[h1]Hotfix[/h1] Somebody got killed by an image not found. In fact, that thing has taken several captains down, both in space and on planets. Then I found out that tooltips didn't work in the officers screen anymore. Even though I'm in the middle of this crafting project, I can't stand to see these kinds of issues. So I released a hotfix. You'll notice a few cosmetic changes, and also get to see some (but not all) of the new crafting work. [h1]New Skill[/h1] The science skill "Ship's Surgeon" hasn't had a valid effect since 1.9 began, I just never told you :O So it has been replaced with "[b]Naturalist[/b]" (thanks to members of the Discord helping me to flesh out this idea!) This new skill is all about being at peace with nature (yes, seriously) "[i]Some creatures become non-hostile. level 1: plants and prey animals. Level 2: insect, aquatic, and silicon life-forms. Level 3: predators, slimes, and apex creatures. If you move into their space, you examine them for DNA (25%/level) and essences (10%/level).[/i]" "What are essences?" you may ask. Well, let's talk about... [h1]Crafting (Not Released!)[/h1] As you may know, the current project is a complete reworking of the crafting system. You probably don't know many details. Let's fix that! There are now only 14 crafting parts instead of 25. Each one is more unique, and 5 of them are actually naturally-occurring things you can collect from various environments. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38088504/e6b71807d80e76d2d0bc215a66d32e9d6515dcd5.png[/img] Crafting recipes can now have as few as 2 ingredients for really simple things, all the way up to 11 for crazy-high-tech things like the Singularity Launcher or a quantum shield (though the most anything has at this point is 9). This solves a long-time problem the game's crafting system had: a knife was just as difficult to build as a warp drive. [b]Not anymore![/b] Some of the more esoteric items will also require "essences": distillations of natural qualities like heat, speed, and reason. These can come from rare plants, monsters, and even planet surfaces. They're spawning now, so you can start collecting them for later. [b]There's even a new melee weapon that guarantees you extract essences from plants and creatures.[/b] I just built my first weapon with the new crafting system yesterday. Here's how it looks: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38088504/33e42b7d58446d165468d62dacb81256a1d23da1.png[/img] [h1]Sale Ending[/h1] The Steam Exploration Fest has been really great for Approaching Infinity, lots of new players, Discord members, and more positive reviews. In fact, it's the 4th largest period of wishlist additions ever. THANKS! But the sale is ending today. If you're on the fence, this is your best chance to get the game at a big discount. But hey, I've been doing this for a loooong time and I don't plan stop. Approaching Infinity will be here when you're ready ;)