Hello!  

The 1.8 update is nearly here.  We taken some time to improve the stability of multiplayer, as well as introduced some new game features including asteroid mining and ship leveling.  

Overview

Asteroid Mining
You can now mine Asteroids for riches! Click on any Asteroid within your ZOC and spend some credits to start building an Asteroid Mining Base. Once the Base is complete, it will send Raw Production to the planet of your choice (you can re-assign the destination planet of course). However, these Asteroid Bases are fragile and easily destroyed by an enemy attack.

Ship Leveling
All ships now improve over time for winning battles and surveying anomalies. Most ships will gain additional HP as they level up. Mercenary Ships will additionally improve based on their existing abilities.

Improved Multiplayer
We've completely reworked the game's movement and event system to greatly reduce the number of desyncs and improve the stability of multiplayer.

Uncolonized Planet List
We've added a great new feature that lists out planets you've discovered but haven't colonized yet. This will help you expand your empire faster.

Star Information Window
You can now click on a star to see colonizable worlds within that solar system. Rename your stars to organize your empire or after your favorite Sci-Fi series.

Change Log

Note: Adding startup commands to a desktop shortcut not longer works.  To add startup commands, please edit the games "Launch Options" in Steam.  

Asteroid Mining

• Asteroids within your ZOC can be mined. Each Mining base costs 500 credits and takes 3 turns to build. 
• Mined Asteroids will provide a raw production bonus to the nearest planet. The bonus is reduced by distance. You can reassign the receiving planet. 
• If the ZOC changes, the Mining Base will be automatically flipped.
• Mining Base can be attacked and blown up by enemy fleets.
• Mined Asteroid map icons are tinted to their faction's color.
• Colonies can be decommissioned for scorched earth tactics
• You can rename Mining Bases by clicking on their name in the context panel
• Asteriod Mining Bases do not require a starbase.
• Note: The Asteroid Mining feature will require starting a new game.

Star Information Window

• You can now click on a star to see colonizable worlds within that solar system. 
• Clicking on one of the planets will select it on the strategic map.
• Click on a star's name to rename it.

Uncolonized Planet List
The Colonies list now has two sections: Colonized and Uncolonized Planets. Uncolonized Planets lists out the planets you've discovered but haven't colonized yet.
Both sections are collapsible and are independently sorted.

Ship Leveling

• Ships gain experience through winning battles and surveying anomalies. This experience translates into a ship level. 
• Ships gain additional HP as they level up. 
• Mercenary ships gain additional bonuses.

Improved Multiplayer experience
Refactored movement and events systems to reduce the number of stuck turns and desyncs during multiplayer. These changes should have no gameplay effects.
Increased the movement speed of ships only in multiplayer.

Gameplay

• Diplomacy Statistic bonus increased from 2 to 3
• Conquest Victory Goal is not active until after turn and the player has a reasonable military 
• Easy target modifier now takes trade routes into effect and reduces the impact accordingly if the player is trading with them
• Ships In ZOC diplomatic modifier takes into account how many ships are in the ZOC . If it's just 1, it tends to let that slide.
• Added recommended player counts to each galaxy size. When you choose a galaxy size, you can choose to automatically add the recommended number of players to the game.
• Specialized techs now have star icon next to them to make them stand out relative to normal techs
• Updated Durantium Refinery and Thulium Data Archive to do Flat points.
• Added new Promethion Reserve improvement that provides credits per turn.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a potential issue when setting a destination for a fleet that can move and immediately hitting 'end turn'
• Iconian Defenders will no longer respawn after being attacked by a faction with the "Scavenge" ability. 
• Prevented a crash if a mod tries to reference a missing sound file 
• Right-aligned the values for the lobby details section to account for differences in length of the titles for various languages.
• Planets can be renamed again
• The Lobby Window was being hidden unnecessarily when clicking the Invite Friends button. It now stays visible in the background.
• Fixed various places where long names (planet, shipyard, or starbase) would break out of their frames.
• Fixed issue that prevented allies from using the "declare war on" offer during trade.
• Fixed crashes caused by canceling a starbase modules.
• Fixing an issue where canceling mining starbase modules on a starbase with claimed resources caused the starbase to remove the queued modules incorrectly.
• Fixing a tooltip where it would say you can't build you because the module is claimed by another starbase, when in fact it was claimed by the current starbase and the warning is in error.
• Fixed typos in the description for the "Precious Metals" planet feature
• Logistics now shown with decimal values. Previously, value was being rounded in the UI and which in some cases, made it appear that a fleet had room for another ship. 
• Re-implemented the round robin colonization event mechanism to be simpler and also functional. This should fix problems with colony events not firing after the list is exhausted.