Council Report #4: New Advisor, Gatling Gun, Sandstorms, and More
Greetings Founder,
The Council has been impressed with how you've been using the Tech Tree so far, especially without any guidance. You may recall in our last report that I mentioned you would be getting some help. Well, your advisor is almost here, and I've been granted permission to share with you more of our progress. So let's dive in, shall we?
New Discoveries
Research Director
The one and only Braxton Daw is coming to Titan to be your Research Director. Yes, that Braxton Daw, the genius behind Earth's incredibly accurate weather prediction system. I know, it's a little crazy, but he accepted a personal invite from the Council. Between you and me, I think he's excited by the idea of science without those pesky Earth ethics boards.
It's truly an honor to be able to work alongside such a distinguished individual, so please treat him with the same respect you would if addressing Aenar Pyr herself. Brace yourself, because he arrives soon.
Sandstorms and Snowstorms
Speaking of weather, we've had some reports of sandstorms and snowstorms hitting various locations across Titan. It's rare in most locations, but they've been hitting drier and snowier parts of Titan with increased frequency.
The Council wishes me to give you fair warning to expect them, because you'll need to account for lower visibility, and longer travel times for your Employees through more snow.
Gatling Gun
Until now, ships have only been equipped with laser weapons, but the Council's engineers have recently completed a prototype for a Gatling Gun. They're not quite as precise as laser weapons, but they fire faster and do more hull damage per strike.
The rebels won't know what hit them.
Xethane and Pylon Inert Ruins
Our researchers have also made some new progress with their work on Inert Ruins. Before this, we unlocked the ability for certain ruins to store energy and fuel. We were certain that if they could do that, they could do so much more. And we were right. Obviously.
We've found that some ruins have a connection to sources of Xethane below the surface. By finagling with a few things here and there, our researchers were able to figure out a way to draw the Xethane out and emit it from the ruin itself.
We've also discovered a way to connect some ruins to your city-corporation's grid. They act identically to a pylon, though their effective ranges can sometimes have odd patterns.
We have confidence you'll be able to utilize these findings to their utmost potential. These new discoveries, and maybe a few more, will be made available to you soon. Until next time, Founder.
TECH TREE: Research Ancient Technologies in your new Tech Tree NEW BUILDING: Build a Science Lab to enable researching NEW SHIP DEVICE: Build a Reinforcement Pillar to increase ship HP BUILDING BLUEPRINTS: You can build factories with blueprints now! and more!
Industries of Titan is in Early Access, which means we are actively updating and adding new content based on our roadmap and your wonderful feedback. You can expect the next Titan Tuesday update on November 2nd, 2021.
See the full patch notes below!
Titan Tuesday: Patch 0.18.0
Tech Tree
Changes as of 0.18.0
🪐 indicates changes due to community feedback!
New Feature: Tech Tree
Randomly generated at the start of each new game
Unlock new research options with artifacts
Each new bridge unlocked reveals more of the tech tree
29 unique techs to discover (with more to come!)
Tech can unlock stat boosts, buildings and devices
New Building: Science Lab
Research new technologies in the science lab
Additional employees assigned to higher level science labs will increase the speed that research is completed
Connecting a science lab will increase the efficiency of each employee working inside
New Device: Reinforcement Pillar
Can be unlocked from the tech tree
Each pillar adds 2 extra HP to the ship it is in
🪐 Building Blueprints!
You asked for it, we delivered! Buildings can now have blueprints that you can save just like with ships! Like with ship blueprints, please note that you will need all your resources up front to be able to use a building blueprint
Increased the number of blueprint slots available
Important note: Because we have placed some devices in the tech tree (namely on ships), blueprints using those devices will not always be available for use until you’ve managed to unlock the device in the tech tree of the game you’re currently playing. We are currently brainstorming ways to solve this design oversight!
Balance Updates
Some buildings, devices and ships are now unlocked through the Tech Tree (If you have already unlocked any of these in a previous save they will still be available to build when updating to the new patch)
Buildings: Air Purifier, Industrial Fan, Council Obelisk
Devices: Shields (Regular and automatic), Reinforcement Pillar
This patch is for an experimental (i.e. beta or unstable) build. If you'd like to learn more about our experimental process or how to access the experimental build, please see this post.
Changes as of 0.17.3
🪐 indicates changes due to community feedback!
Balance Changes
🪐 Reduced research times
🪐 Reduced tech bridge costs
🪐 Increased minimum artifacts in artifact patches
Removed some repeat tier 3 technologies
Fixes as of 0.17.3
Fixed a crash that would occur when the final rebel camp was destroyed
Fixed an issue where longer research times would be displayed incorrectly
This patch is for an experimental (i.e. beta or unstable) build. If you'd like to learn more about our experimental process or how to access the experimental build, please see this post.
Changes as of 0.17.2
🪐 indicates changes due to community feedback!
New Feature: Tech Tree
Randomly generated at the start of each new game
Unlock new research options with artifacts
Each new bridge unlocked reveals more of the tech tree
29 unique techs to discover (with more to come!)
Tech can unlock stat boosts, buildings and devices
New Building: Science Lab
Research new technologies in the science lab
Additional employees assigned to higher level science labs will increase the speed that research is completed
Connecting a science lab will increase the efficiency of each employee working inside
New Device: Reinforcement Pillar
Can be unlocked from the tech tree
Each pillar adds 2 extra HP to the ship it is in
Balance Updates
Some buildings, devices and ships are now unlocked through the tech tree (If you have already unlocked any of these in a previous save they will still be available to build when updating to the new patch)
Buildings: Air purifier, Industrial Fan, Council Obelisk
Devices: Shields (Regular and automatic), Reinforcement Pillar
We've been quite busy since last we spoke, as I hope you've been as well. You may recall in our last report, the Council has been pushing for new ways to collect Artifacts. The reason for that being what I'm about to show you today - the culmination of our mutual efforts.
The ancient civilization before us held untold treasure troves of knowledge, but now that we've begun to unravel the mysteries, this is just the beginning. The Council's researchers have been toiling day and night to uncover the secrets of the previous civilization and their Artifacts, and while there's still much to uncover, the Council believes we've reached a point where we can finally share the Tech Tree and Science Lab with you.
New Discoveries
Tech Tree
Ahh, the Tech Tree. We have been waiting to unveil this feat of technology for a long time now. What you're seeing in the image above is not a physical space, but rather a visualization of a digital one. When you first access your city's Tech Tree, you begin with a limited number of nodes you can research. You will be able to spend Artifacts at the Science Lab to unlock Ancient Technologies that may enable new courses of action for you or passively benefit your city-corporation. As you unlock more nodes, you'll get access to more technologies. Knowledge begets more knowledge, and all that, right?
We currently have 29 unique nodes available for research, but I’m sure there will be many more to come.
Science Lab
Soon you will be granted permission to construct a Science Lab, which you will need to not only access your Tech Tree, but also to assign Employees to research the ancient technologies. The more Science Labs in your city-corporation and Employees you have working in your labs, the more efficient you will be at researching the technologies in the Tech Tree.
This state of the art, high tech building will be home to the Research Advisor who is scheduled to arrive on Titan in a couple months' time. He is... well... perhaps it’s best I talk about him in the next Council Report.
The Science Lab and the Tech Tree will contain all the experimental technology necessary for the most successful corporation possible. Which means, when you fail, you'll have no one to blame but yourself.
Talk to you again soon, Founder.
- Maddie, Council Representative
P.S. We'll have an updated roadmap to show you on October 5, 2021 when the Tech Tree update goes live.
Behind the Scenes with Nick Gunn: 3D Character Art Process
A lot goes in to creating the look and feel of your advisors on Titan. Our 3D Artist, Nick Gunn, peels back the curtain on his process in our newest devlog! Did you know part of the work is actually done in VR?
Those of you playing with Russian translation, thanks for being patient with us as we got this fixed!
Update 14: Ruins, Resources, Rebels
[previewyoutube="5HB7CLOBiWg;full"]
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS:
ANOMALY DETECTED: Harvest Anomalies for more Artifacts OBSIDIAN RUINS: Survey higher quality ruins for more resources NEW BUILDING: Build a Monument Center to get on the Council’s good side NEW REBEL LEADER: Beware – Szoren Gorak is on the move! and more!
Industries of Titan is in Early Access, which means we are actively updating and adding new content based on our roadmap and your wonderful feedback. You can expect the next Titan Tuesday update on October 5th, 2021. See the full patch notes below!
Titan Tuesday: Patch 0.17.0
Ruins, Resources, Rebels
Changes as of 0.17.0
🪐 indicates changes due to community feedback!
Artifact Anomalies
Anomalies function very similar to resource patches - by researching them, you can gain more artifacts than you would usually find in a Ruin!
You can assign an Employee to harvest the artifacts from the Anomaly. They will instantly be added to your HUD as they are harvested
Obsidian Ruins
These Ruins contain higher tier resources than normal Ruins. If you’ve been slow to get started on your resource processing, snagging one of these will net you some tier II or III resources quickly and painlessly. They’re a bit pricier to claim, however.
Monument Center
You can now build a special Monument Center on top of any Monument that you’ve claimed
As long as this building is online and fully staffed, your influence gain will increase and your influence cap will be permanently increased
Large Ruins Functionality
You can now survey, salvage and extract Large Ruins
They contain significantly more resources and artifacts than regular Ruins
Watch out - there’s a new Rebel Leader on the map!
Szoren Gorak is leader of the Breakers, an organization of Rebels loosely affiliated with the Cobra Rebels (led by Bahar). He, too, despises the Council and their ways, and is a master of persuasion in getting others to join his cause.
You can read more about Szoren in the Codex!
The Rebel Leader you’re dealing with is randomized each new game
Device List 2.0
We’ve been wanting to update the device list look and UX for some time. Now, all devices are in Categories that can be expanded and closed at will. We also have much bigger thumbnails so players have a better idea of what the devices look like before placement.
Please let us know what you think!
New Inert Ruin Type
Vision-increasing Ruin - activating this ruin will enable you to see into the Fog of War, helping you plan your expansion. You’ll still need to build Command Centers to claim new territory.
Added overlay activation to Inert Ruins - selecting a battery or fuel Inert Ruin will now display the correct overlay
Misc.
Updated the codex with all our research on these new things!
Removed the Fuel Used stat from Transport Hub as it was not adding value to gameplay
🪐 Added extra UI to locked hulls to make it more obvious that they are locked
🪐 Added a button for ‘open directory’ to Photo Mode
Did a pass on all button tooltips to make sure they displayed their hotkey correctly. If you’ve been hoping for a specific hotkey to be added to the game make sure you check out the settings - we have quite a few there already!
We’ve changed the way Tutorials work - they are now per game instead of in settings.
🪐 A button has been added to the pause menu to disable the easter egg after it has been triggered
Fixes as of 0.17.0
Fixed trucks getting stuck when bringing Employees to the shipyard if they were going to build a ship (this is not a retroactive fix, sorry!)
Fixed Full flag not being displayed if a resource was completely filtered out of storage
Fixed ships waiting for Crew forever if an Employee died on the way to the crew pod
Fixed Timed Contract mode not working correctly on Epic
Fixed jukebox defaulting to automatic when reloading a game
Fixed music volume not resetting its state when moving from Shipyard to another building via the shortcut menu
Fixed speaker portrait not returning to the correct character if going back to the previous speaker during a two-character dialog
Fixed a handful of crashes
Fixed cancel shortcut not working until the right tile of a device was selected
Fixed duplicate descriptions of Osprey and Heron ships
Fixed devices disabled due to waste incorrectly showing a ‘not enough energy’ flag
Fixed zoom/minimap UI elements displaying over Citizen panel
Fixed some instances of wording not being consistent between UI elements
Fixed some overflowing UI in certain buttons
Fixed some inconsistencies with draining battery flags
Fixed jukebox not playing music in Manual mode
Fixed Employees getting stuck in their walking animations when pausing and resuming device construction or dismantle jobs
Fixed crew not getting unassigned from a ship correctly if their next job was to become crew on a different ship
Fixed enable/disable shortcut not working on buildings outside of command range
Fixed some missing strings
Fixed max influence not updating correctly until the game was unpaused after loading
Fixed ugly text resizing in build menu
Fixed tooltip in HUD disappearing if you clicked on credits
Fixed being unable to select a new grid from the HUD if any tile was selected in the city
Fixed repair button remaining highlighted after a building was fully repaired
Fixed Spaceport displaying ‘not enough storage’ incorrectly (should have displayed ‘not enough living space’)
Fixed progress bar on resource patch appearing empty on load
Fixed checkbox SFX triggering incorrectly on load
Fixed rebel attacks not shooting in a straight line occasionally
Fixed some incorrect triggers in tutorial
Fixed turret range VFX not disappearing if selecting a building that triggers an overlay
Fixed camera getting stuck when clicking on minimap and entering a building at the same time
Fixed jobs not being cancelled when Crew were unassigned from a ship while repairing a device or healing themselves
Fixed camera becoming misaligned with the map border after exiting a building interior on the edge of the map
Fixed battery and vision ruins not always showing VFX
Fixed not all variants of Level 2 and 3 ruins spawning during mapgen
Fixed redundant “Salvage” button displaying on destroyed rebel buildings
Fixed device health not displaying on docked ships
Fixed some Inert Ruins VFX not playing correctly
Fixed using dashes around letters will no longer turn them into an em-dash
Fixed the discover section of ruins not refreshing when surveying completes and ruin is selected
