Hello! In the previous update we talked about new game design goal where we should focus on "Gather resources, refine it, construct own production base and produce more powerful stuff by yourself" aspect instead of "Complete missions, earn credits and buy new stuff on the market". So we are continuing to work in that direction. After we careful tested a crafting gameplay, it turned out extrimely complex, so we implemented a large number of improvements which should make production aspect is much more enjoyable. Added new, smaller version shipyard, which is not so expensive and affordable to construct at the beginning phase of the game.
You may combine several shipyard modules to make working area larger. It will automatically define a working area and will apply nice spotlight visual effects. Also we added new type of engineering module which works in combination with shipyard modules. Once it attached to shipyard, it will be able to perform engineering operation within working area of shipyard. Such shipyard will act as a player base which is affordable and could be built within the first 1-2 hours of gameplay.
Also it have new animation which suits an concept of space shipyard! (see GIF animation on the top) This should be important improvement for usability of ship construction. Earlier it was very inconvenient to build something because range of starting engineering module is very tiny and even if you will build T2 engineering module, it's range still not large enough, so it was necessary to build several T2 engineering modules, which is much harder due high resource cost. Also it seems illogical because you may think "Hey, I don't need a faster construction, I just want a larger construction area for my improvised shipyard!". The new approach should fully solve this issue! Now you can build only one engineering module, which is cheap and affordable, and if you need bigger working area for your bigger ship, you may just extend a length of the shipyard scaffolds. Should be much easier to use now! Tell us what you think about it. Another serious issue of the previous version was "Which parts I need to build for that module? How much ore I need mine for it? All of these recipes and production buttons seems too confusing!" So we implemented a few things which should solve this issue. Recipe of module now have icons and much more readable. Also you may see which resources you already have and now it is clearly visible which parts is missing and should be built.
Another important feature, now you can right click on module icon to automatically order a construction of missing parts in production module on your ship! Moreover, production window also have similar list of required resources and shows missing elements. And ore refinery too! As result, now it should be much more obvious what you need to mine in order to construct desired module, like "I want to build a shipyard, but some parts missing, but I may produce it if I will have some steel and copper and this list in ore refinery window it is an ores I need so lets mine it!"
We are very happy with this solution. We were a bit upset when turned out that craft is too complex and started to thought "Maybe it should be more casual? Just a few resources and modules right from raw ore, like before? It would be not good, we like a complex craft with many resources". But we came up to this solution and seems like it should solve an issue! It should make crafting easier to use but still keep it deep and complex. Also we have implemented a new selection effect, which has turned out to be very important due to implementation of larger modules such as new shipyard. It looks much nicer than before.
And also a couple of new fuel tanks!
In the next updates we are going to continue improve such base building gameplay. We will improve balance, usability, implement initial "mini tutorial" which will direct you and explain how to construct your first space base. Also we will make NPC stations more rare, but significant (now they are everywhere) and also we plan to bring a great improvement in combat aspect soon, in order to make it fun and enjoyable, like it should be in good crafting survival game, but it will be explained in details in further posts. Thanks!

CHANGE LOG

• Shipyard modules are now functional, it can be assembled to define a shipyard area, after that new special engineering modules can be attached to build ships on the shipyard
• Added possibility to quickly add required or missing parts for module to queue list of production module
• Added smaller shipyard modules
• Added two new fuel tanks
• Redesigned info window which shows you amount of required parts for module construction
• Now you can use "Move tool" using own shipyard
• Various module recipe rebalanced so player own space station \ shipyard now much more accessible at the beginning phase of the game (which is important because we are want to implement base building \ crafting gameplay)
• Implemented new method of visualization of selected \ hovered module, now it is displayed with outline effect, which is better than previous "frame effect", especially for large modules such as warp drive and shipyard
• Now you can add or remove amount of items in queue of production module by left or right click

• Large modules such as shipyard modules now can be placed in larger radius around your ship (previously it was hard to do because radius of small engineering bay is too small for it)
• Updated icons of modules
• Radar markers no longer displayed at close range where it is not required, as result it no longer creates visual garbage
• Rebalanced thrust of various engines. Now starting ship much more agile, like it supposed to be for starting ship
• Damage from collisions a bit reduced, earlier it was too high (but further rebalance is required and will be performed later)
• Sandbox window now can be closed by second click on its button
• Message "RMB - Show content" now displayed only after you hover cursor on the same container for 1 second, as result it no longer creates visual garbage when you are hovering cursor over your ship
• Yellow warning icons above modules now scaled depending on zoom level and no longer creates visual and allows to select modules under it
• Small engineering module now have a bit more correct animation when working on large modules such as shipyard
• Collision audio effect now a bit more soft and pleasant to hear
• Added two additional hydrogen tanks for starting ship

• Fixed: "Science data required" still shows when research device turned off
• Audio volume of NPC engines no longer so loud
• Some refined metals no longer can be placed in containers for raw ore
• Fixed issue when blue selection frame of modules didn't disappear when you selected another module with move tool