8 months on from release, and I'm still at average of 1.0 patches per month. As (most of) you are aware, the plan is to release the Frozen Factory Expansion pack at the end of June. Pricing has still to be decided, but it's been a lot of fun testing and playing all the new features - the CryoPlasm spawners offer a very different gaming experience to the current 'surface wasps' system, the new Particulate resources look great, and the Magma Bore itself is absolutely awesome. It was quite a struggle to make the Orbital Energy Transmitter look small and puny, but we've managed it! There's still an awful lot of work to be done in the next month, but I'm pretty confident we're going to make it. What other time I have will be spent on improvement Server management code; RCON, permissions, ranks etc. But despite my heavy focus on the expansion, we've got a few awesome new machines, and some somewhat LESS awesome machines, designed to help you automate. I've also been spending a huge amount of time optimising the dedicated server, and you should be seeing CPU usage around 10%-15% of what it was previously, along with much-reduced ram usage. That's all from me; on with the patch notes!
The bit everyone cares about...

New machines!

• Added Ore Thief 3000(tm). This 3x3 early-game machine will remove ore from the player's inventory and store it. It'll then offload onto any attached storage hoppers.
• Added 5x5 Induction Charger. Ideal for low to medium power solutions without lots of awkward Lasers.
• Added a Slime Attractor. Requires Spoiled Organic Remains and 8 pps.
• Added Infused Coal; this gives PTGs a much needed mid-game boost and gives alternative power type choices to players
• Added Empty Fuel Canister crafting machine
• Steel Bars can no longer be crafted by hand, and instead you need to make a machine to do it. I meant to do this about 3 years ago.
• Added Advanced and Imbued Machine Block crafters; these are no longer hand-craftable.

Patreon-specific and Frozen Factory

• Added T4 Ore Pings
• MagmaBores are now considered to be T4 machines, and are no longer craftable, except by Patreons.
• Added T4 Particle Filtration systems and T4 Gas Compressors.
• Added Gas Bottlers - you can get the Gas Canisters from these.
• TLDR - Particles Filters -> Particle Compressors -> Gas Storage-> Gas Bottler. Build only where the atmosphere is thick with particulates [spoiler]ie the toxic or cold caverns[/spoiler]
• Added Poison and Slow missiles. They've got fancy-pants names in-game however.
• Added DoT effect to mobs
• Aded Slow Effect to mobs. It'll even work networked!
• GeoThermals now produce 10x the power if fed by Freezon Canisters. The rate of feeding is still to be decided.
• Added PPS for filtration systems.
• Added T4 Minecarts; as fast as Fast ones and as large as Large ones!
• T4 Dazzler Turret now constructable
• Geothermals should no longer use 1xFreezon per connected player (!)
• Geothermals should now be able to build into Lava
• Lancers should only sleep for 5s after completing a work cycle, not 60
• Added T4 'sparkle' to MK3 lasers when fully-upgraded. This should let you easily see if parts of your network need some love.

Major Fixes and improvements

• Added 3 Inventory Sort functions; Alphabetical, Type and Quantity.
• Added a CPH compass.
• Everyone should now have brand new glowsticks!
• Dapper DLC owners : Glowsticks default to blue, not green.
• Dapper DLC owners : Glowsticks will be the colour of your paintgun (N to select)
• Dapper DLC owners : Choosing BLACK as your Paintgun colour will force fully-saturated, randomly-coloured glowsticks. RAVE!
• Looking at the help page for an un-researched Project will now show all the items that it unlocks.
• Increased maximum power transfer rate of Lab
• Fixed a missile issue where delayed damage was ALWAYS delayed for 15 seconds (!)
• Further fixes for 'flickering combat text' issue. Maybe I got this time. Maybe not. Maybe it's mabelyinne.
• Substantial CPU saving to LF simulation on Dedicated Servers.
• Teleporters now work for networked clients again.
• Fixed Target Marker Duplication issues with Teleporters
• Rebalanced lab work; Labs now require half as much power to research. Research Pods now require twice as much power; this gives the net effect of the same power to complete a research, but allows the player to work in advance to complete the research, as well as deal with a number of smallers power consumers, instead of one massive one. The lab will also give readouts on how well you're doing. Go you! nne Perkins!

Minor stuffs

• Reduced rate of archiving, to reduce threaded load.
• DropPods now drop less and less often as the game progresses; after 50 hours of play, they only drop once per 10 hours, instead of once per hour.
• Minecart visual updates now happen a little faster if your framerate is high enough.
• MK2 PSBs now require research. I shall be EXCEPTIONALLY SARCASTIC to anyone who asks "Why can't I craft these any more? (As that means you not only didn't check the forums, you didn't even check the damned reearch station!)
• CamoBots now lurrrrrrrrve the Induction Charger platforms.
• Removed circular dependcy; Steel Smelters no longer require Crystal, which requires Steel Drill heads.
• Massively improved Cold Creep.
• Significant CPU improvements to Oozes, Camobots and Minecarts, especially on dedicated servers.
• Fixed a MAJOR typo, causing things to think they were in the wrong segment. This will affect all mobs and all dropped items.
• Reduced the disk load CPU usage by approximately 90% (TO 10%!)
• Iron Gears no longer need 15(!) Research Points.
• Liquifiers and Ablators now obey Pythagorus (Sum of the square of the other 2 sides, not the product of the sum!)
• Changed Bulk Cargo Lift crafting costs
• Ablators should no longer leave partially ablated resin behind.
• Slimes will now ignore attractors more than 128 metres away.
• MK2 Solars will DEFINITELY collect power at night now. Tottes.
• Removed some log file spam. Log spam is approx 10 gigs per day on a large base. (That's per 24 'real' hours)
• FALCORs that do not share a segment with anything will no longer fail to save.
• Fixed Cargo Lift Duplication issues
• Fixed issue with Cargo Lift where any empty hoppers might cause the lift to stop loading.
• Cargo Lifts can no longer be rotated (I really wouldn't try, you could potentially break anything!)
• Fixed Handbook URL Parser.
• Non-Patreons will get explained why ARC Smelter are falling off randomly.
• Clock Crystals now needs 5 crystal but no Copper.
• Fixed issue where repeated pings would give potentially incorrect resource usage readouts.
• FALCOR bases no longer accept power.
• Clearing Ore Extractors now clear at a rate of 1 block per second, up from 1 block per 30 seconds.
• Altered 'random' mob spawns to more appropriately distribute amongst players.
• Reworked Slime fall damage to be much better
• Fixed a few Slime clipping issues
• Added a Slime Attractor. You can probably work out what this does if you read the previous 2 patch notes. Requires Spoiled Organic Remains and 8 pps.
• Exceptions thrown on the dedicated server will no longer fire every single frame
• Fixed NRE with Storage Hoppers
• Fixed NRE with SpiderBot base
• Cold Creep growth should now be indicated by the CCCCC
• Hard Resin Detectors should work for network clients.
• ARTHER should now tell network players to craft him a core!
• Refineries are now capable of dealing with Liquid Resin. It's your choice which machine to use! <3
• Fixed issue where some T4/Patreon machines weren't working on dedicated servers. (This would have affected the ARC Smelter most obviously)
• CCCCC now has improved paging code for the CryoPlasm spawners.
• Laser Power Transmitters should sync with clients much faster now.
• Numerous fixes to CCCCC and CryoPlasm
• Added Generic Pipes to craftables.
• Steel Bar Smelters work now. Cheers Vandal!
• CCCCC should now calculate CreepVec on the correct thread.
• CargoLifts now visible on the Holobase! #awesome
• CargoLifts will now show how long they've spend loading/unloading/travelling
• Fixed crash when changing refinery recipes.
• Laboratories now give improved autochat when players start doing things.
• Slime Attractors no longer remove 'zero' Spoiled Remains from attached hoppers; they can now also talk to full storage hoppers.
• Visual loading/unloading of Cargo lifts is now faster.
• CargoLift glows now based on tier
• Improved network performance of Cargo Lifts
• Fixed issue with console spam when removing a lift from an interface
• Improved Particulate networking
• Steel Bars can no longer be crafted by hand, and instead you need to make a machine to do it. I meant to do this about 3 years ago.
• All threads named.
• Potential 30%-50% CPU time saving on Dedicated Servers by not calculating facets.
• Explosions (All player-based types) can no longer destroy the CPH. #handholding101
• Quarries can no longer chew into entities of any sort. Like the CPH!
• Updated Help for MK3 lasers.
• Added NetSleep commend for dedicated servers. This indicates how long the server thread will sleep for after each tick. Increasing this will fractionally increase latency, but can reduce CPU usage massively. TODO : Put this into an ini file.
• Reminder : There's also the mobrate parameter!
• Improved mob readout information.
• Reduced Cargo Lift spam
• Advanced Machine Manufacturers no longer require you to have scanned Advanced Machine Blocks.
• T4 Trenchers will no longer make items with stupid values on startup.
• Blast Furnaces now respect difficulty settings. T4 ores are 200/64/32/16 ore per bar, depending on difficulty.
• MK3 Laser beams made a tad smaller
• MK2 Laser beams made a tad less glowy
• Fix Minecart Load glows
• Absolutely tons of optimisations and improvement for dedicated servers and lots of new yummy metrics.
• Increased transfer rate and bufer size of Power Booster Chargers
• CryoPlasm touching batteries will rapidly wipe their power.
• Trusses are now 5x cheaper
• CCB bars now count towards achievements and holobase readouts.
• Induction Charger should now be craftable.
• FIXED TOTALLY GAME-BREAKING BUG THANKS TRAVIS!!!!!!!!!
• Storage Hoppers 'Last added' text now respects value. It's been 3 years. I'm quite happy to have fixed it.
• AutoExcavators' range increased to 512 metres.
• AutoExcavators' power usage greatly decreased.
• Missile Launchers will no longer target surface worms.
• Fixed FMOD 'Spread' issue in Cold Caverns. Free performance and less errors! YAY
• Fixed issue with CamoBots oscillating at very low framerates causing NaNs
• Dazzler Turret should now match up to server angles
• Sped up Dazzler Turret scans, improved CPU usage
• Increased Dazzler maximum trigger range from 64 to 128 metres
• Blast Furnaces should no longer use up extra materials when more players are connected.
• Significantly smarter CPU usage of Overmind spawning; massive decrease in constant mob thread usage!
• Completely network capable and rewritten Orbital Strike Controller code. Way cooler single player, and actually works brilliantly for dedicated servers. EXPLOSIONS, HOOOOO!
• Reduced CPU usage of cold creep
• Solar Panels should no longer crash for network clients
• Induction Chargers should no longer report the wrong number of machines
• C5 will now intelligently drop unnecessary segments
• ColdCreep Spawns now round robin the work, alleviating CPU and segment load
• Dedicated servers now default to CompressOnExit; type cache to modify this.
• Lancers will now drop extra segments after a scan
• Ablators will now drop extra segments after a scan
• Liquefiers will now drop extra segments after a scan
• Inverted the Paintgun Injectors. Remember, the paintgun can be used to paint torches and affect glowsticks if you have the Dapper DLC.
• Further improvements to MagmaBore
• Orbital Strike Controller now has a much more obvious visual effect when signalling
• Fixed holobase for Particulate filter machines
• Fixed descriptions on Power Boosters and Power Chargers (Chargers charge up and make Boosters)
• Ore Grinder no longer works unless you have a Cold Cavern Climate Control Centre.
• Cold Caverns should now be a lot more dangerous without the Suit Heater. Still too easy? Let me know!
• Fixed issue where duplicate segment requests could explode out of control.
• Fixed CPU usage on dedicated server due to pointless block picks
• Fixed CPU usage on dedicated server due to the server's ARTHER having no power core.
• Massive CPU optimisation on Ablators, Refiners, FALCORs and Lancers.
• Inventory Sort By Type now sub-sorts identical types by names
• Inventory Sort By Type now puts Upgrades first, Garbage last, and sorts all Ores seperately.
• Fix to Teleporter repeat sound effect
• Fixed network issue with display of CCB
• Fixed Blast Furnace not obeying resource scalars correctly.
• You can no longer drag T4 ores into the Smelter.
• Blocked FALCOR beacons will no longer soak up lots of CPU time on busy worlds.
• CryoPlasm Spawners will allow the world to page in before attempting to fill it with CryoPlasm.
• Fixed dropped item textures
• Sped up T0 Laser Power Transmitters substantially
• Continuous Casting Basin warns of overheating - only build this in the cold cavern!
• Blast Furnaces now have a 50% higher power transfer rate
• SuperBuild can no longer build through Multiblock machines
• Digging up the Grinder when you have no C5 should now return the resources
• New handbook entries for FALCORs, Induction Chargers The Cyberdyne Ore Thief 3000(tm), SpiderBot weaponry
• Fixed Handbook entries for all Forced Induction kits.
• Ore Thief 3000 (tm) now increased to a sustained 3,300 items/minute maximum.
• Toxic Warning indicator now works
• Cold Warning indicator now works reliably.
• Reduced brightness of Chromed Lens bonus laser
• Increased Order Blocks to 400 from 200. Servers are now 4000.
• All Particulate machines will now drop the correct number of blocks.
• Minor polish improvements to intro sequence
• Minor polish improvements to tutorial sequence
• Removed an exploit.
• Liquefiers should no longer leave Liquefied blocks around. It may take some hours for them to catch up with previously-knackered resin setups, but they will!
• Auto Ore Removers renamed to the much catchier Ore Thief
• Ore Thieves should no longer be able to reduce player's ore to negative levels (!)
• Teleporter effects should now be visible for clients; added SFX and GFX
• Refinery now requires 10x less liquid resin
• Auto Ore Removers no longer show errors whilst linking. Items in this machine are stored in limbo, and breaking it will not give the items back.
• Auto Ore Removers are now much much faster at removing ore. You'll still need to clear the ore out of them!
• Improved logic behind a number of ARTHER prompts. Don't ignore ARTHER. It only makes him sad.
• ARTHER will now let you know if the Lab has work to collect
• You should no longer be able to super-build through the new T4 multiblock machines.
• Saved 2-8ms of mainthread time on servers by not spawning or dealing with things that it doesn't need to.
• Teleporters should now network update. This doesn't mean they WORK, but they are guaranteed to be at least slightly less broken.
• WorkFloor Excavators no longer destroy multiblock machines.
• MK2 Solar Panels should use up a lot less ram.
• GeoThermal plants should no longer use up tons of segments
• Loads and loads of work on the Magma Bore.
• Dazzler turret now rapidly scans through air. Some might say murderously fast.
• Added CryoPlasm Melter; this converts frozen CryoPlasm into its liquid form. This, I believe, turns the game into a completely unique form of tower-defence, allowing and requiring the player to build channels to flow CryoPlasm into a killbox.
• C5 is now marked as a MultiBlock machine.
• Organic Cutter heads now give you 5 heads for 1 Refined Resin. (That's down from 420k power to 42k power per head)
• Added a T4 lens, along with upgrades from ALL previous lens tiers.
• Blast Furnaces should give correct SH readout for network clients
• CCBs are now serialised, and should work on the network ok.
• SpiderBot now requires Base Building Automation.
• Fixed "Collected" info panel, due to watching LovinDaTacos
• Renamed MK2 FALCORs to Logistics FALCORs, due to people's confusions.

Mod Stuff

• Made a bunch of UI specific things public
• Added EntityManager.instance.WhatsAtTheOtherEndOfThisPipe - I decided that the generic pipes were so damned cool, that modders will want to use 'em. Call this and you'll get what's at the other end of the pipe. WhatsAtTheOtherEndOfThisPipe(long x, long y, long z, ushort dir, int maxdistance, MachineEntity lOwner, out ushort lCube, out SegmentEntity lEntity, out lnPipeDistance) returns either ePipeResult.eSuccess or ePipeResult.eSegmentLoadingCallAgain - questions welcome!
• Generic Auto Crafters can now be made that do not require power. You're welcome, modders!
• Not much much support in the form of code changes this month; remember, the nice guy doing the mod changes is a volunteer, and has been busy at work!
• Next month, Workshop support is high priority. I think there's enough mods out there to warrant it, and it'll stop the endless "Does this game have mod support?" questions I get...