Welcome back to the fireside, y’all! We know there’s been a lot of anticipation around this one ever since the Showcase, but you gotta hand (HA!) it to us, it’s a pretty sweet-looking rig now. And, just as promised, it’s got plenty of customizable elements to swap out, both for cosmetics and functional components! You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers, and we’re excited to talk more about it. So let’s get started!
Oh, and one more important thing: We’re going to Gamescom again! We’ll talk about that a bit too!
I Speak for the Trees
Your rig has a good bit of engine under the hood from the get-go, but as you build, farm, and explore your way around the Frontier, you’ll be given opportunities to beef your mech up! Through your upgrade tree, you’ll enhance and diversify your mech’s performance, bolstering its base capabilities and giving you new tools in the process. You can also see what tree paths lead to specific upgrades you might want, plus pick and choose which upgrade you want to see on your mech! Handy!
See the Saw!
We’ve also done a complete rework of the drill into a mech-oriented multi-tool: The spike saw! The spike saw differs from the old drill in a number of ways, starting off with how it operates. While the old drill had the benefit of being a ranged tool, the spike saw has a much easier time of collecting resources and breaking through obstacles. Instead of having to precisely aim with the drill and wait for the bit to do its work, the spike saw makes it quicker and easier with just a few hits to achieve the same result. Not only that, but it FEELS more powerful, to boot!
Socket to Me
What’s a better way to work on your mech than its very own dock? Get a 360 view of your rig in all its glory as you snap its parts together while working on it! Walk your mech to the dock, where the platform will magnetically pull and center your mech. Then, hop on out, pull off the part you’re looking to remove, find the new part in the dock storage, and stick that sucker in the translucent part slot! To snag some more cool parts, you’ll be able to buy them from the Merchant as you progress, or as a reward for specific feats and achievements.
Even better yet, the mech’s also a little bit smarter now as it handles items! If your mech gets close enough to uncollected items, you’ll automatically scoop them up! Great for collecting bits and pieces of usable scraps as you’re on the move.
It’s Not NOT Rocket Science
The mech’s revamp also comes with hefty changes to how the mech moves overall! The new mech’s movement changes a number of aspects that are important to both how it handles terrain and how it does certain tasks. The new mech’s movement is much more physics-focused, meaning the mech can handle changes in the terrain, like stepping on rocks or handling gradients. This also comes with the added potential risk of the mech falling over if being mishandled, though, so easy on the cowboy stuff! In its bipedal mode, the mech has also been adjusted to have a faster base movement rate, as well as a faster turn rate, making the mech feel more responsive.
Another big change: We’ve overhauled the boosters altogether! Previously, the boosters gave the mech a short upward burst, to give you just enough of an arc to plot your landing. Now, we’ve changed it so that the movement is versatile, giving your boosters more of a directional hover to make the mech more agile! Additionally, because of the physics implementation, your movement now holds momentum!
Transform and Roll Out
These movement changes also are meant to compensate for another set of adjustments to the mech: How Transform Modules function! While the Tractor Mode used to be focused on clearing long distances in a short amount of time, its new purpose is to put up new fields quickly by plowing multiple new plots as you move, as well as other enhancement functions for plots!
The Frontier’s got a variety of terrain (and water) obstacles to overcome; as you progress and discover more about the world, you’ll unlock more traversal methods for you to pick and choose from, depending on your preferred travel mode!
Goin’ Off to Gamescom!
That’s right, folks, we’re back for Gamescom 2023, this time with a full-size booth! We’ll have more to share with y’all once we get closer to the show, but we’re real excited to be back on the expo floor. We’re also back with more goodies, more team members, a HECK of a good-lookin’ booth, and of course, a playable demo for y’all to check out and give feedback on! Come on down to the show and come say hi!
In the meantime, join us for our Twitch stream on August 4th @ 9:00 AM PT/6:00 PM CET, and we’ll talk more about this update! We’ll see you then!
