Oreia · published
It's been a busy couple of weeks since the 18 October update! This one brings a rebuilt four-contract playtest, WILDlife, conveyor belts (yes, I finally caved), and a cargo companion called the BADGER. There has also been a big visual pass. Details below:
Four dedicated contracts: First Shipment, Build an Operation, Hold the Line and One More Load. They take you from hand mining through automation, defending your operation and running a processing chain.
Added lakes, lava, equipment caches. Some hazards can be turned against approaching enemies.
ACHIEVEMENTS
A note for existing players: This build now focuses on the Playtest. Campaign 1 has been retired from the current build; existing Campaign 1 saves are preserved and shown as retired, but cannot be loaded here. Playtest upgrade branches now run all the way to their top ranks.
The caves now have native wildlife: peaceful creatures, territorial ones, ore-stealing beetles, nest guardians and other nasties.
Beetles collect actual loose ore and stash it in recoverable nest caches.
Nests produce more creatures, and can send out raiding parties. Repellent Beacons provide a way to deter wildlife and suppress nest activity.
Sentry Towers have an eight-second setup period before they can fire.
Ore conveyor belts. Lay a path from your base to a distant point (or vice-versa)
Belts support road crossings. You can ride them too!
Copper, silver and gold take less haulage space than iron.
Mining knocks off collectable ore chips.
Meet Badger, your cargo companion in One More Load. He follows you, takes nearby raw ore from your pack and returns to storage when full.
Added the Mining Turret for automated rock cutting, plus a Turret Calibration upgrade.
Added weapon, suit, mining-tool and utility equipment.
Buy, compare, upgrade and sell gear pre-mission.
Earn equipment through first-clear rewards and exploring.
Rebuilt Requisitions UI.
14 trial branches with 51 ranks, including the new Gold Clause.
Upper-rank credit prices have been reduced, and completed branches grant rewards.
Improved upgrade stacking, card descriptions and cancellation.
Breach lava crusts and eventually cools; pools remain dangerous.
Water reservoirs can flood nearby passages and neutralise lava.
Reworked cave terrain with connected cliffs, more natural plateau edges, chipped seams and improved mineral deposits.
More light!!
Hover over cave things for useful details. Press E to open an available Codex entry.
Replaced placeholder building-action artwork.
Improved Building Selection menu.
Added brightness adjustment with a live cave preview, adjustable text backdrops and configurable building shortcuts.
Added quick-build defaults for buildings and groundworks.
Lots of pathing performance improvements.
Thanks for playing and sending feedback. There's a lot more than the long list above - there is quite a lot here to 'dig' into... and a few more things that might object to being dug around!