The time has finally come, this massive update is ready to be revealed! I made a video explaining all the changes, and how to prepare your existing ships for the transition. It also includes a couple of tips and tricks you will likely want to know, so take a look. It has chapters for easy navigation:
[previewyoutube=pX6_TiVtJsw;full]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX6_TiVtJsw[/previewyoutube]
And if you prefer the good old blog post format, here are the most important changes right now. This is not going to be as complete of an overview as the video above, but enough to get the gist.
New Starmap Layer for Planets
It is now possible to enter any Planet in the Starmap in the same way you would enter a Star System or a Galaxy. Planets now have their own Starmap layer, and each planet will contain several points of interest and various resource deposits.
Flying in the Planet layer will require having Thrusters (the early games ones), since Fusion Drives are too powerful for this.
From now on you won’t have to wait for the mining expedition to randomly roam until they stumble on the resource you’re looking for, you will have full control over where you want the expedition to go.
Points of Interest
Previously expeditions could encounter various story events, but you couldn’t predict if and when the expedition would find something other than a resource deposit. Now each event will have an individual location and you will have to send a separate expedition to explore it. Mining skill will play no role in these often dangerous adventure expeditions, so you can send your humans.
Sell Derelict Ships in Space Ports
if the planet belongs to some Faction, it will have a Space Port, where you will be able to sell the Derelict Ships you towed along with you. Sections Overlay (F10) will have a "Sell" button next to all sections when you are close to a Space Port.
Space Ports are also good for trading, as they will have more inventory and more cash than the regular wandering merchants.
Distress Signals
In addition to explorable Points of Interest, we now have signals that can be responded to directly from the ship, if you have a working Communicator device.
Mining Automation
This is probably the most exciting feature of this major update. The Mining Automation research unlocks Autodrill Rigs and Cargo Copters. You will need them both to automate the resource gathering, so your crew can chill and focus on something other than striking the earth.
To begin the automation process, build a couple of Autodrill Rigs and at least one Cargo Copter.
Then use the "Deploy Resource Miner" option and the Cargo Copter will handle the rest.
After a while you can order the Cargo Copter to collect the accumulated resource from the deposit that has an Autodrill Rig installed.
If you lose a Cargo Copter, just open the Copter Missions overlay, and it will tell you what each Cargo Copter is up to, and where to find it.
Enriched Uranium and Changes to Nuclear Fuel
Nuclear Reactors will no longer be able to burn raw Uranium, you will have to produce Enriched Uranium to fuel them.
To produce Enriched Uranium, build a Centrifuge.
Matter Reactors will now be able to consume raw Uranium, but the energy efficiency will be far inferior compared to Nuclear Reactors fueled by Enriched Uranium.
Detecting Alien Life Forms
You will no longer have to guess if any of your colonists are infected with those pesky crawlers or if you have an egg lurking in some dark corner of your ship.
Research and build a Xenodetector that will scan the environment and will warn you if alien life forms are present. It will only give you an approximate location, so you will still have to do some detective work to figure out who exactly is infected.
Paint System
The Paint system will bring ship customization to the next level.
Build Auto Painters, produce Red, Green and Blue pigments, then mix them together to change the color of any floor or wall to your liking.
Signs and Labels
New Sign device will allow you to customize the name of any room, and project that name either on the device screen or directly on the floor.
And when you unlock the Labeling research node, you can add labels to any device you want.
Outer Hull View (Roof)
There is no roof in space, but you will no longer have to guess which areas are considered "enclosed" by the simulation. Capsules and Stasis Pods won't land in the middle of your cafeteria anymore. Read on to see why this is going to become extremely important.
Some Devices Must Be Outdoors
The aforementioned "roof" mechanic will require Shuttles, Quantum Barriers, Radars, Probes and some other devices to reside "outdoors". Launching a Shuttle or a Probe from an enclosed area will, let’s say, make it no longer enclosed.
Balance and Difficulty
There were multiple big changes to the starting conditions of the Wrecked scenario. It will become much more challenging and resource constrained than it used to be. I highly recommend starting a brand new run and trying it out.
You won't be able to expand too quickly, there will be material shortages and you will have to come up with creative strategies to survive and expand in a manageable way.
If you want a more relaxed experience, visit the Modifiers and change the Difficulty and the Resource Multiplier to give yourself a smoother start. Or play the Leaving Earth scenario, which gives you a jump start with plenty of resources for creative freedom while still telling you a story.
I understand that these balance and difficulty changes will be frustrating for some players, though the changes are not final, I am constantly testing the game myself and I will listen to all your feedback and try to find a good compromise for everyone, either by adjusting the balance or by adding new game modifiers that will let you tweak some parameters to your liking.
If you run into a bad balance situation and can't find a way out of it, please use "Report a Bug" button in the bottom right and discuss the issue in the Steam Forums.
A branch called v0_7_x in Steam Betas contains the last version before this update.
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There are many more changes, some of them are covered in the devlog video, and you can find even more by scavenging through the Stardeus Changelog here: https://stardeusgame.com/changelog
See you in the next update!
- spajus
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- Official Website: https://stardeusgame.com
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