Update 9: First Settlers Patch Notes

[MissDeliana]

Yeehaw, Survivors! Update 9 introduces new start conditions, ranching, new specialist tasks, and balance changes!
Your game version should be 1.9.0.6922 on PC and 1.9.0.80 on Xbox.

And remember: please let us know if you encounter any bugs or just have general feedback! Either here or by using the in-game blue cockroach icon!

General

• New start conditions.
  • Game starts with specialists only.
  • The gameplay starts without colonists or prebuilt buildings.
  • Updated pre-game options.
    • Select a starting group of specialists in the pre-game.
    • Starting resources are adjusted to match the new beginning.
  • Specialists can now do the same tasks as colonists.
    • Gather resources from small deposits (that won’t require specialized building).
    • Build buildings.
    • They must be commanded with direct commands to make different actions. Otherwise they concentrate on patrolling around the colony.
    • Specialists can’t work in buildings.
  • First colonists are invited by building a campsite and shooting a flare from that building’s info panel when you feel ready for it.
    • New building called Campsite. Works as a storage to starting resources, but also as a colony center used to call in the first survivors.
    • Open ended beginning that allows freely to select the site for the colony and build early game buildings in any order.
    • Gate is still required to get access to the world map.
  • New progression is introduced to give more freedom in the early game.
    • Phase 0 - Find a suitable location with the starting group of specialists and create a campsite in the location where you want to start building the colony. During this phase the only buildable building is the campsite. Building the campsite opens a selection of new building options.
    • Phase 1 - Use specialists to prepare the colony by building the most essential buildings and gather essential resources nearby. Calling the colonists to arrive is done by shooting a flare to the sky from the campsite’s building info. This also unlocks new building options. Specialists can be used to prepare the colony and build buildings as long as there are enough resources left, or colonists can be invited immediately after setting up the campsite.
    • Phase 2 - The first colonists arrive and the game continues similarly as before with the colonist start. The goal from now on is to build a gate and unlock the access to the world map. Colonists start to work in the buildings and keep the colony running, while specialists can concentrate on defending the colony and exploring the world map at the same time as they help colonists in other tasks.
  • Colony events start only after the colonists arrive.
• Ranching is introduced as a new late game food production mechanic.
  • Ranching can be exercised in a new building called ‘Ranch’.
  • Ranching requires water and workers.
  • Four different ranch animals can be grown.
    • Cattle grow slowly and require a lot of care, but they also provide a lot of meat.
    • Chickens grow fast, but won’t give as much meat.
    • Sheep are in between the two and provide fiber as a side product.
    • Pigs are a good source for meat, but they don’t have side products.
  • Ranch animals can be acquired only from other societies.
  • Ranch animals multiply if there are more than two of them in the same ranch.
  • Herds can be split to fill another vacant ranch.
  • Ranches can also get infected, or polluted killing the animals inside. Treating them requires splitting the herd by sending them into an intact clean ranch. Decontaminating and disinfecting ranch can be done only when they are empty.
  • Animals can be butchered for meat manually.
  • Ranch being full does not stop reproduction. Excess animals are automatically butchered for meat.

Gameplay

• The camera can now be moved by dragging the screen in different modes, such as the build mode.
• Killed Wild Animals will now turn into food deposits that can be scavenged for meat.
• Resource boxes on the ground now have a tooltip that shows the name of the resource, the amount in the box and their current state of decay.
• Resource boxes left on the ground will eventually decay and become unusable.
• Notifications now have a direct link to the appropriate page in the game’s Help menu that explains the feature related to notification more thoroughly. The help page can be accessed by pressing the question mark icon in the notification box.
• A notification has been added to the game that appears in case a Specialist is killed in the colony.
• The Selection Box has been added to controllers. Players using a controller can now select several Specialists at once.
• The game controller now supports context based cursors.
• Buildings that have reached their production limits should no longer show a floater on top of them for missing workers.
• New tutorials added to the game:
  • Specialist Controls
  • Setting up the colony
  • Prepare Colony
  • Basic Gathering
  • Hunting
• Sandworms will no longer show the floater when all living entities are highlighted.
• Notifications that have a Help menu entry related to them in the game now show an icon that will open up the entry for more information.
• Fixed issue with energy producing buildings producing too much energy after Magnetic Storms.
• Fixed issue with paused energy consumers producing their own energy after saving and loading.
• Notifications should now show a “Dismiss” prompt if they can be dismissed by right-clicking or by pressing X on the controller.
• Eight new events added to the game.
• Early game buildings in the build menu are unlocked to construction based on the game phase.

Graphics

• Visual improvements to event and survivor group pop ups.
• Fixes to the animations when colonists are carrying resource boxes.
• Updates to the icons that are shown when living entities are highlighted.
• Deposit floaters now spin when they are inside a work area.
• Underground deposits now have support for 3D floaters.

Balancing

• Colonist walking speed outside roads have been slowed down. This makes roads much more important as they ensure smooth logistics inside the colony. Moving on the road is also made slightly faster.
• Specialist walking speed increased. They move now faster than ordinary colonists.
• Walking on a paved road is faster compared to the dirt road. It also takes longer to build paved roads.
• The Aquafarm’s resistance to pollution and amount it generates have both been balanced.
• New options for starting resources can be chosen in the pre-game options. The change is based on the new game start.
• Animals can be now traded from other societies on the world map.

 

[Ps2nic]

Sandworms will no longer show the floater when all living entities are highlighted.

Well, there goes my strategy to avoid them like the plague. Then again, 3 specialists can clear much of the colony when used correctly. We will see if this works over time.

 

[Burner247]

Hi guys,

What does this mean?

Resource boxes on the ground now have a tooltip that shows the name of the resource, the amount in the box and their current state of decay.
Resource boxes left on the ground will eventually decay and become unusable.

Does it mean that my resources that sit on the ground by the gate are going to become useless?

 

[matti_ifs]

Does it mean that my resources that sit on the ground by the gate are going to become useless?

No, they considered to be in a Gate Storage, which is similar to a Stockpile. We agree that there's confusion on how that storage works and are looking into various options on making it clearer. All you goods found on the World Map are therefore safe!

 

[Burner247]

No, they considered to be in a Gate Storage, which is similar to a Stockpile. We agree that there's confusion on how that storage works and are looking into various options on making it clearer. All you goods found on the World Map are therefore safe!

Awsome, thanks for clarifying.

 

[Khuden]

We agree that there's confusion on how that storage works and are looking into various options on making it clearer.

IMO you should have the storage system function via priorities. If a General Storage is available (Since that's the most 'secure' type) and storage is allowed for whatever item type, always prefer to store items there. If GS isn't, then store them in a food storage/warehouse if available. If none of the others are available, use the campsite. The gate's storage should only ever really be transitional - just temporary when your specialists return or when new settlers arrive, but not a permanent storage place.

That's just my opinion though.

 

[Khuden]

Here's some more feedback :

- LOVE the ability to command specialists to help out around the base. I finally love having them around for more than just attacks!
- Animals being worth meat is a HUGE and AMAZING change thank you thank you thank you. Now I actually have a reason to care about animals around my base!
- New animations on the world map are fantastic, but can we please get some more voice clips for various specialists? There's just not enough variety there.
- Ranch is fantastic, I love all the new options it provides. Kudos to the team for that great addition.
- Egg description's bugged, see attached.

- I still feel like the Axial Flow upgrade for the Water Pump is too weak. Endgame research that only reduces energy costs by 1.2 is disappointing. Definitely needs to be retuned or replaced.

 

[KomancheCZ]

What is the slider in the farm for?

 

[Khuden]

What is the slider in the farm for?

It lets you specify how many animals to butcher when you want to make room, or how many animals to send to another ranch if you need to empty a ranch or want more animals.

I've noticed that Sheep Farms give a frankly RIDICULOUS amount of fiber so endgame I like to have tons of sheep to let my tailors just crank out ridiculous amounts of protective clothing, it's fantastic. I wish I could do the same with metal but I always have a metal bottleneck in my games...

 

[LethalLeigh]

I wish I could do the same with metal but I always have a metal bottleneck in my games...

Same here, that's why I tend to sell my excess fiber and clothes to other colonies for their metal. and if I get Junk town in my game I tend to get a lot of junk metal to turn into tools.

 

[Dreamspace]

Where can i pre order the Steam ver. ? Good week to everyone, stay safe & good energies for Paradox Devs. Kindly: Settlers fan ever since Settlers 1 gaming with golden Sleek Amiga 600 b in early -90's <3 Pst: Tech crew pls fix the forum's comments in a way that there's less empty space between final letter & bottom at message box. Atm. many comments have huge waste of space cause of so much empty space between last letter & bottom line.

 

[silentwriting]

Hi

Great update, just one change that i'd like to know if there's anyway of changing in future releases or in code, when playing on pc with a controller , update 8 had a larger circle for the select pointer and area of affect, but with update 9 this circle has become tiny making it very difficult to click on specialists quickly to get them to protect colonists etc or even see it in certain disaster situations and colour contrasts, lighting conditions, an option to choose style or size of this would be great.

One more quick question how many of each animal will a ranch hold?

 

[Najmir]

Great work on the update! I'm having a ball with this game.

Loving the new features, selecting a starting location on the map, scavenging food from dead animals, ranching, and most of all using specialists for colony tasks.


Here's some feedback and general observations:
1) Gate Storage: If you start a long way from the Gate storage colonists will die more than if you build close to the gate. They tend to go to the gate to get food, even though you have 300 food where the colony is built. I find they die from starvation, irradiation and injuries much more regularly and halfway between the colony and the gate.
1.1) I also find that there are materials being left all along the path between the gate and the colony.
2) Specialist assignments: Sometimes the specialist does not respond or act when you ask them to repair, decontaminate or build a building. It seems to be because materials are on the way. Once the materials arrive they run off to help the build. It would be great to have some feedback to show why the specialist is not doing what they were asked. "Materials are on their way"
3) Colonists are dying to have a break. They seem to love chatting to their fellow colonists whilst injured or irradiated with their health bar slowly deteriorating. The problem is the long walk (probably related to point 1 above) to get meds or food or something means they get to the medical tent or field hospital with 15% health and die whilst being treated. This even happens if you have 100s of food, plenty of each medicine and oodles of medical capacity.
4) I agree with Khuden, Axial flow seems like a bit of a wasted research leaf, I save it till I have nothing left to research.
5) Specialist tasks, it'd be great to be able to assign them to build paths, unless I just haven't figured out how.

 

[Khuden]

The gate storage just seems like such a bad idea to me. Sure, store things there TEMPORARILY while you wait for carriers to cart things off to other places, but otherwise... why would you WANT to store goods and equipment in the first place that gets attacked whenever bandits show up? It's like the equivalent of putting your pantry and safe right next to your front door instead of further into the house, when there's hungry looters outside. You want your food and tools deeper inside the base where they're harder to get to, not right next to the entrance where people are literally busting through to reach. That's just bad planning, you know?

And yeah - lost waaaaaaay too many people to injuries/illness when they're 'On Break' and too busy chatting idly about the weather or whatever to save their own lives. C'mon fellas, you can at least TRY to survive! Your free time is not worth literally dying over!

 

[promsy]

Yeehaw, Survivors! Update 9 introduces new start conditions, ranching, new specialist tasks, and balance changes!
Your game version should be 1.9.0.6922 on PC and 1.9.0.80 on Xbox.

And remember: please let us know if you encounter any bugs or just have general feedback! Either here or by using the in-game blue cockroach icon!

General

• New start conditions.
  • Game starts with specialists only.
  • The gameplay starts without colonists or prebuilt buildings.
  • Updated pre-game options.
    • Select a starting group of specialists in the pre-game.
    • Starting resources are adjusted to match the new beginning.
  • Specialists can now do the same tasks as colonists.
    • Gather resources from small deposits (that won’t require specialized building).
    • Build buildings.
    • They must be commanded with direct commands to make different actions. Otherwise they concentrate on patrolling around the colony.
    • Specialists can’t work in buildings.
  • First colonists are invited by building a campsite and shooting a flare from that building’s info panel when you feel ready for it.
    • New building called Campsite. Works as a storage to starting resources, but also as a colony center used to call in the first survivors.
    • Open ended beginning that allows freely to select the site for the colony and build early game buildings in any order.
    • Gate is still required to get access to the world map.
  • New progression is introduced to give more freedom in the early game.
    • Phase 0 - Find a suitable location with the starting group of specialists and create a campsite in the location where you want to start building the colony. During this phase the only buildable building is the campsite. Building the campsite opens a selection of new building options.
    • Phase 1 - Use specialists to prepare the colony by building the most essential buildings and gather essential resources nearby. Calling the colonists to arrive is done by shooting a flare to the sky from the campsite’s building info. This also unlocks new building options. Specialists can be used to prepare the colony and build buildings as long as there are enough resources left, or colonists can be invited immediately after setting up the campsite.
    • Phase 2 - The first colonists arrive and the game continues similarly as before with the colonist start. The goal from now on is to build a gate and unlock the access to the world map. Colonists start to work in the buildings and keep the colony running, while specialists can concentrate on defending the colony and exploring the world map at the same time as they help colonists in other tasks.
  • Colony events start only after the colonists arrive.
• Ranching is introduced as a new late game food production mechanic.
  • Ranching can be exercised in a new building called ‘Ranch’.
  • Ranching requires water and workers.
  • Four different ranch animals can be grown.
    • Cattle grow slowly and require a lot of care, but they also provide a lot of meat.
    • Chickens grow fast, but won’t give as much meat.
    • Sheep are in between the two and provide fiber as a side product.
    • Pigs are a good source for meat, but they don’t have side products.
  • Ranch animals can be acquired only from other societies.
  • Ranch animals multiply if there are more than two of them in the same ranch.
  • Herds can be split to fill another vacant ranch.
  • Ranches can also get infected, or polluted killing the animals inside. Treating them requires splitting the herd by sending them into an intact clean ranch. Decontaminating and disinfecting ranch can be done only when they are empty.
  • Animals can be butchered for meat manually.
  • Ranch being full does not stop reproduction. Excess animals are automatically butchered for meat.

Gameplay

• The camera can now be moved by dragging the screen in different modes, such as the build mode.
• Killed Wild Animals will now turn into food deposits that can be scavenged for meat.
• Resource boxes on the ground now have a tooltip that shows the name of the resource, the amount in the box and their current state of decay.
• Resource boxes left on the ground will eventually decay and become unusable.
• Notifications now have a direct link to the appropriate page in the game’s Help menu that explains the feature related to notification more thoroughly. The help page can be accessed by pressing the question mark icon in the notification box.
• A notification has been added to the game that appears in case a Specialist is killed in the colony.
• The Selection Box has been added to controllers. Players using a controller can now select several Specialists at once.
• The game controller now supports context based cursors.
• Buildings that have reached their production limits should no longer show a floater on top of them for missing workers.
• New tutorials added to the game:
  • Specialist Controls
  • Setting up the colony
  • Prepare Colony
  • Basic Gathering
  • Hunting
• Sandworms will no longer show the floater when all living entities are highlighted.
• Notifications that have a Help menu entry related to them in the game now show an icon that will open up the entry for more information.
• Fixed issue with energy producing buildings producing too much energy after Magnetic Storms.
• Fixed issue with paused energy consumers producing their own energy after saving and loading.
• Notifications should now show a “Dismiss” prompt if they can be dismissed by right-clicking or by pressing X on the controller.
• Eight new events added to the game.
• Early game buildings in the build menu are unlocked to construction based on the game phase.

Graphics

• Visual improvements to event and survivor group pop ups.
• Fixes to the animations when colonists are carrying resource boxes.
• Updates to the icons that are shown when living entities are highlighted.
• Deposit floaters now spin when they are inside a work area.
• Underground deposits now have support for 3D floaters.

Balancing

• Colonist walking speed outside roads have been slowed down. This makes roads much more important as they ensure smooth logistics inside the colony. Moving on the road is also made slightly faster.
• Specialist walking speed increased. They move now faster than ordinary colonists.
• Walking on a paved road is faster compared to the dirt road. It also takes longer to build paved roads.
• The Aquafarm’s resistance to pollution and amount it generates have both been balanced.
• New options for starting resources can be chosen in the pre-game options. The change is based on the new game start.
• Animals can be now traded from other societies on the world map.

Update 9 and we have bugs ...........befor never bugs

 

[Angelos]

I bought this game several months ago on Epic, just for the support. I still can't get myself to launch it though, and these massive patches don't really help. Obviously they are great gamewise and demonstrate your efforts, but always terrify me. I fear that the game i will try to play will be quite incomplete. I honestly wonder about the game's condition back when it was first released as a beta ! Should i try this, or just wait?

 

[Khuden]

The game is incomplete. That's natural, it's early access. But I still think it's ABSOLUTELY worth playing. Why?

#1 - Aesthetic. No other city builder really matches it. It gives you the sense of hope and dread, the scrounged-together remnants of the world show just how tough things are but you do your best to persevere.

#2 - To help identify issues and improve the eventual release. The more people who find bugs, who give their impressions, the better the overall product will be when release finally does happen.

#3 - Because nothing else is QUITE like this game. There are other city builders but nothing like this one. It's a unique experience that you won't get from other city builder games on the market. If you want something different, something novel, something interesting and exciting I feel this is it.

Of course those are my thoughts but ultimately it's up to you. If you choose to wait until Release that's a valid thought, but you may find you have a lot of fun in the meantime. You may find there's aspects of the game that turn you off to it - but if you find out now and then post about it the devs will know and may be able to change things up for the better if you let them know. Until you try it's impossible to say!

 

[promsy]

I bought this game several months ago on Epic, just for the support. I still can't get myself to launch it though, and these massive patches don't really help. Obviously they are great gamewise and demonstrate your efforts, but always terrify me. I fear that the game i will try to play will be quite incomplete. I honestly wonder about the game's condition back when it was first released as a beta ! Should i try this, or just wait?

i see on youtube that others have no problems with it. i would try it anyway ... i used mods maybe it's that
try it

 

[Jardavious]

Anybody else having the problem where your carriers and workers for fields, greenhouses, etc are not picking up the food that is being left on the ground and it is just decaying? I have just stopped playing the game for now because late game is impossible because there is too much to manage making your specialists go pick up the food off the ground. That is the only way I found to get it to work....

 

[Najmir]

Anybody else having the problem where your carriers and workers for fields, greenhouses, etc are not picking up the food that is being left on the ground and it is just decaying? I have just stopped playing the game for now because late game is impossible because there is too much to manage making your specialists go pick up the food off the ground. That is the only way I found to get it to work....

Hi Jard, I tend to find this same problem early game when I don't have many free carriers. Late game you need plenty of carriers free because there are so many building outputs to pick up.

I have found the late game the opposite, I find I become careless, especially now with ranches. I would recommend focusing one or two commodities and using trade late game. E.g Venison, Fibre, Flour, you can easily get an abundance to trade for the items that are colonist intensive which frees up more carriers.