The Last Federation News

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Version 2.008 is the latest in a series of post-expansion-release hotfixes.  We've been posting about these on our forums, but individually these releases weren't really worth doing a full blog/announcement post about.  So let's talk about these cumulatively!

First of all, for those who have been following along already, here's what is new in the very latest release:

• If you have been waiting for that setting that allows your dispatches to give you a warning whenever a race attacks another, your wait is now over!
  
• The selling of raw resources in Betrayal mode is back, just now at a really discounted rate compared to the other modes.
  
• Several changes have been made that will keep the AI acting a bit more appropriately when it comes to ground invasions.
  

But what else has been going on since 2.0, for those who haven't been following?

• Well, naturally, the very first thing that happened after launch of the expansion is that a couple of clever souls figured out a way to trivialize Betrayal mode by using a bumrush tactic that nobody had tried up until that point.  So there was much balance work and AI work and so on done around making that no longer an exploit.  Betrayal mode got even more interesting as a result, even for those not using that tactic.
  
• Obscura Discs aren't so common anymore during battles with the Obscura, because they were kind of obnoxious when found en masse.
  
• In Betrayal mode, when you're defending yourself you no longer earn such a negative influence with other races.
  
• Assassins now are only a standard-mode mechanic.  They only really made good sense there, and were particularly unbalancing on Betrayal mode.
  
• The ratio of number of flagships in combat to "base power" of an armada has decreased, meaning that you can't wipe out whole armadas quite so easily in combat mode.
  
• A lot of smaller bugfixes.
  

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater, or if you have Steam it will automatically update it for you. To force Steam to download it faster, just restart Steam and it will do so.

Click here for the official forum discussion about this release.

TLF's first expansion, Betrayed Hope, is officially releasing today.

The expansion includes 17 new ships, 2 new solar system backgrounds, 32 new abilities, 19 new achievements, 13 new music tracks and 5 new quests. It also introduces two completely different ways to play the game -- Betrayal and Invasion:

Betrayal Mode reverses the usual game flow, making you a full planetary power trying to achieve solar domination -- adding a new layer of 4X onto the existing game. You gain the ability to command armadas and ground troops, and the meaning behind political deals is very much shifted. Rather than working toward unity, you attempt to destroy all your foes through subterfuge, war, and temporary alliances.

Invasion Mode sees you working with the other races to survive slaughter by a grave new threat, putting yet another major spin on things. Forming the federation isn't a priority when you are trying to keep a terror from consuming the entire system.

The Last Federation 2.0 arrives alongside the Betrayed Hope expansion this week as well. Here's what's been added or improved upon between 1.0 and this new release:

- Tons of improvements to GUI clarity, explanatory tooltips, etc.
- Auto-resolve option for battles.
- Permadeath made optional (and off by default).
- Awesome new ship graphics for during battles.
- New Burlust "Turmoil" mechanic.
- New ways to persuade races to join the federation.
- New actions that NPC-races take when it seems appropriate to them.
- Six new quests.
- Added player actions to support a ground invasions, oppose them, or simply start bombing stuff independently.
- Added the Ark and the Mire, two randomly seeded unique buildings that help make each game different.
- Major improvements to how RCI, Attitude, and Influence numbers work so that they make more sense to the player.
- Major revisions to widely-disliked missions like "Clean up AFA", "Deliver Spacefaring Technology", etc.
- Radical shifts to solar map pacing and many revisions to how actions work to increase player agency.
- New moddable "Bullet Pattern" engine that allows some really crazy new behaviors for enemy shots. Tons of new and revised bullet patterns.
- You can now do practice combats at the black market to try out tactics or just enjoy blowing up tons of ships.
- Substantial CPU/GPU performance improvements.
- Rebalancing both in combat and on the solar map.
- Multitudinous bugfixes.

For those interested in delving deeper, the full release notes from version 1.0 to 2.0 total more than 61,000 words.

The Last Federation - Betrayed Hope, all new content for The Last Federation is Now Available on Steam and is 10% off!*

Betrayal Mode lets you completely reverse the usual game flow, working as a full planetary power trying to destroy your foes, not unite them. Invasion Mode sees you working with the other races to survive slaughter by a grave new threat. Plus new ships, abilities, music, and more!

To celebrate the final release of Betrayal Mode, and v2.0 of The Last Federation, the base game is 55% off all week!

*Offer ends November 21 at 10AM Pacific Time

Version 1.900 is final touches in preparation for the launch of version 2.0 and the full release of the expansion this Friday the 14th (just a couple of days from now!).

The big things in this new version are that the tutorials have all been extensively updated for the new modes, and the story segments for the new modes have also been finished. The tutorials are always one of the last things that we update when we're doing an expansion for a game, because things tend to be evolving during the beta and we learn a lot from what questions people have. The time has come, however, for all that to finally come together in the actual game.

If you were previously having a hard time getting going in Invasion mode or Betrayal mode, you should be good to go now. Of course if you still have any questions, please do let us know. But the new tutorials for those modes go out of their way not just to tell you how to do the things that are unique to those modes, but also to give you some strategy advice.



Let us know how things are looking, if you have suggestions or bug reports, etc!

More to come soon. Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater, or if you have Steam it will automatically update it for you. To force Steam to download it faster, just restart Steam and it will do so.

Click here for the official forum discussion about this release.