The Galaxy Lives On! Distant Worlds, the critically acclaimed 4X space strategy game is back with a brand new 64-bit engine, 3D graphics and a polished interface to begin an epic new Distant Worlds series with Distant Worlds 2. Distant Worlds 2 is a vast, pausable real-time 4X space strategy game. Experience the full depth and detail of turn-based strategy, but with the simplicity and ease of real-time, and on the scale of a massively-multiplayer online game.
This update includes a refresh of the Human and Mortalen factions as well as many other changes, including improved border graphics and a new visualization for Fleet Engagement ranges. Future updates will cover the remaining base game factions until all are refreshed.
BASE FACTION AND GOVERNMENT REFRESH
This update includes a refresh of the Human and Mortalen base game factions as well as all the base game government types. A summary of changes is below, but for the full information, please read through the in-game faction and government descriptions carefully. There are also new event illustrations and loading screens to go along with these changes.
FLEET AND SHIP BEHAVIORS
We added additional Fleet Engagement ranges and a new map overlay for engagement range visualization to help you plan your fleet home bases, engagement ranges and targets.
GAME SPEED
We recommend only using x8 speed sparingly, as it can be too easy to miss important notifications otherwise.
- added new x8 and x1/8 game speed controls.
For those eager to delve into the nitty-gritty details of the changes, a detailed changelog is available here https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Game ... 81%29.docx, detailing everything from major enhancements to minor bug fixes.
The Game Faction Update marks the beginning of updating the base game factions to a similar gameplay level as the new factions added in the post-release DLCs. This update includes a refresh of the Human and Mortalen factions as well as many other changes, including improved border graphics and a new visualization for Fleet Engagement ranges. Future updates will cover the remaining base game factions until all are refreshed.
Please note that data and game event fixes will only apply when starting a new game.
Changes in 1.2.2.0 (April 3rd, 2024):
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when calculating total facility maintenance
- fixed crash when changing empire relation
- fixed crash when switching empire in game editor
- fixed a number of crashes in Stride rendering engine
- fixed crash when resolving tradeable items
- fixed crash when editing Build Order items
- fixed crash when fleet evaluates whether can handle nebula location effects
- fixed crash when determining items at screen point
- fixed crashes when destroying ship
- fixed crash when fulfilling resource order
- fixed rare crash when finding nebula jump path
- fixed rare crash when calculating bonuses for planet
- fixed various threading related crashes when many planet destroyers simultaneously destroying same planet
- fixed crash when determining empire mining targets
- fixed crash with Population Awoken ruins event
- fixed crash when viewing New Colonies list
- fixed rare crashes when rendering the main view
SAVE GAMES
- now detect and warn when attempt to load corrupt savegame files
PERFORMANCE
- minor performance improvements, especially in large late-game galaxies
RENDERING
- added new settings for tweaking scene in GraphicsSettings_Location.xml: DirectionLightIntensity, AmbientLightIntensity, SkyboxLightIntensity
- increased default Skybox lighting intensity to improve appearance of ship materials
- long range scanner map overlay now influenced by galaxy map opacity setting (more transparent by default)
GAME SPEED
We recommend only using x8 speed sparingly, as it can be too easy to miss important notifications otherwise.
- added new x8 and x1/8 game speed controls.
BASE FACTION AND GOVERNMENT REFRESH
This update includes a refresh of the Human and Mortalen base game factions as well as all the base game government types. A summary of changes is below, but for the full information, please read through the in-game faction and government descriptions carefully. There are also new event illustrations and loading screens to go along with these changes.
FACTION CHANGES
HUMAN FACTION CHANGES
- Slightly more aggressive
- Slightly better Continental suitability
- New Worlds: When you colonize or conquer a Continental planet obtain a free random Colonization tech advance (once per planet)
- Great Art Exposition: When you sign a Free Trade Agreement or build a new Resort Base obtain a 2 year boost to Trade and Tourism income throughout your empire along with a boost to Colony income and Tourism for the colony where the Great Art Exposition is held. Cannot trigger more than once every 5 years
- Hero of the Hour: When war is declared on you choose either a new Admiral or new General with two positive traits
- Internal Debates: When you sign a new Defense treaty obtain a capable new Ambassador but also a 2 year decrease to Colony Happiness throughout your empire
- Heightened Security: When a foreign intelligence mission against you succeeds (but is detected) you may choose to spend a Spy to gain a 2 year +20% boost to Counter Espionage along with a small decrease to Colony Happiness throughout your empire
- Large Carriers: all Carrier ship hulls +50 size
- New unique Leader, Ambassador, Scientist, Spy character traits
- Expanded unique tech trees which are accessible earlier in the research tree
- Humans no longer have access to Improved Defense Missiles and later. Bulwark Missiles replace these.
- Humans no longer have access to Rapid Fire Projectiles and later. Hail Cannons replace these.
- Humans no longer have access to Light Interceptors, Tactical Interceptors and Long Range Interceptors. Gyrfalcon Interceptors replace these.
- New Foundation for Galactic Cooperation unique facility with the following bonuses: +10% Diplomacy, +5% Espionage, +5% PsyOps, +10% Concealment, +10% Trade Income
- changed Human default preferred intercept weapon family to Missiles (was Rail Guns)
- Victory condition tweaks and fixes
MORTALEN FACTION CHANGES
- Improved Armor Research
- Improved Ship Maneuvering and Troop Recovery
- Improved Troop experience gain
- Warrior Wave: When you declare war obtain a 2 year boost to Mortalen Population Growth along with your choice of either a large Troop Recruitment Rate boost or a Troop Attack Strength boost
- Patriotic Wave: When war is declared on you obtain a 2 year boost to Mortalen Population Growth along with your choice of either Colony Coruption Reduction or War Weariness Reduction
- Know Your Enemy: When you invade and conquer an enemy world choose a 2 year boost to either Espionage and Counter Espionage or Targeting and Countermeasures
- Prove Yourself: Periodically choose between 2 characters (from Leader, Admirals, Generals) to undergo a trial by arms. If successful (probable) the selected character gains a positive trait, otherwise a negative trait
- Reinforced Hulls: all ship and spaceport hulls have +1 Reactive Armor rating
- New unique Leader, Admiral, General, Ambassador character traits
- Expanded unique tech trees which are accessible earlier in the research tree
- Added new Unique Block Armor techs
- Victory condition tweaks and fixes
GOVERNMENT CHANGES
- Republic: Gain +1%/+2%/+3% Colony Income for each active R/L/F Trade Treaty
- Democracy: 10% chance of a Positive Event (Tech Boost, Diplomacy Boost, Espionage Boost, Military Boost) every year, Every Leader Change results in each other character having a 10% chance of dismissal as a result of the shift in political fortunes
- Feudalism: Private Economy can build individual Feudal Escorts for its own Escort missions, Upgraded Planetary Militia fights like Infantry without upgrades, Troop Recruitment Rate x2 for 2 years after War declaration, Troops gain experience 25% faster
- Mercantile Guild: Control Mining Ships as if State Ships, Gain 1k/3k/5k trade income per year for each active R/L/F Trade Treaty
- Military Dictatorship: High Troop Presence reduces Colony Unhappiness by up to 5, Declare a "War World" to boost Colony Defense (+25%), Troop Recruitment, Ship Construction, Facility Construction (double rate) at any Planet/Spaceport for a 20k credit and happiness cost for two years.
- Monarchy: One ship can be designated a Flagship (+10% Targeting and Countermeasures, +10% Maneuver and Speed, +10% Damage Control), If Flagship destroys an enemy ship same size or larger generate +Happines empire-wide event, If Flagship is destroyed generated -Happiness empire-wide event. All wars are considered Justified for War Weariness purposes
- Technocracy: Increased Character Quality +20% for all types, Increased Character Recruitment Chance +40% for all types
- Hive Mind: Jump Accuracy bonus at friendly locations doubled, Population Growth Rate x1.5 while at War
FLEET AND SHIP BEHAVIORS
We added additional Fleet Engagement ranges and a new map overlay for engagement range visualization to help you plan your fleet home bases, engagement ranges and targets.
- added Fleet Engagement Areas as galaxy map overlay (shows circles of engagement centered on Home Base, and travel paths to Attack Points)
- added extra fleet map overlay settings: Selected Fleet. Only shows engagement range and attack vector for player's selected fleet. Also Defense Fleets, Attack Fleets, Raid Fleets, Invasion Fleets only show engagement ranges for fleets of those types.
- renamed Fleet Engagement Range 'Sector Range' to '100M range'
- added new Fleet Engagement Ranges: 50M range, 200M range, 300M range
- altered colors for fleet roles and attack point vectors in fleet engagement area map overlay so that better distinguished from selected fleet/ship travel vector
- lowered default engagement range for automated Defense fleets (Fleet Templates)
- individual fleet ships will now attack threats at same location even when rest of fleet is not nearby and cannot upgrade attack to a fleet mission. However this still requires all other engagement criteria to be met (range, etc)
- automated fleets now also check distance of target from fleet home base when evaluating whether to break off attack (fleet may be outside normal engagement area)
- ensure manually assigning a Guard mission to a fleet properly changes fleet role to Manual (not just ships)
- fleets now more willing to wait for Fuel Tankers when nearest refuelling point is outside current fuel range
- improved willingness of Fuel Tankers to refuel fleet ships outside systems
- ensure that Fuel Tankers do not improperly assign refuelling mission for ships that don't really need refuelling (avoid cycle of assign/cancel mission)
- ensure refuelling point selection always excludes nebula locations when ship cannot handle effects
- improved automated fleets honoring engagement range when far away from home base (not investigating dangerous locations outside engagement area)
- improved Fleet movement within nebula so that more likely to take direct single jumps to destinations when moving to coordinates instead of specific target
SHIP BEHAVIOR
- fixed bug where military ships with escort mission would sometimes not show travel vector
- fixed bug where freighters were sometimes not being utilized effectively
PATHFINDING
- jump pathing now more willing to consider alternate paths that may be shorter
- jump pathing will now take direct single jump route when either source or destination is in a nebula and the total time of the direct jump is less than the alternate route that uses the nearest system to the nebula
SHIP DESIGNS
- fixed auto-generated ship designs sometimes selecting sub-optimal reactor components
- improved ship auto-design for exploration ships and construction ships so that weapons deprioritized in favor of other components (reactors, fuel, etc)
- improved ship auto-design when have in-system hyperdrive (i.e. Skip Drive) so that have adequate reactors and not too many fuel cells
- tweaked weapon component selection for auto-generated ship designs so that not inappropriately skewed by preferred components
EMPIRE BORDERS
- Where the borders of two empires meet, we have added a more visible border in the galaxy view to help make it easier to distinguish their territories.
USER INTERFACE
- Selection Panel will now auto-grow vertically to accommodate any overflow content
- Control Center will now auto-expand to use the full vertical space when Selection Panel is empty
- added configurable Galaxy Map opacity settings, allowing fade of most galaxy map elements and better visual focus on other items. Separate setting for when Fleet Overlay is enabled, further allowing better visual focus on Fleet engagement areas
- now always include a 'Scuttle Ship' command in the right-click pop-up menu for any state-owned ships without a mission and no functional hyperdrive
- when end war with another empire ensure that enemy targets of that empire (queued and non-queued) are properly cleared
- improved tooltip for colony events in Selection Panel and header bar (image + more detail)
- character traits or skills added through game events now also add event log entry for character (e.g. Prove Yourself Mortalen event)
- fixed small asteroids sometimes not able to be selected at a location
- fixed bug with some scenes where cannot click on item under mouse (wrong item selected)
- added Fleet Attack Point as distinct line item (under Home Base) for Fleets in Selection Panel
- fixed late messages for plagues ending at colonies
- fixed Selection Panel stretching too high when selecting multiple troops
- tidied up display of hovered victory condition details to have correct height
COLONIZATION AND COLONIES
- fixed Colony ships sometimes repeatedly loading/unloading population when only viable colonization target is independent colony that is not yet at desired colonization success chance
- fixed Colony Ships sometimes loading/unloading colonists perpetually (extend load colonist check to include colonization range limits)
- ensure that queued colonization targets properly removed when new colony established at target
- fixed independent colonies sometimes not showing colonization success chance
- ensure rebelling colonies always eventually resolve to normal after rebellion battle completes
- empire colonization targets are immediately reviewed upon acquisition of a Colony Ship (e.g. Refugee Fleet event) thus allowing new colony ship to immediately undertake colonization mission for a suitable target
PIRATES
- fixed pirates sometimes having very high tech when start game with only one standard empire (player only)
- ensure pirate faction properly eliminated when capture last base
RESEARCH
- fixed bug where research project time to completion could sometimes be shorter than expected
- fixed tech bonuses from raids sometimes giving negative progress in current research project
CHARACTERS
- ensure time for characters to transfer to new location is not too long when currently only have very slow hyperdrive tech (e.g. Skip Drive)
- improved character handling when conquer capital colony of another empire and policy setting for 'Characters at Conquered Colonies or Bases' is 'Return Home' (return character to another non-capital colony)
- fixed display bug for character handling policy setting 'Return Home'
- removed Non-Technical from list of positive character traits
DIPLOMACY
- war score is now a more significant factor in determining willingness to end a war, i.e. losing side pays more attention to their losses when considering whether to end a war, and whether to offer vassalization to end the war
- added gradually increasing trade bonus level to diplomatic relations when have trade treaty. Bonus income to all resources sold to other empire, up to maximum of 30% when have Free Trade Agreement
- fixed bombard diplomatic incidents and reputation impact not being properly applied when bombarding independent colonies
WAR RESOLUTION
- improved Empire teardown when last colony lost so that no remaining ships, characters or fleets for the empire
- fixed empires not being properly removed when lose last colony if they did not have a government
GROUND COMBAT
- Troop Attack Strength bonus type now properly applied from both invading generals and invading empire when attacking colony
GALAXY GENERATION
- improved galaxy generation so that star systems less likely to generate near another system
POPULATION POLICIES
- ensure that automated colony population policy does not set most suitable race already at colony to Resettle even when its suitability is below colonization minimum, i.e. always keep most suitable race for colony
PIRATES
- ensure non-standard pirate factions without spaceports are not improperly eliminated when one of their bases is destroyed but they still have other bases
VICTORY CONDITIONS
- fixed Highest Trade Income victory condition to properly account for all trade income (applies to Human, Teekan, Haakonish)
- increased default victory condition threshold back to 70%
MODDING SUPPORT
- added texture header checks for flag filenames (avoids gaps in flag selection dropdown with some modded images)
- modded flag images now properly also select empire color from flag
DATA CHANGES
Updated data files to fix the following:
- Human and Mortalen updated race descriptions updated
- Various weapons with no intercept capability have had redundant intercept values removed
- Resource costs rechecked
- Inconsistent increases/decreases in damage or bonuses for components addressed
- Fighter weapon arcs made consistent at 90°
- Corrected the human Gyrfalcon Interceptor defense slots
- Added resource costs to the Hail Cannon [M] component
- A whole host of typos checked and fixed across the board
GAME EVENTS
- ensure story game events always properly disabled when needed
- tweaked Mortalen troop transport ruin game event to give more advanced Boskara diplomatic tech
- improved 'Sleeping Alien Race Awoken' ruin event to add sleeping population to colony if already exists instead of generating a new colony
QUAMENO AND GIZUREAN DLC
- An overlapping tech project fixed for the Gizureans (same row as regular tech)
Hey everyone, just a brief announcement about future plans. We are now heavily focused on our work for the Return of the Shakturi expansion, which will be our next release. As a result, we expect the pace of public beta updates to slow significantly for a month or two before picking up again.
I'm really liking the revised governments. Top marks for giving them a lot of impactful variety and introducing some fun concepts through them.
I'm going to try my first Human campaign while I look forward to the Teekan refresh. I was bummed to find that the characters all seem to still be only males, and it is pretty immersion-breaking to consider a democratic/republic human civilization of the future that is so very regressive with its leadership, but I appreciate that having to engineer not only another pool of art assets but also a new system for the game to have to select/randomize leader genders is a pretty big ask for something that has next to zero gameplay impact. Nevertheless, let the record reflect that human females are still on the wishlist if you ever magically find yourselves with some spare dev resources in an ever-expanding universe
And on that note: Congrats on (and thanks for) the ever-expanding universe! I can't wait to see what else is in store with the big Xpac coming later this year. Keep on being awesome. Cheers!
