Update 13 released! Logging Machines, Progression Rework, Store Tags and more!

[p]Hello Eco Citizens,[/p][p]we're happy to announce the release of Update 13! Let's dive right in and take a look on what changed:[/p][p][/p][p]The largest changes have been made to the progression system, which has been completely revised to lay the groundwork for stars to become a "currency" that can be spent on a variety of benefits, ensuring that there is always a reason for good food and housing. Hence, starting with this update, players earn significantly more stars over the course of a game than before, but also need to spend more stars.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Specialties now no longer all cost a single star, instead their star cost is based on their individual tier. For example Logging costs 1 star, Farming 2 stars, Baking 3 stars, Oil Drilling 4 stars and Composites costs 5 stars - additionally, by default (except on No and Low Collaboration) for every specialty you have already learned your next specialty will cost an additional star on top of its base cost. Similarly, talents are no longer free - choosing one does cost a star as well and many of the new talents can even be chosen multiple times to improve their benefits at further star costs.[/p][p][/p][p]This new progression system introduces a larger array of options for players to create their builds and specialize, which will further increase with upcoming Updates adding more ways to spend stars. We understand that this makes for a significant change in gameplay and hence will closely monitor the effects outside of playtests and make adjustments in hotfixes and maintenance updates as necessary.[/p][p][/p][p]To accompany the revised progression, we have replaced nearly all talents in the game with new talents that have a diverse array of different, typically more specialized effects. Check out some of them:[/p][p][/p][p]Talents have been designed with expandability in mind: Not only do we plan to add more talents over time - modders can now also easily adjust existing talents, remove them or add their own ones at any level. That even includes the ability to create talents that do not cost stars, but grant some in exchange for negative effects.[/p][p][/p][p]Loggers can finally rejoice with this Update: Next to them having gotten all their talents implemented, we have added two new advanced means for them to process trees more quickly.[/p][p][/p][p]First, we have added the wood cutting attachment for the steam tractor: Just like the more advanced Scorpion it allows to grab a tree and fell it. It however can not store logs internally, so it instead cuts the trunk into logs of a size that can be either picked up manually or with the scoop attachment:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The second addition is the Scorpion that has the ability to store logs internally and hence fully automates the process - also saving time, as it does not need to cut logs into pieces that can be directly picked up from the ground:[/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p]Based on one of the top suggestions on our feedback tracker, we have added the ability to list tags as buy and sell offers in stores: [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]This feature is fully integrated with the economy viewer and tooltips, for example the economy viewer will show stores buying tags that contain the item the player is filtering for and item tooltips will list stores that buy the item through a tag.[/p][p][/p][p]Another thing we did for this Update was putting some focus on Quality of Life improvements the community wished for. The probably most notable of them being the ability to remove blocks with the hammer tools:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The farmers among you will probably like the new overlay when applying fertilizer, which will also display the change in nutrients as a little floating text whenever fertilizer is used:[/p][p][/p][carousel][/carousel][p]We also made quite some more minor improvements, for example these:[/p]

• [p]Applying fertilizer and planting seed interactions are now using the left mouse button.[/p]
• [p]Vehicles do no longer collide with tree saplings.[/p]
• [p]The repair UI was reworked to provide better understandability.[/p]
• [p]Remaining fuel in world objects is now preserved when picked up.[/p]
• [p]Powered vehicles now open on the Storage tab instead of the power tab.[/p]
• [p]Modules and tractor attachments can now quickly be replaced by holding one and right clicking.[/p]

[p]We don't plan to stop there, but want to add some Quality of Life improvements to every future Update.[/p][p][/p][h2]Balance Changes:[/h2][h3]General:[/h3]

• [p]Changed: Benefits from modules have been significantly reduced, providing a 5% resource cost reduction per level up to a maximum of 25% compared to the prior maximum of 50%.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Pollution at the location of a room now negatively affects its housing score by default.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Rooms now require doors and window blocks by default, holes are no longer valid.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Trees now have 50% more hitpoints and yield 50% more logs.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Labour costs for crafting of tools was increased.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Food:[/h3]

• [p]Changed: Corn now has the Grain tag.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Elk Wellington is now produced at the Stove.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Macarons are now crafted at the Stove.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Stuffed Turkey is now crafted at the Stove.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Oil craft time was reduced from 60s to 38 to 38s.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Flaxseed Oil craft time was reduced from 60s to 38s.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Processed Flaxseed Oil craft time was reduced from 60s to 19s.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Processed Cottonseed Oil craft time was reduced from 30s to 19s.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Processed Fish Oil craft time was reduced from 30s to 19s.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Fried vegetables calories were increased from 700 to 750.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Fried vegetables output was increased to 2.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Fried vegetables craft time was increased to reflect changes from 30s to 60s.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Meat Stock output was increased to 4 and recipe adjusted with costs and craft time.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Vegetable Medley output was increased to 4 and recipe adjusted with costs and craft time.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Prime cut ingredient cost was reduced from 16 to 10 raw meat.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Sunflower Oil ingredient cost was reduced from 16 to 12 seeds.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Processed Sunflower Oil ingredient cost was reduced from 12 to 10 seeds.[/p][p][/p]

[h3]Housing:[/h3]

• [p]Changed: Shelves are now categorized as "Decoration".[/p]
• [p]Fixed: Plastic Outdoor Table is now categorized as Outdoor.[/p]
• [p]Fixed: Ceramic Tea Set is now categorized as Living Room.[/p]
• [p]Fixed: Long Hardwood Veneer Shelf now provides 3 housing value, as all other veneer shelves.[/p][p][/p]

[h3]Items:[/h3]

• [p]Changed: Arrows labor cost was increased from 30 to 80[/p]
• [p]Changed: Charcoal recipes and its variants are now available from Level 3 to 5.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Fiberglass is now crafted at the Spin Melter.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Glassworking Modern Upgrade is now crafted at the Spin Melter.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Hemp Mooring Rope is now crafted by Shipwright at the Small Shipyard.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Hemp Mooring Rope labor cost increased from 120 to 180.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Basic Circuit recipe now uses Wood boards instead of Substrate.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Nitric Acid recipe now uses Compost Fertilizer instead of Compost.[/p][p][/p]

[h3]Talent Restrictions:[/h3][p]The following recipes require a talent to be crafted:[/p]

• [p]Campfire Roast. (Campfire Cooking)[/p]
• [p]Render Fat (Campfire Cooking)[/p]
• [p]Beet Sugar / Processed Beet Sugar (Milling)[/p]
• [p]Fish oil / Processed Fish Oil (Milling)[/p]
• [p]Refine Tallow (Advanced Cooking)[/p]
• [p]Fiber Reinforced Concrete (Mason)[/p]
• [p]Charcoal Steel (Advanced Smelting)[/p]
• [p]Ceramic Fuse (Electronics)[/p]
• [p]Etched Basic Circuit / Etched Advanced circuit (Electronics)[/p]
• [p]Asphalt (Basic Engineering)[/p]

[p][/p][h3]World Objects:[/h3]

• [p]Changed: Blast Furnace is now crafted with Mechanics Level 3.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Electronics Assembly is now crafted at the Assembly Line.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Electronics Assembly no longer accepts Glassworking Modern Upgrade.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Spin Melter now accepts Glassworking Upgrade Module.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Stove now accepts Advanced Baking Upgrade Module.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Advanced Carpentry Table now requires Fuse, Advanced Circuits and Lubricant.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Advanced Masonry Table now requires Fuse, Advanced Circuits and Lubricant.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Advanced Tailoring Table now requires Fuse and Basic Circuits.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Automatic Loom recipe now requires Fuse and Basic Circuits.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Jaw Crusher recipe now requires Fuse and Lubricant.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Nylon Futon Bed recipe ingredient Cotton Fabric has been removed.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Nylon Futon Bed recipe now requires Steel Springs.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Nylon Futon Couch recipe ingredient Cotton Fabric has been removed.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Nylon Futon Couch recipe now requires Steel Springs.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Computer Lab, Froth Floatation Cell, Industrial Generator, Industrial Refrigerator, Injection Mold Machine, Laser, Powered Storage Silo, Robotic Assembly Line, Solar Generator, Spin Melter, Washing Machine and Wind Turbine recipes now require Fuse.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Some objects that had Fuse added as recipe ingredient also require it as a Maintenance Part.[/p]
• [p]Changed: Robotic Assembly Line now requires Servo, Electric Motor and Fuse as Maintenance Parts.[/p][p][/p]

[h2]Server & Configs:[/h2]

• [p]MIGRATION NOTICE: Migration between major versions is generally not supported.
  The game will however load worlds from Update 12 fine and remove all chosen talents from players, granting them a star for each removed talent to be able to select a new one right away. Due to the changes to the progression system such worlds will however quickly see a large excess of stars being available. We hence recommend strongly to start a new world if any possible.[/p]
• [p]MOD COMPATIBILITY NOTICE: Modifications and Overrides need to be adjusted or removed.
  The new progression system comes with changes to most game files, hence most if not at all overrides will need small adjustments to account for these changes. Servers will fail to boot until these adjustments have been made, unless respective overrides are removed. Compiled mods that do not add recipes or have features related to the skill or talent system will likely allow the server to boot, but may cause failures in usage when not having been recompiled against the new Update.[/p][p][/p]

[p]Balance.template.eco[/p]

• [p]Added: "ExperienceGrowthPercentage" config variable, determining the percentage the base experience cost to level up increases by per level - defaults to 1.05, equalling 5%.[/p]
• [p]Added: "ExperienceIncreaseAdditive" config variable, determining the flat value added to the base experience cost to level up at each stage reached - defaults to 5.[/p]
• [p]Added: "StarsRequiredPerStage" config variable, determining the interval in stars at which an increase in stage occurs - defaults to 8. The current stage is calculated by Total Earned Stars / StarsRequiredPerStage.[/p]

[p]Disasters.template.eco[/p]

• [p]Removed: This config file was removed, as the "HasMeteor" config variable in Difficulty.eco.template now controls if a meteor spawns or not.[/p]

[p]Difficulty.template.eco[/p]

• [p]Added: "CostPerAdditionalSpecialty" config variable, determining by how many stars the cost of a specialty increases per specialty the player has already taken - defaults to 1 for all collaboration presets except for "No Collaboration" and "Low Collaboration".[/p]

[p]Rooms.template.eco[/p]

• [p]Changed: "EmptyBlocksCountAsWindows" config variable now defaults to "false", requiring players to use doors and windows to complete a room.[/p]
• [p]Changed: "Enable" config variable in "PollutionPenalty" section now defaults to "true", enabling the pollution penalty.[/p][p][/p]

[p]Our next Update will focus around garbage, recycling and pollution and is also planned to contain some significant changes to modules. Work on it has already begun and our team will fully shift focus to it after the expected release maintenance. It's still too early to go into details and we will get those to you via our usual channels and developer streams once they are available - but, given we have shown a new vehicle in the Update 12 release notes, why not do that again? Here you go:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Thanks for reading and your continued support, we hope you will enjoy this new update! - Strange Loop Games[/p]