After the Collapse News

Hi there!

This updates introduces several quality of life improvements alongside a couple bug fixes, including a crash after exiting some manual battles (which was identified and reported by one of you, thanks to whoever posted this bug report).

As always, this is compatible with previous saves & mods (0.8.5+ with the usual caveats).

[h2]Zone and Room Menus[/h2]

All zone and room related menus got a facelift and a row of very useful buttons.



Those buttons respectively allow you to:

1) Access the zone's encyclopedia page.

2) Duplicate this zone and its settings to be placed somewhere else. If relevant (a room) it will also duplicate all the furniture and place build orders for the copies. This is super useful when designing your sleeping quarters: you can now design one room, and then duplicate it over and over to make more individual bedrooms. Note that you can [shift] queue the placement when you want to quickly duplicate the same room several times in a row.

3) Move/Resize the zone. With this button you can redesign the room and move it around. While this work for any zone type, note that farms are special. You can increase or reduce the size of a farm as you see fit, but moving it will delete any plot that's not in the new location anymore.

4) Delete the zone.



Zones with no building requirements like the trading or repair zones got a simplified menu that will only show their description and the usual buttons.

[h2]Main UI[/h2]

The Game Speed panel got a facelift, instead of forcing you to change game speed by 0.25 increments, it displays 4 presets (x0.5, x1, x1.75, x2.5) you can click directly. The keyboard shortcuts are left unchanged and can still be used for a more gradual change.



The combat UI got standardized. Buttons related to the main menus are still visible and put in the same spot as in build mode. As usual, all keyboard shortcuts are the same in build & combat mode.

The "set/go location" buttons have been removed as those features have been made obsolete by the patrol zones. In the same spirit, in the survivor's menu, the "military settings" panel now allows you to check or assign a patrol zone.

[h2]Trap Menu[/h2]

The various traps no longer use the default "Furniture" menu. They got their own:



Outside of displaying the general info about the trap, it's also tracking it's status. If it needs to be reloaded, it will tell if someone is on the job or if it's still waiting for someone to take said job. If it needs electricity but isn't supplied, it'll also tell you about it.

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

Outside of a potential crash when leaving a manual combat (or exiting the game), this is fixing a problem that would render fall traps ineffectual and another that would prevent dead people from dropping the damaged version of their armor or weapon, as such expect a lot more damaged stuff (on top of the usual loot) after defeating soldiers and other bandits.

[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]

• UI: Zones with no build requirements (trading, repair...) have this field replaced by a short description of the zone itself
  
• UI: Standardized colors, alignment and formatting of all room and zone menus
  
• UI: All zone related menus have a new row of buttons allowing you to resize, move, duplicate and delete the selected zones
  
• UI: Farms can be resized and moved within obvious limitations
  
• UI: In farm menu (and crop info panel), output plant field can be clicked to display the plant's info panel
  
• UI: Removed room quality information from zone menu when that information is not relevant
  
• UI: Added inventory space of depots in building menu
  
• UI: Reorganized Combat UI: main menu buttons are no longer hidden and removed deprecated patrol buttons
  
• UI: Reorganized military panel in the individual survivor menu to use the patrol zones instead of the deprecated system
  
• UI: Game speed panel with 4 presets for speed (0.5, 1, 1.75 and 2.5 presets), the keyboard shortcuts still work as usual
  
• UI: Traps got their own menu displaying reload status & general statistics
  
• Fixed: Fall traps not working properly
  
• Fixed: Problem that would prevent dead people from dropping broken weapons
  
• Fixed: Specific crash on exit and/or when exiting a specific manual combat map generator
  
• Fixed: NPC would spawn with twice the ammo they should normally have
  
• Fixed: Clicking something when a zone/room menu is open wouldn't switch the menu to whatever is selected

Hi peeps!

Well, this was supposed to be a small hot-patch to conclude the post 0.9.0 bug-fixing pass, but I got carried away. :)

This is compatible with older saves (0.8.5+ with the usual caveats) and mods.

[h2]Job Distribution[/h2]

I have to admit that I'm a bit ashamed not to have done that sooner. But thanks to a suggestion from Dr_V on how to proceed in a way that wouldn't bog down the pathfinder by tons of requests, I added a way for survivors to pick jobs close to them in priority.

While the system is imperfect and added at the last minute (it'll be improved further), in practice it heavily reduces the occurrences of jobs being accepted by someone at the other side of the map instead of someone close by. A very good example is when you have an orchard: instead of having settlers from all over the map retrieving stuff one tree at a time, the same 2-3 survivors will generally go through most of the trees in one go.

Additionally, when loading a save, base activity will resume in a much less disruptive way, as people will (generally) be attributed jobs in close proximity.

[h2]Bandit Hideouts[/h2]

This one is using the new 0.9 mechanics. From time to time, you'll get an event telling you that a bandit hideout has been established in the area. They behave like a minor faction. The hideout act as the main base which you can destroy with your own expeditions. It does not grow in strength over time, but it sends small raiding parties on a regular basis (one every day and a half, give or take).

Those raiding parties are quite small but still target any location they consider hostile or which contain loot. This includes any outpost of any faction, your own base and undefended locations. They aren't a major threat by themselves (6-8 bandits), but can grind down your defenses and disrupt your plans by taking over locations you've previously cleared if left unattended.

[h2]Map Generations & Graphics[/h2]

While this will only be visible on new games, the procedural map generator uses more graphical assets, and take advantage of mods providing alternate textures for furniture. You'll likely notice more table, sofa, tv, and seat variations.

More importantly, the building generator is less likely to produce rooms with doors blocked by impassible furniture, especially in the underground bunker. It's not perfect, and not meant to be either (it's the apocalypse, not an ikea display :p), but it's still an improvement overall.

I also replaced the textures for the (stone) water well and spider nests and the by less ugly content. Speaking of spiders, they got their own sound effects, replacing the generic monster effects.

[h2]Notable Balance Changes & Fixes[/h2]

I'm not sure how I didn't notice, but 0.9.0 was accidentally miscalculating Maximum HP for pretty much everything. In practice, it led most survivors to have a lot less HP than they should, but was impacting monsters with lot of HP much less.

It's no longer possible to keep your underground base hidden by using an already existing stair. Now, the base is considered visible the moment you build anything (zones included) on the surface.

A bug in plant reproduction was also preventing newly spawned apple trees from being recognized as being owned by your faction, preventing you (and your survivor) from interacting with them.

Finally, a bunch of small issues tied to hordes have been fixed.

[h2]A Few Words[/h2]

This should be the last patch for 0.9.0 proper (unless there's a major problem). I'm now going to work on a few new features while improving the existing stuff.

Namely, I'll be adding the ability to relocate the base (which shouldn't be a problem). Add optional defensive manual battles when your outposts are attacked while trying to make those encounters (in general) a bit more varied and interesting. Manned turrets should be there too. And if i get the time, digging AI for some of the mobs alongside other mob-specific unique behaviors.

Cheers.

[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]

• AI: When possible, survivors will look for a nearby job before considering the whole list (leading to overall better productivity)
  
• Balance: Fixed exploit where using stairs from the map would allow to keep the base hidden (building anything on the surface will reveal base now)
  
• Balance: Removed critical hit chance from spider webs, further damage reduction as I sorta forgot about the shotgun effect at close range last patch
  
• Balance: Slight HP increase globally to account for higher lethality in recent patches (more meaningful tweaks to come)
  
• Balance: Prevented different species of trees from ignoring each other, reducing overall density in maps with different species
  
• Balance: Animal hordes no longer clear map locations for you, they will replace whoever defended the place instead
  
• Content: Bandit hideouts can appear on the world map over time. They send bandits groups to attack nearby locations or a regular basis.
  
• Engine: Much better performances when a lot of building jobs are queued
  
• Graphics: Minor graphical tweaks to procedurally generated content (lamps turned off, more seat/table variations, wrecks...)
  
• Graphics: Recolored and thinner windows to make them easier to differenciate from the metal doors
  
• Graphics: Replaced the spider nest (round hole with webs) by an animated model (pulsating eggs under webs)
  
• Graphics: Replaced stone water well texture by something looking less... bad :)
  
• ProcGen: Map-gen uses furniture from the list you can build when possible instead of duplicates, taking advantage of added/modded textures
  
• ProcGen: Buildings less likely to have impassible rooms and much less likely to have doors blocked by furniture
  
• Sound: Spiders got their own sounds & grunts (hit, webbing, death) replacing generic ones
  
• UI: Made it more explicit (in left/right click tooltip) that furniture already on the map cannot be used
  
• UI: Added missing right click menu and tooltip for turret slot in settler/npc info screen
  
• UI: Tooltip about plants inform you of their growth stage & fertility
  
• UI: Default layer hotkeys moved from "home = surface" and "1-9 = underground" to just "1=surface" and "2-0 = underground" for practical reasons
  
• Fixed: Some furniture couldn't be moved when starting in the underground bunker
  
• Fixed: Maps could spawn with items placed on the ground (containers destroyed during map gen), which could cause settlers to go on a suicidal 'adventure'
  
• Fixed: Map debris could provide decorative value
  
• Fixed: In arid biomes some of the trees were still spawned as inert objects instead of using the new system
  
• Fixed: Right clicking expedition equipment in garage screen would show panel for the transport instead of the item
  
• Fixed: If a travel event triggers at the same time an expedition reaches its destination, it would get stuck until it's moved again.
  
• Fixed: Spider and scorpion nests could be decayed and thus "broken" during map generation
  
• Fixed: Issue causing a miscalculation of maximum hit points, ignoring traits and other stat altering effects (regression bug in 0.9)
  
• Fixed: In the "Custom Map" scenario, switching back & forth between surface and underground tabs would reset map size settings
  
• Fixed: Occasional issue introduced in 0.9.0.3 with the way recreation & sleep needs are handled
  
• Fixed: Plants wouldn't inherit faction ownership from parents, which in the case of apple trees would prevent interactions
  
• Fixed: Some combinations of horde settings could leave attacked/infected buildings with the wrong faction ownership
  
• Fixed: Water collector menu occasionally jittering when refreshed
  

Hi there,

Normally I would have waited for the weekend before publish this patch to make it a bit bigger, but I found a problem preventing the game from auto-saving (and sometimes from saving at all) when prisoners are on the map. Due to the gravity of this issue, I'm pushing it early.

Outside of the various fixes, Spiders' "throw web" ability has been altered. It was never supposed to be a damage dealer, but ended up being fairly deadly against non armored survivors. As a result, both its damage output and rate of fire have been halved, but the projectile is much faster and the "webbed" effect is stronger.

Additionally, clicking on the star rating (defense) in the map location menu will open a panel displaying a list of all enemies located there. This should make it easier to plan your expeditions ahead.



There should be another patch in the same spirit next week. After that (and barring any game breaking bug being reported), it'll be time for me to complete the remaining features planned for the 0.9x branch.

Cheers.

[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]

• AI: Minor tweaks to the way people satisfy their needs, reducing CPU consumption and removing "interact" job spam
  
• Balance: Spider "throw web" ability: damage and RoF both halved, projectile speed doubled, 'webbed' effect is stronger
  
• UI: Clicking on the swords in the location info screen displays the list of enemies/people located there
  
• Fixed: In combat mode, right clicking over a recently destroyed item / dead person wouldn't tell your soldiers to move there (they'd try to "attack" it instead)
  
• Fixed: After an expedition's manual combat is over, you would stay in combat mode
  
• Fixed: Zombies (and probably other hostiles) attacking doors instead of you during horde/location encounters
  
• Fixed: Butchering a prisoner wouldn't unassign them from their cell
  
• Fixed: When fighting a horde over a map location, the hostiles would not be flagged with the appropriate faction
  
• Fixed: Under some conditions, standard fauna (scorpions, crabs...) would spawn on top of the planned horde/location encounter
  
• Fixed: Hordes could attack & destroy AI factions' HQ, despite the faction still controlling other locations, slightly breaking the game's logic
  
• Fixed: Save/Autosave failure when prisoners are on the map (regression bug in 0.9.0)
  
• Fixed: When building a map, the game would turn hostile turrets into "debris", which causes minor problems with targeting and AI logic
  
• Fixed: Prisoners would still try to recover forbidden items on the ground
  
• Fixed: After grabbing something from a tile, people would ignore "forbid item recovery from tile" settings when looking for nearby tiles with same job
  

Hi, another small patch to fix some problems found in the new release. As usual, none of the changes will impact save-games or mods.

[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]

• UI: Added feedback when someone assigned to a station cannot do the job due to traits (like someone who can't do medical being assigned to medical station)
  
• UI: Research/Factory menu will no longer show people who don't have the associated skill in the "Assign" selection panel
  
• Fixed: Assigning someone to a station would make them ignore traits preventing them from doing the job (like dumb people on research station)
  
• Fixed: Problem with Robotic Bay causing (exponential) miscalculations of costs to build a robot (regression bug in 0.9.0)
  
• Fixed: Crash when clicking "cycle map filter" in the "start new game" map selection screen (regression bug in 0.9.0)
  

Hi there,

Here's the first (and obligatory) patch for the 0.9 update. It's fixing the most urgent problems with the 0.9.0 build. As usual with this kind of patch, you don't need to start a new game, save-games and mods are compatible under the same limitations as with 0.9.0 proper.

I fixed 2 typos which caused nasty side effects. One in code prevented survivors from efficiently dealing with stuff left on the ground (bug introduced in 0.9), making bases not taking full advantage of storage containers a lot less efficient. Another typo in a data file caused an exponential growth of zombies on the world map. Basically infected buildings would spawn new hordes every 2 hours instead of every 2 days, completely overrunning the world map in a matter of weeks. As much it could be a thing in a specific scenario, this wasn't intended to work like that in the main game.

There are a few more fixes in the changelog, nothing as game-breaking as those two bugs, though.

Expect 2-3 more weekly patches in the same spirit, fixing and balancing the 0.9 release before the next large update. In any case, I hope you all had good holidays, and I wish everyone a happy new year.

Cheers!

[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]

• Balance: Reduced spawn rate and max spawn of shamblers / infected buildings, also reduced value in auto combat
  
• Fixed: A problem introduced in 0.9.0 where the retrieval of tiles' inventory wouldn't work reliably
  
• Fixed: Infested buildings spawning enemies every 2 hours instead of every 2 days (that's what a misplaced number does to my carefully planned balance)
  
• Fixed: Laws not applied to all newly recruited settlers when clicking the "recruit all" button (for good this time)
  
• Fixed: Possible crash in debug/dev/creative mode in a specific menu
  
• Fixed: Pets and cattle could (incorrectly) be assigned to expeditions, production centers and patrol zones
  
• Fixed: Turret parts recipe listed twice in Tinkering Station
  
• Fixed: Robots couldn't be assigned to expeditions, production centers and patrol zones
  
• Fixed: Missing recipes to repair the damaged Magnum .44, FAMAS G1 and FN-P90 weapons
  
• Fixed: Missing Recycling station information for most pipe weapons
  
• Fixed: Infected buildings could technically spawn hordes while being in combat with the player (or other faction) leading to weird effects