Alpha 14 will be released with the Steam release, on July 15, at 1pm EST.
The game is not released yet! You can’t get it yet! But it’ll become available on Friday. For info on how Steam keys will be distributed, please see the FAQ.
For now, here’s a preview! Below the video, you can find a summary of all the changes we’ve made for Alpha 14. Steam up the hype train!
Change summary:
Scenario system
- New scenario system allows you to choose, randomize, and customize special situations to play in. Determine starting situation, your type of community (tribe, colony), permanent map conditions, starting items, animals, health conditions, and traits, and change special rules.
- Several built-in scenarios, including one matching the classic RimWorld experience, are included.
- You can randomize new scenarios.
- You can customize scenarios with a special interface that allows creation of any scenario you like.
- Scenarios can be uploaded to or grabbed from Steam Workshop with a single click.
- ScenPart: Permanent version of all map conditions (eclipse, solar flare, etc).
- ScenPart: Planetkiller scenario part: World is destroyed on X date.
- ScenPart: Climate cycle which makes the world get warmer and cooler over a period of years. Winter is coming.
- ScenPart: Disable building a given type of building.
- ScenPart: Pawns start with health condition.
- ScenPart: Start with items.
- ScenPart: Map is scattered with items.
- ScenPart: Configure arrival method (pods or standing)
- ScenPart: Starting pawns are all between ages X and Y
- ScenPart: Pawns explode on death (configurable type and radius)
- ScenPart: All pawns from source (game start/all) have trait X
- ScenPart: Starting animal(s)
- ScenPart: Disallow mining
- ScenPart: Disallow hunting
- ScenPart: Disallow taming
- ScenPart: Disallow growing
- ScenPart: Disable incident
- ScenPart: Multiplier for any stat on the game (move speed, mining speed, etc)
- ScenPart: Disallow building
Pawn overlapping
- Pawns can no longer overlap during melee combat (unless they’re really small). No more animal deathstacks! This also creates new tactics around blocking, surrounding, or back-line shooters. We had to write a bunch of AI and blocking code to make this function.
AI
- Raiders can now enter “steal” mode if they see enough value. They’ll grab your stuff and carry it off.
- Kidnapping raiders now work together much better to kidnap. Instead of everyone fleeing at once, some will kidnap while others cover them.
- AI dressing algorithm is now better at making outfits to withstand cold temperatures. If there is no way to make a survivable outfit, pawns won’t arrive at all. No more raids arriving and keeling over in -60C weather.
- Predators no longer hunt boomrats and boomalopes.
- Pawns will be smarter about avoiding traps in various situations.
New stuff
- Full Steam Workshop support for mods.
- You can now play as a tribe in some scenarios.
- Added torch lamp
- Added pemmican for low-tech food preservation.
- Research difficulty is now related to your faction’s tech level. Researching techs above your level is harder. So if you’re a tribe, researching spaceflight will be difficult.
- Added research (needed for tribes only): complex clothing, electricity
- Added research (needed for non-tribes only): pemmican
- Added research: air conditioning, autodoors, gun turrets
- Added ‘ransom demand’ incident. Can fire after one of your people is kidnapped.
- Added “killed my X” social thoughts so people dislike their loved ones’ killers
- Added new class of “minor” mental breaks, which can happen at mood under 40%.
- Added minor mental break: food binge.
- Ground fertility is now reported on mouseover.
- Added moisture pump, which slowly converts wet terrain to dry terrain. Requires power.
- Hives now pop out glow pods – bug light sources that glow for 20 days (as long as they’re installed) and can be reinstalled or sold.
- Added traits: creepy breathing, annoying voice. These are socially repellent.
- Added trait: pyromaniac. Will go on firestarting sprees when stressed, and never puts out fire.
- Added panther for jungle biome. Because I discovered panthers aren’t real and I need to cope with this somehow.
- There is now an orange glow to help you identify very hot areas.
- Added/replaced animals created by the excellent Kay Fedewa:
- Caribou
- Cassowary
- Deer
- Emu
- Arctic fox
- Fennec fox
- Red fox
- Gazelle
- Husky
- Ibex
- Lynx
- Megatherium (prehistoric giant ground sloth)
- Ostrich
- Raccoon
- Rat
- Turkey
- Arctic wolf
- Timber wolf
Interface
- Added a row of colonist icons along the top of the screen, with various status info. They can be clicked to select, double-clicked to jump to, or box-selected to multi-select. These icons can be turned off.
- Trading interface now lets you type in the number you want to trade instead of dragging to the number.
- Animals tab now has gender and life stage informational columns
- Animals tab now has a “slaughter” checkbox column to allow easy slaughtering of many animals
- Animals tab now has checkbox columns for each trainable, to allow easy training of many animals
- Reworked the right-click menu to be prettier, more readable, more solid, and better handle large lists of options.
Exploit solutions
- Traders, visitors, raiders, kidnappers, animals, etc will now escape if surrounded by walls with no way out.
- Manhunters and insects will attack doors if colonists try to hop in and out of them while getting shots off.
- Hives must now be tended by insects, so if insects are all instantly killed by a turret wall, the hives will die out.
- You can no longer avoid the ‘executed prisoner’ mood impact by just shooting or starving the prisoner; pawns will get a “prisoner died innocent” thought. A similar solution applies to the deaths of colonists.
- Solved various powerleveling exploits. Once colonists have learned a certain (high) amount in a day, they’ll learn at a much-reduced rate until the next day.
- Flowers are no longer good animal feed (reduced nutrition).
- Fixed exploit where players would give prisoner to raiders for kidnapping, to make raiders go away without a fight. Solution: Raiders only kidnap colonists.
Other
- Updated to Unity 5.
- World generation is now part of the new game process, instead of being separate.
- Roofs must now be manually built and torn down by colonists; they do not appear and disappear instantly any more.
- Reworked AI food selection algorithm to take into account personal mood impacts, rottenness, and other new factors. e.g. Now cannibals will actually seek out cannibal food because they get a mood bonus, while non-cannibals will avoid it.
- Flow for opening worlds and savegames from old version is now improved; the “warning, old version” dialog comes before you open them instead of after.
- Deworked mods config menu to have a much nicer selection and ordering interface.
- Humans can now eat unbutchered corpses (though they really don’t like it).
- Infestations are easier and grow less exponentially.
- Infestations only appear deeper underground now.
- AI now runs away from grenades thrown by their own faction.
- Tortoises aren’t so deadly any more.
- Animals no longer do incest.
- Humans now do incest.
- Seeds for world gen are now generated from actual words instead of random letter strings.
- You can now set both minimum and maximum skill on a bill.
- Beauty trait now has four stages: Staggeringly ugly, ugly, pretty, beautiful.
- Some backstories now force pawns to have a given trait (e.g. Model->Beautiful)
- Trade caravans can bring pack dromedaries.
- Projectiles fired by hunting colonists no longer intercept random targets.
- Some traders buy and sell furniture now.
- Gut worms and muscle parasites vanish sooner.
- Reworked ancient tomb loot generation. Plasteel is sometimes found on pod people. So are components.
- Nuzzling is now a visualized, recorded social interaction.
- Various refactorings to make modding easier and code easier to maintain and more flexible. Much more functionality is now implemented as composable ThingComps.
- Many, many, many other balance changes, gameplay and interface refinements, and bugfixes.
July 10th, 2016 - 4:45 pm
Amazing update!
July 10th, 2016 - 5:09 pm
> No more raids arriving and keeling over in -60C weather.
Why? That was fun 🙁
July 10th, 2016 - 5:22 pm
“Animals no longer do incest.
Humans now do incest.”
thats an intresting feature.is it rare thought? or are all people gonna bang their grandfathers?
July 10th, 2016 - 5:39 pm
So stoked! Can’t wait until next week!
July 10th, 2016 - 6:26 pm
Thank you for adding panthers because after reading this I now know panthers don’t exist and this will to help me cope.
July 10th, 2016 - 6:44 pm
Sooo… We can get our copies of game on steam?
July 10th, 2016 - 8:12 pm
Panthers are real, they just aren’t what you probably thought they were.
July 10th, 2016 - 9:05 pm
Hi tynan! In the discription about beatiful stages, you Have ugly twice, or are they Just twice as ugly haha?
July 11th, 2016 - 12:34 am
cant wait for the link email. I’d love to get a steam code instead for auto updates etc. Good progress guys!
July 11th, 2016 - 1:53 am
I feel like raids should be able to get caught off guard by cold or hot weather sometimes, it should just be less likely that they show up. They should also in that case definitely attack immediately, cause they want your shelter.
I also found out about panthers which destroyed my child hood and Jungle Book not too long ago.
The problem with the roofing change and fires is that you let roofed rooms get so hot people literally spontaneously combust. The fact that a pawn can be in a huge roofed room that is on fire in the opposite corner, and suddenly be aflame is more silly to me than the idea of a metal retractable roof or sections of roof. Even in Dwarf fortress you can have retractable bridges, built over top of stuff that effectively act as roofs.
July 11th, 2016 - 2:47 am
Now with Raccoons!
I am gonna tame so many trash-pandas–an army of adorable, yet vicious, little trash-pandas!
July 11th, 2016 - 2:51 am
You had me at “PlanetKiller”
July 11th, 2016 - 6:07 am
Oooooh, those AI changes are sexy. Glad to know all those evenings spent bitching on the forums paid off!
July 11th, 2016 - 6:37 am
Was I the only one who teared up when I read infestations are easier and less frequent?
July 11th, 2016 - 6:51 am
Congratulations and I’m looking forward to the Steam release, though I won’t be moving my SendOwl version over because I like it as it is – DRM free and if there is a new vewsion released I’m notified by the update checker which is then easily downloaded and extracted to a separate directory, not breaking any of the mods in the current install.
I hope that the Steam release is a big success, also financially for Ludeon and that there are many more updates to come in the future.
Still thinking about buying a second copy on Steam as well to show additional support, be able to positively review it and have the Steam Workshop convenience with mods and stories .. we’ll see.
Only thing I’m a bit worried about is the RNG of the combat engine and “Projectiles fired by hunting colonists no longer intercept random targets” seems to confirm that bullets are still not physically more proper implemented but hit chance being handled by the story teller.
I kind of like the way CombatRealism did it more, where bullets actually are individual physical entities with no RNG nonsense going on and don’t hit colonists that moved around a corner well into cover already just because the story teller wants you to get injured at that moment.
But that’s the beauty of mods and the developers supporting them so well – the community is awesome and chances are there will be mods to tailor the experience to how others like it more.
Good luck with the Steam launch, I’m looking forward to how things develop after that.
July 11th, 2016 - 8:30 am
“Animals no longer do incest.”
Why ? In reality, most animals do… So, why humans do, and not animals ?
(Sorry for my bad english.)
July 11th, 2016 - 10:18 am
Seems some Channels are already doing LPs of this new Alpha? Oddness.
The Incest changes are odd. Especially as animals in the real world will very happily do so if not stopped.
July 11th, 2016 - 10:57 am
Also, I hope there’s an easy way to keep track of bloodlines, or it’ll be rather hard to try to keep a herd/flock/whatever-turtles-group-in going.
July 11th, 2016 - 11:08 am
– Animals no longer do incest.
– Humans now do incest.
Great! This sounds funny. Hooray for Cersei and Jaime!
July 11th, 2016 - 12:38 pm
What a fantastic sounding update. Can’t wait! Good luck with Steam, I really hope your game gets the success it deserves.
July 11th, 2016 - 4:17 pm
Looks amazing, looking forward to it 🙂
July 11th, 2016 - 4:31 pm
HOOO omg in last patch i talk about ransom raiders and you add it !
Did you actually saw this comment or did it just randomly be add?
July 11th, 2016 - 5:54 pm
You can tell an update is good when the developer is so excited about it himself that he can’t wait that five more days to show off the video.
July 11th, 2016 - 9:00 pm
It could be nice, if colonist had traits like: gluttony, dieting, thick boned, thin boned, lusty, afraid, bossy, bully, charming, childish, clever, clumsy, selfish, talented, and wise.
And put age and stuff on it, like:
gluttony: Eat more than other colonists/eat less?
Wise: age above 50.
Bully: minus social, and a bully? xD
thick boned: resist more dmg or can tolerate hard labor? / and opposite?
lusty: minus attraction.
Just a fought? 😀
July 11th, 2016 - 11:31 pm
I can’t wait for the story telling that’s gunna come along with incest. I’m totally gunna end up laughing my head off.
July 12th, 2016 - 3:12 am
Glad to hear that I can mine two blocks in without having an infestation in the corner of my freezer/battery storage, screwing everything over.
July 12th, 2016 - 10:19 am
How much is it going to cost? i’d love to have it on steam but can’t justify paying full price again (stupid wife and kids!) 🙂
And i am about a year after the free key cut off 🙁
July 12th, 2016 - 10:44 am
For the thousands time: Tynan can’t PROMISE any Steam keys for those who bought the game after November 4, 2014, but he states multiple times on the forums that he WANTS to. SO just wait three more days and maybe you will get a surprise 😉
July 12th, 2016 - 12:17 pm
> Animals no longer do incest.
Huh? Have you *met* animals?
(Same goes for “Predators no longer hunt boomrats and boomalopes” — it felt emergently correct for a bear to attack a boomrat and get injured and sad.)
> There is now an orange glow to help you identify very hot areas.
Cool! (No pun intended.) What we also need are overlays/heatmaps for other conditions — beauty, power, temperature (hot *or* cold), roofing, …
And can you please rein in the interface a bit? There are so many different places to look for random info and messages… And some alerts remain even when they’re no longer true, and vice versa… and why oh why can’t I click on an area and then immediately expand or contract it?
July 12th, 2016 - 4:03 pm
I haven’t asked a thousand times, and i know i am not getting one it’s in my post, but thanks for the random strop 😛
Was just asking what the price was going to be, full price again or a touch less?
July 12th, 2016 - 8:10 pm
Will this make it possible to let’s say, limit progress so you only get medieval weapons (bows,swords,spears etc.) or is that not yet possible?
July 13th, 2016 - 11:09 pm
When you will make it possible to have babies in the game?
July 14th, 2016 - 6:34 am
@Alex and EAT them! Mwahaha
July 14th, 2016 - 7:04 am
well lets hope a colonist and an animal dont go at it
July 14th, 2016 - 10:55 am
I have to wait an extra day because I live on the other side of the world. Every day waiting for an update to this amazing game is torture…
July 14th, 2016 - 12:06 pm
[…] Alpha 14 preview […]
July 14th, 2016 - 4:04 pm
@Rob
I would wait a few days after it releases on Steam before I would buy it again on Steam if I were you. You never know what will happen with the cut-off date… (He can’t PROMISE a key as it is forbidden by Steam to do so before it is sold on Steam, just be patient)
Also, I suspect it will be the same price on Steam.
July 14th, 2016 - 4:17 pm
@zerggodmaster but my genetically engineered and compatible wargs want to breed with my tribe of humans to make me a colony of werewolf beastmen! This army will go around the world and terrorize the blasphemous bionic metal beings off our world! Muhahahaha
July 14th, 2016 - 4:50 pm
What??!?! Panthers aren’t real?!?! well….i guess i need this update now to be able to cope :___:
July 14th, 2016 - 6:10 pm
Heyyyyyy, Tynan, you should release the update a day early
July 14th, 2016 - 6:31 pm
Damn, no single word about multiplayer :p I need coop in Rimworld soo much ;>
July 14th, 2016 - 11:25 pm
It’s July 15th here. GIVE ME UPDPATE!
But seriously. Well done Ludeon.
July 14th, 2016 - 11:38 pm
I love this game and this update seems awesome! I’m super excited for it! 😀
July 15th, 2016 - 12:00 am
Love what the new update looks like, y’all are doing great work.
With the new roofing requirement, I request that you look into adding a tool that allows players to see what kind of roof exists over a tile (i.e. something that visualizes whether the roof is mountain, rock, constructed or without roofing).
July 15th, 2016 - 3:42 am
Seriously, Tynan, you are my favorite indie dev. You consistently set the bar for response to feedback and diligence towards your project. Thank you, from a long time fan.
July 15th, 2016 - 9:19 am
so it’s coming out today for steam, but are we getting our SendOwl update today aswell?
July 15th, 2016 - 10:52 am
Soon we will see if we get kicked streight into the face in terms of steam-keys and if early supporters have to double-pay to get into steam-workshop and all the other benefits of steam.
Even tho i have not lost hope yet, since as it looks, nothing will actually hinder Tynan to give out steam-keys to everyone (besides loosing money) since steamworks does allow to generate/register enough keys to make everyone happy.
Just look here:
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steamworks
under overview…
!!! There is no requirement that you sell your game on the Steam digital store. !!!
July 15th, 2016 - 12:43 pm
Animals don’t do incest? I ask that you please reverse this. It makes farming animals seemingly impossible and is unrealistic. I like to breed hares for food.
Porthos
All for One, One for All!
July 15th, 2016 - 1:17 pm
@Hartschteiler
Note that the Valve page you link to was last modified in late 2011. Let’s see if we get a steam-key today.
Will be a challenge to keep my animal farms up and running from now on…
July 15th, 2016 - 1:26 pm
I’m very happy that I bought this game on 25th of July, 2014
July 15th, 2016 - 2:04 pm
Man, i can imagine faces of all people, who bought 124$ version after 25th July 2014 and don’t got steam keys :^)
July 15th, 2016 - 2:08 pm
In fact , I’m upset for them.
I care.
July 15th, 2016 - 4:49 pm
Countdown to Steam release XD
July 15th, 2016 - 5:15 pm
Just to comment on what Porthos said…
Inbreeding is sort of how animal husbandry works and how we select favorable traits…
Maybe make the restriction that disease crop up eventually after too many generations with too little genetic diversity
refer to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coefficient_of_relationship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedigree_chart
July 16th, 2016 - 12:04 am
Gorgeous update! Great work!
And I’m happy that owners recieved a Steam-Key 🙂
July 17th, 2016 - 5:15 am
[…] Alpha 14 preview […]
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July 27th, 2016 - 11:40 pm
[…] https://ludeon.com/blog/2016/07/alpha-14-preview/ […]
July 31st, 2016 - 5:51 pm
[…] Alpha 14 preview […]
July 31st, 2016 - 5:52 pm
[…] Alpha 14 preview […]
July 31st, 2016 - 6:01 pm
[…] Alpha 14 preview […]
July 31st, 2016 - 11:59 pm
[…] 31, 20160 Views Alpha 14 preview (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Welcome to RimWorld Alpha 14. In Part 15 […]