Got a few weeks while I am still fine tuning the latest and rather enormous balance-difficulty changes to the open beta… so right now I am picking up the new portrait graphics where I left them before the summer holidays. Before I start work again I thought it might actually be a good idea to touch base with the community… The question is which graphical style the players (yes, you) actually prefer. Feel free to point me to other style options in the Matrix/Steam/Discord forums.
5 styles to choose from… And yes A+E and B+C have similarities. Style D is the current SE style.
As some of you might have noticed a new AT update has been shaping up in the open beta (Matrix & Steam). It will soon(ish) be released as the new release version. This is all courtesy by Phoenix Team / Erich Ormand, big thanks to them, as AT deserves the updates, but I cant find the time myself.
Now if… no promises… but if it would be possible that we get some more major work done on Advanced Tactics, which direction would you like development to go?
You can only pick 1 answer, because we want you to force to commit :) That being said, I think we’ll do a follow-up poll to get a bit more in detail later. It’s also possible to post here or on the Steam/Matrix forums to share any thoughts you might have for reinvigorating AT.
Pymous, the well known modder, who also did the great Strategem Artpack, has recently released a HD sized graphical mod that replaces the vanilla Shadow Empire Vidcom screens.
Version 1.21d has gone out of open beta and is now the current release version. Big thanks to everybody that has been helping me out with testing the open beta’s!
I have been focusing development on addressing a number of long standing complaints with Shadow Empire. The AI has been much improved and is now actually using air forces and doing a much better job managing its economic and military composition. Its also choosing its formation type/research/design priorities much more precisely. This should result in you facing more diverse AI armies with more heavy equipment (tank/air) than before.
Furthermore the Blue Print (tab) feature has been added to the Management Screen. Blue Prints allow you to experiment with Model Designs before you actually order them to be designed. This is especially useful for aircraft design.
You can now also call your research director to give him/her a specific Discovery Focus area, useful if you are missing a specific discovery.
Alien Critters and Free Folk (that can share non-aligned hexes) are no longer semi-cooperating and are now actually combating each other when they find themselves in the same hex. The Free Folk Marauder Units are more diverse now as well in composition and behavior.
Furthermore the Statistics Tab has been improved and you can now disable/enable specific dimensions (left click on dimension to highlight one / right click to select multiple).
As always a big update like this one also brings dozens of smaller improvements, fixes and finetunings (see changelist for all details).
Mid April I did a poll and said I would share an outline of my Shadow Empire development plans with you in a few weeks time.
Well that took me a bit longer, due to various reasons. But here we are. First of all I would like to thank you for your participation in the last poll and your discussions on the various forums (Steam,Matrix,Discord). I have had the time to evaluate and organize your wishes as well as my own.
I could be secretive and only announce things when I am a 100% sure, but that would keep everybody in the dark completely. So please do consider this “development plan sketch” like at best 50% sure.
Heck, the features could still change, the order of development and DLCs planned could change, even the actual DLC themes could still change. Feedback is coming in non-stop and I am flexible until committed. But leaving all those disclaimers aside this sketch does give you an insight into what I currently have on my drawing board.
(Click on image to enlarge)
The first phase after Oceania release is still in progress and basically consists of me addressing a number of complaints with the Core engine that have been long standing and have been voiced many times. This phase includes my plan to slowly start upgrading the visuals and UI of the game as well. Each Core engine work phase is planned to upgrade part of the visuals / UI until finally everything is done. I’ll try to keep some (minimal) backwards compatibility in place in case some people prefer the older graphics.
I’ll probably focus the next DLC on a combination of politics, trade and more interesting leader dynamics. These are subjects close to my heart and they will interact with eachother very well. I have to say I am especially eager to do some more procedural generation coding.
After that workname “Republica” DLC I should return to the military part of the game. I am agreed to finally add in those much requested Navy Units, but only after doing a non-Sea related topic first. I need a break from sea-related stuff which I will get with “Republica” before attacking the very complex, interesting, but time-consuming addition of those Naval Units.
I am well aware I cannot please everybody and my design time is sadly limited. Know that it was hard for me to choose an order of priorities. I am trying to strike a balance between what (1) makes me happy and what (2) makes the different groups of players happy, while (3) improving the odds of new players buying the base game, while also (4) designing some new unique game mechanics as well.
Feel free to give feedback here or on the various forums, I will keep posting about my progress as I go along.
I am taking a bit of a family break right now, but expect a new SE open beta and a new SE release version towards mid June.
Looking much forward to continued development of Shadow Empire!
First of all a big thanks to everybody buying Shadow Empire and/or Oceania during the last 2 weeks. It is much appreciated and there is plenty of feedback coming in! Positive and of course negative too. I am listening to both and will make adjustments and fixes where needed.
My plan is to share an outline of my development plans for Shadow Empire in a week or two. In the meantime I am still shuffling priorities to find the best angle of attack possible. So don’t be surprised if I am slower than expected. Shuffling takes time, you know…
I can already share that I have planned quite a lot of work on the Core game which will slowly be moving towards 1.3 over time.
My aim is to address all the persistent major complaints that are specific. (I am not redoing the engine)
At the moment I am working on an optional Blueprints feature that will help you design efficient new Model Types with much less clicking. Especially for aircraft design this will be a great tool. It should make an appearance in the open beta early next week or late this week.
After that I also want to address economical/bureaucratic snowballing, some minimal Planet-Gen customization options, AI using aircraft better and more often, a new “midcore” Logistics rules option that will be usable by the AI and much more. And in no particular order.
I am also looking towards the possibility of doing a second DLC. I have already done a poll question on that topic during Christmas.
But I want to ask again now. I have also added some thematic. The choice below is very binary and no information about implementation is given on purpose. I just want to know which thematic appeals the most. I’ll take the outcome of this poll along in my decisions.
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