Forensic Friday 69: Underground Floors, Structural Integrity & Pipes

Originally posted by Friday

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Forensic Friday 69! It's been a while since our last update, but we've been hard at work making some big improvements to the game. We've focused on better pipes, enhancing structural integrity, and introducing underground floors. Let me walk you through what we've been working on.

Fluid Pipes: Dillan has been tackling our fluid system, which has been a challenge for years. We finally found a solution by switching from a cellular automata-based model to a data-centric approach. This makes the system more memory-efficient and faster, allowing for more intuitive fluid transfers. Now, we can handle smaller fluid increments and transfer multiple types of fluids simultaneously. This update also lets us add new properties like viscosity and temperature, making pumps, showers, and water purification more effective.

Multi-Floor Fluid Flow: We also addressed the challenge of connecting pipes between floors. Fluids now flow more naturally between floors, influenced by gravity, and pumps can move fluids upward without issues.

Structural Integrity: David has been overhauling our structural integrity system. The old system was unrealistic, so we switched to a cellular automata system that simulates structural integrity in real time. This new system is more realistic and allows for dynamic loads and the need for proper foundations when building tall structures.

Underground Floors: We’ve introduced underground floors, which work well with the new structural integrity system. Building foundations is now crucial for distributing stress and preventing collapses. The ground absorbs stress better with larger foundation surfaces, allowing for taller buildings.

We've also made progress on the underground floors, which generate when you issue excavation orders. These floors consist of different types of rocks, clays, and dirt, with plans to make these materials affect mining time and stress dissipation in the future. We've added a "fog of war" system, so only the ground you've excavated is visible, and we're considering adding caves, underground reservoirs, heat, and gases in future updates.

We’ve introduced a new "Orders" feature in the architect menu, starting with excavation. NPCs can now dig down, revealing two levels underground, and we’ve added progress bars to show their digging progress. We've also fixed some issues like NPCs blocking themselves off or getting injured from falls. Fall damage is now exponential, but we'll tweak it for better balance.

NPCs can now path between floors, making multi-level construction possible. We’ve also added a new logistics view to help manage fluid and electrical layouts, especially with the new three-dimensional aspect. We’ve included new electrical cables, pipes, and transformers to connect multiple power networks.

We made some minor updates too, like showing fluid bars correctly between floors and allowing NPCs to be swapped in the hierarchy tree. Thanks for your patience as we continue developing the game, and we're excited to see our multi-floor concept taking shape. We’ll have more updates soon!
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