Development Blog - 1.19.21: Scouting System and what's new for 2021!
Hello everyone! Hope everyone had a good holiday season, a happy New Year, and that 2021 is off to a better foot than 2020 for you! We have certainly kicked off the new year running, and that’s what we want to talk about today!
We wanted to touch on our timelines for the year, and our plans for the next few open alphas, as what we’re working on now. I want to have a new development diary go out about every 2 weeks, as those are the lengths of the development sprints we are working on in the studio.
First off, with the funding provided by HH, we’ll be able to add another programmer to the staff to work on things like UI scripting and data conversion, which will free me up to do a lot more with the AI, optimization, and game mechanics. We hope to announce their addition in early Feburary. Also, AotSS will now have a custom music score, done by Cody Still, who has composed for Hollywood trailers and movies for years and has already composed some amazing music for the game, including the main theme. If you’re on our Discord (and if you’re not, why not?!) I have posted a preview of the main theme there.
Now for our timelines. We’d like to do our next Closed Alpha II sometime in April, and our Closed Beta in late July. We haven’t finalized an EA release yet, but it would be at the earliest in August or September. Of course we’ll let you know when that happens!
Next, I wanted to talk about a concept of the game that is getting a polish - Scouting. Specifically, scouting systems and planets. Currently, you can either send a probe to the system that you want more information on as a Project, or a scout Force, and a scout probe will increase the intel level of the system by 25%, while a Force will increase the intel level by the Scouting value of the Force every turn. While it’s not a bad system, it had room for improvement. So this is how it’s going to work going forward:
First of all, and most important, planet intel is decoupled from system intel. In other words, you’ll have to individually scout planets if you want any information beyond ‘there is a planet here’.
There are now 5 levels of planet intel:
You can obtain Low and Medium intel levels from just using probes, but to get anything higher, you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way, by sending down survey crews. That means you’ll need to have a survey Force in the system.
Scouting options can now be accessed directly from the Planet Box, and sending a Probe will no longer be considered a Project, but an Action that costs 1 AP, 100 Energy, 100 Heavy, and 5 Rare. Its ETA will depend on the distance to the system. If you have a Scout Force in the system, you will have the option active to send a survey crew that will automatically reveal Medium Intel (you need Low Intel to even know the planet exists!) and will scout the planet at a rate dependant on the Force’s Scouting rating.
What this means is that even systems that are near inhabited systems will not necessarily have planets that are revealed - you will need to scout the system (you can still send a survey probe to do a system scan) and when the system is at High or Max Intel all planets will be discovered. Medium or low might still contain hidden planets, so Scouting will be much more important when you’re trying to figure out where to build Outposts and Colonies! The cost to build Colonies will be adjusted significantly upward in conjunction with the revised Outpost system (coming next update, but Outposts now have 3 levels and can be ‘upgraded’ to a Colony at level 3) so having a solid scouting strategy will be very important!
Houses will also now be sending their own scout Forces and probes (previously you had to do all the scouting) but if you at a relationship level below ‘Neutral’ they will not share their scan data with you, so the Empire will not be aware of that information. However, as the Empire’s leading House, you will share your scan info with any House that is an active member of the Empire, regardless of relationship.
Note that while probes can be sent anywhere, Forces will still need to remain within the Logistical Network, so if you want to scan a planet in more detail, you’ll have to have a LGN connection to it. Fortunately, Scout Forces will now have 200% range from the normal LGN to assist with this requirement. In conjunction with this, Houses will now be able to make a request for a specific system to be connected to the LGN.
Note that you can still Colonize and build an Outpost even on planets that have not been scouted beyond ‘Low’ - but you will be taking a significant gamble that the planet will be appropriate for that use! We certainly hope that scan strategy will now be an important part of the game and will hopefully appeal to the eXploration part of the 4X formula!
Thanks for your time!
-Steve
We wanted to touch on our timelines for the year, and our plans for the next few open alphas, as what we’re working on now. I want to have a new development diary go out about every 2 weeks, as those are the lengths of the development sprints we are working on in the studio.
First off, with the funding provided by HH, we’ll be able to add another programmer to the staff to work on things like UI scripting and data conversion, which will free me up to do a lot more with the AI, optimization, and game mechanics. We hope to announce their addition in early Feburary. Also, AotSS will now have a custom music score, done by Cody Still, who has composed for Hollywood trailers and movies for years and has already composed some amazing music for the game, including the main theme. If you’re on our Discord (and if you’re not, why not?!) I have posted a preview of the main theme there.
Now for our timelines. We’d like to do our next Closed Alpha II sometime in April, and our Closed Beta in late July. We haven’t finalized an EA release yet, but it would be at the earliest in August or September. Of course we’ll let you know when that happens!
Next, I wanted to talk about a concept of the game that is getting a polish - Scouting. Specifically, scouting systems and planets. Currently, you can either send a probe to the system that you want more information on as a Project, or a scout Force, and a scout probe will increase the intel level of the system by 25%, while a Force will increase the intel level by the Scouting value of the Force every turn. While it’s not a bad system, it had room for improvement. So this is how it’s going to work going forward:
First of all, and most important, planet intel is decoupled from system intel. In other words, you’ll have to individually scout planets if you want any information beyond ‘there is a planet here’.
There are now 5 levels of planet intel:
- None means just that; you don’t even know if there’s a planet in that slot or not!
- Low means that you know there is a planet, but nothing beyond that.
- Medium now reveals the type and size; e.g. Large Desert planet.
- High now reveals the habitability level of the planet - from None to Optimal.
- Max reveals the resource levels of the planet, as well as any planet traits.
You can obtain Low and Medium intel levels from just using probes, but to get anything higher, you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way, by sending down survey crews. That means you’ll need to have a survey Force in the system.
Scouting options can now be accessed directly from the Planet Box, and sending a Probe will no longer be considered a Project, but an Action that costs 1 AP, 100 Energy, 100 Heavy, and 5 Rare. Its ETA will depend on the distance to the system. If you have a Scout Force in the system, you will have the option active to send a survey crew that will automatically reveal Medium Intel (you need Low Intel to even know the planet exists!) and will scout the planet at a rate dependant on the Force’s Scouting rating.
What this means is that even systems that are near inhabited systems will not necessarily have planets that are revealed - you will need to scout the system (you can still send a survey probe to do a system scan) and when the system is at High or Max Intel all planets will be discovered. Medium or low might still contain hidden planets, so Scouting will be much more important when you’re trying to figure out where to build Outposts and Colonies! The cost to build Colonies will be adjusted significantly upward in conjunction with the revised Outpost system (coming next update, but Outposts now have 3 levels and can be ‘upgraded’ to a Colony at level 3) so having a solid scouting strategy will be very important!
Houses will also now be sending their own scout Forces and probes (previously you had to do all the scouting) but if you at a relationship level below ‘Neutral’ they will not share their scan data with you, so the Empire will not be aware of that information. However, as the Empire’s leading House, you will share your scan info with any House that is an active member of the Empire, regardless of relationship.
Note that while probes can be sent anywhere, Forces will still need to remain within the Logistical Network, so if you want to scan a planet in more detail, you’ll have to have a LGN connection to it. Fortunately, Scout Forces will now have 200% range from the normal LGN to assist with this requirement. In conjunction with this, Houses will now be able to make a request for a specific system to be connected to the LGN.
Note that you can still Colonize and build an Outpost even on planets that have not been scouted beyond ‘Low’ - but you will be taking a significant gamble that the planet will be appropriate for that use! We certainly hope that scan strategy will now be an important part of the game and will hopefully appeal to the eXploration part of the 4X formula!
Thanks for your time!
-Steve