Update news for 2011-03-11 - Artifacts

Spotlight features

Artifact scanning

Artifacts are the buried treasure chests of Nia that you can find with your good ol' geoscanners. We are starting out with 5 different artifact types for each of the 3 factions, all with 3 different rarity levels, adding up to 45 different types. This is only the beginning, we intend to add more types in the future.

Please see the ingame help for all the details and howto.

Some important things to note:

  • Artifacts are individually placed for all Agents. You cannot search for someone else's artifacts, but they will of course become visible to everyone when they are found.
  • Every zone contains a maximum of 10 artifacts. When you find one, a new one will be created at a random position.
  • There is no difference between alpha and beta islands regarding artifact loot types, but beta artifacts have a higher chance to drop higher level loot.
  • Observer spots are what the name implies. You have been warned.

Mk2 robots and new item tiers

Coupled with the artifacts, we are introducing Mk2 robots. These beasts have one additional head and leg slot compared to their regular counterparts, and also come with additional robot bonuses. The only way to obtain them is to find their calibration templates in artifacts, together with the CPU cortexes that are required to build them.

Artifacts also bring two whole tiers of new item variants: "flawed" modules are not the best around, but they are usable and can also be recycled to precious minerals. "Niani" modules are a new tier somewhere between T2 and T3 - they are generally just as good as T3 items, but have somewhat less ideal fitting parameters.

To sum up, a little list of what this patch brings in numbers:

  • 45 artifact types
  • 27 new beginner-level assignments
  • 26 Mk2 robots
  • 120 new module variants

Gameplay

  • New: It is now possible to use the corporation account when repairing items.
  • Fix: You cannot transfer NIC to a deleted character anymore.
  • Fix: You won't get the "in combat" status on NPC aggro anymore, only when it starts attacking you.
  • Fix: When NPCs run back to their homerange, they won't do this at ridiculous speeds anymore.
  • Change: Container interaction range increased to 100m.
  • New: Tiles are now checked for fertility when planting noralgis, so from now on when you plant one you can be sure that it will be on a suitable tile. Note though that the proximity of other plants can still affect them negatively.
  • New: Added a "Free camera rotate" hotkey assignment. You can use this to rotate the camera independently from your movement direction.

Robots and modules

  • Change: Terraforming cycle time bonuses changed to demobilizer resistance bonuses (Laird, Gargoyle).

Extensions

  • New: "Basic geochemistry" now affects artifact scan charges as well.
  • New: Added the "Artifact scanning" extension, which affects artifact scanning range.

Industry

  • New: Repair prices are now based on raw material average prices.
  • Fix: The factory sometimes required slightly more raw minerals that it displayed, due to an inconsistency between server and client calculations.

Corporations

  • Fix: The corporation storage cancel rent button didn't work.

Assignments

  • New: Added 9 new repeatable tutorial assignments for all 3 factions.

GUI

  • New: Item tier levels are now shown on icons and in information windows.
  • New: Added coordinate tooltip on the world map.
  • New: Added item information and market information right-click menu options to buy and sell windows (on the item icon and name).
  • Change: Relevant extensions are now shown separately for every bonus in robot information windows.
  • Change: Accumulator charge display is now directly controlled by the server. Previously the client itself was continuously calculating recharge as well, which could cause false readings. The downside of this is that it's now updating visually less frequently.
  • Change: Moved the chat channel list button from the main menu to the chat window.
  • New: Chat tabs are now "squishy", so you won't miss a new tab anymore when your chat window isn't wide enough.
  • Fix: Opened equipment window parameters are now properly updating when upgrading an extension.

General

  • New: CSV file export is now available generally for all chart-type data in the game. Hold the shift key, and look for a floppy icon appearing in the top right of the chart. Press it, and the data will be saved into your Perpetuum game directory.
  • New: Local settings (keyboard, sound, window positions) are now saved separately from the main datafile, into a file called "Local.gbf". Useful if you need to reinstall the game but want to keep your settings.

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