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Steam News9 May 20261mo ago

New Experimental Changes to Game Modes

Hey everyone, I'm currently testing out a change to how game modes work in the game.

In this update2

Full notes

Full Galactic Overthrow update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

Repeated intro

Hey everyone, I'm currently testing out a change to how game modes work in the game. The "passive mode" setting is still going to be the default for new players, so there shouldn't be a change for anyone onboarding in the game. But if you've played already and are looking for a little more challenge or changes to how the game works, read on!

What changed

0 fixes5 additions3 changes0 removals
  • Events
  • UI and audio
  • Gameplay
addedHey everyone, I'm currently testing out a change to how game modes work in the game. The "passive mode" setting is still going to be the default for new players, so there shouldn't be a change for anyone onboarding in the game. But if you've played already and are looking for a little more challenge or changes to how the game works, read on!
addedGame ModesIn the game settings ('game settings' button on faction select for a new game), I've changed the 'Passive Mode: On/Off" button to be a game mode button with three options now.
changedGame ModesHostile planets have their original attack timers that slowly tick up, and will attack an adjacent (non-home) planet and flip it to hostile. This works the same as before but the strength of the planet remaining will be about 1/3rd of the attacking planet which was originally bugged and only being set to 2 regardless of attack
changedGame ModesChallenge:
addedGame ModesSome players have requested something a bit more challenging out of active mode. This setting is experimental right now and likely to change (along with some new UI to better explain modes coming soon). Details below.
changedWhat is Challenge Mode?Challenge mode is basically the same as Active mode with two key changes. "Auto Explore" automation is on by default and cannot be toggled off once automation is available to the player. This means turtling and building fleet with no hostiles on board is much harder to do, there will almost always be hostiles preparing attacks... unless you strategically enclose your empire, which felt like fun emergent gameplay so it's staying for now.

Galactic Overthrow changes

addedHey everyone, I'm currently testing out a change to how game modes work in the game. The "passive mode" setting is still going to be the default for new players, so there shouldn't be a change for anyone onboarding in the game. But if you've played already and are looking for a little more challenge or changes to how the game works, read on!
addedIn the game settings ('game settings' button on faction select for a new game), I've changed the 'Passive Mode: On/Off" button to be a game mode button with three options now.
changedHostile planets have their original attack timers that slowly tick up, and will attack an adjacent (non-home) planet and flip it to hostile. This works the same as before but the strength of the planet remaining will be about 1/3rd of the attacking planet which was originally bugged and only being set to 2 regardless of attack
changedChallenge:
addedSome players have requested something a bit more challenging out of active mode. This setting is experimental right now and likely to change (along with some new UI to better explain modes coming soon). Details below.

Game Modes

In the game settings ('game settings' button on faction select for a new game), I've changed the 'Passive Mode: On/Off" button to be a game mode button with three options now.

Passive:

  • This is still the default, hostile planets don't attack you, plays more like an idle game. You can walk away any time without pausing and there's no risk to your progress

Active:

  • Hostile planets have their original attack timers that slowly tick up, and will attack an adjacent (non-home) planet and flip it to hostile. This works the same as before but the strength of the planet remaining will be about 1/3rd of the attacking planet which was originally bugged and only being set to 2 regardless of attack

Challenge:

  • Some players have requested something a bit more challenging out of active mode. This setting is experimental right now and likely to change (along with some new UI to better explain modes coming soon). Details below.

What is Challenge Mode?

Challenge mode is basically the same as Active mode with two key changes. "Auto Explore" automation is on by default and cannot be toggled off once automation is available to the player. This means turtling and building fleet with no hostiles on board is much harder to do, there will almost always be hostiles preparing attacks... unless you strategically enclose your empire, which felt like fun emergent gameplay so it's staying for now.

Additionally, every galactic jump increases the speed with which hostile planets will attack you. The level of difficulty is probably still a bit too low for seasoned players, but I'll be making some changes to how new games are configured (with a new game settings UI) coming soon. In the mean time, let me know what you think of this in it's experimental stage.

To try this out: Start a new game, click 'game settings' on the faction select page and then change your game mode to one of these options to play around. Have fun!

Source

Steam News / 9 May 2026

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