The release of the new update is approaching very soon, so here is a last update teasing the upcoming content! Today, we are focusing on the criminality, law and health aspect.
Villagers will have the capacity to commit some truly evil acts! They will take out their frustration on the property of others and vandalize construction, causing it to be immediately in need of repairs. They will sneak in the zones of their neighbors, especially your warehouse, in attempts to steal, and to sort a truly deep and hurtful conflict, they may even resort to a murder.
Sneaky Little Devils
Of course, aside from vandalism, which is quite impulsive, your villagers will not be so blatant about it. They will try to perform their crimes fast and before anyone can see them. And they will not be stopped by a mere door! Picking locks takes time, but eventually, they can get through any door. However, they are a strategic element in stopping them before it is too late.
As we covered in our fist update, you will be able to recruit soldiers and assign them to regiments with selected gear. One of these regiments are day guards, night guards, day jailers and night jailers. As the name would suggest, guards would be in charge of protecting your settlement, while jailers look over the prisoners in the new Jail zone.
For you, guard is a strategic resource. You can only manage to have so many, and it is impossible to guard the whole village. Place down guard posts in the areas that you hold the most dear. Your guards will occupy them and look out for any criminal on sight. Once a villager enters their sight range during a criminal act, they have a chance to be discovered. And, the longer they can stay within that range, the higher the chance they will not go unnoticed. So, a guard post in front of a door is probably your best chance of catching them.
Path of A Criminal
While you can go the way of the muscles and set up guards wherever you can, maintaining villagers' happiness is still your best chance of reducing crime. The more unhappy your villagers grow, the more likely they are to start committing crimes. And they will typically target those who have a bad standing with them. Thus giving raise to the vicious cycle of criminality. Lower happiness means bad relationships, which fuels criminal acts, which fuels more frustration.
And, if you are successful in catching a criminal, they will end up in jail. You can now place down a jail bench or jail chair, which determines an area of a cell. Each criminal, once defeated in combat, is dragged to their designated bench, and left there to rot. Jailers will regularly bring them food and once their sentence is over, release them to freedom. Each sentence is determined automatically based on their crime, so you don’t have to worry about it, if it is not your cup of tea. But, you can update this sentence to any length you wish. Making it shorter will gain you favor with their family, while extending it will hurt your standing with them.
There is, however, one type of sentence, which is final. Once you order an execution, it is truly an end for them. But first, you will need to dedicate one of your guards to be an executioner, and build an Execution Site - a new zone with Execution Display and Public Stage. Here, the head of your family will gather with the rest of your village to publicly execute any incriminated person. This will send the message that no criminal act will be tolerated, and for a time, you may see them withhold from any cruel actions, despite their frustrations. However, executing a criminal significantly hurts your standing with their family, so choose wisely.
Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
New update will also introduce the mechanics of injuries, fractures, and sicknesses. Villagers can hurt themselves in combat or during heavy labor. They can also get sick as a result of bad weather, or when they come in contact with an infected visitor.
Illnesses and injuries reduce their chance of survival, slow down their movement and reduce their mood and happiness. For severe injuries and illnesses, they will seek treatment at a local hospital and obtain salve, bandages or cure - new healing material produced in the apothecary by the clergy.
Especially for illnesses, they want to be isolated, so they don’t spread the sickness to others, so you should make sure to build a hospital - new clergy zone, where all sick people seek treatment from nurses - a new clergy order.
We hope you will enjoy this new update! We have covered a lot, and yet so much is still not mentioned. From the numerous bugfixes, balancing updates, UI improvements, performance overhaul, or even cloud save support, there is so much to desire! The update will arrive soon, so stay tuned, join us on Discord, and let us know in the comments, what is your favorite feature!