The Crust News

As we launch our Kickstarter beta access, we're excited to present a major update filled with new features, improvements, and lots more!

[h2]Update highlights:[/h2]

• Overhauled Oxygen Management: Experience our reimagined oxygen system where electrolysis factories fill rooms with oxygen, and oxygen tanks take on the role of collection and dispensing, making oxygen dispensers a thing of the past.
  
• Voice-Activated Ledger: Our deal-pushing character is now fully voice-acted. While he insists on his contracts, he also provides helpful tutorials for navigating the market interfaces.
  
• Research Roadblock: Now you actually have to do the research for every module upgrade. Sorry, no free rides.
  
• Fuel Plant Comes Alive: The fuel plant now boasts a lively new animation.
  
• New Language Options: Now offering translations in Chinese, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, and French.
  
• Speed Boost: Introduced a 5th level of conveyor speed, now faster than ever, even without new models.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes:[/h2]
[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Cancelling a contract now makes capsules release resources mid-collection and only then fly away.
  
• Research notifications are now reliably playing as they should.
  
• Free camera mode will now hide notifications on modules for a cleaner view.
  
• Variable connection points on modules no longer vanish after loading.
  
• No more infinite module selector growth through notification clicks.
  
• Enhanced LODs for the modular terminal factory for a smoother visual experience.
  
• Conveyor lift holograms now dismantle correctly.
  
• Ensured the contracts button on the landing platform UI pauses the game like other menu buttons.
  
• Fixed the research points calculation to ensure consistent fill-up.
  
• Research is essential for every level of module upgrades.
  
• Restricted copying of certain large modules to enforce a one-instance rule.
  
• Landing platforms can now be dismantled, providing more flexibility in your builds.
  
• Resolved the issue causing research updates to be delayed due to speed changes.
  

[h3]Interface[/h3]

• Prices in the conveyor interface have been corrected.
  
• Improved clickability of the delete button in the mining designation panel.
  
• The UI now reflects the precise time until the hydroponic farm cycle finishes.
  
• The UI now correctly shows the production progress for vehicle assembly modules.
  
• Improved visuals for production in the ice extractor UI.
  
• Adjusted the layout and fonts of the settings window.
  
• Adjusted the layout of the research interface.
  
• Fixed the issue with opening the contract interface through POI.
  
• Updated conveyor UI icons to align with their new appearance.
  

[h2]New Features:[/h2]
[h3]Systems[/h3]

• The oxygen system get a thorough makeover.
  
• Introduced CPU mode, which limits the maximum number of modules. Expand this limit with new CPU unit and Large CPU unit modules.
  
• Personal oxygen levels are now displayed in the colonist interface.
  
• Added an oxygen percentage tooltip for rooms when hovering in oxygen mode.
  
• The fuel plant now comes to life with a new animation.
  

[h3]Interface Updates[/h3]

• Added a button to access the research interface directly from completed research notifications.
  
• Added production time details to module tooltips.
  
• Tooltips for modules now highlight their water requirements.
  
• Clicking on a colonist in UI now snaps the camera to their location.
  
• The wall building panel tooltips now include construction cost details.
  
• The ledger is now fully voice-acted.
  
• Introduced 5 new language translations
  

[h2]Balances and Adjustments:[/h2]
[h3]Contracts and Research[/h3]

• Adjusted contract generator to delay high-level organizations from appearing early.
  
• Reduced the appearance of energy cells in the early stages.
  
• Balanced science points for specific research projects.
  
• Modified costs and capacities for all landing capsules.
  
• Added new simple difficulty urgent contracts.
  
• Made various contract adjustments.
  
• Balanced research costs by adding engineering points to fundamental and social tabs.
  
• Rebalanced research points: reduced fundamental points, added engineering points.
  
• Added research for a full credit refund after removing conveyors.
  
• Introduced research to increase truck speed.
  
• Added research to reduce organic growth time in farms.
  
• The research map has been restructured.
  
• Reduced the research cost for digging speed, robot speed, and battery capacity.
  
• Added several new other research projects.
  

[h3]Resources and Production[/h3]

• Increased energy consumption for medium and high-tier modules.
  
• Boosted the number of titanium plates in starting resource packs.
  
• Increased the cost of large batteries by 1 aluminum.
  
• Smelter cost now includes 1 additional titanium plate (experimental).
  
• Adjusted slag conveyor output in the multi-refinery by 1 cell.
  

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Robots are now zippier with a boost to their base speed.
  
• Enhanced the first research bonus for robot speed.
  
• Adjusted tooltips for selecting difficulty in sandbox mode and the number of drones provided.
  
• Extended the broker quest in sandbox mode with additional quests.
  
• Temporarily disabled sound for low energy notifications.
  
• Reduced the base cost of robots on the market.
  
• Unified silicon input across different assembler recipes.
  
• Adjusted colonist balance: increased oxygen tank capacity, faster food consumption, reduced comfort drop, and modified health and mental state impact on productivity.
  
• Dismantling conveyors now returns more money by default (from 0.7 to 0.85).
  
• Amount of Rare Minerals dropped from walls increased (random from 1 to 3).
  
• Added small and medium food tables to the sandbox research map.
  
• Constructors no longer require colonists for production; colonists now only increase efficiency.
  
• Tripled the productivity multiplier for colonists based on their skill profession.
  
• Balanced the melting furnace.
  
• Hydroponic farms now require a small amount of slag for organic growth.
  
• A 5th level of conveyor speed has been introduced for even faster transport.
  
• Redistributed conveyor speed levels to 60, 150, 300, 450, 600.
  
• Increased extraction volume per cycle for MDR.
  
• Balanced difficulty and rewards relative to organization reputation.
  
• Added contracts with a large volume of resources.
  
• Introduced urgent contracts with a large volume of resources.
  
• Increased the chance of contracts for moon deliveries.
  
• Added new indefinite contracts.
  

Hey Crusties,

We are thrilled to announce the upcoming Early Access launch of The Crust on July 15th!

Early Access will include a full story mode, translated into 9 languages and voiced by professional actors, as well as a full sandbox mode where you can build your own customizable company and launch settings.

Mark your calendars for July 15 and get ready to embark on this extraordinary journey.

The second news is that tomorrow we plan to release another major update and Beta access keys. In the update, you will see new mechanics, numerous improvements, and changes in game balance.

We can't wait for you to experience the excitement and challenges of The Crust.

Stay tuned for more updates as we approach the launch date!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1465470/The_Crust/

[previewyoutube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYjiRlLe4w0[/previewyoutube]

The conveyor system has been completely overhauled! Each tier now has a unique and visually distinct appearance. Your production lines have never looked better!
Important Note: Saves created before this patch will no longer be loadable.

[h2]New Features & Additions[/h2]

• New visuals for each conveyor tier: making it easier to identify and manage your logistics.
  
• Complete Conveyors Culling Between Levels: Optimized performance with improved conveyor culling.
  
• Meteorites for Sandbox Start: Salvage valuable resources from meteorites in sandbox mode to kickstart your progress.
  
• Big Solar Panel is now animated!
  
• Added tooltips to the Conveyors panel buttons, now displaying conveyor throughput for easy reference.
  
• Added a new notification about unused science points.
  
• Urgent contracts now will show their location type on the Contract Offer UI.
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Yep, you guessed it. We fixed those conveyor corners that couldn't seem to turn the right way. Now they're back on track, ready to roll without any funny business!
  
• Fixed the issue where modules couldn't build near crater hills — turns out, they were just being overly cautious about steep elevation.
  
• Resolved a crash triggered by disabled pathfinding when connecting conveyors to corners.
  
• MDR mining fixes:
  
  
  
  • Fixed MDR pausing mining when full, failing to resume after cargo offload. Now, no more interruptions in your mining operations.
    
  • MDR now speeds up mining time with game speed, without multiplying the output. Mining efficiency remains consistent.
    
• Fixed Regolith Extractor animation resetting on cycle start.
  
• Fixed Vein Scanner mode movement to prevent sticking at the edge of its range. While some jittering may still occur at the boundaries, overall movement is now smoother.
  
• Fixed Contract location mismatches in UI.
  
• Fixed tooltips getting stuck when opening the pause menu.
  
• Resolved an issue where Points of Interest (POIs) would stubbornly become locked after loading if a truck happened to be en route.
  
• Addressed issues regarding colonist selection behavior in the colonist panel.
  
• You can't check the location of completed contracts anymore. They're done-zo!
  

[h2]Adjustments[/h2]

• Implemented inflation for science points within 'Crust Solutions', where prices now increase in line with current research progress. This change aims to encourage the construction of personal labs.
  
• Contract changes:
  
  
  
  • Capsules now exclusive to moon-to-earth contracts, following C.R.U.S.T. directive. Moon-to-moon contracts limited to cargo trucks.
    
  • Contracts designed for either the moon or Earth now spawn precisely according to their intended locations.
    
  • Added a batch of new urgent contracts.
    
  • Contract eligibility with certain organizations now demands a higher reputation threshold, with the trade-off being more lucrative rewards.
    
  • Revamped the generation of lunar contracts and shortened the maximum spawn distance.
    
  • Adjusted the generation to offer fewer simple lunar contracts.
    
  • Lowered the chances of encountering science points on difficult and late-game contracts.
    
• Reduced the rate at which maintenance decreases for disabled and idling modules, ultimately resulting in significant resource savings over time.
  
• Increased initial silicon amount in starting resources in sandbox.
  
• Tweaked the efficiency of small and medium solar panels to ensure more balanced energy output.
  
• Adjusted the pricing for constructing small and medium solar panels.
  
• Adjusted prices for conveyors:
  
  
  
  • increased price of underground conveyors.
    
  • Increased price of 2-4 tiers of conveyors.
    
• Adjusted the fuel mesh to a bigger scale.
  

[h2]Fixed [/h2]

• Fixed a bug that caused the veins to now show up when after a new game start
  
• Fixed a bug that caused modules breaking on pause
  

[h2]Adjustments [/h2]

• Reduced probability of quest appearing
  

[h2]Patch 90.41[/h2]

[h3]Added[/h3]

• Difficulty options for sandbox now available
  
• Added new contracts options
  
• Added new urgent contracts options
  
• Added new enties into ingame Encyclopedia
  
• Some of the research descriptions have been enhanced with additional information.
  

[h3]Fixed[/h3]

• Reputation with all fractions now 0 on start
  
• Fixed bug that prevented contracts from appearing
  
• Fixed batteries material in elecricity overview mode
  
• Fixed ghost electric pillar that stays when switching on universal dismantle
  
• Fixed game session timer behavior
  
• Fixed Cargo Truck position after arriving by capsule
  
• Fixed crash to desktop when 2nd size brush is used on edge of the map