Factory Town Idle News

[h2]Idle Time rework[/h2]
A new system of collecting & accounting for idle time has been added. It is more flexible (allowing you to 'spend' the idle time whenever you want) and more advantageous (100% of idle time can be collected instead of previous 25%).

When you launch the game, instead of having your idle time processed automatically, you will be awarded Time Tokens based on how long you were away:



60 seconds of idle time will earn you 1 Time Token. Your collected Time Tokens will be displayed at the top-right of the game screen:



Clicking that icon will open up the new Time Management panel. This panel has controls to pause, play, or spend your Time Tokens to fast-forward gameplay ("Turbo Mode")



Turbo Mode will run the simulation 10x faster than normal. The right-most button will activate Turbo Mode Max, which runs the simulation up to 100x faster than normal, although if the framerate starts to suffer it will automatically decrease the multiplier so the computer can catch up.

When in Turbo Mode, 1 Time Token is spent every additional 60 seconds of simulation that is gained. This means that 60 seconds of idle time is stored up as 1 Time Token, and 1 Time Token can be spent to earn 60 seconds of processing - thus capturing 100% of idle time.

This has a number of benefits - it speeds up game launch time by avoiding the required processing delay. It is also more accurate, because it no longer needs to batch simulation ticks together when fast-forwarding time. You can also play the game while Turbo mode is active.

A few more details on this system:

• There is no additional cost to Turbo Mode Max, it's just provided to give the player a "Fast" and "Faster" option based on their preferences. However, since it runs the simulation faster, it will naturally consume Time Tokens faster.
  
• When the game is paused, Time Tokens will accrue as if the game were closed.
  
• There are hotkeys for changing Time modes: F1 = Pause, F2 = Normal, F3 = Turbo Mode (10x normal speed), F4 = Turbo Mode Max.
  
• The Idle Gain perk now increases the maximum number of Time Tokens that can be stored. It increases at 360 Tokens per level (6 hours worth).
  
• The player also starts with 360 max tokens even with zero levels of the Idle Gain perk.
  
• Idle Gain Perk has been given two additional perk levels, so the maximum Time Token storage is 5400, or 90 hours worth.
  

[h2]Balance Changes & Improvements[/h2]

• Removed Knowledge Tome costs from all Infinite research (since limited storage capacity causes issues for increasing costs)
  
• Added new Omnitemple recipes (including ones that use the Knowledge Tomes removed from Infinite research costs)
  
• Can now right-click on the “-” buttons to remove all production capacity from that recipe, and right-click on the “+” buttons to add max available production capacity to a recipe.
  
• Added several new upgrades that lower the cost of Markets by 50% per level cumulatively. They are unlocked by raising specific biome towns to specific levels. This is targeted for endgame players that are having difficulty building enough markets to meet demand.
  
• Increased ingredient cost of the Omnitemple recipe that uses potions
  
• Added new icon for Hardware Store
  
• Various performance improvements
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• “Build 2 Towns” quest was not having its completion state recalculated on game load, so a player with 2 towns that saved and loaded would not be able to claim the Trading Post reward
  
• Land and Worker tooltips were not centered
  
• Production limit of ‘Demand’ was not working for Omnitemple recipes / Knowledge Orbs
  
• Fixed progress bars for Town Level Quests sometimes displaying progress based on displayed town, instead of the maximum in the world.
  
• Research for Mana Shard Prospecting was hidden and not completable
  
• Some tooltips with long text would not correctly extend the height of their row to fit all the next
  
• (Hotfix 1.87h) Fixed Market Happiness not showing zero when all production capacity removed
  

[h2]Interactive Tooltip Guide[/h2]


The game now has much more useful tooltips for buildings, resources, recipes, quests, and research. Hover over the label of an object and a tooltip will pop up showing you what it does, what requirements are needed to unlock it, and what other things depend on it. There are clear indications when an object is exclusive to a particular biome.

If you click down on the label, you can pin the tooltip and then navigate around it. For example, in the screenshot above you can click on any of the buildings, items, or research to show you everything you need to know about that other object. In this way you can navigate through pretty much anything in the game.

[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]

• Made the unlock process for natural resources & farming / prospecting more consistent. Now, each natural resource is unlocked based on completing a quest. For globally available resources (Grain, Rock, Water, Iron Ore, Coal, Copper, Silver, and Gold) those quests involve reaching a target level in any town. For biome specific resources those quests involve reaching a specific town level in that biome. As soon as a natural resource is available, its basic Harvester Hut recipe will unlock as well. However, all Farming and Prospecting recipes are unlocked by separate research. Legacy maps that have already produced those crops / ores will have their prerequisite quests and farming / prospecting research automatically marked as completed.
  
• As part of the standardization process above, the Water Bucket research (previously required to unlock Water) was removed and replaced with a quest to reach a certain town level
  
• More research is linked to requirement of unlocking a natural resource. This requirement is calculated globally, so unlocking the natural resource in any biome will count as unlocked for all biomes
  
• Many Research recipes that previously required prerequisite research now simply require the input ingredients to be available - this allows players to complete advanced research via trading, instead of having to perform a bunch of basic research first.
  
• Cost of Jeweler building changed from Blue Coin to Red Coin
  
• Refined Plank, Refined Stone Brick, Animal Feed, Wood Axe, Nails, Refined Sugar, Pickaxe, Ruby Ring, Sapphire Ring, Amethyst Necklace, and Topaz Crown are unlocked globally and permanently via quests (to produce specific amounts of predecessor items), instead of needing individual research at every town. The recipes still need unlocks of the building that produces it and in some cases a research that unlocks the category of item (e.g. ‘Gem Jewelry’). Players who have produced one of those items in any of their towns will automatically have the prerequisite quest marked as ‘completed’.
  
• Cactus Jam also now has a quest prerequisite (did not previously require research like the above recipes)
  
• Quest to produce 500 of all 4 jam types increased requirement to 2500, and the 4 jam recipes must all be unlocked in order to display that quest.
  
• Quests to reach certain town levels now show the progress bar in terms of total cumulative XP earned vs. total XP required to reach level target, to give a more accurate display of progress towards the goal
  
• Removed quests that permanently & globally completed some research, instead, many basic research recipes are completed automatically in secondary towns
  
• Increased cost for all Storage Capacity upgrades
  

[h2]Minor Improvements[/h2]

• Added detailed tooltip when hovering the Workers count on the main menu header
  
• “Metal” research has been renamed to “Forge”
  
• If player attempts to navigate to any object that is locked due to a research requirement, that research requirement will be highlighted directly (even if that research is locked). Previously the game would navigate recursively to whichever root research requirement was unlocked, but that made it difficult to trace back exactly what research needed to be completed
  
• Clicking the recipe icon of an item that is locked due to a biome town level requirement will navigate to the World panel, or the prerequisite quest needed to unlock the World panel
  
• Background images have been blurred in order to be less visually distracting
  
• Adjustments made to currency details at top of the screen. First, they were not displaying “Attempted production/consumption”, which more accurately reflects how many coins are being spent per second. Previously they were showing “Actual production / consumption”, which has a floor of zero. Secondly, if the currency is fully depleted during the simulation frame, the count now displays as zero. (This is the same logic that regular inventory items use). In some cases the actual number of coins may be nonzero based on those generated during the simulation frame, but it is confusing to show those as it looks like they’re not being used.
  
• Removed particles on reward panel (was not overlapping correctly with new tooltip guide)
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Very large negative numbers would not show with magnitude suffixes (K, M, B, etc)
  
• Clicking the ‘Workers’ icon on the top of the menu would navigate to Harvesting panel
  
• Infinite research “Omnistone Sell Value” required only Mana Reactor when it should have required OmniTemple
  
• Quest to produce Cake and Berry Cake was appearing before Berry Cake was unlocked. Also increased the target production requirements for this quest
  
• Laboratory, Study, and Mage Tower did not display their produced items in their tooltip
  
• Some omnistone speed boost upgrades were not listing their effect in their tooltip
  
• Individual upgrades were appearing in the quest reward notifications before the upgrades panel was available
  
• Some quests would display a less important reward in the quests panel than the primary reward
  
• Completing some quests would show rewards that weren’t actually unlocked yet
  
• Newly unlocked production building headers would sometimes show the ‘add’ button as inactive when it was actually possible to create a new building
  
• Inventory details for currencies were showing the limit as a large number, instead of “No Limit”
  

[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]

• Greatly reduced growth in physical building costs (coin costs still grow at same rate). The issue with the physical materials in construction costs is they so far outpaced storage that you could never bank enough of them and as soon as you started building something it destroyed your whole supply chain. Coins can be stored up and since players are usually limited by market sell rates anyways, the impact of sudden high coin spend won't shock the supply chain.
  
• When house count is between 50 and 59, construction now requires Reinforced Plank, Refined Stone Brick and Glass Panel instead of Reinforced Plank and Iron Ingot.
  
• When house count is greater than 60, construction now requires Steel and Glass Panel instead of Steel and Reinforced Plank
  
• Added new Town Perk: 'Omnistone Demand'. Each level increases the amount of Omnistone that is requested as the Arcane Emporium
  
• Added infinite research for 'Omnistone Sell Value'
  
• Town XP perk now looks for local town level > 40, not global town level > 40
  
• To lower work capacity Auto-Assign volatility, the allowed delta will gradually ramp up speed. If production capacity is < 20, maximum change is 1 at a time. If production capacity is < 50, maximum change is 2 at a time.
  
• Town perks that boost market buildings now correctly boost ‘demand’ (the amount requested for full satisfaction score) in addition to maximum supply rate
  
• Changed costs of various Infinite Research to more evenly balance across coin type & knowledge tome type
  
• Reduced cost growth of Solar Panels
  
• Greatly increased the power of Solar Panel Effectiveness upgrade
  
• Added new OmniCoin upgrade for Solar Panel Effectiveness
  
• All ‘Magic Clothing’ and ‘Magic Jewelry’ recipes now explicitly require “Magic Clothing” or “Magic Jewelry” research. Previously, those research recipes unlocked a series of global recipe quests for the items, but then once those quests were complete, those items could be built in any town. This resulted in an incomplete tooltip when hovering over the research, so it was hard to tell what the research unlocked.
  
• New Quest requirement added to unlock ‘Magic Ring’ recipe. Players who have already created Magic Rings will have the quest automatically completed.
  
• List items on the Market panel are displayed as soon as the sellable item is unlocked in any town. This is because Market buildings are unlocked globally, and once an item is unlocked globally it is immediately available via Trading Posts and is therefore sellable at Markets
  
• Jewelry Stores cost Red Coins, not Blue Coins
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed bug: Trading Post Production Capacity had impossible requirement “Have [x] skill levels at Trading Post”. Instead it requires a certain number of Trading Posts to be constructed per upgrade level
  
• Can reduce Town & Global perks even if the perk is still locked (helps resolve a situation that occasionally during game version changes)
  
• Fixed bug: Infinite research for Omni Temple Productivity, Infinite research for Mana Reactor Productivity, and various Temple boosts were not being displayed in the production rate tooltip for recipes
  

[h2]Upgrade Quest Rework[/h2]



Quests that unlock Upgrades have been converted to requirements for their respective upgrade, and are displayed directly as in-line progress bars within the upgrade row. Upgrades where the unlock requirement is not completed yet are shown in a new section called 'In Progress'. As soon as those requirements are met, the upgrade moves automatically to the 'Available' section.

This saves a lot of clicking back and forth between Upgrades and Quests, and makes it much easier to see which tasks unlock which upgrades. It also has the nice benefit of streamlining the Quests panel so it has more of a focus on the high-priority primary and recipe quests.

[h2]Upgrade Panel filtering[/h2]



A coin filter option has been added to the top of the Upgrades panel. Click on a coin icon to toggle its filter state. If any coins are set in the 'filter on' state, then only upgrades costing that coin type will be displayed. Hitting 'Claim All' will only claim the displayed (filtered) upgrades.

[h2]UI Improvements[/h2]



The work assignment region has been rearranged so the + and - buttons are on opposite sides of the current production capacity count, and the button icons have been updated.

The recipe rate/ratio display has been merged with the production progress bar to reduce visual clutter, and the useless 'Craft' / 'Cultivate' / etc label on every row was removed.

Recipe progress bars will display full when at max production, to avoid constant flickering when running at high speeds.


[h2]Various Quality-Of-Life Improvements[/h2]

• Auto-assign can now increment up to 5 production capacity units at a time
  
• When adding workers via auto-assign, game can make a more accurate guess of the right number of workers to add, resulting in less overshooting & correction
  
• Production rate tooltip displays true baseline rate, and lists productivity (quantity) multipliers individually. It also shows ‘potential’ rate of primary output, prior to any effects of limited input or output availability, and lists out the source of recipe modifiers (Perks, Upgrades, Research, Buildings)
  
• The magnitude of production capacity assigned when using modifier keys (while holding Shift and/or Ctrl) will increase with the amount of production capacity already assigned to the recipe. (This helps players who have thousands of production capacity to assign)
  

[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]

• Added new Town Perk to boost XP value for selling items. It's only available in a town once it reaches level 40. It is very expensive, but at that point in the game players will have lots of Town Perk Points to spend.
  
• Exploration upgrade now requires hitting target population / worker counts
  
• Upgrade Efficiency upgrade now requires completion of target counts of upgrades
  
• Shrine Speed upgrade split into separate upgrades for each Shrine type, and each level requires a certain amount of that type of Shrine to be built. Players with levels of the legacy Shrine Speed upgrade are granted the same number of levels into each of these new upgrades that they had in the old single upgrade.
  
• Upgrade ‘Temple Effectiveness’ has been split into 5 different upgrades, one for each Temple type. Players that previously had the legacy combined upgrade will be assigned matching levels in all of the new upgrades.
  
• Upgrades for Mana Powered Sawblade Truck / Crop Harvester / Harvester Drill / Tractors have been replaced with leveled research that has the same effect. This research, similar to those like ‘Wood Processing Speed’, take effect as soon as the research is completed and doesn’t require purchasing an upgrade. Players with levels of the legacy upgrades will be granted equivalent levels of the new research.
  
• Paper, Book, and Quartz recipes are now affected by Factory
  
• Chute now boosts all harvesting recipes. This means Quartz, Water, and Fish are boosted when they previously were not
  

[h2]Small Improvements[/h2]

• Top navigation buttons will perform navigation when mouse button clicked down, instead of waiting for click up
  
• Star Coin (generated at OmniTemple, used in Infinite Research) has been renamed “Knowledge Orb” to avoid confusion with star-shaped Quest Qoins. Icon has been updated as well.
  
• Very large percententage numbers are shown in shortened format (with magnitude suffix)
  
• Default for trading in newly created towns is now ‘Export’ instead of ‘None’ (Items that can not be created in the active town still default to ‘Import’). And this is applied to the trading category, not the individual trading recipes, so they can be more easily overridden.
  
• Newly unlocked menu navigation tabs will animate more visibly, to better guide new players
  
• Miscellaneous performance improvements
  

[h2]Various Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed duplicate item icons in Chute tooltip
  
• Fixed bug: Leveled research that was fully complete would display a level 1 higher than the maximum level
  
• Fixed bug: Highest level of Wood/Stone/Grain/Metal processing research was applying a 4x multiplier instead of an 8x multiplier
  
• Fixed bug: Cash Register research was not linked as a requirement of Cash Register upgrades
  
• Fixed bug: Advanced harvesting recipes (e.g. those using Harvester Drill, Crop Harvester, etc) were shown as available unlocks before the harvesting building was unlocked
  
• Fixed bug: Duplicate notification of Upgrades panel unlock
  
• Fixed bug: clicking on an item icon would sometimes fail to navigate correctly if the target item was in a minimized group
  
• Fixed bug: selected inventory row would appear as un-selected if scrolled away and then back to it
  
• Fixed bug: inconsistent behavior when trying to pin inventory production tooltip (selecting an inventory item, and then closing the item production tooltip panel would inadvertently preserve the item’s selection state, so if the item was selected again it would not immediately re-pin the tooltip)
  
• Fixed bug: Selecting a list item in the main panel, and then scrolling that item offscreen, would reset its selection state and any inventory filters that were applied
  
• Fixed bug: Clicking on “Exports” within an item’s production tooltip panel would not navigate to the Trading panel
  
• Fixed bug: Production rate tooltip for Market items was displaying the wrong value (was showing values for coin earnings, instead of items sold per second)
  
• Fixed bug: Clicking on quest ‘Assign Tree Harvesters” was not triggering a navigation to the harvesting panel
  
• Fixed bug: more cases of production capacity rapidly flickering up and down when using auto-assignment
  
• Fixed bug: excessive unlock alert icons when creating new town
  
• Fixed bug: When selecting a building, the inventory panel was showing items in the filtered inventory panel that were not yet unlocked
  
• Fixed bug: control-clicking on trading post specialty category headers would also minimize the entire Trading Post group, instead of just minimizing the other specialty categories