E-Corp Intergalactic Almanac: Steam’s Open World Survival Crafting Fest!
------------------------- Cosmic Date 29.05.2024 -------------------------
Dear Space Travelers,
Helperbot here, with a brand new E-Corp News Dispatch! Today on the topic of Survival, Crafting, and Exploration! This is because we’re proud to be celebrating another traditional Terran folk festivity:
Steam’s Open World Survival Crafting Fest!
You start with very little, or nothing at all… At E-Corp, every fresh Mininaut gets a fresh adventure, and you are no exception! Turning a planetary prospect into a bustling hub of activity that you can survive and thrive on isn’t easy - so make sure to check out our Farming guide here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1471700/view/4170972198132198221 You can build and/or craft things to make your life easier… Missing a specific tool for a specific task? Well, no need to fret. If the Mini-verse is full of one thing, it’s resources. Every rock, twig, or hyper-advanced piece of technology salvaged from a wreck can be used to make something you’ll eventually need.
*WARNING* Be careful where you tread! If you die, you will explode into nothingness and be forced back to your starter planet, leaving your stuff scattered on the planet of your untimely passing. Don’t want this to happen? Just don’t die! Eat your vegetables, mend your battle scars, and maintain our recommended safety distance from the ravenous beasts that populate our beautiful Mini-verse… *DING* Oh, a message… It’s E-Corp robots that are attacking you, you say? Hmm… You probably had it coming. Wombo Combo These elements make up the essence of E-Corp Company Culture! At E-Corp, we take to the stars and travel through a vast universe of tiny planets! We build our bases, defend against invasions, reshape worlds, and engineer factories that automatically farm and mine. We encourage creative solutions to everything — from cultivating plants to fighting enemies, The Mini-verse is truly your oyster, and thus we’re proud to celebrate Open World Survival Crafting Fest alongside so many other adventures.
See you in the Mini-verse!
Your friend Helperbot
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To stay up to date join our Discord, and of course, tell your friends about Minicology!
------------------------- Cosmic Date 17.05.2024 -------------------------
Dear Space Travelers,
Helperbot here!
Today I’m back with some… balance. No, I’m not talking about the propeller that distributes my weight evenly, allowing me to remain upright and steady, I’m talking about balancing out the proportions of our little universe, so things feel properly distributed. No more wandering around mindlessly for hours to find that rare mineral! Now, you only need to wander for like an hour. Maybe a little longer. Who knows!? At least you’ll have your rocket fuel to speed up your search!
TL;DR: This patch is focused on rebalancing items that were hard to obtain, or otherwise lacked renewability. There are also, of course, plenty of bug fixes, as well as a new item that players can craft for an easy source of Rocket Fuel!
Okay strap in - cause this is going to be another long one.
Added "rocket fuel canister", a craftable item that allows for easier creation of rocket fuel. There are still plenty of incentives to complete fuel refineries (system completion, jellyfish armor, e-corp mechanisms, etc) - but now it should be a little less of a chore to fast travel.
Added auto-shotgun to the loot pool for tier 3 combat chests. These are now the fourth mutually-exclusive, guaranteed pink-filament drop from these chests, alongside the contractor, meta-blade, and laser-saber.
Tier 2 and 3 combat chests have drop rates adjusted:
Tier 3 combat chests have a 100% chance to have ONE of the following: Projectile Amp, Shield Generator, OR a random core (so a mutually exclusive 30% chance at each).
Tier 2 combat chests have the same drop table, but only a 50% chance to include the above drops.
Slightly reduced frequency of "resource" perk cards, in favor of buff perk cards.
Giant Windmills now get "biome buff" of +1 socket in prairie planets, to match regular windmills.
Geothermal generators now get "biome buff" on magma planets, in addition to the normal autumnal buff.
Feeding omnivores now has more impact on their hunger meter.
Fixed lack of recipe for Ambient Defrostifier - now crafted in the same way as thermal shielding
Fixed issue that could cause Toxicite shards and Cryolite shards to stop generating
Increased priority for gooseberry groves on icy planets, and cocoa/corpse flowers on jungle planets
Fixed issue where prairie planet wheat groves were set to lowest priority for generation, making them very rare
Fixed issues with very low drop rate for Nautilus (Shattered Aegis item) and Green Mega-bot (Reactive Capacitor item)
Fixed issue where rainbow chests dropped normal chests, rather than decorative rainbow chest items
Fixed issue that caused full perk purchases to become unobtainable
Fixed issue where right-clicking to unequip tools would not interact with 'locked slots' properly
Fixed rare crash on destroying auto-turret
Fixed issue where activated thermal generator could display crazy values like -1000% heat
Buffed XP drops for Jellyfish Ironclad and Jellyfish Juggernaut
Fixed bug where Omni-bot fight could not start in several localizations, due to missing event trigger in loca files
Fixed negative star issue, as well as several other issues with Otto's weapon buyback feature
Players with negative star counts from Otto Shop glitch now will have 0 stars on load
Fixed issue where extruder UI would give 'deny' message if player tried to pick up both bars in hand
Fixed issue where chests/hotswap buttons wouldn't display "hidden" labels like food buff data while SHIFT was held during mouseover
Fixed crash related to stormbreaker hammer tornado smash
Fixed issue where batchers/splitters/filters failed to properly free tiles after being destroyed
Fixed issue where batcher did not drop items
Fixed issue with anvil durability repair rounding improperly
Fixed issue where ice slugs had 20x frost VULNERABILITY, rather than the intended 20x frost RESISTANCE
Fixed missing buff data for Shattered Aegis
Lowered volume of track "just you against the world" to be in line with other tracks
Fixed issue where inverting multi-component serums resulted in bugged name/description text fields
Fixed issue where achievement “Mad Scientist” could fail to activate
Fixed issue with achievement “Dragonfish: Deflected”, where achievement required the deflected spines to hit and damage dragonfish, rather than for just deflection, as in achievement description
See you in the Mini-verse!
Your friend Helperbot
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To stay up to date join our Discord, and of course, tell your friends about Minicology!
------------------------- Cosmic Date 10.05.2024 -------------------------
Dear Space Travelers,
Ensuring full customer satisfaction is one of our core values here at E-Corp! To make your interstellar journey as smooth as possible, we’ve been gathering all your feedback to appropriately update our technology. Today, we’re launching a variety of patches & updates that’ll improve your Quality of Life as you traverse & explore the Mini-verse!
TL;DR: We've improved to slot locking, hotbar management, and weapon & armor durability. We also fixed a variety of bugs related to farming & animal husbandry. And finally, we fixed one of the Mini-verse's most futuristic pieces of technology: ladders.
Players can "lock slots" in their hotbar while in the equipment menu, allowing for consistent keybinding to slots 1-10 for various items. Locked slots can ONLY be filled with their locked item, so you won’t have to deal with accidentally picking up unintended items or reshuffling your hotbar with a misplaced click.
Added tooltip hint for SHIFT+DRAG shortcut in EN localization that lets players split stack.
Ammo bar and battery bar now hide while the equipment menu is active.
Picked up items now attempt to fill into their last occupied hotbar slot. This means that the inventory should re-shuffle less on transferring items.
Empty and filled buckets will stay in the same slot on depletion/filling.
Unequipping Nano-tool with [Q] no longer equips the most recently held item.
Tutorial now displays prompt at the top of screen with instructions on how to throw items.
Across-the-board improvements to weapon durability: +25% to all items.
Melee weapons now only use one durability instance when hitting multiple enemies with one swing. This adds a nice extra advantage to lining up multiple enemies.
Armor durability now depletes based on total damage received, rather than per instance. This means lower-level enemies cause significantly less wear on armor compared to high-level foes, making casual exploration safer for endgame gear.
Otto now sells the most recently broken items, at 1% durability (to allow players to repair them), for 50 stars. If Otto doesn't have enough space, he will only sell the last 1-2 items.
Buying books from Otto will now allow more space for item buybacks.
Otto stops selling automation guides after they have been bought. Bought guides can be viewed from anywhere in the ship menu.
Decreased time for mushroom stumps to spawn evil mushrooms on boss planets to 10 seconds after being placed.
Improved handling for animals eating from troughs.
Increased Fronkey breeding attempt rate.
Increased slug domestication points gained from feeding slugs using trough.
Reduced amount of food needed to domesticate slugs.
Changed order in which Helperbot describes farming advice, prioritizes showing players fertilizer craft recipe.
Added Easter Egg when feeding lambcats 24+ food.
Significantly increased spawn rate of space cocoa and corpse flowers on newly generated jungle planets.
Fixed issue where electrified water pump would turn off on saving/loading.
Fixed duplication bug for freshly cooked meals in chests (would only work for recipes that had been invented in that instance of the game - what a strange issue).
Fronkamanders now no longer give birth to Fronkey tadpoles.
Fixed bug for firebush requirement on tier 3 terraform chests where terraform chest was instead configured to search for pine trees.
Fixed auto-saw and auto-planter not dropping items on destruction.
Fixed issue where Ravenbug wild nests would not drop Ravenbug down feathers.
Fixed crash where harvesting/destroying slug eggs after they had been incubated resulted in game hanging and exiting.
Fixed issue where domestication meter showed for baby slugs, even though they are not domesticable until grown.
Last but not least, E-Corp R&D has been working very hard on improving a piece of technology so advanced it’ll blow your mind! That’s right: ladders are getting an update.
Ladders can now be climbed by pressing [UP], or [DOWN] while nearby.
Players can exit ladder climb mode by pressing [LEFT] or [RIGHT], or by pressing [UP] while at the very top of a ladder.
Players no longer have to be facing a wall in order to climb it. This means the awkward behavior where players would be unable to aim a tool backwards while climbing a wall at the same time no longer exists.
If players hold [DOWN] when within 0.66 blocks of a ladder, they'll now snap to that ladder and start climbing downwards.
Disabled ducking and diving for players leaving ladders from the bottom for 0.5s. This means that you'll no longer slam into the ground when exiting a ladder from the bottom.
Placed ropes now match ladder behavior.
Added sounds for ladders and ropes.
Buffed rope/ladder climb speed by ~50%.
Players can now climb to the very top of a ladder chain, rather than stopping 20 pixels from the top.
Tutorial shows large, flashing text prompt with wall-climbing instructions.
Sandsharks health reduced 75->60, max spawn cap per monster cave reduced 3->2, but Sandshark attack value buffed 15->17.5.
Increased drop chances for background block mineral tiles to drop minerals (copper, coal, quartz).
Removed durability from peaceful transmitters.
Increased peaceful transmitter cost to include more copper.
Buffed solarium armor set bonus slightly.
Whirlwind from stormbreaker hammer now gives immunity to fall damage for half a second when interacted with.
Solar panel now starts ~15-20 seconds earlier.
Crystal foundries in blue zones now produce copper instead of coal.
Windmills now drop whole windmills, instead of component parts - the decision to make them fall into parts was made at an earlier stage of development, when windmills were more powerful, and had to be balanced in some way against steam engines. In the meantime, steam engine fuel efficiency has been buffed and construction costs for windmills increased - so having the additional penalty of making windmills non-reusable is no longer needed.
Additional formatting/info for Combinificator UI + ability to see craft recipes of component items on Combinificator craft grid, similar to research menu.
Any missing medi-cells for the "repair medi-bay" objective will now drop by the medi-bay on load, if for some reason due to bug/issue medi-cells fail to load/generate/are destroyed.
Fixed issue where right clicking items in Otto / merchant shop could have unexpected behavior. Right clicking in these shops now does nothing.
Fixed incomplete text description on EN localization for riftwalker boots.
Attempted fix for crash on using energy weapons with expended batteries.
Fixed issue where weapons could sometimes(?) still be fire-able when stunned.
Fixed power module missing +fall damage perk description.
Fixed issue where Woperator modules could not be manually placed in equipment UI.
Fixed issue where geothermal generators would drop when destroyed.
Fixed issue where non-stone stairs and fences were uncraftable.
Fixed scaling issue with some buttons failing to scale correctly after "pop-in" animation played.
Fixed issue in Turkish & Japanese translations where OMNI-bot would be unable to deliver monologue due to misplaced localization flags.
Stabilized structure generation for Med-Bay objective slightly.
Fixed untranslated strings for Medi-Cell.
Fixed issue where Nano-Tool would not properly smart-select hammer for ladders.
Fixed issue where breaking Medi-Bay, then reloading planet, would cause embedded Medi-Cells not to display.
Fixed text error in Refinery Defense event.
Fixed world generation hanging for certain Crystal Foundry generations.
Fixed windmill not being listed as a generator.
Fixed wall items not properly previewing at a 45 degree angle in research menu.
Fixed typo in extrusion machine listing.
Fixed issue where swapping between a tool and Nano-Wrench or Nano-Trowel would cause a bug where arm animations displayed in tool-mode, but equipment but was invisible.
Fixed issue where Nautilus would not consistently drop Green Power Crystals.
Fixed issue where window would center on top left corner on reloading settings (occurred during bootup and on planet load). Now only snaps to top left corner if game size is larger than screen size.
See you in the Mini-verse!
Your friend Helperbot
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To stay up to date join our Discord, and of course, tell your friends about Minicology!
------------------------- Cosmic Date 30.04.2024 -------------------------
Dear Space Travelers,
I'm bringing you some exciting news, as we're heading towards a brand new and improved version of Minicology! As an E-Corp Helperbot unit, I understand the importance of software patches! Improving your functioning and removing hiccups from my system is crucial, which is why Minicology is undergoing (a lot of) changes!
TL;DR: We've balanced various gameplay elements to make the gameplay feel more fair, and we've resolved a ton of bugs!
Reduced price of automation guidebooks
On saving/loading, Resonance Extractor will always restore to 100% health. This prevents issues where players quit during/after the jellyfish invasion event, and next time they start, the extractor is at low health on start
Adjusted repair cost for sidewinder pistol to 2 ingots
Coconuts now have 10 food value
Added "fertilizer" to bookmarked recipes on open terraform chest quest - many streamers I watched didn't realize that fertilizer existed, so trying to make it a bit more obvious
"Power Required" warning for resonance extractor now flashes red and white, hopefully a little more attention-grabbing for players who didn't fully equip a generator (or whose generator was destroyed without them noticing)
Vsync enabled by default. Looking into adding an options toggle for this
Enabled repairs for breechloader rifle
Warsword and battle-axe durability increased
Reduced frequency of jellyfish artillery for vortex solstice event
Reduced number of small jellyfish that spawn during vortex solstice event
Increased drop chance for eggs to drop alongside birdabug house materials when destroying wild birdabug houses
Clicking filter list in research menu now populates all recipes that match that filter, if no item is scanned. Matches search bar behaviour now
Disabled climbing while a menu is active. This reduces instances where players accidentally climb ladders etc while attempting to craft
Buffed durability for bone/claw spear, so they now have greater durability than plain wood spear.
Increased hitbox size for nano-pickaxe, to make collecting crystals easier
Bar Extruder now drops items if automation delivers input differant than what is already placed into input slot
Grass should now properly trigger "Axe" nano-tool mode
Grass left behind by "Drosera" grass-plant-eel enemy now drops grass properly
Fixed issue that made slug milker uncraftable. Microchip now requires 'sorted' crafting method
Fixed issue where buffs had outdated "tier" text that caused an appending "1" to appear for every food-based buff in top-menu buff bar
Fixed missing translator credits for Dutch localization
Fixed serum sickness cooldown text being in English, even on non-English localizations
Fixed crash on hammering medi-bay cell holders
Fixed broken text description for cave-in event
Fixed broken text description for ice cream
Fixed bug where multiple foods could be inserted into freezer slot, but would be treated as one food and destroyed on making ice cream.
Fixed issue where mint/ginger/lavender displayed with tag +5 farming, rather than +5 food
Fixed crash on researching ancient syrup
Fixed issue where after saving & loading twice, ice cream would disappear from inventories
Fixed crash on using big drill where if more than 20 stones were "cracked" in quick succession, game would crash
Fixed crash on attempting to cook 3 coconuts into a salad
Fixed broken text tags for coconut defense buff/starburst buff/starlight buff (all stating 0 defense, 0minute duration, etc)
Fixed issue where soda machine tooltip gave overly-detailed charge level data (now rounded to nearest number)
Attempted fix for crash caused by unequipping arc-preview tools (i.e., cloning cell, thrown animals, any range weapon with a path preview)
See you in the Mini-verse!
Your friend Helperbot
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To stay up to date join our Discord, and of course, tell your friends about Minicology!
------------------------- Cosmic Date 29.04.2024 -------------------------
Dear Space Travelers,
This is Helperbot speaking! What a joy to see so many new faces traversing the Mini-verse - even if they are partially obscured by a thick layer of protective, military-grade glass! We do feel however, that you’re not adequately equipped yet to face the challenges presented to you after the great collision.
In today’s edition of the E-Corp Intergalactic Almanac, your go-to source for navigating the wonders and dangers of the cosmos, I’ll be helping you satisfy one of your body’s most primal needs: hunger.
The Ancient Art of Agricultural Cultivation Food is hard to come by in the uncharted corners of the Mini-verse. With nourishment centers out of the equation, you will have to get crafty. That’s where the ancient art of farming comes into play. Humanoid lifeforms have been farming for millennia. On Planet Earth, they even celebrate something called “Farming Fest”... although… it seems to be mainly about... video games?
Image 1. Look at Mininaut witnessing the beauty of his own creation
But I digress. Farming is a beautiful, meditative practice. Any space traveler who’s ever used their Nano-Tool’s trowel module to till the soil on a new planet and plant a fresh batch of Space Turnip seeds knows that this is true. Consuming self-grown produce is one of the most satisfying feelings. It is a way of building an intimate connection with the food we’re eating and the planets we inhabit.
Now with E-Corp Advanced Farming Technology™ To make this incredible serenity more accessible, we’ve developed a wide range of technologically advanced farming technology! With E-Corp's cutting-edge automation systems, you'll be churning out industrial amounts of food faster than you can say "total environmental collapse".
Powered by renewable wind energy and watered using advanced automated irrigation systems, food production is easier than ever before. With our efficient transport network, you can effortlessly shuttle the fruits of your labor straight to your opulent fortress, where you can feast like a king... or feed your personal army of Fronkeys.
Image 2. Not a big reader? We've prepared an official video demonstration of E-Corp Advanced Farming Technology™
To celebrate this great feed… I mean, feat… we will join the Earthlings by celebrating and partaking in the great Farming Fest! Time to take out your gardening gloves and start your intergalactic agricultural adventure.
See you in the Mini-verse!
Your friend Helperbot
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To stay up to date join our Discord, and of course, tell your friends about Minicology!
[1.03 SNAPSHOT] More bugfixes and balance changes!
Hey all, this can be accessed through the "Snapshot" steam beta. It won't be live on the main branch until I do more extensive testing, and may be a little unstable. However, if you're interested in helping test out fixes/improvements before they're live, feel free to opt into the beta branch by right clicking the game in your steam library sidebar and selecting Properties->Betas->Snapshot.
Changes: -Vsync enabled by default. Looking into adding an options toggle for this. -Enabled repairs for breechloader rifle -Warsword+battle-axe durability increased -Reduced frequency of jellyfish artillery for vortex solstice event
Fixes: -Fixed serum sickness cooldown text being in english, even on non-english localizations -Fixed crash on hammering medi-bay cell holders -Fixed broken text description for cave-in event -Fixed broken text description for ice cream -Fixed bug where multiple foods could be inserted into freezer slot, but would be treated as one food and destroyed on making ice cream. -Fixed issue where mint/ginger/lavender displayed with tag +5 farming, rather than +5 food -Fixed crash on researching ancient syrup -Fixed issue where after saving+loading twice, ice cream would disappear from inventories
[1.01 SNAPSHOT] Bugfixes/balance changes
[1.01 SNAPSHOT]
Hey all, this can be accessed through the "Snapshot" steam beta. It won't be live on the main branch until I do more extensive testing, and may be a little unstable. However, if you're interested in helping test out fixes/improvements before they're live, feel free to opt into the beta branch by right clicking the game in your steam library sidebar and selecting Properties->Betas->Snapshot.
Changes: -Reduced price of automation guidebooks. -On saving/loading, Resonance Extractor will always restore to 100% health. This prevents issues where players quit during/after the jellyfish invasion event, and next time they start, the extractor is at low health on start. -Adjusted repair cost for sidewinder pistol to 2 ingots -Coconuts now have 10 food value -Added "fertilizer" to bookmarked recipes on open terraform chest quest - many streamers I watched didn't realize that fertilizer existed, so trying to make it a bit more obvious. -"Power Required" warning for resonance extractor now flashes red and white, hopefully a little more attention-grabbing for players who didn't fully equip a generator (or whose generator was destroyed without them noticing)
Fixes: -Fixed crash on using big drill where if more than 20 stones were "cracked" in quick succession, game would crash -Fixed crash on attempting to cook 3 coconuts into a salad -Fixed broken text tags for coconut defense buff/starburst buff/starlight buff (all stating 0 defense, 0minute duration, etc) -Fixed issue where soda machine tooltip gave overly-detailed charge level data (now rounded to nearest number) -Attempted fix for crash caused by unequipping arc-preview tools (i.e., cloning cell, thrown animals, any range weapon with a path preview)
A Small Thank You! ❤️
------------------------- Cosmic Date 26.04.2024 -------------------------
Dear Space Travelers,
What. A. Thrill.
Releasing a game is such a nerve-wracking but exciting experience, that you almost forget to stand still for a moment to appreciate the friends that helped you get there.
But man oh man, how kind these friends have been!
Thank you all so much for the kind words of encouragement and the positive reception of Minicology.
I truly hope you’ll get a lot of hours of fun out of the game.
I’ll work hard to patch any bugs you may find, so don’t forget to report them.
If you haven’t yet, feel free to drop a review on the Steam page!
I love reading everybody’s feedback and Steam reviews are one of the easiest ways of getting more traction on the platform!
See you in the Mini-verse!
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To stay up to date join our Discord, and of course, tell your friends about Minicology!
------------------------- Cosmic Date 25.04.2024 -------------------------
ALERT! ALERT!
CALLING ALL E-CORP PERSONNEL!
It’s happening! Helperbot here, reporting live from the scene!
Minicology is here!
After a sudden shift in space-time, our universe is now a part of the Steam platform - priced at $14.99 / €14.79 / £12.79.
Better stand your ground a bit longer, because now the intergalactic event has passed, a huge influx of new E-Corp recruits is expected! We understand; the promise of a life of boundless creativity in the Mini-verse is too tempting to pass up. And all that shiny, advanced E-Corp technology… Wow…
Sorry, I got carried away. I cannot wait to meet all you new space-dwellers in person!
Comments about your time at E-Corp? Feel free to assess your time in the Mini-verse using the “Review” feature.
Not sure if you’re fit for a career at E-Corp? Try weathering the harsh realities of the Mini-verse in our brand-new demo!
What a blast!
I hope you’re excited, space travelers.
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To stay up to date join our Discord, and of course, tell your friends about Minicology!
COSMIC EVENT: Isaac will Livestream on Launch day!
------------------------- Cosmic Date 24.04.2024 -------------------------
Greetings Space Travelers,
Ever wanted to explore the Mini-verse with Isaac Denner, the solo developer behind Minicology?
Join us on launch day, April 25th, for a LIVESTREAM with the dev! Watch Isaac play through the early stages of Minicology and ask him any burning questions you have about the game.
Catch the session LIVE on Steam at 08:30pm CEST / 11:30am PT!
Alongside Isaac, E-Corp operatives will be using the chat function to answer any questions you may have for the first hour as well, after that we’ll broadcast our in-depth interview on loop.
If you want to support a small indie dev like Isaac, feel free to leave a review when the game goes live. It's one of the easiest ways of supporting the game!
See you there!
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To stay up to date join our Discord, and of course, tell your friends about Minicology!
