Update 6 Preview: Wonders

Hello everyone!

Today, we’d like to give you the first look at one of a few cool things coming to the game in the next major update: the faction-specific wonders. If you ever wanted to assemble your own beaver G.E.C.K. seed bank or yeet your beavers off the map at high velocity, read on!

Or better yet, see all that in the video we've put together.

Wonders - what and why?

Timberborn is a sandbox experience, designed to be highly replayable with two unique factions, different maps, and creative ways to tackle the challenges. Yet, our players have long asked for more clearly defined end-game goals. So, while we want to preserve that sandbox-y feel with self-set goals, and not add a single be-all, end-all objective, or win condition, we’re adding overarching objectives that crown your mastery of the game, the faction, and the map. It shouldn’t surprise you that they come in the form of wonders - huge buildings that require large amounts of advanced resources. When finished, wonders can be activated for a celebratory, bound-in-lore effect. Below is the Folktails’ finished wonder, Earth Recultivator, after activation. It is spreading balloons carrying Folktails-patented seed packs that help restore life on the planet. While this effect is visual only and doesn’t actually affect the map’s layout, activating the wonder also has a gameplay effect. All beavers in a large area of effect receive a buff to their well-being. And if it’s the first time you activate the wonder on the map, a few extra things happen. First, you are presented with a pop-up containing a summary of your playthrough up until this turning point of beaver history. Second, a commemorative faction-specific badge is added to the map on the map selection screen to remind you whom you’ve “beaten” it with. And lastly…

Flexible beginnings

When you activate a wonder for the first time, the flexible start unlocks for future playthroughs on the current map. This means you will be able to pick a different spot for your first District Center. The flexible start is unlocked for both factions as soon as you activate the wonder for the first time with any faction. This should give you an incentive to complete a wonder - on top of the well-being buff and a shiny mega-monument now towering above the city.

The road is the goal

To complete a wonder, you need heaps of materials spanning several production chains. While you can start the work as soon as you unlock the building, we wanted wonders to reward having access to most buildings, securing sufficient production, and maintaining a stable population. Because of the extensive work involved, wonders are constructed differently than regular buildings, going through several visible building phases. As resources are delivered to the site, the workers start swinging their cute little hammers and your wonder gradually takes shape. Once the construction is finished, the worker slots open. The Folktails have dedicated haulers who start collecting materials needed to launch the balloons. The Iron Teeth, however, get ready to launch… themselves. You may recognize the flying beavers from our April Fool’s video. (We would never joke about things like that… or would we?). The Iron Teeth’s strength comes from hard work and devotion to the rest of the society, so they took it upon themselves to send out the beaver pioneers and recolonize the wasteland. Please say hi to… the Earth Repopulator. When you activate this wonder, the happy and willing volunteers hop onto their gliders and fly out to explore and colonize the wasteland. Again, it’s just to symbolize the faction’s Earth-restoration efforts, but the pioneers do disappear from the map. Those who were lucky enough to remain on the ground, enjoy a well-being buff, just like their Folktail cousins.

Congrats!

What comes next? That’s up to you! Start a run on another map. Try the just-conquered map again, but with a different faction and a new starting point. Or simply continue playing, with your beavers now much happier than before. And yes - it is possible to build more than one wonder on the map. Activate them all, and enjoy a legendary event that’s bound to go down in beaver history. Let us know what you think of today’s reveal! Wonders are a work-in-progress feature, and we can’t wait to hear your feedback when they come to the experimental branch… along with other cool additions to the game. We’ll start spilling the beans on that soon. Until then!