Dear Stormworkers,

The new Stormworks: Space DLC will release on 12th October!

With just a few days to go, lets discuss some new mechanics!

Fuel Efficiency

Getting to space in the real world is a big challenge. That energy comes from fuel, and it takes a lot of energy to lift fuel into the sky. Often staging is used to jettison spent fuel containers, to reduce weight and improve aerodynamics. Otherwise, a careful and calculated balance is found between the weight of a fuel and the rate of burn.

The same is true in Stormworks. Getting into orbit requires a balanced design, with the correct amount of fuel and engines. Often you don't just want to get into orbit, but deliver a payload like a satellite or part of a space station, so more efficient designs are preferred. If you are playing career, then fuel is a valuable resource that you will need to manufacture.



Resources in Space

Just like in real life, it is expensive to move materials into space. This is significant, as liquid fuels are important for navigating in space, and compressed gasses are important for life support, and RCS manoeuvres. Solar has an initial cost in terms of transport, but will renew electrical power indefinitely, which is useful for heating and reaction wheel control.

Speed and Efficiency

We are introducing a soft speed limit, which is quite common for space games. The limit is set at 500m/s, and while it is possible to go faster than this, it is inefficient in terms of fuel. It is difficult to hit this speed limit when in the atmosphere due to air resistance, but once in space, this limit has a greater effect.



Creative Tools

There are no workbenches in space, but when teleport is enabled, it is possible to teleport anywhere on the moon from the map. It is also possible to spawn creations using the addon editor, in the usual way, as the moon tiles are available.

There are only a few days left! Join us for the launch next week.

Wishlist the DLC here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2383250/

Watch the trailer here:



Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

It is update week! Please see below for the patch notes for this minor update.

The change list may be small this week, but all changes are in a positive direction. We are particularly busy with final testing of Space DLC, and we are very excited for the release in less than 2 weeks!



Next week we will return with a final announcement and discussion on the upcoming release, and then on Thursday 12th October, the Space DLC will launch.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.10

Fix - #20218 Rotated and mirrored hinge connectors not working
Fix - #20274 Zoom not cleared after opening map/pause menu
Fix - #20355 Modular engine cylinder prices
Fix - #20365 Ammo belt rendering in editor F11 export mesh mode
Fix - #18921 Simplified map tooltips to Location
Fix - #20385 Fixed missing logic links on oil rig preset vehicle

Dear Stormworkers,

In this weeks announcement post, we discuss some of the new systems, and explain what to expect in the upcoming Space DLC, with regard to the mechanics of orbit and travelling to the Moon.

Stormworks Space DLC releases on the 12th October.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2383250/

As previously discussed, space in Stormworks will not be a true planetary body simulation. There are apparent limitations - the moon is in a fixed position directly above in the sky, and the world is a wrapping grid rather than a spherical wrapping one.

So, Stormworks: Space is just a new moon island high in the sky then? Well, no, and there are some cool new systems which model gravity, orbits, and planetary bodies which results in a simulation that appears to observe many of the rules and effects of physics found in planetary body simulations:

Gravity

Gravity in Stormworks: Space is derived from the distance to the earth and moon. The pull of gravity fades with distance with a physically accurate equation.



Elliptical Orbits

As the earth rotates, there is a centrifugal effect - objects would travel in a straight line except for the effect of gravity accelerating their path towards the centre of the earth, and thus curving their path. This acceleration due to gravity is constant. Motion in the horizontal plane is actually moving away from the centre of the earth very slightly, and as this horizontal motion increases, the acceleration away from the centre of the earth increases. This acts in the opposite direction to gravity.

The vertical acceleration due to horizontal motion is inversely proportional to the distance from the centre of the earth, so as you travel higher, there is less acceleration. This effect introduces elliptical orbits. To achieve a circular orbit, of constant altitude, you must have equal force due to gravity and horizontal velocity, and also have zero vertical velocity, at the same time.



Planetary Body Rotation

The earth rotates one revolution every day. As you launch from the surface, you launch with the horizontal velocity due to this rotation. This also means that to remain at a fixed position above the ground, you must also be travelling horizontally so that one revolution is also made every day. At around 300km above the surface of the earth, this velocity balances out the effect of gravity, achieving geostationary orbit.



Navigation

We are adding a new astronomy sensor that provides coordinates that better explain your location in space. The area between the earth and moon is mapped. Some navigation type sensors don't work in space such as GPS, which will stop working at a certain altitude, similar to the real world. The coordinate systems provided by the astronomy sensor are much more useful for understanding your position relative to the earth and moon.

As discussed, we are introducing world-wrapping at the same time as the Space DLC releases, meaning travelling across the edge of the map will wrap you back around on both the earth and the moon. This applies to quite a high altitude, but as you get deeper into space, the world will no longer wrap and you can travel infinitely.

We can't wait to share this new update! We look forward to your thoughts and feedback on these new systems.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we are releasing a minor update focused on fixes and features. Please see the change notes below for info on what has changed.

While the new fixes are relatively minor, we are pleased to be making positive quality changes, and our plan is to focus the minor updates on quality and bugs over the next couple of months.



One issue that players have been experiencing since V1.7.11 is random music or audio playing when Stormworks is running. It appears that Steam may have updated their overlay software, and at least in some situations, any Steam overlay browser will reopen and start playing any audio on that page. If you are experiencing this issue, you can press shift+tab, and close these browser windows.



With just 4 weeks to go until the new Stormworks: Space DLC, we are hard at work with final testing and tuning. We have a minor update planned for 29 September, and then the major update and new DLC arriving 12th October.



Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.9

Rework - #16776 #20088 Electric fluid valves now only consume electric when changing state
Rework - #18528 Adjusted default workbench storage vehicle position for Meier starter base
Fix - #16140 Linear track body hovering above connected tracks
Fix - #20283 Separator RPS node name
Fix - #20303 Pumpjack place/delete price discrepancy
Fix - #20329 Added drill grabber end to oil research group
Fix - #20439 Adjusted window diamond 1x4x5 placement surfaces
Fix - #20488 Fix back event for microprocessor save confirm screen
Fix - Fluid jet now correctly updates the the world oil data

Addon Lua:
Feature - #4786 Negative values for addDamage now repair the area

Dear Stormworkers,

In this announcement post, we will discuss some of the new systems we are creating as part of the Space DLC, and the associated free major update.

Compressed Gasses and Liquids

As previously discussed, compressed gasses are coming to Stormworks, with a significant rework of the fluids system. This has a big impact for space, but also for deep-sea where high pressure and displacement will work slightly differently.



Gasses in the new version are able to enter and occupy compartments, and these gasses are compressible. When liquids and gasses enter or leave a compartment, they are treated as mixed evenly rather than layered by height, for the sake of usability by players, so behaviour is more consistent and it is easier to understand what is going on. This is to avoid the situation where a port on a compartment cannot capture all the contents because the port is part way up the side - its difficult to understand that the fluid level may have dropped below the port. This is also consistent with current behaviour and avoids players vehicles from breaking.



However, when it comes to doors, it is easier to understand where the water levels are relative to the door and is visually explained, so our system is a bit more in-depth. As in the current system, doors will only allow water through when the level of the water is above the bottom of the door. With new gasses, gas can also only spill through then the water level is below the top of the door.

The implications of this is quite exciting. It means that moon pools will mechanically work, and gas will not escape once water covers the door. Don't forget that the gasses are compressible, so water can still rise and compress the gas, it is just that the gas will not escape. You can pump more gas in to increase the pressure, pushing the water level back down.



The opposite is also true. If you open a door in the top of the compartment, this will allow all your compressed gas to escape, reducing the pressure and allowing more water to enter.

For submarines, this system means that you could open valves (or even a door) between a compressed air container and a ballast tank with opening at the bottom. This would rapidly increase pressure, quickly pushing the water out and displacing it with compressed gas.



Where there is a pressure difference through a door, gas or liquid will get pulled through. Physics objects including characters will be effected by this and dragged by the pressure. At high altitude or in space, a rapid depressurization event can suck you or any other physics object out of the door.

We look forward to releasing this new system and many other features, and the new Space DLC on October 12th!

We look forward to your thoughts and feedback.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we are releasing a minor update focused on fixes and features. Please see the change notes below for info on what has changed.

Thank you to all who watched the Stormworks: Space live stream! The feedback has been fantastic and we are so excited for the release on October 12th! If you have not done so yet, please consider wishlisting below:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2383250/

As well as this weeks minor update, there will be 2 more minor updates before the launch of Stormworks: Space! These are scheduled every 2 weeks as normal.

We are working hard on the last few finishing tasks, and have already been testing for months. While the main features are in the DLC, the release will be accompanied by a major update including the gas and liquid reworks as well as others, which will be important updates for everyone.



Thank you to everyone who have helped inspire this new DLC, including all the incredible creators who have shared space content, and content creators who have made space themed content.

As well as work on the new DLC, there is work on several minor updates, major updates, as well as 'Not Stormworks 2'.



As always, we are interested to hear player thoughts, especially as we plan out what next. Please do let us know where you think our priorities should be, and what you would like to see next. If you have detailed proposals, please consider posting a feature request on the issue tracker too :-)

We are excited to do more, and so we are creating 1 or 2 new engineering jobs to expand our team! If you are a software engineer, check out the new careers section of our website.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.8

Fix - #19773 Steam Deck crashing on launch
Fix - #19460 Updated Zizo workbench interactable
Fix - #19951 Fire extinguisher particles now respect velocity
Fix - #17902 Updated Bertha cannon voxels
Fix - #20287 Added ladder to archtech survey base
Fix - #20392 Triangle errors on arid isles 18_10
Fix - #20363 Several sign positions on Arid isles
Fix - #20544 Removed physics from FJWarner dock pads
Fix - #20012 Spelling error

Dear Stormworkers,

The new Stormworks: Space DLC will release on 12th October!

Wishlist the DLC here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2383250/

Watch the trailer here:



Stormworks: Space has been years in the making, and introduces space and moon operations to the world of Stormworks:

Space and Lunar Biome

Travel from earth, up through the atmosphere, across the vacuum of space, and down to the surface of the moon in a continuous simulation. Space is infinite nothingness, while the lunar surface is 900 square kilometers of grey dust, craters, canyons, and caves.



New Simulations

Gravity will be simulated and weakens as you travel away from the earth and moon. Ascend high for a geostationary orbit, or build horizontal velocity for a lower orbit.

Vacuum and compressed gasses are introduced, as well as the oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and nitrogen component parts of air. Maintain life support and avoid over pressure or under pressure, hypoxia and hypercapnia. Equalize pressure before opening doors or risk being sucked through.



New Components

Propel through space with the new liquid fuel engines, fueled by compressed oxygen and hydrogen which can be manufactured using electrolysis. RCS thrusters and gyroscopic actuators can be used for fine control. New navigation components help orientate and position you where there is no GPS coverage. Build spacewalk kit with the new seats.

New Equipment

Operate in vacuum with the new space suits. Limited air supply can be recharged in some seats.

Limitations

Our take on space simulation has some limitations, mostly because the game engine wasn't originally designed for space. For example, while in a seat, you have 6 degrees of freedom as usual, outside of a seat, the player always orientates consistently with the same up direction (no 6-DOF first person controller).

Taking the flat planar world of Stormworks and getting this to work as a spherical body planetary simulation has required a lot of thought. The surface of the earth and moon will tile / wrap around. Our solution remaps 3d space along gravitational field lines, and mostly makes sense in quantum space but is not a true euclidean simulation and has some limitations such as not being able to travel around the back of the moon.



Major Update

As usual, this DLC is accompanied by significant updates to the base game, in order to help with compatibility, and incorporate some of the new systems to the base game where is make sense to do so (such as compressed gasses, world tiling, etc). New components will also be cosmetically available in the base game, with limited functionality to help keep the workshop unified and compatible.

We look forward to your thoughts and feedback on this new update!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we are releasing an update focused on quality improvements. This is a smaller minor update with several fixes, addressing minor issues reported by players.



See the patch notes below for full details. You will see the support ticket numbers next to each card, which corresponds to tickets raised by players on the official issue tracker.

Please do join us next week for the big announcement and dev live stream! We will be showing the next DLC and major update, and will be answering your questions live!



We look forward to your feedback in this update :-)

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.7

Rework - #19596 Updated default gantries and storage to be filter-less and instead delete incorrect fluids
Fix - #19846 Train wheel functionality when mixing flipped and rotated wheels
Fix - #19636 Reset explosion and fire buildup after repairing an engine, battery or furnace
Fix - #19748 Sawyer island terrain issues at bridge entry/exits
Fix - #19541 Emote menu background not filling wide aspect ratios
Fix - #19747 Missing rock face at airstrip base
Fix - #19606 Clear interactions when opening chat menu
Fix - #19623 Beret mesh issues
Fix - #19602 Mesh gap at Taijin dock
Fix - #1976 Removed extra cone on jet engine blade mesh

Dear Stormworkers,

On Friday 25th August at 4PM BST / 8AM PDT, we will be running a developer live stream, and debuting the announcement trailer for the new DLC!

Countdown Timer

The content of this new DLC has been a closely guarded secret, but all will be revealed in this developer live stream! We will start by showing the trailer, then some gameplay, and will be answering questions live from the chat.



This is just the announcement, and not a release. We will be discussing the DLC and will also share the release date at this event.

This new content has been years in development and we are very excited to share what we have been working on. Let us know what you think it could be in the comments :-)



Please subscribe to this event and join us in 2 weeks!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week is update week, and we have a bunch of fixes and improvements in this release!

The headline item is a new feature for Industrial Frontier DLC owners! In the third and final addition of new animals, we bring the gila monster and the tortoise as new animals that roam the arid desert.

These sweet and gentle beasts are non aggressive reptiles that live on the Meier Isles. They are shy wild animals, and will move away if you disturb them. In real life, the gila is venomous and tortoises can bite, and both carry diseases, so don't mess with them in the wild, but in Stormworks, they are chill.

Fixes and improvements include a bunch of useful stuff. We have fixed an issue with aerodynamics where we found a tiny typo that slightly changed how aero forces were applied to vehicles. This small offset probably won't be noticable except for very small vehicles with large aerodynamic forces such as missiles.



Other fixes include improvements to the rockets when fired while moving, a performance fix related to missions spawning in the wrong place, and others. Please see the patch notes below for details.

This is the last creature update we have planned, and we have no further plans to add new animals to the game at the moment.

In other news, we are on the final push for the new DLC and have started work on a trailer. We hope to launch this as an announcement trailer when we announce this new DLC, and we may do a developer questions and answers session at the same time. We will set up a Steam event for this when we are ready!



As always, we are also working on additional minor updates, and major updates.

We look forward to your feedback on this new update!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.6

Feature - Gila Monster and Tortoises
Fix - #17064 Aerodynamics surface processing issues causing unexpected behavior especially with small vehicles (missiles pitching up)
Fix - #17520 Rocket launcher weapon now respects relative velocity when fired from a vehicle
Fix - #17771 Fixed modular engine audio position and balance the effect radius
Fix - #18543 Centred oil rig base workbench
Fix - #18946 Fixed ocean_milani_explorer mission spawning inside physics (causing heavy lag in a specific area of the world)
Fix - #19418 Structure workbenches ignoring fuel requirements when infinite_fuel is disabled
Fix - #19534 Fixed LUA editor copy+paste for Mac
Fix - #19643 Player names not cleared from the server list if kicked during server join