Version/0.8.657

0.8.657

Alpha 8 - 0.8.657 was released on December 15, 2014 - Alpha 8 Release + Hotfixes

Temperature and seasons
A new temperature system tracks temperatures indoors and outdoors.
Characters can get hypothermia, frostbite, heatstroke, or burns from being in extreme-temperature areas.
Certain clothing can protect against temperature discomfort/harm.
Temperature changes daily and on a yearly cycle according to where you are on the planet. There are distinct seasons.
There are special heat wave/cold snap events.
Added heater and cooler buildings.
Food spoils. This can be slowed or prevented with refrigeration.
Snow falls and accumulates over winter. It slows down movement.
Snow can be cleared manually, and will melt if heated.
New apparel: Parka and tuque.
Added new biomes: boreal forest and tundra
Art and crafting
Sculptor’s table added. Colonists can create abstract sculptures.
Sculptures and melee weapons have a quality. Quality is influenced by crafter skill and affects beauty and damage.
Apparel crafting now allows crafting any kind of apparel.
Can now craft any kind of melee weapon from appropriate materials.
Created ‘unfinished thing’ step to crafting. Crafting can now take several days per item (as in the case of advanced weapons or art).
Added art trading.

New content

New animals: elk, hare
New plants: pine tree, birch tree, moss, xerigium
Xerigium plants can be farmed and refined into herbal medicine.
New power plant: wind turbine.
New weapons: triple rocket launcher, doomsday rocket launcher.
New items: Glitterworld medicine, herbal medicine.
Alphabeaver event creates alphabeavers who will consume trees until stopped.
Ancient cryptosleep shrines now generate on the map. Open the cryptosleep caskets if you dare – the occupants may not be friendly.
Economy and trader stock generation reworked and rebalanced from the ground up.
Stats inspector allows inspecting more things in more places, and provides more, clearer info.
Several new songs from Alistair Lindsay.
You can now release prisoners. This gains you goodwill from their faction.
You can now configure your keyboard hotkeys.
Dozens of other fixes and improvements.

There was a bug in Alpha 8: If a colonist smoothed a terrain that wasn’t rough stone, the game would crash (Alpha 8B)

Mostly fixed some hard performance hitching that occurred when there were a lot of blueprints that lacked resources (usually when *laying large amounts of carpet without enough cloth).
Surgically removing bionic parts from living people will now yield the removed part for reinstallation or sale.
The binding between workers and bills will no longer time out. This should eliminate problems with workers starting the same bill *several times and ending up with multiple unfinished versions of the same item.
The ‘was imprisoned’ thought now has a greater effect on mood.
Fixed growers just standing there when there was a nearby growing job that was not accessible (e.g. a plant pot in a locked room).
Plant not growing now text uses the word ‘resting’ to clarify that the problem isn’t a lack of light. (Alpha 8C)

Alpha8c created a major bug where colonists would never plant in hydroponics basins. The fixed build, Alpha8d, is now uploaded. (Alpha 8 D/E)