New v1.0.5.7 Public Beta Now Available!

[Erik Rutins]

Thanks again for your patience and support while we continue to improve Distant Worlds. This is a MASSIVE update, so please read through the change list very carefully. The v1.0.5.7 Beta includes many changes just since the v1.0.5.6 Beta, in almost every section of the change list.

We recommend that if you are experiencing any serious issues with the 1.0.4.9 official update, that you give this beta update a try. This update will NOT work with existing saved games (including saved games from 1.0.5.6 Beta), so please be sure to finish any games you have in progress before giving this a try.

Here's how to download this update - because it's a public beta, you need to get it from our Members Club. Click on the Members Link in the top nav bar. If you haven't created an account there yet or registered your copy of Distant Worlds, please do so. Once logged in and registered, click on "My Games" then click on the "Private Downloads" link next to Distant Worlds and you will see a link to download the public beta update.

Please note that once this becomes official, it will be available through our normal download and update process (in the Latest Downloads section and through the "Check for Updates" link on your game menu) but we do not like to release public beta updates widely until we are sure they are good to go.

v1.0.5.7 Public Beta – June 29, 2010

Public Beta Update

Please Note – This update does create a new save folder, although it will work with previous saves. You need to navigate to the previous version save folder to open your older saves. We recommend starting a new game in order to get the full effect of the changes and improvements, as some will not apply to older save files.

Also, this update may reset the automation settings in your Options screen. Please open the Options screen again to adjust them to your preference. Please note there are many new settings as well that you should check and set to your preferences. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Note that there is a change to the new fleet behavior from 1.0.5.6, where refueling/gathering automatically kicked in. Now this behavior is opt-in, i.e. you have to specifically request it by selecting these new mission types (from the pop-up menu or by using the ALT key). See the Improved Fleet Operations notes below for more details.

Bug Fixes:

1. Fixed bug where construction ship would occasionally get stuck in loop rebuilding same item at same location 2. Fixed crash that occurred when bombarded the last colony of an empire 3. Fixed crash in new Diplomatic Message Queue (at top-left of screen) 4. Fixed tech bonus received from disassembling advanced ships - now much lower than before and focussed in area where disassembled ship is advanced (e.g. torpedo weapons, shields, etc) 5. Fixed some special cases where military ships may not always attack an enemy in a timely manner 6. Fixed crash that occurred when you colonized a planet that previously had a blockade and was then bombarded to extinction 7. Fixed bug where ships would sometimes not attack targets (engagement range was corrupted) 8. Fixed bug where abandoned ships and bases with RepairBot components were auto-repairing themselves prior to discovery (e.g. in debris fields) 9. Fixed bug where independent colonies were not generating their own defending militia. This makes independent colonies more difficult to invade 10. Long range sensor display is now properly updated in galaxy view when ships/bases retrofitted with better sensors 11. Resupply ship designs now need only 25% of their components to be either cargo/docking bays/gas extractors (previously was 30%). This ensures that default designs are valid 12. Fixed the following bug: 1) discuss negotiating an end to war with a warring empire in diplomacy screen, but do not end the war. 2) then discuss a trade offer with another empire, including a request to "declare war on XXXX" 3) clear the offered items using the button at the bottom of the screen 4) instead of clearing, the offer changes to "end our war with you" 13. Fixed bug where player is sometimes not notified of an end to war with another empire 14. Fixed bug where newly colonized planets sometimes rebel due to high taxes 15. Fixed rare bug where colonized planets will no longer allow investigation of ruins (this could also lead to exploration ships clustering around the planet) 16. Quameno and Zenox no longer repeatedly offer knowledge of the same secret location 17. Scrapped long range sensors no longer leave sensor range on the galaxy map 18. Fixed a bug where crash research was not completing when you traded that tech with another empire 19. Diplomacy messages (top-left of screen) now correctly use custom race images if a theme is in use 20. Fixed a bug where some races and starting locations where swapped in some situations 21. Fixed a bug where you could colonize ice asteroids 22. Fixed a bug where ships and bases would sometimes have more docking bays or construction yards than specified by their design 23. Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when zooming 24. Fixed a display problem (garbled fonts) when viewing information on construction yards in the Component Guide (Design Detail screen) 25. Fixed a bug where investigating an abandoned ship or base sometimes caused an infinite loop of messages 26. Fixed another crash that sometimes occurred after using a planet destroyer 27. Fixed a bug where Galaxy Map screen was no longer showing potential colonies 28. Ensured that empires do not perform spy missions against themselves 29. Fixed another rare GxBO crash 30. Fixed tutorials (were broken in 1.0.5.6 beta) 31. Fixed images for refugee ships (discovered from some ruins) 32. Fixed situations where wars or trade sanctions would sometimes unilaterally end without negotiation

New Feature: Habitat Quality determines colony value (income and max population)

1. Colonies with quality below 50% cost an empire money to maintain, instead of earning income 2. Continental and marshy swamp planets usually have high quality, desert and ocean medium quality, ice and volcanic low quality. But there are occasional exceptions to this, with some high quality ice and volcanic planets 3. Abundance of quality planets can be altered with new slider setting in galaxy settings at game start 4. Home system favorability determines quality of home planet – planet type is now determined by native planet type of race 5. Each race receives a 10% maximum population bonus for their native planet type 6. Independent colonies now always have a quality of at least 50%, making them always worth colonizing. 7. Planets and moons with Quality below 50% are also listed in red in the Expansion Planner (along with those in hostile territory).

More Realistic Colonization and Migration:

1. Cannot build colony ships at a colony until population reaches a threshold of 100 million 2. Colony ships take population from the colony they are built at (e.g. 10 million people) 3. Some new colonization tech increases population growth rate for colonies (as well as unlocking new colonization components) 4. When planet type is not native type for a race, then population growth rate is slower, BUT colonization research progressively improves the growth rate for these non-native planet types 5. Passenger ships now carry less people when migrating

Planetary Combat and Rebellion Changes:

1. Troops now receive a 10% bonus when fighting on their native planet type (for either attack or defense) 2. Troops now have higher deterrence of rebellion/defection at colonies 3. Rebelling colonies may raise militia forces (their own troops) to battle garrisoned empire troops 4. Independent colonies recruit their own troops to deter invasion 5. When conquered colonies rebel against their new owners, they are likely to return to their previous empire instead of simply becoming independent, but if a rebelling colony with quality below 50% leaves an empire, it will generally become independent instead of joining another empire (because it is a net drain on an empire)

Automation and AI Improvements:

1. Empires are now more likely to invade independent colonies that are likely to resist colonization (due to racial animosity) 2. AI colony tax rate setting is now more accurate and less prone to 'jumping around' 3. Target prioritization altered so that distance is more important, i.e. closer targets more preferred - thus in wars, AI empires much more likely to attack border colonies, thus maintaining more coherent empire borders 4. Improved AI colonization logic so that AI empires expand better 5. Increased targeting priority for enemy colonies so that they are more likely to be invaded when at war 6. Construction ships and colony ships now remember dangerous areas (pirates and space creatures) and attempt to avoid them. This information is also reflected in the warnings in the Expansion Planner screen for colonization and mining targets 7. Automated ships in a fleet will make a better effort to keep themselves loaded with troops

Improved Fleet Operations:

1. New fleet mission types: Prepare and Attack, Prepare and Bombard: if the fleet requires refueling or is dispersed then the fleet will first refuel or gather prior to attacking/bombarding the assigned target. To assign these new mission types either select them from the right-click pop-up menu (when zoomed out to sector or galaxy level), or hold down the ALT key when right-clicking a hovered target (i.e. attack or bombard). You can fine-tune how this behavior works in the new "Fleet Attack Settings" section of the Empire Settings screen (from Game Options). This allows you to specify when fleets will refuel or gather before engaging in attack/bombard missions. 2. Changed behaviour of fleets when attacking or bombarding planets: will not complete their mission until all ships in the fleet have arrived at the target planet (even when the fleet cannot otherwise carry out the mission, e.g. no troops to invade) 3. Fleet load troops command - right click fleet for pop-up menu item, or use new button in Fleets screen (F8) 4. Ships in fleets will make a better effort to remain together, new ships assigned to fleets will travel to the fleet location after completing their current mission 5. Troop loading for individual ships and fleets will now pick up more troops from each colony

New Target Engagement Stances and Improved Ship Behavior:

1. New Auto-Engagement Stance: engage targets when attacked, engage nearby targets, engage system targets 2. New default Empire-level engagement stances for mission types: patrol, escort, attack/bombard, other (See Game Options screen, Empire Settings sub-screen) 3. New Empire overkill factor, determines firepower (and thus number of ships) auto-assigned to targets within engagement range: 1:1, 1.5:1, 2:1, 3:1, 5:1 (see Game Options screen, Empire Settings sub-screen) 4. Set engagement stance for an individual ship or an entire fleet: use the comma key to cycle settings when an individual ship is selected 5. More careful evaluation of targets – ships do not auto-attack bases (e.g. pirate bases) stronger than self unless other nearby forces available 6. Manual attack mission assignment always sticks with assigned target until complete 7. Auto-refuel refinements – ships do not auto-refuel when colonizing or invading a colony 8. Fine-tuned ship maneuvering when firing weapons at moving targets so that target movement is better accounted for when attempting to maintain ideal firing range 9. Ships will no longer continue an escape mission if all of their attackers are destroyed (i.e. they will stop fleeing) 10. Troop Transport ships now engage enemies more aggressively

Interface Improvements:

1. New display of diplomacy messages at left of screen - click a message to discuss with sending empire. Some important message types still popup a window as previously: declarations of war, ending wars, threats of war or trade sanctions, requests to honor mutual defense pact 2. New Slider settings in game startup to alter level of Corruption for player empire and galactic Habitat Quality 3. Design Detail screen updated - design components consolidated so that multiple components of same type are now listed as a single entry (e.g. 5x) 4. Can now select special government types for other empires in Start a New Game screen (when their race allows them) 5. Extra command buttons in Ships and Bases screen: Refuel selected ships, Retire selected ships, Scrap Selected Ships 6. Added explanation of racial bonuses at colonies in the Colonies screen (Population tab). If dominant race at one of your colonies provides a bonus (lower war weariness or higher happiness) it will be explained directly underneath overall colony happiness ("The inhabitants of XXXX are happy with you (+20)") 7. Grid row selection in expansion planner screen properly reverts to previously selected row after assign colony ship or construction ship to a target 8. Grid row selection in ships and bases screen properly reverts to row above when ships or bases are scrapped using the 'Scrap' button 9. Double-clicking a column heading in any sortable grid (e.g. expansion planner targets, colonies screen, ships and bases screen, etc) will 'forget' any sorting 10. If a planet/moon can or can’t be colonized, the details for that planet/moon will now tell you why. 11. Expanded the maximum number of colonization targets displayed in the Expansion Planner screen from 100 to 500 12. For retrofit missions, selection of the retrofit location now pays more attention to travel distance to the location, as well as retrofit time at the location 13. Galaxy backdrop no longer 'bounces' when move to galaxy edge (galaxy zoom level)

Game Balance Changes:

1. Weapon components rebalanced: Beam Weapons should now be more viable in comparison to Torpedos 2. Invading independent colonies now has less negative reputation impact than before 3. Lower reputation hit from using planet destroyer and bombarding colonies - more viable option, especially against other empires with low reputations 4. Some racial bonuses now apply to individual colonies instead of your entire empire: war weariness, mining and happiness bonuses 5. Changed threshold for full empire-wide racial bonuses to 20% (from 10%) 6. Espionage mission to change another empire's government type is now more difficult, especially against large empires 7. Player empire will no longer be offered gifts unless the other empire likes them a lot 8. Slightly expanded the spread in component tech levels in Habitation category 9. Colonies that leave an empire and become independent now lose any bases at the colony 10. In game setup, the "(Random)" setting for other empire proximity to your empire now excludes "same system" - i.e. other empires will not start in the same system as you when you select random proximity 11. Attacking non-allied military ships in your empire's systems will no longer cause any drop in your empire's reputation, though it will still negatively impact your relations with the attacked empire

Performance Improvements:

1. Improved game Save/Load performance: saving approx 2-3 times faster, loading approx 50% faster, savegame files smaller 2. Large Address Aware flag set on executable - on 64-bit Windows more memory is now available for use, eliminating any lingering out-of-memory errors. 32-bit Windows users can also configure their PC to make use of this setting 3. Improved performance when zooming 4. Added smooth keyboard scrolling and zooming: arrow keys and PageUp/Down keys now work more smoothly than before

[Florestan]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins [...] This update will NOT work with existing saved games [...]

Please Note – This update does create a new save folder, although it will work with previous saves. [...]

I suppose the later statement is copy/paste mistake ?..