Greetings medievalists!
The new major update titled “
Beauty & Comfort'' is now live on Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG. All the fixes and improvements from the experimental branch are now stable, tested, and present in this update! These include: bed/room ownership, aesthetic and comfort values, new furniture as well as various other tweaks and improvements.
But first, for an optimal user experience, we suggest that you:
[h3]Disable Mods if you have them[/h3]
Please note: if you are using unofficial mods you might experience crashes or even an inability to start the game. If this occurs, turn the mods off before starting the game. If the problem persists, be sure to delete all of the folders in the
steamapps\common\Going Medieval and then verify the game files.
Note for the players that had issues with starting the game: For folks that experienced being stuck on a loading start-up, we’ve added potential solutions. Right-click on Going Medieval in the Steam library and choose "Properties". In the “General” tab and within the “Launch options” section add -force_preload. This should help you start the game normally, but it may take a while. Do let us know if it helped you (here or via mail).
Now, on to the update - we’ll separate it into different segments:
[h3]Bed and Room Ownership[/h3]
Settlers can finally have their own beds, even rooms. You can assign settlers manually to beds (via the info panel) or, when the night comes, they’ll choose beds and in that process acquire ownership. Some things to note about beds:
- Beds are built as unassigned.
- If there is an assigned bed on the map for that settler, the settler will seek it when the time comes.
- If a settler has an assigned bed that's unreachable/locked off, that bed will become unassigned and the settler will seek a reachable bed.
- Nothing will happen if you change the assignment of a bed while it's being used. The ownership will revert back to the settler sleeping on it, and a text will appear notifying the player.
- If you assign an empty bed to the settler who is sleeping somewhere else, that settler will immediately wake up and go to their new bed.
- A settler can’t have more than one bed assigned to them.
- A bed can’t have more than one assigned settler for it.
- If a settler is in a caravan, they will still retain the bed ownership.
- If a settler dies, their bed is automatically unassigned.
- If a settler is banished or given to raiders, their bed will be automatically unassigned.
- If there is an assigned bed in a single bedroom, that ownership of the bedroom will transfer to that settler.
We are also introducing a new room type called “
Infirmary”. These rooms are used for healing settlers and tending their wounds. Here is what you need to know:
- To turn a room into an Infirmary, you will have to build at least one infirmary bed in it, and at least two infirmary shelves.
- Infirmary rooms can’t have shrines, entertainment structures, workstations, or regular beds in them.
- You need to research Infirmary beds before you can create them.
- Infirmary beds can’t be assigned.
- Settlers heal faster in the Infirmary and tending has a higher chance of success.
- If a settler is wounded and wants to rest (convalescence), they will always go to an infirmary bed if possible.
- If a healthy settler doesn’t have any wounds and doesn’t have any other bed except the infirmary bed, they will still not sleep in the infirmary bed.
- Wounded settlers will prioritize medical beds if they want to sleep.
- When a settler carries wounded to beds, they will always prioritize: free/reachable medical beds in the infirmary, infirmary beds in rooms, infirmary beds under roofs, infirmary beds outside, assigned beds to that wounded settler and then an unassigned bed if there is nowhere else to go.
Now, let’s talk about another feature that relates to room ownership, enriches the gameplay, and allows us to expand it and tie it to other systems.
[h3]Aesthetic Value[/h3]
Every single thing in the game will have an “
Aesthetic Value”, a number that indicates how beautiful (or ugly) things are. Settlers will react to beautiful stuff all around and according to that get various mood modifiers.
There is a new icon beneath the Manage button called “
Show Aesthetic Heatmap”.
Checking the aesthetic value of an area is done with a mouse, hovering over an area, and looking at the info on the bottom left side of the screen.
When it comes to items, piles, buildings, etc. their aesthetic value can be checked by selecting them and checking their info panel (like in the bed screenshot above).
Here are some notable things when it comes to this feature:
- When a settler stands on a grid space, that grid will output and calculate the average beauty of everything around the settler (in a 19-grid radius) and will affect the beauty stat target. You can check this by hovering the cursor on the Aesthetic stat for that settler.
- Standing on a gridspace that has a large amount of beauty will make the beauty stat rise and the settler will get a nice mood boost. Standing in an ugly area will make the settler get negative mood boosts.
- Buildings have an aesthetic value that they emit all around them.
- Item aesthetic value will change depending on if they are a pile, on a rack, or equipped.
- Some piles, like limestone and dirt, provide negative aesthetic value when inside a room when compared to being outside (e.g. having bones in rooms will provide negative aesthetics).
- Plants have different beauty in each phase of growth (dead plants have negative value, while apple trees when blooming and flowering are very pretty).
- Settlers and animals also emit beauty. For instance, rats have a negative amount while pheasants and foxes have the highest amount of beauty
- Some perks can affect a settler's aesthetic value.
- Settlers can change their beauty amount when equipping something nice.
[h3]Room Impressiveness[/h3]
Rooms have different impressiveness levels now. This can be checked by selecting a room (via an overlay of detected rooms) and going to its Stats panel and looking at “Impressiveness”.
- The level of impressiveness depends on overall space, the amount of wealth of the room, and its average aesthetic value - smaller rooms with no windows will give negative modifiers, while spacious rooms filled with rich buildings and furniture will offer positive ones.
- Impressiveness is tied to bedrooms, shared bedrooms, great halls, and shrines.
- Settlers with dainty and precious perks now have jealousy effectors, which will be triggered if someone in the settlement has a nicer room than they, or if someone has a room that they don’t.
Because of this, settlers will get various mood boosts while doing stuff in these rooms (sleeping in a room, eating in a great hall, praying in the chapel, etc.).
[h3]Comfort[/h3]
The Comfort stat allows settlers to get varying mood boosts depending on the level of comfort. If a settler uses chairs for eating, they will get a comfort boost. If the area they pray at has rugs on it, they will get a comfort boost. Basically, better beds, chairs, and clothes will result in a higher value of this stat, because comfort modifiers have been added to them. Keep in mind that settlers with the “Ascetic” perk will not get positive buffs from impressive rooms, nor will they get any comfort modifiers.
And what is beauty and comfort without new furniture and structures?
[h3]New Structures and Furniture Types[/h3]
We want every settlement to feel unique, and uniqueness comes with additional options. Here are the things we added.
New furnitureAll of these things can be found in a Furniture panel if you researched the necessary stuff.
- Royal beds (linen and wool)
- Quality beds (linen and wool)
- Wicker bed
- Quality chair (linen and wool)
- Iron chair
- Wicker stool
But now you can also produce certain furniture types within production buildings.
- Tapestry (produced at a sewing station)
- Rug (produced at a sewing station)
- Rush matting (produced at a sewing station)
- Painting (produced at a new production building - “Easel”)
- Wall mirror (produced at a Blacksmith’s forge)
- Stone statue and relief (produced at a Stonemason's bench)
- Wall statue and relief (produced at a Woodwork bench)
Similar rules that are present for regular production are also applied here:
- These structures are produced at workbenches like any other item.
- These structures are produced as de-installed structure piles.
- These structures are produced with different quality levels (like weapons) that are related to the settler's skill level.
New resource
- Pigment (produced at the Apothecary table) is used for making paintings.
Some furniture types outputs are worth mentioning:
- Rugs will appear differently, depending on the type of leather (or cloth) you are using. More on that in the Quality of Life improvements section.
- Rugs can be placed under all furniture and production buildings. They can be placed on the ground, too.
- Paintings, tapestries, and statues have randomized shapes and textures. This doesn’t mean you’ll get a new look if you uninstall and install them again, nor does it mean that you’ll get a new look if you sell it to a merchant and buy it, but it does mean that every time you produce one, randomization will take place.
[h3]Overview Panel[/h3]
We made some changes to the Animal panel and turned it into an Overview panel.
- It now contains 4 tabs (Resource, Items, Domestic, and Wildlife).
- Domestic and Wildlife work the same while the Resource and Items should provide a quicker overview and additional management options.
[h3]Bugs and fixes[/h3]
- Fixed the issue where no plant life could be damaged by hail storms or lightning strikes.
- Fixed the issue where settlers would tend wounds without healing kits, even if one is available.
- Fixed the issue where settlers would not follow the priorities of braziers, torches, and candelabras during the refueling goal
- Fixed the issue where a settler would have a weird position during their work on certain production buildings.
- Fixed the issue that caused settlers to lose their way when looking for merchants or other moving targets.
[h3]Quality of life improvements[/h3]
- The “Artist” job has been added to the game. It is used to produce art.
- A shake effect has been added to all buildings when they get damaged. The shake duration depends on the amount of HP being reduced.
- A shake effect has been added to plants during the cutting process. It’s a minor thing, but hey - every action needs a reaction, right?
- Leather is no longer just leather. Now we have leather for every type of animal (that drops leather) and different variations of clothes and buildings can be constructed with different materials. All the present leather will be converted into Deer leather.
- We’ve added a mood effector that affects all settlers according to the amount of wealth per settler on the map. This basically means that as you progress through the game, settlers might turn unhappy because they “want more stuff”. This also means that managing mood at the start should be easier.
- Merchants will exclude all items made of human skin during trading.
- More objects are allowed for a “Great Hall” room. You can use wicker stools, new banners, etc. Some items, like infirmary beds, are forbidden.
- Influence wealth is raised from 70k to 120k because reaching the max influence level was too easy before.
- “Prioritize roping animal” has been added to the right-click menu.
- “Prioritize Resetting” has been added to the right-click menu on traps.
[h3]Known issues[/h3]
- Settlers can stuck at Merchant's Trading posts when attempting barter with them there. Draft/undraft the settler and proceed with bartering.
- Settlers will not choose the closest production building if there are more of the same type, but the one that has a production set first in the global list of production.
- Animals get stuck on slopes and stairs sometimes, save/load fixes this. Yes, this happens again but the chances for that to occur are significantly lower. However, please F10 this issue whenever it occurs. It’s been tough to replicate the issue on our side.
- If your settlers are experiencing weird animations with some actions, be sure to cap the game's FPS in the game's options. Cap it to 60fps. If the issue persists, cap it at 30.
That would be all for the official update notes. New patches and improvements will be deployed accordingly. In the meantime, feel free to post your experience regarding the new update on
Steam discussions. If you want more dynamic/direct communication - head over to our
Discord server. Even though we might not reply, we are reading everything.
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