Greetings, Viceroys!
We've just released a new iteration of the Hearth upgrade changes to the Experimental Branch. In a nutshell, we're scrapping the idea of Species Hubs and instead, we're making more granular changes to the existing Hubs system, mainly by giving each Hearth level a +1 Resolve bonus (instead of keeping the +2 Resolve only at level 1).
Before we dive into the full changelog, we'd like to thank you for giving the Experimental Update a try. We really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, concerns, and ideas with us. This makes things a lot easier and helps us read the room better before pushing something into the live version of the game. That is what the experimental branch is for.
What was the issue in the first place
Let's start with a quick reminder of why we wanted to change the Hearth upgrades. We've regularly received reports that micromanaging Hearths is tedious and boring, and we've always felt that the system lacked something in terms of meaningful and interesting choices. We set out to find an elegant solution that would reduce unnecessary micromanagement and possibly even open the door for more variety in gameplay styles. This is how the idea of Species Hubs was born.
Feedback and thoughts about the Species Hubs
During this short experimental period, we received a lot of accurate comments about the new Species Hubs, and we got to see a lot of insightful gameplay footage/commentary. As we analyzed the feedback, some inherent flaws were brought to our attention:
- The early game is much more difficult because now it's much harder to get that initial +2 to resolve.
- The early meta is much more difficult now, as new players are yet to unlock the essential houses for each species.
- The system makes the Queen’s Hand Trial mode significantly harder.
- Higher Hub tiers are too hard to obtain.
- The last tier rewards don’t bring enough to the table considering how late they’re unlocked.
- For some players, the Species Hubs don’t fit the game thematically.
- The system solves one particular issue we wanted to address, but introduces a variety of new design and balance problems at the same time.
While some of these issues could be easily solved with balance tweaks, others require extensive or risky redesigns of multiple systems. That's why we decided to go back to the old system and try a smaller change. In the future, we may revisit this issue and try a different solution, but for now, we feel there are bigger fish to fry.
New changes
We decided to return to the original hearth upgrade system and modify the rewards for each level:
- Encampment (Level 1): Gathered around the blazing fire, folks keep each other's spirits high. Global Resolve is increased by 1 and the Ancient Hearth's resistance to corruption is increased by 150.
- Neighborhood (Level 2): Some viceroys say aesthetics don't matter out in the wilds, but you know better than that. Global production speed is increased by 10% and global Resolve is increased by 1. The Ancient Hearth's resistance to corruption is increased by 150.
- District (Level 3): The town is booming with activity and industry thrives. Workers have a 10% higher chance of producing double yields and global Resolve is increased by 1. The Ancient Hearth's resistance to corruption is increased by 150.
While this doesn't solve the inherent problems of the Hubs system, we think it's a small step in the right direction. We hope this will make upgrading Hearths beyond level 1 more attractive, and reduce the need for micro a bit.
You can test the new changes in the experimental branch. We have also added a small number of additional improvements.
Changelog
- Removed the Species Hubs system.
- Changed the rewards for each Hub level:[list]
- Encampment (Level 1): Gathered around the blazing fire, folks keep each other's spirits high. Global Resolve is increased by 1 and the Ancient Hearth's resistance to corruption is increased by 150.
- Neighborhood (Level 2): Some viceroys say aesthetics don't matter out in the wilds, but you know better than that. Global production speed is increased by 10% and global Resolve is increased by 1. The Ancient Hearth's resistance to corruption is increased by 150.
- District (Level 3): The town is booming with activity and industry thrives. Workers have a 10% higher chance of producing double yields and global Resolve is increased by 1. The Ancient Hearth's resistance to corruption is increased by 150.
- Upgrades are now a lot cheaper, but require pipes (other metal options were removed).
- The upgrade costs are lower for the first level and higher for the second level.
- Upgrades have been reshuffled slightly.
- Mobile Sparkcasters increase speed by 30% instead of 25%.
- The Triple Ignition System upgrade also affects Blight Automatons now.
- Alchemical Forge no longer increases production speed, but adds a 50% chance of producing double the amount of Purging Fire.
- Manned Lookout now decreases Cyst generation by 10% per worker instead of 5%.
Previous Updates
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4193488293618255052
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4194610392083937884
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4059501135880748462
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/5797888151160865057
