Not much news seems to make it here but development is still happening rapidly, and there have been loads of changes since the last news post. Instead of listing out everything (which would be too much), here are some of the highlights:
Spring Engine updated to 84.0! This engine update has been over a year in progress. There is a lot of great stuff, notably much much improved pathfinding, advanced map shading, dynamic sun, and EFX/EAX support (sound reverb), and numerous bugfixes.
As for Zero-K itself, there are lots of cool new things added, like a new unit, the Felon! It has a shield that discharges when it attacks. Link it with other shields to replenish charge more quickly. Additionally the interface continues to be further polished, and now most UI elements can be toggled on/off. And as it mostly goes without saying, there have been lots of balance tweaks, especially related to using emperical data for DPS.
Planet Wars is now on round 11. Currently the two most powerful factions are Cybernetic Front and Empire Reborn. These two giants hold almost 50 planets each and appear to be eager for the win. At one point Cybernetic Front nearly reach a technology victory but the vigilant Empire quickly stopped their movement. While the other three factions are not as strong, with about 20 planets each they could still make a big difference in the outcome, and are far from out of the game. Faction leaders will need to play their alliances carefully if they want to emerge victorious.
From now on hopefully news will get here faster and more frequently! If you want to see more details about commits, be sure to see: Code.google.com
And please check out the website at Zero-k.info!
It should be noted that the desync issues with the latest Ubuntu release were fixed with the new engine version.