Hey everyone! Captain Filip here to talk more about our upcoming Update 3. This time you will learn about the new content, pricing changes and also the launch date for Update 3! So let’s dig in!
Space Station
In Update 3, we will be adding a space station. It is going to be very simple and driven through the UI (similarly to the world map). The main purpose of the station is to give those rockets you launch a meaningful purpose and to motivate you to scale your industry even further.
We had been holding off on space program content because we wanted to do something immersive and detailed. But we realized that such high expectations from our side were only limiting how your island’s industry could scale even now. The more we thought about it, the more we felt that even a simple space program was really missing.
The main reason we’re keeping it simple is that we're developing this in parallel with already massive projects, such as trains and the UI overhaul, which are all coming together in Update 3. But another reason is that we want to test the waters and see where our next steps should go.
Similar to nuclear reactors, we did some research on the ISS to understand the mind-blowing complexity of a project like that. We tried to integrate mechanics inspired by real-world space stations, and, of course, we didn’t leave out any mechanics that could send your station into a death spiral because we can’t have only positive reviews (that would certainly look suspicious!).
The space station requires regular deliveries of maintenance parts. It also needs a crew, which must be rotated periodically to limit their radiation exposure. Regular deliveries of crew supplies, including food, water, and medicine, are essential. The station can be upgraded, and upgrades are practically unlimited. Running it doesn’t cost Unity; it’s only about how many rockets you can send fast enough to keep it functional. So it’s entirely up to you how far you want to push your island’s space program.
Space station parts are also made out of chemical fuel because fun fact: if the ISS wasn’t reboosted every couple of weeks, it would eventually burn up in the atmosphere.
So, what do you get out of running a space station besides some extra anxiety? First, prestige, which comes in the form of extra Unity. The second bonus is space research efficiency, making research cheaper which is an important factor, but we’ll cover that later. But the most important reward is space research points, a commodity required in your research labs to perform the most advanced research projects. And finally, it also provides a satisfying display of rockets launching regularly, desperately trying to keep the station from completely disintegrating in orbit. :)
The space station will, of course, introduce new products and recipes, but I’ll cover that in a future blog post.
Infinite research
We know that after hundreds of hours of gameplay, reaching the endgame can feel like hitting a cliff where everything is done, and there are no more goals to push towards. Adding more and more end-game content is nice, but it only delays that cliff; it doesn’t resolve it entirely.
Because of this, we’ve decided to introduce incremental end-game research nodes that will allow you to push your island even further with powerful bonuses. These can range from increased housing density and higher crop yields to more significant perks like an increased vehicle limit or better fuel efficiency. However, these nodes will become increasingly expensive, requiring a well-established and large-scale operation to progress. This is where the research efficiency bonus from the space station (mentioned earlier) will be particularly beneficial.
Many of these end-game research nodes will require scaled-up and operational space station.
Additionally, we will be rebalancing the research to make progression a bit more demanding in terms of resources. Until now, research has been relatively easy to power through and sometimes new content was being unlocked so quickly that players couldn’t even keep up. This adjustment will ensure a more engaging and rewarding research experience. The goal is not to make it drag on for too long but to motivate players to scale up their production even more.
Asteroids
The new space program brought an interesting opportunity. What if the very late end-game wasn’t just about contracts, but you could keep your mining fleet in action forever?
In Update 3, you’ll be able to perform controlled asteroid drops onto your island to gain more mineable resources. Once you reach the end-game, you can launch space probes to search for asteroids. When you find one you like, you can attach boosters to it and bring it to your island. This means you can “refill” your island’s mines as much as you want.
However, this won’t be free. In addition to the regular resource costs and the need to launch probes and boosters into orbit using rockets. You’ll need plutonium for the space probes (for Radioisotope thermoelectric generator) and, later, enriched uranium for the asteroid boosters (Ion Thrusters). So yes, FBR is about to go into overdrive!
Hopefully, the braking boosters won’t malfunction during asteroid descent so you don’t end up like the dinosaurs. We understand that technology like this is pretty far-fetched, but it allows us to experiment with end-game mining and its economy.
We’ve also improved vehicle pathfinding, making it 40% faster, allowing us to increase vehicle limits in hopes of making mining even more scalable.
With that, we’ll also be nerfing recycling. Recycling was originally very generous, designed for times when we had smaller maps and nothing but contracts. But with all the progress, it now feels overpowered. Currently, you can reach 90% efficiency, but we’ll be reducing that to 75%, with the last 5% being hard to reach unless you have a larger population.
Offices & focuses
Currently, the optimal way to progress through the game is to keep your population as small as possible, and that’s not great. We’re not saying you should be forced to scale your population, but we want to give you incentives to do so, especially for those who want to grow their population without just being punished for it.
This is where a new mechanic comes into play. You’ll be able to build Office buildings to activate Focuses. Focuses work similarly to edicts in the Captain’s Office, but instead of costing Unity, they require a dedicated workforce to maintain. Offices come in three tiers, allowing you to allocate anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands of workers. Once staffed, offices generate Focus Points, which can be assigned to Focuses that provide various bonuses.
The main goal of these bonuses is to help you scale your population up. They might increase research efficiency, provide more Unity, reduce consumption, or boost yields. Focuses only work if an office is staffed and running, so you can think of them as a more scalable version of edicts. Offices also require Office Supplies to operate, which consist of Electronics II, Paper, and Household Goods. Offices also return recyclables.
Focus Points can also be increased by providing offices with computing power. Additionally, a repeatable research option will allow you to further boost Focus Points generation.
Another key addition is that you will receive a research efficiency bonus based on your population size. The idea behind this is simple: the more people you have, the higher the chance that someone smart emerges :) This also serves as a reward for players who choose to grow their islands.
Also if you have a specific wish for interesting focuses or infinite researches let us know in the comments or via discord.
New production chains
We are also introducing new production chains, including Aluminum and Titanium, along with their corresponding ores. Bauxite will be available through the world map, contracts, and asteroids, while Titanium will be obtainable only from contracts and asteroids. Since these are end-game materials, their processing will be a bit more involved. But don’t worry as we’ll cover those details in a future blog post.
There will be also more products necessary to facilitate the space program. One of those is Electronics IV.
Update 3 launch date and pricing
Without further ado, we’re excited to announce that Update 3 will be launching on May 20, 2025!
We know many of you have been eagerly awaiting news, and we truly appreciate your patience. After Update 2, we dedicated a month to fixing bugs and making improvements, and since then, we’ve been going full throttle to bring you something truly special.
This update is massive. It includes 1.5 DLCs worth of content plus a complete UI overhaul, making it feel almost like Captain of Industry 2. Many teams wouldn’t even attempt a full rewrite of core infrastructure, whether it was the terrain system in Update 2 or the UI in Update 3, mid-project. But for us, making COI the best it can be is something we are proud to strive for. As a small indie team, we’re working tirelessly to make that happen, and we can’t wait for you to experience it in May!
Update 3 will be fully compatible with your current saves. Ensuring this wasn’t easy, but we put in the extra effort because we know how much time and dedication many of you have invested in your factories. We want you to be able to continue right where you left off while enjoying all the new features.
Price Change
We will also be increasing the price of the game from $29.99 to $34.99 (with a similar percentage increase for other currencies). This price change will take effect one month before Update 3 launches, as otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to offer a discount during the Update 3 launch.
We’re adjusting the price due to rising development costs and because we continue to add substantial content to the game. Update 3 brings trains, a space program, offices, new production chains, a complete UI overhaul, and more - like I said, it’s 1.5 DLCs worth of free content. And this is not our last update.
In past updates, we’ve made massive efforts to improve performance, allowing for more scalability (check our past blog posts for details). In Update 2, we introduced the map editor for community-made maps and revamped our terrain system to support larger maps. For Update 3, we’re rewriting the tree rendering pipeline to allow for even bigger maps and we’ll keep pushing the boundaries to expand map sizes further.
On top of that, past updates have added a ton of new content, including custom terrain surfaces, transport lifts, hydrogen vehicles, several tiers of nuclear reactors with advanced processing chains, ore sorting, and more. We’re also continuously improving graphics to enhance the overall experience.
Trains - More than just cool clips
We haven’t been overly verbose about what’s happening with trains, mostly just showing final clips of them in action. But I want to assure you that this has been a massive effort. We’ve had to handle fuel, maintenance, difficulty settings, track pillars, collapses, recovery, train construction, truck crossings, and tooling for rail placement, high-performance pathfinding, etc. Beyond just making trains work, we’re also trying to innovate with signal-free train networks and batched train loading, as you could have seen in our previous posts.
One key advantage of trains over conveyor belts or pipes is their ability to form an interconnected network rather than just point-to-point connections. When a new station is added to the network, it automatically gains access to all other connected stations. Additionally, a single rail can transport multiple types of products, making trains an incredibly flexible and efficient logistics solution. Besides that, in Update 3, belts and pipes will now require maintenance. We have also adjusted how long belts consume power, increasing their power demand slightly since they were previously heavily discounted. On top of that, we’ll be rebalancing certain production chains, and with the addition of new end-game content, this will lead to more cargo in transit. We are also working on increasing map sizes and introducing a new map specifically designed to take full advantage of trains.
That’s everything I have for you this time. If you have any questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you on our Discord, Reddit, or you can bug Marek on his regular Saturday's stream. :) See you in our next post!
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