Power to the People News

Hello, fellow engineers! We hope that you are having a good time with our humble game. We thought it was about time to share some news with you all, regarding the upcoming v1.2 update.

We are currently working hard on getting things ready, but with the summer holidays quickly approaching and some unexpected issues, we expect the update to be ready by the end of July or maybe even the start of August.

But let's get down to the juicy details... What can you expect in the new update?

[h2]Underground power lines[/h2]
Without a doubt, the star of the show will be the new underground power lines. Starting in version v1.2 you'll be able to place low voltage power lines underground, allowing for new types of power grid designs and overall increasing the capacity of your system! We still need to take care of gameplay balance, some visual tweaks and iron out some bugs, but most of this feature is already fully implemented.



[h2]New tutorial[/h2]
We'll also add a brand new tutorial, which will be mostly focused on explaining how the underground power lines work, but will also provide a few other tips and tricks regarding how to optimize your power grid!

[h2]Better analysis tools[/h2]
Another important improvement that's coming your way is a couple of improved analysis tools, particularly when it comes to identifying which power sources you are using. We'll add detailed statistics that show how much of the power generation is coming from each type of power plant, making it a lot easier to optimize your power grid to keep those operating costs low!

[h2]Substation filters[/h2]
We're not 100% sure we'll be able to include this one in the next update... But we'll try our best! We intend to provide tools that will allow players to link specific substations to specific client types (imagine for example having a dedicated substation for all hospitals) or specific cities. This will provide hardcore players with a brand new set of possibilities to keep their grids as reliable and efficient as possible.

[h2]Final words[/h2]
Please have some patience and you'll be playing this new version in no time! For now, remember to participate in the discussions in our Discord server, so you can also help shape the future of Power to the People. See you later, and stay energized!

This is just a very small patch that addresses a graphics glitch some players have been experiencing in the Stuttgart level. We had accidentally misconfigured a texture file, which could cause weird yellow lines to appear all over the map, as seen in the following screenshot. It's now fixed, though!



We're still working on making the game better and we're listening to all of your valuable feedback. Don't forget to join our Discord if you want to let us know your thoughts and ideas by clicking here. Enjoy!

We are now running a poll in our Twitter page, so you can let us know what you think we should include in the next update of the game! Click on the image below to cast your vote:



And remember to join our Discord server to let us know your ideas and suggestions by clicking here!

After many weeks of hard work, the first major update for Power to the People has arrived! Here is the changelog, in all of its glory:

[h2]NEW FEATURES[/h2]

• A brand new level: "Río Grande, Argentina"! Level description: "At the world's end lies one of the most unlikely factory towns. Thanks to some tax exemption shenanigans, 25% of all laptops and smartphones used in Argentina are being produced here."
  
• New "Micro Substation", which only takes 1x1 tiles. It has low power output and only moderate efficiency, though.
  
• New "Screenshot Mode", that allows players to hide the UI in order to take screenshots. By default this is bound to the F11 key.
  
• Substations can now be upgraded to increase their power output and efficiency. Some of them have 1 and some of them have 2 upgrade levels.
  
• Lots of new random world events, that will affect power generation costs for different types of power plants (e.g. "a new coal deposit has been found in the area, so your coal-fired plants will have lower operating costs for a few days")
  
• New "historic city power usage charts", that show how much power each city has tried to draw from the grid during the past 7 days. These can be found inside the company information window or by clicking the little icon next to the city name.
  
• 3 new buildings for cities in all levels: Library, Theater and Industrial Complex.
  
• Players can now see where the next city is going to be built 48 hours in advance. It's shown in-game as a big construction site.
  
• Substations now have a setting that allows players to configure for how long they have to be overloaded before the automatic shutdown takes place.
  

[h2]IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]

• Diesel generators no longer need to be placed close to water, as they are direct drive and they do not require a water source to generate steam or for cooling.
  
• High voltage power lines now cause unhappiness to city buildings if placed directly adjacent to them.
  
• Sandbox games can now be configured with any number of special modifiers, from 0 to 3. Before it was mandatory to always select 3.
  
• Leaderboards now also show "money left in the bank" category.
  
• Switching stations now have a higher capacity (300 MW) to make them more useful.
  
• Power plants and substations now remember the last time that was set in the automatic turn on/off setting if they are turned off. Before, the times would always get reset to 5:00 and 22:00 if they were disabled.
  
• Fixed bug that caused land leasing costs to be calculated incorrectly when placing high voltage power lines within city limits.
  
• Fixed bug regarding the "composite turbine blades" technology in the research tree. It was supposed to let wind turbines operate at lower wind speeds but it wasn't working. It was only providing a 10% power generation boost.
  

[h2]PERFORMANCE[/h2]

• Small changes to the shader used for rendering cables, in order to reduce draw calls and therefore GPU load.
  
• Rewrote the code for NIMBY calculations from scratch, in order to make it multithreaded for improved performance.
  
• Moved some small housekeeping functions to a separate thread for improved performance.
  

Hey everyone! We just thought we would post here and let you all know how things are going when it comes to the next update. If you have been following our Discord or our Twitter, you probably already know all of this. But for those of you who don't, here's a quick overview.

We are currently making good progress on the v1.1 update. We plan to release it in a few weeks from now, if all goes well. We don't have a specific release date just yet, but it will probably happen by the end of this month. Here's a quick overview of the new bells and whistles you can expect:

• A new level, with some pretty unique challenges.
  
• Almost 20 new random world events, that will alter the cost per MWh of different types of power plants.
  
• Upgradeable substations.
  
• Players will be able to preview where the next city is going to be built 48 hours in advance so they can plan accordingly.
  
• A new type of substation, designed specifically for those tiny spaces left in cities after you have unlocked "land leasing".
  
• Customizable timer for substations' auto shut down feature.
  
• Ability to start sandbox games with fewer than 3 level modifiers (or none at all if you wish).
  
• Lots of small usability improvements and bug fixes.
  

Please have some patience and you'll be playing this new version in no time! For now, remember to participate in the discussions in our Discord server, so you can also help shape the future of Power to the People. See you later, and stay energized!