Development update v0.8.1

⚠️ MK9, the Far Beacon, the outpost and MK10 open much later. If you have already reached them, you lose the unlock until the new threshold: a built MK9 or MK10 cluster stays until your next recompile, a founded outpost stays, and the Builder Slipway, builder line and Scaffold lock again; bought levels stay. Engineering has a sixth branch, so existing saves may lose stars there. The operator target “Offline yield” is gone, and its points are free again.

New

• Act VIII “Haul”: after the story’s ending, HARVEST speaks up again. With your next recompile the haul begins: build the antenna at Outpost I and bring fuel from the gas giant in 18 flights. HARVEST, the Mind and the copy carry on depending on your ending, and at the end the Mind asks a new question. Finishing it grants the relic “Delivery Contract” (all missions about 15 % faster) and a hidden achievement on Steam.
• New module family “Signal Series”: every tank of the haul brings one part for sure, tank 18 an exotic one. Afterwards the antenna occasionally finds more on probe missions.
• Every cluster tier has an epithet and its own trait from Lv 50. When two neighbouring tiers both reach Lv 100, both yield 4 % more (Bond).
• New late-game upgrades and facilities: Assembly Coupling MK7 (Configuration), Flight Recorder (Clock Array), Fleet Reserve (Space Dock), Lab Node MK7–10 (Assembly Bay), Grid Forge (Works) and the “Works Yield” trait in Engineering.

Improvements

• MK9 and the Far Beacon open at 1 Oc total nanites, the outpost at 10 Oc, MK10 at 1 Dc. Research stays at 5 Sx.
• More synergies: energy cell output raises research output, total output raises the replicator’s cap, and project yield and mission modules again raise probe mission loot, damped.
• Offline rate: base rate, the full “Offline” trait and the Overclock Drift anomaly add up to exactly 100 %, at most 75 % without the anomaly.
• Research stars: stars 4 and 8 each add a research slot per branch. Stars 2, 3 and 7 lower the thresholds of Complex and Frontier research by 5, 10 and 20 % instead of 10, 20 and 40 %.
• Assembly Bay, Clock Array and Space Dock show all upgrades from the start. Locked items tell you what they bring and what the area is for.
• The first recompile is announced in the status strip from your first MK4 cluster, and the Mind hints at it twice.
• Settings via Escape (B on a controller) or the gear, already on the start screen.
• Explanations behind the “?” open as a popup. Small labels are easier to read, and screen readers can jump between section headers.

Fixes

• Escape no longer leaves fullscreen by accident (Steam, Chrome, Edge); hold Escape, press F11 or use the system menu to exit.
• “+n underway” for freighters only counts freighters that return.
• Memories in the “Origin” thread arrive at their recompile again.
• The away screen also lists modules the Mind used and flights she launched.
• Percentages are formatted per language (“42 %”, “42%”).
• No focus ring after Escape, the settings icon reads as a gear, and the recompile card and replicator wrap cleanly on phones.

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