BETA 54A: A TECHNICAL DEBT REPAID

Onoes.
Another crash.
Also on this save:
No traders. One trader showed up a few days after the trade depot was built, then no more traders whatsoever (and I was kind of relying on them for lacquer since there are no lacquer trees and very few giant beetles).

Oh yeah, also things like this are happening:

(not pictured are various cases of building blueprints showing up red, missing the blue bits, and whatnot)

In case it hasn't been logged, the size indicator for buildings in blueprint mode has a tendency to disappear if you keep the mouse button pressed and sort of wiggle the mouse a bit (like if you're dragging out the building, then stop to count/measure something without releasing the button).

I'll try to grab a good save of it, but I'm seeing a lot of odd behaviour with construction of multiple modules; colonists will often grab a module, walk it to the correct spot, stop, walk it back to either the stockpile or some random area (they have the "Drop Item" job), stop and either move on to another job while someone else picks up the module and does it right, or they'll just pick it back up and do the job properly. Like something is hijacking their construction job halfway through

Colonists moving a module to a an area, then leaving on break instead of just building it right away is something that's been around for a while, but the more I play, the more I feel like it shouldn't be happening; considering how fast module construction is, it doesn't seem quite right that colonists can "abort" the module building job when they're basically right there (it feels kind of like how in earlier versions colonists would forage then leave the goods right there).

 

Another crash, this time after deleting a cabbage farm, making a new Lingonberry farm in its place and assigning a work crew (that's when it crashed).

Also this script error happened earlier:


And some misc weird behaviour:
- Corpses not being buried (they got carried to the graveyard and got their own grave, but the bodies are still on top of the ground)
- Redcoats that never left (despite getting the "redeployment" notification) EDIT: Upon reloading the save after a crash, I got another "redcoats departed" thingie, and this time they did all leave
- Mystery stockpile meat (it doesn't get counted anywhere else, just that one stockpile)
(the redcoat laborer is from the redcoat squad that never left)
- Crash "failed to investigate" result, while the crash event is still in its first phase (NCO sent out). It continues as normal despite the notification (I didn't think to check if the standing had actually decreased or if it was just a bogus notification)
- Scientist occasionally "Doing Science" in the incorrect workshop (He goes to the chemistry workshop - points accumulate as normal).


Still, I had a series of events all happen consecutively, and while my first thought was that it was maybe a bit much, it's also the most fun I've had with the game in a while. Foreign invasion, resulting in lots of deaths, followed by a fishy cult, followed by two small squads of foreign invaders, along with an airship crash, recurring specters from the masses of dead bodies awaiting graveyard space, more fishperson shenanigans, and starvation due to someone blowing up all the food somehow.
It's the first time I get to see a colony sort of recover from a nosedive of cult activity and mass deaths, and it was rather fun to manage.

It did highlight the need for a better system of death notifications, because during invasions there's just too many things that keep popping up (though I suppose a lot of that can also be blamed on the current unintended Courage of most colonists).
Also, we really really need some type of notification when goods are destroyed (I am a broken record, yes), because again it took me a full game day to realize that part of the horrible chain of despair was the fact that all the food had somehow disappeared (I highly suspect the commemorative landmine was set off near the food stockpile).

I'd like to see barber idle behaviours more confined to their shop, I see a lot of "Idle (on-shift)" three miles away from his workshop, so when someone does come, the travel time involved doesn't help with people never getting treated.

 

Also, here is a save with a stuck colonist:

 

Impressions:
- colonists are still very lazy about performing upkeep, would be nice if workshop crews did it themselves (if there are enough chests) or at the least construction crews would prioritize doing upkeep over construction and other stuff (again only if there are enough chests, otherwise maybe you're trying to construct the building you need to make chests)
- new lab is cool, would be nice to have a couple of level 3 upkeep chests with Palmerstoke's choice
- would be nice to have a starting loadout that's good for early overseer houses (lots of bricks)
- seconding whoever wanted military to defend crops against wildlife
- also naturalists need better guns and/or work in teams when hunting - actually would be nice for exploration and mineralogy, too

 

When the next patch comes out ?

 

Pssst. Anyone out there? It's been dead quiet here.
I'm of course looking forward to the next update but this one is mostly solid.
Anyone else wishing they had a few more hours each week for building clockwork villages?

 

I'm waiting for the new version to get some bug fixes done. At the moment busy with real life and some other games

 

Waiting for the next patch...and like @DaCrAzYmOfO very busy with the real life stuff....not other games, though...so I'm a bit lime green jelly of you...

 

With this long delay we need to hope the payoff is big. We know upkeep is gone, but what else? Curiosity kills.

 

It is? When did that happen?

 

No crash, but have had 1 trade stuck, traders flead but there was still some clay buyable in depot, removing depot did not work. and two script errors.

Had also a run-in whit fluffy (name altered to protect the NOT innocent), strangly even whit me trying frontier justice and noone of my soldiers where cultists, fluffy had time to appear.

*hmm, trouble uploading the console file..

 

Confirmed here by Nicholas.

 

I think that changing upkeep to an entire new system is already work enough...i don't expect (m)any new things

 

I understand the need for a system like upkeep. I suspect that it would have been less of a problem if they had caught the bad bugs and crazy early game costs before deploying it. Once if left a bad impression it was going to be a huge task to rehabilitate it. The gaslamp guys are sharp, so I expect the new system will not have a similar rocky start.

 

The early upkeep truly was the opposite of dredmor's catchphrase of "losing is fun"

 

I definitely enjoyed it more when the fish people were one of the bigger worries of the game rather then figuring out where my next supply of upkeep trunks came from

 

And give them guns and grenades back! It made fighting fish people feel like an arms race compared to just a nuisance lol

 

Getting into a pistol vs spinegun shooting match with fishpeople would be amusing.

Until the player brings 15 v 6 or starts pulling out long guns or something spoilsporty.

 

Their grenades would end my games back then lol. Nasty fish people. Doesn't mean they can't get better weapons. Only real counter to them would be landmines

 

I liked this week's blog post. Good observations about new players vs. veterans.

"The game doesn’t tell the player what to spend their time on, and only players that have spent a lot of time with the game really know the best way of doing things. "
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Quite true.