Hey Everyone!
In my last update I outlined part of a major system being added to the game - District Ranks. I also noted that there was more to this update and some additional features that it would support. With these changes now releasing to the alpha builds, I wanted to talk more about the rest of this update and some of the impact it will have on the later phases of the full game.
If you haven't read the previous update, I suggest you do, as there's a lot of context there around why these things are being added and the thought process behind them. The short version is that I think the existing demo content sets a good foundation of the "early game" and basic game mechanics, the alpha shifts more towards the mid-game with challenges around moving items between a few Districts, but neither addresses the late game or how your farm will work on a larger scale.
The previous post also revealed that this coming system would include Districts having their own Ranks, permitting you to unlock different Upgrades, and that different Districts would likely end up specializing in different tasks. This leads to the next part of this update:
Alternative District Centers
Within the Logistics Tech Tree, you'll be able to unlock alternatives to the standard District Center. Each type of District Center will change the focus of its District. These Centers change what can and cannot be built in the District, allow for unique buildings and functions within the District, and each have a different set of District Upgrades with powerful scaling to support their focus.
The standard District Center will work the same as every other District you've seen up until this point, and will likely be your most frequent choice. Its main focus is on production, with Upgrades that increase things like Production Speed bonuses, Waste Reduction, and Input, Collection, and Sale Truck throughput.
Planning your District choices will become a core part of the late game - as your farm increases in size, it will be important to dedicate some Districts to specialized tasks. Many of these alternative Centers aim to support the Districts around them, taking some load off of their plate. Like you plan out individual plots in layouts within a District to create a recipe, you'll probably want to plan out your District types in cross-District layouts in order to best support your production.
Logistics Center
The first alternative you'll unlock is the Logistics Center. This Center dedicates the District to supporting nearby production Districts by assisting with moving goods. Constructing a Logistics Center will forbid the District from having any Fields or production Buildings of its own, but its Upgrades will greatly improve the capacity, speed, and quantity of its own Logistics Trucks. This will enable it to consolidate some nearby products into one place.
In addition, the Logistics Center uniquely allows for Collection Stations and Distribution Stations to be built within its District.
With a Collection Station, you can declare one Crop and it will dispatch its Collection Vans to collect that Crop from Storage Buildings in all neighboring Districts.
The Distribution Station works the opposite way - you declare a Crop and it will dispatch its Distribution Vans to deliver that Crop to any Loading Docks in any of the neighboring Districts.
Together, these will allow you to move items to or from nearby Districts without having to use up one of your limited Logistics Trucks.
The Vans purchased by these Stations are faster than Logistics Trucks, but have smaller cargo capacities. This makes them good for things you need in smaller quantities and/or in multiple places, but you'll likely still need Logistics Trucks for your main high-demand ingredients.
Waste Center
Another alternative District Center is the Waste Center. This works similarly to the Logistics Center, but focuses on moving and processing Waste. Districts with a Waste Center cannot contain Fields or most production Buildings, though they can still contain Compost Areas and Waste Compactors. Their Upgrades focus on improving the throughput of its Trucks and improving the productivity of their Compost Areas and Waste Compactors.
A building unique to the Waste Center is the Transfer Station. Transfer Stations work similarly to a Collection Station in that you declare one Waste Crop for them to gather from Storage Buildings in nearby Districts. These can either be waste such as Organic Waste, or waste products like Compost. The Waste Transfer Trucks the station uses are very slow, but they have an extremely large cargo capacity.
On the other side is the Supply Yard. This is a unique Storage Building which can only contain Waste Products / Rank Up Materials such as Compost or Mulch. Once you've setup storage reservations for the items you want it to contain, it will dispatch high-capacity Supply Trucks to fill itself accordingly. The Supply Yard can be built in any District, and its Trucks can retrieve items from Storage Buildings in nearby Waste Center Districts.
Using a Transfer Station, you can alleviate the burden of Waste logistics from nearby production Districts, process the waste in a centralized Waste district, then use Supply Yards to return the Rank Up Materials necessary for Field Ranks back to the production Districts.
Shipping Center
Lastly (for now ;) ) is the Shipping Center. This Center specializes in higher-throughput Crop sale mechanisms. Placing a Shipping Center will redirect the Sale Trucks from all neighboring Districts to deliver their goods to the Shipping Center instead. Once there, the Shipping Center will load the goods onto higher capacity Shipping Trailers to make the final sale trip. Its upgrades focus on improving the efficacy of their shipments to alleviate the burden from nearby production Districts.
A unique building for the Shipping Center is the Packing Facility. This building allows you to pick one Crop, which will cause the Packing Facility to request direct dropoffs of that Crop from incoming Sale Trucks, instead of them going to the Shipping Center itself. The Packing Facility will then spend time "packing" the Crop, turning 4 crops into 1 crop with 4 times the value, effectively making it take up "less space." The Shipping Center can then pick up these packed goods, and ship them more efficiently on its Shipping Trailers.
Revisiting Previous Pain Points
In the last update, I discussed a few different pain points that I was aiming to relieve before release.
The previous update mostly outlined District Ranks and how those would contribute to a more permanent sense of progression - even if you end up tearing up a bunch of plots within a District, the Rank and XP would remain, allowing you to still have a running start at the next layout.
This post mainly aims to finish addressing the bridge from mid game to late game, and the foundation upon which the late game will be placed. While I do still plan to add more systems and challenges towards the end, this system aims to lay the foundation for the transition between these two phases, where you'll start setting up dedicated specialized Districts in higher-level "layouts" to plan out your farm.
Secondly, one of the other pain points was about scaling and how certain elements of your Farm would get out-scaled as you progress. Most notably, things like Fields/Buildings could Rank up and drastically increase their production, while things like Trucks wouldn't keep up. Some of the Upgrades mentioned in the last post talked about how they would help Collection and Input Trucks keep pace, but it also pointed out the fact that things like the Sale Trucks would fall behind as you built further and further from the Sale point. Things like the Shipping Center and Waste Center are aiming to alleviate that, as they add new mechanisms for higher throughput and also have massive multiplicative/exponential scaling combinations in their Upgrade Trees, both of which will help keep pace with the other growth and changes on your farm.
I still see this as leaving two remaining problems: 1) a still somewhat hampered ability to really rebuild and 2) the lacking mid game content. As mentioned previously, my solution for this first rebuilding problem required this system to be finished - it's currently planned to involve some interplay with different District specializations. As for the second, I'd like to add a bunch more recipes and objectives to fill out the mid-game a bit more, and I'd like to get the first couple late game recipes in place as well, while I'll likely be adding more recipes to both phases after EA release.
These two things, plus the handful of other small features mentioned in the previous post should be the last few things on the list before an EA launch ;)
I'll be sure to post more updates as the last few pieces solidify and fall into place, but in the meantime, thank you all for your support, and looking forward to the next steps :)