This update simplifies a few areas that were frustrating players, and adds non-lethal options (and general customization) for captured units.
Alongside the late-game content that I'm working on, I've been designing a "reduced complex / accessibility" set of options for a while now. In the areas of the economy, defense, and offense in particular. I thought about having just a "story" mode, but these options instead would allow for specific things that overwhelm specific players to be cut down in complexity. At some point I also plan on writing up the rationale behind the complexity of certain aspects, since that's probably interesting in general.
That said, there were some areas where the level of complexity just didn't add anything except confusion or busywork even for advanced players, and the most notable ones of those have been cut down in this build for everyone.
If you’ve spent time with Heart of the Machine and want to leave a review, that’d be appreciated. No need to say more than you mean, but if you’ve been meaning to write one, I’d be grateful. Steam reviews carry weight. For a project like this — developed by a single person over many years, every review makes a difference.
Honest thoughts are what matter. Whatever your experience has been, sharing it helps. It’s a powerful way to have your voice heard and contributes to how future patches are prioritized and addressed.
Thanks for reading and for playing.
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Update 49 Changelog
Clarity
- Hiring Resource Visibility When No Staff: Fixed an issue where wealth or meal kits would not show in the resource bar as a suggested item if you were at absolutely zero staff because of a shortage. Now it shows if you are supposed to have any staff at all.
- Staff Vacancy Visibility: If you have fewer than your intended amount of scientists of any sort, then those sorts all now show up in the top bar. This makes it a lot easier to see when you need to do some hiring, or when your hiring is failing due to lack of funding.
Non-Lethal Expansion
- Pacifist Vehicles And Mechs: There is now an Oath Of Pacifism for mechs, and another for vehicles, allowing you to make them fully non-lethal. This is particularly useful for anything that is captured, since there is no other way to make them non-lethal.
- Captured Unit Customization: Captured units can now have a single augment slot of equipment customized for each of them. This allows you to customize them slightly, including adding the oath of pacifism so that you can have non-lethal captured mechs and androids for the first time.
Subtractive Design
- Hiring Is Now Always Automated: The manual process for hiring scientists has been removed. This process has been simplified to always work in the fashion of automated personnel management. As soon a you are in chapter 2 and have a shell company, all of the science buildings become available for you to build if you wish to do so.
- Purple Murnong Simplified: Purple murnong no longer has to be stolen from a transport. This didn't add anything but busywork and confusion for players. Once you build a murnong patch, then if you have less than 20 purple murnong, your units will passively scavenge 20 for you. This makes one of the more confusing areas of the game much simpler.
- When The Beef Runs Out: If you are out of bovine tissue samples, and you have bovine replicators, then it now makes sure you have at least 200 from automated unit gathering. You no longer need to do this via streetsense. This declutters the streetsense view, as well as removing a friction point.
- Post-Apocalyptic Strays: If you get jumped to the final doom early, it now does a better job of making sure that any units leave who are from dooms that are now past.
- When Experiencing A Veggie Deficiency: If you are out of vegetable seeds, and you have hydroponics towers, then it now makes sure you have at least 2000 from automated unit gathering. You no longer need to do this via streetsense. This declutters the streetsense view, as well as removing a friction point.
- When Needing To Pick Flowers: If you are out of wild zinnia, and you have a hidden zinnia garden, then it now makes sure you have at least 2000 from automated unit gathering. You no longer need to do this via streetsense. This declutters the streetsense view, as well as removing a friction point.
- Cotton Picking: If you are out of cotton precursor and you have a hidden cotton farm, then it now makes sure you have at least 200 from automated unit gathering. You no longer need to do this via streetsense. This declutters the streetsense view, as well as removing a friction point.
Bugfixes
- Earlier Mining Skimmers: "Skimming The Mines" has been updated so that it now triggers on securing alumina being complete, rather than after you are intelligence class 2 with improved housing complete. This was a point of confusion for a number of folks in chapter one, depending on their build order.
- Minimum Movement For Units: Adjusted some of the minimum-value clamping for units so that units that can move aren't able to have status effects reduce their movement range below 5, and same with attack range. Some recent changes had made this not take effect properly for androids.
Beta Branch Previews
- Peace After Brutality: You can play further into this, and death is no longer guaranteed so quickly. However, it still isn't ready for you to really test all that much.
Full notes here.
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