## Dev Update #18: Stellar Evolution and Wormholes

Published on February 06, 2019 by Vasily Vasinov

Protostar about to turn into a yellow dwarf.

Build 0.10.0 is out on Steam! This update contains two major changes: the stellar evolution mechanic and the wormhole mechanic. Both add new ways to strategize during all phases of the game but the endgame is particularly affected by those mechanics in a good way :)

### Stellar Evolution

I built Eons of War around the idea of every turn taking a very long stretch of time—an eon. Over many turns stars’ luminosity goes up and they loose more and more mass until they either collapse or go supernova. This update introduces star phases that match real-world stellar evolution.

New stars start out as contracting disks of gas—or protostars. Depending on the initial mass, protostars evolve into red or yellow dwarfs. Red dwarfs are small and cool stars that can sometimes exist for trillions of years. In the game they are one of the final star phases and never collapse or go supernova.

Yellow dwarfs are stars like our Sun that evolve into red giants, which, depending on their mass, collapse into white dwarfs or evolve into blue giants. Red and blue giants are very bright active stars, so it’s easy to extract lot of energy from them with energy spheres. The downside of the giants is lower base population growth rate and more expensive construction.

All dwarf stars have a high base population rate and low construction costs.

Finally, blue giants are the only stars that go supernova that later collapse into black holes. Supernova “resets” minerals in the asteroid field, so black holes become very desirable locations in the late game with a high base population rate and cheap construction.

Black holes can also be used as wormholes and completely change how the endgame is played.

### Wormholes

Wormholes in Eons of War represent an invisible network between black holes. This mechanic introduces another way to attack and transport population and minerals between locations. Wormholes behave just like hyperlanes, except there is no distance or mass energy cost when you use them to perform an action.

If you occupy at least one black hole all other black holes become visible on the map. To start using a black hole as a wormhole you have to build a wormhole portal that allows you to initiate actions to other black holes.

As the time goes by, more stars collapse into black holes, which leaves the back of your empire more vulnerable. Suddenly, you have to not only worry about hyperlanes but also about wormholes. This is an exciting dynamic that adds spice in the endgame.

### Other Changes

[GAMEPLAY] Renamed hyperspace tunnels to hyperlanes.

[GAMEPLAY] Now initial minerals don’t depend on the star type.

[GAMEPLAY] Construction mineral cost is now inversely proportional to luminosity.

[GAMEPLAY] Base population rate is now inversely proportional to luminosity.

[GAMEPLAY] Updated action cost modifiers to be incremental instead of percentage-based.

[UI] Added a turn countdown to the resources bar with a tooltip containing information about the current phase and the next phase of the stellar lifecycle.