Patch Update 747

Patch 747 is live for PC, Mac and Linux! 747 adds notifications, tutorial tips, improvements to AI organizations, progression and a lot more.

Notification System

A new notification system has been implemented with patch 747. Notifications appear at the top of your screen and alert you to key events in the galaxy. Tutorial Tips leverage the same system and provide advice based on the current conditions of your organization and the galaxy at large. Both the Notification and Tutorial messages are in an early state and will be further refined and expanded on as phase 3 of early access progresses.

AI Update

A host of improvements to the strategic AI have been implemented with patch 747. AI organizations should be more diverse and generally more aggressive with this patch. There are still aspects of the strategy game mechanics to be completed as a result the AI will not be in its best form but can now play the game to completion. Over the following several patches we will be focused on completing the remaining strategy mechanics and in so doing completing the strategic AI. Configuration options are in the works that will enable players to modify aspects of the AI at the start of a new game. An initial AI Organizations count has been exposed, more will follow over the next several patches.

General Improvements

• Recon, Tactical and Heavy ship unlocks have been tied into overall progression. Government and Corporation organizations will unlock these at 5, 15 and 25 progression points respectively. Armada organizations will start with Recon unlocked and will earn Tactical and Heavy at 10 and 20 respectively.

• Defeating fleet elements, stations and citadels will now award the victor credits, resources and boost influence progression slightly. In addition, the loss of fleet, station or citadel will have a similar but greater adverse effect.

• Construction and maintenance costs have been adjusted to smooth the high end of the progression curve. Maintaining large numbers of heavy fleets should be more manageable now.

• Systems linked to stations or citadels receive a production bonus. For the time being this is a fixed bonus (same for all) the intent is to tie the strength of this bonus to organization progression e.g. more established organizations benefit more.

• When a station is destroyed all systems that were linked to it will receive a major influence boost in favour of the organization that destroyed the station. This will accelerate the rate at which such systems convert.

• Fleets that idle near un-linked (no station link) systems will periodically apply a major influence boost in favour of their organization. This will decrease the time for conversion to begin as well as decrease the time to reverse a conversion when defending such a system with a fleet.

Known Issues

• AI Organizations are not managing their stations and citadels effectively, this makes it easy to blitz them in the early game as they are not building adequate defences. This will be corrected in later patches.

• A few conditions have been noted in testing where stations are not changing ownership correctly when an organization is defeated e.g. remain owned by a now dead organization. This makes it impossible to claim these systems but doesn’t affect victory conditions.

• Log events may occur referencing stations that have recently been destroyed. These log events do not adversely impact the game but are in error and will be corrected in a later patch.

• Trade Administration for Resources / Credits fails to calculate the correct exchange rate if the organization has a negative resource production. Generally, this won’t adversely impact the game assuming you boost your base resource production before running out of resources completely e.g. build more industry improvements. We will correct this issue in upcoming patches.

• While it is now possible win or lose the game, there is no fan fare for either condition e.g. we have not yet implemented the ‘Victory’ or ‘Defeat’ screens; Achievements will award on your first corp, gov and armada victory.