Drumroll please!
It’s my pleasure to announce Rule the Galaxy!, a weekly briefing on Imperial Conflict.
We’ve had a weekly changelog for awhile now, and recently one of our fine Alumni and Patron Commanders, @Arby3, conducted our first monthly Q&A, The State of IC.
Together, these two features will help us all stay abreast of the latest developments but more importantly keep our finger on the pulse of the community.
Brought to you by: you
Imperial Conflict is proudly 100% free of advertisements and pay-to-win schemes and is 100% free to play. This is made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers.
If Imperial Conflict and our community have provided you a worthwhile experience, please consider pledging a monthly donation to support our development by visting the link below.
You can donate as little or as much as you’d like — even $1, and earn perks in doing so. The more subscribers we receive, the more time we can put into the game.
With that out of the way, onto the good stuff!
IC Trivia: Sound like a vet
Want to impress your new family to secure that fatty aid package? We’ve got you covered; simply drop some old school knowledge on them like you’re from the betas. For instance:
The original Harkonnes family shared leadership between two empires: Altriust and Universal Mob.
If they ask you to elaborate, just say it’s been so long that you can’t really remember anything else. Works every time!
Galaxy Updates
Milky Way
Congrats to Family #4147, The xPICKLExARMYx Empire, and The Penguins Empire for taking their respective golds in Milky Way 55.
Milky Way 56 is on! Bigger map, more systems, and more planets. We’ll also be continually increasing the family size as the round goes on and families fill up. That means it’s never too late to join!
It’s anyboy’s guess how this will effect strategy and planning, but we’re in for an interesting ride that’s for sure.
Balius
Balius 2 has returned after a short break is now open for some hardcore, no-morale, empire-destroying action — on a HUGE 160x160 map! That’s quite a step up from the previous 30x30 map, and easily the largest galaxy we’ve seen in years.
Public registration is now open but drafting is still possible if space allows, so if you’ve got some badassery to offer, feel free to make a drafting post.
Supernova
With about a week and a half left to go, Megatron holds the lead for both Networth and Size rankings, with Louis running up in both rankings as well.
It’s looking to be a fairly tight race amongst the top 5, with plenty of systems still with unexplored planets. We’ll see if anybody pulls ahead in a big way before the final week.
Recent Highlights
New forums!
This one’s a bit obvious. 
A relevant discussion can be found here regarding the change and what to expect. Might I suggest getting your feet wet by introducing yourself?
Galaxy Voting
If you haven’t yet noticed, all galaxies now have their settings determined by player vote. Who better to determine what the rounds should look like than the people who actually play them?
Supernova 28 will be the last public galaxy that was configured soley by Staff. No more shooting in the dark, huzzah!
Galaxy Restriction and new Patreon Perk
Going forward, players will be limited to choosing 2 galaxies to play in. This is intended to foster competition and preserve focus within the galaxies by preventing players from spreading their attention too thin.
Patron Fighters and above are exempt from this restriction and may play in as many galaxies as they’d like.
Full Changelog
We’ve got a bit of an update backlog to power through. So without further ado:
2017 Week 23
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Bugfix: Non-HC home planets are once again protected. -
Bugfix: News items no longer occasionally repeat.
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Bugfix: Space Amazement is once again correctly factored into exploration costs.
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Bugfix: Speed bonuses are now correctly factored when mass exploring.
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Feature: Empire News and Infiltration Reports are now limited to the last 100 turns. -
Feature: Razing portals no longer requires a page refresh.
2017 Week 24 - Week 26
Updates on hold due to travel. 
2017 Week 27
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Feature: Vote for galaxy setups!
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Feature: Re-added galaxy playing limit and related Patreon perk/exemption
2017 Week 28
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Bugfix: Your empire’s home planet is now correctly marked in your planet list.
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Feature: The account preferences page was cleaned up a bit, including the ability to set an account avatar.
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Feature: Player trophies have been introduced! You can see this by clicking on the “Your Profile” link in the account gate.
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Feature: Galaxy settings vote results were added to the vote page.
2017 Week 29
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Feature: Empires who post improper family pictures or empire banners can now have these features disabled on their account.
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Feature: We moved to the new forums!
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Feature: Upon galaxy creation, odds of a planet having a morale bonus have roughly trippled.
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Feature: For non-hardcore galaxies, the restriction on attacking empires below 35% of your networth has been re-implemented.
As always, thank you.
That’s it for our first weekly briefing! This is an ongoing process and your feedback is always welcome. Please let us know if you have anything you want to be included in these updates.
See ya on the next one!