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DEV DIARY: Campaign Overview

Recently the “The Patron and the Patriot” DLC was released for Offworld Trading Company. This DLC focuses on revamping the OTC campaign, specifically aiming to add story elements and new game mechanics focused on increasing replayability. But before we get into the DLC we need to discuss what the campaign actually is, so that’s what we’ll be doing today.   Offworld was designed for quick, competitive games. Companies rise and fall in a matter of minutes, and most matches fini... [read more]

11/15/2016 By Zultar327 in Offworld Dev Journals

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion v1.86 Released

Ironclad Games and Stardock Entertainment are pleased to announce the release of version 1.86 of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion today. Today's update further optimizes the CPU and AI systems, while including several fixes for the Outlaw Sectors DLC.  Change Log Advent Reanimation and any other form of cloning will no longer clone Militia units.  Truce Amongst Rogues is now with just the pirates - not rebels, neutrals or militia.  Modders can now make use of the ... [read more]

11/15/2016 By Yarlen in Sins News

Get ready for a lot of bitching

Last month, CariElf, the lead developer of GalCiv I and II rejoined us. Later this month, I rejoin the GalCiv III team.  In effect, it'll be a reunion of the GalCiv II team as we take the game to the next level. But before we begin the series of GalCiv III updates that leads into the big expansion, let me offer you the same advice I've tried to give others here: If you want to succeed, you must slay the three F's: Friends, Family, Faith.   And in the spirit of t... [read more]

11/14/2016 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation, Massive-Scale Warfare in an Epic RTS - Now Available

  Choose your side amidst the rising tensions between the Post-Human Coalition and the AI beings, the Substrate. Conquer new and exciting worlds, build unique and diverse armies, and engage in epic battles against up to a dozen other players on huge maps. This expansion adds global zoom, specialized units, advanced aircraft, new game setup options, new maps and terrains, and so much more. Unlike the base game, Escalation is designed with veteran RTS players in mind. Take a lo... [read more]

11/10/2016 By Island Dog in Ashes of the Singularity News

Ashes Season 2 Shoutout and Season 3 Launch

Season 2 of Ashes of the Singularity ranked multiplayer has come to an end! Since the game's release, we here at Stardock have enjoyed interacting with a very robust and enthusiastic community of players. Some of our top-ranked Season 2 players have held in their top 10 spots from Season 1, but a few have been knocked out of the rankings and replaced by some newcomers. Let's take a look at the results: TOP 10 PLAYERS FROM SEASON 2: 1. DanailLazov 2.... [read more]

11/10/2016 By Tatiora in Ashes of the Singularity News

Offworld Trading Company Update 6

***RELEASED 10/27/16***   Features Campaigns no longer auto-saved on defeat HQs are auto-selected after founding Added Include Ceres Location option for the campaign Balance On Ceres, Chem Labs now give an adjacency bonus to Nuke Plants On Ceres, Glass Kilns get a 50% bonus on Salts Fixes Fixed items causing tutorial progress to be blocked. Fix for joining a Ceres lobby without owning the DLC Fix for popup buttons being oversized ... [read more]

10/27/2016 By Island Dog in Offworld News

The Patron and The Patriot DLC

Greetings! We’re releasing the biggest DLC for Offworld Trading Company yet today.  It adds a lot of new content and is, btw, only $4.99. The Campaign The Patron and the Patriot is a DLC pack focused on enhancing the single player campaign mode within Offworld Trading Company. The campaign mode that shipped with the base game operates like a competitive tournament that lasts for seven games. There are nine characters to play, each with their own set of perks... [read more]

10/26/2016 By Draginol in Offworld Dev Journals

DEV DIARY: Black Market

Continuing the look back through OTC’s development, today we’ll be focusing on the Black Market. The Black Market is a very familiar mechanic to anyone who’s played OTC for more than a couple hours. This is the tool that player’s have to directly and immediately interact with their opponents, by blowing up their key structures, disabling large sections of their headquarters, or sweeping all of their resources out of the sky. That’s why it might be surprising to learn that the Black Market w... [read more]

10/25/2016 By Zultar327 in Offworld Dev Journals

Who is Stardock?

With Star Control: Origins announced, people are wondering who Stardock is and what we’re all about.  Many of you are already familiar with us but for those who aren’t, here’s a background. Game History When you read the comments on Stardock’s history we’re best known for our work on Galactic Civilizations and Sins of a Solar Empire.  You will also see some people mention Elemental which had a rough launch but came back with its sequel and e... [read more]

10/18/2016 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Ars Technica takes a first look at Star Control: Origins

Lee Hutchinson at Ars Technica got a sneak peek of Stardock's new Star Control: Origins game.  The first short video of gameplay is with the article. You can see it all here: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/10/a-first-look-at-star-control-origins-gameplay-prequel-due-for-release-in-2h17/ It's a great primer on the original series (learn more here:  https://www.starcontrol.com/starcontrolclassic ) and the challenges of making a new Star Control game. Lee talks about the... [read more]

10/18/2016 By Frogboy in Star Control News

Star Control: Origins - Founders Program Phase II

Greetings! Today we are opening up the Founder’s Program to Phase II in preparation for alpha testing (Fall) and beta testing (Winter).  If you haven’t seen the gameplay teaser, you can check it out here: https://youtu.be/K6ntg47q_cM We’re still very early in development as you can see.  The creatures and other cool stuff on the planets weren’t quite ready to show yet and we’re saving the best parts for a later reveal. Feature status ... [read more]

10/18/2016 By Draginol in Star Control Journals

DEV DIARY: Taking Stock

For those who don’t know, Offworld Trading Company came to Early Access on Steam back in February 2015. Immediately developers and community started working together to make the game the best it could be. Part of this process was making sure the community always had a good idea of what was coming next to OTC. Ever since release almost 6 months ago, finding information about what’s on the horizon has become more difficult for our players. The primary goal of this diary will be to make... [read more]

10/18/2016 By Zultar327 in Offworld Dev Journals

Sorcerer King: Rivals the October update

  The first significant update to Sorcerer King: Rivals it out.  Most of it had to do with making the neutrals behave more intelligently (attacking enemies, building things better, etc.).  We also update the UI to make the Ascension spell much more accessible to players. We also had a pretty major improvement to late game performance thanks to a customer who sent me a saved game who was running into this.  The result is that late game should be much much fa... [read more]

10/17/2016 By Draginol in Sorcerer King Dev Journals

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

Hi everyone! For those of you who don't know me, I was the lead developer on GalCiv1, GalCiv2 and I did some of the game engine code for GalCiv3 before I went on maternity leave and decided to stay at home with my daughter. I loved staying at home with my daughter, but she's a little older now and I thought that it might be nice to be around adults again.  At the moment, I'll only be working part-time. Currently, the plan is for me to work on low-level engine issues with m... [read more]

10/17/2016 By CariElf in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Gaming Trend Gives Sorcerer King: Rivals an 85 Out of 100!

Gaming Trend has their review up of Sorcerer King: Rivals and gives it an 85 out of 100! " With quite a few twists on the traditional 4X formula, Sorcerer King: Rivals has a lot under the hood. The combat is a substantial improvement, offering a new way to engage the enemy, and the RPG elements expand gameplay even further. The editor is a cherry on top of an already full package." Read the full review here.... http://gamingtrend.com/reviews/a-new-combat-twist-on-the-4x-form... [read more]

10/12/2016 By Island Dog in Sorcerer King News

DEV DIARY: GalCiv III & Other Languages

  Right now, Galactic Civilizations III supports:   English French German Russian   Because of the way we made Galactic Civilizations III, translation is very expensive.  There are a lot of words.  But nearly all of it is in the technology descriptions. In this screenshot you see the short-description. And this one shows the long description. Translation costs by the word.  That long description has 38 words and each civiliza... [read more]

10/10/2016 By Draginol in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Sorcerer King Rivals: September Update

Greetings! I will try to do these overall updates at least once per season but right now once a month. ## Version 2.02 is coming ## Just checked in a bunch of optimizations for performance on bigger maps. We are also working on some UI updates to help make it more obvious how to cast the Spell of Ascension (it'll be part of the UI rather than just a spell in the spell book). ## User Manual ## We are working on an updated user manual for Rivals. If there is anythin... [read more]

9/30/2016 By Island Dog in Sorcerer King Dev Journals

Dev Journal SK: Optimizing a big big world in Sorcerer King: Rivals

I had the opportunity to get a saved game from a player who was experiencing long turn times.  This was extremely useful because it’s one of those things you “hear” about sometimes but it “never happens on my machine”. I was able to reproduce it and the results were fascinating. A huge part of the cost was recalculating those zones of control.  This is something that has always been in there (going all the way back to Elemental) but over time, it appears to ... [read more]

9/30/2016 By Draginol in Sorcerer King Dev Journals

Sorcerer King and his Rivals

PC gaming, at some point in the past year or two, has changed from expecting expansion packs to be offered as an integrated product to demanding they be released as DLC.  Sorcerer King: Rivals stumbled into this brave new world. Our story so far: Last year, we released a fantasy 4X/RPG game called Sorcerer King.  It takes place in our Elemental game universe and is a combination of a 4X strategy game with RPG elements.  It’s a really fun game. In that game, you start ... [read more]

9/26/2016 By Draginol in Sorcerer King Dev Journals

Available Now - Become a God in the 4X Fantasy Strategy Game, Sorcerer King: Rivals

  Ascend to Godhood in Sorcerer King: Rivals! From the makers of Galactic Civilizations comes a new fantasy 4X game!  The land has already been conquered. The malevolent Sorcerer King now seeks to become a god. Little does he know, however, that you can ascend as well thanks to the powerful Forge of the Overlord that only you possess. Explore the lands and their wonders, expand with new cities and outposts, exploit the resources and treasures you find and exterminate all t... [read more]

9/22/2016 By Island Dog in Sorcerer King News

Sorcerer King: Rivals release day!

Greetings! Many years ago I wrote Galactic Civilizations for OS/2 in my dorm room in college. Some of you reading this may have even played it a long long time ago. Following its success, I always wanted to make a fantasy strategy game. Our first try at it was somewhat of a disaster. We made this amazing, custom, fantasy 4X engine but we couldn't quite get the game right.  That game, of course, was Elemental: War of Magic.  I was so disappointed in it that we gave its sequel ... [read more]

9/22/2016 By Draginol in Sorcerer King Dev Journals

Modding Diary #1: Sorcerer King: Rivals Quests

  Overview Since there’s a lot of material to go over, I’ll try to be as succinct as possible. For Diary #1 we will cover: Directory Structure Quick Links How to cheat Sample Quest: Editing existing Sample Quest: Creating new one Debugging your quest Sharing your Quests   Directory Structure For our purposes, I am going to refer to this directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sorcerer Kin... [read more]

9/21/2016 By Draginol in Sorcerer King Dev Journals

Sorcerer King: Rivals vs the original Sorcerer King

Once upon a time… In the Summer of 2015, Stardock released a 4X-RPG hybrid called Sorcerer King.  The premise of the game was that after the events of Fallen Enchantress (or choose any fantasy 4X really) the bad guy (in this case, the Sorcerer King) had conquered the world.  The good guys had lost. Not content with ruling the world, the Sorcerer King had begun to use a mysterious artifact known as the Bane of Curgen (an orb) to destroy the shards of Elemental to ascend to g... [read more]

9/15/2016 By Frogboy in Sorcerer King Dev Journals

Lifetime Founders: The "Name a Planet" submission period is officially open!

  Thanks for being a Lifetime Founder for Star Control! Grab your space helmets and your thesaurus, friends - it's time for you to name a planet! How to submit your planet name: Go to www.starcontrolgame.com/nameaplanet   Login with the Stardock account you purchased the founder's edition under and submit away!   But first, there are a few provisions - quid pro quo, you know how it goes: Only ONE entry per user.  You can change your... [read more]

9/8/2016 By Island Dog in Star Control News

Star Control: September 2016 Update

One year ago I wrote the September 2015 update. You can read that here . A lot has happened in the past year.  So let's get right to it! Greetings! With Offworld Trading Company now released as well as Ashes of the Singularity released, the Star Control team has gotten reinforcements.  The team is now a who's-who of some of the most experienced game developers in the industry.   Broadly speaking, the Star Control team is made up of the leads of Civilization IV, Civil... [read more]

8/31/2016 By Frogboy in Star Control News

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation Releases this Fall!

More Players, More Worlds, More Units, More  Everything... in the new Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation Standalone Expansion Stardock has revealed the first expansion pack for its massive-scale RTS, Ashes of the Singularity. Escalation lets you take your war to the next strategic level on huge maps, destroy your enemy with devastating orbital abilities, bolster your armies with unique new units, and much more!   Ashes of ... [read more]

8/24/2016 By Island Dog in Ashes of the Singularity News

New Campaign, Ship Parts and Styles in The Altarian Prophecy DLC

Face Down Enemies and Forge New Alliances in The Altarian Prophecy DLC Check out the new campaign and explore new ship parts and styles for more customization New Campaign Discover the story of the alliance between mankind and the Altarians! Spanning 3 missions, you must do whatever it takes to overcome the Dominion of the Korx and their mysterious masters, the Drath. New Ship Styles Customize your ships... [read more]

8/23/2016 By Island Dog in GalCiv III News

Ceres Initiative DLC

Originally posted by Soren Johnson on the Mohawk Games blog.   Today, we released the  Ceres Initiative DLC , which is a entirely new location to play  Offworld , with new terrain and even a new resource tree. The rule changes are the following: Resources diminish over time (a High resource tile becomes Medium and then Low) Uranium is a new resource (it’s a metal, like Iron and Aluminum, so it is produced by with the Metal Mine) New buildin... [read more]

8/22/2016 By Island Dog in Offworld Dev Journals

New Ceres Initiative DLC takes you off Mars and brings new resources, buildings, and more!

Travel Beyond Mars in The Ceres Initiative DLC The largest asteroid in the belt has chartered its first colony and there's money to be made... Humanity proved that we could thrive on Mars… but, now we need to learn how to survive on a dead rock. Enjoy the brand new scenery of Ceres while mining for Uranium, a resource unique to the landscape of the frozen asteroid. Use it to power the new Nuclear Power Plant building and fuel your colony while you fight for dominance ... [read more]

8/22/2016 By Island Dog in Offworld News

New Oblivion DLC Releases Today With New Maps + Scenario

Conquer a Power Hungry Substrate Foe in Oblivion The Post-Human Coalition and the Substrate continue to fight for control of worlds across the galaxy as the PHC looks to expand their reach even further. Crush your enemies and conquer a variety of new maps, or face down an unexpected and powerful enemy in a new scenario with the Oblivion DLC. NEW SCENARIO:  Oblivion A powerful Substrate entity driven mad with power emerges and has turned against eve... [read more]

8/17/2016 By Island Dog in Ashes of the Singularity News

Sorcerer King: Rivals Expansion Releases this September!

Decide the fate of the world this September in the new Sorcerer King: Rivals Standalone Expansion Only you can save the world... or destroy it. Stardock has revealed the stand-alone expansion for its fantasy 4X strategy game, Sorcerer King.  Sorcerer King: Rivals flips the original game's premise on its head by giving the player the ability to become a god with your rivals trying to stop you through any means necessary. Rivals has two new playable races complete with... [read more]

8/17/2016 By Island Dog in Sorcerer King News

Offworld Trading Company update 5 (ver 13492)

***RELEASED 8/11/2016*** Note: This update will break saves. You campaign progression and unlocks will be maintained, but saves in the middle of a game won't work.   Features Added an option to Turn Off Unprofitable Buildings You can now speed up Daily Challenge games (if you want!) Balance Debt thresholds are higher in games with 5+ players Increased effect of Power Shortages and Surpluses Lowered starting Offworld prices for Food & Oxygen Colony grows... [read more]

8/9/2016 By DerekPaxton in Offworld News

Ashes of the Singularity v1.3 is Now Available

v1.3 Adds New Maps and More Responsive Units Have greater control over your army's movements and groupings in v1.3! Wage war against  your opponent on new maps and coordinate more easily with teammates using the Map Ping feature.  For a list of all the changes, check out the changelog below!   New Features Unit Responsiveness - Units now respond faster to move orders and reach their destination more efficie... [read more]

8/4/2016 By Island Dog in Ashes of the Singularity News

Ashes Season 1 Shoutout and Season 2 Launch

Season 1 of Ashes of the Singularity ranked multiplayer has come to an end! In the months since the game's release, we here at Stardock have enjoyed interacting with a very robust and enthusiastic community of players. A few of you in particular came crashing into Season 1 with your proverbial guns a'blazing, taking us (and the rest of the player base) by storm. TOP 10 PLAYERS FROM SEASON 1: 1. DanailLazov 2. DasUnding 3. ... [read more]

8/3/2016 By Tatiora in Ashes of the Singularity News

New Lost Treasures DLC for Galactic Civilizations III - Now Available!

Discover the Secrets of Long Forgotten Worlds in the new Lost Treasures DLC for Galactic Civilizations III! Guide your empire into a new age of prosperity as you handle brand new unexpected events and challenges New Colony Events As you colonize planets, new colonization events will challenge your people and your integrity. Each new event provides new Ideology choices that may award unique planetary improvements and ship compon... [read more]

7/27/2016 By Island Dog in GalCiv III News

GalCiv III's most popular DLC

When it comes to DLC, what is popular is not always what one would expect. To that end, here are the top 3 most popular GalCiv III DLC in terms of units sold per day average.   #1 Revenge of the Snathi Not in a million years would I have guessed this.  The DLC that delivered the psychopathic squirrels that have been a gag in the GalCiv games for years as a major civilization takes the lead.   #2 Precursor Worlds This is the one I w... [read more]

7/25/2016 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

New Epic Map Pack DLC for Ashes of the Singularity Now Available

Wage an Epic War on Sprawling New Maps Grab your friends - and your enemies - for some matches of epic proportions on these new, large-sized maps! Holding between 4 and 6 players, each map provides exciting opportunities for free-for-all matches, large team matches, and more. The new scenario will leave you fighting for a planet's control against the enemy Substrate in order to hold onto your fortified plateau long enough to seize victory. NEW SC... [read more]

7/21/2016 By Island Dog in Ashes of the Singularity News

New Campaign DLC for The Political Machine 2016 is Now Available

New Campaign DLC brings Ladder Mode, Historical Candidates, and New Challenges Battle for your spot in the White House against some of the most famous (and infamous!) presidents in American history.  New Ladder Mode Democrat or Republican? Choose your side and take the nation by storm as you campaign against members of the opposite party to win the presidency. Don’t let your victories go to your head, though - each new o... [read more]

7/19/2016 By Island Dog in Political Machine News

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