Greetings, Platform Managers!
We hope you’ve been finding our company-wide communications regarding the newly discovered Jungle Biome informative, because the time has finally arrived: the Drill Core Jungle Update is out now!
You may also consult the full changelog at the conclusion of this announcement, or update your game to experience the changes firsthand—no extra safety helmets required for the upgrade!
Jungle Biome Now Available
Contracts on Jungle Planets are now open for business, and will feature all-new terrain and various challenges which you, our exemplary employees, will need to adapt to in order to extract the best possible results.
Naturally, as with all new planets, the Jungle Biome will be home to new Blocks for your workers to mine, or avoid, as needed; there are 11 new Unique Block types to discover on Jungle Planets, which you can read about in more detail in our previous post on the subject.
These new Blocks include the Slime Block, which will fall down if it has no Blocks underneath it, trapping workers until the block is mined and they are released; the Spore Block, which periodically releases Spores that fly into the mine to create fresh blocks that need to be mined through, and the Pull Block, which pulls other blocks within a four-block radius towards it, killing everyone in its path.
You’ll need to plan accordingly to prevent needless worker injury or death when it comes to these new Blocks, so please do consider this when managing your operations, Platform Managers. And, as a reminder, all resources acquired during mining operations remain company property.
New Unique Events
Jungle Planets will also be subject to their own Unique Events which may cause challenges during your excursions. The HR Department would like to remind all employees that any loss of life which occurs during contracts does not supersede your agreement with Drill Core Inc., and all resources acquired during mining operations are still considered property of the company.
There are currently some negative planetary phenomena which may occur during your time on Jungle Planets, including: Tropical Rainstorms, which will temporarily increase block activity and Increased Humidity, which will make all blocks harder to excavate.
Positive planetary events will also be present; for example Terrabors Migration, where no Terrabors will harass mining operations at night, and Southern Winds, where winds will slow enemies down by 30% at night.
New Enemies
As discussed in our previous memo, you’ll encounter 9 new enemies on Jungle Planets, alongside 1 new Boss with its own unique subspecies. We’d like to take this opportunity to remind Platform Managers that no infractions will be levied against employees who are forced to react defensively against hostile creatures.
These new species include the Sporling, a slow creature which spawns tiny Flesher enemies upon death; the Parasite, which sticks to other enemies, providing them with higher defence levels and attaches to a new enemy once its host is destroyed; and the Fungalisk, a large enemy with high damage, which spawns 10 small Fleshers upon its death.
Most enemies within the Jungle Biome do spawn small Flesher creatures when destroyed, which can quickly overwhelm your defences if not prepared for carefully; stay diligent, Platform Managers!
The Sporelord has been classified as the apex predator of the Jungle Biome. All Sporelords spawn smaller subspecies of the same type upon death, rapidly escalating battlefield conditions.
This particular Boss has various subspecies which may differ in appearance and abilities: the Invisible Sporelord periodically becomes invisible, so that turrets cannot aim at it; the Explosion Sporelord explodes after death, slowing down surrounding turrets; the Sniper Sporelord is able to attack from a much greater range jeopardizing your Core and workers from further away; and the Horde Sporelord creates more subspecies after death.
Due to the various forms this Boss may take during your contracts, it’s advisable that all employees ensure they have the appropriate defences in place before engaging; we’d suggest extreme caution.
New Cores
The R ‘n’ D Department has been hard at work in creating 4 new Cores which may be utilized during contracts to best optimize output from your Platforms. Each new Core has its own unique properties, but before being able to implement them, Platform Managers will need to recover the necessary parts from various Planets.
These Cores all have their own durability levels, as well as their own abilities which vary from the Core you’ll be used to utilizing during your contracts, as mentioned in our previous memo on the subject.
The Plasma Core will occasionally shoot out bolts of lightning at enemies, stunning them for 5 seconds, and once per contract will grant 5 swarmlit and 5 metal when it drops below 10% durability.
The Titan Core is highly durable, but also grants 20% speed to all turrets when it reaches less than 20% remaining durability. Once per contract, it will also gain the ability to be completely invincible for 15 seconds when it reaches less than 10% durability.
The Ion Core has 5 shields which help to prevent damage to it, and which will also recharge every morning; if all shields run out of charge, the Core will then stun all enemies for 5 seconds as a final line of defence.
The Phoenix Core grants a reduction in the cost of drilling by 1 coal, and once per contract, upon reaching 0% remaining durability, this Core will explode, damaging all night monsters. It will then recover 50% of its maximum durability.
These new core types will be an important part of your strategy on all contracts going forward, so it is recommended that you strive to unlock them and utilize them as necessary.
New Technology Quality System
There are now three rarity types of quality for each building, turret, and ability that you have the opportunity to unlock, which are marked by stars on the technology choice screen; this is called the Technology Quality System, and will be integral in assisting your mining operations. This new measure may impact the cost, efficiency, recharge time, and damage of the acquired technology, so you’ll want to balance the choices carefully to best optimize your Platform.
Quality of Life and Balancing Updates
Naturally, at Drill Core Inc., we strive to best empower our employees to perform at their best during all contracts; therefore, upon updating, you’ll notice a range of additional features and Quality of Life changes that will allow you to optimize your operations.
Detailed Statistics are now available to view at the end of all contracts, allowing you an in-depth assessment of your performance during your mining operations. These statistics will include a range of empirical data, from how many workers have been lost during the contract, to how many turrets were built, and how many enemies have been killed.
You’ll also notice some changes to balancing when undertaking your contracts; difficulties 5-10 are now more difficult to complete, granting an additional challenge to your role as Platform Manager. The amount of experience required to level up has also been reduced, and the experience calculation system has been slightly tweaked to better reflect this. There has also been an increase in the number of permanent resources granted for completing contracts, of an additional 30%.
You’ll also notice some changes to how Turrets work and perform, including some increases to reload time, and differences in the duration of certain effects, which you can read about in full detail in the full changelog, below.
We look forward to hearing your valued feedback as you venture into the Jungle Biome, and to seeing your increased output when utilizing the new technologies and statistics available to you, Platform Managers!
For real-time corporate updates, follow Drill Core Inc. on Twitter or join our corportate communications channel on Discord.
Please also note that the official Drill Core Wiki page has invaluable information regarding new enemies and block types found in the Jungle Biome, although we also appreciate any additional employee contributions.
Best regards,
Drill Core Inc. R'n'D department
Full Changelog:
- The Jungle biome has been added, which includes:
- 10 new enemy types
- 12 new block types
- Sporelord boss
- 4 new Unique Events
- The Quality System of the received technologies has been added.
- Quality can affect the cost, efficiency, recharge time, and damage of the acquired technology.
- There are 3 rarity types of quality for each building, turret, and ability.
- Permanent upgrades have been added, which open up new types of quality and the frequency of higher-quality technologies.
- Added 4 unique Cores.
- Each Core has its own characteristics and abilities.
- To unlock the cores, you need to find their parts in specific biomes at great depths.
- A permanent upgrade that unlocks one of the cores has been added.
- Detailed Statistics have been added at the end of each contract.
- 8 new achievements have been added.
- Balance:
- Difficulties from 5 to 10 are harder now.
- Reduced the amount of experience required to level up (10-50).
- The experience calculation system has been changed.
- The player gets more experience for long contracts. A player cannot gain more experience for an unfulfilled contract than for a completed one.
- The number of permanent resources for completing contracts has been increased by 30%.
- Bomber miners now have a maximum of 15 orders instead of 10.
- The damage of many night monsters has been recalculated (the more serious the enemy, the higher damage it has).
- Frost Biome
- In Frost biome night monsters spawn has changed (they spawn with a little more interval).
- In Frost biome more monsters have shields.
- In Frost biome monsters have more health.
- In Frost biome less monsters spawns at night.
- Now, all blocks with iron or swarmlit ore always drop at least 2 ores in Frost biome.
- The number of blocks containing iron and swarmlit ore in Frost biome has now been reduced by half.
- Ore in Frost biome is distributed randomly now (not evenly, as in other biomes).
- Frost Medium block initial hp changed from 50 to 60hp.
- Frost Hard block initial hp changed from 70 to 80hp.
- Abilities
- Workers booster initial reload time changed from 80 to 60 sec.
- Workers booster boost duration changed from 8 to 7 sec.
- Carrier drones ability initial reload time changed from 55 to 50 sec.
- Oscillator reload time changed from 80 to 50 sec.
- Oscillator effect duration changed from 25 to 30 sec.
- Radar reload time changed from 80 to 60 sec.
- Teleporter reload time changed from 38 to 30 sec.
- Daybay reload time changed from 70 to 60 sec.
- Turbostation effect changed from x6 to x3.
- Turbostation effect duration changed from 5 sec to 12 sec.
- Protector dock reload time changed from 55 to 40 sec.
- Protector dock effect duration changed from 4 to 7 sec.
- Revealer initial reload time changed from 70 to 40 sec.
- Healtower now additionally removes all negative effects.
- Buildings
- Laser corrector initial reload time changed from 60 to 40 sec.
- Recycler initial reload time changed from 32 to 24 sec.
- Bastion initial cost in iron changed from 4 to 3.
- Turret beacon initial cost in iron changed from 4 to 3.
- Turret beacon effect changed from 7% to 10% for each building.
- Hospital now additionally removes all negative effects.
- Turrets
- All turrets with an explosion radius received an increase in the explosion radius by 1.3-1.5 times. The same turrets now have a longer reload time (+10-20%).
- The maximum number of identical turrets is limited to five. This will balance the effect of the new quality system + encourage to use different combinations of turrets.
- Slowing laser turret reload time changed from 2 to 1.8 sec.
- Slowing laser turret range changed from 1200 to 1300.
- Weakening laser turret reload time changed from 1.8 to 1.6 sec.
- Weakening laser range changed from 1000 to 1200.
- Hurricane turret wind duration changed from 3.4 to 3.6 sec.
- Hurricane turret wind power changed from 5 to 5.8 sec.
- Fury turret effect duration(fire) changer from 7 sec to 8 sec.
- Synergy turret effect increased from 40% to 45%.
- Lightblade turret damage changed from 2.5 to 3.4.
- Lightblade turret frequency of damage changed from 0.2 to 0.25.
- Teleport turret reload time changed from 3 to 2 sec.
- Lava Jet block and Freezing Jet block now shaking before releasing a jet (so it's easier to avoid it).