StarDrive 2
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- Performance optimization of approximately 50% for space battles. I did a serious nitty-gritty pass on the physics calculations and was able to really improve things. Smaller battles that were already running at 60fps, you won't notice a change. But In situations of 20+ cruisers on a side with hundreds of laser bolts flying around, I was able to improve FPS by 50% on average.
- Fixed issue with Defensive Battery not gaining AP. Changed it to have a greater range but fewer hit points
- Hard and Brutal mode AIs will now cheat a bit to provide some more challenge for players who are upset about some of the scalebacks to difficulty. I'm giving the AI a 15% and 30% bonus to production and research, respectively, on those diffuclty levels. Please let me know if this increases your challenge satisfactorily
- Starbases will receive a maximum of 1 Gauss Cannon mount; Battle Stations 2, Star Fortresses 3. The weapon is simply too powerful. Starbases will now upgrade to Mass Drivers for their cannon weaponry if it is available
- Mass Driver Rate of Fire is halved but damage is doubled. This will make each shot count more without reducing effectiveness overall, but accuracy counts more. See shield change re: mass drivers below
- Starbase long range kinetic weaponry is now far less accurate. Battle stations and Star Fortresses have better accuracy.
- Starbases will now use shields
- You can now click on a planet's name to zoom in on it. Should help when there are big ships in the way
- All Battleships and Titans have had their sizes on the strategy map adjusted (if necessary) to avoid blotting out planets. This and the fact that you can click a planet's name should now be helpful in eliminating the issue where you are having a hard time accessing a planet
- Hard and Brutal will have more frequent random attacks- Brutal moreso than hard
- Phasors have had their damage and range buffed relative to Fusion and Ion Beams. Fusion and Ion Beams have received smaller buffs
- Canopy Shields receive a massive HP boost to compensate for the fact they they are impossible to miss
- The 1x3 and 2x2 laser cannon mounts have had their damage reduced by approximately 25%. This will make the 3x3 a clear winner in terms of DPS per slot, and should encourage upgrading to better weapons as they become available
- Weapons that fall into the "Kinetic Cannon" category are now slapped with a 50% penalty to damage versus shields - except the gauss cannon. This include Mass Drivers, Artillery, Flak, and Cluster Cannons. There are currently no real counters to these weapons; this change will make shields more effective against fleets focusing on Kinetic Weapons
- Mines now work appropriately
- Space Stations all receive a very nice hitpoint buff
- The AI will now attempt to limit the size of a sneak attack based on the difficulty settings. On Easy it will not bring a fleet that is bigger than the 75% of player's entire fleet. On Normal it will try to bring an equivalent-sized fleet, keeping the rest in reserve. On Hard, it is allowed to exceed the size of the player's fleet but will leave reserves. On Brutal it will not limit itself at all.
- Ships that are refit will now take the name of the new ship class unless they already had a customized name
- Every few turns, the AI will look to see if it can refit any ships to have upgraded technology, and pick a ship to refit if it can. Previously it was looking only to replace losses with upgraded ships