Hi folks -- here is a small update with some fun changes. My day job has been pretty busy these past few weeks but I should have some time to bring more updates online in the coming weeks. 1.5h Patch Notes

• Fixed a tricky bug that would sometimes cause the gross miscalculation of command points for a single turn following combat, plunging empires into immediate bankruptcy.
• Fixed an issue for existing ship mods that would import the modded ships as pink (i.e. the shader was messed up).
• Fixed an issue with modded ships that could cause game slowdowns if the mesh collider had too many surfaces
• Fixed an error where point defense weapons would sometimes do no damage to interceptable guided weapons
• Updated the graphics and characteristics of Anti-Matter torpedoes. They are supposed to be conventional torpedoes with AM warheads and instead they look like quantum torpedoes and move super fast, so Ive fixed all that. Reduced the HP of the AM torpedoes so they have a shot of being intercepted by flak
• All torpedo weapons, even energy torpedos are jammable and interceptable. But the energy torpedoes have a lot of hit points and are unlikely to be disrupted with point defense fire.

Hello Space Friends, This is a small bug fixing update to get back into the swing of things after a few days off. Please keep your bug reports coming. 1.5g [olist]

This patch contains some nice optimizations and under-the-hood work, plus some good bug fixes. As always, let me know if you run into any troubles. 1.5f Patch Notes

• Changed the audio for event popups to remove the drum sound effect
• Changed diplomacy so that expansionism does not make the AI nearly as angry, except for Expansionist AIs who remain very angry
• Fiddled with the Events system to have some more flexibility and reliability. There were times where certain events would trigger unexpectedly or at the wrong time, and I want to iron all of that out
• The unique bonus buildings will now only spawn once per empire (hellforge, private shipyard, wormhole institute, Solar array, etc). This was causing a ton of late game spam.
• Updated the fleet icon / associated text to have a little animation
• Updated the default deployment breadth to support more ships in a line (and to prevent ships from spilling out across the whole battlefield during deployment)
• Made rendering optimizations to the strategy map to help it run faster in the late game
• Removed the AU distance readout from fleet icons. Its basically useless. All that matters is ETA and fuel.
• Removed the you unlocked a technology song because it gets old after a few time
• Fixed a bug in the shipyard with the Upgrade Armor button. Should work as intended now.
• Fixed a bug where the AI would sometimes launch troops from a planet that the player was invading (and would steal the players troops in the process!)
• Fixed an issue with the time controls changing the speed of the entire game if used in the battle arena
• Fixed issue with firing leaders Vos and Wyatt making the game hang
• Removed final references to the old ground combat system...I think!

Hi folks -- I caught a few AI bugs that will make the AI a whole lot meaner. I think that this mod will now successfully bring the AI Community ship pack into full action. I snuck a few other bug fixes in there. Not implementing the version number, just slipping it on top of 1.5e. 1.5e AI Hotfix / Update

• Updated the AI to always build the best frigates and corvettes available to it. It was randomly choosing from the available roster earlier
• Fixed an issue where the AI was not accessing its full ship roster. This was a big problem--they will build very dangerous ships now. Watch out!
• Fixed an issue where ships might not be rendering on the strategy map
• Toned down a few visual hotspots in the nebula background on the strategy map
• Upgraded the AI to be smarter about resource allocation on core worlds when there is nothing important to build. They will now reallocate to research or money depending on their needs.
• Fixed an issue where the AI could end up building way too many spies. Hopefully this chills them out a bit in the late game

Hi folks. This is a small update that fixes some nasty bugs and rebalances the tech tree. It also has some critical optimizations. No promises that I didn't break anything. Please let me know if I did!

• Updated the AI so that it will not attempt to build any ship designs that the player will made. It is drawing all of its designs from the big community made pack from years back
• Updated the tech tree with overall higher technology costs. I really want to stretch out the early-mid game instead of just rushing through things. It makes the early techs feel a bit more meaningful when you get to actually use them in combat
• Changed UI behavior so that clicking the X button in the notification panel will now clear all active notifications
• Disabled old ground combat missions while it gets reworked
• Implemented object pooling for spaceship explosions in the battle map and made other optimizations related to exploding ships. TONS FASTER IN BIG BATTLES
• Fixed issue where subspace projectors were amplifying the slowing effect of nearby terrain
• Fixed an issue where ships would open fire at extreme long range, and the projectile falls short by a meter. Ships will get just a little bit closer now.
• Fixed an issue where fleets on the strategy map would sometimes be too large or display more than one hero vessel as a representative
• Fixed a bug where the Osiran event would cause the game to hang
• Fixed a bug with saving and load that would sometimes cause game objects like troops and fleets to forget their home planet, which had odd lingering effects
• Fixed an issue where weapons would not reload fast enough when doing battle at 2x/4x speed

There has been a hotfix to 1.5d to address major issue where fresh installs were blocking on load. This also contains a fix that was causing the Osiran event to make your game hang.

I put a lot of effort into this one. I really like the new look of the battle screen, and along with the new time time controls it should really enhance your experience. Let me know what you think! I will continue to upgrade and refine the battle screen so that every battle is beautiful and unique, and I will continue to focus on QoL upgrades and bug fixes. As always, if you see a gamestopping bug, please try to get me a saved game for diagnosis. Thanks, and have fun. 1.5c change log:

• Added the ability to click the Empty Slot button in the Colony Management interface to open the shipyard and assign a ship design
• Added a Load All / Land All buttons to the troop land/load interface
• Overhauled the basic combat screen background to be more readable
• Added some new assets and configurations to the space battle screen
• Added new engine thruster fx to all ships
• Added more time controls to the battle screen (2x / 4x speed), updated user interface for same
• Changed AI behavior so that they will declare war when they enter your territory for a sneak attack. Earlier there were edge cases where they would only declare after the attack, but now you will typically get a warning unless they are very fast
• Fixed an issue where existing game installs werent necessarily getting the updated weapon characteristics
• Fixed a number of issues that had shield hit effects not working as I would prefer them to work
• Changed shield fx to adjust size depending on shot damage
• Fixed an issue with ships rolling incorrectly during turns in combat
• Fixed a bug that would sometimes have fleet icons rendering out of place
• Fixed issue where random space sounds in the background not respect the volume slider
• Fixed issue where the volume of weapons fire was not being affected by the volume slider
• Fixed issue where explosions on the strategy map would not respect volume slider
• Fixed issue where the subspace rifts would make noise and not respect the volume slider
• Fixed music volume on diplomacy screen
• Fixed issue where the Unlock Technology jingle was not respecting audio sliders
• Fixed BrainPal tech not working
• Fixed an issue where sectors graphics would not immediately update after coming under your control
• Fixed a bug where you couldnt launch a leader from a planet if you didnt have available freighter capacity
• Fixed an issue where controls would some times lock up upon starting a new game

It is my goal in 2021 to release a total remaster of StarDrive 2, and this is a juicy update on the Road to Remaster (tm). If you find that I broke something in your saved games, please upload it somewhere so I can grab it and see what went wrong. I've got a long way to go yet before this game is in a remastered state, but I think this gives you a great taste of what's to come.

• Added an Auto Combat toggle to the battle screen to let the AI handle combat for you
• Continued optimizations of strategy map performance
• Swapped out a few building graphics courtesy of wolfy301
• Asteroid fields on the battlemap are now more asteroidy
• Enhanced weapon sound fx system to allow for more variation.
• Upgraded and rebalanced weapon sound fx for:
• PD lasers
• Medium lasers
• Vulcan Cannons
• Disruptor Cannons
• Anti Matter Cannon
• Artillery
• Mass Driver
• General improvements to Muzzle Flash FX across the board
• Modified weapons:
• Disruptor max cannon range reduction
• Anti Matter Cannon increased projectile speed
• Cluster cannon range decreased
• Removed the old ground combat system entirely, and all associated quests. An upgraded quest system will bring these back in a new form soon.
• Solar Systems that are out of sensor range will now have the display of their names dulled slightly as an indicator
• Hex tiles that are not in sensor range now have a slightly faded coloring as an indicator
• Hex tiles that are unexplored have an even further reduced coloring
• Softened the color of the huge empire name plates on the strategy map to increase map readability
• Fixed an issue where antimatter cannon fx trails would disappear immediately upon impacting with a ship
• Updated Microsingularity FX to be cooler
• Fixed inoperable cluster cannon weapon

Hi Guys-- I fixed a major bug that affected fleet intercepts, and I fixed an issue screwing up Russian localization. Let me know if you see any more show-stoppers. Thanks!

This was a fun update. I really fiddled in the guts on this one and things should be running a lot faster in a number of different areas. Plus, I fixed some things that I think have been broken for a long while. For example, check out how ships fire their cannons now. They come out of the wings and such now--much more visually pleasing.

• Overhauled system for loading assets. Game loads much faster now.
• Optimized the strategy maps idle computations to reduce late game lag
• Optimized the end of turn processing to reduce hiccups when the turn button is pressed
• Subspace projectors now have graphics on the strategy map
• Substantially increased projectile speeds for lasers and disruptors to make them more exciting. I will probably update other cannons in the coming days as I work through them.
• Overhauled visual fx for ships taking damage and leaking fire and plasma into space
• Need to go through all ships
• Overhaul ship shooting fx so ships create projectiles from sensible locations on their hulls
• The AI will no longer use the expansion pack ship hulls, to keep something special for the player
• Fixed Russian localization problems
• Fixed UI scaling issue affecting widescreen setups
• Fixed an issue where event popups could sometimes appear to have no choices due to a scrolling error
• Fixed a problem with the Avnar Minor Race event, where not all discussion options resulted in the proper outcome

Well, well, well. You thought I had forgotten this game, didn't you? You thought I had left it to wither on the vine and die a shriveled and ignominious death! And you were right. I left it behind to go do some other things, like Longsword, and raising my kids, and not getting threatened and yelled at all the times for making a shitty game. But I was taken recently with a fancy to go back and play StarDrive 2 again, and I found and fixed a large number of bugs, and I added a few new features and some optimizations, and I thought I would pack them together and ship them out. I honestly don't know what's in here exactly. I know there is a new notifications center. Some new options. Some new optimizations. And probably some new bugs. If you find a game breaker, the thing to do is to load up a saved game where I can reproduce it quickly, and push that to a file share somewhere. @me in a thread and I will fix your bug. God speed.

FOLLOW US ON STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/franchise/iceberg/ TAKE A SCREENSHOT THAT YOU'VE FOLLOWED AND SEND IT TO: saskia@iceberg-games.com HAVE A CHANCE AT WINNING 3 FREE GAMES!

FOLLOW US ON STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/franchise/iceberg/ COMMENT WITH A LINK TO A SCREENSHOT SHOWING THAT YOU HAVE FOLLOWED (upload on Imgur) HAVE A CHANCE AT WINNING 3 FREE GAMES!

Hi folks. Tomorrow at 10 AM PST I will host a stream on my Twitch channel wherein I will be playing StarDrive 2 and taking notes for future enhancements. Please come on by and say hello. www.twitch.tv/zer0sumgames

Hi folks. Tomorrow at 10 AM PST I will host a stream on my Twitch channel wherein I will be playing StarDrive 2 and taking notes for future enhancements. Please come on by and say hello. www.twitch.tv/zer0sumgames

Hi folks. Today we've launched some crowd-funding for our newest game, Longsword: Tabletop Tactics. Check it out and let me know what you think! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1319847883/longsword-tabletop-tactics?ref=6qzvjb

Hi folks. Today we've launched some crowd-funding for our newest game, Longsword: Tabletop Tactics. Check it out and let me know what you think! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1319847883/longsword-tabletop-tactics?ref=6qzvjb

Today's update, which will soon go live, marks the launch of a huge array of changes for StarDrive 2, including a massive community patch, a new content pack, and the release of a Gold Pack for first-time players who want to get all of the StarDrive 2 content at a discounted bundle rate. First up, the version 1.4 “Community” Patch provides a massively rebalanced StarDrive 2 experience that provides upgraded AI behaviors, rebalanced weapon statistics, new weapons and ship modules, and an upgraded tech tree. This sweeping set of changes began its life as a Mod created by the following community members, to whom we are grateful for their passion and dedication: - Icemania - Mezmorki - Crunchy Gremlin - Marcos - CblHoK - Gut But be warned! This patch makes the AI far more deadly than they once were, and I guarantee that you will be facing never-before-seen challenges after this patch. The full set of changes that are integrated from this modification can be found on the forum thread here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/252450/discussions/0/385428458177062745/?ctp=71 Second, this patch introduces a number of new features and bug fixes. The coolest new feature is that you now have the ability to Recolor your ships in the shipyard. When you visit the shipyard you will now see a new UI element that you can use to change the various colorings and glows of your ships. I hope you will enjoy customizing your ships with this new feature. I have also tracked down some more persistent bugs and fixed them, including: -Fixed Ordnance transporters not working correctly -Fixed Retreat behavior. If you retreat a fleet from a combat, then it will retreat to the nearest friendly planet that is at least 15 AU away - this will prevent fleets from having nowhere to run following a retreat -Increased the turn rate for all ships by 25% -Fixed issue with paradise lost event not cleaning up properly -Fixed issue where Drop Pods technology was not unlocking -Fixed issue where trade treaties weren’t being cleaned up properly after expiration -Fixed issue where GNN could report on defeated races more than once -Fixed an issue where the timer for producing new infantry and mechs would be reset each time you entered a tactical battle or loaded a saved game Third, we are soon launching the Shipyards Content Pack, which will add 13 new customizable ship hulls to the game plus a new fighter and heavy fighter model. These hulls are bristling with weapon turrets that correspond to the design of the ship; designs with a few huge cannons or a multitude of small ones will have different turret layouts as a result. Furthermore, each of these ship hulls now has a new special passive ability to solidify its role on the battlefield. This content pack is offered at $4.99 and I hope that you will enjoy it and support ongoing development with a purchase. I hope you enjoy the patch. If you run into any problems, come to the Steam forums and we’ll sort you out.

Today's update, which will soon go live, marks the launch of a huge array of changes for StarDrive 2, including a massive community patch, a new content pack, and the release of a Gold Pack for first-time players who want to get all of the StarDrive 2 content at a discounted bundle rate. First up, the version 1.4 Community Patch provides a massively rebalanced StarDrive 2 experience that provides upgraded AI behaviors, rebalanced weapon statistics, new weapons and ship modules, and an upgraded tech tree. This sweeping set of changes began its life as a Mod created by the following community members, to whom we are grateful for their passion and dedication: - Icemania - Mezmorki - Crunchy Gremlin - Marcos - CblHoK - Gut But be warned! This patch makes the AI far more deadly than they once were, and I guarantee that you will be facing never-before-seen challenges after this patch. The full set of changes that are integrated from this modification can be found on the forum thread here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/252450/discussions/0/385428458177062745/?ctp=71 Second, this patch introduces a number of new features and bug fixes. The coolest new feature is that you now have the ability to Recolor your ships in the shipyard. When you visit the shipyard you will now see a new UI element that you can use to change the various colorings and glows of your ships. I hope you will enjoy customizing your ships with this new feature. I have also tracked down some more persistent bugs and fixed them, including: -Fixed Ordnance transporters not working correctly -Fixed Retreat behavior. If you retreat a fleet from a combat, then it will retreat to the nearest friendly planet that is at least 15 AU away - this will prevent fleets from having nowhere to run following a retreat -Increased the turn rate for all ships by 25% -Fixed issue with paradise lost event not cleaning up properly -Fixed issue where Drop Pods technology was not unlocking -Fixed issue where trade treaties werent being cleaned up properly after expiration -Fixed issue where GNN could report on defeated races more than once -Fixed an issue where the timer for producing new infantry and mechs would be reset each time you entered a tactical battle or loaded a saved game Third, we are soon launching the Shipyards Content Pack, which will add 13 new customizable ship hulls to the game plus a new fighter and heavy fighter model. These hulls are bristling with weapon turrets that correspond to the design of the ship; designs with a few huge cannons or a multitude of small ones will have different turret layouts as a result. Furthermore, each of these ship hulls now has a new special passive ability to solidify its role on the battlefield. This content pack is offered at $4.99 and I hope that you will enjoy it and support ongoing development with a purchase. I hope you enjoy the patch. If you run into any problems, come to the Steam forums and well sort you out.

Hi guys, patching today. Still working at it. There's a big change in here so look out... 1. Fixed issue with the space station cantina upgrade causing incorrect income calculations 2. Changed the way fleet maintenance is calculated when over your CP cap. It is now a non-linear curve as you exceed your cap, which should help keep AI and player fleet sizes much closer to the proper size, rather than having these monstrous fleets supported by a big economic base. There's more to running a fleet than just having money, and I want this change to underscore that fact. 3. AI Corvettes wil now refit 4. Starbases will now become much tougher as you unlock better armor. Every module will be equipped with what amounts to one 3x3 plate of your best armor. 5. For modders: Added a list of string values to the AI strategy files that will allow you to limit which races can use an AI. You would add lines like so: [quote] Race_Pollops Race_Kulrathi [/quote] Valid values are: Race_ + the name of the race, which will be Pollops, Kulrathi, Draylok, Opteris, Cordrazine, Human, Vulfar, Ralyeh, Chukk 6. I tweaked some values so that Aggressive/Evil AIs will be more aggressive if you've got poor relations with them. 7. Fixed an issue with the Mega Fauna event, where you wouldn't get the special project if the Mega Fauna world spawned in a home system of a race 8. Fixed an issue with the constructor CP removal tech that was still lingering; won't be a retroactive fix, sorry 9. Made some adjustments to the AI to ensure that they won't exceed their command point limit following the new changes. 10. Fixed an issue where the various statistics for your empire were not being properly computed at the end of a turn, which could see odd things happening with your CP count, among other issues 11. Added some more feedback in the Command Point UI element so you'd know when you're over your limit with yellow or red warnings. Added the amount spent on fleet maintenance to the tooltip. 12. Fixed an issue where the Ai would think it is at war after aggressively annexing a minor race, which would prevent the Ai from starting new wars thereafter. 13. Beefed up my Interventionist logic. There has always been code for Good races to protect other Good races from the player's aggression. I have changed this to be Non-Evil races protecting other Non-evil races.

Hi guys, patching today. Still working at it. There's a big change in here so look out... 1. Fixed issue with the space station cantina upgrade causing incorrect income calculations 2. Changed the way fleet maintenance is calculated when over your CP cap. It is now a non-linear curve as you exceed your cap, which should help keep AI and player fleet sizes much closer to the proper size, rather than having these monstrous fleets supported by a big economic base. There's more to running a fleet than just having money, and I want this change to underscore that fact. 3. AI Corvettes wil now refit 4. Starbases will now become much tougher as you unlock better armor. Every module will be equipped with what amounts to one 3x3 plate of your best armor. 5. For modders: Added a list of string values to the AI strategy files that will allow you to limit which races can use an AI. You would add lines like so: [quote] Race_Pollops Race_Kulrathi [/quote] Valid values are: Race_ + the name of the race, which will be Pollops, Kulrathi, Draylok, Opteris, Cordrazine, Human, Vulfar, Ralyeh, Chukk 6. I tweaked some values so that Aggressive/Evil AIs will be more aggressive if you've got poor relations with them. 7. Fixed an issue with the Mega Fauna event, where you wouldn't get the special project if the Mega Fauna world spawned in a home system of a race 8. Fixed an issue with the constructor CP removal tech that was still lingering; won't be a retroactive fix, sorry 9. Made some adjustments to the AI to ensure that they won't exceed their command point limit following the new changes. 10. Fixed an issue where the various statistics for your empire were not being properly computed at the end of a turn, which could see odd things happening with your CP count, among other issues 11. Added some more feedback in the Command Point UI element so you'd know when you're over your limit with yellow or red warnings. Added the amount spent on fleet maintenance to the tooltip. 12. Fixed an issue where the Ai would think it is at war after aggressively annexing a minor race, which would prevent the Ai from starting new wars thereafter. 13. Beefed up my Interventionist logic. There has always been code for Good races to protect other Good races from the player's aggression. I have changed this to be Non-Evil races protecting other Non-evil races.

Folks, I am going to patch again on this day of rest. Current Issues: 1. Fixed an issue where the AI could invade your planet even though they are a few sectors away. This occurs when they are pathing around terrain. 2. Working on lingering issues with the withdraw button 3. Fixed an issue with the Osiran Plate module set having blank text 4. Fixed an issue where friendly beam weapons could harm friendly canopy shields 5. Fixed a hang at the end of the turn that could occur for honestly unknown reasons. All I know is that it's fixed. 6. Fixed an issue where the Star Killer could keep returning to the same system 7. Defeated empires will now have their influence thoroughly nuked from the map in the DLC 8. Defeated empires will have their entries removed from the victory screen 9. Fixed a bug that could occur when loading a saved game 10. Fixed issue where you could build a base station in an unowned star system

Folks, I am going to patch again on this day of rest. Current Issues: 1. Fixed an issue where the AI could invade your planet even though they are a few sectors away. This occurs when they are pathing around terrain. 2. Working on lingering issues with the withdraw button 3. Fixed an issue with the Osiran Plate module set having blank text 4. Fixed an issue where friendly beam weapons could harm friendly canopy shields 5. Fixed a hang at the end of the turn that could occur for honestly unknown reasons. All I know is that it's fixed. 6. Fixed an issue where the Star Killer could keep returning to the same system 7. Defeated empires will now have their influence thoroughly nuked from the map in the DLC 8. Defeated empires will have their entries removed from the victory screen 9. Fixed a bug that could occur when loading a saved game 10. Fixed issue where you could build a base station in an unowned star system

Hi folks - it's been a hectic week here at Zero Sum Games. We're thrilled with the reception of the DLC, and I'm pleased to keep on getting your feedback. We have a great community and I'm listening for any bug reports and feature requests and working hard to get them to you ASAP. To that end, I have I uploaded a small patch today with the following changes. 1. Fixed the issue that I introduced yesterday where shields stopped working properly 2. If you have the osiran fusion bonus then that will work now in battle 3. Ships will explode appropriately on the strategy map again 4. Fixed a problem with large spiral galaxy creation 5. Potential fix for issue with multiple intercepts occurring after an auto combat 6. Added options to disable victory conditions when creating a new game 7. Fixed an issue where you could get no buttons on the UI when invading a planet in the vanilla game 8. Fix for being able to build any ship even if you didn't have the tech! 9. Fixed food shortage bug on .5 food worlds 10. Fixed a hang that could occur if you had an event in the queue for a destroyed planet

Hi folks - it's been a hectic week here at Zero Sum Games. We're thrilled with the reception of the DLC, and I'm pleased to keep on getting your feedback. We have a great community and I'm listening for any bug reports and feature requests and working hard to get them to you ASAP. To that end, I have I uploaded a small patch today with the following changes. 1. Fixed the issue that I introduced yesterday where shields stopped working properly 2. If you have the osiran fusion bonus then that will work now in battle 3. Ships will explode appropriately on the strategy map again 4. Fixed a problem with large spiral galaxy creation 5. Potential fix for issue with multiple intercepts occurring after an auto combat 6. Added options to disable victory conditions when creating a new game 7. Fixed an issue where you could get no buttons on the UI when invading a planet in the vanilla game 8. Fix for being able to build any ship even if you didn't have the tech! 9. Fixed food shortage bug on .5 food worlds 10. Fixed a hang that could occur if you had an event in the queue for a destroyed planet

Hi Folks. Today's patch brings a bunch of fixes and tweaks in response to feedback and bug reports! It's going live now across all platforms 1. I fixed an issue with invalid ship designs appearing after you get the tech that doubles your fusion output 2. Fixed several issues related to planetary invasions and the Warhawk Cabal 3. Fixed an issue with the Masters appearing too soon on high difficulties 4. Fixed an issue where ships that are out of fuel who enter an opposing starbase area would hang the game, being unable to withdraw 5. Fixed an issue with the Cantina not applying its bonuses 6. Fixed an issue with the Arena event missing some text and generally not working as intended 7. fixed an issue with the Colony ship event spawning the ship somewhere that you didn't expect 8. Fixed issue with starkiller losing charges between saves; 9. Potential fix for non-functional withdraw buttons appearing 10. Fix for creative races not getting all techs when the tech is completed via an event 11 .Fixed an issue with trilithium bonuses potentially disappearing after researching more advanced warp tech 12. Fixed an issue where enemy Starbases could potentially be invisible 13. Fixed an issue where a special tile that spawns in your borders at game start could have the terrain stay invisible until you visited it 14. Energy Future tech costs are fixed. Was 1000 when it should have been 10k 15. Fixed an issue where Experimental techs could have their costs all screwed up if you started a few games back to back without quitting 16. Fixed an issue where the game could hang at 100% turn on the DLC if there was a ground combat plus a few other potential things going on at the same time 17. Fixed subspace artillery research giving you the grimdark expanse benefits. facepalm I want you to leave a positive review for the game because you like it. So if you do like it, please go leave me a review. If you're not yet satisfied, then tell me why and I'll do my damndest to earn your thumbs up.

Hi Folks. Today's patch brings a bunch of fixes and tweaks in response to feedback and bug reports! It's going live now across all platforms 1. I fixed an issue with invalid ship designs appearing after you get the tech that doubles your fusion output 2. Fixed several issues related to planetary invasions and the Warhawk Cabal 3. Fixed an issue with the Masters appearing too soon on high difficulties 4. Fixed an issue where ships that are out of fuel who enter an opposing starbase area would hang the game, being unable to withdraw 5. Fixed an issue with the Cantina not applying its bonuses 6. Fixed an issue with the Arena event missing some text and generally not working as intended 7. fixed an issue with the Colony ship event spawning the ship somewhere that you didn't expect 8. Fixed issue with starkiller losing charges between saves; 9. Potential fix for non-functional withdraw buttons appearing 10. Fix for creative races not getting all techs when the tech is completed via an event 11 .Fixed an issue with trilithium bonuses potentially disappearing after researching more advanced warp tech 12. Fixed an issue where enemy Starbases could potentially be invisible 13. Fixed an issue where a special tile that spawns in your borders at game start could have the terrain stay invisible until you visited it 14. Energy Future tech costs are fixed. Was 1000 when it should have been 10k 15. Fixed an issue where Experimental techs could have their costs all screwed up if you started a few games back to back without quitting 16. Fixed an issue where the game could hang at 100% turn on the DLC if there was a ground combat plus a few other potential things going on at the same time 17. Fixed subspace artillery research giving you the grimdark expanse benefits. facepalm I want you to leave a positive review for the game because you like it. So if you do like it, please go leave me a review. If you're not yet satisfied, then tell me why and I'll do my damndest to earn your thumbs up.

Hi folks. I'm patching a few issues that cropped up today. Some things got twisted up with the Vanilla version today and this patch will set you straight there, if you were seeing some funky stuff. We've also got fixes for the foreign language versions of the Expac coming online now. Sorry for any troubles!

Hi folks. I'm patching a few issues that cropped up today. Some things got twisted up with the Vanilla version today and this patch will set you straight there, if you were seeing some funky stuff. We've also got fixes for the foreign language versions of the Expac coming online now. Sorry for any troubles!

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Check it out here! http://store.steampowered.com/app/445690/ Contents of this post: 1. DLC Description! 2. Patch Notes! 3. Your discussion of the DLC! For those of you who choose to support our ongoing development today, thank you! I've worked very hard to provide what I hope will be many more hours of unique gameplay for you. What you're about to play will be StarDrive 2 at its core, but I think these changes and additions will really make your games feel like totally new experiences. Now, we have tested this puppy from top to bottom and I think it's solid as a rock from a QA perspective. That said, happens! I could have broken the entire thing yesterday with a single key-stroke. If you encounter a bug, please don't yell at me. Just tell me what you're seeing and I'll nuke these bugs from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. This DLC is not the end for StarDrive 2. It's just the start of a new era. Hopefully this will prove to be a successful venture - i.e. a good investment of my time and resources. One way or another, you can expect ongoing support for SD2 and the expac, plus I've been getting a lot of requests for a Ship Pack DLC in the future, and that sounds kind of nice to me too. I'll be putting my head together with you guys and with Iceberg to figure out where to go after this. ------------------------------------------ Alright first, off, here's the DLC description: You're interested in buying this DLC? Well, hold on there bucko - I'm not sure if you're rated on DLC that's this hot. If you think you can handle this kind of horsepower, then what you're looking at here is an incredible new set of features and content for the award-winning* galaxy-spanning PC entertainment experience that is StarDrive 2. This baby takes the base game of StarDrive 2 and overhauls it with massive changes to the structure of the galaxy. First and foremost, the galaxy is now divided into Hexagonal Sectors, providing new resources, terrain features, chokepoints, and reasons for you to commit genocide on the friendly plant people. New deep space construction mechanics allow you to fortify sectors with battlestations, mining outposts, science stations, and more. Sectors are jam-packed with new anomalies to explore, quests to unlock, and dangers to bravely run away from. Sector Zero now features several new ways to win the game, including a technology victory, a story-based victory, and a score victory. You can view your progress towards your victory goal on the brand new victory screen. Dozens of new technologies have been added to support these new mechanics and the AI has been given some serious upgrades to help them win the game too! Planetary Invasion mechanics have received a serious overhaul in this expansion pack as well. While the legacy 3d battle system will remain in place for story-based battles, planetary ground combats will now take place over several turns, allowing you - and the AI - an opportunity to gain space superiority and to reinforce a besieged planet. But do you think we'd stop there? Because we didn't! We also increased the maximum amount of Star Systems from 100 to 200, while providing you tinkerers with the option to crank that maximum up as high as your PC will allow! All of this and more can be yours for a mere ten Earth dollars, rounded down to the appropriately psychologically enticing amount. *PENDING! FEATURES

• New Hex-tile Strategy Map, with deep space terrain features like nebulae, wreckage fields, and more
• New Deep Space Construction mechanics that will allow you to fortify sectors with battle stations and economic buildings
• Three new ways to win the game
• Dozens of new quests, anomalies, technologies, and events
• Overhauled ground combat
• Improved UI and AI
• Increased Galaxy Size options

• Added a new Victory Conditions screen which will show your progress towards beating the game
• Added a new scoring system and a new Score victory, which will grant victory to the player with the highest score total at the end of 1000 turns. This game length value is configurable in the config file if you want a longer or shorter game.
• Fallout Radiation now dissipates more slowly
• The AI will trade for more techs among themselves, with an emphasis on getting shields if they didnt already have them
• The AI will not research future techs while there are still regular techs left to research. previously they could, at times, head too deep into the future tech while ignoring potentially more helpful regular tech
• Increased the frequency that the AI will refit its ships
• Placed the Max Systems count number in the game config file, allowing you to crank up the number of star systems to whatever you want. Note that this may choke your computer to death with space tentacles if you go too high. Default is 100 for vanilla and 200 for the expansion.
• Limited the number of carriers an AI empire will build, to assist in them getting a more diverse fleet that is less system-crushing in huge battles
• Changed the particle FX on heavy rockets because large numbers of rockets could stress graphics cards
• Refactored all projectile code for increased performance and a lesser strain on the physics engine
• Increased the penalties to production and research for having an unhappy populace, and slightly increased the penalty to happiness imposed by overcrowding. The goal of this change is to encourage pursuit of a wider empire, as I think Tall empires currently have an edge
• The AI will now potentially make peace with one another after a prolonged war
• The Znodforce One now has power!
• Experimental technologies now have a cost multiplier the further down the tree they are
• The MegaHospital building will now rapidly heal troops when out of combat. Otherwise, troops stationed at a planet will heal 5 hp per turn.
• AI players will contact the player with offers and demands less frequently now, as it could get a bit annoying
• Nuclear Bombs have had their effectiveness versus troops reduced
• Fixed an issue where ships capable of exterminating your populace were not using their bio-terminators fixed issue with leaders killed in manual combat remaining in the leader screen
• (Expac Only) Many tweaks and changes have been made to the auto-combat calculator after manually playing battles and consistently winning, and then consistently seeing losses in the auto-calculator. The following changes have helped normalize those results: Fixed an issue with the auto-combat calculator that set the cutoff for long range weapons at 600m. I lowered this to 500m, so weapons such as heavy rockets will be considered long-range weapons for auto combats. Reduced the effectiveness of fighters at the long-range and mid-range phases of the auto-combat calculator. Increased the odds of killing a fighter in the close range combat phase of the calculation Point Defense weapons will mitigate damage received, with reduced effectiveness at closer ranges Reduced the variance in damage that could be taken from ship to ship; ships will now be guaranteed to take a relatively equal portion of damage relative to the number of ships in fleet, with a +/- 30% variation possible Corvettes and Frigates each receive a sizeable damage mitigation bonus during long and medium range combat phases

Check it out here! http://store.steampowered.com/app/445690/ Contents of this post: 1. DLC Description! 2. Patch Notes! 3. Your discussion of the DLC! For those of you who choose to support our ongoing development today, thank you! I've worked very hard to provide what I hope will be many more hours of unique gameplay for you. What you're about to play will be StarDrive 2 at its core, but I think these changes and additions will really make your games feel like totally new experiences. Now, we have tested this puppy from top to bottom and I think it's solid as a rock from a QA perspective. That said, ♥♥♥♥ happens! I could have broken the entire thing yesterday with a single key-stroke. If you encounter a bug, please don't yell at me. Just tell me what you're seeing and I'll nuke these bugs from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. This DLC is not the end for StarDrive 2. It's just the start of a new era. Hopefully this will prove to be a successful venture - i.e. a good investment of my time and resources. One way or another, you can expect ongoing support for SD2 and the expac, plus I've been getting a lot of requests for a Ship Pack DLC in the future, and that sounds kind of nice to me too. I'll be putting my head together with you guys and with Iceberg to figure out where to go after this. ------------------------------------------ Alright first, off, here's the DLC description: You're interested in buying this DLC? Well, hold on there bucko - I'm not sure if you're rated on DLC that's this hot. If you think you can handle this kind of horsepower, then what you're looking at here is an incredible new set of features and content for the award-winning* galaxy-spanning PC entertainment experience that is StarDrive 2. This baby takes the base game of StarDrive 2 and overhauls it with massive changes to the structure of the galaxy. First and foremost, the galaxy is now divided into Hexagonal Sectors, providing new resources, terrain features, chokepoints, and reasons for you to commit genocide on the friendly plant people. New deep space construction mechanics allow you to fortify sectors with battlestations, mining outposts, science stations, and more. Sectors are jam-packed with new anomalies to explore, quests to unlock, and dangers to bravely run away from. Sector Zero now features several new ways to win the game, including a technology victory, a story-based victory, and a score victory. You can view your progress towards your victory goal on the brand new victory screen. Dozens of new technologies have been added to support these new mechanics and the AI has been given some serious upgrades to help them win the game too! Planetary Invasion mechanics have received a serious overhaul in this expansion pack as well. While the legacy 3d battle system will remain in place for story-based battles, planetary ground combats will now take place over several turns, allowing you - and the AI - an opportunity to gain space superiority and to reinforce a besieged planet. But do you think we'd stop there? Because we didn't! We also increased the maximum amount of Star Systems from 100 to 200, while providing you tinkerers with the option to crank that maximum up as high as your PC will allow! All of this and more can be yours for a mere ten Earth dollars, rounded down to the appropriately psychologically enticing amount. *PENDING! FEATURES

• New Hex-tile Strategy Map, with deep space terrain features like nebulae, wreckage fields, and more
• New Deep Space Construction mechanics that will allow you to fortify sectors with battle stations and economic buildings
• Three new ways to win the game
• Dozens of new quests, anomalies, technologies, and events
• Overhauled ground combat
• Improved UI and AI
• Increased Galaxy Size options

• Added a new Victory Conditions screen which will show your progress towards beating the game
• Added a new scoring system and a new Score victory, which will grant victory to the player with the highest score total at the end of 1000 turns. This game length value is configurable in the config file if you want a longer or shorter game.
• Fallout Radiation now dissipates more slowly
• The AI will trade for more techs among themselves, with an emphasis on getting shields if they didn’t already have them
• The AI will not research future techs while there are still regular techs left to research. previously they could, at times, head too deep into the future tech while ignoring potentially more helpful regular tech
• Increased the frequency that the AI will refit its ships
• Placed the “Max Systems” count number in the game config file, allowing you to crank up the number of star systems to whatever you want. Note that this may choke your computer to death with space tentacles if you go too high. Default is 100 for vanilla and 200 for the expansion.
• Limited the number of carriers an AI empire will build, to assist in them getting a more diverse fleet that is less system-crushing in huge battles
• Changed the particle FX on heavy rockets because large numbers of rockets could stress graphics cards
• Refactored all projectile code for increased performance and a lesser strain on the physics engine
• Increased the penalties to production and research for having an unhappy populace, and slightly increased the penalty to happiness imposed by overcrowding. The goal of this change is to encourage pursuit of a wider empire, as I think Tall empires currently have an edge
• The AI will now potentially make peace with one another after a prolonged war
• The Znodforce One now has power!
• Experimental technologies now have a cost multiplier the further down the tree they are
• The MegaHospital building will now rapidly heal troops when out of combat. Otherwise, troops stationed at a planet will heal 5 hp per turn.
• AI players will contact the player with offers and demands less frequently now, as it could get a bit annoying
• Nuclear Bombs have had their effectiveness versus troops reduced
• Fixed an issue where ships capable of exterminating your populace were not using their bio-terminators fixed issue with leaders killed in manual combat remaining in the leader screen
• (Expac Only) Many tweaks and changes have been made to the auto-combat calculator after manually playing battles and consistently winning, and then consistently seeing losses in the auto-calculator. The following changes have helped normalize those results: Fixed an issue with the auto-combat calculator that set the cutoff for long range weapons at 600m. I lowered this to 500m, so weapons such as heavy rockets will be considered long-range weapons for auto combats. Reduced the effectiveness of fighters at the long-range and mid-range phases of the auto-combat calculator. Increased the odds of killing a fighter in the close range combat phase of the calculation Point Defense weapons will mitigate damage received, with reduced effectiveness at closer ranges Reduced the variance in damage that could be taken from ship to ship; ships will now be guaranteed to take a relatively equal portion of damage relative to the number of ships in fleet, with a +/- 30% variation possible Corvettes and Frigates each receive a sizeable damage mitigation bonus during long and medium range combat phases

Hi folks, I've updated the game with a small patch today. First, I tracked down a bug that could still cause escort ships to drift away after losing their capital ship. Second, I balanced out Corvettes and Frigates to have a minimum possible turning speed - Corvettes a bit faster than Frigates. This is a bonus to help them play the roles that I envisioned for them to be screening ships. I noticed that a lot of times these escort vessels could have a really hard time making the turns they needed to make to keep in escort range. So the end result is that you'll see the ships moving at the same speed they normally would, but regardless of how slow or fast they are, they'll have a minimum turning speed to keep them behaving properly. This will patch into 1.2 on your end. I don't update the version number for small fixes like this anymore because updating the version number causes your AppData folder to be rebuilt, and that can cause headaches for some users who have restricted permissions on their systems. I'll only be updating the version number on your end when I need to add new content.

Hi Folks, I wanted to thank you for bearing with me as I track down lingering issues in the 1.2 Patch. It's been a big process upgrading to Unity 5 because not everything works the same in Unity 5 as it does in Unity 4, and StarDrive 2 is a huge game with a lot of places for things to go off the rails. So I am sincerely grateful for your patience and your feedback, and I'm working hard to knock out any issues as you report them. I'm patching these fixes right into 1.2 today - the version number won't update on your end, but when you see SD2 download a little something something today, it's just patching these fixes in: [list=1]

Hello Commanders. I am releasing a hotfix to address a couple of critical issues that popped up in version 1.2. Specifically, there were situations where you could encounter a blank invasion screen when trying to invade an enemy planet. Also there were still some lingering issues where AI escort vessels could become confused about their purpose in life after the capital ship they were guarding blew up. These issues are now resolved and a hotfix is up. If you are experiencing these issues then just verify your steam files or restart steam to grab the patch. I have also fixed an issue where the game could hang after defeating the final planet of an enemy. If you have a hang then this will fix that.

Today's Deal: Save 66% on StarDrive 2!*

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Hi folks. We're getting ready to launch our DLC out here soon, so in anticipation of that I've got a big patch here to bring things into line. Hopefully the upgrade from Unity 4 to Unity 5 won't cause any headaches - I've tested the hell out of it and things look solid, but there could be some unknown thing lurking out there. Please report in if you have any problems with this new build. Have fun! a. Changes [list=1]

Hi everyone, today we’re announcing StarDrive 2’s first DLC, named “Sector Zero”, which will be launching later this year. The DLC will bolster the epic turn-based 4x space strategy title with the following additional content and features: · Sectors mechanic. An entirely new way to visualize and conquer the galaxy. The concept of sectors reinvigorates the 4x’s of StarDrive 2. In the early-game exploration phase, Sectors provide short-term goals as the targets of your exploration. As you enter a sector for the first time, its secrets are revealed. You might find one of Sector Zero's new quest lines or events. You may find subspace anomalies, the wreckage from ancient battles, and many more new and exciting terrain features. · Deep Space Construction mechanics. These allow you to claim sectors for your empire and to exploit the resources found there. Build a Star Fortress at the edge of a wormhole to control the passage, or a mining base in a deep space field of precious metals. Every space station can be upgraded with multiple improvements to secure your territory. · Expanded Galaxy size, allowing galaxies up to 4 times larger than those available in the base StarDrive 2 game. · Dozens of new quests and events to continue to bring the lore of the StarDrive universe to life. · New technologies to research. · New Racial traits to further customize your experience. · Two new Victory Conditions: the scientific victory, and a story-based victory. Also to coincide with the half year anniversary of the launch of StarDrive 2 (which was on April 9th 2015), publisher Iceberg Interactive will be offering a 50% discount on the title for 7 days from today October 9th, with the original StarDrive game also discounted to 75% off. Zero is travelling at the mo, but we will be supplying some more graphic info on the upcoming DLC next week.

Patch is up. Let me know if you have any troubles with it! [List=1]

Hello everyone. This new patch improves battle performance and also rebalances fleets and fleet caps. Some of these changes are a bit dramatic, so play a round or two and let me know what you think! This patch is now live with the following patch notes:

• Polish language implemented
• I've added some sanity checks to the code to try and eliminate the Mirror Fleet bug. I have not been able to reproduce this issue on my end, but when you get enough people playing the game, it'll pop up. I hope this fix will eliminate the bug. After this patch, please let me know.
• Fighters will now take damage over time if their mothership is destroyed; this should eliminate situations where a pair of ace dogfighters take nearly forever to finish off their battle. They'll have about 45 seconds of life left after their mothership dies.
• (Experimental) I am eliminating the Garrison mechanic, which reduced the command point cost of ships that were in orbit - as an experiment in controlling fleet sizes
• (Also Experimental) - the base CP for a battleship is increased from 4 to 5; Titans from 5 to 7. I want titans to be a much larger investment, and encourage some more mixed use of forces
• (Experimental too) - You may now build a number of free frigates equal to half your Command Point Cap (rounded up, if the number is odd)
• Changed the way "free CP" ships are represented in the fleet UI. previously they would contribute to the "on paper" CP cost of the fleet, and you'd have to figure out whether a ship was free or not; now I specifically assign a ship to be free or not, which will result in an accurate CP readout on the GUI.
• Defensive Station hitpoints are increased by about 300%
• Attempted fix in place for scenario where AI ships will maneuver off the combat map; I have not been able to reproduce this bug but my hypothesis is that it is an error in the target selection code; I have done some work here to do a little sanity checking and ensure that AI ships refresh their targets a bit more frequently
• Rebalanced all of the combat audio to avoid corrupt, crackling sounds when too many weapons are firing off at once; you should also observe a nice performance increase as a result
• Fixed a bug where weapons that deal Damage over time were not properly applying their Dots, although the damage text would appear
• I've changed the AI's fleet building logic to prioritize making its biggest ships first, and then it will backfill with free corvettes and frigates

Hi Folks. This patch fixes a couple of issues that had me scratching my head for a while. Most important - the AI will be building better fleets now. The patch is live - take it for a spin!

• Improved turn processing speed in the late game - the game's decision-making algorithm for picking a ship to build has to iterate through a lot of designs and that was slowing things down.
• The AI will be better about building battleships and titan designs now.
• Fixed a scenario where the AI would declare war on you without contacting you; they shouldn't be declaring war at all in this situation
• The AI is no longer going to try and make a territorial claim on your homeworld. They will respect that it's yours and at the very least won't go crazy trying to get you to trade it to them to end a war of their aggression
• The AI now has the limited ability to modify ship designs in response to not having a replace-able technology. Currently if they want to build a ship that requires Fusion Engines but they do not possess this technology, then they know how to swap out the fusion engines for Basic Engines.
• Further improved turn speed; some work was being done over and over again that only needed to be done once

I've got a big old whopper of a patch for you guys today to coincide with our Iceberg Publisher Weekend! Notes below. Enjoy! New Content:

• Added more than 1500 bad-♥♥♥ ship designs to the AI's arsenal.
• The AI routines responsible for building fleets have been upgraded to provide a more substantial challenge heading into the late game. Experienced players may very well find themselves out-gunned!
• New Race Customization Options! These are "Game-Changers" to provide some more unique challenges for you. - Titan Quest: You begin the game with Titan Construction technology but can ONLY build Titan class military vessels - Total War: You cannot build colony ships. This should be a fun challenge. - Newcomer: Your empire was late to the StarDrive party. Other empires start with two additional colonies in nearby systems
• Added a number of new technologies and ship modules that will be available through a new in-game event
• New Galaxy Shape Added: Ring
• Added Broadside Weapon Mounts for the following weapons - Heavy Torpedo - Plasma Torpedo - Anti-Matter Torpedo - EMP Torpedo - Photon Torpedo - Quantum Torpdo

• Changed some of the Strategic AI behaviors to research technologies that you may not have seen the AI research before
• The Tactical AI now has a new play in its playbook to try and bring down those destroyers lurking on the edge of combat
• The AI will now engage in some limited technology trading between themselves. I had previously decided as a matter of design to restrict this behavior to prevent the AI from appearing to have an overwhelming advantage, but there are some techs that are just too important for the AI to go without. Therefore the AI will now trade with Known races to acquire certain techs that are important to it
• The Shipyard Checklist will now produce a red "Ammo" error if you attempt to build a ship with a weapon equipped while not having the energy or ordnance storage necessary to fire the weapon; previously this would have only produced a yellow "Ammo" warning. This will prevent players from being able to create a design with a weapon mount that is unable to fire
• The cost of future tech research increases the further down the tree that you go. This should prevent you from ever running out of future tech, which can break the game if you get that far, and it will slow down tech progression in the late game
• The 2x5 mass driver has its range reduced to 800, with a large damage fall-off occuring past 600.
• If your approval level ever hits 0, then your people will simply refuse to work or perform research because literally no one likes you enough to do anything for you.
• The AI will only demand tribute if it believes that its fleet is stronger than yours
• My mouse wheel broke and so I realized that for people without good mouse scroll wheels, the +/- buttons on the minimap needed some more fine-grained control. So that's in there now.
• Added support for Corvette-only weapons to compliment the new technologies available
• The game's initial load up time is reduced by a fair margin
• Future Tech can no longer be assimilated or stolen by spies, which kills a few wonky birds with one stone
• The maximum population of a planet is now determined by the citizens living on the planet - not the owner of a planet. For instance, if you conquer an aquatic world, the aquatic species that lives there will be able to continue to breed and grow into their planetary population cap. You will not be able to place more non-aquatic citizens there than your own cap would ever allow. If the Population cap of a planet is increased relative to your own species' cap due to a trait like aquatic or subterranean, then the population readout will reflect this in parenthesis: i.e. a world might read as 7/5 (14). Meaning 7 citizens live there - your cap is 5, but due to the bonuses of the citizens, the real cap is 14.

• Fixed a bug with the AI sometimes colonizing in your space still; added some extra safety nets for scenarios where space BECOMES your core space when the AI colony ship is already en route
• Capturing a blockaded planet in ground combat will no longer cause the planet to be blockaded for the immediate turn thereafter; this bug may have been the cause of some very edge case scenarios where you might find a mirror of your own blockading fleet invading your colony. I'm not declaring that issue fully resolved but I'm still working towards isolating the cause and I suspect that this now-dead bug may be the culprit
• Fixed a few achivements that were not unlocking properly
• Fixed an issue where the AI could still potentially colonize in Player space; this was caused by the AI aborting its attempt to colonize a valid planet due to a hostile presence in the vicinity, and picking a second choice without the same territorial considerations it usually employs to choose a colonization target
• Fixed an issue with the new Approval penalty that is incurred when exceeding tolerance when also having a leader that improves your tolerance levels
• The Gauss cannon should no longer punch through shields
• Fixed a bug (it was a typo) that was causing the expansionism penalty to diplomatic relations to remain constant, when the desired effect was to have it diminish over time
• The Hire Hero window will no longer be overridden by pop-ups from quests or diplomatic interactions

This patch introduces some new Diplomacy mechanics in response to player feedback about the AI and how it should respect your borders. I've added a new Treaty Type - the Open Borders Treaty - and I've added a new rule that prevents players from colonizing in Core AI space and vice-versa unless you either have an open borders treaty or are at war. (Core Space is the more heavily shaded area of imperial borders). I've also made the "tolerance" mechanic a Soft-Cap for the player. As space emperor, you may indeed make any deal you want with other races, even if it exceeds your peoples' tolerance for such a deal. They may not be very happy about it though... This is the first in a series of patches that will continue to respond to the feedback that players want more diplomatic options in the game. I have more plans to add new treaties such as alliances and shared victory conditions. But first, let's make sure that these changes we've made here are going to work out as intended. Please stop by the forums to offer your feedback! There are additional balance tweaks and bug fixes as well. Full notes below.

• You can no longer order your fleets to intercept your own Civilian transports or merchant fleets. Previously you could merge a combat fleet with a civilian fleet and this could cause a game hang or potentially a crash
• Improved the terran ground combat map as it was a bit sparse on details
• The "Stormwracked" planet attribute will now be removed when you complete the special project to do so; previously if the planet was currently undergoing a storm when you fixed the special, then it would remain storming indefinitely. This fix will apply retroactively to your saved games
• AIs that prefer to use carriers are getting some new ship loadout options for their battleships
• Fixed a bug that could cause a hang on load in the late game
• Upon reconsidering the issue, I've decided to nerf 3x3 cruise missile damage. They are extremely reliable right now due to their speed and hitpoints, and I'm unhappy with how quickly a focused barrage can take out even a battleship in short order. The focus for missiles is reliable damage at mid-long range, but they can be stuffed with Jammers and point defense.
• Increased the number of screenships that the AI will try to use for its Capital ships, and I've made them want to be tighter in on their wards to try and be there for missile barrage intercepts
• 2 direct hits from a flak cannon is now sufficient to kill a cruise missile. Point defense lasers will remain largely ineffective; I am looking into adding some higher tech point defense
• Continuing to expand your empire despite being warned by an AI will no longer result in an AI automatically declaring war on you
• The expansionism penalty to diplomatic relations will subside over time
• The expansionism penalty to relations will not be applied if you are colonizing inside a system where you already own a colony, and you are the only empire occupying the system
• Fixed a scenario where the AI wants a trade treaty and creates an offer that exceeds your tolerance levels
• Colonizing within the Core space of an AI will require a declaration of war before you can proceed
• Added an Open Borders Treaty to diplomacy. This allows you to re-arm, repair, and refuel inside the other's territory. It also extends your fuel range through their territory. This treaty takes the place of the Non-Aggression Pact for purposes of defraying the relations hit that comes from moving through the core space of another empire.
• Updated the English dialog texts and AI behavior to offer an Open Borders treaty instead of a Non-Aggression Pact upon a core-space incursion by player fleets (if they like you enough).
• You can now, as an emergency measure, exceed your normal tolerance levels in diplomacy at the expense of pissing off your people. An appropriate pop-up warning has been added when attempting to do this. Cybernetics continue to be immune to being pissed off about anything, which is a point to consider for balance purposes as we go through with the changes to this system. The AI will remain inflexible with its tolerance levels
• Heavy fighters will now be equipped with a 1x1 Rocket launcher instead of the Flak or Cluster Cannon. This should both increase their effective DPS and also increase YOUR effective FPS, because the cluster cannon could bog your framerates when used en masse
• If you declare war upon a race with whom you have an open borders treaty, you will receive an "Untrustworthy" penalty to relations with all other races. You also get this penalty if you had a non-aggression pact
• The "untrustworthy" penalty is now increased to a base of -20 points from -10.
• Artillery given a steep damage falloff past 600 range

This patch will provide a fix for people who have had problems loading the game after uninstalling a mod. I'm also continuing my efforts to bring long-range cannon weapons into line. I'm getting consistent reports that Mass Drivers continue to dominate the battlefield, and they are only a tier 2 tech. I want them to have the potential to be incredible with an experienced crew and good targeting computers, but otherwise I want you to have to get into a closer range to shine. To that end, the biggest change here is a targeting penalty that is introduced at long ranges. The penalty can be negated with an experienced crew + targeting computers. I am assuming that players will be doing this, so the second change is some added functionality to the ECM and advanced ECM jammers. These jammers will now provide a "Targeting Defense" which will reduce the accuracy of incoming fire directed against the ship. For now the effect will stack, but this will be subject to change depending on how wild this gets. Notes:

• Fixed an issue where ship designs from an uninstalled Mod would cause your game to hang on load
• Added a targeting penalty for long-range shooting ( >300). The longer the range, the greater the penalty. This penalty can be alleviated with experience
• The ECM Jammer and Advanced ECM jammer will now provide what I'm calling "Targeting Defense". Ships shooting ballistic weapons at ships with these Jammers will now receive a stackable penalty to their accuracy
• After running the numbers on a bunch of energy cannon weapons, I have determined that basic lasers are still, relative to other energy cannon weapons, overpowered. So I have the option of either buffing the other cannon weapons, or reducing the effectiveness of lasers. I'm doing a little bit of both. So lasers are again being reduced in damage, but disruptors and other energy cannon weapons are gaining bonuses. Just FYI I'm balancing these cannon weapons by their DPS per slot footprint at point blank range. We'll see much smoother and noticable arc of improvement as you obtain better cannon weaponry
• Anti-Matter Cannon gets a graphical improvement with its rework. Added a 2x3 spinal anti-matter cannon. The AM cannon is brought more in line with the Plasma Cannon - it's got really high point blank damage but a quicker fall-off, but no dissipation vs. shields. Increased Ordnance costs for the weapon. It's meant to be a point blank dominator
• Eliminated a bug where, if your fleet was blockading a planet, and the planet finished construction of a space station, then you would switch roles and end up having to fight your own fleet!
• The AI will now attempt to rally its war fleets in safer places. Previously they would choose a system that was free of enemy threats, but they wouldn't think too hard about what was in between the rallying fleet and the rally position, which could lead to some poor strategic deployments
• The Ai will be a bit more patient when regrouping its forces now before going on offense. They had some behaviors where they would send an offensive fleet out while several other task forces were trying to rendezvous, leading to a potential conga line of ships
• On Easy, Normal, and Hard, the AI is going to be less Homicidal over small grievances like refusing to pay tribute. They will need to be madder at you to declare a war, with different thresholds depending on the difficulty and their needs