Sigma Draconis — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| Hotfix Version 1.2.3 | 2022-05-28 | Someone noticed that an algae pool located indoors was not working and showing a strange temperature reading. They helpfully sent me their saved game, in which I found a corruption that made room data load incorrectly. I don't know exactly how it happened or whether anyone else has been affected, but this fix should automatically repair any affected games on load. |
| Minor Update Version 1.2.2 | 2022-01-08 | Some changes as listed below. You may also be interested in the guide I just published - I played the game for one in-game day and logged my choices - you might find some useful tips in there. Changes in v1.2.2 - Changed "kW" to "MW" throughout the game. - Lamps and room lighting now use 60% less energy. - Lamps and room lighting are always on rather than automatic by default - this was requested to stop them flashing. The automatic mode can still be enabled in order to save a bit of energy. - Fixed a plant growth bug that could prevent bluefruit from appearing on day 2. - Won't show "food storage needed" message at start of game. |
| Minor Update Version 1.2.1 | 2022-01-03 | After some feedback I've decided to give 8 food rather than a meager 2 units at the start of the game. This game is meant to be a little difficult but not so much that people give up in frustration! This should mean that you don't need a mush churn so early in the game. Hopefully this helps - let me know your thoughts! |
| Update Version 1.2 | 2022-01-01 | Happy New Year! Until now, if the map generator created any islands - which it sometimes did - then they would be forever inaccessible. Now, you can connect them up with bridges. There is now also a map generation option that deliberately breaks the landmass up into several islands. Changelog New features - The New Game dialog now has a control to select the map type - Standard, Islands, or Extra Large. - Island maps will, you guessed it, be broken up into islands. - The extra large map is to give some extra space for those who like to build huge bases. - The bridge can be found on the first page of the build menu. - Added some simple underwa |
| Minor Update Version 1.1.1 | 2021-12-20 | Added one more engineer, bringing the maximum number of colonists to 11. This was requested to help with maintenance of large bases. To be honest there is no particular reason why the limit has to be this low - I might add more later but hope this helps for now! |
| Update Version 1.1.0 | 2021-08-09 | The first significant update since the 1.0 release. Not a massive update, but it does add a very useful new building - the geothermal power plant. Research this tech at the geology lab and expand your base to reach a geothermal vent, and you'll have a reliable source of power. Not a huge amount, but it won't run out like coal and doesn't require expensive factories like wind and solar, so ideal for the mid game. Also, to make use of the additional power and to try and encourage bigger late-game builds, I've made the rocket quite a bit more expensive to research, build, and launch. Certainly still possible on day 3 though for the achievement - |
| Minor Update Version 1.0.4 | 2021-07-23 | I've made water brighter and added a subtle animation effect. Maybe more significant updates to follow if there is a demand for it - let me know! |
| Hotfix Version 1.0.3 | 2021-05-08 | This update fixes a bug that could sometimes cause areas to have the wrong temperature or light level after loading a game. This seems to have been caused by some of the room data not being completely cleared from memory after leaving one game and going into another. |
| Hotfix Version 1.0.2 | 2021-05-01 | This update fixes a bug that could cause a black screen or error when loading a game in which some doors had been locked in the closed position. Apologies if you were affected by this one, and many thanks to the person who sent me the information I needed to find the problem! A serious bug that existed since this feature was introduced in v0.10 in December, so I guess most people aren't locking their doors or this would have been found earlier :-) |
| Minor Update Version 1.0.1 | 2021-04-24 | Just a very minor diagnostic update as unfortunately a small number of players have encountered bugs that were not reported during Early Access. The only change in this release is that a log file will now be created earlier, and slightly more information will be recorded. Bounty Going forward anyone who encounters a bug and helps me to fix it by sending me useful data such as a log file or save game will be able to get my next game for free when it releases to Early Access (more information about this later!). |
| Demo available | 2021-04-12 | After a year in Early Access, Sigma Draconis v1.0 released at the weekend. Not sure if this is for you? Give the demo a go! You can play the first part of the game for free, and if you like it you can continue by buying the full version. There are a still a few days left to go on the launch discount! |
| Version 1.0 Release | 2021-04-10 | Sigma Draconis was released to Early Access on 10th April 2020. In the year since the game has received significant updates every month, and has I believe been greatly improved as a result. Today I have removed the game from Early Access and marked the version number as 1.0. I will continue to fix any bugs that arise - though none have been reported for a while now, but I don't have any immediate plans to release any significant new updates. I may release a playable demo in the coming days. A 20% discount has been applied for one week. |
| Minor Update Version 0.13.1 | 2021-03-20 | I've added a user interface component to show progress for the Steam Achievements. You can find the button for this under the in-game options menu. |
| Update Version 0.13.0 | 2021-03-06 | Here's the March update. The main change is to add 16 achievements. There are also some UI improvements. Note that you will need to start a new game to unlock achievements - saved games created in previous versions will not work. Here's the full list of changes: Changes - Added 16 Steam achievements. - Added consumption/production diagrams to the UI for 15 buildings. - Made some updates to the UI for lamps, heaters, and environment controls. - Added inventory target for algae pools (though unlike factories, the target applies when distributing the organics, rather than on startup). - Inventory total for organics now doesn't include algae pool |
| Steam Cloud Integration | 2021-02-13 | A very minor update to say that I've enabled Steam Cloud for the game. This means that when you exit the game, saved games will be uploaded to Steam. If you play on another computer, you still have access to your saves. If the upload causes a problem for anyone - the files are up to about a megabyte each - then this can be switched off in the settings on the Steam Library page for the game. One other thing: I'm currently testing Steam Achievements. These will be made available in the next update. |
| Update Version 0.12.0 | 2021-02-06 | Here's the February update. This one makes a new map type available, which replaces the old "severe climate" option. Launch a rocket from the original map type to unlock it. If you already did this before, you'll need to load up your latest save and launch the rocket again. I would be interested to get some feedback on this as I'm not sure if I made it too hard - organics are very limited so you're going to need loads of coal. There should be enough to mine nearby, but it's very easy to run out at night if you don't keep a close eye on production, so be careful! Let me know what you think on the forum. Here's the full list of changes: Changes |
| Minor Update Version 0.11.1 | 2021-01-18 | This is a very small update with a couple of fixes. Changes - Adjusted the path-finding around metal and organics stacking areas, to reduce the likelyhood that colonists will be unable to find a route past them. - Fixed a flaw in the plant seeding system that could cause whiteflower, blue lantern, or fireflower plants to spread too quickly on some maps and eventually fill most of the available space. Fix is to a parameter set when the map is generated, so it won't apply to existing saves. |
| Update Version 0.11.0 | 2021-01-01 | Happy New Year everyone! Here's the January update. Not a huge one in terms of new features but I've made quite a number of small improvements, including an item on the colonist panel with more information about what colonists are eating and how they feel about it. Most significantly for German players though - the entire game can now be played in German. I don't speak the language myself but someone kindly translated it for me, and I've updated the user interface to support the new text. Here's the full list of changes: Changes - Added full German translation to the game. Click the flags on the main menu screen to switch language. - Added a |
| Update Version 0.10.0 | 2020-12-02 | This is the monthly update for December. The main feature of the December update is the new Checklist. It is meant to act both as a tutorial and as a reference guide. There are over 50 items to complete, taking you all the way from gathering the first resources to launching a rocket. There are a few other changes and improvements as well, here's the full list: Changes - Added Checklist feature, as described above. - Made some changes to the hydroponics and compost projects. In particular, a project is now required before hydroponics planters can be constructed. * - Removed New Game and Load Game from the in-game options menu. ** - Wall UI has |
| Minor Update Version 0.9.1 | 2020-11-23 | A small bugfix and diagnostics update. Changes - Fixed crash when alt-tabbing from full screen. - Log files now written to %userprofile%\documents\SigmaDraconis\logs (previously they went in the game installation folder) - Enabled some additional logging for the game startup process. - If game startup fails for some reason it *should* log the error and close the game instead of hanging - I found a case where it could potentially get stuck in a loop. The logging changes (actually released yesterday for the Windows version) are in response to a couple of players reporting hangs when starting a new game in v0.9.0. If something similar happens to |
| Update Version 0.9.0 | 2020-11-11 | This is the monthly update for November. Highlights - Colonists can now produce their favourite drink, kek. - Added another colonist - the programmer. Very good at operating labs, but can't do any other work. - Added hunger, thirst, tiredness and stress displays to the colonist UI. Stress replaces workload rating. - Replaced the colonist work hours control with a work policy setting. - Power stations now consume water. - Updated the main-menu artwork. - More hints to help new players get started.* * I understand that some new players may have struggled to get started with the game, in which case I apologise. I've added additional hints which |
| Minor Update Version 0.8.1 | 2020-10-14 | A small but important bugfix update to resolve a problem causing the game to fail on startup. This could affect anyone on a culture setting where spaces - as opposed to periods or commas - are used as a thousands separator for large numbers. Examples include France, Finland, and Estonia. Changes - Made a change to improve the chance that useful diagnostic logs will be captured in the case that the game fails to start. Fixes - Fix for a crash caused by an error loading configuration, caused by spaces being interpreted as thousands separators in certain culture setups. |
| Update Version 0.8.0 | 2020-10-02 | This update is mainly about labs. There are now three labs - one for each of the colonist skills - and a total of 20 projects to complete. There is also one other new building - the ore scanner. Once unlocked at the geology lab this can help your geologists by scanning a wide area automatically. Changes - New biolab projects: Improved Hydroponics, Optimised Hydroponics, Compost Production, Faster Compost Production, Improved Compost. - New design for labs UI with icons for the projects. - New building: Engineering Lab. This is now needed to unlock the more advanced buildings. - Engineering Lab projects: Battery Cells, Lightweight Composites, |
| Minor Update Version 0.7.2 | 2020-09-19 | I've added a feature to partially fade out trees and some plants when the cursor is behind them, as in some cases they could block the view. It's not perfect as with the irregular textures it's a bit difficult to work out programmatically exactly what should be faded, but it should work pretty well in most cases. This release also fixes a bug that could cause a crash to desktop when loading a game in a certain situation. Changes - Partially fade out trees, grass, and redfruit bushes when blocking view. Fixes - Fixed a bug that could cause a crash to desktop when loading a game. |
| Minor Update Version 0.7.1 | 2020-09-12 | The October update is shaping up nicely. In the meantime, I've decided to add some hints to try and make it a bit easier for new players to get to grips with the game. Very simple, but maybe it'll help a little bit! Changes - Added a simple hints display with 22 short messages to read. |
| Update Version 0.7.0 | 2020-09-03 | The September update v0.7 is here! This update is about graphics. I've increased the resolution of pretty much all of the game textures, which makes everything look much nicer when zoomed in. Changes - Most textures used in the game (but not the UI) now have a much higher resolution (2x width and 2x height). - Added a setting to revert to smaller textures if desired (maybe the bigger ones will have a performance impact on some machines). - Added coloured particle effects when farming and harvesting fruit. - Made the main menu title brighter and adjusted the position slightly. - Colonists' heads now use a slightly different model. - Adjusted t |
| Update Version 0.6.0 | 2020-08-13 | The August update v0.6 is here! This update is about storage areas. Not silos, but rather what happens when your silos are full. In previous versions you could click on a slot in the inventory, and then on the ground, and a blueprint would appear for a stack of resources. Your colonists would then take items from a resource processor, and build the stack. This makes the resources unusable as they don't count towards your inventory totals and aren't picked up by factories, but you could later reverse the process when you needed to use the resources. This was a bit clunky - it often took new players a while to even realise that this was a thing |
| Update Version 0.5.0 | 2020-07-18 | The July update v0.5 is here! This update adds one new building - the shore pump. Two new wild plants have been added, with the introduction of a wet biome. Birds now fly overhead. Here is the full list of changes: Changes - New building: Shore Pump. Build on the coast to pump water. - Renamed the water pump to groundwater pump and updated description. - Adjusted map generation parameters and added wet areas. These have lots of vegetation and groundwater pumps are 40% more effective. - New plant: Haida-spindax (coast grass). Another big grass-like plant, this one grows in wet areas by water. - New plant: Pin-lodax. Also grows in wet areas. - |
| Minor Update Version 0.4.1 | 2020-07-04 | This is a minor update to fix a glitch on the biolab graphic caused by texture mapping changes in 0.4.0. Fixes - Fixed glitch on biolab graphic when in use. - Added missing shadow to the water storage. |
| Major Update Version 0.4.0 | 2020-06-25 | The June update v0.4 is here! This is the biggest update since the Early Access launch, and timed to coincide with the start of of the Summer Sale, so if you haven't yet tried Sigma Draconis now is the perfect time! Four new buildings have been added - the water pump, water storage, items storage and food storage. Five existing buildings - the glass, battery cell, composites, solar cell, and compost (previously called the soil synthesiser) factories have all been updated to produce consumable resources instead of just passively enabling other buildings. Lots of other improvements as well, here is the full list: Changes - The water pump extrac |