Greetings, Viceroys!

The new bi-weekly update is out now. Let’s shed some light on the new features:

• 3 new Glade Events
• 2 new large decorations
• 4 new Deeds
• Improved decorations calculations
• Rebalanced multiple aspects of the Scarlet Orchard
• Camera panning with mouse
• And more!

We hope you’ll have fun with the new changes and share your impressions with us. If you’ve been enjoying Against the Storm, please consider nominating it for Most Innovative Gameplay in the Steam Awards.

DEVELOPER NOTES

In today’s update, we bring you a few new additions to the game, as well as some much-requested balance and UI changes. The main highlights are new events, decorations, improvements to the decoration scoring system, and a lot of quality-of-life features.

But many of you are probably asking – what about the camp changes we released on the experimental branch last week? These will not be coming to the main branch today. While the 2.0 version of this feature ended up being very promising, we still need more time to test, improve, and polish the system. Many of you correctly pointed out that implementing such significant changes to camps would require a thorough rebalance of glades, perks, and orders, so we want to take our time and go over the details on this (plus also refresh some of the camp assets while we’re at it).

We thank you all for testing the experimental changes and providing your feedback. This was invaluable to us and helped us find a good middle ground for the camp system. We appreciate all the constructive discussions and suggestions posted on Steam, Discord, and Reddit. Expect more experimental updates in the future, as this is one of the most crucial processes of our community-driven development approach. Working on the game with your help is like having cheats enabled in a game.

Lighthouse and New Decorations

Let’s now dive a bit deeper into the changes introduced in this update. First off – new events and decorations. Glade events are constantly on our minds – they are a very fun system but it always feels like there could be more of them. That’s why we steadily increase their number and today we bring you 3 new ones – the Fishmen Lighthouse, the Escaped Convicts camp, and the Destroyed Cage of a Warbeast. We also introduce two new decorations – the Park and the Garden.

Both new decorations are a bit bigger than usual (2×2). That is because we also changed how hubs progress. Until recently, every decoration always counted as one, but from now on, the decoration score will be based on their size. So a 3×3 Converted Harmony Spirit Altar will now add 9 points to the Harmony category in the requirements of  Hearth. This change was made for two reasons – to give players who are not into decorating an easier way to progress their hubs and to boost the overall value of converted Glade Events.

Fishmen Lighthouse Event

Garden and Park

But that’s not all. In our last update, we revamped the Scarlet Orchard by adding a brand-new biome mechanic, a new building, and some new events. The new additions were well received in general, but there were certain areas in which the balance and user experience could be improved. That’s why we decided to take some time and address the most common issues pointed out by the community. We removed some underwhelming upgrades and rewards, moved the archaeological discovery sites a bit closer to the starting glade, removed the resource cost of the first upgrade level in the Archaeologist’s Office, added 3 brand-new upgrades, and much, much more. You can find the exact details in the changelog below.

Woodcutters’ Camp Mode

Last but not least – interface improvements and bug fixes. We’ve got a lot of feature requests and reports over the last two weeks. We can’t reply to all of them, but rest assured – we are reading and noting down everything. So here are some of the UI/UX highlights for this update: 

• Reworked Woodcutters’ Camp settings.
• Added mouse keybinds to camera movement options.
• Added a storage indicator to order and reward tooltips.
• Added a list preview of produced goods in building tooltips.
• Changed how achievements are unlocked (no need to visit the Citadel anymore).

We also fixed a ton of bugs and added a lot of new sound effects to places where they were previously missing – like the archaeological discoveries, restored skeletons, and minecarts.

We hope you’ll enjoy the new changes! And if you’d like to share your ideas for upcoming updates, here are some useful links:

• Steam Discussions, Discord, Reddit – discuss the game with the community and share your impressions
• Feature Request Tool – suggest specific new features

Have fun and may the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games

CHANGELOG

Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by community.

New content and features

• Added 3 new Glade Events.
  • Fishmen Lighthouse – Once upon a time, there must have been a coast and a harbor here. Now this place is haunted by Fishmen and the waters have withdrawn. An ominous light is coming from the top of the lighthouse.
  • Escaped Convicts – Dangerous convicts from the Smoldering City are hiding in the forest. They somehow managed to free themselves during transport. You can decide their fate – welcome them and employ them in your settlement, or send them back to the Citadel where they will be punished.
  • Destroyed Cage of the Warbeast – A destroyed royal guard camp. It looks as if one of their warbeasts got out and razed the entire encampment to the ground. The beast, usually obedient to its masters, must have been provoked by something.
• Added 2 new decorations.
  • Garden – a 2×2 Aesthetics decoration.
  • Park – a 2×2 Comfort decoration
• Added 4 new Deeds.
  • Apprentice Archaeologist 1 – Win a game with a reconstructed Sealed Spider skeleton in the Scarlet Orchard.
  • Apprentice Archaeologist 2 – Win a game with a reconstructed Sea Serpent skeleton in the Scarlet Orchard.
  • Apprentice Archaeologist 3 – Win a game with a reconstructed Smoldering Scorpion skeleton in the Scarlet Orchard.
  • Master Archaeologist – Win a game with all three skeletons reconstructed in the Scarlet Orchard.
• ⚡ Improved the decoration system.
  • Previously, all decorations would count as 1 when upgrading a hub (so if a Hearth required 4 Harmony decorations, even a big 3×3 altar would only count as 1).
  • From now on, every decoration adds a score to the hub’s progress. The score is based on the decoration’s size, so a 1×1 decoration will add 1, a 2×2 will add 4, and so on.
  • At the same time, all converted Glade Events (like the Rain Spirit Totem, Harmony Spirit Altar, etc.) are now moveable.
  • The decoration changes were made because of two main reasons. To give the players who are not into decorating an easier way to progress their hubs, and to boost the overall value of converted Glade Events.
• ⚡ Added 4 new upgrades to the Archaeologist’s Office in the Scarlet Orchard.
  • Ancient Strength – Stone tablets reveal the secret of the ancients’ strength. All workers can carry +10 additional items for every 2 Ancient Tablets in the settlement’s Warehouses.
  • Forbidden Tools – All metal is permeated with malevolent magic from the forest. Every 2 Hostility levels grant +1 to Simple Tools production. Gain additional Simple Tools every yield (from gathering, farming, or production).
  • Carved in Stone – Secret methods of dealing with threats are engraved in Ancient Tablets. Glade Event working time speed is increased by 10% for every 2 Ancient Tablets in the settlement’s Warehouses.
  • Ancient Practices – Archaeologists have learned a lot about a long-lost culture by examining ruins found in glades. All workers get a +10% higher chance of doubling their production for every 2 completed Dangerous Glade Events.

Balance

• ⚡ Rebalanced multiple aspects of the Scarlet Orchard biome (based on the feedback we’ve got after the last update).
  • Every upgrade row in the Archaeologist’s Office now has 3 options to choose from (instead of the previous 2).
  • Removed the Worker Mobilization upgrade from the Archaeologist’s Office. 
  • The first upgrade in the Archaeologist’s Office can be taken for free.
  • Reduced the building cost of the Archaeologist’s Office.
  • Increased the impact additional scouts have on working time in archaeological discovery events.
  • Archaeological discoveries will now spawn closer to the starting glade. 
  • Archaeological discoveries won’t repeat anymore in a single game.
  • Reconstructed skeletons now have unique passive effects. 
  • The Scientific Grant effect (a reward for reconstructing one of the skeletons) now gives 20 Amber for every finished stage of an archaeological discovery (instead of giving Amber only for the last stage).
  • Reduced the amount of time needed to complete each stage of an archaeological discovery.
  • Added additional rewards for the first and second stage of archaeological discoveries.
  • Rebalanced upgrade costs and event requirements.
• ⚡ Lowered the penalty from the Cloudburst Forest Mystery.
  • The Resolve penalty was lowered from -10 to -6.
  • The effect now lasts 2 minutes instead of 3.
• ⚡ Nerfed the negative Resolve effect caused by Haunted Ruins (Frightening Visions).
  • The Resolve penalty now stacks every 60/60/45 seconds instead of 50/40/30 seconds (Pioneer/Veteran/Viceroy).
• ⚡ Deeds that require specific buildings (such as Serving Ale, Human Utopia, Beaver Utopia, etc.) now take rebuilt haunted ruins into account.
• ⚡ Rebalanced the way haunted ruins are generated on the map to avoid duplicates.
• ⚡ All converted Glade Events (like the Rain Spirit Totem, Harmony Spirit Altar, or Totem of Denial) are now moveable. 
• ⚡ Rebalanced the Ruined Settlement world map modifier. 
  • Settlement ruins should now spawn a little more frequently.
  • Some settlement remains can now spawn closer to the starting glade.
• ⚡ Lowered the Blightrot footprint of Sparkdew in the Rain Collector from 3 to 2. 
• Pickled Goods can now be made with a new ingredient – Eggs.
• Crystalized Dew now takes 60 seconds to harvest in the Forester’s Hut (formerly named “Grove”).
• The Forester’s Hut (formerly named “Grove”) can now have 4 workers instead of 2. 
• The Hallowed Small Farm can now produce Plant Fiber instead of Crystalized Dew.
• Rebalanced a few orders.
  • Trade Connections – removed the Value Added Tax perk from rewards, added new villagers.
  • Farm Life – lowered the number of goods required to finish this order from 30 to 15. 
  • Foragers’ Camp – lowered the number of goods required to finish this order from 30 to 15. 
  • Tick Tock – removed the Toolshop blueprint from rewards, added new villagers.
  • Sacrificing – removed the Specialized Mining perk from rewards, added copper bars.
• Increased the maximum fuel capacity of Hearths – they now have a burning time cap of 3 minutes and will request fuel after reaching the 1-minute threshold.
• Baptism of Fire now reduces Hostility every 3 burned Blightrot Cysts (instead of every 2).

Active GPU

UX/UI improvements

• ⚡ Changed how settings in the Woodcutters’ Camp work to avoid confusion. From now on, every Woodcutters’ Camp can have 4 different modes.
  • Default – woodcutters cut trees normally.
  • Only Marked Trees – woodcutters only cut marked trees.
  • Avoid Glades – woodcutters cut trees normally, but don’t open glades (even if the player marks trees leading to a glade).
  • Avoid Glades (except marked) – woodcutters cut trees normally, but open glades only if the trees leading up to them are marked.
  • There is now a “propagate this mode to all camps” button in the Woodcutters’ Camp UI.
  • The default mode can be set in the options menu.
• ⚡ The camera can now be moved using the RMB by default. 
• ⚡ Added an option to rebind mouse keys (in a somewhat limited way). You can now choose one of three options (LMB, RMB, MMD) for selecting objects in the game world, canceling actions, camera panning, and camera rotation.
• ⚡ Added a “stored” number to all tooltips tied to resources (for example in order objectives, event rewards, and so on).
• ⚡ Recipes in building tooltips are now displayed as lists, and not plain text. 
• ⚡ Changed how achievements are unlocked. They now trigger right away (after a finished run), and not when claiming rewards for them in the Smoldering City.
• ⚡ Added a new name and description to the effect applied to all games on Settler difficulty. 
  • The effect is called Settler’s Luck and its description now correctly states that it gives a 35% chance of villagers not consuming food during a break.
• ⚡ Changed the wording in the Ancient Ways perk description. It now correctly states that the 50% bonus influences production yields.
• ⚡ Added notifications when Living Matter or Fishmen Totems appear on the map (caused by an active Glade Event or Forest Mystery).
• ⚡ Added an option to the settings menu to have “automatically claim finished trade routes” on by default.
• ⚡ Improved the readability of the Giant Stormbird’s negative effects. It should now be a lot clearer why there is a permanent Resolve penalty for failing the event.
• ⚡ Improved the readability of some systems tied to the Scarlet Orchard.
  • Updated archaeological discovery descriptions. 
  • Added explanatory tooltips to Upgrades and Upgrade Requirements in the Archaeologist’s Office.
• ⚡ Improved wording in multiple places in the game.
  • Changed the “goods sold” order objective to “value of goods sold”.
  • Orders that require need fulfillment now state “fulfill the need for X” instead of just displaying the need name. 
  • Replaced the “soil” header with “fertile soil” in the embark window.
  • Changed road descriptions for better consistency.
  • Changed the name of the “Grove” building to “Forester’s Hut”, to avoid confusion.
  • Updated the Vanishing effect description for ghosts in the Cursed Royal Woodlands.
  • Improved the wording in the description of the Finders Keepers Forest Mystery.
• ⚡ Added a new objective in the last order in the first tutorial.
  • Players are now required to change the resource used to solve the Ancient Shrine glade event.
  • This change is intended as a way of teaching new players that resources in events can be changed (like in recipes). 
• ⚡ Added information about the currently used GPU to the options menu. 
  • Some players have reported that their PC is reaching high temperatures when playing the game, and we’ve found out that some occurrences of this issue might be caused by the OS running the game on the wrong GPU. 
  • The game itself can’t change the active GPU, but this entry in the options menu should at least give players some information and allow them to adjust their system settings based on it.
• ⚡ Changed the welcome screen for players who bought the game after playing the demo. The message now appears in the main menu and should be a lot clearer (as opposed to the previously pop-up that appeared in the World Map screen).
• ⚡ Updated notification sounds in the game. Sound effects for different alerts should now be different based on the severity of the event that triggered them.
• ⚡ Improved the wording in the Forsaken Gods Temple’s description.
• ⚡ Improved the wording in the Cloudburst Forest Mystery to more clearly state when the effect starts.
• ⚡ Switched the names of the Aesthetics and Royal Garden orders to avoid confusion.
• Removed the movement animation for the field marker on the World Map.

Bug fixes

• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the cornerstone reroll feature breaking when a cornerstone choice was given to the player as an event reward. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Leaking Cauldron event penalty-breaking farms. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused old resources to appear in a tooltip when hovering over locked event requirements.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused some keybinds to stop working after opening the Steam overlay in-game (like the rotate hotkey). 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with world map chests still being hidden even if they are placed on the edge of the fog.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused perks like Forge Trip Hammer to be drawn even if the player didn’t have the Crude Workstation available.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with Fallen Villagers events (Fallen Beaver Traders, Fallen Harpy Scientists, etc.) only spawning Living Matter once. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with explosion previews in Glade Events showing an incorrect radius.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with farms not using farm fields on fertile soil spawned by the Soil Reclamation Forest Mystery. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with farms incorrectly counting farm fields on fertile soil spawned by the Soil Reclamation Forest Mystery. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused UI input to break if another device was connected to the PC (like a gamepad).
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Stormforged version of the Back to Nature perk not working at all. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Flawless Brewery not counting towards some order objectives. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused the Prayer Book effect to not disappear after a firekeeper died. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Like a Machine deed being completed even if a game was lost. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the “alternatives” tooltip not appearing by default when hovering over even requirements.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Moss Broccoli Seeds perk being given to the player before thay even unlocked it through Deeds. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with construction progress in buildings being incorrectly rounded.
• ⚡ Added a missing working effect warning to the Frightening Visions effect.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with insect related perks being offered in the Scarlet Orchard.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with coal burning too fast. 
• ⚡ Fixed a glitched fire effect in the Hearth (on lower graphical settings).
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the edge scrolling setting not working in the World Map screen.
• ⚡ Fixed an incorrect label on the Good Health perk.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with order reward tooltips staying on the screen even after completing an order.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Frequent Caravans Resolve effect having a different icon than its parent perk.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with some species attributes in the in-game encyclopedia showing incorrect values.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Big Phials perks having an incorrect rarity.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the recipe panel resetting filters incorrectly.
• ⚡ Fixed a rare bug with missing buildings in the tutorial.
• ⚡ Fixed a broken sound effect loop in the Stonecutters’ Camp. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with production times in the in-game encyclopedia taking modifiers into account.  
• ⚡ Fixed incorrect values in the Japanese version of orders with standing level requirements.
• ⚡ Fixed multiple text issues and typos in English.
  • Fixed a typo in the Crowded Houses perk description.
  • Fixed grammatical errors in Faction summaries in the in-game Encyclopedia.
  • Fixed a typo in the Monastery of the Holy Flame modifier description.
  • Fixed a typo in the Pyromania order objective.
  • Fixed a typo in the Sealed Spider’s description.
  • Fixed a typo in the Blightstorm Cycle entry in the in-game encyclopedia.
  • Fixed a typo in some ghost dialogues in the Cursed Royal Woodlands.
  • And many many more.
• ⚡ Improved the overall quality of the game’s translation. 
  • Replaced multiple phrases in Polish, fixed a few typos, and removed some duplicates.
  • Replaced multiple phrases in Korean and improved clarity in general.
  • Replaced and improved multiple phrases in Japanese.
  • Replaced and improved multiple phrases in Traditional Chinese.
  • Fixed a few incorrect dev tags in Russian.
• Fixed a bug with the Giant Storbird’s animations resetting after loading the game.

Other

• ⚡ Updated an old screenshot in the in-game Encyclopedia.
• ⚡ Replaced sound effects for resource collection of stone, clay, and sea marrow.
• Added new sound effects.
  • When closing the last dialogue box during the tutorial.
  • When opening a chest in the World Map. 
  • When finishing a cycle.
  • When selecting archaeological discoveries.
  • When opening the Archaeologist’s Office. 
  • When selecting the Trader Cemetery glade event. 
  • When selecting the reconstructed 
  • Added an ambient sound to all reconstructed skeletons in the Scarlet Orchard.
• Changed the model and texture for Reed deposits.
• Added animated villagers to camps found in glades.

COMMUNITY CORNER

And now crème de la crème – the latest memes:

I paid for the whole meter I’m gonna use the whole meter by Kacangkucing

These guys have such low resolve but just don’t care when it goes down by PossumFlavored

Delicious by Kacangkucing

Sacrifice by Kacangkucing

Welcome to Farmville by Mambugu

We wish you a great weekend, please take your time to contemplate the fact that the Marshalands’ trees look like ducks. Bye!

Marshlands’ Ducks by Tiedass

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