Hello, all you conductors in Frostrain around the world! It's been a while, and we hope you've been doing well. Our development team has been busy with a number of issues. As we mentioned in our last developer letter, some of us have taken on jobs to make ends meet, some have gone back to school to study, and... well... we decided that we couldn't turn a blind eye to the support you've been giving us.
However, we realize that we can't afford to release updates as quickly or as big as we'd like to, so we'll be releasing small comfort updates, balance updates more frequently than in the past, and taking a little longer to release updates with new content whenever possible.
So many of you have been so kind to us, and while we politely declined at first, we felt it would be rude to turn you down any further, so we thought we'd show our appreciation in a small way.
This update includes two announcements and a small balance patch. Thanks!
Major localization announcements.
We've had conductors from Korea, the US, Germany, China, the Czech Republic... and so many other countries enjoy our game, but they've been frustrated by the fact that we only support two languages. We know the difference between a game that supports your native language and one that doesn't - there's a lot of experience lost in the process of "seeing" and "translating".
We released the game on a deadline, so our internal structure wasn't ideal for localization, and that's still the case today, so we're planning to refactor and overhaul the structure so that more people can enjoy the game.
As you know, we're a free-to-play game, so it's hard for us to offer any compensation to those who helped with the translation, but it's almost like you're building the game alongside us, and we'd like to add your name to the credits as a small token of our appreciation for your efforts.
We could use a lot of help. If you're interested, please contact us at the following emails.
Memory issues are not crypto mining
A lot of people have accused our game of being a crypto-mining game. First of all, let me say that Frostrain is not crypto-mined, and that... I... I hate to say this, but it's a problem that was caused by our own lack of competence.
We are aware of the memory issue. My best guess is that it's caused by blizzard effects or exploration nodes. We'll give you the option to turn blizzard effects off and on as a first step, and if you're still experiencing issues... this could be a big systemic fix.
But just to be clear, we're NEVER mining cryptocurrency! Rest assured, you're on your way to the promised land!
Balance adjustment
Since launch, we've held off on balance patches as much as possible. We were worried about drastically changing your experience, but we feel like enough people have enjoyed the game that it's worth tweaking it a bit. We're also worried that we've lost our touch with Frostrain since it's been a while, but we're going to keep a close eye on it and tweak the balance little by little. It's a data-heavy process, and we need your help!
The goal of this balance patch is to make each synergy work more "as intended". To be clear, we're not trying to achieve equal balance - some synergies will be more favorable than others - but they will have different "balance factors": less fun, harder to build combinations, etc.
Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood
The Brotherhood have been a little too... quiet. They've been ridiculously underpowered for a tail section organization, and their base happiness output is so low that even if you have 7 synergy to blow up 10x, it's often not enough. This patch aims to revamp the high-risk-low-reward structure of these brotherhood to make them the high-risk-high-reward they were meant to be.
In addition, we want to make sure that other synergies that are woven into them are indirectly rewarded. For example, entertainment, education, etc.
Job School
Level 1 : Happiness +1. Add +1 if passenger is full. → Happiness +2. Add +1 if passenger is full.
Level 2 : Happiness +2. Add +3 if passenger is full. → Happiness +3. Add +3 if passenger is full.
Level 3 : Happiness +3. Add +4 if passenger is full. → Happiness +5. Add +6 if passenger is full.
Level 4 : Happiness +4. Add +6 if passenger is full. → Happiness +7. Add +10 if passenger is full.
Private Gambling House
Level 1 : Happiness +0~+3 → Happiness +1~+3
Level 2 : Happiness +1~+4 → Happiness +2~+5
Level 3 : Happiness+2~+6 → Happiness+3~+8
Level 4 : Happiness+3~+8 → Happiness+6~+14
Sheriff's Office
Level 1 : Happiness+3 → Happiness+4
Level 2 : Happiness+4 → Happiness+6
Level 3 : Happiness+6 → Happiness+9
Level 4 : Happiness+12 → Happiness+18
Communication Center
Level 1 : Happiness+2 → Happiness+3
Level 2 : Happiness+3 → Happiness+4
Level 3 : Happiness+4 → Happiness+6
Level 4 : Happiness+8 → Happiness+12
Guild of Explorers
Guild of Explorers is a useful synergy to have early on, but I wouldn't call it powerful. We've made its reward more powerful, making it more pleasing to use.
- It now produces more happiness as a reward!
Communication
Communication is an easy synergy to achieve with only 2 car spaces, so we were worried that it might be forced, but since not many people seem to be looking for it, we thought we'd give it a little more... even if it's just a little.
Before : (+4 per train car)
After : (+5 per train car)
Train Power
Train Power has always been the "heart of the train" - it's an essential part of the train, but it's been overpowered, so let's break it down a bit.
Train Power(3) : Improves 300% faster. → 240% faster improvement.
Security
Security was a synergy that really went through the motions. Looking at its abilities alone, it's definitely a backbone synergy that's responsible for the early to mid game, but it's also a tier 4 facility, so it's not easy to get it right. We have a lot of thoughts on how to improve it (within the limits of what we can do), but first, we're going to make it worthy of tier 4 so that it can be used in the late game.
Security(4) : Gain Central Intelligence Agency (+50 Happiness) → Gain Central Intelligence Agency (+72 Happiness).