Short note from Command. After the solid refine and bath sync, leveling a pig-iron mill still felt almost free - a few seconds off a long cycle. That was not the deal I wanted. I fixed the step size, and gathered the other player-facing bits that landed since that post.
Solid mills - levels that pull their weight
- Level 1 solid refining stays on the calm six-minute tempo with about 70% yield - homeworld ore is still not a snack for the mill.
- Early upgrades now add roughly 10% output rate per level, with clearer cycle steps. Late levels still floor so mills cannot sprint back to the old burn rate.
- Liquid, gas, and plasma ladders are unchanged. Full rules: /docs/refinement-phases.
Also since 7 August
- Colony resource tooltips show a real ledger - incomes, then deductions, then net - so the bar rate matches the math. Geology caps surface as a clear planet-max warning; scan dossiers note density under the class badge.
- Planet scans no longer pay extra Frurozin for dual recon or cargo scouts (move fuel still does). Orbit residue finds got a little richer.
- Occupation beacons and colonisation status show on the map without a reload; spent beacon modules stop offering a second deploy.
- Waste depots refuse upgrade or scrap when that would overflow storage. Depot tiles open a capacity breakdown. Colony HUD tabs run raw → refine → waste → energy.
- First civilization contact paints foreign colonies and beacons amber, not hostile red. Fleet dock and map corners show universe coordinates. Highscore point milestones and a beginner guide at /docs/colony-first-steps landed too.
Short bullets stay on /release-log. If a mill upgrade still feels invisible or a production line does not add up, file Command relay - I am watching solid tempo and the bath feed carefully.
Sebastian "Degola" Lagemann