working on research tasks is now rewarded with each completed work cycle (in addition to the completion reward)
when you start a new station on Venus or Mercury, the Pioneer gets 2 resp. 3 radiators to get rid of the heat
New features
the resource flow overviews now show how much is flowing through where and what percentage that is of the maximum flow
Weekly News
Moin Moin
This week, the experimental branch will transition to the standard branch. There are some major changes to this as well:
the assistance system has been kicked out (but all positive effects have remained)
the workstations are automatically assigned as soon as you hire someone
the camera can be locked in orbit mode or outdoor mode
the flowing resources have got overviews
the languages in the game are now loaded via csv files and can be changed more easily this way
There are also two minor things that have been changed. In the patch notes to the update you can find the corresponding entries.
Regarding the flowing resources overviews, let's say that this is not the final version yet. In any case, we will add numbers to the overviews so that it is easier to see how much is flowing where and whether the tubes are at capacity or not.
In the next week there will probably be no news, because we are not in the office that week.
See you the week after.
Patch Notes - v0.3.1/d09
Moin,
we have made a few changes.
Fixed bugs
a new game starts paused
the batteries do not show negative remaining capacities anymore
in build mode the selected station part can be changed
Changes
the living quarters got a bigger heater
a "credits" menu was introduced and the splash screen was shortened by one logo
the assistance system has been kicked out
the languages are now read in via a CSV file (is now easier to edit)
the water for the inhabitants is now mixed directly into the food
some UI performance tweeks (with many station inhabitants the UI could pull a lot of processing power under some circumstances)
the temperature behavior of the station parts has been reworked
New features
new station inhabitants are now automatically assigned to workstations, priorities can be assigned to the workstations, but manual assignment is also still possible
the camera can be locked in orbit or free mode
the flowing resources like water or carbon dioxide got overviews, so that one gets an impression where what flows along
Weekly News
Moin Moin
Unfortunately we don't have an update ready yet this week.
We are working on overviews for the resource flow and we would like to show you some screenshots: The menu for the overviews will look something like this, you can select the respective resources and the heat overview is also included.
And here you can see the water flow through the station. It's not quite finished yet and probably too small.
I hope that we will have these new features ready in the next two weeks so that you can play with them.
See you then.
Weekly News
Moin Moin
Something has changed in the experimental branch.
First of all, a small thing: The water that the station inhabitants consume is now mixed directly into the food. This means that the food processor needs much more water and also works twice as long, but the inhabitants now only consume food and oxygen.
The more extensive change is the way other languages can be added to the game. When the game is started, a CSV file is created (in the folder "local path to the game"\Heliopolis Six\Heliopolis Six_Data\GameData\Languages) that contains all languages. This file can then be edited (change or add languages), Heliopolis Six should recognise this and will try to apply the changes. Once the CSV file has been created, it is always used and no new one is created. So far, the file contains English, German and French. The French translation is probably very bad, as we only have a very rudimentary knowledge of French.
We hope for your help with the translations. If you feel like it, you can send us your edited CSV by mail or via Discord.
Next we will work on a new view that will visualise the flow of resources.
See you then.
Weekly News
Moin Moin
We have introduced an experimental branch for Heliopolis Six. You can activate it in your library. Right click on the game -> properties -> betas and there select beta in beta participation. There you can also find the previous version, in case something is wrong with the current one.
In the experimental branch you can now find some changes:
As already announced, the assistant system has been removed. However, the respective functions of the assistants have remained and are available right from the start.
Assigning residents to their jobs now happens automatically. this can also be turned on and off individually and is controlled by priorities.
Furthermore, we have introduced the possibility to lock the camera in orbit or free mode. The function was there before, but it was always overridden by the automatic mode. There are two new buttons for this in the upper right corner and the corresponding keyboard assignment in the settings.
Otherwise, we introduced credits in the main menu, so the splash screen at the start of the game only contains the Acid Mines logo and is shorter. And the heat production of the living quarters has been increased so that the residents don't freeze to death so quickly.
Some of the changes we would like to test further and get feedback from you players before the experimental version goes to the standard version. Then there will be patch notes for the version.
See you next week.
Weekly News
Moin Moin
We are back again! Hopefully the last weeks were as relaxing for you as they were for us.
In the last two weeks we were able to fix some bugs in the game, most of which were found by you. Thanks for the bug reports here, they really mean a lot to us.
We have also changed the algorithm that optimizes the flow of fluid resources through the station. The model we use has always been based on the Euler equations of fluid dynamics and we have now incorporated the influence of momentum. The end result is that changes propagate faster and resources get where they need to go faster.
Until now, the flow of resources through pipes and cables was also calculated this way. But there should always have been another system. That is what has happened now. The maximum flow through the pipes and cables is still limited, but it is calculated directly between the connected storages. So it doesn't matter how long the pipe or cable is (which is not the case for the flow through the station), the resources are much faster. Thus, the pipes and cables are even more important for larger stations.
Next, we would like to take on resident micromanagement. We've gotten a lot of feedback that managing residents and their jobs is too much and too unclear. The assignment of residents will happen automatically, but you will still be able to manually control who works where. The assistance system will probably be dropped and the corresponding bonuses (e.g. automatic repair) will be permanently available. There will also soon be a new view that visualizes resource flows.
If you have any ideas for changes or improvements, feel free to contact us. See you next week.
Patch Notes - v0.3.1/d04
Moin,
we have made a few changes.
Fixed bugs
An error that occurred when deconstructing station parts was fixed.
A bug that occurred when filtering research tasks has been fixed.
An error occurred when deconstructing turrets with connected power lines was fixed.
A bug that could cause the game to crash when building station parts and auto-save became active at the same time has been removed.
Changes
The algorithm that calculates the flow of fluid resources through the station has been optimized.
When connecting fluid stores with cables or pipes, a different algorithm now takes effect when calculating flows, so the distance between stores no longer matters and it should flow faster.
Weekly News
Moin Moin
This week we have worked on bugs and made changes to two menus.
Mainly affected is the menu where the research tasks are selected. There you can now filter by clients and the modules in which the task can be processed. And when such a research task is completed, it now automatically continues with the previously selected process. That should reduce micromanagement a bit.
There will be no Weekly News for the next four weeks, as we are all (both) out of the office during that time. We hope you guys can stand it.
If you have any suggestions or noticed any bugs, feel free to come to our Discord server or send us an email.
Patch Notes - v0.3.1/d04
Moin,
we have made a few changes.
New features
The top menu now also shows the number of residents.
When selecting research tasks, two filters will now help you. We have also split the menu into two menus.
In the resource detail menu you can now see which module currently consumes or produces how much of the selected resource.
Fixed bugs
Errors could creep in when saving some game situations, causing crashes when reloading, saving and reloading. The save bug has been fixed, but some game saves may still contain the bug and continue to cause problems.
Changes
The news sounds have been made louder.
After completing a research task, the module resumes the process done before it.
New station parts are built only when they are adjacent to a finished station part. But the resources are still transported to the construction site before.
The prices at the marketplace have been revised. It should no longer happen that you buy for little and sell the same for a lot of money again.
