Patch Release Notes - 1.5b

It is my goal in 2021 to release a total remaster of StarDrive 2, and this is a juicy update on the Road to Remaster (tm).

If you find that I broke something in your saved games, please upload it somewhere so I can grab it and see what went wrong. I've got a long way to go yet before this game is in a remastered state, but I think this gives you a great taste of what's to come.

• Added an Auto Combat toggle to the battle screen to let the AI handle combat for you
  
• Continued optimizations of strategy map performance
  
• Swapped out a few building graphics courtesy of wolfy301
  
• Asteroid fields on the battlemap are now more asteroidy
  
• Enhanced weapon sound fx system to allow for more variation.
  
• Upgraded and rebalanced weapon sound fx for:
  
• PD lasers
  
• Medium lasers
  
• Vulcan Cannons
  
• Disruptor Cannons
  
• Anti Matter Cannon
  
• Artillery
  
• Mass Driver
  
• General improvements to Muzzle Flash FX across the board
  
• Modified weapons:
  
• Disruptor max cannon range reduction
  
• Anti Matter Cannon increased projectile speed
  
• Cluster cannon range decreased
  
• Removed the old ground combat system entirely, and all associated quests. An upgraded quest system will bring these back in a new form soon.
  
• Solar Systems that are out of sensor range will now have the display of their names dulled slightly as an indicator
  
• Hex tiles that are not in sensor range now have a slightly faded coloring as an indicator
  
• Hex tiles that are unexplored have an even further reduced coloring
  
• Softened the color of the huge empire name plates on the strategy map to increase map readability
  
• Fixed an issue where antimatter cannon fx trails would disappear immediately upon impacting with a ship
  
• Updated Microsingularity FX to be cooler
  
• Fixed inoperable cluster cannon weapon
  
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