v2.6.0 Changes List

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Spinal Particle Beam

Particle beams can use Spinal and Advanced Spinal Mounts in v2.6, including for the particle lance variant.

The Spinal / Advanced Spinal mounts result in the following changes to the standard weapon.

• Weapon Damage and Power Requirements are increased by 50% / 100%
• Weapon Size is increased by 25% / 50%
• Range is increased by 12.5% / 25%

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Ex-Civilian Mining Complex

v2.6 adds a new type of mining installation  - the Ex-Civilian Mining Complex (XCM). This has the following characteristics:

• The XCM can only be created by capturing enemy Civilian Mining Complexes, in which case each CMC becomes an XCM.
• The XCM has the same mining output as the CMC, equal to ten automated mines.
• Unlike the CMC, the XCM can be transported by freighter. It requires the same transport capacity as a research facility, which is double the capacity required for ten automated mines.
• The XCM is not a civilian installation and cannot be converted back into CMC

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Change to Sensor Jammers

Sensor Jammers are modified in the same way as Fire Control Jammers, using the 0.75^(ECM Advantage) formula to affect the sensor and fire control range of other races.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Alien Sensor Update

There are a few bugs around detection of alien class sensor types, so I have fixed the code and added some new features.

• There will no longer be duplications of sensors, or the same sensor on different ships showing with a different name.
• The display on the alien class window is fixed so that it doesn't create a horizontal scroll bar.
• When sufficient ELINT data is gathered for an alien active sensor, an intelligence event will display the sensor range and resolution.
• In addition to being listed on each class, active sensors with at least 100 intelligence points will have their own section on the intelligence treeview, showing range, resolution and known classes. The sensor name can be changed
• Alien sensors with at least 100 intelligence points will be drawn on the map in the same way as friendly active sensors, if the Display Active option is on.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Officer Graduation Age

On the Create Race window and the Race Information window, you can set the 'Graduation Age' for each Species.

This sets the starting age for each new commander and replaces the default 21.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Fleet Treeview Suffixes

On the Naval Organization window, you can toggle suffixes to show whether a fleet has movement orders, one or more ships in overhaul or has one or more jump-capable ships.

• Overhauls have a [OV] suffix.
• Movement Orders have an [MO] suffix.
• Jump Drives have [JM] for military, [JC] for commercial and [JB] for both.

The toggles are stored at the game level and retain their status on save.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

AI Jump Point Assaults

For v2.6, the AI will attempt to use squadron transits for jump point assaults. This applies to military ships only.

• If there are sufficient military jump ships to jump all military ships in squadrons, they will be split up accordingly and the squadrons will jump independently
• If there is only one jump ship and the jump point is not stable, the fleet will use a standard transit.
• If there is only one jump ship and the jump point is stable, the jump ship will form a squadron and any other ships will use a standard transit.
• If there is more than one jump ship and a stable jump point, but insufficient jump ships to jump everything in squadrons, each jump ship will bring other ships in a squadron transit (based on its jump rating) and any remaining ships will come through in a standard transit.
• If there is more than one jump ship, an unstable jump point and insufficient jump ships to jump everything in squadrons, one jump ship will use a standard transit to bring through the main fleet. The other jump ships will each jump a squadron.

After transit, the various squadrons will try to link up, although that goal may be overridden by immediate combat necessities.

This is a complex situation - more easily resolved by a human brain than an AI given the number of variables - so I expect an occasional weird outcome. I will optimise the code based on AAR feedback.