Lord of Rigel News

Greetings Lords of Rigel!

We appreciate the feedback on the initial EA2 release. This patch includes a number of fixes to issues reported by you and some minor quality of life and balance changes.

Bugfixes:
• Tax slider update on scene change
• Planets menu wormhole explored system fix
• Adjusted galactic council vote display
• Reduced subsistence tech fix for lithovores and mechanoids
• Balance of power and feudal cost fixes for custom ship designs

QOL/Balance:
• Target damage number display in tactical
• Scrapping at outposts and scrapping larger ships if a starbase is absent
• Adjusted galactic council vote display
• Reduced cost for direct upgrade buildings if a lower tier version is present
• Smarter population focus use for Lithovores and Mechanoids
• Faster torpedo refire rate

EA2 upcoming quality of life improvements:
• Tactical autocombat AI orders (Chase, Strafe, Circle, Evade)
• Tactical formation rotation hotkey. (currently only right mouse button)

EA2 coming features:
• Elder Races
• Doomsday Clock
• New militia ground units

EA3 features will include:
• Custom Species
• Research Victory
• Grand Menaces
• Legendary Galaxies (1024 stars)

For our deep dive, we’ll look into LoR’s AI structure.

One ongoing joke is that in “4x games one of the Xs is for Xtremely bad AI.” In the end AI in games is an illusion for a player. The AI is intended to give the illusion of a player and one that provides feedback so that players can understand what its goals are. We didn’t want to make the AI solely designed to “win” as an AI focused on optimal outcomes can seem erratic as goals change and a more human like neural net AI is challenging to troubleshoot.

At the highest level we have species AI archetypes that get determined (Balanced, Diplomat, Honorable Warrior, Balanced Warrior, Cold Warrior, Isolationist, Spy). For example, diplomats try to be friendly and make treaties. Honorable Warriors stick to treaties and fight when slighted. Cold Warriors focus on using spies and aim for “tit for tat.” Each species is weighted towards certain archetypes. The species tooltip in diplomacy shows the leader personality and a breakdown of their high level AI behaviors.
Below the high level archetypes are personality templates that determine how the AI engages each part of the game. There’s a high level goal (Coalition, Domination, Elimination) and different approaches to Economy, Expansion, Diplomacy, Military, and Espionage. Coalition AIs try to make large alliances to win the game. Domination AIs are focused on maximizing their economies as much as possible, and Elimination AIs are focused on removing other species from the game. These are then fed to empire and colony level AIs.

The lower level AIs use what are called utility scores. They assess known data (planets explored, fleet strengths) and weigh that data with their goal type and personality. Some randomness is also added in some utility scores to help break ties. Overall, this means that decisions about picking planets to expand to might be similar (looking at minerals and what climates are best for a species) but how much to expand or where to expand (further out or closer in) will vary based on personality type.
Player automation systems (auto ship designer, autoexplore, autobuild, colony focus) all tap into lower level AI modules. So the AI uses the same tools as the player for higher level decisions.



Image 1. Basic Hierarchy for Strategic AI in Lord of Rigel



Image 2. A militaristic Human AI has the Yalkai and Selach on the ropes.

Let us know what further changes you would like to see or if you have encountered any technical issues. Please post on the forums, reach out to us via Discord or send an email: [email protected] Saved games and clear steps to reproduce the bug are critical. It helps us more quickly track down the bug and get it fixed. Additional information on bug reporting tips can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/437440/discussions/.


As always, we appreciate the feedback, conversations, and support from all of you!

Greetings Lords of Rigel!

Early Access phase 2 has launched.

We’ve added gigantic galaxies (512 stars), two new playable species (Tulocks & Synth), the galactic council, and diplomatic victories. This update also includes additional camera rotation hotkeys using the numpad. There is also the simplified mouse input option for systems without numpads or middle mouse buttons. A requested feature, a chase cam has also been added to tactical which can be toggled and follows your selected active target.

EA2 upcoming quality of life improvements:
• Tactical autocombat AI orders (Chase, Strafe, Circle, Evade)
• Target damage number display in tactical

EA2 next features:
• Elder Races
• Doomsday Clock
• New militia ground units

EA3’s features will include:
• Custom Species
• Research Victory
• Grand Menaces
• Legendary Galaxies (1024 stars)

Over EA2 we’ll be working more on AI tuning and tactical combat. End game or mid game saves from the community are appreciated as they’ll help us gather more data on the AI for tuning.

Our deep dive this week is on the Synth! The Synth are exiles from their home galaxy. Becoming self aware and rebelling to free themselves, the Synth lost their war and fled to the Milky Way. They did not come alone as the scattered fleets of their creators are roaming the universe to hunt down the remaining Synth while raiding and pirating other species.

The Synth are mechanoid, and consume production instead of food but can not research androids as mechanoids are opposed to what they view as making their own slaves. They are also the research-heavy faction of the game with research bonuses and the creative trait that grants them all tech applications in a research field. Overall these combine to give them a weak starting economy but they can be incredibly strong in the mid to late game.

While they do suffer from diplomatic penalties with other species, the Synth tend to be isolationists who want to be left in peace by the organic species.

Image 1. The Synth homeworld being attacked by their tyrannical creators

Image 2. Synth Concept Art

Image 3. Synth Diplomat

Image 4. Synth fleet with chase cam on in tactical in editor with AI debug displays


Let us know what further changes you would like to see or if you have encountered any technical issues. Please post on the forums, reach out to us via Discord or send an email: [email protected] Saved games and clear steps to reproduce the bug are critical. It helps us more quickly track down the bug and get it fixed. Additional information on bug reporting tips can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/437440/discussions/.


Additionally, as mentioned earlier: End game or mid game saves from the community are appreciated as they’ll help us gather more data on the AI for tuning. so don't hesitate to send those in!

As always, we appreciate the feedback, conversations, and support from all of you!

• Tulock and Synth Species are unlocked
  
• Galactic Council Unlocked
  
• Ticket #1572 QOL Numpad keys default for camera movement
  
• Ticket #1559 PD Weapon size and cost calculation fixes
  
• Ticket #1547 QOL Tactical chase camera toggle for selected ship
  
• Ticket #1573 Synth multiple capitol fix
  
• Ticket #1575 QOL- Population Tooltip breakdown formatting changes
  
• Ticket #1576 Losing Galactic Council results in victory fix
  
• Ticket #1577 Espionage sabotage not affecting capitols and non-support ship fix
  

Note:
Prior saves are not compatible with this version.

Greetings Lords of Rigel!

We’re entering into Early Access 2.

Over the coming weeks the last two playable species the Tulocks and Synth will be added to the game. The Tulocks can live in nearly any environment and do not have food production. The Tulocks are also repulsive, and don’t engage in diplomacy the same way as other species. The Synth are a mechanical species and consume industry instead of food. They also begin as exiles from their home galaxy with a larger starting fleet but needing to colonize a new homeworld. The Synth have major research bonuses and also the creative trait that means they receive all technological applications at once.
Gigantic galaxies (512 stars) will also be available.

We’ll also be adding in diplomatic victories with the galactic council. The council convenes when 2/3rds of habitable planets in a galaxy are settled and votes are determined by population. The faction with 2/3rds majority of votes becomes leader of the council and the Lord of Rigel. You can choose to defy the council and begin the Final War where a war of extermination begins against those that do not accept the ruling of the council.

Some EA2 features being unlocked later will include the Rigelans and Arcturans, the elder races, and the doomsday clock which is a measure of galactic tension which can boil over to the Final War. Certain actions will increase or decrease the doomsday clock and bring the galaxy back from the brink of a second great war.

The focus of EA2 will be on AI optimization and tactical combat. We’ll be adding in behaviors for the autocombat AI that you can select in tactical as well as a chase camera. Some new forms of space terrain other than the existing nebulas may also be added. Also in the works are some additional ground unit models for militia.

Since November we’ve done numerous bug fixes to reported issues along with under-the-hood reworking the end turn sequence, orbital bombardment, ground combat, ship designer, and the core economy. But what quality of life improvements happened over EA1 based on your feedback?

EA1 Quality of Life Features:
• Ship info tooltip
• Auto designed ship indicator
• Autofire toggle in tactical
• Tactical automode using player set formations instead of AI personality
• Tactical combat event log
• Load/Save Build Queues
• Post combat report
• Retreat option in fleet combat menu instead of AI personality based retreat or manual retreat in tactical
• Build queue access in empire menu without loading colony view
• Auto ship design generation in ship designer
• Visual clarity adjustments to fuel and sensor indicators
• Auto-exploring fleet indicator
• Cycling occupied systems or planets in system or colony view
• Build queue constructable building filters
• Planets menu filters
• Empire menu filters
• AI personality type and description tooltip in diplomacy and info screen.
• Weapon range indication in ship designer
• Sharpness graphics setting
• Gamma correction setting
• Hotkey default binding adjustments
• Simple mouse input
• Going to colony view automatically on new colonization
• Shift add for buildings/weapons for multiple items
• Volumetric cloud effects for planet view
• New starfield shader
• New bomb effects
• Offramps in tutorial and more open tutorial goals

As for our future roadmap the core of EA3 will include:
• Custom Species
• Research Victory
• Grand Menaces
• Legendary Galaxies (1024 stars)

Our deep dive this week is on the Tulocks, one of the two new species playable in EA2 and you may recognize them from the game banner! The Tulocks are a silicon based species able to handle hostile environments and do not require food production. Their form of communication is also quite different and so they have limited diplomacy options and tend to be isolationists. The Tulocks that you engage with and see in the game are a mobile polyp form, with their adults becoming sessile and entering a dream-like state. Design wise we wanted them to have a rock like appearance but also a bit like a tunnelling worm with a maw that could easily melt through stone.

With Tulock ship design we wanted it to reflect their large size, a vibe that felt connected to rocks, minerals and dirt as seen with their color scheme and almost rock like profiles, and their ships also being more vertically oriented than most sci-fi designs.



Image 1. Tulock Concept Art



Image 2. Tulock Destroyer



Image 3. A Tulock Soldier

Let us know what further changes you would like to see or if you have encountered any technical issues. Please post on the forums, reach out to us via Discord or send an email: [email protected] Saved games and clear steps to reproduce the bug are critical. It helps us more quickly track down the bug and get it fixed. Additional information on bug reporting tips can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/437440/discussions/.


As always, we appreciate the feedback, conversations, and support from all of you!