ARCOSTATE  -  DEVLOG 02

Big update: base building, destructible world, a new mega-dungeon, infinite caves, an underground monorail, the codex, and a list of improvements and fixes.

There is now a macOS build. THE APP IS UNSIGNED, so first launch needs right-click > Open (or System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway on newer macOS).

NEW FEATURES

- Home claiming and base building: buy a land deed, claim a sector of open wilds, and build it out with walls, floors, doors, windows, and furnishings from a new vendor. A sledgehammer handles demolition and packing furniture back up, and a single-use ground digger bores straight down.

- A destructible world: walls, furniture, doors, trees, plants, and corpses can all be broken, with sturdier materials taking far longer. Damage to the world slowly mends on its own.

- Crafting: fell trees for wood, mine rock for stone with the new iron pickaxe, break panes for glass, and turn it all into walls, floors, doors, furniture, and work stations at a crafting table available for sale at the arcology furniture store (go to the sector north of Ragos).

- Hired help: buy a home terminal, place it on your land, and hire guards and shopkeepers. Staff need beds, work the spots you assign, and your own shopkeeper pays a better rate when you sell.

- The arcology honors up to five land claims as your standing with it grows, and your homes can be named.

- The cultist temple: a large dungeon that spans a full world-map sector, home to a new faction.

- The cave stratum: caves now descend forever, with new hazards and stronger enemies the deeper you go.

- An underground monorail: derelict stations in the city ruins connect to a rail network beneath the surface.

- Momentum physics: anything thrown hard enough, yourself included, keeps moving until it stops, and hurts whatever it hits along the way.

- Chrono water: violet pools in the deadlands and other cursed places. Every turn spent in them costs you years.

- The codex: a permanent gallery of every item and creature you catalog, kept across all your runs. Creatures catalog through the look cursor, items by inspecting one you hold.

- Holotapes: rare recorded messages that add lore, can be replayed in codex.

- The psychic awakening drug: a rare consumable that opens the psychic skill tree outside of character creation, otherwise gives a psychic skill/upgrades on randomly. Works on NPCs too.

- Fire selectors: the assault rifle, ancient rifle, and blaster rifle toggle between accurate semi-auto and a three-round burst. Enemies switch modes too.

- Bridge ambushes: crossing a river bridge on the world map can spring an ambush mid-span.

- Click-to-travel: click anywhere on the world map and the route plans itself. The auto-walk key offers the same with a keyboard selector.

- Click-to-walk: click any tile you've explored and your character walks there, stopping the moment a hostile shows itself.

- Playable without a numpad: optional vi movement keys (hjkl + yubn) under Settings, Controls, alongside click-to-walk. Jump and infrared moved off their letter keys into the abilities menu, and stay bindable.

- A new quest near the start: ask the hermit who he is.

- New gear: the stealth array, the chrono drug, the chrono dampener cybernetic, the iron axe, and more.

CHANGES

- Improved marsh and mountain terrain generation.

- More enemies roam the open wilderness, matched to the region's danger, and wandering bands are more common.

- Wandering bands can sometimes be heard from a distance.

- New creature: feral dogs hunt in packs.

- Raiders roam the city ruins alongside the scavengers.

- Enemies shout for help when they spot you, and nearby allies come running.

- The bandits are reworked into the raiders, new armor and weapon.

- The starting cellar is redrawn.

- Doors open and close on command: press E beside one, or right-click it.

- Right-click is a quick interact on any adjacent tile: doors, corpses, crates, and the rest.

- Psychic powers tuned: Precognition works in any armor, Pull no longer costs your turn, Sense Minds is a toggle, overreach warns before a lethal meltdown, and bystanders will be aggroed by shove.

- Tab target cycling goes nearest first, and the fire cursor no longer snaps to enemies hidden in darkness.

- Shotguns hit harder and reach further, and the laser shotgun pierces armor.

- Weapons and magazines can be unloaded right off a corpse, or your emptiest magazine swapped for a fuller one.

- Machines carry natural armor, some light up.

- Corpses show at a glance whether they still carry anything.

- Auto-walk and auto-explore route around chasms, lava, and chrono water.

- Auto-explore is configurable in the new Settings, Gameplay tab: stop or fight when an enemy is sighted, and HP thresholds for healing up or halting.

- Stairs controls are rebindable in Settings, Controls, with the classic > < and Alt+. Alt+, always working; Settings also gains a Reset All to Defaults button.

- Period (.) always passes a turn, and the game is fully playable without a numpad; every key is rebindable.

- New HUD readouts: a condition panel for toxicity, strain, drugs, and statuses, plus interior and depth indicators by your coordinates.

- Inspecting a creature or person now ends with their stance toward you.

- No overland travel from the world map while underground or inside a building.

- Character creation previews your chosen armor.

- Companion Develop sheet is cleaner and more informative, and companions follow you through the arcology gate on your day-pass.

- Flat-pack chests deploy through a placement cursor, and placed storage counts as yours everywhere.

- Solar chargers respect real daylight, charge energy magazines one by one.

- Ragos opens his store at a friendlier reputation.

- Alien crash sites can hold an alien weapon-upgrade bench.

- Ammo shows icons in inventory, and keycards group as a set.

- Menu polish: smoother held-key scrolling, cleaner tab navigation, and a level editor quality pass.

- Removed the ragged cloak.

BUG FIXES

- Fixed New Game Plus rebuilding the world with the previous run's terrain: wilderness, caves, ruins, rivers, and stations now re-roll.

- Fixed holotape finds and the hermit's quest carrying over into a new run.

- Fixed bridge ambushes staying suppressed after starting New Game Plus.

- Fixed abilities being wasted when used under fire.

- Fixed dungeon stairs that could refuse to lead anywhere.

- Fixed enemies forgetting you when you crossed a sector line out of sight.

- Fixed returning to a vortex zone dumping its missed damage all at once.

- Fixed time-dungeon floors regenerating behind you.

- Fixed narrow zone-boundary passages teleporting you.

- Fixed a named vault missing on older saves.

- Fixed rain not falling on open water.

- Fixed north-south overland travel costing too little time.

- Fixed village leaders pointing to camps in the wrong direction.

- Fixed arcology guards and camp followers ignoring their sleep schedules.

- Fixed auto-explore stalling on lamps and planters.

- Fixed auto-explore pacing back and forth between two unexplored areas.

- Fixed the save list running off screen with many saves.

- Fixed rapid delete-key presses in the save menu wiping more saves than intended.

- Fixed allies turning on each other over accidental splash damage.