Hello Elders,

This is it, the Recall Update is now out on Steam and GoG! Go play it! Soon also on Switch, as soon as the patch gets accepted!

Thanks to everybody who gave feedback on the update during the experimental phase! Hopefully we squashed all bugs, but if you find more let me know!

Here are the major changes (mostly if you not read the previous news):

Improved Research Tree

In 1.8, my focus has been on improving the research tree UX.

In addition to various small QoL changes (see the full changelog below), here are the major changes:

Research Preview

The research tree has been updated with a nice preview window, which shows what buildings you could get in the current story for that same slot. This will make the research tree feel less random, and easier to decide a strategy!

Also, the research tree will display the building that will appear in a slot if it is the only one that can appear in the future (once you have encountered it once at least).

Research Queuing

Are you tired of having to always select a new research each turn when you are snowballing? You will be able to queue your researches! Do so by holding the Shift key, or by using the Queue toggle in the research tree.

Saving Up Knowledge

It will be possible to *not* select anything in the tree, and thus save up knowledge.

If you have not researched anything, the game will ask you to choose something, but you can now also close the menu without doing so, or toggle your selection off.

This makes it so that you can decide to not focus on a specific building, if you do so prefer. You can even disable the research reminder in the settings!

The Recalls

I know, the memory of the Elders is not good, and sometimes they might make things up, so why not backtrack too? Introducing Recalls! Recalls are a special resource that is very rare, and allows you to either choose a different building in the tree, or reroll a boon choice.

You can use the Research Preview window also to re-select buildings, provided you have a Recall available! This lets you customize your research tree to better fight the Apocalypse, even if just a little.

This is limited to a few changes per game, as it can be a very strong help! You can get a Recall either by:

• Getting 1 once you unlock the mechanic in the Memories (available from the start of the run)

• Getting it as a normal Boon

• Getting it as a Starting Boon

• Getting it in a rare powerful event

Note that some buildings are now required by others to appear, and this is now shown in the research tree as "key buildings", which might disable the recall effects to make sure you do not create some unusable combinations!

A Starting Village Boon!

A new boon choice is now in the game when you start a new village, with 6 new boons dedicated to it! This can be helpful to steer your early game towards a specific strategy and thus making early game more varied.

This takes the place of the existing Persistence Bonus, as I realized that it did not work as intended. It was supposed to push players to embrace the randomness of the game by rewarding, but those that like to reroll just did so anyway, grumblingly, grumbling about the missed bonus. So, I decided to remove that bonus and instead rebalance the early game a bit to allow more leeway!

Custom Game Modifiers!

Now, it is fun to make things for players that love dotAGE, but would we also think about those that hate it? Of course!

Introducing Custom Game Modifiers, which allow players to start games with some custom rules if they so prefer. Let me know what you think of these, and what other modifiers you'd like to see implemented!

Beware: these games won't be tracked on the high score tables, and some of the achievements (now identified with a red Challenge Trophy icon) are not available.

The Seeded Run option was already implemented and it has been merged into this new system.

I plan to add more custom modifiers as I work on the next updates (I am prototyping a few!), for this version, the first custom rules I implemented are tied to the Research and the new Recall feature.

Clairvoyance

So, some of you want to just play civilization, but have already 1k hours on all of them from 1 to 6, or even 7, is that so?

Well then, I added a Clairvoyance option for you, which makes the whole Research Tree visible from the start! The game plays very differently with this option turned on, as you do not have to guess anymore at what to build and can plan from the beginning. Will this stand the test of time?

Infinite Recalls

Now that Recalls are in, I also added a mode that lets you have Infinite Recalls, which means you will be able to completely select your research tree (apart from the starting knowledge, just reroll in that case, would you?).

If you wanted to try out some specific combination of buildings for your story, you can now do so safely!

More!

Alongside this and the previously explained Research Tree changes, the update brings many fixes, balance updates, and UX upgrades.

Here are some highlights:

• Added a new Building to the Poisoning memory because too many players would refuse to unlock it

• A lot of changes to Buildings to make them more varied, with some buffs and nerfs as needed

• Soil now won't affect Plants anymore, as it was pretty unintuitive, making the early food push a bit harder for experienced players (this is compensated by the new boons, let me know what you think!)

• Unlocked but not encountered events now show all their data apart from the effect, adding to the mystery

• Memories have been rebalanced and moved to provide a better flow for new players

• Relax mode is now even easier

• More buildings now light up during the night (Tents, Grills, Barbecues, and all stuff that looks like it should!)

• How to lure Folks is now cleaner, as Folks now can a resource they Love and one they are Offended By, and will lure respectively good or bad events!

• Dad Automation has been completely redesigned! (iterated a few times in experimental, too)

And that's it! I hope you have a lot of fun with the new update! I am already juggling with ideas for the Lava update, and even more stuff coming... stay tuned for more news down the line!

Until then, have fun!

- Michele

Old version?

If you have issues with this version, you can fallback and find the previous major version in a separate branch, called V_1_7_2

Full Changelog for 1.8.0f

New feature: Recalls

• Added a new Memory, one rare Recall resource, and three new events tied to the new Recall feature

• All stories start with 1 Recall. More can be obtained with some rare events, or Boons.

• Building Recall: You can now spend the Recall resource to select a different building in the tree for the same slot

• Boon Reroll: You can spend the Recall resource to reroll Boons, once per choice

New feature: Story Modifiers

• Added Story Modifiers to customize your game with special rules (no score tracking or Challenge achievements however!)

• New Story Modifier: Infinite Recalls - choose all the Buildings that will appear in the story

• New Story Modifier: Clairvoyance - view the complete research tree from the start

New feature: Starting Boons

• Removed persistence bonus, now replaced with a Starting Boon for everybody, obtained once you unlock Boons

• Reduced start food on the map for all elders to 80%, once you unlock the Starting Boons

• Previous Knowledge: Now adds 6 instead of 4 Knowledge

• Lower Temperature: Now adds 8 instead of 4 Cold

• Hidden Food: Now adds 15 instead of 10 Berries

• Experimental Sticks: new Boon. Gain 3 wood whenever a research is completed

• Newborn Feasts: new Boon. Gain 2 Health whenever a Pippin is born

• Crunchy Snacks: new Boon. Gain 3 Apples whenever a Pip Dwelling is built

• Careful Harvests: new Boon. Gain 2 Seeds whenever a Crop is completely harvested

• Fishing Mastery: new Boon. All Fishing production is increased by 1

Research UX Revision

• UX: You can now toggle the current research on/off

• UX: Added research tree queuing, by holding SHIFT or using the new button on the screen

• UI: Once you unlock the Research Randomization memory, you can now preview the buildings in a slot in the research tree

• UI: Buildings will show in the preview panel why they cannot be selected

• UI: If a slot has only one building available, it will be automatically previewed

• UI: Research slots won't show resources that are unavilable in that run (for example, elder-specific ones)

• UI: Pressing right-click on the 'Research To Be Selected' button will now dismiss it

• UX: You can now avoid selecting a new building to research, and instead pile up knowledge

• UI: Overflow points are now shown in the research bar if nothing is selected for research

• UI: Buildings that are forced due to elder selection now have a green border around them

• UI: If a slot cannot be reached as all buildings inside are of other elders, the slot will have a specific elder icon and tooltip

• UI: The last researched building is now shown in the research bar if nothing is selected

• UI: Added a separate 'research can be performed' icon on the side when you skip research

• UI: Improved arrows placement

• Settings: added option to skip having to select a research at all

UX

• Menus: Revised placement of Story Deletion buttons to be clearer

• Menus: Added a button to delete the current story in the 'Current Story' screen

• Menus: Added Story Modifiers panel

• Menus: Redone Elder traits to be cleaner

• Hints: Added new Welcome to Folkways hint

• Menus: Redone list-item system to be more performant and avoid weird placements

• Buildings: You can now see the output when hovering on ruined buildings to identify them (very useful for Ronomy!)

• Buildings: When a building becomes abandoned due to your building choices, a warning is shown

• Agepedia: Unlocked but not encountered elements now show their name, so you can have a hint at what they do

• Agepedia: Unlocked but not encountered events now show all their data apart from the effect

• Agepedia: Added a new filter to show known/encountered/locked elements

• Agepedia: Terrains are now unlocked when the relevant Task is unlocked (so that you know what the Task does)

• Memories: Boons that are unlocked now always show their name even if the effect is not known

• Graphics: More buildings now light up during the night (Tents, Grills, Barbecues, and all stuff that looks like it should!)

• Highscores: Improved highscores view

• Folk buildings in the research tree now show a single profession-race combo to avoid confusion

Balance: Buildings

• Added a new Building to the Poisoning memory, because too many players would refuse to unlock it

• Soil: Now does not give a bonus to Plants anymore, but only Crops

• Building path requirements are now more consistent in general (hidden information, nothing visually changes for players)

• Some Folk buildings are now required to appear if their dwelling is available, instead of being optional

• Hay Collector is now the key building for Hay, not Hay Dryer

• Herbal Altar now does not require Hay Collector to appear

• Soy Field and Soy Milk Maker now always appear together

• Seeds Mill and Seed Field now always appear together

• Folk buildings that replace Park and Garden are now mandatory if the Folk dwelling is in the tree

• All Burials now do not have the Structure trait anymore

• Greater Altar: Wood cost from 21 to 20, because it looked weird

• Herbal Altar: Added Hemp cost of 4. Wood cost from 10 to 8

• Infusion Shrine: Added Hemp cost of 8. Added Stone cost of 4. Wood cost from 20 to 8.

• Water Shrine: Wood cost from 30 to 40. Stone cost from 6 to 0.

• Mountain Shrine: Wood cost from 30 to 20. Stone cost from 6 to 15.

• Mountain Temple: Stone cost from 20 to 30. Removed Plank cost. Added Brick cost of 10.

• Bird Hunter: Can now also hunt Wild Chicken (with an output of 3)

• Fruit Infuser: No longer requires water

• Metal Extractor: Now also produces 1 Gold from 10 Stones

• Bandage Desk: Now cures 3 Pips per action instead of 2. Output Rope from 0 to 1.

• Manure Burner: Bonus for connecting pavement is now a requirement. Output Heat from 40 to 50.

• Brothel: Redesigned. Now does not scale anymore with Bourgeoise, but requires Bourgeoise closeby. Now also requires Flower, and produces maximum 60 Serenity.

• Driftwood Refuge: now has trait Road 1, Ink cost from 3 to 4

• Verdant Shelter: now has trait Road 1, Seeds cost from 4 to 6

• Orange Tree: Depletion value from 20 to 10. Output from 5 to 6. Water from 3 to 5.

• Pear Tree: Output from 5 to 4. Seeds from 10 to 4

• Algae Collector: Ouput from 2 Herb to 3 Herb. Stone cost from 1 to 2.

• Medicinal Herb Field: Turns to grow from 5 to 4. Water cost from 1 to 5. Seed cost from 3 to 4. Now produces during Autumn and Winter instead of Summer and Autumn.

• Rice Field: Now susceptible to Flooding

• Turnip Field: Turns to grow from 5 to 6

• Wood Stack: Build cost from 4 to 6 Wood

• Large Signpost: Build cost from 3 to 5 Wood

• Mender's Hut: Herb recipe maximum value from 1 -> 9 to 1 -> 7

• Stone Well: Stone cost from 4 to 8

• Huge Spring: Wood cost from 7 to 12

• Mender's Cottage: Herb recipe maximum value from 1 -> 15 to 1 -> 12

• Stone Extractor: Now produces a base of 16 per turn instead of 8. Now requires Brykemakers instead of Stonecutters. Build cost from 5 Stone to 10 Stone, and from 4 Planks to 6 Bricks

• Fruit Infuser: Recipe changed from 1 Fruit -> 1 Infusion to 3 Fruits -> 1 Infusion over 2 Turns, but now gets a bonus of 1 when close to a Health-maker. Now requires to be placed close to Fruit-makers.

• Bandage Desk: Input cost from 1 Paper to 2 Paper. Now requires a Paper-maker closeby.

• Ink Physician: Output from 2 to 1, but gains a bonus of 1 when close to Health-maker. Now requires an Ink-maker closeby.

• Barbecue and Great Barbecue: Hunting requirement converted to Bonus, so to not make them abandoned if hunters are disabled

• Water Mill: Wood cost from 15 to 30. Stone cost from 6 to 0.

• Seeds Mill: Stone cost from 6 to 3, Wood cost from 15 to 10

• Rain Mill: Redesigned to now get a bonus for each Water-producer at distance 1, and be more input-efficient compared to Wind Mill

• Bakery: Wood build cost from 6 to 12

• Milk Bakery: Flour input cost for the Hard Bread recipe from 1 to 2

• Straw Bales Factory: Wood build cost from 6 to 0. Stone input cost from 8 to 10

• Straw Bales Factory: Now has a recipe to make Glop from Hay and Water

• Tannery: Leather output from 5 to 4. Wood build cost reduced from 6 to 0. Added Plank build cost of 3.

• Leatherworks: Plank build cost from 4 to 6

• Ink Tailor: now requires a Ink producer closeby instead of a Social building

• Performer's Stall: Removed Enhancing bonus. Bonus from a Social building reduced to 1. Added bonus of +1 from a Leisure building.

• Juggler's Stall: Now requires 1 Tool as input to produce. Output from 6 to 8. Enhancement bonus reduced from 3 to 2.

• Wrestling Arena: Removed Bonus with Social Building. Base output from 3 to 5. Added a new Recipe that uses Rope to produce Hope

• Wrestling Ring: Removed Bonus with Social Building. Base output from 6 to 10. Added a new Recipe that uses Rope to produce Hope

• Wargaming Table: Base output from 8 to 10

• Aqua Park: Output from 20+5X to 25+5X

• Squeezer: Now requires a Farmer instead of a Fisher (because my humour was misunderstood, and that's because it was bad)

• Spirit Burner: Input from 2 Spirits to 1 Spirit

• Spirit Burner: Now requires a Smith instead of an Artisan

• Alcohol Heater: Input from 2 Spirits to 1 Spirit

• Surgeon: Plank cost from 4 to 7

• Seeds Extractor: Redesigned. Rmoved Milk and Vegetable recipe. Added special Chestnut recipe. Removed bonus from dwellings. Wood cost from 7 to 8.

• Hemp processor: Redesigned. Removed Milk and Fruit recipe. Now only uses Vegetables. Now gets a bonus for each Vegetable maker instead of Fruit maker. Copper bar cost from 3 to 2.

• Squeezer: Now always appears with Milky Bakery. Memory unlocked with Cows. Replaced 6 Wood cost with 2 Stone Cost.

Balance: Events

• An offer you cannot refuse: Now will appear only later in a story

• Boon - Empty Glades: Bonus reduced to 1 every 3 instead of 1 every 2

• Boon - Close-Knit: Now appears at max with 25 Pips

• Boon - Smelly Fertilizers: Now appears only if you have at least 4 Manure in the pool

• Events that give Knowledge can now appear even if no building is being researched

• Mini events: Leather can now appear as a mini-bonus without having to unlock Cows beforehand

• Boons: Added missing Boon tag to some events

Balance: Folks

• All Folks now have a set of resources they love and a set they hate, which lures good or bad events

• Nature's Ally: Minimum level reduced from 4 to 3, making Dryads appear a bit earlier

• A cat joins: Decreased rarity from 2 to 1, as Cats have it harder due to their breeding requirements

• A real boy: won't list Choice as a trait anymore (as you have no choice, he decides!)

• Bad Dwarf events now require Iron or Copper bars to appear, not any Bar

• Woodpips no longer have a soul

Balance: Elders

• Dad Automation redesign: Automating non-professional Pips now costs 3 Stone

• Dad Automation redesign: Automating commoner professional Pips now costs 3 CopperOre

• Dad Automation redesign: Automating professionals now also requires 5 food (either Fuel, or Advanced Tools)

• Dad Automation redesign: Automated Pips do not eat anything anymore

• Dad Automation redesign: Improved Agepedia notes about Automation

• Trisavolo: Now forced to find Goat Pen

• Trisavolo: Lazy Summer now targets Dwarves only

• Trisavolo: New trait that makes Cobblestones count as Stones tiles

• All Elders now start with a mix of male and female Pips (visual only, to create more variation!)
  

Balance: Achievements & Score

• Score for resources reduced from 0.1 to 0.05s

• Challenge achievements (Special Wins, and Hard Wins) are now treated separately

• Using a run modifier now does not disable all achievements, but only Challenge achievements

• Playing in Relax mode now disables Challenge achievements

• Relax Mode: Increased starting food on the map (food modifier from 0.4 to 1.2)

Balance: Memories

• Moved memories around to provide a better flow

• Shaman: now unlocked earlier so to basically garauntee she'll be unlocked after you almost win once

• Yugong: now unlocked earlier

• Beer: now unlocked after Shaman

• Birds: now unlocked much later

• Pig: now unlocked after Shaman

• Creative Protection: now unlocked after Shaman

• More Boons: now unlocked before Yugong (much earlier than before)

• Cow: now unlocked after Yugong

• More Traits: now unlocked after Yugong

• Super Charge: now unlocked before Yugong (much earlier than before)

• Goats: now unlocked before Dwarves

• Gold: now unlocked a bit earlier

• Gardens: now unlocked after Captain

• Fields: now unlocked after Dwarf

• Rabbit Shearer: now unlocked with Sheep (otherwise the wool cannot be used)

• Seeds Mill now unlocked with Fields

Bugfixes

• Dad: Fixed automation not showing Woodpips being fused anymore

• UI: Fixed locked agepedia element text becoming garbled

• UI: Fixed Seed UI sometimes not being visually enabled correctly

• UI: Fixed resetting completely the game not refreshing the current slot screen

• UI: Fixed sorting of Elder achievements to avoid some Hard achievements appearing before (so annoying!)

• UI: Fixed opening the pause menu when a choice is shown blocking the game when using a controller

• Resources: Fixed Dog appearing among butcherable animals in the Slaughterhouse

• Agepedia: Fixed locked agepedia element text becoming garbled

• Research: Fixed disabling Folkways potentially switching your Flower Picker to a Seed Picker on the first load

• Research: Fixed unlocking a special building with a boon blocking the current research from being completed

• Research: When unlocking new memories, if the research tree is open, it will now refresh correctly

• Events: Fixed Inventor and similar VIPs still giving resources even when dead

• Events: Fixed bug where exiting during a boon choice would force the next event to have a lower event level

• Events: Fixed bug where exiting during a boon choice would make the next event choice always non visible

• Memories: Fixed Leather appearing with Cow, since it is unlocked from the start instead

• System: Fixed a nullreference on first load