Apparently this new version has a "rubber band" pop growth mechanic that punishes you heavily as you get bigger. It's quite awful, nonsensical, and ruins both gameplay and immersion. Filling newly established colonies up becomes impossible around the 50-100 year mark
Fitgirl updated the game, that was fast. What kind of mods should be mandatory for a first-time player then?
At a minimum the following mods
- Tiny Outliner v2
- Tiny Fleets
- UI Overhaul Dynamic
- Kaityo's tiny planet buildings for ui overhaul dynamic
- Enhanced Galaxy Dark Core
- Start with autoexplore
First 4 are just fixing the UI to be pleasant for a normal person with 20/20 vision, default is designed for people with approximately 20/100 vision with how big icons are and how much you have to scroll to find what you want. 5th is basically dark mode for the galaxy view so half the screen isn't bright white the whole time. 6th is the only gameplay modifying one, normally you have to fucking research the ability to have science vessels automatically keep exploring.
Additional suggestions:
- Reduce Aura Graphics
- Downscaled ships
- Colored map icons
- Softer Hyperlanes (blue)
All of these seemed to work fine with the new update. They are labeled as outdated but presumably not much changed.