StarRupture has received its second major Early Access update, appropriately named Quality of Life, bringing a substantial collection of improvements to factory construction, production, user interface features, multiplayer, accessibility, game balance, and overall performance.
The developer says Update 2 also includes hundreds of bug fixes, with many of the changes based directly on feedback submitted by players during the game’s continued journey toward its eventual 1.0 release.
While there are plenty of fixes hidden deeper within the patch notes, factory building receives some of the most noticeable improvements.
Factory Building Gets Much Easier
Building large factories should now require considerably less repetitive work.
Players can copy an existing building together with its current settings by pressing Z. Meanwhile, Ctrl+Z copies only the building itself without carrying over its settings.
A separate copy-and-paste system has also been introduced for building configurations. Using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, players can copy setups such as production recipes and corporation orders between compatible buildings.
For anyone who has ever attempted to redesign a large factory, another particularly useful addition is multi-deconstruction.
The Building Tool can now mark several structures and remove them simultaneously. Structures depending on the buildings being removed for stability will also be highlighted in red before the player commits to the demolition.
Players can additionally choose to deconstruct structures while leaving their foundations intact. This should make factory redesigns considerably less frustrating when only the machinery or upper structure needs replacing.
Pillars And Platforms Receive Major Improvements
Pillar Supports have also been improved.
Pillars will automatically adjust their height when placed underneath an existing Platform. Players can also manually change pillar height with the mouse wheel when building from the ground.
An additional Add Pillars option can automatically generate supporting pillars beneath newly placed structures. Players remain able to manually adjust their height or disable the pillars entirely when necessary.
Platforms can now snap directly onto the sides of Pillar Supports as well, opening up additional options for vertical and more complicated factory designs.
The Drone Roundabout has received an overhaul too. In addition to its new appearance, it will no longer slow drones down. Instead, drones passing through it will travel at the same speed as the fastest connected rail.
Production Recipes Have Been Rebalanced
Update 2 makes several changes to production progression.
Regular Version 1 recipes have been adjusted so that fewer buildings are required when producing certain later-game resources.
Version 2 recipes have meanwhile been simplified and divided into two categories.
Upgraded V2 recipes use the same ingredients as their Version 1 equivalents but require larger quantities while producing more items at once.
Alternative V2 recipes use somewhat different ingredients while offering an even larger production output.
Base Core upgrade costs have been adjusted as well.
The amount of Meteorite Heart and Ignitium required has been reduced, alongside reductions to several other required resources. The intention is to reduce resource gathering and transportation time while aligning Base Core progression more closely with Corporation Levels.
StarRupture Gets Several Useful UI Features
Factory builders are also getting more information about what their machines are actually doing.
The crafting interface now displays additional input and output information, including the number of items being produced every minute.
Buildings and Storages now include a search bar, making it easier to locate specific items without scrolling through large inventories.
Custom Teleporter and Base Core names will also appear directly on the map, making increasingly complicated factory networks easier to navigate.
Players will additionally receive an on-screen warning before autosaves occur. Autosave frequency can still be adjusted or completely disabled through the settings menu.
Exploration Tracking Has Been Improved
Abandoned Bases now include a completion tracker showing exploration progress both while visiting the location and when checking it from the map.
This should make it easier to determine whether previously visited bases still contain uncollected resources.
Infected Bases receive similar treatment.
The interface can now display how many Infection Tumors remain. This functionality also applies to infected player Base Cores, while improved visual effects should make the tumors easier to locate.
Corporation progression information has also been expanded. The OCL and Corporation Terminal can now show which resources are required and whether the necessary production recipes have already been unlocked.
Inventory Management Gets Faster
Update 2 introduces several additional inventory interactions.
Players can now destroy an entire item stack, transfer individual or multiple stacks between inventories and buildings, split stacks in half, and drop individual or complete stacks using new shortcuts.
Storage containers receive the same improvements alongside additional sorting functionality.
Consumable items can even be eaten directly from Storage instead of first needing to be moved into the player’s inventory.
A new Continue button has also been added to the main menu, immediately loading the most recent save.
More UI And Accessibility Changes Arrive
Storage item selection is now sorted alphabetically, making large inventories considerably easier to navigate.
Looking directly at nearby buildings can additionally reveal their custom name and current task icon.
StarRupture also receives a new cursor designed to scale better across different resolutions.
The Infolog has been reworked with activity labels and improved text wrapping, helping players more easily track collected resources, completed activities, progression unlocks, and skills.
Several new accessibility toggles have been added too.
Players can independently disable or enable:
- Headbob
- Camera shake
- Sprint FOV change
Multiplayer And Dedicated Servers Get Plenty Of Fixes
The Quality of Life update contains an extensive selection of multiplayer corrections.
Problems involving disappearing loot, missing map locations, unavailable ADS, incorrectly synchronized building placement, dialogues, character selection, stamina, Base Cores, supported platforms, autosaves, and several other co-op systems have been addressed.
Dedicated Servers receive several fixes as well.
These include a crash associated with deconstructing merged Viewports, corrected Goliath animations, properly applied autosave settings, protection against crashes caused by rapidly sending chat messages, and improved stability when loading progression-heavy saves.
Performance And Stability Are Another Major Focus
Several possible crashes and performance problems have been targeted throughout the game.
The developer specifically addressed issues involving mass platform construction, Fire Waves, large save files, Base Core deconstruction, Viewports, Supporter Pack items, Forgotten Engine sessions, Personal Building Drones, multiplayer progression, building interfaces, and factory management.
Performance during the beginning of Fire Waves has also been improved, alongside optimization while holding building previews and rapidly placing structures.
Combat And Enemies Receive Fixes
Enemy behavior has received another sizeable collection of fixes.
Goliath’s charge damage should now behave more consistently, while Exploder damage calculation has been corrected.
Vermin behavior during Antenna attacks has also been modified so enemies do not exclusively target the player.
Additional changes address Goliath pathfinding, Swarmer damage, Spitter projectile range, Slasher attacks, enemy respawning, visual effects, and several unusual enemy movement problems.
One particularly amusing bug has also been removed: a single grenade should no longer be capable of killing Goliath outright.
Caves, Bases And The Environment Have Been Cleaned Up
Abandoned Bases now contain fixes for missing or incorrectly positioned loot containers, while rubble visibility has been improved.
Several enemies should also stop falling through floors during the Forgotten Engine sequence.
Environmental fixes target Quartz Ore spawning, cave construction restrictions, disappearing cave vines, broken textures, world-map holes, and other terrain issues.
Players can also no longer open caves simply by throwing a grenade at the entrance.
Hundreds Of Smaller Problems Have Been Addressed
The patch continues with numerous changes covering UI, gameplay, audio, animations, building behavior, resource gathering, infection mechanics, equipment, Base Attacks, and environmental effects.
Among them, energy-powered Walkways should no longer consume stamina, Storage buildings should stop requesting resources while disabled, and entire-base deconstruction should no longer occasionally award double materials.
Several audio problems have also been fixed, including combat music continuing indefinitely after combat ends and dialogue ignoring audio settings.
StarRupture Update 2 Is About Making Everything Smoother
Update 2 may carry the relatively understated Quality of Life name, but the amount of work included is substantial.
Rather than introducing one giant headline feature, StarRupture’s latest Early Access update targets dozens of smaller frustrations across almost every major system.
Factory construction is faster, inventories are easier to manage, production information is clearer, progression costs have been adjusted, exploration tracking has improved, multiplayer receives extensive fixes, and several accessibility options are finally available.
Combined with hundreds of bug fixes, Update 2 represents another significant step toward StarRupture’s eventual 1.0 release.
