Dev Diary: What We’re Working on Right Now

Hi all,

My name's Lyubo and I'm the lead designer for Surviving Mars: Relaunched. It's been several weeks since release (and three hotfixes) so it is high time to give you more information on what we are working on right now.

We are planning a bigger update (1.0.4) soon™ to address the most pressing issues you may be experiencing (see below for more info). We are committed to fixing the game and making it as good as it can be - we just need time. 

The 1.0.4 Update

The big update will have a lot of changes that required more playtesting and thus could not be added to the hotfixes. There will be bug fixes, balance changes AND new content in the form of 6 new laws. As there are new bugs being reported every day, I cannot promise that we will fix everything but we are aiming at the most common issues that have cropped up.

New Asteroid Flow

Asteroid Landers will have 2 distinct modes - Manual and Automatic. In manual mode, the lander will be commanded by a UI that resembles that resupply screen and will give you the opportunity to have the same filters you have for passenger rockets when sending colonists to an asteroid. The Manual mode will give you total control over what to transport both from Mars and from the asteroid.

In automatic mode, you will only be able to transport resources back and forth but the whole process will be fully-automated (from landing to take-off).

Politics

We received many complaints about Politics breaking the balance of the game. Some of the issues were caused by bugs and laws having a wider effect than anticipated, but we will also nerf some of the worst offending laws (Crowded Living , Shift Optimization, and Resource Subsidies).

In addition to that, we will change how Ministries work and affect laws as they are adding too much volatility to the economy of Mars. This means that the effect they have on laws will be less impactful but more stable.

Finally, there will be 6 new laws that are aimed to be useful when you are late in the game and give you additional options to customize your colony. Here is a list with their effect (there may be changes until the release of the update):

• Energy focus - a multi-choice law that will give one type of power produces extra oomph but will reduce the performance of some of the others
• Terraforming focus - a multi-choice law that will double the building effects for one terraforming parameter
• Economic Interventions - a law that has high upkeep but will boost the production of the resource you have the least of.
• Administration - a multi-choice law that will allow you to reduce the upkeep of laws in either funding or RP
• Founder Privilege - a law that gives extra Comfort to Founders when servicing their needs.
• Underground Amenities - a law that gives underground Domes extra comfort

Colonists

There are many reported issues with colonists and how they pick (or don't pick) their workplaces and homes. We are investigating many cases and have fixed multiple big problems. Expect more information in the changelog once the update arrives.

Bug fixes

The bugs that were caught and fixed were numerous but I will explicitly mention:

• Disasters (not starting/not ending/spamming notifications)
• Trains (connectivity issues/improper balancing of resources)
• Faction opportunities/likes/dislikes (bugs fixed/new added/balance tweaks)
• Story events (sponsors not being recognized properly)
• Stability - a major crash and a freeze have been fixed

A more comprehensive list will be available with the final changelog once the update arrives.

Expect more soon!

That is all for now. Remember:

• Update your drivers
• We are reading through your comments/bug reports/reviews - even though we can’t reply to all of them
• If you see a bug or want to give us direct feedback, press Ctrl+F1 on your PC while in-game to open the bug reporter.

Cheers,
Lyubo
Haemimont Games