Timberborn News

Hi everyone!

You want to know more about Timberborn’s future and we want your say on what we’re working on. That’s why today, we’re opening up the game's experimental branch! This is an opt-in based testing ground where new content goes before hitting the main game.

We’ll talk about all the fresh stuff below, but the “experimental” part is crucial. We’re doing this to gather early feedback from the players. As a result, some experimental features will be unfinished and/or bugged, and if something sucks, it might never make it to the normal branch.

So what do we have for you? As you know, we’ve been preparing the first large content update for Timberborn – and here it is in its pre-baked form! Note that depending on the feedback we get now, there might be more (or less) content in the update’s official release.

[h2]Patch notes (experimental): 2021-11-24[/h2]
To play on Experimental Branch and risk it all, follow the instructions posted in this forum thread.

[h3]New and updated resources[/h3]
We’re adding new resources to the game, alternative metal sources and water plants included. We’re also updating existing resources so that they can yield more than one type of goods.

• New resource node: Metal Deposit. These large, rich in metal ore remnants of hooman civilization can only be placed in the map editor. They provide an infinite source of a new resource, the metal ore, but are difficult to adapt for beaver needs.
  
• New resource: Cattail. Yields cattail roots. Can only grow in water.
  
• New resource: Spadderdock. Yields spadderdock seeds. Can only grow in water.
  
• New resource: Chestnut Trees. These trees with thick trunks grow slowly, but they provide your beavers with chestnuts in addition to logs.
  
• Updated resource: Pine. Pines are now also a source of pine resin.
  
• Updated resource: Maple. You’ve guessed it, you can also gather maple syrup.

[h3]New and updated resource-processing buildings[/h3]
Updates to resources required an expansion of available buildings.

• New building: Mine (4000 SP; 300 logs, 300 treated planks, 600 gears; 10 workers; can only be built on top of Metal Deposits). In exchange for a continuous stream of gears and treated planks, beavers are now able to get infinite amounts of metal ore, digging deeper and deeper.
  
• New building: Smelter (1000 SP; 80 treated planks, 50 gears; 1 worker; 320 HP). To be used in buildings, the metal ore needs to be smelted and turned into metal blocks here.
  
• New building: Wood Workshop (800 SP; 20 logs, 40 planks, 50 gears; 1 worker; 250 HP). Creates Treated Planks from Planks and Pine Resin.
  
• New building: Aquatic Farmhouse (1500 SP; 30 logs, 30 treated planks; 2 workers). Beavers employed here grow cattail and spadderdock in the designated (underwater) areas. Make sure they can reach the water!
  
• New building: Tapper’s Shack (500 SP; 20 logs, 20 planks, 10 gears; 1 worker). A beaver employed here gathers pine resin and maple syrup from trees in range. You can pick the prioritized good.
  
• Updated building: Gatherer’s Flag. Gatherers are now able to gather chestnuts in addition to blueberries. You can choose the prioritized good.

[h3]Multiple recipes[/h3]
As a continuation of the above, we’ve implemented the ability to pick from different recipes.

• Updated building: Grill. You can now pick between Grilled Potatoes, Grilled Chestnuts, and Grilled Spadderdock. Yield numbers vary.
  
• Updated building: Gristmill. You can now pick between Wheat Flour and Cattail Flour.
  
• Updated building: Bakery. You can now pick between Bread, Maple Pastry, and Cattail Crackers.
  
• If a building allows multiple recipes, you need to pick one before it starts working. If you don’t, the building will display a warning. You can choose the recipe before the building is built.

[h3]Water gameplay[/h3]
The ability to transfer water to higher levels is one of the most popular requests so we’ve got you a mechanical water pump! Also, Water Wheels’ behaviour is now more immersive.

• New building: Mechanical Water Pump (5000 SP; 100 gears, 50 treated planks, 50 metal blocks; 700 HP). This pump sucks the water below and dumps it at a higher level. It can be integrated into structures made of levees to allow building open reservoirs.
  
• Water Wheels now have variable HP output, depending on the current current’s strength. If you manipulate that correctly, this can result in higher output than before.
  
• Water Wheels will now slightly slow down the water passing through.
  

[h3]New attractions[/h3]
It’s post-apocalypse alright but a beaver’s existence should not be only about survival.

• New building: Lido (1000 SP; 40 logs, 20 planks, 10 treated planks; can only be built on a riverbank). You wanted the swimming pools, and here they are. Lidos satisfy Fun.

• New building: Mud Bath (1800 SP; 30 gears, 50 treated planks, 30 water; 50 HP). Rivers aren’t always available but getting down and dirty (with bubbles!) is! And it's a hell of a Fun.

• New building: Observatory (5000 SP; 200 planks, 80 gears, 50 pine resin; 300 HP). Stargazing is now another way of satisfying Knowledge!

[h3]Maps and Map Editor[/h3]

• All included maps have been updated to include Metal Deposits and Chestnut Trees. To maintain the in-game balance, we have removed some of the existing ruins and other trees.
  
• It is now possible to place Metal Deposits and Chestnut Trees in the map editor.
  

[h3]Miscellaneous[/h3]

• Average Wellbeing needed to unlock Iron Teeth increased from 8 to 11.
  
• Changed the time to grow Maple to 30 days.
  
• When in full screen, the game is now played in the borderless windowed mode.
  
• Added new resource and building icons as well as updated some of the existing ones.
  

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

• Fixed a bug causing the game to freeze while loading on full screen.
  
• Fixed a bug with Tribute to Ingenuity not working properly.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed the Iron Teeth to place Platforms on a particular tile within Rooftop Terrace.
  
• Beavers occupying slots in buildings will now be properly displayed.
  
• Fixed a bug with highlighting text in text fields.
  
• Fixed a bug with incorrect text wrapping.
  
• Fixed a bug with kits being unable to grow because of too many attractions nearby. Sorry, Peter Pan.
  

[h3]Known issue[/h3]

• The game occasionally freezes on macOS when changing resolution. If it happens, restart the game and it should work fine using the new resolution.
  

[h2]"Conquer the Helix Mountain" - contest results[/h2]
Remember our city-building contest? Well, you buried us under submissions but after much deliberation and sorting through about 140 (!) amazing entries, the results are here:

• 1st place a.k.a. Masterful Architect: Vyna#8800 from Discord ("City77")
  
• 2nd place: @DoritosAniki from Twitter ("Submerged World")
  
• 3rd place: IsidoroPla#1264 from Discord ("Villa Plasencius")
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Check the video above to see the top three entries as well as the ten honorable mentions.

From everyone at Mechanistry, big thanks to all participants and congratulations to the winners. You rock!

We'll see you on the Experimental Branch (and Discord)!

Here's a small hotfix patch. To make sure it's applied, you may have to restart Steam.

• Fixed a crash caused by opening the map editor after a fresh installation or resetting the game's settings.
  

We had another hotfix about an hour ago.

• Fixed a crash caused by lumberjacks trying to cut already demolished trees.
  

Note that the problem above might have caused your game to crash right after loading.

[h3]🚨 Please restart Steam to make sure your game is double-hotfixed after today's patch. 🚨[/h3]

Fixes:

• Fixed a bug that caused crashes on launching Timberborn, starting a new game, or loading a saved game.
  

Thank you for the reports, keep 'em coming!

Hello everyone!

As promised, we’ve made changes to how Timberborn’s save system works. The new iteration makes it easier to build beaver towns over multiple sessions but also saves space on your drive.

But first, let us invite you to join our first city-building contest in the Early Access. Whether you crave eternal fame (and a place in the game’s credits) or want to play on Helix Mountain, an experimental map we built with the community, visit our Discord or check this thread for details.



And now, the patch notes.

We know working with the previous save system could be a pain in the tail. We’re addressing that in a few ways.

• Saves are now grouped based on a settlement you’re working with. You will be prompted to enter the settlement’s unique name once you start a new game or load an old save.
  
• The new saves created at that point and going forward will be stored in a corresponding subfolder located in the Saves folder. The in-game “Load Game” screen lets you browse the saves grouped by settlement (subfolder) as well. Saves that are yet to be assigned to a named settlement are found in the Unnamed settlement in-game. Their location in the Saves folder hasn't changed.
  
• The game now uses only three autosave slots per settlement, overwriting older autosaves as needed.
  
• The new save files (as well as the map files) now use a .timber archive format. As a result, files are 5 to 10 times smaller.
  
• Existing .json map files are backwards compatible but the new maps you create or modify will be saved as .timber files. Map localization on your drive hasn’t changed.
  
• Cloud saves are now enabled on Steam. Make sure you have Steam and Timberborn set to synchronize files with the cloud so that it works properly. Please note that only the new, small .timber files (maps and saves) are stored. Nobody likes heavy clouds, right?
  

The work continues on the new content update. In the meantime, here are some other changes, some of which are totally unrelated to what's coming.

• Made visual adjustments to the tree models.
  
• While placing down gatherable resources in Map Editor, it is now possible to choose whether they should be in the “ready to gather” state.
  
• Added new Need Groups to replace singular needs.
  
• Renamed most Needs and placed them in their correct Need Groups.
  
• Separated Aesthetics and Social Life groups into multiple Needs.
  
• Made minor text adjustments to how the yield progress is displayed on resources.
  
• Made minor visual adjustments to needs’ status bars.
  
• Optimized code related to Monuments, Decorations and Breeding pods to increase performance in large settlements.
  
• Adjusted some tutorial tips so that they lead to fewer beaver casualties.
  

• Fixed severe performance issues related to beaver wandering. Thanks also go to our modding community!
  
• Fixed the first drought on Normal difficulty that sometimes was longer than intended.
  
• Beavers no longer stop bringing nutrients to Breeding Pods in certain scenarios.
  
• Fixed progress bar overflowing in the kits' growth progress bar.
  
• Fixed Scarecrow's height restrictions so that it can no longer stick its head through bridges. That was too spooky even for Halloween.