AColony News

Hi everyone,

A new update is out (v0.5.015), which includes the new mechanic to seed plants / plant trees on roofs or in the underground, a new item + constructions, some additional updates & more!

I have also to announce, that AColony will join the steam city builder and colony sim fest today with a special discount of -50%! (so don't forget to fasten your seatbelts)

[h2]Plants and Trees on Roofs & in Underground[/h2]
With this update a new mechanic will be introduced, which allows you to build special floors for an extended plant seeding and tree planting functionality in unusual places. This means, that you can place them on roofs but also in the underground now.



[h3]Grass Floors[/h3]
To achieve that goal, I have added a new special material for the default floor which has grass or dirt on its surface. It gets unlocked by the basic husbandry technology and can be placed like any other floor in the game.



[h3]New Resource (Dirt)[/h3]
In connection with the grass floors I have also added a new item (dirt), which can be bought by traders or will spawn if you mine grass and dirt blocks now. This resource is required to build the new floors, but also to build the decoration construction house plant.



[h3]Underground Plants + new Construction (Plant Light)[/h3]
Of course, you can also seed plants in the mountains or the underground now, but that comes with a huge debuff which increases the grow time by 400%.

Plants or trees are seen as in underground, when an active terrain block is blocking the way straight upwards to the sky. Because I don't want a penalty for players which want to construct something like a plant skyscraper, I have excluded any debuff if you build floors or roofs over plants.



You can avoid the debuff of underground plants, by building a new construction - the plant light - which works similar like the modern sprinkler and gives a +400% grow boost once per day.

This means your plants can grow with the same time like on the free air, but with the requirement of additional power costs.



[h2]Additional Updates[/h2]

[h3]Mark Plants, Trees, Rocks & Animals Directly[/h3]
I have added a new button to the plants, trees, rocks & animals info menus, which allows the player to directly mark, if the related object should be harvested, cut, mined or hunted.



[h3]Decreased Fire Extinguish Time[/h3]
Based on player feedback, I have reduced the time to extinguish fires by circa 45%. This should increase the speed with which you can stop fires from spreading (mostly during the volcano eruption event).



[h3]Fixed Volcano Event Weather[/h3]
It seems like there was a bug in the weather manager which has often chosen the default volcano weather instead of the default stormy weather (beside the normal sunny one). This should be fixed now.



Note:
If you load a save file from before this update, the volcano weathers for the next 7 days are probably still in the scheduler. You need to play 7 ingame days until the normal stormy weathers will come again.

[h3]Updated Demo[/h3]
And as a side task, I have upgraded the demo of AColony to the newest version (v0.5.015), which should include all bug fixes and some additional functions from the latest early access version.

[h2]Patch Notes:[/h2]
Last but not least, I have here a list with all patch notes:

• added functionality to seed plants & trees on special floors
  
• added new construction (floor (material, grass))
  
• added new construction (plant light)
  
• added new item (dirt)
  
• added that grass & dirt blocks give dirt by mining now
  
• you can mark plants, trees, rocks & animals directly in their menu now
  
• fixed that volcano weather was often chosen as default weather
  
• fire extinguish times are by ~45% decreased now
  
• random seed in new game menu can be set back now
  
• grass floors can be found under technology 'basic husbandry' now
  
• plant lights can be found under the technology 'technical helpers
  
• dirt can be bought or sold via traders now
  
• fixed sprinkler audio ignored master volume on pause / play
  
• reduced wind bend factor on trees
  
• construction 'houseplant' requires dirt as build material now
  
• increased tree plant value per tree for forest helpers
  
• fixed weather info in weather forecast machine (client)
  
• fixed some smaller things
  

[h2]What's Next?[/h2]
The next points on my list (and during the fest) are to upgrade the difficulty & start settings menu to be more customizable and to add some smaller features / QoL stuff which I got recommended by player feedback.

I hope you all have an awesome day and will enjoy the update + the steam city builder & colony sim fest, Cheers!

Hi everyone,

The new update (v0.5.005) is finally published and includes the new community events system, the tree planting mechanic, calling raiders from radio stations and more!

I have to say, my actual plan was to release this update on 24th March in connection with the steam city builder and colony sim fest with a special discount of -50% . But as things are, I have completely overlooked that there is also the spring sale directly before the fest.

Therefore I have changed my plans a bit and decided to publish this update a little bit earlier and to publish another one in the next days. In addition, AColony will also join the steam spring sale with the special discount of -50% today :), because the sale ends only 4 days before the colony sim fest starts.

[h2]Community Events[/h2]

With this update the new community events function will be introduced. You are now able to plan a community event via the notice board if you meet the required conditions. If that is done, you have to prepare all points in order to start the event. During the event, your colonists can do some tasks / progress which defines how satisfied they are when the event ends. (so this has an impact on the rewards).

At the moment there are 4 different events (there are some more in planning with future updates) and these are the victory celebration, the lumberjack fest, the miner fest and the traders fest.

Note:
All community events also offer a relationship bonus to all of your colonists when the event is completed.



[h3]Victory Celebration[/h3]
This event can be prepared if you have defeated a certain amount of enemy attacks (excluding insect nests). The main party here goes about to drink at the bar and the rewards are targeted to combat related areas.

Conditions:

• Defeat 3 raids
  

Preparation:

• Fill the bars with drinks (1.5x per colonist)
  

Rewards: [5 days]

• +5 temporary mood
  
• +35% combat melee & combat ranged damage
  
• +100% learning skill in melee combat & ranged combat
  

[h3]Lumberjack Fest[/h3]
That event can be prepared if you have cut a certain amount of trees. In addition you have to build a new construction (a chopping block) which can be filled with wood. The event also offers a contest between your colonists (can be seen in the event info menu when started) and gives the winner a special relationship boost of +35 from all other colonists. The rewards are targeted to forestry related areas.

Conditions:

• Cut 45 trees
  

Preparation:

• Fill the bars with drinks (1x per colonist)
  
• Fill some chopping blocks with wood (5x per colonist)
  

Rewards: [5 days]

• +5 temporary mood
  
• +35% tree cutting speed & +75% more resources from trees
  
• +100% learning skill in forestry
  

[h3]Miner Fest[/h3]
The miner fest can be prepared if you have mined a certain amount of blocks of any kind. Similar to the lumberjack fest, you also need chopping blocks which you have to fill with stones, plus it also has the contest functionality with the mentioned relationship boost. The rewards are targeted to mining related areas.

Conditions:

• Cut 60 blocks
  

Preparation:

• Fill the bars with drinks (1x per colonist)
  
• Fill some chopping blocks with stone (5x per colonist)
  

Rewards: [5 days]

• +5 temporary mood
  
• +65% mining speed & +75% more resources from mining blocks
  
• +100% learning skill in miner
  

[h3]Trader Fest[/h3]
This fest can be prepared if you have exchanged a certain amount of currency with traders (selling or buying). In addition you need 3 market tables and you have to put 5 extra drinks in the bar. During the fest, one of the satisfy tasks are that the traders need to consume these 5 extra drinks. The rewards are targeted to charisma & trading related areas.

Conditions:

• Reach trade value of 125$
  

Preparation:

• Fill the bars with drinks (1x per colonist + 5 in addition)
  
• Own 3 market tables
  
• A trading caravan must be there
  

Rewards: [5 days]

• +7 temporary mood
  
• +5% charisma
  
• +115% learning skill in charisma
  
• +15% better trade prices
  

[h3]New Trait (Party King)[/h3]
In connection with the community events, I have also added a new trait - the party king.
This trait gives his owner a large impact on all community event rewards, but also removes the drinking limit completely, which can often end up in a situation where he is laying passed out on the ground (during a fest).



[h2]Planting Trees[/h2]

As already mentioned in the last news update, I have finally added the tree planting mechanic which allows the player to regrow the forest and trees anywhere on the map. I will give you a short summary + screenshots from the last news update with some small additions.

[h3]Planting Spots[/h3]
A a new button has been added to the zone creation menu, which enables a similar functionality like for default zones to place tree planting spots in the world. The difference to default zones is, that there is no visual zone with tiles created (instead it creates some signs) and that planting spots cannot be placed directly beside each other or beside a tree.



[h3]Saplings[/h3]
In order to plant a tree, the player needs a special item - a sapling. They can be gained from trading caravans (material trader) or via a barter with a wanderer community. In addition, there there is a chance of 10-30% if you cut a tree (and the colonist has a forestry skill level of minimum 10) to gain 1-3 saplings.



[h3]Forest Helpers[/h3]
In connection with the new tree planting mechanic, I have also added a new event - the forest helpers.

This event can be seen as the opposite of the already implemented forest defenders event and is triggered when you plant a certain amount of trees. The value which calculates if the event gets spawned is the same as for the forest defenders, which means if you cut trees the value goes in direction to spawn the forest defenders event, but if you seed trees it goes in the direction of spawning the forest helper event.

A special property of the forest helpers event is, that the centipedes will help you against several enemies including:

• Raider attacks
  
• Insect nest attacks
  
• Animal attacks
  

If you cut too much trees in their near the event can be cancelled and the group will disappear. If you attack the group and deal a certain amount of damage, the group will turn hostile against you and will act like the well known forest defenders group.

Event: Fighting raiders: Fighting animals: Fighting insects:


[h2]Call Raiders From Radiostation[/h2]

And just for fun, I have extended the functionality of the radio station so that you can also call the raider faction now, which will send an attack group to you. This could be useful if you want to quicker get some ammo, weapons, armors, prisoners to sell & more.



[h2]Patch Notes.[/h2]

Last but not least, I have here a list with all patch notes:

• added community room events!
  
• added community event (victory celebration)
  
• added community event (lumberjack fest)
  
• added community event (miner fest)
  
• added community event (trader fest)
  
• added new construction (chopping block)
  
• added new trait (party king)
  
• added that bar can be filled with whiskey & mead now
  
• added that raiders can be called by radiostation now
  
• added that carrion snails come with higher tier members now
  
• added tree plant mechanic!
  
• added new button to zone create menu to place tree plant spots
  
• added new event (forest helpers)
  
• added new item (saplings)
  
• saplings can be gained from traiders & wanderers
  
• added a chance of get saplings from cutting tees (min 10 skill needed)
  
• reduced wheat cost of whiskey from 20 to 12
  
• increased gained wood from cutting trees by 10%
  
• added tutorial page regarding training
  
• added tutorial page regarding community events
  
• squad select menu shift now when scroll in colonists overview menu
  
• difficulty mode 'easy' has less enemy & insect attacks now
  
• fixed that transport immobilized animals to animal cage was blocked by player
  
• fixed training on player command was interrupted by sleeping schedule
  
• fixed command message for transport corpses to testtargt was shown on non-player colonists
  
• fixed very rare error shown on animal herd update
  
• fixed wrong icon loaded for refuel jobs
  
• fixed some translation mistakes
  
• fixed many smaller things
  

[h2]What's Next?[/h2]
Since the steam city builder & colony sim fest is already in ~11 days, I have to decide between 2 tasks and which of them I will implement at first. On one hand, there was the suggestion for an updated start menu, scenario selection and more customizable difficulty system. On the other hand it would be great to finally add grass floors which will allow the players to seed plants on roofs or indoor.

If you would prefer one of these systems at first, just write it in the comments :)

I hope you all have an awesome day and will enjoy the update,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,

I have a new short news update for you and this one is about the new tree planting mechanic (finally) :)

At first I have to say - the community events update is nearly finished, but I have delayed the release of the new version a little bit again, because I saw that on 24 March there is the steam city builder & colony sim fest. Therefore I have decided to release the community events functionality in connection with the tree planting and other features in a combined major update shortly before the fest.

[h2]Planting Trees[/h2]

This was since a while on my list and these days I have finally added it - the tree planting mechanic - which allows the player to regrow the forest and trees anywhere on the map.

[h3]Planting Spots[/h3]
I have added a new button to the zone creation menu, which enables a similar functionality like for default zones to place tree planting spots in the world. But the difference to default zones is, that there is no visual zone created (instead it creates some signs) and that planting spots cannot be placed directly beside each other or beside a tree.



[h3]Saplings[/h3]
In order to plant a tree, the player needs a special item - a sapling. At the moment, they can only be bought from traders or wanderers, but I was also thinking about that there is a small chance that when you cut a tree, that some saplings can spawn.



[h2]Forest Helpers[/h2]

In connection with the new tree planting mechanic, I have also added a new event - the forest helpers.

This event can be seen as the opposite of the already implemented forest defenders event and is triggered when you plant a certain amount of trees. The value which calculates if the event gets spawned is the same as for the forest defenders, which means if you cut trees the value goes in direction to spawn the forest defenders event, but if you seed trees it goes in the direction of spawning the forest helper event.

A special property of the forest helpers event is, that the centipedes will help you against enemies, which also introduces the first case that an insect group can be allied with the player.





I hope you all have an awesome day and I'm looking forward to see you at the steam colony & city builder fest, Cheers!

Hi everyone,

Since the earth has orbited the sun one more time again, I wish you all a Happy New Year!

In connection with this event, I have written this short news post to keep you updated on the progress of the new features in the upcoming update.

While the mechanics and network functions are already implemented, I have decided to delay the release of the new version by a few days. The reason for this is, that there is only 1 community event existing at the moment and I think it would be better and also more fun for you, if the next version will include far more and diverse events.

[h2]Updated Bar[/h2]
Since the bar has served in the past only as a community room furniture with no special mechanic, I have finally upgraded it with the functionality to store alcoholic items in it. To avoid that these items get consumed too quickly (a few colonists can relax at the same time at the bar) I have split them up into drinks which only remove 1 item unit at the bar when 3 drinks are consumed.

Note:
I have also added the options to define who can drink at the bar in order to prevent colonists to drink the bar dry before you can start a community event.



[h2]Community Events[/h2]

With the next update, the notice board will finally get the functionality to prepare and start community events. These events are meant for every member of your colony and will have some impacts on their behavior, social interactions, mood and more.

[h3]Conditions[/h3]
To start a community event, you must first meet all the conditions to be able to select it. For example, for the victory celebration, you need to defeat at least 1 enemy attack.



[h3]Preparation[/h3]
When a community event is selected and linked to the notice board, you need to prepare everything to start the event. This can be to fill the bar with a certain amount of drinks (depending on your colonists count), to build special constructions which will be used during an event, or some other points.



[h3]Running[/h3]
While the event is running, all colonists will automatically meet in the community room and spend their time there (the normal jobschedule is disabled). In Addition there are also progress goals which define the amount of rewards you will get.



[h3]Rewards[/h3]
When the community event is over, your colonists will get some rewards depending on the event type.
These can be for example:

• Temporary mood boost
  
• Temporary increased skill points for certain work
  
• Temporary attributes impact for specific jobs
  
• Some other impacts
  

[h2]Additional Stuff[/h2]
I have also already made some smaller fixes, like making the easier mode more easy, added 2 more tutorial pages, fixed some reported bugs and more. I will post a more detailed description with all patch notes & changes with the next (and release of the community events) update!

If you have some suggestions or ideas for community events, conditions & rewards - please let me know! One of my ideas for a new community event is some kind of a lumberjack event which will take place outdoors and gives your colonists a +50 or +75% more resources from cutting trees as reward (for like 5 days or so).

I hope you all have a great day and happy new year again,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,

AColony has joined the Steam Winter Sale with a -30% discount today!

In addition I have also published a new version (v.0.4.095) with some smaller fixes.

[h2]Patch Notes:[/h2]

• pets can be buried now
  
• dead colonists & pets can be kicked off graves now
  
• added positive mood effect for burying pets
  
• corpses will the thrown of training targets now if normal mode is selected
  
• fixed that medicate prisoners took default and not prisoners settings
  
• fixed that colonists of other players have also used host pc training dummies as target
  
• removed mood impact on killer & cannibal from use own colonists as targets
  
• started implementation of custom events (via community room event panel)
  

[h2]Plans for next Update[/h2]

At the moment I'm working on the implementation of a custom event system for the community room which will include fests, parties, celebrations & other activities (So that the event panel gets finally its functionality). If all will run like expected, this update should be released before the new year!

I hope you all have an awesome day and some happy upcoming holidays,
Cheers!