Grace of the Harpies Update out now!

Greetings Viceroys!

Graceful yet bloodthirsty Harpies join Beavers, Lizardfolk, and Humans in the 9th Against the Storm Early Access Update! Grace of the Harpies Update abounds in many new features including:

• Harpies – new playable species
• a new gameplay system – Caravans
• 11 brand-new Buildings
• 20 new Orders from the Queen
• 7 completely new Perks
• 2 new types of Goods to collect
• 6 new Embark Bonuses to choose from
• and more!

If you haven’t played the game yet, you can get it with $10 discount with Epic Coupon:

We also prepared a special Update Trailer:

If you enjoyed it, give it a thumbs up and follow us! Fun fact: the large city from the trailer was inspired by Arbitrarius screenshots from our Discord server.

And as always, we encourage you to review the game on Metacritic. It helps a lot!

Continue reading for developer notes and the full list of changes, or jump straight to the specific section:

• Developer Notes
• Changelog
• Suggestions Tool
• Your Support

DEVELOPER NOTES

This is the update we’ve all been waiting for – Harpies have finally arrived! And with them, a lot of new content and balance changes as well. But the Harpies’ addition is not as simple as just slapping a fourth species on every game you play from now onwards. Instead, we decided to always limit the number of species in a given run to three, especially considering that a fifth species might very well happen in the coming months. To make things a bit more interesting, we decided to leave some of the species choices up to chance – and this is where a new system comes in – the so-called Caravans. 

Caravans tab in the Embark window

Caravans are pseudo-random sets of resources and villagers you choose before starting a new settlement. They are located on the same screen as Embark Bonuses and you must choose one Caravan before starting a run. The tricky part is – they often only contain one or two species, with very different amounts of resources – so it’s always a tough choice. Do I take a bit more food with me, but at the cost of not knowing what the other two species will be? Or do I take fewer resources but at least I’m certain that I’ll have Beavers and Lizards? 

Additionally, there’s also a system in place that limits some Blueprint choices, Cornerstones, and Orders based on what species you have. Therefore, there shouldn’t be a situation where you need to complete an Order to keep Humans happy if there aren’t any in your village.

With the addition of Harpies, there’s also a massive amount of changes to the game’s already existing content. We took a look at all the recipes, goods, orders, perks, and buildings in the game and rebalanced a lot of them. The exact details of what was changed are listed below in the Changelog. 

The main point here was to not only adjust the existing balance to the new species but also take into account some of the most prevalent pieces of feedback from the community. Think goods that are rarely used, service buildings that are too underwhelming and rarely picked, or workshops that are too OP (*cough* Lumbermill *cough*). 

Resfhuffled Upgrade Tree. Purchase Obsidian Archive level 3 to unlock Harpies.

We also reshuffled the Upgrade Tree a bit, so it would accommodate Harpies and the newly added buildings. However, this particular area of the game is in a weird spot right now. We’re planning a major overhaul of the entire meta progression system, so any significant changes will happen after Harpies are released (more on that in an upcoming Roadmap update, so stay tuned!).

CHANGELOG

Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by community. 

New content and features

• ⚡ Added Harpies – a completely new playable species. They are noble and fragile, with a primal, aggressive side to them. They excel at alchemy and love to work with cloth.
  • Harpies can be unlocked in the Citadel by buying the Obsidian Archives Level 3 Upgrade.
  • Harpies have the following needs: Jerky, Biscuits, Skewers, Housing, Education, Bloodthirst and Cleanliness.
  • Added a completely new need – Cleanliness. Possible to fulfill in the Bath House and Market.
  • Added two new specializations – Alchemy and Cloth. Harpies will get the Proficiency bonus when working in buildings related to alchemy and the Comfortable effect when assigned to buildings with recipes using any kind of cloth.
  • When assigned to a Hearth, Harpy Firekeepers give 5 more carrying capacity to all villagers. 
• Added the Caravan System – an additional step the player needs to take before embarking to build a settlement.
  • Caravans can be found in the Embark Window, after selecting a hex field on the World Map.
  • Caravans can have one or two species with them. The remaining species are acquired during gameplay. 
  • Caravans have a pseudo-random assortment of resources, balanced around the amount and type of villagers in a given Caravan.
  • At the beginning, the player has two choices. A third Caravan choice can be unlocked in the Citadel. 
• Added 11 new buildings: 
  • Harpy House – species-specific housing for Harpies.
  • Bath House – service building. Fulfills the need for Cleanliness. 
  • Monastery – service building. Fulfills the need for Leisure and Religion.
  • Clan Hall – service building. Fulfills the need for Bloodthirst and Religion.
  • Forum – service building. Fulfills the need for Leisure and Education.
  • Explorer’s Lodge – service building. Fulfills the need for Bloodthirst and Education.
  • Manufactory – workshop. Produces Pigment, Training Gear, and Packs of Provisions.
  • Tinkerer – workshop. Produces Simple Tools, Training Gear, and Packs of Building Materials.
  • Grill – workshop. Produces Skewers, Copper Bars and Ale.
  • Leatherworks – workshop. Produces Waterskins, Fabric, and Packs of Luxury Goods. 
  • Press – workshop. Produces Oil, Flour, and Packs of Luxury Goods.
• Added 20 completely new Orders, each with 3 different difficulty scales. They are all based mainly around the different playable species and will be drawn based on the player’s roster in a given run. 
• Added 4 new perks:
  • Cosmetic Specialization – The settlement specializes in Cosmetic production. Gain +1 to Harpy Resolve for every 50 Cosmetics produced.
  • Religious Settlement – The settlement specializes in Incense production. Gain +1 to Human Resolve for every 50 Incense produced.
  • Training Grounds – The settlement specializes in Training Gear production. Gain +1 to Lizard Resolve for every 50 Training Gear produced.
  • Harpy Clan Support – The Flock was neutral during the Great Civil War, but you’ve proven your worth to them now. (+3 to Harpy Resolve).
• Added 3 new special effects tied to service buildings:
  • Good Health – Regular baths improve everyone’s well-being. Global Production Rate is 25% faster. (Bath House)
  • Ancient Ways – No species can claim the forest as their own, but the Lizard Clans are the closest to the wilderness. All camp production is increased by +50%. (Clan Hall)
  • Public Lectures – All are curious by nature. Villagers are quick to implement newly acquired knowledge in their daily lives. The chance for bonus production yields is increased by 15%. (Forum)
• Added 2 new goods:
  • Waterskins – made out of Leather and Oil/Meat.
  • Cosmetics – made out of Oil/Eggs and Herbs/Resin/Pigment.
• Added a new glade event:
  • Fallen Harpy Scientists – working on it will trigger a Resolve penalty for Harpies. If not solved in time, the Fallen harpies will change into Blightrot Cysts.
• Added 6 new Embark Bonuses
  • 30 Reeds Embark Bonus on level 4
  • 30 Leather Embark Bonus on level 4
  • Ale Delivery Line (5 Ale per minute) on level 7
  • Training Gear Delivery Line (5 Training Gear per minute) on level 7
  • Scroll Delivery Line (5 Scrolls per minute) on level 8
  • Incense Delivery Line (5 Incense per minute) on level 8

New Manufactory building.

Balance

• Reshuffled almost all Blueprints in the Reputation Reward system. There are no longer homogenous groups of blueprints based on building type, but instead, they are divided into categories by the type of goods they produce and the stage of the game when they are useful. The additional Blueprint option bought in the Citadel still remains random. 
• Reshuffled the Upgrades in the Citadel. The types of upgrades remain mostly the same, but the specific rewards from buying different updates and their location on the upgrade tree have changed. Here is the full list:

• Glade Events that required Offerings now require Cosmetics instead.
• Changed the Cooking specialization for Humans to Brewing.
• Changed the Brotherhood need for Lizards to Bloodthirst.
• Removed 3 goods from the game: Tea, Mush Soup, and Offerings.
• Renamed 2 existing goods: Manuscripts are now Scrolls, and Ink is now Pigment.
• Removed 5 buildings from the game: Pantry, Common Hall, Mammal Habitat, Teadoctor, and Library.
• Needs can no longer be satisfied by two different goods.
• Removed the Finesmith from the player’s roster. This building can now only be found in Glades.
• Removed the Homestead from the player’s roster. This building can now only be found in Glades.
• Changed Embark Bonuses
  • 30 Meat was moved from level 4 to level 2
  • 30 Stone was moved from level 5 to level 4
  • 30 Plant Fiber was moved from level 5 to level 4
  • 10 Planks were moved from level 7 to level 6
  • 10 Bricks were moved from level 8 to level 6
  • 10 Fabric was moved from level 8 to level 6
  • 10 Parts were changed to 5 Parts and moved from level 7 to level 5
  • Removed Resolve Bonuses to species from Embark Bonuses
• Rewards with new villagers are now random in most cases. For example, an Order that previously gave 2 Beavers for completing it will now give 2 random villagers instead.
• Service building costs have been slightly tuned.
• All worker slots in the game are now universal and will accept any species. 
• Changed the ingredients in 6 recipes:

• Changed the recipe layout in 29 workshop buildings:

• Changed the needs fulfillment in 2 service buildings:

• Changed the special effects in 1 service building:

• Removed the Seasonal Crops Forest Mystery. It’s been repurposed to a Cornerstone that adds a two-star Mushroom recipe to all farms.
• Added new ruins to Glades: Grove, Plantation, Small Farm, Herb Garden, Greenhouse, and Clay Pit.
• Blightrot can now destroy buildings that are in its way when it’s multiplying.
• The Resolve to Reputation Rate has been lowered a bit for high Resolve values. This change should slow down Reputation generation late in the game.
• Homestead perks were removed from the Cornerstone pool.
• ⚡ Effects influencing bonus production now stack indefinitely. For example: if you achieve 120% chance for Resin from trees, you will get 1 Resin each time, plus a 20% chance of more Resin. 
• ⚡ Lowered the amount of Resin gained from the Bleeding Trees Forest Mystery from 4 to 2.
• Crystalized Dew was moved from the Trade Goods category to the Crafting Resources category.

UI/UX improvements

• ⚡ Changed the range indicator for camps. It should be more clean and readable now, without obstructing objects underneath it (like roads).
• ⚡ Production amounts in farms don’t change if an effect was removed or added between seasons. The number of crops will always be determined by what was sown in Drizzle.
• ⚡ Added visual feedback on worker slots indicating when a good has been produced, as well as when double production triggered or the good was lost due to a negative effect.
• Changed the Embark View UI:
  • The picked Embark Bonuses section was moved to the right panel.
  • Added a Caravan section to the left panel. 
  • When zoomed in on a tile in the World Map, the background UI elements will now be hidden.
  • Changed the amount of Embark Bonus slots in the Embark Window. You can now only take 5 bonuses with you before a game.
• The Recipe Summary Panel is now disabled in the first Tutorial map.
• Favoring is now impossible if there is only one species in a settlement. 
• Improved transition between several in-game UI elements.

Bug fixes

• ⚡ Fixed a bug with Resolve being rounded incorrectly when its value was close to 0. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Vassal Tax Forest Mystery not taking Amber and not applying the penalty for not paying.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with icons above the Scribe being misplaced. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the building overlay UI staggering when moving the camera.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue which the magnifying glass on blueprints sold by the trader – clicking them no longer causes you to buy the blueprint.
•  ⚡ Updated the description for the Gift from the Woods Forest Mystery to more accurately reflect the effect.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused buildings to break when they were destroyed by lightning or an explosion while they were being moved.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused the building materials to be left behind when moving a construction site.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with Embark Bonuses being randomized with every game restart. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with long Glade content tooltips colliding with Dangerous Glade tooltips.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with Glade revealing Cornerstones still being offered to the player even if they already have a perk that shows Glade content. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with some characters missing when the game was launched on a Turkish system.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with profiles not loading when there are refunded Citadel Upgrades to be claimed. 
• ⚡ Fixed the gathering animation for female Beavers. 
• Fixed an issue with some building panels being placed too low. 

Other

• ⚡ Added animated animals to the Ranch!
• Changed models for multiple buildings:
  • Alchemist’s Hut
  • Apothecary
  • Artisan
  • Cellar
  • Cooperage
  • Finesmith
  • Furnace
  • Greenhouse
• Changed the Plowed Field particle.

We’re super grateful to everyone who contributed to this update and who tested the major changes on the Experimental Branch. You’re the best!

SUGGESTIONS TOOL

If you want to request new features or suggest changes to the existing ones, please use our new suggestions tool.

Suggestions Tool

Posting suggestions is easy:

1. Go to feedback.eremitegames.com/
2. Login or use anonymously
3. Make sure your suggestion hasn’t been posted already
4. Start typing in the Create Post panel on the right
5. Submit

Make sure to vote on other players’ ideas as well to help us identify their priority. We treat it as the main source of information for the purpose of planning new content.

Please continue to report bugs via the in-game Reporting Tool or on our Discord and Reddit.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

If you want to help us grow the Against the Storm community, there are a few things you can do:

• Let your friends know about the game
• Share our content and announcements on social media
• Share your gameplays on relevant subreddits like r/Games or r/PCGaming 

Truth be told, we appreciate all kinds of support. Be it feedback, words of encouragement, or casual activity on Discord. It helps a lot and we’re very much grateful!

Now, enjoy the new update and let us know what you think!

May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games team

Current Early Access version: 0.28.1R

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