We don't keep a long feature backlog with dates attached, and we don't promise what a release six months out will contain. The roadmap is a short list of high-level objectives — the handful of things we believe matter most to the game right now. Each week's release is whatever moves one of those objectives forward, shaped by playtesting and by what commanders report from the live galaxies.
When an objective is done, it comes off this page and a new one takes its place. The patch notes are the record of how each one actually landed.
01
Retire every AI-generated asset
In progress
Everything you look at in Planet Epoch should come from the game itself — real ships from the registry, real flags, real battle footage, real skies — not generic AI illustration. We're replacing AI-generated artwork system by system until none of it remains.
- ✓Galactic News feed — rebuilt; every story now shows in-game flags, ships, structures and captured combat footage. Shipped 23 August.
- ▶Avatar system — next: commander avatars rebuilt the same way, drawn from the game rather than generated.
02
Mission systems for advanced players
In progress
The mission boards already run from courier work up to million-RP ambush contracts. The next step is depth for veterans: contract play that's worth building an empire around, with work demanding enough — and paying well enough — that an experienced commander can make missions their endgame rather than a side income.
- ✓The Standing Update — faction standing gates the board, missions shared with allies, three-system RAID missions, and the Strategic Military Partner title at standing 100. Shipped 23 August.
- ▶Live tuning — next: balancing the new systems from live play — raid difficulty, board depth, and reward spread across the mission types.
03
Onboarding & your first session
In progress
A 4X galaxy is a lot to land in. This objective is about the first time you play: from creating an account to founding your first colony and winning your first fight, the game should teach itself — without a manual open in a second tab. Expect work on the tutorial, the early flow of a new empire, and everything that decides whether a new commander's first session ends with “one more thing, then bed.”
- ✓The Imperial Foundation — a ten-mission beginner campaign from your first mine to your first capital ship, handed to you the moment the tutorial ends. Shipped 24 August.
- ▶The first session itself — next: the tutorial flow and the early hours of a new empire, from account creation to that first “one more thing.”
04
A 3D model for every ship
In progress
In the Star Systems View every ship is a blip until you fly close — then it becomes a real ship. We're building a low-poly 3D model for every ship in the game, hand-built to match the registry artwork commanders already know, so closing the camera on a fleet shows you exactly what's sitting in the system: the silhouette of a gunship next to the bulk of a command ship.
Models are shared by every galaxy and cost nothing to load — no downloads, no install. A ship without a model keeps its blip, so the fleet you fly today is unaffected while the work continues.
Ships modelled
19 of 130 — 15%
Across all ship classes of the six playable races — Humans, Knossons, Feon-Tar, Vatari Cult, Sharne and Derulons. Structures, defences and orbital installations aren't counted.
- ✓Four fleets opened — Human, Knosson, Sharne and Derulon ships are flying as 3D models, from light gunships up to motherships.
- ▶Feon-Tar and Vatari Cult — next: opening the last two fleets, then working down each race's line until every ship in the registry has a model.
Why weekly releases
Planet Epoch ships every week. Not because a calendar says so, but because small, frequent releases are how a live galaxy stays healthy: each change is small enough to be safe, and the game you log into next week is visibly better than the one you left. Big-bang updates that land twice a year get tested by nobody until everybody; a weekly release gets tested by the whole galaxy within days, and anything that misses gets fixed in the next one.
It also keeps us honest. A roadmap of objectives only means something if you can watch the progress — and with a release every week, you can. Spot something broken, or something missing? The Report Issue button in the game's top bar goes straight to the team, and player reports regularly steer what ships next.