts, these do not cost any energy to activate.
In addition to their normal use, each artifact shard also has a secondary, more powerful, way to use it. Choosing this is option is risky, however, as it increases the strength of the invaders for everyone in the game.

Omake: The Senate Leader

Through the Election influence card, or the Open Election diplomacy event, you can win a diplomatic vote in order to be named the new Galactic Senate Leader. Being the senate leader allows you play several new restricted cards with powerful effects, as well as opening the path to obtaining an influence victory!

[ 2016-04-19 18:27:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds releases this April 22nd! We will be posting feature highlight posts every few days until the release.

The Invasion

In the new Invasion map, you are tasked with defending your isolated part of the galaxy from waves of ruthless invaders. Empires cannot declare war on each other in this co-operative map, but diplomatic trickery is of course still advised!
You start the game with your home system surrounded by 3 systems containing allied remnant defense stations. These stations were set up a long time ago to protect the galaxy from outside threats, and are vital in preventing the invaders from gaining access to the galaxy. Each system has 3 defense stations. If all of them are destroyed, the sytem will explode. If all three of the systems you are tasked with defending are gone, your empire will explode! No pressure.
When playing invasion, your flagships will not have any maintenance costs, so you can be free to build up your force to meet the waves of invaders.

Artifact Shards

Whenever you succesfully defeat a wave of invaders, they will drop an Artifact Shard. Unlike normal artifacts, these do not cost any energy to activate.
In addition to their normal use, each artifact shard also has a secondary, more powerful, way to use it. Choosing this is option is risky, however, as it increases the strength of the invaders for everyone in the game.

Omake: The Senate Leader

Through the Election influence card, or the Open Election diplomacy event, you can win a diplomatic vote in order to be named the new Galactic Senate Leader. Being the senate leader allows you play several new restricted cards with powerful effects, as well as opening the path to obtaining an influence victory!

[ 2016-04-19 18:27:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds releases this April 22nd! We will be posting feature highlight posts every few days until the release.

The Cut of Your Jib

In vanilla Star Ruler 2, all of the properties of your race are decided by the traits you choose before the game starts. In Wake of the Heralds, you can further customize what you think your empire should be like using the new Attitudes mechanic.
Attitudes level up as you perform specific tasks over the course of the game, each level giving you new benefits for your empire to use. Attitudes have very powerful effects when fully leveled, so be sure to take note of what each new attitude you take requires you to do!

Picking Opposites

You can take additional attitudes on top of your starting one at any time. Each subsequest attitude will cost more influence points to take, however.
As you can see, the possible attitudes are arranged in pairs of opposites. Taking an attitude prevents you from taking its opposite unless you discard it first! Taking Stable, pictured above, will require you to develop a multitude of planets to a high level at once, and prevents you from taking its opposite, Progressive.

Leveling It Up

As you meet your chosen Attitude's level up requirements, you will start to unlock its boosts and effects for your empire.

Omake: Flagship Veterancy

Also new this expansion: Ship Veterancy! Whenever one of your fleets destroys an enemy flagship, it gains experience, eventually leveling up to a higher Veterancy status. Ships with Veterancy have more health and perform better in combat, so be sure to train your fleets well.

[ 2016-04-17 19:56:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds releases this April 22nd! We will be posting feature highlight posts every few days until the release.

The Cut of Your Jib

In vanilla Star Ruler 2, all of the properties of your race are decided by the traits you choose before the game starts. In Wake of the Heralds, you can further customize what you think your empire should be like using the new Attitudes mechanic.
Attitudes level up as you perform specific tasks over the course of the game, each level giving you new benefits for your empire to use. Attitudes have very powerful effects when fully leveled, so be sure to take note of what each new attitude you take requires you to do!

Picking Opposites

You can take additional attitudes on top of your starting one at any time. Each subsequest attitude will cost more influence points to take, however.
As you can see, the possible attitudes are arranged in pairs of opposites. Taking an attitude prevents you from taking its opposite unless you discard it first! Taking Stable, pictured above, will require you to develop a multitude of planets to a high level at once, and prevents you from taking its opposite, Progressive.

Leveling It Up

As you meet your chosen Attitude's level up requirements, you will start to unlock its boosts and effects for your empire.

Omake: Flagship Veterancy

Also new this expansion: Ship Veterancy! Whenever one of your fleets destroys an enemy flagship, it gains experience, eventually leveling up to a higher Veterancy status. Ships with Veterancy have more health and perform better in combat, so be sure to train your fleets well.

[ 2016-04-17 19:56:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're happy to announce that the expansion, Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds will be releasing this April 22nd! We'll be posting feature highlights posts every few days until the release, starting with this very one!

The Heralds

For as long as the records recount, the Heralds have been on the run. Chased by an unknown entity, the Heralds jump from galaxy to galaxy as entire star systems vanish in their wake, as if consumed by the blackness of space itself. Each new galaxy saves their species from extinction for a short time more. While impermanent, the people of the heralds learn to appreciate each new planet they settle, and live in hope of one day finding a place where they can end their journey. Guide the evacuation from the previous galaxy as rickety refugee ships dare the perilous intergalactic jumps to one of your jump stabilization beacons. Send resources back home to gain benefits from the last vestiges of your crumbling civilization as you prepare to deal with your new neighbours.

Entering the Galaxy

Unlike all the other races, the Heralds don't have a designated home system. Instead, your three starting Beacons are scattered across three different systems in the galaxy, each marking the start of a Heralds beachhead. Although the Beacons themselves connect your separate territories for resource trade, being spread out across the galaxy means you'll have to be mindful of your many neighbours!

Intergalactic Refugees

Playing the Heralds, you do not grow population or colonize planets yourself. Instead, Refugee Ships will automatically jump into the galaxy and land on nearby planets, bringing them under your control. You will still need to make use of and distribute the resources that your refugees land on, so be sure to be on the lookout when a ship jumps in.

Aid from Home

Certain types of resources can be sent back to your home galaxy by exporting them to one of your Beacons. The pressures from those resources will then slowly build up Support points on your beacon, and you can spend this Support on a number of useful benefits for your beacons and empire.

Jumpdrives

The Heralds make use of a new type of FTL called Jumpdrives. Like Hyperdrives, they require a subsystem on a ship to be used. Jumpdrives have a short charge time, after which the jump to their destination is instantaneous. There is, however, a maximum safe distance a ship can jump, determined by the size of the jumpdrive subsystem on its design.
Jumping beyond the red line pictured here is quite possible, but risks doing catastrophic damage to the ships in the process. Jump too far past it and your ship will make it to the destination only to explode in a giant ball of plasma. Since the Heralds' Beacons are jump stabilizers, jumping to a system where you have a Beacon is always completely safe, regardless of the distance of the jump.

[ 2016-04-15 17:47:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're happy to announce that the expansion, Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds will be releasing this April 22nd! We'll be posting feature highlights posts every few days until the release, starting with this very one!

The Heralds

For as long as the records recount, the Heralds have been on the run. Chased by an unknown entity, the Heralds jump from galaxy to galaxy as entire star systems vanish in their wake, as if consumed by the blackness of space itself. Each new galaxy saves their species from extinction for a short time more. While impermanent, the people of the heralds learn to appreciate each new planet they settle, and live in hope of one day finding a place where they can end their journey. Guide the evacuation from the previous galaxy as rickety refugee ships dare the perilous intergalactic jumps to one of your jump stabilization beacons. Send resources back home to gain benefits from the last vestiges of your crumbling civilization as you prepare to deal with your new neighbours.

Entering the Galaxy

Unlike all the other races, the Heralds don't have a designated home system. Instead, your three starting Beacons are scattered across three different systems in the galaxy, each marking the start of a Heralds beachhead. Although the Beacons themselves connect your separate territories for resource trade, being spread out across the galaxy means you'll have to be mindful of your many neighbours!

Intergalactic Refugees

Playing the Heralds, you do not grow population or colonize planets yourself. Instead, Refugee Ships will automatically jump into the galaxy and land on nearby planets, bringing them under your control. You will still need to make use of and distribute the resources that your refugees land on, so be sure to be on the lookout when a ship jumps in.

Aid from Home

Certain types of resources can be sent back to your home galaxy by exporting them to one of your Beacons. The pressures from those resources will then slowly build up Support points on your beacon, and you can spend this Support on a number of useful benefits for your beacons and empire.

Jumpdrives

The Heralds make use of a new type of FTL called Jumpdrives. Like Hyperdrives, they require a subsystem on a ship to be used. Jumpdrives have a short charge time, after which the jump to their destination is instantaneous. There is, however, a maximum safe distance a ship can jump, determined by the size of the jumpdrive subsystem on its design.
Jumping beyond the red line pictured here is quite possible, but risks doing catastrophic damage to the ships in the process. Jump too far past it and your ship will make it to the destination only to explode in a giant ball of plasma. Since the Heralds' Beacons are jump stabilizers, jumping to a system where you have a Beacon is always completely safe, regardless of the distance of the jump.

[ 2016-04-15 17:47:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

We just released our first minor content update for Star Ruler 2 since release. As always, read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full changelog.

Research Web Overhaul

The research grid and associated graphics have been completely redone, making research paths and unlocks clearer and easier to use.

Quantum Batteries

The new quantum battery modifier can be used to partially satisfy a subsystem's power needs, but needs to be charged with your empire's Energy when constructed.

Additional Race Traits

A number of new race traits have been added, based on a point buy system. Every race starts with 1 free trait point to spend, and all of the default races have been given an additional default trait choice to make use of it.

Full Changelog

Added

• Overhauled the research grid to be more readable and easier to use.
• Added a number of positive and negative traits that can be selected in race customization. Races can pick one free positive trait, and all of the default races have been given an extra bonus trait.
• Added Quantum Battery modifier.
• Added Shield Hardener subsystem.

Changed

Larger weapons now have comparatively longer reload times.

Rebalanced various values on weapon types.

Terraforming now gets more expensive the further away from the labor source you queue it.

Control Computers now give a scaling effectiveness bonus for the first 30 seconds of any combat. Fixed

• Fixed being able to construct motherships that make money.
• Fixed being able to construct singularity labs in nebulas.

[ 2015-05-12 19:51:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

We just released our first minor content update for Star Ruler 2 since release. As always, read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full changelog.

Research Web Overhaul

The research grid and associated graphics have been completely redone, making research paths and unlocks clearer and easier to use.

Quantum Batteries

The new quantum battery modifier can be used to partially satisfy a subsystem's power needs, but needs to be charged with your empire's Energy when constructed.

Additional Race Traits

A number of new race traits have been added, based on a point buy system. Every race starts with 1 free trait point to spend, and all of the default races have been given an additional default trait choice to make use of it.

Full Changelog

Added

• Overhauled the research grid to be more readable and easier to use.
• Added a number of positive and negative traits that can be selected in race customization. Races can pick one free positive trait, and all of the default races have been given an extra bonus trait.
• Added Quantum Battery modifier.
• Added Shield Hardener subsystem.

Changed

Larger weapons now have comparatively longer reload times.

Rebalanced various values on weapon types.

Terraforming now gets more expensive the further away from the labor source you queue it.

Control Computers now give a scaling effectiveness bonus for the first 30 seconds of any combat. Fixed

• Fixed being able to construct motherships that make money.
• Fixed being able to construct singularity labs in nebulas.

[ 2015-05-12 19:51:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

We released another small patch with various bugfixes, bumping the version to v1.0.1 this time. Fixed

• Self Destruct subsystem can no longer erroneously use weapon modifiers like the payload amplifier.
• Fix allondium level 5 effect not affecting the proper values.
• Fix auto-import when playing Mono queueing up food and water.
• Fix Mono UI showing extra population needed for level 1 for tier 0 resources that cannot be upgraded.
• Fix built Planetary Thrusters breaking when loading a saved game.
• Dragging resources to export should now be easier, holding the left mouse on an object no longer creates a tooltip. (Old behavior can be restored with a setting)

Changed

• Asteroid mining bases that you no longer have trade access to are lost and revert to their unmined state.
• Bulkheads and Targeting Sensors can now be used on support ships.
• Ablative Armor can now be used on support ships.
• Ablative Armor now has a massively increased damage resistance against lasers/energy weapons.
• Laser/Energy damage is now more vulnerable to being blocked by armor. (DR can reduce laser damage down to 1% of its original damage, rather than the minimum of 20% for other damage types)
• Increase the health of all weapon turret hexes.
• Self Destruct subsystem now requires power to put on the ship.
• The rotation/spinning of planets and other objects on the UI can now be turned off via a game option.
• Added new models used for various orbital stations.

AI

• Fix the AI not always using its starting ships and scouts.
• Fix a bug that broke the Mono AI.
• Improve savage AI logic to build stronger fleets.

[ 2015-04-09 22:50:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

We released another small patch with various bugfixes, bumping the version to v1.0.1 this time. Fixed

• Self Destruct subsystem can no longer erroneously use weapon modifiers like the payload amplifier.
• Fix allondium level 5 effect not affecting the proper values.
• Fix auto-import when playing Mono queueing up food and water.
• Fix Mono UI showing extra population needed for level 1 for tier 0 resources that cannot be upgraded.
• Fix built Planetary Thrusters breaking when loading a saved game.
• Dragging resources to export should now be easier, holding the left mouse on an object no longer creates a tooltip. (Old behavior can be restored with a setting)

Changed

• Asteroid mining bases that you no longer have trade access to are lost and revert to their unmined state.
• Bulkheads and Targeting Sensors can now be used on support ships.
• Ablative Armor can now be used on support ships.
• Ablative Armor now has a massively increased damage resistance against lasers/energy weapons.
• Laser/Energy damage is now more vulnerable to being blocked by armor. (DR can reduce laser damage down to 1% of its original damage, rather than the minimum of 20% for other damage types)
• Increase the health of all weapon turret hexes.
• Self Destruct subsystem now requires power to put on the ship.
• The rotation/spinning of planets and other objects on the UI can now be turned off via a game option.
• Added new models used for various orbital stations.

AI

• Fix the AI not always using its starting ships and scouts.
• Fix a bug that broke the Mono AI.
• Improve savage AI logic to build stronger fleets.

[ 2015-04-09 22:50:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Ruler 2 is Now Available on Steam!

Massive scale 4X-RTS set in space. Control hundreds of planets, manipulate galactic politics, research numerous advanced technologies, and command thousands of units and hundreds of planets in your quest for galactic dominance.

[ 2015-03-27 18:45:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

As we ramp up for Star Ruler 2 leaving Early Access with the release of our v1.0.0 build, we'd like to thank everyone who participated in making SR2's beta phase a success. Your feedback and suggestions have been crucial in helping us shape this 4X RTS strategy game into something we're very proud of! As always with our updates, you can read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog.

Megaconstruction

A number of new technologies have been added containing new megaconstructions to build. Megaconstructions require the mining of ore from asteroids, and culminate in the construction of your very own Ringworlds:

More Shipsets!

In addition to new enhancements to the Volkur shipset, two new shipsets each with many new ship models have been added.

Support Behaviors

Support ships can now be designed to follow one of several preset behaviors. When equipped with ammo stores, certain behaviors also let your support ships temporarily detach from the fleet and perform independent raids on the enemy fleet!

Full Changelog

Added

• Added support ship behaviors
• Mono and Nylli can use "Colonize this" automation.
• Mono can build FTL breeder reactor building.
• Add Mining Laser, Cargo Storage, Ore Processor, Construction Bay and Liquid Armor subsystems.
• Add Space Elevator building.
• The AI now tells you how it feels about you on the diplomacy screen. Hover over the mask showing its mood to get a more detailed breakdown.
• Add a keybind to tell a fleet to cancel all orders and stop moving.
• Added various new models for different types of objects.
• Add Coolant System, Payload Amplifier and Smoothed Mechanism weapon modifiers.
• Add Artificial Planetoid, Star Forge and Vacuum Telescope megaconstructions.
• Feyh ships must now contain Shrines for the crew to pray at. Praying shields the ship from harm. (Thanks Darloth!)
• Updated Volkur shipset with new PBR shaders and a bunch more models!
• Added Ringworlds!
• Pressing 'z' will zoom to the currently selected object and follow it with the camera until you pan.
• Added two new Shipsets, 'Mechanica' and 'Moirai'!

Changed

• Gates are now designable stations.
• Mono FTL cost for population transfer takes into account gates, tears and wormholes.
• Cyllium now rotates a variable number of artifacts that expire.
• FTL Crystals level 4 and 5 abilities are swapped.
• Planet support capacity now depends on and increases with planet level.
• Some asteroids now contain Ore that needs to be mined with mining lasers.
• Destroying a Black Hole now causes much more widespread destruction.
• Tractor beams now work when passing through wormholes, slipstream tears or gates.
• Engine types and size now affect ship turn rate. If only using graviton engines, the ship does not need to turn to move.
• Updates some music tracks.

Fixed

• Mono can't transfer population while being annexed.

AI

• Various improvements to the designs the AI creates.
• AI now builds asteroid mining bases.
• AI can use all FTL types.
• AI can use all races.
• The AI's diplomatic actions will be influenced by how you interact with it and its allies and enemies.

[ 2015-03-24 00:18:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

As we ramp up for Star Ruler 2 leaving Early Access with the release of our v1.0.0 build, we'd like to thank everyone who participated in making SR2's beta phase a success. Your feedback and suggestions have been crucial in helping us shape this 4X RTS strategy game into something we're very proud of! As always with our updates, you can read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog.

Megaconstruction

A number of new technologies have been added containing new megaconstructions to build. Megaconstructions require the mining of ore from asteroids, and culminate in the construction of your very own Ringworlds:

More Shipsets!

In addition to new enhancements to the Volkur shipset, two new shipsets each with many new ship models have been added.

Support Behaviors

Support ships can now be designed to follow one of several preset behaviors. When equipped with ammo stores, certain behaviors also let your support ships temporarily detach from the fleet and perform independent raids on the enemy fleet!

Full Changelog

Added

• Added support ship behaviors
• Mono and Nylli can use "Colonize this" automation.
• Mono can build FTL breeder reactor building.
• Add Mining Laser, Cargo Storage, Ore Processor, Construction Bay and Liquid Armor subsystems.
• Add Space Elevator building.
• The AI now tells you how it feels about you on the diplomacy screen. Hover over the mask showing its mood to get a more detailed breakdown.
• Add a keybind to tell a fleet to cancel all orders and stop moving.
• Added various new models for different types of objects.
• Add Coolant System, Payload Amplifier and Smoothed Mechanism weapon modifiers.
• Add Artificial Planetoid, Star Forge and Vacuum Telescope megaconstructions.
• Feyh ships must now contain Shrines for the crew to pray at. Praying shields the ship from harm. (Thanks Darloth!)
• Updated Volkur shipset with new PBR shaders and a bunch more models!
• Added Ringworlds!
• Pressing 'z' will zoom to the currently selected object and follow it with the camera until you pan.
• Added two new Shipsets, 'Mechanica' and 'Moirai'!

Changed

• Gates are now designable stations.
• Mono FTL cost for population transfer takes into account gates, tears and wormholes.
• Cyllium now rotates a variable number of artifacts that expire.
• FTL Crystals level 4 and 5 abilities are swapped.
• Planet support capacity now depends on and increases with planet level.
• Some asteroids now contain Ore that needs to be mined with mining lasers.
• Destroying a Black Hole now causes much more widespread destruction.
• Tractor beams now work when passing through wormholes, slipstream tears or gates.
• Engine types and size now affect ship turn rate. If only using graviton engines, the ship does not need to turn to move.
• Updates some music tracks.

Fixed

• Mono can't transfer population while being annexed.

AI

• Various improvements to the designs the AI creates.
• AI now builds asteroid mining bases.
• AI can use all FTL types.
• AI can use all races.
• The AI's diplomatic actions will be influenced by how you interact with it and its allies and enemies.

[ 2015-03-24 00:18:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're pleased to announce that Star Ruler 2 is slated for release out of early access this March 27th! Among the new features that will be coming in our 1.0 build are megaconstruction, improved asteroid mining, more ship and orbital models and artwork and improved AI! Check out the video below for our new trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OFhVtqfDBQ Be aware that starting the week prior to release the price of the game will be going up by $5 to $24.99, so there are only two weeks left to buy in at the lower early access price!

[ 2015-03-09 22:46:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're pleased to announce that Star Ruler 2 is slated for release out of early access this March 27th! Among the new features that will be coming in our 1.0 build are megaconstruction, improved asteroid mining, more ship and orbital models and artwork and improved AI! Check out the video below for our new trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OFhVtqfDBQ Be aware that starting the week prior to release the price of the game will be going up by $5 to $24.99, so there are only two weeks left to buy in at the lower early access price!

[ 2015-03-09 22:46:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

A strange new Star Ruler 2 update is attempting to make first contact with humanity! As always, read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog.

Distinct Races

This update brings the introduction of 7 distinct races to play as, each with their own different lore. Alongside the Terrakin, sporting the regular Star Ruler 2 gameplay you're used to, the 6 other races each have their own unique gameplay elements to contest with.

Oko

A race of sentient flora, the Oko construct organic ships held together by Sinew. Their population does not live in cities, but instead overgrows the planet they are on as a whole.

Hoonan

Hoonan ships and settlements are all linked to a massive information network, requiring them to construct Mainframes in space. Fleets fight at increased strength near mainframes, but become significantly weaker when fighting far away from one.

Feyh

The Feyh have a long tradition of worship and sacrifice, and must construct Altars to keep their population from becoming godless. Altars sacrifice the resources of the planet they're built on, but allow the feyh to live on their planets in greater numbers than any other race.

Mono

All the Mono were once a single mechanoid intelligence, stranded on a planet and with no memory of its creators or its purpose. Mono population must be constructed using labor, but does not need food or water and can freely move to other planets through hyperspace, without the need for colony ships.

Saar

The Saar are a race of missionaries, spreading their message of peace and acceptance to all who are willing to hear it - and some who are not. They can construct Star Temples, allowing them to convert the population living on nearby planets owned by other empires to their religion.

Nylli

Fleeing the destruction of their homeworld's sun, the Nylli now consider themselves children of the stars, living in giant motherships and orbital habitats around the planets whose resources they exploit.

Full Changelog

Added

• Add 'Hedge' card.
• Add 'Support Station' artifact.
• Added distinct races with various unique gameplay elements! The race selection menu will pop up whenever you try to start a new game.
• Some planets will now have one or more moons. Moon Bases can be built to extend the amount of space available to construct buildings on.
• Chat messages in multiplayer may now be sent to specific players / teams / allied / etc.
• Constructions in the build queue can now be reordered by dragging.
• Add 'Floating Continent' artifact.
• Build queues can now be set to repeat mode.

Changed

• FTL Crystals now have an extra special effect at level 5.
• Cyllium now has a special effect at level 4.
• Reduce money cost of FTL jammers but increase their FTL usage.
• Cost to use hyperdrive and fling now scales with the mass of the ship.
• Tweaked the costs of things in other FTL methods.
• Torpedo damage is now unspillable (cannot be lost by piercing through the entire ship).
• Muon cannon damage now completely ignores all Damage Resistance.
• Change the level up benefit effects for Allondium.
• Add a limited firing arc to hyperdense lasers.
• Added new Gate model.

Fixed

• Fixed a crash caused by keybind reloading.
• Optimized some areas causing framerate losses on radeon cards.
• Fix ships firing weapons at asteroids.
• Fix ships being able to fire weapons while in FTL.

[ 2015-02-20 20:25:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

You'll now receive steam trading cards just from playing the game ːupvoteː! Craft badges from full sets of cards to get our cool emoticons and profile backgrounds. ːlasergunːːbeamːːbeamːːbeamːːbeamːːbeamːːbeamːːbeamːːbeamːːbeamːːbeamhitːːhomeworldː

[ 2015-01-29 22:42:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Shock and awe abounds as a Star Ruler 2 update decloaks in low earth orbit, ready to invade your disk drives! As always, read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog.

More Subsystems

This update adds a bunch of new subsystems, including the Cloaking Mesh and Muon Cannon. The ship designer in general has also been updated to use limited interior space for your subsystems.

Armageddon

Using the new Graviton Condenser subsystem, you can now damage and eventually blow up stars and planets! Make sure to get out of the blast wave quick. though.

More Resources

Planets can now go up to Level 5! A number of new 'scalable' resources have been added to make use of planet levels, find them and level them up for many useful benefits.

More Research

The research grid has been redone and expanded with new technologies and unlocks, now giving you more choice of which direction to take for your empire's technological advancement.

Full Changelog

Added * Add new "Nebula" unique system. * Adding some more race portraits. * Add a game option to hide the locations of other systems/stars until an adjacent system is explored. * Add planetary thruster building. * Add singularity lab orbital. * Add orbital frame constructor artifact. * Added graviton condenser subsystem that can be activated to damage and eventually destroy stars and planets. * Add cloaking mesh subsystem. * Added a few 'scalable' resources, resources that don't have a required level, can't be exported and gain more benefits depending on the level of the planet they are on. * Added Muon Cannon (support) and Muon Cannon Battery (flagship) weapons. * Add Titan Hull, can be researched and used for various benefits and more interior space on ships. Changed * Small improvements to the looks and usability of the fleet support ship management interface. * Bonuses/penalties for highest/lowest contributor in votes are now integrated over time instead of only checking the final votes of each empire. The vote tab displays which empires are currently considered highest and lowest contributors. * Ship designs are now based on a static hex size with a limited amount of space available, instead of stats scaling based on the percentage of the ship covered. This invalidates many old ship designs. * Removed adjacency hp bonus from armor. * Armor on the outside of a ship does not count towards ship interior space limit. * Flagships and defense stations are now in separate quickbars instead of together in the fleets quickbar. * Peace proposals now use the treaty system. * Flagships now need to rotate in the direction they're moving in before starting to thrust. * Planetary wonders have been removed. * Food and Water resource effects have been removed. * Planets now go up to Level 5, resource requirements for level 4 have been lowered. * FTL Crystals are now a scalable resource that provides more FTL/s as it levels up. * Completely rework the layout of technologies in the research grid. * Changed the bonuses Zeitgeists give to the highest/lowest contributors in the vote. Fixed * Fix remnants leaving their systems in The Expanse. * Fix bug with selecting different locales. * Hyperdrive speed can now recover due to repair even during FTL. * Homeworlds can no longer be gimped due to being mostly ocean/lava. AI * AI now has a basic understanding of treaties. Modding * Empire attributes are now generated automatically whenever a hook uses a previously unknown one. New attributes are initialized to 0 by default.

[ 2015-01-23 20:49:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new Star Ruler 2 update is about to hit your computer at relativistic velocities, do not attempt to adjust the picture. As always, read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog. Interested in Multiplayer? Join our Dev-astation Friday multiplayer game.

Steam Workshop and the Mod Editor

Star Ruler 2 now has full support for mods and the steam workshop! Simply subscribe to your favourite mods in the workshop and you'll be able to enable them in-game for direct use. To help along anyone who wants to mod the game, we've also developed an extensive Mod Editor. The mod editor lets you easily create and edit mods, upload them to the workshop, and has tools for editing the game's many types of data files.

Planet Surface Improvements

Along with improvements to the graphics of the planet's surface, we've also added a few new buildings for you to place. The build and maintenance costs of certain buildings is now affected by which biome you place them on as well, so be sure to check out which buildings go best where!

Shields

The research grid now includes Shields for you to unlock and equip your ships with. Shields cost a lot of power to operate, but their regeneration can absorb quite a bit of damage.

Full Changelog

Added

• Added vsync and antialiasing options.
• Added Steam Workshop Support!
• Added in-game tool to edit many types of game data files.
• You may enable your various installed mods.
• Added news pane to the main menu.
• Added temporary-final art for all weapons.
• Gave more buildings better/more distinct temp art.
• Added new music track.
• Added Shield Generators.
• Added new buildings: Warehouse, Metropolis, Megacity, Refinery.
• Commerce Stations now have 4 abilities, one of which can be used every 3 minutes to purchase some bulk influence, energy, research or labor with money.
• Outposts now protect their system from capture and generate and use empire defense to create support ships.

Changed

• Planet surfaces in planet management screen have been redone.
• Planets switch to icon view further away.
• Portraits and flags can now be added to the game without editing data files.
• Influence sites (e.g. Mall) can be played when only one empire or team exists.
• Destroyed ships now spray some graphical debris.

Balanced

• Building in oceans or on volcanic lands increases the cost of construction.
• Civilians expand more slowly through oceans, volcanic lands, and ice.
• Tweaked cost and effect of some technologies.
• Generally reduced amount of HP given from tech to prevent combat from slowing to a crawl.
• Various structures are cheaper to build on specific biomes.
• Building ships on orbital shipyards is now 20% cheaper in build cost than on planets.

Fixed

• Music volume would significantly change from the menu to the game.
• Fixed graphics memory corruption during loading periods.
• Numerous small fixes and usability improvements.
• Various bugs that affected modders.
• Images with specific widths would appear greyed/striped, and could cause crashes.

[ 2014-12-19 01:27:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new Star Ruler 2 update is about to hit your computer at relativistic velocities, do not attempt to adjust the picture. As always, read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog. Interested in Multiplayer? Join our Dev-astation Friday multiplayer game.

Steam Workshop and the Mod Editor

Star Ruler 2 now has full support for mods and the steam workshop! Simply subscribe to your favourite mods in the workshop and you'll be able to enable them in-game for direct use. To help along anyone who wants to mod the game, we've also developed an extensive Mod Editor. The mod editor lets you easily create and edit mods, upload them to the workshop, and has tools for editing the game's many types of data files.

Planet Surface Improvements

Along with improvements to the graphics of the planet's surface, we've also added a few new buildings for you to place. The build and maintenance costs of certain buildings is now affected by which biome you place them on as well, so be sure to check out which buildings go best where!

Shields

The research grid now includes Shields for you to unlock and equip your ships with. Shields cost a lot of power to operate, but their regeneration can absorb quite a bit of damage.

Full Changelog

Added

• Added vsync and antialiasing options.
• Added Steam Workshop Support!
• Added in-game tool to edit many types of game data files.
• You may enable your various installed mods.
• Added news pane to the main menu.
• Added temporary-final art for all weapons.
• Gave more buildings better/more distinct temp art.
• Added new music track.
• Added Shield Generators.
• Added new buildings: Warehouse, Metropolis, Megacity, Refinery.
• Commerce Stations now have 4 abilities, one of which can be used every 3 minutes to purchase some bulk influence, energy, research or labor with money.
• Outposts now protect their system from capture and generate and use empire defense to create support ships.

Changed

• Planet surfaces in planet management screen have been redone.
• Planets switch to icon view further away.
• Portraits and flags can now be added to the game without editing data files.
• Influence sites (e.g. Mall) can be played when only one empire or team exists.
• Destroyed ships now spray some graphical debris.

Balanced

• Building in oceans or on volcanic lands increases the cost of construction.
• Civilians expand more slowly through oceans, volcanic lands, and ice.
• Tweaked cost and effect of some technologies.
• Generally reduced amount of HP given from tech to prevent combat from slowing to a crawl.
• Various structures are cheaper to build on specific biomes.
• Building ships on orbital shipyards is now 20% cheaper in build cost than on planets.

Fixed

• Music volume would significantly change from the menu to the game.
• Fixed graphics memory corruption during loading periods.
• Numerous small fixes and usability improvements.
• Various bugs that affected modders.
• Images with specific widths would appear greyed/striped, and could cause crashes.

[ 2014-12-19 01:27:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Good evening galaxy! Today brings another regular update to your Star Ruler 2 game. Read about some of the update's highlights below, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog. Interested in Multiplayer? Join our Dev-astation Friday multiplayer game.

Research Overhaul

We've completely overhauled the way research works, changing it over to a grid-based approach with different technologies spread around for you to research.

The Expanse

A new galaxy map has also arrived in this update. In The Expanse, players are located in between the remnant homeworld in one direction, and a vast expanse of uncharted space in the other. You will have to defeat strong remnant fleets in order to colonize new systems in the expanse, and each system cleared will reveal new systems with even more powerful remnants!

Graphics Improvements

Planets can now have rings, and we've improved the aesthetics of stars and their coronas.

Full Changelog

Added

• Added completely overhauled research system!
• Large maps will now start containing barren planets - planets without a resource - in order to keep resources scarce and the game playable. Can be controlled with the "Resource Scarcity" slider.
• Ships in move or attack orders now path around stars instead of moving or shooting through them.
• Added unlockable 'Emergency Supplies' and 'Self-Destruct Device' subsystems.
• Planets can now have rings.
• Added quickbar for pending auto-imports.
• Added Skip Drive and Ion Cannon as unlockable subsystems.
• Added new map: The Expanse. Full of remnants, it expands as you defeat their ever-stronger fleets.

Changed

• Bulkhead and Targeting Sensor now need to be unlocked through research.
• Improved the aesthetics of stars and coronas.
• Joining in progress no longer pauses the server while the player connects.
• When defense destinations are set, defense is distributed equally from all sources across all destinations.

Balanced

• Increased pressure from level 3 resources.
• Hydroconductors now give +40% labor generation.

Fixed

• Fix gate constructors being able to deploy without a maximum range.
• Various performance improvements related to memory garbage collection steps, should reduce lag spikes in large games.
• Animation was not properly threaded, leading to significantly reduced framerate in large galaxies.
• Various notifications in multiplayer were blank or incorrectly labelled.
• Fixed various issues with icons being rendered out of order.
• Attempt to fix shader issues with specific graphics cards.

AI

• The AI would not recognize its fleets if it upgraded their designs while the previous was being built.
• The AI will use partially finished fleets if immediately necessary.
• The AI has a basic understanding of Revenant parts.
• Improved the AI's logic regarding remnants and internal defense. Notably, it can deal with The Expanse.
• Improved the designs created by the AI.

[ 2014-11-21 01:24:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Just when you thought you were safe, a Star Ruler 2 update arrives from inside the house! As always, read about some of the highlights below, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog. Interested in Multiplayer? Join our Dev-astation Friday multiplayer game.

The Flying Dutchman

In the spirit of Halloween the skies are now roamed by a ghastly pirate ship with a craving for booty. The flying dutchman will hunt civilian trade ships in systems with weak defenses, taking the cargo it stole back to its hoard stations, hidden in deep space. After halloween, the flying dutchman will revert to just being the plundering Dread Pirate. The pirate mechanic can be turned off from the game options menu.

The Revenant & Artifacts

Spread across the universe are 4 new unique artifacts. Each of the four parts of The Revenant, an ancient forbidden warship, give a permanent bonus to your ships when activated. Have all 4 activated at the same time and gain control over The Revenant as a whole, the most powerful ship in the universe! In addition, this update has various new artifacts and improvements to old artifacts, ranging from equippable Ion Cannon disabler beams to artifacts with the power to generate entire new planets and star systems. Thankfully, the addition of the Tractor Beam subsystem lets you pull those shiny new artifacts away from the greedy hands of other empires.

Random Design Generation

The design editor now includes a randomizer! You can set up some simple parameters and let the game generate random designs for you until you find one you like - for use or to further edit into your own design. The AI also makes use of the new random designer, and will now make completely unique ship designs in every game.

Full Changelog

Added:

• Add automatic design generator. Simply press a button in the design editor, and receive a randomly generated design.
• Ship icons are now based on the design.
• Add "Rush" and "Call Out" influence cards.
• Add art for the fusion and antimatter reactors.
• Added a tractor beam capable of pulling ships, asteroids, artifacts and orbitals.
• Added unique artifact parts of The Revenant. Activating each gives a passive bonus and having all parts active allows you to control the most powerful warship in the universe. (Can be turned off from game options)
• Add two planetary weapons.
• Added and overhauled a number of Artifacts for better gameplay.
• Add some hint messages when players crash their economy, explaining what is happening.
• Add Dread Pirate mechanic. The dread pirate roams the galaxy killing civilian ships and storing its loot in deep space stations. Killing it or its stations gives you the money.

Changed:

• Votes show the time remaining before it passes/fails, based on how the vote is currently going.
• Rebalanced many influence cards to provide varying incentives for their use.
• Unusable resources explain why they are unusabled.

Fixed:

• Fix situations where flagships could drop supports while in FTL.
• Activating hyperdrives for multiple fleets via the action bar works correctly.
• The AI could attempt to order billions of supports into a damaged flagship's fleet, destroying its economy.

Balanced:

• Capitalism can't start with more than one leverage against a given empire.
• Damage reduced by armor can't be reduced to lower than 20% (up from 12.5%)
• Repair requires and consumes supply.
• FTL Interdiction applies to fling destinations.

AI:

• The AI designs new ships over time.

[ 2014-10-31 01:57:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings 4Xians! We've sent out another Star Ruler 2 update to be transmitted into space by wifi routers everywhere. Read about some of the highlights below, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog. Interested in Multiplayer? Join our Dev-astation Friday multiplayer game on european timezones, or check out our Saturday night brawl in more America-friendly timezones!

Freeform Ship Design

Over the past few weeks our experimental branch has seen many updates to the looks and mechanics of the ship design system, with yet more to come in the future. The biggest change in this update is the removal of preset "hulls": you can now design your ship blueprints in any shape you want. Here are some of the designs uploaded by our avid testers:
Ordo Antibus' Maw Cruiser.
Dalo Lorn's BC-304 Refit.
Vlad's Storm Class Armored. The engine will automatically select the ship model from your shipset closest to the shape you drew.

Community Features

The wiki tab has been combined with a number of new features into a brand new "Community" tab. Browse designs other people have uploaded, becomment or upthumb them, or upload your own creation for the world to see!

Game Options

Feel like playing a game with at least 9 planets per system? Expand star systems to giant expanses filled chock full of hostile remnants? We have some new game options that let you tweak the generated universe to your liking.

Full Changelog

Added:

• Add some macro controls to support ship management, such as auto buying new or dead support ships until the fleet is full.
• Fleets will now pick up support ships from your nearby planets automatically to auto-fill up their capacity. Can be turned off.
• Object popup tooltips now show the flag of the empire that owns them in the background.
• Started work on new blueprint/subsystem sprite art.
• Some planets will now have a Planet Condition that modifies them or their resource in some way.
• Add Targeting Sensor subsystem modifier.
• First iteration of multiplayer match queue system, players can queue up for matches and automatically join other queued players.
• Ship information panel on the bottom left can be expanded to give a bigger view of the design.
• Replaced the empire flags with better versions.
• Changed Wiki tab to Community tab, which includes the wiki and where players can share their designs online.
• Dumbbell Galaxy map that can be configured to be perfectly mirrored on both sides.
• Several game and universe settings can now be changed from the new game menu.
• Add post-game stats and standings screen with graphs displaying the progress of the game.

Changed:

• Lasers now have a limited firing arc.
• Weapons can no longer have their firing arcs shoot "through" the ship, but must be pointing outwards.
• Engine exhausts can now only be placed on hexes that have open space on either one of their backwards-facing edges.
• Supply Storage hexes destroyed in combat will now leak supplies over time.
• Losing ship power generation that you are using in combat reduces the ship's effectiveness.
• Destroyed Support Command hexes can end up making the fleet lose control of support ships.
• Ship designs no longer have preset hull shapes, but the model that is the closest approximation to the shape you draw is used.
• Slipstream exit points are now generated inaccurately within a radius of the target. The further away they're generated, the more the target inaccuracy.

Fixed:

• Fix perfectly circular territory borders showing up bugged.
• Fix previously scouted remnant fleets showing their health/supplies/etc even when out of vision.

Balanced:

• Halve station repair rate.
• Double station hitpoints.
• Increased ship efficiency (power cell, name flagship, etc) can no longer increase repair rate above 100%.
• Plate and Neutronium armor now have DR.
• All forms of armor now increase the health of all adjacent non-armor hexes by 1/6th of the armor hex's hp.
• Fleets with no supplies left are now at 25% of normal effectiveness (down from 50%).
• Weapon turrets now have their own innate DR to reduce incoming hits.
• Significantly increased the range of all weapons.
• Capitalism now only has a single Patrotic Surge, but it has one extra quality.
• Cost of using Fling FTL is now no longer dependent on distance, only ship/station size, and is cheaper.
• Larger slipstream generator ships are more expensive in various little ways.

AI:

• Improved Hard AI's expansion speed.
• Improved the AI's use of influence.
• AI can use anomalies in a basic way.
• Improved the AI's ability to wage war.
• The AI will scout out other galaxies, allowing them to interact in those galaxies.
• Gave the AI some more sensible rules for when to declare war.

[ 2014-10-16 23:01:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's been a long few weeks of back-end work and mechanics tweaks, but it's finally time for another Star Ruler 2 update. In addition to some preliminary updates to the research and ship design UI, there's a couple of new goodies to show off here. Scroll down for the full detailed changelog. Interested in Multiplayer? Join our Dev-astation Friday multiplayer game tomorrow!

Bulkheads

The first of many subsystem modifiers to come, you can now equip the subsystems on your ship designs with bulkheads to increase their health.

Engagement Behaviour Controls

Fleet engagement behaviour has been tweaked, and can now be configured from the action bar on the bottom left.

Donations

Empires can now freely make material donations to other empires, provided they aren't at war.

Full Changelog

Added:

• Empires can now make donations to each other, similar to how offers in votes work.
• Placing an orbital shows the labor cost / ETA of building in that location.
• Vassal empires now have their master's color stippled into their territory borders.
• Added the ability to send pings to allies. Defaults to 'v.' Hold control to send an alternate ping, and shift to ping to everyone.
• Added achievements for scanning an anomaly, using an artifact, and terraforming a planet.
• Added controls for changing fleet engagement range and behaviour.
• Added a color picker for choosing empire colors.
• Added menu option to end the current game.
• Added simple descriptions about what each pressure does.
• Masters receive 10% of their Vassal's money, influence, energy and research generation rates (the Vassal does not lose this portion).
• Masters can establish a conquer edict to reward vassals for taking the target's planets, or killing their ships.
• Added some more variety in the types of pickups protected by remnant groups.
• Added the Bulkhead module. Can be equipped to a flagship subsystem to add 100% of its base HP, while doubling the cost.

Changed:

• Reduce repair rate in combat to 25% of normal instead of 33%.
• Additional bridges no longer give extra repair, only secondary crew facility hexes do.
• Orbital scaffolding now starts at 1% of total hp, instead of 25%.
• More things, notably research, grant points.
• Fleets can now do some limited re-pathing when new gates/tears are created while en-route.
• Any ships you have selected when ordering a slipstream tear to be generated now move to the other end of the slipstream tear automatically, after it is created.
• Vassals add 20% of their total points to their master's point total.
• Added smaller speed steps near 1x.
• Stations cannot capture planets, but can still prevent capture.
• Auto-colonize orders execute in the order they were given.
• Teams go to war and make peace as a group.
• Food resource bonuses no longer transfer on native resource export.
• FTL Jammer orbital now only needs 0.15/s FTL upkeep (down from 0.25).
• Level 1 planets now only have up to 1 base pressure cap.
• Level 2+ planets now have increased population growth.
• Remove 'Enhance' card from Communism start.
• Improve object hover prioritization.
• Expand and improve the Tutorial's economy section.

Fixed:

• Fixed a bug in the mover code that was causing support ships to desync from their fleet formation, especially at high time acceleration.
• Fixed flagship acceleration being half of what it was intended to be.
• Completing construction of a station now does not fully heal it, but starts it at the scaffolding's hitpoints.
• In-game IRC chat would sometimes cut off the first letter of a message in the textbox.
• Planets not fully colonized could drop to 0 loyalty permanently if captured.
• Fixed a bug that could cause ships to fly far away from the galaxy.
• Fixed a few AI bugs related to wasting resources.
• Fixed a few fog of war leaks.
• Fixed empire military strengths being wrong after a load.
• The starting Fling Beacon should not cost maintenance.
• Fix being unable to fling stations.
• Fix being able to shift-queue fling orders that would work outside beacon range.
• Victory conditions now work in team games.
• Fixed some situations that prevented support ships from engaging in combat.
• Improved performance in loaded saves (only new saves).
• Fix a few situations where the tutorial could get stuck.

AI:

• The AI will import labor resources to improve its construction speed.
• Expanded the AI's influence capabilities.
• The AI better understands how teams work, and is able to work with allies somewhat.
• Slightly improved early AI colonization.
• Improved how the AI handles its fleets.
• Fixed AIs sometimes surrendering in situations they shouldn't be able to.
• Fix AI not being able to see pickups.
• The AI will now order support ships into the queue for new flagships.

[ 2014-09-19 00:26:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Thank you for tuning in to your regular broadcast of Star Ruler 2 development progress. This week we have some expansion balance improvements and the beginnings of new content to mess around with. Interested in Multiplayer? Join our Dev-astation multiplayer game tomorrow!

2 New Maps!

The game now has 2 additional galaxy maps to choose from, each with their specific concerns.

Treaties and Surrender

Empires can now propose and sign treaties to share vision, trade regions, or form alliances. It is now also possible to demand or offer unconditional surrender - empires that have surrendered become Vassal states of the empire they surrender to.

Station Hulls

You can now design your own defense stations! These can be placed like all other orbitals, in orbit of a particular star or planet. We've also overhauled the way non-military orbitals work, removing the old fiddly modules system in favor of building more specific orbitals.

Rebalancing and Expansion

This update includes various balance changes to both ship weapons and empire expansion. Planets now require a minimum amount of population before achieving higher planet levels, and it is now more important to carefully choose which worlds to colonize first.

Full Changelog

Added:

• Added a simple formation.
• Added basic cooperation treaties/alliances. Will be expanded on in the future.
• Corkscrew Galaxy map.
• Clusters map.
• Empires can now be assigned to teams on the new game screen.
• "Station" hull that can be placed like an orbital.
• Added achievements for beating different difficulties of AI.
• Players may now subjugate or demand the surrender of another player.

Changed:

• Player home systems are guaranteed to have at least a food, a water, a level 1 and a level 2 resource spread over their neighbouring systems.
• Planets now have drastically reduced extra income from planet levels higher than their native resource's level. This makes sending a water to a food planet no longer net ridiculous amounts of money.
• Planets being captured can no longer use or project any of their defense.
• UI Zooming has more steps.
• Redid how the network handles object updates to be much faster for the host computer.
• Planets now require a minimum amount of population in order to sustain a level. (ie, planets must have 2 population to be level 1, 6 population to be level 2)
• Overhauled Orbitals content.
• Reworked weapons to have a wider variety of viable weapons systems.
• Improved support ship movement logic to handle a wider variety of fleet compositions.
• Orbitals placed in planet gravity wells now orbit the planet.

Fixed:

• Map generation no longer generates almost exclusively food and water near player homeworlds.
• Capturing planets when low on supply ended up costing far more supply than indicated.
• Machines with an intel gpu and a nvidia gpu should now automatically select the nvidia gpu.
• Enhance could be used on Intelligence cards, but did nothing (now can't be used).
• Null pointer exception after using a planet buster.
• Statuses caused by systems (Name System) stayed after the object left the system.
• Various issues related to renaming designs.
• Popups could be clicked while under other UI elements.
• Can no longer build ships with 0 command.
• Multiplayer server list would sometimes permanently fail to load.
• Weapons other than beams were not consistently firing.

Balance:

• Massively reduce flagship maintenance cost.
• Roughly doubled flagship weapon damage.
• Very small support ship weapons have severely reduced range.

[ 2014-08-29 00:46:12 CET ] [ Original post ]