I just found the 1st tidbit on 2018. The SP website has a 2018 upgrade listed now, and under the comments section this was a response to a question:
"The rendering capability has been enhanced for SoftPlan 2018. Hardware requirements remain substantially the same. The image your looking at was CPU generated and would generate faster with a better processor."
If anyone finds any other details I'd be happy to hear about them! (Ahem.... IBS spies this mean you)
Have a great day!!