Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris development diary. We're getting close to release, so today's dev diary is the last dev diary for Utopia/Banks, and will cover a couple of graphical and interface changes coming in the free 1.5 'Banks' update.
Ship Coloring
Something that's hardly gone unnoticed in the screenshots and streams is that the ships in Banks look different than from before. We've mentioned wanting to make each empire's ships more distinct so that no two Fungoid empires would have the exact same ships. In Banks, your flag color will affect the coloring and lighting of your ships, as well as the color of the engine trails they leave. The exact way in which the coloring affects the ships depends heavily on the ship style you're using, but the overall effect should be that your empire's ships feel much more distinct and that it's easier to tell apart the ships of different empires at a glance.
Map Colors
Another tweak we've done to make empires more distinct is to add a bit more color variety on the map. Instead of each empire having the exact color shade of their flag, there is now a number of valid colors for each map color, so that two empires with the same blue flag will have at least slightly different shades of blue on the map. Who gets what shade is determined by the spawn order of the empires, so in most instances the player will get the 'original' flag color, and other empires with the same flag color will get other variants. While this change won't eliminate every case of border confusion (there's only so many distinct shades of light blue), it should at least help cut down on it.
Primitive Galaxy Map Icons
Another interface addition in Banks is the ability to see Primitive Civilizations on the galaxy map. Any system containing a Primitive Civilization you have discovered, either through surveying or acquiring star charts, will show up as a special icon in the galaxy map informing you of their presence in that particular system. If an Observation Post is constructed above that Primitive Civilization's planet, the icon will change to reflect this.
Details Mapmode
The last topic we're going to cover is how we've reworked the Details Mapmode in Banks. Or more specifically, how we've reworked the Details Mapmode when it's toggled off. Previously, having the Details Mapmode off would show you almost no information, while having it toggled on would show you everything. In Banks, having the Details Mapmode on works exactly the same way as before, showing you all information about system resources, colonizeable planets, anomalies, etc. Having it off, however, will now aim to show you all *important* information. What this means is that it will show you unexploited resources in your own and unclaimed systems, but hide resources that are either already being exploited by you or are inaccessible to you due to being inside another empire's borders. It will show you planets you are able to colonize, but hide planets that cannot be colonized, and so on. This should make for a better default mode that leaves your map cluttered without hiding important information you need to expand your empire.
That's all for today! Next week, instead of a regular dev diary, we're going to publish the full patch notes for Banks and Utopia. There'll be some choice teasers from the patch notes coming over the week, so stay tuned!
Ship Coloring
Something that's hardly gone unnoticed in the screenshots and streams is that the ships in Banks look different than from before. We've mentioned wanting to make each empire's ships more distinct so that no two Fungoid empires would have the exact same ships. In Banks, your flag color will affect the coloring and lighting of your ships, as well as the color of the engine trails they leave. The exact way in which the coloring affects the ships depends heavily on the ship style you're using, but the overall effect should be that your empire's ships feel much more distinct and that it's easier to tell apart the ships of different empires at a glance.
Map Colors
Another tweak we've done to make empires more distinct is to add a bit more color variety on the map. Instead of each empire having the exact color shade of their flag, there is now a number of valid colors for each map color, so that two empires with the same blue flag will have at least slightly different shades of blue on the map. Who gets what shade is determined by the spawn order of the empires, so in most instances the player will get the 'original' flag color, and other empires with the same flag color will get other variants. While this change won't eliminate every case of border confusion (there's only so many distinct shades of light blue), it should at least help cut down on it.
Primitive Galaxy Map Icons
Another interface addition in Banks is the ability to see Primitive Civilizations on the galaxy map. Any system containing a Primitive Civilization you have discovered, either through surveying or acquiring star charts, will show up as a special icon in the galaxy map informing you of their presence in that particular system. If an Observation Post is constructed above that Primitive Civilization's planet, the icon will change to reflect this.
Details Mapmode
The last topic we're going to cover is how we've reworked the Details Mapmode in Banks. Or more specifically, how we've reworked the Details Mapmode when it's toggled off. Previously, having the Details Mapmode off would show you almost no information, while having it toggled on would show you everything. In Banks, having the Details Mapmode on works exactly the same way as before, showing you all information about system resources, colonizeable planets, anomalies, etc. Having it off, however, will now aim to show you all *important* information. What this means is that it will show you unexploited resources in your own and unclaimed systems, but hide resources that are either already being exploited by you or are inaccessible to you due to being inside another empire's borders. It will show you planets you are able to colonize, but hide planets that cannot be colonized, and so on. This should make for a better default mode that leaves your map cluttered without hiding important information you need to expand your empire.
That's all for today! Next week, instead of a regular dev diary, we're going to publish the full patch notes for Banks and Utopia. There'll be some choice teasers from the patch notes coming over the week, so stay tuned!
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