Patch 1.8

Version history

  Astral Planes

 3.10 • 3.10.1 • 3.10.2

  Galactic Paragons

 3.9 • 3.9.2 • 3.9.3

 3.8 • 3.8.2 • 3.8.3 • 3.8.4

  First Contact

 3.7 • 3.7.3 • 3.7.4

  Overlord

 3.6 • 3.6.1

 3.5 • 3.5.2 • 3.5.3

 3.4 • 3.4.3 • 3.4.4 • 3.4.5

  Nemesis

 3.3 • 3.3.2 • 3.3.3 • 3.3.4

 3.2 • 3.2.1 • 3.2.2

 3.1 • 3.1.2

 3.0 • 3.0.1 • 3.0.2 • 3.0.3 • 3.0.4

  Federations

 2.8 • 2.8.1

 2.7 • 2.7.2

 2.6 • 2.6.1 • 2.6.2 • 2.6.3

  Ancient Relics

 2.5 • 2.5.1

 2.4 • 2.4.1

 2.3 • 2.3.1 • 2.3.2 • 2.3.3

  MegaCorp

 2.2.4 • 2.2.5 • 2.2.6 • 2.2.7

 2.2 • 2.2.1 • 2.2.2 • 2.2.3

  Distant Stars

 2.1 • 2.1.1 • 2.1.2 • 2.1.3

  Apocalypse

 2.0 • 2.0.1 • 2.0.2 • 2.0.4 • 2.0.5

  Synthetic Dawn

 1.9 • 1.9.1

 **1.8** • 1.8.2 • 1.8.3

  Utopia

 1.6 • 1.6.1 • 1.6.2

 1.5 • 1.5.1

  Leviathans

 1.4 • 1.4.1

 1.3 • 1.3.1 • 1.3.2

  Base version

 1.2 • 1.2.1 • 1.2.2 • 1.2.3 • 1.2.4 • 1.2.5

 1.1

 1.0 • 1.0.1 • 1.0.2 • 1.0.3

**Patch 1.8**, aka "Čapek", was released on 2017-09-21 with the checksum *3943*. The patch was released alongside the Synthetic Dawn story pack.

## Expansion Features

### Machine Empires

* (SYNTHETIC DAWN) Added the ability to play as a Machine Empire, a robotic hivemind that has overthrown or supplanted its creators, with their own government authority, buildings, civics, traditions and unique gameplay features
* (SYNTHETIC DAWN) Added Rogue Servitor, a special civic for Machine Empires where biological pops are kept as Bio-Trophies and cared for in special organic sanctuaries, generating Unity and boosting influence gain and resource production across the whole empire
* (SYNTHETIC DAWN) Added Determined Exterminator, a special civic for Machine Empires that grants substantial combat bonuses and rewards for purging biological Pops, but prohibits diplomacy or co-existance with biological empires
* (SYNTHETIC DAWN) Added Driven Assimilator, a special civic for Machine Empires that grants the ability to assimilate biological Pops into the machine hive mind as cyborg workers
* (SYNTHETIC DAWN) Added Fallen Machine Empires, old and unpredictable AI civilizations with special interactions for both biological and synthetic empires
* (SYNTHETIC DAWN) Added Machine Uprisings, an event chain where synths that have not been given citizen rights may start to network and eventually rebel, forming a new Machine Empire that attempts to overthrow their organic masters

### Portraits

* (SYNTHETIC DAWN) Added 8 new robot portraits based on the different species classes. Empires will have a robot portrait suited to their species class by default (Reptilian robots for Reptilians, etc)

### Audio

* (SYNTHETIC DAWN) Added 10 new voice packs for the advisor based on governments and ethics, which voice is used is set during empire creation and changed at any time from the in-game government screen
* (SYNTHETIC DAWN) Added 3 new songs, including a new main theme

### Game Setup

* (SYNTHETIC DAWN / UTOPIA) Added the ability to customize your secondary species for Assimilator/Rogue Servitor Machine Empires and biological empires with Syncretic Evolution civic

### Ascension Perks

* (UTOPIA) Added Shared Destiny ascension perk, gives a -50% cost reduction on integrating subjects
* (SYNTHETIC DAWN / UTOPIA) Added Machine Worlds ascension perk for Machine Empires, allows for planets to be terraformed into a special Machine World class
* (SYNTHETIC DAWN / UTOPIA) Added Synthetic Age ascension perk for Machine Empires, gives +2 machine trait points and 33% cost reduction on robomodding

### Species Rights

* (UTOPIA) Added 'Assimilation' citizenship type that allows Synthetically Ascended empires and Biologically Ascended Hive Minds to assimilate pops
* (UTOPIA) Added 'Deassimilation' citizenship type that allows Biologically Ascended empires to give Hive Mind pops individuality

### Prescripted Empires

* Added new prescripted empires using Synthetic Dawn, Utopia and Plantoids content

## Free Features

### Important

* Added 5 new achievements
* Reworked the old AI crisis into The Contingency, an ancient and dormant AI that can be awakened by the presence of synthetic pops, and will attempt to sterilize the galaxy of intelligent biological life
* Reworked genetic modification so that there is now a system of templates that can be created, modified and applied to populations
* Added traits for robotic species, and a technology that lets you do 'robomodding', the equivalent of genetic modification for robotic pops
* Reworked tradition trees for Hive Mind, Devouring Swarm, Fanatical Purifier and Inwards Perfection empires with better suited traditions and flavor text
* Awakened Fallen Empires now start to experience decadence after being awakened for 20 years. Every month, there is a chance that an AE's decadence will increase, based on how large they have grown and how many empires they have forced to be subjects. Decadence reduces AE resource production and ship strength and makes their subjects far more rebellious
* Reworked or blocked numerous events for Hive Minds where the text or effects did not work well narratively

### Species Rights

* Added 'Academic Privilege' living standard type available to Materialists only, boosts research output and happiness at increased consumer goods cost

### Diplomacy & Subjects

* Vassals are now released directly from planet view and can be released from any non-capital planet

### Game Setup

* Added galaxy setup option to partially randomize number of empires, advanced starts & fallen empires
* Added a galaxy setup option for Crisis Strength, replaces the previous galaxy size/habitable worlds scaling
* Added a galaxy setup option for chance of Primitive Civilizations being generated

### Events

* Added special Hive Mind interactions for the Prethoryn Scourge

### Technology

* Added new technology Glandular Acclimation that unlocks the ability to modify Pop habitability type

### Policies

* Added new policies for the treatment of pre-sapients. They can now be protected, tolerated (allowing for selective purging), hunted for food, or exterminated.
* Added an Initial Border Status policy that controls whether borders to other empires are open or closed by default.
* Added a Robotic Workers Policy that controls whether or not robot pops are allowed or automatically disassembled. The old AI rights policy now instead determines stance towards sapient AI.
* Added a Land Appropriation policy. If enabled, newly acquired planets that have less than 5 tiles of free space and are populated by non-citizen species will have some of them removed from their land, freeing up tiles and potentially creating refugees

### Governments & Civics

* Added Corvee System civic, gives -50% resettlement cost
* Added Feudal Realm civic, reduces penalty of relative power of subjects in half and allows them to colonize outside their borders
* Added a unique government form for Devouring Swarms
* Added Feudal Empire and Megachurch government forms

### Buildings

* Added new Sacred Nexus building for Spiritualists with corresponding technology

## Balance

### Important

* Flattened impact of spaceports on naval capacity, so it is same or higher in the early mid game but lower in the endgame
* Massively buffed Dyson Sphere & Science Nexus, but you are now restricted to building only one of each
* Replaced the Leader Skills modifier with Leader Max Skills modifier that increases the maximum skill cap of leaders instead of simply increasing their base skills
* The effects of Food surplus on Pop Growth is now based on the number of planets that have growing (biological) populations rather than on the number of total pops in the empire. This should make Food more useful for fueling growth in the mid and late game
* Hard difficulty is now a bit easier
* Reduced the output of power and food-producing buildings, but made large planetary deposits of these types more common
* Added a new Very Hard difficulty mode that is roughly on par with old Hard mode
* Removed the restrictions on interfering with sector planet buildings and pops, can be re-enabled via a define
* Removed the influence cost for revoking systems from sectors and deleting sectors
* Reworked the way ships target other ships to be more 'sticky', so disruptors do not immediately retarget once enemy's shields are down, etc
* Major rebalancing done to ship costs. Costs of hulls and components have been overhauled to make it so that ships with basic components are no longer the most cost-effective option
* Major rebalancing done to weapons to make more types of weapons useful in different situations
* Missiles can now retarget if their target is lost after they are fired. Missiles can always retarget at least once, and has a decreasing chance to retarget again after the first time
* Habitability no longer caps happiness but instead reduces happiness for Pops that have less than 100% habitability on their planet
* Low habitability now also reduces Pop Resource Output
* The minimum habitability to colonize a planet is now 20% (down from 40%)
* Reduced number of habitable worlds in the galaxy by about 50% on default setting
* The Core Sector (all core systems) are now governed by a single governor instead of one per planet
* Governors now boost all pop resource production in sectors they govern

### Ascension Perks

* Master Builders now requires Zero Point Power, but gives the Mega-Engineering technology if you do not have it already
* The Psionic and Synthetic Ascension paths are now available to all ethics, but cause massive ethics attraction towards Spiritualist/Materialist respectively
* Buffed the number of trait points that Biological Ascension gives, and made advanced traits cheaper
* Reduced the effects of synthetic/cyborg leader and species traits
* Buffed the effect of psionic leader and species traits
* Mastery of Nature now reduces cost to clear blockers by -50% instead of -100%

### Traditions

* Tradition scaling cost has been reworked slightly. Cost per adopted group reduced from +10% to +5%. The exponential cost per already unlocked tradition increased from 1.6 to 1.639. This means that traditions will be slightly more expensive early on, but slightly cheaper towards the end
* Science Division tradition effect on leader skill levels replaced with +1 research option
* Polytechnic Education tradition effect on leader cost replaced with +33% leader experience gain
* Fleet Levies tradition effect on vassal naval capacity contribution increased from 20% to 50%
* Harmony finisher effect on consumer goods cost replaced with increased influence from factions
* Prosperity finisher effect on terraforming cost replaced with reduced consumer goods cost
* Faith in Science now makes Assist Research now give +1 unity per scientist skill level instead of +10% happiness, increases to +2 per skill level with Improved Assist Research
* Expansion tradition adopt bonus now increases colony development speed by +100% instead of giving new colonies an additional free Pop
* A New Life Expansion tradition now gives new colonies an additional free Pop instead of increasing colony development speed and Pop growth speed
* Standard Construction Templates prosperity tradition now increases ship build speed and building build speed by 15% instead of reducing their cost
* Prosperity tradition adopt bonus now reduces ship build cost and building build cost by 15% instead of reducing the cost of mining stations
* Discovery tradition adopt bonus now increases anomaly discovery chance and decreases anomaly fail risk
* To Boldly Go discovery tradition now increases survey speed and science ship chance to evade
* Research Agreements are no longer available for regular vassals (due to stacking issues with Domination finisher).
* Changed Star Lords tradition from Subject Integration Cooldown Reduction to +50 Subject Trust Cap
* Changed Vassal Acculutration tradition from Subject Integration Cost Reduction to +5% Unity per subject (up to 30%)
* Courier network now only gives -20% effect of colonies on tradition cost (down from -33%)

### Policies

* The AI rights policy is no longer about robots, but rather about sapience. Empires that have outlawed sapient AI can still research and build robots
* Synths are no longer disassembled under outlawed AI, but rather are fitted with positron inhibitors that reduce research/energy production and disable happiness
* Synths are no longer enslaved under servitude AI, but rather are fitted with servitude protocols that reduce research production
* Synths that have been given full citizen rights now use far more consumer goods than their shackled brethren
* Removed a number of policy restrictions based on ethics, such as Full AI Rights now being available to all non-Spiritualists
* Materialists are no longer allowed to ban sapient AI (they can still force it into servitude)
* All non-Xenophile ethics can now make use of displacement-only purging

### Exploration

* Anomalies now always have at least 5% fail risk
* Reworked anomaly fail risk to be completely based on anomaly level and leader skill, so that a level 2 anomaly is always harder than a level 1 one

### Misc.

* Increased empire base mineral production from 5 to 10
* Empires now have a base energy income of 5
* Enigmatic Fortress now drops either Power Core, Shields or \*both\* Decoder and Encoder
* It is now 50% cheaper to resettle slaves and pops that are being purged
* High and Low Gravity planet modifiers now also reduce habitability
* Planet Sensor Range is now lower by default, but goes up by a fixed amount per sensor tech
* Artisans now mostly charge Energy Credits instead of Minerals for their buildings and events
* Patron of the Arts effect on unity output reduced from +15% to +10%
* Plantoids and Fungoids no longer have genders
* Genetic modification now has a base cost for the project regardless of how many pops are being modified, but cost-per-pop was reduced, making modification of large amounts of Pops more efficient than altering just a few at a time
* Rapid Breeder effect on growth speed increased from +15% to +20%
* Slow Breeder effect on growth speed increased from -15% to -20%
* Robust trait now gives +40 leader lifespan (up from +30)
* Delicious trait now only gives +50% food from processing/livestock (as base was increased substantially)
* Robot Pop build cost changed from (150 EC 50 Minerals) to just 100 Minerals
* Improved pre-sapient traits to be more useful overall
* Terraforming Liquids now give +25% terraforming speed instead of -25% terraforming cost
* Lowered base cost of a new Spaceport to 300
* Assembly Yard spaceport modules no longer reduce the cost of their specific ship sizes, but rather increase their build speed by 33% (up from 25%)
* Stellar shock now prevents species from growing new Pops until it wears off, but has a shorter duration than before'

### Crises

* Unbidden and Scourge are now a bit less vulnerable to fleets that have been hyperspecialized to counter them, though countering them with the right weapons and components still has a large effect

### Ethics

* Xenophile now gets -25%/-50% border friction instead of +25%/+50% trust growth
* Spiritualist ethic now gets -15/-30% unrest instead of -10/-20
* Fanatic Purifiers now have decreased Pacifist ethics attraction
* Authoritarian now gives +0.5/+1 influence instead of resettlement cost reduction
* Authoritarian now gets +5/+10% slave resource output instead of reduced slave unrest
* Pacifist now gives +5%/+10% pop resource production instead of unity
* Long Period of Peace Pacifist/Militarist ethics factor will no longer start ticking until 50 game years have passed
* Significant tweaks & fixes to many aspects of ethics attraction

### Factions

* Increased the effectiveness of suppressing and promoting factions
* Promoting a faction no longer increases their happiness, but it's possible to do to factions with governing ethics
* Promoting a faction now costs 2 influence/month
* Embracing a faction now costs 500 influence
* Pops without Full Citizenship now only contribute a fraction of the regular amount of support for factions they are part of
* Reworked and fixed up numerous faction issues to be clearer to understand and have more sensible effects

### Governments & Civics

* Oligarchies now hold elections every 20 years instead of 40-50
* Hive Mind authority now has a 50% resettlement cost reduction
* Reduced the number of starting Robots for Mechanists from 4 to 2 (working mining tiles)
* Non-Devouring Swarm Hive Minds are now able to keep Pops as Livestock
* Non-Devouring Swarm Hive Minds can now choose to Exterminate Pops
* Distinguished Admiralty civic is now +5% firing speed and +5% ship evasion (changed from +8% firing speed)
* Replaced the +20% unity for Hive Minds with +2 core sector system cap
* Ascetic Civic is now -25% consumer goods cost (up from -20%)
* Environmentalist Civic is now -15% consumer goods cost (down from -20%)
* Conservationist Trait is now -15% consumer goods cost (down from -20%)
* Wasteful Trait is now +15% consumer goods cost (down from +20%)
* The Devouring Swarm and Fanatical Purifier civics can no longer be added or removed after game start
* Agrarian Idyll now requires Fanatic Pacifism
* Inward Perfection has been reworked. Unity output reduced from +30% to +20%, but now also increases Citizen Happiness by +5%, Empire Influence by +1 and Growth Speed by +33%. Many diplomatic actions are now also not possible for empires focusing on Inward Perfection
* Devouring Swarms now get +25% hull points (up from +10%
* Syncretic Evolution prole species now have their own unique trait rather than using the generic presapient one

### Colonization & Migration

* Increased base border projection of planets and frontier outposts, but capital planet no longer has a bonus to border projection
* Raised the base cost to colonize planets and build frontier outposts to 100, this cost is now reduced by technologies
* Private Colony Ships now cost the same amount in energy as regular colony ships do in minerals
* Doubled the speed of Pop migration
* Pops that are being forced to migrate now move away faster
* Habitats and Ringworlds no longer have an influence cost to colonize them if they are inside your borders

### Buildings

* Psi Corps now produces 10 Unity and gives a boost to government ethics attraction
* Ministry of Culture effect on unity output increased from 6 to 10, but its effect on country unity output reduced from +10% to +5%
* Art Monument effect on unity output reduced from 10 to 8
* Paradise Dome, Cultural Center and Xeno Zoos now give citizen happiness instead of happiness
* The Temple and Monument lines of buildings are now mutually exclusive, but Temples were significantly buffed
* Frontier Clinic renamed to Gene Clinic, and can now be built on homeworlds as well as Gaia, Habitat, and Ring Worlds
* Frontier Hospital renamed to Cyto-Revitalization Hospital, and can now be built on homeworlds as well as Gaia, Habitat, and Ring Worlds
* Xeno Zoo building effect on unity output increased from 2 to 4

### Edicts

* Consecrated Worlds edict effect on growth speed increased from +10% to +15%
* Research grant edicts now give +20% to their chosen field, and no penalty to any other field
* Changed Encourage Free Thought edict into Encourage Political Thought edict, increases the speed at which Pops change their ethics

### Galaxy

* Tropical, Continental and Ocean worlds are now more likely to have food, society and mixed deposits
* Arid, Savannah and Desert worlds are now more likely to have energy and physics deposits
* Arctic, Alpine and Tundra worlds are now more likely to have mineral and engineering deposits
* Gaia worlds are now more likely to have rich deposits of all resources
* Gaia worlds now give +5% happiness to all biological Pops living there
* Reduced size of Mars to 13 from 15

### Fallen Empires

* Spiritualist Fallen Empires are now Psionic
* Materialist Fallen Empires are now Cyborgs
* Materialist Fallen Empires are no longer opposed to robots, but rather have a singular focus on hoarding technology

### Diplomacy & Subjects

* Research Agreements now give +25% research speed instead of -25% research cost
* Tributaries are now always protected by their overlord
* Reduced the influence cost of guarantees from 1 to 0.5
* Liberated empires will now refuse all offers to become subjects for 20 years after gaining independence
* Liberated empires now have a stronger governing ethics attraction modifier for their first 20 years after gaining independence
* Recently enlightened primitive civilizations now get a large opinion bonus towards the empire that enlightened them

### Leaders

* Synthetic Leaders can now malfunction and break down
* Scientist specialist traits now give +15% research speed to their speciality (up from 10%)
* Nervous is now once again an admiral trait that reduces firing speed
* Aggressive now gives +5% firing speed and +10% combat speed instead of +8% firing speed

### Debris

* Only components that can be reverse-engineered and are not currently researched will now show up in debris, if there are no valid components to reverse-engineer, debris won't spawn at all
* The amount of debris spawned from battle can no longer be increased by splitting up your fleets

### Technology

* Automated Exploration protocols no longer gives +survey speed, but instead unlocks the Map the Stars edict (no longer unlocked by Global Research Initiative)
* Terrestial Sculpting will no longer show up until you have surveyed at least one habitable planet that isn't your homeworld
* Artificial Moral Codes tech now gives -15% Edict Cost and +5% Slave Resource Production
* Synthetic Thought Patterns now gives -15% Resettlement Cost and +5% Robot Resource Production
* AI-Controlled Colony Ships now gives -25% Colony Influence Cost instead of cheaper colony ships
* Self-Aware Colony ships now gives -25% Colony Influence Cost instead of cheaper colony ships
* Ascension Theory is now a society tech rather than a physics tech
* Reduced requirement for number of researched technologies in tier 3 to unlock tier 4 from 10 to 8
* Repeatable technologies are now tier 4
* Increased base cost of repeatable technologies from 3000 to 5000

### Components & Ships

* Some PD ship sections are now also unlocked by flak battery technology, and not just active counter-measures
* Tweaked ship combat behaviour so destroyers are more aggressive in moving forward to intercept enemy corvettes, strife craft and missiles
* Fallen Empire escorts now have 4 point defense slots (up from 2)
* Point Defense is now far more reliable in its ability to shoot down incoming missiles
* Considerably increased the speed of missiles
* Flak is now a point-defense weapon specialized in taking out strike craft
* Swarmer/Whirlwind Missiles are now able to soak up much more damage from point defense
* Strike Craft had their health, speed and evasion majorly increased, and carriers will now continue to launch new waves of strike craft during combat

### Species Rights

* Enslaved Pops and robots that do not have Citizen Rights will now have specific owner pops that the effects of Owner Happiness is applied to, instead of being applied to all free Pops on the planet
* Decadent now gives -10% happiness for any Pops that lack an owned pop, but owned robot pops work just as well as slaves
* Enslaved Charismatic Pops now increase the happiness of their owners by 5%
* Enslaved Repugnant Pops now reduce the happiness of their owners by 5%
* Reduced the happiness effect of Domestic Servants on owner from 10% to 5%, but considerably improved their ability to produce resources
* Boosted effectiveness of Livestock and Processing
* Slaves are now affected by happiness, but happiness only affects resource production of free pops
* It is now possible to selectively purge Pops in some circumstances, such as fully enslaved species and robotic pops without citizen rights
* Extermination and manual purging now only takes 20 months to finish

### Stations

* Significantly buffed military station hit points and damage output
* No longer possible for regular empires to build military stations outside their own borders
* Passive Observation now gives 5 monthly society research (up from 3)
* Active Observation now gives 8 monthly society research (up from 6)

### War

* Ships in aggressive stance that are bombarding will no longer break orbit to chase after much smaller enemy fleets
* Planetary Fortifications will now be repaired even during bombardment, at a slower rate than normal. Fleets are not large enough to beat out this rate of repair will not cause any damage to the planet
* Liberated empires now start with a small fleet
* Fleets that are not set to aggressive stance will no longer engage unarmed orbital stations
* Military fleets can no longer be set to evasive stance, to avoid accidental retreats when switching stances

AI
--

### Crises

* Unbidden will no longer deploy every single fleet they have to defend the portal against wandering Tiyanki
* Significant work done to Unbidden and Swarm AI, are now far less prone to get stuck and better able to consume the galaxy
* Major work done to AI empires' ability to cooperate and defend against endgame crises

### Diplomacy

* Certain AI personalities (like Ruthless Capitalists) now want tributaries rather than vassals
* The AI will now accept being traded systems they think would be useful for them, and that aren't an obvious trap
* Should now be more consistent about when to accept Federation invites
* Added AI personality and special dialogue for Devouring Swarms
* Fallen & Robotic Empires now scoff at food trades

### Misc

* AI is now better at utilizing primitives through observation posts or invasion depending on their personality
* AI is now better at placing down frontier outposts to grab useful chunks of territory
* AI now puts much more priority on building up the Federation Fleet when they are President

### Economy

* Major work done to the AI to make it better at expanding in the early game
* Major work done to AI to make it build up its planets and have a stronger late-game economy

### Sectors

* Major work done to improve sectors' performance, particularly their ability to understand tile resources, food production and when to replace buildings

### War

* Awakened Empires now use a mix of subjugation and conquest war goals rather than only conquering
* General work done to war AI to make it better at prosecuting and winning wars
* Some AI personalities, such as fanatic purifiers, will now go after neutral targets like Enclaves and uncontacted empires
* The AI is now more reliable when it comes to cooperating with and following their overlord and allies
* AI will now retreat from battle in their home systems unless they are down to just a few owned/controlled planets
* AI will no longer launch suicidal single-ship attacks on enemies blockading its planets

## User Interface

### Important

* Terraforming Candidates now show up in the expansion planner
* Expansion Planner now displays and can be sorted by the amount of strategic resources (Betharian/Alien Pets) present on a planet
* Planet/habitat outliner is now organized by which system planets are in, and sorted by distance to capital

### Misc

* Age of candidates is now shown in election views
* Total Unity production is now shown in planet view
* Event options will now display when they are unlocked by a particular Civic or Authority
* Contacts view now displays AI personality of empires rather than government type, if they have a valid personality to show
* Some terraforming links are now hidden when their conditions are not met
* Cleaned up terraforming interface and added icons to show planet classes
* Pop faction interface now displays support instead of attraction
* Species traits are now sorted according to cost, with special traits (like habitability traits) appearing first in the list, and support for custom override of priority in script files
* Added new pop status effect icons for pops that are being assimilated, kept as livestock or have had their sapience removed

### Alerts & Notifications

* Added notifications for completing species modification and uplifting projects
* Added a notification for when Federation Leader changes
* Added an alert for when the Shroud is accessible
* Added an alert for when a Fallen Empire attacks you early in the game explaining what's happening and suggesting you surrender

### Galaxy Map

* You can now always see where other empires' frontier outposts are if you have communications with them
* Added a mapmode toggle that colors 'allied' empires (same Federation or in a subject-overlord relationship) with the same color
* Unsurveyed planets are now colored orange to properly hide their habitability

### Empire Setup

* Traits & Civics are now alphabetically sorted in empire setup

### Ship Designer

* Added a button to randomize design names in ship designer
* Added a filter in the ship designer to hide obsolete components

### Sounds

* Added ambient sound loops in the background during crises that grow stronger the more of the galaxy the crisis conquers

## User modding

### Important

* Implemented a system for dynamically swapping out traditions that do not suit certain empires
* Government Authorities now support a localization\_postfix, allowing for custom renaming of Technologies, Policies, Edicts, Spaceport Modules, Buildings and Strategic Resources depending on the player's governing authority
* There's now a country customization system that lets you create customization options for countries, such as what garrisons and capital buildings they use

### Misc.

* There is now an AI personality setting for combat bravery, that determines how keen the AI is on retreating from battle
* Added on\_accept and on\_decline effects to diplomatic actions
* add show\_tech\_unlock\_if trigger to buildings to hide them from the tech option in the technology screen
* Added species\_class random\_non\_machine option
* Added support to set planet classes as not being able to be invaded by armies
* Replaced MAX\_TRAITS and MAX\_TRAIT\_POINTS defines by species\_trait\_points and species\_max\_traits entry in species\_class definition
* Add optional 'description' field to modifiers in technologies, traditions and ascension perks, which can be used to override the auto-generated modifier description. Useful for example for summarizing lots of similar modifier effects
* Added define ALLOW\_MANAGE\_SECTOR\_PLANETS
* Added MISSILE\_RETARGET\_CHANCE\_{START,REDUCTION} defines
* Added define COMBAT\_TARGET\_STICKYNESS
* Added ENERGY\_CONSUMPTION\_FOOD\_SCALE define which decides how much of the food consumption pops which consume energy will use
* Added define FORCE\_MIGRATION\_SPEED\_MULT
* Renamed trait definition's potential trigger to leader\_potential\_add
* Added a trigger for whether buildings can be demolished/replaced by player
* Replaced trait defition's must\_match\_primary\_species by species\_potential\_add and species\_possible\_remove triggers

### Effects

* Added effects play\_sound, set\_crisis\_sound and stop\_crisis\_sound
* change\_leader\_portrait supports species event targets in addition to portrait names
* create\_leader effect can now define leaders as event\_leader = yes, this prevents leader from being elected as ruler and leading factions
* Added set\_city\_graphical\_culture effect
* Added set\_player effect to switch the country a player is controlling
* set\_event\_locked = yes disallows disbanding the fleet by the player
* Removed deprecated add\_resource effect
* Added set\_deposit effect
* Added copy\_techs\_from effect
* add\_modifier and set\_timed\_flag now takes years= and months= in addition to days= for length

### Triggers

* species\_portrait trigger now also supports species scope
* Added is\_ftl\_restricted = yes/no trigger
* Add has\_component trigger to check ships for component templates
* added trigger is\_event\_leader
* add is\_colony trigger to buildings to script which building should be used for the colony shelter
* has\_resource trigger is easier to use, e.g. has\_resource = yes and has\_resource = minerals are now supported
* Added count\_tile trigger
* is\_species\_class trigger now supports species scope

### Modifiers

* Add planet\_unrest\_mult modifier
* Added pop\_robot\_build\_cost\_mult modifier
* Renamed country\_robot\_build\_speed\_mult to pop\_robot\_build\_speed\_mult and turned it into a pop modifier
* Removed country\_robot\_maintenance\_mult, it is replaced by pop\_robot\_maintenance\_mult
* Renamed slave\_production\_output to pop\_slave\_resource\_output
* Added new modifiers pop\_resource\_output and pop\_non\_slave\_resource\_output
* Added pop\_processing\_output modifier
* Added shipclass\_x\_evasion\_add modifier effect

### On-actions

* add on\_initialize\_advanced\_colony on\_action called for each planet in an advanced empire during galaxy generation

### Game Rules

* Added a game rule for whether AI will avoid colonizing a planet to not anger Fallen Empires
* Added pop\_has\_no\_happiness game rule deciding whether pops have variable happiness or not
* Added pop\_eats\_energy game rule deciding whether pops should consume energy instead of food
* Added a game rule for when subjects can colonize planets if not normally allowed to

## Performance

* Reduce lookups in the ship database done by checking if fleets are valid for combat
* Misc optimizations to resource and modifier calculations
* Misc optimizations to AI

## Bugfixes

* Fixed various issues with the self-modification event chain
* Fixed fleet/empire military power over 2M overflowing into negative numbers
* Fixed various issues and inconsistencies with prescripted empires
* Fixed a bug where starvation would sometimes not take effect in empires with heavy food deficit in sectors
* Fixed various incorrect first contact messages
* Fixed an exploit where initializers not meant for player empires (such as Fallen Empire ringworlds) could be used as home systems through text file editing
* Fixed various cases where species rights were not correctly applied on conquest of pops
* Deactivating buildings no longer prevents Livestock & Processing from producing food
* Fixed caste system (residence) being able to have migration controls off while caste system (full citizenship) was not
* Fixed some bugged or broken diplomatic greetings
* Fixed admiral duplication when splitting fleets
* Fixed mapmode settings not being correctly saved and loaded
* Fixed some VO lines playing on top of each other
* Fixed various bugs with the Federation fleet designer
* Pops that are being purged no longer count towards Tradition costs at all
* Synthetically ascended empires no longer get increased tradition cost from robotic pops
* Fixed sub-species of the empire's dominant species not Psionically Ascending along with their parent species
* Numerous fixes to Artist Enclave patronage events
* Fixed a bug where you would not get sensor of allied countries in a newly started war in some circumstances
* Fleets are now capped at 500 ships, to prevent various bugs and interface issues
* Fixed Artist Enclave diplomacy window closing unexpectedly when selecting certain options
* Fixed some Mandates reporting the wrong reward
* Fixed Habitats and Sentry Arrays being buildable in Ring World systems
* No longer possible to queue up an endless number of defensive armies while a planet is being invaded
* New armies are now spawned for the Prethoryn if they have ships but no armies or planets
* Fixed Prethoryn Scourge crisis having newly-spawned ships "overflow" from planetary orbit, causing them to appear in the center of the galaxy
* Fixed bug where ships would drag behind their logical positions and rotations on slower game speeds
* Random names for fleets in namelists are now used, getting preferentially picked with sequential names being fallback
* Fixed a rare case where unbidden bombing a planet would never turn the planet barren no matter how long they attacked it.
* When modifying a species, an appropriate fraction of leaders from that species will now have their species changed as well, prioritizing the ruler if the new species is superior to the old
* It is no longer possible to join a Federation if you have rivaled any member of it
* Spaceports on planets occupied by events (like titanic life) will no longer engage ships in combat
* It is no longer possible to change a ship design while a fleet that makes use of that kind of hull is upgrading (prevents various exploits to reduce upgrade costs)
* Gas Giant Signal anomaly only spawns once for players now
* When joining a Federation, communications are now properly shared both ways
* Sentinels can no longer spawn inside Prethoryn space
* Fixed a bug where removing the last system of a sector would not properly delete that sector, potentially resulting in weird construction ships that were not owned by any sector
* Fleets in aggressive stance will no longer feel the need to nuke innocent primitives just because they're in the same system
* Fixed a bug where auto-upgrading ship designs would also give you free retrofits of existing ships
* Gene Modification no longer removes uplifted happiness boost from a species
* Many happiness modifiers that did not make sense for synths (like Atmospheric Hallucinogen) now only affect biological pops
* Energy deficit no longer reduces energy production of robot pops, as this makes the deficit worse
* Countries bordering subjects now count as bordering overlord for purposes of faction goals, etc
* Changing policies no longer resets all observation station missions
* Fixed the Awoken being angry at other empires for being synthetics
* Civics that cannot be removed after game start will no longer block you from reforming government if invalidated
* Terraforming doesn't generate energy anymore when many modifiers where stacked
* Fixed founder species portrait being constantly reset in diplomacy view for some species
* Added a new event option for the Dathnak naming their new homeworld Baldarak if your species name is, in fact, Baldarak
* Fixed bug where a ruler title could be displayed for heirs in text
* Fixed bug where leader titles could have incorrect gender in tooltips
* Fixed bug where the full cost of orbital stations was not shown in the construction ship panel and placement tooltip
* Fixed exploit where you could cancel fleet wind-down by transferring ships
* Fixed bug where ruler and species names could be missing from responses when establishing contact with fallen empires
* Fixed bug where dead ships remained after loading saves
* Solar Sailer anomaly can now only spawn once per empire per game
* Ships will no longer go MIA when entering a war if they belong to the side that was declared war on
* It is no longer possible to set planets and fleets owned by other empires as rally points
* Fixed Awakened Empires doing liberate/cleanse wargoals on behalf of their subjects
* Blocked Hive Minds from getting Neural Implants tech
* No longer possible to get Peacekeeper achievement if your empire isn't Pacifist
* Fixed a case where planets could spawn with less than 5 tiles not covered by tile blockers
* Fixed various messed-up event ship designs, such as nomad ships
* Fix for different Precursor anomalies sometimes appearing on the same planet
* ixed some cases where Stellarite Devourer system could end up with very small, very large or deposit-less planets
* fix any\_owned\_ship, every\_owned\_ship, random\_owned\_ship, count\_fleet\_ships, count\_owned\_ships and count\_ships not taking into account if a ship was recently destroyed
* Pops that are being displaced from a planet due to policies or low habitability can no longer continue to reproduce on that planet
* Fixed habitability buildings not correctly applying to the planet in some cases
* Certain event-generated leaders (such as Prethoryn Queen) can no longer lead factions or be elected as rulers
* If FTL type is restricted, the hyperlanes mapping tech is no longer available
* Can no longer get terraforming candidates in uninhabitable systems or on cracked planets
* Fixed out-of-sync where countries could be given starting starting techs when they should have none
* Election support and candidate selection in democracies now works correctly
* Can no longer resettle pops to planets that they're not allowed to live on due to core worlds policy
* Max Trust increasing modifiers now work correctly even if you are not in the same Federation
* Pops that are being Exterminated, Processed or used as Livestock no longer have their buildings cost maintenance
* Fixed various issues with migration and displacement that would sometimes block Pops from moving
* Removed duplicate fighters and bombers on Materialist Fallen Empire battlecruisers
* Fixed issue where Fleet Maneuver events could fire even when the exercise fleet no longer existed
* Egalitarians are no longer exempted from the Collective Self tech
* Egalitarians no longer get a reduced chance of getting the Targeted Gene Expressions Tech
* Kick from Federation diplomatic action now properly displays member votes
* Awakened Empires will now leave the Galactic Defense League properly once the crisis is over
* Fixed an exploit where terraforming could be used to stop the Prethoryn AI in its tracks
* Fixed a diplomatic greeting breaking for synthetically ascended empires
* Fixed ship upgrade cost modifier being broken
* Fixed a bug where the default species rights settings was sometimes opened from the planet interface
* Fanatic Purifiers and Devouring Swarms can no longer join the League of Non-Aligned Powers
* Fixed and clarified the "No Alien Slaves" and "No Purge Policy" Xenoist faction issues (now "No Species-Wide Slavery" and "No Purges")
* Fixed various issues with the Crises and Ring Worlds/Habitats
* Fixed slavery/purge sounds sometimes incorrectly playing when changing default species rights
* Fixed a bug where Enigmatic Decoder was not applying its bonuses correctly
* "Slave Optimizations" will no longer appear as an Agenda when Slavery is outlawed
* Fixed duplicated tooltip when attempting to colonize planet with too low habitability
* Dominions can no longer use factions to shift their ethics
* Fixed mechanists being treated as having encountered other species due to robot pops
* Fixed bug where liberating a planet being purged by events (such as abandoned terraforming project) would not stop the purges
* Fixed bug where the Prethoryn Scourage would fail to purge pops on occupied planets
* Added option to force full names with regnal numbers and set this option to yes for plantoid names
* FIXED: Create country effect could in some fringe cases add the scripted civics multiple times to the creation data
* Numerous other fixes & tweaks

## References

1. ↑ Forum: [Dev Team] Čapek update (1.8) Released [checksum 3943]