This is a surprisingly big update even though it hasn't been long since the last update. I've been busy making new enemies and allies, as well as tuning up some of the automation mechanics. Overall, this update is just a load of content that's balanced for the mid-game (which is technically the current "end game").
Major Features:
New Allies:
- Transfer Bots: These are a new type of ally that are in the small and medium tier. They act as small transfer points that can transfer items between storages. They function off of the same network as the player's transfers, but can be set up anywhere. This makes it possible to set up bases anywhere and have automation (ie, a mining base where a miner mines resources, transfers them to a furnace, then stores the cooked bars).
- Large Drill Bot: It's like the other drill bots, but biiigg. Pretty self-explanatory, but it's a costly investment.
New Enemies:
- Thermal Charger: A unique spawn from Thermal Bunkers that have a powerful AOE attack. They drop much of the new items, as well as some other valuable loot.
- Lizard Wolf Bot: A new enemy type in the Meadows biome. Jumps around while clawing and biting anything in it's way.
- Crystal Beetle: A somewhat rare enemy in the Ice biome. Acts pretty much like any other beetle, but it's colder.
- Container Bots: A new enemy type that is passive, but holds a lot of drops, should you choose to kill them. Before you do, however, make sure you walk up to them and interact with them...
- Factory Drone: A floating shooter variant that spawns in the Factory biome.
- Corrupt Pustule: An enemy type that signifies when an area is really really really corrupt. Pretty tough to kill if you're weak, but also just kind of creepy.
Other:
- Meadows Biome: This is a new biome that I've recently fleshed out. It now has resource spawns, enemy spawns, beacons and structures for you to explore. It also comes with Bloodwood, a new resource, as well as some sweet visuals, inspired by Kenshi's Obedience.
- World Partitions: This, hopefully, doesn't have much effect on the gameplay. It's purely for optimization and will probably need tweaks in the future, but basically, the map is now split up into chunks that will hopefully make the game run better. I would have procrastinated more, but honestly without this, I was unable to save the map when making changes... so yeah.
- Encounters: In this update, I've added many more unique encounters that will spawn. I've also made it so that there's a rare chance that when an encounter is spawned, the enemies will try to find the player and attack them.
- HUB Updates: There's a lot more beacons to activate now (around 2x as many). I've also made it so that whenever you're successful at calling down a beacon, you gain another slot for a new ally.
Minor Features:
- Thermal Bunkers: A new structure type that, when opened, is empty, save for a group of unique enemies that drop some valuable goods.
- Power Station Homes: Another new structure, mainly in the Meadows biome that are just another place to find more loot. Just be careful because they're packed with enemies.
- Water Collectors: Another structure, this time in the Scorched Desert. You can commonly find Scorched Wood growing around these structures.
- Fine Scrap Metal: A new type of scrap metal that drops from tough mechanical enemies. Can be regularly smelted into steel.
- New Arm Animations: I reanimated the attack animations for the player to look slightly better at the cost of removing the hit animations which were making the attacks look clunky.
- Sky Improvements: I fixed the night sky... again... it looks like it got reverted at some point. Along with this, I've also made it so the sky changes colors depending on your biome.
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed a bug with Shard Slingers where they couldn't attack in certain cases.
- Fixed enemy aggro and wandering because of course I broke it in the last update...
- Fixed an issue where Allies sent to do a task wouldn't return home once they were done.