Star Ruler Message Board

Fixed:
* Fix being able to trade research back and forth infinitely.
* Fix colonizers with weapons never firing at anything.
* Fix crash related to buildings being destroyed in OnGlobalDamage events.
* Fix crash when planets marked for autocolonization get destroyed.
* Batched ship construction orders would not repeat correctly.
* Rally points on dry docks would not save.
* Fix some inaccuracies in the german translation.
* Fix engines never activating when boarding a disabled ship.
* Fix importing blueprints with no automation orders resetting to default automation.
* Fix crash related to loading transfer orders.
* Fix player-controlled ships in the galaxy not being visible when joining an MP game in progress.
* Rennovating the same structure multiple times will now only occur once. (Duplicates will be removed when they are started)
* Many simple data types in scripts were calling destructors needlessly.
* Many simple data types in scripts were also using reference counting needlessly.
* Fixed a crash in treaties.
* Possibly fixed mousing over objects that weren't near the cursor.
* Fixed star surface animation on newer NVIDIA drivers.
* The Automate Research setting was not being saved if there was no queued research.
* AIs are smarter about trade-per-second agreements.
* Fixed some abusable aspects of the trade-per-second agreements.
Balanced:
* Repair rates on nano armor are more sensible now.
* Reverse inductors and Mind Sappers now use correct level scaling so they aren't uncounterable.
Changed:
* Planetary shields now block chemical bomb damage to population.
* Updated AngelScript to the most recent version.
* Shields now wobble less and are less opaque until attacked.
* Improved error reporting for missing shader constants.
Added:
* Added AngelScript JIT compiler! Significantly improves the performance of many aspects of the game, leading to generally improved framerate.
* Added two new race portraits courtesy of Hazzard!
* The Particle Editor and Model Configurator now have customizable backgrounds (see Game Data/EditorBackgrounds.txt), and can return to the main menu and quit from the interface.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty, yes, we do know when long-zoom 4X indie spectacle Star Ruler was originally available to buy. However, anyone who has followed the game can tell you that what you get for your money now is a different beast to what you got at that nascent time. What could be regarded as the actual launch is now here. We are all familiar with the terror of unfinished games and the horror of 0-day patches. It is easy to believe the entire global computing infrastructure has been put in place so that developers could ship as soon as they got tired and wanted a holiday. Star Ruler did turn up in that sort of unsatisfactory state, but the developers admitted that and they put out a representative demo as well. Since then, their support of the product has been exemplary. While I may not agree with everything they’ve done, the fact that they continue to listen and improve the game is exactly what we so often demand and so rarely receive. But the play’s the thing, so here’s wot I think.

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Fixes:

• Multiplayer clients could not create treaties.
  
• Multiplayer clients could not retract treaties.
  
• The subsystems that are linked are now correctly loaded and imported and will no longer change based on overlap.
  
• Obsoleted blueprints would not be removed from various build lists until a blueprint was added/updated.
  
• Second planet granted by "Developed Empire" trait now has regular amounts of HP.
  
• Using modifiers on armor no longer causes the armor to take up space.
  
• Explosion sound would play for multiplayer clients for silent destruction (colony ship, scuttle/retrofit).
  
• Page Up/Down keybinds would not save.
  
• Auto-colonize planet now works for multiplayer clients.
  
• Auto-colonize lists are saved/loaded.
  
• Undock all from the right click menu now properly removes auto-dock orders (unless forced) so ships won't immediately re-dock.
  
• AIs are no longer prevented from expanding when the minimum ship size limit is set higher than their scout blueprint.
  
• Planet rings/moons are saved/loaded and work for multiplayer clients.
  
• Disabled ships are removed from control groups.
  
• Research automation toggle is saved/loaded.
  
• Selecting a planet after a ship with an obsolete blueprint no longer shows the planet as obsolete in the object information panel.
  
• Fix system window becoming unresponsive after dry docks or planets got destroyed.
  
• Fix selected object list scrolling to the top automatically.
  
• Ships could stop moving altogether for multiplayer clients in high-lag situations.
  
• Ore isn't erroneously shown in mouse overlay for ships with cargo bays.
  
• Multiplayer clients would not always receive blueprints when capturing enemy ships.
  
• Weapons with MultiPulseCost (Missile Racks) now have their reload progress displayed correctly.
  
• Race profiles could not be saved for mods installed in My Games.
  
• Number of owned planets listed in the system window for home systems to multiplayer clients was off by 1.
  
• Governor dropdown in system window could be opened underneath other GUI elements.
  
• Various display glitches related to structure removal and renovation for multiplayer clients.
  
• Planetary conditions removed by the natural terraformers trait would still appear for multiplayer clients.
  
• "Game Lost" message would not show up for multiplayer clients.
  
• Asteroids created by planets being destroyed would not show up for multiplayer clients.
  
• "Continue" main menu option did not work for mods installed in My Games.
  
• AI could not properly cope with high starting technology levels.
  
• Shipyard labor pool scaled asymptotically instead of exponentially, leaving labor severely throttled at high tech.
  Changed:
  
• The current value for stats are displayed on the object information window without hovering.
  Balanced:
  
• External mounts are now equivalently massive to the hull.
  Added:
  
• Complete, official, german translation of the game.
  

Fixed:

• Ships on hold or defend position stance will no longer move because of work with tool orders.
  
• Homeworlds had less hitpoints than was normal for planets.
  
• The game did not render while maximized.
  
• Notification of new treaties only occurs when a new treaty is actually proposed, and a sound plays for each unique treaty proposed.
  
• Boarding defense did not work.
  
• Number suffixes on dates when saving were slightly wrong.
  
• Culling of graphics nodes was horribly broken in virtually all cases. The game should perform much better with lots of ships in the galaxy, so long as they aren't on screen.
  
• Under attack alerts would only appear once per system.
  
• Choosing a govern via the right click menu didn't automatically enable that governor.
  

Changed:

• The balanced start map option is now on by default.
  
• Reduced modification factors for shift/alt on camera movement.
  
• Notification icons can now be right-clicked to dismiss them.
  
• Planetary conditions are now visible after exploring, instead of only after colonization.
  
• Ordering a non-dangerous tool (Interdictor, Attractor, ...) to fire on your own ship no longer requires you to force / hold control.
  
• Shipyards now provide a small ammo generation / storage.
  
• System Window now lists Dry Docks (can be filtered out).
  
• Build on Best/Build on All from right click menu now take Dry Docks into account.
  
• Carriers on 'Hold Fire' stance no longer undock their fighters to engage.
  Balanced:
  
• Targeting Sensors now increase range by a much larger amount relative to their size.
  
• Positive planetary conditions are now slightly more common than negative ones.
  

Added:

• New ringworld model. Thanks WarStalkeR!
  
• 5 new planet textures, 3 new ring textures and 2 new cloud textures. Thanks JonnyDawe!
  
• System Blockades: if there are over twice as many enemies in a system as you have forces, none of your planets or ships will be able to access the galactic bank in that system.
  
• Empires now have race portraits chosen from the race customization window. Thanks Hazzard!
  
• Redid the tutorial to be more interactive and (we hope) more interesting.
  
• New subsystem: External Mount. Linked sub system takes up no space (the mount always takes up 1.0 space), but takes damage after shields and before armor.
  
• New subsystem: Chemical Bomb. Can only target planets, kills a lot of population but leaves structures intact.
  
• Groups of haulers can now be ordered to "Keep Supplying This" on an object. The selected haulers will collect resources from the system they're in and supply them to the object, then return to the system they were originally in and repeat.
  
• Added bind 'Focus on Object' to the options menu that mimics middle-mouse-click.
  
• Added a 'Temperature Falloff' option to the new game settings (default on). Decides the distribution of planet types based roughly off of the temperature the planet would experience.
  
• Added 'Spread out Empires' and 'Keep allies together' options to the new game settings (default on). Attempts to spread out non-allies and bunch up allies when generating the map, respectively.
  
• Button on the message ticker to open a log window that displays a scrollable list of previous empire messages.
  
• 'LAN' tab on the multiplayer menu to discover LAN games without needing to find the local IP manually.
  
• New object information panel displaying more graphical information and with individually cancellable orders.
  
• Added new weapon effects from Galactic Armory, thanks XTRMNTR2K!
  

UI:

• Resizing the blueprints window now makes the layout circle bigger, making it easier to place sub systems on crowded designs.
  
• Ordering a tool to fire that requires a forced order now prompts for it.
  
• Queue Management window for Dry Docks now displays resource cost/progress.
  
• Added notification icon for when someone declares war on you.
  
• Added notification icon when a tech is leveled up, a link is finished, or a tech is unlocked.
  
• Added notification icon when a planet is colonized or lost.
  
• The 'Update Threshold' in blueprints is now more sensible - a value of 1 should update when all sub systems have been affected by 1 tech level increase.
  
• 'New Game Menu' settings are now remembered between games. You may also save and load these settings.
  
• Trade window hides clauses that can't actually be added to the treaty due to peace agreements or war declarations.
  
• Holding shift while clicking a technology/link now queues it behind other techs but before repeated technologies.
  
• Multiplayer window now remembers the last IP/Port entered for connect.
  
• There is now a button directly opening the civil acts window next to the empire bank display.
  

Fixed:

• Taking over planets from AIs would sometimes prevent the planet from importing a particular resource.
  
• Deleting a savegame deleted the wrong entry in the list.
  
• Opening the options menu twice at the same time from the escape menu would crash the game.
  
• Attractors did not function.
  
• Dry Docks building other orbiting objects now no longer teleport some of those to close orbit around the sun.
  
• You couldn't access a mod's effects in the particle editor.
  
• Loading a game for multiplayer would allow clients to join the empire the host was controlling.
  
• Effector data mismatch error could occur when loading saves with accented characters in blueprint names.
  
• Jump Drives would sometimes retain orders in their previous system after jumping, causing them to fly back.
  
• AIs would propose treaties involving goods and luxuries to empires with the "Eusocial Society" trait.
  

Changed:

• AIs in the tutorial will no longer declare war on the player themselves.
  
• Updated French community translation. Thanks Mikey5887!
  
• Planet conditions are now tinted green or red according to whether they are beneficial or harmful.
  
• System rings are now off by default (replaced by the new information on the system plane).
  
• The system plane is now colorized to the color of the dominant empire in that system.
  
• The total available slots on a planet can now be seen after a system is explored, even if you no longer have vision.
  
• Using the right click menu to build ships now builds those ships on all selected planets or dry docks.
  
• Explicitly ordering tools to fire now works when the ship is on 'Hold Fire' stance.
  
• Boarding Parties can be explicitly fired from the right click menu, letting you set 'Hold Fire' and board without destroying the other ship.
  
• The Directed Spatial Manipulator no longer fires independently, but must be ordered from the right click menu to prevent wasting shots on insignificant targets.
  
• Updated Polish community translation. Thanks maxi!
  

Balance:

• Halve all planetary damage reduction.
  
• Halve population reproduction rates.
  
• Halve population reproduction rates again when the planet is under attack.
  
• Decreased hull absorption rates to 30%/50%/70% for Light/Medium/Heavy hull respectively.
  
• Buff boarding defense.
  

Added:

• Players can now toggle planets to allow or disallow importing or exporting resources.
  
• Detonating the quasar now creates a chain reaction that causes most of the stars in the galaxy to be destroyed over time.
  
• Added option to keep the mouse cursor in the window.
  
• Added compatibility option for Intel Integrated GPUs.
  
• The system planes now display bars/pips around the edge representing the military strength of empires in that system.
  
• When hovering over a system or star you no longer have vision over, the time since you last had intel is displayed.
  
• Research automation checkbox: when turned on, automatically research the lowest level tech when you're not researching something else.
  
• Right-clicking a star or system now also shows a "Build Ships on All..." option.
  

Hey, anyone remember demos? They were this crazy thing game-makers did when they wanted people to play their games but expensive pre-rendered trailers that said absolutely nothing about what a game was actually like hadn’t been invented yet! The crazy fools. What was the point in that?

Star Ruler is like the last half-decade didn’t happen: a thoroughly PC-only space 4x game, and it has a demo. An actual, honest-to-god demo! I haven’t played it yet, but I could hug it to death for that alone.(more…)

Haarlem, The Netherlands - Videogames publisher Iceberg Interactive today confirmed that its exclusive boxed version of Blind Mind Studios' Star Ruler will be available in retail stores throughout Europe, Australia, South-East Asia and various other territories on 16 September 2011. Pre-orders of the '4X' Space RTS are now available with free shipping in the Iceberg Webshop (http://www.iceberg-shop.com/star-ruler-en.html)...

Haarlem, The Netherlands - Videogames publisher Iceberg Interactive today confirmed that its exclusive boxed version of Blind Mind Studios' Star Ruler will be available in retail stores throughout Europe, Australia, South-East Asia and various other territories on 16 September 2011. Pre-orders of the '4X' Space RTS are now available with free shipping in the Iceberg Webshop (http://www.iceberg-shop.com/star-ruler-en.html)...