0.13: Power you can count on

Version 0.13 and every update to it, newest first. The game shows the same notes on its main menu once per version.

0.13.6 · A pause screen that fits a phone, and a map that holds still

2026-10-07

• On a phone the pause screen fits: the list on the right scrolls instead of running off the bottom, and the headline no longer runs under it.
• Dragging the map moves it exactly with the pointer, and the map now tilts below the plane of the orbits as well as above it.
• The map is no longer overexposed when your craft is on the night side, and each planet’s air glows on its sunlit edge.
• Clicking a small planet or moon on the map picks what you see, not a dot inside it.

0.13.5 · Heat tiles stay on

2026-10-07

• Heat tile panels on big tanks no longer break off when the rocket lifts off: a panel is bolted over its whole face and is now held as firmly as the hull it covers.

0.13.4 · A spin that holds its aim

2026-10-07

• A spinning stage keeps its axis pointed the same way among the stars, at any time warp. It used to turn slowly with the planet below, a full turn a day.

0.13.3 · Every world’s own wind

2026-10-07

• Each world has its own weather: Venus’s air races round the planet at 100 m/s at the cloud tops while the ground is nearly still, Mars has gusty days and high westerlies, Titan barely breathes at the surface, and Earth’s jet stream is stronger. Realistic worlds only, as before.
• The wind is one wind for everything: the craft, its smoke and its parachutes all feel the same air, and the weather moves on with time warp.

0.13.2 · Heat by attitude

2026-10-07

• A part heats by the way it meets the air: a tank tumbling sideways is heated along its flank and a nose cone flying sideways is no longer charged for its sharp tip, where every part used to heat as though it met the air nose-first.
• A part’s skin holds heat by what it is made of and how thick it is: the 9 m family’s thick stainless walls take far longer to heat than thin aluminium.

0.13.1 · The ground grips by what it is

2026-10-07

• The ground grips by what it is made of: regolith, sand, soil, rock and snow each hold a landed craft their own way, where every surface used to grip like rubber on dry concrete. Rover tires grip a little better than bare metal.

0.13.0 · Power you can count on

2026-10-07

• Batteries hold what a real spacecraft battery holds for its weight, about ten times their old charge.
• Solar arrays turn on their booms to face the Sun, and make power only as far as they can: an array pointed end-on at the Sun makes nothing. You can watch them turn.
• Reaction wheels draw power while they work, and stop when the batteries are empty.
• Rover wheels draw the power they actually put down, so a battery no longer drives further than it holds.
• RCS thrusters pay for turns on the lever they really have: on a long craft a turn costs far less propellant than before, close to its centre a little more.