Maia 0.42 update adds first planetary creature, new research stations, toilets

When we last checked in on Maia, it had just landed on Steam Early Access. Since then, developer Simon Roth has been busy building up his sci-fi colony sim. The latest update introduces some clever research technology, an adorable deadly giant, and—to the relief of every simulated colonist—toilets. In a new video transmission, Roth runs through the features of the patch.

The full changelist can be found on Maia's Steam announcement board . It reveals 0.42's other, equally important patch notes, like procedural haiku generation and less hyper-productive chickens.

Doors now have lots of new things to say.
Physics mesh refinement on many objects. (easier to click them).
Door locking clicking bug fixed.
Pathfinding flood slowdowns fixed.
Procedural Haiku generation.
Seismic station.
Weather station.
Megacephalalgia creature.
Foliage now edible(for some), destroyable. Growth rates tweaked.
Chickens are less prone to making too many babies.
Turret has 84% more DAKKA.
Crash logs are more detailed.
Fixed odd exterior object placements.
Intel 4400 support.
Gui is more responsive and juicy.
New UI button. "Cycle warnings".
New UI button. "Call colonists from orbit"
Colonists no longer plough head first into doors.
Wear and repair quality values fixed /tweaked.
A bunch of sound stuff that I don't understand but Nick tells us it's good.
Toilets
New PFX.
A bunch of silly easter eggs.
All crashes fixed (that we could find).
Lots of small improvements from feedback whilst showing at Rezzed. (Thanks!)
Code base checked on 3 different static analysers and hundreds of fixes made.

In addition to the patch, the game is 20% off until May 10th. Maia's 0.42 update is out now.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.