New Features, improvements and changes

AI and gameplay
* AI improvements made to fleet management allowing them to rally to the defence of colonies when a threat is detected
* AI improvements with expansion (digging, colonization and surveying) of planets in a more efficient manner
* AI diplomacy improvements - will now consider cancelling treaties, making demands or declaring war when there are controversies with another race
* Racial tolerance system improved and effects adjusted, shifts for some actions will now also occur over -time instead of immediately, slowing down relation changes

* Economy balance changes - income generated has been reduced but bonuses from buildings have been made more linear and straightforward, ship maintenance costs have been reduced to align with these changes
* Reduced the research points required for tech refinements
* Gold Deposits and Gem Deposits will now require the colony to be a mining colony (industry based colony) as per the description to receive the added bonuses

* On First Contact not all colony locations will be shared between races and still require further exploration of the map to discover them. This also affects intelligence sharing treaty, only known colony and territory information is shared

* Travel between Stargates now takes 1 turn in hyperspace instead of 2. The time to reach the Stargate if any is in addition to this
* Travelling through anomalies and nebulae will now apply harsher penalties

* Diplomacy demand ‘Surrender a system’ is now available with friendly relations
* Diplomacy threat ‘Stop expansion’ is no longer available between allies

* Reduced the amount of population killed on colonies during attacks to destroy its defences, this is to prevent the accidental destruction of colonies. Once the defenses are down, continuing to bombard will eventually destroy the colony
* Ships with troop pods will now refill soldiers to full in one turn during refits as long as there are enough soldiers at the colony

Ships and technology
* You can now fully retrofit existing ships and starbases by applying a new design from the taskforce orders panel. Shipyards or a Starbase (slower) is required to refit ships.

* Scanners range now increases based on the technology level, allowing the detection of ships farther out on the galaxy map
* Deep space scanner technology added - this tech is available for ship design and by default is outfitted on starbases
* Logistics technology added - this tech will affect a fleet’s supply range from their nearest colony. Ships are no longer able to travel beyond supply range. Task force ships can still be fitted with Supply Bays to extend their normal range
* Auxiliary pods technology added, this tech is available for ship design and allows for additional space for components at an increased ship build cost
* Survey Instruments technology added, this tech is available for ship design and allows faster surveying of planetary systems
* Armor resistance and vulnerabilities have been added

* Engines technologies have been made more distinct with updated descriptions, we’ve also added a maneuverability factor that affects a ship’s initiative and rotation costs, power generators coupled with the right engines now provide a set bonus

* Detection of cloaked ships added to Scanners technology at high level. This allows the chance to detect ships beyond weapon firing range
* Bio-Energy armor can no longer be coupled with Shields technology
* Neutron Streamer burn effect ability damage significantly increased
* Increased ship related tech build costs and power costs for weapons
* Energy condensator technology bonus increased
* Xenobiology diplomacy favor bonus reduced
* Base critical hit rate for weapons is now adjusted further by ship crew experience level
* Race template customization – Terraforming is no longer available as a pick. Race specific techs such as Engines/Power generators/Armor/Beam weapons are now locked to their respective races

UI and other options
* Planetary reports, resources, quest item locations, population and ground troops icons with tooltips have been added on the planet panel on the galaxy map for easier viewing
* Diplomacy tooltips have been added explaining treaties and pacts
* Colony view - Orbitals tooltips updated to provide more details

* Galaxy map task force vectors are now drawn from the task force instead of the center, also other races task forces vectors will now display if hovered on or if they are hostile and coming to your system as long as in detection range
* ETA is now displayed on task force movement vectors
* Movement range has been reduced when travelling vertically to match the correct map perspective
* Starbases are now displayed in the taskforce panel on the galaxy map
* Galaxy map drawing has been significantly optimized to improve frame rates by 5 to 10x with very high number of stars and many ships on the map

* Turn messages regarding discoveries now link to the sector on the galaxy map, rather than going to the planet view, so an order dig be selected if desired
* Random events and some mission related Turn messages (e.g.: Don Barsillio) are now set as low priority

* Orbital maintenance cost, ship supply range are now shown during Ship Design
* If a ship carries Fighters, it will now display below weapons in tactical combat

* Added an auto-end turn option – multiple turns are processed until a message or event occurs
* Auto 'idle' ship selection preference option now only includes Idle ships without orders

Graphics / Languages / Credits
* Added race specific government buildings animations
* French language support now available, Polish and others updated
* Credits with early supporters who registered their names are now available to view in-game

Other Fixes
* Fixed an issue where encroaching on another race’s territory would cause the wrong race to be blamed
* Fixed a display issue with Random Events where the reported amount of bonuses was different than the actual bonuses provided
* Fixed a display issue with a few instances where Journal entries details did not reflect the new mission info
* Story missions rewards – ‘Kuntari officers’ and ‘How to fight legends’ should now provide relevant bonuses
* In classic mode the ‘Lezgoon race’ will no longer start in a weakened state
* Warrior abilities – Soldier growth rate, barracks size, +1 crew level will now apply correctly
* Task force ships can no longer be split up when entering/exiting Stargates
* Fixed right-click to remove ships from a task force after scrolling
* Begging for mercy through Diplomacy (if accepted) now enforces an armistice pact on both parties
* Low Power will now display when a weapon can’t fire due to lack of available power
* Diplomacy requests to attack/defend colonies should now work better
* Fixed an issue where the shield piercing weapon ability would work even before unlocking it at level 5