Hi everyone,

AColony has joined the Steam Winter Sale with a -30% discount today!

In addition I have also published a new version (v.0.4.095) with some smaller fixes.

• pets can be buried now
  
• dead colonists & pets can be kicked off graves now
  
• added positive mood effect for burying pets
  
• corpses will the thrown of training targets now if normal mode is selected
  
• fixed that medicate prisoners took default and not prisoners settings
  
• fixed that colonists of other players have also used host pc training dummies as target
  
• removed mood impact on killer & cannibal from use own colonists as targets
  
• started implementation of custom events (via community room event panel)

At the moment I'm working on the implementation of a custom event system for the community room which will include fests, parties, celebrations & other activities (So that the event panel gets finally its functionality). If all will run like expected, this update should be released before the new year!

I hope you all have an awesome day and some happy upcoming holidays,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,
a new patch (v0.4.093) is out with some smaller fixes:

- fixed loading error if active projectiles where loaded for training purposes

Cheers!

Hi everyone,

The new update (v0.4.092) is finally released and introduces a new mechanic to increase the combat skill levels of you colonists.


I have added 2 new constructions to the game which are a training dummy for melee combat and a training target for ranged combat.


If your colonists have the right weapons equipped, they can train on a related training target. Depending on the weapon, your colonists can exercise every ~24 hours for a certain period of time.
Every hit on the target will increase the skill of your colonist.


In connection with the training mechanic I have also added a new section to the schedule which allows you to define a time for your colonists, where they will automatically train if a valid test target is reachable.


There is also a new technology to unlock the new constructions, which can be found directly after the basic decorations field.


Additionally, I have updated the functionality of the storage zone, which allows you to sort the corpses of colonists by "yours", "neutral" and "others / enemies" now.


The menu of the test targets also contains an additional bloody option, which allows you to use corpses as targets. This option will multiply the gained skill points by x2.5, but will also have a negative impact on your colonist's mood, relations & impacts on factions.


There was also a network bug which has not registered floors correctly on client side in the new structure system. The problem was that this led to errors later in the game when these floors got destroyed by the collapse system. This should be fixed now!


Last but not least, I have here a short list with all relevant patch notes:

• added new constructions (training dummies - to train skill melee weapons)
  
• added new constructions (training targets - to train skill ranged weapons)
  
• colonists as items are split in 'others', 'yours' and 'neutral' now
  
• added training section to colonist's schedule options
  
• added new technology (basic training)
  
• fixed building floors wrong registered in online-coop
  
• fixed metal fence blueprint were shown as built one
  
• added a few new mood, relationship & faction impacts regarding training
  
• decreased probability of fire fanatic attacks
  
• decreased probability of volcano eruption event
  
• fixed some wrong ui colors
  
• some smaller fixes

I hope you all have an awesome day and will enjoy the update,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,

AColony will join the Steam Autumn Sale with a -30% discount today!

Unfortunately this post is only a short announcement, because I'm not completely finished with the next update which will include the training dummies / targets for increasing your colonist's melee and ranged weapon skills (+ some bug fixes). But the update should come within the next days!

I hope you all have an awesome day,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,

A new update (v0.4.086) is out which includes the new two-handed melee weapon mechanic, optimizations of the blueprint & constructions system, optimizations of the UI and some fixes & adjustments.


This update will introduce a new combat mechanic for melee weapons, which allows your colonists to wield a bat, axe or sword with 2 hands. This feature is automatically activated for all melee weapons if your colonists are not equipped with an additional shield, and brings with it the following properties:

• +25% melee damage
  
• +25% melee force
  
• +10% melee defence
  
• You can hit 3 enemies at once (the 2 beside the targeted enemy get 50% damage)
  
• A new animation for attacking and executing

In addition, I have also added a second semitransparent icon to the colonist overview menu, which indicates if the weapon is wielded with both hands.


In the last weeks, I have also started to optimize some algorithms and menus in the game - which is a work that took / takes a little bit longer. There will come more optimizations in future updates, but I got already rid of some obvious lags & performance drops.

Note:
If you find any lags or situations where the fps go down, feel free to mention it in the comments or on my discord server.

One point which was since a while a thorn in my eye, was a working but very slow algorithm to calculate the stability over the construction layers / building levels. The main problem was here, that even if you have only placed blueprints (floors or walls) beside a building with over 2 levels, you have encountered a noticeable lag when they spawned. A similar lag also appeared, when a colonist with the architect trait has built 3 floors or roofs at the same time.

Therefore I have completely rewritten the old stability calculation algorithm and replaced it with a new and much faster one - there should be almost no noticeable lag anymore.

Note:
This system also improves the impact & performance from explosions on construction elements.

When the building menu had already a lot of researched constructions in it, there was a small lag spike when you switched between the tabs (the reset of the layout was here unoptimized). This should be fixed now.

In addition, I have also optimized the colonist & animal menu, because there was a noticeable lag when you have selected one. The problem here was again the reset of the layout, especially the scroll menus when there were many entries in them (mood, injuries, relationships & attributes).

In the construction & tables info menu were also some improvements on my todo list - primarily for the crafting and resource burner menu, which have enabled all related selecting & scroll menus even if they are not all visible at the same time.

Note:
I have improved some other background systems too (grass placing, searching speed & more) which should increase the general performance of the game a bit.


The next point on my list is (and because I'm still in the implementing phase of all combat related mechanics), to add some kind of dummy & targets constructions which will allow your colonists to train with their weapons to increase their combat skills. Additionally I play here with the thought that you could perhaps use the bodies of dead colonists as training targets too . . . .


Last but not least, I have here a short list with all relevant patch notes:

• melee weapons will be used two-handed when no shield is equipped now
  
• two-handed attacks increase damage by 25%
  
• upgraded and optimized stability manager
  
• optimized blueprint placement manager
  
• optimized building manager
  
• optimized grass place and removement manager
  
• optimized some ui menus
  
• power cables can be set invisible in the graphics settings menu now
  
• optimized animal & colonists menu
  
• optimized build menu
  
• optimized constructions info menu
  
• decreased prices for metal construction elements
  
• reduced attack force of baseball bats slightly
  
• fixed grave bug when selecting other grave in active job
  
• added special animation when execute colonist with two-handed weapon
  
• fixed that protective vest was sometimes shown in main menu colonist edit menu
  
• fixed rare transparent mode bug for transporting immobilized colonists over multiple layers
  
• fixed background error loop when colonists tries to pet eating animal
  
• fixed rare error when loading single player file after coop session
  
• updated website (http://www.zerotris.com)

I hope you all have an awesome day and will enjoy the update,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,
a new patch (v0.4.079) is out with some fixes:

• fixed rare pathfinding error on distances over 80 meters
  
• fixed animal burned effect not set on load
  
• fixed currency count wrong shown in storage zone
  
• colonists change position when execute animal or colonist on same block now

I hope you all have an awesome day,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,

A small and new update (v0.4.078) is out which includes some new weapons, an upgrade of the pathfinding system, a question and some fixes & adjustments.

I have to say, we have some really hot days here now and I hope you have a nice and relaxing summer these weeks too.

To make the game a little more interesting, I have added a few new weapons beside, that have a similar functionality like the already existing weapons.

At the suggestion of players, there are now 2 baseball bats in the game, which are the following:

• Baseball Bat (Barbed Wire)
  Because of the barbed wire, this bat is also dealing bleeding damage and deals slightly more damage than the basic axe.
  
• Baseball Bat (Metal)
  This bat is similar to the wooden bat and can be seen as a modern version of it, which also deals no bleeding damage. (perfect for beating colonists or animals immobilized)

Note:
The bats will be unlocked with the 'steel weapons' and 'modern weapons' technology

The modern axe is a modern version of the basic axe and differs mainly in its look to the modern sword. It deals a little bit less damage than the modern sword, but is also cheaper to craft. Additionally, they can also be equipped by enemies, wanderers and traders, which adds some variety to these events.

Note:
The modern axe will be unlocked with the 'modern weapons' technology

The non-lethal shotgun is the first firearm in the game, which deals no bleeding damage when the projectile hits a colonist or an animal. This weapon can be used to immobilize colonists in mental breakdowns or to immobilize animals which you want to lock in an animal cage. Even though the name says non-lethal, your colonists can still kill / execute immobilized beings through a direct command or through jobs like hunting.

Note:
The non-lethal shotgun will be unlocked with the 'machine guns' technology

A little bit ago I got the suggestion to add 2-handed melee weapons to the game - and because there are multiple ways to add that functionality I wanted to ask you what you think would be the best way.

1)
Adding new weapons like a 2-handed sword and similar stuff which can only be used 2-handed (so no way to equip a shield in addition)

2)
To upgrade the default melee weapon functionality so that when you have no shield equipped, the weapon is automatically used with both hands (and another combat animation).

To hold a weapon 2-handed will of course deal more damage and will probably also impact the 2 blocks beside the target, which means you can hit multiple enemies at once.

You can always write what you think in the discussion to this post or on my discord server.

A really noticeable problem in the game was a sometimes incorrect calculation of the pathfinding algorithm, which led to the situation that colonists have avoided doors. This should be fixed now and your colonists should choose a far more accurate path - also on larger distances.

To be a bit more technical here, the main problem was the higher navigation layer system (working on a 4x4 grid on 40 meter distance to target position) in connection with doors, because they are seen as separated chunks / nodes (that is required to forbid pets or neutral colonists to cross a door).

As can be seen in the image below, this let the algorithm (which goes from node to node) think, that the path around the doors (yellow) is shorter than the path through the doors (red).

While I experimented here a time around (to also find a performance friendly way), I came to the solution to no longer count directly by nodes, but by the 4x4 bounds (with a bit more complicated second search algorithm) which should fix that problem in a smooth way.

If you still find or see a very weird path, then please let me know :) Sometimes there can be a special case which I have not seen / encountered in my testing.

In addition, I have finally updated the demo version of the game, because the last update was in November 2023 and still had some bugs in it which I have fixed only for the alpha version.

Last but not least, I have here a short list with all relevant patch notes:

• added missing fire update translations (ch, jp, fr)
  
• upgraded and improved path finding algorithm
  
• added new weapon (baseball bat (barbed wire))
  
• added new weapon (baseball bat (metal))
  
• added new weapon (modern axe)
  
• added new weapon (non-lethal shotgun)
  
• fixed that fires were not extinguished on client in online coop
  
• decreased mine time of blocks by 15% (jobs need to be placed again)
  
• insects nests produce more resources based on their level now
  
• fixed basic axe blood effect not shown
  
• increased check time for target behind obstacle slightly
  
• updated demo
  
• some smaller fixes

I hope you all have an awesome day and will enjoy the update,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,

The new fire update (v0.4.075) is finally published and comes with a -30% discount.

It contains many new features like the new and almost everything affecting fire system, new weapons, new combat mechanics, new events and much more!

In addition, I have also created a new short trailer regarding the fire update:

Note:
The update translations for chinese, japanese & french will come in the next days.


With the implementation of the fire system, a new and deep mechanic will now be part of the game. It can affect the vegetation, constructions, items, colonists, animals and more.


The fire system can set many objects in the default world on fire (or give it at least a burned effect) which includes the terrain, grass, trees, plants & rocks. While some objects will increase the fire power and with that its spread range, some can also decrease or even stop it. The following things have an impact on the fire and vice versa:

• Terrain
  Fire usually spreads and extends over the blocks which define the terrain. Grass blocks have here the highest impact, while dirt has a far lower one - rock and ore stops the fire immediately. Fire can also spread upwards over blocks, but not downwards.
  
• Trees
  If a tree is ignited by fire, it will start to burn and is during that phase no longer interactable by your colonists. If the tree is burned down a black trunk is left which can be cut by your colonists. Depending on the growth value, the fire will get more power on the tree block.
  
• Plants
  If a plant stands in the way of fire, it gets immediately converted into a burned plant which gives no resources. Depending on the growth value, the fire will get a bit more power on the plant block.

The vegetation & environment system has also a self recover functionality, which works in the way that after ~2.5 days the burned ground will fade away and the burned trees & plants will decay. Since burned areas can be large, the respawn rate of trees and plants there is greatly increased.


Beside the vegetation, constructions can also catch fire, which in most cases are those made of wood.
But even if some constructions cannot burn directly, they can still get some damage + a visual burned effect. If contact with fire happens, it is often necessary to clean the component in question (the blocks on which it is located) in order to be able to repair it again.

It's important to say here, that wooden main construction elements (like floors, walls, roofs, etc) will not be destroyed by fire if they have full health. For these elements, I have added a maximum fire damage limit of around ~90% to prevent a simple fire from collapsing buildings.


The item and resource system is also affected by fire now and has like other burned components, updated visuals if some kind of contact occurs. There are 3 different ways how resources will react:

• Burn
  Some resources can increase the power of the fire on its block and will simply burn away and despawn then. This is for example: wood, harvest, food, wooden weapons & more.
  
• Nothing
  Some resources have no effect on the fire which are often those made of metal. This is for example: stone, steel, machine components, weapons out of metal & more.
  
• Explode
  Some resources can not only burn, but even explode when they come in contact with fire or get in any other way damaged. This can also result in a chain reaction if there are other explosive objects nearby. These items are for example: ethanol, fuel, molotov cocktails & more

In addition, I have also added a new mechanic that allows you to aim your ranged weapons at explosive items to cause them to explode.


This updates also brings a new functionality to the game, which can ignite any colonist or animal and force them into a burning job. If one of your colonists is set on fire, you will lose like with mental breakdown all control over him. The burn time depends on the causing weapon or source of fire.

While colonists or animals are burning, they will also lose constantly health in the form of burning wounds. I have to say here, when I tested around with the ignite mechanic, I often encountered that almost everyone was dead after a battle with fire, because immobilized colonists can catch fire too. Therefore I have added a modifier which deals only very low fire damage (from fire on blocks) to immobilized colonists.



Your colonists have the option to extinguish a block on fire, which usually takes 33% of the burning time. This can be done by a direct command (which should also force a colonist to extinguish nearby blocks) or is automatically done when a fire source is crossing the path of you colonists.

This functionality is also working for wanderers & traders, allowing them to put out fires near them.


In relation to the extinguish job, there is also a new job which allows you to clean burned constructions and ground blocks. This is not only practical to make your colony look after a fire good again, but also to be able to seed plants again, because they cannot grow on burned ground.

Important
At the moment, in the job section menu, the job for your colonists to automatically clean the area around your colony is located under the builder section. If prioritized, your colonists will automatically do the cleaning when there is no building or repair job left (or a repair job requires a cleaning at first).


This update also includes some new weapons and upgrades of existing ammo types to fit the new fire system.


What would be a fire system without molotov cocktails? Of course, these shouldn't be missing and so I have added 2 types of them which require ethanol (for the basic age) or fuel (for the modern age) as main resource.

The molotov cocktails are also introducing a new combat mechanic - the throw mechanic - which technically is a mix between the default colonist aiming and default artillery projectile mechanic.

Note:
At the moment, the molotov cocktail with ethanol gets unlocked with the crossbow technology, the one with fuel by the machine guns technology.


This weapon gets unlocked by a new technology in the modern age and is located straight after the machine guns. A special functionality of the flamethrower is, that it can not only set the target on fire, but also (when longer hitting something at the same spot) the ground or floor.

It's the third heavy weapon in the game, which means that it requires resources as ammunition (in this case fuel) to be functional. At the moment, a colonist can hold 10 units of fuel with the flamethrower and 1 unit gives ~10 ingame minutes of fun.

Note:
It's also possible to aim with the flamethrower as well as with molotov cocktails at trees to set them on fire directly.


In connection with the fire system, I have also upgraded all existing ammo types which were already dealing fire damage (but that was only visible in the status menu). This includes the following items:

• RPG fire ammo
  
• Ballista fire ammo
  
• Artillery fire ammo

This update also introduces a new event scheduler, which handles a new type of event for environment related stuff, consisting of the forest fire & volcanic eruption at the moment. Additionally, there is also one new enemy attack event.


This event spawns a small fire at a random tree in the world.
But it is much more dangerous than it first seems, because the fire has a very high power value so that it can spread very heavily and burn a huge area in a short time.


This is probably the most interesting & influencing event of this update. If it spawns, you will get an event message like for any other event and shortly after you can hear a big explosion which is far away. Then the weather starts to get a hot and orange touch and fire chunks will rain over the whole map for a few hours. The following chunks will enrich the lives of your colonists:

• Large Chunks
  If these chunks hit the ground, they will spawn a huge explosion which will set the area around the impact point on fire. In addition, they also spawn a new rock type (volcanic rock) which can be mined like normal rocks and give valuable ores (gold).
  
• Medium Chunks
  If they hit the ground, they will spawn a smaller explosion than the large chunks and will set the area around the impact point on fire.
  
• Small Chunks
  These are the most common chunks and they don't spawn fire on the ground at the moment. They only deal fire damage on animals, colonists, items & constructions.

Note:
At the moment the weather has no impact on animals or colonists, but it is planned to also give them later some kind of volcanic ash poisoning during this event. (If they are not in closed rooms)


The last event which I have added is the fire fanatics attack which is similar to the gatling gang attack and consists of enemies which are exclusively equipped with fire damage dealing weapons. This includes molotov cocktails, flamethrowers and rocket launchers with fire ammo.

Note:
It's recommended to target the members with rocket launchers at first in combat, because they have the longest range which make them especially dangerous.



I have finally updated the production manager so that it allows you to set a minimum and maximum limit now. That means, your colonists will now stop the production on the max limit and only start it again when the regarding resource count is under the min limit. In addition, you can also switch the mode when you are between the limits.

For example, in the following screenshot, you can see a yellow checkmark at meal (meat) which indicates that the production will be continued when the resource reaches the min limit. At meal (vegetable) you can see a green arrow which indicates that it will be produced until the max limit is reached. By clicking on the icon you can switch between these 2 modes. (The mode automatically switches when it reaches the regarding limit)


In the colonist overview menu, I have separated the function to set your colonists into combat mode from the tools section in a new one so that you don't always have tool functionalities open too. In connection with that - and got often suggested - I have added the option that you can switch the positions of your colonists and pets in this menu now.


With the implementation of the flamethrower and its slow moving fire particles, I really encountered the problem that colonists (which are simply aimed straight at their enemies) didn't hit their target when it was moving. This was also on the list of player suggestions and this functionality is now also finally in the game and affects all weapons.

Note:
This functionality works for enemies which aim at you too.


Of course, this updates also includes 2 new traits which are the athletic and pyrotechnician trait. In addition there is also a new mental breakdown event for colonists with the pyrotechnician trait which ... well ... can be dangerous when you store molotov cocktails in your colony.


Last but not least, I have updated the start resource menu which allows you now to use 2 buttons to change the count and informs you about the resource points of each slot.

If you hold Left Control you can change the count by 5 and if you hold Left Shift you can change the count by 10 + it automatically stops at the count where you would reach the max possible resource points.


And here is the full patch list for v0.4.075:

• added fire system!
  
• added new weapon (flame thrower)
  
• added new weapon (molotov cocktail (ethanol))
  
• added new weapon (molotov cocktail (fuel))
  
• animals can be set on fire now
  
• colonists can be set on fire now
  
• trees & plants can be set on fire now
  
• buildings & constructions can be set on fire now
  
• some items can burn now (especially wooden ones)
  
• fuel, ethanol and other items can be focused and shot at now
  
• fuel, ethanol & other items can explode now
  
• production manager supports now a min and max production limit
  
• order of colonists can be changed in overview menu now (tools section)
  
• added new section to colonist overview menu (combat mode section)
  
• added new event (forest fire)
  
• added new event (volcanic eruption)
  
• added new event (fire fanatics attack)
  
• added new trait (pyrotechnician)
  
• added new trait (athletic)
  
• added new mask (gas mask)
  
• colonists can aim at predicted position of moving enemies now
  
• scenario start resources option 'gunslinger' has 5 molotov cocktails now
  
• updated new game menu start resources panels
  
• holding shift in start resource panel stops count on max limit now
  
• gatling gun can be upgraded now
  
• increased animal group respawn rate
  
• fixed that aiming at fences & battlements ignored constructions in sight path
  
• added new colonist breakdown (pyrotechnician)
  
• increased shotgun range to 10
  
• fixed bug that constructions to repair never got removed from hidden list
  
• decreased power consumption of time switch from 8 to 5
  
• decreased max fuel & ethanol per slot to 15 units
  
• decreased price for fuel from 7.50 to 4.85
  
• decreased price for ethanol from 4.00 to 3.50
  
• terrain rocks have description now + info window now
  
• lightning strikes can hit trees now
  
• traits prison experience & short-sighted share relationship bonus now
  
• fixed that barbed wire fence door slide mesh
  
• loading screen is updating background images now
  
• fixed pitch black background color on a few ui panels
  
• fixed that in coop tree spawn rate was decreased instead of increased
  
• fixed that cooking sound was not reacting to audio settings
  
• fixed that immobilized talking partner can cause infinity talk events when reached
  
• fixed bug when object pool max limit reached
  
• fixed some particle effect bugs on load
  
• fixed colonist breakdown melee attack switch bug
  
• added a button to open ingame main menu to settings menu

Because the fire system was a major update which took more time to implement, I will focus now on patches and more frequent updates again, to fix and add some stuff which you have suggested in the last months.

This includes for example to finally add the functionality to switch the cells of prisoners, to upgrade the path finding algorithm and and many other things which can be quick and frequent published.


I hope you all have an awesome day and fun with the update,
Cheers!

Hi everyone,

after a long time of developing & also taking a bit of a break, the new fire update is finally available on the experimental branch.

I have to say, it has taken more time than expected to finish everything, because beside the visuals I had also to integrate the impact of the fire system in nearly every aspect of the game. Like the impact on all colonists, all animals, all constructions, all items, the nature and its recovering, the general combat system and far more.


You can access the experimental branch in the following way:

• Right click on AColony in your steam library
  
• Select Properties
  
• Select Betas
  
• Type in: password1234

The experimental branch has usually a version where the game can have some bugs and is relatively unbalanced. In addition, I still have a few points which I will add during that period (like for example that fuel generators with fuel in them are not exploding when on fire at the moment).

If you find any errors, bugs, weird behavior or have suggestions - you can always write it here in the comment section or join our discord[discord.gg] to discuss them there.

Note:
If a public version is released and has a higher version number than a save file from the experimental branch, then you can also use that save file there.


While I have to make some fixes & rebalancing in the next days, I also plan to record a new short steam trailer regarding the fire update, making some new screenshots and prepare all for a major steam update (which will also have then all details of the main topics and a full list with all patch notes).

In addition, with the release of the public version of the fire update, AColony will be available with a -30% discount for ~2 weeks.

I hope you all have an awesome day,
Cheers!