AColony News

Hi everyone,

after a long time of developing & also taking a bit of a break, the new fire update is finally available on the experimental branch.

I have to say, it has taken more time than expected to finish everything, because beside the visuals I had also to integrate the impact of the fire system in nearly every aspect of the game. Like the impact on all colonists, all animals, all constructions, all items, the nature and its recovering, the general combat system and far more.



[h3]Access[/h3]

You can access the experimental branch in the following way:

• Right click on AColony in your steam library
  
• Select Properties
  
• Select Betas
  
• Type in: password1234

[h3]Info[/h3]

The experimental branch has usually a version where the game can have some bugs and is relatively unbalanced. In addition, I still have a few points which I will add during that period (like for example that fuel generators with fuel in them are not exploding when on fire at the moment).

If you find any errors, bugs, weird behavior or have suggestions - you can always write it here in the comment section or join our discord to discuss them there.

Note:
If a public version is released and has a higher version number than a save file from the experimental branch, then you can also use that save file there.



[h3]What's Next?[/h3]

While I have to make some fixes & rebalancing in the next days, I also plan to record a new short steam trailer regarding the fire update, making some new screenshots and prepare all for a major steam update (which will also have then all details of the main topics and a full list with all patch notes).

In addition, with the release of the public version of the fire update, AColony will be available with a -30% discount for ~2 weeks.

I hope you all have an awesome day,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,

I am happy to announce that AColony will join the the Steam Spring Sale with a -30% discount today. In addition, I have some short news about the upcoming fire system.



[h2]News About Upcoming Fire System Update[/h2]

In the last weeks I have started to implement the new fire system and because I'm already pretty far in development - I have here a few screenshots and some brief descriptions to the main features of the upcoming update, which I want to share with you.

[h3]Flamethrower[/h3]
The next update will include the flamethrower as a new heavy weapon - beside the rpg & the gatling gun - and will allow you to set colonists, animals, trees and many other things on fire.



[h3]Molotov Cocktails[/h3]
What would a be fire system be without molotov cocktails? Of course, these shouldn't be missing, which is why I added them straight away. In addition, a new combat mechanic - throwable objects - will come with them.



[h3]Burning Vegetation[/h3]
The upcoming update will also include a fire blocks & fire spreading system which can set grass, plants & trees on fire. While I still have here to make many adjustments, I can say that it is already pretty fun to play around with the current implementation.



[h3]Burning Buildings[/h3]
In connection with the vegetation fire spreading system, there will also come a fire system for buildings, which will include new textures & effects for all core structure elements like floors, walls, roofs, battlements, fences, doors, windows & more!





Based on player suggestions, there will also come a lot of smaller fixes & upgrades - like that the production manager will support a min & max limit or that you can change the order of your colonists in the colonist overview menu.

The new version should be finished and ready for public in about the next 2 weeks - and will come with a large and far more detailed steam update, including all patch notes.

I hope you all have an awesome day,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,

it's time for a new update (v0.3.065) and this one includes the new gatling guns, updates in the sound system, a new event, fixes and some adjustments in a few systems.

[h2]Gatling Guns[/h2]
With this update a new gun gets introduced into the game - the gatling gun. This is the second gun, beside the rocket launcher, which falls under the category of heavy weapons, which means that these guns require a special ammo item to can be fired.

The difference from other weapons is that it can fire 35 bullets in a row (and not only 3 like by default). Even if these shots are more inaccurate, the weapon is very effective at close range or against several enemies standing close together at a distance. Plus - it's really fun to fire them.



[h3]New Ammo Item[/h3]
There is also a new item available - gatling ammo - which can be crafted on the modern or hightech workbench. At the moment, the required resources for 75 bullets are 1 fuel and 5 steel. In addition, you can also trade ammo with the weapon traders of both trader factions.



[h3]New Technology[/h3]
In connection to the new gun, I have also added the related technology to the technology tree. It gets unlocked after you have researched "Weapons II" which unlocks the machine guns.



[h2]New Event: Gatling Gang[/h2]
Of course, I couldn't resist to add a new event which is taking the new guns in count. Therefore I have created a new enemy attack event that spawns a gang of colonists which have heavy equipment. They have the following properties:

• They can be equipped with gatling guns and 275 ammo (chance ~80%)
  
• They can be equipped with modern sword and modern shield (chance ~20%)
  
• They always wear protective vests against ranged attacks
  
• They always wear face masks (but they are only decorative)
  

Note:
This event can only spawn in computer and nuclear age. So no worries, if you still have only bows and sticks, this crew will not visit your colony.



[h2]Updated Audio System[/h2]
If you have already played the game, you have maybe noticed that is can rarely happen (for example, when firing machine guns in fast mode) that same sound effects can overlap which makes them pretty loud.

Therefore I have made some updates in the audio system which should handle such situations now and make the sound flow better. I have to say here, mostly when there are getting 4 or 5 gatling guns fired at same time, there I really noticed that problem.

[h2]What's Next[/h2]
Since I'm currently working on finishing the combat system with all of its components, I will very probably implement the flamethrower and its fire system next.

In the meantime, I hope you will have a lot of fun with the the functionalities of this update!



[h2]All Patch Notes:[/h2]
Last but not least, here I have a list with all patch notes which also contains some adjustments:

• added new weapon type (gatling gun)
  
• added new item (gatling ammo)
  
• added new technology (gatling guns)
  
• added new customization item to the game (mask)
  
• updated audio manager to prevent that 2 same sounds get played at same time
  
• decreased negative runspeed impact of all weapons and equipment
  
• increased all quest rewards
  
• fixed that single fence was not detected by battlement raycast system
  
• increased max units per slot of meat, human meat and insect meat to 50
  
• increased defence values of protective vests slightly
  
• decreased sniper and machine gun damage very slightly
  
• fixed that hats had not always the exact fitting scale in relation to colonist head
  
• decreased intensive color of fuel canister
  
• fixed that equipping body armor dropped rpg rockets
  
• increased price of rpg by 30%
  
• decreased max groups of pheasants by 1, increased chicken by 1
  
• decreased attack values of foxes (for new players)
  
• decreased attack chances of foxes
  
• fixed that also pets could have been chosen as drunken wanderer quest target
  
• fixed error shown in client when colonist to medicate can walk again
  
• fixed that loading save file with active medicate on ground job failed
  

I hope you all have an awesome day,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,
a new patch (v0.3.062) is out with some smaller fixes:

• fixed bug which has not unlocked battlement materials
  
• fixed that setting squad in combat mode with immobilized colonists locked combat mode on host
  
• fixed very rare error in online-coop when player tries to medicate colonist on ground
  
• fixed that destroy power cables vertical in walls showed that no path available
  
• started with the work on new combat mechanics
  

I hope you all have an awesome day,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had some awesome winter holidays!
I have a new patch for you (v0.3.058), which includes some smaller updates and fixes for the bugs you have reported over the last days:

• it's possible to take protective vests from immobilized colonists now
  
• fixed that centipedes moving items on spawn were not correct removed from resource list
  
• fixed error shown when explosion destroyed battlement and its floor at same time
  
• fixed error when loading a game with a saved projectile flying against a construction
  
• fixed that battlement colliders were blocking mouse interaction in transparent mode
  
• fixed that it was possible to build battlements when terrain blocked it
  
• fixed that battlements were not possible to build in corner-in formation
  
• fixed that battlements materials were not locked behind related techs
  
• fixed battlements color not shown in technology tree menu
  
• fixed that crosshair of modern crossbow was not included in transparent mode
  
• fixed that claw wolf sometimes suffer from overeat poisoning
  
• fixed that claw wolfs did not start continue eating corpse after sleep
  
• fixed that prisoners had trait related mood to your colony
  
• fixed that fallen meal is owned by colonist traders when selling eating prisoners
  
• fixed that error in online-coop shown when one player had not researched metal replace material
  

Cheers!