Hi guys,

we are releasing a new patch for Polaris Sector today!

It's a minor one, consisting of some fixes. You can read the changelog down below.


Changelog:

- Incorrect range of the MIRV missiles
- Construction sometimes stops due to the lack of population
- Lumens cannot feed the population of the conquered planets

The war for the Polaris Sector is back in style with a huge, new expansion: Lumens!

Lumens adds a brand new race to the game, the Lumens, living beings entirely made of light and pure energy who will stop at nothing to obtain total galactic domination.

Polaris Sector: Lumens also introduces many improvements to the base game, including a total rework of the technology system, new galaxy generation options, a brand new fleet management system, and much more.

It is a must-buy for every Polaris Sector fan and if you have never tried it there’s no better occasion than now. Take part in the brutal wars to control the Polaris Sector in what is one of the most challenging and war-oriented space 4X games ever made!

If you’d like to take a look at it, don’t miss today’s stream on our Twitch channel[go.twitch.tv]: Agrippa Maxentius will be commanding his mighty fleets at 4 pm GMT!

http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/620680/Polaris_Sector_Lumens/

We've been talking about it for a while now, but it's time to give you an answer to your questions.
Polaris Sector has been one of the cornerstones last year, and we're amazed by how many fans played and keep following it.

That's why we decided to commit and develop an expansion for one of our favourite games. It was all thanks to your support!

Now we can finally tell you. 
Polaris Sector: Lumens will be out the 14th of November!
We hope you're going to enjoy it!

Today we’ll look at the improvements to research brought by the upcoming DLC for Polaris Sector, Lumens!

Science in Polaris Sector: Lumens has the same overall innovative scheme as in the base game, with research in Fundamental Sciences unlocking Applied Sciences through which new technologies are discovered.

However, in the base game, each race generally follows the same path through the science tree (apart from any special techs that they’ve chosen during setup). In Lumens, each of the races has different tech trees that both move around the existing technologies to emphasis the race’s different approach to life and also add new sciences and technologies!

For instance, rather than the core Fundamental Science of Biology, the Erians study Entelechy (a parallel, but bespoke philosophical theory on the basis of life). This then feeds into different Applied Sciences than, say, the Humans. Similarly, whilst most races still study Xenobiology to unlock important early habitation techs like the Marine Farm, some races instead study Xenovitalism and unlock this much later on, forcing those races to focus on Earthlike planets to feed their early settlers.

Additionally, the starting point of each race is different, with some races having more Applied Sciences unlocked at the start and with many having different starting technologies available. Extreme examples are that one races has no Applied Sciences unlocked at the start at all, whereas two others have the blueprints for Cruisers unlocked at the start (though it is a challenge to power these beasts with only basic technologies!).

Different races also have variations on the standard ship components. For example, whilst most races retain the Nuclear Reactor as their basic power source, some have the Stellar Core reactor which is more powerful but also much larger! Similarly, there are new variants for weaponry, with some early ships fielding the larger ranged Impulse Laser and/or the new Fireball Emitter.

Finally, there are new defensive fittings and offensive ship weapons included in the Lumens DLC. Examples include the EMP Missile that can temporarily disable enemy ships, Torpedoes that release blasts of gamma-rays upon detonation and new high level armour such as the Lumen’s active Svalinn armour.

http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/620680/Polaris_Sector_Lumens/

Today we’ll have a look at the new race which gives the name to the new expansion for Polaris Sector, Lumens.

They are added on top of an already large roster of playable races, and will be providing a new experience to Polaris Sector players.

What are the Lumen?

Pure light that can take on any form, Lumen can even moderate how brightly they shine. They’ll dazzle you one minute and light fires the next. And while they masquerade as angels of light, they are evil beings who would conquer the world if they only had the desire. Instead, they prefer fights that could go either way.

They draw their energy from stars, so long flights aren’t their cup of tea. It’s much easier to just attack anyone who ventures into their systems and resort to piracy as the need arises.

They don’t have a strong taste for other beings’ things, though they’re partial to a quaint little knick-knack every once in a while. Instead of holding onto their loot, they just sell or trade it. They can easily melt metal, they shape rocks, and they can vaporize water. Nobody really understands or can explain their culture or art.


Physiology

It’s hard to learn anything concrete about creatures whose corpses nobody has ever seen, who aren’t taken captive, and who refuse to be studied. Some think they feed directly off the stars, while others believe they suck energy out of their surroundings. We think they feed on emotions—the extremes of elation and ecstasy that accompany the clash of battle. And that’s why war is what they love the most.

Everyone who has seen them describes a luminescent humanoid creature. On video they appear amorphous, barely-there or fantastical glowing bits of light, which is how they appear when they’re not interacting with other living creatures; in other words, when they’re relaxed and calm.

As a psychological and mystical demonstration of Lumen power and superiority, their enemies see them in the form of their symbols of power, belief, and might.

Their light can shatter ocular nerves, burn straight through armor plates, and heal or disinfect wounds. They can do good or evil, appearing as the saviors or destroyers of civilizations—for them one is as good as the other, as they feel no pangs of conscience.

You can’t kill Lumen. They say they’re either immortal or live forever as long as they aren’t separated from the light of the nearest star. On the other hand, Gavakens think Lumen have a limited supply of light that sooner or later runs out. Some even poetically refer to them as mini stars.


History

Lumen appeared in the observable cosmos relatively recently. Ancient chronicles have no mention of them, though Gavakens think that’s because back then Lumen masked themselves as angelic creatures and the bearers of civilization. Humans and Vagalars completely disagree.

Whatever the case may be, the Lumen took over several uninhabited planets once they appeared, and gradually expanded into more and more territory.

Their settlements look like domes lit up by the beings living inside them. Lumen shun large cities, which some say is because they are typical villagers and prefer quiet, secluded areas. Native Lumen worlds probably don’t even have settlements; they and Lumen ships were most likely created solely for the purpose of traveling to distant worlds.

Their travels taught them much, and they also picked up quite a few prejudices from the civilizations they met. Now they enjoy appearing to be supernatural beings sent from the stars, not to mention other nonsense nobody in the civilized world buys anymore.

Lumen fight exclusively with their ships, which are said to have been borrowed way back when. As soon as they’re destroyed or incapacitated the enemy wins. Lumen themselves are impossible to beat in close combat.

One version has it that most of what the Lumen have was inherited from other races and is used only for their enjoyment. On the other hand, the omniscient Gavakens say that some Lumen are inveterate hoarders who can’t get their hands on enough. Other, less materialistic Lumen only collect what catches their eye.


Culture

Nobody knows if Lumen have any concept of history or religion. Most likely their civilization is evolved to the point where they don’t have to worry about either one.

They still haven’t gotten tired of war, similar to younger races. And their efforts to wipe out what they consider improper while boosting their own merits is also oddly reminiscent of an immature race. They often earnestly propagate their own values and what they consider worthwhile. Meanwhile, the rest of explored space can’t figure out what the Lumen have actually created that is worth defending to such a degree—after all, most of their military expeditions are focused on defense or search and rescue. Apparently they’re just protecting their property. As has already been noted, their culture and art is impossible to describe, and no other civilized race even considers it art. And nobody out there would consider messy military action, chaotic invasions, and amateur-hour politics to be any kind of culture.

They are ruled (maybe indefinitely) by Semysl, though nobody knows if that’s a name or a title. Humans sarcastically call it a dirty epithet. He himself represents the Lumen at interplanetary negotiations, and ship captains act in his name. Ships themselves are fairly independent of command, and often act or take risks independently based on what they see in the moment and completely without a plan. After their shameless robberies they throw out or sell most of their loot without ever sending anything to the capital. Oftentimes ships come to each other’s aid too late, still joining the battle even if they’re facing a stronger force. They’re just in it for the fight.

The Lumen stole their entire material culture from somewhere, seeing as how they don’t need valuables and don’t even care enough to establish their worth.

On the whole, Lumen are like children wrecking their way through a sandbox and having no idea what to do with it once they’re done. They’re always up for alliances, though they’re also always up for pointlessly violating them. They’ve just had enough and want something new.


http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/620680/Polaris_Sector_Lumens/

Hello galactic commanders and sci-fi aficionados!

Today we’re publishing the first in a series of articles about the upcoming expansion for Polaris Sector, Lumens!

It will be a truly massive expansion and it’s not easy to condense all the improvements and additions, but let’s try. We’ll start with all the new options and minor features that will be at your disposal.


Galaxy Generation

New options have been added to let you fine tune your galaxy even more! In addition to defining the number of stars, number of planets per system, percentage of habitable planets, the mineral richness of the sector and its 3D layout. You can now also define how many “goodie hut” artefacts and fast-travel wormholes are available and also whether you’d prefer to start on the edge or centre of the galaxy.

With so many options there are now countless possible combinations to choose from allowing for endless replaybility.

Research Speed Slider

You can now set a galaxy wide modifier that affects everyone’s speed of progress in research. Either leave it on the automatic setting, slow the rate of progress down so that ships become obsolete more slowly or crank up the rate to rush through to the end-game tech. Every choice has a consequence, and although rushing tech might sound tempting remember that there is a price to pay.


Planets

Planets have also been tweaked to give them a bit more variety. You’ll see more accessible planets with the special advanced research element and frozen and desert worlds with rarer mineral sources in more varied amounts.


Fleets Designer

Polaris Sector has always had a fantastic ship designer and we’ve now expanded that up to a Fleet designer to let you easily automate the design and creation of your favourite fleet loadouts.

Each ship design can now be linked to a default or custom role (e.g. Attack, Support, Carrier) and, in the Fleet Designer screen, you can create fleet formations from these designs. You can then build a whole fleet from the Planet Build Ships queue with one click or send out a distributed request to your empire’s production worlds to build you that fleet and assemble it where you select.

If you want to upgrade your fleets over time, you can switch the design that is assigned to each role and the game will know which ships you want to build or upgrade to from then on.

Additionally, if you enter battle with a pre-designed fleet then, if you have the initiative or the technology, they will be already in formation when you enter the battle screen.

Rally Points & Automation
A rally point can be set at any location and you can then use that location as the target destination for any new ships that you build.

You can either use this to create your own Ad Hoc fleet or to assemble a Fleet based on one of your Fleet Designs. In the latter case, you can choose to either have new ships created or for your existing ships to be automatically routed to the rally point.

Additionally, you can also automate the movement of Battle Stations from one star to another using Transport ships, automate the rebuilding of a carrier’s fighter compliment and even automate the full refit, repair and upgrade of entire fleets.

http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/620680/Polaris_Sector_Lumens/

A new DLC for Polaris Sector!

Last year SoftWarWare and Slitherine teamed up to release Polaris Sector, combat-focused sci-fi 4X that combines grand strategy and tactical space battles.

We’re now happy to announce that an expansion is coming to Polaris Sector: Lumens.

The Lumens are a new playable race which will fight for control of the Polaris Sector. They are an evil, warmongering and expansionist race made of pure energy. Lesser races will mistake them for angels of light, but there’s no mistaking what their true intentions are…

Lumens also comes with a whole new set of features: race-unique sciences and technologies, new fleet options, updated and improved planet properties, many new customizable options and much more!

Do you want to help us shape the Lumens expansion? Join the beta by applying here[slitherine.com]! We’re looking forward to hear your feedback.


Today we’re also releasing the 1.06 patch on Open Beta on Steam. Read the changelog here. It’s massive! Some highlights? How about Fleet designer, New configuration options, New fleet management screen and so many quality-of-life improvements! To access the Open Beta, right click on Polaris Sector from your Steam Library, click Properties -> Betas -> and select the Open Beta branch.


Lumens is going to be an essential buy for any Polaris Sector fan, and in case you haven’t tried Polaris Sector yet this is your chance: Polaris Sector will be at 50% off discount for one week! Don’t miss this occasion! The discount lasts until Thursday September 14th.


Last but not least, don’t miss our live stream on Twitch today. Agrippa Maxentius will be playing Polaris Sector live on our Twitch channel[www.twitch.tv] at 5 pm CEST / 4 pm BST and he will lead his space-koala empire and attempt to take over the galaxy. Yes, space koala. Don’t miss it!


http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/620680/Polaris_Sector_Lumens/

Good-day spacefarers!
We have big news for you!

Polaris Sector, one of the most intriguing 4x space games of the year, is updating to version 1.05!

This new version is heavily focused on improving the tactical combat situations, making the game better than ever!

Whilst trade deals and diplomacy are important to maintaining the balance of power, there are times when only the smartest tacticians can save the day.

Remember:
Who owns the sector, control the galaxy!

Check out the entire changelog below

Version 1.05 Change list

- ability to position ships before combat by drag-and-drop
- switch to destroy discovered enemy spies automatically
- Interdictor module is now much quicker to research
- Fixed a bug with experience points lost for small ships in hangars
- Search for objects on a global map (fleets, ships, stars, planets, heroes)
- Keyboard shortcuts for fleets and stars on a global map
- Upkeep info added to the ship info screen
- Possibility to name fleets
- Configuration option to always allow initial ship placement in combat, even when attacking
- Fixed a bug with different scanner/jammer types not showing in the design info
- Fixed a bug with "radioactive world" race lacking hydroponics
- Allowed a bit closer zoom-in for the galaxy map
- Shortcuts for the “Move to a new fleet” action and “Merge Fleets” action (Ctrl+N and N)

Hi,

Patch 1.05 is now available in the Steam Open Beta branch for download and testing.

You can access the beta by right-clicking on Polaris Sector in your library and selecting Properties. You can then click the Betas tab and select "openbeta" from the drop down box. Steam will then sync your files to the new version.

(If it does not appear, please restart Steam)

Please let us know on the forums if any issues you've had are fixed or if you find any new issues.

Thanks!

Changelog:

- Search for objects on a global map (fleets, ships, stars, planets,
heroes)
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=737379960
- Keyboard shortcuts for fleets and stars on a global map
- Upkeep info added to the ship info screen
- Possibility to name fleets
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=737379469
- Configuration option to always allow initial ship placement in combat, even when attacking
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=737380039
- Shortcuts for the "Move to a new fleet" action and "Merge Fleets" action when you have a fleet selected (Ctrl+N and N)
- Allowed a bit closer zoom-in for the galaxy map
- Interdictor module is now much quicker to research

- Fixed a bug with experience points lost for small ships in hangars
- Fixed a bug with different scanner/jammer types not showing in the design info
- Fixed a bug with "radioactive world" race lacking hydroponics

- AI updated to allow it to refuel at systems controlled by allies with "allow refueling" deals