Update 16 - Nature's Wrath!

Hi Everyone,

Update 16 is now live!

It has certainly been a while since Update 15. I will explain what has been happening. Long story short, I got very excited about a new idea.

So Update 16 was already quite large and ready to go by mid December, but then I wanted to squeeze in "just one more thing..." I really need to learn not to do that. Anyhow, I have been working on a World Map since then, and it has become a major feature. So big in fact that is has eaten all of my attention for the last three months.

In my last couple Progress Updates I have gone into great detail about the World Map as it has developed into a major new system. I encourage you to take a look at the posts linked next to get a better idea of what is coming in Update 17.

Initial World Map Announcement with High Level Details
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1700870/announcements/detail/499437972949565609

This is where the World Map is as of today
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1700870/announcements/detail/532092240505341127

So last week I did some time estimation, and it looked like the World Map would be about mid-May before it would be ready for a release, and it made no sense to hold back all this working stuff any longer, so I switched gears and got Update 16 finished up.

Let's get started, there is quite a lot to cover. :)

New Stuff!

(See sections below this outline to see further details about each category)

Nature:

• Flooding - Some areas of the Map will now Flood! Increased Fertility, but also Increased Risk.
• Lightning Upgrades - Dangerous Lightning! (Off by default.)
• Caves and Rocky Overhangs - Places to take cover and keep things dry early on.

Difficulty Modes:

• Clanfolk Classic - This is the Clanfolk you know.
• Nature's Wrath - Nature is out to get you. Mistakes are deadly.
• The Long Haul - This is more of an epic pacing to suit a double lifespan.
• The Lean Years - Resources and trade are more scarce. Starvation is likely.
• The Works! - This mode activates ALL other difficulty modes. It is very difficult.
• Custom - This mode is set whenever you set toggles yourself.

New Objects/Items:

• Customizable Pet Tombs - These work like the Human Tombs and have new Glyphs!
• Baby Toys and Toyboxes - Cute, and more Toys to come.
• Dried Berries - Preserve those Berries for Winter!
• Traditional Turnip Lanterns for Samhain - Spooky and Fun.
• Bluebell and Thistle Wall Hangings - New Wall Decoration Options.
• Planting Bluebells - They just look too nice, so plant them where you want :)

Player Feedback Improvements:

• Missing Item Alert Upgrades - Alerts understand reservations now, better more accurate info.
• Reservation Viewer - See exactly where Clanfolk are going and why.
• Smart Missing Supply Viewer - Makes it much more clear why some things are not being built.

Other/Changes:

• World Based Saving - All Save Games are collected into world folders for file management at a playthrough level.
• Smarter Cats and Rats - Tom and Jerry mode activated! Cats are much more effective.
• More - See the "Other/Changes" Section for more.

Nature:

Flooding:

• Flooding will occur on Flood Plains when there is heavy rain for extended periods of time.
• Flooding will naturally decrease as the ground dries out over the course of a couple days.
• The Positive of Flood Plains is that they have better soil and provide a better growth rate.
• Floods also provide free fertilizer.
• The Negative is that when the Flood Plains are Flooded, the Deeper the water, the more damage will be done to some crops.
• Note: Some crops/plants are flood resistant. This is shown in the planting menu.
• So Flood Plains are excellent for growing crops, except then they re flooded, but that it the risk.
• A Flood Plains Slider is added to World Settings.
• Added a Flood Plain Overlay to the Map Preview Screen, to the Right of the New Map Button
• New maps Start with some Initial Fertility on the Flood Plains from previous floods, can be seen on the fertilizer overlay
• The Water Overlay will also show Flood Plains as Green Areas, but as they fill up, they will turn blue
• The Growth Rate Overlay, ALSO shows flood plains, but sometimes in Red, in cases where the ground is flooded, the growth rate will become negative and shown as red.
• Flood Plains will slow down movement when flooded.
• Anything built on the flood plain will be built on raised ground, aside from Tilled Soil which will get flooded.
• So Roads on Flood Plains can work like bridges in times of flooding when movement is otherwise very slow.
• The Grasses and Trees on the Flood Plains will show up greener due to the higher fertility, also clear ground on the flood plains will have some undergrowth to show the result of previous flooding.

Lightning Upgrades:

• Lightning is highly attracted to Mountains (but people are safe inside)
• Large Trees will attract lightning more than roofs
• Roofs will attract lightning more than people
• People will attract lightning more than base ground
• Non Flammable Roofs will not transmit lightning damage or catch fire (Mountain, Stone, Tile)
• Flammable Roofs will transmit lightning damage, but will not kill a unit protected by the roof (Unit at strike point will be knocked out)
• Livestock under flammable roofs can still die when struck, but it is less likely than out in the open.
• Units in neighbor tiles under a Flammable roof will be hurt, but will not be knocked out. (they will have a fire to fight most likely too)
• Units outside can die from a lightning strike, and the further from the strike point, the less likely a fatality will be.
• So the higher the point on the map, the more likely lightning will strike it, BUT a strike is not guaranteed at that point, just more likely.
• Building between mountains or in forests can provide decent lightning protection. (But beware of forest fires)
• Straw roofs are very dangerous out in the open.

Caves and Rocky Overhangs!

• When generating new map, sheltered areas will now appear in the mountains.
• In most places, there will only be small rocky overhangs of one or two tiles, enough to place a fire out of the rain for example.
• More rarely, caves will also appear that travel deeper into the mountain. There is not a lot of space inside caves, but the there tends to be enough to set up a few bedzones out of the rain.
• The higher the Mountain slider, more and deeper caves will appear.
• This addition should also make Heavy Rain/Snow mode much more tolerable early on because it will be possible to find a sheltered place to cook meals.
• There can be quite a wide variety in how the cave complexes develop and there is no hard limit on size, so some world seeds may have some pretty spectacular ones.

Difficulty Modes

Difficulty modes have been added to provide new themed challenges for long time players.

• These new modes can be opted into in currently running games via Settings/Difficulty.
• After starting a new game, difficulty settings become Locked. (until unlocked via Settings/Difficulty)
• To Unlock Difficulty, double click on the lock icon at the top of the Difficulty Panel.
• Once Unlocked, Difficulty cannot be Re-Locked. This is to preserve the integrity of future achievements.
• Difficulty toggles are built such that turning them on or off will not break your play through, the most important thing is to have fun.

New Modes:

Clanfolk Classic

An experience focused on survival and growing the family homestead. This mode will likely be quite challenging until you have survived a few winters. In this mode, all the new Difficulty Toggles are off.

Nature's Wrath

Nature is much less forgiving in this mode. Any mistakes will likely mean death.

• Heavy Rain/Snow Mode This mode will make Rain and Snow much more likely, and Storms will continue longer. The precipitation will be heavier and the breaks between storms will also be shorter. There is also no three day fair weather period when starting a new map. The Weather will be much harsher than normal, beware.;
• Extra Flooding Flood Plains will take longer to dissipate, and will also cause more damage to crops.
• Epic Storms This mode adds Large Storms that can last multiple days. Lightning is also intense during these Epic Storms.
• Dangerous Lightning Lightning will set flammable roofs on fire. Lightning will also damage or even kill units near the strike point. Clanfolk under stone or mountain roofs will be safe from the lightning.
• Colder Winters Winters will be much Colder, requiring more heating and warmer clothes.
• Chilling Winds Clothing will be less effective at maintaining body heat and blocking wind chill.
• High Flammability Fire will spread much more quickly, especially along flammable roofs. Ground moisture and rain is also less effective at slowing down fires. Keep plenty of water jugs available, and large connected structures are now dangerous.

The Long Haul

Clanfolk at an Epic pace. This mode is tuned for a much longer gameplay experience.

• Slower Plant Growth Plants will take twice as long to grow, requiring larger farms and careful management.
• Slower Skill Progression Skills will increase at 25% of the normal rate. Specializing workers to specific roles will be important.
• Work Takes Longer Work tasks will take twice as long to complete.
• Longer Lifespans Humans, Pets, Livestock, and Wildlife will age at half the normal rate

The Lean Years

Resources are slim and hard to preserve. Don't expect traders to come to the rescue. Starvation will be a major threat and building will take time.

• Fewer Traders Traders will only arrive half as often.
• Scarce Resources Harvest and Resource Extraction Tasks will only produce half the normal yield.
• Expiring Cold Rooms/Refrigeration No Permanent Ice Jug Cold Rooms. Ice Jugs will remove a maximum of -12C, and Mountain Roofs -5C from the World Temperature. So, once the World Temperature is 12C (or 17C under mountain roofs), Ice Jugs will begin to Melt. ween 0C and 5C Foods are Cooled and lose quality half as fast. By Mid-Summer Cold Rooms will have melted, so plan accordingly. (In this Clan we obey the laws of thermodynamics!)

The Works!

Totally Unfair and Unforgiving. A very long game full of hardship and misery. In this mode ALL difficulty toggles are active.

Custom

Custom mode is activated when the player sets the Difficulty Toggles to whatever states they desire. Play however you want :)

New Objects/Items:

Customizable Pet Tombs

Now your loyal companions can have the rest they deserve.

Baby Toys and Toyboxes:

• There is now a Straw Doll that can be used by babies to increase their fun.
• The Straw Doll can be stored in a Toybox (or a tool stockpile if nothing else available)
• Babies will not put away toys when they drop them near a toybox. This was added for increased realism :)
• Work on this new baby toy system is still in progress, but I think it is too cute to not show it now.
• I am hoping to add a cranky state to the babies for them the babies fun gets too low. This could potentially cause mood loss to those around the cranky baby.
• I am also thinking of adding a variety of toys which can each provide an early boost to skill experience for related skills.
• These are just ideas right now though, but could be fun gameplay wise.

Dried Berries!

• Berries are dried in the Tile Peat Stove and last 12 days. Preserve those berries!

Traditional Turnip Lanterns for Samhain

• These new lanterns can be used year round and work as a lighting decoration like Rushlights.
• There are 4 lanterns which will be picked randomly based on where they are placed.
• Each lantern also has unique lighting to match the face on the turnip :)
• Enjoy the spookier nights!

Bluebell and Thistle Wall Hangings

Planting Bluebells

Player Feedback Improvements:

Missing Item Alert Upgrade:

• Items that are being carried or that have been reserved are now considered used by the alert system.
• What this means is that the missing item alerts (red icons on jobs, and right side of screen alert) are much more responsive.
• This means an increase in work efficiency as we will know items are running out sooner.
• An example case is: 10 wall sections to build, but only 5 bricks available, in the old system all 10 sections show as ready to build until those 5 bricks are used up somewhere.
• In the new system, once one of those sections has the bricks reserved, ALL the other 9 sections show that they are missing bricks.
• So those cases where there are people standing around for seemingly no reason should be hopefully resolved with this change. It will be apparent that resources are missing now.

Reservation Viewer:

• For many jobs, they have multiple parts, either multiple wall sections get built for a wall, or ingredients are needed for crafting. Now we can see how these tasks chain together better.
• When clicking on a Clanfolk, their path will show as before, but in some cases, the next destination is also shown. This can be very useful information.
• Example: clicking on a Gatherer will show the item they are going to gather as well as the destination storage for after collection.
• Also clicking an item like meat, or clicking on an object like a cooking fire will ALSO show who has reserved these items. This will allow you to tell if someone is currently going to do something with the item/object.
• Even storages work this way, so if you click on a storage object and any of the items within the object are reserved, a line will be drawn to the reserver.
• So the end result is a lot more clarity on what is currently being done and how.
• I really wish I added this three years ago now as it is pretty handy.

Smart Missing Supply Viewer:

• Logic to show missing critical supply ingredients on world objects that mimics what it looks like with missing build queue items.
• Right now I am limiting this system to the crafting resources like Branches, Coal, Hay, Logs, Stones, Straw, and Clay which tend to get overlooked.
• Using this system for complex foods is likely not desirable as it will probably always be showing something missing for one of the many food recipes, leading to confusion.
• Note, I will turn this on for Eels since it is a very early ingredient and this system will help new players a lot.

Other/Changes:

World Based Saving

When starting a new game, now there is a World Name. This will be used to collect all the saves from one playthrough together in one directory.

Smarter Cats and Rats:

• Cats are now much more persistent in catching rats. They can dig them out of hiding if they see them hide and can also chase them room to room.
• Rat logic upgraded to try to find hiding spots where the cats cannot see them.
• The Cat/Rat chases can go on for quite a while sometimes all over the homestead. It can be fun to watch now.
• Also added bite and threaten noises to the cats to give audio queues when the chase begins.
• Fixed Rats in houses sometimes getting an X on them after the cats caught them.

Other Important Changes and Upgrades

• Major Optimizations to large clans (100-200+) Though please try to stay below 40 people. Homestead simulator, not city simulator :)
• Added 2 Extra World Building Points!
• Added Refrigeration State! (Cooled) state to food between 0-5C This halves the quality loss rate. Needs new cooling mechanic turned on in difficulty settings.
• Advanced Shader (Off) mode upgraded to allow Grass and Rock Shadows! (This makes playing on a laptop/pc without geometry shaders much more attractive to look at)
• Dried Mushrooms now last 20 Days instead of forever.
• Ice Jugs take 2x as long to freeze and thaw.
• Reworked the FPS cap so that it detects the native screen refresh rate and caps to a value near 60fps, but also a multiple of the refresh rate to prevent tearing. This means that on 144hz monitors, the cap will now be 72 and will look a lot more smooth. I have a 144hz monitor and noticed a big difference when capped.

Road Map

There is a lot more to come! Please take a look at the Road Map for further long term details as well.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1700870/view/3388412789658793666

Diving back into the code now. Update 17 here we come!

Thanks very much for playing Clanfolk!

Andrew Hume (Blorf)
MinMax Games Ltd.