We've hit 0.50! Maia's latest update brings stability and some serious bug fixes! We've been working hard to eradicate as many issues as possible. We've also managed to squeeze in new features that improve gameplay such as custom maps, expanded research and a brand new robot.
Update Trailer: https://youtu.be/b6rICbIjW2E
Gameplay from Simon: https://youtu.be/RqYIkiqNiXo
New Features
Climate Change
The option to change the climate of your map has been added. Players can choose from Megathermal, Mesothermal and Polar as well as choosing map sizes, flora and fauna population sizes, and whether the map is on an earthquake hotspot. With these new climates, come the introduction of new trees.
Mesothermal
Megathermal
Polar
Aye, Robot!
The utility robot has been added! At the moment this robot is equipped with a repair arm. This arm allows the robot to travel around the base repairing items. This frees up colonists to get on with other tasks like staying alive.
New Research Upgrades
Once researched, players can now add lithium to the colonist’s water if they choose to. This stabilizes colonist's moods, however, it may cause... unwanted side effects. There is also the ability to research the new trees.
Necropsy
The Necropsy Table in the Research Lab can now be used to gain research data. Once the colonists have killed the Megacephalalgia creature they can study a sample they collect.
Email System Scroll
Mail can now be scrolled through using arrows that appear after you receive 6 emails. This means players can control which emails they keep. There are also new email icons to more easily show whether the email has been read.
The Only Good Bug Is A Dead Bug
The largest part of this update is the amount of bugs that have been fixed. Here's an extensive list of fixes and changes we have made to existing features in Maia.
IMP Robot Bug Fixes
- IMP Robots now remember their correct orders when the game has been saved and loaded.
- Robots will not become fixated on tasks that can not be completed.
- Dig orders that were removed will no longer revert on loading.
- Removing the last IMP Robot and using the IMP search button will no longer cause a crash.
- Removed IMP Robot's ghosts no longer count towards the robot safety limit.
- IMP Robots will now take body bags to storage meaning a less cluttered base.
- Thankfully, IMP Robots no longer deposit dead colonists (or building materials) in the rubble hopper.
- IMP Robots now have an idle wander behaviour, They will not wait around to get encased in walls.
- IMP Robots will store water barrels in more sensible positions.
- IMP Robot turn speed has been slightly increased to speed up their productivity.
- IMP Robot self awareness added.
- Although quite rare, colonists and IMP robots may have conversations.
Power Bug Fixes
- Flywheel and Super conductors now accurately display the amount of energy stored instead of defaulting to yellow.
- Power capacity is also now tracked and sent in power report emails.
- It will no longer be possible for underpowered objects to burst into flames. Items will also turn off if they are on fire.
Loading Game Bug Fixes
Maia had a few bugs caused by saving and loading the game. A lot of these bugs have been solved. These include:
- Meteorites are now loading correctly and maintain their fossil type.
- 3D Nanoprinters now remember that they are printing on loading.
- Hydroponic trees now maintain how much they have grown rather than resetting to their mid point.
- Water Barrel's now maintain their count on loading.
- Locked doors save on load and doors will no longer appear inside the walls.
- Fossils retain type on load and will be placed in stands correctly.
- Plant sample containers now save the transferred KB.
- Turrets save number of rounds remaining.
Colonists Bug fixes and AI improvement.
- Limping colonists will not get stuck in a looping animation when they are dead. (No more zombies.)
- Food energy intake has been rebalanced due to the colonists often starving to death.
- Colonists are no longer standing inside each other.
- If there are less than 3 available living people in the base, colonists will not wait in the airlock for a guard.
- Colonists will now take care not to let the chickens go extinct.
- More death reports have been added to inform the player of death from cave ins and explosives.
- The hygiene need has been turned on and colonists will use toilets. Toilets animations have been synced up.
- Colonists can now destroy unwanted glow sticks.
- Medical beds are now much more effective at healing colonists.
Other AI Bugs
- AI will now go towards the nearest interaction point on an object rather than a random one.
- Creatures no longer stand in the same place as others.
- Pets and Uberhuhns will no longer go outside into the dangerous atmopshere.
UI Bug Fixes
- The bug that causes Maia's UI to become warped and disappear has been worked on.
- The lander and save buttons should now appear for all players.
- Buttons no longer flash when they are not meant to.
Mail Bug Fixes
- Screen effect for open mail has been corrected.
- Players will now receive the correct failure message when all their colonists are dead.
- Players should no longer receive mail spam for building materials.
- Read emails now show a different icon to make it clearer for players.
- New email system! Scroll buttons will appear after 6 emails making it easier for players to open and keep important emails.
Light Rendering Improved.
- The engine's screen light tiles can now render up to 32 lights. This will reduce visual glitches and improve performance.
- Light distance tweaked to fix hard edges.
GPU Usage
- Many texture assets in Maia have been optimised, which as lead to a large reduction of GPU memory usage.
Oh no! The Steam Announcement page can't handle all the news! Head over to our site to read the rest of the update announcement.