Hey folks,

Mostly fixes and tuning stuff in here. Thanks to those providing feedback.

Special shoutout to Kingfisher for providing a save file for me to find bugs.

Here are the notes:

Progression

• Rebalanced kingdom XP requirements. The first three level-ups cost 750, 1,800, and 2,700 XP. The cost to reach level 3 doubled from 900 to 1,800 XP, with 900 added to each later level-up.
• Tripled mining XP for coal, copper, tin, iron, and rutile ore deposits.
• Ancient Wisdom now grants +90 Wisdom, raising an Ancient's base personal and kingdom XP bonus from 10% to 100%.
• Increased XP for difficult jobs and advanced recipes. Void-crystal nodes give 100 base XP. Boulders and tree trunks, including desiccated trunks, give 25 base XP. Routine work and training XP are unchanged.
• Research columns unlock at kingdom levels 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. Fixed starting and saved research allowing players to skip unfinished columns. Racial starting technologies are still available immediately.
• Farming, Hunting, Wood-Work, and Stone-Work unlock at level 2. Moved basic production earlier in the research tree.
• Simple egg and meat dishes unlock with the Kitchen. Seasonal stews and meals using bread or flour unlock with Complex Meals II. Chicken and Waffles now uses a stove.
• Alcohol I unlocks fermented drinks. Alcohol II unlocks distilled drinks.
• Arcane Dust unlocks with Ancient Tech I. Glass bottles unlock with Library or Glass-Work. Ice transmutation and wood and stone iceboxes unlock with Arcane Mastery.
• When all research or settlement bonuses have been chosen, that category offers 10 Ren per reward level. Rewards spawn near a player-controlled entity.
• Fixed being unable to confirm a level-up after running out of choices.

UI Stuff

• Fixed releasing Shift reopening Search after a world click closed it.
• Added missing button sounds to the kingdom level-up popup.
• Shortened the ongoing-problems tooltip. Reports about the same unreachable target are grouped together. Individual reports are still available in the full list.
• Fixed terrain 40 or more levels below the current view appearing too bright on the minimap.
• Optimized minimap updates, especially when many objects are selected.
• Fixed an error in selection tooltips when loading a save.
• Research previews show upcoming unlocks and level requirements. Locked research appears below available level-up choices.
• Selecting available research in the level-up tree also selects it as your reward.
• Added unlock counts to research headers. Moved blueprint skill requirements to tooltips. Removed numerals from research names without later tiers.
• Fixed long settlement bonus names pushing reward amounts outside their cards. Fixed mismatched and missing bonus icons.
• Room job status messages stay visible for at least one second.
• Fixed flickering messages and rows shifting when job availability changes.
• Brightened disabled UI text.

Visitors, animals, and rooms

• Spies, thieves, and kidnappers only come from hostile nations. Attacking or capturing them while they are sneaking no longer warns of or starts a war.
• Only neutral visitors have diplomatic protection. Attacking hostile or unaffiliated characters no longer triggers a war warning or declaration.
• Attacking a neutral visitor now starts a war immediately. Citizens of that nation become hostile and stop visiting. Updated visitor and attack warnings, and added a war declaration popup.
• Cages ask for confirmation before trapping a neutral visitor from a peaceful nation. Canceling leaves the visitor outside the cage.
• Added Sapient and Non-Sapient capture settings to the lock tool. These work alongside faction settings. Existing cages allow both by default, and choices are saved.
• Neutral and hostile non-sapient creatures gain Wild Forager, restoring 50 hunger and thirst each game hour. Captured and player-controlled animals still need food and water.
• Fixed servers repeatedly collecting supplies for Serve Drink and Serve Meal. They now deliver the order before gathering the guest.
• Inn food and drinks cost the item's sale value instead of a flat 5 Ren. Servers choose items the guest can afford. Rest still costs 5 Ren.
• Removed the duplicate Laborers group from Wellhouses. Existing worker assignments are merged when loading a save.
• Removed room quality, morale effects, and Superior bonuses from Stockpiles.
• Item-count conditions no longer cancel jobs already in progress.

Terrain, trees, and items

• Dungeons generate below Z 115.
• Fixed cave and dungeon loot not starting unclaimed when it landed outside the generated area. Falling items keep their unclaimed status. Newly generated unclaimed loot and loaded saves no longer trigger unreachable-item alerts.
• Lowered Ridgestone layers so they do not reach as far up mountains.
• Trees and other prefabs no longer destroy buildings, platforms, stored items, or planted crops when spawning. They can replace plants and ground cover that do not block placement. Trees try a smaller size if there is not enough space.
• Arboretum branches and leaves stay within the room's width and length, but can grow above it. Added small pala, palm, and tthdir trees. All tree families have a small variant for tight spaces.
• Trees larger than 1x1x3 require at least 60 days of simulation time. Blocked saplings retry their smallest failed size after an hour, including after loading a save.
• Fixed healthy saplings expiring before trying to grow during long simulations.
• Fixed logs and other loose items floating in midair. Items fall when their support is removed.

Combat, equipment, and death alerts

• Fighters spread out and move apart between attacks. Ranged fighters make room instead of crowding into melee.
• Fixed fighters running past their attack positions when targets move.
• Missing equipment in an individual uniform no longer blocks available two-handed weapons from other uniforms.
• Fixed failed equipment drops returning items to dying characters or giving them to other dead characters.
• Removed duplicate equipment from visitor and enemy loot. Consumables can still appear in stacks.
• Death alerts show the cause of death and remain visible after the character is archived.

Thanks!