Changes in 1.3.8.0
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when attempt to dock at abandoned spaceport
- fixed rare crash when generating a new game (GenerateShadowportEmpire)
- fixed rare crash when opening Create Contract dialog
- fixed rare game lockup/hang when assigning pirate Guard missions against a colony they want to influence
GAME SETTINGS
- ensure Gamma and other display settings are properly set at game start
START NEW GAME SCREEN
- in Start New Game screen split out Victory Conditions step and Story and Events step
GALAXY GENERATION
- ensure there are never any duplicate system names when generating a new galaxy, including Black Hole names
USER INTERFACE
- when playing as a Lone Pirate the default filter for Characters screen is now 'All' instead of 'Non-Spies' (requires new game)
- removed irrelevant tooltip warnings for contracts when playing as a Lone Pirate (e.g. do not require resources at own spaceports to fulfill Resource Delivery contracts)
- ensure Lone Pirates always see messages relating to capturing and scrapping ships (regardless of message filters)
- Selection Panel now shows accurate assault pod strength available, also factoring in last time used
- right-click pop-up mission menu for ships and fleets now shows warning when a Capture or Raid mission cannot be carried out due to no available assault pod strength
- added new message when one of your ships docks at a location (Dock mission). Clicking on the message selects the ship, opens the Dock Menu and pauses the game. Can turn message off using new 'Ship Docked' message filter
- altered docking greeting message to be more appropriate when not docked at Shadowport
- fixed Titan troop icons not being rendered properly for projects in Research screen
- research projects with no components/shiphulls/bonuses/etc now render correctly in Research screen (show as an empty project)
- fixed occasional flickering content in vertically scrolling panels
- added new Population screen in 'Your Empire' section of Control Center, showing a breakdown of the population in your empire by alien race
POLICIES
- added new policy setting: 'Prevent Colonization With Secondary Races' which determines whether to use non-dominant races when colonizing new uninhabited worlds. When turned on this means that only your first, main race is used to colonize new worlds - other races acquired from independent colonies or migration are not used to establish new colonies
CONSTRUCTION ORDER QUEUE
- pirate construction ships now properly build queued spaceports (not at colonies)
RESEARCH
- ensure research project for pirate base ship hull (typically a Medium Spaceport) is researched at game start so that can retrofit to new designs for same role
DIPLOMACY
- fixed pirates getting negative diplomatic incident against a planetary empire when they eliminate another planetary empire (should be only when eliminate a pirate faction)
AUTO-DESIGNER
- tweaked automated ship design so that Escorts and Frigates will always have a close-in weapon (if available), even when other race-specific factors decrease priority (e.g. Zenox)
SHIP ORDERS
- manually-controlled ships no longer auto-assign refuel mission after completing a raid
SHIP CAPTURE
- fixed lone pirate ship capturing so that does not assume have lost ship and restart at Shadowport
- fixed lone pirate ship capture so that always scrap captured ship or base for money. Note: We’re intending further changes in this area
RAIDS
- colony raids now also spawn defending militia troops at the colony, thus extending the raid time, especially when the colony has no other defending troops
INDEPENDENT COLONIES
- ensure independent colonies that become planetary empires work properly to grow and expand
- ensure independent colonies that become planetary empires do not have full knowledge of galaxy map
PIRATES
- ensure pirate factions always use names from Governments.xml file if they exist
- pirate factions are now eliminated when they lose their last spaceport (same as previous behavior) instead of also requiring removal of their Hidden Pirate facilities (their facilities are also removed when they are eliminated)
- when a pirate faction is eliminated, most of their ships will attempt to join another nearby friendly pirate faction instead of joining the conquering empire
- pirate raider troops are now much better at damaging enemy pirate facilities when raiding colonies
DOCKING
- disable Dock button under Selection Panel when selected base is abandoned (when playing as a Lone Pirate)
RESOURCE TRADING
- ensure can load/buy resources from own empire in Resource Trading screen even when have no money
LONE PIRATES
- Lone Pirate military starting ships now have a cargo bay component to better enable them to carry out resource trading
COCKPIT MODE
- added prominent brief message when attempt to manually control a ship in Cockpit Mode that already has a mission (should first cancel the mission)
SHIP DATA
- fixed faulty firing arc for Pirate Raiding Escort ship hull
EVENTS
- fixed Ancient Boskara Homeworld event to ensure capturing Hive ships works as well as destroying them
MODDING
- race dialog in the diplomacy screen is now included for modding (all files in dialog subfolder)
- randomly generated characters can now use static images per role instead of requiring a full Spine character animation (or just using the default static race image). To use you must supply static PNG images with the following path: Characters/[RACENAME]_[ROLENAME], e.g. Characters/Ackdarian_Admiral. Valid role names are as follows: Admiral, Ambassador, General, Leader, Pirate, Scientist, Spy. Supplied images can either be in a bundle file or as a loose image file (with ".png" extension)
- characters can now have 2 images: the default small one, and an optional larger one used in the diplomacy/character screen when there is no animation
- full support for defined characters via the CharacterDefinitions.xml file. This includes custom skills and traits and custom images as outlined above