Hello,

Here are some of the changes we are going to bring to Penumbra to make it so that all players can enjoy it, even when less experienced with the system. These changes are coming in a hotfix accessible tonight:

- Minor factions and Pirates now start using hacking action (offensive and defensive) at a later point in the game. This is linked to game speed and leaves them a little more vulnerable at the start of the game

- The hacking/tracing speed for Minor factions & Pirates is now tied to their difficulty settings

- Offensive hacking programs placed on a system are no longer canceled if the corresponding hacking/ operation has not yet reached its designated target

- Fixed some faulty localization keys that didn't help by displaying in the wrong language

To try it, right-click on Endless Space 2 in your Steam library, then select Properties. Under the Betas tab, click on the drop-down menu to select Preview1_4_3. 

And we're working on some more accessibility changes that should improve the hacking experience, especially for new players. These changes will come in an update a few days:

- Reworking a bunch of hacking tooltips

- Adding a notification to inform players that Minor factions & Pirates now have access to hacking

- Adding a notification to inform players when they trigger a defensive program that their target has started tracing them (and explaining that they can cancel the operation to cancel the trace)

- Adding more information to the notification the player receives when they have been traced to explain that a direct hacking operation is riskier than an operation going through multiple systems

- Adding a tutorial to explain how to avoid being traced when hacking

- Unrelated but worth mentioning: a fix for players being unable to build more than one Trading Company

We hope these changes will make the expansion, and particularly the Umbral Choir, even more accessible to new players, and will allow everyone to enjoy our new friendly ghosts!

We're eager to hear any feedback you may have on the hotfix and planned update.

Not a patch, a branch.

It should be made accessible within the hour by your beloved Marcelo.

Important note: Saves will not be compatible between the test branch and the main game.

- Offensive hacking programs placed on a system are now canceled if the corresponding hacking/ operation has not yet reached its designated target 

Isn't that how it works already? I mean, before hotfix

PARAdoxiBLE wrote:

Sublustris wrote:

- Offensive hacking programs placed on a system are now canceled if the corresponding hacking/ operation has not yet reached its designated target 

Isn't that how it works already? I mean, before hotfix

I think so. It worked that way since the beta.

Sorry about that, it's a misunderstanding ... the issue was that programs were canceled if they were placed in advance on the hacking road and that the hacking operation didn't reach the program before 1 turn ... don't know if it makes more sense ...

Also the build is up for PC :) Mac build should be up in a few.

Looks great, but it's already difficult to figure out how fast a trace is. If you make default traces for Minor factions & Pirates slower without explaining that in-game via the tutorial, people are gonna get really confused.

I still can't figure out if traces work like hacking (in which case Encrypt should slow it down even if placed on the node that is the source of the hack) or if it behaves differently by, for instance, only needing to reach the source node instead of also hacking said system.

Some of the programs are confusing in the description of their effects as well. I know one attack program offers -30% program hacking time while another offers +10%, and as if that's not confusing enough, I can't tell if those bonuses apply to both parties simultaneously or if one is specific to myself and another to my target. Other programs like Piggyback only seem to work on the node currently being hacked and it can be difficult to tell which ones continue to work throughout the operation, particularly when the ones that don't also don't get removed from your bandwidth bar when they stop working.

As feedback, the pulsos affinity that gives +ind per curiosity gives the bonus for each UC sanctuary and the home system, making a game breaking trait

XR17 wrote:

As feedback, the pulsos affinity that gives +ind per curiosity gives the bonus for each UC sanctuary and the home system, making a game breaking trait

True indeed. It allowed me to reach 4k ind at 45 turn in slow gamespeed. I've even seen 9k ind at 80 turn in endless gamespeed. There is no way others can compete with them for the wonders.