Seal Contracts Update out now!

Greetings, Viceroys!

At the time of writing this article, it's so hot out here people have started calling it the Smoldering City. Take our advice: grab a glass of cold water, turn up those soothing rain sounds, and enjoy the new Against the Storm Update.

Here's what's new:

• Seal Contracts - pick the Seals for the next Cycle
• 3 new World Events
• Custom resource category
• New Prestige 15 modifier (Longer Storm was moved to Viceroy difficulty)
• Rebalanced Timed Orders
• and more!

Before we move on to the design notes and the full changelog, please bear with us for a few smaller announcements.

LIMITED-EDITION PLUSH

We recently launched the crowdfunding campaign for the Beaver Villager plushie - Against the Storm's first-ever official merch!

They are only around for a limited time and you have until September 3 to order. After that, they'll be gone forever.

You can get your own plush here:
GO TO THE PLUSHIE PAGE

Each plushie comes with an exclusive "Beaver villager in peril" background art.

You can learn a little more here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/6347313345428050770

P.S. The campaign has already been successful and reached its minimum threshold! Huge thanks to everyone who already supported the campaign. Take good care of our lovely little woodworkers!

MEET US AT GAMESCOM

We're heading to gamescom! You can meet us at the Hooded Horse booth on the show floor in Hall 10.1. from August 23 to August 27. If you're attending, come say hi!

DEVELOPER NOTES

Today’s update is the last one… before we finally give you the revamped Sealed Forest biome in two weeks (you can already test the new mechanics with some placeholder art on the Experimental Branch)! So to make this wait that much sweeter, we bring you some new content, balance changes, and UI improvements. We’re talking Seal Contracts, new World Events, difficulty changes, timed order balance, and much, much more. Let’s dive into it!

First off, the namesake of this update - the Seal Contracts. Since releasing the overhauled World Map a few updates ago, we’ve gotten quite a lot of feedback about players wanting to reset their Seal progress or being able to play a closer Seal in case they can’t make it to a distant one. To address this, we came up with the Seal Contracts feature. This new system allows players to choose the Seals they want to see on the World Map each time they finish a Cycle (up to 3 types at once, so 6 Seals in total per Cycle). For example, you might want to have your most recently reforged Seal on the map, as well as the next one in line, but also the one you completed a long time ago just in case you decide to have a more relaxed session.

Seal Contracts

Three Seals

This system also works the other way around - you might want to attempt the Cobalt Seal very early on in your playthrough, even though your most recently reforged Seal is the Lead one. This would of course be a very difficult endeavor, as Cycle length is still determined by the highest reforged Seal, but no one’s going to stop you from trying.

But Seal Contracts aren’t the only big thing coming in this update. We also bring you 3 brand-new World Events. They are mostly centered around exchanging Citadel Resources (as a way of helping players in their Smoldering City progression) and spawning selected modifiers (as a way of combating some bad RNG when hunting for Deeds). Additionally, we also changed how the World Map is generated. From now on, after reforging the Gold Seal (Viceroy difficulty), there will be more modifiers and events in general and spawn rates will be shifted more in favor of negative modifiers rather than positive ones.

Roaming Fishmen Tribe

Balance-wise, this update brings a whole host of community-inspired tweaks. Most importantly, we decided to change the Prestige 15 difficulty modifier. Instead of prolonging the Storm, it now increases the threshold of Resolve required to generate Reputation after each earned point. However, this doesn’t mean the Storm will become shorter in Prestige games. We simply moved the Storm duration effect to the Viceroy difficulty, making it no longer a Prestige modifier, but a regular stat increase.

Now, why did we do this? Mainly because Storm duration effects are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they make the game harder, as players need to withstand hostile conditions for a longer period. On the other hand, at a certain point, a longer Storm is more of a bonus than a penalty (for example, by prolonging each year and making it easier to achieve certain objectives or postponing Hostility increases). That’s why we decided it would make for a good challenge on earlier difficulty levels, especially considering that a lot of recent updates have introduced various buffs and additional ways of dealing with setbacks, and there was always an effect missing between Veteran and Prestige 1 (both Veteran and Viceroy had the “Blight & Corruption” tag in the Embarkation Panel).

But that’s not all. In this update, we also took a closer look at timed orders (nerfing the hardest ones and trying to make them more attractive in general), rebalanced the Fuming Machinery glade event (it now has a smaller explosion before the main one, and has a longer timer), excluded roads from construction-cost-increasing effects, and revamped a few Cornerstones.

Lastly, as with every update, we took the time to improve the user experience and fix some bugs. Most notably, we added an option to track resources on the HUD. You can now simply click on a resource in the Warehouse panel to add it to a custom category of goods. It will then appear on the top of the screen, right next to all the other categories.

Resources tracking

Thank you for providing us with feedback and suggestions for the new update. If you’d like to share your ideas for upcoming updates, here are some useful links:

• Steam Discussions, Discord, Reddit - discuss the game with the community and share your impressions
• Feature Request Tool - suggest specific new features

P.S. One of the best things you can do to help indie games is to leave a Steam review. If you’ve had a chance to play Against the Storm, we’d love to hear any feedback, positive or negative. Thanks!

CHANGELOG

Number of changes: 76
Inspired by community: 88%

Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by the community.

New content and features

• ⚡ Added 3 new World Events.
  • Sadrath The Wise
  • Brass Order Engineers
  • Roaming Fishmen Tribe
  • Although we don’t want to spoil too much about these new events in this changelog, they revolve mostly around two design ideas: exchanging one Citadel Resource for another, and spawning selected World Map modifiers.

• ⚡ Added a new system - Seal Contracts.
  • Seal Contracts allow you to select which Ancient Seals you will be able to see on your World Map during a Cycle.
  • Seals can be chosen in the Cycle Summary View, after clicking the button in the lower right corner of the screen.
  • You can select between 1 and 3 Seal types at a time. The Seals will be visible on the World Map after the Cycle reset. Each Seal type will spawn 2 Seals (so up to 6 Seals in total in a Cycle).
  • Seal Contracts become available once you beat the Gold Seal for the first time.
  • You can choose any Seal you want. Even if you have beaten the Adamantine Seal, you can select the Bronze Seal to spawn.
  • To get more information about a Seal, simply hover your cursor above it in the Seal Contract UI. The tooltip will show the distance, the number of required fragments, and the minimum difficulty level.
  • Seal progression works the same way as it did until now - when starting from Bronze, you will naturally climb up to Gold. Once you beat Gold, you will select your own Seals every Cycle.
  • Cycle duration is still determined by the highest reforged Seal.

Balance

• ⚡ Changed how the World Map is generated once the player beats the Gold Seal (Viceroy difficulty).
  • Increased the number of modifiers on the map.
  • Increased the number of events on the map.
  • Decreased the probability of positive modifiers spawning, in favor of more negative ones.

• ⚡ Changed the Prestige 15 modifier. Instead of prolonging the Storm, it now increases the threshold of Resolve required to generate Reputation after each gained point.
  • Malcontents - You took a very peculiar group of settlers with you. They seem perpetually dissatisfied. Each species' Resolve to Reputation threshold increases by 1 more point after every Reputation Point they generate.
  • This change was made because the storm duration increase wasn’t really a significant difficulty increase on such a high Prestige level. In some cases, it was even a bonus - as it increased the duration of the entire year, making some objectives easier to achieve.

• Moved the increased Storm duration effect from Prestige 15 to Viceroy difficulty.
  • The Storm now lasts 4 minutes instead of 2 starting from the Viceroy difficulty.
  • We decided to move the effect to Viceroy because of a few reasons.
    • Viceroy was the only difficulty level missing a significant change (like the ones described below the difficulty selector in the Embark Panel).
    • A lot of recent updates have introduced various buffs and new ways of dealing with setbacks, so we wanted to gently nudge the game in a direction that is a bit more challenging again.
    • Storm duration effects simultaneously make the game more difficult and easier in some aspects. On one hand, players have to withstand hostile conditions for a longer period, but on the other hand, a longer Storm can also be a buff by prolonging each year and making it easier to achieve certain objectives, or by postponing Hostility increases.

• ⚡ Rebalanced the Fuming Machinery glade event.
  • Increased the time limit before the consequence triggers.
  • The first explosion is a smaller one - destroying only resource nodes and trees, and killing villagers in a radius of 5 fields (the second explosion is the normal one, and it removed the event with it).

• ⚡ Rebalanced numerous timed orders.
  • Reckless Viceroy - renamed to "The Source", moved to tier 3 from 4, requires players to use rainwater (all 3 types), time limit changed to 10 minutes.
  • Urgent Shipment - renamed to "Technological Progress", requires players to have 10 Rain Engines installed, time limit changed to 10 minutes.
  • Beaver Colony - time limit increased to 8 minutes (from 5 minutes 30 seconds).
  • Human Colony - time limit increased to 8 minutes (from 5 minutes 30 seconds).
  • Lizard Colony - time limit increased to 8 minutes (from 5 minutes 30 seconds).
  • Harpy Colony - time limit increased to 8 minutes (from 5 minutes 30 seconds).
  • Homes for Foxes - time limit increased to 8 minutes (from 5 minutes 30 seconds).
  • Large Parcel - objective to deliver Packs of Crops replaced by Oil (30), time limit changed to 10 minutes.
  • Construction Work - time limit increased to 8 minutes, changed rewards to Oil Delivery Line, Advanced Smithing, and 30 Planks.
  • Coal Fever - now requires players to deliver 100 Coal.
  • Copper Fever - now requires players to deliver 100 Copper Ore.
  • Trading Master - now requires players to finish 3 trade routes with a minimum value of 25 Amber, time limit changed to 15 minutes and 30 seconds.
  • Herbalist's Trial - objective changed from “produce in camp” to “deliver goods”, added second objective to deliver Herbs, reward change from Big Phials to Tea Infuser.
  • Scavenger's Trial - objective changed from “produce in camp” to “deliver goods”, added second objective to deliver Insects.
  • Trapper's Trial - objective changed from “produce in camp” to “deliver goods”, added second objective to deliver Insects.
  • Mushrooming - objective changed from “produce in camp” to “deliver goods”, added second objective to deliver Herbs
  • Stonecutter's Trial - objective changed from “produce in camp” to “deliver goods”, added second objective to deliver Roots, reward changed from Plantation Blueprint to Clay Pit.
  • Forager's Trial - objective changed from “produce in camp” to “deliver goods”, added a second objective to deliver Grain, changed rewards from Grill Blueprint to Plantation Blueprint, and from Bigger Ovens to Puffed Grain.
  • Fearless - time limit increased to 15 minutes.
  • Venturesome Leader - reduced the number of glades players have to discover by 1.
  • Lumber Mill Efficiency Test - now requires players to deliver Planks and Barrels (60), time limit increased to 8 minutes, reward changed to Reinforced Axes (30% woodcutting speed) and Grove Blueprint.
  • Greedy Merchant - now requires players to sell goods worth at least 80 Amber.
  • Time of Courage - reduced the number of glades players have to discover by 2, time limit changed from 20 minutes 30 seconds to 15 minutes.
  • Zealous Scouts - time limit increased from 11 minutes to 15 minutes
  • Beer Snacks - renamed to “Let it Rain”, now requires players to have 8 Rain Engines installed and to deliver Drizzle and Clearance Water (150), moved to tier 3.
  • Thirsty Trader - changed the objective from delivering Waterskins to delivering Wine (40).
  • Into the Ruins - reduced the number of ruins players have to rebuild or salvage 1, added the objective to complete a glade event by making a corruption decision, increased the number of Tools given as a reward from 20 to 24.
  • Great Expansion - changed the objective from having two Hearths at level 3 to having one Hearth at level 3 and another at level 2, changed rewards from the Smithy Blueprint to Temple Blueprint, time limit changed to 10 minutes.
  • Advanced Cuisine - changed objective from producing goods in the Cookhouse to delivering Skewers, Jerky, and Porridge, changed rewards from the Rain Mill Blueprint to the Tavern Blueprint.

• ⚡ Slightly lowered the spawn rate of the Merchant Shipwreck glade event.
  
• ⚡ Construction cost for roads no longer scales with effects, modifiers, and perks (so a Stone Road will always cost 1 Stone, even on Prestige levels).
  
• ⚡ Shuffled a few Citadel Upgrades around.
  • Training Expeditions are now unlocked with the Obsidian Archive Level 8 Upgrade, and the Daily Expedition unlock was moved up to Obsidian Archive Level 10.
  • The Stocked Caravans Upgrade was moved down to Dim Square Level 6, and the Extra Merchandise Upgrade was moved up to Dim Square Level 10.

• Villagers will now move slower when going through buildings.
  
• Re-enabled and rebalanced a few previously disabled Cornerstones and Forest Mysteries.
  • Exploration Expedition - You took some of the best explorers from the Smoldering City with you. Gain +5 to Global Resolve for 180 seconds every time a new glade is discovered, but woodcutting is 33% slower until you open at least 2 glades.
  • Woodcutter’s Song (previously Thrill of Exploration) - "It's off to work we go". Every 20 felled trees, Global Resolve is increased by +3 for 120 seconds.
  • Frequent Caravans - The Crown is very forgiving, as long as the goods keep flowing. Impatience grows 30% slower for 180 seconds every time you finish a trade route.
  • Gentle Dawn - New year, new challenges. Every small glade discovered grants +10% to planting speed during Drizzle (this effect is added retroactively).
  • Previously, Cornerstones such as Exploration Expedition, Thrill of Exploration, and Frequent Caravans gave timed bonuses that didn’t stack (only their timer extended as the perk kept triggering). From now on, time will not be added, but the effects will stack (no now you can get a powerful, but short +20 bonus to Resolve for opening 4 glades, instead of getting an almost 10-minute long +5 bonus).

• Removed the Food Stockpiles reward from the Untamed Wilds World Map Modifier.

UX/UI improvements

• ⚡ Goods can now be tracked using a custom resource category on the top HUD.
  • There is now a new resource category on the top HUD, called “Tracked Goods”.
  • To track a resource, simply click on its icon in the Warehouse building panel.
  • You can untrack a resource by clicking on it again.
  • Tracked goods are marked with a small checkmark in the corner of their icon.

• ⚡ Stormforged Cornerstones are now displayed in the Game History tab.
  
• ⚡ Changed the wording used in the description of the Hidden from the Queen Cornerstone to make it clearer that the Impatience penalty starts at the beginning of year 8.
  
• ⚡ The Decadent attribute in the species tab in the in-game Encyclopedia now shows a numerical value instead of a tag.
  
• Changed the wording used in House Upgrades to make it clearer where bonuses on the perk HUD came from.
  
• Improved the wording in the Followers of the Forsaken Gods World Event description.

Bug fixes

• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Blight Filter Cornerstone increasing Cyst generation rate instead of lowering it.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with some workers getting stuck on trees when trying to reach Abandoned Caches.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused perks tied to trade routes to be drafted for players who haven’t unlocked this feature yet.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused some areas to become blocked when moving a building.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the newcomer timer showing time offset by 30 seconds.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Makeshift Extractor water tank expansion bonus not stacking.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with trade routes not being sorted correctly based on distance.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused the Purified Human House to have Beaver-specific upgrades.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Obsidian Runestone effect listed in the Hearth UI not having an icon and name.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Blight Filter effect being incorrectly listed in building UIs (under a wrong name).
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused won games to be marked as a loss if players decided to continue a settlement and lost all their villagers.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Twitch integration blocking choices when one is set to “automatic”, and the other to “opt-in”.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the iCUE Lightning integration sometimes not working correctly.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with some starting glades having trees on top of fertile soil.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Flawless Rain Mill using Drizzle Water instead of Clearance Water.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Cycle summary listing failed towns even if there were none.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with wrong profession names being assigned to workers.
• ⚡ Fixed an incorrect description in the Encyclopedia entry about sacrificing goods during the Storm.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with Training Expedition settlements having an incorrect name in the Game History tab.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with some descriptions using regular hyphens instead of non-breaking ones.
• ⚡ Fixed a typo in the Japanese description of the Forbidden Seal Shard Cornerstone.
• ⚡ Fixed a typo in the German description of the Roaming Swarm World Event effect.

Other

• ⚡ Starting with the next update, Cycle blessings and bonuses will no longer be removed after a force-finished settlement.
  • Why doesn’t this work with today’s patch? That’s because we first needed to prepare the backend for this change and alter the save structure.
  • To make up for this, you will be given a free Royal Resupply for the settlement force-finished by today’s update.

COMMUNITY CORNER

Check out some of the best community screenshots, artwork, and memes from recent days. Click to unfold:

We wish you a great time with the new update and a happy weekend!

PREVIOUS UPDATES

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3658663641148118403
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3650781073918695896
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3658660471449381227
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3676674235050601004