Recipes Cookbook Update out now!

Dear Viceroys!

The 7th bi-weekly Update is now live. This time, we’re introducing:

• Recipes Summary window
• New Forest Mysteries
• And more!

If you like the game and new changes, you can do us a great favor by rating Against the Storm on Metacritic.

We want to thank everyone who contributed to this update by reporting issues, suggesting new features, or simply leaving feedback. You rock!

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

• Developer Notes
• Harpies Sneak Peek
• Forest Mysteries
• Community Translations
• Changelog
• Suggestions Tool
• Support

DEVELOPER NOTES

With this new update, we wanted to improve how players manage production chains, as well as introduce some new content to sweeten the wait time for the big Harpy update coming in February. That being said, the two highlights of this update are a global recipe summary window and new Forest Mysteries (aka Seasonal Effects).

Let’s start with one of the most requested features – the Recipe Summary Window. It’s been on the table from the very start of Early Access, and it’s high time we implemented it. In this panel, you will be able to see all accessible recipes, search and browse through goods and ingredients, set global production limits, and manage where something is produced (and with what ingredients). When designing this feature, we approached it more like a “control panel”, and not so much a glossary with all recipes in the game (don’t worry, this will come in the future when we expand and update the in-game wiki), so it only displays unlocked and available recipes. The Recipe Summary is a difficult topic, as recipes in Against the Storm can be pretty complex at times, so this version is by no means final and will still require further iteration. Please feel free to share your impressions and feedback on our Discord channel and through the new suggestion board, so we can improve this feature.

Recipes Summary

Last but not least – the new Forest Mysteries. We added 25 unique new effects to the already existing pool of 35, making it a nice round number of 60 in total. Our approach this time was to create new challenges that would not rely on the species’ need system, but instead make use of some more interesting mechanics and logics that were introduced with daily modifiers or in the latest updates to perks. We feel that the old Seasonal Effects based on needs still have their place in the game, but they are not as game-defining as we hoped when we first introduced them. Some examples of the new Forest Mysteries would be: lightning destroying buildings in the Storm, paying Sparkdew to avoid a penalty, getting a unique farm recipe only in Drizzle, or turning dead villagers into Blightrot during the Storm.

We wish you a great time with the new update. Let us know what you think about the new changes on Discord and Reddit.

HARPIES SNEAK PEEK

In the meantime, our team puts their all into the work on the Harpies Update. Now, we’ve got yet another sneak peek for you (visit Quality of Life Update 2 notes if you’ve missed the buildings’ concept art). Here’s one of the Harpies buildings in-game:

Harpies Building

We aim to release the Harpies Update sometime in February, so keep your eyes open for upcoming news!

WHAT ARE FOREST MYSTERIES?

If you know how the Hostility of the Forest and the Forest Mysteries work, click here to skip this section.

One recurring piece of feedback is that the tutorial is missing some steps and explanations of certain systems. We are aware of it and guarantee it will be improved in the future. Updating the scripted tutorial in a constantly changing Early Access environment is a Sisyphean labor. But you can take it for granted that we will expand the tutorial at some point in the future. In the meantime, we’ll cover some of the requested topics in Update notes and in the in-game Help menu.

Hostility of the Forest

The Hostility of the Forest reflects the intensity at which the forest fights back against your expansion.

Hostility of the Forest Summary

There are multiple factors that anger the forest and increase the Hostility level:

• Number of glades opened
• Number of years passed
• Number of Villagers
• Number of Woodcutters
• Difficulty level (multiplier)

But there are also factors that decrease the Hostility, such as:

• The number of Hearths
• Queen’s Impatience

Each factor adds or subtracts Hostility points. The Hostility of the Forest level increases every 100 points. Your current level activates or deactivates certain Forest Mysteries.

Forest Mysteries

You start each game with a unique set of different Seasonal Effects (called Forest Mysteries). These are special conditions that modify how the game is played. There are two types of effects: positive and negative. The negative ones will be active during the Storm, and the positive ones only in Drizzle. These can be anything from “gain 5 Amber each year” to “villagers without Coats will have a 40% chance of dying during the Storm”.

Forest Mysteries Panel

Some Forest Mysteries are active from the start of a game and some only activate upon reaching a certain Hostility of the Forest level. Additionally, some Forest Mysteries’ effects scale every year or every Hostility level.

When selecting a new region for your settlement in the World Map layer, you can see the number of positive and negative Forest Mysteries that are randomly drawn on the map.

The generated Mysteries appear at the beginning of each game and are later displayed in the top panel.

COMMUNITY TRANSLATIONS

Recently, we also added the first community translations to the public version of the game. We can’t express how much we’re grateful to Poge, who single-handedly localized the entire game to Japanese. You’re amazing!

We were always open to community translations, so if you’d like to participate and localize (or co-localize) Against the Storm to your native language, please join our Discord and let us know in #translations-general channel.

CHANGELOG

Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by the community.

New content and features

• ⚡ Added the Recipe Summary Panel – a place where you can control all recipes in your settlement.
• The panel can be accessed via a new button in the top right corner of the screen.
• It includes all recipes available in a given settlement – from buildings already placed and blueprints available to be built (it does not show recipes that are not in your roster in a given session).
• It is divided into 7 categories based on the types of goods available in the game: All, Food, Building Materials, Consumable Items, Crafting Resources, Trade Goods, Fuel & Exploration.
• You can browse through goods in two modes: ingredient and product.
• The “ingredient mode” will show a list of resources that can be used to produce other goods. Upon selecting a good, you will be shown all available recipes a given good can be used in.
• The “product” mode will show a list of goods and their sources. Upon selecting a resource, you will be shown all available recipes where it can be created.
• After selecting a good you can see the buildings in which it’s produced, the star ratings of recipes, time requirements, ingredients, as well as a count of all recipes per grade.
• The Recipe Summary allows you to set global production limits per good, change ingredients, enable or disable recipes in specific buildings, set local limits that override the global limit.
• There is a “Related Goods” section that lists all resources tied to a selected recipe. You can click any item in this list, and the Panel will search for other sources or recipes with this good (depending on the selected mode: ingredient or product). 
• If you don’t have a building in your settlement, but it’s available in your roster, you can press the “build” button in the Summary Panel to go straight into construction mode. 
• Added 25 new Forest Mysteries to the already existing 35, making it a total of 60 effects that can be generated when starting a new map. They apply to almost all biomes (with 2-5 exceptions for every biome, as some effects are unique to some environments).
• Humid Climate – The humidity in this region is unbearable. Fuel efficiency is 30% lower. This effect stacks with the Hostility level.
• Overheating – Machinery tends to overheat in this climate. 5 Sparkdew is taken from you every Storm (multiplied by the number of years). If you can’t pay, global production speed will be reduced by 15% (the penalty stays even after the Storm has passed).
• Vassal Tax – Due to this region’s location, the Crown requires you to pay 5 Amber every Storm (multiplied by the number of years). If you don’t, Impatience will grow 20% faster (the penalty stays even after the Storm has passed).
• Seasonal Crops – The soil in this region is so fertile that Mushrooms spring up by themselves. All farms can plant Mushrooms on farm fields during Drizzle. 
• Crimson Rainfall – The rain in this region has a weird red hue and iron taste to it. Ink can be collected in the Rain Collector in Drizzle. 
• Worms after the Rain – Insects are extremely easy to collect after heavy rainfall. During Drizzle, Insects can be gathered in the Scavengers’ Camp.
• Piercing Winds – Extremely strong winds make it difficult to sustain the Holy Flame. Fuel efficiency is 250% lower.
• Lightning – The Storm is more violent than usual. Every 50 seconds a building is destroyed by lightning.
• Thunder – A terrifying sound of a raging sky. Every 50 seconds 3 buildings are destroyed by lightning.
• Aura of Despair – No amount of amenities can distract villagers from the terrifying Storm. Reputation generated from Resolve grows 95% slower.
• Vanishing Goods – Some goods seem to mysteriously disappear. Maybe there’s a thief in the settlement? Villagers have a 10% chance of consuming double the amount of goods when using services. This effect scales with Hostility.
• Bleeding Trees – A red sticky substance is oozing from beneath the tree bark. Gain 4 Resin for every cut down tree.
• No contact – Harsh weather conditions make it impossible to reach the Citadel. Gaining Reputation doesn’t lower Impatience. 
• Acid Rain – The rain dissolves some of the resources transported to the Storage. Recipes producing building materials yield 50% fewer goods. 
• Wild Growth – Small energizing drops cause uncontrollable growth in some species. All resource nodes discovered during Drizzle have 10 more charges.
• Rot from the Sky – The Rain smells like Blightrot… Global food production is 15% slower. This effect scales with Hostility.
• Lightweight Wood – The evaporating rainwater has made wood a lot lighter in this region. Woodcutters can carry 10 more goods in Drizzle.
• Insatiable Hunger – Working in this environment requires a lot of energy. Villagers have a 10% chance to consume double the amount of food each break. This effect scales with Hostility. 
• Death and Decay – This damp and rotting landscape is the perfect breeding ground for sickness. Villagers dying during the Storm instantly turn into Blightrot. 
• Quaking Bog – The ground is moving and swaying from all the absorbed rainwater. Gathering speed is decreased by 50%.
• Sacred Flame Rituals – Only the Sacred Flame can protect the settlement from the darkness surrounding it. Sacrifice 3 Wood for every villager. If you don’t, they will leave.
• Royal Funding – The Queen’s generosity knows no limits. Gain 2 Amber every time you sell goods worth 10 Amber.
• Resisting Flora – The trees seem to come to life during the Storm… Woodcutting is 90% slower, but each fallen tree gives 5 Meat.
• Corrosive Rainfall – The charged rain is slowly eating away at all metal objects. All recipes using metal or ore have a 50% lower yield. 
• Fresh Breeze – A refreshing current of air lifts the spirit. Those with basic needs taken care of are more willing to work. (Energized effect for satisfying Housing and Complex Food).

Balance

• Downpour now requires Housing and Services instead of Clothing. Its penalty also changed – from Exhausted to Gluttonous (50% chance to consume double food).  
• Removed the Piercing Winds effect. A new effect was added with the same name instead.
• Removed the Invigorating Winds Seasonal Effect.
• Cold Snap no longer requires clothing and is now affecting all species (not only Lizards). Its penalty has also been changed from Fading to Gluttonous (50% chance to consume double food).
• Rich Branches, Barren Lands was renamed and now only affects camps, without the penalty to production on farm fields.
• Cursed Rain is now categorized as Very Harsh and will occur on harder maps.
• Muddy Ground will occur a bit more often on easier maps, as the speed penalty is not as harsh as originally assumed.
• Increased the speed penalty from the Muddy Ground effect to 30%.
• Grim Fate now activates on Hostility level 7 instead of 8. 
• Removed the 10 Simple Tools reward from Embark Bonuses. 
• ⚡ Changed the generation range for the Cursed Royal Woodlands. They can now appear one tile closer to the Citadel, and the distance is further decreased in the last Phase of the world map (Phase of the Sealed Ones).
• ⚡ Increased the Focused effect’s value from 10% to 20% (chance for double yields).

UI/UX improvements

• ⚡ Added a magnifying glass icon to building blueprint icons. You can now preview a building’s recipes by clicking on it (in all locations: Order rewards, Trader, Glade Events).
• ⚡ Added a red highlight to recipes where a given ingredient has run out.
• ⚡ Added a sound effect when hovering over clickable elements of the UI (buttons, ingredient slots in recipes). 
• ⚡ Added a small scaling animation when hovering over clickable ingredient slots.
• ⚡ Added the “Ingredients” section to service buildings panels, so it’s easier to see what is being stored. 
• ⚡ Added the option to rebind keys for moving between instances of the same building (arrow keys by default). 
• ⚡ Added goods icons and star ratings to all Cornerstones that unlock a new recipe in a given building. 
• ⚡ Added a scroll bar to the Trade Panel (in the “My Offer/Trader Offer” sections).

Bug fixes

• ⚡ Fixed a bug where villagers would become stuck after removing a Makeshift Hearth.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with Hostility multipliers affecting the “Others Positive” summary.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Politically Outmaneuvered effect increasing Impatience reduction instead of lowering it. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the arrival times of traders being incorrectly calculated.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the “trader arrived” indicator not showing up after loading a save.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug where the Trade Panel would not adjust if the Trading Post was destroyed while it’s active.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Hidden from the Queen Cornerstone not disabling Impatience gain from villager deaths after loading a save.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with Hostility modifying effects being incorrectly calculated on high difficulties (causing Glades to subtract Hostility points on Impossible difficulty). 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug where Grim Fate wouldn’t scale with years passed. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Devastating Storms description incorrectly claiming that the effect stacks with Hostility.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue where villagers working in service buildings would be incorrectly marked as “idle”. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue where Daily Challenges could be started at the end of a Cycle. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with production times not recalculating after a slowing effect is removed.
• ⚡ Fixed a bug where using [TAB] on the last recipe in a workshop wouldn’t cycle back to the beginning of the list. 
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with large building panels being partially off-screen. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with missing description and title texts in the villager panel (like the death chance effect of the Overtime Cornerstone).
• ⚡ Fixed some inconsistencies in the English localization (“Workplace Highlight”, “hz”, lack of capitalized letters, etc.).
• ⚡ Fixed the incorrect label text in the Ways of the Forest Cornerstone.
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the cursor obscuring UI elements when the worker overlay is active ([ALT])
• ⚡ Fixed an issue where it was possible to block biome selection on the World Map when quickly exiting the Citadel screen. 
• ⚡ Fixed a bug where Mold Supply perks (increasing Grain production) were incorrectly tiered. 
• Fixed an issue with Cursed Royal Woodland maps not generating correctly (wrong Glade layout, a smaller pool of available Glades, large areas of just trees). 

Other

• ⚡ Lightning effects during the Storm now rotate with the camera.

Please make sure to update the game! Also, you can always track the progress of reported issues on our Public Bug Tracker.

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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