Summary
This update includes several significant balance changes and a lot of small content changes. So let's go over the larger balance highlights first.
Food Synthesisers
The food synths have always bugged me. Sure, you'd get better at pressing the buttons by doing it lots, but how/why would you pressing the buttons better make them use less power to create the same amount of food? So they've been given the same treatment as a tram - there's a short action to start it going, then the majority of the time is covered by an event. The event has a fixed time, so it uses a fixed amount of power.
This has a few side effects. For starters, you can queue up several (up to 5) portions of food to be synthed, then leave and do other things while it actually gets made. When you come back, all the items are sat there waiting for you to quickly pick them up. It also preserves the balance better, and leaves much more room for future content to do more interesting things with them.
Journey to Strabo
This journey caused a lot of frustration for people, especially on the first attempt, mostly due to a lack of information. So the changes here are mostly just giving more/better information rather than actual balance changes. Before even starting the journey, you'll learn from Laurion that a supply cache was left along the route by the evacuation, and once you've reached the cache the first time the journey action will be split in 2 so you know when exactly you'll reach it in future.
Strabo Power
Strabo's original power system was very heavily skewed in favour of people who already knew all the content. Arriving very early gave you a huge advantage. But if you knew exactly what you were doing, even if you arrived very late you could still complete the entire facility relatively easily thanks to the backup generator and amount of fuel you were given.
Now, arriving later has far less impact on how much power is available. Once you arrive power will run out a lot faster (unless you micromanage it very well), and you'll be forced to spend more power to complete most of your goals.
What's Next
Now that this update is (finally) out, I'll be giving it a few days before I update the free version, then taking a short break. Probably shorter than I normally would, because this minor update has taken so much longer than I wanted.
After that though, I'll be starting work on the Pneuma update, with the aim of releasing it in May.
Full Changelog
Features
New Autosaves:
Action Completed cycles through 3 slots
Start of loop
Stat: % of Combined Actions found
Content
Actions:
Install Standard/Enhanced Motors after removing motors at Astrape
Install Mid Range Transceiver in Rover (allows remote-activation of some actions and speeds up some others)
Carry Propeller (parts) Through Portal
Combined Actions:
Load & Install Water Recycler
Unblock, Boost & Call Tram
Depart for Talos from Strabo Outpost (unlocks with Depart for Strabo, should reduce confusion)
Enter each Strabo building from Rover when parked outside
Shutdown Other Buildings
Upgrade Rover Motors in Hangar
Return to Rover from each Strabo building
Loot Astrape Crates
Locate Hangar
Find Crashed Aircraft
Uninstall & Unload Recycler
Boost & Call Tram from central and plateau
Take & Synth Basic Food/Rations
Alt Name: Bypass Rover before reaching Laurion
Alt Desc:
Drive to Comm after turning it off (already found this loop)
Inspect Vehicle Airlock at Astrape before trying Open Vehicle Bay
Search for Astrape in Laurion after reaching Astrape
Alt Logs:
Dig 1st/2nd layer of obelisk without inspecting computer
Enter Strabo for 1st time this loop and comment on current power generation
Install 1st/2nd solar panels before connecting the mount
Approach Astrape without inspecting Talos' drills
Water bottle segment when you know how to unblock the tram but haven't completed the rest of Santo
Inspect Tram Controls after finding tram power and after boosting it
Repair Main Generator in 2nd/3rd+ loop after removing the food coupler
Drive to Search Area for 2nd time having made no progress 1st time
Inspect Pascal's PDA and Computer without having recovered the outpost message
Explore Control Room in weather station with no power
See a storm approaching which you knew was coming and you're already sheltered
Mining machine finishes recall when you're not at the quarry
Rover finishes charging in Strabo Tower/Hangar
Walk into admin office door trying to get couplers (after nearly walking into GFD)
Drill 5th Layer after touching Astrape or Strabo artifact
Inspect Crops Greenhouse after getting survey results; during a harvest; after a harvest
Observe Near Quarry/Astrape after 20% (but before completing) Observe Highlands
Find Faster Highlands Route 1 and 2 (from rover)
Reworded:
Inspect Drones log when you've inspected the transceivers but don't have one
Astrape's Inspect Admin log to make sense when there's no power
First generator overheat log to mention "maybe you should bring equipment which benefits from the sun instead"
Search Strabo logs and Drive to Search description to mention a cache of supplies
Log for Install Mining Motors to mention bringing old motors
Inspect Long Range Transceiver to account for unblocking the tram from any compound
Approaching Strabo's outpost to account for knowing about the supply cache
Search Other Buildings after Check Power System
Locate Weather Station first time log
Loop 1 travel log to clarify the purpose of the heaters
Loop 1 Inspect Food Synth log to mention you can queue up food then go do other tasks
Second log for Search Strabo in Laurion to say Strabo stopped sending updates a while ago
Harvest finishes before you've found the warehouse
Connect Other Buildings explains the different power requirements
Finding no protein bars in Strabo
Search Lost Rover clarifies the beacon having its own power source
Inspect Containment Chamber log to explain the frame is twisted and the door couldn't be opened even if you dug it out
Alt Notes: Regarding the PDA being affected by the time artifact if you haven't woken up with the PDA yet
Death Messages:
Low priority message after stepping through a portal (and not travelling anywhere in the rover)
Dig final layer of obelisk but don't touch the artifact
Find Talos-Dam route
Get Laurion's artifact, return to empty pit in future loop and run out of power while inside
Renamed Derelict Rover to Timeworn Rover
Renamed Power Bank to Power Pack (and removed reference to it being useful in the rover)
Balance
Reworked journey to Strabo
First time is still 1 big scary action
Once you reach the outpost, it's permenantly split into 2 actions (Drive to Outpost and Drive to Strabo)
The 1st action gets no familiarity from its own completions, both get familiarity from the 2nd action's completions
Reverse journey has the same split, and share familiarity from its 2nd action with all 3 other actions
Reworked Strabo's Power
The panels now start in hibernation mode (retracted)
You can do a short action followed by a 30s event to extend/retract the panels
Panels take damage/s during storms instead of a fixed amount at the end of a storm
While retracted, panels only take ~15% damage from storms but generate no power
Moved Fuel Canister from the Tower to the crashed VTOL
Reduced Strabo backup generator fuel capacity 360 -> 250
You can only toggle power on the central tower or all other buildings (not individually)
Reduced Comm/Weather station drains 15/s -> 10/s
Food synth rebalance
Synth action starts a timed event which drains power/s for a fixed duration
Up to 5 charges of the event can be queued up
When the event completes, 1 charge is added to a Take action (max of 5)
Added Equatorial Sun event
Starts when you reach the search/central area
Blocked by being in shelter or inside a building
Drains 0.05 water/s (extra 50% of base)
Reduced to 0.01/s with environmental suit
Reworked Check Weather from Rover into Setup Weather Display (reveals all future storms)
Installing mining motors returns 4 medium or enhanced motors (depending whether you'd upgraded or not)
Can't Dig Out Rover while a sandstorm is going
Astrape's Open Vehicle Bay action is faster and makes more sense after removing the artifact
Reduced base time of Dig Out Rover (needs to be completed multiple times to fully dig out, but can get familiarity)
Added power cost to Lift Lockdown (explains why you need more power to do it)
Upgrade Rover Motors requires all 4 motors before starting
Unified time of Take Glacier Water and Powah Bars in Astrabe Admin (2s > 1s)
Undirected Astrape surges now deal 2.5% damage to all 4 systems instead of 10% to a random one
Added 10% time dilation to all combined actions
Talos' Gather Supplies:
Reduced to 5 of each
Only unlocks the loop after you Get Up
Includes Protein Bars
Tram:
Can't be remotely unblocked until you get to the plateau and get codes
Can be unblocked/boosted from plateau and central
Finding the lost rover is boosted by the transceiver
Once you dig the final layer of the obelisk, all other actions are hidden until you touch the artifact
Leave in Rover from Astrape moves the rover outside instead of leaving it in the airlock
Grouped Unload Water Recycler while rover is locked with the unlocked variants
UI
Timed events show a speed multiplier (when not x1)
Resource timers don't display when empty and no generation
Added sub-areas to Strabo Tower to better group actions by Area
Added 'IsIgnoredForActionGroups' to Areas (currently recycs, gen, motors and prop)
Added a Delete button to save/load menus
Reduced width of PDA Notes scrollbar
Moved Dam-Astrape route on the map to clarify it's on the west bank
Unlock Workstation hides once you have motor info
Open Security Door in Astrape hides if already unblocked and boosted tram
Area resources show as in danger if your personal resources are too low
Bugfixes
Action button highlights work correctly when leaving combined actions
Corrected conditions on alt descriptions for Force Admin Door in Laurion and Strabo
PDA Note Entries/Categories not hiding on load
Action Groups and Combined Action panels update their size more reliably
Resources action group always sorts to the top on Resoures & Areas sorting
Pause on Resource Danger ignored for first 30s each loop
Fixed crash loading legacy saves in certain states
Can move mining motors to VTOL after uninstalling from rover
Can't extract water from a powerless Astrape before inpsecting the recycler
Agriculture events pause if power runs out
PDA Note regarding sandstorms in Facilities > Strabo doesn't mention solar panels if you never installed them
Timed events resume if/when their speed multiplier increases from 0 (agri events when you reinstall the transceiver)
Timed events don't disappear if you save/load while they're running
Action With Charges cooldowns update when entering a new area
PDA Note regarding the radius of explosion in Artifacts > Santo doesn't specify where you died
Default Astrape death message is used if you arrive via tram
Hidden lab uses Strabo music
Logs show for 2nd half of portal artifact finishing charging
Rover out of power variant for having solar panels isn't shown if you haven't connected the panels yet
Actions in multiple combined actions don't re-appear until all the combined actions are gone
Call Tram to Quarry claims it's stuck when it's not
Map updates correctly on game load
Corrected conditions on Remove Full Power Cell actions (fixes negative power and infinite cells)
Can't Drive to Search Area/Towards Strabo while sheltered
Empty action groups don't get stuck
Rover has to be in the hangar to install/swap solar panels
Check Other Cryopods and Inspect Life Support become known persistent after loop 1
Fixed memory leak on save/load dialogue
Game no longer autosaves when dead
Corrected conditions on logs for portal artifact finishing/cancelling/failing charging
Pre-quit saves aren't made if you're dead
Build Solar Panel combined action not available if you installed the Strabo panels
Load Motors on Rover moves the player into the rover
Can't build pressure regulator if the rover isn't there
Solar panel boost logs on the way to Strabo don't show if you haven't connected them
Middle click settings apply to resource priorities
Corrected condition on log for approaching timeworn rover from Laurion if you never revisited it
Pin Tower Resources only works while the comm station has power
Fixed conditions on the disabling of Strabo power drain for air recyclers
Changing items to/from DoNotUse updates resource bar colours
Open Vehicle Bay at Strabo hidden when you're sheltered
Death message for confirming Strabo outpost moves won't show on a later loop if you "miss" it when you first see it
Events with long names (e.g. tram to plateau) wrap on the tooltip instead of overflowing the box
Move Generator into Laurion isn't in the rover when Laurion is powered
Typos