RC12

A large overhaul graphics, mechanics, game systems, lots of bugs squashed

RC11

Another upgraded release, really to much to mention here, its all in the patch notes and a few of the other docs, the UI is slowly improving, new mechanics and deep systems continue to go in, Things are less buggy but still buggy. Progress is bouncing along, i will shift to some gameplay balance, more UI changes and just generally pushing it forward for the next release.

RC10

Just a few small tweaks, bug fixes, small improvements in UI , soem procedural generation improvements, just all round nudging forward now, feel free to play it check it out , this is a stable build.

rc 9

Big overhaul in complxity, the UI is still a bit bare bones, but a lot of the deep systems are in there, very complex and now its a matter of making them more player friendly

RC8

Ui is getting some love in this one, use the mini map to zoom in on system and galaxy view, follow, the mouse over and click 3 options on objects isnt quite working yet but is in the to do pipeline. Mostly fine tuning with fleet ai ( auto patrol is a thing) various other tweaks and improvements

Release candidate 7

Upgrades, incremental UI improvements, select new game for a procedural galaxy up to 64 systems currently.

Release candidate 6

Ok some major leaps in the underlying systems and a few smaller upgrades in the UI and still a lot of room to go, but some interesting features if you download it for testing so hope everyone enjoys this update

release candidate 5

Chunk of changes and updates all round, the new zoomable and scaleable map is improved but it is still clunky. First passes, there are new intel, diplomatic windows, and a host of other improvements but will be improved upon, a lot of stuff under the hood as well.

prototype release 4

Another updated stable version for anyone coming across it. The main code could be broken as i update it with patches regularly and future pull requests. So the file here is in working order

Early Release Candidate 3

Core simulation (nebula4x_core)
Star systems, orbital bodies, ships, colonies, minerals, installations
Fleets: persistent ship groups (same-faction) for bulk order issuing (no formation logic yet)
Cargo holds on ships + mineral transfer orders (prototype logistics)
Day-based turn advancement
Colony population growth/decline (simple, configurable)
Shipyard repairs: docked ships repair HP at friendly colonies with shipyards (configurable)
Shipyard construction (optionally) consumes minerals per ton built (see data/blueprints/starting_blueprints.json)
Colony construction queue: build installations using construction points + mineral build costs (also configured in JSON)
Orders:
move-to-point / move-to-body
orbit body (station keep)
travel via jump point (multi-system travel)
attack ship (simple targeting)
wait days (simple scheduling)
load/unload minerals (prototype cargo logistics)
ship-to-ship cargo transfer
scrap ship (decommission at a colony; refunds some minerals)
repeat orders (optional looping of a ship's queue for trade routes/patrols)
Jump points + multi-system state
Sensors + intel: in-system detection + last-known contact snapshots (saved)
Exploration: factions track discovered star systems; entering a new system reveals it
Research system:
tech definitions (JSON)
research points generation (via research_lab installations)
active research + queue
effects (unlock component / unlock installation)
Basic combat prototype:
armed ships auto-fire once/day at hostiles within weapon range
damage + ship destruction
JSON save/load (versioned)
Persistent event log (saved): build/research/jump/combat notifications
Desktop UI (nebula4x) — SDL2 + Dear ImGui
Galaxy map (multi-system view)
Right click a system in the galaxy map to auto-route the selected ship via jump points (Shift queues)
System map (pan/zoom)
Ship list + selection (shows HP, faction)
Fog-of-war toggle (hides undetected hostiles and undiscovered systems)
Contacts tab: recently seen hostiles + quick actions
Log tab: view/filter/clear the saved event log; copy visible entries; export CSV/JSON
Jump point markers on the system map
Ship tab: quick orders (move, jump travel, attack) + cargo load/unload
toggle repeat orders for simple looping routes
Colony tab: manage shipyard queue + build installations via construction queue
Research tab: choose projects, queue, see progress
Design tab: build custom ship designs from unlocked components
CLI (nebula4x_cli)
Headless simulation runs
Optional save/load
Start a new game from either the built-in Sol scenario or a seeded random scenario
Content validation helper (--validate-content) for blueprint/tech modding
Save canonicalizer (--format-save) to re-serialize JSON with stable ordering
Event log dump (--dump-events) to print saved simulation events
Event log export to CSV (--export-events-csv PATH) for spreadsheets/analysis (PATH can be - for stdout)
Event log export to JSON (--export-events-json PATH) for tooling/analysis (PATH can be - for stdout)
Event log export to JSONL/NDJSON (--export-events-jsonl PATH) for streaming tools (PATH can be - for stdout)
Event log filters: --events-last, --events-category, --events-level, --events-faction, --events-system, --events-ship, --events-colony, --events-contains, --events-since, --events-until
Event log summary: --events-summary (counts by level/category) for the filtered set
Event log summary export: --events-summary-json PATH (PATH can be - for stdout)
State export to JSON:
--export-ships-json PATH
--export-colonies-json PATH
--export-fleets-json PATH (PATH can be - for stdout)
Time warp: --until-event N to advance day-by-day until a new matching event occurs (defaults to warn/error; configurable via --events-*)
--quiet to suppress non-essential summary/status output (useful for scripting)
Script helpers: --list-factions, --list-systems, --list-bodies, --list-jumps, --list-ships, --list-colonies (print ids/names, then exit)
Tests
Tiny built-in runner for deterministic core logic
Build
Prereqs
CMake 3.21+
A C++20 compiler (MSVC 2022, clang 15+, gcc 12+)
Optional UI dependencies:

SDL2 (tries find_package(SDL2) first; falls back to FetchContent)
Dear ImGui (fetched via CMake for the UI target)
The core uses small in-repo utilities for JSON (save/load + content files) and logging.