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Ore Works

Changes

Version 0.3.3 - The Performance Review

0.3.3

9 July 2026

One-Handed Swings: NPCs swing hammers and one-handed tools with one arm instead of two - looks natural, and their off-hand stays relaxed instead of awkwardly joining in.
Tier-Based Tools: NPC workers now equip the right weapon for their tier - higher-tier workers carry better tools that match their mining level.
Weapon Grip Tuning: Hammers, pickaxes, and tools each have their own grip angle so they sit right in your workers hand.
Tool Stats Now Matter: An NPC worker's equipped weapon actually affects mining - metal damage multipliers boost output, swing speed changes cadence, and cleave radius splashes nearby nodes. Previously the tool was cosmetic only.
Tier-Scaled Damage: Worker swing damage now scales with their tier - Tier 0 workers deal light damage instead of one-shotting low-HP nodes, ramping up per tier. Tunable via `crew_damage_tier0` and the `MiningDamage` inspector field.

Leaderboard Rankings Rework: Division rankings and the Employee of the Month plaque are now ranked by lifetime ore extracted instead of current ingot stockpile value. The old metric was inflated by the live market simulation and never went down when you spent or sold - the new one tracks what you've actually mined, can't be skewed by market prices, and existing progress carries over (no leaderboard reset).
Smarter Worker AI: NPC workers now weigh distance, node value, and crowding together when picking what to work on, instead of just grabbing the nearest thing - they'll walk past a low-value scrap right next to them for a richer node or ore pile a bit further off, and spread out across nodes instead of piling three-deep on one.
Smarter Delivery Routing: Workers now deliver ore to whichever smelter has the most open queue space, not just the nearest one - keeps all your smelters busy instead of stacking one up while others sit idle.
Pause Menu Overhaul: Redesigned the pause menu with a cleaner industrial look - clearer action buttons, a live Tier/Requisitions snapshot, a blurred background, and properly styled toggle switches in Settings.
Requisitions Readability: Large requisition totals now show with comma separators (e.g. `235,119` instead of `235119`) on the HUD and pause menu.

Worker Tier Saving: Worker mining tiers now save and restore properly between sessions.
NPC Crowding: Workers no longer interpenetrate and bump into each other for seconds - NavMesh separation strength was raised so they steer around each other quickly.
Crew Capacity Cap: Hired Crew purchases are now capped at the room's worker capacity (base 2 + 2 per expansion). Previously the cap was dead code, so players could hire up to 8 crew while only 4 could actually spawn - wasting ore on workers with no room. The shop now shows MAX at capacity and refuses further hires until you build another expansion.
Worker Cap Reliability: `MaxWorkers` no longer collapses to the base cap when `BaseExpansionSystem` is briefly unavailable (e.g. during scene reloads), so purchased expansions keep granting crew capacity.
Ore/Ingot Despawning: Mined ore and ingots left on the ground no longer vanish after 30 seconds - they'll stay put until collected.
Tool Damage Progression: Fixed several tools dealing less damage than lower-tier ones (Clay Pickaxe was weaker than the free starter Hammer; Shockwave Hammer was weaker than the plain Pickaxe despite costing more). Damage now scales properly with tier across all tools.
Weapon Damage Override: Fixed a bug where a single tuning value could silently override every weapon's damage to the same number, making tool upgrades feel like they did nothing. Each tool's damage is now applied correctly on its own.
Worker "Stuck" False Positives: Workers no longer give up on tasks just for briefly slowing down at corners, doors, or while stepping around each other - they now get one retry before abandoning a task, cutting down on premature "giving up" behavior.
Pause Menu Movement Lock: Fixed being able to walk and look around with WASD/mouse while the pause menu was open.