Response to Feedback: Upcoming Changes to Master of Orion

Balance/AI

Late-game pacing is sluggish, so we are planning to improve that—especially providing interesting things for players not focused on the Conquest victory condition



Research comes a little too easy right now, resulting in technologies being unlocked far too quickly; we will make adjustments here to make unlocking a technology feel more like a milestone and to reduce the frequency at which ship designs and ship weapons/systems become obsolete



We’re working on making pirates more interesting, giving more options for interacting with and engaging them, as well as the ability for them to expand



Some racial perks are not as valuable in multiplayer (i.e. those that affect diplomacy), so we are making changes so that they are more impactful



Biomes are not unique enough at the moment, so we are planning to add more variation and also potentially provide new bonuses (i.e. Morale) based on the biome



Races are not distinct enough, so we are planning to improve this through more interesting perks/traits



Miniaturization will be introduced; all hail making things smaller!



Improvements will be made to diplomacy AI to allow more positive interaction between AI races, including basic treaties, alliances and diplomatic council votes



BC income will be adjusted so that it remains an option for speeding up expansion (or strengthening a fleet) but does not trivialize it

Tactical Battles

We will be changing it so that each tactical battle starts paused by default, allowing you to get a feel for the surroundings and the battlefield to begin planning your tactics



Formation bonuses will be introduced that provide bonus effects to certain ship types for flying in formation



Civilian ships will be added to the battlefield, so use caution when moving them around the galaxy along with your combat fleets



A retreat option will be introduced at the intro screen as well as during combat (note: some technologies/structures/specials may potentially prevent retreat from being possible for all ships)



We are evaluating options for more control over specials and weapon systems, as well as weapon overlays to give more clarity on what’s going on

Ship Design

We will be updating the ship design interface



Ship designs and ships already built will no longer be linked, meaning when you scrap a design you will not have to scrap the ships



The character limit for ship names will be increased



Default AI behaviors will be added (Range, Aggression, Focus, etc.)

Usability / Interface

We are taking a pass on the information available and plan to increase the number of tooltips across the entire game, as well as improve their quality

Diplomacy

We will provide better feedback on the diplomacy screen, including how racial traits and other bonuses are impacting relations



AI will be improved to propose more intelligent exchanges, such as tech for tech



Certain actions have too much impact on diplomatic relations and will be adjusted (i.e. share charts currently has far too negative of an effect if rejected)



We will improve on “emperor traits” (commonly referred to as biases) and how they act in diplomacy and view other races’ actions within the game

Colony Screen

A scrollable structure list will be introduced to complement the visual display of structures on the planet



Preset and customizable build “templates” will be introduced to make late-game expansion less cumbersome



We will be enabling the production queue by default



The ability to drag multiple population at a time will be added (all to the right of the one selected, except those on strike or other races)

Build Screen

Command Point and Upkeep costs will update to reflect the number of ships being produced



We will allow you to specify the quantity of ships to produce if more than one, rather than only having the single or 5x options



Civilian transports will be made much cheaper and it will be clearer that they are “rental” and will disappear once you move the population to a planet



Detailed ship combat stats will be added to the build menu

Empire Screen

A heading will be added to the Morale column and a Pollution column will be added



A per-colony production buyout button will be added



We will improve the flagging feature by allowing you to not only name your flags, but also define new flag types



It will be possible to redistribute population within a colony from this screen

Research Screen

We are considering a concept of building upgrade technologies to give early buildings more longevity in the game (i.e. Automated Factory II)



Tooltips of weapons will be improved to provide full clarity on their effectiveness



We are considering adding weapon mods (Heavy, Envelopment, etc.) to the tech tree as researchable technologies



Jump Gates will be moved to an earlier spot in the tech tree to improve early and mid-game movement



Shield upgrades will be expanded, and we will introduce additional weapon options for ships

Galaxy Screen

We are planning to increase the quantity of wormholes to make exploration more exciting—“Where is this going to take me?”



We are planning to increase the information around the planet to display things like trade goods, pollution cleanup, etc. as icons



We are experimenting with a slow / limited navigation option outside of starlanes, unlocked via mid-game technology



Radar lines will be introduced to show maximum visibility range of ships, monsters and planets



The ability to see the weapons/modules of a ship when hovering over its icon in the fleet window will be added



Population display will be changed to show both the current and maximum population of a planet



Icons will be added next to fleets that convey what they are doing (i.e. guarding, blockading, constructing something)



Civilian ships will be changed to not trigger the threatening fleet notice



The star systems near the core of the galaxy will be made easier to see



A rally point option will be added for military ships/fleets

Game Settings / Setup

The galaxy (or “big bang”) seed will be randomized by default each time you begin a game, rather than starting at 0; you will still have the option of setting this manually or using the random button, but we want to reduce the confusion over galaxy options for newer players



We will introduce a “Game Speed” option that determines how fast or slow things progress (e.g. production, research, colony growth)



We plan to allow the use of different text and audio localizations (i.e. Russian text, English audio)



It will be possible to disable GNN while still getting important updates



The ability to disable Unstable Warp Lanes will be added as an advanced setting



VO options will be expanded so that you can disable advisor VO while keeping other voices on

Miscellaneous

Additional functionality (such as right-click) to exit out of screens will be added



A subtitles option will be added for screens that include VO to ensure information is not missed for hearing-impaired players



Colorblind options will be added to game settings



A user-defined chess clock-style turn timer will be added for multiplayer



An explanation of the Galactic Council will be added and displayed when it is founded



Special resources will be better explained



We will be adding the ability to open certain UI elements after you end your turn in multiplayer

Greetings Explorers,Since Early Access began on February 26th, you’ve provided consistent thoughtful feedback about the direction we’re going with Master of Orion. We’ve been reviewing your feedback with NGD Studios to ensure that it is considered with every potential change or addition we will make between now and release.To that end, we have the first of what we are calling “Feedback Response” articles. The aim of this piece is to give you an idea of some of the changes we’re planning based on your feedback. We can’t commit to specific timelines for anything at the moment, but we want to make sure you have visibility on what we’re looking to do.Please note that not every single change we plan to make is mentioned here. If you see something missing from the list, there’s a good chance we’re considering it, it’s just that we’re not ready to talk about it.This is an important focus for us as it impacts most if not all game systems. Without solid balance and a strong AI, things begin to fall apart. If we were to prioritize the content of this article, you could probably consider most of the topics in this list as the highest priority.At the moment tactical battles have a strong core implementation, but usability is a big issue. A major focus for this feature is improving the control the player has over the action in the battle, as well as more information on what’s happening.Customizing your ships and fleets is integral to the tactical battles experience and makes the arsenal of your empire distinctly yours. To that end, we want to make it easier for you to customize your ships, as well as provide more clarity in what you are doing, and finally to reduce the negative impact the auto-update feature has on your designs.The feedback we have gotten is that the user interface is already in a good place. However, we agree that certain areas could use some touch-up.The AI needs to better use treaties and the diplomacy system as a whole. We will also adjust the effects declining certain proposals has on disposition, as some of them affect relations too negatively.Our main goal here is to provide additional polish, make more information available, and expand functionality on certain elements.The build screen will see improvements based on changes we’re making to other areas of the game (including general keystroke/mouse functionality), but there are some changes specific to this screen as well. They mostly focus on ships and making what you’re doing and getting from them more clear.While it’s primarily intended to be a macro-level management screen, we have seen feedback that certain micro-level options would be nice to have here. We’re also planning to add more clarity and sortable columns for Morale and Pollution.While research speed has already been touched on, there are other changes we’re planning for the tech tree to make progression more interesting and rewarding. We will also improve information on certain tooltips within the tech tree.The galaxy view is beautiful, but we want it to be functional for you too. To that end we are making adjustments to better provide information on colonies, ships and other entities at-a-glance.Less confusion and more options are the big themes for our pass on game settings / setup at the moment.Below are some of the things we’re working on that would impact multiple areas of the game, or do not fit into a specific category outlined above.It’s important to stay engaged with the community during Early Access, so we intend to communicate changes like this whenever possible. Providing feedback on games can sometimes feel like a one-way street, and we want you to know we’re listening.Thank you for playing, and please keep the feedback coming. You’re helping us make Master of Orion the best it can be.