Stellaris Dev Diary #140 - 2.2.x post-launch patch v2

[grekulf]

Hello everyone!

We don’t have anything specific to talk about or show, but we thought it would be suitable to let you know we’re still working on the final post-release patch. We’re aiming to release the patch sometime in late February.

Edit:
I want to make it clear that this does not mean we will stop making improvements to the game. We will always continue to support our games, but now we need to focus our efforts into a larger patch instead of continuing to deploy smaller patches. The reason why we need to focus on a next, large patch is because trying to maintain multiple branches of development and deploying small patches takes a significant amount of resources away from us working on fixing bugs, improvements and feature development.

Our focus has been on improving and polishing the content we already have, so there won’t be many new features. We’ve been making improvements from everything from AI to UI to balance. I won’t talk about all the stuff we’ve done, but here’s some stuff I’ve been posting on twitter:

A wee little buff!

Another small buff.

A vast improvement! Our tech lead, Moah, has been hard at work improving the way ships are upgraded.

Cleaner display of districts! This arcology now display its districts with boxes, and in different colors!

That’s all we have for today folks, I just wanted to pop in and let you know that we’re still working on getting the patch out to you all. Personally I can’t wait until we can start telling you about the new stuff we will be starting soon, but it’s too early for that I’m afraid

As stated earlier, scheduled dev diaries are still on hiatus, but we may write something from time to time if we have something to show.

Cheers!

 

[Harlot]

So sectors are are going to be left in their current state? Disappointing; I don't have time to micromanage 100 planets.

The dev team addressed this before. Sectors aren't a simple tweak, so while they'll possibly get another look, it's something that needs more time to be done. Just because a feature isn't introduced/changed, doesn't mean it's not going to be.

 

[grekulf]

I've opened windows-paint and I've figured out, that the tiny UI allows to display just 24 "free" district-boxes, respectively 18 district-boxes (aka the ones for alloys, consumer-goods and unity), respectively 12 city-district-boxes, so what if I have a colony, which exceeds these limits ? - Then ?

When the number of a district exceeds 15, you show a number inside a larger box, like shown in the image.

Please.

Please tell me that you will look at sectors and give us back some of the previous options we had in past patches.

Thank you.

Sectors are a larger task that is a big too big to tackle right now, with a lot of other fixes being done, but I do want you to know I have sectors as one of my highest priorities going forwards. We will probably not be going back to manual sector management, but we will definitely be looking into how to make the automatic assignment better, while also making sure that resource management and AI development works better. We will probably make a dev diary about our plans for the Sectors in the future, so that we can share our thoughts before committing to anything.

"final post-release patch"

I want to make it clear that this does not mean we will stop making improvements to the game. We will always continue to support our games, but now we need to focus our efforts into a larger patch instead of continuing to deploy smaller patches. The reason why we need to focus on a next, large patch is because trying to maintain multiple branches of development and deploying small patches takes a significant amount of resources away from us working on fixing bugs, improvements and feature development.

 

[grekulf]

I think we're just worried about "new shiny stuff" taking priority over fixing the issues in the game.

Understandable concern. I'll let you know though, that I have intentionally planned the next DLC so that we will have the resources to make more improvements

 

[Harlot]

Sorry Grekulf. If you think that is going to quell the uproar that your original post caused, then you are mistaken.

No one posting here thought that you were going to ‘stop making improvements to the game’. We are all fully aware that there will be more DLCs and patches in the future. What all the anger is about is that, barely 50 days after promising ‘extensive’ post-patch support, we are getting the ‘final’ patch for 2.2. And I think you know that, so your disingenuousness in pretending otherwise just adds fuel to the fire.

Let's not disregard Daniel's followup comment here. He did make it clear that the next piece of content has development scheduled in a way that will allow them to put the required focus on lingering issues. We can continue to focus on patch numbering and on what really "final" means, but what really matters in the end, is that the issues reported by the community, continue to receive attention, which they will.

 

[Harlot]

View attachment 451038
I've red the statements, but at least for me, they're still not clear enough formulated:
01. Do they already work on the next DLC ? ...
02. Right after this upcoming and big and "final" post-release-patch, do they work on an or even several other post-release-patche(s) (WITHOUT working on the next DLC) ? ...
03. Right after this upcoming and big and "final" post-release-patch, do they work on the next DLC ?

I feel like the answer to your questions is contained more in the philosophy of project management in general, not this patch in particular. Let me give you a rough rundown.

The development process itself, never snaps end to end. It never goes straight from point A to B to C. You work with various resources, multiple people with varying skillsets, availability (this is a growing company and we help each other out sometimes) and efficiency. There are bottlenecks and multiple elements that have to come together to meet a single goal or create a product. Sometimes you're ahead with art, other times sound recording was done first or programmers have some work hours to spare. When that happens, you want them to work on something else, and not sit around and wait for someone else to be done with their part of the work. It's simply a matter of efficiency.

In addition, every project lead, has a rough idea of what's in the project's future. Most of you probably saw the development roadmap Wiz has been sharing on the forums. With that knowledge, we can determine what feature will require more work and we can start planning it ahead of others. So elements of certain updates sometimes start development way sooner than others. An example of that would be Martin working on the planetary management rework for 2.2, as soon as 2.0 and Apocalypse were done. And you all know that in that time we also managed to release Distant Stars. In fact, we were even showing prototype screenshots at PDX Con to the audience.

So, to sum, up, of course elements of the next DLC, or even two updates ahead, have had some groundwork laid out already. Those of our devs who could spare the time, wrote down design documents, or drafted basic art. Even sitting in a meeting room and scribbling on a whiteboard is still work, and it has been done even while 2.2 was in development. That is how managing a project with so many moving parts works, and that is how 2.2, its post release phase and any and all future updates for our games will work too, from the workflow management point of view.

That said, what was stated before, was of course accurate also. We are now in a dedicated post-release support phase for 2.2 and that was the team's main focus. Now, as we progress and feel that maintaining multiple branches of the game is costing us efficiency and resources, we try to start moving some of our devs to work on the next update, while designing it in a way, that will allow us to still give the issues you've been reporting deserved attention.

 

[Harlot]

So, you mean you're going to leave that feature broken for after the next DLC?

I was hoping for 2 ~3 months of support before any more DLC, because that's what is needed right now.

I can only recommend you read my last comment (https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-launch-patch-v2.1152783/page-7#post-25166166) before jumping to that conclusion, as well as Daniel's post: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-launch-patch-v2.1152783/page-6#post-25165777

It should give you an idea of our priorities and how the dev team's resources are managed.

 

[Harlot]

To paraphrase, you mean ‘Yes, we are going to leave Sectors broken until the next DLC.’

Daniel made it clear that it's a bigger system that needs more attention and said it's a high priority for him. That said, the team won't hold work on everything else, while the sectors are being tackled, just to deliver a PR point. We have employees that want to continue work on other elements of the game in the meantime and they won't be benched to keep up appearances. It's important to everyone here to remain efficient, as, in the end, it's your money that funds this game's development, and we'd rather use it as well as we can.

 

[Harlot]

Every single time they talk about a new patch or something, i immediately ctrl+f and type "sectors" and find they have completely ignored it.. again.

At least acknowledge the amount of micro has increased dramatically and the new sector system isn't fit to cope with it!

I believe this is what you're looking for: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-launch-patch-v2.1152783/page-6#post-25165777

 

[Harlot]

I think we can all agree that performance has been consistently improving from patch to patch, since 2.2. I'm sure the next patch will also benefit it. As Daniel stated, performance and AI are still the dev team's priorities.