[Star Ruler] Indie 4x game of greatness? Signs point to yes.

Firgof

We're very sure it'll work if it's a WINE base; other than that we're not sure.

We do not officially support Mac OSX however so we may be unable to help with some firmware/hardware problems that may arise. As such, I highly recommend trying the demo of the game out to see if it works on your platform before purchasing the game.

TetraNitroCubane

I Zimbra wrote: »

Wow, this looks like a thing I need to play. Does anyone have any experience trying to run it under OSX through CrossOver or a similar program?

I can confirm functionality on OS X through Wine. I'm using Winebottler, and the game runs very well.

Alecthar

Firgof, I remember earlier in this thread that you indicated certain sales numbers (that I can no longer remember) that would ensure that you guys could keep working on Star Ruler (lower number) and/or really go for broke and hire some more people, etc. (higher number). Where are you guys on meeting those goals?

I only ask because, frankly, I'm rooting for you. Last I checked on your site you had something like 15k sales or so, and while that sounds like a lot to me, I'm not sure where that number is for you guys.

And, of course, thanks for plugging away at Star Ruler for us. It was fun on release, and it's really only gotten better from there.

Firgof

Just wanted to let everybody know:

As Japan continues its effort to recover from the recent devastation, we and many other developers are working with Direct2Drive to bring donations to Japan.
From March 17th to the 21st, Direct2Drive is donating $1 from every sale to the Red Cross' relief efforts in Japan.
In respect we have reduced our price to $10.00 for the duration of the event.

Purchase Star Ruler

We also encourage you to make direct donations to the Red Cross.

Also @ Alecthar: Hmm... I'd say we're at sustainable levels for working on Star Ruler at least until September before we must make a new game (depending on how the retail launch goes).

The higher bracket would be something around 40-60k.

Firgof

While you wait, a preview of the Neumon shipset:

Virgil_Leads_You

neat!

Drake

Those designs are pretty sexy, Firgof.

Firgof

Thanks guys. If you missed it, we also put up a preview of what the UI will look like in the upcoming patch:
(It's resizable and now uses a gui skin image so it'll be very easy to mod if you want to)
http://data.glacicle.org/starruler/newui-lolhuge.png

Elvenshae

Man, is it just me, or did it just get sexy in here?

As in, jeez, I'm really liking the new shipsets and the improved UI.

TheKoolEagle

it seems quite a few changes have been made since I last gave this a go. Unfortunately when I tried last time I got a bit lost in it and lost interest, maybe a second go will let me figure it out a bit better and play a game of it.

Firgof

We're sad to announce that when the merger of Impulse and Gamestop becomes effective, Star Ruler will no longer be offered for sale on Impulse. Current customers should not be adversely affected by this. The installer and patches should remain on Impulse for your convenience.

(Addendum: This was our decision. We withdrew our contract in lieu of GameStop controlling Impulse)

Virgil_Leads_You

oh, I didn't hear about this. It makes sense that Gamestop would want to get into the Direct Download business.

Elvenshae

Firgof wrote: »

We're sad to announce that when the merger of Impulse and Gamestop becomes effective, Star Ruler will no longer be offered for sale on Impulse. Current customers should not be adversely affected by this. The installer and patches should remain on Impulse for your convenience.

(Addendum: This was our decision. We withdrew our contract in lieu of GameStop controlling Impulse)

.. I just rebought it on Impulse during the last sale (because, eh, I'd rather not deal with GG's patching system).

Eff.

EDIT: Unless you mean that future patches will also be made available through Impulse?

Firgof

Sorry, Elvenshae

We will continue to put patches up on Impulse for as long as possible but after our contract is terminated we will no longer have access to being able to put patches up for the Impulse client by all reckoning. We are working on solutions to reduce the level of management required by customers re: patches. One of these is fixing and making truly functional the automatic updater built into the game. It certainly isn't as slick as Steam or Impulse is as it won't silently install as soon as an update is available, but it will at least save users the hassle of finding out which patches go where.

We of course will continue to offer patches through our website no matter what. Unless Impulse wraps its games with some sort of required DRM then the patches should remain compatible with Impulse for the future. We are also investigating potential migrations from Impulse to Steam and other platforms should users desire it. And, finally, we will do our best to make sure that full builds are made available for Impulse users so that they can quickly get up-to-date even without the autopatcher.

subedii

Just read the news on RPS.

I know you'll have already discussed it to death before coming to a decision, and personally I find it hard to disagree that Gamestop's history isn't necessarily a great indicator of things to come. So please don't take this as second-guessing your decision. But is there a reason you had to pull the plug on Impulse immediately instead of waiting to see what eventually happened?


EDIT Well I just read this on the official forums and I guess that answers my question:

Additionally, do note that though we cannot divulge the specifics, when we wrote that we had to make a decision rather quickly that that was meant in the most literal sense possible. We could not 'wait and see'. We made this decision based on historical appraisal; they even have had their own digital distribution service for quite some time. With it not being a success, and also not representing many indie titles at all, that bred zero confidence in our outlook for Impulse being managed by them.

Olivaw

I'm not sure there is a wait-and-see approach with a situation like this

It's either get out now and get out early, or stick with it

I imagine there was a significant amount of discussion about this, since taking your tiny indie game off of a decent sized piece of the downloadable market is not something to do lightly, and with GameStop owning Impulse it probably would have greatly increased the exposure they'd get

The Dude With Herpes

Yeah, Firgof says in the RPS thread that impulse accounts for 25% of their Star Ruler sales, with the next nearest being like 8% (I assume Steam). So they knew full well it would be a hit for them.

But its a principled stance, whether one agrees with it or not; and given all the points made against Gamestop, it is a pretty damn valid concern.

I know personally when I read the Impulse > Gamestop news, even though the only thing I own on it is SotSE, it made me super sad because as much as I like Steam, losing reasonable competition is never a good thing. I have no faith that Gamestop will be able to, or even care to, run Impulse at any level of competency, will likely gut it and replace current features and products with their tripe, advertisements, push DLC's for "AAA" titles and not pay even the slightest bit of lip service to any of the smaller devs and indies on the service. But I'll stop there because that's not this thread.

I do think it's funny that like a waiting vulture Derek Smart chimed into the RPS comment section with his usual shit only to be shot down very nicely by Firgof. Why can't that dude mind his own business. It's not like he's even relevant in any way; nor has he been for....ever? When the entirety of what you are known for is shitty broken and unplayably buggy games and being a forum troll, you should probably start minding your own fucking business.

TetraNitroCubane

While it's sad to see such a major distribution and revenue stream for Blind Mind get shut off, I can only applaud them loudly for their principled stance on the issue. Gamestop have not been friendly to PC gamers, nor indie developers, for quite some time now. While I can't say with certainty what will become of Impulse, I shudder at the possibilities. The tendency of GameStop to kowtow to publishers makes me think of bad things, like awful DRM packed into their distribution platform. Only time will tell, but at the moment, history speaks pretty clearly, and I think this was the right move to make.

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

I do think it's funny that like a waiting vulture Derek Smart ch-

You goose! Never type out that name on the internet!

subedii

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

Yeah, Firgof says in the RPS thread that impulse accounts for 25% of their Star Ruler sales, with the next nearest being like 8% (I assume Steam). So they knew full well it would be a hit for them.

But its a principled stance, whether one agrees with it or not; and given all the points made against Gamestop, it is a pretty damn valid concern.

I know personally when I read the Impulse > Gamestop news, even though the only thing I own on it is SotSE, it made me super sad because as much as I like Steam, losing reasonable competition is never a good thing. I have no faith that Gamestop will be able to, or even care to, run Impulse at any level of competency, will likely gut it and replace current features and products with their tripe, advertisements, push DLC's for "AAA" titles and not pay even the slightest bit of lip service to any of the smaller devs and indies on the service. But I'll stop there because that's not this thread.

I do think it's funny that like a waiting vulture Derek Smart chimed into the RPS comment section with his usual shit only to be shot down very nicely by Firgof. Why can't that dude mind his own business. It's not like he's even relevant in any way; nor has he been for....ever? When the entirety of what you are known for is shitty broken and unplayably buggy games and being a forum troll, you should probably start minding your own fucking business.

That post also just re-affirmed to me what an absolute arrogant PRAT Derek Smart is. His entire rant is just "I live in the real world and I'm right" dross.

I mean seriously?

If I had a game on Impulse that was, you know, MAKING MONEY, I wouldn’t do such a very – very – stupid thing.

...

Go ahead, I dare someone to go ask him for sales figures comparisons for his game sales across the sites that sell it. If he releases those figures, it will be quite evident that him pulling his game, is inconsequential and he would hardly miss the revenue.

...

So this is just PR fodder at this point.

...

So pulling your game from a fledgling – and failed – service, while grandstanding with some bullshit reason and inconsequential rhetoric about GameStop – is the kind of thing that career suicide is made of.

The only reason the smug git posted that in the first place is because he was so certain that nobody would be able to post a response to this and he'd be proven right be default.

Grief, I have no idea why RPS seems to give this guy so much respect. It's not even about business, he's just an abject jerk who thinks he knows it all and that gives him the right to slate everyone else, time and time again.

EDIT: Oh man he's posted another MASSIVE diatribe now and starts off by saying that Firgof isn't losing that much money in the first place. He really is insistent on being right isn't he?

EDIT: And he's ranting about a court case where he felt he was done over and that WAS a worthy cause. And chopping out parts of Firgof's post. AND THEN rants some more about how Firgof needs to be ready to talk to the IRS because game development is his "hobby" and not his business, whilst simultaneously inserting an aside that because he's clever he has a big car collection, just in case anyone wanted to know he owns a Jag and a Saab and I am not making any of this up he did actually throw that in there.

Man he is surreal. I'm flabbergasted that someone can be so ridiculously self aggrandisingly egotistical, effectively call the other guy an idiot repeatedly, and then end his post with "I mean no offence at all".


EDIT: Man Firgof, you're a bigger guy in your responses than I would've been.

Lowlander

Interesting, from reading the RPS comments section, I can definately see where you are coming from. Honestly it feels less about a principled thing, than more of a 'are these guys really going to help us thing?' As an indie software studio, you obviously need help in marketing and distribution. I mean sure the distribution thing might not be much of a problem with Gamestop, but marketing? Is Gamestop going to waste any time at all marketing your software? Instead of doing STEAM type sales that highlights major and indie titles, I honestly can't see them ever making any attempt to highlight something they don't see as being able to pull in massive profits.

Steam is incredibly canny with their system. They always have games for cheap, which gets people used to checking their website, and making digital purchases. Gamestop is never going to emphasize an also ran market in favor over their breadwinner of used games. Most likely you're going to see an underemphasized button that doesn't detract screen real-estate from their breadwinner. Other than people who already have Impulse installed, how many new customers are they going to bring to the service?

I'm sure they're going to promote Impulse a lot at first, but what are Gamestop shareholders going to say when they don't pull in profits commensurate with their investment and marketing? Probably the same thing that Time Warner shareholders said once they bought AOL. We all know how relevant AOL is now, right?

Divebommah

subedii wrote: »

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

That post also just re-affirmed to me what an absolute arrogant PRAT Derek Smart is. His entire rant is just "I live in the real world and I'm right" dross.

EDIT: Man Firgof, you're a bigger guy in your responses than I would've been.

Derek Smart has opinions and I find him relatively coherent. I may disagree with a bunch of them but I still respect him for it. In this case, he thinks Firgof's decision was silly or immature, and when you see the world through his eyes -- the eyes of someone who has been working and been worked by the industry, someone who runs a business -- he makes sense.

Smart is logical and has a strong sense of what's right and wrong. Firgof's decision strikes me as an emotional one, and that sort of thing rubs Smart the wrong way bigtime. If you've found a way to make money, why would you stop the cashflow for something as silly as a personal opinion about the way a business runs itself? Per his example, if Firgof was wronged by Stardock or Gamestop in some legal sense, he'd be backing him 100%. But emotional stuff? Silly.

Your own opinion on the situation will come from where you are in your life. Ten years ago I'd be on Firgof's side 100%. Today with things like a mortgage, saving for retirement, etc. I'm kinda seeing things Smart's way.

But back to the point of the thread: Firgof, please keep up the awesome work dude. Games like Star Ruler are what really make the PC so special. Don't let people who disagree with you get you down

The Dude With Herpes

You mangled that quote tree.

I did not say those things.

I think I had less nice things to say. :P

Lowlander

Divebommah wrote: »

subedii wrote: »

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

That post also just re-affirmed to me what an absolute arrogant PRAT Derek Smart is. His entire rant is just "I live in the real world and I'm right" dross.

EDIT: Man Firgof, you're a bigger guy in your responses than I would've been.

Derek Smart has opinions and I find him relatively coherent. I may disagree with a bunch of them but I still respect him for it.

The problem with his opinions is that he's so damned arrogant about them. He states them as if they are plainly obvious in the black and white world we live in. If he stated them in a way that was a bit more conciliatory, or kept his mind open to other viewpoints. He could say "You know, I think it was a mistake. While I agree that Gamestop is going to completely fail in their management of Impulse, it's not worth the lost revenue you'd get before the platform fails to back out on principal." Instead he says (paraphrasing) "You're shooting yourself in the foot, everybody knows that Impulse is just some backwater DD system that you use to pad your sales while you earn most of your money through other distribution systems. Anybody who doesn't make good business decisions had better be ready to explain that to the IRS when they come knocking at your door to explain your business tax deductions."

I mean isn't it obvious how the two essentially say the same thing without being antagonistic and throwing in vague ad hominem attacks.

Divebommah

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

You mangled that quote tree.

I did not say those things.

I think I had less nice things to say. :P

Ugh, you're right, sorry all!

taliosfalcon

Lowlander wrote: »

Divebommah wrote: »

subedii wrote: »

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

That post also just re-affirmed to me what an absolute arrogant PRAT Derek Smart is. His entire rant is just "I live in the real world and I'm right" dross.

EDIT: Man Firgof, you're a bigger guy in your responses than I would've been.

Derek Smart has opinions and I find him relatively coherent. I may disagree with a bunch of them but I still respect him for it.

The problem with his opinions is that he's so damned arrogant about them. He states them as if they are plainly obvious in the black and white world we live in. If he stated them in a way that was a bit more conciliatory, or kept his mind open to other viewpoints. He could say "You know, I think it was a mistake. While I agree that Gamestop is going to completely fail in their management of Impulse, it's not worth the lost revenue you'd get before the platform fails to back out on principal." Instead he says (paraphrasing) "You're shooting yourself in the foot, everybody knows that Impulse is just some backwater DD system that you use to pad your sales while you earn most of your money through other distribution systems. Anybody who doesn't make good business decisions had better be ready to explain that to the IRS when they come knocking at your door to explain your business tax deductions."

I mean isn't it obvious how the two essentially say the same thing without being antagonistic and throwing in vague ad hominem attacks.

Yeah he seems to think he's an industry expert because of his experience but afaik he's never worked on a game that wasn't universally considered shit and nothing he's made has sold particularly well sooo....? I mean I could train a parrot to spout nonsense about the video games industry and it would be almost as reputable as him.

Divebommah

Lowlander wrote: »

The problem with his opinions is that he's so damned arrogant about them. He states them as if they are plainly obvious in the black and white world we live in. If he stated them in a way that was a bit more conciliatory, or kept his mind open to other viewpoints. He could say "You know, I think it was a mistake. While I agree that Gamestop is going to completely fail in their management of Impulse, it's not worth the lost revenue you'd get before the platform fails to back out on principal." Instead he says (paraphrasing) "You're shooting yourself in the foot, everybody knows that Impulse is just some backwater DD system that you use to pad your sales while you earn most of your money through other distribution systems. Anybody who doesn't make good business decisions had better be ready to explain that to the IRS when they come knocking at your door to explain your business tax deductions."

I mean isn't it obvious how the two essentially say the same thing without being antagonistic and throwing in vague ad hominem attacks.

Well, you're bang on about his delivery. He has an ego, no dispute there. I do try to look past how people say things and try to really understand what they mean, though, so I tend to overlook things like that.

Divebommah

taliosfalcon wrote: »

Yeah he seems to think he's an industry expert because of his experience but afaik he's never worked on a game that wasn't universally considered shit and nothing he's made has sold particularly well sooo....? I mean I could train a parrot to spout nonsense about the video games industry and it would be almost as reputable as him.

Whoa, hang on there -- he is an industry expert. He's built and published games, worked with publishers and distributors, and he's been at it for a long time. His ego, sales figures, or the quality of his titles (which, to a certain niche out there, are mind blowingly awesome) are besides the point.

The Dude With Herpes

Divebommah wrote: »

taliosfalcon wrote: »

Yeah he seems to think he's an industry expert because of his experience but afaik he's never worked on a game that wasn't universally considered shit and nothing he's made has sold particularly well sooo....? I mean I could train a parrot to spout nonsense about the video games industry and it would be almost as reputable as him.

Whoa, hang on there -- he is an industry expert. He's built and published games, worked with publishers and distributors, and he's been at it for a long time. His ego, sales figures, or the quality of his titles (which, to a certain niche out there, are mind blowingly awesome) are besides the point.

No.

They are entirely the point.

Being an industry expert implies some level of, you know, expertise. Because his games have sold like shit; because his games have been buggy unplayable messes; because his games are critically panned and thrown in the pile with tripe like Phoenix games as effective non-games; means that he isn't an expert.

A bomb or two? Ok. But most people learn from their mistakes. This guy, instead of doing that, just sucks himself off and goes apeshit on anyone anywhere to points out the massive galaxy sized flaws in his games, and instead of learning from failure after failure after failure after failure, he insists that he is and was right all along and is the only one who knows what he's talking about.

He's a nonplayer. He's not an expert. He's hardly a developer or anything of the sort and that any gaming site gives credence to a thing he says is absurd. Throwing out a pile of worthless code that you think qualifies as a game doesn't make you a developer.

If he had ever, once, had any modicum of success or anything even resembling it, maybe I'd be ok even considering him an actual developer. But I'll leave the title of "expert" to those who are actual experts on game development, design and sales.

Virgil_Leads_You

Hey it's all good, whoever this dude is, he isn't worth fussing over.
Go play some excellent Star Ruler.
Listen to some excellent space jams by Artem Bank

Space Jam is also acceptable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9FImc2LOr8

Divebommah

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

No.

They are entirely the point.

Being an industry expert implies some level of, you know, expertise. Because his games have sold like shit; because his games have been buggy unplayable messes; because his games are critically panned and thrown in the pile with tripe like Phoenix games as effective non-games; means that he isn't an expert.

I don't think industry expertise necessarily relates to sales and playability. If someone spends a couple decades in a job failing and making mistakes, then goes off to consult, they are considered a seasoned expert. I'm sidetracking here, but I'd argue that the sales of his games have been just fine -- the guy has a nice house, a wife, a daughter, and drives expensive cars. He has a dedicated, albeit small, base of fans. He keeps making games year after year. This is despite what critics and sales figures say. He's not doing things the EA way, he's doing them his way.

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

A bomb or two? Ok. But most people learn from their mistakes. This guy, instead of doing that, just sucks himself off and goes apeshit on anyone anywhere to points out the massive galaxy sized flaws in his games, and instead of learning from failure after failure after failure after failure, he insists that he is and was right all along and is the only one who knows what he's talking about.

Question: If you write a book and it sells enough to keep you afloat for a year, is that a success? To outsiders, is that success? I think Smart defines success differently...he's happy to make enough money to live on and to fund his next title. His life is game development and his sales enable him to keep doing that year after year.

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

He's a nonplayer. He's not an expert. He's hardly a developer or anything of the sort and that any gaming site gives credence to a thing he says is absurd. Throwing out a pile of worthless code that you think qualifies as a game doesn't make you a developer.

Smart creates a highly detailed tactical battleship simulator and when it doesn't crash it works. The people who buy his stuff seem to like it...if he can get enough people to buy his stuff that they fund not only his family but his next title, I'd say he's an expert.

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

If he had ever, once, had any modicum of success or anything even resembling it, maybe I'd be ok even considering him an actual developer. But I'll leave the title of "expert" to those who are actual experts on game development, design and sales.

Seems to me that the difference between Derek Smart and Will Wright is sales figures and ego.

Ugh, Virgil is right, this thread is getting derailed. Dude, if you want to continue the discussion feel free to email me: [email protected]

Lowlander

Divebommah wrote: »

This is despite what critics and sales figures say. He's not doing things the EA way, he's doing them his way.

And the dude can't cut another indie developer some slack for doing what they want to do? I mean the above statement highlights exactly why he shouldn't be giving advice to other indie developers. If he's such an individualist, why is he always telling other people what to do? Why doesn't he let them plot out their own course?

I'm not going to debate the coolness of his I-War games, never played them, but I love space sims. I've always been interested in giving them a try. His unadultarated egotism has stopped me thus far. And 'on principle' I won't ever buy one of his games. I won't pirate them either, because (besides from being morally wrong) piracy figures would only help prop up his already inflated ego.

I'm not trying to argue his genius, I just think the guy would get a lot further by actually learning how to deal with other human beings. With his egotism, I'm not entirely sure I even believe his alleged garage full of DBMs and such. I'd honestly be more inclined to believe that he's a trust fund kid than a successful entrepeneur. His games HAVE sold for shit, no matter how great they might be. Maybe he suckered somebody in to giving him a huge cash advance?

Arguing one of his points might have merit, but it's mired in so much egotistical bullshit that you're never going to get around that.

Olivaw

Derek Smart may have an ego the size of the Chrysler Building, but he was at least a designer with ambition and a vision

Even if he didn't know when to scale back or make anything he made actually work

He at least is a man who knows something about the industry and how it works, probably more than anyone here who isn't Firgof, since he had to work with publishers and distributors and such

I don't think he's right, of course, or not a tremendous jackass, but I can sort of understand the place he is coming from

Lowlander

Olivaw wrote: »

Derek Smart may have an ego the size of the Chrysler Building, but he was at least a designer with ambition and a vision

Even if he didn't know when to scale back or make anything he made actually work

He at least is a man who knows something about the industry and how it works, probably more than anyone here who isn't Firgof, since he had to work with publishers and distributors and such

I don't think he's right, of course, or not a tremendous jackass, but I can sort of understand the place he is coming from

Honestly, I agree with you. I'm sure he knows a hell of a lot more about the industry than I do. From what I've read his games definately don't lack for vision, mostly just execution.

I agree, personally that for 'Blind Mind Studios' to have stayed with Impulse would have been the right move, at least from a financial standpoint. Ironically all the hullabaloo of them leaving impulse has gotten them posts on Kotaku, RPS, and Joystiq, just from what I have seen, so maybe that will more than offset their losses. If they felt pressured by some limited time decision, I can understand them backing out. It's like the car dealer who tells you that the price he quotes is only good for today. If it feels bad, get out. I can't fault them with standing on principle if that's what it really was, although I think it was more of a mixture of the 'tell us your answer within 24 hours' and the history of Gamestop which informed their decision more than principle.

Divebommah

Looks like we're all on the same page.

So, I've unfortunately only been able to put a few hours into the game so far, but I was excited about the whole "ships the size of galaxies" aspect. Has anyone built any that big? Do they just, like, ram planets or something?

arcath

You guys are all fucked. You should know by now that you can't say his name, let alone say it more than three times with him appearing....

Igel

This here game is currently on sale at gamersgate. I figured that this is relevant to the thread's interests.

Contemplation over, game bought.

adytum

On sale for $10 @ Impulse

Though perhaps not the best place to buy it given recent events.

Firgof

Patch 1076 has just been launched! As always you may simply hit the update button in-game, or you can go grab the patch off our website at: http://goo.gl/a5YQx

The full changelog follows:

[Fixed] Fixed a deadlock caused by selecting a ship as it was about to dock.
[Fixed] Advanced Parts Assembler used up resources even if there was no space to put advanced parts.
[Fixed] Fetch orders automatically assigned by construction bays no longer attempt to fill more cargo than available.
[Fixed] Mega Construction had a link to itself.
[Fixed] Linked sub system modifiers did not work for designs made by multiplayer clients.
[Fixed] Ships parked in orbit would not de-park after moving for multiplayer clients.
[Fixed] Crash related to supply orders for construction resources.
[Fixed] Internal Defenses would not function on ships without crew.
[Fixed] Keybinds specified as key numbers with # would not load from controls.cfg.
[Fixed] GUI Script keybinds no longer override options menu keybinds, which was leading to being unable to bind certain keys.
[Fixed] The natural terraformers race trait would remove the ringworld bonus from ringworlds.
[Fixed] "Close" preferred engagement range was not being calculated.
[Fixed] Planets moved into deep space would be invisible upon loading a game.
[Fixed] Fixed a bug that made trading food behave strangely when a planet had cargo storage.
[Changed] Dry Docks can now have rally points.
[Changed] Drag selecting will select only military ships if there are any military ships in the selection (can be turned off from the options menu).
[Changed] Multiplayer games start paused until all players have finished loading.
[Changed] Order strings ("Attack ...", "Defend System", etc) can now be localized.
[Changed] Auto-colonize now picks the largest planet in the closest system first, rather than always the closest planet.
[Changed] Supply orders for ships in fleets now only supply ships in that fleet.
[Changed] The "Efficient" race trait now also affects EcoStore.
[Changed] Changed how objects are ticked to make planets behave more similarly, rather than the first planet in a system getting more resource priority all the time.
[Balance] Slightly reduced planet reproduction rate, and decreased effectiveness of their passive Damage Reduction.
[Balance] Repair Bays and Salvagers are now linked to the Material Sciences technology, and Salvagers are unlocked sooner.
[Added] "Automatically Retrofit" automation order that can be added to blueprint AI orders.
[Added] "Allow other ships to supply resources" AI behavior setting. Tankers will not supply ships with this set to deny.
[Added] When undocking, you can choose specific types of ships and the amount of ships to undock.
[Added] When using control to build multiple ships of the same type, a checkbox "Batch construction" can now be checked. This completes all the ships before launching them all together.
[Added] An entirely new AI that should provide a harder challenge. The old AI is still available as separate AI profiles, but will not be chosen when selecting "Random".

Hensler

I'm looking to pick up a new 4X game - currently deciding between Star Ruler, Armada 2526, and Distant Worlds. Maybe I'll just buy all 3 and keep myself busy till Sword of the Stars 2 hits...

Firgof

If you don't wind up buying the game, you can grab the demo at the least. There's no time-limit and so forth; the only real differences between the bought version and the demo version are missing subsystems and features. The demo doesn't have multiplayer, for instance, and a lot of the subsystems have been gutted. A full list of the stuff removed is included with the demo (it's the text on the right of the loading background)