• Performed a long-overdue full redesign & rebalance on all starbase defense platform, station, and fortress sections. They should be actually worth building now, and can hold their own much better in a fight.
  WARNING: On save games, your Fortress design in the ship designer will appear to be blanked/bugged out. Don't worry! Simply click on the empty tabs where you'd normally choose a section, and the new section options will pop up. Choose your new sections, outfit them, and save the design. After that, upgrade your existing Fortresses for more DAKKA. This change does not affect Platforms or Stations other than you'll have empty slots in sections where more slots were added.
  
  
• In this update, we are trying a few experiments with the AI to see if we can get them to build even better starbases and economy. This will be the first round of tests on various AI coding, eventually leading to a major update for the AI when we figure out how to make it do what we want it to do. The best way to test AI experiments is with our subscriber base - that is the most accurate feedback we could ever hope to get, given the unlimited number of playstyles and mod setups.
  
  
• Unfortunately, after many hours of efforts, we are unable to make the Flagship Leader Transfer mechanic work properly. We have scrapped the idea permanently. Sorry guys, not everything is possible.
  
  
• For the forseeable future, Federations will not be able to build Flagships at all. Player empires can still build them, but the code to try to get a Federation Flagship is proving to be nearly impossible, and so we will no longer be focusing on trying to make it work. This may change in the future, but for now, Federation Flagships have been scrapped.
  
  
• Starbase hull points have been increased by 50% for all levels. (At this time, we've made no changes to base armor stats.)
  
  
• Since starbases can only build one defense object at a time, starbase Platforms, Stations, and Fortresses now have build times of 30/60/90 days (reduced from 120/240/360). It should no longer take a decade or more to max out your starbase defenses.
  
  
• Did another boost pass on most starbase economic buildings to make them more viable.
  
  
• Titan reactors have received a significant boost in power to help with advanced weapons from ESC and other component mods.
  
  
• Doubled the 3 tiers of drop pods to drop 10/20/40 armies (up from 5/10/20)
  
  
• Fixed another bug with the Strike Cruiser PD weapons.
  
  
• Fixed a bug where the wrong icon was being displayed for components in techs and such (was a green I instead of the purple C icon)
  
  
• Updated the localisation for the drop pod armies to new flavor text.

Reverted to previous version of the mod and canceled all future updates for an indefinite period of time.

Update Canceled

Bugfix Update - Missing bracket in one of the files.

• According to reports, the bug where the AI would not upgrade their starbases was not fixed with Season 6. We now think we have finally found the cause of the issue, and have fixed it. You should start to see the AI empires upgrading their bases, and you should also see a much wider variety of buildings and modules on them, including the new stuff added by NSC2.
  
• Increased the Fleet Capacity given by starbase Anchorages from 4 to 12, to compensate for the lower number of starbase slots.
  
• Changed multiple starbase buildings to require a colonized planet in the system if their bonuses are planetary based or would require a planetary population.
  
• Since the starbase hangar modules have decided to hijack our Invasion slot for their strike craft, we changed the I on the slot icon to an H. This will show it as a hangar bay (which could still launch drop pods in game lore). This is a graphical change only for game lore, it has no effect on the Invasion pods or the starbase strike craft.
  
• Fixed a bug where some of the Flagship sections did not have the full 20 large defense slots.
  
• Fixed a bug where you could not upgrade the Flagship beyond its original design.
  
• Fixed a bug where some weapon slots on the Strike Cruiser could not be filled.
  
• Increased the output of most starbase resource buildings and modules to help with building a larger starbase-based economy. Keep in mind that their upkeep increased along with their production!

• Changed the calculation of Military (Fleet) Power. MP numbers will now be smaller than they were before, but this DOES NOT change the firepower of anything in the game. For example, something that used to be 80k fleet power will now show about 50k, but the actual combat capability has not changed in any way. This change will prevent a common bug called MP overflow, where a ship, station, or fleet would overflow the max MP value and "roll over" back to 1, causing numerous issues with the AI in how it makes battle decisions.
  
• Added a new Flagship Construction Project event chain - To build a Flagship, players will first have to build the Flagship Shipyard megastructure, and then upgrade it through stages to complete the Flagship. In addition, building a Flagship now has galactic consequences, and you can expect to meet other Flagships once you build yours. (Note: Flagships can no longer be built by starbases - they must be built in the Flagship Shipyard.)
  
• Added a new Flagship Shipyard megastructure model for each vanilla culture.
  
• A special event will occur the first time that two enemy Flagships meet in battle.
  
• The Flagship now produces 3 influence in addition to its 25 unity when built (We can't think of anything more influential than the Flagship!)
  
• The Strategic Resource Factory now has new culture-specific models with animations! In addition, the Factory now produces 25 of each resource instead of 10, and you now only have to have 1 AP acrive before you can choose the AP that unlocks the Factory.
  
• The Freebooters origin (NSC2's entry into the Stellaris ModJam 2020) is now integrated directly with NSC2. There may still be some glitches and bugs, please file a bug report on the NSC2 Discord if you spot any issues!
  
• Performed a major overhaul on the ship section layouts of most NSC2 ship classes. Every class from Strike Cruiser up to Flagship has increased weapon and defense slots, and all ship classes have been rebalanced across the board.
  
• Reduced the fleet capacity of the Cruiser from 4 to 3 and increased its speed from 140 to 150.
  
• Reduced the fleet capacity of the Battlecruiser from 9 to 8, reduced its evasion from 10% to 8%, and increased its speed from 120 to 140.
  
• Reduced the fleet capacity of the Escort Carrier from 8 to 7.
  
• Reduced starbase module and building slots to a max of 20 on the Stronghold, to prevent the bug where the AI stopped upgrading its starbases. Lower starbase levels have had their slot numbers adjusted for balance.
  
• Added a new "I" slot type for the Invasion Drop Pods.
  
• Removed the Invasion Drop Pods from the Carrier class. Escort Carriers will now serve as the Invasion ship class, and will be able to drop more armies than before. This will give it a dedicated role after you obtain Carriers.
  
• Added build limits on starbase weapon modules - you can build a max of 5 hangar bays, 5 XL weapons, and 2 T weapons on a starbase.
  
• Added new coding to enforce the starbase module build limits and removed the insane upkeep surge that was previously used to enforce the limits.
  
• Significantly increased reactor power for Battlecruisers, Battleships, Carriers, Dreadnoughts, Titans, and the Ion and XL Cannons.
  
• Changed the descriptions of the Hyperlane megastructures to better explain the process of generating and removing hyperlanes.
  
• All Stellaris loading screens now have at least a small NSC2 logo on them, so it is easy to tell that the mod is activated, given current Paradox Launcher issues.
  
• Removed outdated coding relating to a scrapped relic idea that was causing various errors.

• Removed the files that caused a crash if the user did not have the required UI mod. Please note that while this allows users to choose not to use the UI mod, it also resets the starbase window back to vanilla, meaning you will have to scroll to see all 35 slots. There's no possible way to show all 35 slots in the starbase window without REQUIRING the UI mod.
  
• Removed the build limit on the starbase Shield module, but reduced its stats and added a small upkeep cost for balance.
  
• Removed the build limit on the starbase Armor module, but reduced its stats and added a small upkeep cost for balance.
  
• Removed all build restrictions on the Orbital Power Plant. Increased its production slightly but also added a small upkeep cost for balance.
  
• Removed the build limit for the L weapons module.
  
• Fixed a bug that only allowed the player to build 2 T weapon modules instead of 3 on a starbase.
  
• Changed the Exploration Cruiser's refinery components to have actual upkeep instead of negative production values.
  
• Reduced the upkeep on the Exploration Cruiser's refinery components so that there is an advantage to using them, rather than a simple 1:1 trade off.
  
• Fixed a bug where there was an extra L slot on a Carrier bow that did not belong there.
  
• Added localisation text to warn players that there are limits to the XL and T batteries on starbases. Upkeep costs will skyrocket if you cross those limits.

• The Starbase Extended buildings and modules have been rewritten and balanced, and have returned to the mod. Your save games from before their removal should work again, but be aware that a lot of the buildings and modules have been adjusted for balance, so they're not going to be anywhere near as powerful as they were before. In addition, some buildings were removed due to being too overpowered, unnecessary, or duplicates of buildings already present in NSC2.
  
• Fixed a major bug in the Invasion Pods coding that was preventing them from working at all. They should work as intended now, deploying troops at 30% devastation.
  
• Rewrote a lot of the localisation for the Starbase Extended material, making it clearer and bringing it in line with NSC2's other localisation and lore.
  
• Added Escort Carriers to the Carrier upgrade techs, to give them a buff in late game.
  
• Removed an extra strike craft from the Starbase Hangar Bay module. Each bay is supposed to have only one wing of strike craft.
  
• XL and T starbase modules were already limited in number in the original version, but this was easily cheated by using the build queue. Now, if you use that cheat, the upkeep cost will seriously skyrocket when passing the limit of 6 XL batteries and 3 T batteries.
  
• Hangar Bay modules are now limited to 10 per starbase. (This will prevent the FP from going so high that the AI will not attack the base at all.)
  
• Adjusted the production facilities that can be equipped on the Exploration Cruiser so that they have a monthly cost for each resource they can produce.
  
• Removed all localisation files from the mod except English. I'm sorry, but I am tired of having to update a large number of localisation files over and over whenever we change something. The mod is in English. You can make a personal mod, copy our localisation file, and change it to appear in your language if you'd like (there are guides out there how to do this or you can ask on the NSC2 Discord), but I will not be including other languages in the mod from now on, it's just too much trouble.

• IMPORTANT: We have temporarily removed all Starbase Extended content from the mod until we have a chance to rewrite it and balance it. We suspect that outdated coding in the old mod is the cause of the AI not upgrading starbases and "stalling out." Starbase slot numbers will remain the same to preserve save games as much as possible, however we highly recommend starting a new game because if the AI is stalled out in your game, this change likely will not fix it. We will add all of the new content back when we can properly rewrite and balance it.
• Removed the XL weapon options from the Defense Platform, which at max capacity, would allow for 132 XL weapons defending a starbase. This was horribly unbalanced and a bad idea LOL.
  
• Adjusted the entire Starbase Defense Capacity system to be more balanced and easier to understand. Each level of defense station now takes up 5/15/30 slots. Annihilator Cannons will take 15 slots, and Ion Cannons will take 30. The new platform capacity for the 7 levels of starbases is 15/30/45/60/90/150/260. With all techs researched, you get an additional 40 capacity, meaning a max total of 300 slots. This would allow 60 Platforms, 30 Stations, 10 Fortresses, 20 Annihilator Cannons, or 10 Ion Cannons defending a fully upgraded starbase.
  
• Edited the starbase window so that it now shows all 30 module and building slots without having to scroll.
  
• Changed the Flagship's "Advanced Fleet Command Network" to be system wide, so now it will affect all ships that are in the same system as the Flagship.
  
• Added a NSC2 compatible Lithoids name list.
  
• Fixed a bug in the name list files that was causing a false name list to appear in the name list selection window.
  
• Reordered the NSC2 name lists so they'd appear at the top of the name list selection window.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Outpost starbase cost 100 alloys for all empires, when it should actually cost 150 for Machine empires due to their increased alloy production.