Your first bloom, sooner
Keepers, a small update with a big change to your first half hour.
Some of you told us the early game felt like a long wait, and that the Lab seemed out of reach when every Neeblie was Common. You were right on both counts, and we found why: a mating cooldown meant for after a birth was also being applied to Neeblies who had never bred at all. No matter how ready a young pair looked, nothing could happen for roughly twenty minutes. That is fixed.
What's changed
- Founders' Bloom. The first eggs from your Foundational Strain now grow up quickly and pair off within a few minutes of hatching, so your colony's first live birth is something you'll see, not something you'll wait for.
- The Lab opens with new life. The Lab now unlocks the moment your colony has its first live birth. You no longer need an Uncommon to get inside.
- Genome Capture comes next. Discover an Uncommon rarity and the Lab's Genome Capture unlocks, letting you preserve thriving Neeblies as blueprints and encode them into new eggs.
- A little guidance along the way. Hover the locked Lab tool to see how close your first pair is to blooming.
If you've already been running a habitat and had a live birth before this update, the Lab will be waiting for you when you load in.
A small invitation
Start a fresh bed, place a couple of Foundational eggs, and stay a while. Watch them grow. The first new life in a colony is one of the quiet moments this game is built around, and it should never be the reason someone walks away.
Thank you for your patience and your honesty. Keep telling us where the waiting feels long.