Hello everyone! It has been a month since I started working on Update 1 and I would like to share the intermediate result.
After reading your feedback I decided not to cut any existing feature, but only to expand and improve.
The route system remains in the game. You will be able to choose your own playstyle and to decide to use routes or to rely on the new teleportation logistics system.
Here is a list of new features (it may change).
Economy [Done].
- Every colony will have a constant demand for one resource type. If you build a production chain, it will bring you income forever. And you can always improve/expand the production to earn more.
- The number of colonizable planets will be increased.
- When a colony's population reaches certain limit, it will order some other resources to level up and to increase the consumption of the main resource.
- Raw resource deposits now require scanning before harvesting. The cost is substantial, but it is a onetime payment.
- Miners will not spend 50% of ore cost for harvesting. It will prevent the massive drain of energy credits by miners. It was a major annoyance for some players.
- Energy generation will be much faster. You will be able to generate power from raw carbon ore, from refined carbon and from oil.
- Energy is no longer bought by Earth. But it is still possible to buy energy for credits.
- General production speed will increase x2, same as output of resource deposits.
Tech research [Done].
- Suppling resources to colonies now do not bring XP.
- Techs are now unlocked and improved by research stations. They consume energy, as usual.
- A research queue is implemented.
- Memory chips are now required to store the data. Every memory chip stores 10 unlocks/upgrades.
- Every consequent memory chip costs more and more. Buying memory chips will be the main money sink. But the upper cost is limited. At some point, the price will not raise anymore (it is related to the max possible earnings when you fully develop all your colonies). To unlock and upgrade the whole tech tree it will takes more than 500 levels (but it is not required to finish the game).
I tried several different approaches to economy, and this turned out to be the most viable solution.
To progress, you need both energy and credits. Now you have a full control over credits spending.
Your money balance will always grow, and you choose where to spend the money; how to improve your resource flow to get more credits per minute.
Module system (the main feature of the update) [Done].
- Module is a part of a ship or station which can be inserted into a blueprint or can be added to an existing ship or station.
- Built-in modules will allow to compose a custom station (considering local supply and demand) fast and easy.
- Same as auto-stations, you choose an item to produce or store, than select one of module configurations (where input comes from and where the output goes to), place it and all of it machines/resource zones/tanks will be set automatically.
- The standard modules will fit into a grid of certain size, so you can easily connect different modules to each other.
- You can develop an unlimited number of your own modules and to share it via the Steam Workshop same as blueprints.
- Modules are very convenient to start with a small station and expanding it later, or to create a custom production chain on the fly, not spending too much time to design the blueprint.
New machines.
- Trade Hub [Done]. A machine to teleport ores and liquids from the local planet surface and to sell final product to a local colony. An alternative to ship routes. Allows to maximize the usage of a deposit. It is an unlockable tech so you may skip it if you want.
- Quantum Storage T1-T3 [Done]. Stores 100-1000-10000 units of solid resources. Can be used in all types of trade interactions and mining. A great way to make huge stocks of everything. An unlockable tech, so you may skip it and use only resource zones.
- Teleportation Relay [WIP]. Connects two neighboring stations. Allows to teleport items/liquids back and forth.
- Construction Cannon [WIP]. A mid-end game alternative to construction by robots. Much faster construction but requires more energy.
Matter and anti-matter generators are in the plan but may be moved to the next update.
New items [WIP].
- Final products: an oxygen generator, a portable power generator, a water purifier, a terraforming machine, and a work drone.
- Intermediate products: CPU T1-T3, engine T1-T3.
I limited the number of new resources in this update to not to delay it too much. I am going to add more new items in every further update.
When? As it usually happens in software development, it takes longer than expected. Some changes take much time to implement and fail after playtesting. But it is the price for search of a new, original gameplay.
I plan to put the update to the Experimental branch before the end of the year. How long it will take to reach the main branch, depends on your feedback and the amount of the update refinement.
As you may know, I am the single developer of the project. But I am completely devoted to it and working hard to bring you new cool features.
Thank you for your attention and have a great day!