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Spacebase DF-9 Alpha 6 brings power to the people, but also the capacity for anger

Spacebase DF-9: now with added rage.

Spacebase DF-9 might have been mostly void when it launched on Steam Early Access, but at least it wasn’t filled with fury. Its latest alpha update has introduced space-citizens to the concept of anger. They’ll be perturbed by poor job performance, berate bad food, and turn violet around violence. Given enough provocation, they’ll brawl with rivals in the corridors, lash out at strangers or sabotage base equipment.

Thank goodness, then, that Double Fine have also introduced the means to deal with these irate individuals.

Power is now required for base equipment to function, and flows across connected rooms. The Base Seed is your bog standard reactor, but players will need to build extra fusion and dark matter reactors to keep up with their base’s requirements for lectrics.

You’ll need that power to keep the doors locked in the brig zones. That’s where you’ll detain especially angry citizens until they calm down – at a cost to your overall workforce.

When they’re not locked away, citizens can now be divvied up between residence zones. Choose them a bed and they’ll use it. They’re also able to own and carry possessions. “Some of which,” say Double Fine proudly, “are functional”. Look for citizens trading their belongings for others they prefer the colour, material or shape of, and displaying them on their shelves.

Finally, citizens now have opinions on the duties they’re assigned. Players can check their affinities in the Roster and Duty tab. Giving citizens jobs they enjoy is good for morale and boosts their skills – while too much work they’re not fond of can lead to a trip to the brig zone.

Need more power to redirect to all those cell doors? Use the new object command tab to deactivate energy-inefficient base features.

The ‘Brig Ambitions, Broken Dreams’ update has also healed a host of bugs, which you can find listed on the Spacebase site. Have any of you lot bought into Double Fine’s anti-gravity Dwarf Fortress yet?