Hey, First of all I'd like to thank you all who have played the game, especially if you filled out the survey or left feedback on discord. Following this feedback we decided to make another hotfix to the demo. We will be addressing a lot of the feedback in the long run but for now the 2 we wanted to focus on for this hotfix are the performance and the difficulty.

The game is meant to and going to be challenging, however the demo does not have any of the tools the player will have in the full version to combat this challenge. We have decided to emulate some of the meta progression as an optional game mode for those wishing to try the game with a better start. We will be keeping the original start for those that want to first run experience, so it is up to you which you play with. (Note: this can be chosen at the start of every playthrough, so it is not a permanent decision)

Other changes in this hotfix include:

• Took out tier 1 light guns

• Took out tier 1 & 2 machine guns

• Addressed issues where excessive particle effects would reduce the framerate significantly.

• Disabled some effects that gave little visual improvement for the performance cost.

We are aware of other performance issues, specifically when using the radar and during terrain generation. These are too large to address in a hotfix, but fixing them is on the task list for later releases.

- Landship Games Devs

Live-Stream for Steam Next Fest

We’re introducing a completely new way for Free Players to experience WWII Online — “Victory Points.”

This new system is designed to eliminate any perception or reality of pay-to-win gameplay by giving everyone a fair, skill-based path toward unlocking premium equipment through meaningful in-game actions.

Since launching our Free-to-Play model in 2012, we’ve heard the community’s feedback loud and clear: new players often felt locked out of competitive gear. With Victory Points, that changes. Free Players can now earn access to more powerful units through contribution and teamwork — while our subscription tiers (Premium, All-Infantry, and Hero Builder) remain the best-value, all-access experience that keeps WWII Online alive and thriving.

This update isn’t just a system change — it’s a commitment to fairness, accessibility, and the long-term health of WWII Online, as it directly incentivizes our Free Player body to earn rank and victory points by investing their time toward the overall greater good of the game.

A completely new way for Free Players to experience WWII Online — “Victory Points” — aimed at eradicating the perception or reality of pay-to-win game play.

Since the inception of our Free to Play model (circa 2012), we’ve received harsh criticism that the game is pay-to-win, meaning free players are unable to experience competitive gear. Until now, WWII Online’s technology has limited what we could offer, requiring strict access rules to prevent subscription attrition — which is crucial to our ongoing operations.

Victory Points (or VP for short) are intended to bridge that gap, continuing to prioritize paid subscriptions as the obvious go-to choice with the best value offer, but opening the door to free players by receiving premium unlocks via in-game grinding.

This will be achieved by providing Victory Points to players who assist with logistics operations, whether it’s truck driving, deploying mobile spawns, leading missions, guarding capture points, resupplying your teammates, capturing an enemy position, blowing up bridges and fire bases, repairing bridges and on a lighter scale, combat actions.

The system has a clear emphasis on supporting your side and teammates which will help you earn far more points than just straight combat actions. We want to encourage the behavior of free players to do the work related to the global effort for your side, not just farm kills and unlock stuff.

Which brings us to our next point… there will be daily caps, based on a 24-hour play cycle in how many Victory Points a player can receive. The intent behind this is to ensure that premium users are not being undercut, and that the results from free players are real. We will always place a stronger value behind our subscriptions which has kept us in operation for almost 24 years.

In time (after initial roll-out), Victory Points may also be available like micro-transactions as well, which are non-recurring, and override your daily limits in terms of how much you can earn, but the points and values from grinding are the same.

We will also be incentivizing free players to support the underpopulated side, and market rates for how much vehicles cost (in victory points) may be reduced in some cases by 50% if your side is currently underpopulated. The intent here is to encourage free players to swap sides as-needed to extend their VP and support the game. In fact, that is the primary basis of this entire initiative.

The cost value (in victory points) of each spawnable unit will be determined by supply, demand, tier implementation date, and player behaviors. We reserve the right to make changes to these values at any time and will need to do so initially as we’ll have to figure out how it will all work. As we know, all good plans typically don’t survive first contact. Meaning, the rates we initially come up with may either be too high, or too low. We will do our best to make it reasonably attainable and worth the time invested regardless.

We’ve also developed a VP Multiplier, effectively allowing us to increase your VP earning rate by a configurable number. Think of it like a “Double XP Weekend” from other games, for example.

Additionally, we will be able to make modifications to the Max VP earned per rolling 24 hours, so on some special weekends to incentivize greater play, we may give you more room to earn and play.

Your Victory Points also have the opportunity to be returned if you return to base in good standing (full crew), or if a server process on our end crashes. In both conditions you will receive your VP back. You will also have a short grace period from initial spawn that if you die due to camping, you’ll get your VP back as well. This encourages you to play skillfully and return your equipment back in good standing for your side.

If you lose a crew member, or despawn as RES (rescue), MIA (missing in action), KIA (killed in action), or any other condition than RTB (return to base), you will lose your victory points.

VP value will be shown on the UI on a per-unit basis, and you will confirm “OK” or “Cancel” upon selecting your unit to spend your VP on that unit. Upon entering the world, it’s up to you and the conditions to make it work based on the above information.

Here's a complete functional walkthrough from XOOM on how this system works.

This is what a Free Player sees (all locks) if your VP balance is below VP Cost thresholds (per unit).

Here, you can see a VP balance of "150" and what units then become unlocked. Some units are 150+ points, therefore they are not yet unlocked.

In this example, all units are unlocked because the Free Player has a sufficient balance of VP to then spend on any vehicle in the list as it is shown above. Remember, RANK + VP is required to use these units.

Players will be required to have sufficient rank access in order to unlock weapons, by having VP alone at say: Rank 1 (Recruit), you won’t be able to spawn a Matilda or a Tiger Tank. You still have to grind and play.

We’re going to be looking at ranks very closely in the near future, which will likely include increasing the total threshold of points required to have such rank, increasing the fidelity of how our ranking system works and corresponding vehicle access, as well as exploring how we can add some more ranks for veteran players to continue beyond Lt. Colonel if they are not in High Command. Think “prestige” type ranks, etc.

By increasing rank thresholds, we mean that if it currently takes 100 points to reach Private from Recruit, we may raise that to 1,000 points — and so on, to give people more time and gratification for hard work in receiving those ranks. Specifically for Recruits, everyone knows “Green Tags” are newer to the game and need a little extra help. 0-100 really isn’t sufficient to provide them the necessary awareness for other members to support them and offer a helping hand.

A key design goal was for us to be able to make modifications to this system beyond the roll-out, which means we’ll explore future ways to allow players to earn VP. These will likely be aimed at what are the most important jobs we need done for the game, such as truck driving, mobile spawn deployment, guarding capture facilities + more, all crucial to making the game work.

We’ll focus on boosting Free Player participation while protecting subscriber value — ensuring both sides, and most of all WWII Online, win.

This should really get your attention, specifically players who have tried our game out before and left feeling like the game didn’t offer enough for them to be competitive beyond Tier 0 (1940). By introducing better rank progression and a grind through in-game actions to unlock equipment, it will guarantee a more reasonable offering and a fighting chance as the war progresses.

A: For years, new and Free Players have told us the game felt locked behind a paywall. Victory Points are our answer: they make the game more engaging for everyone, while still protecting and reinforcing the value of subscriptions. This is about keeping WWII Online alive, fair, and growing.

A: Absolutely not. Victory Points have strict daily earning caps to prevent anyone from grinding or buying their way to dominance. While VP can be purchased as micro-transactions, the caps and rank requirements ensure that skill, teamwork, and battlefield leadership—not money—decide the war.

A: Subscriptions still provide the ultimate WWII Online experience:

• Premium: Full, instant access to all units without VP or rank grind barriers.

• All-Infantry: Affordable access for players who prefer infantry combat.

• Hero Builder: Exclusive recognition and access that shows you are part of the game’s backbone.

Victory Points are meant to ease Free Players into the game, but nothing replaces the instant access, status, and convenience of a subscription. You won’t have to worry about grinding specific tasks or spending your victory points on items. You get what you’ve paid for - priority access and no limitations based on your subscription level.

A: VP lets Free Players gradually access some premium vehicles and equipment, provided they also meet rank requirements. 

A: By contributing meaningfully to the war effort—running supply, building mobile spawns, guarding capture points, repairing bridges, blowing enemy facilities, and supporting teammates. While combat helps, support and logistics earn more VP to encourage teamwork and side-balance.

A: Purchased VP is capped and balanced exactly like earned VP. Buying VP is about convenience, not superiority. You’ll still need rank, and you’ll still face the same battlefield risks as everyone else. VP will not be purchasable initially however, your best bet is to subscribe which also eliminates the Side Lock requirements that Free Players have.

A: Victory Points will cost less when you join the underpopulated side—sometimes up to 50% cheaper. This makes VP a tool to incentivize balance, ensuring fairer fights and a healthier game for everyone.

A: No. VP costs are tuned based on supply, demand, and historical tiers. A Tiger or Matilda won’t suddenly become common just because VP exists. Scarcity and authenticity remain core to WWII Online.

A: Rank is still required to access advanced equipment. VP alone won’t let a Recruit spawn a Tiger Tank or other crucial weapon. We’re also improving the rank system to make progression more meaningful, with higher thresholds and possibly more ranks in the future.

A: No. Subscriptions remain the foundation of WWII Online. They are what keep the servers running, development funded, and the game alive after over 24 years. Victory Points are an extra path of progression aimed primarily at Free Players, but subscriptions will always offer the best value, the most access, and the most convenience.

A: No. You still must be a subscriber to avoid Side Lock, and play the side of your choice at any time.

Fixed switching between:

• Traditional and Simplified Chinese

• Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese

• Spanish and Latin American Spanish

Added the ability to remap keys (to support different keyboard types, including AZERTY).
Improved gamepad support for cars and boats.
Added the ability to adjust camera zoom using the mouse.

Another step towards 1.0! This update fixes several issues I've been wanting to solve for a long time.

After finishing the achievement system, most of the major planned features are done. But since the game's been in development for over two years now (!!), some of the early designs don't quite fit anymore as things have evolved. So this update, besides adding more new stuff, also focuses on reworking those parts to better suit the current state of the game. I've finished the last normal character, made some pretty big changes to how flame works, and added a bunch of new relics!

By the way, a lot of players have been asking lately why more more languages haven't been added yet. There are still a ton of adjustments happening (as you can see from this update…) each patch. If I add new languages now, every small tweak would mean re-translating, re-importing, adjusting the layout, and proofreading again...which eats up a LOT of time. So to keep development moving as fast as possible, I want to finish all these adjustments first before adding new languages. Probably after two or three smaller updates, once things are mostly finished, I'll start adding more languages in batches!

The next update will be similar to this one. Wrapping up planned content and reworking some older systems. Right now, I'm planning to adjust the quest system, rework the altar, and make some tweaks to certain characters.

That's all for now! Let me know what you think after trying out the new character. I'm also really curious to see how many achievements you've all unlocked too, so feel free to brag in the comments 😆

- Refi

• Estelle the Astromancer

• Unlock requirement: Collect 40 types of towers in the Compendium.

• Two new achievements exclusive to this character are also available.

10 new relics have been added!

• Echo Crystal: When you apply a buff card to a tower, it also applies the same effect to another tower within 5 tiles that does not already have a buff card.

• Cursed Tarot: For each card in your hand, monsters have an extra 2% chance to be critically hit (1% for Bosses).

• Enchanted Quill: At the start of each round, up to three Block Cards in your hand are transformed into Blocks with one additional tile, up to a maximum of 5 tiles.

• Rapid Cooling System: When a tower kills an enemy, there is a 20% chance to reset its firing cooldown, allowing it to shoot again immediately.

• Smithing Mask: The last tower you upgraded gains +30% damage, +30% attack speed, and +30% critical rate.

• Ancient War Flag: Killing a large monster grants towers within 5 tiles +50% attack speed for 5 seconds.

• Gigantic Roasted Ham: Monsters that enter the fire source's attack range are drawn by its irresistible aroma. Their movement speed increases by 15%, but their chance of receiving critical hits is increased by 50%. Does not affect bosses.

• Antique Golden Bell: Once every 10 seconds during battle, the bell's chime stuns all enemies on the field for 1.5 seconds. (Does not affect bosses.)

• Stargazer's Journal: At the end of each turn, gain 3 extra gold for every type of tower on the field.

• Key of Wicked Fortune: When you open the chest, three covered choices will appear, each containing 1, 30, or 120 coins. Choose one and see if luck is on your side! (Yes, gamba!)

• New type of elite level: Darkness

• The ability of Candle Flame has been moved to this new elite level, which appears only on Heroic difficulty.

• In Darkness levels, your towers cannot attack enemies concealed in the dark. You must build towers to extend your vision.

Flames were originally meant to give players some optional extra challenge, like saying "You can clear the game with the basic flame, so why not try this more difficult one?" As the game grew and the Infernal Shards system was added, the difficulty from flames became somewhat redundant. The goal for these changes is to remove most of the negative effects so players can choose flames based on the level and effects they like. The visuals have also been adjusted to better fit the game.

• Sacred Flame

  • In addition to attacking enemies, it now prioritizes clearing corrupted tiles within its attack range.

  • At the end of each round its attack range increases by 2 tiles, up to +20 tiles.

  • The effect "corrupted tiles randomly move at the end of each round" has been removed.

• Demon Flame

  • Demon flame is now Soul Flame. Its abilities are unchanged.

  • Now unlocked after clearing the Frost Ruins.

• Frost Flame

  • Removed.

• Arkflare Flame

  • A lightning‑themed flame obtained from the train engine after defeating the Steelrail Overlord.

  • It randomly stuns 3 to 10 enemies on the field for 1 to 2 seconds and increases Charge by 15%.

  • Its attack rate is slightly slower, but it can attack three targets at once.

  • Unlocked after clearing the Bone Desert.

• Ancient Flame

  • Removing the corrupted seal no longer costs coins.

  • Buff effects slightly reduced (+25% crit & +10 % attack speed per round → +15% crit & +10 % attack speed per round).

  • It still generates corrupted tiles at the end of a round, but both the area and the number are greatly reduced.

• Candle Flame

  • Removed

    Initially, Candle Flame was created for players who wanted to do 1 HP challenge runs, and later it was turned into a flame with a fog of war mechanic. It was meant to be a weak and fragile flame, so it really does not fit the direction of this update.

  • The original mechanic has been moved to the Darkness levels.

  • The Candle Flame achievement "Through The Darkness" has been changed into "Complete 30 Darkness levels". (If you have already unlocked the previous version, don't worry, it will not be reset!)

• Superior Efficiency and Fast Learner have been removed. Their effects are now included in base values.

  • The countdown timer is now fixed at 180 seconds, increasing to 210 seconds in the Sealed Citadel.

  • All experience gain has been increased by 5%.

• Ember Spark is now in the center of the talent tree and is a 3 tier talent.

• New talents:

  • Lost and Found: Treasure chests have a small chance to contain a tower card you've built before.

  • Resilient Forging: The duration of malfunction effects is reduced.

• Blackhole Tower

  • No longer affected by attack‑speed increases. Any effect that would increase its attack speed instead increases its damage.

  • The blue upgrade's stun duration has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.

    I know many of you might be upset about this change, but…after testing many different approaches, this really is the best way I can find to keep the Blackhole Tower's power balanced. The tower's effect becomes way too strong when it gains attack speed (especially when used with Tana) to the point where enemies can barely move at all. After a lot of testing, the best way to keep it from becoming completely overpowered (without having to weaken its core ability too much) was to make it unaffected by attack speed buffs.

• Drill Tower

  • Added a button that costs coins to trigger the effect immediately (the old red upgrade).

  • New red upgrade: Causes the effect to destroy blocks in a 3 × 3 area when it activates.

• Scorch Tower

  • Now has an additional 5% chance to Burn enemies for 3 seconds.

• Added rewards between waves. You can now sometimes get a treasure chest, a Gambler's Token, or HP regen.

• Added a new UI to show the rewards for the upcoming waves.

• It's now easier to see the cards when you have many cards in hand.

• New feature in the options: If your save file is lost or corrupted, you can restore your progress using the data from Steam achievements.

• Added a new option for damage numbers: Dynamic.

  • When FPS drops, less important damage numbers are ignored.

Hello, Steam community! This is Ben Ruiz, the director and combat designer of Bounty Star, a 3D action game that blends customizable mech combat with some light base building and homesteading. I am pleased to share that Bounty Star: The Morose Tale Of Graveyard Clem is being released on October 23rd 2025 here on Steam. 

I’m here to provide an advanced overview of the Bounty Star combat system that can hopefully serve as a guide for anyone really diving into Bounty Star’s combat.

The way Bounty Star works is that you select an available bounty and then pursue it. Before pursuing, you may customize your mech, and you may pursue the bounty in either the morning, afternoon, or evening.

Succeeding in the bounty nets you payout, and capturing a mark nets you a bonus. Every bounty also has substasks you can execute on for a final bonus.

You want to bring a well-suited mech to any bounty. Take good stock of all the equipment you own to make a loadout that does good by you in the upcoming bounty.

Every loadout must have a melee weapon and a firearm. There are a variety of both to obtain.

There are 3 different slots for support systems that each allow a combat mechanic like dashing, blocking, healing, temporary power states, and more.

Inside the mech is an engine with 7 exposed properties: Hit Points, Movement Speed, Melee Damage, Firearm Damage, Thermal Regulation, and Fortune. Depending on your engine upgrade, there are 2-4 slots for augmentations that turn up these different properties. 

Additionally, eating meals before bounties also turns up engine properties for the duration of one bounty. Which engine properties get turned up depends on the meal.

A crucial reality of the mech’s engine is that it has a base temperature that it seeks to maintain, just like a modern combustion vehicle. Performing most actions either raises or lowers the temperature momentarily to some degree before returning to its base temperature. The changes in temperature are a result of the specific system used, and the speed at which the engine returns to its base temperature is based on your Thermal Regulation engine property.

The Red Expanse is a harsh desert world that can get both very hot and very cold. If you pursue a bounty in the afternoon, your mech’s base temperature will be higher than normal. If you pursue a bounty in the evening, it will be lower than normal. Finally, morning pursuit means a neutral base temperature.

The reason this is all important is because our brilliant and somewhat reckless protagonist Clem has modified her mech to get the most of each and every one of her actions, resulting in a singularly powerful machine. But pushing it too hard and too quickly towards hot or cold will result in a shutdown that leaves her vulnerable for a moment while the mech resets itself.

When customizing your mech, we suggest targeting a time of day for your pursuit, and then building accordingly. Some systems are very powerful and inflict dramatic temperate changes in your engine!

Ultimately, our customization system is meant to help you build the type of action game character you’ve enjoyed in various forms throughout time, while sometimes minding the thermal constraints of Bounty Star’s world.

Each enemy is a unique combatant with its own set of attacks and behaviors. Each enemy also has 1 of 3 hit point types: Skin, Plate, or Scale. All damage dealing systems you can equip have 1 of 3 damage types: Boom, Bludgeon, or Blade. Certain damage types do a little more or less damage into certain hit point types.

This schema is all over the in-game garage in both visual and readable forms for easy reference.

When selecting a bounty, it will show you a list of expected enemies and call out their hit point types. Pay attention to that enemy list and customize accordingly for a little extra damage.

Every melee weapon has a unique set of damage dealing mechanics:

• A standing combo. Executed by attacking while standing.

• An air attack. Executed by attacking while airborne.

• A dash attack. Executed by attacking while dancing or boosting.

Many of these attacks have liberal cancel windows so that you may very freely cancel attacks with dashes, blocks, jumps, repairs, and more.

You may equip one of a handful of trick systems on your mech. When you have a trick system equipped, you may execute a trick at the end of any melee attack by waiting for the pink lanterns on the back of the mech to flash and providing attack input - but you must do this before the end of the attack animation. This is a short window, but the tricks are powerful. They are very fast and beneficial mechanics such as a small heal, or a rapid change in temperature.

Note that you may resume a standing combo where you left it after executing a trick, and can execute trick after any and all attacks in a combo!

You may execute a gun cancel anytime during a melee attack by providing firearm input. Not aiming, just your firearm input. These unique and powerful mechanics are specific to the equipped firearm, and have a large variety of uses that are often mobile, damage dealing, and all of them have the added benefit of reloading the firearm.

Play with the different systems to get a feel for what they all do and how they work together. Bounty Star’s enemies are pretty high pressure combatants, but there’s no wrong way to win! Explore and experiment.

And remember that when in doubt, consult Clem’s library and make use of the safe practice space at the garage whiteboard. Enjoy!

Thank you for trying out the Nezori demo during the Steam Next Fest event!

We’ve made several adjustments and improvements based on your feedback:

• Fine-tuned and adjusted enemy initial damage values.

• Refined enemy spawn positions for smoother pacing.

• Added more default FPS options (90 – 240 FPS). The game will now automatically select the highest suitable FPS setting based on your system.

• Fixed a bug where lock-on would stay active after the Ninja Wolf Girl used her smoke bomb attack.

• Added the remaining missing gameplay combat sound effects for Atsuko.

• Slightly adjusted the hitbox size of the Bladestorm ability for Atsuko.

• Added a 20% sprint speed bonus while out of combat to make exploration feel smoother.

• Increased stamina regeneration by 2x while out of combat. Stamina now automatically refills to at least 20% when exiting combat, and sprint stamina consumption is slightly reduced during extended sprints (over 5 seconds).

These updates are aimed at making traversal and overall gameplay feel smoother and more enjoyable.

• More reliable quest progression: fewer stuck quests and smoother objective transitions.

• New interactive tutorials to help with buying/selling and using the forge.

• Fixed incorrect removal/behavior of status effects during/after combat.

• Loading screen improved: game version displayed and clearer “press any key / click to start” prompt.

• Some UI/asset optimizations to reduce download size and improve loading.

Translations status

• Quest translations are still in progress. New quests were implemented in English first; Portuguese and other languages will receive translations in upcoming updates.

If you find bugs or translation issues

• Please report them on the Steam forum/bug report with reproduction steps, screenshots, and (if possible) the affected save file.

• Include the version shown on the loading screen to help us identify the correct build.

Thank you for playing — your feedback helps prioritize fixes and translations.

This update is a really big one! The Daring resource is something that players have always been able to accumulate from playing on higher-difficulties, and for various reaching various side goals and higher-tier goals. Until now, there was never anywhere to spend that resource, however.

This build introduces the long awaited "Daring Shop," split into three sections on the VR Screen: Auto-Explore, Shortcuts, and Shop. These give you some additional sources power in the late game, as well as allowing you to skip bits that would become repetitive on timelines beyond your first.

Plus there is a new Setup Phase at the start of timelines beyond the first, which again helps things move more quickly. See below for details!

There's still one more big update that is moving through the localization process at the moment. The features of that one can be previewed in this build in English versions of the game, but the writeup for that will happen it becomes available for everyone -- next week, looks like.

If you’ve spent time with Heart of the Machine and want to leave a review, that’d be appreciated. No need to say more than you mean, but if you’ve been meaning to write one, I’d be grateful. Steam reviews carry weight. For a project like this — developed by a single person over many years, every review makes a difference.

Honest thoughts are what matter. Whatever your experience has been, sharing it helps. It’s a powerful way to have your voice heard and contributes to how future patches are prioritized and addressed.

Thanks for reading and for playing.

• Daring Statistics: The amount of Daring that is earned or spent in specific timelines, as well as that which is earned across all timelines, is now tracked in statistics. The amount earned in specific timelines is not back-calculated, but the amount that was earned across timelines is.
• Angry Invasion Messages: Previously, once you contacted an ExoCorp via the wastelanders, they would start invading but there was no message about it. Now you get a message from Vorsiber upper management, which differs between the two doom sets.
• Forces Filtering: Added new "Forces Collections" for the forces lens. Initially, this meant categorizing 576 reasons that a unit can spawn into 83 collections. This then expanded to 88 collections, with 221 unit stances put into categories (a lot of them don't matter, as they only are used if they're not part of a managed spawn). If you wind up noticing anything that's miscategorized a bit, or is in the Unknown category during gameplay, then please do let me know and provide a savegame so that I can improve those over time. That said, things should be pretty close.
• 8 New Achievements: This isn't really a quality of life item, but eh.

• Wurtzite Armor, VS-101 Skyfall, and Skystreak Armor-Piercing Missiles: These could previously only be unlocked conditionally in a given timeline, but become available instead in all timelines, all the time.
• Infrasonic Loudspeaker, K6 Disruption Revolver, AG-30 Flex, 35mm Halfplate, Active Graphene Mesh, Zinnia Gel Refinery, Hormone Factory, and Furniture Factory: These previously were unlockable by Exploration Sites, but now you just get them in all timelines, all the time, once you pass this threshold.
• About Ziggurats: Previously, all you got for getting to intelligence class 7 was access to build on Ziggurats if you weren't already having that ability from being at chapter 4 (you pretty much always would have that first, though, so that was a huge disappointment). How the access to Ziggurats works is completely different now.

• Tooltip Updates: In the End Of Time, hovering over a rock outcrop or a ziggurat now shows the full list of crossovers that are present on that location (for any new timelines that would be created there).
• Super Ultra Crossovers: Crossovers that don't have any downside are now automatically applied to every Ziggurat in the End Of Time, giving them an immediate benefit compared to normal rock outcrops.
• Chapter 5 Requirement: Previously, you could build on Ziggurats once you reached intelligence class 7 or chapter 4, whichever came first. Now you can't build on them until you reach chapter 5. Any existing timelines on ziggurats are unaffected, of course! If you've ever built on a Ziggurat in the past in your profile, the game now grandfathers you in to being able to keep doing that even if you're not to chapter 5 yet (which nobody is yet, of course).

• Stances Tab: The existing "Lostigics" tab of the command menu has been renamed to Stances, since that's what it actually is.
• Other Logistics Tab: A new "Other Logistics" tab, in the 9th slot, has been added to the command menu.
• Delete Mode: The first item in the Other Logistics tab is a new Delete Mode that allows players to go around and delete any units or structures that belong to them, all quickly.

• Resource Bar: Different resources of relevance are now shown in each of the categories of the VR window, and the normal resources that show no longer clutter up the resource bar in that screen. This helps to make it a lot clearer what you have in order to spend from in each place.
• VR Day-Use Seats: VR Day Use seat usage and availability is now tracked in the Lifeforms resource tab, as all the other types of VR users are tracked.
• Inspiration Order: The inspiration entries in the VR screen are now sorted alphabetically, rather than the quasi-logical order that they previously were in.

• Auto Explore Category Of The VR Screen: Spend Daring to immediately unlock the rewards from Exploration Sites you have completed in prior timelines.
• 10 New Auto-Explore Options: This covers every kind of Exploration Site that exists, except for those that automatically become obsolete as you reach higher intelligence classes.
• Times Before Available For Free On Ziggurats: For all of these items, there is some maximum number of times you have to unlock them (ranging from 3-9) before they become free to unlock on Ziggurat timelines in the future. This makes it so that your Daring expenditures here are not just something you "throw away," but rather are something you're investing for the future. This is meant to avoid the "Final Fantasy players hoard Elixers even past the final boss" sort of problem.

• Shortcuts Category Of The VR Screen: Spend Daring to immediately skip past certain contemplations or projects you have completed in prior timelines. In a few cases, it's possible to do things that would normally be mutually-exclusive in a timeline.
• 16 New Shortcut Options: This covers a large number of early-timeline scenarios that are highly desirable to do in some fashion in each timeline you are in.
• Times Before Available For Free On Ziggurats: This works the same as the Auto-Explore section, and for the same reason.
• Those With Lots Of Customization: Options like Gadolinium Mesosilicate and Wastelander Mythology, among others, normally involve you doing actions on the map and customizing an outcome from doing so. The Shortcut version gives you a condensed list of reasonable outcomes to choose from, in some cases with a slight buff to what is possible, rather than every possible outcome.
• VR Shortcuts: The shortcuts for the VR types (regular and torment) are particularly powerful because (if you've done them before) it allows you to skip the engineering requirements, skip past some early busywork, and have them from the start of a timeline. As well as having both kinds at once, which was never possible before. Some elements of this can be thought of as being a bit like NewGame+, although it's not strictly NewGame+.

• Daring Shop Category Of The VR Screen: Spend Daring to directly buy powerful upgrades or items that you can't get anywhere else. Auto-Explore and Shortcuts both expend daring to get something that you could get another way, but which is more convenient to get from the VR screen, if you've done it once before.
• Mind Annex Upgrades: Ludicrously high value. More mental energy or more troops. Can be purchased up to 4 times per timeline. Costs are 2, 5, 11, and 17 Daring, respectively. This is no longer in the Computing Upgrades research Inspiration category mostly to keep players from being at the mercy of RNG.
• Stealth Compact Aerospace Hangar: New military structure, which can be purchased from the daring shop for 3 Daring in any timeline. It's free on ziggurats after you unlock it 10 times. Hidden in fairly large human buildings and requiring only half of the usual internal robotics. Produces and stores only 75% as much morphologic lattice, but you can place twice as many of them.
• Food Forest: Meats and vegetables are produced in much higher quantities, as are TPN and Nutrition Blend. Can be combined with other upgrades to these resources. This is a series of 100x multipliers, which cost 2, 4, 5, 6, and then 7 daring.
• Super Filtration: Water filters are far more effective. Can be combined with other sources of better filtration. This is a series of 100x multipliers, which cost 2, 4, 5, 6, and then 7 daring.
• Well And Filter: New structure, which can be purchased from the daring shop for 4 Daring in any timeline. It's free on ziggurats after you unlock it 10 times. Pulls up groundwater and immediately filters it for use. Compared to using separate wells and filters, uses roughly half the internal robotics. Fun math in an example scenario: Originally had 8 well and 11 large water filtration towers, taking up a bunch of physical space and using 123 Cultivators, and producing 550k filtered water (due to various upgrades). Destroyed all those and built 14 well and filters, taking up much less physical space but using 125 Cultivators, and production with the same upgrades shifted to 1.4 million filtered water.
• Better Mind Farms: More neural expansion is generated per occupant. The upgrades go up by 50% increases each time, up to a maximum of 500%. This takes the neural expansion per occupant from 8 to 40 if you upgrade it fully. These upgrades cost 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, and then 4 daring.
• Better Torment Vessels: More neural expansion is generated per occupant. The upgrades go up by 25% increases each time, up to a maximum of 300%. This takes the neural expansion per occupant from 35 to 105 if you upgrade it fully. These upgrades cost 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, and then 4 daring.
• Better BrainPals: The upgrades go up by 7.5 per BrainPal per upgrade, starting from the initial value of 25 and able to go up to 85. These upgrades cost 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, and then 4 daring.
• Universal Mech Armor Piercing: Added armor piercing for all mechs that you control. Can be purchased up to 8 times per timeline. Costs are 4, 5, 8, 12, 17, 24, 26, and 28 daring.

• New Side Goal: The Pressuring The City side goal provides you with Daring for reaching 10, 20, or 30 pressure points exploited in a given timeline. Three of the new achievements are related to these.
• Quick Daring For New Players: The main purpose of this is to provide a fairly simple source of daring for new players in their first timeline, which also encourages exploration.

• Initial Construction Is Out: When you are in the setup phase at the start of a new timeline (aka the dooms have not yet started), it no longer shows the Initial Construction project (which can accidentally be completed rather easily), but instead shows a Setup Phase task that is larger and more visible, and only ends when you click it.
• Instant Construction: During the new setup phase, buildings are all constructed instantly.
• No Counter-Attacks: During the new setup phase, no counter-attacks are triggered by buildings (this pretty much just means the skimmers).
• Abundant Resources: During the new setup phase, the following resources are kept at full at all times: Drone Frame, Morphologic Lattice, Neuroweave, Robotic Motivator. The following resources are kept to certain minimum values at all times: 30k Microbuilders, 100k Elemental Slurry, 2k Scandium, 2k Alumina, 2k Neodymium.
• Zero-Energy Deployments: During the new setup phase, deploying units of any sort costs zero mental energy.

• Vehicle Exception Fix: Made some code adjustments to protect against uncaught errors in background vehicle movement and animation, and to also try to make nullrefs impossible in that context.
• Maximum Traffic Density: The maximum traffic density has been dropped from 30 to 15 in settings. Above that is more crowded than makes any sense. This is purely a background visual thing.
• Particle Raycast Budget: The particle raycast budget is now universally 64, and there is no longer a visible setting for choosing this option. This setting has absolutely no effect on the visual quality of the game, but could dramatically reduce performance. There's a concern that on some very new machines this could actually be responsible for a crash to the desktop.
• Exceptions On Emergency Network: Fixed a regression introduced in Update 38 that made it so that if you hovered over an emergency network source in the build menu, an exception would be thrown.

Full notes here.

Want to stay in the loop or share your thoughts? Join the conversation across these platforms:

💬 Discord – Best place to share feedback, get direct responses, and to talk about Heart of the Machine.
📜 Reddit – Discuss strategies, share ideas, and exchange tips with the community.

Astronauts! 

As part of the Next Fest, we will broadcast a full demo version of 14: Overmind. 

The game will be hosted by Artyom, PR manager of the Next Genium video game development studio, Kirill, PR manager, will act as moderator, and Maxim and Vlad developers will comment on the passage.  Attention! The broadcast will be conducted in Russian. 

We will start 10.18 at 12:00 Moscow time.