Hi everyone!
Another demo update is here! This takes the demo to version 20260722 (confirm this from the main menu).
Here's the details of this update!
Balance: a rather important change with this update is that for the first time, loose water pump head bolts will actually affect pumping volumes! Previously the bolt looseness only contributed to basement flooding. This is a key balance change that will add more value to tightening the bolts, and I have been careful to test it to ensure that the game hasn't become overly difficult on the 'default' settings. I found that at the default setting of 25% maximum pumping losses (with the pump bolts loose), the player is still able to maintain reservoir pressures, so long as they increase the River Inlet Valves to ~60-70% (and perhaps 100% during reservoir leak periods).
This new change is controlled by a brand new setting "Minimum water pump efficiency". By default, the maximum pumping loss from loose bolts (per pump) will be 25% (which maps in the UI to display a minimum efficiency of 75%).
To help clarify what this means: as an example, if the River Inlet Valves are open 100% for a given pump, it would normally move a maximum of 100 gallons of water (per stroke) - now, on the default efficiency setting of 75%, the gallons pumped can drop to as low as 75 gallons, once the head bolts reach a certain looseness level.
The cool thing here is that you are able to adjust the amount of efficiency loss from the Game Options dialog - so if you dislike this new change, you can set the minimum efficiency to 100%, and your pumping losses will be ZERO no matter what state the water pump bolts are in.
Conversely, setting the efficiency to 50% (the harshest setting) means that in the above example, instead of moving 100 gallons at 100% inlet valve setting, you'll only move 50 gallons per stroke, once the bolts are loose. You can view the Ledger at any time to get a sense for how many gallons you're actually pumping at any moment.
For new players, the demo welcome dialog allows them control the water pump efficiency setting from the get-go and it is also adjusted automatically when selecting the different presets:
'Relaxed' preset sets the minimum efficiency to 100% - meaning no pumping losses occur
'Balanced' preset sets the minimum efficiency to 75% - meaning a maximum pumping loss of 25% can occur - this is also the default setting that any existing savegames will be assigned
'Lively' preset sets the minimum efficiency to 50% - meaning that the pumps will only pump HALF of their usual volume (at any given river inlet valve setting) when the bolts are beyond a certain looseness value - this is definitely a more challenging setting...and might require that you go downstairs and tighten those bolts a little bit from time to time, especially during reservoir leaks...
Balance: as part of the above water pump efficiency change, I have 'given back' balance-wise a little bit, by reducing the water pump head bolt loosening rate by 50% across the board
Cosmetic: the drop-down menus have better color schemes to denote the values being selected
Bug fix: water pump bolt tightening rotations were previously slightly 'glitching' upon each interaction - they now rotate smoothly each time they are tightened
Cosmetic: Changed bolt material for water pump head bolts to a more neutral steel color
QoL: For all the water pump head bolts, changed interaction logic so the tightening will occur repeatedly so long as you're holding down the interaction key (E) rather than having to repeatedly press it
Cosmetic: When pre-heating cylinders from now on, only the water dripping condensate FX will stop when at proper temps; the steam clouds continue so long as the jacket valves are open (also updated the in-game tutorial and manual text to reflect this change); keeping the jacket valves open slightly during operation can make for some cool additional steam effects...
Cosmetic: Rotated the lubricator valves in Demo to match Early Access build - these are still locked-out in the demo
Once again, thanks so much for your ongoing support! I continue to work on the Early Access build of the game and towards the end of July I have a Dev Log due to drop on YouTube that will detail all the latest happenings in that space (you can get early-access to the dev log on my Patreon).
Please keep the feedback coming in this thread, as these updates are not possible without your input and I am always grateful for it!
Until next time, happy steam-engineering! 🥸