Hi! We got a new update ready. Quite a few things result from feedback we got in the forum:
TRADE SIMULATION
We've added details to the trade system to give more realism, variation and long-play:
Simulation of supply and demand
Trade goods will now gradually appear on neighbor sites according to the type and size of their economy. Also, the sites will only buy a limited amount of any good, depending on their economy. After a while, the demand will increase for those goods and they can be traded again.
Randomized trade partner
There is now an additional, randomized site on the sandbox map 'Fields of Tau Ceti'. It will offer different trade goods each playthrough. Its trade 'profile' will vary between that of a farming, mining and fishing site.
Difference in buy/sell prices
The price you get from selling a type of goods will now be lower than the price for buying it. Some traders will be both buying and selling the same type of goods, while others will either buy or sell.
Rare/advanced trade items
In the Great Descent era, advanced tech items are rare and expensive. They will appear unexpectedly and may only be available for a short while.
Other additions to trade
-World map sites now have a few lines of description.
-Cost to hire transports now depend on trip length.
RESOURCES////////////
Respawn/regrowth of ground resources
Ground resources such as firewood, plants and small animals which have been gathered will now regrow/reappear after some time, often in a slightly different location. Some resources only regrow once a year while others, such as fish, will reappear a lot sooner after being depleted. This allows you to set a standing fishing order on a zone with many fish - after depleting it, the fish will gradually reappear and the colonists can resume fishing automatically.
Peat fuel
Peat is a new type of fuel consisting of partly decomposed vegetation found in resource deposits on grasslands/marshes. There you can construct a 'peat bank' and dig wet peat which you will then dry in a structure called a 'peat stack'. Once dry, the peat works as a substitute for firewood.
OTHER CHANGES////////////
AI
Gathered items will now be considered for hauling immediately. This should reduce the chance of characters returning and leaving the gathered items behind.
Bug fixes
-Corrected a bug that would allow setting more than one sell action on a trade mission, and even sell the same items many times for infinite money....
-Made a change to the start game procedure that should prevent some cases where the program is labelled as "Not responding" by Windows.
Miscellaneous
-Padlock button action changed a bit in the Production Manager:
Un-checking the padlock now removes the standing order. Checking the padlock now also sets the standing order to zero. If the game is unpaused, there will be a little while before any existing tasks are removed. So if the slider is dragged during that time, the existing tasks will be allowed to finish.
(Also, the padlock buttons are now permanently visible everywhere to reduce the risk of the player overlooking them.)
-Changed smoking and drying recipes so that the number of input items matches number of output, making it more logical.
-Simplified all tool recipes by removing the 'toolhead' part. This is meant to give 'room' for more items to be added.
-All items now have a tech tier requirement.
-Added more start provisions to the 'Clay Pit' scenario to reduce risk of starvation.
-Tweaked the efficiencies of string and cordage tools and added a 'cotton string' recipe.
-'Special interest sites' will now have a much higher chance of discovery when using the EXAMINE action.
-Unhappy characters now have a slightly higher risk of emigrating.
Hope you like this new update! As always, any feedback is welcome.