Ultra War had grown a lot of buttons. Over seven releases, v0.10.342 to v0.10.348, we went through every page and asked the same question: what does the Star Captain need to see right now? Everything else moved out of the way. Nothing was taken from you. Every link, hotkey and save works as before.
One lane for messages
Level-ups, achievements, rewards and quest lines used to appear wherever they pleased, often over each other. They now share one notifications lane. One message shows at a time, with a small count of how many are waiting. The same words replace each other instead of stacking, hovering pauses a message, and the lane sits above any dialog so nothing is hidden behind it.
One gold action
Gold now means "this is the thing to do next". Each section of the Command Deck has one filled button, down from seven on a fresh Deck. Duplicate buttons are gone. The sign-in prompt waits until you have won a battle, naming your captain is a quiet message instead of a dialog, and the playtest tools moved into Settings. A fresh Command Deck is about a quarter shorter than before.
A calmer Command Deck and a simpler Dominion
The Command Deck shows the three newest updates, or a welcome line while you are in the Campaign. Collectibles left the top bar and are linked from the footer of the Deck.
Dominion got the same treatment in two steps. On a phone its top bar is one row. Locked plots fold into a single "Unlocks later" row, and Replace, Demolish and Cancel sit in a "..." menu where each still asks you to confirm. The bottom dock reads Planet, Economy, Research, Defence and Goals, and every building has a plain line saying what it does.
Then came "one thing at a time". One Next card picks the most important item: a raid first, then the next tutorial step, an idle builder, research to choose, and so on. A "+N" opens the bell for the rest. Each dock tab shows at most one badge, and only for something you can do right now. On one progressed colony the badges went from 13 across five tabs to 5 across three.
A quieter Flagship
The flight screen stopped talking over itself. Ship chatter is one line under your quest, Comms is a small pill in a fixed place, long help texts fold to a line, and key hints show for your first two hours of flight. After that they appear on hover or focus. Settings, Flight keeps them always on if you prefer.
One docked screen
Docking used to open a station panel, an Inventory window and a handful of readouts over the flight view. Now it opens one screen. The station and your wallet sit at the top with a gold Undock button. The station's services are tabs: Market, Outfitter, Contracts, Refine, Services and Station. Your hold sits beside every tab, so you can click an item to sell it or drag it onto the Market. Esc steps back one view, then asks before you undock. On phones the tabs scroll and the hold slides up from the bottom.
One top bar
Every page now has the same seven items: Home, Galactic Map, Flagship, Dominion, Skirmish, Captain and a settings menu. Captain holds your Captain screen, Player profile, Leaderboard and War chest. The settings menu holds Sound, the Field Manual, Settings, this Devblog and Report a bug. Comms and your War chest sit in the bar on every page, and on phones it fits on one row.
We also settled two names. The 3D flight is the Flagship, and your own screen is the Captain screen. You are still the Star Captain.
What is next
We are still listening. If a screen feels busy, tell us through Report a bug in the settings menu, and thank you to everyone who already has.
Galactic Credits are in-game only. They are never bought, never sold for money and never cashed out.
Early access
Play Ultra War
Card battles, your own colony world and a Flagship to fly, in your browser. Ultra War is in early access, alpha playtesting.
What’s new
In these releases
The dispatches from v0.10.342 to v0.10.348, as they appear on the Command Deck.
- One top bar everywhere
Star Captain, every page now has the same seven buttons: Home, Galactic Map, Flagship, Dominion, Skirmish, Captain and Settings. Captain holds your Captain screen, Player profile, the Leaderboard and the War chest; Settings holds Sound and the Field Manual. Comms and Friends sit in the bar beside your War chest, and the Flagship’s own buttons fit one row with the rest under More.
- One docked screen
Star Captain, docking now opens one screen: the station and your wallet at the top, Undock in gold, the station’s services as tabs (Market, Outfitter, Contracts, Refine, Services, Station), and your hold beside every tab. Click an item in your hold to sell it, or drag it onto the Market. Esc steps back, then asks before you undock. On phones the tabs scroll and the hold slides up from the bottom.
- Dominion asks for one thing at a time
Star Captain, Dominion now asks for one thing at a time: a single Next card (your first-session steps live there too), one builders chip, fewer badges that count only what you can do now, Spoils in one place with one Collect, and Colony colours in the War chest.
- A quieter Flagship screen
Star Captain, the Flagship screen is quieter. Docking hides the flight readouts and leaves one way to the Market and the Outfitter. Each wallet shows once in one colour, Comms sits in one place, ship chatter is a single line under your quest, and long help texts fold to one line. Key hints step back after your first two hours of flight (Settings, Flight keeps them), and on phones the top bar fits one row.
- A calmer Command Deck
Star Captain, the Command Deck is calmer: one main button, the three latest updates (All updates for the rest), messages that wait their turn instead of piling up, and naming your captain no longer stops you with a window. The Spacers’ card resource is now called Loot, the Front board is War score, and Collectibles has left the top bar.
- Dominion is easier to read
Star Captain, Dominion is easier to read: a one-row bar on phones, every building says what it does, locked plots wait in one Unlocks later row, and the dock now reads Defence and Goals. An unfinished Skirmish now leads with Resume, and on phones your hand stays in view.
- A first round of interface fixes
Star Captain, Dominion on a phone now keeps Face them in its own row during a raid, the Flagship’s level-up card waits until other windows close, and a handful of doubled labels and misplaced scrolls are fixed. A bigger simplification of every screen is on the way.
7 dispatches · scroll, or click one to read it all