Update 1.3.5: General Update + DLC News
Hi there!
Here's a new sizable update for After The Collapse. I'll also talk about the planned DLC somewhere below in this article. I know, I know, I'm a tad behind schedule. Nothing's new :)
Anyway, this version 1.3.5 brings substantial improvements to the world map faction AI, game balance, and visuals. As usual I will go over the main changes only, you can refer to the full changelog at the end for the nitty gritty details.
[h2]Graphics Overhaul[/h2]
This update includes a major visual refresh across multiple aspects of the game. All body and head armor sprites have been completely redone with a much prettier and consistent look. Same story for many of the basic resources, food, and other manufactured goods.
Every single faction logo were redesigned, same goes for the vast majority of the technologies. I also replaced two of the most "out of place" trading cars with more "post-apocalyptic" looking alternatives that better fit the game's theme.
This doesn't impact the "playing area" itself much, but at least now, all the icons and items look pretty consistent, quality and style wise.
[h2]AI and Factions[/h2]
I've put significant work into making the faction AI more dynamic and challenging. Main factions now grow stronger as they expand their territory, with increased population caps and faster reinforcement rates based on the number of locations they control. As factions expand, they'll unlock more powerful soldiers and equipment, creating a more realistic progression of threat (note: this requires starting a new game). This only concern the main factions in free play, story mode is not really impacted.
During raids, enemies can now be alerted by the noise your soldiers make. Gun shots are more noisy than melee. Simply put, when you shoot at something, it has a chance to alert the enemies in the nearby rooms (10 tiles radius for now, might tweak further down the road). This should make manual raids a bit more dynamic, but also slightly more difficult.
[h2]Balance and QoL[/h2]
Several balance tweaks have been implemented to improve the gameplay. You will no longer lose the equipment of your defeated soldiers during offensive world map raids, their equipment will now be automatically transferred to your vehicle's cargo if space permits (it can still be damaged in the process).
Expedition vehicles now automatically repair when parked at your home base - no more disbanding and recreating parties just for repairs! Which is great, because I've reduced the van's speed and HP to make it less of an obvious mid-game choice.
Production centers now provide 50-100% more basic resources (stone, wood, metal, coal, food), making them more valuable targets for expansion and control. This is still under evaluation, I might push it further.
In Story Mode, I've removed the bandit lair spawn event from Act 1, as it was too challenging for new players and too exploitable for veterans. Act 4 of Story Mode now features a second radar dish location to speed up the first phase, and the Brotherhood faction (when hostile) is now much more active in this act, providing a greater challenge.
Two backpacks have been added to the utility slot (formerly artifact slot), which increase carrying capacity. These can be looted or crafted at the loom, giving your survivors more space for resource gathering.
[h2]DLC News[/h2]
So... Initially, this update should have accompanied the DLC "Echoes of the Machine" and was supposed to only be minor engine-related changes to accommodate the new content. But as I was working on the DLC, I realized that the assets I was making were of much higher quality than those in the base game. And because the result was quite visually jarring, well, I ended up remaking over 100 sprites in the base game too.
This obviously delayed me quite a bit, so I decided to flesh out this free update, and release it now instead of rushing the DLC's development.
Echoes of the Machine might still be released in (very late) March, as I'm done with most of the assets, but it's a lot more probable that you'll have to wait until April.
[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]
Here's a new sizable update for After The Collapse. I'll also talk about the planned DLC somewhere below in this article. I know, I know, I'm a tad behind schedule. Nothing's new :)
Anyway, this version 1.3.5 brings substantial improvements to the world map faction AI, game balance, and visuals. As usual I will go over the main changes only, you can refer to the full changelog at the end for the nitty gritty details.
[h2]Graphics Overhaul[/h2]
This update includes a major visual refresh across multiple aspects of the game. All body and head armor sprites have been completely redone with a much prettier and consistent look. Same story for many of the basic resources, food, and other manufactured goods.
Every single faction logo were redesigned, same goes for the vast majority of the technologies. I also replaced two of the most "out of place" trading cars with more "post-apocalyptic" looking alternatives that better fit the game's theme.
This doesn't impact the "playing area" itself much, but at least now, all the icons and items look pretty consistent, quality and style wise.
[h2]AI and Factions[/h2]
I've put significant work into making the faction AI more dynamic and challenging. Main factions now grow stronger as they expand their territory, with increased population caps and faster reinforcement rates based on the number of locations they control. As factions expand, they'll unlock more powerful soldiers and equipment, creating a more realistic progression of threat (note: this requires starting a new game). This only concern the main factions in free play, story mode is not really impacted.
During raids, enemies can now be alerted by the noise your soldiers make. Gun shots are more noisy than melee. Simply put, when you shoot at something, it has a chance to alert the enemies in the nearby rooms (10 tiles radius for now, might tweak further down the road). This should make manual raids a bit more dynamic, but also slightly more difficult.
[h2]Balance and QoL[/h2]
Several balance tweaks have been implemented to improve the gameplay. You will no longer lose the equipment of your defeated soldiers during offensive world map raids, their equipment will now be automatically transferred to your vehicle's cargo if space permits (it can still be damaged in the process).
Expedition vehicles now automatically repair when parked at your home base - no more disbanding and recreating parties just for repairs! Which is great, because I've reduced the van's speed and HP to make it less of an obvious mid-game choice.
Production centers now provide 50-100% more basic resources (stone, wood, metal, coal, food), making them more valuable targets for expansion and control. This is still under evaluation, I might push it further.
In Story Mode, I've removed the bandit lair spawn event from Act 1, as it was too challenging for new players and too exploitable for veterans. Act 4 of Story Mode now features a second radar dish location to speed up the first phase, and the Brotherhood faction (when hostile) is now much more active in this act, providing a greater challenge.
Two backpacks have been added to the utility slot (formerly artifact slot), which increase carrying capacity. These can be looted or crafted at the loom, giving your survivors more space for resource gathering.
[h2]DLC News[/h2]
So... Initially, this update should have accompanied the DLC "Echoes of the Machine" and was supposed to only be minor engine-related changes to accommodate the new content. But as I was working on the DLC, I realized that the assets I was making were of much higher quality than those in the base game. And because the result was quite visually jarring, well, I ended up remaking over 100 sprites in the base game too.
This obviously delayed me quite a bit, so I decided to flesh out this free update, and release it now instead of rushing the DLC's development.
Echoes of the Machine might still be released in (very late) March, as I'm done with most of the assets, but it's a lot more probable that you'll have to wait until April.
[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]
- AI: Main factions see their max population and reinforcement rate increase with with the number of locations they control
- AI: Main factions unlock more powerful soldiers and equipment as they control more locations [new game required]
- AI: In raids, enemies have a chance to activate if they hear a noise nearby (shots, people hit, stuff like that)
- Balance: Slightly reduced AoE effect and damage spread of (modern) rocket launcher
- Balance: Equipment of defeated survivors during world map raids is put back into vehicle's cargo if there is enough cargo space
- Balance: Reduced the van's speed and HP making it less of an obvious midgame choice
- Balance: Removed bandit lair spawn event from act 1 of story mode (too much for newbies, too easy to farm for veterans)
- Balance: Added a second radar dish location to story mode's act 4 (to speed up first phase a bit)
- Balance: Made the Brotherhood (when hostile) a lot more active in act 4
- Balance: Production centers give a lot more basic resources (stone, wood, metal, coal, food), increase from 50% to 100% depending on the building
- Content: Expedition vehicle is automatically repaired when sitting on homebase tile (no need to disband and remake party)
- Content: Added variant of stone wall with a different texture, mostly for map variety, but can also be built
- Content: Added 2 different backpacks for the utility slot (increase carry capacity), lootable and craftable at the loom
- Engine: Renamed artifact slot to utility slot (with the backpack addition, it makes more sense)
- Engine: Work behind the scene for the DLC
- Graphics: Two of the trading cars were replaced by more "post-apocalyptic" looking ones
- Graphics: Replaced all body and head armor sprites by much prettier and consistent-looking ones
- Graphics: Replaced all faction logos by new ones
- Graphics: Replaced most technology icons by better looking ones
- Graphics: Replaced many of the resource icons by new ones (food, resources, animals, etc)
- Graphics: Other minor graphical changes and improvements
- UI: power consumption of factories refreshed in real time in their menu, and clarified information
- UI: Sorted equipment by name in slot equipment list
- Sound: Replaced the main menu music by two new tracks
- Fixed: Cats making explosion sounds instead of meowing (lol sorry about that one)
- Fixed: Power-consuming factories that can't produce due to lack of resources were still using power
- Fixed: Power-consuming factories could have their production loop stuck under some circumstances