Version: Horizon
Release Date: 25.04.2023
Mac on Mars!
Hello Martians! It is with great delight that we jump straight into the announcements that the first Mac build for the Mars4 3D game is complete. This has been one of the biggest milestones for the Mars4 team and one we are aware that the community has been eagerly waiting for.
For those of you in our community with a predilection for Apples over oranges, we will appreciate your feedback regarding any bugs or issues that might occur in the Mac version of the game. The Mac version of the game is 3607 which includes all updates and improvements excluding the current release.
It does bear mentioning that the current Mac build is uncertified by Apple, but this is due to the lengthy process involved with obtaining the certification. The Mars4 team wanted to push out the Mac build ASAP to allow our Mac-based community to also enjoy the same game.
We look forward to hearing from you whether it is general feedback or bug reports or simply a chance to share via our community discord.
The Mac build can be found here.
New Features
Diurnal Cycle Lighting
Day and night have been overhauled more thoroughly. Martian colonists can now expect to see a more vivid day-night cycle alongside a more immersive night sky which includes the passage of Phobos, Mars’ largest moon. The development team has worked hard to introduce higher quality lighting, colour, and shadows to the Martian environment as well as push out a better method of rendering. This, coupled with skybox adjustments should result in a much more cinematic and visually-stunning Mars.
Greater Terrain Resolution & Detailing
The surface of the red planet has been more carefully scoured and upgraded in quality. The team was interested in improving the immersion of the planet’s terrain by adding deeper detailing to surface textures. It is certainly true that Mars is largely red dust, but that does not mean that such an untamed wilderness should not feel diverse in its own way: Sand and crystal deposits, dust patterns, the hints of rich ores or surface deposits, or even wind-eroded topography and channels.
Drop Pod Reward Previews
Colonists will notice that the SmartHUD(TM) on their spacesuits now identifies and displays a preview of the supplies found onboard the drop pod they have called in. The United Nations came to the decision that having unmarked rockets containing mysterious payloads landing on colonist settlements did not benefit the mental fortitude of the Martian colonists.
Agriculture Update
Agriculture on Mars takes its first steps beyond the preview with several new machines and the introduction of new production chains that make use of the new resources: Fertilisers and Compost. These machines bring higher plot capacity, greater automation, and greater control for colonists over the production of nutrition and other goods via farming. It should come as no real surprise to the experienced colonists on the surface that nutritional independence is a major step for the future of colonization on Mars.
New Machinery
Medium Growing Plot. A mid-sized gardening plot that requires water, an air-tight room and warm temperatures to cultivate plants.
Huge Growing Plot. The largest gardening plot that requires water, air-tight room and warm temperatures to cultivate plants.
Automatic Growth Machine. A machine that automates plant cultivation by itself by providing water and warmth. All that is needed are the required ingredients and air-tightness.
Fertiliser Machine. Extracts regolith from the Martian sands to clean it. The clean regolith is combined with compost to create fertilizers for growing plots.
Compost Machine. This machine receives dead plants, grinds them down and slowly produces compost. It requires at least 3 dead plants to function.
New Resources
Fertiliser. A resource that increases plant growth speed. It can only be used in the automatic growth machine
Compost. A core component of fertilizer production.
Updates and Bugfixes
World temperature adjustments.
Freezing to death has been made less frequent to make the colder climates more bearable.
Colonist flashlight intensity has been increased to prevent them from jumping at shadows.
Added Phobos to the sky. Deimos has been told to wait its turn.
Fixed an issue where after saving and loading the game with a deployed vehicle, the vehicle’s inventory showed only 1 slot.
Fixed a bug where exiting the vehicle with a tool selected was causing the tool mesh to disappear.
Fixed a bug with re-claiming the latest claimed drop pod after saving/loading the game.
The UN has provided colonists with better maglocks on their vehicle storage bays: Exiting the vehicle with its inventory opened no longer causes the inventory to remain open.
Fixed a bug that allowed a player to claim a drop pod’s rewards multiple times by saving/loading the game while it was in the air.
Fixed a rotating camera view issue while driving vehicles.
Updated the watering can image.
Updated the small growing plot description.
Small Grow Plot plans added to Small Fabricator.