After a year and a half of development, the next version of FreeOrion, a free space 4X parallel turn-based strategy based on the Master of Orion series of games, has been released.
The focus of this release is multiplayer improvements, a complete overhaul of targeting in battles, and a reworking of fuel mechanics into fuel efficiency mechanics. In addition, minor improvements and changes were made, and, of course, bug fixes.
Key changes:
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Multiplayer Improvements:
- A multiplayer game can be run on a server without connected players, and accept players independently.
- Empires in the game can be tied to authorized players.
- The servers that the player visited are saved and displayed in the list of servers in the connection window.
- Chat in the lobby and the game is now shared.
- Chat history can be saved and sent to players upon connection.
- The message window flickers when a message arrives.
- The lobby window shows the galaxy settings from the game being loaded or the current game on the server.
- The lobby window shows empires without connected players separately for the game being loaded or the current game on the server.
- Servers may have locked game rules.
- Added a turn timer for the server.
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Targeting in battles:
- Anti-aircraft guns are aimed only at fighters.
- Interceptors prefer to attack bombers, then fighters, then ships.
- Bombers prefer to attack ships, then fighters.
- Races can also affect targeting.
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Ship hulls feature fuel efficiency that scales additional fuel from fuel parts and other fuel-adding content.
PS There is a public game server freeorion-test.dedyn.io.
PPS There is a game server with an extended turn time, registration on the game forum.
Source: linux.org.ru