What's in the Upcoming Expansion?

[Omnius]

I'm wondering what's in the new expansion pack about the return of the Shakturi. Will this be like Stellaris where ancient races reappear late in the game that had to be done to make that pathetic game more challenging because the AI's were so atrocious? I really didn't like that concept at all. I liked that the AI's in the original DW were far better than that other game. Just getting my bearings with DW2 now so am wondering what kind of new features will be included in this big expansion being worked on now. It looks like many of the races will be upgraded like the Human race was recently.

[btd64]

Don't worry. You'll love it....GP

[thegreybetween]

Truth is: Nobody knows yet. They have not spoiled anything about the new expansion, except that it will feature the return of the Shakturi. No other features have even been teased yet.

Reasonably, if we assume the Shakturi will work like they did in DWU, they are a late-game threat. They will appear on the map as an innocent-seeming refugee fleet, and then rapidly start painting the galaxy with their color as they consume everything in their path. In that respect, it isn't unlike a Stellaris crisis in that the early game will have little to do with the threat (except some lore events that track your progress to the crisis trigger). But unlike Stellaris, the Shakturi threat is very real and should lead to a very satisfying test of your empire.

Again, all of that is speculative based on the earlier game. We may see something(s) totally new, and the Shakturi could be integrated in wholly different ways.

The update of the game's factions ("races") is independent of the expansion, and will be provided as free updates to the base game. It will only focus on the original 7 factions released with the game, because they were underwhelming compared to the later DLC factions. We've already received the free Human/Mortalen update. The next one (Zenox/Boskara) will release eventually, but may not coincide with the expansion. Teekan/Haakonish will follow from there, and finally, the Ackdarians (this is based on comments made in dev streams, but may no longer be accurate).

As for what else to expect from the expansion, nobody knows. But there are a lot of wishlist features that the community have discussed ranging from expanded diplomacy features (to help the factions unite against the new threat) to deeper economic systems. Plus the usual pleas for better automation AI, UI improvements, and patches. There will likely not be any new factions ("races") with the expansion (aside from the Shakturi, who will almost certainly be unplayable), because they are releasing new factions through other DLC packs, and the next 1-2 bundles have already been mentioned (Atuuk/Wekkaru next, ETA unknown).

A closed Beta is starting soon. Hopefully, we'll start seeing previews and dev blogs shortly thereafter.

Anyway, that's what I've managed to piece together of the release roadmap so far. Hopefully that helps. Cheers!

[Cauldyth]

Don't worry. You'll love it....GP

This ^^

And as thegreybetween points out, the race updates will be released for free, separate from the expansion, as they get completed.

[EpicD4ve]

has the beta test for it started?

[MaximKI]

has the beta test for it started?

Testing has been ongoing for a while now with our current tester team. We are aiming to add a new wave of testers hopefully soon.

[EpicD4ve]

*sad face* aww i wasnt invited :'(

[Omnius]

@thegreybetween - Thanks for the informative answer. I had the original DW but I don't think I had the U version as I never saw Shakturi late in the game. I hope that's done better than in stellaris which was poorly done for having the ancients return. They should be a good test for a late game empire but not some ridiculously overpowered nonsense that never dies or dies and somehow comes back to life.

I had hoped this game was more finished than it apparently is after two years, I like to get games after they're finished so I'm not going through update changes that screw up saved games or change things during a good game. Hopefully we'll see more on what's upcoming soon.

[AKicebear]

It's trivial to turn off storyline events and play in a pure sandbox style mode.

[Jorgen_CAB]

@thegreybetween - Thanks for the informative answer. I had the original DW but I don't think I had the U version as I never saw Shakturi late in the game. I hope that's done better than in stellaris which was poorly done for having the ancients return. They should be a good test for a late game empire but not some ridiculously overpowered nonsense that never dies or dies and somehow comes back to life.

I had hoped this game was more finished than it apparently is after two years, I like to get games after they're finished so I'm not going through update changes that screw up saved games or change things during a good game. Hopefully we'll see more on what's upcoming soon.

The Shakturi did not come with the Universe version. The Universe was just a new release with all the expansion bundled and with extended modding support.

I'm not sure what you expect the end game threat to be, but I don't think it is that complicated. It is a powerful end game enemy that you and the rest of the galaxy have to face together. I don't think it will differ much from Stellaris in concept but likely be different in execution.

If you have fought against the Hive you can imagine what the Shakturi might be just more powerful and likely with some more unique game mechanics.

[Nightskies]

If Patton says it'll be loved, well, color me excited.

Well, I already was, just more so now.

[Amoebanzai]

Will this be like Stellaris where ancient races reappear late in the game ...

No, it is Stellaris that borrowed the idea of "Return of Shakturi"

[alexman91]

is there a releasedate for it or a vague aim like q3

[thegreybetween]

is there a releasedate for it or a vague aim like q3

Vague. It was originally intended to be out near the end of 2023, but they wanted to make sure that it was a solid release (feature rich, as bug-free as reasonably possible) to better leverage all of the great work they've been doing since the bumpy release of v1.0. At this point, all we know for sure is that it is intended to drop in 2024 "as soon as it is ready". That said, they try to hit a cadence of some form of official update every 3 months or so, and the last update was April 7, so I'm sure they are hoping to roll something out soon. Also, we know it is moving through the closed-Beta stage, and that means that a release candidate can't be too far off. I suspect we'll see it in Q3, but that's not official.