Hello Pioneers,
Today, we’d like to give you a first look at the work being done on the Workshop (Crafting) and Smelter workstations. Below, you’ll find an overview of the changes we’ve made including reduced production times, the ability to leave workstations while production continues and the addition of a queueing system based on your feedback. These modifications are being done to reduce friction and improve the gameplay experience.
In addition to these changes, we’ll be introducing a new building and logistics perks, such as the Advanced Warehouse and Personal Storage, alongside further quality-of-life improvements.
We look forward to sharing these improvements with you and reading your feedback.
Happy reading, Pioneers!
Crafting & Smelting: No More Waiting!
Context: Crafting and smelting previously required you to remain at the workstation until the progress bar reached 100%, forcing you to stay idle or step away from your computer instead of continuing to play.
What are we changing?
Workshop and smelter now continue after you leave the workstation.
The queuing system will automatically produce the intermediate resources required to complete a recipe. Manual crafting is limited to recipes that take less than 5 minutes. Longer production times are intended to be handled through base automation.
The interface will display all the resources required to complete a recipe.
If any required resource is missing, the crafting button is disabled.
What are the benefits?
No time spent waiting at workshop and smelter.
Less resource micromanagement.
Clearer information about recipe requirements.
Automated Production & Manual Crafting: Finding the Right Balance
Persistent worlds continue to evolve even when you are offline. As a result, SpaceCraft’s design must account for different time scales rather than relying solely on the length of individual play sessions. Production evolves alongside your progression and is divided into several time scales, each offering a different balance of speed and specialization:
Scale 1 - Active crafting: Small batches produced manually in limited quantities.
Scale 2 - Prepared Crafting: Specific batches queued before heading out on an expedition (mining, exploration, resource hauling, etc.).
Scale 3 - Idle Crafting: Background production that runs continuously at the player’s base, generating resources while they’re away or offline.
Context: We heard that manual crafting is often more efficient than automated production, encouraging you to rely on it for recipes intended to benefit from automation. While effective in the short term, this undermines the value of automated crafting and puts you at a disadvantage in the long run.
What are we changing?
Automated crafting time has been reduced.
Manual crafting times have been slightly increased to reinforce the intended balance: manual crafting remains useful for quick jobs, while larger production needs are better handled through automation.
What are the benefits?
Automated crafting is now a more attractive and practical option.
You spend less time crafting manually and focus on other activities.
Progression is better aligned with the intended gameplay loop.
Manual crafting and base automation now each have a clearer purpose.
Technology XP Progression
Context: Technology XP is currently tied to base expansion and automated production, with a maximum XP capacity for each base. Once that limit is reached, production stops granting XP, making progression unclear and encouraging you to build additional bases rather than diversify your production. This led to some of you dismantling and rebuilding your bases from scratch to restore a higher XP gain rate, creating an unintended and repetitive gameplay loop.
What are we changing?
Specific items now feature multiple production milestones. Produce a set number of each resource to reach a milestone and earn Technology XP. Higher milestones grant more Technology XP.
Once all milestones for that item have been completed, you will need to explore other production lines to continue earning Technology XP.
What are the benefits?
More Technology XP throughout progression.
A smoother introduction to new production systems.
Greater production variety.
More control over Technology XP progression through meaningful production choices.
A stronger sense of discovery and collection.
Greater collaboration between players.
The Advanced Warehouse
The Advanced Warehouse is set at Technology Tier 3 and provides upgrades. The cost of this Building is:
Stainless Plate: 40
Structural Beam: 12
Concrete: 40
Microchip: 3
Compared with the Basic Warehouse, the Advanced Warehouse offers:
12 drone routes instead of 5.
5,000 storage capacity instead of 2,000.
The Basic Warehouse footprint has been reduced from 3 to 2, while the new Advanced Warehouse has a footprint of 3.
Direct connections to workshop, allowing them to automatically collect the resources they need from the warehouse.
Custom resource limits allow you to specialize each warehouse. For example, by dedicating it entirely to copper dividing its capacity between two or more resources.
The Advanced Warehouse makes resource management easier, reduces manual logistics, and enables larger, more efficient automated production networks.
Personal Storage
Context: Inventory space is limited, forcing some of you to spend too much time managing your inventory, especially during the early game. This sometimes leads you to discard or lose resources due to a lack of storage.
What are we changing?
You can now deposit your loot in your personal storage available at any station. This storage is shared across all stations, allowing deposited items to be accessed from multiple locations.
What are the benefits?
Easier inventory management from the beginning of the game.
Less time spent carrying or reorganizing loot.
Convenient access to stored items from any station.
Additional Improvement
Micro Furnace Improvements:
The Micro Furnace now has increased storage capacity, making it a more useful and practical option.
You can smelt more resources with less inventory management, giving the Micro Furnace a clearer role before larger production buildings become available.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read about and understand why we’re making these changes. The entire team is committed to delivering a better gameplay experience and shaping the future of SpaceCraft alongside you, our community.
We hope you enjoyed what we shared today. Giving you a closer look at the crafting system and the improvements we’re making is important to us.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. Your feedback helps us shape the game and move it in the right direction.
Shiro Games.