Alpha8

Alpha 8 is the first release in a long time; there are a lot of changes here! (Bugfixes are not listed but trust me there's a lot of them!)

GUI

• Techs that have only one level no longer display "L1" in the GUI.
  • This would be useful for Civ-style mods where techs have only one level and the "L1" is just clutter.
• Ships, facilities, and units can now be scrapped.
• You can now pick an empire to play as in quickstart.
• Like alien fleets, unscanned alien ships now display their owner in their name, e.g. "Jraenar Empire Frigate".
• Construction queues with no space yard ability and no free cargo/facility space no longer count as idle for end turn purposes.
• The result of a battle (e.g. victory/defeat/stalemate) is now shown in the empire log.
• There is now a "design library" which lets you store designs between games.
  • Designs are automatically added to the library when you create them, and can be deleted by clicking the delete button on the design list.
  • If you start a new game and you don't have the tech for a design, it will show up under "obsolete designs".
  • Incompatible designs (e.g. from a different mod with different techs) won't appear.
  • The library is saved in your AppData/Roaming/FrEee folder, in case you need to migrate it to a new PC.
• You can now shift-click a construction item to add 10 of them to the queue, or ctrl-click to add 100.
  • Should probably make remove work the same way...
• There is now a debug console which you can type Python commands in to query game state; type a tilde "~" to access it.
• The galaxy map now has multiple modes (selectable via dropdown) so you can see things like space yard rate and enemy forces at a glance using various colors.
• You can now send a colony ship from the planet list screen via a right click menu.
• There is now a count of existing/queued items when you select something to build.
• Grid views using the new customizable style (e.g. planet list) now support filtering via a right click menu.
• You are now asked to confirm deletion of partially completed construction orders.
• Messages for pathfinding failure are now clearer.
• System map tooltips are now easier to read.
• You can now press escape to close dialogs.
• The distance from the selected sector to the hovered sector (with the mouse) is now shown in the tooltip.
• Sectors with owned objects in them are now highlighted with a colored square.
  • No more stealth lunar colonies!
• First item ETA is now highlighted differently from queue ETA for idle queues on the construction queue list.
• There is now an "in progress" view on the research screen which shows only techs that are currently being researched.
• It's now easier to read text on the system map that's the same color as the background.
• System names are now shown on the galaxy map as tooltips.
• You can now sort ships by role (design type) on the construction screen.
• Double clicking a planet on the planet list now highlights it on the map.
• The research screen grid is now sortable.
• Combat simulations now display a wait cursor while in progress.
• The component report now distinguishes beam weapons from bolt weapons.
• There is now a popup when you win or lose the game.

Game Engine

• Repairs are now implemented; ships repair a number of components per turn depending on sector repair abilities, while units and facilities fully repair for free each turn.
• Various under the hood performance improvements.
• Facilities can now be upgraded.
• Sadly, we had to (temporarily?) can the newtonian combat as it was too buggy and no one could figure it out. Now it's just a generic turn based furball again.
• Pathfinding is now possible via warp points.

Modding

• You can now use templatizer-style embedded formulas (string interpolation) e.g. Name := Mineral Miner Facility {level.ToRomanNumeral()}.
• Added a ScriptNotes property to the Galaxy class for scripts to store freeform data.