Patch 7 - Locations HUD, Balance Pass, Rogue AI changes & more

Today we have our largest update yet to share with you all, addressing key community feedback while introducing several new features and balance adjustments.

This update is a bit larger than our usual patches, as it brings together a wide range of improvements, but don’t worry, we’ll continue releasing our regular sized updates and fixes as development continues.

New ‘Locations’ HUD Window

One of the most requested features in the community has been an ‘Outliner’-style HUD window that makes managing your empire easier.

A brand new ‘Locations’ window now replaces the old ‘Star System Planets’ window on the right side of the screen.

This new hud shows:

• Star Systems and their Planets (including current projects and scan progress)

• Fleets, with their movements states and time-to-target

You can also:

• Filter to show only your owned planets or those in the focused system

• Interact directly:

  • Left-click Fleets to select

  • Ctrl+Left-click to multi-select

  • Double-click to open their window

  • Right-click to issue travel commands.

This should make empire management smoother and more intuitive as your reach expands.

Balance Updates

• Machine, population and projects balance pass

• Reduced Frigate and Destroyer construction times to make them more competitive with Cruisers and Javelins.

• Changed two of the perks of the ‘Aphelion’ faction to address an issue of these perks diminishing in effect over the course of the game

• AI Planet and Project management balance pass

Rogue AI Changes

Many players have noted that Rogue AI events become frustrating in the late game. To address this:

Several military civil projects now reduce Rogue AI spawn rates in their Star System:

• Electromagnetic Shield

• Orbital Field Emitter

• Planetary Shield

• Surface To Orbit Array

Each time one of these Projects is completed, the time between spawns will increase by 50%. After 2 of these Projects are built, the time will double. After 4 are built, the time will triple, and so on.

UI & Quality of Life

This updates comes with a variety of interface improvements:

• Improved Project Buttons around planet icons for clarity

• Added planet names to “Project Completed” notifications

• Added battle status symbols to Fleets engaged in combat

• Added an intermediate game speed option

• Fleet selection now shows name, movement state, and time-to-target (double click to open window)

• Improved Population Change tooltip (now accounts for births/deaths caused by low health)

• Added a highlight in the Tech Screen to indicate which trees require a Tech to be selected.

• Scout Window now shows scan duration

• Added select-all functionality to the army list. After clicking on an army list, Ctrl+A will now select all armies belonging to the first player represented in the list.

• You can now right-click to cancel queued or developing Projects

• Added “Scanning Planet” and “Battle Raging” as Fleet movement statuses to make it clearer what Fleets are doing when viewed in a list.

• Various layout improvements, tooltip fixes, and type corrections

Other Changes

• Auto-Exploring Scouts no longer revert time to real time when sending notifications

• Steam Cloud Saves are now enabled!

• Added a check-box filter for autosaves in Save/Load windows

• Fixed an issue with AI leaving battles when on route to an occupation.

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https://steamcommunity.com/app/2578670/discussions/