Holistic Design Inc.

The latest update not only fixes a couple bugs and adds quality of life improvements, but it also provides a significant overhaul for the Phoenix mod we introduced last year. Phoenix is a great example of what modders can do with the game tools.

EFSe Changes

• Added UI symbols for towing and for being tower (towING and towED)
• Fix a problem with missed payments preventing ending a turn
• Sect change timers should now be correct
• Phoenix mod updates will arrivein it’s own section in a bit
• Units with negative healing (only in mods) will disappear if 0 hp

Phoenix Mod Changes

• Fixed text spasming issues.
• Corrected infantry movement cost on mountains (now +1 instead of +2).
• Set voting units to the correct owner faction (55 instead of 1000).
• Passed over tech.dat to correct and clean up technology descriptions.
• Added several missing artwork assets.

Technology

• STRBuild tech updated to match vanilla behavior.
• Gunship now requires Hovertech instead of Energy Physics.
• Energy Physics now unlocks Attack Helicopters instead; tech description updated accordingly.
• Hover Infantry now correctly requires Hovertech.
• Dervishes are now built in Institutes and still require Academician.
• Renamed Old Scientist to Mad Scientist; now requires Scientist (still not buildable).
• Sensor Ships now require Scientist.
• Void Citadels now require Scientist.

Naval & Space Unit Balance

• Naval Cruiser movement increased to 9 (from 2).
• Naval Cruiser build time increased to 4 turns (from 2).
• Naval Attack Transport movement increased 7 → 8.
• Barge movement increased 1 → 3.
• Re-added Star Supply Ship (mobile healer)
• Reduced Star Fighter weapon strength.
• Reduced Star Torpedo Fighter armor.
• Freighters and bulk haulers are now more resistant to strikecraft.
• Freighter cargo reduced 9 → 8 (better synergy with bulk haulers).
• Fast Freighter cargo reduced 5 → 4 (logistical rounding, rule-of-half consistency).
• Most armored vehicles now use 9 movement as a baseline.

Terrain, Movement & Logistics

• Removed camouflage penalty for vehicles and amphibious units over oceans.
• Significantly increased starlane connectivity.
• Massively expanded starlane connections further.
• Star terrain rebalanced to improve cutoff mechanics.
• Added river near B2 Hawkwood Starport and District to allow transfers.
• Added substantial additional carrying capacity across the game.

Galaxy

• New Galaxy Map Layout
• Transferred ownership of Imperial Guard assets on Stigmata to the Garrison.
• Removed Void Citadel on B2, replaced with a Stardock assigned to the fleet.
• Removed Sceptor on Leminkainen.
• Added missing Church to Li Halan homeworld.
• All homeworlds now start with additional troops.
• Stealth War Marshals can now attack on B2.
• Strengthened Absolution Rebels to survive longer against the Symbiot.

AI & Balance

• Barred AI from producing certain upgrades to prevent excessive spam.

Steam Workshop Integration and GOG Mod Launcher

This has been one of the features most requested by Emperor of the Fading Suns players and modders, and now you can access EFS mods quickly and easily from the game launcher. The launcher also gives you access to our EFSe map editor.

When you select “Play” in Steam or on GOG, you start the new launcher. If you select “Play” in the launcher with no mods selected, you will select the classic version of the game. You also have the ability to select mods. If on Steam, you can select from mods stored on your computer or in the Steam Workshop. If on GOG, you can select from mods on your computer, though we are working with GOG to upload mods there as well.

Phoenix Mod Shipped with Game

You can select the Phoenix mod in the new launcher and try out a very different version of Emperor of the Fading Suns. Enjoy!

Other Enhancements

• Improved how AI factions handle lab building 
• Patriach death interval is now randomized 
• The AI uses the House sliders (taxes, tithe) more effectively
• Fixed a problem when the game failed to load correct images
• Players can no longer accept multiple contracts for the same vote 
• Players now receive messages when accepting or rejecting contracts
• Structures take collateral damage during combat and bombardments
• On the message screen, messages players have selected and read are displayed in a darker color 
• Hitting Esc on Byzantium II no longer interferes with ministry assignments 
• Corrected how cities consumed food with Universal Warehouse set to off
• Group Finder fixed to handle end of turn correctly 
• Adjusted the House screen to prevent overflows with large numbers 
• Added various tooltips, mostly related to sect bonuses 
• Fixed a problem with failed loans being paid multiple times 
• Fixed issue with difficulty settings not being applied correctly in some cases
• Fixed various Map editor issues

Modding

• Allows modders to set a units cargo capacity to 16. The classic game still caps storage at four units
• The maximum number of rounds in a combat are now moddable 
• Max resource pod capacity is now 9999 
• Corrected how wide menus align themselves (modded games only) 

Holistic Design, Inc. has started an official Discord channel for the classic Machiavelli the Prince 4X strategy game, where you can discuss the game, find other players for multiplayer, or share bugs and suggestions. It is part of the Atlanta Game Plaza, which is a Discord server for indie games. Yes, you can make the argument that you don’t exterminate your enemies in Machiavelli, but “exterminate” has always been shorthand for “gain dominance over” in many 4X games 🙂 https://discord.gg/me9V4d2pVq

You can get Machiavelli the Prince HERE

Download the manual HERE

Quality of Life Improvements

• If you select a group that is sentried, Select All unsentries and selects all
• The ‘A’ key is now bound to Select All
• Sentrying a sentried stack unsentries and selects it
• The City Info screen now shows more information about its status
• Ctrl+N now toggles names on the galaxy map
• The “Go To” button on the City Info screen opens a planet map if needed
• When auto-cycling between spaceships during your turn, auto-select selects the correct planet
• Disabled controls can no longer have focus. This fixes problems with pressing Enter on some tutorial messages, among other things
• Dragging a cargo on top of another now only offers the merge optionif they’re compatible cargo types
• Numpad keys now work on list boxes and scrollbars
• Changed the highlighed color of the currently built unit in the Build dialog
• Improved behaviour of linked edit and scroller widgets
• The number displayed on ministry units now has inverted colors
• Removed the Wait button in the end-of-turn voting dialog
• Shortened the Imperial faction names in the Messages dialog

Fixes

• Some spaceships were able to shoot back at PTS units during landing – no more!
• Fixed a problem with Officer bonuses not working correctly in space combat
• Add a variety of late-game performance improvements that speed up AI turns
• Fixed a problem with PTS units sometimes not firing properly
• Fixed a problem with overflowing agoras
• Fixed a bug that caused transports to sometimes be invulnerable
• Fixed a problem with the camouflage relic bonus
• The voting dialog now has a background
• Fixed a problem with relics that improve your “like” ratings with other Houses, the Church and the League working without Theurgy being researched
• Fixed a problem with famine causing 100% city health loss
• Fixed a problem with out-of-fuel gunships crashing if there was more than one
• Fixed incorrect palette of the encyclopedia files
• Fixed a missing unit background on city info page
• Fixed some leftover issues with unit production overflow
• Fixed unit count painting for ministry ships
• Fixed an issue allowing more than one ruin on a hex
• Fixed naval transport movement on river deltas
• Fixed a possible crash when entering too much text into a text box

Modding

• League warchest increase is moddable
• Painting an area in the map editor only registers once per tile
• The map editor now validates planet coordinates
• Production city names are now moddable
• Fixed drawing of long planet names (only affects mods)
• Fixed a problem with the map editor registering extra clicks when leaving the planet map