The Nature Update Part 2 is Now Live!

Boyhowdy it's been a month already since the last the update. But it's time for a new up! Part two of the Nature Update is now live for folks!

For a little run-down of a few of the changes you can check out this neat little devlog!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Gigantic thank you to everyone for all your feedback, as always it's so cool to be able to make this game together with everyone! But let's hop right into the patch notes


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[h2]PATCH NOTES[/h2]


[h3]Content & Gameplay Additions[/h3]

• Each zone in a level will now contain one of three distinct biomes: Grassland, Forest and Steppe. Zones will dynamically change between these biomes based on how forested or polluted they currently are, as displayed in the zone’s summary when selected in map mode
  
  • The Steppe biome will hardly spawn any new plants and doesn’t allow for farming
    
  • The Grassland and Forest biomes will grow slightly different flora
    
  • Trees will grow to their largest size in a Forest zone
    
  • Trees will additionally have their maximum growth stage limited as they near Highland altitude
    
• Research nodes now have base time durations to unlock once started
  
  • Multiple research nodes can be queued up to unlock, and the queue’s order changed at any point
    
  • Research speed scales with the amount of employed citizens in the kingdom
    
  • Research generally has a much cheaper upfront resource cost
    
• The research tree has been updated and re-organized
  
• Added fog of war to map mode
  
  • Players and kingdom NPCs and structures reveal the fog of war
    
  • Non-kingdom NPCs will only appear in map mode while revealed
    
  • Non-kingdom structures will appear in map mode as long as they’ve been revealed once before
    
• While in an overview menu or map mode, issue tracker messages can now be clicked to open the relevant overview menu or to cycle through and highlight relevant entities in map mode
  
• Enemy NPCs and building holograms can now be inspected in map mode
  
• Map mode icons can now be clicked to select the relevant entity or group
  
• Added a new issue tracker message for buildings on fire
  
• New infrastructure: Stone Fences
  
• New resource: Sulfur
  
• New plant: Ember root
  
  • Grows on rock tiles and provides Sulfur when harvested, which is now required for the Powder Mill to make Gunpowder
    
• Zones now have a Development state attribute (e.g. Wild or Settled, displayed in the zone’s summary when selected in map mode), determined by number of citizens employed in that zone
  
• Creature nests now spawn per zone, with the total amount of nests per zone being determined by the its size, biome and Development state
  
• Terrain right above water level will now turn into Coast (if soil) or Reef (if rock)
  
• Rooted entities will turn the ground Burned when destroyed by fire
  
• When plants grow they will now cause Overgrowth, which turns the terrain tiles they’re rooted to and adjacent ones Fertile (from Barren or Burned)
  
• Players and NPCs trampling terrain in Highland elevation and in the new Steppe biome will turn tiles from Barren to Outcrop
  

[h3]Changes & Improvements[/h3]

• Sawyers & Charcoal Burners cut down trees twice as fast
  
• When power-throwing entities into terrain they will now generally take less damage from the collision
  
• Sowing Barren tiles to turn them Fertile no longer costs resources
  
• The Builder’s Workshop no longer costs Components to build
  
• The minimum and maximum damage speeds for NPC fall damage have been increased, generally reducing damage taken unless at or near terminal velocity. Fall damage will still only deal up to 60% of an NPC’s max health
  
• Defeated NPCs now provide twice as much crown charge to nearby players on death
  
• Map mode icons for resources are now hidden by default, and shown only when build mode is enabled
  
• When in build mode with a building selected to be placed (either from the build menu or an existing building that’s lifted by the player), only relevant resources’ icons will only be shown in map mode (e.g. when placing a Sawmill, Wood icons are shown)
  
• Added Wood icons for groups of trees in map mode
  
• Outlaw raids can now also occur on the first day of a season (during the first season outlaw raids still cannot occur at all)
  
• Outlaw camps and creature nests can now spawn closer to those belonging to the same faction, but will spawn farther away from those belonging to other factions
  
• Buildings’ colliders now follow parts of the building as they are animated (such as hatches opening and closing when the building is rooted and uprooted)
  
• Tuskars now mutate after living for 3 in-game days (rather than 1)
  
• Compass target marker distances now fade out when overlapping that of a target that's nearer for better clarity
  
• Creature nests’ compass markers are now only shown when within 500 meters of them
  
• Increased compass vision range to 250m (from 200m). The new fog of war is revealed by the player within a matching range as well
  
• Simplified the logic for the number shown as the maximum population count next to the clock, for better clarity
  
  • If the "Recruiting should not exceed jobs" box is checked in the Population menu, it will now list the total number of available jobs
    
  • If "Recruiting should not exceed jobs" is not checked, it will list the larger of either available jobs or housing capacity
    
• A glint effect is now shown right before a Poacher fires their musket
  
• Fir Bushes are now larger in size
  
• The Fir Bush Fodder item dropped from Fir Bushes has been adjusted to better match the bushes
  
• Short and Tall Bushes now have appropriate winter foliage, rather than having none
  
• Updated Oak Trees, Apple Trees and Bushes with new foliage for all seasons
  
• The Bush Fodder and Fir Bush Fodder items (dropped from their respective bushes) now change color to match the current season
  
• Added VFX for attacks blocked using the Shield
  
• Added twirling VFX to the Greathammer
  
• Greathammer attacks that can hit the ground will no longer play ground impact VFX and sound if they did not hit the ground
  
• Edited the Woolies’ walk cycle to make them just a little bit cuter
  
• All Mutant Woolie sounds have been refined, and high-pitched screeches were removed from most
  
• Added various sound effects for the Lantern
  
• The Monarch’s face is no longer oily 💅
  
• Reduced the intensity of all buildings’ window lights during daytime
  
• The drive belt has been removed from the Builder’s Workshop’s back
  
• The Powder Mill’s roofs have been recolored to blue
  
• Greatly increased the overall size of the Foothills level (it now counts as large)
  
• Somewhat increased the size of the Canyon level (it is now listed as the recommended map for new players)
  
• Made minor tweaks to the Seaside Cliffs level
  

[h3]Optimization & Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed citizens incrementing the “insufficient housing” issue tracker message’s count permanently upon dying
  
• Fixed Mortar Towers not providing housing for their employed cannoneers
  
• Fixed Mutant Tuskars being unable to jump up terrain while walking
  
• Generally improved large creatures’ handling of movement close to terrain
  
• Fixed non-host players having access to certain menus before the host when they haven’t been unlocked during the playthrough yet
  
• Fixed the issue tracker and info feed being offset for non-host clients if they join the game with a different resolution than the host
  
• Fixed non-host players not having the max player dropdown value change in the Manage Players menu when the host changes it
  
• Fixed the local player’s smoldering meter (the fire icon next to the health bar) remaining stuck on screen when burning and being extinguished by water
  
• Fixed loading a save with trees affected by certain status effects causing all trees of the same type to be rendered partially pink
  
• Added proper strafe walk animations for the Shovel and Seed Bag
  
• Added proper crouching animations for the Seed Bag
  
• Fixed blending issues between the Monarch’s walk and run animations while strafing with all equipment
  
• Fixed water shadow artifacts when zooming out in map mode
  
• Fixed Castle Arch holograms displaying a white square as their map mode icon
  
• Fixed large compass target marker distances wrapping to two lines
  
• Fixed entity selection outline in map mode appearing incorrectly for some structures
  
• Fixed entity selection outline in map mode appearing for indoor NPCs for non-host players
  
• Fixed some Greathammer attack sound effects being mistimed
  
• Fixed VFX for the Greatsword being dragged on the ground playing in certain cases where they shouldn’t
  
• Fixed the leaf VFX that appears on the ground when Fir Trees are cut down displaying as green squares rather than leaves
  
• Fixed a missing texture in one of the Builder’s Workshop’s windows
  
• Fixed the back of the Hunting Tower’s musket sometimes being visible through the top hatch while reloading
  
• Fixed Highland grass ledges having a noticeable dark streak
  
• Fixed a missing sound effect for the Weaving Mill’s rooting/uprooting animations
  
• Fixed water sounds rarely overlapping in a noticeable way, making them feel artificial
  
• Fixed a memory leak when renaming save files (potentially causing a crash after renaming multiple times)
  
• All buildings’ textures have been optimized to reduce rendering overhead
  
• Added a LOD model for all buildings, improving rendering performance when viewed from medium distances and farther
  
• Improved performance of localized strings in general, but most noticeably impacting menus with data that is constantly updated such as the Population menu
  
• Fixed an NPC animation issue causing extra rendering overhead
  
• Fixed map mode UI sometimes being updated while outside of map mode, causing extra CPU overhead
  
• Optimized water rendering
  

o( ❛ᴗ❛ )o That's it for now, but stayed tune for next weeks Monthly Update where we'll go over everything that we have been working on for the month of May - which has been a lot
See you soooooooon!.｡ｏ♡