Revision 36C now in Experimental Branch

And the Fans Go Wild!

Can't wait to check it out... Bring it, you cultists!

Fritz

 

Observations after a ten day game:


--Tons of indifference. It seems emotions are almost exclusive to indifference or fear. Not really seeing happiness or sadness.

--If you mouse over the assignment beacon icon, you can no longer zoom in and out.

--Cults are harder to form. I've had many people go unhinged or completely bonkers, but nobody wants to start a cult. Granted, I've yet to find an artifact, but that hasn't been a prerequisite before.

--I like that the supply drop is rare, it makes things more challenging.

 

[r36c]

My first session didn't get very far, as I experienced a persistent plank-related bug (reported here), but I did have a few observations / questions:

-getting rid of the big empty space when marking out a workshop floorplan is nice, it makes the floorplan cost more obvious

-I noticed the stockpile blueprint is less transparent than previously - that's just making it a little bit harder for me to count grid spaces if I want a stockpile that's exactly 6x6, for example, but that might just be me.

-the new icon that indicates an area is being logged / foraged is great for reducing icon clutter (that said, I've read at least one comment that indicates someone doesn't like it)

-I was hoping 'Commodities' would no longer count reserved materials, but that is apparently still the case

-I notice module blueprints now always appear on top of other objects (i.e., visible through walls and ceilings), which is a nice touch

-I couldn't complete the combined arsenal / refinery / metalworks, but I like the idea in principle

-on a related note, because supply drops are less frequent, it's now possible to bottleneck construction - the Smithing Forge, the only source of iron plates, requires iron plates in its construction. So if you've used too many making iron stoves (like I did), you have to hope for more plates, randomly, from the Empire (this is similar to the way the old brick kilns used to require bricks in their construction)

-I like that colony location, date, and population appear in the save game name

-farms still turn invisible after loading a save (although drawing new ones after a save no longer crashes the session)

-I propose the new omni-foundry be named the "MetalFoundArse"

 

Has gossip been toned way down? People rarely gossip anymore, even at night and when idle.

I think that may have something to do with why cults don't form. I've played a couple of more ten-plus day games, with plenty of bonkers colonists, and have yet to see a single cult.

 

Maybe some of them could have a "blind greed" trait or something

 

Every time I see the Indifference thought bubble, I think of these guys, from Futurama:

 

Is anyone else seeing people (including armed soldiers) just stand there and let fish people kill them? This seems to happen when my colonists are trying to do a task (cut down a tree, butcher an animal, etc) when the attack begins. It's not happening all the time, but I've seen it a few times so far.

Also, weird other question not totally related to this update specifically, but are regular colonists supposed to go to explore beacons? I would have imagined that only my naturalist and his work crew would do that sort of task. If it's meant to work that way then my bad.

 

Has anyone else noticed that the game seems...choppier now? The animation and frame rate are fine but all characters pause for a second after every 3-7 steps - something you'd typically see this when your compy's processing power is being overtaxed. I'm not sure if it's just me or the new build.

 

I'm noticing in new games everything's smoother and wonderful but whenyou load a game in progress, the frame rate is consistently poorer.

 

Some observations (mac version):

Ever more stable and playable, but suspect the mac version remains more crash-happy...
New metalworks a bit unwieldy. Incorporating armoury good, but think refinery was better separate
Like the changes to drops / prestige, giving some challenge to the gameplay

Old bugs still there:
Farms and graveyards still sink after saving/loading
Colonists get random objects stuck to their tools - looks very odd
Some buildings' walls never render - kitchen for example

New things:
Get a lot of crashes when trying to put down blueprints for a mine
New metalworks gave me some trouble - not taking orders, forgetting orders, script errors
Militiary back to being rather stupid, watching fishmen run past them and the like
Quite a lot of standing still and being beaten to death from the colonists - seems new