The Great Egg hunt

Hello Miners, We have something new for you, while you are waiting for Season 02 to land.

The Great Egg Hunt

The Great Egg Hunt is upon us! Colorful eggs have made it into the Space Rig.

This is what you can eggspect during The Great Egg Hunt:

  • The Great Egg Hunt Assignment
  • 2 new Eggstravagant hats rewarded during the assignment
  • The Space Rig bar has been eggscuisitely decorated
  • And something new when playing Egg Hunt missions, eggsactly what that is you’ll have to find out yourself

The Great Egg Hunt starts now and ends April 19th, 19.00 CET. We hope you are all eggcited and ready to eggsplore this new event!

With love,

The Ghost Ship Crew

UPDATE 24 - EXPLOSIVE EXPANSION + HOTFIXES

Update24

Take your seats, Miners!

We got new grenades, eye candy, personal drop pods, a bunch of new enemies, and a TON of gear tweaks to brief you about, so grab a brew and listen up!

Also - look out for the [COMMUNITY REQUESTS] - these are things you guys have been very adamant in talking about and bringing to our notice, so keep up the good work! It is, as always, very appreciated. :D

--- PATCH NOTES ---

GRENADE LOADOUT

-----------------------------------

The boys and gals in R&D have been hard at work once more! All the old grenades have been reworked, and a ton of new ones have been added. Each class can now unlock up to three distinct types of class-specific throwables, with the potential for more to come in future Updates.

- Engineer: L.U.R.E, Plasma Burster, Proximity Mine

- Gunner: Sticky Grenade, Incendiary Grenade, Cluster Grenade

- Scout: IFG, Cryo Grenade, Pheromone Canister

- Driller: Impact Axe, HE Grenade, Neurotoxin Grenade

LOADING SCREEN MAKEOVER

-----------------------------------

We’ve finally gotten our new orbital drone cameras installed, enabling much better and varied scenic views of mining crews descending to the surface of Hoxxes at the beginning of each mission.

END SCREEN MAKEOVER

-----------------------------------

The End Screen shown at the end of each mission has gotten a much-needed overhaul as well. Now you get to pose and display all your lovely cosmetics in full 3D while the mission data ticks up!

STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS

-----------------------------------

They’ve been a long time coming, but they’re finally here! 50+ Steam Achievements have been added to the game, ready to be unlocked! We’ve strived to make them retroactive anywhere it made sense.

NEW MOBS

-----------------------------------

NAEDOCYTE BREEDER

Imagine a floating bag of slime, constantly spewing out pulsing egg-sacks full of ravenous young. They may look like gentle giants (depending on how much you like tentacles), but trust us when we say you want to take these oozing blimps out quick.

NAEDOCYTE HATCHLING

The result of leaving the Naedocyte Breeders to do their thing. We’ve run into more developed varieties of these before, but this is the first time we’ve ever encountered them in their larval state. They are hatched ravenously hungry, so mind yourselves that you don’t get overrun.

Q’RONAR YOUNGLINGS

Younger and softer variation of the Shellbacks. Unlike their more solitary-minded mature state, the Q’ronar Younglings hunt in packs. Do not underestimate them.

GOLDEN LOOTBUG

Now, this is an interesting one. Unlike the common Lootbug, this particular breed gorge themselves on gold alone. Management has no qualms with employees taking them out for sport and personal gain.

HUULI HOARDER

This rare beastie seems like a bit of an oddity among the otherwise mostly hostile Hoxxes fauna. Often referred to as “The Clown Car”, the Huuli Hoarder is an abject coward and will run away from any potential threat once startled. However, like the common Lootbug, they subside solely on a diet of precious minerals - as in, taking them out will net you a tidy profit, just take care that you don’t let it separate you from your team.

LATE JOIN DROP POD

-----------------------------------

[COMMUNITY REQUEST] Let it not be said that Management does not care about employee complaints. Joining a mission already in progress now dumps you into a personal drop pod, letting you safely land in the mission area instead of utilizing the horribly unreliable teleportation technology used so far. As with the Supply Pod, it is recommended to keep a safe distance to the landing zone.

BETTER DISCORD INTEGRATION

-----------------------------------

Sign up for the Miner’s Union and join our wonderful Discord community directly from the Space Rig! We have bigger plans for this down the line, but for now, you can use it to see the number of active members and such.

MISSIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

-----------------------------------

- [COMMUNITY REQUEST] The Mission Map now displays Assignment Icons for every team member, making it easier to choose which missions to go on.

- [COMMUNITY REQUEST] The Hazard 5 Unlock Assignment now requires you to play the associated missions on Hazard 4 difficulty

- [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Dwarves leaving a game will now drop a resource pouch with any materials they had in their inventory

- [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Added an option to opt Bosco out of solo missions at the Drone Modification Terminal

UI AND CONTROLS

-----------------------------------

- Personal Temperature HUD overhaul

- [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Added option to disable Mouse Smoothing

- Improved gear stats display in the Equipment Terminal

PICKAXE POWER ATTACK

-----------------------------------

Surrounded by awful bitey things? Let them know how you feel about that! While having your pick out, hit Fire to unleash a devastating Power Attack. There’s a cooldown on it, so spend it wisely.

MODELS AND AUDIO

-----------------------------------

- New Heavy Sentry model for Engineers

- New Sentry models for the Minehead

- New Floodlight models for the Minehead

- Several new enemy and weapon sounds

- New Hoxxes model shown on Space Rig

GEAR TWEAKS

-----------------------------------

PICKAXE

- Fixed the Q-mining exploit

"THUNDERHEAD" HEAVY AUTOCANNON

- Fixed a bug with Autocannon fire rate not resetting

- Fixed Autocannon lighter barrel assembly mod

- Tweaked Autocannon fire rate to increase in a more linear manner

- Removed Stun mod

"LEAD STORM” POWERED MINIGUN

- Decreased Stun mod chance

- Decreased Stun duration

- Fixed Aggressive Venting modification to properly function as client

DEEPCORE GK2

- Renamed Stagger to Stun

- Gear stats now display the weapon's stun on weak point hit functionality correctly

EXPERIMENTAL PLASMA CHARGER

- Renamed Normal Shots Bounce mod to Bouncy Plasma

- Renamed Charged Projectile Explodes mod to Unstable Containment Field

- Increased Radius and Damage of Unstable Containment Field implosion

- Fixed some EPC shots doing "generic" damage

“BULLDOG” HEAVY REVOLVER

- Removed Stun Mod (anyone who purchased it will get a refund)

- Added stun chance as an inherent property of the gun

JURY-RIGGED BOOMSTICK

- Stun Mod proc chance increased

- Tungsten Pellets Mod armor damage multiplier increased

- Blast Wave description made more clear (hopefully)

- Blowthrough Mod changed to Super Blowthrough (can penetrate multiple targets)

- Fixed Blast Wave mod to work consistently

ZHUKOV NUK17

- Removed the Stun mod (anyone who purchased it will get a refund)

- Rearranged some of the other mods to better balance the potential builds

- Increased the accuracy penalty while moving

- Increased the speed with which accuracy is regained

- Decreased accuracy spread when shooting

- Increased Tier 4 Expanded Ammo Bags mod from +100 to +150 ammo

M1000 CLASSIC

- Added a tutorial hint for Focused Shot

- Fixed Stun modification to work properly

BREACH CUTTER

- Fixed the Breach Cutter so it no longer damages the player if fired directly downwards

MISC TWEAKS

-----------------------------------

- Deeptora Honeycomb is no longer immune to fire

- Glyphid Praetorian acid gas can now be lit on fire again

- Fixed cases of mission weapon assignment completed not being counted correctly

- Fixed some invisible colliders in levels displaying as ‘Unknown Material’

- Credits pages now change properly

- Fixed a bug that caused a floating Shield Generator or Satchel Charge to appear at the - location of the spawn point

- Fixed some bugs related to saluting while reloading

- Fixed certain armors that caused the player’s arms to be invisible at the beginning of a mission

- Fixed the revive progress bar so it no longer stays on the screen if another player starts and cancels the revive process

- [MIXER Interactivity] Resupplying Ammo now works

- Super Blowthrough modifications changed from 10 penetrations to 3 for all weapons that have them

- Added a failsafe for Shield Generators that fail to deploy

HOTFIX 1

-----------------------------------

  • Glacial Strata - Decreased the cooling rate for Frost Praetorian breath attack and death cloud.

  • Glacial Strata - Cooling effect from blasts of freezing air now stop as soon as you leave the area of effect

  • [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Typo fixed in Plasma Burster grenade description

  • [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Hole plugged in upper launch bay. Well spotted, miner.

  • [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Elevator shafts on Space Rig cleaned up a little because there's nothing we won't do for our players.

  • Minor hole plugged in monitor mesh

  • Fixed xp bar showing for players on loading screen

  • Fixed poodle related overlay issues

  • Fixed bomber puddles creating permanent overlays

  • Fix for terrain related crashes

  • Hoarder's electrical resistance increased

  • Cryo Grenade area of effect increased

  • Fixed the retroactive functionality for promotion achievements

  • Throwing axe can now hit all killable things

  • Fixed player able to throw grenades after death

  • Certain vanity items no longer show up red when Frozen

  • Grenade loadout ui: Extra Detail button hidden for grenades

  • Players who just joined the game can no longer be grabbed just as they spawn

  • Fixed the barrel hoop game combo display

  • Bugfix - Fixed Impact Axe sometimes getting stuck to the player throwing it

  • Tweaked stationary enemy encounters in caves

HOTFIX 2

  • Typo fixed on Impact Axe description

  • Disabled saluting while having a grenade equipped.

  • When dropping a gem / carried item, you no longer switch weapons twice. If you press 1-4 on client you also now get the correct weapon/tool for that item slot.

  • Improve spawning of enemies

  • Fixed cases of enemies not being allowed to spawn

  • Fix choppy motion when latejoining and dropping down.

  • Remove Disable Optimizations Pragma

  • Grenade count will now be correctly counted when rejoining a game after disconnecting

  • Updated Grenade UI after latejoining

  • Players rejoining a game after disconnecting will now spawn back directly instead of going down with a droppod

  • Improved carriable gems logic in an effort to fix bad cases with throwing and dropping when dying

  • Fixed Shield Regenerator deploying twice

  • Fixed weapon mastery skin not being available for Bulldog, Autocannon, and NUK17

  • Scaled the Q'ronar Younglings smaller

  • Localization update.

  • Rotating movement removed from planetary ring outside space rig until we find a better solution

  • Fix spacerig hologram performance (collision related)

  • Procedural Smoke and Fire progress

  • Space Rig exterior GFX improved

  • All the Loading Tips have gotten a grammar- and typo-fixing pass

  • Enor Pearl material set to Local Space

  • Fixed material issue on Tentacles around Dreadnought Egg

  • Fix pickaxe and Gems could become invisible on client if he got downed

  • Fix throwing a gem / item on clients would not always select the last weapon.

  • Fixed Retroactive milestone progress for achievements "Performance matters" and "Management Approves"

  • Added text explaining that Hazard 4 is demanded to play on to unlock haz 5 in the assignment

  • The Achievements requiring you to not call in a supplypod or die, now only triggers if you haven't called a supplypod

HOTFIX 3

  • Removed confusing requirement for the "Total Makeover" achievement that required players to change to a non-default owned skin color

  • Fixed a bug that enabled the mission time achievement to trigger after waiting in the spacerig for an hour and dropping into a mission

  • Fixed various Impact Axe shenanigans

  • Fixed an animation problem in third person for the M1000 Classic causing it to be misplaced when reloading

  • Improved spawn location logic for enemies in an effort to fix missing enemies

  • Fixed issues with saluting during autoreload causing magazine spam and broken animations

  • Shadows disabled on point lights on Load Screen

  • Fixed white light flashes in spacerig terminals

HOTFIX 4

  • Added Steam Rich Presence, since Pedro was bored. You may need to restart Steam before it works

  • Naedocyte Breeder has been nerfed. It now spawns more rarely and the spawn amount of Naedocyte Hatchlings from the Roe has been decreased.

  • Enabled Hoarder's physical animations

  • Fixed more cases where enemies would not spawn

  • Fixed pathfinder issues around special objects

  • Fixed emission on plant that was wrong in Lush

  • NUK17 - The NUKs now have static bullet spread that is not affected by either shooting or moving. Run & gun or spray & pray to your hearts content.

  • Weapon reloads now better-synced with audio-visual cues

  • Mine head sentry gun now dismantles, rather than disappear, when ammo is spent

  • Pathfinder fixes for issues seen around mine head

  • Resource bag now only spawns if the player that left had any resources

  • Fixed latejoin drop pod choppiness

  • Fixed a bug where beards get stuck floating in the air when a player gets downed

  • Shortened the Sticky Grenade fuse time

  • Cryogrenade now affects Naedocyte Shockers / Hatchlings

HOTFIX 5

  • Sound added to pickup of throwing axes

  • Tweaked colors of power attack cool down display

  • Fixed a bug with pickaxing frozen teammates not breaking them free

  • Fixed the extraordinary laziness of Molly which made her refuse to follow players

HOTFIX 6

  • Players should no longer get stuck in an invulnerable downed state

  • Fixed a bug with BET-C’s pulsating sound

  • Fix for ambient occlusion only working for dynamic objects

  • Mule, Drop Pod etc. now have floating icons again when holding the laser pointer

  • Fixed Mine Head Launch icon not properly disappearing for clients

HOTFIX 7

  • Bosco can now dig out and carry objects!

  • Q'ronar Youngling encounters should be a bit more rare.

  • Q’ronar Shellback’s armor is significantly weaker. Most weapons will be able to break it in a few shots. Weapons with armor breaking capabilities will still excel at it.

  • Tweaked the rolling animation of the Qronar enemies to resolve unintended jerkiness

  • Changed material on the weakpoint of the Glyphid Menace, when it dies so it does not light up dead

  • Fixed a bug with sounds becoming muffled for the remainder of a mission after getting hit by a rolling Q’ronar enemy

  • Glyphid Praetorian backside is again considered a weakpoint but does not give any damage bonus on its own

  • Fixed a bug with the Mission Assignment icon not showing in the Mission Terminal

  • Fixed a bug with clients being required to open the map in order for the host to be able to see their Mission Assignment

  • Increased attenuation distance for sound and camshake when digging out eggs

  • Fixed a bug with the Terrain Scanner getting stuck

  • Fixed cases where you would switch weapons after mining and using the Terrain Scanner

The Challenges of Balancing an Early Access Game

TL;DR: We're in Early Access, the game is being developed in chunks, with the help of your feedback, and we sometimes need to go back and rebalance stuff, while trying to avoid progress wipes. This will be easier for some updates, harder for others, but our goal here remains to make a kick-ass co-op game with dwarves. Now, onto the meat of this post: ….