Hi all,
September is the month that keeps on giving! We are now at v1.19 of Hydro (confirm the version from the Main Menu of the game). Nevertheless, I'm calling this an October update - but don't worry, there will be plenty of further updates in October as well, I'm sure. 😅
This mini-update provides a few cool updates and feature additions. The major item being that the Telegraph system is now affected by your Accumulator charge! In real life, telegraph systems were generally powered by batteries in any case, so it made sense to tie Hydro's telegraph system operation into the Accumulator. And this certainly will add another 'dimension' to the game play aspect. No longer can you ignore your Accumulator charge as much as you may have before...
Battery-powered Telegraph System
A low Accumulator charge now intermittently affects the sending and receiving of telegram messages! Reliable sending and receiving of messages is dependent on having 'sufficient' Accumulator charge.
What is 'sufficient' you ask? Well, I have added a handy 'red zone' on the Accumulator charge gauge - if you're within that range (normally means your 'chg low' lamp is also on), it means that you may intermittently not receive and/or send telegram messages.
Here's how it works in detail:
If you fail to send or receive a telegram message, an on-screen warning is displayed to notify you of the same, but no details are given on what message was missed - it could be as benign as failing to receive the usual grid sync info telegram, or as serious as missing out on receiving a Township Demand!
Incoming message failures are normally accompanied by a rapid 'click-click-click-click-click-' sound effect as the receiving telegraph struggles to work (and fails); no physical message appears on the desk if an incoming telegram has failed to receive.
Outgoing message failures (such as when you try to use the Supply Order Form or send a 'Not Ready' telegram message will generally also have a sound like a single 'click'. Note: it takes more 'power' to send a telegram (so you'll normally encounter more failures trying to send than receive), but you can try again and again (and again) and you will generally be able to eventually (within a few retries) send the message/order successfully (this doesn't apply however if the Accumulator charge is ZERO - see further below).
Incoming message failures can fail for things like Noise Complaints, Township Demands, 'news' telegrams on calm days, as well as the boat passage telegrams which importantly notify you of the incoming ship passage direction (East/West).
If you miss a Township Demand message, it will still be in 'offered' mode (as the Township has no idea you haven't been able to receive it) but you won't be able to accept it and complete it as you won't see a message on the desk. This means you will fail it (with the usual rep loss) when you go to rest into the next shift.
If you miss a Noise Complaint message, you are still billed for it (with $$ and/or rep loss), but you just won't see what it's for.
If the Accumulator charge is ZERO, you are effectively cut-off from the outside world completely! NO messages can be sent NOR received! This means no supply orders can be sent, no Township Demands received, no incoming boat telegrams, nor Noise Complaints, etc. As before, you are still billed/penalized for the events...you just won't know the details of what has happened.
Other fixes/QoL
A number of other fixes/improvements have also been added in v1.19. These are:
I mitigated the light 'refraction' effects on some of the glass material...particularly noticeable on the windows when they are dirty, and some of the gauges inside...they won't have as many visual 'anomalies' as they did before:
BEFORE v1.19:
WITH v1.19:
Reduced/toned-down the sponge bucket sound effects when player is moving. This also fixed the issue where other sounds could cut-out in the game when moving with the bucket, especially at 2x time compression.
In the 'Help' screens, made some wording updates to notify players around the telegraph system being affected by a low/zero Accumulator charge.
The telegraph sending and receiving units now have 'subtitle' text that explain their operation in the game as well as their dependence on a healthy Accumulator charge:
I appreciate all your support! Thanks very much for being part of this journey with me!
Until next time, happy generating! ⚡