Greetings, Viceroys!

Descend into the reworked mines in the latest update. Here’s what’s new:

• Revamped mining (with upgradeable Mines)
• Reinforced Road
• New languages: Traditional Chinese and Korean

We also unveiled the new Early Access Roadmap.

Click here to learn more!

Continue reading for our developer notes and the full changelog.

DEVELOPER NOTES

Today’s update is a very special one! Not only because it’s the last update before the Steam Early Access release on November 1, but also because a full year has passed since our very first update (released on October 29, 2021). It’s been one hell of a ride releasing new content every two weeks for the last twelve months, and we are extremely grateful to our community who have helped us develop and polish Against the Storm. We wouldn’t be here without you.

The main attraction of this update is the revamp of the mining system. Up to this point, mines were mostly a one-and-done thing – players found a promising ore deposit, placed down a mine, assigned four miners, and never had to worry about coal or copper ever again. With today’s update, that simple strategy will be a thing of the past.

Mine cart.

From now on, ore deposits are finite and will eventually run out of charges. This means players will have to search for new deposits in the forest more often. There is a twist, however. Mines can be upgraded. There are two mine levels, each with three upgrades, and only one upgrade can be chosen per level. Upgrades range from simple deposit charge increases to automated minecarts transporting resources back to the Storage.

Please keep in mind that this is only the first step in revamping the metal and mining branch of the game. We know there are still some issues with it, and we want to address them in future updates. We will also improve the mine upgrade mechanic and probably add new upgrades to it. 

Mine Upgrades

Other than that, in this update, we focus mostly on balance, polish, UI improvements, and last-minute preparations for the Steam release. Some notable changes include: a new road type (Reinforced Road), an enhanced early game balance and better difficulty scaling, recipe changes, numerous UI improvements based on community feedback, and two new localizations (Traditional Chinese and Korean).

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:

• 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

• ⚡ Revamped the mining system in the game.
  • All ore deposits are now finite and can be depleted.
  • The number of ore deposits a Mine is placed on no longer increases the production output, but determines how many ore charges there are.
  • Mines can now be upgraded. 
  • There are 2 levels, each with 3 possible upgrades. 
  • Players can only buy one upgrade per level.
  • Upgrading costs resources (such as building materials and tools).
  • Some notable upgrades are: automated minecarts transporting resources to the Storage, more ore deposit charges, or faster production.
• ⚡ Added a new road type – the Reinforced Road. 
  • Reinforced Roads are unlocked at level 6 and are an essential blueprint.
  • Reinforced Roads are built using Copper Ore.
  • This new type of road increases villager speed by 25%.

Balance

• ⚡ Settler difficulty now requires 12 Reputation Points instead of 14.
• ⚡ The Rain Mill blueprint is now available from level 1 instead of level 6. This change was mainly implemented to help with Flour availability in the early stages of the game.
• ⚡ Changed the Living Matter Farmer Deed requirement. The objective is now to win a game with 3 cloned Living Matters active.
• ⚡ Orders requiring the player to have a specific building or to produce goods in it now also take restored haunted ruins into account.
• ⚡ Added fertile soil to some starting Glades.
• ⚡ Removed the Aura of Despair Forest Mystery. 
• The working effect of the Forsaken Crypt Glade Event is now scaling according to game difficulty. 
• Added Copper Ore as a possible ingredient in two recipes: Pigment and Pack of Building Materials.
• Copper Ore deposits have a 30% chance of dropping Clay instead of Crystalized Dew.
• Slightly increased the trade value of Copper Bars.
• Lowered the speed increase of Paved Roads from 20% to 15%.
• Increased the variety of starting Glades.
• Lowered the price of the Monastery of the Vigilant Flame Level 1 upgrade from 12 to 10 Food Stockpiles.

UX/UI improvements

• ⚡ Improved how trade value is shown in the Trading Panel.
  • Goods offered by traders now show their full value, including the trader’s margin.
  • Resource tooltips in the Trading Panel now also display the price of the entire stack.
  • Improved the rounding of trading values and fixed numerous issues.
• ⚡ Added short descriptions in the Embark View for Settler and Pioneer difficulty levels.
• ⚡ Added advice messages to all difficulty tooltips. These additional descriptions are meant to help players in deciding which difficulty levels are best suited for them.
• ⚡ Added a “show all” checkbox in the Recipes Panel. Selecting it will show all recipes in the game, not just the ones the player has access to in a given run.
• ⚡ Added a reset button to the Recipes Panel. 
• ⚡ Clicking on a produced good in a building now opens the Recipe Panel in “product mode”, instead of “ingredient mode”.
• ⚡ Improved some aspects of the tutorial experience.
  • Changed the wording in the “complete orders” alert.
  • Improved objective text in Orders requiring the player to change ingredients in recipes. 
  • Reshuffled some Cornerstone choices in the tutorial. 
  • Disabled settings in Woodcutters’ Camps for the duration of the tutorial.
• ⚡ Improved the wording in the description for the Looming Darkness effect.
• ⚡ Added an option to change the settings in all Woodcutters’ Camp at once by holding Shift when clicking a checkbox in the building’s UI.
• ⚡ Rearranged need icons in the species panel. The order is now: basic housing > advanced housing > food > clothing > services.
• ⚡ Improved the look and readability of some icons.
  • Resource Category – trade
  • Need – shelter
  • Resource – Artifacts
• Completed deeds can no longer be claimed during a run. Rewards can only be acquired in the Citadel.
• A tooltip with ingredient alternatives is now always shown in the tutorial when hovering over an ingredient slot in a recipe. This tooltip can be enabled in post-tutorial games in the settings menu.
• Improved the “i” icon’s shape and readability in numerous places in the UI (to make it clearer that hovering over it gives the player more information).
• The resolution dropdown menu will now automatically scroll down to the selected setting instead of starting from the top.

Bug fixes

• ⚡ Fixed a bug with level up rewards being shifted by one (players unlocked new content one level before it was shown to them).
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with camp workers gathering high-priority nodes outside of their camp’s radius.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Blightrot prognosis being incorrect in the Hearth UI panel. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Trade Baron Deed being completed even when losing a game.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with % symbols in certain localizations (predominantly French).
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the difficulty selection resetting after selecting the “locked” option in the demo. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with workers in the Harvesters’ Camp being called Scavengers.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with Citadel Resources found in chests having incorrect labels.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with some villagers missing hammers in their hands when constructing new buildings.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the hunger penalty showing an incorrect max. impact value (the max. Impact for this effect is infinite). 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with missing texts in ruined houses found in Glades.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Guild of Traders or Thieves prestige modifier incorrectly stating that trader prices are higher. It now says that the player’s goods are worth less.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with Wildcards not working correctly if the player obtained them by attacking a trader. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the additional blueprint choice from the Queen’s Support modifier disappearing after reloading the game. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Consumerism modifier affecting food consumption instead of luxury goods (due to this villagers always ate double two food items on Prestige difficulties).
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Firelink Ritual effect displaying Hostility as a percentage in its tooltip.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Tit for Tat effect increasing trade value instead of decreasing it.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Lightning Forest Mystery appearing in the Coral Forest biome.
• ⚡ Fixed a rare bug that allowed players to assign two workers into one worker slot.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with woodcutters not delivering goods to the Storage when idle.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with traders offering mining perks in biomes where there is no ore. 
• ⚡ Fixed some issues with the French localization.
• ⚡ Fixed some grammatical errors in tooltip descriptions of species attributes.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that allowed players to write letters into a limit text field.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the “salvage ruins found in glades” text being incorrectly localized into Russian.
• Fixed an issue with the Trader Assault Popup being too small to fit all looted goods. 
• Fixed a bug with Forest Mysteries being incorrectly displayed in the biome preview for Settler difficulty.
• Fixed a bug with the visual effect around the Hearth (from sacrificing) disappearing after reloading a save. 
• Fixed some issues with the timing of farming animations.
• Fixed a bug that caused Harpies to do a 360-degree spin when dying.
• Fixed a bug that caused some Trade Routes to be too generous.
• Fixed multiple issues with incorrect perk rarity.
• Fixed an issue with the scaling of the construction cost panel in the Atlas.
• Fixed a bug that made it possible to move the camera during the Blightstorm animation in the World Map.
• Fixed an issue with the Plantation producing too many Berries.
• Fixed a bug with Hearth attachments being visible on lower hub levels after reloading a save.

Other

• ⚡ Replaced multiple crop models and textures in multiple farms. Planted crops should now be easier to distinguish.
• ⚡ Added an in-game roadmap. It can be accessed in the main menu.
• ⚡ Lowered the volume of the “scribbling” sound effect in tutorial text boxes.
• Improved the textures of the Dewberry Bush resource node.
• Improved the game’s overall performance and stability, especially when playing in highly developed settlements with a lot of particle effects.
• Improved the sound effect of Blight Fighters shouting just before burning down a Blightrot Cyst.
• Tuned down the volume of some sounds that play when a popup appears. 
• Added new languages to the game: Traditional Chinese and Korean. 
• Improved the Simplified Chinese and Japanese localizations.

We want to thank you for all your contributions to this update. Your translations, suggestions, and reports are extremely appreciated! You can always track the progress of reported issues on our Public Bug Tracker.

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