Shadow Empire

[Jarhead0331]

I guess it is all really irrelevant because I don't see Vic taking the game in this direction anyway. When the project was first announced as a Vic style sci-fi 4x, I thought perhaps there would be a spacefaring or colony expansion style experience. I was a little disappointed when more info revealed no space element or expansion beyond a single planet.

It's just my ultimate dream game. A fully featured ground combat wargame wrapped up with a strategic space travel, exploration and battle system. Aurora has what I'm looking for, but without the flare of graphics, sound and a nifty UI. I'm hoping a game like this will be developed at some point while I would still care to play.

[solops]

Someone might be able to mod this game to elves, orcs, etc. With the weapons magicized. If the mod system is that flexible, Vic will sell a trillion copies.

[FarAway Sooner]

I guess it is all really irrelevant because I don't see Vic taking the game in this direction anyway. When the project was first announced as a Vic style sci-fi 4x, I thought perhaps there would be a spacefaring or colony expansion style experience. I was a little disappointed when more info revealed no space element or expansion beyond a single planet.

It's just my ultimate dream game. A fully featured ground combat wargame wrapped up with a strategic space travel, exploration and battle system. Aurora has what I'm looking for, but without the flare of graphics, sound and a nifty UI. I'm hoping a game like this will be developed at some point while I would still care to play.

I agree.  That would be a fun game.  But each system would need to be much more streamlined, and they'd need to play together very nicely, to make it work.  I think we've seen similar challenges in coming up with good sims of the Pacific Theater in WW II, where game designers are asked to blend air, naval, and land elements.

I'm not saying it's impossible.  But it presents game-design challenges you won't see in games with a much more specific focus.

[Sparhawk]

The game I was playing with the peninsular city was game breaking for me so I moved on. I really do love the world creation this game offers. Mostly the option to add or remove layers of difficulty with so much customization. I got crosswise with power in this playthrough just as Lotti had because my researchers moved well past the basic tech without giving me options for producing power. I had left my settings at 50% discovery and 50% research which gives the discoverers to much opportunity to branch out to far without filling in the "gaps" of the tech tree. No point in having power banks with no power to put in them. I managed to get things turned around with a little effort. I must give high praises to the synergy of the different councils coming together to advance the theory and application of technology. It is a very fun part of the game. I incrementally improve with my handling of logistics but must say that it is the most challenging aspect of the game for me. I mostly struggle with understanding the causes of choke points between cities. I peel back one layer of this onion at a time and am thouroughly enjoying it. 

[Geezer]

Open Beta 1.08 is out with two new planet types.  This is for the Matrix version, not Steam, as I understand it.

Changelist for v1.08
-Added Hydra Class Planets, humid with plenty of swamps, rivers and seas. Almost always home to alien lifeforms.
-Added Morgana Class Planets, arid and dry, but with plenty of oasis areas dotted all over these planets.
-Added Minor Alien Regimes functionality for more variety. Native Aliens can now evolve during the Planet Biosphere phase, they'll impact colonization and the aftermath of the Dissolution war as well. 5 Different types are present (like Cephaloids, Reptiloids) and they can use local wildlife as 'cavalry' as well. They'll form their own Minor Regimes and a special kind of diplomacy will be allowed with the Xeno Diplomat Stratagem. They'll also can contact you themselves, like other Minors.
-Fixed a turn processing crash (related to AI aircraft movement).
-Fixed an issue with Private Economy (and maybe AI too) not seeing it was already producing enough Food. An optimization for speed didn't work out. Removing it for v1.08, will try again with subsequent open beta's.

[Geezer]

We have released a new major update for Shadow Empire.

- You can now craft Stratagems. You do this by expanding Scrap Points you can earn by scrapping Stratagems you do not need. The crafted Stratagems are random and procedurally generated and thus always a surprise.

- AI turn speed has been increased

- Two new Planet Classes have been added. The Morgana Class and the Hydra Class.

- Sentient Alien life can now evolve on Planets. If this happens on the Planet you are playing on you'll very probably face some Alien natives during your game.

Check out the full changelog below. Asterix (*) at end of item means it requires a new game start to go into effect.

v1.08.01
• Fixed glitch in Alien Minor Report
• Reduced number of Asset Types eligible for usage in procedural Scrap Stratagems.
• Finetuned downwards the Charismatic Union Chief demands *
• Fixed that Open Contact could be played on Alien natives Minors. *
• Increased difficulty for making Alien natives join you a bit.*
• Fixed some glitches in the Militia growth algorithm.
• Fixed a turn processing crash (related to AI aircraft movement).
• Fixed an issue with Private Economy not seeing it was already producing enough Food. An optimization for speed didn't work out. Removing it for v1.08, will try again with subsequent open beta's.
• Added Hydra Class Planets, humid with plenty of swamps, rivers and seas. Almost always home to alien lifeforms.
• Added Morgana Class Planets, arid and dry, but with plenty of oasis areas dotted all over these planets.
• Added Minor Alien Regimes functionality for more variety. Native Aliens can now evolve during the Planet Biosphere phase, they'll impact colonization and the aftermath of the Dissolution war as well. 5 Different types are present (like Cephaloids, Reptiloids) and they can use local wildlife as 'cavalry' as well. They'll form their own Minor Regimes and a special kind of diplomacy will be allowed with the Xeno Diplomat Stratagem. They'll also can contact you themselves, like other Minors.
• Fixed new organisation PP cost glitch if continuing from loading a saved game.
• Fixed some glitches with the Corporate story module (fixed some crime impact on corporation as well as better corporate spreading to other zones)
• Fixed bug with credits disappearing due to having only one zone and it being a unincorporated one.
• University production now increases with education tech
• Barracks production now increases with security tech
• Fixed construction cost for High Speed Rail
• Fixed an issue with renamed Unit name not being properly displayed for the Commanders job.
• Went back to speeded-up build mode, .06 should be faster turn processing than .05/.04 and equal to .03.
• Fixed a small glitch in the QOL score calculations which could cause small temporary decreases in them.
• Fixed model issue with Techs Launcher Optimization and Payload for SAM Launcher
• Fixed model issue with Conventional Guns Optimization and Flak Gun
• Plugged an exploit with scroll bar movement not updating button
• AI should construct tanks with HV guns as well now
• AI now tries to keep movement of Reserve Fronts to their targets more on roads (in order to benefit from potential Strategic Transfer)
• AI now makes use of Strategic Transfers Mode (limited number of units allowed to do this)
• AI now actually plays any Artifact Stratagems it has obtained during game *
• AI now also more interested in constructing Recycling Assets on top of Archeological Finds *
• AI now creates new Zones when they reach a size where if it was subject to administrative strain it would suffer penalties. *
• AI now also re-arranges its Zones.
• AI now has more difficulties in general to build roads and especially difficulties to build roads over mountains.
• Cards 31,32,104 now use 31.png, 32.png, 104.png instead of 1.png *
• Cards 546,547,548,549 now use newly added 546.png, 547,png, 548.png, 549.png *
• Added 8 new portrait part graphics (named groupXextrahair) for modders to have no double use between portrait groups. *
• Shared some help documentation for make graphics mod over on: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oDruMJbB6JBPvYaYlxeyCQMj5MWN46tjh6P4WOkN-4s/edit?usp=sharing
• Fixed big crash bug caused with 1.07.04
• The glitch corrupted some data and could take a few turns to surface to turn into a bug. Corrupted savefiles due to 1.07.04 play are cleaned up as well.
• Added Very Slow AI speed and made regular Slow mode less slow. See Prefs Tab.
• Fixed bug with Zones losing their SHQs ! Apologies. It was caused in a previous open beta.
• Fixed the missing Stratagem generation info
• Scrap Strats no longer give "Market" Asset (which is an asset still in development and not meant to be given yet)
• Scrap Strats no also can give some Private Mining and Private Farming Assets
• Alien Fauna now makes sound in combat
• Switched back the compilation mode to the one used in 1.07.02 to see if it fixes some weird calculation errors or not.
• Double Artifact Stratagem fixed and also the amount of Artifacts you'll find should be lower due to this fix.
• Several Private Assets including Private Hospital have had their way too high Population need reduced by factor of ten *
• Made some relatively good speed improvements to turn speed. However this also made me change some compilation settings and might give some unwanted bugs, didn't find any, but lets see. Stay aware this is an open BETA. capitals for emphasis.
• Minors with whom you have "unclear" relation can no longer take your locations.
• Fixed a crash when player gets more than 300 stratagems in stock (caused with 1.07.02)
• Nomads when losing a conquered city now are NOT removed from game anymore
• Added possibility to scrap Stratagems and craft new Stratagems (spending Scrap Points) to the game. You can find all new functionality in the Stratagem Tab when you flag "Scrap Mode" in the top-right corner. *
• Fixed propper average of attack and hitbonus skill % in Leader blocks in combat results window
• When tolerated equipment is switched for better equipment during replacement troops phase it keeps the soldiers (the xp, rdn, mor) where they are and only switches the equipment.
• MissileLauncher and RocketLauncher and other mechanized Launchers now use the Gun Tactics Skill (instead of Tank Tactics)
• Rail Stations now also profit from LogBonus *
• No longer very occasional n/a skill learning with Leader XP where Leader did not use any skill that turn
• Made fixes to the max logistical % settings for SHQ which were being overly optimistic (euphemism for not sticking to the limits)
• Fixed issue with Deception Skill being wrongly used in the combat mechanics.
• Fixed crash with older version savefiles and trying Strategic Transfer
• Automatic scrapping of most doubled Stratagems after you have more than 300 of them. To prevent too huge piles of Stratagems. *
• Fixed a nasty loss of Credits due to a bug to structural damage caused during battle code.

[Yskonyn]

Wow thats pretty extensive!

[fabius]

Every time I boot up to play this I think to myself, why have I payed anything else instead of this.
Such a fantastic game.

[Sparhawk]

I haven't Played Shadow Empire since February, needing a break after 300 or so hours. I got back into it yesterday and got sucked in deep with that "oh so sweet feeling" of total immersion that this game brings me. There were plenty of updates since I last played and am sorting them out.

I have a pretty good grasp of the game fundamentals so got off to a good start with a quick roll over of a nearby minor city and a fairly quick capture of a neighboring major territory. Securing my rear by eliminating a nomad threat and blocking other independent advances my focus became the nearest minor city down the road. This is when the game reminded me that it is no pushover. Half way through the next territory my advance was stopped stone cold by armored indigenous predators. First on my main advance with numbers easily 5 times my size and then on my routes flank with a persistent group trying to cut off my supplies. I had to commit troops to my flank as I worked to encircle the beasts at my front and contain their advance. This was early enough in the game that I had no armor. My infantry barely had automatic rifles and I had no high speed machine guns for my scout buggies. Fine, they seem to be armored nerf guns so my infantry can hold them in place for awhile. So my only source of iron has been scrap and is accumulating fairly slow and my prospecting keeps turning up water and oil, fine, but this slows down industry. So remember the major settlement I conquered? I've been struggling to get their happiness up because of how close they are to the front and not having the iron for investment. I've been using up fate points to mitigate the unhappiness but it's not enough. Eventually they rebel and take over a newly discovered iron mine. So I pull back all but a rearguard holding the front and commit recently built tank battalions to defeat the rebels. In the mean time another major took over the minor I had my push toward.

This game is incredible. A new feature that I'm really grooving on is unit customization. The staff council collects customization points and uses them to alter discovered OOB tech. So my first try at this, I haven't yet produced one, and they scale according to size of unit, is a Mechanized infantry battalion. 1,000 infantry, 100 apc, 20 light tanks, and 20 sp artillery. I'm looking forward to putting one of these to use.

Dive back into this if you haven't played in awhile, you won't regret it.

[al_infierno]

^ Thanks for sharing!  Definitely need to make another run in this game soon.

[solops]

I have been grooving on it for the last week. For the last year I have played constantly , only stopping, mostly, to play other games when I run into a game stopping bug. Sometimes the detours take a while.

[Yskonyn]

Any recent tutorials you guys recommend for getting into the game?

[W8taminute]

Thanks for the post Sparhawk.  I'm gonna have to dive back in for sure.  Really excited about all the changes since I last played which was before air power was patched in. 

[al_infierno]

DasTactic is my go-to.

[bobarossa]

Really enjoy the game but got hammered in latest because of repeated requests to boost a profile stat without getting any events that would let me do it.  New cards are up to 40 points each and none of the ones I've already created are in the right profiles.  Profile levels are dropping under 40 and I'm losing my perks.  Really frustrating to have a game ruined because of this.