New DLC

[Arioch]

Hey any news on the NEW DLC release date. I hope is in 2023 - the money I reserved for that DLC are eaten by inflation

We don't have a planned release date, but I'd certainly like to get it done this year. Hopefully I can get going on that and have something to show you before long.

[nweismuller]

Good luck on that. I'd love to see development resume if possible; I remain very interested in Stars in Shadow and hope for some of the refinements that were talked about in the plan. Once things get a bit further I think I shall attempt to LP it again; last one fell down on updates hitting while LPing, heh. Refined terraforming and the stuff about societal development both are very much things I want to explore more, given how much I've enjoyed Stars in Shadow thus far, and it's very good to hear something to encourage me that it's not just been abandoned.

[Dragar]

Exciting! The SiS universe is one I'd love to see expand.

[zolobolo]

Are there any news on the DLC?

[Arioch]

Are there any news on the DLC?

Nothing at present.

[zolobolo]

Are there any news on the DLC?

Nothing at present.

Is there a chance for a minor update?

[Arioch]

Is there a chance for a minor update?

Is there something that you feel needs to be addressed in the short term?

[zolobolo]

Is there a chance for a minor update?

Is there something that you feel needs to be addressed in the short term?

There are a couple of things I was hoping they make it into an update (mentioned them in forum here and there):

- Bug: Allied empires do not get relationship penalty if they have more pops then the player but the player does not vote for them preventing an organic split within allies if the player is not winning. This feature was listed in change log at some point but I think it fell out of the system soon afterwards in a consequent update
- Bug: Fast Tactical Animation option is reset during game restart
- Possible bug: Haduir AI ships not benefiting from Ancient Stargate bonus: AI ships do not have 1 Turn travel time from home system and thus the AI does not benefit from the coolest faction bonus. If its a bug then maybe it could be fixed but if its due to AI script not able to handle the modified value then of course its not really a topic
- Possible bug: Increased raider activity does not effect harpies they do not invade anymore. Might be intentionally deactivated permanently along with pirates or only temporary for balance testing but not turned back on again. I dont mind pirate raids to be deactivated as I think the concept needs a rework but Harpy raids were useful to necessitate rear-guard units even if the player owned a slice of the map without any neighbors in their backyard. Was also a good reason to clean up nodes to prevent Harpy raids originating from them
- Quality of life: Prioritize transports when offloading and onloading units from and to planet to reduce micro MGMT: Player needs to manually select transports and offload troops to prevent military transports with boarding units to loose their units before transports but doesnt see the planet status during that process to determine how many more troops are needed to prevent rebellion. If troops are offloaded from planet screen civilian transports do not get priority to offload and units with boarding function can loose their troops before them
- Balance: Ion cannon effect, mod or rebalance stats to make it a viable option compared to lasers with RF mod
- Balance: Asteroid base needs some additional hardpoint to make them viable as their increased armor does not provide benefits for civilian use
- Balance: Slight bonus to Gremak AI as this faction usually gets the hardest time when competing with the others
- Balance: (though discussed a longshot): Additional long range modifier to bases and planetary defenses to erase base/planet sniping exploit (one of the last ones remaining besides scorched earth tactic which would then be resolved with planet habitability degradation from the DLC)
Longshot balance: Alter boarding module to be a torpedo instead of close range effect so it can be countered by the AI and used by the AI. Pirate ships I would equip with this module then for example

Naturally I am all in on the additional 3 DLCs planned (more factions would allow the creation of epic games without color and faction ship/leader repetition) but was hoping the above are small enough modifications that they can make it into the game even if there is no publisher support

[nweismuller]

One thing I noted in the bug thread is that Viscid benefit from Cloning and Longevity techs, which makes no sense (your empire isn't going to be providing cutting-edge medical treatment to the blob pests that resist being wiped out!).

[zolobolo]

One thing I noted in the bug thread is that Viscid benefit from Cloning and Longevity techs, which makes no sense (your empire isn't going to be providing cutting-edge medical treatment to the blob pests that resist being wiped out!).

That is an interesting catch. I think I never noticed as I tend to stuff up the planet they are on so they dont eat away at the valuable living space and thus tend to have a static population

There are for sure other bugs here and there I missed. I was trying to summarize the things I found would be the most helpful for the gameplay to fix (reduce micro, increase difficulty in an organic way) so dont take it as a complete list

[nweismuller]

One thing I noted in the bug thread is that Viscid benefit from Cloning and Longevity techs, which makes no sense (your empire isn't going to be providing cutting-edge medical treatment to the blob pests that resist being wiped out!).

That is an interesting catch. I think I never noticed as I tend to stuff up the planet they are on so they dont eat away at the valuable living space and thus tend to have a static population

There are for sure other bugs here and there I missed. I was trying to summarize the things I found would be the most helpful for the gameplay to fix (reduce micro, increase difficulty in an organic way) so dont take it as a complete list

The game I caught that, if I recall, was one where I captured the Viscid planet from an enemy, and the population loss from combat left a gap. (I find the current implementation of Viscid incredibly annoying, but that's neither here nor there. I think I'd find them less so if they were Sterile.)

[zolobolo]

The game I caught that, if I recall, was one where I captured the Viscid planet from an enemy, and the population loss from combat left a gap. (I find the current implementation of Viscid incredibly annoying, but that's neither here nor there. I think I'd find them less so if they were Sterile.)

I see you Yes I tend to use scorched earth tactics to deny recapture of the planet, ship range and get an enemy empire knocked out faster without having to deal with pops with negative morale: when I see Viscid on the surface that planet gets the full bombardment treatment 100% of the time after which its a nice empty planet

But can I see how it would be annoying for a player who pays attention to the research affect and is hoping to get a leg up in the race for habitable surface on a Viscid planet. Hope it gets fixed as well as players should always be rewarded when paying attention - helps with immersion

[nweismuller]

The game I caught that, if I recall, was one where I captured the Viscid planet from an enemy, and the population loss from combat left a gap. (I find the current implementation of Viscid incredibly annoying, but that's neither here nor there. I think I'd find them less so if they were Sterile.)

I see you Yes I tend to use scorched earth tactics to deny recapture of the planet, ship range and get an enemy empire knocked out faster without having to deal with pops with negative morale: when I see Viscid on the surface that planet gets the full bombardment treatment 100% of the time after which its a nice empty planet

But can I see how it would be annoying for a player who pays attention to the research affect and is hoping to get a leg up in the race for habitable surface on a Viscid planet. Hope it gets fixed as well as players should always be rewarded when paying attention - helps with immersion

I could have just bombed the planet clean, sure, but I never end up doing orbital bombardments. Soft-hearted Phidi player trying to minimise civilian casualties and war crimes. I'll freely admit that's not necessarily optimal but it's how I play.

[zolobolo]

I could have just bombed the planet clean, sure, but I never end up doing orbital bombardments. Soft-hearted Phidi player trying to minimise civilian casualties and war crimes. I'll freely admit that's not necessarily optimal but it's how I play.

Indeed we cant have that I would advise against using the tactic in general: even though its highly effective and in some ways fun it can be considered as an exploit in the current state of things and the AI does not really make use of it (sometimes it does annihilate colonies completely but its rare)

The reason I keep using it is that I often play on 100+ star maps and there is plenty of real-estate available + lot of area to cover which takes time and resources. So in a way I use it to reduce micro and speed up the juicy strategic positioning part of a war but it does considerably decrease the challenge of the AI when applied so I would prefer if there was mechanism to discourage it (not outright disable the option but make it less tempting)

As for the fun factor it falls into the same category Yoral torpedo destroyers and Orthin Military transports: OP but fun

[PrivateHudson]

Is there a chance for a minor update?

Is there something that you feel needs to be addressed in the short term?

At least http://stars-in-shadow.com/forum/viewto ... 800#p11479 .
And the integration with Population Panel mod would be nice.
PS: I would leave Ion Cannon as is, just doubled damage against shields. And made RF mod much more power-hungry.