We have analyzing gameplay data we receive as well as looking at saved games from players (thanks to all who send them) and incorporating improvements into what is currently versioned at v3.96.
Among the changes are:
- Players will start with a Shipyard already constructed.
- A new planetary improvement, Industrial Center (only buildable once) will start for players who have Retribution.
- Major visual polish pass on the planets. The planets we had were...ok in 2015 but really needed a refresh.
- Support for new planetary traits for modders
- Some tweaks to resource placement to make them more spread out and accessible
The shipyard being available on turn-1 should help new players and allow the game to "get moving" quicker. We decided to do this due to the recent updates that have made your home planets (especially for Retribution players) have a lot more interesting choices and we didn't feel the shipyard really needed to be one of those choices anymore.
While such a minor change in versioning doesn't imply a major change, the visual update will be pretty apparent immediately.
For users who really like having strange planet types, we are also going to soon be announcing a new DLC (which is how we pay for the continued development of the game) that adds a bunch of new planet types.