Patch #18: Belts Splitters, Filters, Lifts, Warehouse Extractors, & Dropoffs

[p]Patch #18[/p][p]Based on feedback from players, and the hard work of the entire team: I am super proud to announce the addition of 5 new additions to Whiskerwood's belt mechanics![/p][p][/p][p]Each new machine has a specific purpose in mind. We hope players will design their late game logistics around these conveyors. The new machines are:[/p]

1. [p]A Splitter which takes in 2 paths and outputs 2 paths. It will round robin switch items between the paths and can also be used to cleanly merge two paths or just randomly balance volume between the paths.[/p]
2. [p]A Filter which takes a path in at the top and will drop any configured item types down to the bottom path[/p]
3. [p]A C shaped Liftback. It takes items in at the bottom and through a geared ratchet mechanism lifts them back on themselves upwards. This machine comes in 2 high and 3 high varieties.[/p]
4. [p]A Dropoff Shed. A tiny warehouse meant for usage with Conveyor Belts. It can only be fed by a belt, and allows belts to deliver resources right to the doors of industries. Allowing the Whiskers working in said industries quick pickup of their inputs when supplied by belts. Think of the Dropoff as the inverse of the Input Hopper.[/p]
5. [p]A Warehouse Extractor. These extractors can pull configured items from any warehouse they touch. Watch out! Roofs do not count as touching.[/p]

[p][/p][p]You can unlock all these new machines by researching the new Advanced Belts schematic.[/p][p]We've also added visual indicators of where machines can be connected by belt for easier setup.[/p][p][/p][p]The warehouse extractors allow you to warehouses to feed belts. Until today all belts were aimed at delivering outputs into warehouses. This extractor closes the loop, allowing warehouses to feed inputs. The dropoff buildings you can see in the above screenshot, in the right, act as belt specific destination warehouses. We expect players to build extractors from buffer warehouses, delivering to Dropoffs near factories. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Liftback machines should allow for easier integration of belts into vertical mine shafts.[/p][p][/p][p]We've also fixed a number of crash reports. Please do check out the full changelog below, and if you've not reviewed Whiskerwood yet please do consider doing so :)[/p][p][/p][p]Daniel[/p][p]Lead Programmer on Whiskerwood[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Changelog[/h2][p]v0.6.181 Patch #18[/p][p]Features[/p]

• [p]Add Belt Filters & Splitters[/p]
• [p]Add Belt Liftback and Taller variety for vertical item lifting[/p]
• [p]Add Belt Dropoff for delivering industry inputs to industry[/p]
• [p]Add Warehouse Extractor to pull items from Warehouses onto Belts[/p]
• [p]Add smarter congestion avoidance when using multiple elevators and rail stations[/p]
• [p]Add work overview shortcut to sidebar menu[/p]

[p]Gameplay[/p]

• [p]Reduced injury chance from building explosions from 100% to 50%[/p]
• [p]Fix tax ship ui promising an inaccurate chance for schematics[/p]
• [p]Double how much natural fertility increases by fertilizer uses[/p]
• [p]Crops now completely pause their growth cycle when cold[/p]
• [p]Flip Stone to CutStone recipe ratio from 2:3 to 3:2[/p]
• [p]Reduce Stone Cutter cycle time from 377 to 233 seconds.[/p]
• [p]Prevent Two Whiskers who both already are inspired won’t engage in rebellious conversation[/p]
• [p]Halve the chance of rebellious remarks[/p]
• [p]Whisker Launcher vertical range adjusted to max 10 tiles up or 3 tiles down (from 10 up or down). Max range details now shown in destination assigner.[/p]
• [p]Fix destination assigner not showing all possible valid destinations[/p]

[p]UI[/p]

• [p]Increase font size on policy menu[/p]
• [p]Add time of day to save entries in load menu[/p]
• [p]Make vsync setting greyed out in window and window fullscreen modes[/p]
• [p]Expand ui hitbox for guild in whisker overview menu[/p]
• [p]Disable the temperature display on the field UI, since temperature affects individual crop cells[/p]
• [p]Save order of player tracked resources in hud[/p]
• [p]Improve readability of selected resource icons on tracked resources and selected crop indicator[/p]
• [p]Allow cycling between Elevator Shaft and Elevator Platform with variant hotkey (T)[/p]

[p]Bugs[/p]

• [p]Fix bulldoze tool incorrectly selecting path decoratives behind buildings[/p]
• [p]Fix range indicator at max height showing opaque bubble[/p]
• [p]Fix flax/berries/trees growing during winter[/p]
• [p]Fix storage shed showing incorrect temperature[/p]
• [p]Fix heat overlay colors fading into the opposite end of the spectrum at the extremes[/p]
• [p]Fix heat overlay symbols not showing at very high and low temperatures[/p]
• [p]Fix items on belts resetting position when migrating backwards in the loop computation logic[/p]

[p]Crash Fixes[/p]

• [p]Fix crash which could occur when draining the ocean[/p]
• [p]Fix crash when loading a save with corrupted ocean draining data[/p]
• [p]Fix crash when save file fails to load during the option manager init[/p]

[p]Acknowledgements[/p]

• [p]Thank you to caneythekid on the Discord for suggesting we increase the font size of text on the policy menu[/p]
• [p]Thank you to itSaWoolf on the Steam forum for reporting the hitbox on guild selection was too small[/p]
• [p]Thank you to Khermoterropy for reporting how the work range was showing an opaque bubble at the top of the world space[/p]
• [p]Thank you to Kralmir on Discord for pointing out that the growth behavior of cold crops wasn’t intuitive[/p]
• [p]Thank you to Dulces on Discord for reporting that the field UI displayed invalid temperatures[/p]
• [p]Thank you to Whokuu on Discord for reporting bad temperature on storage shed.[/p]
• [p]Thank you to Kralmir on Discord for reporting wrong heatmap colors at -30 degrees.[/p]
• [p]Thank you to an anonymous player for reporting the save file init fail over email[/p]
• [p]Thank you to Cyanshade on the Discord for reporting the hidden launcher ranges[/p]
• [p]Thank you to Ama on the Discord for reporting the order of tracked items was shifting after save and load[/p]
• [p]Thank you to Yan on the Discord for suggesting we improve the NPC pathing AI to better use multiple rail stations[/p]
• [p]Thank you to Catdalf on the Discord for making the suggestion to invert the stone to cutstone ratios[/p]

[h3]Steam Reviews[/h3][hr][/hr][p]We'd really appreciate it if you could take a moment to share your thoughts about Whiskerwood in a Steam review. Each review helps us understand what you enjoy, what you'd like to see changed, and what you'd like to see added next. It's a powerful way for you to not only share feedback with us directly but also influence what comes next in a patch. We're carefully reading through all feedback, and your opinion matters![/p][p][/p][h3]Official Wiki and Beginner's Guide[/h3][hr][/hr][p]We have some fantastic resources to help get you started on your colony building in Whiskerwood. Check out our beginner's guide and our official community wiki page to help get you the answers you need. [/p][p][/p][p]We also have a compilation of tips and tricks sourced from the community to help you out right here:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h3]Join the Whiskerwood Community[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Become part of the Whiskerwood community. Join us on Discord to chat with other players, share your villages, and see what others are creating. You can also follow updates and discussions on Reddit, stay informed through BlueSky and Twitter. [/p]