HyperKat Support and Tester Forum

I've been testing the survey mechanics.

The first time you take a surface sample, and then scan it with the LIBS, it'll show up on the map. If you hover you cursor over the marked spot, it'll show the pair of elements it has. If you then quit the program, start the program, and then reenter the game, the surface sample will only show one of the elements when you hover your cursor over the site.

Surface samples that have no value tend to show up on the map as core sample (pink color). Normal surface samples show up surface sample (green).

When you first take a survey sample, they show up pink. Later, when you quit the program and restart, it'll be green.

I have a function in 0.35 called clearslot(0,1,2,3) lets figure a way for a basic user to deal with it. Might Ctrl 1 to clear slot 1 ? /ponder

Maybe make the commands something you could not accidentally do. I remember that Mars Challenger had "/door" to reset the airlock doors. I tried using that when I broke the airlocks (both doors were stuck open).

Perfect info here. This is the kind of stuff I need to make the game better. I will address these issues as I can for 0.35
Once we get it all working, I want to tune it so you are on the edge of failure, make it a challenge.

Well, I'm not sure danger is appropriate for this game. Yes there will some risk, but I expect a space agency would do everything in their power to minimize risk. Not only to look professional, but  also because they're spending a lot of money to send people to Mars.

The only things that I can think of at the moment to make me risk myself is a rescue mission or needing travel to another site to get some replacement parts for broken equipment.

Bad weather can raise the amount of rads you take. In my last game, I had a lot of bad weather. It made traveling even 300 meters a risky move. 450 or even 600 meters could nearly kill you.

That is in the plan, once I get all the kinks worked out.

Looking forward to it, thanks! 

Are there any plans for multiplayer to be implemented at some point? I remember the old Demo Mars Colony Explorer/ETS did and I think it would be nice to play this game with friends. Just asking.

Algae tanks should work properly now, havent tested harvesting yet.

It don't work. I've had the algae levels get up to 15+ on the hab's tank and I couldn't harvest anything. It also prone to resetting so the algae levels return to 0.

I haven't tested the algae tanks on the fab module (I'm not yet that far along after my last reset).

Fixed 0.35

Ok for now just play the game with a single set of plants so it dont crash till I can figure out what it's doing

I guess I'm a potato farmer now. 

When you die it should reset the game. Been pondering perma death as an incentive to pay attention to the game.
Might even put tombstones down each time you die.

Well, the only time that I might not be paying attention is when I'm waiting for my stamina to recharge. There is waiting for my radiation levels to drop, waiting for the water pumps to fill, waiting for crops to grow. Those 3 can be done in doors.

Waiting for the augers to fill... I can't monitor augers in doors as the computers currently don't display that stuff. I have to go on a little trip to find out what the levels are. Waiting outside for augers to fill is asking for trouble.

I've had my radiation levels high. High enough that it caused quite a bit of damage. Now a days I avoid traveling beyond 512 meters from the base on foot. More so if the weather is bad. I find that you need a vehicle to do exploration in this game. Its faster and you don't have to worry about stamina slowing you down.

In Mars Colony Challenger, I found that waiting in the vehicle reduced the rads you soak in. So I would wait in the vehicle as my drill did its work. I don't know if this is true of in this game.
Yes it will be true in this

Anyways. I've been testing the water system. Its broke. If you open a separator and set the slider to 0.5, in the time it takes to process 0.05 units of water, it'll increase the water tank by 0.5 units (10x more). Not only are the water levels growing, but you still get oxygen and hydrogen when it does that. I tried to see how far I could exploit this and I was able to fill the tanks on both separators to max (25 units). I tried to max out the water levels on the algae tank, but I got bored after reaching 50+.

As for the water tanks themselves, the tank in the farm module doesn't track the drinks you take or return properly. Each drink changes the water levels by 0.1 units, but it won't remember this. Also, I can return drinks that I don't have, thus giving me free water. It'll forget it soon enough, but before then you can fill your water can this way.

Cosmetically, I think the water tank in the farm module should be turned around horizontally 180 degrees. The water faucet is pointing away from you when you are in the kitchen.
Fixed 0.35

The water tank in the hab module works correctly, but I think it should be more like the water tank in the farm module. You should be able to able to take water, put it back, or even fill a water can with it.

I can take unfiltered water (strait from the pumps) and water the plants with it. I don't know if I should be doing that.
Probably shouldn't allow that, let me ponder making 2 types of water.

The menus for both separators are different despite doing the same things. I find that odd.

The menu for the plants is problematic. The close button and pick are reversed when compared to the menus for just about everything else in this game. This can lead to accidents. I have accidentally picked plants on more than one occasion, when trying to close the menu after I checked their age.
Fixed in 0.35 and I changed the size of the PICK button so it would stand out.

I decided to try to see what happens when you decide to sample a rock instead of picking it up. I now have a rock sample I can't get rid of. The LIBS won't accept it. Ctrl + C doesn't work.
I have a function in 0.35 called clearslot(0,1,2,3) lets figure a way for a basic user to deal with it. Might Ctrl 1 to clear slot 1 ? /ponder

Perfect info here. This is the kind of stuff I need to make the game better. I will address these issues as I can for 0.35
Once we get it all working, I want to tune it so you are on the edge of failure, make it a challenge. Oh and your name will go on the box.... thanks