Unofficial Roadmap Tracker
Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2025 8:51 pm
Greetings,
DW2 has come a long way since launch, and it is a real pleasure to explore the ever-improving, developing, and expanding universe of possibilities. But we still have a long way to go before the content pipeline catches up with DWU. I thought it might be handy to have a thread that consolidated the various announcements, teasers, and such across the various roadmap and livestream commentary to get a better feel for the big-picture arc. Please feel free to add to this if I have overlooked anything.
NOTE: None of this is official. While I strive to capture info that was stated from an official source, all of this is very much subject to change. Nevertheless, it is the best info we have currently.
BASE GAME IMPROVEMENTS Through "Tactics Update" Livestream and the April 13 AMA
New Features: Priorities for the upcoming July update currently unknown. Explicitly mentioned items in the works with unknown ETA: Galactopedia Search
Ship/Fleet Behavior: Recently improved. Stand by.
AI and Pathing Behavior: Recently improved. Stand by.
UI and Message Behavior: Explicitly mentioned items in the works with unknown ETA: "Don't message me about this again" feature.
Modding Support: Recently improved. Stand by.
Game Setup: Recently improved. Stand by.
Fleet/Tactical Tutorial: Mentioned in the roadmap, ETA TBD. Recent update added lots of new tooltips and Galactopedia coverage and Erik's Tactics Update livestream walks us through much of it.
FACTION REFRESH
Human: Done!
Mortalen: Done!
Boskara: Done!
Zenox: Done!
Teekan: Coming Q4 2025 (November - per Roadmap)
Haakonish: Coming Q4 2025 (November - per Roadmap)
Ackdarian: Last faction to be updated, most likely coming in 2026.
FACTION EXPANSION
Ikkuro: Done!
Dhayut: Done!
Quameno: Done!
Gizurean: Done!
Atuuk: Done!
Wekkarus: Done!
Securan: Next official Faction DLC (ETA 2026)
Naxxilian: Next official Faction DLC (ETA 2026)
Ketarov: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Kiadian: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Shandar: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Sluken: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Ugnari: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
FEATURE EXPANSION
Shakturi Crisis: Done!
The Pirate Expansion: While features are only lightly teased at this point, we know that the next DLC (Late 2025) will bring playable pirate factions into DW2. Sifting through the breadcrumbs, we know: (1) It will enable playable pirate factions which interact with the empires and economic systems in unique ways, and you can remain an outside influence or grow into a full-fledged empire through play; (2) it will feature overhauls to several aspects of the game, including espionage/intelligence missions, ship/base boarding, and other systems important to pirate mechanisms; (3) it will bring some dynamic changes to the mid game for all empires; and (4) we should see a variety of new ways for empires to interact with pirate factions. Other details will come with time.
Other Teasers: During the AMA, it was touched upon several times that a possibility exists for a later expansion covering aspects of internal politics for empires. Clearly, this is just a community brainstorm at this point, but there was repeated interest and it was well received by the devs.
MORE?!?!: Nothing is known about feature content after the "Pirate Expansion", but the future is bright and the Roadmap indicates that "New projects on the way...". Stay tuned.
OTHER STUFF
Steam Achievements: Erik elaborated during the AMA that Achievements are planned, but will be treated as a very late-in-development addition (not unlike DWU, where achievements were added near the end). This better integrates the achievements into the full DW2 content tree, which at this point is still growing.
Orbiting Planets: While it hasn't been officially removed from the realm of possibility, it is very unlikely we will see orbiting planets in DW2. Reasoning is based on the difficulty of coordinating pathing in a 3D environment as well as resource demands; cost-versus-benefit is too low to pursue.
Multiplayer: Elliot mentioned in the AMA that DW2 was once flirting with multiplayer, but that it didn't end up being feasible at the time. It is not officially stricken from the realm of possibility, but it is also not currently part of the development plan.
Completely New Factions/Content: When asked if we may see races/factions or content never before introduced to the Distant Worlds franchise, Erik and Elliot have each said that while no such content is in the works, it is a possibility in the future.
That's all I have so far. If there are other items that have been mentioned or that you would like me to list/track here, please let me know and I will try to keep the OP up to date as the game continues to evolve. Cheers!
DW2 has come a long way since launch, and it is a real pleasure to explore the ever-improving, developing, and expanding universe of possibilities. But we still have a long way to go before the content pipeline catches up with DWU. I thought it might be handy to have a thread that consolidated the various announcements, teasers, and such across the various roadmap and livestream commentary to get a better feel for the big-picture arc. Please feel free to add to this if I have overlooked anything.
NOTE: None of this is official. While I strive to capture info that was stated from an official source, all of this is very much subject to change. Nevertheless, it is the best info we have currently.
BASE GAME IMPROVEMENTS Through "Tactics Update" Livestream and the April 13 AMA
New Features: Priorities for the upcoming July update currently unknown. Explicitly mentioned items in the works with unknown ETA: Galactopedia Search
Ship/Fleet Behavior: Recently improved. Stand by.
AI and Pathing Behavior: Recently improved. Stand by.
UI and Message Behavior: Explicitly mentioned items in the works with unknown ETA: "Don't message me about this again" feature.
Modding Support: Recently improved. Stand by.
Game Setup: Recently improved. Stand by.
Fleet/Tactical Tutorial: Mentioned in the roadmap, ETA TBD. Recent update added lots of new tooltips and Galactopedia coverage and Erik's Tactics Update livestream walks us through much of it.
FACTION REFRESH
Human: Done!
Mortalen: Done!
Boskara: Done!
Zenox: Done!
Teekan: Coming Q4 2025 (November - per Roadmap)
Haakonish: Coming Q4 2025 (November - per Roadmap)
Ackdarian: Last faction to be updated, most likely coming in 2026.
FACTION EXPANSION
Ikkuro: Done!
Dhayut: Done!
Quameno: Done!
Gizurean: Done!
Atuuk: Done!
Wekkarus: Done!
Securan: Next official Faction DLC (ETA 2026)
Naxxilian: Next official Faction DLC (ETA 2026)
Ketarov: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Kiadian: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Shandar: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Sluken: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Ugnari: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
FEATURE EXPANSION
Shakturi Crisis: Done!
The Pirate Expansion: While features are only lightly teased at this point, we know that the next DLC (Late 2025) will bring playable pirate factions into DW2. Sifting through the breadcrumbs, we know: (1) It will enable playable pirate factions which interact with the empires and economic systems in unique ways, and you can remain an outside influence or grow into a full-fledged empire through play; (2) it will feature overhauls to several aspects of the game, including espionage/intelligence missions, ship/base boarding, and other systems important to pirate mechanisms; (3) it will bring some dynamic changes to the mid game for all empires; and (4) we should see a variety of new ways for empires to interact with pirate factions. Other details will come with time.
Other Teasers: During the AMA, it was touched upon several times that a possibility exists for a later expansion covering aspects of internal politics for empires. Clearly, this is just a community brainstorm at this point, but there was repeated interest and it was well received by the devs.
MORE?!?!: Nothing is known about feature content after the "Pirate Expansion", but the future is bright and the Roadmap indicates that "New projects on the way...". Stay tuned.
OTHER STUFF
Steam Achievements: Erik elaborated during the AMA that Achievements are planned, but will be treated as a very late-in-development addition (not unlike DWU, where achievements were added near the end). This better integrates the achievements into the full DW2 content tree, which at this point is still growing.
Orbiting Planets: While it hasn't been officially removed from the realm of possibility, it is very unlikely we will see orbiting planets in DW2. Reasoning is based on the difficulty of coordinating pathing in a 3D environment as well as resource demands; cost-versus-benefit is too low to pursue.
Multiplayer: Elliot mentioned in the AMA that DW2 was once flirting with multiplayer, but that it didn't end up being feasible at the time. It is not officially stricken from the realm of possibility, but it is also not currently part of the development plan.
Completely New Factions/Content: When asked if we may see races/factions or content never before introduced to the Distant Worlds franchise, Erik and Elliot have each said that while no such content is in the works, it is a possibility in the future.
That's all I have so far. If there are other items that have been mentioned or that you would like me to list/track here, please let me know and I will try to keep the OP up to date as the game continues to evolve. Cheers!
