Hey everyone!
You know the drill... another major update is here and we've got a lot to cover!
Two things before we look at the new stuff though.
1) In case you haven't read the two previous posts, this update is dedicated to some of the most requested features by you guys mainly related to overall quality of life but also production, quests, and other parts of the game that needed some long overdue love. BUT there's some brand new stuff as well.
2)
Volcanoids is 20% OFF for the next 48 hours! So if you (or your friend) have been waiting for a sign to finally take the drill for a spin, this might be it!
Now that we got that out of the way, it's time to answer the ultimate question:
[h2]What's new?[/h2]
[h3]Control Bracer[/h3]
The first and biggest addition is the "control bracer" aka as everybody calls it "the steampunk pip-boy". With it, we took all the different gadgets that were previously scattered all over and put them in one place.
How does that work in practice? Pulling the bracer out (using the "Q" key) will bring up a second toolbar with these gadgets. Some you already know (eg. drillship calling) and some that are new.
One of the new ones is
remote access to the periscope. Basically, no matter where you are, you can always access your periscope using the bracer and quickly check on the drillship.
In the case shown below the turret takes care of the attack but if it didn't, you could just easily send the drillship underground using the control bracer as well.
Second new gadget is the
camera. When you run into something and you're not quite sure what it is, you can just activate the camera, snap a picture of it and the archive (which is like our in-game wiki) will open with info about it.
But wait there's more! The camera can also work as a
diagnostic tool. If you just point at things around your drillship (like a turret module) the screen will show you a bunch of useful info that was previously hard to find. And in case of the turret (and couple other things), you can use the scroll wheel to get even more information.
Last thing I should mention is the
watch part of the bracer. It tells you 3 vital pieces of information:
- Red light on the left = volcano is about to erupt soon
- Green light on the right= the location you're currently in is going to keep you safe from the eruption
- Time = how much time is left before the volcano erupts
[h3]Customizable Toolbar[/h3]
This is one of the features that has been looong overdue.
You now can:
- drag and drop items on the toolbar
- left-click on an item in inventory to place in an empty slot
- right-click a slot to remove the item in it
- drag one item over another to switch their places
[h3]Reworked Boiler[/h3]
We noticed a lot of new players getting overwhelmed by the amount of information and interactable parts the old boiler had. So we selected only the most vital parts to keep and improved them.
The new dial above the driving handles actually shows how the drillship is moving when someone's driving underground.
While the dial above the diving lever shows how the drillship is going underground, back up, deploying, and so on.
[h3]Production Changes[/h3]
TLDR version: you can now produce and refine basic items
underground the same way you would if the drillship was on surface but slower.
Longer version:Each module adds a certain amount of production/refinery/research points to the drillship. You can now see how many points each module adds by pointing the camera gadget I mentioned in the beginning on it.
The more points you have in each category, the faster you can produce/refine/research.
Now to start production you'd also need access to storage and energy.
BEFORE, the drillship would have zero points in each category on its own so you needed for example a production module + storage and energy modules to be deployed in order to start producing something.
NOW the drillship has some points in each category on its own. Storage works the same way no matter where the drillship is. And the boiler produces energy even underground.
So now even if you're underground and all modules are closed, you can still produce and refine some basic items (like ammo, small components, etc.). It will be slower than if you'd be on the surface with deployed modules (therefore had more production points) but it's better than nothing.
We decided to make this change because we noticed that a lot of you didn't like how there's not much to do underground. Especially if you're playing co-op and someone is already driving. Now one of you can be driving while others are setting up basic production lines preparing ammo and other supplies in the meantime.
[h3]Geothermal Module[/h3]
Now what if you overdo it with the production underground and the boiler isn't able to produce enough energy to cover it?
Enter the geothermal module! This new roof module that comes in two sizes (T1 and T3) gives you an alternative way to produce more energy underground.
The way you can do that is, when you drive through lava the module will convert the heat to energy and store it so you can continue producing. We added a new indicator to the travel view window that shows the energy output/input and how much you have stored.
Be careful not to stay in the lava for too long or it will destroy your modules or even the whole drillship.
[h3]More Periscope Improvements[/h3]
Periscope finally got a proper model that pops up from the ground (or the drillship) when someone's using it.
Another improvement is related to using the periscope underground. Till now, the periscope would only work in a few selected spots. Not anymore though, you can now use it anywhere.
[h3]Item Filters[/h3]
If you open your inventory you will notice these new little boxes with small icons on them. They are filters that allow you to quickly show only a specific type of items in your inventory (eg. ore, tools, ammo).
[h3]Damaged Part Prompt[/h3]
Say adios to tediously pointing the wrench at each thing making sure it has full hp. Damaged parts are now going to be marked on your UI when holding the wrench.
[h3]Worktable -> Station -> Hub Upgrading[/h3]
Once you acquire necessary upgrades you can now upgrade the worktables into stations and eventually the stations into hubs.
This is possible because we changed how they relate to each other. Each version can do what the previous one could and something extra. We also changed the station's visual to better reflect this change.
[h3]Bypass Core[/h3]
There's a way now to claim enemy drillship without needing to destroy majority of modules first. You can now use the "bypass core" upgrades that are much more expensive and harder to get, but let you capture an enemy drillship without damaging it.
[h3]Additional Patch Notes[/h3]
Fixes
- Fixed flashlight making weapon scopes brighter than the Discord light theme
- Fixed doors closing by themselves in enemy drillships
Changes/Improvements
- Hard difficulty can now be selected only if you already finished the game once
- Increased the time it takes for the drillship to explode when all its modules are destroyed
- Removed non-vital devices from submarine to make it less cluttered and easier to navigate for new players
- Removed non-vital devices from the starter drillship to make it less cluttered and easier to navigate for new players
- You can now drag and drop items anywhere outside the inventory window to drop them on the ground
- Hid destroyed drillship icons on travel map
- All interior subpart sockets (round things on the wall you can build stuff on) now require hull upgrade 2 or higher to appear
- The basement door and the mine gate are now visually damaged to indicate there is something behind them
- Optimized default module textures
- Optimized COG unit navigation (should no longer get stuck thinking where to go next)
- Player gets notified about every new item that enters player's or drillship's inventory (can be disabled in settings)
- Improved the damaged core model and added VFX to make it easier to spot for new players
- Added warning text when the drillship is about to explode
- Added an option to audio settings to change volume of the menu sound effects (eg. that clicking sound when you point at a button)
- Installing higher Core upgrade now adds extra inventory slots for the front drill default storage
- Installing higher Core upgrade increases default energy storage value and boiler power plant output
- Added sounds effects that play when you complete or acquire a quest
- Drillship doors now get visually damaged
- Backpacks on the ground disappear when fully looted
- Lots of adjustments have been made to the quest system
Before we wrap up I just wanted to address that we didn't manage to do the preview branch testing this time but we definitely want to continue doing it in the future!
And that's it for this update folks! We'll catch up on some sleep, probably do a caffeine detox, and start working on the next one.
However we'll still monitor the bug reports and in case it's needed, we'll release a hotfix update asap. So if you spot something, don't hesitate to report it through the in-game feedback system.
Thank you for the amazing support leading up to this release and hope you have a blast with the update!
- Rich and the team
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