Hi everyone! I hope everything is well.
Last year when I launch 1.2, I thought I was done with Crop Rotation. However, I got addicted to playing Crop Rotation recently and I realised that there were a lot more things that I want do with it.
This is going to be a long post, so if you are only interested in the changes, scroll to the end, or check out the changelog in game.
Controller and Steam deck support
Let's start with the most boring one.
If you are a controller gamer, or always wanted to play Crop Rotation on Steam Deck, it is finally here. I have added a default controller layout to steam. It might take a while to get the hang of it, but once you do, playing with controller is actually easier than playing with keyboard and mouse. If you have any issues or suggestions for the controller support, do drop it in the discussion. Oh, remember to turn on "click mode" in settings to make moving cards with controller a lot easier.
New Cardsets
2 new cardsets are added to the game - Sun and Commerce, which add 20 new crops, 2 new permits and 4 new animals. This will bring the total number of permits/animals to 18 and the total number of crops to 110.
New Mechanic
There is one new mechanic added to the game - "Variant".
Cards marked with "Variant" can have multiple different versions, each with slight variation. Cards with variant are part of the same card pool and can be used to upgrade each other.
Although there are only 2 cards with variants in the game as of 1.3, adding the variant mechanic now allows me to add new content in the future without bloating the card pool. For example, I could add "Green Apple" as a variant of Apple.
Balance Changes
There are 3 goals for the balance changes.
1. Remove useless abilities
2. Make weaker cards/mutations stronger
3. Streamline the game
Crop changes
There are 3 key changes for crops.
Firstly, most crops with "gain value if adjacent to X" are reworked. This ability has always been weak and I have been looking to remove it for a long time. Some of them still have this ability, and I will continue to look for better ability to replace them.
Upgrading crop cards to tier 3/4/5 always feels weak and unsatisfying. To fix this, most crops that gain values are buffed, especially for tier 4 and tier 5. Many of the rare crops that gain value are also buffed. These 2 changes will make upgrading and getting early rare more rewarding.
Lastly, the base value of the crops are also updated. Previously different crops have different base value within the same rarity. I no longer remember the reason why they were different, so I have decided to make it easier by making all the same within the same rarity. Similarly, the cost of all crops are also updated to be the same if they are of the same rarity.
Animals and Permits
Similar to crops, most of the animal and permits are buffed at tier 3 and tier 4. The reason is the same as crops. Upgrading from tier 2 to tier 3 should be rewarding, but it wasn't. This is especially so for those that do not have multiplier at tier 4.
For example, Big farm permit give a 2x multiplier at tier 4, but Wet permit doesn't. This makes wet permit weaker than big farm permit because it doesn't scale up as well. By making t3 and t4 stronger, those that did not provide a 2x multiplier should feel a lot better now.
Another key change is specifically to the dual-flavours permits, e.g. Sweet and Sour Permit and the other 5. These 6 permits usually flood the contract rewards, making it harder to get permits and animals for upgrades. In 1.3, they are now "Variant" and is part of the same card pool, and can be used to upgrade each other.
Mutations
Digging for specific mutation has always been fun, but there are just too many of them, and many of them are not as useful.
In 1.3, many of the mutations are reworked and merged. For example, instead of having a spread mutation, it is now merged into climber mutation and the old climber mutation ability is removed. You can see all the mutation changes in the changelogs.
Rating and Balance
There are many different types of players, and also different ways to play the game. Some people like getting high score, and some just want to get to 10000 rating.
As the dev, it is hard to balance the game for everyone, so I decided early on that the game will be balanced around 1000 rating. With all the changes and buffs, 1000 has become too easy. I could change 1000 but I have decided to change the rating that I balance around instead. The game is now balanced around 1500.
But what does that mean for you as a player ? Probably not much but if you are the type of players that like to go for win streak, the best rating to do that now is at 1500, which will provide a sufficient challenge, or at 2000 if you really know the game inside out. I personally am addicted to playing at 2000.
Closing thoughts
If you have read everything so far, thank you.
Crop Rotation is a very niche game, and there are probably less than 200-300 people who play Crop Rotation every month. However, since I am one of them, I will continue to balance it for myself. If you enjoy the game and want to participate in the balance or new content, do hop on the discord.
With such a big patch, there will definitely be bugs. If you encounter any, post it in the discussion and I will definitely try my best to fix them.
And as usual, the last 1.2 patch will be archived on a separate branch for those interested to play that version instead. If you like the update, do give it a thumbsup. If you don't give it a thumbsdown and let me know what you dislike about the changes.
For those that read it so far, and still doesn't have the game (I am not sure why you are reading this), the demo is also updated with some of the new changes.
Lastly, here is the promised changelog.
Full Changelog
New Features
- Cardset: Add Sun cardset.
- Cardset: Add Commerce cardset.
- Mechanic: Introduce "Variant" mechanic.
Balance Changes
- Mechanic: Balance contract difficulty based on number of plots.
- Mechanic: Reroll cost now increase after every season.
- Mechanic: You now choose which trade in to take on week 5/6/7.
- Permit: Dual Flavour permits are now variants.
- Permit: Change Invasive permits value from [4/8/18/40] -> [5/12/30/80].
- Permit: Change Dual Flavour permits value from [2/6/15/8*] -> [2/6/18/8*].
- Permit: Change Spacious Permit value from [2/6/15/25] -> [4/10/25/40]
- Permit: Change Fruit permit from [2/3/5/12] -> [4/6/6/15]
- Permit: Change Support permit from [3/7/18/40] -> [4/12/25/65]
- Permit: Change Climber Permit T4 to for each Climber on farm
- Permit: Change Climber Permit value from [2/6/16/-] -> [2/6/18/6*]
- Permit: Change Small Farm Permit requirement from [18/16/14/12] -> [22/20/18/16]
- Permit: Change Small Farm Permit value from [2/7/20/3x] -> [1/5/22/3x]
- Permit: Change Herbal Permit value from [3/3/3/5+] -> [4/4/4/6+]
- Permit: Change Vegetable Permit value from [5/12/25/55] -> [5/12/30/70]
- Permit: Change Withering Permit value from [1/2/4/10] -> [1/2/5/12]
- Permit: Change Root Permit value from [2/6/15/-] -> [2/6/18/-]
- Permit: Change Wet Permit value from [1/2/4/10] -> [1/2/5/12]
- Permit: Change Flavouring Permit value from [2/5/15/2x] -> [2/6/20/2x]
- Permit: Change Big Farm Permit value from [2/6/13/2x] -> [3/8/20/2x]
- Animal: Change Fish water threshold from [60/60/60/60] -> [50/40/30/20]
- Animal: Change Cat value from [4/8/18/2x] -> [4/10/20/2x]
- Animal: Change Rat value from [2/5/12/2x] -> [2/6/18/2x]
- Animal: Change Pig value from [2/6/15/2x] -> [2/7/20/2x]
- Animal: Change Sheep value from [1/5/14/2x] -> [1/5/18/2x]
- Animal: Change Cow value from [1/5/13/2x] -> [1/5/18/2x]
- Animal: Change Chicken sell value from [200/500/1200/3200] -> [300/800/2000/5000]
- Animal: Change Chicken requirement from [48/32/18/10] -> [48/32/18/12]
- Animal: Change Butterfly value from [2/4/10/25] -> [2/5/12/30]
- Mutation: Reduce Vegetable mutation cost from 6 -> 4.
- Mutation: Increase Seed mutation cost from 5 -> 6.
- Mutation: Remove Vegetable mutation unique criteria.
- Mutation: Change Vegetable mutation value from [2/4/6/10/20] -> [3/5/5/8/15].
- Mutation: Reduce Dry mutation cost from 5 -> 4.
- Mutation: Increase Dry mutation value from [2/3/3/5/2] -> [2/3/3/5/4]
- Mutation: Increase Wheat/Ginger/Lotus Root value from [3/4/6/12/20] -> [5/8/10/15/30]
- Mutation: Change Climber mutation ability to spreading.
- Mutation: Remove Spread mutation.
- Mutation: Change Mushroom mutation ability to gain water on wither.
- Mutation: Remove Waterplant mutation.
- Mutation: Add on wither to Herb mutation.
- Mutation: Increase Herb Cost from 7 -> 6.
- Mutation: Increase Herb Mutation value from [2/3/5/5/6] -> [3/5/8/8/10].
- Mutation: Remove Nutrientplant mutation.
- Mutation: Change Fruit mutation to gain water based on value.
- Mutation: Reduce Wet mutation cost from 6 -> 5.
- Mutation: Change Wet mutation to gain water based on adjacency.
- Mutation: Reduce water gain for Wet Mutation from [10/15/20/30/40] -> [5/10/15/20/30].
- Mutation: Change Support mutation to gain water when adjacent crops mature or wither.
- Mutation: Change Flower mutation to multi-play.
- Mutation: Change Flavour mutations to add the flavour crop type to the crop.
- Mutation: Increase Organic cost from 10 -> 12.
- Set Bonus: Vegetable set bonus [Adjacent] -> [Around].
- Tool: Mutation kit now show 3 mutations instead of 2.
- Tool: Replicator now increase the cost of the next few crops.
- Tool: Change Fertiliser ability.
- Crop: Update base value of all common crops to [2/3/5/9/16].
- Crop: Update base value of all uncommon crops to [3/5/9/16/24].
- Crop: Update base value of all rare crops to [4/6/10/18/30].
- Crop: Update cost of all crops to be the same [5/6/8] for crops with the same rarity.
- Crop: Increase value gained for most common crops.
- Crop: Change Cabbage ability to based on active set bonus.
- Crop: Carrot/Potato/Pineapple/Wasabi 2x multiplier at tier 5 requires 2 cost reduction instead of 1.
- Crop: Change Cauliflower ability to based on active set bonus.
- Crop: Change Spinach ability to based on active set bonus.
- Crop: Change Beet ability to based on active set bonus.
- Crop: Change Button Mushroom ability to Bittergourd ability.
- Crop: Change Apple ability from [Sour] -> [Climber].
- Crop: Cocoa Bean Tier 5 sell price 2000 -> 2400.
- Crop: Change Asparagus ability to based on empty plot.
- Crop: Change Radish/Kiwi/Bellpepper ability gain water based on value.
- Crop: Snapdragon value from [3/5/8/13/20] -> [5/8/13/20/50].
- Crop: Lotusflower value from [5/8/13/13/20] -> [8/13/18/18/40].
- Crop: Basil/rosemarry value from [1/2/4/8/16] -> [3/5/8/13/25].
- Crop: Change Orchid ability.
- Crop: Oyster mushroom value from [3/4/6/12/24] -> [5/8/12/18/30].
- Crop: Shiitake Mushroom / Forget-me-not buff from [1/2/3/6/8] -> [2/3/5/10/12].
- Crop: Cherry value from [3/4/6/12/24] -> [5/8/12/18/30].
- Crop: Starfruit value from [3/4/6/12/24] -> [5/8/12/18/30].
- Crop: Reduce water gain from Peanut/Dill/Dragonfruit from [10/15/20/30/40] -> [5/10/15/20/30].
- Crop: Reduce water gain from Bittergourd from [10/15/20/30/40] -> [5/10/15/20/30].
- Crop: Change Truffle mushroom from Mushroom Spicy to Mushroom Herb.
- Crop: Swap coffee and cocoa flavour type to match the color.
Bug Fixes
- Fix some permits not showing active/inactive status.
Quality of Life
- Smart insert is now enabled by default and is removed from settings.
- Add mouse click mode to pick up cards instead of dragging.
- On hover over cards that modify cost, show their effect.
- Add cardset filter to compendium.
- Add more keyboard shortcuts to make steam deck more enjoyable.
- [tab] now open the card available window.
- Update how cropset are highlighted when hovering over cards.