Stormworks: Build and Rescue News

Dear Stormworkers,

Oil Disasters Major Update - 23rd June

In one week (on 23rd June) the new Oil Disasters Major Update will release!

This major update includes the new oil spill system where oil can leak into the environment, disperse, and spread with the current. Oil can be removed and the pollution cleaned using the new oil separators.

New mission content involves damaged oil tankers, pipeline leaks, requiring ocean cleanup as well as submarine repairs! Submersible ROVs will have new value and purpose with these new mission types.

As well as oil disasters, we are adding some new improvements to oil mining.



Anti-Cheat Update

A few weeks ago we announced that some multiplayer communities had asked for our help with some hackers who were using modified clients to impersonate other peoples Steam IDs, spawn weapons with infinite ammo, crash servers, pirate DLCs, etc. We take this cheating and hacking behaviour very seriously and we announced new anti cheat support.

It was a very sad day to add anti-cheat to a non-competitive, sandbox game, with an overwhelming majority of kind and creative players. Our strategy is to close the ability to use these exploits, as well as detect and ban these hackers so they cannot return with more creative attacks. Bans are only issued after multiple developers have carefully and thoroughly considered the technical evidence, and there is certainty.

Modding is not affected by this. We love checking out many of the creative mods that players have made, and are inspired by the incredible work and effort that goes into building them! We are only concerned with modified machine code that attacks servers or enables piracy.



Future Development

We remain hard at work preparing minor updates, major updates, and this years DLC which we hope to announce in the next couple of months! We are also already planning major updates for 2024 as we continue to support the game and the community.

We look forward to your thoughts and feedback! Join us next week for the launch of Oil Disasters!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

Rework - Improved anti-cheat support

v1.7.9

Fix - fix crash with setVehiclePos if global vehicle is not found

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we add 3 new animals to the Industrial Frontier biome: the buffalo, the bighorn sheep, and the roadrunner! We have also added crates to this biome.



These peaceful beasts, and crates, can be found across the arid biome for owners of the Industrial Frontier DLC.

For all players, there are a series of fixes and improvements, many of which are important, so please check the patch notes below.



For Discord users, we have added a new verification and Stormworker role system! You can now use /verify and /stormworker commands to confirm your Steam account and request the Stormworker role (to verify you must own the game, and for Stormworker you must have 1000 hours in game).

This is important because, as with all Discord servers, there is a long standing problem with people and bots who do not own or have any interest in Stormworks, joining the server just to grief or offend. The hope is that we can get a high number of players verifying their accounts, and then could restrict posting images and links to verified players, or something like that.



We have also launched a new Stormworks merchandise webpage because many players have found the Red Bubble store confusing, and we are inclined to agree.

The major update launches in just 2 weeks! The Oil Disaster Major Update launches on 23rd June so be sure to check back then for the update.



Beyond that, we also have loads of minor updates in the works (for release every 2 weeks), and we hope to announce the upcoming DLC in the next couple of months.

We look forward to your feedback on this new update!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.7.8

Feature - Arid Island Herbivores

Greater Roadrunner
Bighorn Sheep
Buffalo

Rework - Improved anti-cheat support
Fix - #17851 Align medium tank tracks to their wheels
Fix - #17938 Slow doors on creative island
Fix - #18104 Monitors turning off when not looking directly at them
Fix - #18112 Fix controller losing focus in UI after binding ui navigation button to an action
Fix - #18345 setVehiclePosSafe now returns result position even on failure (fixed ai aircraft script error)
Fix - #18401 Added loot crates for arid and underwater islands
Fix - #18567 Mesh issue on the top of the Oil rig pumpjack
Fix - #19690 Hose int affecting rope length
Fix - #19692 Stopped clearing attach states for characters or creatures attempting to reattach to their current seat

Dear Stormworkers,

The Oil Disaster Major Update is our next major update and arrives on the 23rd of June!

Oil spills and slicks are introduced in this major update. Oil that leaks from wells, ships, pipelines, or anything else will pollute the ocean. This pollution will create an oil slick that sits on the surface of the ocean, and will disperse and be carried by ocean current over time.

The environment can be cleaned up by pumping this damaged sea water out of the ocean and through the new centrifugal separator. This separator takes in the mixture of oil and water, and uses an impeller to spin the fluid, pushing the less dense oil to the centre of the vortex, and the more dense water to the outside. One output port then filters off a more oily mixture, while the other outputs more water. The separator does not completely separate the fluids, so a multi-stage system is recommended as the most efficient.



New missions introduce oil leaks to rigs, ships, and pipelines, and these damaged systems will slowly leak oil until repaired. Significant leaks will create new missions to clean up the pollution, and these missions are tracked across the ocean as the current disperses the spill.

Further improvements are also introduced for the previous major update, including a small pivoting rod cap for simpler and more convenient interaction with rods, and other fixes and improvements.



Thanks to all the players who contributed oil industry ideas and suggestions! We have had a lot of fun working on this update and look forward to releasing this new major update soon!

Next week we have a minor update focused on the industrial frontier, and we continue work on compressible gasses (thank you for all your feedback on that!) which we hope to share in the next couple of months.

Much love
The Stormworks Developers