Update 0.3.0 led to a big increase in active players, which we love to see! Thousands of players have already crafted science labs and science bags. Only 0.7% of all players have finished the Health Regeneration IV research though, which means most of you still have some work to do ;)
Sadly, there was a wave of new bug reports too. There was a savegame problem that we quickly fixed in a small update last Saturday. Nearly all other problems were caused by mods getting outdated. You can fix these errors by removing the mod. If that doesn’t work, try uninstalling the game, manually removing all files (you can keep the savegames and screenshots folders inside /gamedata) and reinstalling the game. This should fix all problems caused by mods.
We’ve spent this week optimizing the game and preparing for the next update. A pathfinding bug has been fixed and RAM usage by the server has been decreased 50%. We’ve also added the ability to research new recipes with the science lab. We want to make the recipes for the tailor, technologist and science bag locked by default and unlockable with the science lab.
The Colony Empire server with associated mods
A couple of blogs ago I wrote about the cluttered bottom layer of the world, and how we’re going to spread out ores over multiple layers to improve mining gameplay. This is something we definitely need to do before adding new ores. We want to use this period of reordering the ores to fundamentally change mining, metalworking and the weapons used by guards.
The game released with bread as the only source of food. Shortly after release, we made the production of bread more complex by requiring the grindstone as an intermediate step. We also added berries, to give people a quick and simple food source during the first phase of the game. We want to apply this same principle to mining, metals and guards. We’re going to make it more complex, and add a simpler method for the start of your colony.
We want to do this by adding a full copper>bronze>iron>steel chain. Our idea isn’t 100% definitive yet, but we’re considering to add something like this:
- Copper: doesn’t need to be smelted, can be crafted into nails and copper parts. The nails are necessary to craft for example beds and crates. Your first guard will be some kind of slinger, who can throw stone projectiles.
- Bronze: smelt copper and tin ore to produce bronze ingots. The furnace consumes planks as fuel. Bronze can be used by a blacksmith to craft for example (pick)axes and bronze arrowheads for guards with bows.
- Iron: iron ore needs to be smelted in a bloomery, which requires charcoal as fuel. Charcoal is made in a kiln by burning planks. A blacksmith can use them to craft crossbows and crossbow bolts.
- Steel: iron ingots need to be put into a special finery forge with cokes as fuel to produce steel. Cokes are made by putting coal ore and planks into the kiln. Steel is required for the production of muskets.
The crossbows and muskets will be released combined with stronger, faster monsters. You’ll need those more advanced weapons to kill them in one shot! The scientist will be required to develop ways of producing and using the new metals and weapons.
We believe that the new metals and weapons will add some much needed content and complexity to Colony Survival. We’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions!
Colony Empire + mods, again