Update 1.1.4 & Beta update 1.2.0.beta.5&6

Hey dieselminers!

Today's update includes many bug fixes and improvements, but the most significant one is that New Game+ has reached its final form. Based on your feedback from the Open Beta, I have significantly rebalanced the progression in New Game+, and I think the new version is much improved. I even believe New Game+ is now ready to be integrated into the main game, but I have decided to keep it in the Open Beta for another few days just to be sure.

So, regarding the update. Update 1.1.4 includes:

New features & improvements:

• It is now possible to collect more than one piece of ore using the Cargo Cleanse protocol when the cargo storage is full (thanks to SandBag for the suggestion);

• To make it clearer how to access the vaults, a new feature has been added. Now, the first earthquake occurs after the player receives a call from Nathaniel Forge near one of the vaults;

• The automated refueller now has a higher priority when the game decides what to use to fuel the mech when the fuel level drops to zero. Additionally, a message is displayed whenever Ignitium is used to restore the fuel level, and the amount of fuel restored has been doubled.

Bug fixes:

• Explosives can no longer be used in the boss area before the start of the boss fight (thanks to beazermyst for letting me know this was possible);

• A bug has been fixed where teleporting from the final level while affected by metal spikes could cause the mech to slow down on the surface;

• Another bug has also been fixed, where the elevator would sometimes deliver the player to the wrong platform if they hadn't found one of the upper platforms (thanks to Robbe for reporting it);

• Fixed a bug where consumable items could accidentally be used multiple times if the player entered a dialogue while holding the item button;

• Fixed a bug where player sometimes didn't take damage when falling onto closed gates;

• Fixed a bug that caused players to take damage during earthquakes while mining through tiles with falling stones spawned inside;

• Drills are nolonger slowly moving away from their original position due to incorrect animation resets (thanks again to SandBag for reporting this);

• Fixed an issue where exploding multiple mines at the same time on level 4 could cause the game to crash (thanks to Pico for the report);

• The magnetic field inverter now shuts off whenever an earthquake begins (thanks to Pico for noticing the problem);

• ENDGAME SPOILER WARNING:

  I made an attempt to fix a bug where the "Slay that monster" button appeared not interactive despite meeting all the requirements for the "secret" ending. However, as I have not managed to reproduce this issue, I cannot guarantee that it has been fixed. Please let me know if you experience this bug again.

Beta update 1.2.0.beta.5 includes all the features of Update 1.1.4, as well as the following:

New Game+ rebalance:

New Game+ has been significantly rebalanced. Here are the main changes:

• The price of infinite upgrades has been doubled, and they progress geometrically. The effects of most infinite upgrades, except for those increasing additional ore chances and hull strength, have also been doubled. Overall, this means that the price of upgrades grows faster but the value of each upgrade is much higher;

• The effect of the infinite drill upgrade on the mining rate has increased, while the progression of tiles hardness between new games has been adjusted. Now, players will feel like their mech is mining a little bit faster with each new game;

• Ore prices in NG++ and beyond now grow in geometric progression, and ores in these games will receive random buffs and debuffs to their prices for the entire playthrough, adding a new challenge for players to find the most profitable ore;

• Boss fights in NG+ have become harder, and the hit points and damage of boss modules now grow faster with each new game.

Other improvements:

• Increased regeneration effect of the Alien metal hull from 2 to 5 HP per second;

• Prices of some NG+ exclusive special upgrades have been increased;

• The combined ore enrichment system bonus for additional ore chance has been reduced from 10% to 5% per mined tile. However, you now have 2 seconds to keep the combo instead of 1. Also, the current combo bonus is now displayed in the ore message;

• Buying infinite upgrades that increase the maximum fuel amount/hit points now fully refuels/repairs the mech.

Bug fixes:

• Mines at level 4 will no longer produce ore piles after explosion if the player has the Industrial explosive charges special upgrade installed;

• Fixed an issue with the names of Alien ore and Experimental alloys being displayed as "???" in the Statistics and Ore detector menus in New Game + (thanks to Pico and SandBag for their reports).

Also, a few hours after beta.5 was released, beta.6 was released to fix an issue with the inventory not working properly when loading an old save from NG++ and later.