One of the first things I do is mod the economic system, I am curious what you guys will come up with and what new things my fellow modders can build off.

The Diplomacy and invasion system interest me greatly. I hope they will also be released on GOG as that is the version I now happily use. I`m not even upset on buying it as a DLC any more since I won`t be chained and handcuffed to Steam.

A rebate would`ve been nice for wasting £35 quid on the Steam version, but i doubt that will happen...

I'm just wondering where characters fit into this? (Generals, Admirals, Spies etc..?)

Spies will prob be included w/ the espionage system - which will be an expansion (not dlc/update).  there was a lot of discussion of the commanders/captains/governors - not sure what was ultimately decided on - I feel like I wasn't on the forums much when it was a more discussed issue than it is currently..

The road map on Steam has been updated and 1.6 is now listed as "Starbase micro update".  I'm a bit confused what that means.  Does that mean you're not doing a new starbase system as listed here, but just improving the current system, therefore a 'small' update?  Or is it a new system and micro is just short for micromanagement?

Mid January now, when do we get some information about the expansion pack?

Or is all still top secret?

Enough news for a tour woohoo!

Seriously, you know how hard it is to get frog guts out of the carpet and drapes?!? Spare us Froggie!

Very nice!  There's so much more I'd love to see, but improvements are very welcoming to expand content to enrich the game even further!

Having AI gang up on the winning player would make alliance victory a little difficult.

But yeah, somehow turning up the heat on the winning player would make things interesting, even if the current winning player is an AI.

This week. On my way to the game sites to show what we have.

Some key features I would like to see in the game.  

  Ship designer that can load up separate from the actual game, so players can design without requiring to "unlock" via command console to build shipsets in actual gameplay, I would imagine it would also utilize less PC resources than running a real game. 

  Also a parts management in the ship designer.  Naming/label function that can be edited, allowing players easier ability to manage parts created, allowing the creation of a player designed shipset race folder that will show up in the designer list, rather than simply flood the custom design folder.  

  Faction/ship coloration designer added to custom race and ship designs, perhaps even add in a way for players to upload texture swatches so players can build unique material files and expand that list of options (complete with an upload to workshop option).  This way players can build a custom color/texture preset for their race/ships without having to play around with the xml an then launch the game to check if it worked out.

  Extended Planetary invasion, add a planetary ground battle element, so Players can actually siege a planet or send relief reinforcements to the siege.  Not simply load up transports and play flip the planet every turn game.  A ground unit design with expanded ground unit types would be a HUGE plus.  Infantry, Vehicle, Airpower.  Complete with it's own subtech tree to work on.  

  Allow Research aspect to have more micromanagement, allowing players to research multiple tech types with varying degrees of investment.  Much like the planetary governance of finance, manufacturing and research % pie can be managed.  So players can set long term research without hindering short term research goals, perhaps allowing each category to research a single choice, with a adjustment setting to establish the priority of research assets being devoted to which.  

Mercenaries is somewhat similar! You hire the ships which can enhance your fleets/planet/starbases. Admittedly they don't level up, but the bonuses they provide more than compensate.