This is so far the largest gameplay update to MegaFactory Titan! Major gameplay systems have changed significantly. Overall, expect the game to be much more challenging. Note on older saves - They will work, but they will be missing some of the new features, and the old main missions will be gone. If you want to keep playing the old main missions track, you will need to play on the legacy-0.4.1.1 branch. Note on mods - Some of them will be broken, specifically any mods that added factions. Recommend you unsubscribe from those mods if you are getting startup crashes.

Main Missions Reworked

The main missions track has been heavily reworked to always put pressure on you. While there is no timer involved, they all become much more difficult the longer you wait. Most of the mission dialogue has been rewritten. One of the later main missions involves a new antagonist faction. Sandbox games do not have main missions at all now. Older saves will not have main missions anymore. If you would like to continue playing the main mission on your old save, you will need to opt in to the legacy branch.

Crisis Engine

Major challenges are now controlled by a crisis engine, which inflicts a devastating event periodically. These include natural disasters such as meteor showers, multistorm events, or titanquakes, or human-driven disasters like Piracy Surges, Scavenger Surges, or Marauder Raids. The crises get worse as you progress through the game. There are now more tools to deal with the various issues, and you now get a warning when major issues are about to occur. Market Factions will now try to sell you items based on the next pending crisis. One player faction gets a bonus which helps them predict crises. Crises don't occur on Sandbox. Older saves will not have a crisis engine.

Financial Overhaul

If you run out of money, you immediately lose the game. There are no more rentals. Instead, you start with starting structures and vehicles, as well as starter packages of items you can choose. If you run out of starter items, the market factions sell them at a high markup. Now there is loan interest on your starting loan at the beginning of the game. The faster you pay it back, the less interest you have to pay. Land is cheaper, but has a daily property tax. However, you can sell land after you're done using it.

Faction Changes

Factions now start the game already settled and active, rather than landing right after you start your factory. They send missions immediately. Factions now remember what you've done for them. Factions have an opinion of you, which can increase or decrease based on your actions with them. Good relations can improve your trading margins with them, while bad relations will yield worse margins. Affected prices or sales include permits, loan installments, tribute, and anything bought or sold or delivered for missions. Some user factions now have bonuses with faction relations or can pay bribes to increase faction relations. Faction simulation depth is increased, and factions with population spend more time and resources trying to keep their people fed and working. Your trade or combat with them can greatly affect their population dynamics now. Certain missions that factions give you now have alternative solutions. For example, there are now different hab types you can sell them, each which give various bonuses depending on which kind you build. This allows you more control in shaping the kind of colonies the other factions create. You can now also request a once-per-mission extension to mission time limits, but this will slightly reduce your relations. Several player factions have new special abilities which alter faction relations.

Miniaturization and Maximization

Available at game start, there are now a number of options for more condensed factory layouts. Mini Factories and Mini Smelters allow you to cram more together, at the cost of reduced production speed. There are also now mini storages, small solar farms, a mini excavator, and two smaller cargo transport types as well. On the other hand, you can now build Mega Factories and Mega Smelters, which take up much more space, but consume less power and produce less pollution.

Expanded Power Options

Available at game start, your power options are now many. There are now four types of wind turbines: Vertical, Helical, Spiral, and Ducted. Each type has unique advantages, and each type also performs best in certain terrains. There is also the Small Solar Farm option too. And you can now build Reinforced Power Lines, which are expensive, but are unattractive targets for Scavengers, and strong against storms. Finally, all wind turbines and the default power line can now be built offshore at no extra cost.

Expanded Combat Options

There are many new combat vehicles and turrets. The Armored Gun Rover functions similar to the Gun Rover, just with heavier armor, more ammo space, and slightly slower. Then there is the Technical, a Cargo Truck refit to carry a Rocket Pod. Cheap and expendable, but packs a hefty amount of damage. Gun Rovers and Gun Turrets can now only target ground vehicles. As a result, there is now the Anti-aircraft vehicle and Anti-aircraft turret, both of which target only aircraft. There is also a Meteor Defense Turret, which is a turret which can only target meteors.

Vehicle Storage, Deployment, and Relocation

Vehicles can now be stored just like Structures. Now, when you build them with a Garage or Hangar, they start stored. You can deploy them from storage anywhere within your territory, and can store them at any time if they're on your territory. This allows instant relocation of vehicles within your territory, as long as they're not carrying anything.

More Upgraders and Science

The Supercomputer is an upgrader for Research Labs. It improves research speed, and it replaces the Supercomputing Optimization technology. The new Optimizer structure is a late game upgrader for improving production speed. The Mass Damper structure is an early game upgrader for reducing storm and Titanquake damage. There are now four new techs related to reducing storm and Titanquake damage.

Auto-Demolish

Demolitioner units now have an option to auto-demolish, which will have them search for new targets to break down whenever they're done with their current work. There's another option which has them discard the resources they would usually recover. Useful if you want to just clear out an area of ruins as fast as possible. Last, Building Breakers are partially resistant to land mines now. Makes them useful for clearing mine fields, but it also means enemy Building Breakers are tougher to deal with.

Quality of Life

There is now a quick description for every vehicle and structure in Infolinks and when placing them. Lets you get an idea of what everything does at a glance. Factions also now have a quick description in the new game screen and in Infolinks. Augmentations are much easier to work with. No need to move close to structures to work with them. You can install them from anywhere, and also can always uninstall them to your headquarters. Almost all of your destroyed structures (like Factories, Smelters, etc.) will leave behind ruins now for easy rebuilding, assuming you have a copy stored. More animations and graphical improvements for vehicles. Cargo and mining vehicles now show what they are carrying at a glance. Most AI structures, including most AI bases and trading posts, show their contents at a glance as well. Factions never interrupt you except for only the most critical messages. All other messages (like mission failure or success messages) will appear as calls in the top right that you can dismiss if you'd like. You can wishlist a few plot of land at a time, which prevents allied and neutral factions from settling there. One of the factions has a special ability which gives it a larger wishlist. The Prefabricator has too many build options late game, so it has been split into two - itself and the Assembler - and the recipes divided between the two, to make using each more manageable.

And More!

Tons more small gameplay changes, tweaks, and fixes, too many to note. Full Changelist 0.5.0.0 (5/4/2023) Gameplay - Main missions have been reworked almost entirely except for the starter loan. Missions will get harder the longer you wait to do them. One of the main missions in mid game includes a new antagonist faction. Sandbox will not have main missions, nor will older saves now. - Crisis Engine - New crises happen periodically, and based on how well you are doing. Crises include multi-storm events, titanquakes, meteor showers, pirate surges, scavenger surges, and marauder raids of various flavors. You will get warnings whenever a crisis is about to occur, to give you time to prepare. Disasters will now never happen outside of a designated Crisis. - If you run out of money, you immediately lose the game. You will get warnings any time you come close to this. Does not apply to sandbox mode. - Rent is no more. You start with a fixed number of starting structures and vehicles, and when you're out, you're out. Only maintenance costs to worry about. Note: older saves are simply given all of the starting structures and vehicles since they no longer can be rented. - You get starter packages that allow you to choose from a variety of necessary structures from at the beginning of the game. - The Primary Loan at game start now has daily interest, which scales with installments paid off. - Land is much cheaper, but now you have to pay property taxes on land you own. - Land can be sold if you've removed all of your structures from it. - Land Wishlisting - You can wishlist a few plot of land at a time, which prevents allied or neutral factions from buying that land. - Early Game Miniaturization Options - Mini Smelter, Mini Factory, Light Cargo Truck, Mini Excavator, Cargo Rover, Mini Storehouse, Small Solar Farm, all designed for compact factory design, available from game start. - Early Game Maximization - Mega Smelter and Mega Factory structures, both of which take up more land, but operate more efficiently, available at game start. - New Early Game Power Options - Ducted Wind Turbine, Helical Wind Turbine, Spiral Wind Turbine, Small Solar Farm, Reinforced Power Lines. Additionally, the default Power Line and all Wind Turbines can now be built offshore at no additional cost. - Different wind turbines gain different bonuses depending on the terrain. - Assembler - Split the Prefabricator into two structures. Prefabricator is for large structures, Assembler is for making smaller, repeatable structures. This makes it much easier to search through structures to build with the Prefabricator in the late game. This may require you to make a few tweaks to your old save, but nothing major (just replace some Prefabricators with Assemblers). - Supercomputer - Replaces Supercomputing Optimization standalone technology. It is an upgrader structure which increases research speed of labs, as well as unlocking the last part of the tech tree (as before). - Optimizer - A late game upgrader structure for improved production speed. - New sell-only structures - Habitat split into variants of Makeshift Habitat, Luxury Habitat, and Underground Habitat. Skyscraper split into variants of Luxury Skyscraper and Dense Skyscraper. Far has been split into Traditional Farm and Hydroponic Farm. - New combat units - Armored Gun Rover, Technical, Anti-aircraft Vehicle, Anti-aircraft Turret. - Gun rovers and gun turrets can't target air vehicles now. You need more anti-aircraft units for that. - Meteor Defense Turret - Turret which can only target meteors, but it's the only unit which can destroy them. - Mass Damper - New structure which upgrades adjacent structures to be highly resistant to storm and Titanquake damage. - Auto-demolish Mode. When enabled, your demolition vehicles will automatically search for nearby neutral structures to destroy. - Demolitioner Discard Mode - Demolition vehicles have a new mode which allows them to discard resources they would've gained from demolition. Useful if you're simply interested in just cleaning up ruins. - Building Breakers are now somewhat resistant to Land Mines, making them ideal for clearing out mine fields. This also means enemy Scavengers are harder to destroy with Land Mines. - Vehicle Storage and Deployment - You can now store vehicles the same way structures are stored. Then you can deploy them anywhere in your territory. This allows instant vehicle relocation within your territory, as long as they are carrying no items. This also lets you avoid paying maintenance costs on your vehicles that are currently not in use. When they are produced by your factory, they start stored rather than starting right next to the building that produced it. - There are four new standalone technologies for reducing the damage from storms or Titanquakes. - Augmentations are much easier to work with. You can now install them from anywhere, and you can always drop them off at your headquarters. No need to drive up close to buildings to get them to work. - Resource generation: Fewer clusters of multiple resource veins. - Tweaked a number of vehicle attributes. Reduced some vehicle speeds. - Overpasses and lake bridges are much cheaper and multiple are produced at a time. - Vehicle and structure damage is now auto-repaired when maintenance costs are paid. - Almost all of your destroyed structures leave behind ruins now for easy rebuilding. - Explosions and other area of effect damagers have a smoother damage falloff curve. - Most Faction Abilities have been reworked - Some abilities removed, some added. New special abilities: - The Orbital Exchange can bribe factions to increase their relations. - Dawn Seekers' positive relations last much longer than usual. - Red Citadel can wishlist many more plots of land at a time than usual. - Novametrics gets additional warning time before crises strike. AI - Factions exist before you even start the game now. They won't land next to you because they're already there. This also means most factions will be far away from each other. - Factions have a relation to you, which can increase or decrease based on your actions with them. Good relations can improve your trading margins with them, while bad relations will yield harsher margins. Affected prices include permits, loan installments, and all resources, units, or structures bought or sold (including for missions). - Faction population simulation much more granular. AI Factions will now carefully distribute their resources amongst their population, and their growth is more heavily affected by trade with you. - Faction missions have shorter deadlines. You can request a once per mission time extension, though this will reduce your relations slightly. - Trade Requests now sometimes have alternatives you can build/trade, rather than a single option that you must do. - Missions expire on Normal difficulty now. First few missions won't expire though. - Conflux Market sends you ads for items that can help you with the upcoming crisis. - Conflux Market now has a rotating inventory of starter structures and vehicles you can buy. - Pirates and scavengers now gain vehicles when a crisis linked to them occurs, such as with a piracy surge. They will remain in effect after the crisis if you don't deal with them. - Pirates and scavengers are smarter about what they target, and better at judging risk/reward. - Pirates and scavengers will quietly abandon their old base and start a new one if they suspect you're on to them, or suspect you've laid a trap around their base. - Marauder AI is now more aggressive. - Tribute payments for a faction scale with the number of prior crises linked to that faction. - Improved squatter population dynamics. Graphics - All transport vehicles now visibly carry the goods they have in their inventory. Same with mining vehicles and building breakers. - Most AI structures visibly show what goods they have. - Tracked vehicles now animate their tractor treads. Wheeled vehicles now animate their wheels. - Caches now show what goods are inside it. - Updated/improved a number of models. - Improved build placement guide visuals. - Subtle UI animation visuals added. - Removed clouds. - Improved dust FX for vehicles. - Improved meteor shower FX. - Building fans spin slower, but don't turn off, when not working. - Powerlines spark when first attached. Producers spark when first starting work. Consumers and generators spark periodically when using/generating power. - Added spark FX for vehicles with fuel augmentation. - Added rocket FX for Cargo Speeder. - Added sparkle FX to ruins which can be gathered by rovers. - Explosions produce smoke as well now. - Improved texture resolution of all structures and units. - Improved terrain textures to be less sharp and jaggedy. UI - Quick Descriptions - Every structure or vehicle now has, in infolinks or when placing them, a quick description that tells you what it does and how to use it. All factions (player or npc) all have descriptions now too. - Better errors reported when placing vehicles. - 'Duplicate structure' and 'Upgrade Tube' options added to dropdown and 'more options' menu. - Storing or destroying vehicles sends their items and augmentations to your headquarters, and will also warn you before doing so. - Damage amount is displayed in vehicles and structure UI. - Action modes reorganized somewhat. - Call UI has been significantly reworked. - Call UI zoom to button moved into dialogue options. - Call UI now shows faction relations. - Call UI is modal, and pauses the game anytime it comes up. - Store UI has relevant relations and trade bonus info now. - UI scrolling animation added in certain places. - Factions never interrupt you. All their messages will begin calls in the top right, as with their mission messages, and can be dismissed at will. - The only interrupt calls you will ever get are the very first message, and warnings when you are about to be bankrupt. - Vehicles warn you when they can't reach a destination. - Wind View shows the direction the wind is moving in. - Wind View shows terrain bonuses for various wind turbine types. - If you place a tube on the edge of a building, it will correct it for you rather than throwing an error. - Silhouetted ui of structures and vehicles show up in the actions menu and in the producer UI of things you haven't researched yet. - Missions UI on top right has better organized actions in a quick drop down. - Can locate where an item is in the bottom action menu through infolinks now. Other - Tons of strings updated. - Updated squatters icon. - Bug fix - Pirate factions fleeing your territory randomly. - Bug fix - Call messages sometimes not showing up. - Bug fix - Fixed some selection and UI colors being incorrect. - Bug fix - Tribute payments being way too high. - Bug fix - Rare double-payment of upkeep payments happening. - Bug fix - Vehicle tracker showing incorrect names. - Bug fix - Ambient audio not updating fast enough to keep up with camera movements and events. - Bug fix - Overhead icon for miners not appearing. - Bug fix - Settlers/Feds AI would stop working on things and hibernate. - Bug fix - Fixed AI patrols not working. - Bug fix - Hover tooltip missing for wind/solar when placing power generators. - Bug fix - Multiple of the same requested structures in prefabricator UI fixed. - Bug fix - AI factions not buying land in the right spots. - Bug fix - Your trucks not going on missions sometimes. - Vulkan Memory improvements - Greatly reduced startup GPU memory usage. Fixes many out of memory crashes when loading the game, and corruption such as icons not appearing when running Vulkan. - Vulkan Memory Improvements - Setting Terrain Quality now to 'Low' (and reloading the save file) can vastly improve GPU memory usage now. Fixes memory crashes when loading large save files, or crashes when exploring too much. - Crash fix - Crash on relocating/building certain tubes and walls. - Crash fix - Starting a game without selecting a difficulty. - Several other smaller crash fixes.

[ 2023-05-04 19:47:07 CET ] [ Original post ]