About the Game
Distant Worlds Returns! Distant Worlds, the critically acclaimed 4X space strategy game is back with a brand new 64-bit engine, 3D graphics and a polished interface to begin an epic new Distant Worlds series with Distant Worlds 2.
Distant Worlds 2 is a vast, pausable real-time 4X space strategy game. Experience the full depth and detail of turn-based strategy, but with the simplicity and ease of real-time, and on the scale of a massively-multiplayer online game. The Universe is Yours!
Huge Galaxies with up to 2,000 star systems and tens of thousands of planets, moons and asteroids are yours to explore and exploit, whether peacefully through mining and diplomacy or by conquest! The complex process of generating a galaxy ensures that every new game will be different and the many galaxy setup options ensure incredible replayability as well as the ability to have your game be just the way you like it.
Galaxies are so deep, fun and immersive that you won’t want to finish the game. Choose from seven playable base game factions which cover a wide variety of playstyles.
Build, expand and improve your empire while playing through the storylines, with victory conditions or in an open-ended sandbox mode. Each galaxy is packed with life and activity. Encounter other empires, independent alien colonies, traders, pirates and space monsters. Explore star systems, asteroid fields, galactic storms and black holes. Discover evidence of civilizations long since past, uncovering secrets about the galaxy's troubled history...
Intelligent automation allows you to tailor the game to your preferred playstyle and scale. Decide how much you want to control and which gameplay areas suit you best. You can limit your focus to just one ship or expand it all the way up to everything in a vast galactic empire. Let your advisors and the intelligent automation handle the rest!
A Built-in Game Editor allows you to fine-tune your own galaxy, adding or removing star systems, planets, asteroids, ships, star bases, space monsters or anything else. Modify the attributes of any empire in your game for the ultimate custom experience.
Extensive In-Game Help is included. Exhaustive, built-in, context-sensitive help is always only a single key-press away. Press F1 at any time for a detailed explanation of the current game screen, your currently selected item, and so on, or just browse the complete “Galactopedia”
Tutorials are included to quickly familiarize you with all of the game elements and tools.
Best of all, these all combine to let you play the game your way: enjoy a quick, intense game in a crowded sector of space or take your time in an epic game spread across a vast galaxy!
Screenshots
8 images
Version Information
Steam Patch Notes
Official update history
Welcome back, explorers.
[p align="start"]We’re pleased to announce that a new update for Distant Worlds 2 is out now.Below some highlights:
Colony invasions have been changed to give invading forces more of a chance to consolidate forces before starting combat;
Raids are now timed and should damage colonies less. As long as raiders have more strength than defenders after a short period, the raid will succeed;
Stealth values have changed, so that stealthy ships should now be harder to detect at limits of scanner range;
Many abandoned debris ships are now unrepairable, but can be salvaged for tech bonuses;
Fixes to Haakonish and Teekan factions based on Mercantile Update feedback;
Miscellaneous crash and bug fixes.
Click here for the full changelog.
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Welcome back, today we're happy to announce that the Anniversary Update is now available.
Below you will find the latest and greatest information on Distant Worlds 2TM. Information in this document supersedes that in the official game manual.
Troubleshooting:
Ensure that your system meets the minimum system requirements. These are found in the game manual.
Also, ensure that you have the latest video and sound drivers available for your system. The vast majority
of reported problems are resolved by upgrading all drivers to the latest versions.
If you are still experiencing problems with the game, please use our Ticket System or post in the Distant
Worlds 2 Support Forum. Please provide as much detail on your issue as you can.
To obtain optimum game performance, close all other applications before beginning a game.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you still experience crashes, please try the new DXVK rendering option in the
game settings. This can be found under "Rendering Mode", which can be switched from DirectX 11 to
DXVK. DXVK should also be used together with SDR (rather than HDR) for best results. This will likely
resolve many issues caused by driver bugs or incompatibilities. If you try this setting and the game does
not launch, please note there is a command line option to switch back to DirectX 11. To use add /use-
dx11 as a command-line argument to DistantWorlds2.exe.
Change History:
v1.3.1.1 – 7th August 2025
This major update focuses on crash fixes, improvements to fleet behavior, ship designs, and
independent colonies, as well as various data fixes and miscellaneous changes based on feedback
from the Tactics Update. In addition, this update includes a special new event chain to celebrate
Slitherine’s 25th Anniversary and a small thematic easter egg for the occasional independent
freighter.
CRASH FIXES
• fixed rare crash when encountering independent colony
• fixed rare crash when processing construction yards
• fixed a number of crashes
• fixed rare crash when starting area weapon blasts in a scene
• fixed rare crash when generating a new game
• fixed crash when resolving list items
• fixed rare crash when picking up debris
ANNIVERSARY CONTENT
• added a new anniversary story event to celebrate 25 years of Slitherine and Matrix Games
• added a new anniversary variant freighter texture for one independent freighter
GRAPHICS IMPROVEMENTS
• fixed faulty rendering for some planet types
GALAXY SETUP
• empire starting location is now more accurate (specified in Start New Game screen)
USER INTERFACE
• fixed Enemy Targets list filters sometimes not working properly when filtering by empire
• changed default system badge display level to Enhanced (was Basic)
VIEW LOCK FEATURE
• view lock now properly retains lock when ship or fleet enters or exits hyperspace
• ship or fleet now smoothly locked with camera (no jiggle when zoomed in)
INDEPENDENT COLONIES
• enhanced independent colonies to have more detail: more natural features that provide bonuses,
ocassional defending troops, ocassional facilities of various sorts
• improved intro text for first contact with independent colonies so that highlights unique items at
colony
FLEET BEHAVIOR
• fixed additional situations where empire bonuses were sometimes being applied twice to ships in
a fleet
• fixed weapons often not using correct repeatable values from tech tree while in combat (e.g.
extended weapon range)
• automated fleets now better at choosing best repair/retrofit yards, e.g. preferring spaceports (with
many yards) over colonies
• further improved fleet responsiveness when intercepting incoming enemy fleets
• fleets intercepting incoming enemy fleets will now coordinate with each other so that more distant
fleets drop off when closer fleets are available to intercept
• fleets attacking creatures are now more careful about evaluating other threats at same location
and will not auto-assign attack when breaches retreat conditions (assuming location is visible and
threats are known)
• fleets and ships now more careful when evaluating Hive threat for attack
• improved fleet willingness to refuel prior to repairs when necessary
• fixed invasion fleets sometimes attacking targets outside their engagement range (but will still
attack targets of opportunity in same system even when outside engagement area)
SHIP BEHAVIOR
• improved evaluation of attacks against threats for ships outside fleets so that more careful to
avoid attacks against locations with many enemy targets unless can coordinate other nearby
ships to assist
• added new empire policy settings to control how ships outside fleets evaluate attacks against
enemy targets in both offensive and defensive situations (Minimum Attack Level for Ships,
Minimum Defend Level for Ships)
• more careful to cancel all incoming missions for enemy ships when conquer one of their colonies
(colony ships loading population, load troops, refuel/repair/retrofit for military ships)
FUEL TANKERS
• fuel tankers in fleets will now consider refuelling their fleet ships even when inside dangerous
nebulae (e.g. ion storms) that they are not designed to handle, as long as the tanker is already at
the same location as the fleet and is not disabled
SHIP DESIGN
• removed PreferredWeaponComponentIds from all races (Races.xml) so that ship design and
research is not influenced by these settings. These could interfere with the component policy
settings, causing some confusion. The component policy settings are now fully authoritative
when guiding the ship design automation.
• improved manual upgrade of ship and base designs (Upgrade button) so that engine symmetry is
honored and upgrade process attempts to keep upgraded components in the same bay if
possible (i.e. when new component fits within maximum size of existing bay)
• ensure that manually-designed ships and bases with hangar components always use at least one
external hangar bay so that ships and fighters can properly enter and exit the hangar
• improved selection of shields for automated ship design by tweaking evaluation of some shield
values
• fixed incorrect display of some shield component values where lower values are better
(Penetration Chance, Penetration Ratio)
• improved auto-design for fighters so that will now dispense with fuel tank in favor of second
reactor when required to fulfill power needs
• improved auto-design for fighters so that more likely to add further engines when possible
• automated designs for Spaceports and Defensive Bases now also includes shield recharge
energy requirements when determining how many reactors to add, thus being more likely to
avoid insufficient power output during battle
• tweaked automated Defensive Base designs to typically have more shields and armor
• automated designs now more likely to include countermeasures and targeting components, even
when hull has inbuilt countermeasures and targeting (when components provide better values in
these areas)
• when manually designing a ship or base with a ship hull that only has internal hangar bays then
disable rule requiring at least one external hangar bay to be filled by construction yards, docking
bays or fighter bays
RESEARCH
• reduced research point bonus from Research treaties to 10% (previously 20%)
• removed PreferredWeaponComponentIds from all races (Races.xml) so that ship design and
research is not influenced by these settings. These could interfere with the component policy
settings, causing some confusion. The component policy settings are now fully authoritative
when guiding the research automation.
ALLIANCES
• fixed empire offers to end wars with alliances not properly displaying Alliance Vote screen to
consider offer
• fixed empire offers to end wars with alliances not being properly evaluated when diplomacy is
automated
BASE CONSTRUCTION
• Queue Base task buttons now use more precise determination of whether target is within
construction ship fuel range
USER INTERFACE
• ship damage report now shows more precise level of hull damage when nearing 100% health,
thus making it clearer when a ship needs repair
HIVE THREAT
• greatly improved Hive fleet ability to mine fuel, thus making the Hive more readily available for
attack missions (all capable Hive ships will now mine for themselves and all ships mine faster)
DATA
• adjusted independent freighter ship hulls
• corrected an issue with the Boskara slave world event
• various data fixes to government biases
IKKURO / DHAYUT DLC
• story event typo fix
ATUUK / WEKKARUS DLC
• fixed texture issues for some Wekkarus ships
• story event typo fix
The Galaxy lives on.
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This update brings significant improvements to fleet management, making your tactical decisions easier and more effective than ever. Here's what's new:
- More intuitive fleet tactics settings
- Improved default fleet tactics;
- The ability to upgrade fleet templates;
- Smarter and more efficient fleet top-up mechanics;
- Plus: various fixes and improvements based on your feedback following the Control Update and its manual play enhancements.
A full changelog is available here.
Don’t miss the stream with Erik Rutins, producer and co-designer of Distant Worlds 2, who will showcase the new update at 6:30 PM UK time. Watch it here.
If you haven’t picked it up yet, now’s the perfect time: the Legacy Bundle is currently 20% off, instead of the usual 10%!
On April 3rd, we released the new Atuuk and Wekkarus DLC. Did you miss it?
EXPAND YOUR GALAXY:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350550/Distant_Worlds_2_Factions__Atuuk_and_Wekkarus/
It is now your choice whether to join them, ally with them, or fight them.
THE ATUUK
The youngest starfarers of the galaxy, the Atuuk are highly sociable and thrive under their cyclical Great Direction, a powerful societal focus that grants immense benefits in research, combat, and more. They are also the first faction to be completely immune to psychic effects, making them an invaluable ally against factions like the Shakturi.
Unique Features
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- Unique mechanics tied to the Atuuk Great Direction – a cyclical change of focus for Atuuk society that greatly improves their abilities in a singular area of their empire, ranging from improved research to greatly enhanced combat strength, and many more, while also providing an increasing number of victory objectives to prove their greatness to the galaxy. Periodically, Atuuk will need to choose a new Great One from a pool of their own marked with Great Potential to lead them on their Great Direction. Some Atuuk may have reservations on the direction the Atuuk are taking with Direction Doubt, though this is only temporary.
- The Atuuk are a happy faction that plays well on the galactic diplomatic stage, though they are naïve, gullible, and quite dim-witted, which means they don’t excel in any particular area when not following one of their special Great Directions.
- Additional and surprising bonuses and effects when pressing the big glowing Red Button on their science stations.
- Atuuk construction standards aren’t quite up to snuff compared to the other galactic players, so their ships will experience unexpected malfunctions while traversing the galaxy.
- Bonuses to combat when outnumbering their opponents when fighting on the planet surface. There are a lot of Atuuk!
- The Intergalactic Welcome Center makes the Atuuk empire more attractive for all migrants and tourists, thus strengthening the bonds of interstellar understanding.
- Collection of Great Things – a unique facility that gathers all the wondrous things the Atuuk have gathered in their travels and exploration that improve their overall happiness and research.
- Special thematic Character Traits for their entire lineup of characters bringing out the flavor of the Atuuk faction.
- Their unique story gives them an advantage when dealing with some of the factions in the galaxy to help them form strong bonds and long-standing treaties.
- Atuuk are the first faction to be completely immune to psychic effects, making them a useful ally for anyone fighting psychically-capable factions.
THE WEKKARUS
Ancient and enigmatic, the Wekkarus draw upon the strength of their ghostly ancestors, summoning spectral ships and troops to aid them in battle. Their deep knowledge of the galaxy grants them superior research, mining capabilities, and access to unique technologies such as the devastating Pulse Wave Cannon and enhanced defensive systems.
Unique Features
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- In times of stress, during combat in space and on planet surfaces, as well as certain character actions, the Wekkarus summon their ancient Ancestors for aid. In combat, these ancestors will manifest as “ghost” ships and troops that can tip the scale in the Wekkarus’ favor. Character Ancestors will either manifest at a location that most requires their aid or will provide boons to strengthen diplomatic ties or protect their spies from danger.
- Due to their ancient mastery of space travel, their ships are faster and harder to hit, but are more delicate and fragile when taking hits. This also makes them more adept at new engine technologies.
- The Wekkarus have a slew of unique technologies for their ships, including their signature Pulse Wave Cannon, the high-powered Constrictor tractor beam, and special shield enhancement component – the HydroCore Capacitor.
- Living in the dark depths of Ocean and Deep Ocean planets, the Wekkarus have bonuses to counter-espionage and mining rate. Their unique habitats allow them to dig into the cores of the planets they live on and discover previously hidden resources.
- Defensive Caverns facilities make the Wekkarus a tough nut to crack for any invading force, while unwelcome spies will find themselves lost in the labyrinths of Wekkarus cities.
- The special Wekkarus connection to their ancestors will occasionally improve the skills of their scientists, letting them uncover hidden knowledge more quickly.
- Special exclusive Spy and Scientist traits accenting Wekkarus secrecy and otherworldly wisdom.
- Powerful unique artifacts will reveal themselves in the Wekkarus story, which directly strengthen the connection to their ancestors. The artifacts have basic effects for any faction that lays claim to them, though only the Wekkarus can utilize their true power.
- Due to their mysterious origins and unique biology, Wekkarus are more resilient to the effects of psychic weapons and abilities than most other factions of Distant Worlds 2.
Join the Associate Producer for Distant Worlds 2, Max Klose-Ivanov for an in-depth DLC showcase stream and see these powerful factions in action:
The Galaxy lives on
BUY IT NOW
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the Control Update, now available, is a major free update that refreshes the Zenox and Boskara factions as well as improvements to make manual control of the players’ empire easier.
This major update is focused on improvements to manual control of your empire, including Queued Missions, UI Improvements, Policy Improvements and a new Galaxy Search feature to make empire management easier when you turn off most of the automation. There is also a full refresh of the base game Zenox and Boskara factions to bring them up to the same level as the DLC factions, including a significant update for the look of the Zenox shipset. Finally, there are many other fixes and improvements, including to ship and fleet behavior, AI improvements and a major adjustment to economic and research bonus funding.
Don’t miss the preview on our channel with Erik, where he showcases and explains all the new features of this major update: https://www.youtube.com/embed/iBp-6q6A2NM
For those of you who want to know every detail of the Control Update, a detailed changelog is available below:
[expand type=details expanded=false]
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when applying Migration or Tourism settings while starting game
- fixed crash when fulfilling resource order
- fixed rare crash when selecting random ship component to damage when weapon strikes ship
- fixed rare crash when drawing facilities at a planet
- fixed rare crash when generating new ship design
- now prevent the game from crashing when mod bundle loading fails for any reason. Instead now add error message to Session Log
- fixed crash when transferring artifacts discovered in ruins
- fixed some rare crashes
- fixed rare crash in Character screen
- fixed crash when generating XML schema
- fixed rare crash when loading game
- fixed rare crash when fleets check for threats
- fixed rare crash when progressing Shakturi rift destabilization
ENGINE IMPROVEMENTS
- upgraded to latest version of .Net random number generator
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
- performance improvements, especially in large games with much ship debris
- improved performance when editing a ship design where there are already very many ships of the same role (e.g. fighters)
- improved performance when opening Research screen in large games with many Research Stations
GALAXY SETUP
- added new settings in Start New Game screen for Your Empire Starting Situation step: Homeworld Situation allows setting whether start at planet or moon. Home System Critical Resources allows setting whether all critical construction resources are ensured to be available in your home system
- made small improvement to empire color distribution (making each empire color different)
QUEUED MISSIONS
Queued missions have been a long-requested feature and this is their first appearance in Distant Worlds 2. We hope this implementation will improve manual play and give more options for better control of fleets and ships.
- added queued missions for Ships and Fleets. To use, hold down Shift key while right-clicking on a target to queue a mission (instead of immediately assigning it). Use Shift key with hold-right-click to popup a menu of available missions that can be queued. When a ship or fleet has queued missions, the popup mission menu will also have an option to 'Clear Queued Missions'. Missions that subsequently become invalid will be automatically removed from the queue, just as already happens for the current mission, e.g. when an attack target is destroyed or changes ownership, when you end a war against another faction, etc. Note that the Distance measurement system is now activated using the Alt key instead of the Shift key
- Queuing most mission types also switches the ship or fleet to manual control, with the exception of Refuel, Repair and Retrofit missions (as with normal mission assignment). Stop button now also clears all queued missions (not just the current mission). Alternatively, the player can hold down the Shift key when clicking the Stop button to just clear the current mission and proceed to the next queued mission. Assigning a new mission to a ship or fleet will also clear all queued missions
- Changed Stop command for automated ships and fleets so that pause before reassigning mission so that player can see the effects of their action
ZENOX FACTION UPGRADE
This update includes the Zenox faction refresh. This adds several new gameplay mechanics for the Zenox as well as an updated and improved shipset. For details, see 'Special Features' section of the Zenox race description in Start New Game screen (or their Galactopedia topic)
- This build also includes a number of changes to Zenox components, research projects and planetary facilities, including the new Megatron Planetary Shield facility, expanded Crystal Sensors and Star Beams.
- upgraded models and textures for Zenox ships and bases
- added Zenox Search the Archives event
- added new event and loading art
BOSKARA FACTION UPGRADE
This update includes the Boskara faction refresh, including new gameplay mechanics and features. For details, see the ‘Special Features’ section of the Boskara race description in the Start New Game screen (or their Galactopedia topic).
- includes a number of changes to Boskara research projects and planetary facilities, including the new Core-linked Weapons Mega Lab.
- minor graphical updates to models and textures for Boskara ships and bases
- added new event and loading art
EXPLORATION AND GALAXY SEARCH
- added new screen to Exploration section: Known Stars, Planets and Moons. Can use various filters and sorts to find all known galactic locations
- added new screen to Exploration section: Search Known Items. Can search for any item by name. Type text to filter what is displayed in list. Will look for any known/visible stars, planets, moons, asteroids, ships, bases, ruins, facilities, characters, troop units and artifacts
- Pinged locations from galaxy map now show up in Special Locations list in Exploration section (until explored)
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- Main view header bar at the top of the screen will now automatically extend onto additional rows when content is too wide (e.g. lots of events and war scores)
- fixed combat icon in galaxy map sometimes failing to clear for a system
- fixed race bias display in Select Your Race screen so that includes zero-rated races
- added Resource Abundance sort option in New Mining Locations list. Sorts by total abundance and includes total abundance of all asteroids within mining range
- in Selection Panel, sub-selected facilities and troops at a colony can now be deselected by clicking on them again
- added section line dividers when displaying detailed stats for all components and planetary facilities
- fixed Migration and Tourism flow map overlays to show flow lines for correct selected race
- fixed very long lists sometimes being truncated, e.g. Ship Designs list
- added tooltips to relevant sections of Start New Game screen to explain how to completely disable pirates (e.g. story-related, etc)
- hovering Fleet posture description in Selection Panel now previews Tactical Settings window, clicking the Fleet posture description opens Tactical Settings window
- hovering Fleet posture description in Selection Panel now previews Tactical Settings window, clicking the Fleet posture description opens Tactical Settings window
- improved mouse up/down operations in various areas to help avoid mistaken clicks: Population Policy screen no longer closes when click between policy settings buttons for each race, Research screen no longer registers mouse-up event on Queue Suggested Project button immediately after opening screen
- added new filter options to New Mining Locations list: Fuel Resources, Construction Resources, Luxury Resources
- added new sort option to New Mining Locations list: Safe Locations First (Dangerous Locations at bottom)
- added title to colony bonus tooltips in Selection Panel to clarify that Empire Bonuses listed in the colony selection dialog are *from* the colony (NOT a comprehensive list of all empire bonuses that apply to the colony – to see all empire bonuses that apply throughout your empire look at the Bonuses tab under the top left Empire overview)
EMPIRE POLICIES
- added new empire policy settings to control whether your empire will auto-scrap military ships and troops when have serious economic shortfall. For player these are off by default
WEAPON POLICIES
- A new weapon policy for shield enhancement components has been added. You can now set a priority level for your faction to use the shield enhancement component.
PLANETARY FACILITIES
- Terraforming facilities now take into account planet damage when considering whether suitability is below buildable level, i.e. planet damage is excluded when calculating build suitability. This will allow building terraforming facilities on damaged planets that would otherwise be suitable for terraforming.
- further reworked how planetary facility construction automation categories relate to specific facilities. Galactic Wonders are now clearly indicated in all situations. Added further automation categories for facility building: Construction, Research, Recreation
- extended criteria for determining planetary facility automation type so that Interstellar Trader's Bazaar and Holographic Network properly follow automation settings
SHIP AND FLEET BEHAVIOR
- automated fleets now more careful to include other threats at location (e.g. other creatures) when evaluating attack against creature
- fleets now actively review lead ship while under construction, thus improving ability of fleet to move directly to new home base without first gathering to lead ship location while it is still under construction (which could be at a location different from the fleet home base)
- improved Fleet retreat evaluation to better handle unusual situations where attack target starts at one location but then quickly moves to another well-defended location in same system, thus triggering a retreat from the attacking fleet
- fleets now prefer non-dangerous locations when refuelling, but will fallback to include dangerous locations if no other option (helps avoid Kasim and other dangerous locations)
- Defense fleets will now auto-attack fixed targets (i.e. bases) when needed, so that their behavior is better aligned with investigating Dangerous locations
- automated fleets will no longer assign attack (clear defenses) or blockade missions against independent colonies
- automated 'Refuel and Attack' fleet missions will no longer use attack target for refuelling, e.g. when attacking/invading an independent colony
- improved automated fleet troop loading so that attempts to load larger groups of troops even when load colony is further away
- improved display of Fleet posture in Selection Panel, especially for Manually-controlled fleets, thus giving better visibility to when the fleet will auto-engage targets
- fixed rare issue where fleet undertaking invasion mission with staging point may become indefinitely stalled
FLEET TEMPLATES
- fixed Load/Save Fleet Templates functionality
- fixed missing tooltip for Fleet Templates button
SHIP DESIGN
- changed Upgrade Design button so that now selects best upgrade component for each existing component, retaining the same component family. Previously the Upgrade Design button simply selected the highest tech level component for the category. See button tooltip for more info
- rebalanced component selection logic so that automated research and designs much more strongly guided by preferred weapon families from empire policy, even when faction also has preferred weapon components
- ship and base designs are now refreshed much sooner when you change preferred component families in the Empire Policy screen (when Ship Design is automated)
- in Ship Design screen, left-clicking on an empty bay in the model in the main view will now popup a component selection list (same as left-clicking on an empty bay in the Design Bays list)
- rebalanced some component and research project scoring to improve research pathing and ship design for some factions (take better account of their preferred component families)
- Capped maximum damage reduction for a ship from all sources to 90% (prevent invulnerable ships)
- ensure automated ship and base design always follows policy settings for Weapon preferences, even when evaluating weapon fallback options (when do not have a weapon of the desired category). This means avoiding selection of fallback weapons where policy specifies that particular weapon category should be 'Do Not Use'
RESEARCH
- non-specific research progress and breakthroughs from story events, abandoned ships/bases and ruins will now try to avoid selecting projects that are explicitly disabled for the discoverer race, i.e. when disallowed for the faction on the tech tree
VISIBILITY
- adjusted visibility level when have direct presence at location (e.g. ship or base) so that high-level Stealth components do not make items completely invisible
BOARDING AND RAIDS
- slowed down boarding assault rate to improve Capture and Raid missions for ships and bases
EMPIRE BONUSES
- fixed empire bonuses being applied twice to ships in a fleet
TROOPS
- ensure that Special Forces troops defending a colony are never invulnerable to attack
TARGETS LIST
- Fixed Enemy Targets list filter sometimes not working for some empires
ECONOMY
- adjusted ratio of empire funding (Research + Colony Growth) down from 50% to 25% of total Research and total Growth, thus ensuring higher baseline research and growth rate even without full bonus funding
- fixed rare issue where empire cash on hand value becomes NaN
ESPIONAGE
- ensure target empire is still active (not wiped out) before auto-populating new spy mission from previous mission
DIPLOMACY
- in Alliance list, for each Alliance show all their wars with other alliances and empires
- fixed last diplomatic gift date rarely not being recorded, resulting in too frequent gifts
- Bases in diplomatic trade deals (e.g. Mining Stations) now also include the value of any cargo onboard (at 25% of normal price)
- Vassalized empires may now accept peace offers from other empires when their parent empire is not at war with the offering empire, this fixes some corner cases where vassals could not exit wars
- fixed bug where advisor suggestions to offer diplomatic gifts could sometimes be implemented without player approval
- added totals to Offered Items section of Diplomacy trade screen
COLONIZATION AND OUTPOSTS
- Automated Colony Ships now also check whether the system of a queued colonization target has subsequently become part of another empire's territory and thus can no longer be colonized (avoid load/unload passengers cycle)
- Adjusted AI evaluation of Outpost viability at a planet or moon so that give less priority to some lower-importance bonuses and so that automated Colonization does not establish Outposts at planets with empire bonus levels that are too low.
- fixed bug where independent colonies with races with very poor bonuses would sometimes not appear in New Colonies list
- further improvements to colonization target selection for Colony Ships, especially to avoid multiple colony ships targeting same planet
DOCKING
- refuelling and cargo load/unload are now much slower (10%) when ship is not docked inside a hangar bay at a base, i.e. when parked outside base, or when loading/unloading from a colony
- fixed bug where docking bay components were not working when they were the only hangar-style components in the external bays of a design
GOVERNMENTS
- fixed data bug in governments that allowed factions to exist with zero colonies, thus blocking empires from being removed when they lose their last colony
CHARACTERS
- made negative character traits from passive activity much less likely for Generals and Admirals (Drunk, Poor Recruiter)
- when Spies complete a mission to Steal Tech from another faction, they now remember the details of the last mission, allowing easy one-click reassignment to the same or similar mission (same target faction, same mission type, same research project if not already researched)
- reduced amount of characters as empire grows larger, but with slightly higher amount at start of game
- added new sort options to Spies screen: sort by each spy skill type (Counter Espionage, Espionage, Sabotage, etc)
- fixed Prisoners list filters showing characters for wrong role
- automated Spies will now avoid selecting research projects to steal that are disallowed for their empire's race
ARTIFACTS
- fixed artifact location transference so that always properly changes empire as needed
PLANETARY FACILITIES
- ensure planetary tractor beam facilities properly review stats on game load so that function properly
GAME EVENTS
- prevent pirates from triggering EmpireRelationChange events for independent colonies
- fixed 'Return of the Ancient Guardians' story event missing message title and text
- fixed initial Ancient Guardian vault techs sometimes not unlocking for player
- fixed Kasim story event for Dhayut so that Exterminating or Enslaving the population now properly removes the colony instead of just reducing the population to zero
- fixed some facility and story images to use Crashed Ancient Ship
- improved some faction story events relating to independent colonies
- extended message game event actions to allow forced aggregation of all message output for the event, even when the event has delayed execution
- added EmpireRelationChange game event trigger type for independent colonies to support various story events
- added new game event condition types to allow better story event options when have no available characters for a role
GALAXY GENERATION
- Slightly increased some bonus values for randomly-generated ruins
SHAKTURI CRISIS
- ensure Freedom Alliance forms without player after player rejects diplomatic story option to form Freedom Alliance themselves
- ensure Shakturi Beacon facility is properly removed after researching 'Destroy Shakturi Beacon' project
PSYCHIC RESISTANCE
This is a new feature that will be used to support the next content expansion for DW2.
- Implemented Psychic Resistance value in various areas: intelligence missions, psychic weapons, psychic troop defection. Races with high Psychic Resistance (Shakturi) are less susceptible in these areas
GAME EDITOR
- allow changing color for any standard empire in Game Editor (Edit Empire > Primary Color). This affects the color of empire territory and ship/base symbols, among others
- improved overall lighting in Ship Design screen
MODDING AND LOCALIZATION
- Added support for zero-width spaces (Unicode 200B) as valid line-breaks when rendering multi-line text. This better supports localization for some languages (e.g. Japanese)
- added improved support for zero-width characters for Chinese/Japanese/Korean character sets (now rendered with zero-width in long text with word-wrap)
- added further improvements to zero-width character support for Chinese/Japanese/Korean character sets
- added Psychic Resistance to Empire Bonuses list with tooltip showing sources and amounts (e.g. race and any relevant artifacts)
- added new command line option to load a custom font bundle for localizing languages that use non-Latin character sets. Please see modding sub-forum for details.
SHIP MODELS
- fixed some minor issues in the Zenox small spaceport model
- updated Human ship and base models with fixed running light positions
- small updates to fix minor issues with some Ackdarian ship models
- various other model fixes
DATA
- Various adjustments to component and ship hull values
- Various ship hull fixes
- Various minor spelling and event fixes
- changed Teekan Ion Bomb category to Ion Weapon instead of Area Weapon
IKKURO AND DHAYUT DLC
- Added missing Artifact descriptions
- Various event fixes
QUAMENO AND GIZUREAN DLC
- Various event fixes
The Galaxy lives on
WISHLIST NOW THE UPCOMING DLC:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350550/Distant_Worlds_2_Factions__Atuuk_and_Wekkarus/
the Maintenance Update, the latest major update for Distant Worlds 2, is out now and ready for you to discover.
This major update is mainly focused on fixing issues that have been reported since the release of the Return of the Shakturi expansion, but also includes many other improvements, especially in the areas of Diplomacy, Fleet and Ship Behavior, UI and AI automation.
This update also improves modding support for those using Harmony modding for localization and should make easier localization for languages with larger and special character sets much easier.
But that's not all. For those of you who want to know every detail of the Maintenance update, a detailed changelog is available at this link
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In case you didn't have the chance to watch Erik's stream on Distant Worlds 2 and its future, you can take a look at it here:
The Galaxy lives on
BUY NOW:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2926560/Distant_Worlds_2_Return_of_the_Shakturi/
DISTANT WORLDS 2: RETURN OF THE SHAKTURI IS OUT NOW
Welcome back explorers,
an ancient evil is returned to the vast universe of Distant Worlds 2. The wait is over.
The Return of the Shakturi, the third DLC and first feature expansion for Distant Worlds 2, is now available.
The Shakturi, a sinister alien faction, nearly destroyed the galaxy in a past cataclysm. Originating from another galaxy, they possess abilities beyond normal understanding. Their return poses a dire threat, challenging even the strongest late-game empires.
It is now your choice whether to ally with them or fight them.
Key Features:
- Genetic Engineering in the game introduces a brand-new space creature and allows the Shakturi to manufacture these creatures for scouting and combat. It also grants the Shakturi influence over existing space creatures in the galaxy, enabling them to use these creatures to further their own goals.
- Biowarfare enables the Shakturi to deploy plagues that weaken other factions, making them more susceptible to Psychic influence and control.
- Psychic Abilities enhance the Shakturi's effectiveness in space and ground combat, diplomacy, espionage, and research. Countering these abilities requires innovative strategies that could potentially turn the Shakturi's strengths into weaknesses.
- Planet Destroyers and Mega Ships are powerful tools available to all factions, including those introduced post-release. These formidable assets are crucial in battles against the Shakturi, with Mega Ships offering unique functionalities, such as the Quameno Mobile Robotic Troop Foundry.
- New Space Creature – The Rift Strider introduces fresh challenges and opportunities within the game.
- Outposts allow factions to establish a presence on worlds unsuitable for full colonization, securing valuable territory for future expansion.
- The Multi-Empire Alliance System introduces new ways to coordinate and cooperate with allies, enhancing strategic collaboration across empires.
- New Space-based start with just a single colony ship and a small fleet.
- Ancient Guardian Vaults and Special Artifacts add depth to exploration and gameplay.
“STRATEGY” UPDATE
But that’s not all. Together with the DLC, we are releasing a new official update, free for all. The Strategy Update includes months of improvements made to support the Return of the Shakturi feature expansion, with a specific focus on refining player and AI management of mid to late game conflicts. We will continue to update, fix, and improve the base game to give the best possible gaming experience.
For those of you who want to know every detail of the Strategy Update, a detailed changelog is available at this link.
Also, don't miss today's showcase on Twitch with Erik Rutins, producer and co-designer of Distant Worlds 2, following the release of The Return of the Shakturi.
The Galaxy lives on
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2926560/Distant_Worlds_2_Return_of_the_Shakturi/
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BASE FACTION AND GOVERNMENT REFRESH
This update includes a refresh of the Human and Mortalen base game factions as well as all the base game government types. A summary of changes is below, but for the full information, please read through the in-game faction and government descriptions carefully. There are also new event illustrations and loading screens to go along with these changes.
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FLEET AND SHIP BEHAVIORS
We added additional Fleet Engagement ranges and a new map overlay for engagement range visualization to help you plan your fleet home bases, engagement ranges and targets.
GAME SPEED
We recommend only using x8 speed sparingly, as it can be too easy to miss important notifications otherwise.
- added new x8 and x1/8 game speed controls.
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For those eager to delve into the nitty-gritty details of the changes, a detailed changelog is available here, detailing everything from major enhancements to minor bug fixes.
Play Now:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1531540/Distant_Worlds_2/
Don't miss DasTactic's stream playing the Game Faction Update on our Twitch channel at 8:00 PM UK time
Current Release
Not available
System Requirements
How to Install
setup.exe
Troubleshooting tips
• Run Redist/_CommonRedist installers if game won't start
• Add folder to Windows Defender exclusions
• Run as administrator
Download
Direct link available
5.7 GB
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Download Distant Worlds 2 for PC with a direct link or via torrent. Get the full version of Distant Worlds 2 for free. Distant Worlds 2 is a Simulation released by CodeForce.