The update introduces a new combat management system, allowing players to better manage each and every battle. Battle engagements are now individually presented on the galaxy map for players to make quick and informed decisions to engage, retreat or auto-resolve. An after battle report summary is also displayed with the results. The system also enhances the participation of allies which can join the battle on either side

Horizon receives new major add-on/update v1.0.1.100
Thursday June 19, 2014

Combat Management System / Instanced Combat
* A new instancing mode, allows the player to control every combat synchronously one at a time. If the player is involved in a battle - a prompt is shown with choices to engage/flee/auto-resolve or do nothing
* Engage sector can now be set to multiple sectors, it is necessary for attacking non-hostiles and quest/missions related monsters/ships. In all other cases the prompt will appear automatically at the end of movement if sector has not been engaged at the start of Turn.
* Allied ships can participate in instanced combat on either side
* When the battle begins ships in combat are already in close range of each other to allow for quicker engagements with less ship movements to manage
* The Galaxy map pinpoints every battle location before combat. While an after report summary is displayed after combat has ended. Orders such as Invade are now available immediately before combat ends to facilitate things.
* AI Ships have gained a new instinct mode that is used to assess when to retreat from battles. A new ship retreat and a group mass-retreat button has been added for the player’s benefit as well
* Retreating ships are given a move order to their nearest base/colony if the battle is lost
* The number of combat rounds has been increased to 50 and ships are automatically resupplied after combat

Boarding Combat
* AI boarding now uses the new instinct system making boarding more common when ships are vulnerable
* We have added to and improved boarding combat messages to provide better progress info
* Ship scans will now reveal on-board marines (their own, as well as from allies and hostiles)

Other Combat Related:
* Stealth, cloaked and weapon de-buff effect icons are now shown with tooltip info in tactical view
* Ship status panel info will now persist during attacks if player or an ally is involved during tactical combat showing their status during attacks
* Life-forms (such as monster) attacks now have appropriate names. Their attack types have also been improved and are much more powerful
* A Fast-resolve mode has been added for invasions, clicking on the screen during the combat phase will speed things up for quick results
* Relations are now shown for non-player ships and task forces when scanned or on the galaxy task force panel to identify more easily friend from foe
* Cloaked ship thrusters will now correctly fade along with the ship
* Fixed an issue where combat animation speed would not match the speed button setting due to accumulated frames buffering
* Fighters will no longer launch from carriers during attacks vs. planets

Ship Design and Technology
* Ship design limits for weapon refills and emplacements have been increased to allow for more configuration options
* Auto-repair bots technology has been buffed up - repairing ships to full after combat and to a lesser extent during combat
* Advanced refit will now set the colonizer role for ships that gain colonizer pods, fixing an issue where they could not execute colonize orders

Diplomacy related
* Race Report on Diplomacy now clears extinct races from each race's ally/enemy lists
* The “reckless expansion” controversy threshold is now dependent on the game difficulty setting
* Reduced the Diplomacy AI advisor’s chance to offer systems to other races
* An armistice treaty will now work better with other checks like blockades etc. being suspended while the treaty remains active
* Cancel armistice will now work correctly by immediately cancelling the treaty effect
* Galactic council (classic mode) will now convene with a minimum of 3 races. The first council vote will also happen immediately once the player has discovered all races and at least 100 turns has been played

UI and Journal
* The colony “civilian buildings” cap is now shown on planet view details before colonization
* The tutorial journal entries have been improved to make it easier to follow
* Several quest journal entries, clues and hints have been improved to provide better info

Fixes and other changes
* Fixed the scroll-bar not showing correctly sometimes with multi-line text on Last Turn Summary
* Fixed dig completion messages sometimes being repeated in the same turn
* Fixed an issue with Unload troops order that could cause a crash if the colony didn’t have barracks or any soldiers
* Fixed an issue where decimals were sometimes showing for whole units

* Split task forces will no longer get stuck waiting if any ships are stranded in hyperspace during Stargate travel
* Improved ETA precision for hyperspace / Stargate travel
* ISN news will no longer cull normal priority messages even when there are higher priority messages. Low priority messages will still be culled. This is further adjustable through Game Options
* Added ISN news graphics for relation changes and toxic planet reports