So I am aware that some of you (especially those using Windows Home edition in parts of Europe and Asia) are experiencing audio-related issues, crashes, and bugs since v0.8, with some versions of the game behaving better than others. Sometimes downloading a Windows package helps, but other times, nothing seems to work.
Because it seems to be a more common issue than I initially thought, I ported the game to a third and final sound library that doesn't suffer from the same problem (this time, it's OpenAL). As far as I can tell, this should fix any remaining audio-related problem.
Of course, this is not exactly a trivial change. Audio files had to be reprocessed. The new library had to be adapted to run in place of what I was using before. Initial game loading time might be a bit longer than it used to be, at least if you're running on old hardware. There's not much I can do about that.
Please, if after this update, you're still experiencing any issue, make sure to contact me on Discord or in this very thread. Normally, Steam will install OpenAL for you (if not already installed), but just in case, the game will also attempt to automatically install it if it's missing.
If you're experiencing (audio) issues that you weren't before, you can rollback to 1.5.0 standard in the Beta tab.
I hope this will help those who wanted to enjoy the full experience but couldn't until now.
Cheers!
Full Changelog
Engine: Switched from NAudio to OpenAL
Engine: Fire sound effects are now handled by the correct sound library
Engine: All audio files had to be reprocessed, hence the update's size
Fixed: Sound library not loading properly on some systems, causing the game to crash or be silent on startup
Spiderling Content Update 1.5.0
I'm happy to announce the release of After The Collapse 1.5.0, one of the biggest content updates to date. This Spiderling Content Update brings many new features, significant UI improvements, and expanded faction content. This article only covers the main changes. As usual, check the change-log at the end for a complete list.
Arakan Faction Expanded
The playable Arakan faction archetype has received substantial improvements in this update. I've expanded their technology tree with themed buildings and unique game-play mechanics that truly set them apart from other factions.
Arakans can now brew specialized potions, including one for cooling (providing stress reduction and happiness) and another to boost prisoner compliance, making it a lot easier to convert them to your cause. They've also gained access to the Sacrificial Pit, a powerful new building that allows trading human lives for various boons.
For those eager to try this faction, I've included a dedicated Arakan-centric scenario with suitable starting gear, an interesting map, and a larger population to properly experience their unique playstyle. Arakans now have their own starter expedition "vehicle" (yes, it's a giant spider!) and can unlock an even better transport option through the Sacrificial Pit.
Spiderling Content
True to the update's name, I've added extensive spider-related content. Spiderling seeds are now available, serving different purposes depending on your faction: fodder for everyone, booze ingredients for mutants, and potion components for Arakans.
I've completely redesigned the Ice Spiders, replacing their shotgun attack with slow explosive ice balls that make combat spacing more strategic. They also now have standard melee capabilities. Rock spiders found in caves are tankier with full chitin carapaces, and butchering them yields stones as a bonus resource.
Arakans can now build both rock and ice spider nests, and I've added rock spider eggs so you can grow them like you could with the other types. There's even a late-game travel event exclusive to Arakans that involves killing a massive scorpion for mana and loot, with a Steam achievement to commemorate your victory.
Additional Content
Beyond the Arakan improvements, I've added faction-specific content for Mutants as well. Both Mutants and Arakans now use a new medical tech tree with themed buildings to better reflect their more tribal approach to medicine.
Mutants can now brew cooling potions like the Arakans, providing alternative ways to manage survivor stress and happiness. I've also improved various faction mechanics, such as reducing the impact of pets on enemy raid size (decreasing raid strength when playing as Arakan).
User Interface Overhaul
But the largest change in this update is the complete redesign of most menus and several key UI elements. The Settler/Pet/NPC menu was modernized with small icons replacing text buttons, standardized layouts, and improved functionality.
The Factory menu has received similar treatment with clear graphical icons, alphabetical recipe sorting, and added functionality like cargo viewing and prisoner-only work assignment. The Cargo menu has also been streamlined with grouped buttons and simplified weapon variant filtering.
Many other UI improvements have been implemented, including better room management, enhanced construction interfaces, and more intuitive expedition and combat controls. I'd suggest to refer to the change-log for the full picture.
Mercenary System Revamp
I've also completely overhauled the mercenary and point-of-interest guard recruitment system. Now a pool of mercenaries is available with visible equipment and variable pricing. This update adds mutants (cheap) and soldiers (expensive) to the mercenary pool, giving you more strategic options for quickly bolstering your defenses or offensive capabilities. The pool is renewed daily.
Balance Changes and Quality of Life
Several balance adjustments have been made to improve the overall gameplay experience. Automated firefighters are now less suicidal, survivors can recover mental stability more easily, and cooking times for meat and fish have been put on par with other food sources, making meat production less labor intensive. I've also improved the butchering mechanics, which are particularly important for meat-based factions like the Arakans. Spider dens now feature an auto-butcher option, the "butcher" buttons display what items you'll collect from the process, and for cannibal factions, the butcher's table now conveniently shows which human prisoners can be processed into food.
I've adjusted most events to scale based on your base size and time passed rather than technology level, and tuned down the initial spawn numbers of the late-game Swarm invasion. Vehicle mechanics have been refined with more coherent HP values and gradual health consumption during map travel.
The underground layers now feature more spawners to make up for the lack of underground raids, increasing mob infighting in the process. This led to another change: perishable items (meat, ingredients, body parts) in inaccessible areas will decay over time to prevent this infighting from generating infinite amounts of food.
Graphical and Technical Improvements
Behind the scenes, I've implemented several core optimizations. The sound library has been updated for better audio performance, and many graphical assets have been replaced with improved versions. Many crafting stations now have new sprites, including cooking stations, early forges, smelters and many more. Countless menu buttons and icons have been updated to provide a more visually consistent experience.
I've also fixed numerous bugs and edge cases to ensure a smoother experience overall. As usual, savegames should be compatible with (1.3.x) previous versions, but some of the changes will only apply to a new game.
General News
I know, this was supposed to be a futuristic DLC content, not a free tribal content update. The DLC is on hold for the moment. Between the dollar currently being worthless compared to the Euro, and the game's visibility on the store being what it is after all those years, its financial viability is uncertain. I first need to see how this update does in terms of numbers before I can make an informed decision. If the DLC is cancelled, some of its content will be released for free instead.
Thank you for your continued support,
Cheers!
Full Changelog
AI: Automated firefighters are less suicidal and will seek treatment before dying in the flames
AI: Pets and cattle are a lot more reactive to hostiles
AI: Prisoners will favor jobs from stations marked as "prisoner only"
Balance: Reduced impact of pets on enemy raid size (should decrease raid strength when player is Arakan)
Balance: All fabric-producing recipes had their building time reduced / standardized
Balance: Made it a bit easier for survivors to recover mental stability
Balance: Meat and Fish cooking times reduced, making them more time-consistent with other options
Balance: Renamed Pharmacy tech to Chemistry, and the pharmacy building moved to Medical tech
Balance: Beer and nuky weed decrease stress a bit
Balance: Rock spider (caves) is tankier with a full chitin carapace, butchering it also yields stones
Balance: Redesigned Ice Spiders, replaced shotgun attack with slow explosive ice balls (so spacing matters a bit more in combat), I gave them normal melee too.
Balance: Tweaks to events to make them depending on player base's size and time passed instead of tech
Balance: Tuned down the Swarm's initial spawn strength
Balance: Due to increased mob infighting in the underground layers, perishable items left on ground decay over time when they are not directly accessible by your survivors (walled off)
Balance: Traveling around the map consumes a point of the vehicle's "Health" every few hours (no consumption during exploration or parked)
Balance: More coherent HP values for the various vehicles
Content: Added old missile silos to world map, those can destroy groups and damage a location's defenses (limited ammo)
Content: Added spiderling seeds, used for fodder (everyone), booze (mutants), and potions (arakans)
Content: Mutants and Arakans use a new medical tech tree with themed buildings
Content: Mutants and Arakans can brew a cooling potion (stress reduction, and happiness boost)
Content: Extended Arakan technology tree
Content: Arakans can brew a potion to boost prisoner compliance
Content: Arakans can build rock and ice spider nests
Content: Arakans have their own starter expedition "vehicle" (yes, it's a giant spider)
Content: Arakans have access to the Sacrificial Pit (through a tech), a building used to trade human lives for boons.
Content: Arakans can unlock a much better transport "vehicle" using the sacrificial pit
Content: Added late game travel event to Arakans (killing massive scorpion for mana and/or loot
steam achievement)
Content: Added a Arakan-centric scenario with decent starting gear, map and people, to get you started wit the faction properly.
Content: Mercenary / PoI guard recruitment overhaul, a pool of mercenaries is available, equipment is shown, pricing varies
Content: Mutants (cheap) and soldiers (expensive) added to mercenary pool
Content: Added rock spider eggs so you can grow your own
Content: Underground mob spawners are more common (that's the replacement for underground raids that were disabled a while back)
Content: Added beetle spawner to underground caverns
Engine: Several core optimizations and changes to acclimate future DLC
Engine: Updated sound library. If you're still experiencing issues, try changing sampling rate (44100 or 48000) in settings.json
Graphics: Replaced several crafting stations (cooking, early forges, smelters, etc) with new ones
Graphics: Unique sprites for alchemy lab and potion cabinet (tribal replacer for medical station and pharmacy)
Graphics: Reworked the tribal bed, storage boxes, pool table, and hatchery
Graphics: Replaced ice spider
Graphics: Updated so many buttons and icons
UI: Redesigned Settler/Pet/NPC Menu
UI: -> Replaced big text buttons with small icons, standardized layout, smaller
UI: -> Can assign bedroom or prison cell to selected pawn (same as right click in Pop Menu / Housing)
UI: -> Prisoners can be evicted from char info
UI: -> Cannibals / Mutants can butcher live prisoners
UI: -> Friendly creatures can be butchered (Arakans' untamed spiders)
UI: -> Right clicking on relation tab's target will open their own menu
UI: -> Modernized relation tab, and cattle's "factory" menu
UI: -> Activity text ("i am working at...") is clickable and will open menu / center screen on target if any
UI: Redesigned Factory menu using the same scheme.
UI: -> Clear graphical icons with standardized layout
UI: -> Right click on copy (recipe) button triggers a build order for a copy of this station
UI: -> Added cargo button to show a factory's current inventory
UI: -> Crafting recipes shown in alphabetical order (removed "build/make/..." prefixes)
UI: -> Crafting stations can be set as "prisoner only" in their advanced settings
UI: Redesigned Cargo menu (and other zone related menus)
UI: -> Same graphical style with most buttons grouped on top
UI: -> Weapon variants are hidden in the cargo's filters (So allowing/fobidding Assault Rifles will auto allow/forbid all variants)
UI: -> Removed "factory input only" filter, as it was a residual from a bygone era (managing cargo ain't that deep)
UI: -> Right click on copy (settings) button triggers a build order for a copy of this depot
UI: Most furniture / room / zone panels updated in the same style (less drastic changes here, still a few more to go)
UI: Construction menu shows active worker if any
UI: Click on room title box to center on target
UI: Pressing the [R]aze shortcut twice will reset deconstruction mode to default settings
UI: Butcher buttons display what items you'll collect
UI: Added repair button to furniture / clutter menu
UI: Crafting and inventory panels sorted by item name
UI: Survivor information panel (the one with attributes, and traits) resized to fit better on the screen
UI: Added auto-butcher to the Arakans' spider dens
UI: The butcher's table shows the butcherable humans (prisoners) if you're a cannibal faction
UI: Automatically return to build mode when the user disbands the last active soldier from multi-selection or settler menus
UI: Turning on Combat Mode automatically selects all available soldiers
UI: Added Room Occupancy filter, allows to see which cells and bedrooms are occupied
UI: "Cancel activity" button in Expedition menu is red and more descriptive
UI: The "Stats/Statistics" are renamed to "Attributes"
UI: Removed mental breakdown warning for hostiles (Bunker Inc hostiles are spamming the message when on map)
UI: Mood, Skills, and Compliance are all expressed as percentages now for consistency
UI: Added optional (default on) center/pause when a prisoner converts to player faction
UI: Seeds and plants descriptions are more consistent
UI: Settler selection menu colorize name depending on faction (prisoners are orange)
UI: Added next spawn info on spawners' menu (nests)
UI: Farming fields are automatically renamed to match what you're growing
UI: Door menu appears next to the cursor instead of the top left and is draggable
UI: Added optional warning / center camera for pyromaniac events (toggle in settings)
UI: Probably other stuff I forgot to write down
Fixed: Exiling someone who is located in the underground would cause the exiled to turn passive instead of leaving the map
Fixed: Fixed issues with selection in multi select menu
Fixed: In a new game, pathing to a different layer would fail until something gets disassembled or otherwise destroyed on the map
Fixed: Combat unit selection checks weren't consistent
Fixed: Sprites for animated NPC wouldn't show up in the Encyclopedia's NPC tab
Fixed: Possible crash during fires if the sound library ain't loaded correctly
Fixed: Butcher's axe overlay not shown on prisoners and friendly untamed creatures
Fixed: It was possible to toggle off combat mode during world map battles using multi select menu
Fixed: Odd case where a crafting station would forget to refresh its job (Worker: Unknown in UI)
Fixed: Issue with generators' fuel requests
Fixed: Raids by the hayware robots couldn't trigger with tribal player factions
Fixed: Rock spiders laying wrong egg
Fixed: Jobs from deleted farms would (occasionally) stay in the job queue
Fixed: Rare / potential crash in Job priority menu
Fixed: Cats and dogs wouldn't show their reproduction settings in the Cattle Manager tab
Fixed: Attempting to change weaponry in a expedition vehicle could cause an exception
Fixed: If the menu for a prisoner is already open while this prisoner gets turned into a survivor, this menu would crash
Fixed: Trees should no longer grow under multi-tile buildings
Fixed: Many other minor background issues I didn't keep track off
Update 1.3.5: General Update + DLC News
Hi there!
Here's a new sizable update for After The Collapse. I'll also talk about the planned DLC somewhere below in this article. I know, I know, I'm a tad behind schedule. Nothing's new :)
Anyway, this version 1.3.5 brings substantial improvements to the world map faction AI, game balance, and visuals. As usual I will go over the main changes only, you can refer to the full changelog at the end for the nitty gritty details.
Graphics Overhaul
This update includes a major visual refresh across multiple aspects of the game. All body and head armor sprites have been completely redone with a much prettier and consistent look. Same story for many of the basic resources, food, and other manufactured goods.
Every single faction logo were redesigned, same goes for the vast majority of the technologies. I also replaced two of the most "out of place" trading cars with more "post-apocalyptic" looking alternatives that better fit the game's theme.
This doesn't impact the "playing area" itself much, but at least now, all the icons and items look pretty consistent, quality and style wise.
AI and Factions
I've put significant work into making the faction AI more dynamic and challenging. Main factions now grow stronger as they expand their territory, with increased population caps and faster reinforcement rates based on the number of locations they control. As factions expand, they'll unlock more powerful soldiers and equipment, creating a more realistic progression of threat (note: this requires starting a new game). This only concern the main factions in free play, story mode is not really impacted.
During raids, enemies can now be alerted by the noise your soldiers make. Gun shots are more noisy than melee. Simply put, when you shoot at something, it has a chance to alert the enemies in the nearby rooms (10 tiles radius for now, might tweak further down the road). This should make manual raids a bit more dynamic, but also slightly more difficult.
Balance and QoL
Several balance tweaks have been implemented to improve the gameplay. You will no longer lose the equipment of your defeated soldiers during offensive world map raids, their equipment will now be automatically transferred to your vehicle's cargo if space permits (it can still be damaged in the process).
Expedition vehicles now automatically repair when parked at your home base - no more disbanding and recreating parties just for repairs! Which is great, because I've reduced the van's speed and HP to make it less of an obvious mid-game choice.
Production centers now provide 50-100% more basic resources (stone, wood, metal, coal, food), making them more valuable targets for expansion and control. This is still under evaluation, I might push it further.
In Story Mode, I've removed the bandit lair spawn event from Act 1, as it was too challenging for new players and too exploitable for veterans. Act 4 of Story Mode now features a second radar dish location to speed up the first phase, and the Brotherhood faction (when hostile) is now much more active in this act, providing a greater challenge.
Two backpacks have been added to the utility slot (formerly artifact slot), which increase carrying capacity. These can be looted or crafted at the loom, giving your survivors more space for resource gathering.
DLC News
So... Initially, this update should have accompanied the DLC "Echoes of the Machine" and was supposed to only be minor engine-related changes to accommodate the new content. But as I was working on the DLC, I realized that the assets I was making were of much higher quality than those in the base game. And because the result was quite visually jarring, well, I ended up remaking over 100 sprites in the base game too.
This obviously delayed me quite a bit, so I decided to flesh out this free update, and release it now instead of rushing the DLC's development.
Echoes of the Machine might still be released in (very late) March, as I'm done with most of the assets, but it's a lot more probable that you'll have to wait until April.
Full Changelog
AI: Main factions see their max population and reinforcement rate increase with with the number of locations they control
AI: Main factions unlock more powerful soldiers and equipment as they control more locations [new game required]
AI: In raids, enemies have a chance to activate if they hear a noise nearby (shots, people hit, stuff like that)
Balance: Slightly reduced AoE effect and damage spread of (modern) rocket launcher
Balance: Equipment of defeated survivors during world map raids is put back into vehicle's cargo if there is enough cargo space
Balance: Reduced the van's speed and HP making it less of an obvious midgame choice
Balance: Removed bandit lair spawn event from act 1 of story mode (too much for newbies, too easy to farm for veterans)
Balance: Added a second radar dish location to story mode's act 4 (to speed up first phase a bit)
Balance: Made the Brotherhood (when hostile) a lot more active in act 4
Balance: Production centers give a lot more basic resources (stone, wood, metal, coal, food), increase from 50% to 100% depending on the building
Content: Expedition vehicle is automatically repaired when sitting on homebase tile (no need to disband and remake party)
Content: Added variant of stone wall with a different texture, mostly for map variety, but can also be built
Content: Added 2 different backpacks for the utility slot (increase carry capacity), lootable and craftable at the loom
Engine: Renamed artifact slot to utility slot (with the backpack addition, it makes more sense)
Engine: Work behind the scene for the DLC
Graphics: Two of the trading cars were replaced by more "post-apocalyptic" looking ones
Graphics: Replaced all body and head armor sprites by much prettier and consistent-looking ones
Graphics: Replaced all faction logos by new ones
Graphics: Replaced most technology icons by better looking ones
Graphics: Replaced many of the resource icons by new ones (food, resources, animals, etc)
Graphics: Other minor graphical changes and improvements
UI: power consumption of factories refreshed in real time in their menu, and clarified information
UI: Sorted equipment by name in slot equipment list
Sound: Replaced the main menu music by two new tracks
Fixed: Cats making explosion sounds instead of meowing (lol sorry about that one)
Fixed: Power-consuming factories that can't produce due to lack of resources were still using power
Fixed: Power-consuming factories could have their production loop stuck under some circumstances
Echoes of the Machine DLC Announcement
Hi there!
So, as expected, here's the long-awaited announcement for the upcoming DLC dubbed Echoes of the Machine. It should be made available in mid-March 2025. It will feature a new multi-map storyline and a ton of late-game content.
Before I explain what it should contain, please understand that this is still in early development, and some of the stated features below are subject to potential changes. This article is more about giving you a general layout for the DLC than explaining everything point by point exactly as it will be.
With that in mind, let's dive in! 🙂
New Story Mode
I'm not going to go into the details of the story itself, obviously, but it's a separate story from the main game, still in the same universe. You will be facing an army of robots handled by a prewar AI gone rogue.
Similarly to the base game's story mode, you'll visit multiple world maps, meet new factions, do missions for them, and gather resources and information to defeat the machines.
Comparatively, it should be slightly shorter than the other story, but it will feature more unique content not seen before. As the theme implies, you'll meet many new enemy types, and uncover new late-game technologies and high-tech weaponry to deal with the threat.
Main Features
It is a bit early to detail every single planned feature, many of them are still in the concept stage, and quite a few would count as massive story spoilers. So, instead, here's a very neutral list of the planned features:
New story-line with 3 acts, and voiced (static) cut-scenes
A new hostile terraforming faction, the Machine Empire
A new playable high-tech faction archetype that can access special world map locations
Numerous new robotic enemies
Expanded late-game tech tree featuring new drones, energy weapons, turrets, and so on
Overhauled robotic station to build new robots and drones
Multiple new world map locations, some of which unlock special interactions
New map generators (both underground and above-ground) with their dedicated tile-sets
New unique survivors
What about the main game?
A free update for ATC will accompany the DLC. Some of the systems stated above should be part of the free update (like the robot-making overhaul), but you'll still need the DLC to exploit them to their full extent.
Pricing
Echoes of the Machine should be priced at around $9.99. This might sound a bit high with a main game at $14.99, but After The Collapse is quite under-priced (especially after several years of inflation) while still receiving free updates. So, yes, this DLC is meant to fund further development, I'm not going to be shy about that.
Release Date
As for the release date, as stated above, it should be around mid-March 2025. Until that time, I'll solely dedicate my work hours to the DLC. So don't expect many updates for the main game, besides potential maintenance patches, in the coming months. I can only work on so many things at the same time. 🙂
Oh, and the official page for the DLC should be available next month or so. I still need to figure out a couple of things in that regard. I'll keep you posted.
Development
I will try to post devlogs for the DLC, at least for the new systems. I have to admit it has become difficult to find the right balance between keeping you informed about the development and not spoiling the content. Most of the fun stuff falls deeply into story spoiler territory. Still, I'm sure I'll figure out something to talk about!
Cheers!
Update 1.3.1: Cats! (and stuff)
Hi!
this is a small / medium patch prior to a big announcement you'll get next week. As usual, this update should be compatible with prior save-games and existing, compatible, mods.
Cats (and pets)
Cats have been added to the roster of pets your survivors can have. There are 4 different colors, and they have a much more varied animation set than other pets. They do sleep, have 2 different idle animations, and will actively avoid combat (making them a lot more survivable than dogs for instance), They are also only "roughly" following their owner, instead of sticking to them like glue.
It's part of a larger rewrite of the pet system. The mood bonus given by pets depends on the species. It's not meant to be a judgement on the cat vs dog debate (it is), but just as a way to balance them. In short, cats provide the most happiness, but won't defend their owner. Dogs provide the next highest bonus, and will defend their owner. Giant scorpions and other monster-type pets provide a much smaller bonus, but are generally a lot better in combat. Finally, combat drones no longer provide any mood benefit.
Chickens and sheep, while not pets, use the same combat logic as cats, and will try to avoid combat instead of running to their untimely death.
Better Aim
People, animals, and turrets, using ranged weapons should be slightly better at aiming assuming their perception is high enough to even shoot in the right direction. I've added a predictive algorithm to the "shoot at" function, It's not perfect, and I have no intention to make it so, but overall, people should waste a lot less bullets.
This is an experimental change. In my short testing session, it seemed to work well enough, but I couldn't test every single weapon combination manually. Expect (undocumented) patches and tweaks along the way.
Misc Changes
Other notable changes include a new law to balance work accident with work speed. It's exactly as it sounds, you can slightly decrease/increase work speed for large increase/decrease of work-related accidents.
I also went through more of the "old code", refactoring tons of economic and pathing-related functions, which should improve performances in specific cases. More importantly (for me at least), it makes all that stuff A LOT easier to maintain and improve.
Other News
Expect a big announcement during the coming week.
Have fun!
Full Changelog
AI: Predictive aiming for ranged weapons. Survivors, turrets, and enemies, should miss a lot less
AI: Pets can sleep now (used for cats only so far)
AI: Cats, sheeps, and chickens will flee when engaged in combat
Balance: Different pets offer different mood bonuses (cats > dogs > everything else). Robotic drones no longer provide a bonus.
Balance: Pet related mood bonus now capped at 15 (from 10)
Content: Added cats as pets, useless in combat but cute and with a high survival rate due to their fleeing mechanic
Content: New "Work Safety" law, ratio between work speed and wound chance can be adjusted
Engine: Complete refactoring of economy-related functions, should be faster in very large bases (and a lot easier to maintain for me)
Engine: Minor optimizations to the way the game handles the pathing map
Graphics: Added support for alternate idle animations (used in cats: standing or sitting)
UI: Added some color to expedition widget to make it easier to see the status of the expedition
Fixed: Amphibious Vehicle HUD Issue
Fixed: Prisoners not gaining compliance from sleeping
Fixed: PetRange setting in species data files didn't do anything (modding)
Fixed: Potential crash when checking a factory using a recipe that was removed from the game (modded game, mostly)
Fixed: Survivors could still use booze as fun reduction even if they were not allowed to drink (if the booze and non booze are in same container)
Fixed: Loot table in POI info screen could show duplicate items
Fixed: Animals could reproduce while in combat or sleeping and across map layers
Fixed: When changing equipment from the population menu, the equipment panel wouldn't scroll properly
Maintenance Patch 1.3.0.2
Hi,
This is a simple patch fixing 2 problems in the latest update. Expect another patch in the coming days, following by an announcement.
Bug Fixed:
Truce immediately stopping with bandits (regression bug 1.3.0)
Raids would occur even if you're underground and never breached the surface (regression bug 1.2.8)
Mod uploader stopped working (regression bug 1.2.8)
Update 1.3.0: General Update
Introducing the 1.3.0 Update for After the Collapse!
Hi there!
This new update brings a wealth of exciting new content and features to the post-apocalyptic wasteland of After the Collapse. Let's dive in and take a look at what's new!
Weapon Variants:
This is the first step in introducing procedurally generated loot. This update introduces rare, modified weapons to the loot and trade tables. From armor piercing and shock ammo to elite rifles with boosted stats, the total number of weapons has been multiplied by about 8.
While there's still some work to be done (it'd be nice to have multiple modifiers per weapon), and while armors haven't been touched yet, it's still an important step toward more varied loot tables.
The Last Stand Rework:
This old wave survival scenario was severely outdated when compared to the other ones, as it didn't take into account any of the most recent improvements to the underlying engine. As such, I rewrote the whole scenario, got rid of some of the most obvious exploits, and edited the events for a more seamless progression.
Now the scenario has its own world map, and there are no other main factions to help you. You still get 30 days to prepare with daily traders and recruits, but they'll stop coming in completely on day 30. You'll get lore messages at day 30, 40 and 50 introducing increasingly large and dangerous waves of infected, including the advanced zombies (found in the Act 3 of the main plot and in a late game quest-line in sandbox) at day 50. You'll get some supply traders (ammo and basic resources) on rare occasions after day 30.
Difficulty customization is no longer available for this scenario, and will increase over time instead. Expect zombies to start munching on your walls by day 60, assuming you're still alive by then.
Home Decoration:
Due to popular demand, you can now add a little flair to your post-apocalyptic base! With the new Home Decoration technology, you can now unlock a variety of decorative items to spruce up your base. From fancy chairs, to decorative bookshelves, plants, carpets, and statues, there's something for everyone. All those assets come in an assortment of sizes and styles. Those items are not purely cosmetic, they also boost rooms' quality, improving morale.
Note that, after 6 years of R&D and advanced coding, you can now put an item on top of another, in this case a carpet under a furniture. I know, I can't believe it myself either! 😁
Other Changes:
Of course, that's not all! This update brings with it a host of other improvements, balance changes, and bug fixes. Bandit hordes (and bandits in general) will now respect truces, even if they spawned before the truce was established. Wooden chairs are no longer a quick fix for improving room quality. Mob Spawners on both the world and local maps now feature some level of randomness, and the world map ones tend to pump out troops less often, giving players a bit of a breathing room.
Under the hood, this update brings code optimizations, new modding triggers and files, and general quality of life improvements. And a bunch of bugs have been squashed, from rare situational crashes to UI issues. After the Collapse should be running and load faster than before (not that it was really a problem to begin with).
Cheers!
Full Changelog
Artificial Intelligence
Bandit hordes (on the world map) will no longer attack the player's assets if they are in a truce, even if the horde was launched before the truce.
Game Balance
Normal wooden chairs no longer improve room quality.
Most spawners (both on world and local maps) have some level of randomness in their spawn frequency.
World map spawners tend to spawn troops less often.
New Content
Added rare variants to all weapons, between 5 and 14 different variants depending on the weapon.
The Last Stand scenario was entirely reworked: new map, new events, and difficulty progression.
Added Home Decoration technology, unlocks a bunch of decorative items to make the base look prettier (requires metallurgy).
Added fancy-looking chairs, they are more expensive but improve room quality (4 colors).
Added decorative vases (4 colors)
Added decorative statues (dogs and big monsters, 5 variants total)
Added 2 sizes of decorative potted plants (8 variants total)
Added decorative barrels (3 variants)
Added 26 differently sized carpets of various colors and shapes, with 2 different alignements (tile or square centered)
Removed non functional 2x2 large table
Game Engine
Minor code optimizations: cavern generation should be a tad faster, optimized distance calculations.
It's now possible for items to be built on top of each other (like a table on top of a rug)
General code update and review
All translation files are encoded in UTF-8 now
Modding
Added new mod_weap folder containing possible ""mutators"" used for the procedural weapons
Spawner both on the world map and in local maps can both have some randomness in their frequency, and be delayed
Text Events can set/unset global variables, and as such, trigger other global/travel events
Graphics
Replaced sprites for the wooden chairs by better looking ones
Replaced fridge sprite by something better looking
Added green and red variants to the beds
Added 5 new table variants (4 wooden and 1 stone)
Added 2 wood shelves variants
Added one variant to the game table (checkers)
Changes and additions made to multiple objects used for map generation
User Interface
Ammo information shown in group selection menu.
Bug Fixes
Possible crash when Steamworks doesn't respond due to a network issue
Due to a (semi recent) typo in the code, bandits would mostly ignore truces with the player
The Job Manager screen would incorrectly show the ""Store Tile Content"" jobs for tiles not set to be retrieved
Moving a furniture around wouldn't update pathing map properly
Many of the issues associated with The Last Stand scenario (most of them were due to its old age) are resolved
Event and raid timers in some scenarios
Misc minor issues were fixed during the code review
Minor issues in the main story's lore entries
Escape key wouldn't close the ""Save / Load"" menu
Control+G(roup key) would not work properly if somebody is selected and was part of the existing group
Update 1.2.8: Dynamic Raids and Events
Hi there!
Let's get the bad news out of the way: this update is only partially compatible with older save-games (saves will load, but it'll be buggy). It's possible to rollback to 1.2.5 to finish your game if you need to. I'll explain how-to in this very article.
As usual, the full change-log is at the bottom of this post.
Now, let's get to the good stuff!
Dynamic Raid System
It's not really a secret that the event system was starting to show some cracks, especially when it comes to enemy raids. Until now, ATC was relying on an extensive list of semi hard-coded raiding groups, which would unlock as the player discovers technologies or reaches population thresholds. Each time I added a mob to the game, I also needed to add a new "raid" file for that mob to show up, and it would interfere with other events (more raid files = other event less likely to spawn). In short, it was really getting increasingly messy as I added more content.
Well, it's all over! Raids are now dynamically generated using your base's firepower as a metric to determine their intensity. If you have a bunch of machine-gun wielding soldiers in exo-armor, you'll get much stronger opponents than when you're just a bunch of unarmed civilians.
The enemy distribution is also more varied, but will keep making sense (no zombies allying bandits or silly things like that). There's also more variety in the way raiders behave and enter your base. Some might move as an organized group, others will enter the base in mass from a whole side of your map, and so on.
Additionally, The raids' strength and ratio compared to other events is now configurable in the event settings.
A fair warning, this is a very big change in how ATC is handling difficulty and game balance. Standard difficulty is less forgiving. Traps and turrets will be necessary in the late game. Don't be afraid to tune down raid frequency and difficulty if you feel like it's too much, no one is going to judge you for it. 😉
Reworked Event Distribution
Alongside the raid-related changes, I also reviewed how events are distributed and sent at the player. One of the problems before this update was that some mid/late game quest-lines would rarely trigger due to the sheer amount of raids/events the game could pick. Now, the game will try (whenever possible) to select events in a more varied way, avoiding repetitions.
New Mobs
New critters join the roster. Two giant red ant types (worker and soldier), faster and hit a bit harder than black ants, however they have less armor and health. Red and black ants hate each other, and the concept will continue to be expanded upon in the future 1.3 content update.
I also added two giant beetle type mobs. They are slow and decently armored. They can drop eggs if you have the animal care technology, and can be pastured for defense or for food. They can't be used as pet.
Finally, a new cave spider replaces the normal ones underground. It's very slightly stronger than its counterpart.
You may also notice more mob infighting (red and black ants hate each other for instance).
World Map AI Hunting Parties
Other main factions (like the Federation, Brotherhood, ...) can now send hunting parties against hordes they consider hostile if they have the firepower to defeat them. This should help keeping the world map zombie population under control, and it gives you an incentive to keep them around.
I intend to add more AI vs AI interactions like this in the future.
Savegame & Mod Compatibility
I want to apologize to the new players, as there's a large influx of you guys due to the current discount. I promise, it's not in my habits to break saves, this is just very poor timing. But here we are, and I'd rather release this now before you guys gets too far into the game.
While you can still technically load older save-games, the game will be buggy if you do so. AI controlled factions will no longer behave as they should; main factions won't expand; beast-based raids will use the Raider-AI instead of the Fauna-AI; many of the bug fixes and changes won't apply or will only partially apply until you start a new game.
If you want to finish your pre-1.2.8 game, you can roll back to 1.2.5. To do so: 1) Right click on After the Collapse in your library, select "Properties" 2) Click on the "Betas" tab, and in the drop down menu, select the 1.2.5 version 3) Close and wait for Steam to roll back the update.
Mods altering or adding factions will need to be altered to be compatible with 1.2.8.
Future Plans
Outside of maintenance patches (bug fixes), this will be the last patch in the 1.2x "Rebirth" series. Next major update will be 1.3. It should introduce rare procedurally generated weapon variants (unique to each playthrough), new ant-related biomes, events, late game crisis, alongside new in-game activities and constructions.
I will also be working on a large DLC, more info coming soon.
Cheers!
Full Changelog
Artificial Intelligence
Other AI factions seek and destroy hostile hordes within their sphere of influence if they have the manpower for it.
During some of the raids, enemies may move as a group with a leader instead of just zerging the base.
Game Balance
Dynamic event system (what handles raids, recruits, and other random events) was fully rewritten.
Event difficulty settings are a lot more impactful and better balanced.
New formula to evaluate the relative strength between 2 agents, or groups for expeditions.
Relative raid difficulty can be set to start low and gradually increase over time.
Added a flag to the gigantic boss-type mobs to make them immune to falling traps.
Reduced black ant soldiers' "armor" rating a bit as it was too tanky for an entry level enemy.
New Content
Enemy raid compositions are procedurally generated, you'll see way more combinations of mobs.
Added "Cave Spider", equivalent to a normal giant spider with its own graphics, a bit of armor, and living mostly underground.
Two giant beetle mobs added to the enemy roster. Beetles can also be pastured and butchered for food.
Added a few different animal "factions" which should lead to occasional mob infighting.
Various biome related changes to increase mob diversity.
The "Truce" diplomatic option with raiders is more useful (will prevent raids, and make world-map bandits ignore your assets)
Two new ant-type mobs added to the enemy roster (fast/weak and slow glass cannon).
Game Engine
Event delivery balanced by multiple additional factors.
Complete overhaul of the raid system, most raids are procedurally generated, removed now useless files.
Reworked faction files to incorporate the new improvements. This will cause some diplomacy-related bugs in existing save-games, mods altering/adding main factions need a minor update.
Minor performance improvements (load times, mostly)
Graphics
Some more new/replaced melee weapon hit animations.
Replaced some of the world map vehicle sprites (AI factions).
User Interface
Added POI combat info directly to main POI menu, replacing the stars.
Reworked one of the overlay filters to see survivors/enemies' name, health, and current activity all at once.
Reworked "Event Difficulty" panel in the scenario selector's difficulty settings.
Bug Fixes
Inconsistencies when killing a trading vehicle from another faction. Now they'll properly declare war on you for doing so if they can.
Issue where a faction flagged as "always hostile" would end up neutral to another faction if it's added later into the game.
Misc issues in the Halloween scenario (missing events).
Logic issue in friend/foe detection that was causing issues between animals and (not-owned) doors.
Multiple issues with event balancing after loading a game.
Save files in the save/load screen weren't always sorted properly.
Missing french translation for some of the mobs
Some structures, when being disassembled, would not play an animation.
Area of Effect traps wouldn't always behave as intended.
Oversized world map vehicle for some AI factions.
Infected enemies getting "infected again" by the Pandemonium virus (zombies becoming tribal bug).
Possible crash when using a zone as a template to copy a bunch of constructions in one go (obscure, power user bug)
Fire on top of non burnable walls could still spread (fire going through walls bug)
Update 1.2.5: General Update
Hello!
This is a mid-sized update with no particular theme. It is compatible with existing saves and mods, but due to changes in the way damaged weaponry is handled, you may need to redo your weapon and armor maintenance stations' queues. This short article details the main changes while the change-log at the bottom lists every single change, as usual.
Enjoy!
Combat AI
Your survivors (and relevant enemies) can now automatically switch between melee and ranged weapon based on the situation. It takes into consideration the ammo left in the ranged weapon, the DPS, and range of each weapon before taking a decision. For instance, they'll still use their shotgun at point blank, even if they also have an axe, but they will likely switch to said axe if they are just wielding a pistol, or if they need to reload.
On top of that, if you order a survivor to attack a door or a window to breach into a building: if the survivor is within 5 tiles of the target it'll attack with melee (saving ammo); if they are farther away, they'll assume you don't want to take any risk and will just shoot at the target.
Reworked Damaged Gear System
It's something that, as a user, you will barely notice, but which is making my life a lot easier. Until now, each time I added a piece of gear to the game, I'd also have to add a "damaged" variant for the piece, add a file for the repair recipe, and finally alter the relevant maintenance station file to add said recipe. And, everything being manually added, prices and values didn't match up properly. It also contributed to increasing load times (3 data files to load per piece of gear instead of one).
Now, while the older system still exists to handle special cases (and for backward compatibility) it's no longer in use. Damaged gear is handled and generated automatically based on information added to the weapon and armor files.
In practice for you: - More gear can be repaired and looted in their damaged state. - Repair/Selling price have been standardized (damaged gear is half the value of the intact variant). - Repairing high tier gear cost more weapon/armor pieces (early gear is mostly unchanged).
Misc Changes and Notes
There are a lot more minor changes (see below), but nothing really worthy of a paragraph-long explanation, the 1.2.x branch is in a good place content/stability-wise. So, unless there's a big problem with 1.2.5, the next patch will be a major content update.
Cheers!
Full Changelog
Artificial Intelligence
When forced into melee, survivors (and their enemies) will assess if it's better to switch to their melee weapon or not.
Game Balance
Increased the rate of fire of many melee weapons (the ones you build, animals are unchanged).
Dead trees don't burn, giving forests a chance to regrow.
All weapon and armor repair recipe costs have been edited (better gear needs more parts).
The connected grow lamps now cost a bit more resources to build than the non-connected ones.
In Story Mode, Act 1, the AI factions expand less quickly and less far (playing wake-a-mole with enemy outposts is a bit much to ask of a new player, only apply on new game).
New Content
Added giant anthills, an ant spawner, commonly found in caverns.
Added mercenary helmet (similar to military one) and bulletproof vest to loot, trading tables, and Neo Roma guards' gear.
Added repair recipes and damaged variants to Mark One rifle, 30cal MG, PAS-25, mercenary outfit, and military gas mask.
Game Engine
When the camera is zoomed out, agents no longer drop shadows and grass is hidden to help with FPS a bit.
Minor optimizations to dynamic lighting, rendering in caverns and sewers should be faster.
Damaged variants of most firearms and armor pieces are dynamically generated. It leads to more recipes being available, and their repair cost to make more sense.
Graphics
Added hit animations to many melee attacks.
Better looking barbed wires, egg containers, power generators, and other misc items.
New textures for the riot police and spec-ops helmets.
Traits and wounds causing a loss of health make the survivor to drop blood on the ground.
Pigs and cows get a shadow, like other large animals.
New separate textures for the food, ammo and gun crates found in various buildings.
World Generation
Room dimensions (in buildings) are more strict, coupled with new building generation method, give better layouts.
Improved biome generation, allowing to spawn some (but not too many) critter spawners in the underground layers.
User Interface
The 'Repair' keyboard shortcut key becomes 'Misc Commands' and opens the sub panel at the last used position (can still auto select repair by tapping twice).
Removed experimental flag from the Arakan faction archetype, added warning to tool-tip / info.
Renamed the scientist's camp unlocking the robotic path from "Encampment" to "Scientist's Camp" to distinguish it from traders.
Added proper "housing" info (pasture, category and owner) to the animal tab in the Population menu
Removed comma in Cannibal and Mutant name generator as it looks weird with the game's font (will only work on new characters in existing saves.)
Added button to general settings to mark all contextual game tips as read (so they don't popup).
Standardized some more menus + many small tweaks i didn't keep track of.
Bug Fixes
Rare 'Mushroom' underground biome could spawn with way too many carnivorous plants.
The melee attack animation was missing for black ant soldiers.
Using the mouse wheel over health/mood bars would change their value (cosmetic only)
Banishing people, and sending them to expeditions, wouldn't clear all their assignments properly.
Prisoners, in combat, were confused by the concept of stairs.
Some low level entity update timing issues which may have wasted CPU cycles and botched animations.
Minor issues with weapon hit animations.
Right clicking an item in the 'Build Menu' would disable mouse scrolling until menu is re-opened.
Update 1.2.4: Prisoner and Survivor Management
Hi there!
As promised, here's a new update focusing on the prisoner system. With the recent introduction of a prisoner-centric faction archetype, the Arakans, it really needed some love. Of course, it's far from the only change in this update, which should make your whole population easier to manage.
As usual, the full change-log is at the bottom. I highly recommend to give it a look, as many important details will only be mentioned there. I am a bit short on time today, so the article is shorter than usual, while the change-log is more detailed to compensate.
Enjoy!
Prisoner System
First thing first: Compliance. This value, used to determine how close is a prisoner to riot or to join you, now works pretty much as you'd guess. Treat prisoners well and give them good individual cells, and their compliance will grow steadily:
The higher quality the individual cell, the more compliance will grow. Low quality cells, or missing cells, will cause compliance to decrease quickly (and VERY quickly if a prisoner is left without a place to sleep)
Getting food, or medical care increases compliance
Working very slightly decreases compliance (easy to counter with good rooms)
Prisoners chatting together decrease their respective compliance a bit
Prison guards talking to prisoners increases compliance (usually, but if the guard is bad at his job it may backfire)
Generally speaking, and assuming good working conditions, prisoners will gain compliance much faster, turning them into potential recruits.
Speaking of housing prisoners, I added a new zone type: the jail. Yes, it's a barrack for prisoners. It does NOT provide a compliance bonus, but it provides beds for large quantities of prisoners at a minimal cost. It's especially useful if you don't intend to keep your prisoners for long (hi, cannibal factions).
Prisoners can now be treated by doctors (if you allow it), and got a refreshed individual survivor menu with nicer icons and a prominent compliance gauge.
You can also set default settings for your prisoners directly from the Faction/Settlement menu.
New Population Menu
I fully redesigned the Population menu. Not only it scales vertically with your screen resolution, but it handles survivors, prisoners and animals simultaneously.
While the Animal tab still needs some work, the prisoner and survivor tabs are fully functional and offer new filters and features. For instance, you can assign rooms and prison cells from this menu directly. To do so, simply click on the new "Housing" filter, and right-click on any person you want to reassign.
And, of course, in the prisoner tab, you can change individual prisoner settings (work, eat, recruit, chat, doctor), and sort people by compliance.
More filters and options will be added to this menu as I continue to improve it.
Automation and Presets
I also added a few settings to the Faction menu, while reorganizing the existing ones:
You can now set your base to automatically turn downed enemies into prisoners as long as you have free prison cells (or a jail). You can also tell your survivor what to do with dead bodies depending on their type (survivor, prisoner, animal, and non faction). Dogs can be buried now, assuming you've set a tomb to allow animals, it'll be extended to other pets in the next update.
Release Notes
I'm aware of a few situational bugs reported recently, I couldn't investigate them before release, but if there's something to fix, I will publish a fix very soon.
You can also expect a second update where I add some more meat to the prisoner system, and add more features to the population menu in a week or two. After that, we'll move to a different topic.
Cheers!
Full Changelog
AI and Behaviors
Animals (pets, wild, cattle) now obey their faction's rule about attacking incapacitated targets, making dogs and giant spiders pretty good at catching new prisoners.
Medics moving downed people will try to apply first aid before moving the patient if their health is very low.
Survivors and prisoners are better at claiming a room to sleep in when those are made available by the player.
Game Balance
Some large dead creatures need to be butchered to retrieve meat, bones, and such; corpses decay over time.
Reviewed the prisoner compliance system, compliance is easier to gain if you treat your prisoners well.
You need less decoration to make a "good" cell than to make a good bedroom.
Content
Recruiting prisoners turn them into cannibals automatically if you're a cannibal-type faction.
Prisoners' compliance is now influenced by the quality of their cell (high quality cells improve compliance over time)
Added switch to allow prisoners to be treated by a doctor (in individual prisoner info panel and pop menu)
Default settings (work, eat, recruit..) can be set for new prisoners in the Colony Settings menu
During the Besieged Settlement map events, you can now enslave the villagers if your vehicle has an enslavement item installed, like the slave collar pack.
Added Jail zone, a barrack for prisoners. It can hold multiple prisoners, doesn't provide much compliance.
Burials can be attributed to pets, survivors, prisoners, or others, individually.
Game Engine
Ability for the game to use multiple variants for a constructed tile: for instance, road/asphalt tiles have multiple variants with small cracks/fissures.
Massively reduced the CPU impact of large herds of animals
Overall better performances, especially underground
Tweaks to nature layer, chance for a plant to die on death changed from a bool to a percentage
Graphics
Replaced the sprites for a few early game objects (campfire, storage area, sleeping bags)
A bunch of sprites and tiles used when generating the local map have been replaced by better looking ones.
New and more varied asphalt texture(s) for the roads in the local map. It's relatively hard to notice due to ground dust effect.
In the world map, the road tile-map was replaced by something better looking / more detailed
In the world map, replaced buildings, trees, and rock textures + additional variations thanks to rotations
In the world map, village tiles are easier to spot as they are represented by a big bunch of buildings
User Interface
Main menu newsfeed points to steam now, and is always up to date
Redesigned population menu, scaling with vertical space available on your screen, better layout.
Ability to switch the population menu to a mode displaying your prisoners with relevant info, filters, and settings
Added a tab for the animals to the population menu (still a working in progress)
Added "Housing" filter to population menu, you can right click people in this mode to assign private bedrooms or prison cells
Added activity filter to population menu
Improved individual prisoner panel + tweaks to other individual panels
More detailed corpse retrieval, butchering, and burying tasks can be set in the colony settings
Automatic capture of downed hostiles can be setup in colony settings (will auto capture downed enemies if you have a prison bed available)
You can now move the camera around and use hotkeys even when the mouse cursor is over a menu
Added specific briefing for the "go to room" combat maps (like the Robotic Lab in Act 3, and the Robotic tech tree)
Bug Fixes
Changing a prisoner's cell wouldn't unassign them from their previous accommodation
Prisoners were unable to combat fire
Prisoners were unable to experience the joys of mental breakdown
Line of sight bug causing all sorts of problems
Traders from different factions should no longer attack each other (they also get named after their faction), they probably can't be used as an exploit to clear the map anymore either.
Prisoners would keep their melee weapon on capture
Pandemonium infected people would keep their melee weapon when morphing into a zombie
Outdated tooltips in prisoner feeding checkbox implied that people with the hauling job would feed them (instead of prison guards).
Issue between hunger and reproduction (cattle and pets)
Prisoners could run the "prison guard" job, causing some logic issues.
Minor button coloring issue in Misc Orders (regression bug 1.2.1)
Chat moodlets in mood sub-menu not always pointing to the right target (people talking to themselves)
Typo in a data file used during map generation which may have caused, on rare occasions, to cause a room to be entirely empty
Very small minor memory leak (when loading saves or going back to main menu) tied to the way walls and tiles are reset
If the building "fog of war" setting is disabled, it's not clear where you're supposed to go in Act 3's Robotic Lab
