Version 1.4.3

A pacing-and-combat-tools patch on top of 1.4.2: Realm 4 territory combat simulations, class station-fleet speed, a faster early game, Colonial Administration reworked to every-2-levels linking, and AvA / FCS accuracy fixes — plus ship speed, capital anti-fodder Rapid Fire, and asteroid idle-growth tuning.

Class effects are in Player Classes. Expedition access and timing are in Expeditions. Territory combat lives under Alliance Territory / Territory Siege. Or open Settings → Quick Guides in-game.

New Features

Territory Combat Simulator (Realm 4+)

• Simulate attacks on your alliance’s system centers with live defender composition, editable alliance defense research, custom defender participant fleets, and attacker territory count for protector scaling on neutral first-conquest targets.
• Prefill from a system center you hold via the territory sim composition endpoint used by the in-game simulator.

Station fleet speed by class

• Guardian station / defend missions arrive +15% faster; Warlord −15%. Explorer and Industrialist are unchanged.
• Shown under profile Class Effects and applied to station ETAs (fleetStationSpeedMultiplier). Hostile attack speed is still separate and still ignored on FCS travel.

Improvements

Early game pacing

• Many Realm 1 research base times are roughly halved (Industrial Engineering, Construction Engineering, Energy Systems, Chemical Propulsion, Weapon Systems, Resource Protection, Defense Engineering, Shield Technology, Sensor Technology, and related early techs).
• Early hull build times are much shorter (Probe, Light Fighter, Fighter, Cargo, Recycler, Colony Ship, Cruiser, Escort, and more).
• Sensor Technology unlocks at Research Lab 3 (was 4). Shield Technology needs Weapon Systems 2 (was 4).
• Recycler and Colony Ship unlock at Shipyard 4 (was 6); Recycler Salvage Operations gate 3 → 2.
• Easy nebulas need Expedition Basics 1 (was 2). Medium / hard / extreme gates unchanged.
• R1–R3 fleet travel is faster via the environment speed factor: R1 ×3, R2 ×2, R3 ×1.5 (on top of the usual production multiplier).

Onboarding & first expeditions

• Research Lab onboarding step targets level 3 (was 4) to match Sensor Technology.
• Completing the Sensor Technology quest grants 10 Probes earlier; the “Train Your First Probe” step no longer duplicates that reward.
• First Pirate Raid grants 10 Recyclers (resource rewards trimmed). Debris onboarding copy points at Collect Debris from Galaxy / battle reports.
• Your first 2 completed expeditions each guarantee a relic or monument piece so find-item onboarding can finish (depth-1 configs without item rows still inject an epic piece).

Mail

• Mail lists can return compact report payloads for faster loading.
• Delete All requires an explicit tab / flagged scope (no accidental wipe of every mailbox) and soft-deletes in batches.

Balance

Colonial Administration

• Every 2 levels links one more planet Research Lab into the network (moons excluded).
• Excess research-time cuts (+2% each) start above 2 × (planets − 1) — e.g. 4 planets need level 6 to cover the network; 14 planets need level 26. Further levels still give +2% each.

Research & economy

• Ion Propulsion ship-speed bonus per level 10% → 7% (fuel effects unchanged). Chemical Propulsion and Warp Technology remain 5% per level from 1.4.2.
• Economic Empire production-per-planet 0.3% → 0.4% per level.

Ships & Rapid Fire

• Recycler speed 45 → 65.
• Mid/late hull base speeds retuned (e.g. Heavy Cruiser, Battleship, Destroyer, Carrier, Titan, Megahauler, Colossus — see catalog). Escort slightly slower; Light Fighter slightly faster.
• Rapid Fire vs Battleship: Cruiser gains ×2, Battleship gains ×3, Destroyer ×2 → ×4.
• Combat RF ceiling rises from 20 → 40 so capital anti-fodder values are not clipped.
• Realm 4 capitals get real anti-swarm Rapid Fire (OGame-style many shots, not splash). Soft screens no longer erase capital value:
  • Battlecruiser — strongest everyday screen clearer (e.g. Kamikaze ×35, Fighter ×30, Corvette ×25, plus soft logistics).
  • Titan — fleet breaker: solid light RF plus the best mid-line clear (Cruiser, Destroyer, Battleship, Heavy Cruiser, Dreadnought).
  • Colossus — highest light-fodder RF (Kamikaze ×40, Fighter ×35) and stronger soft-turret / logistics Rapid Fire for siege.
• Carrier screens still soften enemy RF (at most by half). Full tables and worked examples: Rapid Fire.

Asteroids

• On Realm 2+, idle ore growth can promote a field’s density tier (visual / size) when total ore crosses the next spawn threshold. Promotion never downgrades. Realm 1 keeps spawn density (no size growth from idle ore).

Bug Fixes

• Alliance-held AvA system centers — structures use alliance defense research only; System Protector personal combat research no longer pads those turrets. Stationed member fleets still use each member’s own research. Neutral first-conquest protectors still use seeded L20 + attacker-territory scaling.
• FCS sticky ETA — on PvP / AvA (real player or alliance target), a slow joiner leaving does not shrink the committed group ETA. PvE rallies (pirates, unclaimed holders, Siphon Spines, etc.) may recompute earlier from remaining natural arrivals. Joiners can still push ETA later either way.
• Scout reports, battle reports, and live fights stay aligned on protector / alliance-defense bonus handling for system centers.