New Public Beta v1.9.0.9 for DW Shadows

[Kobracan]

This may not be a 1.9.0.9 issue necessarily but I started two games as a Classic empire (all default settings, both games random, I rolled Ackdarian and Kiadian) and in both games there is another empire of my race "literally right next" to my homeworld. Is this a coincidence, a bug with the map generator or some "new feature" of the game I am not aware of?

[Rabble]

As far as i know you can only select this option (how far they spawn) for pirates not other empires.

[dostillevi]

Very happy to see the focus fire issues addressed, and even happier to see fleets returning to their bases regardless of distance and non-automated ships doing what they're told. These things alone will make the game 100% more playable and enjoyable for me (and I already enjoy it quite a bit)!

Thank you for continuing to maintain this excellent game and for listening to players in the bug reports section

[Trev_lite]

i found another bug. when my defense base is large so that it can only be built at colonies i am no longer able to build it by selecting the colony. i could build it by the construction yard menu.
the auto design also did not design defense bases larger than the max base size and when the most recent design was large i could not upgrade the bases (had to scrap them and build anew)

[jamthree]

Ok so I played a lot this weekend and I kept checking the retrofit issue and it definitely seems to be a problem regardless of private sector income. I am manually creating all my designs and all state ships are set to manual upgrade and automatic retrofit.

I also noticed another strange problem where at the start of games the initial pirate encounter prompts you for protection then immediately raids your colony, when his happened a second time I started testing game starts and it happens over 50% of the time, not sure if this is intended if so it would be weird. Also the amounts for protection seem to be off, your now getting requests for protection in the 200-400 range even the initial pirate encounter. Although in some game starts the intial can go back up to 800-1200, subsequent protection agreements all seem to fall in the 200-400 range.

[Kobracan]

Rabble, yes that's true. I know that. However, the issue here is two games in a row I got another empire of my own race literally right next to me. I was wondering if that was a bug since you'd have to be extremely unlucky to have that happen.

ORIGINAL: Rabble

As far as i know you can only select this option (how far they spawn) for pirates not other empires.

[Larsenex]

I found a minor bug.

I am human and purchased the Ikuro repair bot. I also have the first tier of that line researched Prior to my purchasing this great bot from the Ikuro I used the regular 1rst tier which I think is SF22 and only gives dmg reduction.

After I got the Ikuro one I went and upgraded all my ships and bases. I LEFT the old bot in the designs and added the new and mighty Ikuro one to all my ships and bases.

Several hours into the game I upgraded and noticed that I no longer had the Ikuro one but rather TWO of the older first tier model. In fact all of my designs had two of the older one.

I don't know if this is cosmetic or is a bug but I thought I would mention it here.

[dostillevi]

Kobracan, I think what you are experiencing are independent colonies of your race becoming empires. You will often start with independent alien worlds of your race near your starting world, and these do become spacefaring empires if they are left alone long enough. My thinking on this is that the extended time spent pre-warp isn't accounted for by the game logic that determines whether an independent colony has been around long enough to become an empire, resulting in many empires of the same race. If you don't like this, turn down the appearance of independent alien life.

It fits fairly well with the story though, that there are numerous isolated colonies of each race, each just beginning to take its first steps into space again. Your colony isn't the only one of your race that is emerging, and really I like the flavor of having same race empires.. many space games just assume each race is wholly united, as if all our human issues disappear as soon as we realize we aren't alone in the universe.

[Kobracan]

Thanks dostillevi. I think that is a good theory. However, whatever the reason is, the game starting me next to another empire of my own race is unexpected and wrong. I assume the developers didn't intend that. Don't get me wrong, I like independent colonies forming empires and I like meeting them somewhere else later on. What's happening here though is not that. I select a classic empire game in the classic age (which was basically the default pre-Shadows expansion) and the game puts an empire of my own race right next to me. I would also be OK with if this happened very rarely but it happened to me twice in a row.

[Starke]

ORIGINAL: Kobracan

Thanks dostillevi. I think that is a good theory. However, whatever the reason is, the game starting me next to another empire of my own race is unexpected and wrong.

I've noticed in my games that the galaxy generation has a strong preference for placing any independent populations of race A near the true empire of race A. I wish there was a setting to allow for fully random placement, but it helps explain what happened here. One of the nearby independents became a full-fledged empire - though it's possible there's a bug with the requirements for that conversion causing it to happen more often than intended.

[dostillevi]

I believe they are close together because.. well, look at your empire when you play the game, your colonies are close together. Without giving too much storyline away, your new empire and all the independent worlds are the remnants of a previous empire of your race. It make sense that most are near you.

I would however be very interested in an option to allow races that aren't starting empires in the game be independent colonies. Not all surviving races need emerge as space faring empires at exactly the same time....

[dostillevi]

I can also confirm that I cannot build anything that is too large to be built anywhere but a planet through the right click menu of a planet. I can build such things through the construction yard screen, but I would like to be able to put things in specific locations.

EDIT: I should add that it is impossible to upgrade such bases if the upgraded design is large enough that it can only be built at planets as well. This is at least true with defensive bases, and makes it necessary to replace them fully in order to keep them up to date.

EDIT 2: After some further play in the same game both features are working properly. I'm not sure what changed.

[scotten_usa]

Glad for the new path, but can I say that Andrew Loveridge's avatar creeps me out!!