NOVA v0.8.0

What's New

Forming games & the lobby

• Starting a game is now a two-step lobby. You create a game with a set number of commander slots — you no longer name everyone up front. Players join by claiming an open slot and naming their own commander.
• Your games are split in two: My games for the theatres you are already in, and Join a game for games still forming that you can jump into. Each forming game shows its pace, galaxy size, and who has joined so far.
• A game starts automatically the moment its last slot is claimed, and every commander gets a notification the instant it begins — no host has to press start.

Winning sooner

• A game can now end early. The moment one commander is the last one holding any living star, the result is decided then and there — you no longer have to wait out the clock to claim a knockout.
• However a game ends, early or at the deadline, every commander is told who won.

Sharper scouting

• A spy probe stopped by a probe shield now reports back that the star is shielded — marked with a green ring on the star map — instead of telling you nothing.

Comms & reliability

• The Comms feed now shows when each event happened as a plain "x ago" time, and it pauses along with the game.