The game has been stable for months and I've put that time to good use:

When the Shipyards DLC launched, I announced a contest to see who could come up with the best new ship idea. Entries were submitted using the build-sharing option and it ended December 31st. It's time to announce the winner:

And honorable mention:

I altered both designs slightly and gave them unique artwork, but I believe they have the special spark their designers intended. I've contacted both Steam users to award them with keys for the new DLC.

These 2 new ships are available now for all players, but they need to be unlocked like any other ship. Get the Smuggler by selling 500 illegal commodities in Limoquee space. The Bounty Hunter requires you to capture a criminal and rescue an animal from a cage. (Even if you've done these things in the past, you'll have to do them again, because the game wasn't tracking those stats before.)

The Minelayer! This weapon is a little different: it doesn't shoot! Instead, it places mines in empty space behind you as you move. You and non-hostile ships can ignore them, but enemy ships can't see them and will set them off, causing a lot of damage. It offers a whole new strategy.

Approaching Infinity has never required "meta progression" to win like many "roguelikes" do. There are things you can do like unlocking ships and using pay-it-forward, but in general, it's down to learning about the universe and making the right choices.

But I just can't stop rewarding players!

So now there are meta progression options available when starting a new game. Each one is unlocked by completing a specific victory, and the type of reward is related to the victory (Bankers helps you get more money, Tentaculons doubles your data collection, etc.)

WTF?! Yep. You can now use the Orbital Bombing activated skill (combat division/red) to attack stations. It takes about 3 tries, and stations will launch defensive fleets (and hate you forever), but if you really want to remove a faction from a sector, you can.

Doing this will also reduce that faction's power by 10.

Get them down to 20 and they will be REMOVED FROM THE GAME...

I played a lot of bullet heaven games over the holidays and I got addicted to using a controller. So I wondered: could I create a controller layout for Approaching Infinity? The answer, surprisingly, is

You can read all about it here, or you can just play with it right now.

This also really helps STEAM DECK players :D

It all started on a Steam thread where some players were asking for a more challenging experience...

I've created 4 optional scenarios that offer unique challenges:

• Point of No Return: You can only visit each sector once. Use it or lose it!

• The Blight: The longest single quest line in the game, with some massive universe-changing events and a lore-reveal almost as big as the Engravers.

• Nanopocalypse Now!: A race to the high sectors, with the goal-posts moving ever-further and the constantly-increasing threat of nano-incursions (and hyphen-ization).

• The Banker Breakdown: Suddenly the stations you rely on for supplies are shooting at you. Face 1 of 21 different challenges in each sector. Manipulate their faction power down to 20 to win.

I didn't know how awesome this DLC would be when I first conceived of it, but after playing through it several times, I'm really happy with it!

What follows is a list of just some of the changes made since the last major update.

• "Deploy cover" active skill now gives up to 50% cover when you stand next to it.

• "Intimidate" active skill now has a chance to stun if the target is immune to fear.

• Neutron beam can now crit on shields.

• I increased the amount of XP gained from many quests, often significantly.

• Furniture descriptions now appear in tooltips.

• Red honey and golden pollen (status effects) are now increased less on pickup and removed completely upon return to the ship.

• "Frozen" away team status effect is now shown.

• I removed incorrect down stairs from Firax vaults

• Firax artifacts recovered on an away mission are now listed in the after-mission report.

• The asteroid base "parts junkie" sells fewer parts in higher-difficulty games.

• I fixed an old problem with the tradio, prices should be more accurate.

• I fixed those "my auto-explore won't stop" issues. Press any key to disengage.

• Device daily codes should now register the new devices. Sorry.

• I tried to clamp some oversized officer pics for people with really big monitors (it's a thing that happens).

• There is now a "sniffing" sound when the smell of a planet is revealed.

I know we're well over the "overwhelmingly positive" threshold, but hey! If you've spent a few hundred hours in my universe, could you please leave a Steam review? It makes a big difference. Thanks!

After 13 years of working on Approaching Infinity, and considering the backlog of ideas I have for it, I always laughed when people said "good luck on your next game". Next game? No. This is my only game.

This is my Star Trek, my Stellaris.

Well.

Yes and no.

I'm working on re-imagining Approaching Infinity into something new...

Is "Galactic Disasters" the last DLC?

I doubt it.

Is this the last free update?

HARD NO.

But I'm excited about something new, and I'm going to pursue it ːsteamhappyː

Admiral IBOL