Satisfactory Gets First Big Update

April 30, 2019
Ryan Shepard
7 min read

The early access version of Satisfactory is set to receive it’s first major update. Releasing first in an experimental branch, then making it’s way over to the main build, the update looks to expand what is already a pretty big game. Some of the highlights include vertical conveyor belt, sulfur and quartz recipes, a new vehicle, and an in game map. The experimental branch with show up in your Epic Games library as a separate game if you own the early access version.

While I’m excited to see how the vertical conveyor belts work, I’m most excited about the new vehicle and map. As much as fun as building a massive, automated factory is, sometimes you just want to stretch your legs. The hand-crafted world the game takes place in is a treasure trove full of beautiful vistas, hidden secrets, and misadventures. Being able to update a map as you explore will make picking up where you left off easier. Also, being able to jump on a new vehicle designed for exploration will make long trips much more enjoyable.

Here are the detailed patch notes, including balance changes and bug fixes, as well as the new feature additions, which can also be found of their website. Stay tuned to Voxel Voice for more on Satisfactory in the near future.

 

NEW FEATURES

  • Added the Conveyor Lift (currently with placeholder visuals)

    • Rebuild or build a new factory with Mk.1 – 4 of the vertical Conveyor Belt!

  • Added the Quartz Research

    • New Parts and Recipes: Quartz Crystal, Crystal Oscillator

    • Explorer Vehicle: The vehicle currently best suited for traversal

    • Ingame Map: Enjoy revealing the game map via exploration and the Radar Tower

  • Added the Sulfur Research

    • New Parts and Recipes: Sulfur, Gunpowder, Explosives, Ammunition

    • Nobelisk Detonator: Blow up trees, bushes, rocks, creatures and friends

    • Rifle Mk.1: An automatic rifle for the purpose of Pioneer safety

BALANCING

  • Added several new alternate Recipes

  • Alternate recipes can no longer be hand crafted

  • Moved all Oil Nodes in the Dune Desert (northeast corner of the map) west to the Spire Coast

  • Adjusted purity of Oil Nodes in the Desert Canyons east and west of the Northern Forest

  • Fabric recipe now requires Biomass instead of Leaves

  • Fixed the milestone cost of the Alternate Heavy Modular Frame

  • Clearance adjustments for several buildings to fit more snugly

    • Splitter and Merger

    • Smelter, Constructor and Assembler

    • Miners and Oil Pumps

    • A few others

  • Adjusted the cost of the Programmable and Smart Splitter

  • Adjusted the cost of Caterium Milestones 2 and 3

  • Added Alien Organs research after Alien Carapace (making it possible to turn Alien Organs into Medicinal Inhalers)

  • Adjusted the cost of making Medicinal Inhalers (more Mycelia, less Nuts)

  • Greatly increased the amount of parts around Crash Sites for new games

  • Reduced Caterium Ore required to make Caterium Ingots from 4 to 3

  • Reduced the Quickwire cost of Quickwire alternate recipes

  • Increased Power Pole Mk.2 & 3 connections by 1 and 2 respectively

  • Increased the parts cost of some Buildings and Equipment

    • Generators: Fuel Generator, Geothermal Generator

    • Production Buildings: Manufacturer, Miner Mk.2, Oil Pump, Oil Refinery

    • Equipment: Xeno Basher, Jetpack, Gas Mask

  • Tweaked the Rebar Gun damage

  • Increased the duration that a Gas Mask Filter lasts

  • Beacons can now be built in the Manufacturer

  • Power Shards can no longer be used as fuel

BUG FIXES

  • Fixed rounding of power numbers

  • Some VO message fixes

  • Fixed that sorting the Inventory when in a building menu making the resource pick-up HUD appear

  • Fixed that the Vehicle gas throttle isn’t active while standing still (no more spinning tires when standing still)

  • Fixed playtime showing up wrong in the Load Menu

  • Fixed some Crash Sites that didn’t have costs / rewards

  • Fixed a focus issue to enable players to exit a menu via escape after closing an in-menu popup

  • Fixed that trying to place a Conveyor Belt with a Pole on the seam between two foundations caused a “Floor is too steep” warning (bye bye, sweet meme)

  • Fixed that changing a sound volume, exiting the options menu and going back to apply resets the audio settings

  • Fixed a bug with the cost of Conveyor Belts and Power Lines not updating correctly while building

  • Fixed the Hub upgrade effect to be visible for both client and server

  • Fixed so the Hub upgrade effect doesn’t trigger when joining as client

  • Fixed the duplicate mesh in the Hub Biomass Burners

  • Fixed that the player character and creatures no longer receive projected decals

  • Fixed the Gas Mask sound not triggering after entering Gas for the first time

  • Fixed that players can receive duplicate rewards from the Harddrive Research

  • Fixed that simulated vehicles would consume fuel even when standing still

QUALITY OF LIFE

  • Hub parts are now returned to the player on respawn or passed to other players if possible when their death crate is spawned

  • Implemented additional Hand Slots for Equipment that can be unlocked via Milestones

  • Resource tooltips now show the recipes that are necessary to make them

  • Connecting Conveyor Belts with conflicting directions is no longer possible

  • Reduced download size by approx. 2.5gb

FACTORY

  • Added power connections to the Hub Biomass Burners

  • Adjusted Hub floor collision so the player can walk onto it without having to jump

  • Renamed Storage Container Mk.2 to Industrial Storage Container

  • Added a second input and output to the Industrial Storage Container (previously Storage Container Mk.2)

VEHICLES

  • Updated the Truck description

  • Updated the Vehicle Recording point visuals

RESOURCES

  • Added a new Cable mesh and texture

UI

  • Added an Experimental label in the main menu and ingame

  • Overhauled the compass icons and functionality

  • Added a set of reticules for the Colour Gun

  • Updated several UI elements to scale better with localised text

  • Updated the Milestone message so that longer milestone names fit

  • Updated the Jetpack HUD box to include a fuel counter

OPTIMISATION

  • Adjusted culling distance on Crash Site meshes

  • Fixed some culling distance problems

  • Added sprite last LODs for some assets

  • Optimised the Willowtree asset (used primarily in Northern Forest)

  • Some texture optimisations

  • Reduced distance field distance and the trace distance

  • Adjusted settings on a bunch of assets to save on performance (Disabled Lightmap UVs, reversed index buffer and ADJ buffer)

  • Updated LOD settings, reduced triangle count and improved LOD timings on the Gas Pillars

  • Updated LODs and improved reduction parameters on several resources

  • A bunch of more LOD adjustments on many different assets

WORLD

  • Adjusted and fixed gameplay and resource nodes in several locations

    • Northern Forest Limestone location

    • Red Jungle pathway fixes

    • Terrain fixes in Western Dune Forest

    • Lake Forest jump, path and gameplay fixes

    • Connection tunnel between Grassfields and Rocky Desert

  • Landscape and visual adjustments in several locations

    • Rocky Desert, Northern Forest, Desert Canyons, Dune Desert, Titan Forest, Red Bamboo Fields

  • Did a pass over a bunch of foliage interactions (destructible by Vehicles & Chainsaw, pickupable, etc.)

  • Changed the mesh of a small bush used primarily in Grassfields

  • Improved cliff textures and material

  • Boosted the emissive effect on large shell cliffs (primarily used in the Blue Crater)

  • Placed better Gas perimeter indications in several map locations (Gas areas around the map should be easier to see now)

  • Made the Yellow Power Slug more… yellow.

WILDLIFE

  • Hogs now have a cooldown on their stagger

  • Made the Alpha Hog more aggressive

  • Made a small fix to the Hog panic state

  • Stingers (spider-like creature) now drop Alien Organs

  • Added LODs for the Stinger

  • Expanded the amount of resources Lizard Doggo can find

  • Added new sounds to the Space Giraffe/Tick/Whale/Penguin

NARRATIVE

  • Added Tiers of research Milestones into the unlock dialogues

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Ryan Shepard

I remember playing Super Mario Bros. and Metroid on the NES with my older brother, and never being able to land on the aircraft carrier in Top Gun. I faked being sick so I could stay home from school and play Quake II once, but now I request days off from work instead of lying. Age of Empires II is still the best RTS, Half-Life is still the best FPS, and I still think the end of Mass Effect 3 was great!

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