[h2]The Rise of the Shakturi[/h2] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/8bb26d1d034687f7329d144b4b8529e51784207f.jpg[/img] Hello everyone. This is the[b] first of three Developer Blogs[/b] we’ll be doing in the lead up to the release of Return of the Shakturi, the first feature expansion for Distant Worlds 2. This initial blog will focus on the Shakturi crisis, Planet Destroyers, and Mega Ships. Please note that you will have a choice of whether you want to play with the Shakturi crisis or not and the ability to adjust when the crisis begins to suit your challenge level. The second and third blogs will go into detail on additional features and improvements that this expansion brings to the base game, including those that will be available as part of a free update for all Distant Worlds 2 players and those that are available even if you are not playing through the actual Shakturi crisis. As most Distant Worlds players know, the Shakturi are an ancient and terrible threat which was responsible for the last cataclysmic galactic war, the scars and remains of which are visible throughout the current galaxy. The story to date through the base game and the faction DLCs has given various clues about the Shakturi. You’ve seen places of gravitic instability and ancient closed wormholes, bits and pieces of old communication logs detailing a massive conflict, mind-affecting viruses, and some remaining “vaults” set up by artificial intelligences called the Ancient Guardians to preserve knowledge from that previous era. Along with all that, for those who searched well enough, there was even a single ancient but non-functioning Mortalen planet destroyer. With Return of the Shakturi, you now get to experience what a proper endgame crisis in Distant Worlds 2 is like and what fighting against (or with) a major endgame threat like the Shakturi means for your empire. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/8a5c445949a41b9284a96fb9551d5b98f2eb1349.jpg[/img][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/f6224047bb2d0337d65ab98468a217512d7e7b00.jpg[/img][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/aff55da875abb70b33200e22f6c786eed7d53dee.jpg[/img] The crisis begins with a gradual build-up, which can be seen in the livestream preview we did, but once the Shakturi arrive, it becomes evident fairly quickly that they have some knowledge and abilities that are beyond other empires. The Shakturi have mastered certain areas of research that appear for the first time in this expansion – namely Psychic, Genetic Engineering and Biowarfare. We’ll go through each of these in detail below. Their powerful Psychic abilities allow the Shakturi to enhance their diplomacy, espionage, counter-espionage, space and ground combat. They can take over characters and even in the worst case take over the leader of an empire, at a minimum causing chaos but for some empires like Hive Minds, potentially even vassalizing that empire. In space combat, the Shakturi can incapacitate the crews of your ships, or even cause them to hallucinate and fire on their own allies. In ground combat, your divisions can be disabled or even caused to temporarily defect to the Shakturi side. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/a1eeccd18d7f7f4d7b63732c6eb3b9807a802478.jpg[/img] All of these are limited by the psychic energy generated by the Shakturi in the galaxy. In other words, the more Shakturi there are, the more frequent and more powerful their capabilities will be. You will need to start from the beginning, understanding what psychic energy is, how to disrupt it and how to defend against it in all of those areas. There is a large defensive Psychic research tree for you to unlock to help level the field against the Shakturi. The Shakturi have also long been focused on “perfecting” their own forms and abilities and experiment relentlessly with Genetic Engineering to create better servants for themselves. You can follow their lead and research ways to improve your own species, to make your empire, ships and ground troops more powerful. The Shakturi are also busy creating and manufacturing new space creatures to unleash against you as well as influencing those that already exist to become hostile against all that are not in the Shaktur Axis. If you want to be able to better counter the Shakturi influence over these creatures, this is where you should focus your research. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/cb150aec324f6b8dbc84eb2a6c2d6fe890a8608e.png[/img] Biowarfare gives the Shakturi the ability to design and unleash plagues of various kinds to weaken and prepare other factions for conquest, including making them more susceptible to Psychic influence and control. This area of research will allow you to cure those plagues, saving many millions of your empire’s population and making them a harder target for the Shakturi. You may also be able to design and deploy some plagues of your own, specifically targeted against the Shakturi. Take care though as Biowarfare often leads to unintended consequences. The Shakturi endgame crisis progresses through various stages, culminating with a massive Alliance vs. Alliance war between the Shaktur Axis and the Freedom Alliance for control of the galaxy. Depending on your choices, you may end up helping the Freedom Alliance, the Shakturi Axis or trying to stay neutral (or fighting against both!). Good luck! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/d61067b8a6f6a0b65244561026428941756699f6.jpg[/img] To make that final war more epic, Return of the Shakturi also comes packed with Planet Destroyers and Mega Ships. Each faction in the game, including those added post-release (with the exception of the Ikkuro, they’ll get something special post-release), will now have access to a special Mega Ship. Most of them act as Planet Destroyers and since the Shakturi will bring their own Planet Destroyers, it’s good to have an equivalent counter if you need it. Some are different though and I’ll review those below. These mega ships will also now be available separate from that endgame crisis in normal gameplay, as long as you have the Return of the Shakturi expansion. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/98a398088a265440bfcf5b9d15045236eff2958c.jpg[/img] [b]Humans: Planet Destroyer with a Super Mass Driver weapon[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/ec6c2dfbd406b26b0e787d811680e7aee5faf09d.jpg[/img] [b]Ackdarians: Planet Destroyer with a Super Beam weapon[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/dbaa2af91f8b42f7b948ca5729d27746a8a52176.jpg[/img] [b]Mortalen: Planet Destroyer with a Super Mass Driver weapon[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/59e3b4d4dcc6fe3368eae9ec87cdc299e1200e23.jpg[/img] [b]Haakonish: Mega Ship with a Massive Gravitic Pulse weapon[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/e31c1698836b28104886c74c624c7eba305e3403.jpg[/img] [b]Teekan: Mega Ship with a Massive Ion Bomb weapon[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/9bcaa3e0484f26fa0bde3179ff00784a6a616cf0.jpg[/img] [b]Boskara: Planet Destroyer with a Super Firestorm Torpedo weapon[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/4102061afd112ec31e6882f280eb1f80d6ee4be5.jpg[/img] [b]Zenox: Stealthy Mega Ship with Super Long Range Sensors (a mobile Stealth Mega Monitoring Station which can fight)[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/1940e338c8a95b23ac2daab69775e5f95c389cdd.jpg[/img] [b]Dhayut: Planet Destroyer with a Super Beam weapon[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/1b814895fec48f0a22ffbc63b44e0c1a98538c5b.jpg[/img] [b]Quameno: Mega Ship with a Mobile Robotic Troop Foundry[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39688059/a57891c5be43543354345a316f8bc47327479d36.jpg[/img] [b]Gizurean: Planet Destroyer with a Super Beam weapon[/b] In the next blog, we’ll talk more about Outposts, the new multi-Empire Alliances and the space-based start option for your civilization, which are additional new features included in this expansion. Wish list now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2926560/Distant_Worlds_2_Return_of_the_Shakturi/