Patch Update 33.1

Howdy Folks!

The Choices update was released last week and I’ve been busy working on a patch update to address some reported issues as well. A huge thank you for all the amazing feedback and support.

If you don’t already own a copy of the game be sure to grab a copy while it’s still 25% off!

Xeno Mold

Xeno mold, in its current form, replicates per piece of xeno mold. This means an exponential spread of xeno mold as each new piece of xeno mold generated determines if/when it spreads to an adjacent tile.

In a previous update I made it so that the spread would reduce and come to a stop if xeno mold was above a certain threshold. While to meant it would stop spreading too far, each piece of xeno mold removed by a janitor was quickly replaced. If you didn’t get to the xeno mold quickly and didn’t have a lot of high level janitors this meant your colonists were affectively shoveling against the tide.

I’ve made a small, but important change to the xeno mold event that should help to make it more manageable and less frustrating. Instead of allowing each piece of xeno mold to replicate, the xeno mold event now generates a xeno mold controller. This invisible controller handles the generating new pieces of xeno mold and will remove itself once a pre-defined maximum amount of xeno mold is generated. The spread is now linear instead of exponential and once the controller has finished generating xeno mold the janitors can clean it up without more taking it’s place.

Fixes

There are several fixes in this patch including a fix to colonist age generation, custom names not working during crew assignment, scenario data not saving in some instances and more.

Check the release notes below for the full list of changes and fixes. Thanks for all the feedback and certainly let me know what you think of Mercury Fallen.

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Release Notes

Changes

  • Xeno mold now has a maximum amount it will spawn per event. Once this max value is reached the xeno mold will stop generating to adjacent tiles, allowing for easier management and clean up.
  • Cleaned up recipe xml data to remove references to older input_items tag. This should remove some confusion on what data is needed when generating recipes in mods.
  • Increased custom colonist and vehicle name length from 18 to 20 characters

Fixes

  • Fixed: Setting a name during colonist crew selection not applied to colonist
  • Fixed: Colonist spawn profile data not loading max age value correctly. This caused colonists to get spawned with much lower ages then intended.
  • Fixed: Unable to drag select an object for deconstruction if another non-destructible object occupies the same tile.
  • Fixed: Events still triggering if trigger chance was set to 0% during scenario setup in some instances
  • Fixed: Character limit not enforced when renaming a colonist via the colonist management screen.
  • Fixed: Resource transport vehicle loading/unloading resources without having to travel to the mining platform to get the resources. This would occur if the destination was unreachable by the vehicle.
  • Fixed: Scenario settings not being saved if saving a game originally created in the phone home update.
  • Fixed: Cave in event notification text incorrectly states flooring prevents cave ins
  • Fixed: Vomit on floor sometimes shaped like a female colonist
  • Fixed: Cave Salad not requiring sponge stalk as an ingredient item
  • Fixed: Opened stasis capsule info window shows warning info that is no longer relevant

Howdy Folks!

I’m super excited to announce that the Choices update is now available. A huge thank you to everyone that provided feedback and bug reports on the experimental branch. The Choices update includes a completely revamped new game interface that offers greater control over how you want to play the game.

A Whole New Game

You now have far more options and control when starting a new game. Custom scenarios offer preset configurations, but you can choose custom scenario from the scenario list to have full control over game settings and starting colonists.

There are a whole bunch of new configurable game settings that control everything from plant growth speed to disabling that pesky xeno mold.

In custom scenario mode you also have full control over how many starting colonists you have. Additionally you can edit their job role levels and attributes to get the perfect start you want.

Additional Changes

While the new game interface is the primary focus of this update, there are a few other tweaks and changes that have been made.

The decorative plant pot has had a minor visual change and a new wide variant has been added.

Other changes include an improved look to colonist portrait images, new main menu background, increased lighting when zoomed in and various bug fixes.

Be sure to check out the full list of release notes below.

Steam Summer Sale!

Mercury Fallen is now 25% during the Steam Summer Sale. It’s a great time to pick up a copy if you don’t have one. or go bug your friends to get a copy.

Check out the full list of changes and fixes in the release notes below and be sure to let me know what you think of the Choices update. Have fun out there. 🙂

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Release Notes

New Game Interface

  • Complete overhaul of the new game interface
  • Added scenarios to new game interface
  • Added custom scenario mode that allows full edit of inventory, settings and colonists
  • Can now choose your starting colonists. Randomize button in pre-made scenario and full edit in custom scenario mode.
  • Starting supplies have changed for better balance

Additions & Changes

  • Added Wide Plant Pot
  • Minor change to existing plant pot to increase size and appearance
  • Minor changes to world generation including faster generation of map data
  • Items on ground will now show a cannot be reached hover icon if colonists can’t reach the items
  • Changed the look of the main menu background
  • Colonist portraits images are now better lit
  • Minor change to position of female colonist portraits so that male/female portraits align better.
  • Underground facility now illuminated when camera is fully zoomed in
  • Updated rooms guide section to provide clarification on room effects
  • Can now manually drop off resources from mining vehicle when adjacent to the facility or a resource depot
  • Removed double scroll bar in construction queue window

Fixes

  • Fixed: Stasis capsules found about the map not saving existing colonist data so that on loading a save game the stasis capsule may contain a colonist with different stats/job roles.
  • Fixed: Minimap causing various issues when reloading a save game in some instances.
  • Fixed: Able to copy craft queue to a machine that doesn’t accept those recipes
  • Fixed: Position In Build Queue label too close to build item requirements in construction info section
  • Fixed: Game time still running while in the new game window. This means the game doesn’t start at the beginning of day 1 depending on how long it takes to set up a new game.
  • Fixed: Construction queue items not always appearing in the correct position when re-ordering the list with mouse drag.
  • Fixed: Mission Log shortcut key not working

Howdy Folks!

The Choices is now available on the experimental branch on Steam!

This update overhauls the new game interface to provide a whole slew of new options and customization of starting colonists and inventory. There are couple of additional smaller additions as well.

Check out the experimental branch if you would like to help by providing feedback and bug reports on the latest content.

Choices Update Experimental Info & Patch Notes | What is the Experimental Branch and how do I access it?

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Howdy Folks!

As mentioned in the previous developer log, the upcoming Choices update will include a complete rework of the new game interface. This means a whole lot of new options when starting a new game. The new game interface will be broken down into sections that I’ll go over below.

Scenarios

While the previous system offered difficulty options, this new system will provide scenarios. Scenarios will affect various starting settings and crew configurations. The “Custom” scenario option will enable the ability to edit the settings and crew data in the following sections. Modders will also be able to created scenarios that will appear in the scenarios list.

Settings

This section contains the map data you may be currently familiar with, but also has a list of new settings. When in custom scenario mode these settings can be directly modified and events can even be toggled off by settings the trigger percentage to zero percent.

The starting supplies can also be directly changed in edit mode.

Crew

When in a selected scenario, colonists can be randomized to try to get more favorable values. When in custom scenario mode, however, colonists can be added, removed and have their attributes and job role levels directly modified.

Experimental Branch

This is still a work in progress, but an initial version of the new system will be coming to the experimental branch later this week or early next week.

Survey

If you haven’t seen it already there is a new feedback survey available for the Phone Home update. If you haven’t checked it out already and have a few minutes, then be sure to check it out.

Phone Home Feedback Survey

Thanks for the great feedback and support everyone! Let me know what you think of the new content in development.

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