Ratopia News

1.0.0100 Scientist Update

[h2]Hello, dear leaders of Ratopia![/h2]
Thank you for waiting so long for the update. In this update, we have primarily added a new electricity system and structures that utilize it. Due to the significant number of systemic additions, we are concerned about potential bugs that we may not have discovered. If you encounter any bugs, please report them through Steam or Discord, and we will quickly address them through hotfixes! We also welcome any and all ideas about the game at any time!

[h2]Patch List[/h2]
Notice: Those with this icon(💌) are inspired by the players’ opinions. Thank you so much again.

⚡22 electricity structures have been added.

These electricity structures can be researched through the "Engineering Workbench" of the royal structures. Although electricity structures require many resources, various facilities are prepared and more will be added in the future, so please look forward to it.　　▼Infrastructure

　　▼Raw material structures

　　▼Production structures

　　▼Military structures

　　▼Royal structures

▶5 new structures have been added.

　　▼Infrastructure

Ash Block　　▼Military structures

　　▼Decorations

Scientist Monument　　▼Royal structures

Engineering Workbench 🌋Volcanic biome has been added.

▶17 new resources for the Volcanic biome and electricity structures have been added.

　　▼Raw material

　　▼Products

▶Intelligence now reduces the time required for research.

Previously, intelligence was somewhat less useful compared to strength and dexterity. A feature has been added to increase the utility of intelligence and to alleviate the burden of increasing research time.
▶The satisfaction decrease for each of the Joy & hygiene structures has been adjusted (0.35 → 0.05.)

The individual satisfaction decrease for Joy and Hygiene structures has been aligned with that of Food and Necessities. Now, the buff from using these facilities lasts much longer than before.
▶The durability consumption per attack for trap structures has been adjusted from 10 to 20, and their basic durability has been increased.

Following the last patch, which made all facility repairs faster due to an increased effect of stacks during construction and repair work, the efficiency of trap-type facilities increased excessively. This has been adjusted. The number of attacks and damage remain the same.
▶The value of resources gathered from sap extraction sites, such as rubber, resin, and sap, has been adjusted (10 → 15)

Consequently, the production efficiency of some products, such as shoes, gum, perfume, and dyes, has been adjusted.
▶The price of oil has been adjusted (20 → 25).

▶The price of beeswax has been adjusted. (18→25)

Due to the price increase, the production workload needed has been slightly adjusted.
▶The production method for candles has been adjusted due to the price changes of Beeswax and Myrrh.

Method 1: Beeswax 2 → 1
Method 2: Myrrh 1 → 2, Candles 3 → 4

▶The production method for gum has been adjusted due to the price adjustment of sap-related resources and to simplify production.

Method 1: Joy Powder 1 → Joy Flower 2, Workload 1000 → 900, Gums 3 → 4
Method 2: Workload 900 → 700

▶It has been modified so that the Cocoonery can be researched without needing to research the Apiary first.

the research locations for the Batiary and the Coconnery have been changed.
▶Resources burned at the cremation site will now drop ash resources.

▶Additional items that can be viewed in the statistics window have been added (Electricity / Ratron / Storages).

　　The layout of the statistics window has been partially modified.
　　 Certain items will appear when specific actions are undertaken:

▶10 new achievements have been added.
　　▶A science victory ending branch has been added.
　　▼As rewards for these achievements, you can obtain the following starter decoration elements.

- 💌Roof tiles can now be overlaid on already constructed tiles.
- 💌A feature has been added to the construction screen allowing structures to be added to favorites.
- 💌The alarm for structures in the top left has been integrated, and functionality for interaction has been added.
- 💌A structure diary has been added.
- 💌When using a gamepad, images guiding the control keys during tutorial stages have been added.
- Royal tunnel network usage has been added to the expenditure details in the statistics window.
- The calculation method for Infrastructure Points is now based on structure's construction time.
- The presentation of the Royal Forge minigame has been modified.
- Incorrectly applied texts and icons in the game have been corrected.

[h2]Bug Fix[/h2]
- The issue where the growth speed reduction effect of garden structures would reset after harvesting the plants has been fixed.
- The bug causing AI to malfunction, when the schedule of a Ratizen supplying materials to service structures changed, has been corrected.
- The statistics window no longer shows a minimum happiness of 0 when there are no impoverished Ratizens.
- The issue where Ratizens would queue up to use some service structures has been addressed.
- The issue where individual food satisfaction did not increase when eating at a table has been fixed.
- An error code appearing when canceling commands on the lowest map tiles has been corrected.
- The issue with scorpions being hidden behind some structures has been fixed.

Ratopia Dev Diary #24 - Electricity Structures and Engineering Tech Tree

Hello all, it’s Cassel, developer of .
This February also passed in a whirlwind of development. The original plan was to carry out a major update within February. However, during our internal testing, numerous shortcomings were revealed. Moreover, the development was further delayed due to the Lunar new year, ultimately preventing us from achieving our development goals as intended.

We cannot keep postponing the schedule indefinitely, so we have decided to proceed with the update next week. We aim to quickly address the parts that have not yet been developed through subsequent updates. Despite dedicating as much time as possible to development over the month, it's disappointing that things didn't go as planned. It has been a time for reflection, wondering if we attempted to add too much all at once.

There is also a discount planned for next week!

During the preparation for this update, we undertook many experimental attempts. Now, I will introduce the newly added electricity structures and the engineering research tree.

[h3]Electricity Structures[/h3]

Electricity structures are broadly categorized into those that generate electricity, manage it, and consume it. The newly added electricity generation structures include a Ratpower Generator that uses the working hours of Ratizens, a Wind Turbine that utilizes space, a Hydroelectric Generator that harnesses the flow of water, and a Thermal generator that uses resources. We aimed to diversify the necessary elements for production, allowing the selection of a generation method that suits the city's situation.

Generating electricity often leads to the city's finances running dry.

However, the problem was explaining the functions of structures with different electricity generation methods. We added UI and help sections to explain the new features, but it was challenging to easily convey how much electricity each generator could produce. Most generators have a structure where the amount of electricity produced varies depending on the situation, leading to significant variations and making it difficult to provide an average value.

We tried various approaches, but all were unsatisfactory, and we are still looking for a solution. The construction diary, which shows the amount of electricity produced in the previous 24 hours, was somewhat useful information that could be utilized. However, it had a critical drawback: it was impossible to know the amount before 24 hours had passed since installation.

We'll have to see if the explanations are adequate.

In any case, the electricity generated by the generators must be stored in electricity storage structures through power lines. If the power lines are not properly connected, the electricity produced by the generators will disappear, prompting considerations on how to install power lines within limited space and resources. Additionally, electricity exceeding the storage capacity of the storage structures will also disappear, making it necessary to carefully plan where to build sufficient electricity storage structures.

There are two types of power Transmission Wires: one that Ratizens can pass through and another, the Transmission Block, which Ratizens cannot pass through but can step on. We designed it so that these could be mixed and matched according to the situation. Furthermore, in the latter stages, we made it possible to transmit electricity over long distances wirelessly without connecting power lines through Tesla Towers.

The primal joy of connecting electrical grid!

Electricity transmitted to the electricity storage structures can be used through electricity-consuming structures. However, connecting all the electricity-consuming structures with power lines could be too cumbersome, so we made it possible for them to be supplied with electricity simply by being built near the electricity storage structures. To facilitate this, it was necessary to implement features that show how far the electricity supply can reach and how much electricity is remaining.

It's similar to the Pylon in .

Among the electricity-consuming structures, we planned not only those that can increase the city's productivity but also those intended to enhance the player's convenience. An upgraded version of the Mailbox, the Communication Tower, allows for the remote adjustment of settings for structures located at very distant locations. Similarly, an upgraded version of the Crematory, the Electric Crematory, which is reusable, is also planned to be added soon.

Why we cannot just use Thermal Generator as a Crematory? Well it would not generate power then, you silly!

We've also added a Drone Hangar, a structure designed to alleviate many of the inconveniences expressed by our users. The Drone Hangar facilitates large-scale construction projects in the later stages of the game by deploying drones. In the late game, there are often not enough surplus Ratizens to carry out mining or construction orders, leading to exploration and city expansion progressing very slowly and frustratingly. The drone hangar was planned as a solution to this problem.

Once a drone hangar is built, drones are launched from the hangar to start work on orders before the Ratizens. However, finding paths for drones could have required significant computation, potentially jeopardizing the game's performance. To minimize computation, we reduced the size of drones to 1x1 and allowed them to fly and move only around the drone hangar area. As a result, drones can perform tasks in aerial locations that Ratizens cannot reach, without causing excessive computational load due to pathfinding.

Move at the speed of Mach 10, you maggots!

Having introduced the structures related to electricity production, transmission, and consumption, we plan to continue improving the game by adding a variety of new structures. If you have any fun ideas for structures, please leave a comment!

[h3]Engineering Research Tree[/h3]

Many users found the existing research tree challenging. Since the structures were categorized by their functions such as foundation, production, and service, it was common for the game to progress with the structures needed to produce the required materials for operating new structures not being researched yet. For example, it was possible to research structures that required stone without having researched the Masonly, often leading to situations where they couldn't actually be used.

Thank you for your valuable feedback.

In light of these issues, we felt that incorporating the new electricity structures into the existing research tree could exacerbate the mentioned problems. To generate electricity, generators, electricity storage structures, and Transmission Wires are needed, and there are separate electricity-consuming structures. Users had to navigate through the research screen to find and research various electricity structures, and there was potential confusion if electricity-consuming structures were built before the generators. As more structures became available for research, the existing research tree became increasingly complex and inconvenient.

Therefore, in this update, we introduced a new structure called the Engineering Workbench, allowing users to research electricity structures separately. In the Engineering Research Tree, we decided not to use the conventional function categorization and instead arranged the research slots according to the game's progression order.

Arranging the Research Tree According to Progression Order.

The new electricity research tree was easier to understand and more convenient, but there were still minor elements that needed to be addressed. It was necessary to add category icons for the structures on the research screen and to enable the system to handle simultaneous research with the existing research bench.

It seemed like a good idea to similarly subdivide the existing research tree into categories such as beginner/advanced research or carpentry/masonry research. However, considering that the game is still in early access and continuously adding new structures, it feels premature. We plan to reconsider this approach once the game is more complete. In the meantime, careful consideration is needed to ensure there are no issues with implementing such changes.

This update added so much content that even testing it was enjoyable. However, with that comes a mountain of improvements that need to be made, making next month incredibly busy as well. In the next development diary, we will introduce content that we couldn't cover this time, focusing on the new biome, the Volcanic Biome.

Ratopia Dev Diary #23 - Electricity and Ratrons

Hello all, it’s Cassel, developer of . The Electricity and Ratron system that I will introduce this time have been systems that we have been preparing for a long time, aiming for the February-March update. Now, we have finally reached the stage where we are conducting tests and verifying the plans, so I can introduce them to you. Let me share with you the work that has been done and the issues that we have considered.

[h3]Electricity[/h3]

Unfortunately, is a game with a limited number of Ratizens. The structure of the game is such that the computational load increases exponentially as the range of movement and tasks of the Ratizens increase. Therefore, to ensure the proper functioning of the game, it was necessary to limit the number of Ratizens.

In the later stages of the game, when players can no longer accept more Ratizens, the growth momentum of the player gradually decreases, and from that point onwards, quantitative growth of the city through additional Ratizen acquisition becomes impossible. To grow the city, it's necessary to enhance the individual abilities of Ratizens and redesign the city layout to reduce their movement paths and thus achieve qualitative growth. Currently, there's unintentionally no limit to the increase in Ratizen abilities, which may be less perceptible, but rather than just waiting for Ratizens to grow, I wanted to add a mechanism that allows players to directly drive the growth of their city.

Electricity was planned as a resource to increase the work efficiency of Ratizens and grow the city. Various power generating structures such as Wind Turbines and Hydroelectric Generator can be used to produce electricity. The generated electricity is transmitted through wires connected to the generators and stored in connected electricity storage facilities. The stored electricity was then consumed by Ratizens in nearby structures that were constructed.

Just like the concept image, it was hard only to visualize the wire connections.

If Ratizens using electricity could work twice as fast in production tasks, it would enable more goods to be produced per unit of time. This, in turn, would create surplus Ratizens who could be redeployed elsewhere, allowing the city to achieve additional growth.

Expected Ratizen surplus using Electricity

However, this straightforward approach left something to be desired visually. Since there were no changes to the game screen, it didn’t feel like any advancement had occurred. The challenge was how to represent the use of electricity and visually reward the player for the city's development.

To address this, I considered attaching lights to production structures to indicate changes and thought about replacing animations with electric tools when Ratizens are working. However, applying this rule to all production structures was problematic as some structures were unsuitable, which was quite a headache. Additionally, how to handle situations when electricity to a structure was cut off during operation, and how to show that a structure was using electricity when a Ratizen was absent were also issues to consider.

These sure were not fulfilling our artistic standards.

After a long period of consideration, it was decided that changing the images of the structures was not suitable. It seemed difficult to perceive a change without significant visual alterations, and dramatically changing the appearance of all structures would require an excessive amount of work and imagination.

While the planning for the generation and transmission of electricity was completed, the plan for its usage was still unresolved, causing a standstill in progress. Attempts were made to add support-type structures that use electricity to enhance the abilities of nearby Ratizens, but these alone seemed insufficient compared to the structures producing electricity. Continuously brainstorming various ideas eventually led to the introduction of Ratrons. Ratrons, powered by electricity, seemed like they could provide a sense of the city's advancement.

[h3]Ratron[/h3]

Ratrons are NPCs that can work in production structures instead of Ratizens. Unlike Ratizens, they do not require food, services, or sanitary needs, resulting in less computational load compared to Ratizens. They provided a clever solution for giving the impression of an increased Ratizen population while minimizing system load. Additionally, if they were created the same size as Ratizens, allowing them to use hundreds of Ratizen animations, it seemed feasible for quick and system-collision-free integration into the game.

Fired up and ready to serve.

Initially, the design allowed Ratizens to own Ratrons. After building a Ratrons charging station near the owner's workplace, activating Ratrons use at the workplace would mean that every time the owner left the workplace to fulfill needs, the Ratrons from the charging station would come to work in their place. This system was designed so that the Ratrons's owner would primarily handle the purchase of materials and sale of products, and the owner's income would increase due to the Ratrons.

However, this approach created a problem where the efficiency of Ratrons varied greatly from one structure to another. Since Ratrons were only responsible for production tasks, in structures producing resources with low workload, Ratrons would quickly finish production and spend a long time waiting for the owner to transport the resources. Assigning resource transportation to Ratrons could lead to operational conflicts with their owners. In the current system, where material supply, production work, and product sales occur sequentially, Ratrons created for specific structures were not utilized at all.

In an effort to increase Ratrons' production time and efficiency, a feature was added that doubled the workload, requiring double the resources for double the output. However, this ended up being a feature that increased production efficiency even without using Ratrons, and the fundamental issue remained unresolved: the more systematically a player designed the movement of Ratizens, the less efficient Ratrons became. Continuing to add features without addressing this fundamental issue was problematic.

After several discussions, it was decided that maintaining Ratrons in their original form was not feasible. It was felt that Ratrons needed to be made more quantifiable and user-friendly, and it was decided to change them to take on tasks like resource supply and sales, just like Ratizens. Now, instead of just aiding in production, Ratrons took over the production role entirely, making it difficult to use them as personal assets of Ratizens and making them dependent on the city.

Ratrons are not Soylent Green, hands and feet colors are just bug.

Ratrons can be manufactured by putting material resources into a Ratron Assembly, similar to weapon manufacturing. The materials required vary depending on the basic abilities of the Ratrons, and if players succeed in a matching mini-game, they can gain additional small bonus abilities.

You might need some skills to create exceptional Ratrons.

Ratrons were intentionally designed with low abilities and are set to not gain experience. This is because Ratrons have the significant advantage of not having needs, and the intention was to prevent them from becoming superior to Ratizens. Instead of replacing all workers in the city's production facilities with Ratrons, the aim was to make players consider whether it would be beneficial to replace Ratizens in certain structures with Ratrons.

The situation might change a bit when more powerful Ratrons with greater abilities and work ranges are added, but for now, the plan is to first observe system issues and game flow using the currently developed basic Ratrons.

It's regrettable that the content related to economic and social phenomena caused by Ratrons is still lacking. As things have just been wrapped up, the plan is to test and gradually develop them. If you have any interesting ideas related to Ratrons, please feel free to leave a comment!

1.0.0051 Hot Fix

[h2]Bug Fix[/h2]

- Fixed the issue where some Ratizens kept failing to find their path when using the railway.
- Fixed the issue where the tooltip for the shortage of production materials was not appearing.
- Fixed the issue where trading certain resources was causing errors.
- Fixed the issue where the exit button was not appearing when using the Help page in the Menu window.
- Fixed the issue where Spitters were appearing in every invasion by default.
　　- Now the easy difficulty level will be appropriately easier.

We will continue to provide updates for improvements in the future, enhancing player enjoyment. Thank you all for the support.

1.0.0050 Update

[h2]Patch List[/h2]
Notice: Those with this icon(💌) are inspired by the players’ opinions. Thank you so much again.

　💌 Added a [Peaceful difficulty] level where enemies do not invade.

Although we updated the user-defined difficulty level feature previously, there was a critical issue where tutorials could not be progressed. To address this, we have added the [Peaceful difficulty] level, which prevents enemy invasions, focusing on tutorials and allowing players to concentrate solely on city management.

　💌 The pathfinding performance of Ratizens and enemies has been improved.

As the city developed, there were many terrains that could not be overcome with the existing AI pathfinding algorithms. Thanks to the save data sent by our users, we were able to conduct AI tests in various terrains and improve the pathfinding algorithm. We will continue to develop and enhance it further.

　💌 Changed the color of the health bars for friendly Ratizens and structures to sky blue.

As the number of enemies increases and invasions intensify, the frequency of friendlies and enemies getting entangled in battles has started to increase. To make it easier to distinguish between friendlies and enemies in the chaos of battle, we have changed the color of the health bars for allies and structures.

　💌 Added Subsidy to support the use of service structures on Welfare Law

The Welfare Law is a feature designed to aid Ratizens who are in the blind spots of society. Similar to the cultural life vouchers in reality, we wanted to provide a function that not only supports goods but also offers subsidies for consuming services.

　💌 The Royal Wardrobe structure has been added.

　💌 The Royal Tunnel structure has been added.

　The Telescope structure has been added.

Through the Telescope structure, you can view other locations in real-time.

　A mass production feature for production structures has been added.

You can activate this feature in the detailed settings of the structure. When activated, the materials and work load are doubled, but the production quantity is also doubled.
- Tutorial additions and enhancements have been made.
- A currency exchange log has been added to the bank exchange feature.
- The maximum exchange rate has been adjusted from 1500 to 2000.
　　The minimum and maximum exchange rates are now displayed on the exchange rate graph.
- Empty building blueprints are set to be deleted after 12 days.
- Save and load functions are now asynchronous to prevent interruption during gameplay.
　　If there is a failure in saving or loading, a related error message will be displayed as a popup message.
- Auto-placement will immediately assigne Ratizens to the beds as soon as they are built.
- The creation save files with the same kingdom name has been expanded to allow up to 10,000.
- Minimum affecting area of the active ability of Shrine of Dog has been enlarged.
- When entering a dungeon, a save file is created before the dungeon entry.
　　This file is overwritten each time you enter the dungeon.
- Default price will now be shown on UIs when changing the prices of goods with the commercial law.
- Coal tiles and recipes using coal have been added.

[h2]Bug Fix[/h2]
- 💌 Fixed the issue where citizens overlapped while using the dining table.
- 💌 Fixed the issue where the Curfew on Ratizen groups of Doors resets when loading the game.
- 💌 Fixed the issue where the background turns black when saving and loading during storms and blizzards
- 💌 Fixed the issue where the cracked effect on tiles with low health was not displayed when loading the game.
- 💌 Fixed the issue where Ratizens wait in front of the door when multiple Ratizens use a door at the same time.
- 💌 Fixed the issue where some tiles could not be mined, causing an error when attempting to mine.

- Diggers will not dig on days other than invasion days.
- Invading enemies will appear with the [Starvation] buff.
- Expiry date and next trade day shown in the trade window will appear correctly.
- When Garden is demolished while plants are being harvested, the harvesting motion of Ratizen will stop.
- Canceling demolition command will affect on intended areas correctly.
- Work speed in the status information window will appear properly.
- The effects of structures in the statistics window will display values affected by the Ratizens' abilities.
- The intermittent bug with statistical data that occurred when loading the game has been fixed.
- Currency exchange ticket alerts will be displayed properly after save and load operations.
- Currency exchange ticket will now expire properly as written.
- Scroll will be activated when the number of currency exchange tickets becomes excessively large.
- Fixed the name of the item “Coral Necklace” to “Snorkel”, which is visually more appropriate.
- Consumption values of research points for some structures have been rectified.
- Rails will not be usable when it is destroyed.