.8.4 Update Now Out! Largest Update Evah

Hey everyone,

I know I've been pretty quiet for the last few weeks, but when you see the update that's about to be posted, you'll know why. Simply put, AotSS is closer than ever to being the epic 4X/strategy game I dreamed about 5 years ago, and with about 90% of the game now in about about 75% of the UI updated, and much of the new art in, hopefully you will see what the game is becoming. Our next update will have an extensive in-game tutorial, as well as the rest of the military system, but for now... here's what's included in .8.4!
[h2]NEW FEATURES[/h2]

[h3]Military System Updates – Adds approximately 70% of the military system. Some highlights are as follows:[/h3]

Military UI – Almost all major screens for Military are now complete and implemented, including the Military Nexus, Logistical Networks, System Boxes, Force Mission Select, Force Destination Select, LGN Upgrade, Military Budget Focus Window, Force Details, Ship Details, Shipyards, and Zoom 3 and 4 detail zoom on the Galaxy map. Also includes force boxes with multiple levels of detail and multi function select from multiple Forces in an area. Last remaining screens to do are the planet UI and the ground combat UI, as well as a combat summary screen.
Ship Component System – Adds a ship component stockpile to each House, which are generated from Ship Component Factories, which are staffed by SC Engineers – a new high-planet value Pop with high values in High Tech and Engineering. They are not common in the AotSS world, so don’t let them leave for a rival House! SCs are generated with Heavy and Rare materials, and serve as the building blocks for Ships.
Shipyards – Come in 4 sizes, Small, Medium, Heavy, and Capital. Use SCs to build ships by generating SP (Ship Points). Can be upgraded, turned on and off to save money and SCs, can be crash stopped all at once when your economy is in the tank, and with an imminent update will be able to be changed to a different ship. All Houses can build Shipyards.
Forces – Ships are the building blocks of Forces, which are the equivalent of wet water fleets. They have several different roles depending on the mission that they are designed for, and are built around force templates. Players will be able to select a size (small, medium, heavy, capital) and a mission (scout, combat, system defense, interdiction, etc.) and will then be able to build new Forces from their existing Ships that are not already part of a Force but are in reserve. These Ships are basically mothballed with no weapons and minimal systems, and are then fitted for the role required in the Force template. For example, a Combat Force may call for 2 Scout Frigates, so 2 Frigates would be pulled into the Force and fit specifically for the Scout role – they have limited weapons, but greater speed and sensors, giving a bonus to engagement and offense for other ships in the Force.
Logistical Networks have been completely reworked for the military system. They are now stationed in deep space, and have a variable effective radius depending on the size and the funding for the network. Essentially, as long as networks touch, they form a chain that can allow ships to go anywhere the network is contiguous, but if there is a break they can not go outside that. Scout and Construction ships have extended range. LGNs can be upgraded 3 levels, they can be shut down for budget (or diplomatic) reasons, and can be built anywhere in space by Construction Forces. With the new network rules, now if a planet/system is not covered by a LGN their Pops can not emigrate, nor can other Pops move there. They can only move to systems in the network that contains their system.
Scouting is now not a Project, but a mission that you assign a Force. Scout Forces have an extended range and are faster than normal roles, but have almost no offensive capability and will do very poorly if attacked. Forces will be able to Scout a specific Planet or an entire System. System Scouting Missions increase the Intel Progress of that System, while Planet Scouting will increase the atmosphere and planet scans of that planet to determine the planet’s mineral, energy, and Bio values. Each Scouting Point generates 3 Intel Progress points towards the target.
Space Combat System – Engagements take place at 3 distances: long, medium, and short range in 3 ‘rounds’ of combat. Essentially, ships target a similar roled ship on the other side, and they generate an Attack Rating at a certain range. The target generates a Defense Rating depending on their Tactics and Speed rating, and based on the interaction of the two, damage occurs (via HPs) or not. After the short-range engagement, the forces break off. If one Force is destroyed or is forced to retreat due to being < 25% Effectiveness, the other Force controls the area (planet/system) Using this system, it is entirely possible for small, fast, heavily sensored and armored ships to survive against larger ships, even if they won’t do much damage themselves.
Missions are now assigned to Forces through the Mission Assignment screen when you select a target. You will be able to select a scouting or move mission currently (attack missions are coming soon) and you will see the various costs, including Fear/Love/Power consequences for success/failure. You will see a dynamic ETA line and can cancel the mission at any time before it is assigned – but once it is assigned, you can not control a Force until it has arrived at its destination!
LGNs are now built through a Construction Mission instead of a Project, as well.
Orbital Kinetic Strikes are now no longer a Project, but a mission of a Terror Force and can be given an order to strike a planet.
Military Budget – The Military Budget system has been completely reworked and now is allocated to 3 different areas: LGNs, Forces in the field, and Shipyards. You can change these allocations at any time (at a cost of 1 AP) as needed. Your Military has an overall Efficiency depending on how well it is funded. Defund your Shipyards and they will take forever to build new ships; defund your Forces and they will start to lose effectiveness, and may even disband! Defund your LGNs and their reach will be a tiny fraction of their normal reach, potentially cutting off systems and constellations, which will make Houses in those systems very unhappy!
War Prime – Now give bonuses/maluses to Production and Force Efficiency, as well as limiting the number of Forces that can be active. A Force Cap is in place equal to 2 + the War Prime’s Administration Rating. Forces that are built over this Cap will suffer a significant (and escalating) Efficiency rating, meaning that they will perform much more poorly but cost the same amount of money.
Supply System – All ships use Supply Point (SPs) per turn; very few if they are in a logistical network, more if they are actively performing a mission, and a tremendous amount if they are no longer in a LGN (for example, if it is cut off or defunded while a force is in transit) A Force that is out of aggregate SPs is considered to be Stranded, and can not move or perform any actions until they are disbanded or are under the umbrella of a LGN. One Supply Point is one Food unit and one Energy unit.
Admirals – Generated during Force generation, they will soon be able to be selected during Force generation by the player. They provide bonuses/maluses to their Force in efficiency and Attack/Defense/Scout/Construction ratings.
Influence – Forces now generate Influence if they are stationed in system defense of an unclaimed system. They can be used to bolster Influence enough temporarily to Claim a system before building something more permanent.
Fear – Forces that orbit a non-House-owned System generate Fear among the planet’s populace proportionate to their combat ability and size. Conversely Forces that orbit a House owned- System generate Love (the Pops feel protected)
Military Tradition – You can now put points into Military Tradition. The more points in this category, the better your Admirals will be and the more starting Shipyards and Forces/Ships your House will have.
AI – The Houses can build and maintain Forces and Ships, and have current limited ability to move them to systems that they want to claim or keep for defense. Houses with a high Military Tradition will have more ships, Forces, and shipyards.
Other small UI tweaks are forthcoming in future incremental updates of .8.4.

[h3]Project System Update – The Project System has been completely reworked from the ground up, and all UI has been added and integrated to support this change.[/h3]

Summary: Now, all Houses generated pooled ADM from their Holdings. When a House wants to do a Project, they use the pooled ADM and divide it by the number of Projects they have active. ADM flows from the Throneworld of the House that initiated it to the Project Leader to the Province Governor to the System Governor of the planet or system that the Project is located on. The ADM is reduced by the respective Admin Skill of these Characters, and further reduced if the Project location is in a system or province that is not administered by the same House.
ADM Generation: Your House generates ADM for the pool, and any Allied Houses contribute 100% of their ADM to this pool. Cooperative, Neutral, and Cold War relation Houses contribute 50%, and Limited and Total War relations do not contribute anything!
You now have a Project Summary window that you can use to monitor active Projects of you and the other Houses, depending on your Intel level with them. You can also stop your Projects (new) to reassign the ADM and Leader to something else, but you will lose the materials and money allocated to that Project.
Projects are now accessed through the Project Bar, just above the Command Mode bar. They are contextual depending on the zoom level and Command Mode, with all new art.
Houses will now act more in line with their personalities – Houses with aggressive Personalities will be very upset when you leave them out of a Project, and will let you know by comming you immediately. Houses that you perform Projects for (e.g. building a starbase, retail hub, etc) will be grateful and you will see a significant Reputation boost.
Projects have been rebalanced to be slightly less expensive due to the increasing amount of things in the AotSS universe at this point in the game.

[h2]OTHER ITEMS[/h2]

UI Update – Most UI screens have been updated at this point except for the nexus screens (Except military), and the character screen (in progress). Also added is a turn summary that shows your victory progress, your current goals, and events from last turn that are filtered and categorized into 5 levels of importance. You also have a new Alert Bar on that right that will take you to the relevant issue (i.e. events, Comms, etc). They have new Event art and look great!
House Diplomacy – Houses will now react to your building up of Forces in proportion to their own. Allies will be far less concerned than neutral or Cold War. They will react very poorly to Forces orbiting their Holdings, even if they are not explicitly attacking the planet, especially if they are Cold War or less relationship.
Economic Rebalance – With all the additional things that a House/Emperor can spend money on in the game now, the economy has been made more robust. Planets will generate more Trade, Pops will generate more Income based on their Class (i.e. farmer, miner, etc) and the base multiplier of the Gross Planetary Product has been increased to generate more base income.
Events – More Events have been added into the game, and more will be added with each incremental update. Most of them have 8 unique outcomes, depending on your Prime’s skills and your own. Also greatly reduced the event generation percentage – now you should never see more than about 20-30% of the game events in a single complete game.
Province Mode – Now you can enter a specific Province Mode by clicking on the Constellation that a Province is located in. This will allow you to access Province-level Projects, talk to the Province Governor, and isolates the view to only systems belonging to the Province. To break out of this view, simply right click or pan away from the Province.
UI Fixes/Updates – Revamped the Galaxy View controls/camera – now zoom takes place at just 2 levels – a ‘wide range’ view that hides the system labels but shows trade and logistical networks, as well as Forces, and a ‘short range’ galaxy view that will show system labels, more Force information, and additional info depending on the Command mode. The zoom is much smoother and zooms directly into the center of the screen. Also fixed ‘sticking’ issues with panning to the top of the galaxy in a far zoom mode.
Lotso Bug Fixes – Concentrated on null/data errors (that will crash the game) and UI/Control issues. Think at this point there are very few, if any, major bugs left. The military system is less tested due to the scope of the system but I will be working on any issues over the next week or so as they are reported, as well as balance issues.
Optimization – Huge improvements to the game speed. Most turns now take about 5-10 seconds, and generating a new universe takes about 6 seconds on my development computer (which is admittedly fast) but great work has also been done with optimizing the economic screen (there was a lag when the planets would populate on the budget list) that is all but gone.

That's the big stuff... if you haven't dove in for a while, check it out!

-Steve