Stranded: Alien Dawn Developer Journal - Trading Scenario
Hello Survivors!
The Sow and Sell Update is out for Stranded: Alien Dawn next week, bringing with it a brand new scenario, new plants and items, and a brand new survivor! That's why we're back with a new Developer Journal with our friends from Haemimont Games to talk about the new Trading Scenario and what you can expect.
Let's dive right in:
Hello! Thank you for joining us for this dev journal! Could you please introduce yourself and what you do on Stranded: Alien Dawn?
Greetings earthlings! My name's Ivan Grozev and I'm the Lead Game Designer on Stranded: Alien Dawn. I'm the guy responsible for all the intergalactic fun and shenanigans you'll experience in the upcoming Sow and Sell update.
Could you also introduce the brand new scenario you're adding to Stranded: Alien Dawn in the coming update?
Oh yeah, absolutely! The new "Trading Outpost" scenario is all about a group of intrepid adventurers who buy a one-way ticket to an unexplored planet at the furthest corner of the galaxy. They'll have to build, craft, trade, farm, and overcome all sorts of obstacles to create a thriving settlement and possibly even claim the planet.
What made you decide to go in this direction for the new scenario?
We wanted to create a scenario that was adaptable to different play styles, and the Trading Outpost is perfect for those of you who love to build permanent settlements and watch them grow and evolve over time.
This new scenario focuses on farming and trading, but retains the element of survival - what are some of the new challenges players should be mindful of when jumping into this scenario?
In the Trading Outpost scenario, you'll be overbuilding, overfarming, and overcrafting like there's no tomorrow to trade with passing ships. Basically, you can solve any survival problem as long as you have enough Galacticoins, the interstellar currency in the game. It's like real life - you'll have to carefully plan what to sell, what to buy, and when to cash out.
Can you tell us more about the trading function in the scenario?
You'll have a Trading pod that can transport resources to and from interstellar spaceships. All items and resources have a value in Galacticoins, which you'll acquire, store, and protect. You can post job offers on the interstellar communication network, and workers will come to your settlement to work for negotiated payment. Once their contract is up you'll have to renegotiate if you want them to stay!
Do you have a favourite mechanic or feature in this new scenario, or in the new update?
The trading feature is my favorite. Being able to trade resources and negotiate with workers adds a whole new layer of strategic gameplay to the mix. This is the only way you'll be able to grow your settlement as well.
What can you tell us about Vicente Santiago, the new survivor?
Vicente is the perfect addition to the Trading Outpost scenario. He's a rancher who's known for being a great employer and an honest man, but also a shrewd businessman. He even has a special trait that allows him to negotiate with job candidates and hired workers and influence trade offers in your favor. It's like having your own personal dealmaker on the team!
Once you reach the end of the scenario, players can choose to continue playing - what made you decide to include this feature?
Well, we know that some players are completionists and love to keep playing even after you've reached the endgame. So we wanted to give you the option to continue building and growing your settlement even after you've completed the main scenario. The planet is your playground, so go wild once you've bought it for your survivors!
There are a lot of new plants and recipes coming in this update - how do you decide on what to include and what not to include?
We like to listen to our community and gather feedback from various channels, which definitely played a role in our decision-making for the new plants. As for the recipes, we looked at what would make sense and add value to the overall gameplay experience.
Some of the new plants will change the soil they're planted in - what made you decide to add this mechanic?
We wanted to give players the ability to transform barren wastelands into thriving, verdant ecosystems. Plus, our plant growth system is pretty amazing - they actually respond to the environment they're in! So, allowing players to influence the soil beneath them just felt like a natural extension of that. Just wait until you see the living crystals that can turn lush green soil into sand. It's wild!
That's all we had time for this time, survivors! Please join us in thanking Ivan for joining us for this Developer Journal. We're looking forward to seeing everyone jump into the new update, and the new scenario, next week! The Sow and Sell Update is out on 28 March 2023.
You’ve been asking us how long Stranded: Alien Dawn will remain in early access for, and as we head into the 6th month of early access, we’re excited to give you an update on development.
Firstly, we want to give a huge shout-out as always to every player who has taken part in early access to date, and for sharing feedback and suggestions on our forums, on social media, or on our Discord server. We really couldn't do this without you!
Since the beginning of early access, we’ve added 3 major updates; ‘Dunes and Moons’, ‘Tame and Train’, and ‘Mod Tools’ and ‘Steam Workshop’. We’ve just announced that a fourth update, ‘Sow and Sell,’ is landing in early access on Tuesday 28 March which brings an all-new Trading Outpost scenario to Stranded: Alien Dawn.
We’re delighted to announce that we are now heading to full release and will be exiting early access soon. We feel the game is ready for a wider audience, and you’ve been an integral part of our journey so far. This is an exciting next step for the game, and we’re looking forward to sharing more details about our plans in the coming days.
Tune into the Future Games Show Spring Showcase this Thursday 23rd March to find out more >>
There’s even more to come for Stranded: Alien Dawn, and we can’t wait to share more with you over the next few weeks!
Sow and Sell Update Coming 28 March 2023
Hello Survivors!
Exciting news everyone: a new Early Access update is making its way to Stranded: Alien Dawn on 28 March, 2023. The Sow and Sell update adds a brand new scenario to play through, with a new narrative setting, new challenges to consider, and a new end goal. A group of people buy a one-way ticket to the uncharted territories of the Outer Worlds where they plan to set up a small trading outpost. This is the story of their enterprise... Their mission: Build a trading outpost to eventually buy the planet. Also coming in this update: new items, a brand new survivor, new plants and recipes, several quality of life updates, and bug fixes!
As always, we want to give a huge shoutout to everyone who's been sharing feedback and suggestions on our forums, on social media, or on our Discord server. We really couldn't do this without you! Don't forget to join us in our upcoming livestream on 21 March, where we'll be showing off what you can expect in this new update together with the developers from Haemimont Games.
There's a fair bit to cover, so let's dive right into it:
Trading Outpost Scenario In this brand new scenario, your survivors have come to an uninhabited, isolated planet willingly with the ultimate goal of eventually buying it for themselves. You start off by picking 3 survivors, who will act as the founders of a new trading outpost on a previously unsettled planet. These three will land on the planet using their Trading Pod and can immediately start building out a way to generate and harvest resources they can sell.
Unlike the Crash Landing scenario, the survivors are not wholly unprepared for this strange new world they've landed on, and have taken with them both basic supplies and knowledge of farming. Your survivors also start off with a set amount of Galacticoins, the main currency in the galaxy that will eventually be used to purchase the planet.
In addition to trading for Galacticoins and additional resources, you'll of course have to provide food, housing, and clothing for your settlers, and make sure their needs are met so they don't suffer from emotional meltdowns. There are still also wildlife attacks that needs to be defended against! One thing to note is that there's no Orbital Radio in this scenario, as your goal isn't to call for rescue and escape. You'll also be able to continue playing the game after you've completed the scenario and reached the victory screen.
Since there's no crash landing in this scenario, there's fewer spaceship debris dotting the environment surrounding your settlers. That means you'll have less to to scavenge, which could mean fewer weapons and armor, less scrap metal, and fewer emergency rations or first aid kits. Luckily, that's what the trusty Trading Pod is for!
The Trading Pod The Trading Pod is a unique and central part of this scenario, with various functions that will help your new outpost grow bigger and better as you play. Its primary function is to transport resources off-planet to orbiting trade ships, as well as bringing back resources and Galacticoins you may have traded for. Signals can be sent out whenever you want, but you're not always guaranteed to get an answer. Different trading factions will offer different goods, so it's not a bad idea to constantly put out a call for new trades, just to see who's willing to trade.
Some traders will even offer to sell you technologies, including breakthroughs, for a high cost, which will help you save time on researching. They may also offer you breakthroughs that might not be available to you depending on your map seed.
As you progress you'll be able to post job offers to Automated Ansible Relay #499 via the Trading Pod. If a job offer is responded to by a willing worker, you can then choose to hire them for a certain period of time using your Galacticoins, after which they'll be transported to your outpost. Once a worker's contract runs out, you can renegotiate and extend their employment if you choose. This is the only way to grow your settlement, so it's always a good idea to have some extra Galacticoins on hand! Some workers, however, might also offer to join you for free, if certain criteria are met, or reach out on their own.
A New Survivor As with previous updates, we're adding a new survivor to Stranded: Alien Dawn! Vicente Santiago is an expert farmer and trader whose skills will come in handy when trading with passing ships. You'll get to meet him in the coming days, so stay tuned to our social channels!
New Research and Recipes The Sow and Sell Update also comes with new research, buildable devices, recipes, and crops. The new Money Counterfeiting breakthrough will let you print your own (fake) Galacticoins, while Safes are a new storage item dedicated to storing and keeping Galacticoins. These are exclusive to the Trading Scenario. If you're an avid farmer, you'll be excited to learn that we are introducing Hydroponic Racks to Stranded: Alien Dawn, and these can be used in both the Crash Landing and Trading Scenario.
Since the new scenario focuses on the farming and trading of resources, we're adding a slew of new crops that can be discovered and grown by your survivors. These can be found during expeditions, or will be available as your starting crop in the Trading Scenario. All the items below, except the Trade Goods, are available in both scenarios:
Cureplants can be harvested for antibiotics, which will always come in handy whenever someone's sick or injured. Antibiotics could also fetch a pretty penny from the right buyers!
Mulchplants can be harvested for Sweet Syrup, an excellent raw ingredient and fallback if your survivors are hungry. They will also turn soil into loam, to help future crop growth
Synthplants can be harvested for Synthetic Textiles, which can then be turned into clothing. Be careful when planting Synthplants though, as they will decrease the quality of the soil by changing it into a mix of silt and clay
Energy Crystals can be harvested for Energy Crystals, a key component in the crafting of Power Cells. Energy Crystals also decrease the quality of the soil by changing it into sand.
Buzzshroom Plants can be harvested for Buzzshrooms, which is used in the production of both Stimulants and Stimulating Tea. Both will give your survivors a Manipulation, Movement, and Happiness bonus after consuming
Trade Goods can be crafted from various materials at a Workbench, and while they ultimately can't be consumed by your survivors, they can be sold at a higher price when trading than raw resources
As we mentioned before, there are more quality of life updates, and bug fixes, coming in this update, so keep an eye out for the full patch notes coming on 28 March. As always, we want to thank everyone in the Stranded: Alien Dawn community for all your support, feedback, suggestions, and bug reports.
There are more details to come about the Sow and Sell Update, so don't forget to join the Stranded: Alien Dawn Discord and you'll never miss any news! You can also follow the game on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, or join the discussions on Steam and the Frontier Forums. On 21 March at 4:00pm GMT, the community team will be joined by developers from Haemimont Games for a run-through of the new scenario, and the rest of the new update on Twitch and YouTube. We'll see you there!
Stranded: Alien Dawn - Patch v0.40.230308 Out Now! [14.03.23]
Hello Survivors!
A new patch for Stranded: Alien Dawn has just landed on Steam. Thank you again for all your feedback.
Now onto the changelog itself:
Mod Tools…
Creating a new plant from an existing entity and colorizing it will no longer override the default game entity
Copying Mod items such as Scenarios or Traits will now copy the code for any applicable function fields, so for example copying a Trait will include reactions
Fixed a crash that occurred when duplicating Traits by using the duplicate button
Implemented a new Mod Item to enable the creation of 'Build menu categories'. See Buildings > Build menu category
Miscellaneous
Fixed an issue that impacted some saved games created in version 0.20.221130, and caused the Spaceship deconstruction tech to fail to unlock when it should
Patch v0.40.230302 Out now - 09.03.2023
Hello Survivors!
A new patch for Stranded: Alien Dawn has just been released! Check out the patch notes below for the full set of changes:
Release notes
Mod Tools
Added UI Sample Mod to: InsertYourPathHere\steam\steamapps\common\Stranded - Alien Dawn\ModTools\Samples\Mods\Sample UI
Added a new Mod Item named 'Constant' that is located within the Gameplay section of the Mod Editor
The 'Constant' Mod Item allows you to modify the global constants used by the game - please see the Mod Tools documentation for details
Added a confirmation for "Copy from" operations in the Mod Editor
Revised the Mod Tools Docs
Miscellaneous
Corrected typo on the word 'Reconstruct', as well as within some associated text overflows
Mod Tools and Steam Workshop Support Out Now
Hello survivors!
We are elated to tell you that Mod Tools and Steam Workshop support is now available for Stranded: Alien Dawn! The newly released mod tools will allow you to create modifications to change up the features and mechanics of the game. All mods can be uploaded and downloaded via the Steam Workshop, making it easy for everyone to add and remove mods as needed.
Ever since Early Access launch, mod support has been greatly requested by the community and we are very happy to be able to add this to Stranded: Alien Dawn. The developers at Haemimont Games have also been creating several sample mods to demonstrate how mods can be structured, as well as official mods that you can download right away!
As always, we want to give a huge shoutout to everyone who's been sharing feedback and suggestions on our forums, on social media, or on our Discord server. We really couldn't do this without you! Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts with us as we continue through the Early Access period.
Mod Tools The new mod tools are accessible via the game's Main Menu by going to "Mod Manager" and selecting "Mod Editor". You may even recognise the modding tools if you're familiar with creating mods for other Haemimont developed games. The tools, the sample mods, and documentation can all be found in the game's directory on your computer. Your installed mods can easily be enabled or disabled via the Mod Manager, for extra convenience!
Please remember to take before using mods, as we can't guarantee there won't be potential compatibility issues.
Sample Mods and Official Mods The team at Haemimont have made several sample mods to help you get started with modding. These will serve as an introduction to how the mod editor works - you can tweak and change the samples around to create a new mod. Make new survivors, or change an existing survivor's skills and traits. You can even create new game rules, or change around the game's mechanics.
To get you started, Haemimont Games have created several official mods. You can download these from the Steam Workshop on Thursday 28 February:
Landing Pod Statue
A new statue of the Landing Pod which will work as a Leisure and Relaxation device for your survivors
Meat Plant
This new plant will grow raw red meat that your survivors can use in their cooking, or to feed hungry carnivorous pets
New Survivor: Chris "Jacko" Jackson
A brand new survivor you can add to your group, this prepper has lived on the alien world for a number of years, perfecting his kills in Combat, Construction and Crafting - he's an excellent addition to any team
Blue Moss Expedition
Discover the location of a new expedition containing a special Blue moss field - the plant can be brought back to your base and brewed into a pain relieving tea
We can't wait to see what sort of mods you create for Stranded: Alien Dawn using these new tools!
Once again, we want to give a huge thank you to everyone in the Stranded: Alien Dawn community for all your support, feedback, suggestions, and bug reports. Don't forget to join the Stranded: Alien Dawn Discord and you'll never miss any news!
Stranded: Alien Dawn v0.40.230227 - Mod Tools & Steam Workshop
Key new features/content
Mod Tools - The Mod Editor is a powerful companion application that can be used to create, edit, develop and test mods. When they are ready to share, the Mod Editor can also be used to upload mods to the Steam Workshop.
Steam Workshop - Visit the Steam Workshop to see available Mods and subscribe to any that you want to try.
Survivors
Several adjustments to behaviour and activity priorities, including the following:
Survivors now rescue other survivors with higher priority
Eating and sleeping no longer cancel the survivor's queue of tasks, unless hunger is very high
Survivors prioritise looking for relaxation more often and will relax for longer
Survivors no longer deliver excessive resources to construction sites
Surviviors will now prioritise other relaxation methods over 'Taking a walk' and 'Sitting'
'Taking a walk' now takes less time
Adjusted the effect of the intellect skill on field observation duration
Adjusted the effect of the crafting skill on tailoring speed
Increased duration of relaxation pleasures for survivor happiness by 8 hours
Added a new direct order to haul resources from a storage/device that is not allowed to store specific resources
The direct order for hauling can be executed, even if the target stockpile/storage device is reserved by another survivor
Increased duration of the "Survivor determination" happiness factor by 50%
Fleeing survivors will now attempt to hide in rooms
Added ability to enable survivors to fight back attackers instead of flee when undrafted. This can be found in the 'restrictions' tab for each survivor
Building/Construction & Devices
Enabled the placement of Fence gates and fortification gates on floors
Enabled placement of traps on floors that have flooring tiles
Fire from the Flamethrowers lights up the nearby area so 'miss (too dark)' no longer occurs if the applicable target is engulfed in flames
The beams from orbital antennas now all lock-on to the same target
Decreased wardrobe storage space from 25 to 15 and Large wardrobe storage space from 50 to 30
Animals, Taming & Training
Increased duration of the Pacified health condition from 9-12 hours to 15 hours
Stunned animals are no longer a valid target for healing
Gujos and Tecatlis are less aggressive and now set out to hunt and kill just a single target when hungry
Decreased number of insects in each attack waves. Fewer but stronger units are now spawned
Halved the amount of food that animals consume on daily basis
Training animals now increases their critical hit chance and rate of attack
Dogs are now able to reproduce, regardless of breed
Shrieker broodmothers are now able to reproduce with male Shriekers
Newborn tamed animals do not become significantly larger than their wild versions when fully grown
Newborn animals are now taken into account for the "The master of the herd" achievement
Research & Resources
Observing chew root now unlocks the ability to research chew root oil. This in-turn enables vegetable oil to be extracted from chew root via an oil press
Soil quality is now assessed over a larger area, taking into account the size of each specific plant type
Quality Of Life & GUI
Added the ability to reconstruct structures so that the material used can be changed. This is now available as an option instead of fully deconstructing and building a replacement
Added the ability to mirror tasks set to be completed at Campfires and Production devices to another device of the same type. To do this, select the device that you wish to mirror tasks to, select Mirror, and then select the device that you wish to mirror tasks from
Assigned key 8 as shortcut to display the "Tamed animals" GUI
The overlay/highlight for tamed animals no longer attaches the species icon to each tamed animal, and instead just outlines them
Added specific build menu icons for the different beds
Miscellaneous
'Gunshot' wounds no longer report 'Stab (treated)' during healing
Blood is no longer applied to targets hit during fist fights, snowball fights or animals hit with pacifier darts.
Manure now visibly decays
Adjusted lightning strike visual effects
Stranded: Alien Dawn Developer Journal - Mod Tools and Workshop Support
Hello Survivors!
Exciting times as Mod Tools and Steam Workshop support is making its way to Stranded: Alien Dawn! This has been highly requested by the community since Early Access launch and we are delighted to roll it out for you in update #3. We're back with a new Developer Journal with our friends from Haemimont Games to talk about the new mod tools. Let's dive right in:
Hello! Thank you for joining us for the dev journal! Could you please introduce yourself and what you do on Stranded: Alien Dawn? Hi there, my name is Kali, I am Associate Producer of Stranded: Alien Dawn and recently main helper-slash-tester for the new update and the modding functionality.
This new update brings Mod Tools and Steam Workshop support to Stranded: Alien Dawn could you talk a bit about your approach to mod support? With this update, we're providing the community with tools that our game designers use daily to create content such as plants, animals, devices, resources, and much more. Players will have the ability to modify many features in the game and even create their own content using the same tools. The modding environment is separate from the main game and also allows for testing of mods. We've provided both sample mods and documentation to demonstrate how some of the mod items work.
Mods can be a bit of a technical challenge to overcome – how do you think those who have previous experience with modding will be able to use the new tools? While modding does require some technical knowledge, we believe that players with experience will understand our approach. Those who have modded our previous games will have a significant advantage, as they will be familiar with our modding environment. For those taking their first steps into modding with our editors, they will have the option to copy existing items to see how they were created for the game, and then tweak them to their liking.
Could you tell us more about the official mods you've created? We've prepared four official mods for players to try out, which will be available on the Steam Workshop on 28 February:
Blue Moss Expedition - This mod adds a new expedition that appears at the beginning of the game, along with related story bits. The moss can then be used to make a tea that will improve your survivors' moods and help them relax. Opening this mod in the editor will let you see how resources and recipes work together, and how to create new technology for research
Meat Plant - A new research option that unlocks a plant that grows meat, based on the barrel cactus. Now you can more easily get meat for your survivors
Landing Pod Statue - This mod changes the starting resources by adding some stone and unlocks a statue of the landing pod that is available at the start of the game. It also shows how to import custom assets into the game. To make the process easier, we have provided a Blender scene that can be imported into the game.
New Survivor - This mod creates a new character with specific traits and happiness factors.
What sort of mods are you hoping to see from creators? We anticipate all types of mods, as players' creations have always exceeded our expectations. We can't wait to see the first mods and the creative ideas that players come up with!
Could you talk a bit about the sample mods you've been making for players to download? Anything you can share about what they contain and how they will change people's game experiences? Our sample mods were created to showcase the editor's capabilities and provide guidance on where to start and what to include in a mod. By demonstrating how to link separate items, the samples help modders understand what is required for their mod to function properly. Additionally, the sample mods provide examples of code and how it can be incorporated into mods.
Are there things mod creators won't be able to do with the new Mod Tools? Although the maps themselves will not be editable, players can modify everything else they see in the game, including the moons!
How can I share mods that I’ve created with my friends? Using the Steam Workshop, players can share their mods with the community and subscribe to other players' mods.
That's all we had time for this week! We're looking forward to all the new mods you'll be making using these new Mod Tools.
On 28 February at 3:00pm GMT, the community team will be joined by developers from Haemimont Games for a live demonstration of animal taming and the new update on Twitch and YouTube. We'll see you there!
Mod Tools and Steam Workshop Support Coming 28 February
Hello Survivors,
We are incredibly excited to announce that Mod Tools and Steam Workshop is coming to Stranded: Alien Dawn! In just a few days we'll be rolling out a mod editor that will let you create modifications to the game, changing the features and mechanics of the game. We're also adding full Steam Workshop support, letting you upload and download mods via Steam.
Mod support has been a hugely suggested feature by the community and we have been working closely with Haemimont Games to make it happen. For the coming launch, our friends at Haemimont have been working on creating several sample mods that will demonstrate how mods can be structured and how the editor works.
As always, we want to give a huge shoutout to everyone who's been sharing feedback and suggestions on our forums, on social media, or on our Discord server (link). We really couldn't do this without you! Don't forget to join us in our upcoming livestream, where we'll be showing off some sample mods, and talking about this release together with Haemimont Games. More details below.
Now let's take a quick look at what this release includes:
Steam Workshop Visit the Steam Workshop to see available Mods and Subscribe to any that you want to try. After subscribing to Mods shared on Steam Workshop the Mod Manager GUI, accessed from the game's title screen, provides an overview of which mods you have installed and allows you to enable or disable these as you wish.
Mod Tools All of the mod tools, samples, and documentation can be found in the same place the game is installed. If you want you can also access the mod tools from in-game by going to "Mod Manager" and selecting "Mod Editor".
This update will install a subdirectory named ModTools, that contains documentation and several tools including the Mod Editor itself. The Mod Editor is a powerful companion application that can be used to create/edit/develop/test mods, and when they are ready to share, the Mod Editor can also be used to upload mods to the Steam Workshop.
It is possible to create both relatively simple and very advanced mods, so our friends at Haemimont have created documentation and several sample mods that demonstrate how mods can be structured and how the editor works. We hope you'll enjoy the learning process and keep going as it can give you a great insight into game development, and we're looking forward to seeing what will be created and shared!
One thing to be mindful of when downloading mods is that they are player created software packages, and there can be potential compatibility issues brought on by installing them
Sample Mod and Official Mods The team at Haemimont Games have created several sample mods to help you get started. These can be tweaked in various ways to create a new mod and change up your game in various ways. Change your survivors around or make new ones, create additional building materials, add new animals, or create new game rules. The possibilities are many and we're looking forward to seeing what you create!
To get you started, Haemimont Games have created several official mods. You can download these from the Steam Workshop on 28 February:
Landing Pod Statue
A new statue of the Landing Pod which will work as a Leisure and Relaxation device for your survivors
Meat Plant
This new plant will grow raw red meat that your survivors can use in their cooking, or to feed hungry carnivorous pets
New Survivor: Chris "Jacko" Jackson
A brand new survivor you can add to your group, this prepper has lived on the alien world for a number of years, perfecting his kills in Combat, Construction and Crafting - he's an excellent addition to any team
Blue Moss Expedition
Discover the location of a new expedition containing a special Blue moss field - the plant can be brought back to your base and brewed into a pain relieving tea
If you could make any kind of mod for Stranded: Alien Dawn, what would it be? A new survivor, or maybe some kind of new device? A new resource? Let us know in the comments!
On 28 February at 3:00pm GMT, the community team will be joined by developers from Haemimont Games for a run-through of the Mod Tools and Steam Workshop Update. We'll also be taking your questions live on Twitch and YouTube.
Once again, we want to give a huge thank you to everyone in the Stranded: Alien Dawn community for all your support, feedback, suggestions, and bug reports. Don't forget to join the Stranded: Alien Dawn Discord and you'll never miss any news! You can also follow the game on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, or join the discussions on Steam and the Frontier Forums.
Tame and Train Update Out NOW!
Hello Survivors!
We're thrilled to announce our Tame and Train update is out now! Exciting new features await you in our 2nd major update to Stranded: Alien Dawn in Early Access. To get access to all the new content and quality of life additions, make sure your game is fully updated. Then you should be able to explore all this update has to offer!
The Tame and Train update will bring compelling new features to the game such as the ability to tame, train, and breed a vibrant array of alien wildlife. This update will also introduce three new dog breeds that can be tamed and trained to provide your survivors protection and companionship. With all these new ways to approach the game to consider, our new survivor may turn out to be your new favourite thanks to his expertise with animals!
We're looking forward to seeing how you will utilise these new features and how you adapt your playstyle with these additions. As always, thank you for sending us your suggestions and feedback as development on the game continues and we look toward more updates in Stranded: Alien Dawn.
Animal Taming will bring a whole new level of gameplay to Stranded: Alien Dawn. You will have to unlock the research option to tame animals, however different animals will require a certain level of skill, food and perseverance to successfully take them into your survivors' care.
Once an animal is tamed these helpful allies will be put under your care, where their happiness and survival needs will have to be managed. These efforts will in return be fruitful to your survivors as tamed wildlife can be played with by your survivors to increase their happiness, protect your survivor and their base, as well as yielding new resources and by-products that could prove very useful! There is even a chance for tamed animals to produce offspring to grow your animal farm to new heights.
We've also introduced a new animal to the mix: dogs! Three breeds of dogs, Great Dane, Boxer and Weimaraner will be available for your survivors to tame and build bonds with to increase their happiness. They can also be trained to fight alongside you when trouble calls and you can even pet them!
A new survivor has also been added to the roster, Hugo Delano. Hugo’s love for animals and his extensive background makes him a worthwhile and unique addition to the game. His distinct affinity to animals and adept farming skills are sure to prove useful for survival and produce bountiful resources. Hugo previously worked as a zookeeper at a big tourist destination, however due to an unexpected invasion he joined the resistance in order to protect the animals he loved. Never failing an attempt at taming and possessing the ability to occasionally improve the farming skill of others will allow Hugo to be a valuable asset to your band of survivors.
The Tame and Train Update also introduces additional resources, recipes, and constructions that you can build and discover to further enhance life on the alien planet. These new constructions will be beneficial for your newly tamed creatures, as you will be able to build dedicated animal sleeping spots, sheds and feeders for them! Tamed animal by-products such as manure and feathers will also be available for your survivors to utilise in their playthrough.
As always, we want to thank everyone in the Stranded: Alien Dawn community for all your support, feedback, suggestions, and bug reports. Don't forget to join the Stranded: Alien Dawn Discord and you'll never miss any news! You can also follow the game on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, or join the discussions on Steam and the Frontier Forums.
Now onto the patch notes:
Stranded: Alien Dawn - v0.30.230120 - Tame and Train Update
Key new features/content
Tame Animals - Discover a whole new way to interact with many of the fauna on this alien world, through taming and training
Manage Tamed Animals - Care for newly tamed animals, give them names, play with them and even defend your base with their help! But make sure you look after their needs
Dogs - Survivors can now encounter three different breeds of dog, including the Great Dane, Boxer and Weimaraner
A New Survivor - Hugo Delano - A former zookeeper who is an adept animal handler
5 New Steam Achievements - Unlock new challenges related to the new content
Due to many of the features in this update being interweaved through the rest of the systems in the game, we recommend starting a new game to fully experience everything this update has to offer! Animal Taming and Training
The 'Manage' category now includes functionality for 'Tamed Animals' that helps to manage and locate tamed animals
Added 'Ranch' activity within the Manage category. This allows players to manage taming, leading and training activities done by their survivors
Added research for 'Pacifiers' that can be used to attempt to pacify some more aggressive species. In turn, survivors can attempt to tame them
Added gender and size for wild animals
Observing wild animals now provides information concerning taming and training
Added detailed information about animals wellbeing including
Happiness levels
Pleasures and troubles
Health conditions
Fattening levels
Hunger levels
As newborn tamed animals get older they grow larger, as do tamed animals that become pregnant
Tamed animals have the potential to go berserk if left starving for too long
Tamed animals can be slaughtered for food by survivors
Tamed animals can become sick/injured, requiring healing to recover
Tamed animals can die of old age
Tamed animals are able to fight alongside survivors by being led to the location of a fight, where they will then behave autonomously as opposed to being drafted
Fertilization of crops using manure produced by animals is now available for farms
Statues of observed animals can be built, providing more decoration that survivors can take time out to appreciate, while also benefitting from a relaxation perk
Survivors
Adjusted eating, drinking, smoking and reading to take 50% less time to complete
Doubled survivors' carrying capacity for Wood, Stone, Bricks, Concrete and Metal
Survivors can now navigate through gates, in the same way that they are able to navigate doors, so its no longer necessary to open/close the gate itself
A survivor experiencing a berserk meltdown will no longer target walls, fences and small/low/thin devices
Survivors that are berserking now deal more damage to the item they are venting upon
Added a new trouble that is applied if a survivor butchers another survivor
Added medicine to the allowed/restricted consumable list of the survivors info panel
Survivors will now conduct Field observation for a longer period, before looking for more important activities
Research & Resources
Available research is now categorised as Resources, Power, Defense, Other or Breakthroughs
Added a new 'Flare shielding' research option, that enables devices to consume 50% more power instead of being disabled during solar flares
The "Spaceship deconstruction" research option no longer requires a minimum skill level
The "Carbon rooms" research option now requires Construction 5
Added 'Slop', a new food resource intended primarily for animal consumption, that can be crafted on a workbench using any raw food
The barrel cactus now takes 16 days instead of 4 days to fully grow, which is more consistent with other plants in the region
Building/Construction & Devices
Increased the average power production of wind turbines
Stone furnaces now supply heat and light while working
The maximum length allowed when placing fences has been increased from 16 to 50 tiles
Pulse rifles no longer deal damage to structures and devices
Animal attacks
Refactored spawning of animal attacks so they now spawn in range of the most populated area of the map
Adjusted behaviour of notifications during animal attacks
Adjusted behaviour of Scissorhands when attacking survivors that are leveraging the advantage of Fortified towers
Miscellaneous
Adjusted locations of some devices within the menus in line with the addition of new categories such as Ranching and Leisure
A new game rule 'Big family' has been implemented that increases the likelihood of additional survivors being found
The progress of completed tutorials is now cloud saved
Where applicable, Hotkey shortcuts are now called out in tooltips more consistently
Fixed pre-game survivor selection when using Keyboard to navigate the GUI
Various stability and optimisation adjustments
Various graphic adjustments
Various adjustments to audio effects
Stranded: Alien Dawn Developer Journal - Taming and Training Animals
Hello Survivors!
We know you are all incredibly excited for the new Tame and Train Update coming soon to Stranded: Alien Dawn! We're here with a new developer journal, featuring our friends from Haemimont Games, to talk about all things animal taming. Let's dive right in to learn more about this exciting addition to the game:
Hello! Thank you for joining us for the dev journal! Could you please introduce yourself and what you do on Stranded: Alien Dawn? Hello again! So happy to be back for another dev journal. My name is Bisser Dyankov, I'm CEO at Haemimont Games. I oversee production on Stranded: Alien Dawn, and try to make the lives of the developers easier.
Animal taming is an interesting addition to a game like Stranded: Alien Dawn. What made you decide to add this mechanic? We felt that animal taming was a pretty natural choice for Stranded: Alien Dawn. Looking at real-world situations where life and death is on the line, we see people go the extra mile to not only save themselves, but also their pets. We wanted to explore this premise by adding in animal taming. We think animal taming, where you turn wild animals into your pets, was the perfect fit for a survival game.
How should a player go about taming an animal in the game? First you'll have to research Animal Taming in the Research Bench. Then you should focus on observing the animals around you. Observation will provide you with key info on how to start the animal taming process, like the animal's favourite food. Once the animal's favourite food is secured, the survivor can make a taming attempt. You'll also need a specific level of the Farming skill. Not all taming attempts will be successful, but there's also a new survivor on the way who is an animal expert and great at taming.
How do you tame an aggressive creature? By using a dedicated tool for the job: the Pacifier! The Pacifier is a type of crossbow that tranquilizes the animal, making it calm enough so that it can be approached for a taming attempt. The pacifier requires specific technology that needs to be researched. You'll need to be careful and figure out what's the best approach, while also taking into account potentially other aggressive animals, for example.
What are some of the benefits of taming animals? What can the tamed animals be used for? The benefits are varied: from using the animals as resource providers for resources like Manure and Feathers; to breeding the animals for raw foods and other resources when slaughtered; to training some animals for providing support when the base is attacked; to playing and bonding with them - which makes both the animal and the survivor they have bonded with happier. However, taming and breeding come with their own challenges and long-term requirements to keep the new members of your group both fed and happy - so there are new tasks for the survivors as well. Anything new you add to your group is another mouth to feed, and a potential drain on your resources.
What are the benefits of playing with or training a tamed animal? Playing with a tamed animal has a positive effect on the happiness of both the animal and the survivor. There is also the possibility for the animal to bond with the survivor, forming a permanent bond between them. The training, on the other hand, has a more strategic potential - the trained animals are more effective in combat, and have a higher chance of survival. Keep in mind, that not all animals can be played with, and not all animals can be trained.
What are some of the challenges players can expect when adding animals to their group of survivors? Do animals have the same type of needs as the survivors? The immediate challenge to expect is keeping the animals both fed and happy. If this fails, the animals can go berserk, and start attacking everything and everyone. The longer-term challenges are related to adding another set of issues you need to keep in check - from providing food and protection, to making sure there are sleeping places and roofs over the animals' heads. Ultimately, the more effort you put into taking care of the animals, the higher the stakes when something bad happens - like having your best trained animal go berserk or eating all your food.
What can you tell me about Hugo Delano, the new survivor? Hugo is one of our favourite survivors, from his looks to his bio, he literally lives for animals! If you plan to do some taming in your game, it is a good idea to bring him along - until you become familiar with the feature, at least.
What's been most fun part of creating and implementing animal taming? Figuring out how taming for each type of animal would work was probably the most fun for us! We hope that the players have fun learning what makes these animals tick and how to integrate them into their survivor groups.
That's all we had time for this time, survivors! Please join us in thanking Bisser for joining us for this Developer Journal. We're looking forward to seeing everyone check the new update yourselves next week. It's not long now until the release of the Tame and Train Update on 24 January 2023.
Don't forget to join the Stranded: Alien Dawn Discord and you'll never miss any news! You can also follow the game on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, or join the discussions on Steam and the Frontier Forums. On 23 January at 3:30pm GMT, the community team will be joined by developers from Haemimont Games for a live demonstration of animal taming and the new update on Twitch and YouTube. We'll see you there!
