Surviving the Aftermath News

Game version
1.21.2.1256

General

Added a new Main quest storyline.

• The quest will trigger at a certain point in the game.
  
• As this is a new main quest, it will not block other side quests from appearing as before.
  
• The main quest will guide you through a story of survival.
  
• If you complete the main quest, you will be able to either quit the game or keep playing with only Winter being a catastrophe that will occur in your colony.
  

Gate Combat has been reintroduced to the game.

• While the combat at the gate still works similarly to how it was before, we have improved the UI to make it more clear.
  
• The end result of the gate combat now depends a lot more on the level of the gate, the health of the gate at the start of the combat, and the amount of guards working at the gate. This means that it is more important to upgrade the gate and keep it manned to ensure bandits can't get in - at least as easily.
  
• Bandit groups arriving at your gate will become more difficult over time as well.
  
• If the gate will be breached, the bandits attacking your colony will all spawn at the gate instead of around the colony as before.
  
• Your guards working at the gate can also get injured now during the gate combat.
  

Added voiceovers to the game.

• The voiceovers have been added to different notifications, game phases, quests, and events.
  

Added a new intro and entry videos and a new Main Menu background to the game.

Gameplay

The Malnutrition system has been reworked.

• Previously the system would work with one threshold which could cause a colonist to continually suffer from malnutrition, then be healed quickly but suffers from it again soon after being healed.
  
• The system now works in a different way which ensures that colonists should not get the condition again quickly after being healed from it.
  
• Due to this change, a colonist suffering from Malnutrition will also lose health due to the condition and can eventually die from it.
  

A complete rework of the Help menu.

• The Help Menu now has a new look and the entries in it have been divided into different categories.
  
• The categories should help with finding the correct entry quicker.
  

The Food Storage building also now has an “Allowed Resources” option.

• You can select separate food resources to be blocked from the storage or even based on the type of food. This means you can prevent all meals for example from being stored in a specific Food Storage.
  

Reworked how colonists working in buildings that produce resources from other resources work if there are more than one colonist working.

• Previously only one colonist would carry the resources to the building and other colonists would idle and wait.
  
• Now all colonists working in the building can carry the resources if more than one resource is needed. For example, a Cookhouse with two workers will now work more smoothly as one worker will fetch the food and one will fetch the firewood required.
  

The Pregame selection screens have been reworked.

• This includes a new visual look as well as a prologue text giving you some background to what happened in the past.
  
• The selections now represent better how the choices you make will impact your gameplay.
  
• Small changes to available specialists to select from as well.
  

Added the ability to move around the colony while the Overlay Menu is open.

• Previously this was not possible, instead, the camera would remain still until the menu was closed.
  

More changes

• Fixes to the memory usage of the game, especially if starting a new game several times in a row.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the game to show the text All Clear when attempting to place a building outside the colony grid.
  
• The colonists working at the Burial Pit or the Cemetery now work better together. Previously all colonists working in the building would try to carry the same dead colonist. Now only one worker should get the task to carry a specific corpse.
  
• Specialists should no longer get stuck outside the colony gate.
  
• Wind turbines will now require to be heated during the Winter catastrophe.
  
• Fixed a visual issue with the output of the Scavenger Outposts. Previously it would always show at least 1 unit in 12 hours even though it was only producing 1 unit every 24 hours.
  
• Fixed an issue that would prevent the Happiness tooltip from showing properly on certain resolutions and aspect ratios.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the Survivor Outpost UI to show misleading information. Previously these numbers were rounded up, so the UI would show a higher frequency than what the actual frequency was.
  
• Added new tutorials to the game. A tutorial for creating outposts was added as well as tutorials for the new features implemented in this patch.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause survivors from Survivor Outpost in the World Map to turn into elders when they entered the colony.
  
• Added new heightmaps to the game with different terrains for the colony.
  
• The game will now show pointers on the World Map to better indicate where a quest location is.
  
• The fields will no longer simply show Paused as their status if the work slot is closed. Previously it would show as Paused in this situation despite the crops still growing.
  
• The condition system for colonists has been reworked to improve the performance of the game.
  
• An event occurring in the colony should no longer block saving unless the event has been started.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause an event to show up with just the IDs showing.
  
• The floater on top of guards will now be shown constantly as a faded floater if the colonist does not have any other floaters to show.
  
• The day count in the colony will no longer increase until the first colonists have been invited.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the colonists to not face the building they were repairing.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the game to give you Wood instead of Metal when the Metal option was chosen.
  
• Improved scrolling with a controller in locations where there is text only visible.
  
• Catastrophes are now occurring in other sectors around the World Map.
  - These can be seen clearly from their visual effects on the sector.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the trade menu to show wrong amounts of resources available if the player would cancel trading the resource.
  
• Added a new name and description for Gate Level 3.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the Specialists to return back to the World Map immediately after they have been sent to the colony.
  
• Added a separate slider for the Voice Overs.
  
• The underground deposits will now show their richness as a percentage instead of Low/Medium/High.
  - The percentage will also be visible already in the tooltip shown when the deposit is hovered over.
  - The info panel shown when a building is being placed will also now show the efficiency, making it easier to determine which deposit to utilize.
  - The richness values were also balanced to prevent deposits with very low efficiency from appearing.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the Extractors and the Auto-Extractors to calculate their efficiency wrong. This was caused by other deposits of the same type being too close to the building.
  
• Added a warning to the Society panels if the Trade Center has not been built yet.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the colonists to sometimes lose their tools suddenly or cause the tools to remain in the air where the colonist had previously been working. The tools should now visually appear when they are being used and not stay in the air.
  
• The Water Pump building can now be used during the Heat Wave catastrophe.
  
• The Wandering Merchant will no longer offer Cricket Eggs as these are always available to be planted in the Insect Farm.
  
• The game will now spawn resources gained from events to the Campsite if the Gate has not been built. Previously they would be spawned to the middle of the entire colony.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the “Low on …” notification to appear if the player only had higher-level items available.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the Storm Dome construction zone to not be selectable after being placed in the colony.
  
• Fixed an issue that would allow certain decorations to be placed on barren soil despite their descriptions.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause a wrong amount to be shown in the Harvestable Crops part of the Food tooltip. This amount was updated with a delay, so this could often show a much larger amount than was actually available.
  
• The Radiator and the Industrial Radiator now show their heat radius always when selected and when being placed in the colony.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the Healing Outpost to not start healing if the Specialist arrived at the Outpost with queued movement or by exiting from a car.
  
• The “Specialists ready for action” notification should no longer be shown every time when the game is loaded. The notification will still be shown if there are Specialists with Action Points available that are not currently performing a task such as scavenging.
  

Graphics

• The Society and Trade windows have had an update to their layout. They will now show the resources a society offers and what resources will be exchanged in the trade more clearly.
  
• The overlay shown when placing a building that requires energy or water to function has been improved. There are now connecting lines shown which will tell you if the building is within reach of the relevant building's work area.
  
• The buildings’ work area display has been improved.
  - This affects buildings such as the Burners, which previously would show all their work areas on top of each other.
  - The work areas are now instead merged together to make it easier to see which places are heated and which are not.
  
• Fixed missing textures on some buildings.
  
• Added new building 3D models to the game. Added a new model to the Tenement, Shanty, House, and Two Story House buildings.
  
• New look for the Tech Tree.
  - The Tech Tree icons are now much larger and easier to read.
  - The legend for the Tech Tree has been moved so that you will need to open it from a button.
  
• New images were added around the game to events and pregame.
  
• The Outpost panel on the World Map has been polished.
  
• The Create a Settler panel has also been polished.
  
• Visual updates to several info panels in the game. These include the info panels for colonists, specialists, and buildings.
  
• The Medicine Icon in the top bar has been updated.
  
• Updated the visual look of the different sections of the Main Menu and the Pause Menu.
  
• The 3D models of the Fields and Irrigated Fields have been tweaked so that they are not as flat.
  
• Event illustrations have been updated.
  
• The Guard Floater has been made smaller and blue. It should now also be positioned a lot better on top of the Guard.
  
• Fixed an issue with Lumber Yard’s animation.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the Large Solar Panel to remain open at nighttime.
  
• Updated the Tutorial images for most of the tutorials in the game.
  

Balance

• Improved the balance of starting resources in the game.
  
• Colonists will now lose health at a slower rate than before if they are hungry. This health loss can cause colonists to die from hunger despite having a lot of food available in the colony. The slower rate should give colonists a better chance to reach the food in time.
  
• Reduced the rate of mutation during the Fallout catastrophe.
  
• Adjusted the Merchant events to only have 3 offers available instead of the previous 4.
  
• The Lightning Rod and Lightning Tower buildings now require less resources to be repaired and can withstand a lot more damage.
  
• The time colonists consider leaving the colony has been slightly increased. This should give you a better chance of changing their minds and making them stay in your colony.
  
• Changed the max HP of Specialist Cait to match the HP value of other Scientist Specialists.
  
• The Metal deposits around the colony now have more metal in them.
  
• The Advanced Scrapper and the Metal Extractor now produce more Metal each cycle.
  
• The Shanty and its upgrade now require Plastic to be repaired.
  
• The Lumber Yard and the Sawmill now produce more wood each cycle.
  
• Tools now require less Metal to be produced.
  
• The Level 3 version of the Gate now requires Concrete as its repair material instead of Metal.
  
• The type and amount of resources required to repair different housing buildings have been adjusted.
  
• The Space Junk disaster should now occur less frequently in the game.
  
• The Concrete deposits around the colony contain more Rubble to be gathered by the Concrete Scavenger.
  
• Specialists will now cost various amounts of Silver, based on their total skill points. Specialists will no longer accept Food as payment to be hired to your colony.
  
• The Extractors now work slightly faster.
  

Greetings, Survivors!

It’s been quite the journey from the very beginning of the early access period to today. We announced Surviving the Aftermath at PDXCON ‘19 main stage and while it had the core already in place, the game has evolved quite a bit over two years, 20 major updates and smaller patches in-between in early access. The regular updates have added more content, features, and fixes according to our vision and your invaluable feedback. Make no mistake, we wouldn’t be here without you so again, thank you on behalf of the entire Iceflake team. There have been ups and downs along the way, but we’re happy with the end result and hope you are too!



While update 1.0 has a ton of new features, reworks, improvements, and fixes, the end-game is definitely the most important one. It uncovers some of the mysteries behind the apocalypse and how the world ended the way you see it now. While the sandbox nature of the game remains unchanged, you’re now able to embark on a long quest to ultimately rid your colony of some of its most destructive challenges. This will require you to visit distant locations on the world map to uncover old world knowledge while fighting and building up your colony to take advantage of your resources to build a massive protective bunker for your colonists. Building materials alone won’t be enough, though, and you’re tasked to build new types of engineering outposts around the map to amass the necessary know-how and resources to complete this monumental project.

Different types of outposts gather one of four required types of knowledge, and exploring the world map ensures you can find the optimal sectors for each. It’s a tough task meant to last the bulk of your playthrough made even tougher by the unknown hostile force on your heels. But the reward will definitely be worth it, raising your colony to a whole new level of survival! The game doesn’t end after completing this massive undertaking and you’re free to continue playing for as long as you like.



As per community request, we’ve restored the gate combat in a new and improved form. The initial feature was not what you or we were happy with, so we took a step back and reworked how it functions and how it’s communicated to the player - with your help. Enemies will once again come knocking at your gate to blackmail the colony or just see it burn. If you don’t give in to their demands, gate combat will take place. The new UI allows you to see how well your gate is defended, how numerous your opponents are, and when you can affect its outcome. Your top priority before that is to have a fully repaired gate with all hands on deck, and even then it might always be enough. Upgrading the gate provides your growing colony with better protection and more guards, so don’t neglect it! Increasingly bigger and badder bandit groups won’t be held back otherwise.



The aftermath now also speaks! Voice-overs from professional voice actors have been added for numerous sections of the game, including notifications, milestones, events, and quests. We’ve also updated the specialist responses and grunts. The voice-overs bring quite a bit more flavor to your questing and also help draw attention to important happenings around the colony and the world map.



Almost all aspects of the game have received balance updates and polish, but two major elements have been reworked a bit more thoroughly. Malnutrition will not flip back and forth anymore if a colonist is right on the threshold. We’ve also added a small health penalty to those suffering from malnutrition, so be sure to react to it as quickly as possible. A balanced diet is a must! Production buildings with multiple workers have also gotten reworked. As a result, they divide their carry tasks more efficiently and the “extra” workers spend less time standing idle when one of them is bringing in resources. This will increase productivity considerably, so some balancing has been done to counter inflating the economy.



The user interface has received numerous user experience improvements, tweaks, and changes. Society and trade windows have been updated to show earlier what is on offer. The overlays for energy and water have been improved to clearly show the connections between energy or water consumers and producers with a nice visual grid of underground pipelines. The heat overlay has been cleaned up to look nicer and more informative when burner zones overlap each other, so it’s easier to see which areas are heated. The tech tree has received a facelift for a clearer look which should be a lot more readable especially on consoles. Other UI elements have been polished for a more refined final look.



Along with the voice-overs, we’ve added a cool new intro to the game! It should set the mood nicely for the pregame, in which we’ve added a short prologue story about the condition of the world. Other smaller improvements include a categorized help menu and impressive new building models for shanties, tenements, houses, and two-story houses. As you upgrade your shelters from one tier to another, you can really see your colony improve right in front of your eyes. The lighting, textures, and atmospheric effects have also been polished to give the game a crispier look with more definition between the buildings and the environment, as shown by the picture below.



And here we are! Two years and many, many updates later the game is finally in its 1.0 form. We don’t have long to celebrate, though, as work with the first post-release updates and upcoming DLCs are already in progress. Once again, thank you for supporting us over all these months, and hope to see you enjoying the 1.0 release along with future content!



Be safe, Survivors, and play games!

The End is really here! In the last episode of the series, PartyElite will show what ultimate challenges are waiting for you in the Aftermath. We're taking a look at some new features coming in 1.0 as well!

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Life in the Aftermath is full of unique stories just waiting to be discovered. In today's tutorial, PartyElite will take a closer look at quests which offer you a chance to send your specialists on interesting and sometimes dangerous paths. Your choices will decide if they turn out to be worthwhile adventures.

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The World Map offers quests, bandits, resources, opportunities, and threats! Use Specialists to explore the world around your colony and try to survive all the hazards of this post-apocalyptic world. PartyElite will give you a basic overview of all the things to watch out for!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]