Miscellaneous bug fixes, mostly involving starbase modules, buildings, and civics, to restore functionality.

I haven't noticed the AI not hiring new leaders in 4.0 yet, so hopefully that has been solved.

Noticed something from the previous update and wanted to make it less confusing.

Mostly behinds the scenes updates - no functional changes.

The most notable is that I did change a bunch of default images. It should be somewhat easier to tell which species is which now.

3.12 bucked around with the portraits.

Thankfully this turned out to be a blessing and allowed me to refactor something that was giving me migraines every time I considered making it less obtuse/painful.

As commenters mentioned, leaders weren't being recruited.
After verifying and researching the issue, I found Paradox did fun new things to the leader_classes file and I've ported over the changes.

Made a mistake in the upload.

A lot of things changed in this patch, some small, some big, some hidden, with both nerfs and buffs.
I may not recall them all, but I'll detail out what I remember.

I did not change as fundamentally as I thought I would.

Civic based starbase building has been properly fixed - if automation is on, you wont see the option to start construction at any point. If automation is off, you will be able to see it and build it providing you have the alloys.

** Base Leaders is 4 and max level is 20 **

United Ponies:
+1 Official capacity
Slow increase to leader capacity over time ( based on number and size of starbases )
Nerfed base influence increase from number of Starbases/Size of Starbases.
Reason: You were hard pressed to use your influence as it was.
Removed hidden attempt to increase max influence
Added stability bonus 0.05 ( hive )
I believe I nerfed unity from the building by 2.5 per starbase building tier.
Increased leader pool size by 1 for more variety. May increase with feedback.
(hidden) There's an increasing population, starbase, and structure upkeep reduction. This has been in the game for some time, but making it known.

United Ponies remains the civic for Potential. Early on it should be weak, but mid game it should start really ramping up.

Starlight's Unity:
Slight nerf to Unity production ( 0.20 )
Leader Pool size increased to 6 ( from vanilla 3 )
I believe I reduced experience gain ( now 0.05 ( normal ) 0.08 ( Gestalt ) )
Demotion time is nearly non-existant, may take a month or two for pops to demote.
Official cap is 5.
Council Agendas should last 50% ( normal ) or 60% ( gestalt ) longer.
Slightly decreased starbase building food/mineral/energy/unity. I think.
Reason: You get so much already...

I need some feedback on what to do with Starlight's Unity. I feel like the civic might just be too generic and unsure how to make them stand out.

Pegasi:
Reduced sublight speed bonus to 0.15
Commander +1 capacity
Permanent transit hub effect for the entire empire - this should make unemployed pops move through the empire rather quickly, specially if you are not paying attention.

I didn't change the Pegasi much, though I did have them on the mind.

Earth Ponies:
Small armor hardening effect to their ships ( 0.05% ) making armor bypassing less effective.
Earth ponies research archaeological sites faster
Society Research bonus reduced to 10% from 15% - likely will do the same to Pegasi.
Earth Ponies will find Archaeological sites more often than other civicss
Earth Ponies will also have a growing Minor Artifacts production bonus based on the number/size of Starbases
Earth Ponies get +1 officials.


Let me know if I went too far with them. Ideas on how to differentiate Earth Ponies from Dragons in terms of Ships

Unicorns:
Biggest buff - Shield Hardening - 12% - making shields more useful.
Nerfed Technology growth from the civic - may not be enough.
Should have a chance to research Psionics even as a materialist
Due to focus on technology and science, they have 7 scientist capacity at the start of the game, but only 3 officials and 3 commanders.
(hidden) With the Astral Rifts DLC, they will also fail at astral rifts less often, research them faster, and have reduced difficulty.


Unicorns may be overly buffed, but I believe their focus is the most clear. Let me know how I should balance them, if they need it.


Changelings:
Removed civic naval cap command limit on fleets - that is entirely covered by number and size of starbases now.
Reduced command limit on fleets even further - no more 500+ size fleets.
Pop growth was reduced to Reformed Changeling levels - +10% (normal) +15% (hive)
2 extra envoys to play with
Espionage is easier for Changelings ( decryption +1 )
Commander +1
Officials +1
Scientists -1
Hull/Armor regen may need tweaking, but are set at 1+25% for regular, 2+25% for gestalt at base


Changelings were likely in a controversial place even before this update, possibly both too strong and too weak: Tried to give them some extra identity. May need some feedback on how to differentiate Reflings from Changelings.


Reformed Changelings:
Happiness was reduced to 0.15
Pop assembly mult was lowered to 0.075
Pop growth was reduced to 0.1
Hull/Armor regen may need tweaking, but are set at 1.5+12%
Trust Growth 0.2 ( 20% )
Espionage is also easier for Reformed Changelings ( decryption +1 )
First Contact is easier for Reformed Changelings ( 10% faster )
Scientist +1

As said above, I need some ideas to differentiate, as I feel there's a bit of generic-ness here.


Griffons:
Defense Platform upkeep reduction - 30% - letting you feel less penalized for building them.
Starbase Capcity increased by 1, also get 0.05% more
Espionage against Griffons is harder ( Encryption +1 )
It's harder to cloak vs. Griffons ( cloaking detection +! )
Officials +1
Starbase Aura lowers hull regen, armor regen, shield regeneration by 5% per day. In combat this lowers even further.
This is most effective early game. May need rebalancing again. Yes, this does mean if you don't have 5% of each, you take damage over time. Also lowers speed, evasion and accuracy.


I feel Griffons are in a good spot as hard to assault, as intended, without being impossible. Strong on defense, but are generic on attack.


Bat ponies:
Naturally stealthy ( +1 cloaking ), beware!
Reduced sublight speed from 25% to 18% - still faster than Pegasi
Reduced influence cost reduction from 25% to 15% ( I did not see this until this latest pass ... )
Added 5 tracking
Commanders +2
Officials -1
Nerfed the Starbase aura - I didn't realize it was two fold until now!
Friendly ships
Evasion buff from 25% to 10%
added extra tracking 10%
Hostile ships
Sublight speed from -25% to 15%
Evasion reduction from -25% to 10%


I knew bat ponies were powerful before now, but I didn't realize why - The influence reduction and the auras were pretty big!
Also think I need to move their starbases away from self boosts into another direction but unsure what. They should not be defensive like Griffons right?


Dragons:
Armor Hardening +12%
Megastruction build cap +1
Rare Crystals production 1+10% from the start of the game
Nerfed Home Territory Fire rate from 25% to 15%
Nerfed mineral production from 15% to 10%
Commander Cap +1


I should consider other avenues for the Dragons.


Crystal Ponies:
Reduced Unity bonus from 40% to 30%
Reduced Experience growth (hive only) from 20% to 15%
Reduced happiness to 10%
Added stability bonus ( hive only ) 2.5%
Intended but untested Ascention Effect +15%
Intended but untested Terraforming cost -50% for everything BUT energy. This will affect the more rare / late game types of terraforming, such as restoring toxic worlds.
Officials +1
Scientist +1
Commander -1


Some of the changes are things I hope will work but do not know will work. May need another pass.


Storm Kings:
Alloy bonus removed.
Trade Attractiveness +12% - This should give them far more favorable trade deals on the galactic scale.
Monthly Loyalty from Subjects +1 - loyal vassals will stay loyal longer, disloyal ones should become loyal easier.
Both Overlord and Subject 1 extra building. Untested
+1 vassal before vassals start getting jealous of others.
Piracy Protection +20%
Officials +2
Scientists -1


Storm Kings are Traders and Overlords, this should reflect that as their identity. Need feedback on balance.


Kirin:
Reduced pop assembly from 40% to 30%
Reduced pop growth from 40% to 30%

This civic is most in need of identity. Of all civics, this is most likely going to change drastically in the future.

Made changes to the Griffins civic.
They shouldn't be AS oppressive to enemy ships as they've been. They're still oppressive, as they're meant to be, and they should have serious defenses used by the AI or by the player, but not "Whoops, i spent a day in your system and now my ships are dead"

Also removed their rivalries and gave them more starbases.


I'm considering other changes to ALL civics, in particular United may not look at all like they used to and this is a bandaid for Griffins.

Oops, gestalts have the leader age modifier applied to them as well.

Small change;

United Ponies should have their leader age limit increased again.
Also increased max level from 1->2 for regulars, 2=>3 for gestalts.