Trees and Plants on Roofs Update, Colony Sim Fest & More!
Hi everyone,
A new update is out (v0.5.015), which includes the new mechanic to seed plants / plant trees on roofs or in the underground, a new item + constructions, some additional updates & more!
I have also to announce, that AColony will join the steam city builder and colony sim fest today with a special discount of -50%! (so don't forget to fasten your seatbelts)
Plants and Trees on Roofs & in Underground
With this update a new mechanic will be introduced, which allows you to build special floors for an extended plant seeding and tree planting functionality in unusual places. This means, that you can place them on roofs but also in the underground now.
Grass Floors
To achieve that goal, I have added a new special material for the default floor which has grass or dirt on its surface. It gets unlocked by the basic husbandry technology and can be placed like any other floor in the game.
New Resource (Dirt)
In connection with the grass floors I have also added a new item (dirt), which can be bought by traders or will spawn if you mine grass and dirt blocks now. This resource is required to build the new floors, but also to build the decoration construction house plant.
Underground Plants + new Construction (Plant Light)
Of course, you can also seed plants in the mountains or the underground now, but that comes with a huge debuff which increases the grow time by 400%.
Plants or trees are seen as in underground, when an active terrain block is blocking the way straight upwards to the sky. Because I don't want a penalty for players which want to construct something like a plant skyscraper, I have excluded any debuff if you build floors or roofs over plants.
You can avoid the debuff of underground plants, by building a new construction - the plant light - which works similar like the modern sprinkler and gives a +400% grow boost once per day.
This means your plants can grow with the same time like on the free air, but with the requirement of additional power costs.
Additional Updates
Mark Plants, Trees, Rocks & Animals Directly
I have added a new button to the plants, trees, rocks & animals info menus, which allows the player to directly mark, if the related object should be harvested, cut, mined or hunted.
Decreased Fire Extinguish Time
Based on player feedback, I have reduced the time to extinguish fires by circa 45%. This should increase the speed with which you can stop fires from spreading (mostly during the volcano eruption event).
Fixed Volcano Event Weather
It seems like there was a bug in the weather manager which has often chosen the default volcano weather instead of the default stormy weather (beside the normal sunny one). This should be fixed now.
Note: If you load a save file from before this update, the volcano weathers for the next 7 days are probably still in the scheduler. You need to play 7 ingame days until the normal stormy weathers will come again.
Updated Demo
And as a side task, I have upgraded the demo of AColony to the newest version (v0.5.015), which should include all bug fixes and some additional functions from the latest early access version.
Patch Notes:
Last but not least, I have here a list with all patch notes:
added functionality to seed plants & trees on special floors
added new construction (floor (material, grass))
added new construction (plant light)
added new item (dirt)
added that grass & dirt blocks give dirt by mining now
you can mark plants, trees, rocks & animals directly in their menu now
fixed that volcano weather was often chosen as default weather
fire extinguish times are by ~45% decreased now
random seed in new game menu can be set back now
grass floors can be found under technology 'basic husbandry' now
plant lights can be found under the technology 'technical helpers
dirt can be bought or sold via traders now
fixed sprinkler audio ignored master volume on pause / play
reduced wind bend factor on trees
construction 'houseplant' requires dirt as build material now
increased tree plant value per tree for forest helpers
fixed weather info in weather forecast machine (client)
fixed some smaller things
What's Next?
The next points on my list (and during the fest) are to upgrade the difficulty & start settings menu to be more customizable and to add some smaller features / QoL stuff which I got recommended by player feedback.
I hope you all have an awesome day and will enjoy the update + the steam city builder & colony sim fest, Cheers!
Spring Sale, Community Events, Planting Trees & More!
Hi everyone,
The new update (v0.5.005) is finally published and includes the new community events system, the tree planting mechanic, calling raiders from radio stations and more!
I have to say, my actual plan was to release this update on 24th March in connection with the steam city builder and colony sim fest with a special discount of -50% . But as things are, I have completely overlooked that there is also the spring sale directly before the fest.
Therefore I have changed my plans a bit and decided to publish this update a little bit earlier and to publish another one in the next days. In addition, AColony will also join the steam spring sale with the special discount of -50% today :), because the sale ends only 4 days before the colony sim fest starts.
Community Events
With this update the new community events function will be introduced. You are now able to plan a community event via the notice board if you meet the required conditions. If that is done, you have to prepare all points in order to start the event. During the event, your colonists can do some tasks / progress which defines how satisfied they are when the event ends. (so this has an impact on the rewards).
At the moment there are 4 different events (there are some more in planning with future updates) and these are the victory celebration, the lumberjack fest, the miner fest and the traders fest.
Note: All community events also offer a relationship bonus to all of your colonists when the event is completed.
Victory Celebration
This event can be prepared if you have defeated a certain amount of enemy attacks (excluding insect nests). The main party here goes about to drink at the bar and the rewards are targeted to combat related areas.
Conditions:
Defeat 3 raids
Preparation:
Fill the bars with drinks (1.5x per colonist)
Rewards: [5 days]
+5 temporary mood
+35% combat melee & combat ranged damage
+100% learning skill in melee combat & ranged combat
Lumberjack Fest
That event can be prepared if you have cut a certain amount of trees. In addition you have to build a new construction (a chopping block) which can be filled with wood. The event also offers a contest between your colonists (can be seen in the event info menu when started) and gives the winner a special relationship boost of +35 from all other colonists. The rewards are targeted to forestry related areas.
Conditions:
Cut 45 trees
Preparation:
Fill the bars with drinks (1x per colonist)
Fill some chopping blocks with wood (5x per colonist)
Rewards: [5 days]
+5 temporary mood
+35% tree cutting speed & +75% more resources from trees
+100% learning skill in forestry
Miner Fest
The miner fest can be prepared if you have mined a certain amount of blocks of any kind. Similar to the lumberjack fest, you also need chopping blocks which you have to fill with stones, plus it also has the contest functionality with the mentioned relationship boost. The rewards are targeted to mining related areas.
Conditions:
Cut 60 blocks
Preparation:
Fill the bars with drinks (1x per colonist)
Fill some chopping blocks with stone (5x per colonist)
Rewards: [5 days]
+5 temporary mood
+65% mining speed & +75% more resources from mining blocks
+100% learning skill in miner
Trader Fest
This fest can be prepared if you have exchanged a certain amount of currency with traders (selling or buying). In addition you need 3 market tables and you have to put 5 extra drinks in the bar. During the fest, one of the satisfy tasks are that the traders need to consume these 5 extra drinks. The rewards are targeted to charisma & trading related areas.
Conditions:
Reach trade value of 125$
Preparation:
Fill the bars with drinks (1x per colonist + 5 in addition)
Own 3 market tables
A trading caravan must be there
Rewards: [5 days]
+7 temporary mood
+5% charisma
+115% learning skill in charisma
+15% better trade prices
New Trait (Party King)
In connection with the community events, I have also added a new trait - the party king. This trait gives his owner a large impact on all community event rewards, but also removes the drinking limit completely, which can often end up in a situation where he is laying passed out on the ground (during a fest).
Planting Trees
As already mentioned in the last news update, I have finally added the tree planting mechanic which allows the player to regrow the forest and trees anywhere on the map. I will give you a short summary + screenshots from the last news update with some small additions.
Planting Spots
A a new button has been added to the zone creation menu, which enables a similar functionality like for default zones to place tree planting spots in the world. The difference to default zones is, that there is no visual zone with tiles created (instead it creates some signs) and that planting spots cannot be placed directly beside each other or beside a tree.
Saplings
In order to plant a tree, the player needs a special item - a sapling. They can be gained from trading caravans (material trader) or via a barter with a wanderer community. In addition, there there is a chance of 10-30% if you cut a tree (and the colonist has a forestry skill level of minimum 10) to gain 1-3 saplings.
Forest Helpers
In connection with the new tree planting mechanic, I have also added a new event - the forest helpers.
This event can be seen as the opposite of the already implemented forest defenders event and is triggered when you plant a certain amount of trees. The value which calculates if the event gets spawned is the same as for the forest defenders, which means if you cut trees the value goes in direction to spawn the forest defenders event, but if you seed trees it goes in the direction of spawning the forest helper event.
A special property of the forest helpers event is, that the centipedes will help you against several enemies including:
Raider attacks
Insect nest attacks
Animal attacks
If you cut too much trees in their near the event can be cancelled and the group will disappear. If you attack the group and deal a certain amount of damage, the group will turn hostile against you and will act like the well known forest defenders group.
And just for fun, I have extended the functionality of the radio station so that you can also call the raider faction now, which will send an attack group to you. This could be useful if you want to quicker get some ammo, weapons, armors, prisoners to sell & more.
Patch Notes.
Last but not least, I have here a list with all patch notes:
added community room events!
added community event (victory celebration)
added community event (lumberjack fest)
added community event (miner fest)
added community event (trader fest)
added new construction (chopping block)
added new trait (party king)
added that bar can be filled with whiskey & mead now
added that raiders can be called by radiostation now
added that carrion snails come with higher tier members now
added tree plant mechanic!
added new button to zone create menu to place tree plant spots
added new event (forest helpers)
added new item (saplings)
saplings can be gained from traiders & wanderers
added a chance of get saplings from cutting tees (min 10 skill needed)
reduced wheat cost of whiskey from 20 to 12
increased gained wood from cutting trees by 10%
added tutorial page regarding training
added tutorial page regarding community events
squad select menu shift now when scroll in colonists overview menu
difficulty mode 'easy' has less enemy & insect attacks now
fixed that transport immobilized animals to animal cage was blocked by player
fixed training on player command was interrupted by sleeping schedule
fixed command message for transport corpses to testtargt was shown on non-player colonists
fixed very rare error shown on animal herd update
fixed wrong icon loaded for refuel jobs
fixed some translation mistakes
fixed many smaller things
What's Next?
Since the steam city builder & colony sim fest is already in ~11 days, I have to decide between 2 tasks and which of them I will implement at first. On one hand, there was the suggestion for an updated start menu, scenario selection and more customizable difficulty system. On the other hand it would be great to finally add grass floors which will allow the players to seed plants on roofs or indoor.
If you would prefer one of these systems at first, just write it in the comments :)
I hope you all have an awesome day and will enjoy the update, Cheers!
News Update: Tree Planting & Forest Helper Event
Hi everyone,
I have a new short news update for you and this one is about the new tree planting mechanic (finally) :)
At first I have to say - the community events update is nearly finished, but I have delayed the release of the new version a little bit again, because I saw that on 24 March there is the steam city builder & colony sim fest. Therefore I have decided to release the community events functionality in connection with the tree planting and other features in a combined major update shortly before the fest.
Planting Trees
This was since a while on my list and these days I have finally added it - the tree planting mechanic - which allows the player to regrow the forest and trees anywhere on the map.
Planting Spots
I have added a new button to the zone creation menu, which enables a similar functionality like for default zones to place tree planting spots in the world. But the difference to default zones is, that there is no visual zone created (instead it creates some signs) and that planting spots cannot be placed directly beside each other or beside a tree.
Saplings
In order to plant a tree, the player needs a special item - a sapling. At the moment, they can only be bought from traders or wanderers, but I was also thinking about that there is a small chance that when you cut a tree, that some saplings can spawn.
Forest Helpers
In connection with the new tree planting mechanic, I have also added a new event - the forest helpers.
This event can be seen as the opposite of the already implemented forest defenders event and is triggered when you plant a certain amount of trees. The value which calculates if the event gets spawned is the same as for the forest defenders, which means if you cut trees the value goes in direction to spawn the forest defenders event, but if you seed trees it goes in the direction of spawning the forest helper event.
A special property of the forest helpers event is, that the centipedes will help you against enemies, which also introduces the first case that an insect group can be allied with the player.
I hope you all have an awesome day and I'm looking forward to see you at the steam colony & city builder fest, Cheers!
Happy New Year & News About Upcoming Community Events!
Hi everyone,
Since the earth has orbited the sun one more time again, I wish you all a Happy New Year!
In connection with this event, I have written this short news post to keep you updated on the progress of the new features in the upcoming update.
While the mechanics and network functions are already implemented, I have decided to delay the release of the new version by a few days. The reason for this is, that there is only 1 community event existing at the moment and I think it would be better and also more fun for you, if the next version will include far more and diverse events.
Updated Bar
Since the bar has served in the past only as a community room furniture with no special mechanic, I have finally upgraded it with the functionality to store alcoholic items in it. To avoid that these items get consumed too quickly (a few colonists can relax at the same time at the bar) I have split them up into drinks which only remove 1 item unit at the bar when 3 drinks are consumed.
Note: I have also added the options to define who can drink at the bar in order to prevent colonists to drink the bar dry before you can start a community event.
Community Events
With the next update, the notice board will finally get the functionality to prepare and start community events. These events are meant for every member of your colony and will have some impacts on their behavior, social interactions, mood and more.
Conditions
To start a community event, you must first meet all the conditions to be able to select it. For example, for the victory celebration, you need to defeat at least 1 enemy attack.
Preparation
When a community event is selected and linked to the notice board, you need to prepare everything to start the event. This can be to fill the bar with a certain amount of drinks (depending on your colonists count), to build special constructions which will be used during an event, or some other points.
Running
While the event is running, all colonists will automatically meet in the community room and spend their time there (the normal jobschedule is disabled). In Addition there are also progress goals which define the amount of rewards you will get.
Rewards
When the community event is over, your colonists will get some rewards depending on the event type. These can be for example:
Temporary mood boost
Temporary increased skill points for certain work
Temporary attributes impact for specific jobs
Some other impacts
Additional Stuff
I have also already made some smaller fixes, like making the easier mode more easy, added 2 more tutorial pages, fixed some reported bugs and more. I will post a more detailed description with all patch notes & changes with the next (and release of the community events) update!
If you have some suggestions or ideas for community events, conditions & rewards - please let me know! One of my ideas for a new community event is some kind of a lumberjack event which will take place outdoors and gives your colonists a +50 or +75% more resources from cutting trees as reward (for like 5 days or so).
I hope you all have a great day and happy new year again, Cheers!
Steam Winter Sale & Some Smaller Fixes!
Hi everyone,
AColony has joined the Steam Winter Sale with a -30% discount today!
In addition I have also published a new version (v.0.4.095) with some smaller fixes.
Patch Notes:
pets can be buried now
dead colonists & pets can be kicked off graves now
added positive mood effect for burying pets
corpses will the thrown of training targets now if normal mode is selected
fixed that medicate prisoners took default and not prisoners settings
fixed that colonists of other players have also used host pc training dummies as target
removed mood impact on killer & cannibal from use own colonists as targets
started implementation of custom events (via community room event panel)
Plans for next Update
At the moment I'm working on the implementation of a custom event system for the community room which will include fests, parties, celebrations & other activities (So that the event panel gets finally its functionality). If all will run like expected, this update should be released before the new year!
I hope you all have an awesome day and some happy upcoming holidays, Cheers!
v0.4.093
Hi everyone, a new patch (v0.4.093) is out with some smaller fixes:
- fixed loading error if active projectiles where loaded for training purposes
Cheers!
Training Targets & More
Hi everyone,
The new update (v0.4.092) is finally released and introduces a new mechanic to increase the combat skill levels of you colonists.
Training Targets
I have added 2 new constructions to the game which are a training dummy for melee combat and a training target for ranged combat.
Training
If your colonists have the right weapons equipped, they can train on a related training target. Depending on the weapon, your colonists can exercise every ~24 hours for a certain period of time. Every hit on the target will increase the skill of your colonist.
New Schedule Section
In connection with the training mechanic I have also added a new section to the schedule which allows you to define a time for your colonists, where they will automatically train if a valid test target is reachable.
New Technology
There is also a new technology to unlock the new constructions, which can be found directly after the basic decorations field.
Corpses in Zones
Additionally, I have updated the functionality of the storage zone, which allows you to sort the corpses of colonists by "yours", "neutral" and "others / enemies" now.
Use Corpses As Targets
The menu of the test targets also contains an additional bloody option, which allows you to use corpses as targets. This option will multiply the gained skill points by x2.5, but will also have a negative impact on your colonist's mood, relations & impacts on factions.
Fixed Network Bug
There was also a network bug which has not registered floors correctly on client side in the new structure system. The problem was that this led to errors later in the game when these floors got destroyed by the collapse system. This should be fixed now!
Patch Notes
Last but not least, I have here a short list with all relevant patch notes:
added new constructions (training dummies - to train skill melee weapons)
added new constructions (training targets - to train skill ranged weapons)
colonists as items are split in 'others', 'yours' and 'neutral' now
added training section to colonist's schedule options
added new technology (basic training)
fixed building floors wrong registered in online-coop
fixed metal fence blueprint were shown as built one
added a few new mood, relationship & faction impacts regarding training
decreased probability of fire fanatic attacks
decreased probability of volcano eruption event
fixed some wrong ui colors
some smaller fixes
I hope you all have an awesome day and will enjoy the update, Cheers!
Steam Autumn Sale!
Hi everyone,
AColony will join the Steam Autumn Sale with a -30% discount today!
Unfortunately this post is only a short announcement, because I'm not completely finished with the next update which will include the training dummies / targets for increasing your colonist's melee and ranged weapon skills (+ some bug fixes). But the update should come within the next days!
I hope you all have an awesome day, Cheers!
Two-Handed Weapons & Optimized Construction System + Menus
Hi everyone,
A new update (v0.4.086) is out which includes the new two-handed melee weapon mechanic, optimizations of the blueprint & constructions system, optimizations of the UI and some fixes & adjustments.
Two-Handed Weapon Mechanic
This update will introduce a new combat mechanic for melee weapons, which allows your colonists to wield a bat, axe or sword with 2 hands. This feature is automatically activated for all melee weapons if your colonists are not equipped with an additional shield, and brings with it the following properties:
+25% melee damage
+25% melee force
+10% melee defence
You can hit 3 enemies at once (the 2 beside the targeted enemy get 50% damage)
A new animation for attacking and executing
In addition, I have also added a second semitransparent icon to the colonist overview menu, which indicates if the weapon is wielded with both hands.
Optimized Construction System & Menus
In the last weeks, I have also started to optimize some algorithms and menus in the game - which is a work that took / takes a little bit longer. There will come more optimizations in future updates, but I got already rid of some obvious lags & performance drops.
Note: If you find any lags or situations where the fps go down, feel free to mention it in the comments or on my discord server.
Construction & Stability System
One point which was since a while a thorn in my eye, was a working but very slow algorithm to calculate the stability over the construction layers / building levels. The main problem was here, that even if you have only placed blueprints (floors or walls) beside a building with over 2 levels, you have encountered a noticeable lag when they spawned. A similar lag also appeared, when a colonist with the architect trait has built 3 floors or roofs at the same time.
Therefore I have completely rewritten the old stability calculation algorithm and replaced it with a new and much faster one - there should be almost no noticeable lag anymore.
Note: This system also improves the impact & performance from explosions on construction elements.
Building Menu
When the building menu had already a lot of researched constructions in it, there was a small lag spike when you switched between the tabs (the reset of the layout was here unoptimized). This should be fixed now.
Colonist & Animal Menu
In addition, I have also optimized the colonist & animal menu, because there was a noticeable lag when you have selected one. The problem here was again the reset of the layout, especially the scroll menus when there were many entries in them (mood, injuries, relationships & attributes).
Construction Info Menu
In the construction & tables info menu were also some improvements on my todo list - primarily for the crafting and resource burner menu, which have enabled all related selecting & scroll menus even if they are not all visible at the same time.
Note: I have improved some other background systems too (grass placing, searching speed & more) which should increase the general performance of the game a bit.
What's Next?
The next point on my list is (and because I'm still in the implementing phase of all combat related mechanics), to add some kind of dummy & targets constructions which will allow your colonists to train with their weapons to increase their combat skills. Additionally I play here with the thought that you could perhaps use the bodies of dead colonists as training targets too . . . .
Patch Notes
Last but not least, I have here a short list with all relevant patch notes:
melee weapons will be used two-handed when no shield is equipped now
two-handed attacks increase damage by 25%
upgraded and optimized stability manager
optimized blueprint placement manager
optimized building manager
optimized grass place and removement manager
optimized some ui menus
power cables can be set invisible in the graphics settings menu now
optimized animal & colonists menu
optimized build menu
optimized constructions info menu
decreased prices for metal construction elements
reduced attack force of baseball bats slightly
fixed grave bug when selecting other grave in active job
added special animation when execute colonist with two-handed weapon
fixed that protective vest was sometimes shown in main menu colonist edit menu
fixed rare transparent mode bug for transporting immobilized colonists over multiple layers
fixed background error loop when colonists tries to pet eating animal
fixed rare error when loading single player file after coop session
