Greetings Viceroys!

Sacrificing goods in the Ancient Hearth was always one of the most important tools at the Viceroy’s disposal. It is a perfect way to overcome a particularly nasty Glade Event or to survive a high-hostility storm. As time went by, however, we noticed it was used more and more as an “aggressive” way to obtain cheap Reputation points by pushing undemanding species into a blue zone, without actually fulfilling any of their needs.

In today’s Experimental Update, we are introducing changes based on your extensive feedback and ideas. Those changes aim at preserving the “defensive” capabilities of the fuels while at the same time, cutting their role in cheesing the way to gain reputation. We will be extremely grateful for your feedback.

HOW FUELS WORKED

Previously, all types of fuels could be sacrificed in the Ancient Hearth for the Global Resolve. All effects could be increased to a maximum of 3 stacks. 

WHAT WE CHANGED

There are still 4 types of fuel to Sacrifice: Wood, Coal, Sea Marrow, and Oil. They were split into two different families, however. Wood and Coal are “defensive” fuels – both reduce Hostility. To bring more variety, Sea Marrow and Oil were reworked to be more “supportive” fuels. Sacrificing Sea Marrow greatly shortens the time required for Trade Routes completion and Oil increases Global Production Speed. Their role as a fuel for Hearths and recipes remains unchanged.

On top of the changes to the sacrifice mechanic, we also introduced various UX and balance changes. A detailed list of all changes will be available with the upcoming update of the main branch.

Fuel changes

WHAT WE’RE INTERESTED IN

The questions we are primarily interested in, are:

• How does this change affect your gameplay?
• Do you feel that some events/orders have become drastically more difficult or too easy because of this change?

If you want to test these changes with a fully leveled-up profile and all content/upgrades unlocked, feel free to use the “meta.addAll” command in the console. You can open the console by pressing the ~ key on your keyboard.

If you decide to give it a try, please share your thoughts with us on Discord, Reddit, or other channels:

Thank you for your constant support and may the Storm be gentle on you!
Eremite Games

HOW TO PLAY EXPERIMENTAL UPDATES

Experimental Updates are kept on a separate branch. In order to play it, you need to install Against the Storm – Experimental Branch.

The Experimental Updates will in many cases be in a very raw state. Changes are not localized, there can be bugs, and the balance might feel way off. It has a separate save file from the main version and your progress can’t be transferred from the Experimental Branch to the main version.

You can also use the developer console on the Experimental Branch. Discover the developer commands here: Experimental Branch.

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