Ironclad Games pushed v1.51 of Sins of a Solar Empire II yesterday, and the Hunt fer Booty update is exactly the kind of mid-game chaos injection the 4X crowd has been asking for. The headline addition is the Pirate Galleon, a full capital ship with four unique abilities that gives the pirate faction a proper flagship rather than a nuisance fleet.

The bounty system is the change worth watching. Bounties tied to minor faction raids add a layer of economic pressure that could meaningfully shift how you prioritize targets in the mid-game. Pirates going from background noise to active threat is a design direction Ironclad has been nudging toward, and this update commits to it.

Full patch notes below.

Highlights

• Pirate Galleon Capital Ship - New playable unit with four unique abilities: Pillage, Twin Ion Bolt, Redline Navigation and Mag Blast Torpedo Salvo.
• Pirate Incursion Event System - Survive the onslaught of the Pirate Kings in the early game.
• Two New Advent Minor Factions - The Alutar Sect and Nilari Cult.
• Minor Faction Raids - Dynamic raid events with multiple NPC factions conducting targeted raids on player planets.
• Capturable Infrastructure - New capturable civilian structures including Research Labs, Crystal Extractors, and Metal Extractors.
• Bounty System Expansion - Players and AI can place bounties on enemy assets, triggering NPC raids with rewards for collection.

New Bounty System

The Markets window now includes new tabs for the Bounty Office and Raids. Players can spend resources and exotics to add bounty to a discovered planet, with the Pirates launching raids against those targets (all bounty is converted into an overall credit value that is displayed above a planet in the strategic view). Any player can collect bounty by attacking a planet with bounty (structures in the gravity well, ships and planet damage). The Raid window display active raids against your empire.

Minor Faction Raid System

Hostile Minor Factions will now conduct raids across the map, each with different objectives and trigger conditions.

Pirates

• Added Bounty Raid - Will target the planet with the highest bounty anywhere on the map.
• Added Bombardment Raid - Will target planets adjacent to the Pirate Base and attempt to bombard them.

Aluxian Resurgence

• Added Annexation Raid - Will target adjacent planets and attempt to colonize them, by force if necessary.
• Added Bombardment Raid - Will target planets adjacent to the Aluxian Homeworld and attempt to bombard them.

Minor Faction Roaming Disabled

Minor Factions will no longer roam near their territory, they will only leave their homeworld within the context of specific raids.

• Note to modders - the roaming functionality is not removed from the game, it can still be used in modded Minor Factions. The base game Minor Factions simply have the relevant values set to 0.

Pirate Incursion Event

A new complex event that can occur on any map with a Pirate Base present, the Pirate Incursion will see an early-mid game battle for survival against a Pirate King, his Galleon, and his ever-growing armada of pirates.

Core Counter Triangle Rebalance

The core counter triangle has been rebalanced and re-armed as necessary to ensure consistency of outcomes in all matchups, even at a 3:4 ratio of supply. Light Frigates will now reliably defeat PD Frigates and Cruisers - even when those PD units are issued manual evasion orders. PD units will now reliably defeat Corvettes, with the most notable change here being that the Junsurak Warden can now rapidly and thoroughly shut down the Sulsurak Defensor in a Vasari mirror match. Gunship Corvettes (Shriken Gunship, Sulsurak Defensor, Acolyte Corvette), will now easily evade most Light Frigate attacks and rapidly dispatch their clumsier opponents.

In combination, this rebalance should greatly increase the dynamism of early game fleet composition decision making.

Capture System

Capturable objects now function on a points system instead of a time system. In addition, new capturable structures have been added to uncolonizeable gravity wells - Metal and Crystal Extractors, as well as Military and Civilian Research Labs.

• Derelict Loot Level 1 - Capture Point Requirement set to 300.
• Derelict Loot Level 2 - Capture Point Requirement set to 600.
• Derelict Loot Level 3 - Capture Point Requirement set to 900.
• Wreckage - Capture Point Requirement set to 750.
• Ancient Starbase - Capture type changed to Surrender. Capture Point Requirement set to 2000.
• Capturable Extractor - Capture type set to Always. Capture Point Requirement set to 225.
• Capturable Research Station - Capture type set to Always. Capture Point Requirement set to 450.

Minor Factions

Added New Minor Factions:

• Alutar Sect - A peaceful Advent Minor Faction with shield and antimatter focused abilities.
• Nilari Cult - A hostile Advent Minor Faction with population and combat focused abilities.

All Minor Factions are now prevented from Surveying. This will ensure they do not discover Artifacts they cannot use - especially the Aluxians with their expansionist tendencies.

Changelog v1.51.9 → v1.51.12

Gameplay

• Standardized heavy (250 → 300), medium (200 → 250) and light autocannon (100 → 50) Pierce values.
• Standardized heavy (250 → 300) and medium pulse gun (200 → 270) Pierce values.
• Standardized medium (200 → 250) and light laser (100 → 50) Pierce values.
• Influence costs on Alutar Sect and Nilari Cult minor faction abilities updated.
• TEC
  • Metal/Crystal Extractors:
    • Cost changed from 400/50/0 to 400/0/0
  • TEC Cielo Command Cruiser:
    • Durability increased from 200 to 250
  • TEC Hoshiko Robotics Cruiser:
    • Durability increased from 200 to 250
• Advent
  • Metal/Crystal Extractors:
    • Cost changed from 250/0/90 to 150/0/75
  • Advent Tempest Frigate:
    • Durability increased from 200 to 300
    • Max Hull decreased from 900 to 800
    • Max Armor decreased from 410 to 285
    • Max Shields decreased from 925 to 825
    • Missile Pierce increased from 0 to 150
  • Advent Subjugator Cruiser:
    • Durability increased from 200 to 250
  • Advent Bomber Strikecraft:
    • Max Armor decreased from 75 to 50
• Vasari
  • Vasari Overseer Cruiser:
    • Durability increased from 210 to 270
  • Vasari Bomber Strikecraft:
    • Max Hull decreased from 90 to 60
  • Medium Phase Missiles:
    • Max Angular Speed decreased
    • Max HP decreased from 9 to 6
    • Max Armor decreased from 12 to 9

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