Expansion Sneak Peeks

[Lucas]

Due to various circumstances, we haven't been as active over the past few months as we originally planned to. Regardless, I'm now happy to confirm that work on an SR2 expansion has started! I will occasionally be posting sneak peeks at new expansion features in this thread, so keep an eye out.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=520415996
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=565495568

FAQ

When will it be released?
A specific release date has not been set yet.

Is the studio still closing?
Unfortunately, Blind Mind Studios will still be going inactive. We appreciate all the support you have given us, which is part of the reason we are able to make this expansion.

On the bright side, this mainly just means we won't be creating a new game as the BMS team. If this expansion does well, we will be able to continue to support Star Ruler 2 from our otherwise inactive state.

Won't this fracture the multiplayer community?
Fear not! The expansion will be enabled or disabled for all players in a multiplayer game depending only on if the lobby host has it or not. So even people who haven't purchased the expansion will be able to try out the new features by joining a multiplayer game that has it!

[Dalo Lorn]

One question you haven't taken into account in your FAQ:

Do those modders who don't get the expansion (or, in my case, don't get it straight away - I have every intention of getting it the moment I can :D) still have the ability to mod expansion-specific stuff? Or take advantage of any new modding potential that might be exposed by the expansion, for that matter?

Depending on how major the changes are (and I would expect an expansion to be major enough), a negative answer here would probably keep ABEM incompatible with the expansion for a while.

Edit: There's something missing here...

...

YAAAAY SR2'S GETTING AN EXPANSION! :D

[dolynick]

It's nice to see this coming. Thanks for the good news Lucas! :)

[Lucas]

Due to the way the multiplayer compatibility is implemented, modders will have access to all the mechanics needed for the expansion content regardless.

Most of the focus for this expansion will be filling out the game with much more content, however, so I don't expect it will cause too many issues for modders.

[Alexander the Great]

Great news , hope its the first of a long journy to SR3

Edit: I just noticed this and i feel that its a very nice gesture.

Originally posted by GGLucas:

So even people who haven't purchased the expansion will be able to try out the new features by joining a multiplayer game that has it!

[Dalo Lorn]

Originally posted by GGLucas:

Due to the way the multiplayer compatibility is implemented, modders will have access to all the mechanics needed for the expansion content regardless.

Most of the focus for this expansion will be filling out the game with much more content, however, so I don't expect it will cause too many issues for modders.

All I can say is 'nice!'. :P

Most of them, definitely not. There's still probably going to be a period during which ABEM's balancing won't account for the expansion, but it sounds fair enough.

There should probably be a way to designate parts of a mod as 'expansion-only' to avoid having duplicate downloads, though. Kind of like what happened with FTL: Faster Than Light - aside from the changes to the underlying engine, all of their expansion data was in a set of dlcOverride_FileName.xml files as opposed to being directly embedded in the existing files, so it was easy to tell the game that you want X to do Y when in the base game but do Z when playing Advanced Edition.

[3])]

Can't wait to buy it! Still sad to hear that you guys have to close though, at least, for the moment. Please do make a video though, just one small pic isn't enough to satisfy...curiosity.

[Syzy]

Oh joy, this game isn't dead/.

[Godwings101]

So, is there any plan to make the game more stable? I'm running a solid gaming rig and it just crashes after clicking start match.

[Magnnus]

Will the expansion separate handicap from AI difficulty? The only reason I don't play much is because I can't fight cheating AI without them ganging up on me. The hard AI is too easy, and having everyone gang up on the player just removes so much strategy from the game that it isn't fun.

[dolynick]

Originally posted by Magnnus:

Will the expansion separate handicap from AI difficulty? The only reason I don't play much is because I can't fight cheating AI without them ganging up on me. The hard AI is too easy, and having everyone gang up on the player just removes so much strategy from the game that it isn't fun.

This is a good point. I tend to play larger games with quite a few AIs. It's not really possible to play these games when you have 8+ AIs who all gang up on you right from the start. Meanwhile, Hard difficulty still has a tendency for at least half the AIs to just sort of roll over and die rather than put up a meaningful fight.

It would be better if "Cheating" came before "Murderous" so you had something harder than "Hard" but without the automatic hostile-bent-on-your-destruction setting. That or have Cheating, Murderous and Cheating Murderous as a final combination of the two higher-than-Hard difficulties.

[hellatze]

i want to see some dyson sphere and infinite research progression in expansion pack.

[Dalo Lorn]

Dyson shell, actually, if you're thinking about the ones seen in Star Trek. (Though I wouldn't mind both. :P)

[hellatze]

Originally posted by Dalo Lorn:

Dyson shell, actually, if you're thinking about the ones seen in Star Trek. (Though I wouldn't mind both. :P)

i wonder if that thing explode. thats gonna be fun :D

[Brocifer]

I can't see a meaningful niche for a dyson sphere with the ringworld already in place. Feels kinda redundant. Putting the required work into something that isn't already in the game makes for a better payoff.

As far as the screenshot goes.... yay, fighter placeholders. So nice. More variety in ship roles from there. I'm pretty happy about that :)

[OurShipOfTheImagination]

Thanks for coming back guys and sad to hear about the studio closing. You guys are really doing something special here and it's ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up that this isn't a bfd than it is.