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Update 0.6.0: "Expertise" now ready for testing!

Hey Drifters!

We have another update ready to test for you all: the Expertise Update.
It brings depth to the drifters with Expertise, Morale and Knowledge.

Your drifters will now gain experience and level up by doing tasks. This will give them knowledge, which replaces books as requirement for research. With the introduction of morale, your drifters will have wishes that affect their levelling speed.

Coming with this update as well is a look at the issues with boat abandonment. Mooring Points now detect if they are blocked and will communicate a warning to the player. Boats returning to blocked Mooring Points will teleport back.

[h2]What's next?[/h2]
Our first priority is ironing out any bugs that might accompany this update. After that, we are looking at re-introducing books with the School building. Here, they can be traded for big jumps of drifter experience. 0.6.x will see plenty of patches to continue working on this feature, like a research-rework, a brewery and more.

[h2]How do I test this update?[/h2]
This patch is still in development and can be tested on its own branch to give feedback.

It can be played on the new separate branch 0.6.x_Expertise_Update, it's not the experimental branch. This is so we can still push minor updates to 0.5.x on the experimental branch if necessary.

This is how you can enable the Region Update branch of Flotsam. This will only work when you're not in a game:
1. Open Steam Library
2. Right click Flotsam
3. Select Properties
4. Go to tab 'Betas' at the top.
5. Select '0.6.x_Expertise_Update' in the drop-down.
6. The game will update automatically.

Enjoy the new update!

[h2]Patch Notes[/h2]

[h2]Drifter Expertise[/h2]
  • Drifters can now gain experience and level up by doing tasks.
  • For each drifter level up, you can assign an attribute point.
  • For each drifter level up, you gain knowledge.
  • Each level gradually needs more experience.
  • Drifters start with attribute Expertise, which increases the points of those attributes.
  • Drifters start with attribute Affinity, which increases their morale when using those attributes.
  • Updated tooltips of attributes to correctly give all required information
  • Updated the attributes. The attributes are now as follows; Construction, Athletics, Liquids, Crafting, Research, Cooking, Fishing, Salvaging.
  • Each attribute can be levelled to 10. Expertise allows it to go higher.


[h2]Drifter Morale[/h2]
  • Drifters have morale. Their morale will affect their levelling speed.
  • There are 5 states of drifter morale with each an effect on levelling speed; Very Low (25%), Low(65%), Neutral(100%), High(135%), Very High(200%).
  • The morale is outlined in a bar in the drifter panel.
  • Drifters now have affinity for certain attributes. When they work tasks using those attributes, they will work at increased morale.
  • Drifters will now prioritize tasks they have an affinity for, then by their attribute amount.
  • Added various morale modifiers such as; new community, new friends, wet, etc.
  • Added thought bubbles, drifters will now show thoughts of what morale is affecting them.


[h2]Research and Drifter Knowledge[/h2]
  • Researching now requires knowledge instead of books.
  • Books are temporarily useless (they will regain a purpose once we add the school building, where you can transfer books to drifter experience)
  • Updated the research station; it does no longer have an eel-ectricity requirement. The footprint and cost has been reduced. The visual has been updated.
  • Research is now done per knowledge, rather than the whole progress at once.
  • You can now research one knowledge at a time without requiring the full amount of knowledge.


[h2]Food[/h2]
  • Food now has a quality level: Icky, Ordinary or Yummy. Each give a different morale modifier.
  • Updated tooltips of resources to correctly give all required information


[h2]General[/h2]
  • Added various icons for new features.
  • Changed localization keys for new features.
  • Removed pollution bar on the portraits.
  • Updated some of the UI elements.


[h2]Mooring Points and Boats[/h2]
Boat abandonment was a long-standing issue, we looked into fixing annoyances and communicating the issues to the player.
  • Mooring Points now detect if they are blocked. These will show a warning.
  • Boats moored at blocked Mooring Points will not be used by drifters doing tasks.
  • Boats returning to blocked Mooring Points are no longer abandoned. These will teleport back to their linked Mooring Point.


[h2]Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed an issue where the polluted woods scouting tower didn't have a selection circle.

0.5.1: New Inventory!

Hey Drifters!

We reworked the inventory panel to a more clear, concise bar at the top. With added functionality, this bar allows personal preferences to be set using the filter tools.

[h2]What's next?[/h2]
The Expertise patch is nearing a state where it's ready for testing. You can expect to see drifter levels, stat increases, morale and more coming in everything 0.6.0 soon :)

Enjoy the new update!

[h2]Patch Notes[/h2]

[h2]New Inventory[/h2]
  • Moved the inventory into a new top bar that can be opened/collapsed.
  • Added category filters for each type of resource, allowing personal preferences to be set in the inventory panel.
  • Added a new resource category: Ingredients. The categories are now as follows; Raw, Construction, Fuel, Ingredients, Food, Water, Special.
  • Updated the inventory visuals slightly to make the categories clear.
  • Behind the scenes: Refactored item code.


[h2]Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed a bug where a drifter could get stuck in the jumping transition.


[h2]Misc[/h2]
  • Re-scaled other UI elements, such as the speed buttons.
  • Townheart water storage capacity increased from 15 -> 20.

0.5.0p3: Stuck drifter/item fixes

[h2]Early Access 0.5.0p3[/h2]
0.5.0p3 fixes various bugs where drifters could get stuck and unresponsive. As well as items that got stuck in boats and storages.

[h3]Fixes[/h3]
  • Fixed a bug where drifters would get stuck in a transition between the water and the walkways.
  • Fixed a bug where drifters would get stuck while salvaging landmarks with a boat but swam to it instead.
  • Fixed a bug where food or water items would get stuck in storage/building inventories. Loading save files with this bug should fix the save files.
  • Fixed a bug where double-click movement on map would stop working after going back to the main menu.
  • Fixed a bug where enabling the energy overlay would not have it display the energy lines.

0.5.0p2

Hey Drifters,

We pushed a quick fix that solves some saves not loading after last patch.

[h2]Early Access 0.5.0p2[/h2]

[h2]Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed issue where saves would not load.

0.5.0p1 Stuck drifter fixes

Hey Drifters,

A small update to 0.5.0 which mainly fixes the bug where rescued drifters got stuck. As well as other issues caused by this behavior like clogged inventories.

[h2]Early Access 0.5.0p1[/h2]

[h3]Fixes[/h3]
  • Fixed a bug where drifters would get stuck on landmarks.
  • Fixed a bug where resources would get reserved and never unreserved whenever a drifter tried to queue a project for a vital for which it already had a project queued. In other words, stuck drifters will not cause resources to clog storage or export inventories.
  • Fixed bug where the 'Main Menu' button that would appear in the loading screen when something goes wrong would not load the Main Menu.
  • Fixed build-states of the Solar still, drifters will no longer float in the air when constructing it.


[h3]Misc[/h3]
  • Made shadow distance dynamic, allowing shadows in map view.
  • Townheart movement is now triggered with double-click instead of single-click. Any other way of moving the town has not changed.
  • Camera to Townheart movement toggle can now be set in the input settings.
  • Added town-name support for longer Townheart names.
  • Increased Canned Food at start from 4 to 9.


[h3]UI[/h3]
  • Made some changes to the HUD, equipping the bottom bar with the important UI elements.
  • Rescaled some UI elements.