Hi Everyone,
We’ve got a big new update for you that adds new buildings, food types, and mechanics. We had been planning to launch this all packaged together with the upcoming AI Rival Kingdoms update, but after chatting with the community, we decided to launch this early! We’ve been wanting to add all this stuff to the game for a long time. We’re glad we got to launch it sooner than later.
Why did this update take longer than usual to release? There are two reasons: first, it’s a pretty “meaty” update (pun intended); second, my (Pete) second daughter was born right after we launched the Warfare Update, so I took some time off. Thanks for your patience!
Now, onto what’s new!
Fish
We’ve added fish as a new food source. New maps now have areas where fish will spawn. Old maps will be automatically upgraded to have fishing grounds when loaded. Fish will spawn more fish, and can expand a little from their initial fishing grounds, but will mostly stay in the same region.
Fishing Hut
To catch the fish, build a fishing hut nearby. It comes with a little boat that will go out and catch fish, but will take shelter during storms. Be careful not to overfish; fishing grounds can become depleted if too many fishing huts are built nearby. Peasants can take fish directly from the fishing hut to eat.
Fishmonger
This building takes fish from the fishing hut and prepares them for eating. Using 1 tool and 1 fish, the Fishmonger will output 3 fish. Fishmongers can store 75 fish. This building will be an important part of keeping fish supplied in your kingdom. Peasants won’t want to live too close to it though, due to the smell.
Produce Storage
The new Produce Storage building can store 125 apples, and their workers can carry a double apple load. But why do we need this new building, when we can already store apples in the Granary? Previously, wheat and apples were treated as the same resource and apples would mysteriously transform into grain when placed in a Granary. We were never quite satisfied with that, so now apples are their own distinct resource type. Apples must now be stored in markets or in this new building. Peasants will need to eat apples along with the other food types for maximum health.
Small Market
We’ve now added a 1×1 Market. It employs fewer people and stores less, but it should be easier to fit into some city layouts than the existing 2×2 Market. It also costs less to build.
Swineherd
You can now build Swineherds, a 3×2 building that raises pigs. Pigs consume wheat and can be slaughtered for meat. If there is no wheat to feed the pigs, like peasants, they’ll get hungry and eventually die off.
Butcher
Butchers will take tools and 1 unit of meat from Swineherds and turn it into 3 servings of meat. They function a lot like Fishmongers. They can store up to 150 meat. Peasants won’t want to live too close to the butcher either, due to the smell.
Health
To incorporate all these new food types, we’ve added a new Health mechanic for your kingdom. Hovering over the Health number will explain all the factors impacting it. For maximum Health, peasants need a varied diet and enough Clinics and Hospitals open and operating. Peasants will want access to fish or pork, apples, and wheat or bread. You’ll be able to click the Health overlay to see which houses need better access to the food types.
As your kingdom grows, your peasants will care more about their Health and will want it to be better and better. Health will affect their happiness, the likelihood of a plague, plague virulence, and average life expectancy. If your kingdom is in poor Health for too long, peasants may die prematurely!
Note that for existing cities, you will get a 5 year grace period before your peasants become unhappy with their Health.
Optimization
As mentioned in our previous development update, we have implemented some performance optimizations targeted at large cities with lots of resources. In our benchmark city, we were able to improve performance 30% from 17-18fps to 22-25fps, though results vary depending on city size/composition and your computer specs. Let us know if you see an improvement! More optimization is coming in future updates.
Other Improvements/Fixes
- Added configurable keyboard controls
- Added a confirmation dialog if you are demolishing more than 25 buildings
- Added a way to disband Troop Transport Ship
- Heads of household will limit their gathering to a 30 tile radius of their home. That means if their only source of wheat/bread is more than 30 tiles away, it will count as ‘too far away’ and they won’t go out to gather it
- Markets now collect apples, bread, wheat, fish, and ham
- Tavern has been re-tuned slightly and now consumes both wheat and apples but provides a little extra happiness if you can supply both
- Neighbor and road access happiness bonuses adjusted
- Houses too close to Iron Mines suffer a happiness debuff (the same as Quarries and Charcoal Makers)
- Large and manor houses too close to a Swineherd or Fishmonger also suffer a happiness debuff
- Added some in-game tips on picking a starting position for your Keep for first time players
- Field flooding now only happens within a few tiles of the shoreline. Chance to flood is displayed in the building UI when clicking on a Farm.
- Aqueducts can now be built over the top of Iron Mines, Quarries, and Charcoal Makers
- Stone Walls, Gates, and Bridges can replace Wooden Walls, Gates and Bridges without having first demolished them
- Rock removal now automatically removes the rock after construction has finished
- Attempted to fix bug where drag-to-demolish triggers erroneously
- Fixed an issue with gold income info not adding up correctly
- Fixed Twitch integration (twitch had changed their API since our last update)
- Fixed closed/unconnected Bathhouses from contributing to peasants’ Bathhouse satisfaction
- Fixed bug where ships were not using Moats to sail through when possible
- Fixed issue where you could not place a Dock adjacent to Moats
Rival Kingdoms Progress
You’re probably asking, “Cool fish and everything but what’s up with the AI Rivals update? When is that coming out?” We’ve shown some of the work we’ve already done on the city building AI, but expect to see some news about siege weapons, trade routes, diplomacy, and more in the future.
Since AI Rivals is such a big addition to the game it will still take some time to finish and make sure everything meshes well together. We’ll be running a much longer and earlier beta period for AI Rivals than our other updates and we’ll post an announcement when it’s ready to test drive. Thanks for your patience!
And what about VR?
VR is scheduled after AI Rival Kingdoms. We’ve done some proof of concept work already, we’ve posted it before but if you haven’t seen it, check it out here: https://streamable.com/86ler
Until next time,
-Pete & Michael