Big thanks for the extensive feedback we’ve been receiving from you since Monday’s patch. Today, we’re fixing several outstanding issues but if you notice any further quirks, be sure to let us know!
Bug fixes
Fixed several scenarios where adding a single water tile actually reduced the water body’s irrigation range. Thank you for the detailed reports such as this one! <3
Fixed a bug with the Temple’s extract-fuelled flame not going out even when no extract was in the building’s inventory.
Borders of contaminated ground are now not as sharp and jarring.
Dandelions are now categorized as ingredients, similar to coffee beans.
Fixed a minor translation error.
Patch notes 2023-12-04 (Experimental)
In today’s not-so-small update, we’re changing (and adding) attractions. The irrigation algorithm receives an important tweak (bye-bye, Water Dump trick). We’re also adding the ability to build mirrored buildings. Oh, and the extract is now green (again).
Need a refresher on how to play on the Experimental Branch? Follow the instructions found here.
Attractions
With this update, Folktails finally get to show off their dancing skills, and the Iron Teeth now get their daily dose of propaganda high culture. We’ve also updated the attractions to accept resources carried by haulers, opening up the ability to add new types of attractions to the game.
New building: Dance Hall (1200 SP; 100 logs, 50 treated planks; 20 metal blocks; Folktails-only). All Folktails, old and young alike, are famous for their sick moves. Now, they can finally hit the dance floor!
New building: Motivatorium (1200 SP; 75 logs, 100 gears, 20 treated planks; requires 200 HP to operate; Iron Teeth-only). Here, the Iron Teeth proletarians unite to collectively remember what their society is about.
Updated building: Mud Bath. The new cost is 40 logs, 20 gears and 50 treated plank. This building now needs a steady supply of dirt.
Updated building: Decontamination Pod. The new cost is 20 planks, 5 gears, and 5 metal blocks. This building now needs a steady supply of extract.
Updated building: Temple. It now needs a steady supply of extract, which is being burnt inside to assist in, um, reaching a higher state of contemplation. The flames were updated to reflect that.
Updated building: Engine. Not necessarily an attraction but now working in a similar fashion, it no longer has workers. The engine will keep working as long as haulers continue delivering logs.
Irrigation
Recent changes may have crippled the infamous Water Dump trick but we’re done with half-measures… or at least we think we are, as our players’ creativity knows no bounds.
The irrigation algorithm now takes into account the area of water bodies. Smaller water bodies irrigate smaller areas.
Made small changes to most maps to address the change above.
Seasons
You’ve made it clear that it should be easier to notice that the seasons have changed. We’ve added fancy new splash screens that should be really difficult to miss.
Added a splash screen at the start of each season.
Flipping
This is the end of an era! Starting today, buildings no longer have entrances available only on one side - you can flip them. We’ve added this feature to all buildings with asymmetrical door placement, plus some others where it made sense (such as most monuments).
Added the ability to flip most buildings before placing them (default hotkey: F).
Removed Mirrored Lodge and its memorable flavor text from the game because it’s now simply possible to flip the regular version.
Visual
What was once green, is green again.
Updated the extract’s color to a different shade of green.
Updated the model for the Iron Teeth version of Rooftop Terrace.
Badtides now use slightly different fog colors.
Updated the models and lights in Numbercruncher, Underground Pile, and Engine. Door and window lighting is now exclusively used to indicate the type of a building’s workers.
Reduced Bot Assembler’s height to one tile.
Map editor
In the map editor, it is now possible to add a custom image as the map’s thumbnail. This feature supports transparent PNGs so you can also use it to add a layer of extra elements - such as your logo - on top of a regular thumbnail image. In other news, you can now also simulate droughts and badtides without leaving the editor.
Added the ability to add custom images as map thumbnails via a file browser.
Added new buttons that allow you to simulate droughts and badtides within the editor.
The direction of the terrain brush can now be changed with dedicated buttons rather than just hotkeys.
Misc.
Books and coffee are now consumed before the beavers enjoy their time in attractions such as carousels. This should make it easier to hit higher well-being levels.
Reordered attractions and needs to match their increasing science points costs and well-being gains.
Added looping sounds to Centrifuge.
Added selection sounds to Badwater Dome, Badwater Rig, Badwater Discharge, Wind Tunnel, Scratcher, Clock, and Brazier.
Added missing flavor texts.
Added members of the localization team to the in-game credits.
When there is no keybinding set for a tool, it’s no longer displayed as “Binding undefined”.
With the UI hidden (Ctrl+H, remember?), pop-up windows such as the deletion confirmation box now cause the UI to be unhidden rather than blocking the game. The UI will also reveal itself to comfort you after you hit Esc in a panic.
The post-crash screen now includes extra information if your game is modded. Please remember that disabling all mods is often the best way to fix crashes, especially after updating the game.
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug that caused beavers en route to cut a tree to stop in weird places upon loading the game.
Fixed a bug causing contaminated beavers not to be counted against the automated migration limits and minimums.
Fixed haulers’ backpacks clipping through in several attractions and decorations.
Fixed maple syrup barrels clipping through the terrain.
Vote for Timberborn, grab a bundle, and catch up on Update 5 progress
Hi everyone!
Steam Awards are upon us, and we'd be honored if you voted for Timberborn in the "Labor of Love" category above. Timberborn has been in the works for over five years already, and the category's name perfectly summarizes what this game means to our small studio. And if you haven't had a chance to experience that for yourself yet, you can now grab Timberborn at a 20% discount!
We're also launching a new bundle with our fellow countrymen working on Medieval Dynasty. If you want to see how hoomans built their towns in the past - before eventually turning Earth into a barren wasteland under the rule of beavers - it's a perfect choice. And the discount is even higher!
Finally, we want to catch you up on the status of Update 5, the upcoming content patch that brings the most significant changes since the Early Access launched in 2021. Update 5 has been receiving tweaks on the Experimental Branch for several weeks now, and the new content has already evolved compared to what we described in the original announcement.
Here's where we're at with Update 5 today, collected into handy bullet points.
The update's highlight is badwater (currently in its third color iteration). Badwater is fluid, toxic waste that flows from Badwater Sources and taints regular water sources during badtides (see below). As explained in the post linked above, we strongly believe this new challenge makes the gameplay deeper and more varied, prevents "solving" a map too early, gives map creators extra tools, and addresses several common requests from players.
Badwater fully uses in-game water physics, powers up water wheels and so on. Most importantly, it mixes with regular water.
On top of badwater sources that burst with waste during wet seasons, we've added a new in-game season called badtide to the rotation. When a badtide triggers instead of a drought, badwater starts flowing from regular water sources.
Beavers exposed to badwater may become contaminated. Contaminated beavers turn into zombeavers are very slow and refuse to work. They must be cured using faction-specific methods - either in special pods (Iron Teeth) or with herbal medicine (Folktails).
Badwater not only limits the irrigation range of regular water, but also kills all plant life in affected areas. The effects become more severe with higher badwater concentrations.
To deal with badwater, you can use standard hydroengineering tools such as dams and floodgates. There are also special new buildings: dedicated badwater pumps, faction-specific barriers that limit contamination spread, and different high-end structures that seal badwater sources. The Iron Teeth seal even allows the flow of badwater during drought if that's what you need.
Badwater also has a positive side - it's turned into the extract. This new resource is used to enhance bots, breed adult kits in Iron Teeth-exclusive Advanced Breeding Pods, and even produce more powerful dynamite.
Speaking of terraforming, it is no longer exclusive to bots. The mechanical beavers have another distinct advantage, though - they're immune to contamination.
For the update's launch, all built-in maps will be reworked with badwater in mind. Right now, 9 out of 11 maps are ready.
Update 5 also adds many new decorations and attractions, most of them faction-specific. These range from lanterns and hammocks to exercise plazas and air tunnels. Here's a spoiler: there's more coming.
We've implemented multiple quality-of-life tweaks. Keybindings are now customizable, saves have previews and extra details, custom map creators can add thumbnails and descriptions.
Update 5 features numerous other additions, some long overdue. These include the removal of the irrigation tower (!) and adding tree-cutting animations (!!!).
We're not ready to share the main branch release date of Update 5 yet as we still have more things coming! Stay tuned for further updates - and if you want to read the full patch notes, go here.
If you don't want to wait and are ready to try the sometimes-quirky experimental builds, check the instructions here. Be sure to let us know your thoughts afterward - we appreciate your feedback, and that's how we decide what needs extra work.
Thanks, and... please do remember about us in the Steam Awards voting above, will you?
- Team Timberborn
Patch notes 2023-11-20 (Experimental)
Bugfixes
Fixed beavers getting stuck while cutting trees.
Patch notes 2023-11-14 (Experimental)
Fixed some plants being rotated randomly. Wheat, attention!
Reduced injury chance at Badwater Rigs.
Fixed wrongly calculated hauling priorities. This means no more fewer beavers hauling just one object around.
Patch notes 2023-11-13 (Experimental)
Hello everyone,
It’s time for another batch of experimental tweaks to the Update 5 content! We’ve updated badwater colors, added a new model for the Herbalist, and changed the maps (including Helix Mountain which now features badwater). Most notably though, Timberborn is no longer missing one of the most important animations. You can now actually see your beavers cutting trees!
Visual
The first version of badwater could be mistaken for lava, and the second resembled sewers too much. Today, we’re trying to strike the right balance between these two extremes. Also, Herbalist no longer uses the old Healer model.
Updated colors for badwater and extract.
Updated the Herbalist’s model to better correspond to its current role (see below).
Animations
The first recorded request for proper tree-cutting animations in Timberborn is from 1784. We’re so happy we’re finally here!
Added tree-cutting animations for beavers and bots.
Trees are now swaying while being cut.
The dev team can now sleep at night.
Maps
The work on getting the built-in maps ready for Update 5 continues.
Remade Helix Mountain, our inspired-by-community map. It is now badwater-compatible.
Made smaller tweaks to Craters, Meander, Terraces, and Waterfalls. Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
Removed that randomly placed birch tree from Plains.
Balance
Apparently, the Decontamination Pod was so comfy some beavers would often overstay their welcome. On the other hand, the Hard difficulty was sometimes a little too brutal.
Contaminated beavers placed in Decontamination Pods now recover faster.
On Hard difficulty, the first badtide can now hit after two cycles of the grace period (up from one).
Audio
How about some new, bubbly sounds?
Added new sounds to the following Update 5 buildings: Centrifuge, Grease Factory, Decontamination Pod, Badwater Source, Exercise Plaza, Advanced Breeding Pod.
Keybindings
The newly added keybindings required a little extra care.
Hitting Esc while setting up a new keybinding now closes the window.
It is now possible to use Ctrl + mouse wheel to go through the main categories on the toolbar. Shift + mouse wheel goes through the buildings within the selected category. We estimate this saves you about 1 kcal per two-hour game session.
Updated default keybindings in the map editor.
MacOS users can now use CMD in keybindings.
Updated several default keybindings on MacOS to use CMD instead of Ctrl.
UI and QoL
The post-crash screen now includes a text box. You can use it to explain what happened before the game exploded. This comment will be included in the crash report.
It’s now possible to preview a building before unlocking it. To unlock the building, either try placing it down in the preview mode, click the dedicated button, or hit Enter with the building selected.
Updated icons for Badwater Sources, Water Sources, and Badwater Rig.
Bugfixes
The camera now focuses correctly on water pumps, rather than on their pipes.
Fixed a minor highlighting bug caused by moving between categories on the toolbar.
Fixed a bug with stranded sheep left at the base of a cliff beavers not dying.
Fixed a bug with multi-key keybindings not fitting the UI.
Stranded bots that run out of fuel now correctly use the stranded animation.
Buildings that make a terrain cutout (such as Underground Pile) now include the terrain cutout in the construction stage.
Patch notes 2023-11-03 (Experimental)
Misc.
Added missing Update 5 translations.
Bug fixes
Badwater bodies with bottoms and sides entirely built with levees no longer contaminate tiles next to them - this time for real.
Patch notes 2023-11-02 (Experimental)
Hi everyone!
Today, we’re having a second look at how badwater and pollution spread across the map, and what the player can do about it. This update adds several new buildings and structures which should address the feedback we’ve been receiving since Update 5 first dropped and after our most recent patch. As a bonus, we’re removing a certain irritation-inducing tower.
Let us know what you think about today's changes - either below or on our Discord in the #experimental channel.
Badwater sources
Many of our players have been vocal about the ability to stop the contamination at its, ahem, source. With this update, we’re allowing you to do that, provided your beavers can access sufficient resources. On an even more important note, droughts now disable badwater sources.
Badwater sources are now disabled during droughts, similar to regular water sources.
Tweaked the RNG a bit so that the same season of pain (a drought or a badtide) doesn’t trigger too many times in a row.
New building: Badwater Dome (2000 SP; 100 Planks, 200 Gears, 100 Metal Blocks; Folktails only; ground only). Built on top of a Badwater Source, this heavy-duty structure allows you to manually open and close the source.
New building: Badwater Rig (4000 SP; 400 Gears, 200 Treated Planks, 150 Metal Blocks; Folktails only; ground only). This even more advanced building seals a badwater source for good but allows employed beavers to gather and store large amounts of badwater right there.
New building: Badwater Discharge (4000 SP; 300 Gears, 200 Metal Blocks, 50 Explosives; Iron Teeth only; ground only). The Iron Teeth counterpart works similarly to Folktails’ Badwater Dome with one important difference: keep it open during a drought, and the badwater will continue to flow!
Contamination
We may have gone overboard with the recent change to levees, dams, and floodgates so we’re reverting their behavior to the previous state. However, we’re also adding new structures that should give you more control over pollution and badwater in general - so much so that we felt compelled to delete a certain building from the game. Oh, and there’s a cool new pump!
Levees, dams, and floodgates no longer prevent irrigation and contamination spread.
Water (and badwater) bodies with bottoms and sides entirely built with levees no longer irrigate (and contaminate) surrounding areas.
Patch highlight: Removed Irrigation Tower from the game. We believe the current set of irrigation-related tools is enough for you to not miss the memiest of Timberborn buildings.
New building: Contamination Barrier (400 SP; 5 Planks, 1 Metal Block; Folktails only; ground only). This structure doesn’t stop the water flow but stops pollution from passing through all the tiles below it. Simply wall off the areas you want safe. It’s super effective!
New building: Irrigation Barrier (400 SP; 10 Logs, 5 Treated Planks; Iron Teeth only; ground only). This barrier blocks both contamination and irrigation. Sure, this may be a heavy-handed approach, but you can still use it to separate an area from a river that may get contaminated. You can then irrigate the terrain with water from sources officially approved by the Water Purity Committee.
New building: Large Water Pump (400 SP; 20 Logs, 5 Gears, 10 Treated Planks, Folktails only). Effective farming relies on access to clean water - simply find it, and with this bad boy, you’ll get enough in no time.
Renamed Barrier to Blockage. It just made sense to us to shuffle these names around.
Contamination now spreads diagonally, similar to irrigation.
The Dandelion Returns
After a brief disappearance, everyone’s favorite - apparently - garden plant is back. And it’s stronger than ever.
“New” building: Herbalist (300 SP; 20 Planks, 5 Gears, 5 Treated Planks; Folktails only). In a blatant asset flip, we’ve repurposed and renamed the previous Healer building to use dandelion. It now creates antidotes - a new good that’s stored in tanks. It heals contaminated beavers at a slow rate.
Decontamination Pods are now Iron Teeth-exclusive.
Misc.
Updated map thumbnails with new badwater visuals.
Updated particles for Double and Triple Dynamite.
Improved the visibility of Badwater Sources.
In certain scenarios, beavers now get to work right after reaching their destination rather than idling.
Large Science Points costs are now shortened (10,000 becomes 10k etc.)
Updated descriptions for several buildings.
After the game is over, it acknowledges that in a subtle way.
Bugfixes
“Contaminated” status no longer disappears from the event log after the affected beaver gets tired and heads home.
Fixed power connectors for Wind Tunnel and Bot Assembler.
Fixed beavers delivering goods to Advanced Breeding Pods so eagerly they’d clip through.
Fixed an issue with floodgates partially clipping through terrain.
Fixed a crash caused by exiting Timberborn directly from the game.
Fixed a crash caused by clicking Rubble.
Homeless beavers will now sleep at a building’s doorstep if they can’t find better spots. :(
Patch notes 2023-10-12 (Experimental)
Hello everyone!
We want to thank you for the great feedback shared since Update 5 hit the experimental branch two weeks ago. Badwater is a huge change that was bound to require some tweaks, and today, we’ve got the first batch ready. Please let us know what you think!
Visuals
You’ve made it clear that the colors of badwater and extract should change. We’re happy to oblige.
Toned down the hue of badwater to make it look less like lava more like the toxic waste it is.
Changed the color of extract to red so that it better corresponds with badwater’s.
Water physics
You asked for more ways to control how the pollution spreads, so from now on, Dams, Levees, and Floodgates stop the ground’s contamination. This change also applies to irrigation, though, so plan carefully.
Dams, Levees, and Floodgates now prevent irrigation and contamination spread.
Extract
While badwater does well as a new threat, its positive side has been lacking. We sought a way to improve that, and we’ve found bots to be a good choice.
New building: Grease Factory (2000 SP; Gear x30, Treated Plank x20, Metal Block x10; 2 workers; Iron Teeth-only). Boasting Danny Zuko’s seal approval, this building turns extract into a new, oily resource.
New good: Grease (Extract x1, Canola Oil x1 gives Grease x2). Stored in tanks and consumed by Iron Teeth bots, grease increases their condition by 1.
New good: Punch Cards (Paper x2, Plank x1 gives Punch Card x2; Folktails-only). Containing more precise instructions, punch cards are an extra paper sink and a new, earlier boost to Folktails’ bots. Produced at Printing Press (which is now a Folktails-exclusive building, remember?) and stored in warehouses, cards are consumed by Folktails’ bots to increase their condition by 1.
Updated recipe: Catalyst (Maple Syrup x1, Extract x1 gives Catalyst x3; Folktails-only). With extract added to its recipe, we’re making catalyst the second, more advanced boost available to Folktails’ bots.
The maximum condition achievable by bots is now 2. A bot with access to both faction-specific boosts enjoys +80% movement speed and +120% working speed.
Balance
In light of Update 5 changes, we’re tweaking the game’s balance and difficulty levels.
Small Windmill: maximum power output is now 150, down from 200.
Large Windmill: maximum power output is now 300, down from 400.
Wheat flour recipe: now takes 0.5h to complete, down from 0.78h.
Cattail flour recipe: now takes 0.25h to complete, down from 0.66h.
Bread recipe: now takes 1h to complete, up from 0.42h.
Maple pastry recipe: now takes 1.5h to complete, up from 0.55h.
At hard difficulty preset, it now only takes a single guaranteed drought cycle before the game starts randomizing your plight between droughts and badtides.
Misc.
Updated the Diorama map to remove a visual glitch causing water to clip through the terrain.
Updated icons for several water- and badwater-related buildings, as well as the icon for the injured beavers.
Updated descriptions of difficulty levels to mention badtides.
Updated the welcome screen so that it no longer refers to the ancient alpha, beta, and demo times.
When selecting a good in a storage building’s panel or via the storage overlay, its extended tooltip - the same as the one used in the top bar - is now used.
Bug fixes
Fixed a crash caused by using the layer hiding tool (again).
The “It’s dying” progress bar is no longer displayed for partially collected crops.
Fixed the map editor’s “Hide resources” icon behaving incorrectly.
Fixed the missing injury chance in Dirt Excavators and the incorrect injury chance in Explosive Factories.
Fixed the “Empty storage” status icon being displayed under range lines.
The units’ movement speed bonus is now correctly displayed.
Fixed a bug with goods’ icons on barrels sometimes having the wrong color.
Fixed a bug with water pumps partially disappearing while in preview mode.
Fixed a bug with Water and Badwater Sources setting the contamination of the water tiles above them to 0% and 100%, respectively.
Fixed numerical input fields crashing the game when trying to use certain character combos.
Beavers now only become contaminated right after finishing their current task. Illness is an illness, but finishing work takes priority.
Patch notes 2023-10-02 (Experimental)
Bug fixes
Saves with dandelions marked for demolition will no longer crash while loading.
Using layer hiding tool will no longer cause a crash.
