Hello everyone!

I'm thrilled to announce that the new and free 1.6.3 update for Interstellar Space: Genesis is now officially available to all players!

This update has been on the unstable branch for beta testing to make sure there were no major issues, for the smoothest official release possible. I'm happy to report that testing went very well, so we should be in very good shape. Thanks to everyone who played the unstable build and provided feedback!

1.6.3 Update - Features and Improvements

New Special Systems

This was a popular feature request by the community, and something we really wanted to add more of at some point. So, we added 2 new special systems in for 1.6.3!

Inertial Destabilizer

Want to see your rival ships spin out of control and see their hull shredded to pieces? Wait no further! 1.6.3 adds the Inertial Destabilizer special system, available in the 'Propulsion' tech branch.

This system creates ripples in the space-time fabric on and around the target ship, causing inertial havoc. The target ship is torn apart and spins out of control (ship spins randomly). 4-8 damage is applied to structure points multiplied by the size class of the ship. Shields and armor can't protect the ship and are not damaged. The destabilizer has a range of 30 squares and a 1 turn cooldown.

Gravity-well Projector

Another feature request was the ability to deny rival ships from leaving combat. The Gravity-well Projector special system can be equipped in cruiser ships or above and it denies FTL travel from combat. Don't worry, it only blocks rival ships from fleeing! The Gravity-well Projector special system is also available in the 'Propulsion' tech branch.

A Gravity-well Projector exerts a gravitational pull that stretches the fabric of space effectively creating 'holes' in the space-time continuum which disrupts any attempt at FTL travel. A gravity well projector inhibits FTL travel. Enemy ships cannot flee from the battlefield as long as this system is operational.

QoL improvements

This update also includes several quality of life improvements. Namely, a new option for fewer' Planet Specials' found in systems, between 'Few' and 'Average'.

Now, you can choose a higher level eco-engineering development if the technology is available to allow for it, with no need to develop eco-engineering in sequence.

Also, now possible to decrement (and not only increment) the number of players in the 'New Game' setup screen. Also the ability to decrease and cycle back on the difficulty level instead of only increasing it, and decreasing the galaxy size, and not only increasing it until the right desirable size is obtained.

The 'Representative Solar System' option choice now persists. If player sets to 'OFF' it will remain so, until set to 'ON' again. Among other improvements and bug fixes.

You can see the full list of changes below.

Version 1.6.3 - Full Release Note

NEW

• New combat special system 'Inertial Destabilizer' added. Targeted ship is torn apart and spins randomly. 4-8 damage to structure points multiplied by the size class of the ship. Shields and armor can't protect the ship and are not damaged. The destabilizer has a range of 30 squares. 1 turn cooldown.
  
• New combat special system 'Gravity-well Projector' added. Exerts a gravitational pull that creates 'holes' in the space-time continuum disrupting any attempt at FTL travel. Enemy ships cannot flee from the battlefield as long as this system is operational.
  
• New option for 'Fewer' Planet Specials found in systems, between 'Few' and 'Average'.
  

GAMEPLAY

• Now possible to choose a higher level eco-engineering development if the technology is available to allow for it. There is no need to develop eco-engineering in sequence now (e.g. Enhanced Ecology -> Advanced Ecology -> Gaia Uplift).
  

UI / GRAPHICS

Base-Game

• The 'Representative Solar System' option choice now persists. If player sets to 'OFF' it will remain so, until set to 'ON' again.
  
• Now possible to decrement (and not only increment) the number of players in the 'New Game' setup screen. Holding the 'Shift' key while left-clicking with the mouse decrements the number of players.
  
• Now also possible to decrease and cycle back on the difficulty level and galaxy size in the 'New Game' setup screen, also by pressing and holding the 'Shift' key while clicking.
  
• Now, the 'Score Victory' shows "unlimited turns (Score Victory off)" in the 'New Game' setup screen when this victory condition is disabled. Before, it was not obvious the game could have unlimited turns when the 'Score Victory' was disabled.
  
• Changed the 'Quick' leader trait's text from "+1 Initiative on Level up" to "+1 to Initiative Level ups", to clarify that the level ups occur each time the 'Initiative' skill is increased.
  
• Changed the 'Genius' leader trait's text from "+1 to Primary Skill of Choice on Level up" to "+1 To Primary Skill Level Ups", to clarify that the bonus is obtained on each level up to a primary skill of choice and not a freely assignable second primary skill point level up on a different skill.
  
• Note added to the 'Galactic Knowledge Exchange' wonder tooltip to clarify that the benefit of obtaining technologies from others requires the technology to have been actively researched by the other empires. i.e. researched by the players and not obtained by other means.
  
• On-leave leaders now displayed at the end of the leaders' list in the 'Leaders Management' screen.
  
• Note added to the "Research Treaty" tooltip to clarify that technology exchange becomes possible when a research treaty is established. The same goes for the "Trade Treaty". The tooltip explains that trading strategic resources between the two empires also becomes a possibility when a trade treaty is established.
  
• The ETA for a project with no production allocated to that project, but that could finish in one turn, now shows "1 turn" to finish when enough production overflow is available. It showed "--" before.
  
• Game manual updated to clarify that to win a Science Victory an empire has to reach a combined ultra tech level, by researching the most advanced technologies in each research field, a certain amount of times. The player may choose how many levels are required at game setup time. The default setting is 6 levels, or as many combined 'Ultra' research breakthroughs, from any research field.
  

Evolving Empires

• The notification on a minor civilization just being surveyed now clarifies the immediate bonus is obtained exclusively by the empire which finished the surveying (surveyed reward). It also clarifies that the new permanent bonus is the 'surveyed bonus', which is shared with anyone who who access to the minor civ.
  
• Note added to the 'Random Culture Perks' option in the 'New Game' setup screen to clarify that every player in the game will have a culture tree which is arranged differently from the other players.
  
• Moltar affinity's 'Extreme Transformation' tooltip now clarifies that the bonuses apply to all colonies of the empire, regardless of the species that lives there.
  

BUG FIXES

Base-Game

• Fixed a bug that was allowing the 'Chaos Chain' unique derelict tech to be found more than once, in ruins and/or through galactic events.
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing the end of game score to not match the score shown in the 'Hall of Fame'. This discrepancy was present in all victory conditions except for 'Election victory'.
  
• Fixed a bug that could sometimes display 'Defeat' in the 'Hall of Fame' when the player actually won an alliance victory.
  
• Fixed a glitch that was causing the text label on distance between star systems ('distance measuring tool' feature) to appear behind some icon graphics in the galaxy map.
  
• Fixed a bug that was causing the AI to stop firing some weapons in auto-combat in rare occasions.
  
• Fixed a series of bugs involving the 'Salvage' combat operation. First, the auto-resolve action issued from inside manual combat was producing double the results for the winner. Secondly, money and techs were not being added to the player who did the actual salvaging operation in combat (only what was left in battlefield was added, and only if the player won). The 'Salvage' operation now works as intended.
  
• Also related with the 'Salvage' bug above, leaders are now salvageable from combat, as designed, and now working properly. During combat, there's a chance a leader will drop in their pod after their ship is destroyed, and can be captured.
  
• Fixed a glitch that was sometimes causing the "allowed movement positions" of a ship to not be updated after destroying an enemy ship, which would not allow a ship to immediately move to a position where the rival ship once was.
  
• Fixed a bombardment report issue where the number of population killed would be under-reported by one when the colony was destroyed.
  
• Fixed a rare game freeze when the planet's last POP was bombed in very particular circumstances.
  
• Fixed a rare game freeze caused by a the 'Galactic Council' convening when everyone else had surrendered, and only the player was left in the game. The game was over at that point, but deciding to continue playing the game did not disable the 'Galactic Council', as it should.
  
• Fixed an issue that was allowing the 'Leaders Management Screen' (F6) to open in the background when the 'Ship Design' screen was already open, but nothing was shown to the player.
  
• Fixed a rare glitch that could cause a minor civilization to be shown as present in a system when in fact it had been assigned to be removed by the game in the game generation process but not actually cleared from the system, as it should.
  
• Fixed a glitch that could show a possible sabotage job on a system where one wasn't possible. This was a UI glitch from a previous showing of a real sabotage job possibility on a different system, the player clicked before the glitched one.
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing the 'Asteroid Belts" overview panel to reveal the identity of an AI player with whom the player has not made contact yet. Now the asteroid belt name in the system view shows "unknown empire"; the asteroid belt name in the asteroid belt overview panel shows "unknown empire"; and the outpost icon, also in the asteroid overview panel, also displays "unknown empire".
  
• Fixed an issue when displaying a notification group of multiple minor civilizations being detected in the same turn. A blank icon would appear when grouping notifications ('Settings' -> NonCritical Notifications -> Grouped). Now displayed correctly when the notifications are grouped and when de-grouping them.
  
• Fixed a glitch where the Wan Ironshard colony leader could be displayed slightly outside frame in the leaders' management screen.
  
• Fixed a typo in the 'Violent Tectonics' planet special. Extra ")" at end of sentence removed, and more emphasis was given to the note explaining how the special can be removed from the planet.
  

Evolving Empires

• Fixed a bug in the 'Multi-dimensional' evolution perk tooltip. Now the tooltip informs the morale penalty obtained from the specific empire towards the player's empire, and not of said empire towards another. Also, the player now receives the penalty from that specific empire, and the penalty the AI empire is receiving from the player.
  
• Fixed a rare bug that could block game progression when the 'Investigation' unique ability was used by the player. Erroneous notifications could appear as a result of the decision of dismissing caught leaders.
  
• Fixed a bug where sometimes a player could receive a notification informing a minor civilization had been surveyed by another empire when the minor had already been destroyed.
  

Terrains Pack

• Fixed a major issue in the Terrains Pack DLC that was causing some terrains to be preferred over others for newly founded colonies, which could result in not all terrains being seen in a given game, as they should. Now the algorithm picks different terrains from the ones already in the game randomly, as was intended by the design.
  
• Fixed a colony visual glitch in one of the Terran terrains where a building could be "half buried in a rock".
  

Compatibility and finishing an ongoing game

Due to the extension of the changes, saves from previous versions may not be compatible with the 1.6.3 update. For a better experience, it is advisable that you start new games to enjoy the new features and improvements fully, and to not have bugs

To everyone who helped beta test this update, please revert to the main branch by choosing 'None' in Steam's Betas tab. You can then resume playing with the official version now. Saves from 1.6.3 Beta are fully compatible with 1.6.3, so you can continue your games normally.

If you want to finish your current game with the previous version (1.6.2), please go to the Steam client -> Games -> View Games Library -> Right-Click on Interstellar Space: Genesis -> Choose Betas tab -> Select the "old_version" branch.

Thanks

I want to thank everyone who has helped test this update. Big thanks to everyone who has bought the game, and the expansions, so far. Thank you!

We hope you enjoy the new free 1.6.3 update! If you haven't bought the Natural Law expansion yet, please consider buying as it adds 2 very nice playable races to the game, that will have their own Evolution tree with the Evolving Empires expansion, among other features and music tracks. The Evolving Empires expansion adds two major new features: Evolutions and Minor Civilizations. It also includes 7 new leaders and 2 new music tracks. If you have a few minutes to spare, and have been enjoying what we do, please leave us a review on Steam! ❤️

Have fun!
Adam Solo
Praxis Games