The Colonists News

Hi everyone,

The Colonists are back with some big updates! Here’s what new in V1.3:


Create, share and play custom maps using Steam Workshop.
Sculpt land and sea, place trees, rocks and resources, and set your own victory conditions.





Free your train network with the new elevated railway system!
Build tracks that carry your trains through and over buildings and across shallow bodies of water.





The large harbour can load and unload three boats simultaneously and has many more stackbots to help with the extra jobs. It also has two separate entrances to filter traffic more easily. The new lugger boat is made of iron and can hold more resources than the clipper.





You can now apply rules to individual stops for boats and trains, harbours and stations now have separate rule lists for importing and exporting. Trains now block each other and stations can support multiple train stops. Trains can now also transport construction materials to stations under construction.

• New Large Storage Yard - can store more resources, has two entrances and has a bot printer.
  
• Postcard Mode - create snappy screenshots of your colony.
  
• Map Improvements - fixed black lines, added double-click to go to location, more accurate panning and zoom uses mouse position.
  
• Each research technology now has its own icon.
  
• Road posts now have a darker colour if a rule is applied.
  
• Added notification icons when a new building or a new level of a building is unlocked.
  
• Many other small improvements.
  

Thanks to everyone who has been playing the game so far, all your feedback, suggestions and bug reports have been incredibly useful!

Please get in touch if you have any issues with the latest features, we'll be continuing to improve them as well as work on more updates including new campaign maps and AI/military improvements. Vote for features you’d most like to see on our roadmap and remember you can follow development progress as well as play the very latest builds on our Discord server.


Help And Bug Reporting: https://trello.com/c/2uryGdlJ

Roadmap: https://thecolonists.featureupvote.com

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

After a short break we're back with some updates!


Added best times leaderboards for campaign economy missions - optimise your colonies and compete for the fastest times.
Brand new robot model and animations for Forestry bot, Blast Furnace and Blacksmith bots and Baker bot.
Updated system for calculating how buildings are connected to road posts and other buildings. Each connection is now listed in a new building panel and can be visualised within the world. This refactoring also fixes some lags and freezing issues.
Forestries can now plant all types of tree available in the game with varying growth times and terrain requirements.
Updated Wheat Farm production stats and added animations for Wheat Farmer bot.
Fixed bug with Lumberbots and Minebots passing through rocks and potentially getting stuck on slopes.
Increased reputation gained per dollar transaction in the Sandbox Market.
Small improvements to tutorials in Mission 1 and 2.
[V1.2.1.1] Fixed loading old savegames which had other AI players
[V1.2.1.1] Fixed issue where building connections could get confused when removing roads
[V1.2.1.1] Fixed being able to sculpt a tile with a path on


In order to get lots more playable maps available for everyone I've been focusing on developing a Map Editor which will allow you to create, share and rate your own maps and scenarios. The first beta version has recently been made available on our development branch so if you'd like to check it out early and provide feedback and suggestions whilst it's refined please head over to our Discord for the full details.


We're also progressing on the next Transport Update which is going to include improvements to the boat and train systems as well as bridges! Look out for more news on this very soon.


Help And Bug Reporting: https://trello.com/c/2uryGdlJ

Roadmap: https://thecolonists.featureupvote.com/

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Thanks!

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*Offer ends Thursday at 10AM Pacific Time

Hi everyone,

Some new features, improvements and bug fixes have just gone live, here's a quick breakdown:

[NEW] Endless Sandbox Mode - Buy and sell resources at the Space Port building, increase your Trader Reputation and create ongoing colonies in Sandbox Mode
[NEW] Charcoal Burner - Convert Logs into Fuel as an alternative to Coal for all Coal-fired buildings
[NEW] Additional landscaping tools which allow you to tweak the terrain to your own aesthetics
[NEW] Custom Colour - In Sandbox Mode you can choose a custom colour for your colony
Removed slope restrictions for building placement
Construction and Research processes now consume resources by their delivery date resulting in more balanced resource demands
Fixed Export building not being removed when it's destroyed
Fixed Road Layer bot getting stuck sometimes
Fixed landscaping bug when removing Harbour
Fixed natural resources sometimes appearing dark
Fixed not being able to set individual storage rule to 'any'
Fixed a couple of incorrect L3 road/path junction tiles
Improved notification UI
Improved storage rule icon UI
[V1.2.0.1] Fixed loading a sandbox market-enabled game not showing Space Port as in the construction options
[V1.2.0.1] Fixed not being able to re-order Fuel building priorities
[V1.2.0.1] Fixed being able to navigate expedition boat before expedition resources had been fully loaded, leading to incomplete harbours
[V1.2.0.1] Fixed destroying a harbour with a single unconnected road post not resetting tile properly which could lead to future issues with building roads
[V1.2.0.1] Fixed Cow Farm production rates (now maxes correctly at 6/day) and fixed location of initial field when flipped

Up next I'm going to be looking at improvements to ports and train stations among other features and we're also in the final stages of a Mac version. If you'd like to check these out as they're being developed please drop into the development branch of the game and let me know your feedback on Discord!


Help And Bug Reporting: https://trello.com/c/2uryGdlJ

Feature Vote/Roadmap: https://thecolonists.featureupvote.com/

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists


Thanks!

Hi everyone,

The newest patch has just gone live, here's what's new:

[NEW] Added ability to prioritise tiles for Surface Miners
Fixed expedition boat being allowed to leave before all expedition resources had been fully loaded
Fixed potential issues when destroying a building led to resources rerouting back to same building
Fixed bug where Stackbot would become stuck if resource it was picking up was manually destroyed
Fixed bug with Road Layer bots upgrading the same road tile and sometimes becoming stuck
Fixed transport rules being ignored in rerouting when harbour was initial transport node
Fixed bug where Orchard Field and Wheat Field couldn't be removed in certain situations
Fixed incorrect boat construction notification icon
Fixed high level mine buildings not showing up in resource production panel
Fixed maximum field tooltip showing incorrect text sometimes
Prevented farm fields from being rotated which led to incorrect field graphics
Wheat fields now burn properly
Making a new path now triggers idle Road Layers
Changed in-game time display to past tense to match time displayed elsewhere
Cow Farm's initial field now aligned to left edge of building
Sandbox - AI difficulty level can now be set or turned off complete on military maps
Mission 6 - tweaked fishing locations
Mission 4 - added underground Clay mine
[V1.1.2.1] Fixed bug with start military map without AI in sandbox mode

I'm still continuing to look at any issues that are reported but I'm also starting to look more at improvements and new features. Currently in development is the Endless Sandbox Mode, if you'd like to test it out head over to our development branch or ask in Discord.


Help And Bug Reporting: https://trello.com/c/2uryGdlJ

Feature Vote/Roadmap: https://thecolonists.featureupvote.com/

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Thanks - back with more soon!