Update 1.3 Sneak Peek & Experimental Update
[h3]Update (April 11)[/h3]
We've just released a new iteration of the Hearth upgrade changes to the Experimental Branch. In a nutshell, we're scrapping the idea of Species Hubs and instead making more granular changes to the existing Hubs system, mainly by giving each Hearth level a +1 Resolve bonus (instead of keeping the +2 Resolve only at level 1).
Before we dive into the full changelog, we'd like to thank you for giving the Experimental Update a try. We really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, concerns, and ideas with us! This makes things a lot easier and helps us read the room better before pushing something into the live version of the game. That is what the experimental branch is for.
Check out the full changelog and our dev notes here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4214881026368560356
[hr][/hr]
[h3]Original announcement (April 5):[/h3]
Greetings Viceroys!
We recently celebrated a major milestone for Against the Storm (thank you all for your love!), but we're not resting on our laurels. We're currently working on the next free update teased in the post-release roadmap - Update 1.3 - and it's finally time to share some sneak peeks with you.
Here's what's coming:
The update is expected to arrive sometime in May. Yes, that's a long time to wait, but to sweeten the deal, we've just released an experimental update that lets you try out some of the new features coming in Update 1.3.
The biggest change is the introduction of the Species Hubs system - an enhancement to the existing Hubs feature. We're particularly interested in hearing your thoughts on this system once you've tried it out.
But first, let's take a look at why we're making this change.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Experimental Update - Species Hubs[/h2]
From the moment we implemented the Hubs system in version 0.28, we were aware of two inherent problems with the system.
First, from a gameplay perspective, all hubs were the same and offered almost no interesting choices (other than when to pursue the next hub and when to upgrade the old one).
Second, there were several scenarios where the hub system actively encouraged very tedious and boring micromanagement in the form of manually distributing population and decorations between hubs. There were many instances where the best way to get a few temporary resolve points was to dismantle a large and vibrant hub and spread the population all over the map.
This set of issues merged with our ever-going efforts to make runs as different from each other as possible. With new species on the horizon, we are also looking for new ways to further differentiate species.
Thus, we’re introducing Species Hubs - a way to fix existing problems within the Hub system while providing more ways to plan and build around the species in each settlement.
From now on:
While this makes the hubs a little harder to level up early on, the changes introduce deeper strategic decisions about which species to focus on and when to move from shelters to advanced housing.
Significantly stronger, last stage upgrade also helps to further differentiate between species and provides additional rewards for aggressive specialization.
The first iteration of Level 3 species-specific effects are:
Equally important, since there can only be one hub per species, these changes ensure that there's never an incentive to tear down big hubs and micro-optimize by constantly moving houses around the settlement.
This also opens up avenues for further improvements in areas that are still lacking and are often cited as weaknesses of the game, such as decoration management.
We realize that these are pretty big changes, and while there are new opportunities in the mid- and late-game, they do make early games a bit more challenging. That's why we decided to test them with the community and discuss them openly.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Additional changes[/h2]
Aside from the Species Hubs, the Experimental Update also includes other features from the upcoming Update 1.3, such as:
Marking Modes
Seal Indicator (hold Alt)
[h3]Full changelog[/h3]
You can check the full list of changes below after unfolding the section. Please bear in mind that some of them are still work-in-progress and may change before Update 1.3 goes live. The list is not final and you can expect more changes to be added in the actual Update 1.3.
[expand]
Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by the community.
[h3]New content and features[/h3]
[h3]Balance[/h3]
[h3]UX/UI improvements[/h3]
[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]
[h3]Other[/h3]
[/expand]
[hr][/hr]
[h2]How to play the Experimental Update[/h2]
We prepared a short guide that explains the purpose of the Experimental Branch, its limitations, and how to activate it:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3210939497
Inside, you can also find a list of the available commands for the developer console.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]What are we interested in?[/h2]
If you decide to play the Experimental Update, please share your thoughts with us!
Primarily, we are interested in your answers to the following questions:
We can’t wait to hear your impressions once you give the new Experimental Update a try! Let us know what you think in the comments section of this announcement or on the dedicated #experimental channels on our Discord.
We wish you a great time with the new update and look forward to hearing from you!
May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Previous Updates[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4194610392083937884
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4059501135880748462
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3963797741109388898
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/5797888151160865057
We've just released a new iteration of the Hearth upgrade changes to the Experimental Branch. In a nutshell, we're scrapping the idea of Species Hubs and instead making more granular changes to the existing Hubs system, mainly by giving each Hearth level a +1 Resolve bonus (instead of keeping the +2 Resolve only at level 1).
Before we dive into the full changelog, we'd like to thank you for giving the Experimental Update a try. We really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, concerns, and ideas with us! This makes things a lot easier and helps us read the room better before pushing something into the live version of the game. That is what the experimental branch is for.
Check out the full changelog and our dev notes here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4214881026368560356
[hr][/hr]
[h3]Original announcement (April 5):[/h3]
Greetings Viceroys!
We recently celebrated a major milestone for Against the Storm (thank you all for your love!), but we're not resting on our laurels. We're currently working on the next free update teased in the post-release roadmap - Update 1.3 - and it's finally time to share some sneak peeks with you.
Here's what's coming:
- New glade event
- Hub system iteration (read more below)
- Precision Tree Marking Mode - cylinders on the grid
- New perks
- Balance changes
- And many more
The update is expected to arrive sometime in May. Yes, that's a long time to wait, but to sweeten the deal, we've just released an experimental update that lets you try out some of the new features coming in Update 1.3.
The biggest change is the introduction of the Species Hubs system - an enhancement to the existing Hubs feature. We're particularly interested in hearing your thoughts on this system once you've tried it out.
But first, let's take a look at why we're making this change.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Experimental Update - Species Hubs[/h2]
From the moment we implemented the Hubs system in version 0.28, we were aware of two inherent problems with the system.
First, from a gameplay perspective, all hubs were the same and offered almost no interesting choices (other than when to pursue the next hub and when to upgrade the old one).
Second, there were several scenarios where the hub system actively encouraged very tedious and boring micromanagement in the form of manually distributing population and decorations between hubs. There were many instances where the best way to get a few temporary resolve points was to dismantle a large and vibrant hub and spread the population all over the map.
This set of issues merged with our ever-going efforts to make runs as different from each other as possible. With new species on the horizon, we are also looking for new ways to further differentiate species.
Thus, we’re introducing Species Hubs - a way to fix existing problems within the Hub system while providing more ways to plan and build around the species in each settlement.
From now on:
- The population requirements for hubs will be slightly lower.
- Each species can be assigned its own hub.
- The last Hub upgrade (Level 3 - District) has been replaced with a species-specific effect that reflects the specialization of a given species.
- Only the population of a matching species housed in advanced houses will count toward the hub's upgrades.
While this makes the hubs a little harder to level up early on, the changes introduce deeper strategic decisions about which species to focus on and when to move from shelters to advanced housing.
Significantly stronger, last stage upgrade also helps to further differentiate between species and provides additional rewards for aggressive specialization.
The first iteration of Level 3 species-specific effects are:
- Human District - All farms produce more goods.
- Beaver District - All trade routes are faster.
- Lizard District - Gatherers have a higher chance of producing double yields when harvesting resource nodes.
- Harpy District - Every fulfilled service need grants more Resolve.
- Fox District - Increases the chance of doubling event loot (this doesn't apply to perks and blueprints).
Equally important, since there can only be one hub per species, these changes ensure that there's never an incentive to tear down big hubs and micro-optimize by constantly moving houses around the settlement.
This also opens up avenues for further improvements in areas that are still lacking and are often cited as weaknesses of the game, such as decoration management.
We realize that these are pretty big changes, and while there are new opportunities in the mid- and late-game, they do make early games a bit more challenging. That's why we decided to test them with the community and discuss them openly.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Additional changes[/h2]
Aside from the Species Hubs, the Experimental Update also includes other features from the upcoming Update 1.3, such as:
- Embark Points and Caravan rebalance
- Blight Post upgrades rebalance
- 3 new perks
- Perks balance changes
- Housing Status tooltip (for the villagers summary panel in the left upper corner)
- Precision Tree marking mode (hold Shift while in tree marking mode)
- Seal indicators on World Map (hold Alt)
- Goods tooltip improvements
Marking ModesSeal Indicator (hold Alt)[h3]Full changelog[/h3]
You can check the full list of changes below after unfolding the section. Please bear in mind that some of them are still work-in-progress and may change before Update 1.3 goes live. The list is not final and you can expect more changes to be added in the actual Update 1.3.
[expand]
Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by the community.
[h3]New content and features[/h3]
- Changed Hearth upgrades and the way they are progressed.
- Hearths can now be assigned to a specific species. Every species changes the upgrade requirements of a Hearth and the last bonus at the District level.
- Hearths can no longer be upgraded with Shelters. Instead, they require villagers of a given species housed in advanced housing.
- Only one Hearth per species can be upgraded. Additional hubs will no longer be upgradeable.
- The species-specific bonuses at the District level are:
- Human District - All farms produce more goods.
- Beaver District - All trade routes are faster.
- Lizard District - Gatherers have a higher chance of producing double yields when harvesting resource nodes.
- Harpy District - Every fulfilled service need grants more Resolve.
- Fox District - Increases the chance of doubling event loot (this doesn't apply to perks and blueprints).
- Human District - All farms produce more goods.
- The previous two levels (Encampment and Neighborhood) are the same for all species.
- The population requirements for Hearth upgrades have been lowered slightly because of this change.
- ⚡ Added 3 new Legendary Cornerstones.
- Mark of the Sealed Ones - A faint image of an underwater landscape shimmers inside the ancient jewel. While the Ancient Hearth is being corrupted, resources sacrificed in it burn 50% longer.
- From the Shadows - Confused, empty-eyed creatures emerge from the Hearth. Each time Voice of the Sealed Ones triggers after the Hearth reaches 100% Corruption, 3 new villagers appear in the settlement.
- Blightrot Pruner - Blightrot spores aren't technically eggs, but they taste the same. You gain 5 Eggs when a Blightrot Cyst appears in your settlement.
- Mark of the Sealed Ones - A faint image of an underwater landscape shimmers inside the ancient jewel. While the Ancient Hearth is being corrupted, resources sacrificed in it burn 50% longer.
[h3]Balance[/h3]
- ⚡ Rebalanced some Embarkation Bonuses.
- Additional Villagers - changed the cost bracket from 1 - 2 to a constant 2.
- Royal Permit - changed the cost bracket from 2 - 3 to 1 - 2. The Royal Permit now gives 3 rerolls instead of 1.
- Amber - changed the cost bracket from 2 - 5 to 3 - 5.
- Wood - increased the base amount of Wood from 30 to 40.
- Packs of Provisions - changed the cost bracket from 2 - 4 to 3 - 4.
- Parts - changed the cost bracket from 3 - 5 to 3 - 4.
- Additional Villagers - changed the cost bracket from 1 - 2 to a constant 2.
- ⚡ Added two new items (Sea Marrow and Porridge) to the random item pool in Caravans in the Embarkation Screen.
- ⚡ Increased the base amount of Oil in starting Caravans from 10 to 20.
- ⚡ Lowered the cost of Blight Post upgrades by around 30%.
- 14 Pipes > 10 Pipes
- 12 Tools > 8 Tools
- 4 Parts > 3 Parts
- 14 Pipes > 10 Pipes
- ⚡ Changed the Manned Lookout upgrade in the Blight Post.
- This effect no longer gives a flat global bonus of 25% slower Blightrot Cyst generation. Instead, it now gives a 10% bonus for every worker assigned to the upgraded building.
- ⚡ Rebalanced several Cornerstones.
- Alarm Bells - the chance for double yields is now based on Corruption per minute instead of the Corruption percentage.
- Market Shift Plan - lowered the number of trade routes required to disable this effect’s drawback to 3 (from 5).
- Overexploitation - added a 30% gathering speed boost and lowered the node charge bonus slightly (from +15 to small nodes and +40 to large nodes, to +10 to small nodes and +25 to large nodes). Also changed this effect’s drawback - it no longer increases hostility, and instead spawns one Blightrot Cyst every time a resource node is depleted.
- Queen's Gift - this effect no longer gives 250 Hearth Resistance for every 2 woodcutters. Instead, it gives 150 Resistance for every woodcutter.
- Counterfeit Amber - this effect no longer has the drawback of increasing the Blightrot Cyst generation rate. Instead, traders will now have 1 less blueprint or perk on sale.
- Cannibalism - increased the amount of Meat gained for villager deaths from 30 to 40.
- Cheap Construction - this Cornerstone has been removed from the pool.
- Driving Water - this Cornerstone has been removed from the pool.
- Because of these changes, some Stormforged variants had to be adjusted as well.
- Other perks - work in progress.
- Alarm Bells - the chance for double yields is now based on Corruption per minute instead of the Corruption percentage.
- ⚡ Changed the balance of the Sadrath the Wise World Event. Players will now get 40 Food Stockpiles instead of 25 for 10 Artifacts.
- ⚡ Rebalanced the Untapped Wealth Forest Mystery. It now doubles the amount of secondary goods gatherers bring back from harvested nodes.
- Previously, this effect was described as an increase in crit chance, but under the hood, it just increased the number of secondary yields by a small percentage… which did absolutely nothing, as the numbers were too small. So this change is more of a bug fix.
- ⚡ Disabling a recipe in a service building now automatically opens up the Consumption Control panel.
- It’s no longer possible to disable a service while having the same need enabled in the Consumption panel.
- Disabling a service need in the Consumption Panel will stop the service building workers from transporting goods related to that need.
- It’s no longer possible to disable a service while having the same need enabled in the Consumption panel.
- Changed the first World Map layout after the tutorial. It now should have a few more modifiers and more biome variety.
- Changed some level-up rewards.
- Level 9 - unlocks the Blightrot Pruner Cornerstone instead of Cheap Construction.
- Level 12 - unlocks the From the Shadows Cornerstone instead of Driving Water.
- Level 9 - unlocks the Blightrot Pruner Cornerstone instead of Cheap Construction.
[h3]UX/UI improvements[/h3]
- ⚡ Changed how the precision tree marking tool works (the smaller pointer activated by holding Shift).
- Going into “precision mode” now changes the pointer to a 3D cylinder instead of a flat circle.
- The cylinder is the size of one tile and snaps to the grid, making it easier to select single trees.
- Going into “precision mode” now changes the pointer to a 3D cylinder instead of a flat circle.
- ⚡ Added a “housing status” tooltip that is displayed when hovering over the homeless icon in the top left corner of the HUD.
- This tooltip shows the number of homeless villagers, free spaces in shelters, and free spaces in advanced houses.
- ⚡ Changed the resource tooltip layout. The “produced in” building list was moved to a separate line to make the entire tooltip more readable.
- “Flawless” building variants have been removed from the list to keep it shorter.
- ⚡ Added species names to resource tooltips for Complex Food and Consumable Items, so players will know at a glance how a good might be used.
- ⚡ All goods on the resource bar in the top part of the HUD can now be clicked. Clicking a resource will open the Recipe Panel.
- ⚡ Added Seal indicators to the World map (Seal icons pointing at the edge of the screen where a Seal is located). To enable them, simply hold Alt while on the World Map.
- ⚡ Houses of species that are not yet present in a given run are hidden by default (until the first member of a species joins the settlement).
- ⚡ Added a “show house entrances” setting to the Options menu.
- ⚡ Changed the “use water” Order objective on the HUD to specify that the rainwater has to be used in engines.
- ⚡ All events that can be converted into a positive decoration now state the exact bonus (how much resolve, how many goods per minute, etc.) in their description.
- ⚡ Added a separate icon to worker slots to distinguish the “going to take a break” action from other “going to” activities.
- ⚡ To cancel an ongoing Glade Event, the “cancel” button now needs to be held (to make it impossible to do this by accident).
- ⚡ Changed the time information in the Glade Event panel. It now shows “estimated time”, to make clear that the timer is not exact and can be influenced by random events or worker behavior.
- ⚡ Added a “save warehouse limits” setting to the Options menu. Turning it off will reset the minimum values set in Warehouses at the start of every game.
- ⚡ The wildcard panel can now be searched by descriptions (so also produced items or rainwater types) and not just building names.
- ⚡ Changed the offer sorting in the trade route panel.
- Offers are now sorted and displayed as available based on a base value (instead of the multiplied value after selecting a higher goods count).
- The trade offer slot will now highlight why a given offer is unavailable.
- Offers are now sorted and displayed as available based on a base value (instead of the multiplied value after selecting a higher goods count).
- ⚡ The Demanding and Decadent species attributes in the in-game encyclopedia are now displayed as plain numbers.
- ⚡ Improved the wording in the tooltip for the Demanding species attribute in the in-game encyclopedia.
- Added resource icons to a few perk descriptions that were missing them.
- The last textbox of the first tutorial will now automatically disappear after a few seconds.
[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]
- ⚡ Fixed a bug where the upgrades panel in the Blight Post had an incorrect tooltip.
- ⚡ Fixed a bug that prevented players from cycling between Dangerous and Forbidden Events.
- ⚡ Fixed a flow issue in one of the dialogue options with Aunt Lori (about Zhorg).
- ⚡ Fixed a bug with an incorrect label in the Vitality effect.
- ⚡ Fixed a typo in the Forbidden Ritual effect.
- ⚡ Changed the name of “Nauseous Spores” to “Nauseating Spores”.
- ⚡ Changed the wording in the trader assault popup.
- ⚡ Added some missing text (“this effect is only active when the corresponding glade event is being worked on”) to several working effect descriptions.
- ⚡ Renamed the “Lumber Mill Efficiency Test” Order to avoid confusion.
- Fixed a bug with incorrect shading on some trees in the Sealed Forest.
[h3]Other[/h3]
- ⚡ Added new custom icons to multiple places.
- Ghosts
- Haunted ruins
- Two Order objectives
- Blight Post upgrades
- The “comfortable” Resolve effect
- Citadel Upgrades - factions
- Converted Glade Events
- Five Legendary Cornerstones
- Ghosts
- ⚡ Added an option to modify the game’s localization using a .json file.
- To do this, simply create a .json file only with the string IDs and text you want to change.
- The file structure should be like on the screenshot below ("ID":"text").
- The file should be named with the language code, for example: de.json, cn.json, etc.
- Then you need to create a "Texts" folder in the "Against the Storm_Data" folder in the game's installation location. There you just put the .json file and load the game.
- And done, the strings mentioned in the .json file will be loaded instead of the original translation.
- We will publish a more in-depth guide once the patch goes live.
- To do this, simply create a .json file only with the string IDs and text you want to change.
- Added credits to the game.
[/expand]
[hr][/hr]
[h2]How to play the Experimental Update[/h2]
We prepared a short guide that explains the purpose of the Experimental Branch, its limitations, and how to activate it:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3210939497
Inside, you can also find a list of the available commands for the developer console.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]What are we interested in?[/h2]
If you decide to play the Experimental Update, please share your thoughts with us!
Primarily, we are interested in your answers to the following questions:
- How do you feel about the new Species Hubs? Are they fun?
- How would you rate the challenges posed by managing the Species Hubs?
- Is there anything that stuck out? Any moments that were especially memorable for you (good or bad)?
- Is there anything about this new system that makes the gameplay feel worse (especially more repetitive) or better (especially more diverse)?
- How do you feel about the Precision Tree Marking mode (its cylindrical shape and grid movement)?
We can’t wait to hear your impressions once you give the new Experimental Update a try! Let us know what you think in the comments section of this announcement or on the dedicated #experimental channels on our Discord.
We wish you a great time with the new update and look forward to hearing from you!
May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Previous Updates[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4194610392083937884
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4059501135880748462
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3963797741109388898
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/5797888151160865057