The Aetherium Update

0.3.5
5 August 2026
35 changes in this update

Added

17 changes
  • Aetherium tier — a whole new band of content past Rebirth 15.

  • Serpentine Refinery — a big S-shaped machine, the strongest ingot boost in the game (x40). Material snakes in at the foot and out at the far tip. Rebirth 18.

  • Aetherium Dropper — an 11-tile lopsided crystal mass, one cell bigger than the Singularity and far richer. Emits from the crown tip. Rebirth 18.

  • Aurum Press — a cross-shaped machine, and the first refinery that boosts a CRAFTED good instead of an ingot (x6). Rebirth 20.

  • Regalia Bench — a crown-shaped combiner, the widest piece in the game. Scepter + Gemstone becomes Regalia, the new apex good. Rebirth 20.

  • Prism Loom — a stair-shaped combiner joining your two late chains. Gemstone + Power Core becomes a Prism Core. Rebirth 20.

  • Processors tab — the Processor now lives in its own dropdown alongside three new variants.

  • Chain Processor — takes a feed on BOTH ends, so two belt lines can sell into one square. Rebirth 5, then 300 boxes. Max 3.

  • Golden Tipped Processor — gilded rollers pay x1.5 on every sale. Rebirth 8, then 200 Power Cores. Max 3.

  • Diamond Tipped Processor — x2 on every sale, the best there is. Rebirth 15. Max 3.

  • Cross — a 4-way crossing so two belt lines can pass through each other without merging. It has been in the game's files for a long time but was never buildable.

  • Clear Board button — sells every piece at once, with a confirmation showing exactly what you get back.

  • Drag to erase — hold and drag with the eraser to sell a whole run of belt in one stroke.

  • Rebirth is now an event: a screen thump, layered sound and a card showing the run you just banked.

  • Finished buildings flash green and pop as the engineer steps away.

  • Selling a building now takes it apart piece by piece and pays out with a green $.

  • The engineer powers up and down with a voice, breathes while it waits, and celebrates a level-up with a ring and a Lv badge.

Improved

5 changes
  • Rebalanced the tech tree: every percentage upgrade is 10% weaker per level. Because those upgrades multiply together, that works out to roughly a 2.4x cut to late-game income. Tech still resets on rebirth as it always has, and Prestige upgrades are untouched.

  • Unlock popups now cover the whole game. 22 pieces from the Silver Dropper onward used to unlock in complete silence, including every aura tower, the Bridge, and all the late-game benches.

  • The Rebirth button now tells you WHY it is locked, and says when a whole new tech tier has just opened under you instead of silently going grey.

  • The Parts Guide is spread over five pages so nothing is cut off, with proper room between each heading and its first entry.

  • Turning the quick bar on or off no longer shifts the whole board sideways.

Fixed

9 changes
  • Progress bars no longer snap to empty when you buy a process-speed upgrade mid-craft.

  • Contract and achievement Tech Point rewards were massively inflated for late-game players — a single contract could pay out billions. Rewards now track what you can actually spend.

  • The Compact button under-reported its own payout by up to 13x. It now shows the Tech Points you will actually bank.

  • The Silver Dropper — your first ore upgrade — unlocked with no announcement at all.

  • The Ring Setter and Necklace Bench displayed as "RingSetter" and "NecklaceBench".

  • Six pieces were missing their colour on the board: Enricher, Gem Cutter, Alloyer, and all three aura towers, which looked identical to each other.

  • The Bridge was missing its colour stripe in the Conveyors menu.

  • The hover info card laid its text out sideways instead of stacked.

  • Engineer level-ups were tracked internally but never shown or heard.

Removed

1 change
  • The standalone Processor button — it now lives inside the Processors tab with the three variants.

Known Issues

3 changes
  • Processors on the Network screen keep a gold flash stuck on them after a sale.

  • The Prestige shop does not scroll, so the lowest upgrades can be hard to reach.

  • The board sits slightly left of centre.