Hi everyone,
the new pets & animal taming update (v0.3.015) is finally here and comes with a -30% discount.
In this update I will summarize the progress and all implementations from the last few months.
Some of the points you have maybe seen already in the previous steam updates, but these were only news updates and now they are fully in the game.
Important Note
If you already have the game, it's recommended to start a new game to have all new animal groups in your world. If you want to continue with a save file from before v0.3.015, then you have to exterminate some animal groups in your world. (new groups that appear will have the new animals then).
New Animals
AColony contains now 9 new animals to make the world and wildlife of the game more diverse.
- Pheasant Pheasants appear in normal groups and are a standard animal which lives in the player's world. They are very similar to chickens and as pets their preferred food is animal feed which consists of plants.
- Wild Boar Wild boars appear in smaller groups and are a standard animal which lives in the player's world. If hunted and butchered they offer a lot of meat and as pets their preferred food is animal feed which consists of plants.
- Claw Wolf Claw wolfs are the first predators in the game, which means that they hunt from time to time other animals and eat from their corpses. They appear in relatively small groups in the player's world and as pets their preferred food is animal feed which consists of meat.
- Cat & Dog Cats and Dogs are not a standard animal of the player's world and can only be acquired as a starting pet or by trading with animal traders. As pets their preferred food is animal feed which consists of meat.
- Carrion Snails (Little, Medium, Centurion, Queen) Carrion snails are a new species and only appear if they detect more than 5 corpses which are laying very near to each other. They offer some new items when butchered (snail meat and mucous glands) and as pets their preferred food is animal feed which consists of human meat.
Animal Taming & Animal Cages
To capture wild animals, tame them and make them so your pets, I have added 3 new constructions to the game - the animal cages - which are the following:
- Basic Animal Cage Allows you to lock and tame low tier animals like chickens, pheasants, wild boars, centipedes (scouts & fighters), bees (workers) and more.
- Modern Animal Cage Allows you to lock and tame mid tier animals like claw wolfs, bees (warriors), darkflies (warriors & shooters) and more.
- Hightech Animal Cage Allows you to lock and tame high tier animals like centipedes (guardians & kings), bees (queen), darkfly (queen) and more.
In the menu of the animal cages you can find 2 options to capture an animal:
- Lure Animal Each cage has a luring mechanism which can be activated when you put the right animal feed in the cage. The luring mechanism has only a short range (like 10 - 15 meters), but will allow you to lure hostile animals or insects into it too.
- Immobilized Animal You can also transport an immobilized animal to the cage, but this will have a significant negative effect on the start trust value. This means it will take more time to tame the locked animal.
If an animal is finally locked in the cage, you have to feed it once per day with the right animal feed to increase its trust level. If you reach the first trust level, the cage gets automatically unlocked and the previously wild animal is now a pet of your colony.
Pets
Trust System
Each animal has a trust system which consists of a trust value, trust levels and action points. The trust value and action points of your pet always increase if it eats animal feed or gets pet by its owner. If the trust value hits a certain threshold, it will unlock a new trust level which offers new attributes and functionalities.
- Level 1 The first trust level usually only unlocks the option that a pet can follow its owner if the player select that option.
- Level 2 The second trust level usually unlocks the functionality to control your pet. this includes to give it commands, set it in combat mode and also to give attack commands.
- Level 3 The third and last trust level usually unlocks a modifier which increases melee or ranged combat attributes permanently, the functionality to let you pet eat from corpses and a special attack which costs a lot of action points.
Pet Mechanic
In connection with the new pet mechanic / job, I have also added a new face expression to colonists, animals and insects, which makes them look very happy :)
New Constructions, Technologies & Items
The new pet system also brings some new items to the game, which allow you to research new constructions to produce animal feed for your pets and to supply it in the best way.
- Animal Feed (Plants, Meat, Human Meat)
- Basic, Modern & Hightech Husbandry Technologies
- Basic & Modern Animal Feeder
- Basic & Modern Animal Feed Table
Animal & Insect Traders
In connection with the new pets system I have also added 2 new types of traders which allows you to buy new pets or to sell your current pets.
- Animal Traders Animal traders are part of the General Traders faction and offer animals like chickens, cats, dogs and more.
- Insect Traders Insect traders are part of the frowned upon Colonist Traders faction and offer insects like bees, darkflies, centipedes and more.
In addition, I have also updated the functionality of the radio station, which allows you now to not only call animal & insect traders, but also to call wanderers.
Additional Updates
New Job Section, Skill & Trait
This update includes a new job section called Animal Husbandry which covers all mechanics related to the animal taming mechanic. I have also added a new skill called Animal Taming and a new trait called Animal Whisperer which increases the attributes of your colonists in connection with the animal taming functionalities.
Updated Medication System
The medication system got finally an update which allows you now to medicate immobilized colonists or animals on the ground. Of course, this comes hand in hand with a debuff, but allows you to stop critical bleedings faster. This also works with your pets.
In addition I have changed the Medicine Basic item to Medical Herbs, added a new Medicine Case (Basic) item and added a new animation for medicating colonists on ground or in hospital beds.
Eating Stages
In connection with the new functionality that claw wolfs and carrion snails can eat from corpses now, I have also added some "eating stages" which are visualizing how much mass of a corpse has been eaten. In addition there is a new "body mass" status effect in the status menu now, which informs the player about how much body mass is left. (body mass can also be reduced by explosions or acid burns.
Mysterious Wanderer
The Wanderers faction have now an additional event which is the mysterious wanderer. This new barter guy gives you the option to increase the skill level of the interacting colonist. He only takes blood mucous glands in exchange which can be gained by butchering carrion snails.
Appearance Update
I have also played around with the colonists skin color + face sets a bit, so that colonists can appear now in the default north european style, south european / middle east style and asian style.
I have to say here, this implementation is still very bare bones and in testing, because more variety in this area is planned to come with the final factions update.
Added Dutch Translation
The game also supports now the dutch language. (But there can be still spelling or grammar mistakes, which will be fixed with the next updates)
Full Update List
And here is the full patch list for v0.3.015:
- added dutch translation
- added animal taming & pet mechanic
- added new skill (animal taming)
- added new animal (pheasant)
- added new animal (cat)
- added new animal (dog)
- added new animal (wild boar)
- added new animal (claw wolf)
- added new animal (carrion snails | little, medium, centurion, queen)
- added 2 new constructions (basic & modern animal food producer)
- added 2 new constructions (basic & modern animal feeder)
- added 3 new constructions (basic, modern & hightech animal cage)
- added 3 new items as animal feed (plants, meat, human meat)
- added 3 new technologies (basic, modern & hightech husbandry)
- added new job section (animal husbandry)
- added new event (mysterious wanderer & revenge)
- added new event (huge animal herds)
- added animal traders
- added insect traders
- wanderers can be called via radio station now
- colonists & pets can be medicated on ground now
- added new item (medicine case (basic))
- item medicine (simple) got replaced with item medicinal herbs
- added squad manager (Ctrl + click on colonist or pet) (is still in testing)
- updated all animals so that they can have different colors now
- added trust system for pets
- added trust level for pets
- added many special actions for pets (depending on trust level
- added new items (snail meat, new glands & snail queen's head)
- added decompose states for colonist and animals
- animals can eat corpses now
- added body mass system in relation to eating corpses
- insects have now a decomposing texture
- added new mood effects
- added new status effects, poisoning & injuries
- added mechanic to pet a pet with new happy face expression
- ethanol is now cheaper to produce
- added new tab to building menu for stuff regarding pets & animals
- added new section to priority overview menu regarding pets & animals
- added option to display pets to colonists overview menu (new button)
- extended technology tree size
- pets can be selected in main menu now
- updated door UI and extended functionality
- fixed negative influence of factions on barter
- conversations get quit now when exit dialog panel
- fixed storage zone resource overview was not disable panels from previous zone
- fixed immune has still shown poisoning effect in status panel
- power cables can now also placed with priority by menu
- combined nutrition & medicine panel in colonist status settings
- updated combat / shield icons
- fixed centipede nest respawn bug
- fixed that steam connect didn't worked when at first in single player menu
- fixed error when removing fuel rod from reactor
- fixed prison brothers event error shown in modern age
- fixed quest marker didn't got removed on client when send wanderers away
- vertical power cables can now also be built from 1 block outside
- pictures can now also be built from 1 block outside
- fixed error shown when trader leaves trading table
- fixed error shown when trying interact with leaving wanderer
- many smaller fixes
Plans For Next Weeks
In the next weeks (and during autumn & winter sale) I will more focus on smaller updates & additions, quality of life improvements and to implement suggestions which players have made.
There are also some smaller tasks open involving the prisoner system (like moving a prisoner to another cell) and the animal system (like legendary animals) that I want to keep an eye on.
I hope you enjoy this update,
Cheers!