CIVIREVIVAL Dev Log #12

Over the past weeks, most of our development effort has gone into iterating on the combat system. After several major revisions, the feedback has been very encouraging — combat now feels more powerful, more impactful, and simply more satisfying.

However, while reading through community comments, one piece of feedback stood out — painful, but absolutely fair: “My ships feel powerful, but during combat I barely get a chance to actually see them.”

In theory, that moment of slowing down and appreciating your ship should be delivered through the ship customization and presentation systems. Unfortunately, the previous dockyard failed to do that. Whether it was a small frigate or a massive battleship, the perceived scale difference on screen was minimal — there was no real sense of weight or intimidation.

After reviewing the issue, the root cause became clear: Space is simply too empty.

Without environmental reference points, even the largest ships can feel like detailed models rather than true spacefaring giants. Since we position the game as a 4X + RPG, we want players to experience ships the way they do in titles like No Man’s Sky or X4 — up close, from a first-person perspective, with real presence.

A Completely Rebuilt Dockyard

That led us to a full overhaul of the dockyard scene.

Below, you’ll see a comparison between the old and new dockyards. The new version introduces a wide range of environmental elements — structural frames, maintenance platforms, scaffolding — all designed to establish a clear sense of scale.

The result is immediate and obvious. Ships of different classes now feel dramatically different in size. When you switch the camera to a battleship, it nearly fills the entire screen. That overwhelming presence is exactly the kind of spacefaring romance we want to deliver.

Lighting and Materials Update

Alongside the new dockyard, we also rebuilt the lighting system. The new lighting setup allows materials to shine properly — cold metal surfaces, paint layers, and fine details are now clearly visible instead of blending into a flat mass.

Secondary Weapons: More Than Just Stats

This update isn’t just about visuals.

The long-awaited secondary weapon system is now fully implemented. Medium-class and larger ships can equip optional secondary weapon slots.

More importantly, these weapons are not simple stat modifiers:

· Each weapon has its own physical model

· Installing them visibly changes the ship’s exterior

· Weapon placement directly affects firing angles and coverage

From this point forward, firepower layout becomes a real tactical decision, not just a matter of picking the highest number.

What’s Next: UI Overhaul

That said, the current build is far from perfect. The UI is one of the areas we’re least satisfied with — it feels dated, overly dense, and in some cases even blocks the ship models we worked so hard to build.

Our next step is a full UI overhaul, with two clear goals:

1. Give ships more breathing room, especially in the new dockyard

2. Unify the visual style so the UI truly blends with the deep-space atmosphere

The dockyard is still a work in progress, and player feedback is incredibly important to us. Are there details you feel are missing? Any parts of the UI that feel awkward or intrusive? Let us know in the comments — we read every piece of feedback carefully.

If you’re interested in watching this 4X + RPG continue to evolve, consider following our dev logs. And if you’d like to support us, adding the game to your Steam wishlist would mean a great deal to our team.