This release is savegame-compatible with previous 0.8 versions.

Improved Graphics

I updated many of the blender models and materials used within the game. I updated the majority of the items and structures. The changes range from very minor to rather major. You should be able to recognize everything, tho.
Below an image showing the updated models:

Drag-Replace + Replace Improvements

It is now possible to replace / upgrade structures while dragging the mouse.
Note that drag-replace behaves slightly differently than click-replace:

• Click-replace allows for changes between types and modes (e.g. belt to crossing, merger to splitter)
• Drag-replace only allows for changes that won’t affect the behavior, basically only Mk changes (e.g. belt mk1 to belt mk2)

I think this way it should match the player’s expectation. Since you likely don’t want to replace crossings with belts while dragging the new belt across an existing line.

I also fixed an old bug in the replace logic, where one e.g. couldn’t overwrite the direction of already placed belts if they were holding items.

Research

Technologies that can’t be researched yet are now highlighted. This makes it much easier to navigate the tech tree.
Below an image showing the tech tree with nothing unlocked yet:

Modules

I added additional indicators to modules to make it much more obvious whether they’re currently active.
The module border is now green if active and yellow / orange if inactive:

UI Improvements

This release brings some general UI improvements:

• The tooltip is now more ‘sticky’. It takes longer for it to show, but also more mouse movement to make it disappear. Let me know what you think
• I improved the tooltip regarding turning a selection on/off
• The shortcut for clearing a selection is now mentioned within the game ([ESC])

Balancing

Within recent let’s plays there were complaints about the game being too slow in the beginning.
I saw some players basically letting the game run in the background waiting for the first research to complete.
I therefore decided to lower the research cost of crossings and ‘two belt mixing’ from 100 RT1 to 10 RT1.
This should greatly speed up the early game. Let me know what you think.

Other, Minor Improvements

• The arms of ‘long arms’ are now rendered further up, fixing some render issues where the items of a belt would be shown above arms