Hi everyone, a new patch is out with some fixes (v0.3.017):
added audio to campfire, small kitchen & big kitchen
added audio to steam turbine & fuel generator
lowered required wood for steam turbine from 30 to 25 per day
moving tables & constructions copies priorities and forbid values now
colonists with certain mental breakdown are no longer targeting pets
wanderers offer now 5 steel for 5 insect meat in barter (not only 1 anymore)
increased medicine values of medical herbs & medicine cases
fixed animal herd attack switched melee target on trigger when already had one
added missing japanese characters
fixed german translation short sighted trait effects were switched
fixed wrong tutorial format in some languages (new sections)
slightly increased negative influence on selling prisoners on normal factions
imprison hostile colonists starts now with a 40 morale
Cheers!
v0.3.016
Hi everyone, a new patch is out with some fixes (v0.3.016):
fixed animals of animal traders were not always sleeping at night
fixed barter options had wrong faction influence
animal feeders also copy their values now when moved
animals & insects of traders follow their owner now
fixed pets auto attack enemies mode was not saved
schedule menu gets now instantly updated when accept new colonist
technologies where only 1 previous one is researched shows description & items now
slightly decreased sniper values (was too strong when enemies had one)
Cheers!
Pets & Animal Taming Update!
Hi everyone,
the new pets & animal taming update (v0.3.015) is finally here and comes with a -30% discount.
In this update I will summarize the progress and all implementations from the last few months. Some of the points you have maybe seen already in the previous steam updates, but these were only news updates and now they are fully in the game.
Important Note If you already have the game, it's recommended to start a new game to have all new animal groups in your world. If you want to continue with a save file from before v0.3.015, then you have to exterminate some animal groups in your world. (new groups that appear will have the new animals then).
New Animals
AColony contains now 9 new animals to make the world and wildlife of the game more diverse.
Pheasant Pheasants appear in normal groups and are a standard animal which lives in the player's world. They are very similar to chickens and as pets their preferred food is animal feed which consists of plants.
Wild Boar Wild boars appear in smaller groups and are a standard animal which lives in the player's world. If hunted and butchered they offer a lot of meat and as pets their preferred food is animal feed which consists of plants.
Claw Wolf Claw wolfs are the first predators in the game, which means that they hunt from time to time other animals and eat from their corpses. They appear in relatively small groups in the player's world and as pets their preferred food is animal feed which consists of meat.
Cat & Dog Cats and Dogs are not a standard animal of the player's world and can only be acquired as a starting pet or by trading with animal traders. As pets their preferred food is animal feed which consists of meat.
Carrion Snails (Little, Medium, Centurion, Queen) Carrion snails are a new species and only appear if they detect more than 5 corpses which are laying very near to each other. They offer some new items when butchered (snail meat and mucous glands) and as pets their preferred food is animal feed which consists of human meat.
Animal Taming & Animal Cages
To capture wild animals, tame them and make them so your pets, I have added 3 new constructions to the game - the animal cages - which are the following:
Basic Animal Cage Allows you to lock and tame low tier animals like chickens, pheasants, wild boars, centipedes (scouts & fighters), bees (workers) and more.
Modern Animal Cage Allows you to lock and tame mid tier animals like claw wolfs, bees (warriors), darkflies (warriors & shooters) and more.
Hightech Animal Cage Allows you to lock and tame high tier animals like centipedes (guardians & kings), bees (queen), darkfly (queen) and more.
In the menu of the animal cages you can find 2 options to capture an animal:
Lure Animal Each cage has a luring mechanism which can be activated when you put the right animal feed in the cage. The luring mechanism has only a short range (like 10 - 15 meters), but will allow you to lure hostile animals or insects into it too.
Immobilized Animal You can also transport an immobilized animal to the cage, but this will have a significant negative effect on the start trust value. This means it will take more time to tame the locked animal.
If an animal is finally locked in the cage, you have to feed it once per day with the right animal feed to increase its trust level. If you reach the first trust level, the cage gets automatically unlocked and the previously wild animal is now a pet of your colony.
Pets
Trust System
Each animal has a trust system which consists of a trust value, trust levels and action points. The trust value and action points of your pet always increase if it eats animal feed or gets pet by its owner. If the trust value hits a certain threshold, it will unlock a new trust level which offers new attributes and functionalities.
Level 1 The first trust level usually only unlocks the option that a pet can follow its owner if the player select that option.
Level 2 The second trust level usually unlocks the functionality to control your pet. this includes to give it commands, set it in combat mode and also to give attack commands.
Level 3 The third and last trust level usually unlocks a modifier which increases melee or ranged combat attributes permanently, the functionality to let you pet eat from corpses and a special attack which costs a lot of action points.
Pet Mechanic
In connection with the new pet mechanic / job, I have also added a new face expression to colonists, animals and insects, which makes them look very happy :)
New Constructions, Technologies & Items
The new pet system also brings some new items to the game, which allow you to research new constructions to produce animal feed for your pets and to supply it in the best way.
Animal Feed (Plants, Meat, Human Meat)
Basic, Modern & Hightech Husbandry Technologies
Basic & Modern Animal Feeder
Basic & Modern Animal Feed Table
Animal & Insect Traders
In connection with the new pets system I have also added 2 new types of traders which allows you to buy new pets or to sell your current pets.
Animal Traders Animal traders are part of the General Traders faction and offer animals like chickens, cats, dogs and more.
Insect Traders Insect traders are part of the frowned upon Colonist Traders faction and offer insects like bees, darkflies, centipedes and more.
In addition, I have also updated the functionality of the radio station, which allows you now to not only call animal & insect traders, but also to call wanderers.
Additional Updates
New Job Section, Skill & Trait
This update includes a new job section called Animal Husbandry which covers all mechanics related to the animal taming mechanic. I have also added a new skill called Animal Taming and a new trait called Animal Whisperer which increases the attributes of your colonists in connection with the animal taming functionalities.
Updated Medication System
The medication system got finally an update which allows you now to medicate immobilized colonists or animals on the ground. Of course, this comes hand in hand with a debuff, but allows you to stop critical bleedings faster. This also works with your pets.
In addition I have changed the Medicine Basic item to Medical Herbs, added a new Medicine Case (Basic) item and added a new animation for medicating colonists on ground or in hospital beds.
Eating Stages
In connection with the new functionality that claw wolfs and carrion snails can eat from corpses now, I have also added some "eating stages" which are visualizing how much mass of a corpse has been eaten. In addition there is a new "body mass" status effect in the status menu now, which informs the player about how much body mass is left. (body mass can also be reduced by explosions or acid burns.
Mysterious Wanderer
The Wanderers faction have now an additional event which is the mysterious wanderer. This new barter guy gives you the option to increase the skill level of the interacting colonist. He only takes blood mucous glands in exchange which can be gained by butchering carrion snails.
Appearance Update
I have also played around with the colonists skin color + face sets a bit, so that colonists can appear now in the default north european style, south european / middle east style and asian style.
I have to say here, this implementation is still very bare bones and in testing, because more variety in this area is planned to come with the final factions update.
Added Dutch Translation
The game also supports now the dutch language. (But there can be still spelling or grammar mistakes, which will be fixed with the next updates)
Full Update List
And here is the full patch list for v0.3.015:
added dutch translation
added animal taming & pet mechanic
added new skill (animal taming)
added new animal (pheasant)
added new animal (cat)
added new animal (dog)
added new animal (wild boar)
added new animal (claw wolf)
added new animal (carrion snails | little, medium, centurion, queen)
added 2 new constructions (basic & modern animal food producer)
added 2 new constructions (basic & modern animal feeder)
added 3 new constructions (basic, modern & hightech animal cage)
added 3 new items as animal feed (plants, meat, human meat)
added 3 new technologies (basic, modern & hightech husbandry)
added new job section (animal husbandry)
added new event (mysterious wanderer & revenge)
added new event (huge animal herds)
added animal traders
added insect traders
wanderers can be called via radio station now
colonists & pets can be medicated on ground now
added new item (medicine case (basic))
item medicine (simple) got replaced with item medicinal herbs
added squad manager (Ctrl + click on colonist or pet) (is still in testing)
updated all animals so that they can have different colors now
added trust system for pets
added trust level for pets
added many special actions for pets (depending on trust level
added new items (snail meat, new glands & snail queen's head)
added decompose states for colonist and animals
animals can eat corpses now
added body mass system in relation to eating corpses
insects have now a decomposing texture
added new mood effects
added new status effects, poisoning & injuries
added mechanic to pet a pet with new happy face expression
ethanol is now cheaper to produce
added new tab to building menu for stuff regarding pets & animals
added new section to priority overview menu regarding pets & animals
added option to display pets to colonists overview menu (new button)
extended technology tree size
pets can be selected in main menu now
updated door UI and extended functionality
fixed negative influence of factions on barter
conversations get quit now when exit dialog panel
fixed storage zone resource overview was not disable panels from previous zone
fixed immune has still shown poisoning effect in status panel
power cables can now also placed with priority by menu
combined nutrition & medicine panel in colonist status settings
updated combat / shield icons
fixed centipede nest respawn bug
fixed that steam connect didn't worked when at first in single player menu
fixed error when removing fuel rod from reactor
fixed prison brothers event error shown in modern age
fixed quest marker didn't got removed on client when send wanderers away
vertical power cables can now also be built from 1 block outside
pictures can now also be built from 1 block outside
fixed error shown when trader leaves trading table
fixed error shown when trying interact with leaving wanderer
many smaller fixes
Plans For Next Weeks
In the next weeks (and during autumn & winter sale) I will more focus on smaller updates & additions, quality of life improvements and to implement suggestions which players have made. There are also some smaller tasks open involving the prisoner system (like moving a prisoner to another cell) and the animal system (like legendary animals) that I want to keep an eye on.
I hope you enjoy this update, Cheers!
October Update | Experimental Branch (Animal Taming Update)
Hi everyone,
it was a hot summer and there was more work to do than I've planned in, but I have a new short update for you which includes the access to the experimental branch. You can find all new additions for this version on the list on the end of this post (including the full animal taming mechanic, all new animals, all new constructions & more).
Experimental Branch
With this update I will give you access to the experimental branch, so that you have the option to test and play upcoming updates before they are released on the public version. Here is a brief description of how to access this branch:
Right click on the game in your steam library and select Properties
Select the Betas tab
Enter password: password1234
Select the experimental branch
Important: On the experimental branch can occur more bugs and errors and the only supported languages for the new text entries are English and German.
But I hope you enjoy it! :)
Plans for the Public Update
The new full version will be released on the public branch in around the next 1-2 weeks. I have only a few tasks left and have to wait a little bit until the remaining translations come in.
A more detailed description about all new functionalities (plus screenshots) will come with related final update.
Update List (on Experimental Branch)
Here I have a list of all new functions, mechanics and fixed of the experimental branch (v0.3.012):
Important: It's recommended to start a new game so that all new animals appear in the world (otherwise existing animal groups have to be exterminated, which causes new animal groups to appear).
added animal taming & pet mechanic
added new skill (animal taming)
added new animal (pheasant)
added new animal (cat)
added new animal (dog)
added new animal (wild boar)
added new animal (claw wolf)
added new animal (carrion snails | little, medium, centurion, queen)
added 2 new constructions (basic & modern animal food producer)
added 2 new constructions (basic & modern animal feeder)
added 3 new constructions (basic, modern & hightech animal cage)
added 3 new items as animal feed (plants, meat, human meat)
added 3 new technologies (basic, modern & hightech husbandry)
added new job section (animal husbandry)
added new event (mysterious wanderer & revenge)
added new event (huge animal herds)
added animal traders
added insect traders
wanderers can be called via radio station now
colonists & pets can be medicated on ground now
added new item (medicine case (basic))
item medicine (simple) got replaced with item medicinal herbs
added squad manager (Ctrl + click on colonist or pet) (is still in testing)
updated all animals so that they can have different colors now
added trust system for pets
added trust level for pets
added many special actions for pets (depending on trust level
added new items (snail meat, new glands & snail queen's head)
added decompose states for colonist and animals
animals can eat corpses now
added body mass system in relation to eating corpses
insects have now a decomposing texture
added new mood effects
added new status effects, poisoning & injuries
added mechanic to pet a pet with new happy face expression
ethanol is now cheaper to produce
added new tab to building menu for stuff regarding pets & animals
added new section to priority overview menu regarding pets & animals
added option to display pets to colonists overview menu (new button)
extended technology tree size
pets can be selected in main menu now
updated door UI and extended functionality
fixed negative influence of factions on barter
conversations get quit now when exit dialog panel
fixed storage zone resource overview was not disable panels from previous zone
fixed immune has still shown poisoning effect in status panel
power cables can now also placed with priority by menu
combined nutrition & medicine panel in colonist status settings
updated combat / shield icons
fixed centipede nest respawn bug
fixed that steam connect didn't worked when at first in single player menu
I hope you enjoyed this short news and are already looking forward to the next update, Cheers!
August News: Upcoming Animal Taming System (Part 2)
Hi everyone,
I'm still working fully on the new animal taming & pets update and I wanted to give you some quick news about the progress.
I have to say, there is still a lot on my list, but I hope I can release the update by the end of August :) This will be a pretty large update.
New Animals
In addition to the animals since the last news update, I've added 4 new ones to make the world and wildlife of the game more diverse.
Claw wolf The claw wolf is the first real predator in the game and is a standard animal which lives in the player's world.
Pheasant Pheasants are also a new standard animal in the player's world and are very similar to chickens, but they are looking different and will give the wildlife a nicer look.
Cats & Dogs Cats and dogs don't appear as standard animals in the player's world and can only be acquired as a starting pet or by trading with animal traders.
New Coloring System
A lot of work in the last few weeks was about updating all animals and their related models & textures, so that it is possible now to color them individually. Of course, these don't only have to be conventional colors, but it is also possible to create a blue or purple chicken, for example.
Note: There will come a new color or dye plant to the game which will give you the required resources to color your animals in custom colors.
Predators & Eating Stages
With the claw wolf I have also added a new functionality to the game which is the predator mechanic. So all few days, these claw wolfs will hunt and kill a random animal and stay at the corpse to it eat.
To visualize that better (also for the carrion snails mentioned in the last update), I have added some "eating stages" to the animal models which will be shown depending on how much body mass of the corpse is left.
Note: Loss of body mass can also be caused by explosions and acid burns.
Decomposing Effects for Insects
In connection with the eating stages for animals, I have finally added a decomposing effect for insects.
Updated Main Menu
With the new pet system I have extended the functionality of the main menu, which allows you now to select a pet when you start the game in a new and unknown world.
Note: You can also already customize the colors of your pets here, but only with the conventional colors.
Animal Taming (Cages)
While I first played with the idea that colonists could tame free-roaming animals, I came to the decision that it would be better to have a uniform mechanic to tame animals and insects.
Therefore I have added a new construction - the animal cage - which offers your colonists 2 ways to lock an animal or insect into it:
Lure Animal Each cage has a luring mechanism which can be activated when you put enough animal feed in the cage. The luring mechanism has only a short range (like 10 - 15 meters), but will allow you to lure hostile animals or insects into it too.
Immobilized Animal You can also transport an immobilized animal to the cage, but this will have a significant negative effect on the start trust value. This means it will take more time to tame the locked animal.
The next update will include 3 different cages:
Basic Animal Cage Allows you to lock and tame low tier animals like chickens, pheasants, wild boars, centipedes (scouts & fighters), bees (workers) and more.
Modern Animal Cage Allows you to lock and tame mid tier animals like claw wolfs, bees (warriors), darkflies (warriors & shooters) and more.
Hightech Animal Cage Allows you to lock and tame high tier animals like centipedes (guardians & kings), bees (queen), darkfly (queen) and more.
New Construction & Technologies
In connection with all new constructions & items, I have also added 3 new technologies to the tech tree:
Basic Animal Husbandry Contains basic animal feed table, basic animal feeder & basic animal cage (+ production of all different animal feed)
Modern Animal Husbandry Contains modern animal feed production machine, modern animal feeder & modern animal cage
And at last - here I have a screenshot of the 2 new modern machines which are the modern animal feed production machine (+50% crafting speed) and the modern animal feeder (+65% trust value):
Still Planned
I have still some points on my list until I can release the new update and a few of them I have listed here:
Animal traders
Animal herds
Rare or legendary animal events
Updated scenario manager (also new difficulty modes including a very peaceful mode)
And a few smaller updates
I hope you enjoyed this short news and are already looking forward to the next update, Cheers!
July News: Upcoming Animal Taming System
Hi everyone,
I'm fully working on the new update and I wanted to give you some quick news about the new upcoming animal taming & pets system!
I have to say, a lot here is still work in progress so there might be some changes when the final update will be released.
Animal Taming
The next update will finally introduce the animal taming and pet mechanics to the game.
Of course, since this game is AColony, you will be able to tame any animal. This means that you can not only have chickens, foxes, cats or dogs as pets - you can also make bees, darkflies and centipedes of any level your favorites. (that includes queens and kings too!)
Trust Value
The taming system will come together with a trust system which allows you to unlock different options / commands for your pets the higher their trust in you. Some of these option will be:
Follow owner
Execute non-combat commands
Execute melee attack commands
Execute ranged attack commands
Special commands which are only available for certain animals / insects
Pets can also be related to a colonist which is his owner. (one colonist can also own more than 1 pet)
New Job Section & Pet Display
Since the mechanic for pets will later be extended to farm animals, I've added a new job section that will allow you to more easily prioritize colonist tasks in relation to animal care. (A new trait, called animal whisperer, is connected with this section too)
Additionally I have also implemented the option to show your pets at the bottom of the colonist overview menu.
New Items, Tables & Constructions
In connection with the pets and animal taming system, there will also come new constructions, items and technologies. At the moment I'm working on the first parts which will also be available from the start of the technology tree.
Crafting table for animal feed
Basic animal feeder (gives higher trust value when used by pets)
Animal feed (plants)
Animal feed (meat)
Animal feed (human meat)
On the todo list there are also sleeping places and other various constructions for the pets.
New Animals
Of course, the next update will also contain some new animals and insects and I have already designed a few of them:
Wild boars Wild boars will become a default animal in the world (like chickens or foxes) and will provide far more meat and clothing if your colonists butcher them (but they will also be more dangerous to hunt).
Carrion snails (or scavenger snails) These new and slow insects will appear in the world if you have many corpses (fresh or decomposing) lying around near to each other. They are usually not hostile and will try to eat the mentioned corpses.
There are also other animals in work, like cats, dogs, creatures living inside the mountains & more, but I will say more about them when the update is finally released! :)
Additional Points for next Update
I'm constantly working on side mechanics based on your feedback and suggestions, and here are a few that should probably come in the next update as well:
Squad / multi-select manager for colonists
New mysterious wanderer event
Some new events regarding animals & very rare ones
Option to call wanderers via the radio station
Some improvements regarding the prisoner system
Some improvements regarding the building system
And much more
I hope you enjoyed this short news and are already looking forward to the next update, Cheers!
v0.2.020
Hi everyone, a new quick patch is out with some fixes (v0.2.020):
fixed transport meals to prisoners idle bug in online coop
fixed that traders sometimes didn't leave market table
fixed items where not able to be placed on zones with a mining job under it
fixed sleep by exhaustion could be forced on colonist death
fixed timestamp in status controller wrong loaded
Already fully working on the animal taming update, Cheers!
v0.2.018
Hi everyone, a new patch is out with some fixes (v0.2.018):
added forbid function to farming / plant zones
added forbid buttons to priority overview menu
colonist menu control settings buttons are visible if immobilized now
fixed job priority sometimes not taken of prison guards selected from prison board
fixed try re-equip lost weapon in near has highest priority (~12m)
fixed re-equip weapon wrong background ID chosen
trait appealing aura has now +10 relationship influence on other colonists
fixed that sometimes if a prisoners starves to death it was seen as execute action
Cheers!
Steam Summer Sale!
Hi everyone,
AColony jumped today into the Steam Summer Sale with a -30% discount!
I have to say, today is a really nice and scorching summer day here, but I'm already working on the new animal taming mechanic. In addition, I have also already started designing some new animals for the next update.
I hope you all have some hot and awesome summer holidays, Cheers!
v0.2.017
Hi everyone, a new patch is out with some fixes (v0.2.017):
added missing japanese translations for prisoners & faction system
added missing simplified chinese translations for prisoners & faction system
added missing french translations for prisoners & faction system
your colonists can re-equip lost weapons now (must be enabled in colonist menu)
updated room info panels for prisoners when pressing y or z
updated modern crossbow blood textures
fixed radioantenna access points for turn on or off
increased size of radioantenna by 10%
fixed tutorial arrows for widescreen & other size formats
network should accept p2p connection now on first try after closing active game in coop
fixed feed immobilized colonists of other factions bug
fixed feed immobilized colonists of otherfaction automatic job search bug
added visualizer to power switch connector block
neutral colonists no longer try to equip lost weapons again when enemies in near
you can go to event location by double clicking eventslot now
