Oct 13, 2023

Stormworks: Build and Rescue - Geometa

Dear Stormworkers,

Yesterday was the launch of the Space DLC!

The bad news is there were some issues. The good news is that over the last 24 hours we have released some hot fixes, and some major issues are now resolved.

Many players have asked for details. Lets discuss:

Sinking Ships

Some of the new gravity mechanics had unintended interactions with some of the physics optimizations for vehicles, which resulted in some vehicle parts weighing slightly more or less than they should. This was often an issue with larger vehicles and vehicles with many movable parts. While the change in weight was only small, this could cause ships to sit deeper in the water or tilt.

This issue is now resolved.

Jet Turbines

With the new atmosphere mechanics, the air is thinner higher up, which means less air resistance, but also means that at some height, the air is too thin for jet turbine engines to be efficient. This is intended, but was way out of balance, with engines starting to lose efficiency only a few hundred feet up.

This issue is also resolved.

Steam and Modular Engines

There are issues with steam boilers and many modular engines. This is a reasonably big issue, caused by some of the compressed gas changes.

We are currently working on this and will deliver a fix asap. Update: this is now resolved in v1.9.3

Other Issues

Of course there are other things to look at, and we will get to them, but the above are the main ones that affect many players.

Testing

Believe it or not, we actually did several months of full time testing. Some of these issues were introduced more recently when addressing other minor issues, such as the sinking ship issue. We were too focused on testing the new features and specific changes, and simply didn't expect this stuff to break. However, a lot of the problems are so wide ranging that it would have been easy to discover them and we should have.

Community Reaction

The vast majority of the community have been very supportive. To those of you who have patiently stood by for fixes, or messaged us your support, thank you, and sorry for breaking your game.

A small minority have unfortunately launched their own campaign, and within minutes of the new update launch, were recruiting to their discord, where they have organized and coordinated attacks. We have received discord raids, review bombing, abuse, and death threats. To these players, we ask you to consider your actions. We understand your frustration, but we can't respond to aggression, demands and threats.

The consequences are significant to the game, and the people who make it. It is right that we are held to account, but when it is taken too far, the damage is permanent. Stormworks continues and our focus is on the many great and wonderful players who share their criticism constructively.

Next Steps

As usual, we will get on with resolving the remaining issues. We will work through these tasks one at a time, and expect to keep publishing improvements over the coming days.

Further ahead, we are also looking at how we change the way we work to ensure the same issues don't repeat in the future.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Oct 12, 2023

Stormworks: Industry Space - NEW DLC OUT NOW!

Stormworks: Build and Rescue - Geometa

Dear Stormworkers,

The Stormworks: Space DLC is out now!

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

What is included?

This new expansion means that you can build working space rockets, travel to space and the moon, operate in low and zero gravity, build orbital space stations and satellites, perform space rescues, and more.

The moon is the biggest land location yet, with over 1000 square kilometres of lunar surface. Expect craters, caves, stranded astronauts, and damaged space bases.

Create your electrolysis plant to make liquid rocket fuel to burn in your new liquid fuel engines.

Use compressed gas in your RCS system and use your reaction wheels for precise position and orientation control in space, for example when docking with other vehicles or stations.

New missions occur in space and on the moon, including astronaut rescues, repair, and recovery operations.

Design life support systems, considering temperature, pressure, and oxygen / carbon dioxide levels. Equip space suits to protect from the vacuum of space, and build EVA backpacks to assist with space walks.

New Updates To The Base Game

While the Space DLC is required to leave the atmosphere, many changes are included in the base game to ensure workshop compatibility.

The fluid system is completely reworked to support compressed gasses. Air now consists of it's constituent parts: oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen. Gas pressure introduces many new mechanics such as forces due to equalizing pressures, displacement, and more.

The world now wraps around at borders, allowing you to circumnavigate the world of Stormworks.

Many new components are also being introduced including new fluid parts, large solar panels, navigation sensors, directional communication dishes, and more.

A Big Thankyou to the Community

Many of you have helped inspire and drive this new update. Thank you to all the creators who have dared to dream of space and uploaded some incredible space vehicle creations to the workshop. And thank you to the Youtubers who have been showcasing these creations, playing with the idea, and discussing space in Stormworks.

We can't wait to hear what you think of the new update!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Patch Notes

v1.9.0 - Space

Space DLC Features:

Feature - Atmosphere and Space Simulation
Feature - Huge Moon Surface Playable Area
Feature - Liquid Fuel Rockets
Feature - Electrolyser Component
Feature - RCS Thruster Component
Feature - Reaction Wheel Component
Feature - Astronomy Sensor Component
Feature - Space Missions

General:

Feature - World border wrapping
- The world of Stormworks now seamlessly warps you to the other side of the map when crossing an edge
- Updated the ambient temperature texture to reflect this change
Feature - Large Solar Panels
Feature - Fluid, Gas, Temperature and Pressure overhaul
- Fluids have been separated into liquids and gases
- New Gases: Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide(Exhaust), Nitrogen, Hydrogen
- Complete overhaul to fluid pressures, allowing gases to be compressed
- Complete overhaul to fluid transfer and exchange between components, including backflow and pressure levelling
- Compartments now have their own temperature and pressure data
- Player is now damaged from ambient pressure and heat in addition to height/proximity based damage
- Inventories now have a fluid port for recharging outfits with oxygen
- Fires now consume oxygen to burn and produce CO2
- Humans and animals now breathe which consumes Oxygen and generates CO2
- Ocean and atmospheric pressure now scales with altitude
- Rapid fluid exchange across door thresholds will now apply a force to objects in the flow
Feature - Barometer Component
Feature - Space/Backpack Seat
Feature - 2 Space Suit Outfits
Feature - Gravity calculation overhaul and improvements
- [DLC] Players can place vehicles into geostationary orbit at ~300km
- [DLC] Characters can float in space oriented by their camera direction
- Pseudo stable orbit gravity based on linear velocity (Explained below)
- Revised character falling pose
Feature - Improved Jet/Rocket particle rendering
Feature - New Rocket workbenches
Feature - Vehicle Groups (sub-vehicle splitting)
- Vehicles with many 'sub-vehicles' are now split into completely separate vehicles on spawn
- Addon lua has been updated to reflect this change, which is detailed in the section below
Feature - Improved the navigation of tile locations in the addon editor by splitting them by biome
Feature - Photomode cinematic camera stabilization and increased tether range by x4
Feature - Gas and liquid relief valve components
Feature - Liquid and Gas meter components
Feature - Gas Tanks
Feature - Directional Radio components for long distance data exchange
Feature - Solid propellant is now required to fuel SRBs, and can be refined with water and Aluminium
Feature - Sound effects for pumps and other fluid components
Feature - Added 30 Dollar Trainyard to the starting bases
Fix - #4846 #2798 Fixed vehicle fires not contributing to ambient temperature
Fix - Several particle effect rendering fixes
Fix - Fixed issue with parented mission zones not despawning with their parent vehicle
Fix - Dedicated server crash caused by clouds attempting to render
Fix - Fixed composite read values for the modular engine cylinder air and fuel
Fix - Fixed connection state sync for dock-door and nuclear parts
Fix - Crash caused by saving while a tile was not thread loaded
Fix - Flipping issues for components with no physics voxels
Fix - Fixed flame/jets rendering stutters
Fix - Internal RX signal strength integer overflow errors
Fix - Default missions not updating parented delivery zones transforms
Fix - Several multiplayer improvements to address nearby vehicle desync and frequency
Fix - Improved client character grounded vehicle detection
Rework - Removed sunrise/sunset slider in place of separate Day/Night duration sliders
Rework - Rescaled rewards for tow missions

Addon Lua:

getVehicleData - added group_id, removed filename
getVehicleGroup
despawnVehicleGroup
setGroupPos
setGroupPosSafe
onGroupSpawn
spawnAddonComponent - split id data - object_id, group_id, vehicle_ids[]

getTileInventory and setTileInventory now support propellant

getAstroPos

Dev Notes and Tips:

Tip - Be careful when opening doors between differently pressurized areas...you may find yourself flung out into space!
Tip - DLC owners get the new Stormworks theme space remix as the default main menu music
Tip - Many earthly positional data components don't work in space, make sure you are prepared to navigate manually or with an astronomy sensor
Tip - Components that rely on air/oxygen will be much less effective at higher altitudes as the atmosphere thins
Tip - Characters and creatures need oxygen to breathe, don't trap yourself in a small box with no ventilation
Tip - The fire extinguisher can be used to propel yourself in space!

Oct 6, 2023

Stormworks: Space DLC - 12th October!

Stormworks: Build and Rescue - Geometa

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

Sep 22, 2023

Gravity, Orientation, Orbits in the Upcoming Space DLC

Stormworks: Build and Rescue - Geometa

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

Sep 15, 2023

v1.8.9 - The Fixes and Improvements Update!

Stormworks: Build and Rescue - Geometa

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