DEV UPDATE | Leveling Up for Launch!

Today, we’d like to share a closer look at the many changes made between the first beta build and the upcoming release version (announcement coming soon!).

If you watched our latest devlog video, you already know the big picture. In this post, we’ll dive deeper into the details by sharing with you more detailed information on difficulty adjustments, replayability mechanics, and UX/UI improvements; three areas where your feedback has been essential and where the game has evolved the most!

Difficulty

• Added the final tutorials to help players master the game’s core mechanics as well as key advanced features

• Major balancing iteration on bypass choices, and crises stakes vs crisis resolution costs to ensure meaningful and fair decisions

• Reworked all fights to smooth out unwanted difficulty spikes while keeping encounters challenging

• Reworked and rebalanced Cylon units to improve readability and fairness

• Significant UX iterations to:

  • Improve readability, especially in crowded situations

  • Make the toughest enemies easier to identify

  • Clearly convey the specificity of each battle and enemy type

• Finalized all content texts to clearly explain behaviors and mechanics (no more placeholders)

• Reworked all elite battles and combat POIs to make them clearer and better balanced; they now appear only in specific sectors so their difficulty is more predictable

Replayability

• More than doubled the overall playable content (weapons, auxiliary systems, squadron abilities, traits), enabling more builds and synergies

By the way, the Flak weapon is now available on the first fleet!

• More than doubled the number of available battle scenarios per sector

• Finalized Extinction levels, adding new elite enemies to existing battles for fresh challenges

• Polished existing bosses (1 & 2) and finalized the last boss:

  • Boss 1: Power nerfed to allow players to take a few hits in order to learn its behavior

  • Boss 2: GPEs clarified with dedicated visuals to clearly mark them as priority targets

  • Boss 3: Iterated on and polished to provide a challenging but fair encounter that tests everything the player has learned

• Added the final story content and “meta” story events

• Reworked starting traits for Major fleet Officers with unique, evolving traits (XO, CAG, Chief Tech)

• Added many new events and crises.

• Added concluding events in the final sector

• Added numerous new achievements to unlock contents and earn Fate

UX/UI

• Complete rework of the UI displaying the enemy frigates and basestars to better highlight their key abilities

• Rework boss powers displays and previews for improved readability

• Improved enemy ability lists to improve discovery and identification

• Complete rework of status, effects and global effects identifications, so that no information is hidden from the player, while also providing a clear identification of each effect’s source

• Major rework of battle targets and trajectory displays to improve readability in large-scale encounters

• Complete redesign of battle notifications to make them clearer, less overwhelming, mutable, and related to specific battle ships or units

• Units Hull bars now scale based on total hull points, making tougher enemies easier to spot at a glance

• Added a large number of VFX and icons to improve recognition of effects and abilities on the battlefield

• Improved Combat POI objective displays

• Added keyboard shortcuts for battle and fleet management (with full remapping)

• Added access to the weapon and squadron hangars during battles to view available units

• Reworked weapons docks and active ability UI to help understand when a weapon/ability is ready and when a target has already been selected during tactical pause

• Reworked the civilian ship panel to display all three efficiency levels and rarity

• Dozens of additional smaller improvements across