Greetings, Viceroys!
Today, we’re presenting you with the new iteration of the Experimental Cycle Overhaul. We were closely looking at your feedback and discussing certain doubts with you. As a result, we introduce many systemic changes that aim to address them.
When it comes to the systems and balance, this version is very close to what we intend to release on the main branch next week. In the background, we’re working on the graphical aspects, improving the UX, and trying to make World Events more appealing, but the systems themselves are near final (with a caveat, that as with any other feature in the game, we’ll continue to tweak them during Early Access).
In multiple conversations happening over the past few weeks, we received many well-thought-out ideas and suggested approaches to certain elements of this system, though, many times conflicting with each other. We knew we’ll have a hard nut to crack and that we won’t ever be able to come up with a solution that would please everyone. So we sat down and discussed all the feedback we gathered and decided on an approach that we feel suits the game the most and has the best long-term potential.
You can find the full changelog and our additional thoughts on certain aspects below.
If you haven’t followed the recent changes to the Experimental Branch, these articles will get you up to speed:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3705945730836097132
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3674419898820262129
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3726210660308443444
Changelog
- Added all the features from the main branch’s Quality of Life Update.
- Limited the number of Seals on the World Map to 4 at once.
- There are 2 Seals of the same type as your last completed Seal, and there are 2 Seals of a new type (a bit further away, with a higher minimum difficulty).
- Exceptions:
- When you start a fresh Profile, there are only 2 Seals available (for Settler).
- When you complete the last Seal, there are 2 Seals of the highest difficulty (for P20) and 2 Seals of the second highest difficulty (for P15 and higher difficulty) available.
- Seal difficulty now works just like any other tile’s difficulty. The minimum difficulty is, like with any other field, determined by the distance from the Citadel.
- Each Seal now has a unique name, look (currently placeholder art), and a set of rewards.
- The difficulty level no longer influences the number of Embarkation Points.
- Embarkation Points are now related to the distance from the Smoldering City. The farther you play, the fewer Embarkation Points you have. Affects only the Base Pool, not the Reserve Pool.
- Added 3 new Smoldering City Upgrades, each unlocking a new Faction district (works as a town) to trade with.
- Changed the numerical spread of villagers in Caravans. Currently, the base number of villagers ranges from 6 to 8.
- Reverted the Embarkation Bonus price fluctuation changes of raw food and materials from the previous Experimental Update.
- Changed how modifiers are spawned on the World Map. Positive modifiers are now more likely to appear around the Citadel, while negative ones will spawn further away (this isn’t a hard rule, negative modifiers might still spawn near the Smoldering City, just more rarely).
New changes
Limited Seals
We’re reducing the number of Seals from 16 to 4. From now on, you’ll only see the two Seals of the same difficulty as the one that you previously completed and two Seals of the next difficulty (with two exceptions listed in the changelog).
This should unclutter the map, provide a clearer goal for the Cycle, and prevent players from feeling taunted or overwhelmed by the Seals of much higher difficulty.
We’re also renaming the Seals. They will no longer include difficulty in their names as this led to negative pressure and incorrect assumption of content gating.
Caravans balance and Embarkation Points
We listened to your feedback regarding the recent changes to the Caravans balance, specifically to the number of Villagers and Embarkation Bonus costs. We reverted many of the Embarkation Bonus price fluctuations and increased the number of Villagers in caravans (it’s only 1 villager less than on the main branch).
We also made a significant change to the Embarkation Points Base Pool. It’s no longer dependent on the difficulty level but instead decreases as the distance from the Smoldering City grows.
Many of you rightly noted that the recent changes made the Cycle suffer from an inverted difficulty curve. Due to having an unupgraded Caravan and no Trade Routes, the first games in the Cycle were significantly slower.
By adding Faction districts that provide Trade Routes in the Smoldering City's proximity (unlocked by purchasing specific Smoldering City upgrades) and by changing the Embarkation Points distribution, we hope to address this feedback.
We also changed how World Map Modifiers are spawned - from now on, positive modifiers have a much higher chance of appearing close to the Citadel (and a lower chance of popping up further away). But this is not a hard rule by any means - you will still be able to encounter negative modifiers at the beginning of a Cycle (the chances for this are simply lower).
This should prevent early games from being slow-paced due to the reduced number of villagers and naturally increase the difficulty as you venture far into the untamed corners of the world.
Remaining systems
Difficulty zones
The World Map is divided into difficulty zones with each Seal marking the border of the particular difficulty. Playing farther than the zone’s border will require you to play on a higher difficulty.
This aims to:
- Encourage players to amp up the difficulty bar as part of the game’s natural progression.
- Prevent situations when it would be optimal to play the last games in a Cycle (before attempting to close the Seal) on lower difficulties to accumulate Negative Modifier Bonuses.
No actual content is gated behind the difficulty. You can still encounter each of the game’s Modifiers within the Settler difficulty zone.
We consider adding cosmetic rewards for completing Seals in the future. In our conversations with players, this was generally agreed on to be rewarding enough for those who complete them and not a deal-breaker for players who don’t aim to play on higher difficulties. We encourage you to share your thoughts with us too!
Cycle in Years
Out of the two tested approaches, we decided to keep the existing Cycle length counted in years.
The discussions about this aspect were probably the most heated ones and we wholeheartedly admit that both have merits and drawbacks. We eventually decided on a years-long Cycle as this approach adds more depth to runs and introduces new decisions and consequences. It leaves a bit more room to maneuver if things take a turn for the worse and gives you an opportunity for a comeback.
To address the needs of players who sometimes prefer to play runs for fun, the Daily Expeditions (and Training Expeditions) don't affect the Cycle in any way and nor does continuing to play after winning the game.
Embarking from the last Settlement.
The main stimulus to work on the Cycle overhaul was the ever-repeated feedback that the World Map layer lacks depth and an overarching goal.
We ourselves can’t agree more. There is no purpose, thrill, or stakes involved.
The journey towards the Seal is our vision for a Cycle-long mini-campaign that involves planning, decision-making, and a climax (reforging the Seal in the Sealed Biome).
On this journey, you’re growing your Caravan by engaging with World Map Events and overcoming Negative Modifiers. You’re also challenged by a geographical distance that separates you from the final goal of your quest.
We believe that a physical representation of your Caravan and an actual route on which you’re embarking not only fits thematically but also provides the much-needed depth and strategy to the World Map layer. Embarking from any point on the map (and not your Caravan position) deprives the World Map layer of this depth.
Future
This is most likely the last Experimental Update before the Cycle Overhaul goes live on the Main Branch. As we have a much clearer vision now than we had at the beginning of the Experiment, we started working on multiple much-needed UX improvements (such as informing about the rewards for completing each Seal) and graphic assets (like a proper visual representation of Seals on the World Map). We will also expand the World Map Events system by adding new encounters, increasing the number of decisions, and rebalancing rewards.
Most importantly, it’s just the beginning of our planned changes to this layer of the game. Please don’t worry if some things seem a bit off and bare-bones.
We will closely monitor all the new feedback for this version, so please let us know how you feel about the changes.
We will continue to iterate the Cycle mini-campaign when it goes live on the main branch. We’ll get the much-needed feedback from the new players for whom this will be the first encounter with the World Map layer.
And most importantly, we are now able to focus on the new Sealed Biome with its unique visuals and Seal reforging mechanic that we hope will provide a proper climax for the Cycle’s mini-campaign.
How to test it?
To play with the new features, you need to switch to the Experimental Branch (click here to learn how to switch to the Experimental Branch).
You can either start from the very beginning or simulate progress with those commands:
- meta.addEarly
- meta.addMiddle
- meta.addLate
To simulate the completion of a certain Seal, type the command below and skip the Cycle:
- meta.diffSeal 1 (or higher)
What are we interested in?
If you decide to play the Experimental Update, please share your thoughts with us!
Primarily, we are interested in your answers to the following questions:
- Do early Cycle games feel more dynamic?
- Do you feel that the farther from the Smoldering City, the harder it gets?
- How do you feel about progressing your Caravan through the Cycle?
- Have you found the journey toward the Seals compelling?
- Did you feel there were interesting decisions to make on the World Map?
- Is there anything about these new mechanics that makes the gameplay feel worse (especially more repetitive) or better (especially more diverse)?
It would mean a lot to us if you decided to give it one more try and share your impressions with us. We wish you a lot of fun with this new update and can't wait to hear from you!
May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games
The current Experimental Branch version is 0.53.02E.