REVAMPED AUTOMATION SYSTEM!
The past few weeks have brought many changes and upgrades to the existing automation system design.
The ability to directly interact with each delivery agent is no longer necessary and has been replaced with a delivery agent job system.
To create a new delivery route the player just defines a route in the new Delivery Route Planner and defines how many delivery agents will be assigned to that job. The automation system automatically assigns any unassigned agents to that job.
(If you are an avid fan of automation games, this replaces the conveyor belt system that is common in other games.)
This makes changing delivery routes extremely easy. Instead of removing a long conveyor belt and fitting it inside of a complex base, just reselect the pickup or dropoff location and the delivery bots automatically handle the pathfinding to an optimal route. This also means no more splitters or combiner blocks.
New Flying Delivery Bot
The starting delivery agent is the delivery bot you've seen frequently in past updates. These bots, though effective, can be limited in their pathing due to being a ground unit.
Though there are plenty of upgrades to apply to make them faster, smarter, and carry more units, ultimately they are bound to the limitations of navigating around ground buildings.
But.. don't worry about clogging your base with hundreds of delivery ground units because now there is a delivery flying unit that doesn't need ground! It transports your goods in whatever open space is available.
Player Combat Bots Revealed
I'm excited to finally announce the first screenshots of the player combat bots. These guys will fight incoming bots and patrol around the base to alert you of the location of any threats. They can also be assigned to follow you out and about in the harsh Mars environment.
The extra firepower will be needed on longer ventures away from Home Base. Just remember to keep them fully charged as there aren't any charging stations on Mars (yet).
MODS
Another BIG feature in the game that I am excited to finally announce is the MODS system. Every single building, trap, turret, and even delivery bot has the ability to add Modules. Mods are extra boosts to existing production, firepower, efficiency, and many other details of how each item works.
Each mod can be printed and then programmed in the mod programmer to your specific needs. Finding new Mod blueprints will enhance your selection on how to upgrade each building.
Some examples:
- Turrets: Increased Range, Damage
- Buildings: Decrease Production Cost, Decrease Time To Produce
- Traps: Decrease Energy Consumption, Increase Damage
- Delivery Bot: Increase Speed, Increase Storage Amount
A New Threat: Wave Leaders!
Another exciting reveal this week is the addition to Wave Leaders. After the first few initial waves, each wave of enemies will have a Wave Leader.
These guys are sort of a sub-boss and are the strongest unit in a non-boss wave.
Defeating them will give much more loot than a standard unit, but as you can imagine they are much tougher to bring down.
They also have the ability to boost the stats of enemies around them but usually are the last to reach your base. It's up to you if you want to take shots with a long-range rifle or venture out past the standard enemies to try and take them out before getting too close to the base.
PLAYTESTING NEXT WEEK!
As everything gets polished up for playtesting, I will be looking for more automation fans to play some of the game. We have a survey if you think you would add value to our playtesting. Fill out the survey here.
As we did last time, we will be monitoring the playtest live in some cases, as that is the most valuable way to learn how to make the game better. It was extremely successful last time around and we found a lot of things that needed to be modified to make the player experience better.
Thank you to everyone that playtested last time. If you playtested (and anyone that playtests moving forward) you will automatically get the build each playtesting cycle and be added to the Playtesters Channel on Discord. Your feedback is still extremely valuable. The live playtesting sessions will be reserved for fresh players each time that haven't experienced the game yet.
That's all for this week. If you want to support the game, join our Discord channel! https://discord.gg/aK8aVtY
Take Care,
-Jake