As outlined in Haemimont Diaries #1, we’re introducing a major rework of the Rockets by converting the existing ones to universal Rockets that can be sent to all destinations, Asteroids included. Following your feedback and reactions to this announcement, we decided against removing the Asteroid Lander – it will remain available for use. Read all the details below.
When ordering a Cargo Rocket from the Resupply menu, you are now taken through a Select Destination screen where you choose where to send the Rocket – to Mars or to an Asteroid (if available). Rocket cargo is then displayed according to the destination.
Asteroid Landers bought from Earth will still have a default destination Mars and you’ll be able to manage them once they arrive on the Red Planet. As before, they can only be used to travel between Mars and Asteroids. Asteroid Landers require less Fuel than regular Rockets and have increased cargo space.
Rockets on Mars will no longer set Earth as their default destination and will not be refueled if no destination is set.
Going through the new “Destination” button in the Rocket’s info panel will open the Planetary View and allow you to choose where to send the Rocket – we’ve added Earth here too! The flow for expeditions and Asteroids works exactly as before, but if you’re sending a Rocket back to Earth, you’ll be taken through a payload screen where you can set the amount of exports. On that note, you’ll now be able to export Exotic Minerals in addition to Rare Metals!
To facilitate fast return to Earth without going through the Planetary View and exports setup, the new “Back to Earth” button will automatically start preparing the Rocket for its return trip, not loading any exports.
In order to improve the flow of resupply and exports, we’ve reworked the automated mode to a universal screen where you can manage everything at once depending on the location and destination of the Rocket. Need a steady supply of free Polymers after enacting the Resource Subsidies Law? You can set that up and forget about it. Want to continuously export precious loot to Earth and get some Food resupplies for your Asteroid-dwellers? We’ve got you covered.
In order to avoid long waiting times and keep the auto mode running smoothly, Rockets with a pending payload have a one Sol maximum waiting period for collection of exports, after which they will depart – you can see the countdown in the Rocket’s info panel and in the Payload screen.
All changes related to the Rockets will apply to new and existing saves.
Another change that we covered in Haemimont Diaries #1 concerned the expiration of Asteroids and the available resources there. While there’s still more that we want to explore in that direction, we consider the modifications in 1.0.7 a significant improvement over 1.0.6. Here is a rundown of the changes.
Asteroids are no longer time-limited – they will be tracked permanently until manually abandoned. This means that the Capture Asteroid Breakthrough and the Asteroid Catcher building have been retired. To help you navigate this new reality, you’re now able to abandon an Asteroid directly from its icon in the HUD.
We’ve also tweaked the rate at which Asteroids are discovered, so you can expect them to be a bit rarer than before.
A final change here concerns the Gotcha! achievement, which has been changed from catching an Asteroid with the Catcher to having to track two Asteroids at the same time; already unlocked achievements will be maintained.
In saves pre-1.0.7
Already constructed Asteroid Catchers will be preserved as a “monument of our continued progress” (they might make a comeback in the future). All existing and newly-discovered Asteroids will become permanent.
In saves pre-1.0.7
The new “slot” system and upgrades will not apply and all existing Recon Centers will keep functioning as before. New ones will not be available for construction.
Another change concerning buildings is that the Micro-G Auto Extractor and the Micro-G Mining Station are now split into three variants for each specific resource – Metals, Rare Metals or Exotic Minerals, aiming to give you more control over the resources that you want to extract.
In saves pre-1.0.7
The old buildings will keep being functional, but not available for construction – the three new variants will be available instead.
The Space Miner Commander Profile has been updated in accordance with all changes – you will still receive bonus Techs and prefabs and will also start with a discovered Asteroid, ready to be conquered.
As previously mentioned, we’ve further tweaked the buildable space on Asteroids and rebalanced the available resources. You can expect some Asteroids to have more resources scattered on their surface, while others will offer a treasure trove of underground deposits. We hope that these balance changes, along with everything else, will make Asteroids more exciting for visiting and more worth exploiting.
One highly requested feature since the introduction of the Passages has been the ability to attach them to the rims of Domes instead of taking from the buildable hexes inside. In 1.0.7, you can now officially do that! Passages can be placed on most of the Domes’ perimeter hexes, with some exceptions where entrances, pipe connectors or specific curves prevent this. The option to place them in hexes inside the Domes is also maintained, so you have more options to connect your Domes as you see fit.
Asteroids no longer have an expiration timer. The related Breakthrough – Capture Asteroid – has been removed. The Asteroid Catcher building has been retired.
Players start with the ability to track and visit only 1 Asteroid (1 Asteroid “slot”). The number of “slots” can be increased by the Recon Center building.
The Recon Center is now a unique building (only one can be constructed) that players can upgrade. Each upgrade level provides +1 “slot” for Asteroids that can be tracked and visited. In older saves, the “slot” system will not apply. The other Recon Center mechanics remain the same.
Micro-G Auto Extractors and Micro-G Mining Stations are now split into variants for a specific resource - Metals, Rare Metals or Exotic Minerals. This change will not affect old savegames.
The Space Miner Commander Profile has been modified according to the related changes.
Asteroids now have more buildable space.
Balance changes have been made so some Asteroids have more resources scattered on their surface.
Rockets can now travel to Asteroids. They can also make the journey directly between Earth and an Asteroid.
Automated mode: Implemented an automated flight mode for Rockets traveling between Earth, Mars, and Asteroids, including an auto-depart logic.
Exotic Minerals can now be exported to Earth.
Fixed some cases in which 1 passenger will remain in rocket cargo after returning from a Planetary Anomaly.
Passages can now be attached to the sides of the Domes.
Fixed an issue where Outside Ranches wouldn’t work with "Too far from Domes" error.
Fixed an issue where the in-dome Ranch would not work properly when switching between different animals.
Fixed an issue that would cause Domes using a skin different than the default one to not be correctly damaged by meteors or orbital bombardment.
Fixed an issue where RC Constructors could get confused and not load needed resources or contribute to a construction they were ordered to.
RC Constructors will no longer get stuck when constructing Lakes.
Fixed rare cases where buildings would not be completed or repaired by an RC Constructor.
Fixed an issue where Drones would not work on cave-ins under certain circumstances.
Fixed cases in which an RC Safari was not registering as an available service to Domes when there was a rover in close proximity.
Fixed cases in which Underground Entrances could spawn too close to each other, resulting in Elevators becoming unavailable for placement.
Underground Entrances can no longer be spawned on top ofdust geysers.
Fixed a rare case where rovers could get stuck inside rocks in the Underground.
Fixed cases in which Solar Panels were not properly facing the sun or the Artificial Sun.
The Elevator is now properly disabled during the Elevator Malfunction event.
Drone Hub Extenders now work properly with the Wireless Power Breakthrough.
Fixed an issue where RC Dozers would drop Waste Rock on the ground instead of in nearby Dumping Sites.
Fixed an issue where Drones could get stuck in loops during construction of Domes.
Fixed multiple problems with construction and power of the Bottomless Pit and cases where the Anomaly associated with it would appear in a different cave.
When copied, Universal Storages now properly remember what resources are allowed.
Fixed buildings incorrectly displaying no power in older saves.
Fixed more cases where colonists would get stuck near buildings.
Fixed stuck colorizations during building placement.
Improvements in various building sounds.
Fixed an issue where Colonists would move to live in nonfunctional Domes.
Fixed an issue where Colonists would prefer to work in a neighbouring Dome instead of the one they live in if all other factors were equal.
Fixed an issue where Colonists sent on Expedition would appear as Homeless in the resource bar.
Fixed an issue where incorrect reachability checks prevented Colonists and Tourists from properly boarding Rockets or using Elevators.
Fixed an issue where Colonists were still being employed in buildings with the Service Bots and similar upgrades that remove workers completely.
Fixed cases in which Colonists were interrupted while commuting by Train, causing them to walk large distances and suffocate.
Fixed a freeze related to Tourists exiting an RC Safari that was destroyed.
Fixed a freeze related to using the Follow Camera for a Colonist on a different map.
Fixed cases in which workplaces would not remove non-specialists when there were specialists available to work there or were working with the wrong specialization.
Fixed more cases where many Colonists would be fired at the same time because they were trying to work in a place they cannot reach.
Fixed a rare case in which Tourists could be sent to Earth twice.
Fixed cases in which Colonists would suffocate when moving between different Naturalist Habitats.
Notifications for low Power, Oxygen, or Water storage now trigger when reserves fall below 30 hours of supply (previously 3 days).
Added a building warning for the Open Farms when the Soil Quality requirements of the selected crops are not met.
Implemented construction warnings for Domes to notify players when a Dome is not connected to an underground Elevator, which would prevent Colonists moving in them.
Added a building warning when Lakes do not increase Water because the Liquid Water threshold has not been reached.
“Funding received” notification now includes profits from Black Market exports.
Added UI notifications for stored Trains due to a removed Track/Station or when the Train was marked for stopping.
Fixed an issue where if the player made the Drones invulnerable with the Ancient Artefact and got the AI mystery, this could lead to a situation where immortal Drones could destroy everything in sight.
Fixed an issue where additional Applicants were still being generated after Earth had been quarantined under the Wildfire mystery.
The Power Of Three mystery now looks for a Power Accumulator if a Concrete Extractor is not present, making it less likely to block the unlocking of the S.H.E.P.I.D. research.
Fixed an issue where loading an old savegame could in certain cases crash the game.
Fixed various freezes related to the Underground.
Various performance improvements and hardlock fixes.
Various crash fixes.
Fixed the issue where Sponsor logos added as mods would appear upside down.
Modders can now make any resource exportable to Earth.
The Rockets fuel logic is no longer locked to only the resource “Fuel”. Modders can also now choose a resource that Rockets can use as fuel.
The rocket rework moves all old rocket classes into a new one called UniversalRocketBase and all supply pods in UniversalSupplyPodBase. Now, the FlightPolicyDef presets are responsible for what a rocket could do in a different way based on its arrival location.
The Landscaping Nanites Breakthrough now allows working on landscape projects without Drones, even when the construction site needs to be cleared.
Fixed various cases where Drones would continuously attempt tasks they could not actually complete, such as reaching unreachable piles of Waste Rock.
Fixed a case where Japan’s flying Drones would get stuck in a loop.
Fixed a freeze related to Rockets trying to load Drones.
Added a shortcut that hides all UI – Ctrl+Shift+U.
Ctrl+F1 to report bugs is now listed in the Options under Key Bindings.
Planet Anomalies and Expeditions now display the available Rockets properly.
The names of the completed Special Projects are now shown in the rollover of the Planetary View button.
Fixed the Residential Space launch issue message that claimed that there was no living space when Colonists were sent to Asteroids with available living space.
Fixed some cases in which Underground Entrance markers would appear under the Entrance.
Fixed some cases in which building ranges and highlighted hexes would get stuck.
Sectors are no longer visible in the Underground.
Added a warning in the info panels of Forestation Plants clarifying that they will improve Vegetation while it is less than 40%.
Added a hint on how to set the default building in cases where multiple buildings are listed in the same slot in the build menu.
The construction grid is no longer hidden when constructing on slopes.
The effects of Independence are better explained in the Mission Profile.
Filter controls will no longer appear in Passenger Rockets for groups that currently have no Colonists.
Added a toggle in Photo Mode that controls whether the Domes are opened or closed.
Fixed some cases in which Command Center filters were incorrectly displayed as OFF.
The Command Center now properly displays Train statistics under Graphs.
Fixed a case where constructions did not show an on-cursor message with the reason for restricted placement.
Tracks are now constructed in groups of up to 5 elements, bringing them in line with other infrastructure like Pipes and Cables. Salvaging Track constructions will now cancel only the last element and not the whole Track.
Various fixes related to unsalvageable or unusable Tracks.
Fixed many cases in which Trains would get stuck.
Additional fixes for old saves where Stations could not properly connect to each other.
Fixed a freeze related to looped Stations.
Fixed a case in which Trains could not be constructed.
Fixed some cases in which Drones would not build certain Track segments.
The game will be paused when a controller is disconnected (Steam).
Fixed another instance of lighting breaking after switching maps, leading to a sepia-like effect.
The Terraforming Focus Law can no longer be used when the No Terraforming rule is active.
Rival Colonies will no longer show duplicated Trade Routes for the same resource.
Fixed an issue related to properly handling cases where there is no support for any political Faction.
The Mars Reservation will no longer remove rocks inside it.
Fixed Faction tasks that were incorrect or had wrong prerequisites.
The Ally option for Post-Independence Earth Relations properly reduces import costs.
Soil Quality now properly decreases after landscaping.
Reduced the number of Vistas and Research Sites spawned from the Designed Forestation Breakthrough.
Seeds will now appear in the initial payload screen when the sponsor is Terraforming Initiative.
Fixed cases where workshifts would get stuck after abandoning Asteroids.
Various visual improvements related to particles.
Resource and other terrain icons are not displayed in older saves in normal camera mode - they are only visible in Overview. It is not present in newly-started 1.0.7 games.
Left-clicking while placing a Passage doesn’t create a “check point” for a turn.
In rare cases, rivals may offer to trade 0 of a resource. A fix will follow in the next patch.
There may be isolated issues with Rockets in older saves - we’ve fixed a number of problems, but were not able to cover all possible scenarios and Rocket states in savegames.
We’ve kept fixing issues with stuck particles and other visuals, but there are problems which we are still in the process of isolating and addressing.