We have made significant quality-of-life improvements to EFSe, and it is part of the Steam Summer sale. You can see the full changelog, as well as the Phoenix EFSe mod and Machiavelli the Prince Enhanced, at https://holistic-design.com/game-updates-steam-summer-sale/

EFSe 1.52g

Please note that the EFSe updates also require modders to update their work, especially if they have modified .res files. Details are at the end of this changelog.

Quality-of-Life Improvements

1. One of the most requested quality-of-life improvements has been for build queues in your cities. You can access this new feature via a specific city or the archives. First add a queue – give it a name, select units in the order in which you want them built, and close the window to save it. Now that queue shows up in every city that can build all of its units. Select the queue and the city will build those units, in order, as long as you have enough resources available.
2. Another QoL improvement involves reordering messages. Players had concerns when a longer series of “Resource Missing” messages would cause more important messages to be missed. Messages now appear in order of general importance, with “Resource Missing” messages at the bottom of the message window
3. The third QoL improvement involves adding more hotkeys and shortcuts.

• Corrected behavior for the number pad Enter key, allowing it to mimic the regular Enter key
• Corrected hotkey implementation for shortcuts in the Build menu and messaging, 
• Pressing “X” will eXit from planet-view to the star-map
• Left and Right buttons now allow players to navigate the group finder screen.

Bug Fixes

• Corrected dialog boxes incorrectly responding to number pad input
• Fixed various shortcuts
• Fixed a problem with sync behavior in the launcher
• updated the league loan behaviour
• Fixed Plague Bomb function configuration

For Modders

• New spotting algorithm allows you to choose between 8 different profiles that changes how detection works
• Maximum loan amount for league
• Starting wealth is now moddable per faction

Information for modders regarding altered data

DAT

1. EFS.INI

• Addition of “maximum_loan_amount” for the League
• new “spot_algorithm” with several presets
• “starting_credits” removed and put into PlayerTable as PlayerStartingCredits

 

1. PlayerTable.DAT

• PlayerStartingCredits

1. UNIT.DAT

• Plague Bomb function fix

json

1. diplo.res/.json  (5 lines)

• Various data tunings for screen navigation UI/UX

1. efs.res (around 26+ sections altered)

• FileMenu split to Starmenu and HexMenu
• Implemented dummy hotkeys through static UI elements
• Changed some hotkeys
• Queue system support

1. strings.res (3 sections)

• Added confirmation of League loan and more information
• Added missing resources and tech info to queue messaging and queue system support

Important Notice for Modders: Update Your Mods for the New Patch

With the release of the new patch, all modders should make sure their mods are updated before launching the game.

If your mod changes any .res files, you may encounter a black screen on startup unless your files have been properly updated. To avoid this, please export your JSON files back into .res format using the provided Python script included with the modding tools.

TLDR:

Update your mods, re-export your JSONs into .res files, and make sure you are using the latest patch-compatible files before playing.

Hi everyone,

Master of Orion II has been one of my favorite games for as long as I can remember. Like many of you, I still come back to it regularly. The gameplay has aged incredibly well, but modern displays haven't been nearly as kind to its 640×480 graphics. And honestly... my eyes aren't getting any younger either.

So I decided to build something I've wanted to see for a long time.

Not a remake. Not a clone. Not a source-port.

Instead, I'm building a HD frontend that works alongside the original game while leaving it completely untouched. The original engine continues to handle every aspect of the game exactly as it always has — my frontend simply follows what's happening on screen and replaces the presentation with modern HD artwork.

The whole philosophy fits in one sentence:

The game leads. The frontend follows.

Whenever a screen hasn't been recreated yet, the original graphics show automatically. Nothing breaks, nothing becomes unplayable — completed screens simply improve the experience while everything else keeps working as it always has.

My first milestone is to bring the complete interface to a polished HD state before tackling the really hard parts like the Galaxy Map and Tactical Combat.

Why Linux only?

Not because I'm against Windows or macOS — simply because the architecture relies on Linux-specific capabilities that let the original game and the HD frontend work together without touching the game itself. That gives me the technical freedom to build it the way I envisioned.

The project will always require a legitimate copy of Master of Orion II. It doesn't include, modify, or replace the original game.

A GitHub page is coming soon. I'd like the first public commit to actually represent the project properly before I put it online.

I'm sharing this because I'd love to meet other people who still care about this game — artists, UI designers, mechanics nerds, or simply fellow fans who enjoy talking about MOO2.

If OrionLayer grows into a real community project, I'd also love to find someone who enjoys the organizational side of things: managing GitHub, coordinating contributions, and helping keep the project moving. I'm not looking for someone to take over — just someone who'd enjoy building a welcoming home for it.

Full disclosure: I'm not a software developer by trade. My background is IT with a focus on LLMs, and that's exactly what makes OrionLayer possible — I drive the architecture, the vision, and every design decision, while building the implementation with heavy LLM assistance.

This is a long-term hobby project — it'll probably take years, and that's fine. Even if it stays a solo passion project, I'm happy, because I'm building this out of love for the game. If it grows into something bigger someday, even better.

If this sounds interesting, I'd genuinely love your thoughts, ideas, or just a chat with fellow MOO2 fans.

Thanks for reading.

Data

Edit: For anyone who wants to see what's actually behind this — I've uploaded a second video to the channel showing the folder structure, a glimpse of the startup code, and a live asset swap. Raw and unpolished, but real.

Hello,

I've been working on a 2D space game. This is a early preview, still lot to go and not all functions are in, but fair bit is and fully functional, I am currently in middle of reworking the combat, UI and VFX, so their are broken parts still.

What it is.

Nova Reforged is an open-world space sim across 50 seeded systems. You fly, fight, mine, haul, and salvage your way up from a starter hull to something that scares patrol wings. Nobody hands you a tier list. The economy, the factions, and the people in them were already in motion, you just slot into the friction.

Combat is real-time and reads off your gauges, not a damage log. 67 guns sorted into 10 families, blasters and gatlings dumb-fire, railguns and turrets lock, missiles chase. Shields soak, hull doesn't come back cheap, and the capacitor decides whether your guns or your engines win the next three seconds. Crew you hire can man a hardpoint and fire it themselves inside its arc. Capitals throw 360° turret batteries at you.

Mining is a job, not a button. Survey the rock with a beam, watch the heat climb, fracture it, then chase down the chunks before someone else does. Run drones if you'd rather work the field than the rock.

Trade rewards people who read the map. Frontier systems make exotics nobody out there wants; the core craves them. Spreads run 11–15× if you can find the route and survive it. Merchant haulers drift the lanes, hail one, deal on the spot. Some doors only open after you've found the base behind them.

Factions remember. Federation, Independent, and the Vorax all keep their own books on you. Clip a fed fleet in a crossfire and they stop caring whose side you thought you were on. Reputation is personal, NPCs reference what you actually did, not a karma bar.

Plus the rest of the lived-in stuff: dockable stations with live economies and defense turrets that scramble if you push them, hirable wingmen who can die and stay dead, breachable derelicts, salvageable wrecks, megastructures sitting out past the last orbit, and a scan-and-codex loop for people who'd rather chart the dark than shoot at it.

There are functions I've not mentioned and their are heap of hidden factions I've not added, there a lot more coming. 300+ systems, full scale dungeons, 100+ ships, many modules. There is system around combat/weapons I've not added or mentioned, which I'll mention once I've got it in the right place.

AI... and where it's used currently and what are my future plans for AI.

Coding - I use it to assist me, makes building ideas and testing lot faster.

Art - I made the space backgrounds myself, none of planets use AI artwork, only parts atm that use AI for art is mainly around items and ships, however I will replace that as I've started redesigning every single ship in blender myself as low poly, I already ran tests and I can get it into game without to much of performance hit, its prob going to take a while, so until then deal with it. In terms of everything else it's slowly getting rebuilt, by the end the only AI artwork will be character portraits, truth is I suck at making them and honestly AI does rather good job I just haven't found the style that I like and matches the game.

Music - Real person is making the soundtracks for me, hopefully in talks atm if he ends up moving on, I have someone else but he bit costly so might take while to get full soundtrack.

Sound Effects - Purchased assets, I suck at making them I tried.

UI - That's all me (I love designing in Figma), I will be changing it more as time goes on I've noticed mistakes and issues with the new UI but its close to where I want it. Issues atm are colors and some of panels are missing parts so its using part of what UI looks like.

Other then that, I use Godot game engine, its easy to work with.

Enjoy.

Orion Online, Galaxy Zoom Continuum

Let me introduce Orion Online, a persistent, modern, browser-based 4X MMORTS where you take control of a planet and fight to grow in the galaxy.

Some game-play features, that you might enjoy:

• Deterministic tick-engine that respects your time; No waking up in the middle of the night
• Intuitive, but deep, economic engine: Distribute resources responsibly
• Unique "discoveries" based roles system; Play as an economist, general, cyber operator, or support deployer
• Team-based PvP; War against other systems in the galaxy
• Interactive galaxy; Navigate between your planet, your system, and the galaxy in a zoom continuum
• No Pay-to-Win: no speed-ups, or resource packs. Monetization is fair and QoL only

The first ever official round is about to begin in ~1 hours (july 1st, 00:00 UTC).

I consider this a beta/EA still though, as there are some rough edges for sure, but I am super happy with the core systems and gameplay, so everything from here will be about fixing those rough edges, squashing bugs, adding more features, and taking in user feedback.

Thanks for playing, and enjoy (please report any bugs you come across).

• join game: https://orion.idleverse.gg/
• join discord: https://discord.com/invite/Wy58BQrUMY

A game as violent as an epileptic seizure while remaining sensitive to the awe of the Cosmos. A game fit only for the best. Finally, a game you can Really Play.