Patch 0.2.1

INTRO
Patch Notes: Early Access - v0.2.1 - Build 101665

Hey Pioneers!

Here it is. The update that brings you all the Tier 7 content and Trains! Get ready to build even bigger factories with 11 new parts, some of them among the most complex in the game so far, and haul large amounts of resources across the entire map via train cargo. :D We’ve had this content on the Experimental build for a little while now and all the nasty bugs should be taken care off. There might still be new bugs popping up, but we’ll be patching the build over the next few weeks as necessary. We’re aware that the trains aren’t as smooth as we would like for clients, but we’ll continue improving them!

Hope you all will have a blast with this update! <3

Trains
Trains are unlockable in Tier 6. Now go and set up your next level resource transportation!

Set up a timetable for your trains and choose which freight cars should load or unload their cargo at each station.

Set up a locomotive at each end if you want it to be able to go back and forth between stations, or just build a loop instead.

Build extra locomotives if you’ve added too many freight cars for a single one. If you connect power to one station, all other stations along the line will be powered as well so no need for a long power pole connection to your outposts

Tier 7
Nuclear Power. Take your power production to the next level with Nuclear Power Plants, but be wary of the radiation! You’ll also have to deal with the Nuclear Waste you are producing.

Craft a Hazmat Suit in the Workshop to keep yourself safe from radiation.

Bayer Process. Now it is time to integrate Bauxite into your production pipelines and set up the production of several new parts.

Speed up the mining with the Miner Mk.3.

Transport things faster than ever with the Conveyor Belt Mk.5.

We also added a few alternate recipes for the new content.

Overall there are 12 new resources added to the game. Let’s see how big your factories will grow with incorporating all of them!

BALANCING
Doubled Circuit Board stack size

Tweaked resources in several areas

Red Jungle (Plateau northwest of Grassfields)

Added Bauxite, Uranium and Coal

Bamboo Fields (Plateau north of Grassfields)

Added Bauxite and Coal

Swamp (Northeast of Grassfields)

Completely overhauled resource placements and added new nodes

BUG FIXES
Fixed an on load crash related to the Small Stinger

Fixed crashes related to Arachnophobia Mode

Fixed an issue with chat blocking input over other widgets

Spore Flowers now properly react to client players

Dragged inventory objects now center on the cursor

Fixed the fall damage issue with Landing Jelly

Alien Armour Plates dropped by the Flying Crab Hatcher are now visible for client

Fixed the MAM getting locked on ongoing research if the time was corrupt

Conveyor Pole holograms now show properly under the Conveyor Belt for client

Changing the Network Quality setting now requires a reload of the save or returning to the main menu before taking effect (this is to mitigate some issues and crashes related to changing Network Quality runtime)

Adjusted the Conveyor Lift building clearance to build downwards more easily

UI
Updated the style of the item pick-up notification

Updated the style of menu window tabs

Updated the launch button

Tweaked the damage animation of the Health Bar

QUALITY OF LIFE
Adjusted dropping items from inventory. They will now stack together if possible and should find clear places to be dropped around the player.

Added a Codex feature that allows you to check up on the cost of Recipes, Buildings and Equipment wherever you are (open with X)

Added a search bar for the Craft Bench & Build Menu

Added a checkbox to only show affordable items in the Craft Bench

Changed several Conveyor Belt speeds: Mk.4 450 to 480 items per minute Mk.5 660 to 780 items per minute

Mergers and Splitters are now stackable on even ground

FACTORY
8x1 Foundations added

Nuclear Power Plant added

Tweaked shadows on last LOD of Conveyor Belts

New parts
Aluminium Ingot

Alclad Aluminium Sheet

Heat Sink

Radio Control Unit

Turbo Motor

Battery

Uranium Cell

Electromagnetic Control Rod

Nuclear Fuel Rod

Iodine Infused Filter

Hazmat Suit now craftable in workshop

WORLD
Overhauled the Swamp visuals and gameplay (Northeast of Grassfields)

Added Bamboo Fields area

Added Red Jungle

Overhauled the Dune Desert visuals including fog & lighting (Northeast corner of the map)

Updated gameplay in the Desert Canyons (North and east of the Northern Forest)

Updated tons of environmental assets

WILDLIFE
Added the Elite Stinger (spider-like creature). It is very prominent in the Red Jungle

OPTIMISATION
Network optimisation of Conveyor Belts

Reduced conveyor network footprint

Message size reduction (most messages reduced to an 8th in size, but depends on the specific conveyor/use case. But even the largest messages are far under 50% in size)

Replication Frequency & Priority Tweaks (Should result in more effective use of the data/reduced overhead, and less issues in moments of data congestion)

Improved item pickup from conveyors

Added server rollback states and version tracking on interactions for improved precision (pinpointing exact items should work now even on high ping)

Added client side prediction for improved responsiveness

Improved item placement accuracy on conveyors

Guaranteeing the pattern of items on conveyors to closer match that of the server

Compensating for delays or earlier than expected add/remove events over time, minimising popping and drifting

Added extra compensation animation as items are just about to move out of a conveyor

Current side effects/future work on conveyors

The overall reduced replication frequency combined with the visual compensations can make seams between two connected conveyors look a bit weird atm. Will be fixed soon, along with yet another significant reduction in net replication data. Some popping in the start area of a conveyor can still be observed at times as we currently prioritise to remove popping in the end of the conveyor and responsiveness. This will be tweaks and improved as we go and see more real use cases.

We might consider reducing the data of initial replications on a conveyor, making their start state stream in over time instead, to reduce spikes in network data when loading into a game with a lot of conveyors close by Reduced network data on session join for clients Fixed a bunch conditional replication (replication dependency): Generalised and improved the system to be used in more places easier Made this system work better with saving games Player equipment only  replicate when actively equipped, and unequipped equipment is ignored.

Improved conditional replication to not trigger when it’s the server triggering interactions (The server already have the real state and don’t need to hook up for additional replication)

Made all inventory slots use the conditional replication, significantly reducing replicated data across most buildings Refactored Overlocking and made it use the dependency system Added/Moved more replication to the dependency system for: All manufacturers All storage Buildings Improved the data footprint of replicating Factory Building legs/supports Removed far distance shadows in the persistent levels? Optimised Pond, River and UnderWaterSurface materials Grouped Factory ticks Added waterfall LODs Optimised the green “Snakelegs” Tree (primarily used in the northern parts of Grass Fields Implemented some minor ways of offloading initial client load times Fixed some network related clamping on the Conveyors Fixed collisions and optimized lots of environment assets