We gathered some Vicars together to discuss the latest patch & they decided that everything was going –

This update will go live to every Clockwork Empires player via Steam!

We have also updated our Clockwork Empires: Development Progress Report! It contains the wondrous annotated changelog.

(Don’t own the game? Clockwork Empires can be purchased on ClockworkEmpires.com via Humble or from Steam.)

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Major Changes

• Building creator, module placer, zone creator rewritten! Building stuff is more accurate, more efficient, and all-around improved! 200% of the rich flavour you demand!
• Added happiness-to-workshift system: Now emotions matter. The happier your colonists are – well, your overseers anyway – the longer your work crews will work.
• Science!
• Chapel doctrines!
• Optimization!

Building Designation / Module Placement

• performed complete rewrite of module and building placer
• terrain flattening is now defined using a proper zone and widget, and not the awful old little yellow beacon system
• FIXED: zones are designated per-verte, not per-tile
• FIXED: module placement crash when SHIFT-clicking multiple modules or placing modules rapidly and in succession
• FIXED: various issues with snapping modules not working correctly at all
• FIXED: extruded blueprint for an exterior model extends one unit behind the actual module (or more, depending on the interior height)
• FIXED: right-clicking in the zone creator let you break things
• FIXED: zone creator max size reporting was off by 1
• FIXED: small mysterious colored square occasionally showing up on the terrain
• FIXED: another case of the small mysterious colored square
• FIXED: saving in blueprint mode and reloading would cause invisible modules
• FIXED: barbershop and other exterior decor items create raised platforms
• FIXED: window height incorrect
• FIXED: pressing ENTER without having specified a correct blueprint would crash the game

Colonists / AI

• added new happiness-based workshift system
• balance: lowered desire to listen to sermons slightly
• balance: generally increased happiness from memories for new workshift system
• FIXED: civilians weren’t correctly dropping firearms
  
• FIXED: colonists will drop goods when retreating (fixes possible instances of objects attached to hands)
• FIXED: when colonists talk while holding very large items, they’ll no longer swing them around crazily while gesticulating
• FIXED: civilians were not fleeing with appropriate aplomb from hostile Fishpeople
• OPTIMIZED: pathing to object test
• OPTIMIZED: various slowdowns; large colonies should run more smoothly

Science

• added new Laboratory system
• Opium Poppy, Bamboo, and Coconut Palm are now locked by research at start of game
• added some generic agricultural labour upgrade technologies
• added first set of metallurgy/mining techs
• added warning when Lab Office points are maxed
• FIXED (probably): possible infinite loops when studying fishpeople/obeliskians
• FIXED: ghost chalkboard is not longer valid tool for performing research

Foreign Office / Factions

• added progress bar to Do Diplomatic Paperwork
• performed refactoring of Bandit events to fit revised faction code; you will notice that some events have slightly different options
• added “Bandits Visit Town” event
• added “Ministry Investigates Stolen Goods” event
• added “Bandit Ties Investigated” event
• added “Bandits Guard Town” foreign office missions & hook to foreign invasion event
• trade missions now spawn with guards
• fixed up faction descriptions on Foreign Office buttons
• added warning when Foreign Office points are maxed
• added some new foreign office events to foreign nations
• events: made relations changes due to events stated more explicitly
• trader groups now have more appropriate names
• FIXED: relations with various factions would be totally reset by incidental events that should have modified relations slightly
• FIXED: possible infinite loop in foreign_office.go
• FIXED: if your standing with bandits changes away from hostile in the middle of a raid, the bandits will stop attacking (but will still be jerks)
• FIXED: scripterror when attempting to do Foreign Office action on Bandits when none are on map
• FIXED: traders should no longer leave ‘ghost’ trade goods if things get weird
• FIXED 47B: Empire relations weren’t being changed by Foreign Office

Modules

• tables are now “Table and Chair Sets”. You can’t sit in them right now. This will be Improved.
• added boxed module recipes for the following: Chemistry Workbench, Fancy Bookshelf, Hanging pots, Stone Altar, Large Stone Altar, Wood Altar
• updated costs for constructing ceramics and chemistry workbenches
• re-enabled module animations and particle effects on a number of modules.
• re-enabled pickup_animation for modules. This may cause some visual oddness until a related bug is fixed.
• Mineshafts now use particle effects when in use
• module breakage now spawns rubbish
• FIXED: costs for a number of modules with incorrect costs
• FIXED: stained glass windows were not being built
• FIXED: Iron Smelting Crucible consumed one too few bricks
• FIXED: people no longer stick their heads into ovens/workbenches when dropping off materials. Usually.
• FIXED: clothes-lines were not built correctly
• FIXED: carpentry benches wouldn’t break properly

UI

• updated the following tutorials to match current art/gameplay: Cooking, Job Filters, Staying Alive, Using Military
• lessened bureaucrat warning spam
• added “?” box tutorials for the following windows: Foreign Office, Chapel, Laboratory, Mine, Trade Office.
• FIXED: Offices now use scroll bars in their jobs list displays, and display both their assigned colonists and the originating colonist for a job (where appropriate)
• FIXED: triggering frontier justice via ministry investigation events will now correctly place frontier justice icons on target
• FIXED: various typos
• TEST 47C: added more info to carpentry workshop UI (maybe will roll out to everything)

Military

• NCOs of higher skill will now train militia footsoldiers significantly faster
• balance: increased baseline training time of militia to redcoats to encourage use of skilled NCOs
• balance: assigning a soldier away from their barracks will reset their training points to zero; if you want trained soldiers, you must maintain a standing army
• FIXED: when soldiers are ordered to beat someone, they won’t be frontier justiced due to hurting another colonist
• FIXED: redcoats assigned away from a barracks can now be re-trained
• FIXED: Military patrol job will no longer conflict with “squish vermin”

Jobs / Economy

• added grass, shrubbery, and flower planting for gardening enthusiasts
• balance: adjusted utility of burial so it (hopefully) doesn’t conflict w/ farming duties
• all remaining jobs that allowed a worker to leave while they were in progress (i.e. smelting) have been changed to require worker presence.
• re-enabled steel in the game (it currently isn’t used for anything, though. Emphasis on currently.)
• re-enabled Chalk (used to make steel)
• FIXED: “Do Foreign Paperwork” and “Do Science!” jobs are now evaluated using office standing orders, not social jobs
• FIXED: Fishperson Steak and Long Pork are no longer cooked by the Basic Food recipe
• FIXED: glass panes no longer built instantly
• FIXED: Iron scraps are now able to be smelted into bars like ore
• FIXED: muskets using incorrect resources
• FIXED: if a colonist gets tired of waiting for confession/a drink/a barber they will correctly remove the job from the office (this fixes UI overflow and colonist paralysis)
• TEST: locked cabbage at start
• TEST: doubled all cooked food output

Events

• rubbish left lying around may now spawn vermin
• added an event that recommends a player build a barracks if they haven’t done so by day 4
• FIXED: Fishpeople envoys will never show up before first contact
• FIXED: starting loadout airdrop crates will no longer land on each others’ goods and possibly causing explosions, fire, and death
• FIXED: vermin will no longer spawn inside buildings (which could cause Problems)
• FIXED: some bandit related text

Religion

• added chapel doctrines, along with accompanying UI. Players may now choose a chapel doctrine in the building’s interface, which will influence what effect their vicars’ sermons have.
• removed old references to “Seminary Training”; it is generally replaced with “Spiritually Inclined” trait.

Misc.

• Trade goods and forbidden items now have bright red/green outlines as well as their standard tinting.
• balance: Obeliskians now won’t wake … so soon.
• FIXED: forageables would rotate slightly when a job to interact with them was cancelled in a certain way
• TEST 47C: crops no longer spoil (due to workshift system)

Want the full annotated changelog? Read it in the Development Report!

Have fun and let us know through our mysterious portal or forum if anything goes wrong