👨🌾Farmhands Update
Introducing the new Farmhand system—a game-changer for large-scale farming! Hire and manage workers to tackle manual tasks across multiple acres with ease.
Core Farmhand Features
- Worker Management: Assign farmhands to tasks across your farm simultaneously via a dynamic task queue.
- New Tool Categories: Farmhands bring optional tools for each task type—Plow, Sow, Cultivate, Amend, and Harvest—designed for multi-cell operations. (Classic instantaneous single-cell manual tools remain available!)
- Skill Progression: Farmhand tasks take time to complete but they gain experience over time, increasing their work speed. Unpaid wages reduce efficiency—let it drop below zero, and they’ll quit!
- Daily Wages: Workers are paid daily, not per task. Track total wages in the Farmhands tab or detailed finances report.
- Area Task Assignment: A new way to handle manual tasks over multiple cells:
- First click selects the starting cell.
- Second click confirms the final cell, defining the total area.
- This complements the existing single-cell clicking option and tractor auto-drive system, giving you more flexibility without replacing anything.
- New Tools & Interface:
- Assign workers over an area using one of the new tools.
- Cancel tasks by hovering and right-clicking (or gamepad alt action).
- Visualize farmhands in the new Farmhands tab in the top menu.
- Monitor worker queues on the left-hand menu when a tool is active.
- Worker Details: Names, XP, visual traits, and building assignments are saved and displayed.
- Efficiency Boost: Spend Reputation Points to train workers and improve performance.
- Management Options:
- “Move To” button: Jump to a worker’s current position.
- “Terminate” button: Fire underperforming farmhands.
- Hire new workers individually or max out your roster directly from the Farmhands tab.
Farmhand Task Queue
- Hover over queue elements to highlight the active acre in the world.
- Click to move to the selected acre; right-click to cancel a task.
- Top Queue Button:
- Left-click the top button to collapse all elements.
- Right-click to cancel all tasks at once.
🏠 Farmhand Housing
New Building: Farmhand Housing Boost your maximum worker capacity by constructing and upgrading farmhand housing.
- Adds +2 worker slots by default.
- Building Cost $7950
- Upgrade Level 2: Costs $15,000 and adds 3 workers (5 total).
- Upgrade Level 3: Costs $37,500 and adds 7 workers (12 total).
- Right-click the building to upgrade.
- Housing widget shows current upgrade costs and land requirements.
- You can also hire workers directly by clicking on a housing building.
🚜Farmhands & Tractors
- Tractor Drivers: Tractors now require an assigned farmhand to operate.
- Assign workers to tractor barns via left-click; unassign with right-click.
- If no worker is assigned, an idle farmhand will be pulled automatically (if available).
- Visual Updates: New tractor driver model and improved tractor barn widget rendering.
- Upgrades: Right-click barns to enhance functionality.
Performance Optimizations
- Converted tractor skeletal meshes to static meshes for better performance.
- Added shared vertex-animated wheelbases for tractors.
- Implemented ISM spatial culling for tractors.
- Optimized worker vertex animation system.
🌦️Sky & Weather Updates
- Crop Growth: Crops now grow at night (Overall game speed rate adjusted for balance).
- Time Flow: Smoother night-time speed-up mechanic.
- Visual Enhancements:
- Improved rain VFX performance; rain no longer spawns while paused.
- Brighter skies on cloudy days with reduced cloud coverage.
- Enhanced visibility on foggy days.
- Weather System:
- Weather updates daily at noon (no random shifts or changes during pause).
- Hover over weather icons in the top menu for tooltip names.
- Ground Effects: Added wetness and snow coverage visuals.
🧰 Quality of Life Improvements
- Berry Harvesting: Berries are now harvestable with the standard manual harvest tool (separate berry tool removed). Farmhands can also harvest berries using the harvest action.
- UI Refinements:
- Condensed tab buttons for a cleaner layout.
- Notification widget warns when no workers are available.
- Tool menus auto-close when deselected for clarity.
- Soil & Fertilizers: Unique colors added to amendments and fertilizers for easier tracking; redundant tooltips removed.
- Building Icons: Updated tractor barn icon to distinguish it from housing and warehouses.
- Tutorial: Rewritten for clarity and updated with farmhand features.
- Cosmetics: Can now be placed on tilled land with a new “clear land” status setting toggled.
- Feedback: Added UI blink animation when upgrades are blocked by low Reputation Points.
- Finances: New notification offers loans when funds run dry (if available).
- Building Widgets: Only open when no tool is selected to prevent accidental changes.
- Home Barn:
- Now upgradeable via right-click as well as in the license menu.
- Slightly smaller mesh for better worker/tractor visibility.
- Cost Tracking: Building expenses moved from “Misc” to “Buildings” category.
Main Menu: Added graphics settings (weed mesh quality, day cycle visibility, dark mode UI).
🎮 Controller (Gamepad) Improvements
- Exit tool with the right face button. Press again to re-enable the last selected tool.
- Cursor now appears when no tool is selected for easier navigation.
🐛Other Changes & Bug Fixes
- Bug Fixes:
- Fixed jam processor selecting blackberries.
- Corrected berry harvest mesh update timing.
- Resolved tractor visualization issues post-home barn upgrade.
- Main Menu: Removed depth-of-field blur; added farmhands to the start screen.
I hope you enjoy the new Farmhand system—an optional layer of depth to enhance your farming experience! Whether you stick with classic single-cell tools, rely on tractors, or dive into managing a workforce, the choice is yours. Let me know your feedback as I continue to grow and refine the game. Happy harvesting!
Jimi - Jimi Games