Update 0.5.1 Released!

It took a bit more time than anticipated, but I think I got most, if not all, of the 0.5 bugs under control and added some of the most requested features. I've been playing a 10h game with this patch (with multi-threading enabled) and it's stable. I've also fixed the path-finding issue that was preventing players from having multiple separate underground areas. We're also back to pre-0.5 performances after another code optimization pass.

While i could speak about bug fixing for a while, let's get to the more interesting parts:

Lasso Selection

Firstly, lasso selection during combat has finally been implemented. You can lasso select your units (in combat mode) to move them in group. No more awkward 1 by 1 unit selection. It however makes most encounters trivial to deal with. I might need to re-balance events or prevent settlers from shooting & moving at the same time when under player control. I'll leave it as is for now.

Weapon Strength vs Material Integrity

That's something I have explained in multiple locations already. Simply put, the general idea is that a weak attack like a punch or an arrow shot shouldn't do the same amount of damage to a soft body and to a metal wall.

To that effect, each weapon has a "strength" value and each armor/object/target has an "integrity" value, both ranging from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). The bigger the difference between the 2, the higher the damage reduction (by 20% increments).

For instance a very low strength (punch) attack versus a very high (metal wall) integrity target will lead to a 80% reduction in damage. The opposite isn't true. High strength vs low integrity won't increase the damage.

It's still a bit experimental, but all in all it's working. Strong doors last much longer, but they aren't going to hold off a horde of shamblers indefinitely either.

Tool-tip System

I slightly extended the tool-tip system. Clicking an object will no longer show that cumbersome center-top panel. Instead it will display a transparent popup providing more information and less visual noise. It also has the handy side effect of showing the content of your containers / storage buildings with a single click.

I will continue to improve that system, replacing some of the large menus by more dynamic tool-tips when it makes sense.





Balance

• Collecting water from well is 33% faster
  
• Purifying water at a camp fire is 25% faster
  
• Reduced wall and tile building time by about 33%
  

Combat

• Lasso selection for multi-unit selection during combat
  
• Ability to give move and attack orders to whole groups of survivors
  
• Weapons, objects, armors have a strength and integrity variable influencing damage (low strength vs high integrity lowering damages)
  

Engine

• More code optimizations, which should put us back to pre 0.5 performances, give or take
  
• Job Dispatcher is now thread-safe which should make the multi-threading option safe'ish now
  

User Interface

• Slightly tweaked panels so menus look a bit better
  
• Replaced the top panel for furniture, walls and player owned constructions by the new tooltip system
  
• Tooltips look better and deliver more information
  
• Added weapon strength and armor/object integrity info to contextual right click menus
  
• Updated tooltip and tutorial to account or multi unit selection in combat mode
  
• Added keyboard shortcut info to main menu button tooltips
  

Bug Fixes

• It was possible to build (buggy) stairs over blackened walls when the intented behavior is "only above empty cavern"
  
• Potential crash when the colony collapses
  
• Weird french sentence in exploration monitor menu (me deplace vers)
  
• In caverns (invisible) walls marked for deletion could keep the tile colored in red after being deleted
  
• Survivors would appear near a stair instead of on top of it when changing scene, potentially blocking them into a wall
  
• Combat mode circles showing even when in the wrong floor
  
• Bug that could teleport someone in the wrong floor
  
• Regression bug (0.5.0) preventing job priority settings to be restored when loading a savegame
  
• Pathing errors when having multiple and separated underground locations
  
• Damaged palisades would show the default wall damage sprite that's larger than the palisade
  
• Epidemics are not checking for faction, causing spiders and lizards to catch the flu
  
• Camera centering via menus would not switch to the proper scene
  
• Automatic change of layer (events, menus, etc.) would not always properly update the lighting
  
• Traders could appear in the underground (and stuck to boot)
  
• Repair job not working properly
  
• RaiderAI could take forever to start if the majority of the base is underground