Greetings, Viceroys!
The wait is finally over! Sturdy-as-stone Frogs join Against the Storm as the 6th playable species, while the new biome - Coastal Grove - opens its port to Viceroys searching for sunken treasures.
We also released Fishing Update (1.4), free for everyone, which introduces a new fishing system, passive need bonuses, new buildings, increased level cap, and many many more changes.
???? KEEPERS OF THE STONE DLC CHANGELOG
As the struggle for survival against the Blightstorm continues, Against the Storm - Keepers of the Stone introduces a new species, a new biome, and a selection of new buildings, orders, risks, and opportunities for any Viceroy up for the challenge.
[previewyoutube=Cb5VaqXxgkw;full][/previewyoutube]
Check out the full list of Keepers of the Stone changes:
- Added a new species - Frogs.[list]
- Frogs are dignified and proud people with a unique affinity for wealth, renowned for their exceptional skills in architecture and their love of water. They seem to be the least bothered by rain and prefer not to live in ordinary shelters. Frogs are skilled masons and love working with rainwater.
- Frogs have the following needs:[list]
- Paste
- Biscuits
- Pie
- Boots
- Religion
- Luxury
- Brawling
- Frog Housing
- Level 1[list]
- Extra Room - A strategically built wall can do wonders. This house will have room for one additional villager.
- Rainwater Storage - Frogs love to bathe. They use specially treated and purified rainwater to do so. Increases the tank capacity for each type of rainwater by 50.
- Indoor Pool - This seemingly extravagant luxury is something that Frogs need to survive. Villagers living in a house with this upgrade receive an additional +2 to Resolve.
- Drafting Table - Frogs are natural architects. They are said to have designed most of the Smoldering City. Building materials are produced 3% faster for each villager living in a house with this upgrade.
- Atrium - Frogs form very tight-knit communities and highly value their social status. Each newcomer group has 1 additional villager for every 2 villagers living in a house with this upgrade.
- Storage Room - Although Frogs are generally considered to be greedy, they can sometimes be generous. At the start of each Drizzle, gain 1 Pack of Building Materials for each villager living in a house with this upgrade.
- Water Pipeline - An advanced system of pipes connecting buildings that use rainwater. The "Low Strain" bonus from Rain Engines gives an additional +1 to Resolve for every 2 villagers living in a house with this upgrade.
- Workbench - An essential piece of furniture in every Fog household. Building material recipes have a 3% higher chance of producing extra resources for each villager living in a house with this upgrade.
- Initial Resolve: 10
- Break interval: 2m 30s
- Resilient: medium
- Demanding: 25
- Decadent: 5
- Hunger tolerance: 5
- Coastal Grove - These lands have been underwater for a very long time, and a dense forest of algae has grown over them. The seawater has blocked any Viceroys that have tried to reach this area, so the nearby marshes are full of remnants of earlier settlements.
- In the Coastal Grove, your settlement will start at the edge of the map, near the water.
- Your starting glade in the Coastal Gove will contain a new unique building - the Strider Port.[list]
- Strider Port - From this ancient port, expeditions can be launched to search the nearby swamps for blueprints and treasure in the submerged ruins of former settlements.
- Berries
- Roots
- Insects
- Fish
- Algae
- Scales
- Reeds
- Clay
- Coal
- Gift of the Depths - After using bait 150 times in your fishing huts, you will unlock the ability to sacrifice Algae in the Ancient Hearth to reduce Hostility.
- Pantry[list]
- Can produce: Pie (T2), Porridge (T2), Pack of Luxury Goods (T2)
- Can use: Drizzle Water
- Specialization: farming
- Species locked: Frogs
- Can produce: Paste (T3), Wine (T2), Biscuits (T1)
- Can use: Drizzle Water
- Species locked: Frogs
- Species locked: Frogs
- Only available in the new Coastal Grove biome.
- House Upgrades: Frogs - Unlocks the ability to upgrade Frog Houses.
- Starting Ability: Frogs - Unlocks the Starting Ability of the species: Frogs. Reveals the location of the nearest ruin.
- Borrowed Time (Legendary, yearly) - The Queen looks more favorably upon a city represented by such distinguished ambassadors. Each fully upgraded house will grant you seconds of Grace Period after Impatience reaches its maximum threshold.
- Strength in Numbers (Legendary, yearly) - The storm seems less threatening in a populated settlement. Global Resolve drops 5% slower for every Frog villager.
- City of Wonders (Legendary, yearly) - Members of the Frog Clan flock to you settlement. Gain 1 Frog villager for every 2 house upgrades.
- Frog Friendship (Rare, orders) - 2 additional Frogs will come with each group of newcomers.
- Frog Clan Support (Rare, orders) - Ever since the Great Civil War, all species have been locked in a constant struggle to gain the Queen's favor. The Frogs remember your help. (+3 to Frogs Resolve)
- The Collegium[list]
- Objective: reach 16/18/20 Frog Resolve
- Reward: 2 Frogs, 20 Fish, 3 Parts
- Objective: reach 18/20/22 Frog Resolve
- Reward: Fish Delivery Line, 15 Pipes, 3 Frogs
- Objective: have 6 Frogs
- Reward: Brickyard Blueprint, 25 Scales
- Objective: deliver 3/4/5 Packs of Building Materials and 30/40/50 rainwater
- Reward: 3 Frogs, Frog Faction Support, 3 Parts
- Objective: deliver 30/35/60 Stones
- Reward: 5 Frogs, Reinforced Brick Mold, 25 Boots
- Objective: reach 20/22/24 Frog Resolve and use 25/50/75 rainwater
- Reward: Frog Friendship, 30 Paste, Stamping Die
- Objective: have 8/10/12 Frogs and reach 20/24/28 Frog Resolve
- Reward: Cannery Blueprint, 30 Paste, 5 Parts
- Objective: have 6/8 Frog Houses
- Reward: Stone Delivery Line, 40 Paste, 5 Frogs
- Objective: fulfill the need for Paste 30/40/50 times and have 4/6/8 Frog Houses
- Reward: Frog Faction Support, 5 Frogs, 35 Boots
- Objective: reach 22/26/30 Frog Resolve
- Reward: Steel Pickaxes, 4 Frogs, 40 Wine
- Objective: have 16/18/22 Frog villagers
- Reward: Steel Grater, Wide Nets, 20 Bricks
- Objective: upgrade 4 Frog Houses to level 1/2/3
- Reward: Rainwater Condenser, 3 Frogs, 30 Incense
- Fallen Frog Architects - A group of fallen Frog architects. It seems they were in the middle of building some sort of monument. The mere sight of these bodies causes unrest among the Frog population.
- Frog Housing - Frogs are at home in water. Frog Houses are required to fulfill this need.
- Frog Settlement - Win a game with at least 30 Frogs.
- Frog Utopia (achievement) - Win a game with 40 Frogs, 20 x Frog Houses, 1 x Forum.
- The Coastal Grove (achievement) - Win a game on the Coastal Grove biome.
- Salty Breeze - Win a game in the Coastal Grove biome, and on Viceroy difficulty (or higher).
- Strider Rider - (achievement) Send out 100 expeditions in the Coastal Grove.
- The Search Continues (achievement) - Send out 12 expeditions in one game in the Coastal Grove.
- Feeling Lucky - (achievement) Obtain the Homestead and Rainpunk Foundry blueprints from expeditions in the Coastal Grove (in one game).
- It's Wednesday - (achievement) Win a game with Frogs on a Wednesday.
- Frog Republic - (achievement) Upgrade 12 Frog Houses to the maximum level in one game.
- Stone Fence - 1x1 comfort decoration. Unlocked by completing the Frog Population deed.
- Stone Fence Corner - 1x1 comfort decoration. Unlocked by completing the Frog Utopia deed.
- Saltwater Pitcher Plant - 1x1 aesthetics decoration. Unlocked by completing the Salty Breeze deed.
- Evergreen Shrub - 1x1 aesthetics decoration. Unlocked by completing the The Search Continues deed.
- Water Shrine - 3x3 aesthetics decoration. Unlocked by completing the Feeling Lucky deed.
P.S. One of the best things you can do to help indie games is to leave a Steam review. Once you get a chance to play Keepers of the Stone DLC, we’d love to hear any feedback, positive or negative. Thanks!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3075500/Against_the_Storm__Keepers_of_the_Stone/
You can also get it in the “Against the Storm - Complete” bundle with an extra bundle discount:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/45551/Against_the_Storm__Complete/
DEVELOPER NOTES
Update 1.4, along with the Keepers of the Stone DLC, is the biggest content drop we've ever done for Against the Storm, so there's a lot to unpack here. In this developer notes section, we'll focus on why certain changes made it into the game and how they'll affect the overall gameplay. We’re not going to go into detail about every single addition or improvement however, so if you want to read the full breakdown of each and every change, please refer to the two changelogs in this article - one for the DLC content and one for the 1.4 Fishing Update.
Frogs
The most important addition in the Keepers of the Stone DLC is of course the new playable species - Frogs. From the very beginning we wanted to find a good design space for them, a niche they could occupy, rather than just adding a new graphical variant of the same villagers (or even worse - just a better, overpowered version of an existing species). So we decided to go with a species that is more focused on supporting the settlement and helping it grow faster.
Based on this, and after looking at the game for areas where we felt something was missing from a balance standpoint, we gave Frogs the Masonry specialization, tying them heavily into the stone/brick economy. For their second specialization (comfort), we chose Rainwater, which we took away from Foxes (more on that later). We did this mostly because it fit them thematically, and we wanted to tie Frogs a bit into the Rainpunk branch of the game as well.
This, combined with their starting ability (revealing a ruin in the nearest glade), their unique Resolve profile, their needs makeout, and the Firekeeper passive (increased newcomer arrival speed), began to form a promising new playstyle. However, we still felt that this was not enough to truly differentiate Frogs, so we decided to experiment a bit more.
As Frogs became more and more about building, constructing, and growing your settlement, we naturally felt that they should have some unique interactions with housing. After a while, we came to the conclusion that we could use house upgrades as a good way to add more character and variety to the new species. That's why Frogs have 4 levels of upgrades (instead of 2), and each level has two unique effects that can either enhance or slightly change the way you play with them.
This led us to another idea that we wanted to explore - since we wanted to add a little downside to Frogs, and they are so closely tied to houses, maybe they should lack a basic housing need. As it turned out, this small change affected their entire needs makeup and changed how they performed in the early game, as well as added some unique flavor - the stubborn Frogs just don't want to live in basic shelters.
There is one more thing to talk about when it comes to new species in Against the Storm. Over the past few months, a number of players have expressed concern that adding new buildings to the game would only dilute the blueprint pool and make the RNG worse than it already is in some cases. And we agree - this is a very valid concern.
So with Update 1.4, we've made some tweaks to the blueprint drafting system and increased the number of buildings locked behind each species. This should result in the overall blueprint pool feeling less bloated, as even with the newly added buildings, the number of possible choices has decreased slightly (by 1 or 2 per game).
The Coastal Grove
The other big addition that comes with the DLC is the new biome - the Coastal Grove. It's a strange tropical land overgrown with giant Kelpwood trees and algae. Any settlement you start here will begin at the edge of the map, right next to the water. There you will find an ancient Strider Port from which you can send out expeditions in search of treasure and blueprints.
The blueprints from expeditions will come in handy, as you will get fewer of them from the Royal Envoy in this harsh land. However, the upside is that you will be able to choose the category of building you want before sending an expedition. All in all, even with fewer reputation rewards, you will still be able to get more blueprints than usual - your acquisition method will just be different (timed differently, as well as costing you some resources).
When we were designing the Coastal Grove, we were thinking about areas of the game that were underutilized or lacked some “rule-bending”, and we quickly came to the conclusion that there was a lot of potential in blueprint acquisition. Sure, sometimes we give you more or less choices per reputation point, or sometimes we allow you to pick a building with a wildcard, but compared to other systems in the game, there just wasn't that much variety. Add to that the visual flair of a large beast of burden swimming around the map in search of blueprints and treasure, and we quickly knew that this was the right direction.
With this new biome, we also wanted to push the gameplay a bit more into the newly introduced fishing system. That's why it has a strong focus on the new resource - algae - as well as all three types of ponds (fish, algae, and scales). It also has a unique biome effect called Gift of the Depths, which allows players to sacrifice algae in the Ancient Hearth for a Hostility reduction bonus after using enough bait while fishing.
Speaking of which…
Fishing
Fishing is the new resource acquisition system coming in 1.4, and it's available to all players, whether you own the Keepers of the Stone DLC or not. It works in a similar way to regular camp gathering. There are two types of fishing huts: small and regular. The small one is an essential building, and the regular one must be acquired separately (as a blueprint choice, from a trader, or via a wildcard).
There is one small difference, however - fishermen don't just collect resources one by one. They first catch fish and algae in nets, and then transport them directly to a warehouse when the entire pond is depleted. Resources held in nets are not available for production or consumption and must first be transported to a warehouse. You can decide to reel in a net sooner, but once you do this, the pond is depleted.
[previewyoutube=FdU5MJkyaU4;full][/previewyoutube]
Ponds have a very large number or resource charges in them when compared to other does (60 as opposed to 20 in small ones). The intention here was to create a new type of resource gathering mechanism - a mix of a non-renewable source (just like regular deposits) and a big time investment with a big payoff at the end (like farming). To mix things up a bit, there's also the option of using ground bait to double the potential fishing yield.
Ground bait is made from Packs of Crops, directly at the fishing hut, and one pack equals five pieces of bait. We decided to use this resource here because it was the only item in the "Packs" category that didn't have a clear role outside of order fulfillment (all the others have at least one other sink or way of using them).
With the addition of fishing and all the new goods, we had to adjust the distribution of resources in all biomes. Most of them got an extra pond or two to make fishing a viable option, but some, like the Marshlands, underwent a major transformation. The addition of more elements to the node pool made this biome particularly susceptible to fiber shortages, so we decided to increase the spawn rate of stone/fiber nodes, and we changed the stone node from a regular one to an “overgrown” variant, which has an increased chance of dropping algae.
But this is just one of the many balance changes we made in Update 1.4. In the next part of this note, we will go into more detail about some of the major adjustments and improvements.
Balance
With all this new content added to the game, a lot of the balance had to change to not only make room for the new species and resources, but also to make sure that all of these new elements were fun to play with. As a result, we reshuffled the needs of nearly every species, rebalanced a lot of buildings, updated a number of recipes, changed leveling unlocks, added new citadel upgrades, and much, much more.
For example, one of the bigger changes to the needs was the addition of a new clothing item - Boots. We wanted to make sure that every species in the game had at least one clothing need, so that there could be more seasonal effects and perks tied to clothing. Also, this one category of needs has always felt very underwhelming, and we wanted to make it a little more important, especially since the game is about surviving harsh weather conditions.
Another major change is the addition of need-based passive effects. From now on, fulfilling a complex food, clothing, or service need will grant a buff to the affected villager. For example, eating complex food will increase the chance of producing double yields, while wearing boots will make a villager faster.
With this new system, we tried to solve, or at least alleviate, a few problems at once. The first problem was that very often the use of complex food or service items felt like a complete waste if it didn't result in reputation generation. This breaks the promise the game makes to the player: you will take care of your little ones, and it will feel rewarding. While we want to leave some ambiguity here for the most dedicated players, we want regular players to feel rewarded for making the villagers happy - for consuming goods even if it does not contribute to reputation (especially the service-related ones).
The second problem is more related to the arrival of Frogs and the inevitable expansion of the needs pool. In almost every game, players will now form production chains that only affect 1/3 of their population. This feels much less rewarding than 2/3 or even 3/3 combos, which are still possible, but much less likely. So again, we are trying to make completing production chains more rewarding.
We also hope that the addition of strong passive effects to needs will influence the purposeful starvation strategy (or at least make it a bit less dominant). In the ideal scenario, purposeful starvation and hoarding would be just one out of several available strategies, not the only viable way to play high prestige. While those changes alone won't make it happen, they should be a step in that direction.
Yet another big change, especially for more advanced players, is the rebalancing of the Field Kitchen. It used to produce Jerky and Porridge, but we replaced these recipes with Paste (a new good) and Skewers. As a result, the Field Kitchen now produces Biscuits, Pickled Goods, Paste, and Skewers.
In deciding which 3 or 4 recipes should be available in the Field Kitchen (if any should, to be honest), we’ve redefined the role of this building and its T0 recipes. In our opinion, Field Kitchen should lower the risk of taking buildings with recipes for semi-finished goods, used to make Complex Food. It should not be a small factory for Jerky and Porridge, but a building that rewards players for taking risks - for making flour, containers, or dye early on.
These are just some of the bigger changes coming in update 1.4. There are also the aforementioned new goods (scales, fish, algae, boots, paste), new nodes (fish ponds, leather), the reshuffling of resources in the biomes, which we already touched upon, and some significant specialization changes - such as the Foxes losing their Rainwater specialization and gaining a comfort bonus when working in buildings infected with Blightrot.
This specialization change for Foxes is something we wanted to try for a long time, but never really had the time to implement. It fits the flavor of the species, as lore-wise Foxes live in a symbiotic relationship with Blightrot, but it also adds a new gameplay dimension. It’s technically a nerf, but it also reinforces the corruption-heavy playstyle we've been trying to achieve over the last few updates, and it creates potential synergies with other species/perks.
All balance changes in this note and the changelog will be in version 1.4, whether you own the Keepers of the Stone DLC or not. Against the Storm is highly interconnected, so having separate versions isn't practical. We've worked hard to ensure that the experience is as good or better than in version 1.3, whether or not you have the DLC. Many changes weren't just to add new content but also to improve the game's overall pacing and polish.
However, if you find that you don't want to play after the 1.4 update, and that you prefer the pre-DLC, vanilla feel of Against the Storm, you can freely switch back to the 1.3 version at any time using the beta branch feature that Steam provides. Please see the "Settlement Savings & Legacy Branch" section below for more information.
UX and miscellaneous changes
Aside from the new content and balance changes, there are also a number of smaller features and general improvements coming with Update 1.4. Most of these were inspired by the community, and all of them are available to everyone after the 1.4 update - DLC owners or not.
First, let's talk about the changes to the in-game encyclopedia. Many of you will be happy to know that we've finally added the "Glade Events" category! In it, you can browse events at your leisure, look up their requirements, see their potential rewards, etc. There's a catch, though - when we designed this feature, we didn't want to spoil everything right away, and we also wanted to introduce a bit of a scavenger hunt into the system. That's why events are locked at first, and must be solved at least once to be visible in the encyclopedia (the only exception is the Queen's Hand Trial, where all events are visible from the start).
In addition, we have added special markers to events and buildings in the encyclopedia to indicate which ones are locked behind a particular species (so they won’t appear if the species is not present in your settlement). This information is also available in the species tab of the encyclopedia.
We have done a major under-the-hood overhaul of the entire villager behavior system. While this change is mostly invisible to the naked eye, it has allowed us to finally implement some long-awaited features requested by the community, such as the ability to list Purging Fire in the recipe panel, builders and blight fighters taking resources from nearby buildings, farmers building fields, or the ability to assign workers to unfinished construction sites to serve as builders.
There are also several other improvements to existing systems that were directly inspired by community feedback. For example, the warehouse minimum reserve is no longer automatically remembered between games (you have to turn it on manually in the options menu), you can now mark buildings where you don't want Blight Fighters to burn cysts, and there is now a red outline around resource slots where a good is missing.
We've also replaced some old icons with custom assets (as we do with every patch), updated the visuals of some buildings, changed the lighting in nearly every biome, added new DLC-exclusive music (14 tracks in total), fixed a ton of bugs, and tweaked the game’s localization based on your feedback.
We could go on and on, but we'll stop here and let you read the huge changelog for yourself. You can also see the new features in action by watching the recording of our developer livestream, where we discussed the major changes and answered questions from the community:
[previewyoutube=_LIrs_uG-kM;full][/previewyoutube]
Thank you for providing us with feedback and suggestions for the new update. If you’d like to share your ideas for upcoming updates, here are some useful links:
- Steam Discussions, Discord, Reddit - discuss the game with the community and share your impressions
- Feature Request Tool - suggest specific new features
May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games
Fishing Update (1.4) Changelog
Due to the character limit on Steam, the changelog for Fishing Update 1.4 is split into two articles:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4665256208709775238
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/4665256208709904287
The current game version is 1.4.4.
SETTLEMENT SAVES & LEGACY BRANCHES INFORMATION
As with all major updates, numerous systemic changes require us to close the ongoing settlements to avoid potential issues. As compensation, you’ll receive extra Citadel Resources and Royal Resupply. On a community request, we also added an option to decline that reward.
(Steam only) However, for those of you who weren’t able to finish their settlements and would very much like to do so, we also prepared a separate Legacy Branch 1.3 where we’ll keep the previous version available indefinitely.
If you want to finish your current settlement, follow the instructions below prior to playing with the new Fishing Update (1.4).
[olist]
Once you finish the settlement on the Legacy Branch 1.3, follow the steps above, but select “None” to return to the main branch.
Legacy Branch 1.3
Against the Storm’s Fishing Update 1.4 introduced a vast range of new content, balance changes, and improvements. Together with Keepers of the Stone DLC, it is the largest content drop in the game’s history.
With such a high number of changes, it may require re-learning the recipes, changing strategies, or simply getting used to the new balance. Due to this, we know that some of you may be desperate to play the version you knew and enjoyed for so long.
We always recommend playing on the latest public version as we continuously ensure it's in the best technical state. However, if you prefer, you can download and play the “pre-Frogs” version 1.3.5 (Legacy Branch 1.3) using Steam’s Betas branching functionality.
Please carefully read the guide below to learn more about switching branches and potential issues that may occur:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3337488070
Enjoy and have fun!
That’s all for today, folks! We’re excited you can finally welcome Frogs to your settlements. Ever since we first introduced them in the community vote back in February 2023, we wanted to do them justice and add them to the game. And now, finally, they are here! ????
