A home in the habitat

Development update. Everything here is in the current test build, 0.1.403. Details will change.

The habitat that comes down with the care package has always been the colony's first building: its solar wings and battery are the landing zone's first power. Until now it was an empty shell. Now it is furnished as a small home. There is a desk and computer under the window, a bunk along the back wall, a swivel chair, a wet cell with a shower and a toilet behind a frosted door, and a galley with cupboards, a sink and a tap.

Everything is used with E, and each piece has its own animation. You walk to the bunk, turn and lie down, and get up again where you started. At the desk the chair slides in and your hands go to the keyboard. Move to get up from anything.

Inside the habitat by day with its ceiling lights on: a desk and computer at the left, the bunk along the back wall, the wet cell's frosted door and the galley's sink at the right, and the grass outside through clear windows. — Inside the habitat by day, the lights on and the windows clear.

Smart glass

The windows used to be dark panels from the outside, and you couldn't see through them from either side. Now they are real glass, and smart glass at that. A switch by the door frosts every window milky white, patch by patch like liquid crystal, and clears them again. Frosted, the panes glow with the room's light.

The same room with every window frosted milky white, lit by the two ceiling panels. — One switch frosts every window.

Lights on the colony's power

Two ceiling panels and a lamp in the wet cell, on a switch by the door and another by the bunk. They draw on the colony's power like every machine. When there is enough they shine fully. When power runs short they dim and flicker, and with the batteries flat at night they go dark. A night with the lights on, or a hot shower, shows up in the colony's power use.

The habitat at night under the stars, its windows clear and lit, the light falling on the grass beside it. — At night with the glass clear, the lights fall on the grass outside.

The same view with the windows frosted: the panes glow white and little light reaches the grass. — The same view frosted.

The colony terminal

The computer on the desk stays on while there is power. Its screen shows the planet's time, the batteries, the solar power coming in and the power in use, the robots at work and any alerts, and whether the lights, the glass and the door are on, frosted or shut. Sit down at it and the colony's management opens, so you can run the settlement from a chair instead of standing in a field.

Rest and wash

Lie down on the bunk to rest, or sleep through the night once it is safe to, as before. There is also a switch above the pillow for the lights. The wet cell has a shower and a toilet, and the galley tap gives you a drink from the colony's stored drinking water.

Lying on the bunk in the EVA suit, seen from the head end, with the desk and the door beyond. — Lying on the bunk.

Seen by the crew

In co-op the rest of the crew sees you at the desk, in the bunk or in the chair, and a switch flicked by anyone changes the habitat for everyone. Two people can't use the same thing at once. Lights and glass are saved with your colony.

On the Meridian's bridge, sitting in the captain's chair now works the same way: the whole crew sees whoever is in it.