The Dwarves of Glistenveld News

Fellow Dwarves! We've been working hard to make your base-building endeavours easier to manage and better organised, among other improvements!

[h3]Patch Notes[/h3]
Features & Design Changes:

1. Load Game UI - Load Game has been updated to include a full list of saves in order of recency, as well as filter options to the different modes. Also now shows the difficulty setting (only applies to saves created after this patch).
   
   
2. Farming & Repair Plots - Added a toggle button that allows you to enable/disable these. Note any existing instructions will have to be removed individually.
   
3. Dwarf-List - Added Held Units tab to the dwarf-list so you can quickly find your held units.
   
4. Storage Arrangements - In the Arrangements UI, buildings have been compressed into a single checkbox that applies to all packed buildings.
   
5. Minecart Arrangements - Minecarts can now be given arrangements similar to storage, which restricts what items your dwarves will drop at their pick-up point as well as what items the minecart will pick up along its journey. This allows you to organise minecarts according to specific tasks.
   
6. Minecart Show Home Button - Added button to selected minecarts that centres the camera on their pick-up point. Likewise selecting the track at the pick-up point has a button to show the associated minecart.
   
7. Guide to Glistenveld - Added search bar at the top of the list that allows you to search for sections by their names or content. More entries are hidden until they are discovered in-game. Added and corrected entries.
   
8. Old Support Posts - Similar to Old Tracks, Old Support Posts can be salvaged by Foragers for wood. In the new version of caverns mode, any pre-existing support posts will now be old support posts.
   
9. Sculptures - The re-roll button no longer picks a random sculpture, it now allows you to select any sculpture design you want from a pop-up UI.
   
10. Engineering Exp - Buffed the exp-gain from assembling buildings, since engineers were levelling slower than other classes.
    
11. Survivalist - Adjusted this warrior ability to apply in the vicinity of mushrooms.
    
12. Track-Runner - Replaced the Duelist warrior ability with Track-Runner, which gives a movement speed bonus while in the vicinity of tracks.
    
13. Caverns Mode v0.59 - Fixed a bug where sometimes the reputation quests would not appear. Features a new option called Massive Mines which will connect many of the caves together with mineshafts, adding another level of danger, but also enables you to explore quicker! Cave spawn & clan strength balances.
    
14. Resurrection Hearts - A new very rare item has been added to the game that enables you to resurrect a dwarf buried at a Gravestone. This will feature more in future updates, but for now finding one is the only way to obtain it.
    

Fixes & Improvements:

1. Force Rest / Eat - Should now eat/rest immediately even if held.
   
2. Building - Can now build over the top of more scenery objects, such as debris and discarded/broken tools.
   
3. Deconstruct - Fixed bug where deconstructing certain buildings such as the monument would give nothing in return, instead of their recipe components.
   
4. All Items UI - If the All Items UI gets too full, rather than overlapping the Instruction Panel, it will create a second column.
   
5. Introduction - Small changes to the campaign Introduction map. Opening the journals now ask if you wish to enable the accessibility modes, rather than doing so automatically.
   
6. Tutorials - Updated signs, added more polish, edited dialog.
   
7. Game Speed - The keybinds for pausing the game now act in the same way as the cog, and will speed up the game when held.
   

That's all for now, stay safe out there!

Fellow Dwarves! Our messengers are giving us more precise information about battle engagements, and we've made a few new discoveries in the caverns!

[h3]Patch Notes[/h3]

1. Battle Notifications - Now show you which enemy is engaging you, right on the notification! So you can now decide whether or not it's worth your time depending on what you see.
   
2. AI Improvements - AI deciding when units should engage in battle is an ever-improving formula. In this patch units will now still engage even if they intend to rest, provided their HP is high enough. We have also refined how the pathfinder interacts around battles, allowing units to walk around obstacles, walls or other battling units to reach their target.
   
3. Caverns Mode v0.57 - New start type: Lone Dwarf. In Lone Dwarf you start as a single dwarf spawning from a lone spring. This dwarf has a Multi-Tool which is a special equipment that allows the wielder to switch classes at will, without needing a toolrack. The first portion of Lone Dwarf is more challenging than other start-types. The reputation objectives have also been refined, as well as the introduction of some new objects (described below) & various fixes.
   
4. Vases - Introduced a new type of treasure container with 3 variants, Clay, Iron and Bronze. Currently only featured in the latest version of caverns mode. Similar to barrels, vases can be broken into, but have different loot-tables. The bronze variant provides the best rewards.
   
5. Moss - Currently mostly an aesthetic object that grows and spreads of its own accord, but generates moisture similar to stalagmites and water, increasing the rate of mushroom and root-sapling growth. Moss may be harvestable in a future update.
   
6. New Icons & Textures - New icons for Eat, Rest & Drop Items. Updated textures for gems, coal, iron ore & gold ore, to stand out a little more in the environment and make them easier to spot.
   
7. Farming Plots - Fixed bug where Farming Plots may have stopped working if green mushrooms existed in their vicinity. Note that farming plots will not place gather instructions on green mushrooms, due to their dangerous nature.
   
8. Kilns - Altered the design a little to make them more intuitive to use, and will now auto-generate a pickup instruction to pick up the coal left behind.
   
9. Tutorials - Dialog and hint improvements for the first, second and fifth tutorial levels.
   
10. Save & Load Fixes - Includes a fix for a rare situation where a user-save and autosave occurs at the same time. Also fixes a few objects that were losing some minor data on a load.
    

We're taking a break for the holidays, but we'll be back in action in January! Hope you all have a pleasant break, don't forget to treat yourselves and stay wrapped up warm if you're in a cold climate!

Until our next update, have a Merry Christmas!

We noticed in some playtests spiders can get a bit out of hand!

[h3]Patch Notes[/h3]

• Fishbeard's Mining Operation - Updated and added a second spring to try to balance the difficulty. Fixed potential soft-lock scenario.
  
• Spiders - Tweaked combat agility & worked on burrow behaviour to stop too many leaving their nest.
  
• Game-speed Fixed bug where game-speed would sometimes go too fast during dialog & in-game cutscenes.
  

[h3]Halloween Mode[/h3]
Glistenveld is getting spooky once again as Halloween Mode is now enabled!
In Halloween Mode, you will experience the following changes to the game:

1. Atmosphere - The colour and atmosphere of levels have become a little spooky!
   
2. Pumpkins - You will find random pumpkins in each level. You can harvest these to get a tasty pumpkin stew, which dwarves will treat like meals!
   
3. Webs - You will find random webs that stick to your dwarves and slow them down!
   
4. Bats - When you start a new skirmish mode game, you'll find a few more bats roaming the tunnels!
   
5. Bubbling waters and mist - Water has turned greenish and bubbles, and you will find mist emerging here and there.
   
6. Green blood - Units and creatures flash green when injured, instead of red.
   

As usual, seasonal modes can always be disabled in the options menu under Gameplay > Seasonal.

[h3]Fishbeard's Mining Operation[/h3]

To help celebrate this spooky event, we have released a new map: Fishbeard's Mining Operation. Fishbeard is one of the other clans you encounter in your journeys under Glistenveld, and in this scenario you step in the shoes of one of their expedition groups, but not all is what it seems about this particular venture... Find it in the list of scenario maps under New Game > Scenarios!



[h3]Patch Notes[/h3]

1. Various AI Fixes - Includes some warrior AI improvements. We're still not entirely happy with when units decide to rest or fight. This might be worthy of a blog post, we'll see.
   
2. Spider AI - Spiders were not properly utilising burrows and would occasionally get stuck. The spider mother should mostly keep to its original nest.
   
3. Unit Buried/Drowning - When dwarves end up buried in a wall they will now take damage and jump to a nearby ground tile if able. When dwarves end up in water, they will start losing stamina and then health until a friendly unit stands next to them, at which point they are rescued and jump out. (This update will become more relevant in future content)
   
4. Campaign World Map - Polished up the interface for the world map. New/unexplored maps are given an outline. Refined code behind the scenes in preparation for an upcoming feature.
   
5. Bats - Should no longer fly through doors.
   
6. Ballistas - Which pressure-plates automatically link to ballistas has been improved. Rather than first-come first-serve, they now switch according to which ballista is closest. This is the case unless they've been set by the player or were already existing before the game was last loaded.
   

Not too much in terms of updates this month, and I know we haven't released a blog post in a while. We've been focusing on chapter 2 content, mostly grind-work and spoilers at the moment, so we don't have a lot to share, but rest assured we're still working hard and making progress!

Until our next update, Happy Halloween!

Fellow Dwarves! Our engineers have made two important discoveries in the world of Glistenveld! First, a new technique of organising storage spaces that blows previous designs out of the water! Second, a new technology that reprocesses materials for industrialisation, such as repopulating fish!

[h3]Patch Notes[/h3]
Features & Design Changes:

1. Storage Arrangements - Instead of toggling individual resources for each tile of storage, the configure button now takes you to a new UI that allows you to create arrangement templates where you can configure what items are permitted as well as the arrangement's priority. You can then easily set which storage corresponds to which arrangement. Newly placed storage tiles copy the arrangement of their neighbours.
   
2. Game Speed SFX - When fast-forwarding using the cog, sounds and voices should now play back sped-up to correspond with the game-speed.
   
3. Unit Aggro - Warriors should attack enemies on sight more, rather than relying mostly on defend zones or being idle. This change also applies to other classes, but at a much smaller radius. We're still experimenting with aggro cooldowns, so this may be adjusted in future patches, we'll see.
   
4. New Tech: Farming II - The first tier-3 technology unlocks 2 buildings: the charcoal kiln and fish lure. The kiln turns piles of wood into coal by burning them under a mound of dirt. Keep your dwarves out of its vicinity however, as it produces lingering toxic smoke. The fish lure consists predominantly of algae that is found on growing green mushrooms, and can be placed near waterfalls to spawn fish. This tech also unlocks the ability to harvest growing green mushrooms, just tread carefully!
   
5. Idle Dwarves - When dwarves are idle, they will stop themselves from crowding certain buildings including: tables, beds, doors, tracks, storage and food barrels.
   
6. Skirmish Mode - 'Random cave' setting will no longer spawn empty caves. Setting a team number to '0' will now match the species, for example if a dwarf camp spawns there, they will be allied with all other dwarves.
   

Fixes & Improvements:

1. Engine Crash Fix - Stability fixes for the sound engine, which includes a multi-thread fix that was causing most of the game's (rare) crashes.
   
2. Pick-up Instruction - Placing an instruction over storage will stop units from dropping items there until the job is complete.
   
3. Move Instruction - Telling an engineer to prioritise this instruction should now work as intended.
   
4. Minecarts - Units will now drop all their items on the pick-up location, instead of on neighbouring tiles when the pick-up location has a full stack.
   
5. Caverns Mode v0.54 - Enemy spawn balance improvements, and improvements to some cave spawns, in an attempt to ensure every type of cave has a purpose.
   
6. Dead Units - The deceased unit tab of the dwarf-list should now correctly show unit portraits, and gravestones should now retain their text.
   
7. Windy Rivers - Fixed some soft-lock bugs that were recently introduced at the beginning segment of this level.
   
8. Mobbits - Some mobbits were frozen in place after loading a save game or wouldn't leave their warrens.
   
9. Assembling - Fixed bug where engineers might build the wrong building on top of another instruction, during major batch constructions.
   
10. Building Sprites - Buildings that you own outside of visible light will now still appear opaque, rather than transparent, to be more easily recognised.
    
11. Scenarios & Skirmish - Polished up and fixed some bugs in scenario maps & skirmish mode.
    
12. Various other fixes including a change to how save-file icons are generated, FPS drops caused by pathing issues with scripted movement, and inconsistencies with selection in one-button mode.
    

Next month we will be focusing mostly on preparing chapter 2 content. The next patch will feature Halloween mode, but probably won't have too much else in terms of features.

That's all for now, stay safe out there!