bastecklein's Recent Posts
Yes I don't see a problem with these, with slight modifications (i don't know if the game supports 200 IQ or not for instance, I would have to check the code)
Today I am finishing up and releasing the v1.22.0 update to the original My Colony, which includes a whole bunch of under-the-hood changes and a bit of new content. So what are we looking at in this release? Let's find out!
In the previous release notes for MC1, I mentioned that I was thinking about offering limited time release "collectors" edition buildings that you could get with Ape Coins for those who were interested. In this update I am testing the system out to see how it works, with the trial of a Dev Solar Panel structure (which you can see in the image above, modeled after the MC2 solar panel somewhat).
Here is how the system is (supposed) to work, which will probably need ironed out over the coming updates, but is in active testing right now. From time to time, new limited edition buildings will be made available that you can get with Ape Coins. When there is a new building available, you will see a notice on the construction sidebar like this:
Clicking on the notification will bring up a window that shows all of the current limited edition structures that are available (currently, only the testing structure is there).
This structures are purchased with Ape Coins and are tied to your Ape Apps Account, meaning that you can use them on any city on your account, and you can build as many of them as you wish. You will notice that you are able to buy multiple "copies" of them as well. The reasoning is to facilitate either trade, or to allow you to gift them to your friends who may not be able to afford them.
To trade structures with other players, you can bring up their profile card by either clicking on one of their chat messages as usual, or selecting them from your Friends list in the statistics window. Once opened, you will see two new buttons in the corner.
The Coin button allows you to just gift Ape Coins to another player. This is generally so that you can help a friend/family member buy Premium or extra content themselves using Ape Coins. You could already donate Ape Coins to another player using the Ape Apps website, but this just makes it easier, and since people have asked for the feature, they obviously did not know that the option existed on the website anyway.
The Trade looking button allows you to offer one of your purchased buildings to another player. You first select one of your owned buildings, and you then select a price. You are able to select anything between Free and 500 Ape Coins. If you want to work out a deal for more than 500 Ape Coins or for something other than Ape Coins, you will have to facilitate it outside of the app, and that is up to you. Once the offer is made, it is sent to the other player who then has one week to either accept or reject it. If they accept, the ownership of the structure is transferred over to their account.
If you look at the image above, the little golden wrench in the corner of the solar panel icon is the Set/Series icon for the structure. Collectable structures will be grouped into different sets. I am going to be working on adding a Collectables section to the Encyclopedia that will show all of the sets, all of the buildings in them, and their rarity, or how many "copies" of each building are in existence, this way in the future, people who are collecting or trading them will have an idea of their relative value.
So that is what I have so far on the collectables system. This update is for testing and refining the system, and in mid-October I plan to start releasing the first "real" buildings and sets, starting with a Halloween themed set.
I want to note that the whole collectable buildings system is meant for people who are interested in collecting things and also just want to add some extra "flare" to their colonies, and also to help support the further development of the game. There will not be any OP type structures, or structures that give a big leg up in the game. This system is going to be more for fun.
Ok so moving past the collectables stuff, this update makes a change to Poverty and Wages. Before now, it really didn't matter if you paid your colonists or not, but now it does. Colonists living under the poverty line will contribute to your disapproval rating, as will colonists earning a wage that is far below your GDP per capita. To help work your numbers out, I have added a breakdown of the monthly income and poverty levels, since the colonist salary settings are set on a monthly basis.
Right now excessive poverty will cause the crime rate in your city to rise, further damaging work efficiency and approval rating. I was planning on also making the workers go on strike, but upon testing it ended up bring pretty brutal, so I will hold off on implementing that part of it, until people can get their workers wages normalized.
This update also brings a change to Charter Codes. Since there have been a lot of charter code collisions with new colonies, all new charter codes are now 10 characters long instead of 8. @Sobeirannovaocc I hope that does not cause problems for Coloniae or any of your other tools!
Moving on. I have also basically rewritten the entire layout for Desktop, Mobile and TV of the game. I have done testing on each platform, so I hope it's not messed up, but please let me know in this thread if the layout is jacked up anywhere so I can get it fixed. For those who do not know, My Colony is written in HTML/Javascript, and I have moved the HUD UI from using absolute positioned elements to using CSS grid, like My Colony 2 does. Again, I pretty much changed everything in the stylesheets, and I think it basically looks the same as it did before, but please let me know if I borked something!
Next up, buildings in the Construction sidebar are now sorted, instead of just being thrown in there in the order that they were added to the game. The sorting uses pretty much the same scheme that My Colony 2 does, putting roads at the top, and then sorting everything else by price. Whether or not you think this is better or worse I suppose will depend on the player.
Finally, let's get to the new content in this update! I have added a new tech called the Military Industrial Complex, which in turn unlocks a new Weapons Factory which produces a new resource of Weapons of Mass Destruction! Once you have some WMD's, you can create the new Octagon structure, a military HQ that sends Starships and WMD's out into space and brings back plunder. It should be noted that the Octagon was originally going to be the Hexagon which I think sounds cooler, but I tell you that I spent a whole afternoon trying to draw a decent looking Hexagon shaped building and I just couldn't make it look right, so here we are with an Octagon instead. Deal with it!
So anyway, that about covers it for this release. The new Starship and Military content I think will fit hand-in-hand with the content coming next update, a new Dark Matter tech tree with accompanying structures that is being created by @Electrogamer1943 that you can all expect in the next update. On top of that, you can look for the new Halloween content pack coming later next month!
As always, thanks for playing the game, let me know what issues you find, and stay tuned for more!
#mycolony
In the previous release notes for MC1, I mentioned that I was thinking about offering limited time release "collectors" edition buildings that you could get with Ape Coins for those who were interested. In this update I am testing the system out to see how it works, with the trial of a Dev Solar Panel structure (which you can see in the image above, modeled after the MC2 solar panel somewhat).
Here is how the system is (supposed) to work, which will probably need ironed out over the coming updates, but is in active testing right now. From time to time, new limited edition buildings will be made available that you can get with Ape Coins. When there is a new building available, you will see a notice on the construction sidebar like this:
Clicking on the notification will bring up a window that shows all of the current limited edition structures that are available (currently, only the testing structure is there).
This structures are purchased with Ape Coins and are tied to your Ape Apps Account, meaning that you can use them on any city on your account, and you can build as many of them as you wish. You will notice that you are able to buy multiple "copies" of them as well. The reasoning is to facilitate either trade, or to allow you to gift them to your friends who may not be able to afford them.
To trade structures with other players, you can bring up their profile card by either clicking on one of their chat messages as usual, or selecting them from your Friends list in the statistics window. Once opened, you will see two new buttons in the corner.
The Coin button allows you to just gift Ape Coins to another player. This is generally so that you can help a friend/family member buy Premium or extra content themselves using Ape Coins. You could already donate Ape Coins to another player using the Ape Apps website, but this just makes it easier, and since people have asked for the feature, they obviously did not know that the option existed on the website anyway.
The Trade looking button allows you to offer one of your purchased buildings to another player. You first select one of your owned buildings, and you then select a price. You are able to select anything between Free and 500 Ape Coins. If you want to work out a deal for more than 500 Ape Coins or for something other than Ape Coins, you will have to facilitate it outside of the app, and that is up to you. Once the offer is made, it is sent to the other player who then has one week to either accept or reject it. If they accept, the ownership of the structure is transferred over to their account.
If you look at the image above, the little golden wrench in the corner of the solar panel icon is the Set/Series icon for the structure. Collectable structures will be grouped into different sets. I am going to be working on adding a Collectables section to the Encyclopedia that will show all of the sets, all of the buildings in them, and their rarity, or how many "copies" of each building are in existence, this way in the future, people who are collecting or trading them will have an idea of their relative value.
So that is what I have so far on the collectables system. This update is for testing and refining the system, and in mid-October I plan to start releasing the first "real" buildings and sets, starting with a Halloween themed set.
I want to note that the whole collectable buildings system is meant for people who are interested in collecting things and also just want to add some extra "flare" to their colonies, and also to help support the further development of the game. There will not be any OP type structures, or structures that give a big leg up in the game. This system is going to be more for fun.
Ok so moving past the collectables stuff, this update makes a change to Poverty and Wages. Before now, it really didn't matter if you paid your colonists or not, but now it does. Colonists living under the poverty line will contribute to your disapproval rating, as will colonists earning a wage that is far below your GDP per capita. To help work your numbers out, I have added a breakdown of the monthly income and poverty levels, since the colonist salary settings are set on a monthly basis.
Right now excessive poverty will cause the crime rate in your city to rise, further damaging work efficiency and approval rating. I was planning on also making the workers go on strike, but upon testing it ended up bring pretty brutal, so I will hold off on implementing that part of it, until people can get their workers wages normalized.
This update also brings a change to Charter Codes. Since there have been a lot of charter code collisions with new colonies, all new charter codes are now 10 characters long instead of 8. @Sobeirannovaocc I hope that does not cause problems for Coloniae or any of your other tools!
Moving on. I have also basically rewritten the entire layout for Desktop, Mobile and TV of the game. I have done testing on each platform, so I hope it's not messed up, but please let me know in this thread if the layout is jacked up anywhere so I can get it fixed. For those who do not know, My Colony is written in HTML/Javascript, and I have moved the HUD UI from using absolute positioned elements to using CSS grid, like My Colony 2 does. Again, I pretty much changed everything in the stylesheets, and I think it basically looks the same as it did before, but please let me know if I borked something!
Next up, buildings in the Construction sidebar are now sorted, instead of just being thrown in there in the order that they were added to the game. The sorting uses pretty much the same scheme that My Colony 2 does, putting roads at the top, and then sorting everything else by price. Whether or not you think this is better or worse I suppose will depend on the player.
Finally, let's get to the new content in this update! I have added a new tech called the Military Industrial Complex, which in turn unlocks a new Weapons Factory which produces a new resource of Weapons of Mass Destruction! Once you have some WMD's, you can create the new Octagon structure, a military HQ that sends Starships and WMD's out into space and brings back plunder. It should be noted that the Octagon was originally going to be the Hexagon which I think sounds cooler, but I tell you that I spent a whole afternoon trying to draw a decent looking Hexagon shaped building and I just couldn't make it look right, so here we are with an Octagon instead. Deal with it!
So anyway, that about covers it for this release. The new Starship and Military content I think will fit hand-in-hand with the content coming next update, a new Dark Matter tech tree with accompanying structures that is being created by @Electrogamer1943 that you can all expect in the next update. On top of that, you can look for the new Halloween content pack coming later next month!
As always, thanks for playing the game, let me know what issues you find, and stay tuned for more!
#mycolony
The upcoming v1.22.0 release of My Colony is going to be introducing a significant change to the economics of My Colony, and some players may need to adjust their strategies in order to compensate.
The lowly workers of the My Colony Universe have decided that enough is enough, and they have been treated poorly by their overlords for far too long. They have been forces to scrape by on poverty wages, while their colonial masters have stashed away trillions and trillions of the generic Money currency, and now they want their piece of the pie.
Before now, colonists did not really care what or how much they were paid, they just dutifully did their jobs without complaint. Soon, failing to pay your colonists what they feel is an appropriate wage will result in a significant hit to your approval rating and a decline in production output. If left unchecked for too long, workers may even go on strike!
Here is how the new system works. Before, the poverty level was calculated, but being in poverty did not actually impact the game in any way. Now, workers in poverty will end up resorting to crime in order to make ends meet. This will lower your production output and land values across the board. So at the very least, you will want to make sure to keep wages above the poverty line, to avoid sending your colony into a criminal death spiral.
After poverty though, colonists will now start to become aware of their station in the social hierarchy. In particular, colonists will compare their annual salaries to the GDP per capita of the overall colony. If your colony is raking in record GDP and profits and your colonists are getting paid scraps, they will become angry, impacting your overall approval. However, if the situation persists and wages are significantly below GDP per capita, there will be a chance for workers to go on strike.
Strikes will happen based on occupation. For instance, the "Scientists Union" may choose to go on strike, effectively shutting down all structures that employ scientists. This can quickly destroy an economy, so you want to try to avoid a strike at all costs.
Anyway, the new wage/approval system is but one of many exciting new features coming to My Colony v1.22.0, so stay tuned for more updates!
The lowly workers of the My Colony Universe have decided that enough is enough, and they have been treated poorly by their overlords for far too long. They have been forces to scrape by on poverty wages, while their colonial masters have stashed away trillions and trillions of the generic Money currency, and now they want their piece of the pie.
Before now, colonists did not really care what or how much they were paid, they just dutifully did their jobs without complaint. Soon, failing to pay your colonists what they feel is an appropriate wage will result in a significant hit to your approval rating and a decline in production output. If left unchecked for too long, workers may even go on strike!
Here is how the new system works. Before, the poverty level was calculated, but being in poverty did not actually impact the game in any way. Now, workers in poverty will end up resorting to crime in order to make ends meet. This will lower your production output and land values across the board. So at the very least, you will want to make sure to keep wages above the poverty line, to avoid sending your colony into a criminal death spiral.
After poverty though, colonists will now start to become aware of their station in the social hierarchy. In particular, colonists will compare their annual salaries to the GDP per capita of the overall colony. If your colony is raking in record GDP and profits and your colonists are getting paid scraps, they will become angry, impacting your overall approval. However, if the situation persists and wages are significantly below GDP per capita, there will be a chance for workers to go on strike.
Strikes will happen based on occupation. For instance, the "Scientists Union" may choose to go on strike, effectively shutting down all structures that employ scientists. This can quickly destroy an economy, so you want to try to avoid a strike at all costs.
Anyway, the new wage/approval system is but one of many exciting new features coming to My Colony v1.22.0, so stay tuned for more updates!
I had planned on working on Colony Wars all weekend, but I just found out that I am going to be otherwise occupied until Monday, so I am putting out what I have gotten so far on the next update, with more to come next week. These notes will be short because I'm short on time, but let's take a look!
The focus on this update was to get Super Weapons working in the game! I got the basics down, but there are no sound effects/animations/etc yet, and they still need tweaked, but you can test them out this weekend and let me know. When you deploy the Lander, you unlock the Radar Sweep super weapon, which lets you reveal a spot on the map.
There is a new Orbital Uplink Station, and building it gives you the new Orbital Bombardment super weapon. I am still working on this one, in my tests it ranged from doing almost no damage to destroying an entire base in one hit, so obviously I have more work to do.
I think there is also a bug right now where Bombers are bombing themselves.... Let me know if you can reproduce this.
That is it for now. Sadly I have to run or else I would have put more time into this update, but I will be back working next week to continue the Super Weapon rollout. So try it and let me know what you think!
https://wars.my-colony.com/
#colonywars
The focus on this update was to get Super Weapons working in the game! I got the basics down, but there are no sound effects/animations/etc yet, and they still need tweaked, but you can test them out this weekend and let me know. When you deploy the Lander, you unlock the Radar Sweep super weapon, which lets you reveal a spot on the map.
There is a new Orbital Uplink Station, and building it gives you the new Orbital Bombardment super weapon. I am still working on this one, in my tests it ranged from doing almost no damage to destroying an entire base in one hit, so obviously I have more work to do.
I think there is also a bug right now where Bombers are bombing themselves.... Let me know if you can reproduce this.
That is it for now. Sadly I have to run or else I would have put more time into this update, but I will be back working next week to continue the Super Weapon rollout. So try it and let me know what you think!
https://wars.my-colony.com/
#colonywars
In time for the weekend, My Colony 2 has just been updated to v0.27.0 and should be hitting all platforms shortly! This update has a critical fix that might actually end up killing some existing colonies, so you are going to want to read on to find out what's new!
First for the big change. As I was implementing one of the new buildings for this update (the Ancient Alien Microchip Factory), I noticed that during it's production cycle, it was not consuming any Alien Artifacts. I tweaked with the building in the game editor a bit, and still no consumption. Upon further investigation, I noticed that no building was consuming any resources, and it's been like this all along!
How I missed such an obvious flaw is beyond me, although I don't know if anybody else really noticed it either. It's easy to overlook a bug that actually benefits you, I suppose. Looking back though, stockpiling resources did always seem a bit easier in MC2 as compared to MC1.
Anyway, I went ahead and fixed the issue, loaded up my main colony, and it immediately died. Stockpiles of Ore, Gold, Wood, Charcoal, Crystalline, Rum, Uranium, you name it, all quickly evaporated. My settlements had been running so long on a balance based on zero resource consumption, I never built up the necessary production and gathering capabilities to handle the industrial output. Needless to say, it pretty much brought my entire colony to a standstill. Not only that, but since I had several settlements connected to the same resource pool using trade depots, every single one was brought down to a grinding halt!
It actually took me several hours to recover my game from this calamity. In fact, the fix required me to alter the stats of several buildings, because it became plain once resource consumption was factored in that many buildings were either under producing or over consuming resources. Because of this, production and consumption stats have been altered in this update for the Sugar Extraction Lab, Tree Farm, Charcoal Factory, Uranium Enrichment Facility, Canteen, Gold Synthesis Lab, Ore Fracking Operation, and Rum Distillery. I think I have a reasonable balance going right now, but of course there are likely things that I have overlooked. If you find structures that need rebalanced because of this changed, either buffed or nerfed in some way, let me know in the comments to this post.
Now, while I was trying to figure out this new balance, it was actually quite difficult to do at the beginning, as My Colony 2 lacks detailed resource consumption/production stats like you would find in My Colony 1. At least it did lack those stats, as this update now adds a new Resources tab to the Statistics window!
As in My Colony 1, you can select each resource to see the breakdown on which buildings are providing/using a specific resource, which is a huge help when trying to work out and balance your settlement production levels.
Of course, the resource stats are not exactly, and cannot be exactly as they are in MC1, due to the nature of resource pools in MC2. Resources in this game are not kept per-player or even per settlement, but are rather stored in dynamic "pools" that can change as time goes on based on the existence of logistics stations, outposts and other such structures. This made putting together the stats collection and reporting a bit more difficult than it was in MC1, but it's mostly working here now. To view the stats of a resource pool, you have to move your camera/viewport to a settlement first, and you will be shown the stats for the resource pool that you are currently active in. At some point I will probably make it possible to view a list of all resource pools and which settlements they are connected to, I just have not gotten to it yet.
Moving along, this update brought a few big changes to roads, changes that I started working on a few updates ago and neglected to finish until now.
Firstly, roads with either production or consumption properties (such as the Solar Road) are now finally functional. Prior to this update, you could build a huge Solar Road network with 200 tiles, and it would only produce power based on the first tile placed. Now, they work as you would expect.
Next, Roads are now actually factored in to the path finder, and their "drive speed modification" stats now actually work! You may or may not have noticed, but before this update roads had basically no impact on what your Rovers did, other than providing an aesthetic look. Roads are now fully functional, and will work in basically the same manner as they do in MC1.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, you can no build roads (and some other structures) anywhere you want, no settlement required!
Wouldn't it be nice to build a big beautiful highway connecting all of your settlements together? You couldn't do it before, but you can now! Roads can now be built anywhere, as long as you have an appropriate Rover in range. The resources used to pay for the roads will come from your closest settlement to the road in question (the closes settlement owned by the player building the road). The only restriction is that you can not build a road in a chunk/settlement that is "owned" by another player.
The Game Editor now also allows you to specify other buildings, besides roads, that can be built out-of-settlement. The only one right now is the Commemorative Plaque, since I figured it would nice to be able to place signs along the side of your highways.
Moving along, I did a lot of focus and work on performance optimizations in this release. When a map had larger settlements, the game was starting to get so laggy (at least on my M1 Mac) that it was barely playable anymore, so something had to be done. Obviously there is always more performance work to be done, but here are some of the changes so far.
Firstly, I reduced the radius of chunks that are generated around the camera, and I lowered the time that it takes before the engine clears out chunks that are no longer active around the camera. This provides a pretty large reduction in memory usage when you are in a big settlement, as it can reduce the number of .vpp models loaded in memory significantly. At some point I will probably make this a setting in the Engine Settings window, so people with epic desktop computers and RTX video cards can turn their chunk render distance way up if they want to, but since most players right now are using a smart phone, I decided to lower the default setting.
Speaking of default settings, most of the "pretty" engine settings, such as Anti Aliasing, Depth of Field, Dynamic Shadows, Fancy Water, etc, are now turned off by default. These you can always just turn back on in the settings menu if your machine can handle them, but I wanted the default settings to be low so that a new player wont get in the game and immediately experience lag if they are using a lower end machine.
A lot of improvements have also been made to the server code, which runs on a separate thread from the renderer. There was a pretty big issue where the game server would lag down hard if you had a ton of rovers in your game, since every "tick" a rover checks to see if it should be building something or not. To address this, the server now keeps track of whether or not there are actually buildings under construction, and so Rovers will only check if they should be building when there is actually something to build. Makes sense, right?
Moving along, since the last update introduced the Excavator and digging, it basically became possible to turn the Desert World map into a little water world by digging out your own lakes and rivers. Because of this, it only made sense to allow all of the water based structures and units to be constructed on the desert map.
You are now free to terraform your Desert World map into the holiday paradise that your colonists have been yearning for.
Next up, this update adds the classic Crystalbot from MC1, and with it comes the ability to create and grow Synthetic Crystalline Deposits. Be careful though, because the Synthetic Crystalline is a cancer that is as aggressive as ever, so I would suggest not building it too close to your settlement...
My original inspiration for Crystalline (back in MC1) was the Tiberium from Command and Conquer, a substance that provides power but that also spreads and can become an environmental catastrophe. For this reason, you need to take extra precautions when dealing with the synthetic stuff, as it can easily get out of hand if you let it.
I think I mentioned earlier in this post that the Ancient Alien Microchip Factory has been added to the game. This along with the Crystalline stuff requires two new techs, Ancient Alien Manufacturing and Crystalline Synthesis. I also added the new Luxury Townhome, a decorative housing unit for Premium players.
Since I was on the topic of new Research, I will mention the final engine change to this update. Players who are either in a hurry or want to speed through a new game can now instant-unlock new research using Ape Coins. Like I mentioned in the last My Colony 1 release notes, I am going to be looking for better ways to monetize the My Colony games without resorting to heavy advertising, and this seemed like a reasonable way that is totally optional and does not fundamentally change the game for existing players.
So all in all, this was a pretty big update for My Colony 2. I would suggest that all players be careful when they first open their games after the update, and to comb over your settlements and their research stats, because there will probably be things you need to change, particularly if you have an older established colony.
Moving forward, my near-term plans are to continue expanding the Alien/Quantum tech trees. I am also going to be bringing a Galactic Board of Trade to My Colony 2 in some form (gotta work out the details on that one), and I will also probably be adding a Spice World (not related to the Spice Girls) to implement some of the Spice suggestions from @Architecture1134 and others. There is also a lot coming soon to the original My Colony and to Colony Wars, but more on those another day. All in all, a lot of excitement coming to the My Colony Universe of games, and I should probably put together another episode of the My Colony Podcast to discuss it all. But until then, check out the new update, enjoy, have a good weekend, let me know what issues you find or suggestions you have, and stay tuned for more!
https://www.apewebapps.com/my-colony-2/
#mycolony2
First for the big change. As I was implementing one of the new buildings for this update (the Ancient Alien Microchip Factory), I noticed that during it's production cycle, it was not consuming any Alien Artifacts. I tweaked with the building in the game editor a bit, and still no consumption. Upon further investigation, I noticed that no building was consuming any resources, and it's been like this all along!
How I missed such an obvious flaw is beyond me, although I don't know if anybody else really noticed it either. It's easy to overlook a bug that actually benefits you, I suppose. Looking back though, stockpiling resources did always seem a bit easier in MC2 as compared to MC1.
Anyway, I went ahead and fixed the issue, loaded up my main colony, and it immediately died. Stockpiles of Ore, Gold, Wood, Charcoal, Crystalline, Rum, Uranium, you name it, all quickly evaporated. My settlements had been running so long on a balance based on zero resource consumption, I never built up the necessary production and gathering capabilities to handle the industrial output. Needless to say, it pretty much brought my entire colony to a standstill. Not only that, but since I had several settlements connected to the same resource pool using trade depots, every single one was brought down to a grinding halt!
It actually took me several hours to recover my game from this calamity. In fact, the fix required me to alter the stats of several buildings, because it became plain once resource consumption was factored in that many buildings were either under producing or over consuming resources. Because of this, production and consumption stats have been altered in this update for the Sugar Extraction Lab, Tree Farm, Charcoal Factory, Uranium Enrichment Facility, Canteen, Gold Synthesis Lab, Ore Fracking Operation, and Rum Distillery. I think I have a reasonable balance going right now, but of course there are likely things that I have overlooked. If you find structures that need rebalanced because of this changed, either buffed or nerfed in some way, let me know in the comments to this post.
Now, while I was trying to figure out this new balance, it was actually quite difficult to do at the beginning, as My Colony 2 lacks detailed resource consumption/production stats like you would find in My Colony 1. At least it did lack those stats, as this update now adds a new Resources tab to the Statistics window!
As in My Colony 1, you can select each resource to see the breakdown on which buildings are providing/using a specific resource, which is a huge help when trying to work out and balance your settlement production levels.
Of course, the resource stats are not exactly, and cannot be exactly as they are in MC1, due to the nature of resource pools in MC2. Resources in this game are not kept per-player or even per settlement, but are rather stored in dynamic "pools" that can change as time goes on based on the existence of logistics stations, outposts and other such structures. This made putting together the stats collection and reporting a bit more difficult than it was in MC1, but it's mostly working here now. To view the stats of a resource pool, you have to move your camera/viewport to a settlement first, and you will be shown the stats for the resource pool that you are currently active in. At some point I will probably make it possible to view a list of all resource pools and which settlements they are connected to, I just have not gotten to it yet.
Moving along, this update brought a few big changes to roads, changes that I started working on a few updates ago and neglected to finish until now.
Firstly, roads with either production or consumption properties (such as the Solar Road) are now finally functional. Prior to this update, you could build a huge Solar Road network with 200 tiles, and it would only produce power based on the first tile placed. Now, they work as you would expect.
Next, Roads are now actually factored in to the path finder, and their "drive speed modification" stats now actually work! You may or may not have noticed, but before this update roads had basically no impact on what your Rovers did, other than providing an aesthetic look. Roads are now fully functional, and will work in basically the same manner as they do in MC1.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, you can no build roads (and some other structures) anywhere you want, no settlement required!
Wouldn't it be nice to build a big beautiful highway connecting all of your settlements together? You couldn't do it before, but you can now! Roads can now be built anywhere, as long as you have an appropriate Rover in range. The resources used to pay for the roads will come from your closest settlement to the road in question (the closes settlement owned by the player building the road). The only restriction is that you can not build a road in a chunk/settlement that is "owned" by another player.
The Game Editor now also allows you to specify other buildings, besides roads, that can be built out-of-settlement. The only one right now is the Commemorative Plaque, since I figured it would nice to be able to place signs along the side of your highways.
Moving along, I did a lot of focus and work on performance optimizations in this release. When a map had larger settlements, the game was starting to get so laggy (at least on my M1 Mac) that it was barely playable anymore, so something had to be done. Obviously there is always more performance work to be done, but here are some of the changes so far.
Firstly, I reduced the radius of chunks that are generated around the camera, and I lowered the time that it takes before the engine clears out chunks that are no longer active around the camera. This provides a pretty large reduction in memory usage when you are in a big settlement, as it can reduce the number of .vpp models loaded in memory significantly. At some point I will probably make this a setting in the Engine Settings window, so people with epic desktop computers and RTX video cards can turn their chunk render distance way up if they want to, but since most players right now are using a smart phone, I decided to lower the default setting.
Speaking of default settings, most of the "pretty" engine settings, such as Anti Aliasing, Depth of Field, Dynamic Shadows, Fancy Water, etc, are now turned off by default. These you can always just turn back on in the settings menu if your machine can handle them, but I wanted the default settings to be low so that a new player wont get in the game and immediately experience lag if they are using a lower end machine.
A lot of improvements have also been made to the server code, which runs on a separate thread from the renderer. There was a pretty big issue where the game server would lag down hard if you had a ton of rovers in your game, since every "tick" a rover checks to see if it should be building something or not. To address this, the server now keeps track of whether or not there are actually buildings under construction, and so Rovers will only check if they should be building when there is actually something to build. Makes sense, right?
Moving along, since the last update introduced the Excavator and digging, it basically became possible to turn the Desert World map into a little water world by digging out your own lakes and rivers. Because of this, it only made sense to allow all of the water based structures and units to be constructed on the desert map.
You are now free to terraform your Desert World map into the holiday paradise that your colonists have been yearning for.
Next up, this update adds the classic Crystalbot from MC1, and with it comes the ability to create and grow Synthetic Crystalline Deposits. Be careful though, because the Synthetic Crystalline is a cancer that is as aggressive as ever, so I would suggest not building it too close to your settlement...
My original inspiration for Crystalline (back in MC1) was the Tiberium from Command and Conquer, a substance that provides power but that also spreads and can become an environmental catastrophe. For this reason, you need to take extra precautions when dealing with the synthetic stuff, as it can easily get out of hand if you let it.
I think I mentioned earlier in this post that the Ancient Alien Microchip Factory has been added to the game. This along with the Crystalline stuff requires two new techs, Ancient Alien Manufacturing and Crystalline Synthesis. I also added the new Luxury Townhome, a decorative housing unit for Premium players.
Since I was on the topic of new Research, I will mention the final engine change to this update. Players who are either in a hurry or want to speed through a new game can now instant-unlock new research using Ape Coins. Like I mentioned in the last My Colony 1 release notes, I am going to be looking for better ways to monetize the My Colony games without resorting to heavy advertising, and this seemed like a reasonable way that is totally optional and does not fundamentally change the game for existing players.
So all in all, this was a pretty big update for My Colony 2. I would suggest that all players be careful when they first open their games after the update, and to comb over your settlements and their research stats, because there will probably be things you need to change, particularly if you have an older established colony.
Moving forward, my near-term plans are to continue expanding the Alien/Quantum tech trees. I am also going to be bringing a Galactic Board of Trade to My Colony 2 in some form (gotta work out the details on that one), and I will also probably be adding a Spice World (not related to the Spice Girls) to implement some of the Spice suggestions from @Architecture1134 and others. There is also a lot coming soon to the original My Colony and to Colony Wars, but more on those another day. All in all, a lot of excitement coming to the My Colony Universe of games, and I should probably put together another episode of the My Colony Podcast to discuss it all. But until then, check out the new update, enjoy, have a good weekend, let me know what issues you find or suggestions you have, and stay tuned for more!
https://www.apewebapps.com/my-colony-2/
#mycolony2
Funny this is brought up, I just fixed the solar road bug yesterday for the new build that's coming soon
Today I am putting the finishing touches on and releasing the v1.21.0 update to the original My Colony! Since interest in the original My Colony remains high, I am putting it back on the front burner, and we will discuss that more in a bit. Until then, let's take a look at what is new!
First off, and as every Ancient Astronaut Theorist knows, the Ancients were experts at brick making, and now their secrets have finally been unlocked with the introduction of the new Ancient Alien Brick Factory! A couple of these should easily take care of most or all of your colony's brick needs.
There have been requests to beef up the transportation capabilities between regional cities, so there is now a new upgrade to the Regional Bussing Authority called the Deluxe Bussing Authority! There is nothing earth-shattering here, but it does have a vastly higher bussing capacity than the current structure, which should come as a big help for many Regional players.
The last update introduced a new tech called Advanced Simulation Theory, and this update brings a long-awaited upgrade to the I.T. Studio Complex called the Simulated Software Studio! Here, virtual people, created by software, are in turn used to produce even more software. It seems unholy, but one building full of these sims can output about as much software as 50 buildings full of human workers. The A.I. is taking over!
Next up, a new late game technology has been added called Simulated Fabrication. Basically magic, this tech allows simulated people to create real things. How does it work? Who cares? Because it unlocks the shiny new Simulated Nanite Factory!
Here we have Nanite production on steroids. I don't know what the math is, but one of these things is roughly equivalent to 600 regular Nanite Factories, so it's a big deal. It might seem OP right now, but you can assume that some larger scale Nanite consumption is coming in the not-too-distant future...
There have been a couple of minor changes as well, based on user feedback. The Bulldozer behavior has been changed. Now instead of destroying buildings, it sells them, so it's basically a quick-sell toggle. Additionally, I have made all Encyclopedia entries alphabetically sorted so it's easier to actually find things.
I know there have been a lot more suggestions/requests lately, so if I did not get to yours yet then don't worry. I am reviving My Colony back to full-time production, so it will be updated a whole lot more in the weeks and months ahead (along side My Colony 2 and Colony Wars, but more on those later 🤐).
This brings me to the future of My Colony. Based on comments here, the in-game feedback and on the app stores, it's clear that people want me to continue working on and expanding the original My Colony. I am fine with doing so, but there is also the reality that it is an almost seven(!) year old game, and since it's not really a pay-to-win type In App Purchase festival, it's big income generating days have largely come and gone. So to be worth my time to keep pouring time into the original My Colony at the expense of other projects, I need to find a way to be able to make it generate a return.
So I was considering ways to do this that would not be annoying or disruptive. There are a lot of new ad formats available on mobile now, but I really didn't want to flood My Colony with annoying pop ups like every other mobile game. Then just this morning, a friend of mine told me he had spent some money buying collectors items in the game World of Tanks, and it gave me an idea for My Colony.
What if, on occasion, I made available "special edition" or limited time only releases of certain buildings, such as holiday themed variants of current buildings, that people who wanted them could buy with Ape Coins? So for instance, there could be the "Halloween 2022 Themed Investment Bank" (or anything really) that you could only buy during a two or three week period, then it's gone for good (gone for sale, if you buy it then you always have it on your account).
So anyway, people who like to collect things could get all these extra buildings. Even tough they wouldn't necessarily provide a leg up on the game, they would let you make your colony look a lot cooler, and also satisfy the collection itch. Most importantly, it would help support the continued development of this "oldy but goldy" game.
That is all just an idea though, I have not decided one way or another. I might just add that to MC2 instead.
Anyway, there is a lot more to come, not just for MC1, but for the entire My Colony Universe. I plan to get another MC2 update in this month, and I've got some really cool things headed to Colony Wars, such as Super Weapons. So stay tuned, because there is a lot of exciting My Colony goodness headed your way!
First off, and as every Ancient Astronaut Theorist knows, the Ancients were experts at brick making, and now their secrets have finally been unlocked with the introduction of the new Ancient Alien Brick Factory! A couple of these should easily take care of most or all of your colony's brick needs.
There have been requests to beef up the transportation capabilities between regional cities, so there is now a new upgrade to the Regional Bussing Authority called the Deluxe Bussing Authority! There is nothing earth-shattering here, but it does have a vastly higher bussing capacity than the current structure, which should come as a big help for many Regional players.
The last update introduced a new tech called Advanced Simulation Theory, and this update brings a long-awaited upgrade to the I.T. Studio Complex called the Simulated Software Studio! Here, virtual people, created by software, are in turn used to produce even more software. It seems unholy, but one building full of these sims can output about as much software as 50 buildings full of human workers. The A.I. is taking over!
Next up, a new late game technology has been added called Simulated Fabrication. Basically magic, this tech allows simulated people to create real things. How does it work? Who cares? Because it unlocks the shiny new Simulated Nanite Factory!
Here we have Nanite production on steroids. I don't know what the math is, but one of these things is roughly equivalent to 600 regular Nanite Factories, so it's a big deal. It might seem OP right now, but you can assume that some larger scale Nanite consumption is coming in the not-too-distant future...
There have been a couple of minor changes as well, based on user feedback. The Bulldozer behavior has been changed. Now instead of destroying buildings, it sells them, so it's basically a quick-sell toggle. Additionally, I have made all Encyclopedia entries alphabetically sorted so it's easier to actually find things.
I know there have been a lot more suggestions/requests lately, so if I did not get to yours yet then don't worry. I am reviving My Colony back to full-time production, so it will be updated a whole lot more in the weeks and months ahead (along side My Colony 2 and Colony Wars, but more on those later 🤐).
This brings me to the future of My Colony. Based on comments here, the in-game feedback and on the app stores, it's clear that people want me to continue working on and expanding the original My Colony. I am fine with doing so, but there is also the reality that it is an almost seven(!) year old game, and since it's not really a pay-to-win type In App Purchase festival, it's big income generating days have largely come and gone. So to be worth my time to keep pouring time into the original My Colony at the expense of other projects, I need to find a way to be able to make it generate a return.
So I was considering ways to do this that would not be annoying or disruptive. There are a lot of new ad formats available on mobile now, but I really didn't want to flood My Colony with annoying pop ups like every other mobile game. Then just this morning, a friend of mine told me he had spent some money buying collectors items in the game World of Tanks, and it gave me an idea for My Colony.
What if, on occasion, I made available "special edition" or limited time only releases of certain buildings, such as holiday themed variants of current buildings, that people who wanted them could buy with Ape Coins? So for instance, there could be the "Halloween 2022 Themed Investment Bank" (or anything really) that you could only buy during a two or three week period, then it's gone for good (gone for sale, if you buy it then you always have it on your account).
So anyway, people who like to collect things could get all these extra buildings. Even tough they wouldn't necessarily provide a leg up on the game, they would let you make your colony look a lot cooler, and also satisfy the collection itch. Most importantly, it would help support the continued development of this "oldy but goldy" game.
That is all just an idea though, I have not decided one way or another. I might just add that to MC2 instead.
Anyway, there is a lot more to come, not just for MC1, but for the entire My Colony Universe. I plan to get another MC2 update in this month, and I've got some really cool things headed to Colony Wars, such as Super Weapons. So stay tuned, because there is a lot of exciting My Colony goodness headed your way!
Hey @SeanPl I will tinker with it and see, although I am not sure if chrome (or some other browser) will be able to access a site over smb, but I might be able to make it work. I will try at least lol
It would be neat, I will have to figure out how though. The sheer number of models now on a "large" sized city is already killing devices without a good dedicated GPU
Colony Wars has just been updated to v0.10.0, and the update is packed with engine changes that I'm sure will cause an issue or two! So what's changed? Let's take a look!
This update brings support for high resolution graphics, as long as the base file for those graphics is in SVG format, so this includes all units and buildings, but not terrain items (yet). At some point I will probably convert all game graphics over to .SVG so that everything works in high resolution, but it isn't my #1 priority now. To see the new resolution, just zoom in while you are playing.
Next, I added the new Drone Pad structure and the Bomber Drone unit. This is the area where it will take a few updates to iron things out, as there are several new engine changes that needed to be implemented to support these types of flying and bombing units.
Before now, all current units shared standard movement and attack routines, but the introduction of the bomber changed all that. This required adding support for units to have a Z property for elevation, so the unit could take off and land. Flying units also no longer need to use the path finder, as they can fly straight towards their targets. Next, the bombing has to be done while the unit is in flight, and a bomber can't just "stand there" like other units can to attack.
With all of these required changes, the bombers might be a bit glitchy yet, and the AI still doesn't really know how to use them effectively, but they will get better in time, I promise!
The Bomber must dock at a Drone Pad, and must return to the pad after every attack to reload on ammo. So make sure you have at least one drone pad for each bomber unit.
Finally, another big update that I promised a while ago, the Map Shop!
There is now an option in the in-game map editor to submit your map to the Map Shop. The map shop allows you to submit your map and publish updates. Users who download your map from the shop will also automatically get the latest updates and version of your map. It's a far easier way to share your map than before, so if you are a map maker, check it out and make a submission!
That is all for this update, stay tuned for more!
https://wars.my-colony.com/
#colonywars
This update brings support for high resolution graphics, as long as the base file for those graphics is in SVG format, so this includes all units and buildings, but not terrain items (yet). At some point I will probably convert all game graphics over to .SVG so that everything works in high resolution, but it isn't my #1 priority now. To see the new resolution, just zoom in while you are playing.
Next, I added the new Drone Pad structure and the Bomber Drone unit. This is the area where it will take a few updates to iron things out, as there are several new engine changes that needed to be implemented to support these types of flying and bombing units.
Before now, all current units shared standard movement and attack routines, but the introduction of the bomber changed all that. This required adding support for units to have a Z property for elevation, so the unit could take off and land. Flying units also no longer need to use the path finder, as they can fly straight towards their targets. Next, the bombing has to be done while the unit is in flight, and a bomber can't just "stand there" like other units can to attack.
With all of these required changes, the bombers might be a bit glitchy yet, and the AI still doesn't really know how to use them effectively, but they will get better in time, I promise!
The Bomber must dock at a Drone Pad, and must return to the pad after every attack to reload on ammo. So make sure you have at least one drone pad for each bomber unit.
Finally, another big update that I promised a while ago, the Map Shop!
There is now an option in the in-game map editor to submit your map to the Map Shop. The map shop allows you to submit your map and publish updates. Users who download your map from the shop will also automatically get the latest updates and version of your map. It's a far easier way to share your map than before, so if you are a map maker, check it out and make a submission!
That is all for this update, stay tuned for more!
https://wars.my-colony.com/
#colonywars
I might make a lower tier gold production structure for early game that is worse than the gold synthesis lab.
Beyond that though, I do not plan on adding mines or making the gold synth lab free. MC2 has a different business model, because there are no ads in the game.
Beyond that, MC2 premium is a fair price. One time buy unlocks everything. No subscriptions, no microtransactions, and full price is comparable to a cup of coffee at a lot of places.
Beyond that though, I do not plan on adding mines or making the gold synth lab free. MC2 has a different business model, because there are no ads in the game.
Beyond that, MC2 premium is a fair price. One time buy unlocks everything. No subscriptions, no microtransactions, and full price is comparable to a cup of coffee at a lot of places.
While I was on the My Colony chat yesterday, I was asked about improving the rendering output of My Colony 1 when you are zoomed in on a structure, since it's currently very blurry (as MC1 players probably realize), as you can see below:
You can see that the edges are jaggy and slightly blurred. If there is text on a structure, you can barely read it. You all know what the deal is.
So I started playing around with the Scroll 2D engine this morning, along with it's associated texture loader, while in the process of working on the next update to Colony Wars, and I came up with the following:
So there are a few things to note here. You will notice that the buildings and units look great now. This is because in Colony Wars, they are all sourced from .svg files, so they can scale up and down pretty good. The ground and trees are maybe a bit more crisp, but they are very pixelated. This is because the textures from those are stored as .png files, and they do not scale very well.
These new engine changes will be coming to the next My Colony 1 update, but I do not think the effect will be as profound as in Colony Wars, since My Colony 1 has mostly .png graphics. A few of the buildings are .svg though (mainly the buildings with colony specific colors, ie flags) and they will look pretty good.
You can see that the edges are jaggy and slightly blurred. If there is text on a structure, you can barely read it. You all know what the deal is.
So I started playing around with the Scroll 2D engine this morning, along with it's associated texture loader, while in the process of working on the next update to Colony Wars, and I came up with the following:
So there are a few things to note here. You will notice that the buildings and units look great now. This is because in Colony Wars, they are all sourced from .svg files, so they can scale up and down pretty good. The ground and trees are maybe a bit more crisp, but they are very pixelated. This is because the textures from those are stored as .png files, and they do not scale very well.
These new engine changes will be coming to the next My Colony 1 update, but I do not think the effect will be as profound as in Colony Wars, since My Colony 1 has mostly .png graphics. A few of the buildings are .svg though (mainly the buildings with colony specific colors, ie flags) and they will look pretty good.
This made my brain explode
Today I am releasing the v2.5.0 update to My Tokens, and this update comes with the ability to export your Blockhead Token characters as Basic Model (*.bm) files for use with Basic Modeler!
Exporting is fairly simple, you simply switch your lobby view to the Blockhead Tokens setting, select one of your Tokens, and choose Export .bm. You will then be able to save the .bm file to your device, which you can then load up and do whatever you want with using Basic Modeler.
Exporting your token also gives you a good overview of the Basic Modeler script syntax, and you can also see all of the images used for the various parts of the model.
The other cool new feature as you will notice in the first screenshot is the option to Export Skin.
Now My Token skin parts are not laid out in exactly the same way as, say, a Minecraft skin, but the models are pretty much proportionally similar (even if a Token skin is higher resolution) and all of the parts are there. I'm sure a motivated coder out there could make a quick script to hack apart the .png and put it back together in the correct order to where you could make a Minecraft character out of a My Tokens character, but I will leave that though to others. I guess looking back I should have made the skins in the same order that Minecraft uses, but this work was done a long time ago when I first created the Blockhead Token, and there is no way I am going to go back and remake all of the existing Token skins, so it is what it is!
So anyway, that is it for this update to My Tokens. It is significant, as I am in the process of converting the Death 3D engine away from using 2D sprite to using Basic Models, as part of the engines upgrades to support full VR on devices like Oculus and Google Cardboard (2D sprites just don't work very well in VR, for the most part). The My Tokens update is live now on the Web and Launcher, and should be hitting other devices in the coming week, so enjoy!
https://www.apewebapps.com/my-tokens/
#mytokens #basicmodeler #death3d
Exporting is fairly simple, you simply switch your lobby view to the Blockhead Tokens setting, select one of your Tokens, and choose Export .bm. You will then be able to save the .bm file to your device, which you can then load up and do whatever you want with using Basic Modeler.
Exporting your token also gives you a good overview of the Basic Modeler script syntax, and you can also see all of the images used for the various parts of the model.
The other cool new feature as you will notice in the first screenshot is the option to Export Skin.
Now My Token skin parts are not laid out in exactly the same way as, say, a Minecraft skin, but the models are pretty much proportionally similar (even if a Token skin is higher resolution) and all of the parts are there. I'm sure a motivated coder out there could make a quick script to hack apart the .png and put it back together in the correct order to where you could make a Minecraft character out of a My Tokens character, but I will leave that though to others. I guess looking back I should have made the skins in the same order that Minecraft uses, but this work was done a long time ago when I first created the Blockhead Token, and there is no way I am going to go back and remake all of the existing Token skins, so it is what it is!
So anyway, that is it for this update to My Tokens. It is significant, as I am in the process of converting the Death 3D engine away from using 2D sprite to using Basic Models, as part of the engines upgrades to support full VR on devices like Oculus and Google Cardboard (2D sprites just don't work very well in VR, for the most part). The My Tokens update is live now on the Web and Launcher, and should be hitting other devices in the coming week, so enjoy!
https://www.apewebapps.com/my-tokens/
#mytokens #basicmodeler #death3d
The way you back it up on iOS is you have to wait for the next update so I can add a 'Backup Region' button to small UI screens :-/
If you were wishing for back-to-back My Colony game updates this week then you are in luck, because right off of the heals of the MC1 update from the other day comes the v0.26.0 update for My Colony 2! What's new in this release? Let's find out!
This update brings some pretty large changes to the engine code, which means that new bugs could be showing up, so please let me know if you find things that are broken. I have added support for modifying the terrain heights that are generated by the world seed, which itself constituted a pretty large change to the base code. A new concept of "subterranean resources" has been implemented, where there are now resources present under ground as well as on the surface. Several new scripting flag types and scenarios have been added to the game, and the engine now supports techs that cannot be unlocked through research, but by some triggered game event. All of these engine features are available now in this update in various forms.
First we introduce a new resource for this update, Alien Artifacts, which we all know and love from MC1. Getting them though is a lot different (and possibly more difficult) than in the original My Colony. The first thing you need to do is unlock the new Deep Excavation tech, allowing you to construct the new Excavator unit (created by @spamdude ).
This is a large, slow 2x2 unit that can be used to flatten out hills on the terrain. Once a hill has been removed, there is a chance for new subterranean resources to be exposed, giving you access to more resources you can harvest. This is probably as close as I will come to adding the different Mines from MC1 to the game. Besides the usual resources, you may end up discovering some Ancient Alien Ruins under those hills. Discovering the ruins will trigger an engine flag, automatically unlocking the new Ancient Alien Language technology.
It is not possible to unlock Ancient Alien Language through traditional research. You must either discover ruins through excavation, or be gifted Artifacts from another player.
Once unlocked, you get access to a new Unit and a new Structure, the Artifact Extractor and the Giorgio Institute for Alien Research. The Artifact Extractor is built from the Robot Factory (so you need Robot abilities as well) and is a flying drone used to extract Alien Artifacts from ancient ruin sites. Alien Artifacts can be stored in small amounts in the current Warehouse building, but for additional storage, the Giorgio Institute provides a ton of space for Artifacts, and generates Research as well.
Once you have collected some Artifacts, you can then build the new Extraterrestrial Builder, which in turn is able to construct the new Aluminum Generator!
For those who want some more decorative items, the Single Family Home from MC1 is back, allowing you to build some lower density subdivisions for your colonists. I will probably add the other color variations of the house at some point too.
Finally, when you start getting to the point where it's hard to keep up with food production for your colonists' demands, the Vertical Warehouse Farm is back, providing large amounts of nutritious food to help feed a growing population.
There have also been a few tweaks here and there. I have extended the operating range of the Logistics Station (nearly 2x), since it seemed like setting up connected outposts had far too small of a range. I might end up extending it even more, you guys can let me know what you thing.
I have also turned CloudSync on by default for saved games, for users signed in with an Ape Apps Account. I haven't had many reports of issues with CloudSync lately, and it can really help save your colony in the event of a catastrophe.
I also changed the UI of the zoom buttons on the Radar a bit to make them easier to use on touch, and put the Radar Size button on the radar overlay as well, since on some smaller screen devices, switching the radar to large would hide the other button, never allowing you to switch back.
With this updates in hand, the next release will focus on ironing out whatever I broke in this update, as well as introducing new Alien techs. A lot of the bigger manufacturing structures are probably going to be needing their "Ancient Alien" upgrade, such as the Microchip Factory, the Refinery and so on. I am also debating on whether or not to add a Galactic Board of Trade to MC2, like in MC1. You can let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Other than that, that is all for this update! I hope you guys enjoy both of this weeks My Colony updates, keep the suggestions and bug reports coming, and stay tuned for more!
#mycolony2
This update brings some pretty large changes to the engine code, which means that new bugs could be showing up, so please let me know if you find things that are broken. I have added support for modifying the terrain heights that are generated by the world seed, which itself constituted a pretty large change to the base code. A new concept of "subterranean resources" has been implemented, where there are now resources present under ground as well as on the surface. Several new scripting flag types and scenarios have been added to the game, and the engine now supports techs that cannot be unlocked through research, but by some triggered game event. All of these engine features are available now in this update in various forms.
First we introduce a new resource for this update, Alien Artifacts, which we all know and love from MC1. Getting them though is a lot different (and possibly more difficult) than in the original My Colony. The first thing you need to do is unlock the new Deep Excavation tech, allowing you to construct the new Excavator unit (created by @spamdude ).
This is a large, slow 2x2 unit that can be used to flatten out hills on the terrain. Once a hill has been removed, there is a chance for new subterranean resources to be exposed, giving you access to more resources you can harvest. This is probably as close as I will come to adding the different Mines from MC1 to the game. Besides the usual resources, you may end up discovering some Ancient Alien Ruins under those hills. Discovering the ruins will trigger an engine flag, automatically unlocking the new Ancient Alien Language technology.
It is not possible to unlock Ancient Alien Language through traditional research. You must either discover ruins through excavation, or be gifted Artifacts from another player.
Once unlocked, you get access to a new Unit and a new Structure, the Artifact Extractor and the Giorgio Institute for Alien Research. The Artifact Extractor is built from the Robot Factory (so you need Robot abilities as well) and is a flying drone used to extract Alien Artifacts from ancient ruin sites. Alien Artifacts can be stored in small amounts in the current Warehouse building, but for additional storage, the Giorgio Institute provides a ton of space for Artifacts, and generates Research as well.
Once you have collected some Artifacts, you can then build the new Extraterrestrial Builder, which in turn is able to construct the new Aluminum Generator!
For those who want some more decorative items, the Single Family Home from MC1 is back, allowing you to build some lower density subdivisions for your colonists. I will probably add the other color variations of the house at some point too.
Finally, when you start getting to the point where it's hard to keep up with food production for your colonists' demands, the Vertical Warehouse Farm is back, providing large amounts of nutritious food to help feed a growing population.
There have also been a few tweaks here and there. I have extended the operating range of the Logistics Station (nearly 2x), since it seemed like setting up connected outposts had far too small of a range. I might end up extending it even more, you guys can let me know what you thing.
I have also turned CloudSync on by default for saved games, for users signed in with an Ape Apps Account. I haven't had many reports of issues with CloudSync lately, and it can really help save your colony in the event of a catastrophe.
I also changed the UI of the zoom buttons on the Radar a bit to make them easier to use on touch, and put the Radar Size button on the radar overlay as well, since on some smaller screen devices, switching the radar to large would hide the other button, never allowing you to switch back.
With this updates in hand, the next release will focus on ironing out whatever I broke in this update, as well as introducing new Alien techs. A lot of the bigger manufacturing structures are probably going to be needing their "Ancient Alien" upgrade, such as the Microchip Factory, the Refinery and so on. I am also debating on whether or not to add a Galactic Board of Trade to MC2, like in MC1. You can let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Other than that, that is all for this update! I hope you guys enjoy both of this weeks My Colony updates, keep the suggestions and bug reports coming, and stay tuned for more!
#mycolony2
bastecklein
Developer
Member Since
September 2nd, 2017