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[Kyzrati]

Alpha 4 lands next week. The original plan was for a content-heavy release this time, but development ended up taking an interesting detour through mechanics land, so instead we have a half-and-half content/mechanics release. The latter refers to new mechanics, not tweaked old mechanics (though there's some of that, too). Some of the new content suggested a number of mechanics that would add interesting strategic options, the best course of action being to add these immediately rather than overextending the content. After the release I'll be publishing a series of dev blog articles about the design behind these new features. I think you'll like some of the new strategic options

The much-discussed propulsion rebalancing is not a part of Alpha 4--that needs more attention than I can afford it right now. I'll probably begin work on that for the next major version.

Below is a collection of some of the more showable features:

The Garrison Access, a brand new type of machine:


Packrat support in the form of page-wise scrolling for the inventory UI (Ctrl-[/], or Ctrl-Wheel for mouse users):


Machines have their own info window--examine them as you would any other object:


A fifth visualization mode for the parts/inventory list, Relative Heat:

Activated by pressing 'e' again (the energy view command) or clicking on the respective button. Orange for generation, yellow for dissipation, gray for inactive. This makes it easier to quickly determine what's causing your heat problems, or what's doing the best job of solving them

"Unauthorized hacks," divided into two classes: brute forcing, and Trojans. The latter allow you to install delayed or persistent effects like creating a bot net by linking multiple Terminals.


Or infect explosive machines to turn them into massive proximity bombs


There is also a brand new type of map, quite unlike the rest of the world, which while it is very showable, I don't want to spoil it for you. (All the juicy details will be coming later in a spoiler-filled blog post, but I'll let you check it out on your own first.)

[Kyzrati]

I'm on a roll this week, burning through anything easy on the near-term TODO list, including some requests both old and new. So here are yet more upcoming features I've recorded to give you a preview

Part rejection is now animated:

(plus there's a sound effect and the movement block has been extended from 500ms to 1 second, so you're much less likely to walk away from a suddenly rejected part)

When manually Schematic()/Analysis() hacking, enter just the robot class name to automatically hack the best variant available:

No more need to remember specific designations (unless you're intentionally trying for an older model because they're easier to hack).

You can now "go naked" as a free action with a single command that simultaneously "releases" all your attached parts (requires confirmation):

Perfect for that quick getaway.

A command for keyboard players to cycle between different forms of propulsion, and activate/deactivate all of them at once:

(I'm holding down the button at the end there for fun )

Also a command to toggle all weapons on/off: