GREETINGS CREATORS!
Today is the great day for another portion of some delicious news. As many of you already know, we tried to keep the pace and we were adding a lot of new features to the game each month. We got to the point, where we were satisfied with the amount of content we put in and decided that it’s a good time to take a short break from the flaw of the new changes and work on some bug fixes, balance and AI improvements in order to provide to our valuable players an interesting and exciting gameplay. We hope you guys got tired from nuggets who were hitting their heads into the wall or were so lazy, that actually were standing on the same place and were just chilling. In this patch we said enough of those stupid Nuggets! Let us introduce you a new Universim Pathfinding system v1.0. Our new pathfinding system is able to solve all (most) those issues and allow players to feel that there is some hope in their civilization and maybe stop kicking Nuggets butt in order to force them to move. With the introduction of our new pathfinding system, we tried to solve the major issues with Nuggets AI and improve the workflow of the game and make it more dynamic. The new Pathfinding system is 4 times more accurate than previous one, we had to go through a lot of challenges to introduce this system in a short period of time and keep relatively that same performance. We hope you'll love it!
We also thought that it would be cool to allow the player to place the buildings more precisely on the map. Therefore, we added a grid around each building that allows the player to see the boundaries of the building. We're also starting reserve space around the buildings for future Dynamic Road Formations.
On top of that we made a lot of changes to the balance of our game. We re-balanced a lot of different aspects in our game in order to provide a pleasant experience for you guys. Mating system was changed multiple times, nuggets effects & perks were revisited and rewritten in order to provide a better representation of the nuggets stat changes. Happiness effect got its separate love. Happiness now will depend on many different factors and actions, so you should be careful of what you are doing.
In addition to all the bug fixes / AI improvements and balance, we also added some pets to Mother Planet! Foxes & Mammoths are ready to join us today!
NEW CONTENT
Fire Fox
Furry Mammoths
New quest: “Punish my Nemesis”
Refactored cemetery. Now it contains pyre
Clouds are now savable
BUG FIXES
Fixed: School perk had negative effect
Fixed: Gravedigger standing still after you scare him
Fixed: Gravedigger tries to reach nugget in orbit
Fixed: Critical bug related to “AreaRadius”, “Find my lost nugget” quest
Fixed: Critical bug during searching for nugget, “Find my lost nugget” quest
Fixed: Dead nuggets were not in the cart after load
Fixed: Female nuggets not mating in some cases
Fixed: NRE related to dead nuggets and FormatCurrentStatus method
Fixed: Stuck nugget eating in the eatery after game load
Fixed: Stuck nugget when cleaning construction site
Fixed: females from couples made with cupid power never had more than 1 kid
Fixed: Descriptions of powers were cut in God Powers Carousel
Fixed: Upgraded Reservoir capacity. Reservoir capacity stated increase of 10000 instead of 15000
Fixed: Slow Burn perk caused nuggets to feel hungry all the time
Fixed: Multiple perk effects were not working properly or didn’t have significant changes
Fixed: Improved Nuggets work assignment. Before nuggets were assigned to the closest buildings to build. Now they have an intention to finish building the first placed building unless any other building received all the recourses before the first building
Fixed: Some happiness effects did not increase nuggets happiness
Fixed: Windstorm would deal damage after it ended
Fixed: Bunker slots were locked
Fixed: Engineers were functioning only on 40%
BALANCE CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS
Wood/Stone refineries will create a small demand for wood/stone if they are not full, forcing nuggets to harvest those resources.
Injured nuggets will be auto-replaced in a building if they are in hospital.
Improved transportation AI. All buildings should be served (sooner or later)
Improved repair AI. Now lower health buildings should be served first.
Improved decision AI (idle ai can be interrupted at any point).
Adjusted auto assignment of nuggets. System should try and search for nuggets with required education level first.
Improved male/female birth ratio.
Improved construction priority builders assignment.
Improved farmer AI, it will go harvest even if it has next critical AI (thirst, hunger, etc.)
PERK MOVEMENT
Storage Area Perk (Unlocks Warehouse) was moved from Stage 4 to Stage 2 in order to allow players to accumulate resources in one spot early in the game and increase construction speed & improve the dynamic of the game.
Recreation Perk (Unlocks Local Business) was moved from Stage 2 to Stage 3 due to the new way how happiness stat works & improve the balance.
Refined Materials Perk (Unlocks Store & Wood Refinery) was moved from Stage 4 to Stage 2 in order to allow players get and accumulate new materials for the buildings upgrade once they will be available.
Ancient Burial, Dew Forecasting & Education perks were moved from Stage 3 to the Stage 4 in order to balance out the perk order and reflect changes that were made to the Tornado / Hurricane.
Naturopaths Perk (Unlocks Hospital Pre Medieval upgrade) were moved from Stage 5 to Stage 6 in order to start the transition from stone age to the Medieval age and allow room for the new perk system that is coming in the next patch.
PERK STATS
We revisited a lot of perks and their stats in order to improve the balance of the game. This helped us not only improve the balance, but also fix some bugs that were causing the players experience issues with the food or did not apply any effect at all due to a very minor increase. Before we also had some perks applying effects to some stats in percentage value and hard value which caused some issues with the balance. We also decide to redo the percentage value on some perks and make them “hard” values in order to simplify the system and improve the balance. This change allowed us to control the nuggets stat growth more precisely and make sure that our perk system doesn’t break the game. The changes are:
Primitive Tools: Might changed from 2->1
Cooking: Hunger Reduction changed from 2% ->5%
Heavy Lifting: Might changed from 2->3
Heauge Mahscles: Might changed from percentage value to the hard value 10% ->4
Hide Bags: Carry Capacity changed from percentage value to the hard value 10%->2
Molars: Hunger Recovery changed from 5% -> 7%
Divine Stamina: Nugget Stamina changed from 18% -> 15%
Slow Burn: Nugget Food needs changed from 15%-> 20%
Divine Punishment: Twin increase changed from 2% -> 50% from current value
Elbow Grease: Might changed from percentage value to the hard value 5%->3
Round Cogs: Pump output changed from percentage value to the hard value 5% -> 2
Dam It: Pump output changed from percentage value to the hard value 5% -> +2
Cooking Utensils: Food cooking time was changed from percentage value to the hard value +5% -> +2 seconds
Tactical Evisceration: Gutting speed changed from +5% -> +14%
Tinctures: Hospital healing increased from +8% -> +20%
Efficient Pipelines: Pump output changed from percentage value to the hard value +5% -> +2
Fishing Lures: Gutting Time changed from percentage value to the hard value from 17% -> -2sec
REPRODUCTION SYSTEM
After multiple responses on the new mating system, we decided to change it more and allow players to slowly but surely progress forward. The new mating system will provide the player with a slow but a constant grow. Surely with some usage of the God Power everything can go horrible wrong... oh.. you are all Gods... Gods don't do any mistakes, so nevermind. New mating system will provide the player with a good amount of nuggets in order to fulfill all positions in the buildings and have enough available nuggets to build those buildings. The issue with the dying civilization is solved as well, so you can finally enjoy your growing civilization endlessly until you kill all your nuggets yourself.
The rate of nugget mating was increased
Number of kids increased from 3 to 4
Getting Twins chance decreased
WEATHER SYSTEM CHANGES
Time for the tornado & hurricane was changed in order to accommodate changes that were made to the Perk order. Players should have enough time to build the forecast tower & a bunker in order to protect their nuggets from complete destruction and death.
CEMETERY
We know you've been having issues with Gravedigger not being super productive, so we refactored cemetery completely. Before, Gravegigger was not able to keep up with all the madness you had in your village. Dead Nugget bodies were lying all over the place, infecting healthy Nuggets because of his laziness. Now, let us introduce introduce stronger, more productive and scarier than before Gravedigger TWO POINT OH. Now Gravedigger can collect multiple bodies at the same time, he moves faster and knows better what body should be collected first to keep your village nice and shiny. Cemetery Building by itself been redesigned dramatically. It was merged with Pyre! Gravedigger now will become a Pyre Manager! Yes, you got it right! He has been promoted as well. Graveyard has more space for the dead souls. Last but not least, Gravedigger will be able to reuse old grave spots, if nobody was visiting dead Nugget for a long time his spot will become vacant for a new "tourists".
PERKS DESCRIPTION & TOOLTIPS
In this patch we also introduced tooltips in order to help players to track Nuggets stat changes. Now each learned perk will show up on the Nugget panel and provide the data to the player about the effects that are applied to the nuggets. All the perks got a new perk description & a specific description for the tooltip feature.
BUILDING COST CHANGES
Water Reservoir Level 0 - 20 (W) : 30 (R) -> 10 (W) : 10 (S)
Eatery Level 0 - 15 (W) : 25 (S) -> 10 (W) : 20 (S)
Farm Level 0 - 20 (W) : 25 (S) -> 20 (W) : 30 (S)
Fish Hut Level 0 - 20 (W) : 20 (S) -> 15 (W) : 15 (S)
Warehouse Level 0 - 15 (W) : 20 (S) -> 20 (W) : 25 (S)
Hospital Level 0 - 25 (W) : 30 (S) -> 20 (W) : 10 (S)
Refinery Stone Level 0 - 25 (W) : 25 (S) -> 20 (W) : 20 (S)
Refinery Wood Level 0 - 25 (W) : 25 (S) -> 20 (W) : 20 (S)
Cemetery Level 0 - 10 (W) : 25(S) -> 10 (W) : 20 (S)
Forecast Tower Level 0 - 35 (W) : 35 (S) -> 30 (W) : 30 (S)
HAPPINESS
Nuggets now are getting influenced by many different factors that are happening around them. If you will treat your nugget with food & water, he will be satisfied with your kindness, but if you decide to break Nugget heart by taking his spouse away or abuse them, they will eventually try to commit suicide. So be extremely careful with the actions that you perform on your nuggets! Nuggets will gain or lose their happiness due to the next action:
Child Birth
Child Death
Being next to the corpse
Seeing the God using a Dark Power
Dehydration
Disease
Drinking
Eating
Next to the Funeral Pyre
Gay Mating
Graveyard
After they healed their disease
After they recovered from the injury
Being Homeless
Having an Injury
After the Le Cupidon power
Seeing the God using a Light Power
When they get married
When they mate
When they Oppressed
When they lost their partner (partner death)
When the partner left the family
When the partner didn’t show up on a date
When they Starving
Straight Mating
ART ASSETS
Evolution tower has a ground decal.
Hospital has a ground decal.
Archive has a ground decal.
Bunker 3d model was updated to occupy center of its reserved space.
Pre-Medieval well has now water inside.
Animated Fox model is implemented.
Mammoth model with animation is added.
Cemetery model is updated - now it has funeral pyre on its territory.
Ghosts-Nuggets with animation now will appear in the game.
New ‘Bite This’ animation for nuggets is available.
Nuggets now become mummies after death. Mummy model is implemented.
UI/UX CHANGES
Cemetery panel redesign. Cemetery and Pyre are now merged into one.
Redesign worker slots and added detailed tooltip on hover.
Redesigned nugget slots to show only their picture and progress - rest will be visible after hover. That way we are able to make panels a lot smaller so they won’t be in the way so much.
Redesigned buildings resources usage panel (bottom right) there is a demolish and turn on/off building button now.
Worker ID card update. Nuggets statistics are affected by numerous factors. Now you will be able to see the value and when hovering - list of factors.
Evolution tower. Added ‘more coming soon’ label when all researches are done.
Evolution tower mechanics change. Introduced new white perks.
MainUI update - added white perks research as well.
New worker slots, resources usage panels and close button added to:
Archive
Bunker
Cemetery
Construction Site
Eatery
Engineers Hut
Farm
Fishing Pier
Forecast tower
Hospital
Local business buildings
Prayer Enclave
Residential buildings
School
Stone refinery
Warehouse
Wood refinery
Warehouse
Water Pump
Water Reservoir
Water Well
Fixed tooltips for Education traits in Nugget ID panel.
PERFORMANCE CHANGES
Some of you might get a slight performance decrease. This is the result of more detailed Pathfinding Grid that wrapping planet around. We will continue working on Performance optimization.
Loading Times increased slightly.
KNOWN ISSUES
Please keep in mind, even though we did a tremendous job improving the overall AI Stability and Performance you still might come across some issues and bugs. Please report them to on our Forums and Discord
P.s: We also would like to say thank you to:
Eudaimonic
Nemisis311
jlreymendez
letsgo2u
For their contribution and active participation during this patch test & community mission. They all will receive Free T-Shirt with our game logo. Please send PM to Sasha or AlexK for the instructions on how to receive your T-Shirts.
Everyone else, who also participated during patch test & community mission, we would like to say thank you for helping us to improve the game. Your active participation will be noticed and awarded. Participate, respect each other and let your imagination go wild during those missions and test. Thank you all for sticking with us on this crazy ride! We hope you love all of the new additions, and we have plenty more in store for you. Stay tuned, stay in contact, and stay awesome! Don't forget to leave your comments below.
Please don't forget to add The Universim to your Steam Wishlist HERE
All our love, The Crytivo Crew