Transit Update - Monorail

Astronomics is one year old!

Before we get into the update let’s take a moment to celebrate our one year anniversary! Astronomics launched on Feb 10, 2025 and since then we’ve released several major content updates, improved the performance, reduced the grind and made some great progress on the quality of life front while welcoming many new users to the Steam Forums and Discord. Thank you all for giving this game a shot and for sharing all your feedback to make Astronomics better.To celebrate this milestone we are releasing the Transit Update! Many of you have been asking for bridges and we’ve been hinting at something like that coming. Today it is finally here.

Introducing The Workerbot Monorail

We’re very happy to introduce the new Workerbot Monorail! (Brace yourselves for the flood of gifs from Springfield) This structure has two endpoints connected by a flexible metal rail. It can be used to bridge gaps, cut corners but also has the capability to traverse up and down small heights. 

Its greatest feat is being able to transit several Workerbots at once (so long as they are going in the same direction) which drastically improves Workerbot performance on the asteroid. It also has the capability to lock the direction of travel allowing you to build transit superhighways in high traffic areas. 

The Enhanced Catapult

But wait there’s more! The Catapult is also updated. It can now be loaded by the player (much like the Crusher, Scanner and Storage) so now you can help move items with a nearby Catapult. It also has the capability of auto loading which means it can be sequenced with Drills, Pumps and other Catapults in a chain of launchers. Equipment will now route via Catapults too!

Improved build sequence

We have also improved the build sequence for all these transit machines so that now you can place the structure and the transit points before the molten iron is charged allowing you to cancel if the transit points can’t be placed where you had intended. This ability to cancel works on Cranes, Catapults and Monorails.

Extended Manufacturing

This was added in a recent smaller update but worth mentioning as not many folks read the patch notes! The Manufacturing Bay has been extended so that there is now always room for all the possible machines. Level 1 now has 4 bays and Level 2 has 7 bays. We are still working on a complete Manufacturing Bay refactor, but this change will at least remove some of the pain points you have shared with us.

Reduced Upgrade Costs

In an effort to improve progression and reduce grind we have removed the Cube Credit costs of some of the initial Freighter and Shuttle upgrades so that the journey through Cube Corp and Medusa Mineral is smoother. We will continue to evaluate and adjust the cost of upgrades in the remaining stations.

Quality of life - Resource Selling Markers

We've noticed players having to jump around the Upgrades and Contracts before selling resources and we wanted to alleviate that friction by providing more information about your resources directly in the Sales Interface. You will now be notified if a resource is require for an upgrade or if it is required for a contract.

Noblecore Region

But wait, wasn’t this meant to be the Noblecore Region update? Yes it was. The Noblecore Region is unfortunately getting pushed back. We have been working on the gas resources but inspired by the pirates moving into the asteroid claim we have similarly pivoted to a design that will see gas clouds placed in the mining claim. This adds even more importance to the trajectories of asteroids as you’ll now have to ride them through a gas cloud to capture the gases, but this has added some complexity to this region and will require more time to execute. I do have a visual to share with you from our efforts so rest assured it is progressing, just isn’t ready for prime time this month.

Celebratory Bundle

To celebrate our one year anniversary we have bundled up with awesome automation title AutoForge. If you are into steering hard-working robots and automating resource gathering, crafting and exploration you should check it out. The AutoForge devs are currently wrapping up an exciting Multiplayer Update which will bring their game to a whole new level so keep an eye out for that.

You can now get an additional 10% off on AutoForge if you own Astronomics by "completing" the bundle.

Thank you all again for joining us and following along on our development journey. We hope you enjoy monorailing your Workerbots around.

Cube Corp wishes you a prosperous day!

-hube