Phased-Polaron Bug?
 

Seems there's a bug with Phased-Polaron beams. In a game I was playing over the weekend, (full Version with the latest patch...isn't that v1.1.4?) the PPBs went through all shields, including phased ones. As I had PPBs and the enemies had phased shields, I took several opportunities to test this in tactical combat over several turns.

This game I was playing eventually suffered from some fatal bug and crashed, so it was never completed. Side note: I have yet to finish a game of SEIV to the 'one empire left standing' victory conditions. Of the 6 games I've played, every one had a fatal crash or other bug that prevented the game from ending. (Ghost empires, anyone?) I've only played the one game since the patch...but it doesn't seem to have helped this problem, judging by what happened to that game.

Can anyone corroborate that PPBs are broken? Or perhaps it was a symptom of the other problems in that game?

Re: Phased-Polaron Bug?
 

Not sure about PPBs but checking the SCORES in the "Aliens" area should show you what others have as long as you enabled that at the start of the game.
-MKC

Re: Phased-Polaron Bug?
 

With all those crashes, have you considered complete un- and reinstalling the program and patch? It sounds like something has gone wrong for you for sure!