This update brings added depth to crew quarters, significant performance optimizations, and substantial gameplay enhancements.
Residence Mood
Crew members now have expectations regarding their accommodations, with room requirements based on skill levels. High-skilled workers need higher room levels, and their mood is influenced by the room's setup and the presence of liked or disliked items in their quarters.
Room Level
Room levels now range from 1 to 5 stars, determined by the room’s appearance, available space, and the number of residents.
Appearance
A new "Appearance" value reflects the room’s aesthetic quality. Many items can positively or negatively impact this value, with some decor items designed solely for visual appeal. A new system lets textures and models be switched, paving the way for future additions.
Sculptures and plants have also been introduced.
Cleanliness
Room cleanliness now degrades with occupancy, impacted further by certain items or hazards like fire. This is visually represented by accumulating dirt in the room.
Everyone on board can now help clean, adding another task to the ship's duties.
Currently, cleanliness only affects visuals, but it will later impact the risk of illness, especially during eating or drinking.
Efficiency improvements
Crew members can now boost item efficiency as a new task. Each workable item has an efficiency value that can be improved based on skill requirements; for example, enhancing a greenhouse’s efficiency requires biology skills.
Thought Bubbles
To help players understand work delays and crew issues, thought bubbles now appear briefly above crew members. These bubbles indicate why tasks are interrupted or why a crew member may be slow due to low mood or skills.
No more InteriorItemBoxes
A major change: interior item boxes are now removed. After positive playtest feedback, items are now constructed directly at their placement instead of at the workbench, reducing storage needs and simplifying gameplay.
Performance
Finally, performance received a major boost. With many new tasks added for cleaning and efficiency, task load on larger ships was high. By minimizing recalculations and introducing a more efficient pathfinding algorithm with pre-calculations, path checking is now faster and more precise. On larger ships, speed increased dramatically from around 3 minutes per second to nearly 3 hours per second.
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