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Star Control: Secret Briefing #1 - The Jupiter Trip

Good afternoon.  Below is the captain's log from the recent Jupiter test of the prototype Emdrive MK I.  As a reminder, all information concerning the Emdrive remains classified.  Please return your Aug glasses to the front counter when you have finished this briefing. Captain's Log: March 2, 2086… There are 69 known moons of Jupiter.  Jupiter is the first planet we’re sending Star Control’s prototype ship to visit. Powered by the Darius Robotics... [read more]

3/2/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Star Control - The Art of Storytelling

We live in an age where developers actually brag about creating random quests as if that’s a good thing. In an age of gigabytes of memory the challenge isn’t in how many worlds you have, it is how to make those worlds compelling. In Star Control: Origins, there are no random missions.  No episode of Star Trek ever ended with Captain Kirk receiving 14 Dilithium crystals for his troubles.  Star Control is about telling stories in which you are the central character. ... [read more]

2/27/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Q+A regarding Star Control and Paul and Fred

Given the ongoing discussion of the legal dispute between Stardock and Paul Reiche and Fred Ford, designers of Star Control I and II, I wanted to take time to make Stardock's position clear and address inaccuracies that have been promoted. As the need arises, I’ll continue to update this post with additional questions and answers. Q: What are the issues in dispute? A:  On the eve of launch of the beta of Star Control: Origins in October 2017, a game Stardock has spen... [read more]

2/22/2018 By DeepSpaceNine in Star Control Journals

Star Control: February 2018 - Of the Lexites

The new Star Control is moving swiftly!  We expect to release Fleet Battles Beta 2 within the next several weeks as most of our work is focused on the adventure game. We have been listening to feedback from the fans and incorporated that feedback into the project. For example, below is a screenshot which shows the updated home solar system: Our home solar system Similarly, the ships themselves have gotten the material system in early.  Originally, this was going to ... [read more]

2/21/2018 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Galactic Civilizations III v3 Preview: Farming

How will we feed our billions? In Galactic Civilizations III, we presume that by the time we are colonizing planets, our home world has reached an equilibrium between food production and population.  But let's face it: when we colonize other planets, it'll take many years for those planets to build up sufficient farming infrastructure to produce for the kinds of populations you have on your home world.   Surplus Food Galactic Civilizations III will be treating food ... [read more]

2/20/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III: Map Sizes and Memory

One of the biggest challenges we have faced in developing Galactic Civilizations III has been map sizes and the memory they require. On a number of occasions, we have tried to reduce the the largest map sizes down to improve performance and shrink memory requirements.  And each time we have attempted to do that, we have ended up with a very vocal outcry of anger. But large map sizes come with a significant memory cost to be aware of. Galactic Civilizations, like its inspirati... [read more]

2/14/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III: Let's talk food.

Farming I'm not liking the farming mechanic.  It seemed like a good idea on paper but in practice, it's just tedious and exploitive.  Here's how I'd like to see it work: Some planets would have a Arable land tile including all starting planets.  Building on these tiles produces food. The tech tree would have a path for players who want to get the most out of those resources to get a lot of food.  The arable land resource be destructable -- you can destroy i... [read more]

2/13/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Stronger, smarter, faster - v2.8 for Galactic Civilizations III brings major AI improvements

AI for the massive-scale space strategy game now more human-like thanks to v2.8's  "supreme commander" system update For a complete list of changes, see the changelog at the bottom of the post! Galactic Civilizations III is the largest 4X space strategy sandbox game ever. Set in the 23rd century, you’ll compete against humans and all manner of aliens for galactic domination. Research new technologies, explore the galaxy, and colonize new worlds while engaging in dipl... [read more]

2/8/2018 By Island Dog in GalCiv III News

Secret Missions - our biggest DLC yet - is now available for Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation!

Build new units, conquer challenging scenarios, and engage in massive multiplayer battles on enormous maps in Secret Missions! Support for the DLC and additional fixes and changes available in the free v2.7 update today. See the changelog at the bottom of the post for all of the details. Also available from Steam Exciting new scenarios, new units, and huge maps await you in Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation’s largest DLC yet! Take on the role of a PHC leader... [read more]

2/1/2018 By Island Dog in Ashes of the Singularity News

Strategy Visions Episode 3: Making Fun AI

Designer Callum McCole shares his thoughts on creating AI in games that's fun and challenging. Check out the latest episode in our Strategy Visions series here:   [read more]

1/31/2018 By Island Dog in Stardock Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations 2018: Drengin Human Wars VIII

Humans vs. Drengin.  AI at NORMAL In September I played (and beat) a genius AI .  Let’s see how well we do now.  This is on the standard game, no CRUSADE. Version 2.8 (not released yet). A good start My first move Having rare earth metals next to Earth’s capital (heh, Siberia in this game) lets me start with a level 4 computer core. This means I get +1 research for the base core plus +4 research for being level 4.&... [read more]

1/28/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue Expansion Delivers Politics on a Galactic Scale

Now Announcing Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue! Establish a reign that starts on a single homeworld and expands across the galaxy. Billions of citizens. Thousands of light years. One strong leader: you.     Assemble your cabinet of advisors, choose a form of government, and  earn the trust and faith of your people in Intrigue! Not ready to pre-order?  Add it to your Steam Wishlist .      KEY FEATURES Form your ow... [read more]

1/23/2018 By Island Dog in GalCiv III News

Fight against Mars itself in the new Limited Supply DLC for Offworld Trading Company!

Stock Markets and Rival Businesses Aren't Your Enemies Here In "Limited Supply," your main goal is simple: survive. This was the only objective for the first pioneers from Earth before business on Mars started booming. Play through over a dozen challenging scenarios and  overcome the struggles of settling on Mars by aiding the growing colonies and ensuring their healthy futures. ------ DLC  Features ------ New Scenarios Experience over a... [read more]

1/18/2018 By Island Dog in Offworld News

Limited Supply Dev Journal

Offworld Trading Company has gotten a major patch and a brand new DLC this week, so we’re going to take some time today to break down what we’ve been up to for the past couple of months. Limited Supply Limited Supply is our new DLC, and it breaks Offworld’s rules in a way we haven’t done before. Featuring 17 new singleplayer scenarios, LS will allow players to explore what Mars was like in the early days of colonization. Gone are the free markets that rule Mars... [read more]

1/18/2018 By Zultar327 in Offworld Dev Journals

GALCIV DEV JOURNAL: January 2018

Happy new year! This month marks my one-year anniversary of returning to my beloved Galactic Civilizations as its lead designer.  And since then, we've made a lot of changes much to the joy and angst of many galactic conquerors. Unintended Consequences With the announcement of the third expansion pack to Galactic Civilizations III imminent, this serves as a good time to look at where we stand today. For the past year, I've been going through and weeding out improvements, event... [read more]

1/16/2018 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

GalCiv DEV Journal: You're in for an AI treat

Just in time for Christmas we released version 2.71 which is almost strictly about AI tweaks based on player feedback and saved games.  Now, someone might ask "Why do you need save games to make the AI do [obvious thing]?".  The answer is that with so many different ways of playing the game (both in terms of game setup and in-game strategies) it turns out people play the game very differently from one another.  It's one of the reasons why you have most people who think the... [read more]

12/20/2017 By Draginol in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III: Triumph of the Fans update!

Newest Updates Bring Players What They Asked For: New Fan Requested Features, Reduced Wait Times, Improved Game Balance and More For a detailed list of updates, view the changelog at the bottom of this post. v2.7 Highlights: Faster Load Times Data management used to be handled by an external, single-threaded process. This caused some headaches with certain anti-virus programs that would flag the behavior. Our adjustments merges the new data manager wi... [read more]

12/14/2017 By Island Dog in GalCiv III News

Upcoming Community Events this Weekend

We have several community events coming up this weekend. Check the links for the details on each event and how to participate. Star Control: Fleet Battles Event: Mostly Friendly Fire -- 16th December 2017 AotS Escalation Event: Metal Mayhem -- 16th December 2017 SoSE Rebellion Event: Prophecy -- 17th December 2017   [read more]

12/13/2017 By Island Dog in Stardock Dev Journals

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation - v2.65 Update is here

This Update Improves Maps, Adjusts Campaigns, and Provides Highly Requested Multiplayer Fix Update also adds new splash screens for campaigns, scenarios, and benchmark For a detailed list of updates, view the changelog at the bottom of this post.   v2.65 Highlights: Quality of Life Changes Fans of multiplayer are going to love this one! Regions owned by players who disconnect during a multiplayer match can now be claimed by others. Additio... [read more]

12/12/2017 By Island Dog in Ashes of the Singularity News

Long-Time Microsoft Veteran Kevin Unangst joins Stardock's Executive Team

Stardock Welcomes Kevin Unangst as Vice President of Global Marketing and Strategic Partnerships Kevin Unangst is a nearly 30-year veteran of Microsoft where he has helped lead Microsoft's product marketing and partnership efforts for Windows (including Windows 95, Windows XP, and Windows 10)  as well as Xbox 360 and Microsoft’s games portfolio - from Halo 4 to Kinect.  Most recently, he led the product marketing and partner marketing for gaming on Windows 10, in... [read more]

12/6/2017 By Island Dog in Stardock Dev Journals

Star Control: Origins - Meet the neighbors Part 1

The reboot of the Star Control franchise gives us the opportunity to start afresh with a new story and new characters. It avoids trampling on beloved characters and histories (ahem Star Control III) and introduces fans of the classic series to a whole new universe to explore and learn about.  We will continue to care-take the classic Star Control games while enabling players to explore the Origins universe as well as create their own universes, characters and lore to share. ... [read more]

11/28/2017 By Draginol in Star Control Journals

DEV Diary: Galactic Civilizations Fall 2017

Winter is coming.  And so is Galactic Civilizations III v2.7.  This version has been in the works for a long time as a general, all around, polish pass on everything in the game.   New Data Manager This is a boring feature that most people won't care about, but for those of you who have a lot of custom civilizations, you will find game load times to be much faster.  This is because the data management used to be handled by an external proce... [read more]

11/28/2017 By Draginol in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Strategy Visions Series: New Episode

From Classic RTS to Living Worlds What will the next generation of strategy games play like? Blogger Brandon "Wayward" Casteel from  The Wayward Strategist  and Stardock's founder Brad Wardell share their thoughts on how strategy games have evolved over the years and how they'll continue to evolve in years to come. [read more]

11/20/2017 By Tatiora in Stardock Dev Journals

Star Control: Origins Fleet Battles Beta Begins Today

Haven't pre-ordered yet? No problem! Pre-order now and join us in the beta About Star Control: Origins & Fleet Battles Mode Star Control: Origins is a science-fiction adventure game set in an open universe that places you as the captain of Earth's first interstellar vessel on a mission to find allies to help save humanity from certain annihilation.  The beta unlocks the Fleet Battles feature, where you'll assemble ships in a fleet and eng... [read more]

11/16/2017 By Island Dog in Star Control News

Star Control II: 25th Anniversary - On the Shoulders of Giants

  This week, the first beta of the Star Control reboot is unleashed on an unsuspecting universe.  25 years ago, Accolade released Star Control II. Back in 1992, Accolade was a major game publisher.  Some of the best games of all time came from them, including Test Drive, Power at Sea, Hard Ball, Steel Thunder, and many, many other games.  During the late 80's and 90's, they were a match for Electronic Arts and Activision.  Eventually, Accolade was acquired by... [read more]

11/16/2017 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

November Balance Testing

We’re always looking for ways for improve the competitive experience in Offworld Trading Company. Toward that end, today we’ll be making a new patch available on the next_version beta (located in your Steam beta properties). This patch is focused on adjusting game balance, to make it so that players can consider all available headquarters when beginning game.   Transparent Aluminum   Transparent Aluminum was a relatively innocuous patent when it was added to Ceres... [read more]

11/15/2017 By Zultar327 in Offworld Dev Journals

Star Control: Origins - The Lore We Know So Far

Players have been contributing questions to the Lore Google doc .  There is a lot even we don't know yet about this universe.  It's a strange, complicated and ancient place and many of those who do know are not very cooperative with us for various reasons including excuses like "You're just meat" (whatever that means) and "Seriously, you're just meat". So let's go over what we do know as of November 14, 2087. [POSSIBLE MINOR SPOILERS] A few assumptions about you If you... [read more]

11/14/2017 By Draginol in Star Control Journals

Going Off World

“We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depths of our answers.” -Carl Sagan  Sometimes, you just happen to be at the right place at the right time. Sometimes, the stars align (forgive the space pun) and everything falls into place just as it was meant to be. Sometimes, the universe slaps you in the face with an opportunity and cheerily exclaims, “Here you go!” This is exactly what happened to planetary geologist Kirby Runyon, ... [read more]

11/13/2017 By Tatiora in Offworld Dev Journals

Ashes: Escalation and Sins: Rebellion Weekend Community Events

There are a couple of community events happening this weekend for Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation and Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion!  We have an Events page that highlights current events, videos, reviews, and more! Be sure to check that page each week as we add items often. https://www.stardock.com/games/events Detail for both the community events are there, so check them out!   [read more]

11/10/2017 By Island Dog in Stardock Dev Journals

A Guided Tour of Star Control: Origins BETA 1

It has been over 20 years since the last Star Control game was released.  Today, we open up Beta 1 of Star Control: Origins in the form of Star Control: Origins - Fleet Battles. While the main game of Star Control is about exploring the galaxy, meeting various aliens, investigating strange new worlds all within a living universe, we also include a combat mini-game that we call Fleet Battles.  In Fleet battles, you assemble a fleet from a group of ships and then engage in battle with... [read more]

11/10/2017 By Draginol in Star Control Journals

Star Control: Origins - Beta 1 Schedule

Greetings! Beta 1 is fast approaching and we want to give you a tentative schedule of what to expect. BETA 1: November 16 This is the Super-Melee beta. Super-Melee is a ship vs. ship combat game. In it, you assemble a fleet of ships. You have a total of 100 points to use for your fleet with ships costing between 5 and 20 points depending on the ship. You will be able to battle against the computer with various difficulty level or against other players via the Internet in eit... [read more]

11/6/2017 By Draginol in Star Control Journals

The Music of Mars

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” -Berthold Auerbach When creating a game, there are several pieces that need to fall into place in order to make it a complete package. Obviously, the core concept and gameplay elements need to be there. Then there’s the writing, the overall design, the marketing...and, of course, the score. Mohawk Studios was lucky enough to have Grammy Award winning composer Christopher Tin (Baba Yetu, Civilization IV... [read more]

11/6/2017 By Tatiora in Offworld Dev Journals

v2.6 for Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation is Now Available

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation v2.6 Includes Updated Tutorials, Quality of Life Changes, UI Improvements, and More! View the full changelog below.   What's new in v2.6: Updated Tutorials We're retiring our old tutorial and replacing it! Concise and fun, this new set will pack in more important information for new players and provide a better overall learning experience. UI Improvements The unit panel for the UI will be condensed to disp... [read more]

11/2/2017 By Island Dog in Ashes of the Singularity News

Take to the Stars Episode Thirteen: Joji-5

Recorded by Joji-5 Production Head - Yoshimi Robotics Humans are strange creatures. There are others among us who believe I should feel a sense of satisfaction or gratitude toward them for having created us, but such an emotion is not only improbable, but misplaced. We were created to make life easier for humanity, and we have certainly done - and will continue to do - just that. It was hardly a surprise when our human “masters” found a way to cultivate the... [read more]

10/30/2017 By Tatiora in Offworld Dev Journals

Midweek Madness: Save up to 70% on Galactic Civilizations III: Gold

Embark on a Grand 4X Adventure in GalCiv III PLUS - New Mech Parts DLC Now Available   Galactic Civilizations III: Gold - $93.99  $27.00 Experience new depth and another side of galactic exploration and conquest with both expansions and all of the DLC! Bundle Includes: Galactic Civilizations III Crusade Expansion Mercenaries Expansion Mega Events DLC Revenge of the Snathi DLC Precursor Worlds DLC Ri... [read more]

10/24/2017 By Island Dog in GalCiv III News

Take to the Stars Episode Twelve: Mikhail Nekrasov

From the desk of Dr. Mikhail Nekrasov Space has all but given me a new life. I never meant to come here. For me, the dangers of space travel never seemed worth braving. I was happy in Berlin, where I was surrounded by family and respected colleagues. My research was based on Earth - aluminum is as abundant there as it is anywhere else, so why would I want to leave? I didn’t want to, but a thief forced my hand. When I heard that the holo-imaging device I’d work... [read more]

10/23/2017 By Tatiora in Offworld Dev Journals

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