[Game Update] - Public Testing 477316

[JarrettM]

Hello everyone!

Today we’re starting Public Testing of the next update for Spaced Out!. 

So far this includes a couple new buildings and some changes to how rocket ranges are calculated.

Rockets now consume fuel during take off and landing. Range calculations have been updated accordingly. 
We also found it fitting to adjust the tuning of rocket engines. In particular we increased the relative range of the Hydrogen engine by a large amount and reduced the relative range of the Radbolt engine.

Rockets with the “round trip” toggle active will complete their harvest of space POIs before returning to their home world.

The Automation Broadcaster and Automation Broadcast Receiver buildings allow automation signals to be sent wirelessly so long as both buildings have a view of space. This even works between asteroids and spacecraft. The broadcast has a range of 5 hexes on the starmap.

A number of bug fixes are also included. The full patch notes are listed below.

Please let us know in the bug forums if you see anything unexpected. We appreciate your feedback!

What does this testing branch contain so far?

Spoiler

• Features
  • Added Automation Broadcaster and Automation Broadcast Receiver buildings
• Changes & Improvements
  • Updated Korean and Russian Localizations
  • Spaced Out! Only
    • Rockets now burn one hex worth of fuel when taking off and landing.
    • Rockets in old save files that are in-flight and have at least some fuel or oxidizer in their tanks will have their fuel and oxidizer tanks topped off to prevent stranding rockets.
    • Rebalanced rocket engine fuel consumption rates, resulting in changes to the ranges of rockets.
    • Increased CO2 Engine range from 4 to 6
    • Increased Sugar Engine range from 4 to 6
    • Increased Steam Engine range from 6 to 10
    • Increased Small Petrol Engine fuel efficiency to change base range from 6 to 10
    • Increased Petrol Engine fuel efficiency to change range per tank from 6 to 10
    • Increased Hydrogen Engine fuel efficiency to change range per tank from 9 to 16
    • Reduced the number of Radbolts the Radbolt engine can store from 4800 to 4000.
    • This results in a maximum range decrease of 24 to 20
    • The length of the pending path is now shown when selecting a rocket destination.
    • Rockets with the RoundTrip toggle active will now wait until POI harvesting is complete before returning to their source.
    • Spacefarer Conduit Port Tiles art revision
    • Ladder Bed art and animation revision.
    • Wall Toilet’s output is only blocked by substantial liquid.
    • Added Ladder Bed sound
    • Added sound for rocket scout lander landing sequence
• Fixes
  • Fixed issue that could cause an unexpected column of natural tiles to appear on load.
  • Removed stray black lines sticking out from some tile artwork.
  • Duplicants and critters no longer idle in locations where Airflow Tiles, Mesh Tiles, Insulated Tiles, and Farm Tiles are being constructed.
  • Wall Pot can now be placed next to a tile under construction
  • Fixed Drecko description in Care Package screen to reflect its true diet.
  • Added missing input bindings text for tools.
  • Fixed typo in dying off germs tooltip
  • Duplicants can no longer use a Mess Table when it's non-operational. 
  • Base Game Only
    • Fixed crash clicking on Red Alert notification.
  • Spaced Out! Only
    • Fixed disappearing progress bar of the Radbolt Generator when switching to Materials/Decor overlays.
    • Wall Toilet is no longer operational when missing wall tiles.
    • Fixed issue for dynamic music "To the Stars" where it only played the beginning section

 

 

What is public testing?

"Public testing" means players get to test-drive new content early and give us feedback and suggestions before it goes live. Because this is an unfinished and in active development version of the game, it's pretty likely you'll encounter bugs, crashes or balance issues while playing these builds. We'll try to fix any problems that crop up as quickly as we can, but it's possible you'll lose progress in your games while playing on the Testing branch.

Regarding performance, the Testing branch has additional debugging tools enabled to help us track down crashes. This makes the game run more slowly than the live version of the game.

Please also be aware that once a save is loaded in the Testing branch, it cannot be reopened again in the previous Live branch or previous builds.

What do I do if I find a crash or a bug?

Post it up on the Bug Tracker and we'll fix it as soon as we can. If you can attach a copy of your save file to your report, that helps us even more as we can pinpoint the source of problem more quickly.

Do I have to play the public testing build?

Nope! If you'd prefer to only play a stable build, you can continue to play in the current Default branch until the game launches in full. Playing the Open Testing build isn't necessary, but it helps us a lot to receive your feedback and reports - if you're interested, try it out!

How do I become an public tester?

There's no sign up or registration for becoming an open tester. If you own Oxygen Not Included plus the Spaced Out! DLC and want to join the Testing Branch, all you have to do is play the Open Testing build on Steam.

How do I play the public testing build?

You can switch your branch on Steam using the instructions below:

Spoiler

How to change branches in Oxygen Not Included (Steam)

• In Steam, click on Library > Games.
• Scroll down to Oxygen Not Included.
• Right-click and select Properties.
• Go to the BETAS tab.
• In the dropdown, select the name of the branch you want to play. In this case, the branch name is "public_testing"
  • This branch does not require a password.
• In that same Properties window, go to the Local Files tab and press "Verify Integrity Of Game Cache."
• Your game will be updated to the the previous branch.
• Launch and play Oxygen Not Included

 

View full update

[Primalflower]

2 minutes ago, JarrettM said:

Rockets with the “round trip” toggle active will complete their harvest of space POIs before returning to their home world.

[fullerfamily]

Transmitter/Receiver- for automated shipping perhaps? I can't think of another use. 

[gabberworld]

Rockets now burn one hex worth of fuel when taking off and landing

this looks more logical now as it was able before exploit without use fuel at all and use it for research points

Edited September 3, 2021 by gabberworld

[Xenocent]

i hope rover improvement in works after automation wireless

Edited September 3, 2021 by Xenocent

[Fradow]

The Tower of Terror is no more!

Glad to see the list™ is being worked on!

[Gurgel]

10 hours ago, JarrettM said:

• Duplicants and critters no longer idle in locations where Airflow Tiles, Mesh Tiles, Insulated Tiles, and Farm Tiles are being constructed.

Finally. I swear at least the Dreckos did this on purpose to annoy me!

Edited September 3, 2021 by Gurgel

[AzulCrescent]

10 hours ago, JarrettM said:

Fixed issue that could cause an unexpected column of natural tiles to appear on load.

Yay! This has caused plenty of "!?" in my playthrough so I'm happy to see it fixed.

 

Thanks for the rocket changes too! It's great to see taking off and landing actually taking fuel. Like these tuning changes! 

Since rockets are being worked on this patch, can I suggest the rocket controls stations having a "Look exterior" button? Its just rather awkward having the exterior of rockets having a "look interior" button but when you want to look from the exterior, you have to click the list on the upper right corner.

 

Also this is just my personal opinion, but I hope Klei can consider making the late game rockets have a more engine power, since in my experience, the game kinda slows to a crawl at that point since you're just waiting for the rockets to go around, (and also because the game's also slowing down due to fps death lol)

[SackMaggie]

13 hours ago, JarrettM said:

Rockets now consume fuel during take off and landing

No more free stuff ?

Potential Range On the left is incorrect.

Edited September 3, 2021 by SackMaggie

[sakura_sk]

1 hour ago, AzulCrescent said:

Its just rather awkward having the exterior of rockets having a "look interior" button but when you want to look from the exterior, you have to click the list on the upper right corner.

There is a "view exterior" button but no one seems to notice (super stealth door) 

I also think that more engine power for petroleum and hydrogen engines, would make more sense, so a CO2 rocket wouldn't be considered superior...

DLC rocket stats after this update:

Spoiler

*I hope CO2 and hydrogen engine will not have any "rounding" problems concerning their range...

• Every rocket setup has a solo spacefarer nosecone as a minimum to calculate max speed
• Max range for petroleum and hydrogen engines can be misleading. It is the possibility of range, not what it is actually sensible to build because it is calculated having a solo spacefarer nosecone only.

 

[NeoDeusMachina]

1 hour ago, sakura_sk said:

DLC rocket stats after this update:

Have you tested if it is -1 hex for taking off and -1 hex for landing? If so, each engine effectively has -4 range on the starmap when then want to land on another asteroid and come back (compared to the numbers given in the patch notes). This means both the CO2 engine and sucrose engines can only do a round trip to the closest asteroid (1 tile away from the starting asteroid). 

Effective range is -2 if only going to space for any reason without landing back on the asteroid where the rocket took off or for one way trips.

I just think giving the total range can be misleading now that we have to use fuel when taking off and landing (for which I am very happy with). Edit: I guess what I mean is by "range" I understand "how far from my starting point can I go and still come back?". I would call the number of fuel hexes or whatever, something else than the rocket range. The "range" of a CO2 rocket is 1 tile if it lands on the 2nd asteroid, not 6, for example. Its range would be 2 hexes on the starmap if it doesn't land anywhere else than its starting point. I don't know if that makes sense XD

Edited September 3, 2021 by NeoDeusMachina

[AzulCrescent]

1 hour ago, sakura_sk said:

There is a "view exterior" button but no one seems to notice (super stealth door) 

WHAT. I've never noticed this and ive fired so many rockets. Still, though, it'd be nice to also have it on the rocket control station. 

[sakura_sk]

56 minutes ago, NeoDeusMachina said:

I don't know if that makes sense XD

I'm not sure I got it... but they changed the max range of rockets by changing the fuel consumption per tile for each rocket.
There's also this tooltip to help calculations

Any hex now counts properly for distance by 1 tile. What I meant about CO2 and H2 engines is that their consumption is counted on decimals so I don't know if the calculation would always round it up and not down

Spoiler

You can still go 3 tiles away from planet (2 from orbit) and turn back, using a CO2 rocket like before the update

Edited September 3, 2021 by sakura_sk

[KnoBuddy]

A reason to actually use my LOX and LH2 finally. Yay!

[Orzelek]

Am I the only one puzzled why steam engine is so much worse then CO2 engine?
Steam has much more energy and I guess dropping it to 300W with better power could be helpful.

[blueberry pi]

The automatic broadcaster and receiver can be used in rockets, so we could detect when a rocket is 3 hexes away and send a signal to surface to do something, for example open the bunker doors in the regolith planetoid for the rocket and close them when it has arrived with the starmap location sensor set to give green when in the planetoid, so no more manual closing in meteor showers, and something similar if you want to use a gantry and not have it be destroyed.

[NeoDeusMachina]

1 hour ago, sakura_sk said:

Any hex now counts properly for distance by 1 tile.

Yeah you are right - I was still counting it the "old way", from orbit. But now, we can simply count each tile from the planetoid itself, which makes counting range more intuitive than before I think. I just have to re-wire that part of my brain.

In your example (see below), it shows 2 tiles from the surface of the starting planet to the orbit of the 2nd. If we want to do a round trip and land on the 2nd (closest) planet, it will take the entire 6 tiles range of a CO2 or sucrose engine.

[Kderosa]

It appears the idea is that you can make a roundtrip to the closest planet using the CO2/sucrose engine or a one way trip to the teleport planet (plus visit a ew of the closest POIs) and do some orbital research to then unlock the engines with more range/more height.

The problem (as I see it) is that research points are much too easy to acquire compared to the amount of infrastructure you need to build to take advantage of whatever you're going to get from these close-by planets.  By the time I've stabilized my base, teleported to the teleport planet, built a mini-base there, strip mined all the lead, fossil, and diamond to get into steel production and rewired my base and begin pumping all the oil I need to start my fledgling petroleum industry (about 200 cycles) my researcher has already researched all the relevant rocketry related tech and is waiting around for the first rocket to be built to do orbital research.  That orbital research takes approximately one cycle to unlock petroleum engines thereby making obsolete all previous engines except possibly the steam engine for specialized missions.

There is so much H2O available now that petroleum is incredibly cheap to make, despite having an abundance of CO2 at the bottom of the map waiting to be disposed of and sucrose being readily available if you have some grubfruit farms running.

I'm thinking from a gameplay standpoint, there's an opportunity to limit the player's ability to use any engines but the CO2/sucrose engines by keeping the higher tech locked up longer (say 100 cycles) before the more powerful engines become available.

In the base game, the meteor/regolith problem had to be conquered which provided that delay (though not much since the steam engines rocket only made two trips before being retired) and the LOX/LH infrastructure added another delay to get to the hydrogen rockets (the only rockets capable of reaching the outer planets - which unfortunately contained nothing you couldn't get from the inner planets) .  We don't have those built in challenges/delay issues in the DLC and the space materials are a bit too easy to acquire with lower technology. With the exception of viscogel which should be available at least in limited quantities much earlier so the player can make stable airlocks early on (i.e., when you need to make most of them) without having to do the liquid lock thing which should be limited to more extreme conditions.

These are mostly nits I'm picking, the big picture is that the late game gameplay has been vastly improved with the DLC changes such that there are actual gameplay challenges to conquer late game instead of just a sandbox you get to play in while you make crazy builds you really don't need to accomplish any objective.  And, I realize this is a tall order given the complexity of the game with all the interrelated interactions  and the game mechanics (and also the fact that many players still struggle to achieve a stable base and keep it alive for 100 cycles), but I think we're getting close to that goal. it's just a matter of rebalancing a few things (kinda how they've just done with the rocket engines).

Anyway my 2 cents for what it's worth.

 

[Sergadra]

So i hope the Radiation Stuff is more in work again. Would love to see some more sources of Radiation espacially for the Diamond pressing. I am sure the Radbolt engine still will produce way way more Radiation then it uses with this change. But it would feel more natural if new Rad sources and Buildings are added.

Also i hope there is still Performance Changes in the working it still needs that kind of polishing.

Anf finnaly i would love to see some improvements about the Isoresin Farming. I have a large Grubfruit farm right now and i have other things in the work. Still the amount you get stays rather small for the workload it creates.

[sakura_sk]

39 minutes ago, Kderosa said:

We don't have those built in challenges/delay issues in the DLC

And that's why I still play the DLC and not the base game. If at any point the meteors/space grinding comes back again I would gladly abandon it and not bother with DLC anymore. I already miss the "closer to space" starting point that made possible to space travel before cycle 100

[Kderosa]

2 minutes ago, sakura_sk said:

And that's why I still play the DLC and not the base game.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I liked that particular grind, all I'm saying is that it did provide a multi-cycle challenge which delayed my ability to enter space easily or at least without throwing caution to the wind. Though if you ramped up your steel production beforehand, walling off space went pretty quickly and dealing with regolith could be done incrementally in the background as your space industry built up. It was and is a grind because, it's a monumental project and there is little to be gained from space that really justifies all that infrastructure.  It became an end rather than just a necessary means to end.  In actuality, there was no real late game end in the base game, its biggest flaw.  But, yes, I agree I do like the DLC way much better.

13 minutes ago, sakura_sk said:

I already miss the "closer to space" starting point that made possible to space travel before cycle 100

Is there a reason to enter space so early?

I also agree that getting into space early should be a thing, but there doesn't seem to be much of a reason to do it - I don't really need the extra gold ore, aluminum ore or pips to rush to get there. I'd rather teleport and get lead, fossil, diamond, and oil so I can make steel, petroleum, plastic, and cheap conductive wires (and other refined metal things) first.

[sakura_sk]

4 minutes ago, Kderosa said:

Is there a reason to enter space so early?

Just for the fun of it.

Being able to space travel without stabilizing anything and fly to another planet just to see if dupes can handle it (and multitasking everything at the same time). A linear build up to late game rockets is not something I'm fond of.

[NeoDeusMachina]

38 minutes ago, Kderosa said:

Is there a reason to enter space so early?

I also agree that getting into space early should be a thing, but there doesn't seem to be much of a reason to do it - I don't really need the extra gold ore, aluminum ore or pips to rush to get there. I'd rather teleport and get lead, fossil, diamond, and oil so I can make steel, petroleum, plastic, and cheap conductive wires (and other refined metal things) first.

To be fair, not everyone plays in the same way - and that is perfectly fine.

In the base game, I never really got the "point" of space. All space research did was unlock more rocket parts that allowed me to get more space research to get... more rocket parts... you get the idea. By the time I reached space and started exploring it, I already had a self sustaining colony and I never felt like I needed any of the resources from space, except the occasional missing critter depending on the map I started on. The other reason was for achievement purposes (tear, moos, etc.).

Similar arguments could be made in the DLC when playing on classic style. I feel like I have everything I need right there and don't really need to go to space, or at least not rush it.

However, I only enjoy playing Spaced Out! style, and recently discovered the joy of disabling teleporters. With that setup, reaching space earlier can be desirable.

In any case, I think the purpose of the DLC was to integrate space within the normal flow of the game and make it accessible earlier. Adding delays would be rather counter-productive in that aspect.

Edited September 3, 2021 by NeoDeusMachina

[Kderosa]

3 minutes ago, sakura_sk said:

Being able to space travel without stabilizing anything and fly to another planet just to see if dupes can handle it (and multitasking everything at the same time). A linear build up to late game rockets is not something I'm fond of.

I see.  Every time I rush things like that I wind up becoming spread too thinly and things bog down and then the fires start appearing. Although, being forced to do this would make for a better game I think to get the player out of their comfort zone and taking things slow and steady.  I like being on the edge or starvation, suffocation, heat death, and disease while trying to complete needed projects.

6 minutes ago, NeoDeusMachina said:

In any case, I think the purpose of the DLC was to integrate space within the normal flow of the game and make it accessible earlier. Adding delays would be rather counter-productive in that aspect.

I agree with all your previous points and also that the early rocketry tech should be readily available early on for exploration, it's the later rocketry tech that should be locked up for awhile forcing you to stick to the early rockets for awhile instead of upgrading immediately to petroleum or radbolts. Also, there should be more of a reason to force you into space earlier but right now the dupe teleporter obviates most of that.  In contrast, the material teleporters are a good thing so you don't have to transfer tons of raw materials in storage bins in the rocket cabin which strikes me as wrong.

[WeSaidMeh]

3 hours ago, AzulCrescent said:

WHAT. I've never noticed this and ive fired so many rockets. Still, though, it'd be nice to also have it on the rocket control station. 

I would very much prefer a global "previous view" feature. You press a hotkey, and it switches back to the previously viewed planetoid/rocket. I'm very often in that situation where I just want to quick check on a remote project, and then go back to where I was. Could also be used as a quick toggle between two locations then.

I know about saving camera views and toggling between planetoids with hotkeys, but a simple "back" that's always on the same key would be convenient.

Edited September 3, 2021 by WeSaidMeh