The Command update for DW2 is now available! This update includes a number of gameplay
improvements, UI updates, and general fixes. The update is now available on Steam and PC standalone, as well as GOG.Read on for the full changelog:
Changes in 1.3.6.3 – ‘Command’ Update (July 22nd,2026):
CRASH FIXES
- fixed some rare crashes
- fixed rare crash when using mods that add new OrbTypes
GALAXY MAP
- added empire flags in the territory rendering for both standard planetary empires and pirate factions
CAMERA
- improved switch to free-form camera mode so that less chance of faulty camera near/far values
USER INTERFACE
- added Hotkey items to main view header bar at top of screen. Thus can now quickly view, hover and click on these items in addition to using keyboard hotkeys
- added idle manual ship/fleet count to Control Center buttons for Exploration Ships, Construction Ships, Fuel Tankers and Fleets
- added new filter option to Dangerous Locations list: The Hive
- fixed search function sometimes not finding star systems
- added new filter to the Military Ships screen: 'Under Construction'
- added new sorting options to the Colonies screen: troop attack strength and troop defend strength
- can now initiate crash research for the top-most research project from the header bar at the top of the screen (right-click for prompt to spend credits)
- when displaying Defending Troop Strength for a colony now consistently include all bonuses, Militia troops and defending population strength (Troop Ground Report screen + Colony, Location and System badges)
- large numeric values in Empire Policy screen now shortened for readability (e.g. Population to build Large Spaceport now shows in millions, i.e. 5000M)
- Fighter Base planetary facility detail screen now also shows the number of active fighters at the colony underneath the fighter capacity row (tooltip in Selection Panel)
- ensure Colony Population Policy screen does not auto-scroll when hovered but not locked open, thus ensuring that race selection via toggle buttons always selects correct race (preserve scroll offset)
- ensure Mods screen does not auto-scroll to top when rebound (preserve scroll offset)
- Important note: Due to ongoing development on an upcoming expansion, some UI elements have made it into the message center that were not intended for this update.
They have no current functionality or impact on gameplay and should be ignored, specifically filter items relating to the ShadowNet.
CONTRACTS
We’ve added a new feature for empires – now various factions within your empire as well as independent colonies will start offering missions to complete for a reward. Some of these missions and contracts can include researching techs, building bases, obtaining artifacts, garrisoning key planets, and many more.
- Accepted contracts will appear on the status bar, similar to war missions during wars. Note these contracts will have expiration dates.
- If you’re unable to complete the missions within the allotted time, the mission will fail and you will not receive any reward.
- Automation policy added to handle contracts.
HIVE
- added new Hive ship variants: new Cruisers and additional Frigates and Destroyers
- fixed Hive ships sometimes getting stuck
DIPLOMACY
- added default diplomatic strategy for independent colonies in Empire Policy screen (Diplomacy section). Leaving this as 'No Default' means that the diplomacy logic will pick an appropriate strategy for each colony (when Diplomacy is automated), which is the current behavior. Only applies when playing as a standard empire and when the relation is automated (not manually-controlled).
- in trade deals, now value individual system map offers at zero when already offering either Galaxy Map or Galaxy Map Sharing treaty
- ensure trade deals always include all factors when totaling value of all items
CONSTRUCTION
- slightly altered determination for when a base build location is beyond construction ship fuel range. Now locations in the same system as the resource pickup spaceport (e.g. prewarp home system) do not apply additional range checks that consider refuel location after construction (which is sometimes quite distant and thus makes the build location out of range)
PLANETARY FACILITIES
- fixed multiple levels of Planetary Bastion facility able to be built at colonies (requires new game)
GOVERNMENT
- added summary messages after change government, explaining what happened: new government, losses of population and development at colonies, any colonies that left our empire, new leader
POLICIES
- added extra explanation for Ship Construction and Fleet Ship Management automation settings in Policy screen (both must be manual to avoid any state ship auto- construction)
INDEPENDENT COLONIES
- ensure independent colonies heal damaged troops
- allow independent colony populations to grow much larger than previously.
- Independent colonies now have a chance to become a full empire after enough time, population, and development.
- story-generated independent colonies will not become a new empire once they reach population and development threshold, but will instead remain as independent colonies to allow faction story events to trigger appropriately
- Added new artifacts related to a variety of current factions (1 per faction). These artifacts should now appear on colonies throughout the galaxy.
ESPIONAGE
- increased difficulty of intelligence missions against independent colonies
- fixed missing notification message when character of your empire is persuaded to defect to another empire, and mission is successful, but you do not detect the foreign spy
- increased difficulty level of some spy missions (e.g. Defect Character)
- ensure auto-cancel any Rescue Character missions when an imprisoned spy is recruited by their capturing empire or returned to their original empire (can no longer rescue the spy because they have joined the other empire or have been returned)
- now auto-cancel spy missions targeting a character when that character changes empire or is killed (can no longer carry out the spy mission)
SHIP DESIGN
- upgraded ship design system to support components that are above current empire tech level. While this shouldn’t have any impact on current gameplay, these are changes necessary to support future development work.
- fixed bug where hull bonuses could often be applied repeatedly when editing a ship design
MISSION ASSIGNMENT
- changed priority of Bombard mission for ships when right-click a target colony. Bombard is no longer the default option
SHIP BEHAVIOR
- rebalanced ship maneuvering so that larger ships are slower to turn, also slower to accelerate
- fixed bug where jumping ships can sometimes get stuck in hyperspace as they reach their destination
- fixed rare bug where ships attacking each other in close proximity will sometimes not exit their micro-hyperjumps
- fixed ships sometimes performing instantaneous jumps when have slow hyperdrive (e.g. Skip Drive) and making short jumps
FLEETS
- fixed automated invasion fleets often overassigning troop attack strength to queued enemy targets (too many invasion fleets assigned to same target)
- when a fleet or group of ships is selected, now no longer show each ship galaxy map location if that specific ship location is unknown, e.g. when select an enemy fleet where lead ship location is known, will no longer show galaxy map location of other dispersed ships in the same fleet when their individual locations are unknown
- reduced situations where some fleet ships are excluded from manually assigned fleet missions. Now the only situations when a fleet ship would be excluded is when the ship is currently under construction or repair
- Manual and Invade fleets are now much better at honoring 'Maximum Auto-Response Range' empire policy setting so that their ships avoid leaving their current system/location when an enemy target jumps away
COMBAT
- fixed Assault Pods sometimes mistakenly being fired at secondary targets of opportunity while pursuing main target
SALVAGE AND DEBRIS
- ensure that old debris and other small items get properly expired
- added new Known Debris list to Exploration section. This lists all known pieces of space debris, including escape pods, computer cores, cargo containers, wrecks and general debris and creature carcasses
- added new ship and fleet mission: Pick up all debris at location. Assigned ship or fleet will proceed through entire location, salvaging all debris it finds until completed. To initiate this new mission type select a ship or fleet and right-click and hold over an item of debris at a location, then select the option 'Pick up all debris at location'
SHIP GRAPHICS
- fixed missing cargo drones when loading/unloading at independent colonies
- fixed running lights for Human ship and base models
- added a number of fixes to various ship and base models of various factions, including Zenox, Mortalen, Atuuk, and Quameno
EVENTS
- added new AddEmpireIncidentFactorGeneralGroup GameEventActionType, which allows adding a diplomatic incident value to multiple empires/independent colonies that the triggering empire has met. Values are as follows:
Id2 = -1 means incident relates to triggering empire
Id1 indicates which groups of empires/colonies that the incident is added to:
-1 = all standard empires (default)
0 = all standard empires, pirate empires and independent colonies
1 = all pirate empires
2 = all independent colonies
3 = all standard empires and pirate empires
4 = all standard empires and independent colonies
5 = all pirate empires and independent colonies
- GenerateAbandonedShip game event action now avoids damaging Ion Defense or Armor components when generating abandoned ships and bases so that they will not be damaged and destroyed in nebula storms
- fixed a number of minor spelling typos in various story events
- added new game event condition type: ShakturiStoryEnabled
- added new game event condition type: ShakturiStoryDisabled
PIRATES
- added some more pirate flags to reduce double-ups
- pirate ships and fleets now more careful to avoid assigning raids against colonies where have treaties that should preclude this (Neutral, Protection, NonAggression)
- ensure pirates do not raid standard empire targets (colonies, bases) until they have grown a bit
- slightly increased pirate raid threshold when targeting standard empires (i.e. will raid a bit later than before)
PLAGUES
- slightly increased chance of basic plagues appearing at colonies
ARTIFACTS
- fixed faulty artifact transfer options when right-click on a colony with artifacts
- fixed bug where known artifacts were sometimes not visible in Selection Panel
ZENOX
- added missing Zenox event art
IKKURO
- no longer spam constant 'Respect for Life' messages when playing as Ikkuro and bombard an enemy colony
WEKKARUS
- ensure Wekkarus ghost ships properly coordinate with other ships of same empire when attempting to capture an enemy ship or base (i.e. ghost ship should not auto-attack when you are already boarding the target)
RETURN OF THE SHAKTURI
- now exclude Shakturi Beacon ruins from Zenox 'Preserve the Ruins' event so that cannot upgrade beacons to an Administrative facility