Autonauts enters the Steam Age today with its major Industrial Revolution update Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Autonauts enters the Steam Age today with its major Industrial Revolution update Trains! Printing press! Health! Education! More! News by Matt Wales Reporter Updated on 7 Feb 2020 3 comments Autonauts, the adorable automation-focussed colony management sim from developer Denki, has just received its first major free update of 2020 on Steam, titled Industrial Revolution. Your basic goal in Autonauts, as Eurogamer's Tom Phillips discovered when he dabbled last year, is easy enough to get to grips with: automate your merry band of worker robots to make your new planetary home inhabitable for humans. Actually reaching that point, though, is considerably less straightforward, with players needing to programme their charges to efficiently navigate an ever-more dizzying crafting tree. Wood makes tools makes a farm for rearing sheep to gather wool to make clothes and so on and on. Autonauts' first free updates, which arrived at the tail-end of last year, introduced the likes of new bot variants, new cooking options, new buildings, and new apparel. Today's update, however, is far more substantial; as well as introducing mod support, it punts the somewhat rustic world of the core game straight into the Age of Steam. As Denki puts it, the goal of the Industrial Revolution update is to "[shift] the automation emphasis to mechanise the mining of coal and metal resources to build and fuel steam-powered worlds". To that end, there are new advanced rail networks and related infrastructure for the transportation of goods and resources (featuring 20 new structures and four core vehicles), alongside a range of new tools and upgrades. There's the Steam Hammer, Paper Mill, Jacquard Power Loom, and Printing Press, for example, as well as a backpack enhancement for storing new items, and a memory upgrade so bots can perform more advanced routines. There're new era-appropriate housing options (the two-storey brick house and mansion), new toys, and fancy new Dickensian attire too. The Industrial Revolution update also adds two new categories to the Pyramid to Transcendence - Health and Education - expanding the evolution options available for colonists. "Make use of leeches and flowers to dispense medicinal aid to sick colonists and ensure they continue generating Wuv," says Denki, "and raise their undernourished intellect with books." Autonauts' forward march through time and technology is, according to the post-launch roadmap released last year, set to continue in April, with the advent of its Phase 3 update, known as the Age of Enlightenment. Before that, however, two small updates will expand the likes of fishing options, recipes, and buildings. To celebrate the arrival of today's Industrial Revolution update, there's 30% off Autonauts on Steam until 10th February. It's currently available for £12.59 instead of the usual £17.99. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More News Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 4 Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 11 Latest Articles Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 4 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store