Hello everyone, and welcome to another Dev Journal. Jupiter’s Forge development continues, but this week we’re going to take a break from talking about it. This is because we’ve seen many returning players coming back to OTC, and given that we’ve just celebrated Offworld’s first anniversary this past week it seemed like a good to time to catch them up on some of the major changes we’ve seen this year.

- Balance -

OTC hasn’t seen many major balance changes, but there have been a few worth noting since release.

• Scavenger Black Market cooldown increased to 40 seconds. Reclamation Inc. was feeling just a bit too punishing with a 30 second timer, so this change was made fairly early on.

• Colony growth increased. Food and Oxygen value Offworld decreased. These changes had a combined effect of making Offworld Markets slightly less valuable, as the most commonly launched resources weren’t worth as much and the colony’s consumption was increased; together these changes pushed the late game away from a straight Offworld Market rush.

• Debt threshold increased in games with five or more players. Debt was a bit too punishing in large games, so high interest rates kick in a little later.

• Two MULEs granted per purchase. MULEs simply weren’t being used. Granting two per purchase helps bring them in line with the value expected from a Black Market purchase.

- Quality of Life and UI -

Once again, some noteworthy improvements have been made to OTC to help players manage their companies.

• Majority Buyout Vulnerable. OTC now warns players when they are at risk of being acquired in a Majority Buyout.

• Tab/Shift-Tab can be used to cycle forwards and backwards between HQs and the Colony.

• Turn Off Unprofitable Buildings. This player option does as it says, automatically disabling your buildings if the game decided that they aren’t making money.

• Show Revenue. Pressing “x” (default) now displays the net income per second of each of your buildings.

• Show Core Sample Odds. Pressing “shift-z” (default) now shows core sample percentages, and indicates a location where each resource is likely to be found.

• Patents can now be transferred (one-way) in team games.

• In Campaign, worker promotions can now be skipped.

- The Ceres Initiative -

Ceres is the first celestial body we’ve visited after bringing capitalism to Mars. This DLC adds Ceres as a map in OTC, which brings with it several new gameplay changes.

• New Terrain: Salts. Farms and Glass Kilns have 50% more production on salts.

• New Terrain: Caves. Caves can be used to mine resources adjacent to them.

• New Resource: Uranium. Primary resources acquired with a Metal Mine.

• New Building: Nuclear Power Plant. Ceres has no significant atmosphere or source for geothermal energy, so nuclear power has been made available. These plants receive adjacency bonuses from Chemical Refineries.

• New Patent: Transparent Aluminum. Glass costs are replaced with Aluminum.

• New Patent: Liquid Batteries. Solar Condensers and Solar Panels remain on at night. Along with these patents being added, Superconductor and Carbon Scrubbing are unavailable.

• Diminishing Resources. All resources gradually reduce to ‘low” level on Ceres.

• Ice is always present on a Ceres map.

• New option in Campaign mode to include Ceres locations.

Hosting a Ceres multiplayer lobby requires the Ceres Initiative DLC. Anyone, whether they own Ceres or not, may then join this lobby. In addition, during multiplayer games that use Offworld’s matchmaking there is a 25% chance that the map will be Ceres, regardless of whether or not the DLC has been purchased.

- The Patron and the Patriot -

This DLC enhances the Campaign experience of OTC.

• Two new CEOs. Manuel Valencia is an investment banker who came to Mars seeking a fresh start. He takes on less debt from interest and is skilled at finding new resources. Mikhail Nekrasov is the inventor of Transparent Aluminum, and as such begins his Campaigns with that patent. As an independent developer he has access to any type of headquarters.

• New Campaign Lengths. Campaign can now run for 4, 7, or 10 weeks.

• Story-Driven Campaigns. Each new CEO has 3 stories to explore, one for each Campaign length. These stories will shift around the specific scenarios each player encounters in the course of their run.

• New Scenario Mode, Wholesale Orders. Up until now, colonies have only awarded shares for new development projects. In a Wholesale Orders match, the colony will request resources directly rather than depending on the player to build them new structures. Some of these requests are constant, while others can change with each shipment.

• Colony Class. Neutral Colonies now specialize into many different types, changing what buildings are available.

• Various New Staffing Perks.

- Blue Chip Ventures -

This DLC adds 17 new singleplayer scenarios to Offworld Trading Company. BCV scenarios are designed to test your knowledge of many OTC mechanics and strategies, and the final 5 will only be completed by those with true mastery over these systems. Even if you aren’t already a top Martian CEO, taking on the BCV challenges will help you identify gaps in your play, and shore up your ability to take on the competition. Managing monopolies, reading resources trends, Black Market bombardment, and many more skills will be crucial to conquering the Blue Chip Ventures.

We'll be back on track next week to talk about The Penrose Collective, Nomads of Io.

Offworld Trading Company: Jupiter’s Forge is now available on Steam!