New Feature: Challenges Challenges are a new game mode where you have to accomplish a specific objective within a time limit. Mission parameters, game rules and colony coordinates are predetermined and unique for each challenge. A total of 24 challenges are now available. Self-sufficient Rovers Rovers no longer have batteries and there’s no need to recharge roves from Power cables. We reevaluated this mechanic and decided that the amount of micromanagement it required was more tedious than actually presenting a meaningful challenge. We are removing it as part of our initiative to reduce the unnecessary micromanagement in the game and allow the player to focus on more important tasks. Rover Command AI tech now enables automated mode for Explorers and Transports. Changes to Concrete Deposits We have reworked the Concrete Extractor to work more in line with other extractors. Concrete Extractors have to be placed in the vicinity of the concrete deposit marker and no longer take into account the specific patch of terrain they cover. This way concrete deposits can be fully exploited even with a single extractor. Changes to Maps Due to the changes in concrete deposits, as well as other fixes to the random map generator, all maps have been generated again and will look different than previous versions. Environmental variety of maps has been improved. Changes to Research The randomization of research (both order of techs in the research tree and breakthroughs discovered from anomalies) is now tied to the random seed of the individual map. This means that techs are always the same on the same map but different between different maps. This change allows players to compete for score on even terms on the same map coordinates and to have the same experience with techs when attempting Challenges. Changes to Messages Popup messages will now arrive first as blinking notifications, which will pop up after some time has passed. This way popups will not interrupt your current actions like placing or managing buildings. Some important messages will still pop up without a notification. Controller Support for the Infobar "Resource Overview" buttons are removed from the HUD for both mouse and controller interfaces. The Infobar can now be navigated using controller. Rollover highlights have been added to the Infobar in the controller version of the UI. Balance Changes Reduced Mega Trigon Dome construction and maintenance costs Trigon Dome now requires Polymers for maintenance Dust generated from Building and Rocket sources has been increased General Fixes and Improvements Crystals in “The Philosopher’s Stone” mystery should now work properly Resource deposit markers are now aligned to the building grid Increased the range in which the Transport Rover looks for Transport Route resources to 25 hexes Fixed the sound effect of the Artificial Sun Rockets no longer require cargo to be launched towards Mars Meteor Storm epicentre now moves during the disaster Improved Pipe placement logic, related warnings and cost predictions Price of Pipe segments placed over non-buildable or rough terrain is now properly calculated Landing Pads are no longer being suspended by disasters Deep scanning progress for sectors is now properly reset after surface scanning Sub-surface Heater & Mohole Mine are now protected from freezing Endless Supply game rule now disables achievements Fixed the game not launching on some Linux distributions General performance improvements UI fixes and improvements: Dust radii of Extractors and Rockets are now shown on placement and selection New auto pin settings in Options > Gameplay, that allow customization of pinned objects Key-bindings now properly appear in rollover hints Added key-bindings for passages and passage ramps Added warning sign over buildings that lack input resources Settings for Photo mode are now properly saved Added Reset button to Photo mode Fix for Photo Mode, which removes black artefacts appearing on some buildings Fix for the "Build Menu" shortcut to work as a toggle button instead of only opening the build menu Various encyclopedia texts have been updated to reflect Sagan changes Added description text for Health lost due to the "Infected" trait Reworked the early warning notification for disasters to be more informative