Hello, Chroma Engineers!
A surprise midweek patch! Who would have seen that coming?
Just some patches, improvements for the games.
Patch Notes - Version 2.2.1
GLOBAL
Fixed Bug: The game window no longer turns white after being left in the background for a while. You no longer need to resize the window to get the game back.
STAGE 9
Added: Fold Delay. Between waves you can spend Null Essence to push the next assault back, up to three times per cooldown.
Changed: A cascade failure no longer destroys finished Null-Origin Fields, and now tells you the wave counter has reset.
Fixed Bug: Turning off Time Warp no longer moves the speed slider to where you clicked.
Fixed Bug: Perimeter notifications no longer stay on screen forever after the story ends.
CONTINUUM
Fixed Bug: Loading into the Continuum no longer gets stuck on the CHROMA ENGINE screen, and the skip key now always works there.
Fixed Bug: If a Continuum save cannot be read, the game now says so and stops saving, instead of quietly starting an empty pocket over the top of it.
Added: Two new Continuum daemons. Auto-Probe charts realms on its own, and Hangar keeps the survey drone repaired and replaced.
VOIDCRASH
Changed: You can now jump until the capacitor is completely empty, instead of losing the jump at 10% charge.
Added: A warning when charge drops below 10%, while you still have the power to do something about it.
Added: Scuttle Drone in the inventory. Ends the drone deliberately if you are stuck, after two confirmations, and leaves your cargo at the wreck to walk back for.
Added: A wreck is now left where a drone dies, so the site can be found again.
Added: Items can now be thrown out from the inventory. Press Q over any slot, or click a held stack out onto the empty space around the panel.
Added: Hold Ctrl with the drop key to throw the whole stack instead of one item.
Fixed Bug: The first block you mine each session no longer flashes huge across the screen for a moment.
Fixed Bug: Mined blocks lying on the ground are now lit by the room they are in, instead of being almost black until you shine something at them.
Changed: A carried torch is now a pool of firelight around you rather than lighting up blocks far down the tunnel.
Added: Waking in a backup chassis now plays the short boot sequence instead of cutting straight to the pod.
Added: Four new tier-2 chapters: The Descent, The Screen, Ignition and Conduits. Each can be played on its own, and each has optional quests that make use of the others.
Changed: Crafting is now done at a fabricator. Load materials and it lists what they can become, then queue prints that take a short time to finish.
Changed: The drone's fabricator combines one material at a time, a Fabrication Bench four, and the Fabricator Module nine.
Changed: Blueprints that need a material you have never loaded stay hidden until you load it once. Search with Tab still shows everything.
Changed: Hand crafting is no longer locked by tier. If you have the materials, you can make it.
Added: Print more than one at a time with the multiplier. The fabricator tells you exactly what you are short of.
Added: Fab Cartridges. Print a blank from a salvaged circuit, burn a blueprint onto it, and seat it in an Automated Assembler to make that item automatically.
Added: A Cartridge Rack for storing your cartridges.
Changed: The Automated Assembler now needs a cartridge to run, and can also make hand-crafted items. Existing Assembler recipe selections are cleared.
Added: A First Cartridge quest in Conduits.
Added: Machines now need power. A Stirling Engine powers about three machines and leaves Cinder Clinker behind, which the new Clinker Recuperator burns for more power.
Added: The Flux Accumulator stores power, and clinker can be fired into Clinker Brick.
Balance: Hand tools are now less efficient than machines. Hammering a plate by hand costs two ingots, a press needs one.
Balance: A Fabrication Bench now costs 4 Packed Void Dust (16 Void Dust) instead of 5.
Fixed Bug: Removed recipe loops where a machine was needed to build that same machine.
Added: Every tier-2 item now has its own icon and colour.
Added: Borderless windowed mode and resolutions up to 4K.
Added: Mouse sensitivity, invert mouse and field of view settings.
Added: Split a stack by an exact amount with Ctrl + right-click.
Added: A preview of where a block will go before you place it.
Added: Scrap Ladders. Craft them from rods and climb out of your shafts. Jump climbs, sneak descends, and climbing is slower than walking. Ladders and torches can be placed in the cell you are standing in, so you can ladder your way straight down.
Added: Scrap Stairs. A ramp you simply walk up, rising one block per block, for shafts you use every day.
Added: Void Slugs. Once your base has power running, slugs are drawn to it. They take a minute to chew through a cable or conduit, then settle on a generator and drain it dry. They never destroy machines, and three drill hits kill one.
Added: Slug surges. Rarely, slugs arrive in a swarm instead of one at a time. The bigger the factory you run, the more often it happens, and the game warns you when one begins.
Added: Kinetic Jump Pads. A powered plate that launches you up a shaft. It spends your base's power per launch, not the drone's charge, and does nothing while unwired.
Added: Torches can be mounted on walls. Aim at a wall and the torch sticks out of it; aim at the floor and it stands up as before.
Added: Blocks and torches can be placed against the world border.
Fixed Bug: Opening a hosted world alone no longer adds a second empty column. The host gets its spare column when another player actually joins.
Fixed Bug: Ore, and ore dropped on the ground, no longer shows flickering white lines or static.
Fixed Bug: The pod now restores charge and hull only while you are inside it, not while standing outside, below or on top of it.
Added: Back and Close buttons in the item browser, so following a chain of ingredients can be walked back.
Fixed Bug: Pod doors can no longer get stuck open after loading a save.
Fixed Bug: Tooltips no longer tell you to press R to recharge. Select a cell or fuel and right-click, anywhere.
Improved: When you do not have enough charge to jump, the game now tells you.
Fixed Bug: Worn tools no longer repair themselves when you load a save.
Thank you again for all the feedback, bug reports, and patience while I continue improving Project Chromata and the Chromataverse.
Don't forget to join the Discord to share your progress, report issues, and help shape the next updates!