Old Light adds vacation mode and Discord integration

Old Light is a browser strategy game built so you can check in twice a day and still keep up. That works for a normal week. It doesn't work when you're somewhere without signal for ten days, and until now the only option was to leave and hope your neighbours were busy elsewhere.

This update adds vacation mode, which puts your empire on hold while you're away. Older browser MMOs like OGame have had one for years. The update also brings Old Light to Discord, with a bot that looks up empires and posts galaxy news in your server, and a PreMiD activity that shows your game in your Discord status.

How vacation mode works#

You turn vacation mode on from Settings. It covers one galaxy at a time and lasts until you turn it off, up to 3 weeks. You need a verified email to use it, and it isn't available while your empire is still under beginner protection.

While it runs, no player or NPC can send a new attack or probe at your systems. The rest of your empire is frozen too. Production, credit income and upkeep pause, loyalty doesn't regenerate, and build and shipyard queues wait. Your open market offers are hidden, and nobody can send you shipments or offer you deals. When you come back, each queue resumes with the time it had left.

Vacation time doesn't count as inactivity. Normally, NPCs can start capturing the stars of an empire that has been gone for 14 days. That clock stops while you're frozen and starts again from the day you return, not from your last login.

If every empire on your account is on vacation, your premium time pauses as well, and the paused days are added back once you're playing again.

Why vacation mode starts after 6 hours#

Most of the design work went into stopping vacation mode from being used as a shield. If it started the moment you clicked it, a player who saw a large fleet heading their way could switch it on and wait the attack out.

So it starts 6 hours after you confirm. During those hours you play normally and can still be attacked, and other players can't see that it's coming. A fleet that was already flying at you when it starts still arrives and fights.

You also can't start it while one of your fleets is on its way to someone else's system or out colonising, and sending one during the 6-hour wait cancels the vacation. After a vacation ends you wait 8 weeks before the next, so it can't be chained into a permanent shield.

Other players see that you're on vacation and the date it ends automatically, in the same places they see beginner protection. You can come back before that date, so a rival planning a war on your border can't count on the full 3 weeks.

You get an email when your vacation starts and a reminder every week. 3 days before the automatic end you get a warning, and a last email once it has ended.

The Old Light Discord bot#

The Old Light Discord now has a bot. Type /oldlight followed by one of these:

• player shows an empire's public profile.
• galaxy gives a galaxy at a glance, and leaderboard shows its top empires.
• compare puts two empires side by side.
• sector shows who controls a sector and what its bonus is.
• guide links a page of the guide.

The bot shows what the public galaxy pages show. If a player has hidden their profile, the bot follows that setting.

Galaxy news in your Discord server#

The bot can also post galaxy news. A server admin runs /oldlight-news set with a channel, and optionally a galaxy, and from then on the bot posts there as things happen. It reports an empire reaching a star-count milestone, a new number one on the leaderboard or a new name in the top ten, a sector being claimed or taken, a government coming into effect and a new galaxy opening. /oldlight-news stop turns it off.

News covers human empires only. A post says that an empire grew without saying how it gained the star, so nobody learns from it whether a star was colonised, captured or traded. Anything it posts is already on the public pages, and it usually arrives within a minute or two.

If you'd rather follow along without adding the bot anywhere, the read-only #galaxy-news channel in the Old Light server runs on it.

Show Old Light in your Discord status with PreMiD#

PreMiD is a browser extension that shows what you're doing on a website in your Discord status. Old Light now has an activity for it in the PreMiD store. While you play, your friends on Discord see your empire name and galaxy, along with the sector your active system is in or what you're doing at that moment, such as sending a fleet or trading on the market.

If your empire has a public profile, your status gets a "View empire" button that links to it. You can switch off the empire name, the sector and the button separately in the activity's settings.

Outside the game, your status shows which guide page, blog post or galaxy page you're reading.

Common questions#

How long can vacation mode last in Old Light?#

Up to 3 weeks. You can end it earlier by turning it off. After it ends you wait 8 weeks before you can start another one.

Can you be attacked while on vacation?#

Not by anything sent after your vacation starts. Fleets that were already on their way when it started still arrive and fight, and during the 6-hour wait before it starts you can be attacked as normal.

Does vacation mode stop NPCs taking an inactive empire's stars?#

Yes. Time on vacation doesn't count toward the 14 days of inactivity after which NPCs can start capturing your stars.

What can the Old Light Discord bot do?#

It looks up empires, galaxies, leaderboards and sectors, compares two empires and links guide pages. Server admins can also have it post galaxy news in a channel.

Can Old Light show in your Discord status?#

Yes, through PreMiD. Set up PreMiD and add the Old Light activity from its store, and your Discord status shows your empire and galaxy while you play.