[Dev Team] Niven update (2.1.0) Released [checksum 01a9]

[Jamor]

Hi all, if you're directed here via the "what's new in 2.2" popup in the Le Guin update, here's the link you actually want: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-update-2-2-0-released-checksum-0d1c.1133687/

Hi folks, the wildly entertaining PDXCon 2018 is behind us and as promised, we're here with the 2.1.0 Niven update.

This free patch focuses on on improving the experience of exploration and discovery in the game, and is accompanied by the Distant Stars Story Pack.

We've also included a wide array of bug fixes and quality of life improvements as part of our ongoing mission to improve the game across the board. We hope you'll enjoy it.

Spoiler: Check out the full changelog here:

#################################################################
######################### VERSION 2.1.0 ###########################
#################################################################

###################
# Story Pack Features
###################

* Added many new Anomalies, increasing the total amount by almost 50%
* Added new Leviathan: Voidspawn
* Added new Leviathan: Tiyanki Matriarch
* Added new Leviathan: Scavenger Bot
* Curator Enclaves will now also spawn for Distant Stars owners, to help with the new Leviathans
* Added new unique systems to explore
* Added L-Gates and the mysterious L-Cluster outside the known galaxy, which you will have to investigate and research to access

###################
# Free Features
###################

* Galaxy generation has been reworked for more interesting hyperlane terrain: stars are now grouped in highly connected 'constellations' separated by thin 'highways', making for more strategic placement of natural chokepoints
* All hyperlanes are no longer immediately visible when starting a new game, but will be revealed through exploration. Hyperlane visibility extends roughly twice as far as your sensor range
* Added binary star systems
* Added trinary star systems
* Added new star classes
* Added new Tomb World tileset and city backdrop art
* Anomaly levels have been reworked to span levels 1-10 instead of 1-5
* Anomalies can no longer fail, but instead the time to research an anomaly will depend on the difference between scientist level and anomaly level, with high level anomalies potentially taking a very long time to research for a low skill scientist
* Some older Anomalies have been reworked and fixed to function properly
* Strategic Resources have been reworked so that similar materials have the same types of effects - crystals for ship damage, ores for ship defenses, gas for empire effects, etc.
* All Strategic Resources are now always visible, but most require specific Technologies to be mined
* Strategic Resource deposits are no longer distributed according to galaxy clusters
* Added new Aldar Crystals Strategic Resource
* Added Aldar Crystals tech
* Added Experimental Subspace Nagivation which allows science ships to go missing-in-action and travel to a selected system. This will allow them to bypass (but not enter) closed borders
* Added a new Alert for when establishing communications reveals a new Strategic Resource within another Empire's borders
* Establishing communications with another Empire that has a Bypass (Gateway, Wormhole, L-Gate) within its borders now counts as discovering that Bypass Type
* Added a new Mammalian portrait

###################
# Balance
###################

* Survey speed increase per Scientist level increased from 5% per level to 10% per level
* Most scientist level requirements for Special Projects have been removed, as they tend to be gated by anomalies anyway
* Decreased outer boundary distance for Fallen Empires (was preventing more Fallen Empires from spawning in large galaxies)
* Zro Distillation is now a Tier 3 tech (down from 4)
* Rebalanced Strategic Resource tech tiers to better fit their effects

###################
# UI
###################

* Situation Log has been reworked and will now also list anomalies
* Science ships now have a "Research Anomalies in System" right-click command on systems
* Renamed tile science modifiers from e.g. "Physics Output" to "Tile Physics Output" to better reflect what the modifiers actually do
* Scientist level is now shown in the outliner

###################
# AI
###################

* AI will retreat its Colossus if it is alone in combat, as even a planet destroying giant laser is cold comfort in the lonely depths of space
* Fixed an issue where the AI would incorrectly allocate too much budget to navies when it could not support any more ships, resulting in underdeveloped empires

###################
# Modding
###################

* Scripted variables rework: centralized all @values in \common\scripted_variables folder
* Scripted variables rework: centralized @values can be overridden by @values defined in individual files
* Anomaly rework: combined _anomaly_categories and _anomalies files into one file
* Anomaly rework: added "anomaly_event" effect with expected scopes for use in anomaly categories
* Anomaly rework: added a number of new features and updated syntax
* Added "exclusive_trigger" functionality to event descriptions
* Added "last_changed_species_rights_type" trigger
* Added "fleet_action_research_special_project" effect
* Added "remove_orbital_deposit" effect that removes the orbital deposit on planet
* Added picture parameter for set_planet_entity effect
* Added support for multiple asteroid belt types
* Added "create_saved_leader" effect
* Hyperlane Discovery Range is now separate from Sensor Range, and can be modded for ships, planets, megastructure, etc.
* Added "is_bottleneck_system" trigger
* Added scriptable bypass connections
* Added "delete_megastructure" effect
* Added HIDE_HYPERLANES_OUTSIDE_TERRA_INCOGNITA define to hide hyperlanes outside TI
* Added "add_tradition" effect
* Added support for sealed_wormholes as a bypass type for wormholes
* Added the ability to specify colonizer pop species when spawning a colony ship via create_ship
* Added a batch optimization effect for spawn_system

###################
# Bugfixes
###################

* Fixed issues with the pulsar Marauder system initializer
* Fixed edge case where Marauders would sometimes demand more tribute than they should
* Fixed a number of minor syntax issues (shoutouts to Dayshine)
* Pop production modifier no longer affect strategic resources
* Fixed more potential out-of-sync issues in multiplayer
* Fixed stability issue when a selected situation log entry is removed
* Fixed aborted special projects not disappearing from the situation log and blocking others from completion
* Fixing game text descriptions for planet classes
* Fixed the OOS when you ctrl-shift-click an enemy fleet
* Fixing the set location effect having a wrong angle for fleet position
* Withdrawal symptoms are no longer reset when changing species rights
* Bugfix for when deleted bypasses were not removed
* Fixed issue where the Strategic Resource tutorial mission could trigger for resources located inside other empires, because envy is the darkest emotion
* Fixed an effect attempting to link up already-linked wormholes (which would crash the game)
* Fixed issue where tutorial missions could sometimes trigger for Gestalt Consciousness empires, who really should know all this instinctively already
* Fixed issue where Remove Orbital Debris special project did not require a Science Ship
* Fixed Occupation tooltip always displaying 0 planets being occupied
* Planet picture override should now apply correctly
* Fixing the issue when context effect used in hidden effect caused assert
* Fixed more potential text overflows in Federation view
* Habitats no longer double dip on orbital deposits
* First Contact tutorial mission will no longer trigger when encountering primitives
* Fixed anomaly tooltips sometimes displaying incorrect value types
* Fixed issue where gateways were sometimes weirdly initialized, causing first gate activation to not activate a second gate
* Made it impossible to start building pops that cannot grow and will be removed next monthly tick anyway
* Starbase occupation now counted even if there are no occupiable planets in the system
* Fixed OOS on hot join due to fleet auto-moving
* Fixed CTD for survey console command in case of player is invalid
* Fixed erroneous tooltip in "Leviathan Down" anomaly
* Disabled the upgrade button of starbase defense stations when you can't afford to upgrade them
* Defense armies are no longer so morally affronted by cybernetic enhancements that they mass disband upon completing Synthetic Ascension
* Fallen empires will now avoid spawning at the edges of the galaxy
* In case a starbase is lost in a save game it will be restored
* Fixed the bug when jump drive didn't call the notification for entering the system
* Blocked the ability to pick a non-mergeable fleet for deploying newly built ships to prevent an exploit with fleets lacking a size limit
* Fixing the bug when it was possible to load save game in an ironman game, and the attendant confusion
* Planet having sapient pops during colonization no longer messes up interface and other things
* Fixed ironman UI being broken in setup GUI
* Made debris try to pick earlier tech available for research rather than having latest one
* Event ships can now be removed from fleet designs when they have been destroyed

Please be advised that 2.1.0 MAY BREAK SAVES from previous versions! If you have games that you want to complete, please do so before updating!

Instructions on how to keep playing on older versions here.

 

[Wizzington]

@Wiz mentioned that you've found a bug regarding AI not constructing buildings on planet. I see overall budget allocation improvement in AI section, but couldn't find this bug fixed in bug section. Has this bug been fixed?

It's in the AI section. Note that there may still be cases where the AI doesn't build buildings (such as genuinely not having resources) but the main cause of AI stagnation in 2.0 should hopefully be fixed.

 

[LordMune]

What does it do?

Allows you to script spawn_system to run several times in sequence without various pathfinding caches having to be recalculated for each system. Not a very common occurrence but might improve performance for some mods, if implemented.

 

[LordMune]

Anyone else not seeing anomalies listed in their situation log? I've found 3 in Alpha Centauri....but my sitlog is empty

Click the Anomalies tab at the bottom of the Situation Log window.

 

[Wizzington]

There is indeed a new portrait that is part of Distant Stars. It didn't get included in the patch notes due to some confusion about whether it was playable or not, but it's there and it's playable. Enjoy!

 

[Wizzington]

Correction to my previous post: The new portrait is a part of the free update, not Distant Stars, so it's available to everyone.

 

[Jamor]

Is it possible to get L-cluster in every game, or maybe it is possible that it doesn't spawn? I've restarted galaxy a few times and don't see any unlinked region, but then I realized that maybe it's hidden on purpose, so I wonder if L-gates are guaranteed to spawn or maybe it's possible that they don't.

It's in every Distant Stars game, just we don't display it until the gate to it is unlocked. Preserves a bit of mystery which is a core part of the feature.

 

[Wizzington]

L-Cluster won't show until an L-Gate is opened. There are different outcomes to opening it, but which one you get is set at the start of the game (so you can't get different outcomes by reloading your save).

 

[Guraan]

* Added "create_saved_leader" effect

Does it add exiled leaders back into pool or something? This functionality was sorely lacking.

Nah, this is purely to create a new leader in events and then being able to modify it by other events and perhaps later on bring it into the game (read more of this post), for bringing back exiled leaders you use the `set_leader` effect

Can it be used if each system is spawned with IF condition around it?

Yes, you use it as `set_spawn_system_batch = begin` and will disable additional recalculations until a `set_spawn_system_batch = end` (does not need to be in same scope, its a global script flag that is set) so use with care O

Please add the trigger_docs to OP

hehehe will ask tomorrow, otherwise for ppl that do not know this: `trigger_docs` in the ingame console will generate some documentation for triggers and effects dumped to the `game.log` O

From where exactly does this leader get saved? Is this how leaders are supposed to return into pool from exile?

No, `create_saved_leader` is meant to create a unplayable leader that you cannot touch outside of events etc, for exiles look at `set_leader` effect, for making saved leaders available you use `activate_saved_leader` effect (saved leaders are per country and not global as i remember the exiled to be)

I didn't read it in the patch notes, but I have start a new game and there is no same climate planet as my home world nearby. Is this intentional? If it is, it’s awesome in my opinion, it makes the finding new planets of you class less "deus ex machina" and more like a bingo moment. Plus, having to weight the colonist to be in planets where the ambience is harsh makes the think better… I think.

We did not change anything to that for distant stars, but we did fix a few bugs with the distance calculation from "the" star when we revisited the multiple star systems so it might be a side effect from there (that calc is very much a factor in deciding the atmosphere and climate)

 

[Jamor]

When the update will be available for Paradox Launcher users? Is it a whole week wait again?

Should be soon. The backend system for our Launcher had a technical problem and we're sorting it out. You should be able to force an update with an uninstall/reinstall, but we'll fix it for real ASAP.

 

[Jamor]

So since this was playable, I am guessing the tentacle monster which people got as a forum avatar for preordering is a non-playable portrait? I got Distant Stars but I do not see it as an option.

That's the Tiyanki Matriarch, which is about the size of a Titan ship, so no, it's not a playable portrait for a player race. Makes for a cool forum avatar though, and we wanted to thank people who supported us with pre-orders.

 

[Jamor]

QUESTION : DLC related, we want to start a MP game but the ICON that "Distant Stars" Story Pack is activated is missing ????
But when I start the launcher it was checked ...

A bug or has this only visual been forgotten ?

THANKS

That's a bug. It's there, just not visually displayed. We'll fix it.

 

[Jamor]

Seems the out of sync issue has yet to be fixed. Only 6 years into a game, and it broke with only myself and one other. Prior to that with myself and two others, we ran into three desyncs before giving up on that game.

There's more than one OOS, we've fixed the ones we could repro and debug locally and will push fixes for others when we get them. Have some promising internal builds already, if they prove to be good I'll get those fixes in a patch soon. Hang in there.

 

[Jamor]

Any news on patch 2.1.1?

Presto:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...1-beta-patch-available-checksum-9b49.1101941/