Eco News

Hey Citizens,
we have just released Hotfix 10.0.3 to address the following issues:

• Fixed: Shooting down the meteor could lead to an achievement related server crash
  
• Fixed: Pictures in a invalid state (having no creator assigned) could crash the server and corrupt the save game, this fix will scan pictures on server start for this state and assign them a creator to fix save games retroactively
  
• Fixed: Some other server crashes that could be caused by pictures
  
• Fixed: Achievements were not properly storing progress and some were hence unobtainable
  
• Fixed: The levelup animation didn't display its graphics correctly

Hey Citizens,
we have just released Hotfix 10.0.2 to adress the following issues:

[h3]General:[/h3]

• Fixed: Multiple usability problems with tools, especially the bows and the fishing rod
  
• Improved: Canoes should feel more responsive to your interactions when steering them
  
• Improved: Adjusted temperature and moisture ranges for "Flax" plant to have better habitability
  
• Removed: The network multiplier for reputation was removed, it was causing confusion to players and is no longer necessary with the new settlements system

[h3]Civics:[/h3]

• Fixed: Towns founded by citizens that lost their prior town due to the civics invalidity timer showed a property crisis mentioning deeds that were part of their prior town and do no longer exist
  
• Fixed: Custom stats that due to the name of the settlement or its founder had special characters in their full internal name were causing database issues that could lead to a multitude of strange effects
  
• Fixed: The law trigger "First Login" wasn't hidden on worlds with settlements turned on, as is intended
  
• Improved: Performance on scanning properties when changing laws, this notably improves civic performance

[h3]Technical:[/h3]

• Fixed: It wasn't possible to create a new world with randomized world generation through the game client
  
• Fixed: It was possible to generate invalid worlds with a height over 160, leading to players seeing a black screen with HUD when joining them after a while. The world generator will no longer generate worlds with a height going over this limit.
  
• Fixed: Some players could get stuck at around 80% of loading when reconnecting to a server
  
• Improved: Multiple improvements to face tracking, including better webcam detection

[h3]Singleplayer:[/h3]
For singleplayers (and dedicated servers with settlements turned off) we have added back the ability to gain claim papers (and now also claim stakes) when they read a skill scroll, as it worked in Update 9. These claim papers and stakes work anywhere and are not bound to a settlement. This is enabled by default when a singleplayer world is created with the "No Collaboration" setting and on dedicated servers that have settlements turned off.

For this to work on singleplayer worlds that were created in Update 10, the configuration needs to be adjusted - the easiest way to do this for singleplayers is to create a new world in the client with the default "No Collaboration" setting, adjusting advanced settings as desired, then load their currently played world again - configs apply to all worlds currently and are not saved per world.

The new configuration options are found in Difficulty.eco file:
- "GiveStakesAndClaimsEvenWhenSettlementsAreEnabled" (Default: false, other than for "No Collaboration" where it is true - Determines if unrestricted claims and stakes are also granted on worlds with settlements enabled, which is the case for all singleplayer worlds newly created in Update 10 and not the case for all singleplayer worlds migrated from Update 9.)
- "ClaimStakesGrantedUponSkillscrollConsumed (Default: 1 - Determines how many unrestricted Claim Stakes are granted when reading a skill scroll.)
- "ClaimPapersGrantedUponSkillscrollConsumed" (Default: 1 - Determines how many unrestricted Claim Papers are granted when reading a skill scroll.)

The last two settings also control the gain for dedicated servers with settlements disabled.

Hey Citizens,
we have just deployed Hotfix 10.0.1 to address the following issues:

[h3]Civics:[/h3]

• Fixed: Bank accounts created since the last server restart would display a "Dual Permission" error and be unusable
  
• Fixed: Homesteads were able to be placed outside of a settlement when joining that settlement before placing it down

[h3]Crashes:[/h3]

• Fixed: Changing the owner of a vehicle was causing a crash
  
• Fixed: Opening the "Influence" page in the Ecopedia was caushing a crash
  
• Fixed: Immigration policies could become invalid and cause a crash when a player tried to leave a settlement (or was made to)

[h3]General:[/h3]

• Improved: The claim tool will now auto-select the deed with the closest plot among those owned everytime it is selected. Once a manual selection is made, this behaviour stops for the rest of the play session

Hello Citizens,
today is the day - we are finally launching Eco 10 for you to play! Our team has put together a massive upgrade for the game, making this the biggest Update we ever made. And due to the introduction of settlements, it's also the one with the most changes to and impact on gameplay - making Eco even more interesting and collaboration focused!

What you really want to hear about, though, is probably boats - so after a quick summary for all those of you that prefer to play it right away, let's get directly into what is new.

Release Summary:

1. Boats & Coastal Construction – Boats have finally come to Eco! Discover the seas on six distinct boats with different purposes and build your ports with new, harbour-themed blocks!
   
2. Towns, Countries & Federations – Instead of one global government, you are now progressively creating settlements - from a small town, over a great country to a federation of mankind. The government system is now fully tied into the core gameplay and brings collaboration to the next level!
   
3. Culture – Create stunning pictures, accumulate culture in your settlements to expand their influence and gain new lands to claim, work together to annex settlements that pose a threat to the wellbeing of the planet and display your cultural achievements to everyone.
   
4. New Avatars and Face Tracking – Avatars and the character creator were fully revamped, offering you much more possibilities to style them to your liking. Additionally you can turn on your webcam to animate your avatar with facial expressions and your hands. Combined with lipsynching, you can interact with other citizens like never before!
   
5. Render to Horizon – With the upgraded lodding system you can now configure your world to display to the horizon, showing the curvature of the world and giving you a sense of its grandeur!

And now, let's go into the details:

[h2]Boats & Coastal Construction[/h2]

• Discover the worlds of Eco on water for the first time
  
• Build a Canoe to quickly travel around on your own or craft a Large Canoe to take a friend with you
  
• Use the Wooden Transport Boat to transport goods and trade on different continents
• Get yourself a Fishing Trawler and become a deep sea fisher
• Transport two trucks with a Wooden Barge or even up to four with an Industrial Barge
• Building in deep oceans is no longer possible, gone are the days of continent spanning bridges
  
• Swimming in deep ocean is extremely exhaustive - if you run out of calories you will drown and wake up at the shore
  
• Added new forms centered around docks to the hewn log blocksets to build your ports - or anything else you find them suitable for
  
• Added two mooring posts on land and two buoys on sea that you can lash your boats to
  
• Added five decorations fitting the nautical theme - Life Preserver, Ships Wheel, Hanging Buoys, Glass Buoys and Fish Rack

[h2]Towns, Countries & Federations[/h2]

• Players now start the game by claiming a Homestead somewhere on the world
  
• Players can join together to found Towns, Countries and even Federations
• Each settlement has their own claim stakes to create new deeds and claim papers to expand them
  
• Each of these settlement ejects influence, a circular area in which their claim papers and stakes can be used
  
• The influence of a settlement can be expanded through increasing the settlement's culture
• Laws of a settlement are only valid within its influence respectively for its own citizens - no more global government by default
  
• Settlements can make immigration policies to decide who can join them
  
• Settlements of higher tiers can annex other settlement through a difficult process

[h2]Culture[/h2]

• Create stunning in-game pictures and images by using the easel or one of multiple cameras
• Use the printing press to upload your own images onto the server
  
• Make museums and show your pictures off in a multitude of frames
• Collect reputation for your pictures and help your settlement increase its influence

[h2]New Avatars & Facetracking[/h2]

• Completely reworked avatars, supporting facial expressions
• A new creation flow to make your own avatar - saved between play sessions
  
• Customize your avatar with many new options and outfit it with many new clothing items
• Build a dresser and change your outfit on the server you currently are playing on
  
• Support for facetracking, calibrate with your webcam and animate your avatars to show your own facial expressions and hand movements

[h2]Balancing & Techtree Expansion[/h2]

• Improved world generation, ores will now generate in veins and plants spawn in localized clusters
• Rebalanced research papers and upgrade modules to require specialty investments
  
• Revamped power generation and consumption - the power network now properly prioritizes efficient power generators
  
• Changed the Steam Engine to provide mechanical power instead of electrical and notably reduced the amount of mechanical power that the Water Wheel and the Windmill generate
  
• Added the Industrial Generator for late game power generation
  
• Improved Stone Roads - they now fully support form fill types like their asphalt counterpart
  
• Improved Shovels - each tier of shovel now can hold an increasing amount of dirt
  
• Rebalanced countless crafting recipes and increased the shelflife of seeds
  
• Added a new plant to the techtree and incorporated it into the lumber recipes - flax

[h2]Miscellaneous[/h2]

• Added a "Trust Landlord" option for renting, allowing landlords to freely change property with residents on them, improving Quality of Life for players playing together on shared property
  
• Executive actions now support to target single deeds and allow to change reputation
• Reputation now provides for configurable daily limits and a "Speak Well of Other" bonus to incentivize its usage
  
• Settlements now also have a reputation contingent usable via laws and executive actions - reward your citizens for helping your settlement improve its culture
  
• Improved animal pathfinding to be less likely to collide or get stuck

[h2]Twitch Extension[/h2]
To support our amazing streamer community, we've created a unique plugin that will allow viewers to interact with the worlds a streamer plays in!

• Viewers can vote in elections (up to a defined percentage of total votes based on settings)
  
• Displays graphs of ecosystem and economy data to analyze the big picture
• Shows all relevant info about the server and allows viewers to join based on configurable settings

We’re also starting a Twitch Drop campaign today, so watch Twitch streams to get your Update 10 nautical themed unique items, you can find all information on our website: https://play.eco/twitch-drops



Thanks a ton from all of us at the Strange Loop team for all our old and new Citizens, this release marks our biggest so far, and there’s still lots more to come.

-John K, CEO Strange Loop Games

Important Info for the Update:
- Migration from Update 9.7.13 should work in most cases, but incompatible data will be removed in the process, changes to the world generation will not be available and the settlement feature can't be turned on for migrated worlds.
- A world created on Update 10 with the settlements feature disabled can only turn it on when there is no civics in the world. Disabling the settlements feature is not possible once it was enabled at any point without restoring a backup from before it was activated.

Good day Eco Citizens,
we have a big announcement today: after over a year in the making, Eco 10 will be released on December 12th 2023!

This is our biggest update ever, and will be a huge addition to the game. We’ll have some more blog posts giving details about what’s in it, but today I’m going to give you a look at our new Towns/Countries/Federations system.



Overview of past and coming up blogs:
- Boats and Trade
- Coastal construction
- Face tracking avatars
- Photography/painting
- New graphical improvements
- Expanded tech tree
- Twitch plugin
- Towns, Countries and Federations (This blog)
- Culture


Prior to Eco 10, there was a single global government, and laws and decisions it made affected everyone globally. No longer. With this update, the world starts with no governments, and you must band together with your fellow Citizens to create them.

Each Citizen begins with the ability to create their own homestead. This is essentially a Tier-0 settlement, population 1. It allows a Citizen to claim a small amount of property around them, with no other government’s laws or taxes able to apply them. While this gives you total freedom to do as you wish (pollute up a storm if you like), it comes at a cost, because you’re limited in how much land you can claim. There’s only so much land that can be managed by a singular person.

Every Citizen can run their own independent homestead.


To take the next step up and start claiming more land and create laws and taxes, a Town must be formed. To do so, you’ll need to find fellow Citizens who wish to create a Town with you, a minimum of 3. You’ll need to build a Town hall on new property to form the center of the Town, and you’ll need to ratify a Town Constitution which the majority of the initial Citizens agree to. From there, you can found your Town with a flourish:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]A Town is founded!

Once founded, a Town will carve out an area of Influence, which is a new concept in Eco 10.

Settlements cast influence into the world, which represents the location where its government applies and where property can be claimed.

Each settlement casts a base level of influence based on its tier (Tier 1: Town, Tier 2: Country, Tier 3 Federation). This influence can be seen on the map and designates where the settlement’s laws and taxes take effect. As Citizens band together and Towns start cropping up around the world, you’ll see pockets of influence with different laws, taxes, and styles of government. Each settlement also maintains a Citizen list, and once you’re a Citizen of a settlement your homestead falls under its influence, and thus you must follow any laws that apply. When two settlements are next to each other, the influences will push against each other, like so:

Towns near each other will compete over influence range, with laws that could be very different between them.

Towns also allow you to claim much more property and start new claims using spawned claim stakes. Citizens joined together are more than the sum of their parts, and the more Citizens a settlement has the more land it can claim. These can be distributed by the Town mayor (or others, depending on how the Town constitution is configured). The caveat is that the additional claims can only be used under the influence of the settlement (however, there are ways of expanding influence further using a new Culture system, which will be described in a coming blog).

New claim stakes for homesteads, towns, countries, and federations. Place one of these to start claiming land under different settlement types.


Eventually, Towns will start to feel cramped as they reach their max level of influence or push up against neighbor’s influence. The next step, once the required tech tier is reached, Citizens can start a Country.

A Country can be formed when member Towns bond together.

The process of forming a Country is similar to founding a Town, with the difference that instead of requiring a base number of Citizens to start, they require a base number of Towns. This means that in order to form a Country, you must get at least 2 Towns to agree and ratify a Constitution. You additionally must have a minimum amount of Culture to form a Country (see next blog). Getting Citizens agree enough to start a Town is enough of a diplomatic challenge, but getting multiple Towns to agree to form a Country is a huge achievement.

Multiple Towns can ratify a Constitution together to form a Country.

The country has a separate government, which is not part of the member Town’s governments; rather, it lies atop those town governments. Both governments will continue to exist, with their own influence radii, and their laws and taxes only impacting their influenced land. This means that within a Country’s influence, you may have many Towns with different laws, and a set of federal laws/taxes that apply throughout.

The influence of a Country overlaps with the influence of its member Towns, with both Country and Town laws/taxes applying together.


The final tier of settlements is a Federation, which is akin to a United-Nations-like collection of countries. A Federation must have a minimum of 2 member countries ratify its constitution, and if getting several Towns full of Citizens to agree to form a Country is a huge achievement, getting several Countries, full of Towns full of Citizens to agree requires some superhuman diplomacy.

A Federation is a collection of Countries that has agreed on a constitution binding them.

Once formed, the influence of a Federation can become large enough to cover the entire globe. At this advanced stage of a world, the ability to enforce laws globally may be critical to survival, preventing rogue Towns/countries from polluting and destroying the common resources shared among the many societies of the planet.

However, for those settlements that just won’t listen to reason, there is a way to enforce agreement once diplomacy fails.


A higher-tier settlement can annex a lower-tier settlement, meaning force it to become a member Citizen or settlement. Homesteads can also be annexed, forcing a Citizen to begin abiding by the rules of the settlement who may have been flouting them before.

Annexation does not come cheap, however. To do so a settlement must have a base level of Culture, plus more Culture than the target, more citizens, and must overlap the influence of the target by a significant amount. Additionally, a cost of goods must be paid to perform the annexation, with half of these goods going to the annexed settlement, and the other half being destroyed. In this way, annexation is always going to be more costly than arriving at a diplomatic solution, but sometimes necessary when diplomacy fails.

Rogue settlements can be forced to cooperate through the process of Annexation.

Federations can also annex fellow Federations, meaning there is no top of the pyramid where you’re totally safe from annexation. And abandoned homestead or towns are very easy to annex, making it easier to collect and reapply resources from Citizens that haven’t been playing.

As a defense against annexation, settlements can increase their culture, making it harder for them to be annexed. A future blog will explain how culture works in detail, but the short of it is that Citizen creativity has a place in civilization now.


Super excited to get this update out to everyone and see all the dynamics play out with the other new features of 10. For example, boats can make the value of an isolated island town high as it becomes a trading hub, but perhaps applies a harsh tax, triggering annexation pressure from neighbors looking to drop taxes.

Also exciting is that this update will bring government features to a much wider set of Citizens: now you can start a Town with just three people, making each Citizen potentially a major part in the decision making process of the Town, drawing them into global affairs among Countries and Federations as the world grows.

More updates coming soon. Thanks all and can’t wait to share it with you.

-John K, Strange Loop CEO