Over on the GalCiv III Steam page, I asked players to post their saved games so I could check them out.  And what I've been finding has been amazing and horrifying simultaneously.

Players are able to do things that I wouldn't have thought of.  This is why saved games are so valuable.  Many times I get feedback from players who say "The AI needs to do X" and my answer is, "well of course, it already does that!" But there is some other thing that it has decided needs to be done instead and the trick is to find out why.  That's where save games come in.

IceMania sent me a genius game where he's kicking the AI's butt.

Looking at the stats, the things I'm noticing is how aggressive (and how powerful) the relics are.  Not over-powered just  that he was good at getting them.

Now, let's look at the AI players...

The biggest difference I see is the # of citizens.  Human players tends to be much more aggressive at acquiring citizens than the AI. In this game, the player has acquired 13 citizens by turn 61.

Here is an AI player on the same turn:

Look at that production difference.

Another big area I'm seeing is that top players are extremely good at expanding.  Seeing players with over 10 colonies in 60 turns makes me a bit sad because it means that we still haven't done enough to reward playing tall.

I'll be updating this entry as I go through more saves...

With the FREE Multiverse DLC, your
only limit is your imagination!

The Star Control universe is yours to shape and control with the free Multiverse DLC! Add your own star systems, quests, characters, and much more in Star Control: Origins. You can upload and use other mods as well. Engage with infinite new stories and experiences created by you and other players!

The v1.1 update that accompanies the free DLC adds a new quest, some new character voices, and improves graphics and gameplay. For a full list of v1.1 details, view the changelog at the bottom of the post.

 

 

Included with the Multiverse DLC:

Multiverse Play mods you've created, view downloaded mods, and browse the Steam Workshop to download or upload more The Multiverse DLC not only allows you to create new content, but also lets you share it with other people. After you've crafted your new quest, adventure, etc., upload it to Steam Workshop to share with the rest of the world. You can also browse Steam Workshop to see what other cool and interesting content other people have created. As the library of Star Control Multiverse content continues to grow, you'll be able to download and experience infinite new stories and experiences. In addition to the DLC, we're releasing two Stardock-crafted mods. The Bounty Hunter mod adds a new Criminal Archive starbase where the Measured track down the galaxy's most dangerous criminals. You can accept bounties for these criminals, but beware: other bounty hunters may try to collect bounties on you! The Galactic Zoo mod tasks you with capturing various critters around the galaxy for you Tywom clients. You can find both mods in the Steam Workshop!

Create your own quests, stories, and adventures with custom characters, dialogue, and more Want to change the universal gravitational constant to increase the lander's jump? Create an epic quest that spans the galaxy? How about modeling your own planets and star systems? You can make it happen! Use the Ship and Building Crafting screens to add new visuals to your experience. Create crazy and powerful new weapons and aliens for players to encounter. Adventure studio will let you write entirely new stories and quests. Please check out our modding guide for info on accessing Adventure Studio. From game balance all the way to writing new stories, there is very little you can't do with the crafting system.

Ready to wow the Star Control community with your own adventures?
Check out our modding guide here to get started! 

Haven't gotten into Star Control: Origins yet? Click here to go on an epic adventure and
start crafting incredible, ships, and stories today!
Or, add us to your Steam wishlist.

---

 

OFFICIAL V1.1 CHANGELOG

Highlights:

• Updated ship components Early game components are cheaper, whereas late game components are more expensive.  Late game components are generally more effective.
• Planet mineral balance We want to reward you for exploring dangerous worlds and less compelled to visit low-value worlds.  
• Visual improvements We've improved the appearance of the leaders, planet props, and the planets.
• Updated Fleet Battles Balance  We've made a fairly substantial improve ship balance in fleet battles.

Important: Due to the scope of these changes, this build may break any local mods that you have.  

Gameplay

• Added new Flee mechanic.  After winning your first round, you can flee the battle.  However, note that the enemy fleet will be fully healed when you fight them again.
• Added a new System Scanner component that highlights planets with "interesting" things.  
• Added mouseover info for planets
• Added mouseover to the "fleet picker" in Fleet battles for ships in your fleet
• Adjusted lander physics to feel more weighty
• Planet mineral balance pass.
• Ship AI changes:
• AI makes better use of wormholes
• Smarter about hunting for wrecks (e.g. powerups)
• Better at evading
• Improvements to how the AI interacts with incoming projectiles
• Improved AI behavior for Tywom turret placement
• Added new unique weapons: Flank Blasters, Rapid Laser Dual & Gauss Cannon
• Distributed new weapons among existing alien ships for better combat variety
• Added new race of minor aliens in the Fang Cluster
• Added new pheromones aliens encounter
• Added tough new alien interactions in 4 systems
• Changed the type of hyperdrive you get from Kzanti in Sirius A so that Star Control accepts it for Colony ships.
• After meeting Wymdoo on Triton, a beacon now points the player towards the training base
• Adding some Captain's Logs to the scared Tywom quest giver NPC.
• Fix for a hitch with the Mukay Ice World prank the Menkmack play on them. All Ice Worlds are despawned when the prank is caught.
• AI now taunts you in Fleet Battles
• Moving the planet Vrooms in Alpha Mensae much further into the system to stop some weird behavior when the player tried to land on it and went into hyperspace instead.
• Moving some planets in Arcturus a little closer to the star, so that players can actually land on them.
• Reduced cost and increased efficiency of lander components
• Increased the cost of powerful nuclear missile variants
• Reduced the selling price of some weapons that can be looted
• Increased the cost of late-game ship components
• Earthship energy regen rate increased from 7 to 9.
• Changed some ships to the human faction to allow healing.
• Default Lander Crew increased from 5 to 6.
• Deflector Mark II reduced from 20% to 15%.
• Reduced cost of overpriced lander components.
• Reduced the selling price of some of the "random" pick-up weapons.
• Fixed some ships having too small RU value.
• Increased cost powerful Nuke variants.
• Overmind Deflector reduced from 25% to 20%.
• Slight nerf to stacking deflectors.
• Planet mineral balance pass. In general, the higher the risk, the higher the reward!
• Minor balance changes to Norast ship and Battlecruiser since you can now heal them.
• The game now despawns mercenaries when you hire the Mercenary Captain.
• Measured/Phamysht/Boscan Transport won't bother the player after winning
• All ships can now be recrewed from Star Control base
• Urlon convoys now use the proper ship in combat.

Audio

• Added new voice for the Freed Trandals
• Fixed streaming settings for new Scryve music
• Adding Earthling Cruiser weapon variations
• Added canister bomb weapon fire variations
• Added Scryve space exploration 1 song.
• Added audio event for planetary investigation

Interface

• Improved remapping of keys and controller inputs
• MP Lobby no longer shows the wrong Fleet after ending a match
• Right-clicking on AI button in fleet battles setup now moves backward through the opponent types.
• Starbase Buy/Sell Panel no longer loses focus sometimes
• Fix the possibility of users being able to select options whilst "are you sure you want to surrender" prompt is up
• Resolved issue with pressing B button on controller causing popup dialogs to cancel but not call any button functions!

Graphics

• Improved some planet buildings and props that weren't set in the ground properly
• Improved appearance for many planet props
• Updated visuals for the bug and worm critters
• Optimized shaders to increase perf. on planets
• Added a configurable frame limiter in the settings file
• Fixed some very pixelated Red Stars in hyperspace
• Updated the Xraki, Greegrox, Trandal and Jeff leader screens visuals
• General animation polish/fixes for the Menkmack and  Mercenary Captain
• Added animation to the Trandal leader background
• Added a bigger explosion when you defeat the final boss
• Compressed planet models textures to save space on disk (and small perf. bonus to boot!)
• Slight performance improvements to stamps.

 

Foreign Languages

• Added Commander voice over for German and Chinese languages.
• Updated galaxy object names for non-English to improve translation and better match quests.
• Added translations for Portuguese-Brazil and Spanish (Spain).
• Updated translations for German, Russian and Simplified Chinese with lots of fixes/corrections.

 

Bugs

• In fleet battles, the enemy purple engine trail now matches the player trail's in length and size
• Fleet battles now have space backgrounds in hyperspace
• Pulsar weapon now has a description
• Fixed some transports not giving the right RU bounty when destroyed
• All misc salvageable ships now use the human pilot animation in combat
• Using the Observer cloak ability in MP will no longer cause the ship parts of the affected ship to sometimes have very bad transforms
• Ship acceleration indicator on inventory and starbase screens now use correct value rather
• Fixing some incorrect popup descriptions for Engine rewards
• Autonav to a starbase will not drain your fuel while you're there
• The Tywom will now properly deduct any superfluids from the player.
• Tywom Fuel Rescue guy will no constantly respawn further away when you enter combat (coward!)
• If your Vindicator is full, collecting an item longer deletes it permanently
• The "sell conventionals" button is no longer disabled if you didn't have a common resource in your cargo.
• Fix for the alien who can't be ignored in Alpha Mus.
• Fixing an incongruous movie for a building on Iota Aspis B II.
• Fix escape when using surrender from escape menu in Fleet battle (campaign) causing the game to unpause.
• Fix for various bugs with strange Measured obelisks quests
• Modified marketplace to deal with an issue where you could lose fuel by selecting the same component in the list.
• If your main ship mysteriously disappears, we'll give you a new one
• Urlon ships no longer look huge in hyperspace
• Deleting a ship design will now correctly select the first design in the list afterward.
• Ships are no longer stuck on the edge of the Arcturus system.
• Maelnir trader in Arcturus is no longer stuck inside the star.
• You can longer get stuck running out of fuel during the final fight
• Fix for incorrect Game Over a few days later if you stop the Xraki from destroying Earth after they arrive.
• Removed collision from trees and small rocks because hitting trees wasn't fun
• Fixed a controller hang issue when dismissing auto nav dialogs quickly.
• Adjusted Controller UI dead zone value  as it was overly sensitive.
• Fixed difficulty checking boxes in gameplay tab of options
• Fixes issue with acceleration and recharge being identical in Melee config screen
• Fixes various problems with interacting with a planet after interacting with a ship
• Fixed floating rocks on Beta Wendigo I
• Fixed bad placement of village on Wastear in the Lacaille 8760 system.

 

Balance changes to Fleet Battles

Tywom

Despite being the first ship players get access to in the Adventure Mode, it’s incredibly powerful and one of the best. The incredibly rapid fire rate of the main gun made it too good at bursting enemy ships down. In particular, the Spawn Turret mechanic could be quite exploitative and anti-fun by encouraging the player to avoid the enemy spawning turrets and never engaging directly. These changes will make the Tywom play more actively and make it feel like more of a starter ship.

• Tywom Bolt cooldown increased from 1.5 to 2.25
• Turret duration reduced from 30 to 15
• Max turrets reduced from 5 to 3
• Points reduced from 12 to 10

Greegrox Swarm

The Greegrox was far too difficult to hit with projectiles due to the tiny Collision box combined with instant direction changing. These changes will make the Greegrox easier to hit.

• Collision box increased from 0.25 to 0.30
• Acceleration reduced from 18 to 12
• Points reduced from 12 to 10

Measured Response

The Measured Response could be very frustrating to play against due to the permanent slows and difficulty to hit due to high acceleration, small hitbox and instant direction changes. It will be easier to hit and its weapons are getting toned down to justify its 7 points cost.

• Red Tape now only temporarily slows instead of permanent slows
• Acceleration reduced from 20 to 14
• Invitation damage reduced from 10 to 8

Terran Cruiser

The Earthling Cruiser was too fragile and too clunky to control. These changes will make the Terran Cruiser stronger and more fun to play

• Health increased from 19 to 24
• Turn rate increased from 75 to 85

Lexite Interceptor

The Lexite Interceptor was far too strong to justify its low 9 point cost.

• Points increased from 9 to 11

Trandals Frigate

The raw power of the Trandal Weapon was too much, especially when combined with its massive mobility allowing it to flank enemy ships or pickup all the salvage easily.

• Laser Ribbon Bola damage per second reduced from 150 to 110

Scryve Probe

Like the Tywom Bolt, the Scout Shot was able to burst targets down far too quickly despite also having the dangerous self-destruct.

• Scout Shot damage reduced from 6 to 5
• Scout shot cooldown increased from 1.5 to 2.25

Note: This is intended to also affect other ships using Scout Shot.

Drenkend Carrier

The Drenkend Carrier was too strong to justify 12 points. The De-energizer Bolt could be quite exploitative due to it’s rapid-fire and low energy cost, which could permanent chain stun targets.

• Points increased from 12 to 16
• De-energizer Bolt energy cost increased from 5 to 10
• De-energizer bolt cooldown increased from 0.4 to 0.8

Xraki Devourer

The Xraki Devourer was too strong at 12 points. The long range and massive energy pool encouraged the ship to avoid the enemy and fly away poking long range black holes, which also were deadly at close range. Lowering the range of the Black Hole projectile will force the Xraki ship to approach the enemy more.

• Points increased from 12 to 14
• Energy cost reduced from 100 to 85
• Black hole duration reduced from 5 to 2.5

Menkmack Negotiator

The Menkmack Negotiator was too weak for 12 points.

• Points cost reduced from 12 to 10

Phamyst Consumer

Invitation was far too spammable at only 10 energy as it practically had no drain on the Phamyst, given the huge range and lack of required aiming it was too powerful.

• Invitation Energy cost increased from 10 to 20

Kzanti Intimidator

The Kzanti ship was frustrating to verse as it was overly nimble and able to knock the enemy away with Repulsor. It will now be slightly less agile and not be able to spam Repulsor on top of planting mines. Especially important as this was one of the first ships the player would encounter in the Adventure Mode.

• Points cost reduced from 13 to 11
• Repulsor energy cost increased from 5 to 10
• Max speed reduced from 6.5 to 6
• Acceleration reduced from 6.75 to 6

Hello...BEST FRIENDS!

We are currently working on version 1.1 of Star Control: Origins and the first free DLC called the Multiverse.  We expect to have a beta version of v1.1 out this week for those who want to try it out.  

Multiverse

The Multiverse DLC will open up Steam Workshop to modders who want to create their own stories, maps, custom settings, aliens, etc. for people to play with.  This DLC will obviously evolve over time and get more features as we learn what kinds of things players like to share.

The Expansion

We will be announcing the first expansion in a few weeks which will be released as a single season pass so that we can release it as a series of micro-expansions.  It will introduce lots of new aliens, new places to visit, new quests and will benefit both players who have finished the main storyline as well as new players.

As always, let us know if there's anything you'd like to see.

Cheers!

 

Originally posted by Draginol here.

 

King of the Hill is a scenario for Ashes Escalation where the player has to hold out as long as they can against endless waves of enemies. It plays out like a Tower Defense game; establish a strong defense and continue to place more turrets and upgrade them to bolster your position. Tower Defense games can be quite simple with limited options, but King of the Hill is complex because it's inside of Ashes with all the mechanics and content that the game contains. RTS games, and their cousin Tower Defense, are all about weighing up opportunity costs and making meaningful decisions. 

Continue Reading...

Greetings!  With Star Control: Origins out and having already sold nearly 50,000 copies after only a week of availability we are now ready to talk about...THE FUTURE.

We will be making an official announcement after version 1.1 (the big modding release) is available but we didn't want fans, especially those who are starting to finish the Origins adventure, to have to wait to know what's next.

Needless to say, we've gone back and forth on the best way to deliver new stories, quests and features to players in a way that fits in.  Now, keep in mind, the base game will continue to be updated and improved for free.  But obviously, new adventures and content are a different thing.  So what's the best way?

We looked at 4 options.  I'll list the 3 we rejected and why.

Option 1: Traditional expansion.  This is what we've done with our other games.  You make a single big expansion and release it.  Fans tend to like these in our strategy games.  However, the problem here is that this would mean waiting a year to continue the story in any meaningful way.

Option 2: DLCs.  DLCs make sense in many ways but they have a lot of issues too.  Many players will say that they feel "nickeled and dimed" when they see lots of little DLCs.  We ran into this with Galactic Civilizations III where we'd just release a few DLCs per year.  That sounds reasonable right? But after 3 years, there's now 12 of them and people get upset seeing all those DLCs.

Option 3: In-Game transactions.  Believe it or not, a lot of people do like these.  However, I personally don't like this.

So what's left?  We look around at other adventure/rpg games and a Season Pass works the best.   I won't get into too many details but the plan is to release 6 mini-expansions for $19.99.  The micro-expansions will be released one at a time and they will add new missions, new characters, ships, stars, map areas, features, etc.  

I wouldn't call these mini-expansions "episodes" because much of the content doesn't require that you have completed the Origins mission (plenty of it does follow the end of the Origins mission).  

The first mini expansion would be made available in November and they'd continue on a set schedule with all of them and a general (non-spoilery) list of features that each one will bring. 

When the first micro-expansion is installed, if you have finished the Origins story, the next stage in our multi-year story arc will continue.  So after the "credits roll" you get a new cut scene that introduces you to the new state of the universe.  On the other hand, if you have not finished the story or for those who have never played the game, they'll just see the galaxy a little more filled out.  New side-quests, just a bit more "stuff" to bring the universe alive.

What will effectively happen is that players will have more and more paths to choose from in deciding how best to help Earth and have a richer, deeper universe to play in.

Please let us know your thoughts.

[ German Version ]  [ Russian Version ]

Greetings!  This is it! The very last of this Prelude series.  I hope you've enjoyed them.

So now let's talk about modding.

Continue Reading...

Greetings!

Wow! What a fantastic week! Like many of you, we weren't sure what the reception would be. How many people are into space adventure/RPG games? I've even seen debates on what exactly is an RPG?

Here's what we have planned for this week:

Translation (Перевод)

Russia is the #2 market for this game. With German a close #3. The translations came in a lot hotter than we expected due to the star and planet names.

We are hoping very much to have a package from Moscow waiting in our inbox with the final translations so that we can get those up. We will also be updating the other languages as people find issues. Humor...is not always easy to translate.

Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese are also supposed to get in but they might slip to the v1.01 update to get more QA time. Finnish and Norwegian are also currently in QA. 

Stability

Overall stability is looking pretty good. But we have definitely encountered a few really baffling things and we know some of you are into this sort of thing like we are so we'll keep you up to date on the detective work. But here are the biggies:

1. Some people have reported not being able to load and save games. That's obviously a huge issue. But it dies immediately upon trying to open that dialog. 

2. Crash on start up. This is, so far, 95% because people have altered their page file size to be smaller or fixed. Don't do that (I used to do it too). Windows 10 commits memory based on your core size if the game loads assets via that core. So yes, no matter what, if you play long enough even though the game might only be using 2G, it will commit 16Gigs. It's not leaking, the OS is caching it. So you an imagine what happens if you have a fixed page file.

3. Random locks/pauses. So far, this is largely due to CPU or GPU throttling (mainly GPU throttling). Your NVIDIA or AMD GPU can get very hot playing this game because the engine will use multiple CPU cores to send data to your GPU. You might need to make your GPU fans more aggressive.

For the update, we're going to put a tiny throttle to prevent this issue (don't worry it won't slow things down).

Usability and buglets

1. Fix for SUPER-ULTRA wide monitors. (32x9). You crazy people! We love ya, BEST FRIENDS!

2. Some of the alien meeting achievements aren't working right depending on timing. Fixed.

3. The game will let you know that you don't need to land on every crummy planet if you're landing on a bunch of crummy planets. #1 negative review source has been people landing on thousands of planets and thinking that's the way to make money. SC doesn't have a sand based (silicon) based economy.

4. Improved AI for the fleet controller module.

5. Updated UI for turning on and off the fleet controller module during battle.

6. Mappable E for interact.

7. Talk to MS (again) about whitelisting Star Control from Windows Defender so that it quits scanning all our files (for those experiencing load time pain).

8. Auto-Pilot will warn player that their destination is beyond their fuel range.

9. Typos. (removing them, not adding them).

10. Option to remove movie subtitles.

More to come!

Thank you everyone for your support! And as always, we would appreciate it a lot if you would review the game on Steam (good, bad, ugly). We read all the reviews and your posts.

Cheers!

Explore exotic new worlds, meet unique alien civilizations, and battle hostile fleets in Star Control: Origins!

(and try not to get eaten)

Take command of Earth's first and only interstellar starship in this exciting open universe space-adventure RPG!
Your mission? To save Earth... at all costs and by any means necessary. 

The villainous Scryve have discovered humanity's existence and they're not too happy about it.
They want to revoke our permission to exist, and we'd like to live. As a Captain of Star Control,
your job is to make sure that doesn't happen.

Star Control: Origins - $29.99 (Includes a Star Control: Origins Steam key)

During your adventure, you'll:

Explore thousands of new worlds Don't run out of fuel on your way there, bad things may happen if you do... Journey through a massive universe of thousands of planets across hundreds of solar systems! Travel to different worlds to complete quests, collect resources, and encounter unusual creatures. Some worlds you find may have active volcanoes, or be shrouded in toxic gas. Others might have dangerous sentry robots guarding hidden bases, or terrifying whirlwinds. Equip your lander with upgrades in order to survive the varied planets you’ll encounter to complete your mission.

 

Meet strange new aliens - and fight terrible enemies Try not to make them all so angry that they want to help blow us all up, ok? Travel to distant stars and make friends (or foes, we're not terribly picky) with the aliens living there through unique dialogue choices and quests. There are thousands of planets just in the Scryve sector of space. Find out where potential friends and enemies are living and deal with them as you see fit. Engage in exciting ship-on-ship combat as you take down dangerous aliens to complete your mission. Or, you can try and run away, but that's not nearly as much fun, and aliens will definitely laugh at you. Take your battles beyond the adventure mode into multiplayer! Fleet Battles lets you face off against other players online or locally. Assemble your fleet from an assortment of provided ships (or customize your own) and get ready to rumble! Ranked play could earn you a spot on the worldwide leader boards and some bragging rights.

 

Secure Earth's future Some aliens want to destroy humanity. We'd like you to prevent that. Your first mission for Star Control is to save the world from the malevolent Scryve who, for some reason, have interpreted our radio broadcasts to indicate that we are a very dangerous species that must not be allowed to fully realize its potential. There are dozens of known species in this part of the galaxy, not all of whom are the Scryve’s thralls - maybe some of them can help us... Face down the ominous threat of the Scryve Empire and stop them from wiping Earth off the galactic map. How you accomplish your mission is entirely up to you - be a hero, or be a villain. Every decision you make may have far-reaching ramifications. The Scryve already have several ward species who may or may not help you fight back. It will be up to you to convince them to help...one way or another.

 

Pilot Earth's most powerful (and only) starship Please upgrade it. The aliens are unimpressed. Star Control has spared no expense in constructing the most advanced space vessel in history. Its modular design means you can update the technology on it with modules you find, borrow or steal from others. From shiny new hyperdrives, to a higher cargo or fuel capacity, you will be able to customize your ship to fit the way you play. Lander upgrades are also important so you can survive missions onto dangerous worlds.

 

Complete your mission...no matter the cost Your orders are to not die. If they fire lasers, fire nukes back! Earth is hopelessly outmatched by alien forces that are seeking to destroy us, and you are the only chance we’ve got. You can go wherever you want, but you have a mission to accomplish - by any means necessary. Help or harm - you decide.

 

Create custom ships, worlds, and adventures You can have the world - lots of them, in fact - at your fingertips! The game never ends with infinite customization options. Make your own ships to use in Fleet Battles or in entirely new quests that you create. Outfit your vessels with weapons, defenses, and engines, then share them online using the Steam Workshop! Create completely new worlds, aliens, and even dialogue in the Adventure Studio. Make, share or just play new quests, stories, and adventures.

___________________________________________________________________________

Star Control: Origins - $29.99 (Includes a Star Control: Origins Steam key)

In the previous Prelude, I mentioned that, early on, there was an expectation that a lot more time was going to be spent exploring planets than we ultimately chose to execute on.

Today, let's take a look at the menagerie of creatures we had considered back when we believed that the planets would be where players would spend most of their time.

Continue Reading...

 

Chess is one of oldest strategy games of all time, and the most successful having been passed down across generations for two millennia. Depending on how you define esports, Chess could now be considered one via platforms such as chess.com, with computerization and AI having increased accessibility and the scope of what's possible within Chess as a product. The long-term thriving and proliferation of Chess is a consequence of incredibly elegant game design both regarding depth but also simplicity. Today I'll be analyzing Chess through the lens of my RTS perspective, praising its design and drawing lessons that RTS games can learn from its success. I'm not a Chess expert, but I have a great appreciation for it, growing up with it and still enjoy playing it casually. 

Continue Reading...