Hello everyone! We've just released Alpha 2c. This version added the game's tutorial, more art assets and fixed some major bugs found during the playtesting of Alpha 2b. This update is now available in the main branch of Steam (will be available in Humble tomorrow morning - sorry, not so good internet connection here). For instructions on how to play the latest build please go here. Compatibility note: Saves from Alpha 2b may work with Alpha 2c, but it is strongly advised that you delete all your current custom races and start new games with Alpha 2c, to benefit from the game's fixes and new features fully. Thanks a lot! Adam Solo & MalRey Praxis Games Don't forget to wishlist the game on Steam! Interstellar Space: Genesis is a new turn-based space 4X strategy game currently under development by Praxis Games. The game is currently in Alpha. Feel welcome to open threads and discuss any topic you’d like in the game forums. We’re making the most complete and comprehensive Turn Based Space 4X ever developed, and we count with your support to make it happen! So, please tell your friends about ISG, people who loved Master of Orion but also space 4X games or strategy games in general and soon you will Discover the Unknown. Thanks! --- Alpha 2c (Release Note) NEW Tutorial added! Can be enabled/disabled in the game settings. It is enabled by default. New Human scientist character! Animations added for Epocholon and Dexana leaders! Added the missing buildings and wonders 3D models, as for animations for all buildings! The loading screen now shows tips. GAMEPLAY Surrender option removed from the diplomacy screen. It only caused the player to lose the game and nothing more at this stage. The surrender mechanics will be fleshed out post-release, possibly in the 1st expansion pack. Hurry construction renamed to Construction Rush. PERFORMANCE N/A BALANCE Desire to colonize a world now doesn't trigger too early in the game and its chance of triggering was also reduced. AI N/A UI / GRAPHICS The Colonization and Invasion cutscenes can now be skipped only with the keys 'Esq', 'space' and 'enter' and with any mouse button. Atmospheric Terraforming tooltip revised to clarify which transformations are possible with only this technology, and which require that the Terrestrial Terraforming tech is also researched. Human emperor character animation changes. Tweaks made to all emperor, scientist and military characters from all races to look as good as possible. Gas Giants yellow color for the "small dots" below a system name are now a bit brighter for better contrast with grey asteroid belts. Many text revisions done on race modifiers, special abilities, unique abilities, technologies, and others. AUDIO Music default volume is now lower (music was too loud before). BUGS Fixed two major bugs that were causing "end turn" freezing issues. Fixed a major bug that was causing leader bonuses to not be accounted for during space combat. Fixed an issue where the enemy tooltips for ship defense and ship attack bonuses in space combat were not showing the complete information (it was missing bonuses from: crew XP, leaders, starbases and airspace support facilities). Fixed a bug that was causing the "colony arrows" - to switch between colonies inside the colony view - to not function. Fixed an issue that was causing the light in the remote exploration screen to be darker than it should be. Fixed an issue that was causing the map to not be centered and in the correct zoom level when coming from a game with a specific size and then starting a new game with a different size. Fixed a glitch that was causing graphic issues on explosions during planetary bombardment. Fixed an issue that was causing the "Low Empire Cashflow" notification to fire with 0 BC in the treasury. Now only fires if the treasury becomes negative. Fixed a soft crash in space combat. Fixed an issue that was allowing the zoom function to be used during the colonization cutscene. Borders area adjusted so that the entire area is displayed. Before, some borders at the edges of the screen could become clipped. Fixed an issue where the empire information panel would overlap slightly with the colony panel in ultra-wide monitors. Fixed an issue that was allowing text overlap in the asteroid belt names in the overview panel. Fixed an issue that was causing big treasury numbers to wrap and overlap with other UI elements. Fixed an issue that was causing the research and space culture screens to render beneath the colony view when clicking in the research and space culture areas of the empire information panel at the top. Fixed an issue with the Support Ship contribution to planetary engineering activities (was showing an erroneous bonus percentage over the base planetary engineering bonus, but that is not needed). Fixed a bug that was causing the Human Titan "Group Shield" ability to only be applied to one Titan ship in battle. Fixed an issue in the "Let's Coordinate Our Efforts" diplomacy option when asking an ally to declare war on a third-party, an empty list would show up if the AI cannot / will not declare war to anyone but still ask to whom shall the player wants it to declare war to. --- Instructions on how to download the latest build can be found here.
It would be nice to have a toggle to turn off the colonization/invasion screens, instead of just being able to skip them. If there is anything worse in gaming than QTEs, it's cutscenes. Re: Surrender, I forget which 4x game it was, but there was one that would have the AI opponent surrender to a different empire (usually the one friendliest to it) if it were badly losing a war. So you'd be faced with the option to go to war with a whole different faction or give up your conquest plans.
I took note of this. If there's time we'll do it already for the release. Yes, this would be a nice way to implement the surrender mechanic. A weakened AI surrenders to someone, possibly the the friendliest to it, as you say, and that results in a bigger empire. That may change the course of the game in a good way. The surrender mechanic should be around those lines, to be implemented post-release.
Thanks for the fast update. I'll probably finish my current game before updating and testing. Spent the better part of this past weekend playing. First game about 8-10 hours. Ended up losing on Sunday but 30 min later decided to try another game. Really got the one more turn feeling now and even "one more game" feeling
Looking for an update on this, my connectivity issues at home make steam unreliable, there are nights when I struggle to connect...
This is wonderful to hear medway! I'm happy that you're having both the "one more turn" and "one more game" feelings. That's what this is all about, and what we propose to do in all of our games in years to come. And, let's not forget that it was because of people like you, who have believed in us, supported us, and have been providing feedback over the years that helped make all this possible. Soon, everyone will be able to experience ISG. So, thank you!
Moo2 had the AI surrender and it was a crappy mechanic. IIRC it was toned down, but can still occur. You could just threaten the AI and they would surrender, while holding several systems. It could be done very early in the game. Options are good, but not sure that skipping landings is a priority.
I really don't like that style of surrender as it usually means you win at that point as the snowball comes.Surrender to another empire,Yeah I could see that being the better option.I would prefer some sort of protectorate,vassal state option.
We detected a major issue with the fighters. We updated the release with a fix for this. If you're on Steam you'll see a new small update. On Humble you will have to re-download Alpha 2c. The update only fixed the fighters issue, everything else is the same, and the saves work fully. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I think a few other leaders may have also got animations added, or at least appear to have. Veruca Shrike's animation seems a bit too fast though. Hoping you can slow that down a little so it looks more natural and less robotic. There may be a few others that need a speed tweak as well.
We'll see what we can about Veruca. Let us know if you spot other obvious cases of too fast animations.
We tweaked Veruca's animation to be a bit slower. If you spot other animations that may be too fast let me know. Thanks.
