Distant Worlds 2

[Asid]

Distant Worlds 2: Return of the Shakturi - Dev Log #1
Wed, 11 September 2024



The Rise of the Shakturi



Hello everyone. This is the first of three Developer Blogs we’ll be doing in the lead up to the release of Return of the Shakturi, the first feature expansion for Distant Worlds 2. This initial blog will focus on the Shakturi crisis, Planet Destroyers, and Mega Ships. Please note that you will have a choice of whether you want to play with the Shakturi crisis or not and the ability to adjust when the crisis begins to suit your challenge level.
The second and third blogs will go into detail on additional features and improvements that this expansion brings to the base game, including those that will be available as part of a free update for all Distant Worlds 2 players and those that are available even if you are not playing through the actual Shakturi crisis.

As most Distant Worlds players know, the Shakturi are an ancient and terrible threat which was responsible for the last cataclysmic galactic war, the scars and remains of which are visible throughout the current galaxy. The story to date through the base game and the faction DLCs has given various clues about the Shakturi. You’ve seen places of gravitic instability and ancient closed wormholes, bits and pieces of old communication logs detailing a massive conflict, mind-affecting viruses, and some remaining “vaults” set up by artificial intelligences called the Ancient Guardians to preserve knowledge from that previous era. Along with all that, for those who searched well enough, there was even a single ancient but non-functioning Mortalen planet destroyer.
With Return of the Shakturi, you now get to experience what a proper endgame crisis in Distant Worlds 2 is like and what fighting against (or with) a major endgame threat like the Shakturi means for your empire.







The crisis begins with a gradual build-up, which can be seen in the livestream preview we did, but once the Shakturi arrive, it becomes evident fairly quickly that they have some knowledge and abilities that are beyond other empires. The Shakturi have mastered certain areas of research that appear for the first time in this expansion – namely Psychic, Genetic Engineering and Biowarfare. We’ll go through each of these in detail below.
Their powerful Psychic abilities allow the Shakturi to enhance their diplomacy, espionage, counter-espionage, space and ground combat. They can take over characters and even in the worst case take over the leader of an empire, at a minimum causing chaos but for some empires like Hive Minds, potentially even vassalizing that empire. In space combat, the Shakturi can incapacitate the crews of your ships, or even cause them to hallucinate and fire on their own allies. In ground combat, your divisions can be disabled or even caused to temporarily defect to the Shakturi side.



All of these are limited by the psychic energy generated by the Shakturi in the galaxy. In other words, the more Shakturi there are, the more frequent and more powerful their capabilities will be. You will need to start from the beginning, understanding what psychic energy is, how to disrupt it and how to defend against it in all of those areas. There is a large defensive Psychic research tree for you to unlock to help level the field against the Shakturi.
The Shakturi have also long been focused on “perfecting” their own forms and abilities and experiment relentlessly with Genetic Engineering to create better servants for themselves. You can follow their lead and research ways to improve your own species, to make your empire, ships and ground troops more powerful. The Shakturi are also busy creating and manufacturing new space creatures to unleash against you as well as influencing those that already exist to become hostile against all that are not in the Shaktur Axis. If you want to be able to better counter the Shakturi influence over these creatures, this is where you should focus your research.



Biowarfare gives the Shakturi the ability to design and unleash plagues of various kinds to weaken and prepare other factions for conquest, including making them more susceptible to Psychic influence and control. This area of research will allow you to cure those plagues, saving many millions of your empire’s population and making them a harder target for the Shakturi. You may also be able to design and deploy some plagues of your own, specifically targeted against the Shakturi. Take care though as Biowarfare often leads to unintended consequences.
The Shakturi endgame crisis progresses through various stages, culminating with a massive Alliance vs. Alliance war between the Shaktur Axis and the Freedom Alliance for control of the galaxy. Depending on your choices, you may end up helping the Freedom Alliance, the Shakturi Axis or trying to stay neutral (or fighting against both!). Good luck!

To make that final war more epic, Return of the Shakturi also comes packed with Planet Destroyers and Mega Ships. Each faction in the game, including those added post-release (with the exception of the Ikkuro, they’ll get something special post-release), will now have access to a special Mega Ship. Most of them act as Planet Destroyers and since the Shakturi will bring their own Planet Destroyers, it’s good to have an equivalent counter if you need it. Some are different though and I’ll review those below. These mega ships will also now be available separate from that endgame crisis in normal gameplay, as long as you have the Return of the Shakturi expansion.


Humans: Planet Destroyer with a Super Mass Driver weapon



Ackdarians: Planet Destroyer with a Super Beam weapon



Mortalen: Planet Destroyer with a Super Mass Driver weapon



Haakonish: Mega Ship with a Massive Gravitic Pulse weapon



Teekan: Mega Ship with a Massive Ion Bomb weapon



Boskara: Planet Destroyer with a Super Firestorm Torpedo weapon



Zenox: Stealthy Mega Ship with Super Long Range Sensors (a mobile Stealth Mega Monitoring Station which can fight)



Dhayut: Planet Destroyer with a Super Beam weapon



Quameno: Mega Ship with a Mobile Robotic Troop Foundry



Gizurean: Planet Destroyer with a Super Beam weapon


In the next blog, we’ll talk more about Outposts, the new multi-Empire Alliances and the space-based start option for your civilization, which are additional new features included in this expansion.

Wish list now:
Distant Worlds 2: Return of the Shakturi

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2926560/Distant_Worlds_2_Return_of_the_Shakturi/

[Asid]

Distant Worlds 2: Return of the Shakturi - Dev Log #2
Fri, 27 September 2024



Expanding Horizons


Refugees, Outposts and Alliances



Hello everyone.  This is the second of three Developer Blogs we’ll be doing in the lead up to the release of Return of the Shakturi, the first feature expansion for Distant Worlds 2. 

In the first one, we focused on the Shakturi story and their unique abilities as well as the Mega Ships and Planet Destroyers.  In this one, we’ll focus on some of the additional unique new features which are part of the Return of the Shakturi expansion, specifically Outposts, multi-Empire Alliances and the Refugee start option.
The third and final blog will cover some additional features and improvements that are coming as part of the work on Return of the Shakturi, but which will be released as part of a free update for all Distant Worlds 2 owners, along with the Return of the Shakturi release.
With Return of the Shakturi, you now get to experience what a proper endgame crisis in Distant Worlds 2 is like and what fighting against (or with) a major endgame threat like the Shakturi means for your empire.


Outposts are smaller than colonies with a maximum of 50 million of your empire’s citizens.  in exchange for this, they can be built on planets where you would not normally be able to put a colony, in other words very challenging and hostile environments.  Outposts will not grow, though if they lose population for whatever reason, they can accept new migrants up to their maximum population.  Outposts also don’t provide income – instead, they require funds from your empire to maintain the various life support systems that allow for survival on such harsh worlds.  The support cost of an Outpost increases as its planet’s suitability decreases.

What are they good for then? 

• Outposts allow you to claim territory in a way that stations do not.   Where you have an outposts, your empire’s borders will extend to cover it. 
• Outposts allow you to extend your colonization range to get to more suitable worlds that might otherwise be out of reach. 
• Outpost give your empire full benefits from any empire bonuses or unique resources found on their planet, which can give access to previously inaccessible ruin bonuses.
• Outposts allow you to build Terraforming Facilities.  This means that with Outposts, you can potentially bring a previously uncolonizable planet up to colony level.  Note however that worlds with very low base suitability now require a Terraforming Facility to remain on the planet in order to maintain the suitability improvements, but sometimes you just need some extra real estate.
• Outposts can be converted to colonies if their suitability is high enough, for a modest cost.

Return of the Shakturi includes a new multi-empire Alliance system.  During the Shakturi endgame crisis and story, this allows for the formation of the Shaktur Axis and the Freedom Alliance during that crisis to fight against each other in a war to the finish.  However, if you choose to turn off the Shakturi crisis, you’ll still get access to the Alliance system (in fact, much earlier as it won’t be gated behind the story events).


Alliances allow you to form a closer union with other empires.  Once Allied, you are guaranteed a certain baseline set of treaties and all wars become Alliance wars.  If someone attacks you, your Allies will join in your defense, but you can also Convene the Alliance to vote on declaring a combined war on another empire or to end an existing war.  While your empire is in an Alliance, there is no separate peace possible.

When you Convene your Alliance, you can also vote to Admit or Expel a member.  Note that the most powerful Alliance members will have more votes, but Admittance requires unanimity.  Joining or leaving an Alliance is a big choice, but surviving the galaxy without an Alliance can be a challenge as well!

Now let’s discuss the Refugee Start.

Many have asked for a space-based beginning to a civilization, with a single colony ship and a small fleet with which to find a new home.  This  “Refugee Fleet” start option will now be possible for those players who want a greater challenge.  You will have a choice of fleet size and starting tech level and once you found a new homeworld, you will be able to switch to a regular government type for your faction. 


When this start begins, you are fleeing a recent disaster which struck your homeworld and you are in a fairly dangerous part of the galaxy.  The population on your colony ship and passenger ships are all that remains of your people.  You will need to protect them at all costs against the many dangers on the way while trying to find a new home.  If you explore well enough, you may find more than just a new home!


Note that this start is best for experienced players who don’t mind difficult challenges or relying on manual play to get around problems.

In the next blog, we’ll talk about the many new features and improvements coming to the next official free update, thanks to the work on Return of the Shakturi.  Those includes better fleet attack coordination, an upgraded Enemy Targets list with multiple fleet mission types per target, improved AI use of all fleet mission types, a new wartime mission system (with unique Shakturi missions when playing through the Return of the Shakturi), new intelligence missions (Destroy Facility, Deploy Plague (Shakturi only), Capture Character), rebalanced colonization and economy systems and improved message and notification management.

[Asid]

Distant Worlds 2: Return of the Shakturi is out now
Mon, 28 October 2024



NEW EXPANSION AND ?STRATEGY? UPDATE ARE OUT NOW

Welcome back explorers, an ancient evil is returned to the vast universe of Distant Worlds 2. The wait is over. The Return of the Shakturi, the third DLC and first feature expansion for Distant Worlds 2, is now available.

Also, don't miss the game showcase with Erik Rutins, producer and co-designer of Distant Worlds 2, following the release of The Return of the Shakturi.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2926560/Distant_Worlds_2_Return_of_the_Shakturi/

[Asid]

Distant Worlds 2: how much has it improved over the last 24 months
Tue, 5 November 2024



The ongoing and continuous support for Distant Worlds 2 reflects the passion and commitment of Slitherine and CodeForce to support the fans who believed in this galactic project from day one.

On October 24th, Slitherine and CodeForce launched Distant Worlds 2: Return of the Shakturi, marking the debut of the first feature expansion for Distant Worlds 2.
This release has been met with an overwhelmingly positive reception, reflecting the community's enthusiasm and excitement. On day one it had 100% of positive reviews, within a week, reviews have remained consistently high, up to 88%, and the ratings for the base game have risen to 76%.

Since the base game was released, performance and compatibility have improved thanks to numerous multi-threading optimizations, and both Artificial Intelligence and User Interface have progressed significantly. Slitherine released two Faction DLCs introducing the Ikkuro, Dhayut, Gizureans and Quameno. Also, the Return of the Shakturi expansion brings an Endgame Crisis storyline with a very dangerous new enemy along with Outposts, multi-empire Alliances and several new research areas.

In addition to the content from the three DLCs released so far, if a player who purchased Distant Worlds 2 on day one in March 2022 were to reinstall the game today, they would discover numerous new features and updates. We asked our developers at CodeForce to summarize them below:

    ? Much better economic, sustainability, and terraforming balance and scaling through the mid- and late-game.
    ? Greatly expanded and enhanced Hive mid-game threat, as well as improved Pirates in the early game.
    ? New repeatable, top-tier research projects to extend gameplay.
    ? Massively improved performance and compatibility.
    ? Major improvements to AI - including more detailed AI policies and improved automation and behavior for most areas of the game, especially fleets, ships, economic management, colonization, research, ship design, population management and diplomacy.
    ? Major User Interface improvements, ranging from new camera modes, map overlays and message centers (with far more message filters) to distance measurement tools, additional list multi-select capabilities, more hotkeys, a greatly improved Enemy Targets list, better text formatting for all messages, additional filters on various empire tabs, more tooltips guidance and better UI scaling.
    ? Expanded modding, including Steam Workshop support and an in-game Mod Manager, greatly improved mod loading and priority/conflict management.
    ? Improved per-Hull Ship Design with new Component Policies for ship design automation guidance, defined upgrade paths for each Ship Design and improved Fleet Templates to include per hull fleet definitions and more fleet management options.
    ? Much better Economic, Suitability and Terraforming balance and scaling through the mid and late games, including many improvements to resource logistics and private sector operations.
    ? Two faction refreshes for base game factions (Humans and Mortalen) to bring their gameplay up to the level of the DLC factions, with more on the way until all base game factions are updated (Zenox and Boskara are next)!
    ? Greatly expanded and improved Hive mid-game threat as well as improving Pirates in the early game, including adding a Pirate Cruiser!
    ? New Repeatable top tier Research Projects for continuing gameplay alongside other improvements, adjustments and rebalances to most of the research tree.


As noted by the prestigious Softpedia, the strength of Distant Worlds 2 lies in the ability to forge a vast intergalactic empire, giving the player the freedom to choose what aspects of their empire to control: ?The game remains impressive when it comes to how much it simulates and how good it is at surfacing information while giving players ways to only deal with mechanics they care about?.

We?re thrilled by the warm reception of the expansion from fans, with thousands of visits to the Steam page and content creators from across the gaming world. Here are a few multilingual examples of how some of the top Twitch and YouTube creators in the strategy games niche have enjoyed Distant Worlds 2 and the new DLC.

[Asid]

State of the Game and Roadmap 2025
February 04, 2025




Hello and Happy New Year to everyone in the Distant Worlds 2 community.

As before, Elliot and I would like to thank our players for their patience and support since Distant Worlds 2 was released. 2023 saw our first two expansions for Distant Worlds 2 along with four Major updates (Aurora, Hyperspeed, Discovery and Fleet).

We continued improving DW2 with the Stellar, Game Faction and Maintenance updates in 2024, along with the release of our first feature expansion, Return of the Shakturi. Thus in 2024 customers received faction refreshes and many, many game improvements and fixes for free along with the one big Shakturi expansion.
We hope you have been enjoying Return of the Shakturi and we?re excited to share with you what?s coming next for Distant Worlds 2.




The Current State of the Game
We?ve continued to put a large part of our effort into ongoing free updates for the DW2 community to keep improving the game, rather than just focusing on DLC content or locking everything behind expansions. As a result, the base game is much improved and continuing to improve over time. We continue to improve almost all gameplay areas as well as the AI, which saw major improvements as part of the work on Return of the Shakturi and would run circles around the empire AI at release.

There has been a lot of positive feedback about our free base faction refreshes and I?m glad to say that these will continue, with the next two just around the corner. We have the Boskara and the Zenox due to be refreshed in the next official update by the end of Q1 2025, which includes some texture fixes for the Boskara ships and stations and a major overhaul of the look of the Zenox ships and stations. The Teekans and Haakonish should follow by the end of 2025, leaving the Ackdarians as the final base game faction to refresh, likely next year.

Return of the Shakturi took a great deal of our time, but we think the results were worth the effort. As a result of that, we are already planning our next Feature Expansion while we finish the upcoming Atuuk and Wekkarus DLC, which we expect to officially announce soon. Both of these factions have some very unique gameplay which we think you will enjoy and they also have some unique lore and gameplay that interacts with the Return of the Shakturi expansion.

While we are a very small team, we are committed to both expanding the game with new DLCs and expansions but also continuing to update and improve the base game through our ongoing free updates. We want to make sure everyone who purchased DW2 can enjoy it to its fullest on their system and for their playstyle.


Roadmap 2025
We are happy to share our journey with you, along with the roadmap outlining the next steps for this year.




Our next areas to focus on:

    1.Update the base factions in the game, one by one, to a similar level as the recently released DLCs when it comes to faction and government gameplay differentiation. Completed for the Humans and Mortalen, Boskara and Zenox are almost finished. Teekan and Haakonish should follow late this year and the Ackdarians are last in line, probably in 2026 to complete the base faction refresh.
    2.Continuing improvements on fleet and ship behavior. There have been major improvements and fixes for the fleet and ship AI as part of the Return of the Shakturi, which was in the base game updates, though it always seems that there?s another corner case or two to address. We still plan to also add more guidance for fleet and ship tactical settings as well as more detail in the galactopedia to help players understand how to use their fleets.
    3.Further improvements to pathing issues as well as pathfinding performance. We made some significant improvements here during 2024 and the more recent reports suggest that pathfinding issues are far less frequent now, but some remain especially when starting a path from deep space and near nebulas. Additional improvements are planned after the next official update.
    4.Improve the AI further. As part of the Return of the Shakturi work, we greatly improved the AI in many areas including economic management and diplomatic/military strategy. As always, there?s more that can be done. We still need to improve the population policy side, specific to slavery but also other policies. We plan to revisit the design of these in the future and also improve the AI?s management of population policies.
    5.Improve quality of life for manual players further. We have just added support for queued orders in the first public beta update for 2025. We?ve also added a map search function to the exploration menu along with a few other features to help with manual exploration. We have a list of additional improvements for manual play which we will be working through as the year progresses.
    6.Improve message handling and awareness further. We added a new much more detailed message filtering system with separate message centers in 2024, including a new combat overlay to help with spotting battle activity during wars and a separate message center for advisor messages. We are still working to add the ability to tell an advisor ?do not suggest this again? or to tell a Pirate or an Empire ?do not contact me again with this offer? to help further reduce message spam.
    7.Adding a Galactopedia and Galaxy map Search function. We now have a galaxy map search aand a distance measurement tool. The Galactopedia search will be coming in an update this year.
    8.Modding support will continue to be a priority. We?ve expanded this greatly since release, including the addition of an in-game mod manager, Steam Workshop support and much better handling of multiple mods. We also recently added support for code modding and deobfuscated more methods to better support localization mods for more complex languages.
    9.There are also other reported issues beyond those above which we will also address as we go forward, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are our current highest priority goals. We have been compiling master lists of all issue reports by category and as our time allows, we work our way through these areas to make sure we continue to improve the player experience with DW2.




Future Expansions
As always, the Content and Art teams are not heavily involved in most of the game fixes we?ve been working through, so they have been spending most of their time working on future releases.
Our first priority is the Atuuk and Wekkarus DLC, which will release in early Q2 2025. Stay tuned for our official announcement in Q1 which will reveal the exact release date and more details about these new factions. Each of them has unique new gameplay features and interesting lore that ties into the DW2 and Shakturi storylines.

The Wekkarus are among the most ancient and mysterious aliens in DW2 with possible connections to the Shakturi. The Atuuk are space lemmings of a sort who were just barely smart enough to figure out FTL. This DLC will work fine whether you have ?Return of the Shakturi? or not, but will have some additional features/content related to that expansion if you have it. If you don?t like what the Shakturi psychic abilities can do to you when they show up, you will probably love playing as the Atuuk, who are almost entirely resistant to psychic effects.

We are also in the planning stages for the next feature expansion and I can tease that it will at last bring playable Pirates to DW2. We won?t be announcing that officially until much later this year as we are still working through the design. We expect it to be a 2025 release.

Work has also begun on the fourth "Factions" DLC. All we can say about that now is that it includes the Securans and the Naxxilians and will likely release in 2026.




Update Schedule
It will generally take 6-12 weeks of public beta updates to get to an update that is stable enough to become official. For 2025, we expect to release public beta updates roughly every two weeks and new free official updates every 3 months or so, though there may be a slow down in that schedule once the Pirate expansion work gets into high gear.


Our Thanks
Thank you again if you took the time to read all of this and for your support of Distant Worlds 2. Please check in regularly going forward and try the newest beta updates if you?d like to see how things are shaping up.

Please stay tuned for more information on Atuuk and Wekkarus DLC in Q1 and more on the Pirate Expansion and future DLCs later this year.

Sincerely,
Erik Rutins and Elliot Gibbs
Matrix Games and CodeForce

[Asid]

New Faction DLC and Major Update Announcement
Tue, 25 February 2025



Welcome Back, explorers.

We're thrilled to announce that Distant Worlds 2: Atuuk and Wekkarus, the third Faction DLC for the acclaimed 4X space strategy game Distant Worlds 2 is coming on the third of April. This new DLC brings two brand new playable factions: the naive and energetic Atuuk and the mysterious Wekkarus.



The Atuuk were one of the last races to develop faster-than-light technology and make their first steps into interstellar travel before the Cataclysm hit the galaxy. They are not a particularly smart race and were only able to develop faster-than-light technology after ships from a faction they call The Long-Ago Friends crashed on the Atuuk homeworld. The Atuuk make up for their diminished intellect with a great sense of wonder, excitement at trying new things, and an overall friendliness towards other factions. Although the Atuuk aren?t particularly great at anything, their strength comes from the ability of their society to unify and focus on a particular area for a limited time. This is encapsulated in their central feature of choosing a Great Direction every few years which provides a set of objectives and bonuses for their society. The Atuuk narrative centers around their desire to find these Long-Ago Friends who gave them faster-than-light travel and to take their place in the wider galaxy to show everyone and to prove to themselves how great they are. During this journey, they face difficult and challenging truths about the galaxy and who their friends really are.





The Wekkarus are the most alien faction to inhabit the galaxy. Some among them even say they did not originate in this galaxy. Their legends speak of a timeless, ancient war that left them far diminished from what they once were. As such, they keep to themselves and live in the deepest darkest caverns of ocean planets, preserving what remains of Wekkarus society. Their story centers around rediscovering lost artifacts, outposts, and ruins to learn of their origins and the secrets of their ancient war with a dangerous enemy. The Wekkarus highlight feature is their mysterious connection with their ancient ancestors ? a manifested collective memory of the Wekkarus. This ability can trigger whenever Wekkarus find themselves under heightened stress. In such times they connect with the echoes and vestiges of their ancestors for both guidance and direct support.





Each of these new factions also comes with their own special storyline and unique story locations, adding to the possible exploration events and to your knowledge of galactic lore. The Atuuk will take you on a path of discovery and revelation as the Atuuk are introduced to the wonders of starfaring and realize who their friends are, while the history of the Wekkarus will take you on a quest to find powerful ancient artifacts that will lead to earth-shattering truths about their origins and a terrifying connection to the greatest threats to the galaxy!


CONTROL UPDATE
But that?s not all, we have some other exciting news for you the Control update is coming soon.



Control Update Highlights:

    - Boskara and Zenox factions refreshed with new gameplay and improved ship and station textures
    - Queued Mission support added for Ships and Fleets to help with manual playstyles
    - Galaxy Search added to allow players to easily find any star, planet, moon, station, ship or any other item on the galactic map
    - UI improvements to help with information management:
         - Exploration now tracks pinged locations in the Special Locations section
         - Improvements to top header bar
         - Additional sort and filter options for various lists
         - Improvements to Migration and Tourism map overlays
         - Additional tooltips

    - Additional Galaxy Setup options for your starting system
    - Improvements to Upgrade Ship Designs and Design/Research Policy AI
    - Improved management of Planetary Facilities
    - Save/Load Fleet Templates
    - Improved Fleet and Ship Behavior
    - Improved Colonization behavior, especially with Outposts
    - Improved modding support for localization.





Keep an eye on our channel because there will be a lot of special streaming event with Erik Rutins, producer and co-designer of Distant Worlds 2.

Get a reminder Here

[Asid]

The Atuuk - Dev Diary #1
Tue, 4 March 2025



The Atuuk are the youngest starfarers of the galaxy. They are highly sociable and are eager to take their place amongst the other factions in the galaxy and prove that they too can be great.





While the Atuuk don?t excel in any particular area of empire building, in fact, they are a generally a bit worse, they more than make up for it with their high population growth, overall higher levels of happiness, and affinity for diplomacy. However, the Atuuk?s greatest strength is their society?s ability to mobilize and organize around the Great Direction ? their faction?s flagship mechanic.



Whenever the Atuuk choose a Great Direction, a general focus for their society, they become extremely proficient in one area of their empire and can even surpass some of the other factions, though only temporarily. Alongside the Great Direction, the Atuuk forego the normal leadership mechanics of Distant Worlds? governments and instead their leaders will change occasionally based on the constantly shifting Great Directions the Atuuk pursue. The Atuuk yearn for a Great One to lead them on their Great Directions, and this Great One, in turn makes Atuuk society all the more inspired and motivated. It is possible that these Great Ones may turn out not to be true Great Ones, which will lead to a new selection of Great Ones until a true Great One is found.



Atuuk victory conditions also flow from their Great Directions. There are seven Great Directions in total, each providing a unique objective that thematically fits with the Great Direction?s features. As such, the Great Directions are there not only to provide bonuses to your faction, but to challenge you to truly take the Atuuk to galactic greatness.





Players can expect the following unique features for the Atuuk when they purchase Distant Worlds 2: Factions ? Atuuk and Wekkarus:

    - Unique mechanics tied to the Atuuk Great Direction ? a cyclical change of focus for Atuuk society that greatly improves their abilities in a singular area of their empire, ranging from improved research to greatly enhanced combat strength, and many more, while also providing an increasing number of victory objectives to prove their greatness to the galaxy. Periodically, Atuuk will need to choose a new Great One from a pool of their own marked with Great Potential to lead them on their Great Direction. Some Atuuk may have reservations on the direction the Atuuk are taking with Direction Doubt, though this is only temporary.
    - The Atuuk are a happy faction that plays well on the galactic diplomatic stage, though they are na?ve, gullible, and quite dim-witted, which means they don?t excel in any particular area when not following one of their special Great Directions.
    - Additional and surprising bonuses and effects when pressing the big glowing Red Button on their science stations
    - Atuuk construction standards aren?t quite up to snuff compared to the other galactic players, so their ships will experience unexpected malfunctions while traversing the galaxy.
    - Bonuses to combat when outnumbering their opponents when fighting on the planet surface. There are a lot of Atuuk!
    - The Intergalactic Welcome Center makes the Atuuk empire more attractive for all migrants and tourists, thus strengthening the bonds of interstellar understanding
    - Collection of Great Things ? a unique facility that gathers all the wondrous things the Atuuk have gathered in their travels and exploration that improve their overall happiness and research
    - Special thematic Character Traits for their entire lineup of characters bringing out the flavor of the Atuuk faction
    - Their unique story gives them an advantage when dealing with some of the factions in the galaxy to help them form strong bonds and long-standing treaties.
    - Atuuk are the first faction to be completely immune to psychic effects, making them a useful ally for anyone fighting psychically-capable factions

[Asid]

The Wekkarus - Dev Diary #2
Wed, March 12, 2025



The Wekkarus are the most ancient and mysterious of any of the current factions in Distant Worlds 2.


Due to their unique origins and history, the Wekkarus tend to keep themselves in the dark depths of their deep ocean planets.





Their preferred habitats and unique origins give the Wekkarus several key advantages, such as improved research, due to their ancient knowledge of the galaxy, as well as improved mining rate and access to secret riches of their ocean planets. However, the Wekkarus truly come into their own due to their unique ability to manifest ?ghosts? of their ancestors to help them survive the chaos of the galaxy.





The Wekkarus signature Ancestors Among Us ability, allows ?ghost? ships, troops, and even some characters to appear in moments of stress to help their fellow Wekkarus in various combat situations and matters of state, including research, diplomacy, and espionage. In fact, the Wekkarus story will delve into the nature of this ability and also reveal a frightful connection to one of the galaxy?s greatest threats. The Wekkarus? ancient knowledge also grants them a variety of faction-specific technologies, including the powerful Pulse Wave Cannon, a high-powered tractor beam, and a unique shield enhancement component.





Wekkarus victory conditions tie directly into their distrust of invaders, as well as their unique ?ghost? characters. More precisely, the Wekkarus have three unique ancient and powerful artifacts scattered across the galaxy they seek to reclaim to restore a portion of their former glory.



Players can expect the following unique features for the Wekkarus when they purchase Distant Worlds 2: Factions ? Atuuk and Wekkarus:

    - In times of stress, during combat in space and on planet surfaces, as well as certain character actions, the Wekkarus summon their ancient Ancestors for aid. In combat, these ancestors will manifest as ?ghost? ships and troops that can tip the scale in the Wekkarus? favor. Character Ancestors will either manifest at a location that most requires their aid or will provide boons to strengthen diplomatic ties or protect their spies from danger
    - Due to their ancient mastery of space travel, their ships are faster and harder to hit, but are more delicate and fragile when taking hits. This also makes them more adept at new engine technologies
    - The Wekkarus have a slew of unique technologies for their ships, including their signature Pulse Wave Cannon, the high-powered Constrictor tractor beam, and special shield enhancement component ? the HydroCore Capacitor
    - Living in the dark depths of Ocean and Deep Ocean planets, the Wekkarus have bonuses to counter-espionage and mining rate. Their unique habitats allow them to dig into the cores of the planets they live on and discover previously hidden resources
    - Defensive Caverns facilities make the Wekkarus a tough nut to crack for any invading force, while unwelcome spies will find themselves lost in the labyrinths of Wekkarus cities
    - The special Wekkarus connection to their ancestors will occasionally improve the skills of their scientists, letting them uncover hidden knowledge more quickly
    - Special exclusive Spy and Scientist traits accenting Wekkarus secrecy and otherworldly wisdom
    - Powerful unique artifacts will reveal themselves in the Wekkarus story, which directly strengthen the connection to their ancestors. The artifacts have basic effects for any faction that lays claim to them, though only the Wekkarus can utilize their true power
    - Due to their mysterious origins and unique biology, Wekkarus are more resilient to the effects of psychic weapons and abilities than most other factions of Distant Worlds 2

[Asid]

Changes in 1.2.9.8 (March 18th, 2025)

CRASH FIXES
- fixed rare crash when finding fastest construction yard for ship retrofit

GAME EVENTS
- fixed partially broken story event relating to planet Mikai


Changes in 1.2.9.7 (March 14th, 2025)

CRASH FIXES
- fixed rare crash when drawing facilities at a planet
- fixed rare crash when generating new ship design
- now prevent the game from crashing when mod bundle loading fails for any reason. Instead now add error message to Session Log

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
- improved performance when opening Research screen in large games with many Research Stations

SHIP AND FLEET BEHAVIOR
- improved Fleet retreat evaluation to better handle unusual situations where attack target starts at one location but then quickly moves to another well-defended location in same system, thus triggering a retreat from the attacking fleet
- fleets now prefer non-dangerous locations when refuelling, but will fallback to include dangerous locations if no other option (helps avoid Kasim and other dangerous locations)

PLANETARY FACILITIES
- extended criteria for determining planetary facility automation type so that Interstellar Trader's Bazaar and Holographic Network properly follow automation settings

STORY EVENTS
- prevent pirates from triggering EmpireRelationChange events for independent colonies
- fixed 'Return of the Ancient Guardians' story event missing message title and text
- fixed initial Ancient Guardian vault techs sometimes not unlocking for player
- fixed Kasim story event for Dhayut so that Exterminating or Enslaving the population now properly removes the colony instead of just reducing the population to zero
- fixed some facility and story images to use Crashed Ancient Ship
- improved some faction story events relating to independent colonies

SHIP MODELS
- fixed some minor issues in the Zenox small spaceport model
- updated Human ship and base models with fixed running light positions

GAME EDITOR
- allow changing color for any standard empire in Game Editor (Edit Empire > Primary Color). This affects the color of empire territory and ship/base symbols, among others
- improved overall lighting in Ship Design screen


Changes in 1.2.9.5 (March 7th, 2025)

CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when transferring artifacts discovered in ruins
- fixed some rare crashes

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
- performance improvements, especially in large games with much ship debris
- improved performance when editing a ship design where there are already very many ships of the same role (e.g. fighters)

ZENOX AND BOSKARA FACTION UPGRADE
- integrated Boskara event art
- fixed incorrect research penalty amount in description of Zenox Predictive History event
- further updates to Zenox ship and base models

ECONOMY
- adjusted ratio of empire funding (Research + Colony Growth) down from 50% to 25% of total Research and total Growth, thus ensuring higher baseline research and growth rate even without full bonus funding

FLEET BEHAVIOR
- fixed rare issue where fleet undertaking invasion mission with staging point may become indefinitely stalled

BOARDING AND RAIDS
- slowed down boarding assault rate to improve Capture and Raid missions for ships and bases

UI IMPROVEMENTS
- hovering Fleet posture description in Selection Panel now previews Tactical Settings window, clicking the Fleet posture description opens Tactical Settings window

DOCKING
- refuelling and cargo load/unload are now much slower (10%) when ship is not docked inside a hangar bay at a base, i.e. when parked outside base, or when loading/unloading from a colony
- fixed bug where docking bay components were not working when they were the only hangar-style components in the external bays of a design

SHIP DESIGN
- ensure automated ship and base design always follows policy settings for Weapon preferences, even when evaluating weapon fallback options (when do not have a weapon of the desired category). This means avoiding selection of fallback weapons where policy specifies that particular weapon category should be 'Do Not Use'

CHARACTERS
- reduced amount of characters as empire grows larger, but with slightly higher amount at start of game
- added new sort options to Spies screen: sort by each spy skill type (Counter Espionage, Espionage, Sabotage, etc)
- fixed Prisoners list filters showing characters for wrong role
- automated Spies will now avoid selecting research projects to steal that are disallowed for their empire's race

DIPLOMACY
- Bases in diplomatic trade deals (e.g. Mining Stations) now also include the value of any cargo onboard (at 25% of normal price)

RESEARCH
- non-specific research progress and breakthroughs from story events, abandoned ships/bases and ruins will now try to avoid selecting projects that are explicitly disabled for the discoverer race, i.e. when disallowed for the faction on the tech tree

TROOPS
- ensure that Special Forces troops defending a colony are never invulnerable to attack

GALAXY SETUP
- made small improvement to empire color distribution (making each empire color different)

EMPIRE POLICIES
- added new empire policy settings to control whether your empire will auto-scrap military ships and troops when have serious economic shortfall. For player these are off by default

VISIBILITY
- adjusted visibility level when have direct presence at location (e.g. ship or base) so that high-level Stealth components do not make items completely invisible

USER INTERFACE
- hovering Fleet posture description in Selection Panel now previews Tactical Settings window, clicking the Fleet posture description opens Tactical Settings window
- improved mouse up/down operations in various areas to help avoid mistaken clicks: Population Policy screen no longer closes when click between policy settings buttons for each race, Research screen no longer registers mouse-up event on Queue Suggested Project button immediately after opening screen
- added new filter options to New Mining Locations list: Fuel Resources, Construction Resources, Luxury Resources
- added new sort option to New Mining Locations list: Safe Locations First (Dangerous Locations at bottom)

SHAKTURI CRISIS
- ensure Freedom Alliance forms without player after player rejects diplomatic story option to form Freedom Alliance themselves
- ensure Shakturi Beacon facility is properly removed after researching 'Destroy Shakturi Beacon' project

OTHER
- small updates to fix minor issues with some Ackdarian ship models

[Asid]

The Control Update is now available
Thu, 20 March 2025



Welcome back explorers,
the Control Update, now available, is a major free update that refreshes the Zenox and Boskara factions as well as improvements to make manual control of the players? empire easier.

This major update is focused on improvements to manual control of your empire, including Queued Missions, UI Improvements, Policy Improvements and a new Galaxy Search feature to make empire management easier when you turn off most of the automation. There is also a full refresh of the base game Zenox and Boskara factions to bring them up to the same level as the DLC factions, including a significant update for the look of the Zenox shipset. Finally, there are many other fixes and improvements, including to ship and fleet behavior, AI improvements and a major adjustment to economic and research bonus funding.

Don?t miss the preview on our channel with Erik, where he showcases and explains all the new features of this major update:




For those of you who want to know every detail of the Control Update, a detailed changelog is available below:

CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when applying Migration or Tourism settings while starting game
- fixed crash when fulfilling resource order
- fixed rare crash when selecting random ship component to damage when weapon strikes ship
- fixed rare crash when drawing facilities at a planet
- fixed rare crash when generating new ship design
- now prevent the game from crashing when mod bundle loading fails for any reason. Instead now add error message to Session Log
- fixed crash when transferring artifacts discovered in ruins
- fixed some rare crashes
- fixed rare crash in Character screen
- fixed crash when generating XML schema
- fixed rare crash when loading game
- fixed rare crash when fleets check for threats
- fixed rare crash when progressing Shakturi rift destabilization

ENGINE IMPROVEMENTS
- upgraded to latest version of .Net random number generator

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
- performance improvements, especially in large games with much ship debris
- improved performance when editing a ship design where there are already very many ships of the same role (e.g. fighters)
- improved performance when opening Research screen in large games with many Research Stations

GALAXY SETUP
- added new settings in Start New Game screen for Your Empire Starting Situation step: Homeworld Situation allows setting whether start at planet or moon. Home System Critical Resources allows setting whether all critical construction resources are ensured to be available in your home system
- made small improvement to empire color distribution (making each empire color different)

QUEUED MISSIONS
Queued missions have been a long-requested feature and this is their first appearance in Distant Worlds 2. We hope this implementation will improve manual play and give more options for better control of fleets and ships.
- added queued missions for Ships and Fleets. To use, hold down Shift key while right-clicking on a target to queue a mission (instead of immediately assigning it). Use Shift key with hold-right-click to popup a menu of available missions that can be queued. When a ship or fleet has queued missions, the popup mission menu will also have an option to 'Clear Queued Missions'. Missions that subsequently become invalid will be automatically removed from the queue, just as already happens for the current mission, e.g. when an attack target is destroyed or changes ownership, when you end a war against another faction, etc. Note that the Distance measurement system is now activated using the Alt key instead of the Shift key
- Queuing most mission types also switches the ship or fleet to manual control, with the exception of Refuel, Repair and Retrofit missions (as with normal mission assignment). Stop button now also clears all queued missions (not just the current mission). Alternatively, the player can hold down the Shift key when clicking the Stop button to just clear the current mission and proceed to the next queued mission. Assigning a new mission to a ship or fleet will also clear all queued missions
- Changed Stop command for automated ships and fleets so that pause before reassigning mission so that player can see the effects of their action

ZENOX FACTION UPGRADE
This update includes the Zenox faction refresh. This adds several new gameplay mechanics for the Zenox as well as an updated and improved shipset. For details, see 'Special Features' section of the Zenox race description in Start New Game screen (or their Galactopedia topic)
- This build also includes a number of changes to Zenox components, research projects and planetary facilities, including the new Megatron Planetary Shield facility, expanded Crystal Sensors and Star Beams.
- upgraded models and textures for Zenox ships and bases
- added Zenox Search the Archives event
- added new event and loading art

BOSKARA FACTION UPGRADE
This update includes the Boskara faction refresh, including new gameplay mechanics and features. For details, see the ?Special Features? section of the Boskara race description in the Start New Game screen (or their Galactopedia topic).
- includes a number of changes to Boskara research projects and planetary facilities, including the new Core-linked Weapons Mega Lab.
- minor graphical updates to models and textures for Boskara ships and bases
- added new event and loading art

EXPLORATION AND GALAXY SEARCH
- added new screen to Exploration section: Known Stars, Planets and Moons. Can use various filters and sorts to find all known galactic locations
- added new screen to Exploration section: Search Known Items. Can search for any item by name. Type text to filter what is displayed in list. Will look for any known/visible stars, planets, moons, asteroids, ships, bases, ruins, facilities, characters, troop units and artifacts
- Pinged locations from galaxy map now show up in Special Locations list in Exploration section (until explored)

UI IMPROVEMENTS
- Main view header bar at the top of the screen will now automatically extend onto additional rows when content is too wide (e.g. lots of events and war scores)
- fixed combat icon in galaxy map sometimes failing to clear for a system
- fixed race bias display in Select Your Race screen so that includes zero-rated races
- added Resource Abundance sort option in New Mining Locations list. Sorts by total abundance and includes total abundance of all asteroids within mining range
- in Selection Panel, sub-selected facilities and troops at a colony can now be deselected by clicking on them again
- added section line dividers when displaying detailed stats for all components and planetary facilities
- fixed Migration and Tourism flow map overlays to show flow lines for correct selected race
- fixed very long lists sometimes being truncated, e.g. Ship Designs list
- added tooltips to relevant sections of Start New Game screen to explain how to completely disable pirates (e.g. story-related, etc)
- hovering Fleet posture description in Selection Panel now previews Tactical Settings window, clicking the Fleet posture description opens Tactical Settings window
- hovering Fleet posture description in Selection Panel now previews Tactical Settings window, clicking the Fleet posture description opens Tactical Settings window
- improved mouse up/down operations in various areas to help avoid mistaken clicks: Population Policy screen no longer closes when click between policy settings buttons for each race, Research screen no longer registers mouse-up event on Queue Suggested Project button immediately after opening screen
- added new filter options to New Mining Locations list: Fuel Resources, Construction Resources, Luxury Resources
- added new sort option to New Mining Locations list: Safe Locations First (Dangerous Locations at bottom)
- added title to colony bonus tooltips in Selection Panel to clarify that Empire Bonuses listed in the colony selection dialog are *from* the colony (NOT a comprehensive list of all empire bonuses that apply to the colony ? to see all empire bonuses that apply throughout your empire look at the Bonuses tab under the top left Empire overview)

EMPIRE POLICIES
- added new empire policy settings to control whether your empire will auto-scrap military ships and troops when have serious economic shortfall. For player these are off by default

WEAPON POLICIES
- A new weapon policy for shield enhancement components has been added. You can now set a priority level for your faction to use the shield enhancement component.

PLANETARY FACILITIES
- Terraforming facilities now take into account planet damage when considering whether suitability is below buildable level, i.e. planet damage is excluded when calculating build suitability. This will allow building terraforming facilities on damaged planets that would otherwise be suitable for terraforming.
- further reworked how planetary facility construction automation categories relate to specific facilities. Galactic Wonders are now clearly indicated in all situations. Added further automation categories for facility building: Construction, Research, Recreation
- extended criteria for determining planetary facility automation type so that Interstellar Trader's Bazaar and Holographic Network properly follow automation settings

SHIP AND FLEET BEHAVIOR
- automated fleets now more careful to include other threats at location (e.g. other creatures) when evaluating attack against creature
- fleets now actively review lead ship while under construction, thus improving ability of fleet to move directly to new home base without first gathering to lead ship location while it is still under construction (which could be at a location different from the fleet home base)
- improved Fleet retreat evaluation to better handle unusual situations where attack target starts at one location but then quickly moves to another well-defended location in same system, thus triggering a retreat from the attacking fleet
- fleets now prefer non-dangerous locations when refuelling, but will fallback to include dangerous locations if no other option (helps avoid Kasim and other dangerous locations)
- Defense fleets will now auto-attack fixed targets (i.e. bases) when needed, so that their behavior is better aligned with investigating Dangerous locations
- automated fleets will no longer assign attack (clear defenses) or blockade missions against independent colonies
- automated 'Refuel and Attack' fleet missions will no longer use attack target for refuelling, e.g. when attacking/invading an independent colony
- improved automated fleet troop loading so that attempts to load larger groups of troops even when load colony is further away
- improved display of Fleet posture in Selection Panel, especially for Manually-controlled fleets, thus giving better visibility to when the fleet will auto-engage targets
- fixed rare issue where fleet undertaking invasion mission with staging point may become indefinitely stalled

FLEET TEMPLATES
- fixed Load/Save Fleet Templates functionality
- fixed missing tooltip for Fleet Templates button

SHIP DESIGN
- changed Upgrade Design button so that now selects best upgrade component for each existing component, retaining the same component family. Previously the Upgrade Design button simply selected the highest tech level component for the category. See button tooltip for more info
- rebalanced component selection logic so that automated research and designs much more strongly guided by preferred weapon families from empire policy, even when faction also has preferred weapon components
- ship and base designs are now refreshed much sooner when you change preferred component families in the Empire Policy screen (when Ship Design is automated)
- in Ship Design screen, left-clicking on an empty bay in the model in the main view will now popup a component selection list (same as left-clicking on an empty bay in the Design Bays list)
- rebalanced some component and research project scoring to improve research pathing and ship design for some factions (take better account of their preferred component families)
- Capped maximum damage reduction for a ship from all sources to 90% (prevent invulnerable ships)
- ensure automated ship and base design always follows policy settings for Weapon preferences, even when evaluating weapon fallback options (when do not have a weapon of the desired category). This means avoiding selection of fallback weapons where policy specifies that particular weapon category should be 'Do Not Use'

RESEARCH
- non-specific research progress and breakthroughs from story events, abandoned ships/bases and ruins will now try to avoid selecting projects that are explicitly disabled for the discoverer race, i.e. when disallowed for the faction on the tech tree

VISIBILITY
- adjusted visibility level when have direct presence at location (e.g. ship or base) so that high-level Stealth components do not make items completely invisible

BOARDING AND RAIDS
- slowed down boarding assault rate to improve Capture and Raid missions for ships and bases

EMPIRE BONUSES
- fixed empire bonuses being applied twice to ships in a fleet

TROOPS
- ensure that Special Forces troops defending a colony are never invulnerable to attack

TARGETS LIST
- Fixed Enemy Targets list filter sometimes not working for some empires

ECONOMY
- adjusted ratio of empire funding (Research + Colony Growth) down from 50% to 25% of total Research and total Growth, thus ensuring higher baseline research and growth rate even without full bonus funding
- fixed rare issue where empire cash on hand value becomes NaN

ESPIONAGE
- ensure target empire is still active (not wiped out) before auto-populating new spy mission from previous mission

DIPLOMACY
- in Alliance list, for each Alliance show all their wars with other alliances and empires
- fixed last diplomatic gift date rarely not being recorded, resulting in too frequent gifts
- Bases in diplomatic trade deals (e.g. Mining Stations) now also include the value of any cargo onboard (at 25% of normal price)
- Vassalized empires may now accept peace offers from other empires when their parent empire is not at war with the offering empire, this fixes some corner cases where vassals could not exit wars
- fixed bug where advisor suggestions to offer diplomatic gifts could sometimes be implemented without player approval
- added totals to Offered Items section of Diplomacy trade screen

COLONIZATION AND OUTPOSTS
- Automated Colony Ships now also check whether the system of a queued colonization target has subsequently become part of another empire's territory and thus can no longer be colonized (avoid load/unload passengers cycle)
- Adjusted AI evaluation of Outpost viability at a planet or moon so that give less priority to some lower-importance bonuses and so that automated Colonization does not establish Outposts at planets with empire bonus levels that are too low.
- fixed bug where independent colonies with races with very poor bonuses would sometimes not appear in New Colonies list
- further improvements to colonization target selection for Colony Ships, especially to avoid multiple colony ships targeting same planet

DOCKING
- refuelling and cargo load/unload are now much slower (10%) when ship is not docked inside a hangar bay at a base, i.e. when parked outside base, or when loading/unloading from a colony
- fixed bug where docking bay components were not working when they were the only hangar-style components in the external bays of a design

GOVERNMENTS
- fixed data bug in governments that allowed factions to exist with zero colonies, thus blocking empires from being removed when they lose their last colony

CHARACTERS
- made negative character traits from passive activity much less likely for Generals and Admirals (Drunk, Poor Recruiter)
- when Spies complete a mission to Steal Tech from another faction, they now remember the details of the last mission, allowing easy one-click reassignment to the same or similar mission (same target faction, same mission type, same research project if not already researched)
- reduced amount of characters as empire grows larger, but with slightly higher amount at start of game
- added new sort options to Spies screen: sort by each spy skill type (Counter Espionage, Espionage, Sabotage, etc)
- fixed Prisoners list filters showing characters for wrong role
- automated Spies will now avoid selecting research projects to steal that are disallowed for their empire's race

ARTIFACTS
- fixed artifact location transference so that always properly changes empire as needed

PLANETARY FACILITIES
- ensure planetary tractor beam facilities properly review stats on game load so that function properly

GAME EVENTS
- prevent pirates from triggering EmpireRelationChange events for independent colonies
- fixed 'Return of the Ancient Guardians' story event missing message title and text
- fixed initial Ancient Guardian vault techs sometimes not unlocking for player
- fixed Kasim story event for Dhayut so that Exterminating or Enslaving the population now properly removes the colony instead of just reducing the population to zero
- fixed some facility and story images to use Crashed Ancient Ship
- improved some faction story events relating to independent colonies
- extended message game event actions to allow forced aggregation of all message output for the event, even when the event has delayed execution
- added EmpireRelationChange game event trigger type for independent colonies to support various story events
- added new game event condition types to allow better story event options when have no available characters for a role

GALAXY GENERATION
- Slightly increased some bonus values for randomly-generated ruins

SHAKTURI CRISIS
- ensure Freedom Alliance forms without player after player rejects diplomatic story option to form Freedom Alliance themselves
- ensure Shakturi Beacon facility is properly removed after researching 'Destroy Shakturi Beacon' project

PSYCHIC RESISTANCE
This is a new feature that will be used to support the next content expansion for DW2.
- Implemented Psychic Resistance value in various areas: intelligence missions, psychic weapons, psychic troop defection. Races with high Psychic Resistance (Shakturi) are less susceptible in these areas

GAME EDITOR
- allow changing color for any standard empire in Game Editor (Edit Empire > Primary Color). This affects the color of empire territory and ship/base symbols, among others
- improved overall lighting in Ship Design screen

MODDING AND LOCALIZATION
- Added support for zero-width spaces (Unicode 200B) as valid line-breaks when rendering multi-line text. This better supports localization for some languages (e.g. Japanese)
- added improved support for zero-width characters for Chinese/Japanese/Korean character sets (now rendered with zero-width in long text with word-wrap)
- added further improvements to zero-width character support for Chinese/Japanese/Korean character sets
- added Psychic Resistance to Empire Bonuses list with tooltip showing sources and amounts (e.g. race and any relevant artifacts)
- added new command line option to load a custom font bundle for localizing languages that use non-Latin character sets. Please see modding sub-forum for details.

SHIP MODELS
- fixed some minor issues in the Zenox small spaceport model
- updated Human ship and base models with fixed running light positions
- small updates to fix minor issues with some Ackdarian ship models
- various other model fixes

DATA
- Various adjustments to component and ship hull values
- Various ship hull fixes
- Various minor spelling and event fixes
- changed Teekan Ion Bomb category to Ion Weapon instead of Area Weapon

IKKURO AND DHAYUT DLC
- Added missing Artifact descriptions
- Various event fixes

QUAMENO AND GIZUREAN DLC
- Various event fixes


The Galaxy lives on

[Asid]

Distant Worlds 2 - Factions Recap
Wed, 2 April 2025



We began our expansion of the galaxy with the release of our first DLC on March 16, 2023, introducing the Ikkuro and Dhayut factions.

The first of two factions to be added were the Ikkuro. The Ikkuro prize life and harmonious coexistence above all else. This philosophy of peace gives the Ikkuro an edge in colonization and terraforming, letting them get more out of the planets they settle compared to other factions of the galaxy. They can become an economic powerhouse, with highly developed planets and large boosts to happiness, especially when paired with their unique Harmonious Utopia government.

While the Ikkuro may be averse to conflict, they are certainly not toothless when it comes to defending their peace-loving ways. Once they really get going, the Ikkuro have some of the most durable and imposing ships. Unlike the usual space fleets of metal warships, the Ikkuro utilize organic materials to, in part, grow their ships with self-repairing hulls. This makes Ikkuro fleets tough nuts to crack as they shrug off more punishment than most.


IKKURO



Key features

    - Harmonious Utopia Government focuses on happiness and increases immigration, recreation and medical capabiltiies
    - Bonuses to Damage Control, Plague Curing and Troop Recovery
    - Consensus Diplomacy means they are slower to agree to treaties, but value long-term relationships more
    - No access to Bombardment weapons
    - Biome Shaping facilities replace the default Terraforming Facilities
    - SF27 Organic Hull (best self-repair of all ships), Fusion Beams (increased rate of fire beam weapons), Splinter Pods (longer range assault pods)
    - Larger Colony Ships
    - Special exclusive Leader and Ambassador traits focused on happiness, diplomacy and growth
    - Special conditional events Respect for Life, Secrets of Life, Protection of Life and Disharmony reward non-aggression and colonization, but punish war, bombardment and extermination
    - Larger than usual Colony Ships and improved suitability across most planet types.


Unlike the Ikkuro who strive to live in harmony with the various players of the galaxy, the Dhayut prefer to impose their will and enslave the peoples they conquer. Paired with their unique Surveillance Oligarchy government and facilities, the Dhayut become masters of exploitation. Their spies are second-to-none in espionage with additional unique missions and they can extract more value from their enslaved colonies, letting them fuel their war machine for further conquest and profit.

Dhayut ships themselves while quite cool are not exceptional in terms of their bonuses, but there?s a distinct technology that makes Dhayut fleets on a level of their own - the Velocity Drive. This is the fastest hyperdrive component, giving Dhayut empires unprecedented levels of speed and responsiveness. Their conquering fleets move swiftly into unexpected positions to strike out at vulnerable colonies while their security forces quickly form up to repulse interlopers and other threats. Be wary of nearby Dhayut empires as you may find that out of nowhere your colonies are besieged by their fleets!

DHAYUT



Key features

    - Surveillance Oligarchy Government focuses on sensors and adds a unique Internal Stabilization intelligence mission which reduces war weariness and corruption
    - Bonuses to Hyperdrive Research, War Weariness and Ground Attack Strength
    - Special Enslavement Control Facility improves the Slavery Population Policy
    - Special Terminal Operations Center Facility improves success chances on difficult Intelligence missions
    - Access to two special Intelligence Missions: Influence Empire and Capture Base.
    - Influence Empire allows them to shift the relationship of two other empires relative to each other
    - Capture Base allows them to take control of another empire?s space station
    - Velocity Drive Hyperdrive (fastest hyperdrive in the galaxy)
    - Larger Monitoring Stations
    - Special exclusive Leader and Spy traits focused on counter-espionage, slavery and assassination
    - Special conditional events Disinformation and Network Effects mean succeeding at Deep Cover missions makes the target like the Dhayut more and succeeding at any of the more difficult Intelligence Missions gives them a bonus to other missions against that same faction for the next year
    - Their paranoia leads to periodic purges of disloyal members of Dhayut society.

But we didn?t stop there. Next, we launched the Quameno & Gizureans DLC, bringing two more unique factions into the universe.


The Quameno are perhaps the most specialized faction yet that we have added to the current Distant Worlds 2 roster. Their singular purpose is to solve the puzzles and mysteries of the galaxy through research specialization, even at the expense of other areas of their empire or when interacting with neighbors. They may not grow or expand as quickly as other factions, but you can bet they will have an edge in whichever technology areas they set their mind to.

The Quameno focus on research in itself is a massive advantage to their fleets, as they will likely have the latest weapons, defense systems, and sensors to overpower opponents who may only be scratching the surface of their potential. The Quameno also bring with them the best reactor in the game - the NovaCore reactor, which directly powers their highly resistant Bubble Shields. This powerful pair of components gives the Quameno an added layer of resilience and efficiency in designing their ships to punch above their weight class.

QUAMENO



Key features

    - Geniocracy Government starts with better Research Labs and provides the largest research bonus of all government types, at the expense of other areas, including being unable to fund bonus colony growth. Also has the option for additional benefits whenever a research breakthrough or research critical failure happens.
    - The Quameno also are the most gifted researchers in the galaxy, though their single-minded focus also means that they are limited when it comes to concurrent research
    - Additional bonuses when they find new research locations or build new research stations
    - Some temporary penalties due to distraction when treaties are signed or populations are unassimilated, preventing the Quameno from focusing as fully as they are normally able on their research puzzles
    - Novacore Reactors, the best reactor in the game, along with Bubble Shields which have the highest Shield Resistance of all shield types
    - The Transcendence Hub, an end-game victory condition wonder which allows the Quameno to transcend their physical forms
    - Larger Research Stations
    - Special exclusive Leader and Scientist Traits focused on Research
    - Special conditional events Alien Distractions, Integration Studies, Puzzle Solved, Building the Future, A Piece of the Puzzle and The Answer reward them for thematic play
    - Their unique story gives them an advantage when it comes to finding the new Ancient Guardian Vaults scattered throughout the galaxy and recovering the knowledge and artifacts within.


Finally, the Gizureans are the definition of a swarm faction with the sole goal of propagating and expanding their ever-hungry population across the galaxy. They don?t need to be particularly intelligent to succeed - their ability to take apart ships they capture and extract resources and knowledge from the colonies they conquer and scour is enough to keep their unstoppable machine going. Take care to manage the occasional tribal conflicts that will inevitably flare up and may lead to the loss of important characters amidst the bloodshed.

Gizurean fleet tactics and strategy center on having the largest fleets in the galaxy that directly benefit from their unique Swarm Targeting component. The more ships you have in a fleet, the deadlier their overall firepower becomes. Each individual Gizurean ship may not necessarily carry the day, but the sheer amount of them will ensure they can give any opponent a run for their money. Their unique Hive Hangars keep their swarming fighters in the field to add more firepower to their already massive fleets.

GIZUREANS



Key features

    - Cell Hegemony government type is a form of limited shared consciousness, which includes some of the benefits and fewer of the disadvantages of a full hive mind. Starts with better sensors and command control, more inspiring characters and a generally reduced rate of luxury resource needs.
    - Excellent at boarding combat and gain extra bonuses from salvaging and retiring captured ships
    - Swarm Targeting systems make their ships more accurate the more ships there are in a fleet.
    - Hive Hangars and Hex Armor allow them to build and repair starfighters more quickly and cover their ships with partially organic armor that is stronger than normal alloys.
    - Hive Fighter Bases are available to defend their planets from the very early game
    - Internecine Tribal Conflicts can hold them back at times and they will need to supplement their slower research through reverse engineering and conquest
    - Larger Carriers
    - Special exclusive Leader and General traits focused on improving their collective consciousness and increasing the size and resiliency of their armies
    - Special conditional events, such as Waste Nothing and The Scouring, give them extra bonuses when retiring ships or conquering planets. The Rivalry event means that their characters periodically engage in power struggles to eliminate the weak and Breeding World allows them to choose to boost their own growth rate further by using other species as food.


And we?re not stopping yet!
The galaxy is about to become even more intricate. Get ready to explore our next DLC, arriving tomorrow, on April 3rd, which introduces two new factions:

    - The Atuuk are a young species that only recently discovered faster-than-light travel before the Cataclysm stopped their expansion. They are very social and eager to prove themselves within the galactic community. Although small and not the brightest, they compensate with rapid population growth and the ability to focus their entire society on a single goal, called the Great Direction. Their leadership comes in the form of a Great One, a leader chosen to guide them toward their current Great Direction. As goals shift, new leaders with Great Potential emerge to take over.
    - The Wekkarus are an ancient, secretive faction with a mysterious past. It is said their ancestors fled an eternal threat. They isolate themselves in fortified Deep Ocean cities and use Defensive Caverns and Deep Labyrinths to protect themselves. Their most unique ability is summoning the ?ghosts? of their ancestors for help in times of danger or crisis. These spirits can directly assist them or grant powerful benefits. Their ancient knowledge grants them never-before-seen powerful weapons and components build out their ship with.


Stay tuned for more details.

[Asid]

AMA with the devs
Fri, 11 April 2025



To celebrate the release of the new DLC Factions Atuuk and Wekkarus we are hosting a special Ask Me Anything (AMA) with members of the Distant Worlds 2 development team: Erik Rutins ? Producer and co-Designer, Max Klose-Ivanov - Associate Producer, Elliot Gibbs ? Developer and Designer, and Edmon Jenkins ? Community Manager of Slitherine.

You can join the AMA right here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/

Date: Monday, April 14
Start time: 7 AM CEST / 6 AM BST

The team will be answering your questions about Distant Worlds 2 ? its past, present, and future ? as well as sharing insights on:

    - The making and evolution of the Distant Worlds 2 franchise;
    - Game design and development behind the scenes;
    - Slitherine Group and Matrix Games? approach to publishing strategy games.

Come ready with your questions ? the team is excited to interact with you!

[Asid]

Tactics Update is now available
Thu, 17 April 2025



We're excited to announce that a major update, the Tactics Update, is releasing today.#


Don?t miss the stream with Erik Rutins, producer and co-designer of Distant Worlds 2, who will showcase the new update at 6:30 PM UK time. Watch it here. https://www.twitch.tv/slitherinetv/schedule?segmentID=631e2723-47c7-4679-a988-9d2203348867

If you haven?t picked it up yet, now?s the perfect time: the Legacy Bundle is currently 20% off, instead of the usual 10%!

On April 3rd, we released the new Atuuk and Wekkarus DLC. Did you miss it?

This update brings significant improvements to fleet management, making your tactical decisions easier and more effective than ever. Here's what's new:


Full changelog below:

v1.3.0.3 ? ?Tactics? - 17th April 2025
This major update is focused on improvements to the management of your fleets, to make fleet tactics settings easier to understand, improved default fleet tactics, add the ability to upgrade fleet templates and make fleet topup more efficient and intelligent. There are a number of other fixes and improvements as well, based on feedback after the release of the Control update and its manual play improvements.

CRASH FIXES
- fixed rare crash when determining fastest construction yard for retrofit
- fixed rare crash when resolving message images
- fixed rare crash when setting image for new random character
- fixed rare crash when resolving message images
- fixed crash when determining construction resources
- fixed some modding-related crashes

FLEET IMPROVEMENTS
This update includes some major changes to Fleets, Fleet Tactics, Fleet Policies and Fleet Templates, in an attempt to make it easier for new and experienced players to manage their fleets, both in manual and automatic play. Please read through the changes below carefully to understand what has changed.
FLEET DOCUMENTATION
- updated all tooltips and Galactopedia topics relating to fleet engagement range to reflect recent changes
FLEET TACTICS
- simplified Fleet Tactics dialog to only show the most commonly used and essential settings, with other settings hidden by default as advanced settings
- improved default Fleet Tactics to better match most player preferences
- updated Fleet Posture description to more accurately describe engagement settings for Manual and Invasion fleets (Nearby)
- improved Fleet formation layout
- generally made fleet formations tighter and set default Fleet formation to Very Tight
- Manual and Invasion fleets will now only auto-respond to Nearby threats (within 5000 units) instead of any threats within the same System (regardless of Fleet Engagement Range), but there is a new policy setting to adjust this (see below)
FLEET TEMPLATES
- fleet templates will now be automatically upgraded to use the most relevant template for the role, i.e. when new ship roles become available then a better fleet template containing that new role may be selected for the fleet. Can enable/disable using new Automation setting in Empire Policy screen (Fleet Template Upgrading)
- added new default templates for early Escort-based fleets
- default Fleet Templates now disable Role Up/Downgrade, thus improving behavior of fleet topup
- automated fleet creation now strictly follows Fleet Template setting for Role Up/DownGrade, i.e. will not select ships of different role if turned off for template
- added Default Formation setting to Fleet Template screen
- changed fleet engagement ranges: 50% of Fuel Range is now 40% of Fuel Range and 33% of Fuel Range is now 30% of Fuel Range.
- auto-generated fleets now select better fleet template based on highest available military ship role and total number of ship roles covered
- added unit range details to description of Nearby engagement range setting (5000 units)
- added new option Fleet Templates List screen to allow/disallow Auto-Upgrading for each fleet template. Click on column to toggle. All templates are set to upgrade by default.
- increased number of Fuel Tankers in default Attack Fleet Template
- added Fuel Tankers to default Invasion Fleet Template
FLEET POLICIES
- added new empire policy settings to control maximum auto-response range for Manual and Invasion fleets. By default these are set to 'Nearby' threats, but can be increased to Location- or System-level. See Fleets section of Empire Policy screen for details
- Fleet Posture automation settings: now have separate settings for Attack Fleets (Attack, Raid, Invade) and Defense Fleets
FLEET TOPUP
- fleet topup now considers existing fleet ships as matching the template, even when using specific designs in the template, as long as the ship will retrofit to the specified design (Retrofit Path). Thus it is usually best to first Retrofit a fleet, then Topup
- fleet topup now better at building new fleet ships at construction yards near the fleet
- Top Up Fleet button is now properly disabled when will not change fleet composition (no ships added or removed)
- Topup fleet button tooltip now shows breakdown of existing ships and newly built ships that will be added to the fleet, including total cost for new ships
- Top Up Fleet button tooltip now also shows ships that will be removed (by role) when Trim Excess is enabled for fleet template
- Top Up Fleet button tooltip now also shows unaffordable ships that will not be built, along with cost
- fixed Fleet Top Up process sometimes mistakenly removing too many ships when Trim Excess is enabled for fleet template
- manually-initiated fleet topup now forces removal of any excess ships (as defined by the fleet template)
- improved automated fleet topup logic when fleet template items use 'Latest Design for Largest Hull for Role'
FUEL TANKERS
- Fuel Tankers in a fleet will now respond to 'Refuel from Tankers' right-click manual fleet mission even when the tankers themselves are set to manual control
- increased willingness of automated Fuel Tankers to refuel ships (higher fuel threshold)
- Fuel Tankers in a fleet are now excluded from following fleet override tactics, thus allowing them to behave differently and avoid engaging in battle
FLEET AND SHIP BEHAVIOR
- Defense fleets now more careful about auto-responding to incoming enemy fleets at other locations when target location already has enough defending strength
- automated fleets are now more careful about investigating dangerous locations with higher enemy ship strength than the fleet
- automated fleets are now more careful about attacking strong enemy ships, bases and fleets, and are now more willing to coordinate multi-fleet attacks against these strong targets
- ensure automated fleets always honor engagement range when selecting attack targets
- fleet ships now exit hyperjump in formation, even when jumping to non-specific target (e.g. galaxy coordinates)
- now exclude fleet ships that cannot jump (e.g. damaged hyperdrive) when synchronizing fleet jumps while waiting for fleet fighters to board their carriers. This ensures that fleet jumps do not get held up by damaged carriers. This can especially be a problem when Fleet Ship Management is manually-controlled and the player chooses not to remove damaged ships from the fleet
- automated fleets are now more careful about avoiding attacking a threat to a fleet ship when the fleet ship is not at the fleet location or within the fleet's engagement zone. This can especially happen with Fuel Tankers as they obtain fuel at distant locations
- automated ships will now escape/retreat (when tactics specify) even when loading cargo (e.g. Fuel Tankers) as long as not docked inside base
FLEET UI IMPROVEMENTS
- when Fleet is selected in Selection Panel, now show icons for Military Attack Automation status and Fleet Role, along with explanatory tooltips, to help player notice when automation policies may influence fleet behavior
- added Switch Fleet Role button to Fleets List to allow directly changing the role of each fleet in the list

UI IMPROVEMENTS
- when your empire has reserved funds (saving up for Colony Ships, etc) then indicate by changing color of cash amount to yellow in header bar (hover for details)
- fixed filters in Mining Locations list so that properly consider Fuel/Construction/Luxury Resources filter options
- fixed display of Scenery bonuses in Resort Locations and New Resort Locations Lists so that now also includes bonuses from Ruins definition, not just Ruins directly
- added note to Known Locations tooltip in Resources List to explain that some of these may be in foreign territory

RESEARCH
- added Extremely Slow Research speed option in Start New Game screen. This new setting is half the speed of Very Slow research speed

GOVERNMENTS
- ensure Refugee Fleet factions (e.g. initial Shakturi arrival) can always establish outposts, even when suitability at target planet is extremely low
- feudalism average time between change of leaders set to 25 years instead of 20

BOMBARDMENT
- plagues and other colony events no longer block bombardment from completely eliminating the population at a colony or outpost

DIPLOMACY
- fixed diplomatic trades and gifts from advisor suggestions not reaching recipient
- fixed sometimes getting duplicate acknowledgement messages after giving diplomatic gifts or trades

TOURISM
- ensure independent colonies properly display scenery bonuses in the New Resort Locations list

CONSTRUCTION
- fixed manually-assigned Construction Ships continually building Defensive Bases at colonies

NOTIFICATIONS
- prevent message popups for several delayed story events when Supress All Popups enabled in game settings

ZENOX FACTION REFRESH
- fixed Zenox Preserve the Ruins event sometimes not changing the ruins

RACES
- mortalen received a minor buff to their race bonuses

ATUUK AND WEKKARUS DLC
- prevent message popup for Atuuk Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly when Supress All Popups enabled in game settings
- ensure Wekkarus Deep Labyrinth event properly sends notification message to empire who loses spy
- fixed Atuuk Great One event sometimes incorrectly sending notification message to player empire
- turning off Race Victory conditions in game setup now also properly turn off Atuuk Great Direction victory objectives. The Great Directions will still occur, but there will be no related victory objective for each direction

QUAMENO AND GIZUREAN DLC
- fixed Gizurean Rivalries event not occurring
- quameno received a buff to their research bonus and a decrease to integration unhappiness
- increased frequency of Gizurean Tribal Conflicts event

IKKURO AND DHAYUT DLC
- ikkuro received a minor buff to their race bonuses