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Genre: Simulator, Adventure, Indie

Eco

Hotfix 11.1.4 released!

Hey Citizens,
we have just released Hotfix 11.1.4 to address the following issues:

  • Fixed: The avatar creation screen appearing on the first start of Eco displayed a white background and couldn't be skipped.
  • Fixed: Several items, mostly of housing type, could no longer be stacked. (No items were lost, any items missing will be in your void storage)
  • Fixed: Crafting projects didn't recognize stored items if their durability / freshness was below 90%.
  • Fixed: Players authorized on vehicles instead of their deeds could not move items from the vehicle storage.

Maintenance Update 11.1.3 released!

Hey Citizens,
we have just released Maintenance Update 11.1.3 with the following changes:

Civics:


  • Fixed: Using a federation claim stake within a child settlement and setting the deed to cultural would wrongly prompt a warning about the deed not being attached to the settlement foundation.
  • Fixed: Contracts containing specific types of clauses could be edited by unauthorized citizens.
  • Fixed: The law trigger "Place or Pick Up Object" would trigger the set effects multiple times instead of once.
  • Fixed: Rents using dynamic value for their calculation didn't function and always charged 0.
  • Fixed: The law action "Ignore Auth" wasn't working when the target to ignore auth for was wood pulp.
  • Fixed: The law trigger "Receive Government Funds" watched for users of an account instead of its managers.
  • Fixed: Contracts requiring tools to be put somewhere or be transported didn't function.
  • Fixed: When deleting a draft settlement, the treasury would not be deleted or moved to the parent settlement but become orphaned instead, visible to everyone with a treasury access.
  • Fixed: When a law that contains "Ignore Auth" was present, players could also take out claims from the foundation, no matter if the law covered that case or not.
  • Fixed: Leaving citizenship of a town in draft led to an RPC error.

Interaction:


  • Improved: All benches and couches can now be used by multiple players.
  • Fixed: Moving a picture or painting to a different inventory slot would turn it into a generic, unusable item.
  • Fixed: The consolidate button would merge claim papers and stakes from different settlements together.
  • Fixed: Annexation didn't consider items stored in vehicles and presented an error when the required amount of items wasn't present in a storage object.
  • Fixed: Automatic storage linking didn't work when the deed owner is a title.
  • Fixed: After every interaction with a vehicle, for a short moment the text "%WornParts%" flickered up.

Gameplay:


  • Fixed: Objects with broken parts would have their parts repaired after being sold in a store.
  • Fixed: Crafting projects consumed part durability in worktables even when paused.
  • Fixed: When the tutorial was already completed on a server and a new server was joined, the tutorial did start again but could not be completed.

Miscellaneous:


  • Improved: Vines will now spread more consistent.
  • Fixed: When reconnecting one's avatar could sometimes display the inside of the face and show (partly) invisible for other players or show other oddities.
  • Fixed: The "Game Speed" world setting option "Very Fast" set the "SkillCostMultiplier" to 2.5 instead of 0.25 and the option "Very Slow" set it to 1.25 instead of 2. This was wrong and lead to a extremely slower skill gain in the first case and a much faster skill gain the second. If you use either, please press ESC -> World Settings when playing on your world and change the setting to different one and back again to apply the correct values.
  • Fixed: Sitting on an object where another player also sits and then standing up again would disable the exhaustion timer until reconnection to the server.
  • Fixed: Marketplace items could be built without being limited by blueprint amount in offline mode.
  • Fixed: The capitol object only available when settlements are disabled wouldn't uncover after ratification of the constitution.
  • Fixed: An issue that can lead window shutters to be moved into the block they are supposed to cover.

UI:


  • Improved: The "Annexation Details" in the popup showing after an annexation now sums up multiple payments of the same items to display them only once.
  • Fixed: Clicking on the icon of an recipe did not select it.
  • Fixed: The amount of users having a specific specialty would sometimes not display in the skills menu.
  • Fixed: The notification appearing when one of the player's properties has a higher housing value than the current residence didn't correctly display the "Change Residency" button.
  • Fixed: The message appearing when an election cannot be started due to invalid elements in the civic to be passed wrongly showed the invalid elements twice.

Server:


  • Changed: The server now uses .NET Core 8, most .dll mods will need to be recompiled.
  • Improved: The linux installation script now supports Alpine 3.17 - 3.19, Debian 12 and Ubuntu 24.04.
  • Improved: The linux installation script now supports RHEL 8 and 9 based operating systems. (Thanks to @Oreloth)
  • Fixed: Christmas skins weren't displayed when the holiday was active - also updated the Holiday.eco template to cover the christmas holiday dates for the next few years.

Hotfix 11.1.2 released!

Hey Citizens,
we have just released Hotfix 11.1.2 to address the following issues:

Art:


  • Fixed: Cotton plants in pots were displayed too small.
  • Fixed: Texts on the Steam Truck were displayed wrongly.
  • Fixed: Flat Steel Doors were missing their texture.

Balance:


  • Changed: Housing points for the Electric Wall Lamp increased to 8 from 2,5.
  • Changed: Housing points for the Hanging Electric Wall Lamp to 8 from 2,5.
  • Changed: Housing points for the Tallow Wall Lamp to 4 from 2,5.
  • Changed: Room volume requirements were removed from all lighting objects, allowing them to be placed anywhere.

Miscellaneous:


  • Added: Players can now define per object with storage component if they want newly placed storage objects to be automatically linked with them.
  • Changed: Players no longer need to be a citizen of a specific settlement to receive reputation from it via civics.
  • Fixed: A server crash that occured when using explosives near bedrock.
  • Fixed: A server crash related to room calculations.
  • Fixed: Storage filters didn't work reliably after adding persistent filtering to the economy viewer.
  • Fixed: Durabilities of multiple, identical items would become linked when using the consolidate button in their storage.
  • Fixed: When joining a settlement with a homestead while having unused claimpapers of it stored in the claim stake, these claimpapers could no longer be removed from it.
  • Fixed: Abandoning a specialty would show a notification noting a different specialty than the one actually abandoned.

Hotfix 11.1.1 released!

Hey Citizens,
we have just released Hotfix 11.1.1 to address the following issues:

Civics:


  • Fixed: Under specific circumstances disabled civics would revert to draft state after a server restart.
  • Fixed: Civics were displayed as invalid and nonfunctional when the settlement system was disabled.

Balance


  • Added: Added new recipe for Reinforced Concrete using Sulfur instead of Cement.
  • Changed: Removed Crushed Sulfur from Cement recipe, as it stopped progression on migrated worlds.

Interaction:


  • Changed: Explosives now fully destroy trees.
  • Fixed: A server restart happening during the detonation sequence of an explosive could make the explosive undetonatable.
  • Fixed: It was possible to recolor shop carts the player didn't own.
  • Fixed: When connecting multiple mining charges to one Remote Detonator the error "Fuse already started." would wrongly pop up multiple times.
  • Fixed: When simultaneously selecting a tool and mounting a vehicle the avatar's hands were incorrectly displayed in a position as if it was holding the tool while driving.
  • Fixed: The painting ui could show for objects that don't support painting when they were unowned.
  • Fixed: It is no longer necessary to stand on the deed to be rated, interacting with the plaque object is sufficient.

Gameplay:


  • Added: Tables with broken parts now display a smoke effect.
  • Fixed: Shoji Door and Wooden Sliding Door couldn't create closed rooms.
  • Fixed: Stump Bed couldn't be used for sleeping.
  • Fixed: Plastic Outdoor Bench couldn't be mounted.
  • Fixed: Moving in a two block high space with a mounted wood cart was no longer possible.
  • Fixed: Selling vehicles via the integrated "For Sale" feature wasn't possible.
  • Improved: The default price for listings in stores is now "0" for buying and "999 999" for selling, avoiding potential abuse of accidential misconfiguration. (Thanks to @Spouke)

Miscellaneous:


  • Fixed: A graphical issue with the Powered Cart model.
  • Fixed: When dynamite started to explode but was prevented by a law, the fuse stayed lit.
  • Fixed: The server list didn't show servers with enabled exhaustion by default.
  • Fixed: When an object that had crafting orders for items that require blueprints was moved to the void storage, the blueprints were still consumed.
  • Fixed: Oil layer data was still accessible through the WebUI when it was supposed to be hidden due to Oil Drilling not having been discovered yet. (Thanks to @JulianMa)
  • Improved: The server list now supports filtering servers by "Any Exaustion Setting", "Exhaustion Enabled" and "Exhaustion Disabled".

UI:


  • Fixed: The parts tab of world objects showed a placeholder icon.
  • Improved: Economy viewer now remembers the selected tab as well as selected filter and sort options.
  • Improved: Repairs tab on economy viewer now has a checkbox to only display repairs the player can fulfill.
  • Improved: Repairs tab on economy viewer now has a column showing the durability of the part to be repaired.

Update 11.1 released! Explosives, Land Vehicle Painting and Repair Bounties!

Hello Eco Citizens,
we're happy to announce the immediate availability of Update 11.1, let's take a look at what's new:

Explosives



Dynamite and Mining Charges controllable by Remote Detonators can now be crafted, allowing you to mine comfortably before heavy machinery becomes available. For this we have - next to Peat, which is also new - added Sulfur to the world generation and introduced the new materials Black Powder, Blasting Cap and Nitric Acid.


Explosives convert rock and ores into their crushed form, making it easy to mine them with the scoop attachment for the Steam Tractor. Be cautious, though, explosives affect flora and fauna, move the ground, make blocks fall and can even destroy player-built structures - of course they respect authorization and civic restrictions. Boom!



Painting for land vehicles


We have added the ability to paint almost all land vehicles in multiple zones, allowing you to use your creativity and having your own, unique vehicle. We also added painting capability to the Blacksmith Table, Power Hammer, Storage Chest and Wall Mounted Chest as a preview for object painting.





Reworked Powered Cart


The first vehicle we introduced to Eco got a full rework and highly improved steering capabilities, look at that beauty and try it out!


Extended Maintenance and Repair Bounties


Maintenance using parts now also applies to generators and vehicles. We also added a new repair bounty system, allowing other players to repair your machinery while you are offline in exchange for payment.


Reworked Tutorial


We have reworked and majorly expanded the tutorial to explain more mechanics and guide players through towards their first base, fixing many issues the system had.

Log Furniture


A new set of furniture made of logs is available in the early game, consisting of the Stump Bed, Stump Chair, Stump Latrine and Stump Table. Additionally we added a wooden sliding door and made the new Shoji Door available in the marketplace.



Release Notes


Balance


Recipes
  • Added: A new charcoal recipe requiring Peat.
  • Changed: Phosphate Fertilizer now requires less Crushed Limestone, but additional Crushed Sulfur.
  • Changed: Synthetic Rubber and Rubber Wheels now require Crushed Sulfur.
  • Changed: Gasoline, Nylon and Plastic now output Sulfur as a byproduct.
  • Changed: Gearbox and Combustion Generator now requires Lubricant.
  • Changed: Waterwheel now requires Wooden Hull Planks.
  • Changed: Wind Turbine now requires Lubricant and Steel Plates instead of bars.
  • Changed: The yield of Garden Gravel and Zen Gardens per craft was reduced to 2.

Housing & Rooms
  • Changed: The housing value of Adorned Ashlar Chairs was reduced to 1.7 from 2.
  • Changed: The housing value of Adorned Ashlar Tables was reduced to 3 from 3.5.
  • Changed: Buntings, Streamers, Paper Lanterns and Limestone Statues are no longer required to be inside of a room.
  • Changed: The Paint Mixer now requires a Tier 1.8 room.

Other Changes
  • Added: All power generators now have maintenance parts that need to be replaced over time.
  • Added: All vehicles but the Small Canoe, Egyptian Canoe, Small Wood Cart and Wheelbarrow now have maintenance parts that need to be replaced over time.
  • Added: All parts used for maintenance can now be repaired by different materials.
  • Changed: The energy output of all generators has been increased significantly.
  • Changed: Wooden Barge and Industrial Barge now have internal storage.
  • Changed: By default, the oil layer is no longer displayed until Oil Drilling was discovered.
  • Changed: The Electronic Machinist Table now takes a Mining Modern Upgrade.
  • Changed: Flax plants now use more fertilizers.

Civics


  • Added: An action for laws to trigger on ringing the town bell.
  • Added: An action for laws to trigger on the sale of cultural objects.
  • Added: Steam Tractor is now selectable for civics in the "Dig or Mine" trigger.
  • Added: An option at the immigration desk to set the settlement foundation as spawn point instead of the immigration desk. (Thanks to @silibum)
  • Fixed: Compost, Garbage and Tailings were wrongly listed in the "Drop or pickup" trigger instead of the "Dig or Mine" trigger, making it impossible to regulate these activities as they need to be shovelled.
  • Fixed: Contracts could sometimes display the "Add clause" button for players that aren't the creator of the contract.
  • Fixed: Removed deeds weren't correctly deleted, leading to multiple issues.
  • Fixed: The notification about a deed no longer attached to settlement influence didn't note which deed it was about.
  • Fixed: The immigration desk setting to become a citizen of the settlement on placement of a homestead was only available if the settlement also allowed players to instantly join directly through the spawn menu. (Thanks to @MonzUn)
  • Fixed: Trying to mark a contract as failed despite completed led to an error message kicking the player from the server.
  • Fixed: Setting rent cost as value for rent led to a server crash.
  • Fixed: Annexation considered all claim papers equal, no matter if it was the required type, leading to issues when trying to conduct an annexation.
  • Fixed: Renaming the default mayor title of a settlement created a new treasury, leading to potential further issues.
  • Fixed: Deleting a title from the registrar with a setup backup title caused all deeds owned by it to become unowned instead of being transferred to the backup title.
  • Fixed: Elected Titles could have themselves set as backup title.
  • Fixed: Custom stats couldn't be requested correctly in specific circumstances.
  • Fixed: A send notice action after a prevent action was not executed.
  • Improved: Orphaned civics will now be attached as draft instead of active, being forced active when the constitution is ratified or the settlement is founded to prevent issues to occur that could lead to a reset to the default constitution.

Interaction


  • Fixed: Crafting tables continued to run and burn fuel for a while despite not crafting something.
  • Fixed: Dismounting from the crane was not possible.
  • Fixed: Barges could be picked up even when they were loaded or had vehicles on it.
  • Fixed: Rotate hints for blocks were shown even if the block isn't rotatable.
  • Fixed: Using the consolidate button removed skill scrolls and claim papers.
  • Fixed: Placing a stockpile in a room could lead to it being classified as "outdoor", disabling tables that are required to be indoors.
  • Fixed: In some circumstances tables with an active work party on them didn't enable participating players to add labour.
  • Fixed: Tables with active work parties on them did show a wrong authorization outline to participating players.
  • Fixed: Objects that couldn't be painted showed the paint interaction.
  • Fixed: Paint mixer didn't see the contents of linked storages when mixing paints.

UI


  • Fixed: An issue that could lead to items in inventories going invisible until moved around.
  • Fixed: An issue that could lead to the work order area in crafting tables not being displayed until a client restart.
  • Fixed: Dragging and dropping storages in the storage tab of world objects was only possible on the name of the storage instead of the whole line.
  • Fixed: An issue that could lead to icons on signs not being displayed and text to be incorrectly truncated.
  • Fixed: Vote counts for yes were cut off in the popup showing all votes for an election.
  • Fixed: Notifications would sometimes not correctly display when containing clickable buttons.
  • Fixed: The tutorial boxes weren't limited in width.
  • Fixed: Holding a food item could lead to objects the player isn't authorized on to still show a green outline.
  • Fixed: In specific circumstances the filter checkboxes for the item filter could appear in a duplicated way.
  • Fixed: Sorting by distance for crafting tables in the economy viewer didn't always provide the expected result.
  • Fixed: Several typos throughout the game.
  • Improved: Error message when steam is offline has been updated.
  • Improved: Recipe search in the crafting ui now has a clear button to remove the entered text.
  • Improved: Recipes in the crafting ui will now indicate they have variations before clicking on them.
  • Improved: A confusing description of server settings in the Server UI when exhaustion is enabled.
  • Improved: Moved position of the abandon specialty button to the level line, making the feature more obvious.
  • Improved: Searching in the economy viewer now also allows filtering for name of an item and tags.
  • Improved: Abandoned players are now excluded from the display in the skills menu. (Canny Suggestion)

Miscellaneous


  • Changed: The town bell no longer rings indefinitely, but only when using the respective interaction.
  • Fixed: The exhaustion tutorial was displayed and not completable when exhaustion is disabled.
  • Fixed: Sometimes vehicles could load before the barges they were placed on, causing them to fall through them into the water.
  • Fixed: The picture printer tab on the printing press didn't show a preview of the image.
  • Fixed: Filtering for exhaustion in the server browser didn't work correctly.
  • Fixed: Internal fuel storage was counted as general storage for crafting projects.
  • Fixed: Scrap tool recipe did incorrectly take into account tools in the player inventory.
  • Fixed: An issue that sometimes caused Eco to fail to start when Steam is in offline mode.
  • Fixed: Setting the meteor impact to high numbers in the world settings ui could cause the server to no longer start due to an invalid value being set in the config.
  • Fixed: Twitch linking didn't work correctly.
  • Fixed: When logging out to log in to another account and providing wrong credentials, the game automatically logged the player in with the account they logged out of before.
  • Fixed: When reflections were enabled in the graphics settings, the change didn't immediately apply.
  • Fixed: A meteor successfully shot down would reappear after a server restart, resetting the received achievement on the world as well.
  • Fixed: Spawning at a immigration desk could place the player behind instead of in front of the desk.
  • Fixed: Metal parts on objects were displayed in a darker color when painted.
  • Fixed: An issue with rooms that could cause a server crash.
  • Improved: All window planters now take seeds and function like the other planting pots.
  • Improved: Some changes for improved moddability of config and food systems. (Thanks to @Spouke and @MonzUn)

Server & Configs


  • Added: An option to remove only oneself from a title in the tooltip when the admin ui is enabled.
  • Fixed: Skill Cost Multiplier for High Collaboration was wrongly set to 1.5 instead of 2, leading to servers using the default settings to not be marked as High Collaboration in the server list
  • Fixed: Using the command /meteor destroy would set "MeteorImpactDays" to -1, which as an invalid value prevented the server from starting.

Balance.template.eco
  • Added: "ShowOilLayer" config variable, determining if the oil layer is shown despite the Oil Drilling skill not having been discovered - defaults to false.

Difficulty.template.eco
  • Added: "RequireSkillsToReplaceParts" config variable, determining if the respective skill is required to replace a part - defaults to true on high collaboration, otherwise to false.
  • Added: "BrokenPartsWillDisableVehicles" config variable, determining if a vehicle becomes unusable when it has broken parts or just becomes slower - defaults to true on medium or higher collaboration, otherwise to false.

StrangeWorlds.template.eco
  • Added: "ShowPurchaseNotification" config variable, determining if purchases in the marketplace are shown in the notifications area - defaults to true.

Note: Migration from the prior version is supported, but the new "Peat" and "Sulfur" will not be added to existing worlds and require a new world to appear. Sulfur can also be received through some crafting recipes.

Thank you for your support and enjoy the new update!

- Strange Loop

Update 11.1 is launching on October 24!

Hello Eco Citizens,
we're excited to announce that Update 11.1 will launch on October 24th!

Take a peek at some of the changes:

Explosives



Painting for land vehicles



Reworked Powered Cart



Log Furniture



Repair Bounties



Full release notes will be available on release day, in the meanwhile you can already try out the new update in playtest on Steam (Branch: 11.1.0-playtest) and provide your feedback on our discord.

Thanks for your support and stay tuned on what else we got in store before Update 1.0!

- Strange Loop

Hotfix 11.0.6 released!

Hey Citizens,
we have just released Hotfix 11.0.6 to address the following issues:
  • Fixed: Smoke and water effects related to disconnected pipes sometimes didn't disappear after the pipes were reconnected.
  • Fixed: It was possible to place pictures into frames despite not having authorization to do so.
  • Fixed: An issue that prevented players from placing marketplace items despite having sufficient blueprints available.
  • Fixed: An issue that caused the warning about more marketplace items being present in the world than owned blueprints are available to be shown erroneously when placing a marketplace item.

Hotfix 11.0.5 released!

Hey Citizens,
we have just released Hotfix 11.0.5 to address the following issues:
  • Fixed: Multiple potential causes for client crashes.
  • Fixed: An issue with the room system that could lead to a server crash.
  • Fixed: An issue that could prevent the server from starting due to a problem with settlement foundations.
  • Fixed: An issue that could lead to the server freezing when multiple players tried to modify a stockpile inventory at the same time.
  • Fixed: An issue that could crash the server and prevent it from starting when a law was triggered that used a custom stat with a invalid value.
  • Fixed: Multiple issues with the marketplace that appeared when using the "View in Marketplace" button in the crafting UI.
  • Fixed: An issue that could lead to players being kicked from the server due to wrongly being detected as playing on another server at the same time when the server they are playing on changed its server id.
  • Fixed: Currency exchanges using a treasury account were disabled after a server restart.

On our website play.eco it is now possible to transfer Eco credits to other users and to use Eco credits to buy Eco invites or vouchers for game server hosting with our partner 4NetPlayers.

Hotfix 11.0.4 released!

Hey Citizens,
we have just released Hotfix 11.0.4 to address the following issues:

Technical:


  • Fixed: An issue that could prevent users of the SLG client to login.
  • Fixed: Multiple blueprint related issues that could lead to a server crash.
  • Fixed: Blueprints weren't correctly counted in modded custom recipes.

Gameplay:


  • Fixed: An exploit that allowed to gain painting experience in a unintended way.
  • Fixed: Large Hanging Wood Signs required solid ground to be placed.

This update also increases the marketplace credit shares for server owners to 25% and enables the marketplace credit shares for modders and twitch streamers:
  • Modders can now register their mods to receive a credit share of up to 25% of all item purchases made on worlds that use their mods, the specific share percentage depends on the mod and is assigned at registration. If there is multiple eligible mods on a world, the share gets prorated between all eligible mods based on their specific share percentages. To register a mod please reach out to support@strangeloopgames.com, they will lead you through the process.
  • Players that linked their twitch account, are currently streaming a world on twitch and have more than ten viewers are now receiving a credit share of up to 25% of all item purchases made on the streamed world. If there is multiple streamers on a world, the share gets prorated based on the amount of viewers each streamer has.

Hotfix 11.0.3 released!

Hey Citizens,
we have just released Hotfix 11.0.3 to address the following issues:

Civics:


  • Fixed: Personal bank accounts erroneously could be renamed, leading to error messages when creating new bank accounts.
  • Fixed: Multiple issues with calculated rents that could lead to a server crash.
  • Fixed: Unclaiming deeds of abandoned players via command or law could lead to a server crash.

Gameplay:


  • Fixed: Using paint tools was not yielding experience towards the painting specialty.
  • Fixed: Steam Tractor Scoop could not be listed in stores or linked in the chat.
  • Fixed: Power Hammer was erroneously not requiring Tier 2.8 rooms.
  • Fixed: Upgrade Modules didn't require the Self Improvement skill and hence didn't provide experience towards it.

UI:


  • Fixed: The server description view wasn't scrollable when accessed through New Game -> Server Details.
  • Fixed: Interrupting the food animation could lead to parts of the animation being stuck.
  • Fixed: The web ui of the server would sometimes not display elections when logged in.

Balance:


  • Fixed: Animal pelts were using different ingredients, they now all use medium carcasses.
  • Changed: Ashlar Benches had their housing value increased to 4.
  • Changed: Composite Lumber Benches had their housing value increased to 4.
  • Changed: Cast Iron Benches had their housing value increased to 3.
  • Changed: Lumber Benches had their housing value increased to 3.

This update introduces the ability to use a token to login with a server by using the command line parameter "-userToken=". Tokens can be created and invalidated when logging in at https://play.eco.