1.8.2 compatibility patch. Please let me know if anything broke and I missed it.

Another minor fix: the Final Contact event of the Biophage Contagion had the wrong portrait/room.

Another minor fix, this time to the background rooms in the first contact events.

A few minor fixes. Most embarrisingly the Blessed Disks Convention's flag being reset to the default.

(For anyone curious as to the behind-the-scenes: 1.8 and Synthetic Dawn rewrote the code format for Stellaris Empires. Most ACEP empires still worked, and I just resaved them in-game to convert them to the new format. A few were broken and I had to partially remake them to figure out what broke before I could convert that to the new format. In that process the BDC's flag got accidentally reset to the default.)

Updated to patch 1.8.0 compatibility. See Version 2.0 for major new features added recently!

With Synthetic Dawn almost around the corner, the big 2.0 update is here! This update adds:

- Four new Utopia empires: The mysterious Hive Mind of the Weidwyrded worlds. The devouring swarm of the Biophage Contagion. The mechanists of the Directory of Peers. And the syncretic evolution of the Crimson Carnival. In addition the Alculture now uses the Fanatic Purifiers civic.

- Extended Final Contact Events: No longer will ACEP empires go quietly into the night! When an ACEP empire is destroyed, a special event will fire where they give their last words and final thoughts.

- New names for (almost) everyone: All the Empire and Species names have been reviewed, with the majority changed to be more memorable and/or pronounceable.

- Code improvements: Beneath the hood, the code has been cleaned up, making it easier than ever to make ACEP compatible with the mod of your choice. Just follow the instructons at the bottom of the Mod description.

The new Utopia features does NOT make this mod incompatible for those who do not have the DLC. The empires that use Utopia features will be unselectable and will not spawn in-game, but all other empires will still work fine for those without the DLC.

Minor under-the-hood code changes. I'm planning an update to 2.0 around whenever Synthetic Dawn is released. ACEP 2.0 is planned to include some code changes that might break the Extended First Contact Events for earlier versions of the mod, this update pre-empts that. Any game started post this update should be generally compatible with 2.0, and there should be more than enough time (2~3 months) for anyone currently in a game to finish it/have seen all Extended First Contact events. :)

If anything has somehow broken, do report any bugs!

This version adds another two new empire, the technocratic Interstellar Union and the plantoid warriors of the Free Tribes. Both are double personality empires: they're designed to randomly adopt one of two AI personalities. (As opposed to most other ACEP empires, which are designed to always adopt the same AI personality every game.) Their addition, along with the All-seeing Order added already, will add a bit of extra unpredictability to the games.

With these two additions, I've completed the planned roster of non-Utopia empires. Eventually I'll get the Utopia DLC (probably next time it's on sale), and then there are at least four more empires planned using Utopia features. But until then, the roster is complete. I've put a lot of effort in ensuring diversity not just in the writing, but in the AI personalities, government types, FTL methods, the works. I hope it makes playing with these races a complete and satisfying experience!

I've got some ideas for additional (flavor-centric) features, if I can get them to work. Of course I'll also be keeping the mod up to date for the coming patches. And as always, let me know if you spot any (spelling) errors or bugs in the current version!

Again, a huge thank you to everyone who has and is enjoying this. I'm overjoyed that you thought my humble little mod worth your time!

Updated to patch 1.6.2 compatibility.

There should be no issues, as ACEP features were not affected by any of the changes. However if you do experience any bugs with ACEP functionality post-patch, please report them so I can look into it.

This version adds two new empire, the slaving despots of the Hulfir Stellar Magistracy and the harmonious collective of the State of Xania, rounding out the roster so it includes all AI personalities (except hive minds).

As I'll be very busy for the next couple of weeks, I likely won't be updating or responding. But I expect to be back in action to continue filling out the roster at the end of next month (June). At minimum, there are two more normal empires planned, and another four more for whenever I can afford to get Utopia.

A huuge thanks to everyone who commented, rated, and subscribed. I would've been happy to share this mod with just a few dozen people, but we already have over 500(!!!) subscribers. Thanks to everyone who's enjoying it, I hope I made your games that much better!