Distant Worlds 2 news & patch notes

Mark your calendars and get ready, Slitherine Next is back on July 22, 2026 at 6 pm CEST on our official channels.

Expect updates from your favourite franchises such as Bolt Action, Nightmare Frontier, Radio Commander and a lot more unexpected and never seen before news. Our first showcase of the year will bring you exclusive announcements, updates, first looks at upcoming titles, and much more. It's your chance to dive into the future of strategy gaming and discover what's coming next.

During the event, we will officially announce the new DLC, Shadows Rising, showcasing exclusive gameplay footage.

We're thrilled to announce a special host for this year's event: 2DKiri. A great friend who will guide us through the entire show.

Tune in on 22nd July to be the first one to find out.

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/SlitherineGames

Welcome back, explorers.

On July 14, 16:00 - 18:00 GMT+2, our Associate Producer on the game, Maxim Klose-Ivanov will showcase the new update, save the date here.

What’s included in the Command Update:

- New Content: Hive Ship Models

- Players will encounter new Hive ships spread across the galaxy

- New Feature: Empire Contracts

- Factions within empires, as well as independent colonies, will now periodically offer contracts to the player.

- UI/UX Improvements:

- Empire flags now appear on claimed territory improving galaxy readability

- A slew of fixes, changes, and additions to improve manual play

- Gameplay Improvements:

- Independent colonies have had their population growth tweaked and can now potentially form new empires

- Known debris now appears in the exploration screen and a new mission type for ships and fleets makes salvaging easier

- Some espionage missions have been rebalanced and tweaked to address certain exploits

- Bug Fixing and Stability Improvements

We look forward to sharing more soon.

On March 10th, we celebrate the fourth anniversary of Distant Worlds 2, an epic journey through unexplored galaxies.

Since launch, the game has seen 4 DLCs that expanded and enriched the experience:

• 3 faction expansions, adding new governments, ship models, artwork, narrative events, and unique technologies. This includes the first pairing of Ikkuro and Dhayut, followed by Quameno and Gizureans. The final faction expansion to be released introduced the Atuuk and Wekkarus to DW2.

• 1 major feature and narrative expansion, Return of the Shakturi, introducing an end-game crisis, new diplomatic options, technologies, and an exciting story guiding players through the epic Shakturi War.

In addition, many major free updates to the base game have resolved long-standing issues, improved the UI, fixed bugs, and brought the base game factions up to the same quality level as the DLC factions. Just last year, we released the major Mercantile Update that updated the Teekan and Haakonish. This involved updating ship models and introducing new mechanics to best capture each faction's identity.

To celebrate, the entire Distant Worlds franchise is on sale on Steam until March 16th! It’s the perfect opportunity to discover this fantastic game if you don’t own it yet, or to complete your collection.

And this is just the beginning: more expansions, updates, and content are planned for DW2 in the future

A huge thanks to our community for your continued interest, feedback, and support—we couldn’t have reached this milestone without you!

Take advantage of the deals and get ready to dominate the galaxy.

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Welcome back, explorers.

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.

BUY THE GAME NOW:

Welcome back, explorers.

We’re pleased to announce that a major update for Distant Worlds 2 is out now: the Mercantile Update.

This update marks the second-to-last (only the Ackdarians remain) free update focused on bringing the base game factions to a similar gameplay level as the new factions added in the post-release DLCs. This update is similar to a Free DLC in that it includes a refresh of the Teekan and Haakonish factions as well as many other changes focused on making manual play and general quality of life better, with a focus on story events, the resource/trade economy and fleet and ship behavior.

Please note that data and game event fixes will only apply when starting a new game.

But that’s not all: Distant Worlds 2 will be on sale from today at 18:00 CET until December 16, with a 65% discount. Also, all the DLC are on sale too.

Grab your Christmas gift.

FULL CHANGELOG:

GENERAL

• Fixed multiple crashes • Fixed incorrect game date shown in Load Game preview • Small performance improvement when starting new games • Improved overall performance

AUTOMATION INTERFACE • Added startup message summarizing current Automation settings and how they work • Added Automation settings info to Advisor suggestion messages • Added automation option for Artifacts (send to optimal location)

TEEKAN FACTION REFRESH • New loading screen illustrations added • Improved starting access to civilian ships • Military ships now have smaller hulls but equal component capacity (more fragile) • Ships, stations, and facilities build 30% faster • More willing to initiate Trade Agreements • Increased resistance to bombardment and ground combat damage • Militia and troops gain major combat bonuses on Desert planets • “Salvage Kings” ability allowing special salvage recovery events • Galactic Nomads option when reduced to one colony (evacuate population and become refugee fleet) • Colonizing planets provides migration attraction bonus • New “Great Bakdur Hunt” event on Desert planets • Added new character traits and updated Victory Conditions • Expanded and updated tech tree • Texture refresh for ships and stations • Added new event illustrations and loading art • Corrected pirate faction race (“The Nameless Teekans”) • Fixed “Lost Teekan Colony” event facility ownership and maintenance • Unified bonus population from Lost Colony event • Preferred standoff weapon changed to Torpedoes

HAAKONISH FACTION REFRESH • New loading screen illustrations added • Ships, stations, and facilities cost 20% more and take ~10% longer to build • Start with an additional Mining Ship • Enhanced Trade Treaty mechanics: • Binding Contracts increase trade weighting toward Haakonish • Penalty Clauses cause reputation penalties and treaty breakage when at war • Account Confiscation grants immediate income boost equal to last year’s trade value • Exploit Loopholes option grants instant income at cost of reputation and treaty termination • Completing Haakonish-specific tech boosts happiness • Creative Accounting planetary action increases short-term income at cost of higher corruption • Xenophobic Riots option reduces non-Haakonish population by 25% at reputation and migration penalties • New character traits added • Tech tree expanded, including early Haakonish-exclusive Gravitic Area weapon (Vortex Bomb) • Texture improvements to select ships and stations • New event illustrations and loading art added

STORY EVENT LOGIC • Fixed faction events spawning incorrectly on homeworlds • Expanded fallback logic for “EmptySystem” location hints so events always find valid locations • Fixed Pirate Ambush ruins event failing to spawn pirate ships • Pirate Ambush ships now spawn closer to investigating vessels

RESOURCE ECONOMY • Improved resource delivery and freighter handling logic • Fixed manually controlled freighters being auto-assigned to cargo missions

TOURISM • Passenger ships more cautious when checking private economy funding • Soft cap on scenery bonuses affecting tourism income (diminishing returns above 25%)

FLEET & SHIP BEHAVIOR • Manual fleet ships no longer auto-return to fleet core • Fleet templates now properly apply formation settings • Defend fleets no longer auto-attack outside their current system • Improved retreat evaluation for more accurate strength calculations • Refuel and repair missions allow dispersed ships to use nearest facilities individually • Fixed fleets stalling on queued missions • Escorting ships now count as “available,” reducing downtime • Fleets more willing to engage threats despite low fuel (especially manual fleets) • Fixed fleets attacking dangerous sites without sufficient strength • Improved display and detection of dangerous locations • Attacks now break off when fleeing targets exceed engagement range • Pursuit behavior updated to dynamically track hyperspace jumps • Fixed disabled ships attempting to retrofit while in damaging storms • Fixed carriers incorrectly displaying negative attack strength • Fixed ships sometimes not attacking when in range • Increased default Auto-Response Range for Manual and Invasion fleets • Fixed manually assigned mining missions missing offload locations • Fixed ships auto-offloading cargo incorrectly during Dock missions

INVASION FLEETS • Improved troop loading logic to prioritize populous and appropriate colonies • Honours garrison and minimum defense thresholds • Considers Army Templates for optimal troop composition • Manual troop loading via colony right-click still available • Fixed automated troop transports looping unload/load actions

FUEL TANKERS & FLEETS • Manual fuel tankers now follow fleet missions and require manual refuel actions • Automated fuel tankers continue operating independently • Improved tanker navigation to dynamic fleet locations • Tankers no longer refuel fleets with queued missions • Independent automated tankers no longer refuel manual fleets if auto-refueling is disabled • Improved detection of fleet availability after refueling • Updated Galactopedia article on tanker mechanics • Added new instructional hint for fuel tanker operations • Immediate clearing of “Waiting for Fuel Tankers” message when transfers cancel

BOMBARDMENT • Bombardment resistance no longer renders planetary facilities invulnerable

TROOPS INTERFACE • Colony and selection screens now show troops required by Army Template • Required troops are prevented from being loaded by automated transports

DIPLOMACY • Fixed diplomatic incident value updates

COLONIZATION • Automated colonization avoids dangerous locations

CONSTRUCTION • All non-obsolete buildable base types now appear in colony right-click menus • Fixed advisor recommending blank bases

ECONOMY • Fixed cash values becoming NaN

GRAPHICS • Adjusted city night-light shader for stability and consistency • Improved planet rendering artifacts at low zoom and shallow angles

SALVAGE TECH BONUSES • Reduced tech bonus from retiring advanced ships

USER INTERFACE • Fixed Victory Conditions tooltip offset • Messages properly close on returning to main menu • Messages remain closed when exiting Ship Design • Fixed “Distance from Item” sorting in Monitoring Stations list • Added Size visibility to troop summary popups • Improved display of admirals and generals in UI, with layout compression for large rosters

GAME EDITOR • Renaming stars or planets now also updates associated location names

DATA & MODDING • Increased component ID limit to 4095 • Adjusted Teekan tech tree to better handle ZimZip shuttles with carriers • Reduced starting populations on Bartuc and Horazon for storyline adjustments • Fixed related event issues

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Welcome back, explorers.

We’re pleased to announce that a major update for Distant Worlds 2 is coming soon: the Mercantile Update. This is a significant update designed to refresh and improve the gameplay experience with targeted changes to key areas of the game.

What’s included in the Mercantile Update

• Rework of the two Mercantile Guild factions: the Teekan and the Haakonish. Both factions are being refreshed with updated ship textures and new gameplay features, giving them deeper mechanics and a more defined role within the galaxy.

• Improvements to ship and fleet behavior. Expect more effective and consistent decision-making in battles and strategic maneuvers, along with numerous refinements addressing corner cases—especially for players who prefer manual control.

• Additional features and quality-of-life updates. The update also brings improved UI elements and new notifications related to automation settings, plus a wide range of bug fixes and general improvements.

We look forward to sharing more soon.

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EXPAND YOUR GALAXY:

First revealed during Slitherine Next in July, the new Distant Worlds 2 roadmap promises an exciting year ahead. We've kicked things off with the Anniversary update and are following it up with a major update refreshing the Teekan and Haakonish in the Autumn. Winter brings the brand-new expansion Shadows Rising, while spring will see a major update focusing on the Ackdarians.

If you missed the Distant Worlds 2 segment at the Slitherine Next event on July 9th, catch up and watch it here:

BUY THE GAME NOW:

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.

WISHLIST NOW:

Humans

Mortalen

Boskara

Zenox

• 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.

Date: Monday, April 14

Start time: 7 AM CEST / 6 AM BST

• The making and evolution of the Distant Worlds 2 franchise;
• Game design and development behind the scenes;
• Slitherine Group and Matrix Games’ approach to publishing strategy games.

THE ATUUK

• 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

• 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.

IKKURO

• Harmonious Utopia Government focuses on happiness and increases immigration, recreation and medical capabiltiies
• Bonuses to Damage Control, Plague Curing and Troop Recovery
• Consensus Diplomacy means they are slower to agree to treaties, but value long-term relationships more
• No access to Bombardment weapons
• Biome Shaping facilities replace the default Terraforming Facilities
• SF27 Organic Hull (best self-repair of all ships), Fusion Beams (increased rate of fire beam weapons), Splinter Pods (longer range assault pods)
• Larger Colony Ships
• Special exclusive Leader and Ambassador traits focused on happiness, diplomacy and growth
• Special conditional events Respect for Life, Secrets of Life, Protection of Life and Disharmony reward non-aggression and colonization, but punish war, bombardment and extermination
• Larger than usual Colony Ships and improved suitability across most planet types.

DHAYUT

• Surveillance Oligarchy Government focuses on sensors and adds a unique Internal Stabilization intelligence mission which reduces war weariness and corruption
• Bonuses to Hyperdrive Research, War Weariness and Ground Attack Strength
• Special Enslavement Control Facility improves the Slavery Population Policy
• Special Terminal Operations Center Facility improves success chances on difficult Intelligence missions
• Access to two special Intelligence Missions: Influence Empire and Capture Base.
• Influence Empire allows them to shift the relationship of two other empires relative to each other
• Capture Base allows them to take control of another empire’s space station
• Velocity Drive Hyperdrive (fastest hyperdrive in the galaxy)
• Larger Monitoring Stations
• Special exclusive Leader and Spy traits focused on counter-espionage, slavery and assassination
• Special conditional events Disinformation and Network Effects mean succeeding at Deep Cover missions makes the target like the Dhayut more and succeeding at any of the more difficult Intelligence Missions gives them a bonus to other missions against that same faction for the next year
• Their paranoia leads to periodic purges of disloyal members of Dhayut society.

QUAMENO

• Geniocracy Government starts with better Research Labs and provides the largest research bonus of all government types, at the expense of other areas, including being unable to fund bonus colony growth. Also has the option for additional benefits whenever a research breakthrough or research critical failure happens.
• The Quameno also are the most gifted researchers in the galaxy, though their single-minded focus also means that they are limited when it comes to concurrent research
• Additional bonuses when they find new research locations or build new research stations
• Some temporary penalties due to distraction when treaties are signed or populations are unassimilated, preventing the Quameno from focusing as fully as they are normally able on their research puzzles
• Novacore Reactors, the best reactor in the game, along with Bubble Shields which have the highest Shield Resistance of all shield types
• The Transcendence Hub, an end-game victory condition wonder which allows the Quameno to transcend their physical forms
• Larger Research Stations
• Special exclusive Leader and Scientist Traits focused on Research
• Special conditional events Alien Distractions, Integration Studies, Puzzle Solved, Building the Future, A Piece of the Puzzle and The Answer reward them for thematic play
• Their unique story gives them an advantage when it comes to finding the new Ancient Guardian Vaults scattered throughout the galaxy and recovering the knowledge and artifacts within.

GIZUREANS

• Cell Hegemony government type is a form of limited shared consciousness, which includes some of the benefits and fewer of the disadvantages of a full hive mind. Starts with better sensors and command control, more inspiring characters and a generally reduced rate of luxury resource needs.
• Excellent at boarding combat and gain extra bonuses from salvaging and retiring captured ships
• Swarm Targeting systems make their ships more accurate the more ships there are in a fleet.
• Hive Hangars and Hex Armor allow them to build and repair starfighters more quickly and cover their ships with partially organic armor that is stronger than normal alloys.
• Hive Fighter Bases are available to defend their planets from the very early game
• Internecine Tribal Conflicts can hold them back at times and they will need to supplement their slower research through reverse engineering and conquest
• Larger Carriers
• Special exclusive Leader and General traits focused on improving their collective consciousness and increasing the size and resiliency of their armies
• Special conditional events, such as Waste Nothing and The Scouring, give them extra bonuses when retiring ships or conquering planets. The Rivalry event means that their characters periodically engage in power struggles to eliminate the weak and Breeding World allows them to choose to boost their own growth rate further by using other species as food.

• The Atuuk are a young species that only recently discovered faster-than-light travel before the Cataclysm stopped their expansion. They are very social and eager to prove themselves within the galactic community. Although small and not the brightest, they compensate with rapid population growth and the ability to focus their entire society on a single goal, called the Great Direction. Their leadership comes in the form of a Great One, a leader chosen to guide them toward their current Great Direction. As goals shift, new leaders with Great Potential emerge to take over.
• The Wekkarus are an ancient, secretive faction with a mysterious past. It is said their ancestors fled an eternal threat. They isolate themselves in fortified Deep Ocean cities and use Defensive Caverns and Deep Labyrinths to protect themselves. Their most unique ability is summoning the “ghosts” of their ancestors for help in times of danger or crisis. These spirits can directly assist them or grant powerful benefits. Their ancient knowledge grants them never-before-seen powerful weapons and components build out their ship with.

• 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

• 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

CONTROL UPDATE

• Boskara and Zenox factions refreshed with new gameplay and improved ship and station textures
• Queued Mission support added for Ships and Fleets to help with manual playstyles
• Galaxy Search added to allow players to easily find any star, planet, moon, station, ship or any other item on the galactic map
• UI improvements to help with information management:
  • Exploration now tracks pinged locations in the Special Locations section
  • Improvements to top header bar
  • Additional sort and filter options for various lists
  • Improvements to Migration and Tourism map overlays
  • Additional tooltips
• Additional Galaxy Setup options for your starting system
• Improvements to Upgrade Ship Designs and Design/Research Policy AI
• Improved management of Planetary Facilities
• Save/Load Fleet Templates
• Improved Fleet and Ship Behavior
• Improved Colonization behavior, especially with Outposts
• Improved modding support for localization.

The Current State of the Game

Roadmap 2025

Our next areas to focus on:

• Many fixes, tweaks and improvements to the Shakturi Crisis
• Many UI improvements, especially to help manage facilities, outposts, ruins and migration
• Overhaul of Diplomacy trade valuations as well as improvements to AI management of Ambassadors
• Significant improvements to fleet and ship behavior, especiall involving dangerous locations, defense fleets and starfighters
• Empire background tasks now better prioritized especially for lower performance systems or the largest galaxies
• Tourism income and logic rebalance
• Improved localization support for localization mods for languages with larger and special character sets (the Chinese mod was used as a case study for this)
• An issue that could prevent all sound and visual effects playing has been fixed, which makes battles look and sound better than they have in a while
• Various data tweaks and fixes

• Much better economic, sustainability, and terraforming balance and scaling through the mid- and late-game.
• Greatly expanded and enhanced Hive mid-game threat, as well as improved Pirates in the early game.
• New repeatable, top-tier research projects to extend gameplay.
• Massively improved performance and compatibility.
• Major improvements to AI - including more detailed AI policies and improved automation and behavior for most areas of the game, especially fleets, ships, economic management, colonization, research, ship design, population management and diplomacy.
• Major User Interface improvements, ranging from new camera modes, map overlays and message centers (with far more message filters) to distance measurement tools, additional list multi-select capabilities, more hotkeys, a greatly improved Enemy Targets list, better text formatting for all messages, additional filters on various empire tabs, more tooltips guidance and better UI scaling.
• Expanded modding, including Steam Workshop support and an in-game Mod Manager, greatly improved mod loading and priority/conflict management.
• Improved per-Hull Ship Design with new Component Policies for ship design automation guidance, defined upgrade paths for each Ship Design and improved Fleet Templates to include per hull fleet definitions and more fleet management options.
• Much better Economic, Suitability and Terraforming balance and scaling through the mid and late games, including many improvements to resource logistics and private sector operations.
• Two faction refreshes for base game factions (Humans and Mortalen) to bring their gameplay up to the level of the DLC factions, with more on the way until all base game factions are updated (Zenox and Boskara are next)!
• Greatly expanded and improved Hive mid-game threat as well as improving Pirates in the early game, including adding a Pirate Cruiser!
• New Repeatable top tier Research Projects for continuing gameplay alongside other improvements, adjustments and rebalances to most of the research tree.

DISTANT WORLDS 2: RETURN OF THE SHAKTURI IS OUT NOW

• 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

Ongoing Evolution

Expanding Horizons

• Outposts allow you to claim territory in a way that stations do not. Where you have an outposts, your empire’s borders will extend to cover it.
• Outposts allow you to extend your colonization range to get to more suitable worlds that might otherwise be out of reach.
• Outpost give your empire full benefits from any empire bonuses or unique resources found on their planet, which can give access to previously inaccessible ruin bonuses.
• Outposts allow you to build Terraforming Facilities. This means that with Outposts, you can potentially bring a previously uncolonizable planet up to colony level. Note however that worlds with very low base suitability now require a Terraforming Facility to remain on the planet in order to maintain the suitability improvements, but sometimes you just need some extra real estate.
• Outposts can be converted to colonies if their suitability is high enough, for a modest cost.

The Rise of the Shakturi

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.