FreeOrion v0.5 released

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Vezzra
Release Manager, Design
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Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2011 12:56 pm
Location: Sol III

FreeOrion v0.5 released

#1 Post by Vezzra »

FreeOrion v0.5 has been released.

This is the version of FreeOrion recommended for those who just want to play and enjoy the game. So unless you want to participate in game development or play the latest development version with all the new features (but potentially more bugs), this stable release is for you.

Two years and eight months. This is the time since our last major release, 0.4.10. That is, probably by far, the longest it has ever taken us to get out a new release, but it is finally here. There is, of course, a reason for this (and no, it's not the pandemic), and the jump of the version number to 0.5 - we introduced major new mechanics: the "Influence" resource and government policies, which makes this the "Government and Policies" release. That brought some big changes to gameplay, and required a lot of balancing (and rebalancing) of a lot of things. The AI had to brought up to speed (at least to a point where it isn't broken anymore), and then there have been the usual plethora of changes: bug fixes, AI adjustments and optimizations etc., see the list of key changes below.

That, of course, means that this release is more "rough around the edges" than usual. With such major additions and many changes to the game, issues are to be expected, most of all in the balance and AI areas. A lot of polishing will be necessary in subsequent releases, and we hope to get a lot of feedback and help with that from people who play the new release.

As always, and with a release as big as this probably more than ever, a huge thank you to all our contributors - the devs, the playtesters, the content creators, and everyone else who helped making FreeOrion better. Even if maybe only by submitting a bug report. Big or small, every bit helps and is appreciated.

With that, now go, get the new release, and enjoy! :D

Follow FreeOrion on Twitter if you want to receive related news, especially announcements of releases.


Download:

Get FreeOrion here, for macOS and Windows.

Linux users can either get the snap package we provide on snapcraft.io (please be patient, it may take a few days until the 0.5 snap is available), or try to get the new release from the respective package repositories of their distributions (if your distro maintains FreeOrion packages). If you can't use our snap package, and your distro does not maintain FreeOrion packages, Linux users need to build FreeOrion with cmake/make per the instructions here.


Key Changes:
(since v0.4.10 July 2020)
  • Added a government policies system
    - Policies have various positive or negative effects on an empire, some of which were moved from techs to policies
    - Policies represent various social, economic, and military ideas and ideals
    - Empires have limited slots in which policies can be adopted
    - Slots are unlocked by techs, buildings, other policies, ships, species or other content
  • Gave species likes and dislikes
    - Buildings, policies, or specials nearby or in an empire affect their planet stability
  • Made planet stability have more consequences
    - Various planet effects depend on stability levels, including resource output growth rates and stable values
    - Low planet stability causes rebel troops to appear
    - Rebel troops can cause a planet to leave an empire
  • Added influence resource
    - Spent to adopt policies
    - Consumed by colonies and outposts and various content
    - Generated by various content and associated planet focus setting
    - Going into debt will reduce planet stability
  • Extensive content reworking and balance adjustments for buildings, techs, policies, species, ship hulls and parts
  • Combats default to 4 bouts, with ship structure and damage adjusted accordingly
The detailed changelog can be found here.

User avatar
Vezzra
Release Manager, Design
Posts: 6095
Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2011 12:56 pm
Location: Sol III

Re: FreeOrion v0.5 released

#2 Post by Vezzra »

FreeOrion v0.5.0.1 has been released.

This is a bugfix release for 0.5, which addresses a couple of issues that have turned up.

Download instructions and links see 0.5 release post above.

Bug Fixes / Improvements (since v0.5 March 2023):
  • Fixed issue with Boost for Boost version 1.82 and greater
  • Fixed ship design validation
  • Fixed species description in encyclopedia
  • Fixed division by zero error in AI scripts
  • Fixed issue with rendering caret at start of line in multi line edit boxes
  • Update logistics facilitator description to fix number of external slots
  • Fixed Megalith increase infrastructure effect
  • Ignore irrelevant SDL error message
  • Build prerequisite ship facilities when needed
  • Only show scrap building popup if a scrap order could be issued for that building by the client empire
  • Apply self-sustaining xenophobic malus only where self-sustaining bonus applies
  • Fix division by zero when AI has researched everything

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