Post-apocalyptic colony sim Surviving the Aftermath today received Update 1.1.0, titled The Colony. A look at its patch notes reveals a slew of additions and improvements, some of which are based on community feedback.
Thus, Surviving the Aftermath’s The Colony Update adds Metal, Concrete and Plastic Extractors which can extract their associated resources infinitely, a level 2 gate that lets you see if survivors are afflicted with diseases, and loads more.
Surviving the Aftermath Update 1.1.0 The Colony Patch Notes
Here are all the changes, additions and fixes introduced by Surviving the Aftermath’s Update 1.1.0, titled The Colony, as per the full patch notes:
General
- Implemented a fix that solves the mod installation issues with the Paradox Launcher.
- FMOD updated to 1.10.17 version.
- The loading process now supports Multithreading.
- This implementation will prevent the game from blocking during the loading screen – an issue that caused undesired behaviors when the game is running in parallel with certain streaming software.
- The loading indicator now rotates properly during the loading screen.
- Gamepads can now be connected while the game is running.
- Sometimes, connected wheels or pedals cause gamepad mode to be constantly turned on. The new option allows players to prevent this from happening.
- Added hotkey options for the Radio, Statistics, and Help Menus.
- Pressing the Tech Tree hotkey while in the Tech Tree menu will now close it properly.
- Players can now zoom out of the Colony view to the World map, and zoom in from the World Map to the Colony.
- We added an option to disable this feature.
- Statistics menu now shows production and consumption per resource. The Graph view will be implemented in a future update. [Community request]
- The top bar happiness tooltip now only shows five most affecting Needs.
- You can now rename colonists and specialists.
- Patch notes will now be shown at the first startup.
Added an option to disable the gamepad controls.</li>
Gameplay
- [Community request] World map combat now shows a prediction and damage range of the outcome that helps to estimate how dangerous it is to engage in combat.
- All storages now have an option to define what resources should be stored there.
- New buildings:
- Maintenance Depot - automate colony repairs within its work area.
- [Community request] Metal Extractor - scavenge Metal from barren soil.
- [Community request] Concrete Extractor - scavenge Concrete from barren soil.
- [Community request] Plastic Extractor - scavenge Plastic and Fiber from barren soil.
- Nuclear Waste Storage - stores dangerous waste from Environmental Station.
- Large Battery Rack - Store massive amounts of Energy.
- Gate Level 2 - Shows more information about incoming survivors.
- Tech tree updates:
- Battery Stacking: Unlocks Large Battery Rack (Production)
- Industrial Mining: Unlocks Metal, Plastic and Concrete Extractors (Production)
- Reinforced Gate: Unlocks Gate Level 2 (Reinforced gate) (Security)
- Centralized Repairs: Unlocks the Maintenance Depot (Security)
- [Community request] Science Points added as a tradeable resource for new and existing events. This increases the availability of science points.
- Work area improvements:
- The efficiency of the work area placement is now shown in the placement info UI, and it affects production.
- Soil types, trees, and water tiles affect building efficiency.
- Wells can no longer be placed close to each other.
- Added different indicators for the Work area circle to indicate resource availability.
- Arrow indicators added to Work Areas to indicate the resource movement direction.
- Tutorials updated to match the latest features.
- Pregame selections (Environment) now affect the amount of Energy and Water generation.
- Solar panels no longer produce Energy during the night.
- Corpses lying on the ground now cause a happiness penalty in the colony.
- Destruction/demolishing of a (not empty) burial pit inflicts a happiness penalty to all colonists.
- The Area of influence is now shown for all buildings while constructing a new building of the same type.
- Educated state for Colonists is now handled as a Trait. This will make it visible.
- Added a new notification that tells if there are resources on the ground, but no storage to store them.
- Fixed an issue that occasionally caused Bandit health to be shown with a negative value.
- Fix for issue where bandit health was sometimes shown with a negative value.
- Meteorites, Lightning, Falling satellites, and Overcharge now cause splash damage instead of targeted damage to a single building.
- They also harm the colonists and not only buildings.
- Catastrophes involving Falling items do not always hit buildings after this update, but they cause damage inside a larger radius.
- Nuclear waste deposits on the ground sometimes eject a toxic cloud of radioactive waste that causes damage to nearby buildings and colonists.
- The Tech tree Menu now shows more detailed information about the requirements and unlockable features of each technology.
- Events and Tech tree now show resource icons within the tooltip.
Graphics
- Improved terrain materials in the World Map.
- Improved look and performance of the volumetric fog effect during catastrophes and night/morning.
- Added visuals for destroyed Med Lab, Electronics Factory, and Auto Extractors.
- Fix to an issue where colonists sometimes used tools from a previous stage of their animation path.
- Corpses now decay over time and are eventually removed.
- More visual improvements will come with a future update.
- Improvements to the visual effects for the following buildings: Radar, Mess Hall, and Movie Theater.
- Events now have exit animations (like cars properly leaving the Gate after an event).
- Heightmaps around the colony now generate more blocking geometry, to make the colony area look more isolated.
- Survivor groups are now visually shown at the gate.
- Sped up several world map animations.
- Introduced new flag symbols inspired by notable members of the Paradox community.
UI
- Improved readability for the Build menu category icons.
- World Map button has a “return to colony view” image while in the World Map view.
- The colors for placement restriction in construction mode have been changed.
- Added dividers between resource types in the top bar.
- Firewood and Junk tooltips added to the top bar.
- The World Map now shows combat damage after the damage has been applied.
- Increased readability for the Combat prediction menu in the World Map.
- Improved visualization of the remaining event time in the event floater.
Balancing
- Reduced the maximum impact of Nuclear Fallout and Pandemic.
- You now need 2 Fibers to produce 1 Clothing, down from 3.
- Tool and Clothing production is now 20% faster.
- Specialist Scavenging, Research, and Recovery rates boosted by 25%.
- Amount of resources increased on the World Map, especially on the outer edges
- School capacity raised to 10 children.
- Schools now require a teacher to work in the building.
- Added variety to distant locations in the World Map.
- The Merchant now offers better value deals.
- Reduced the cost of the Blackmail and Slaver events.
- Reduced the Component cost for Solar Panels.
- This change is implemented to compensate for the lack of Energy production during the night.
- Removed early game events from late game.
- Improved the clarity of Happiness building differences.
- Location hazards should no longer be able to one-shot a full health Specialist.
- Reduced maximum survivor group size in most instances.
Modding
- Building ID ranges no longer overlap with the game buildings
- Implemented fixes to address the issues occurring when loading savegames with mods active
Surviving the Aftermath is available now in Early Access on PC, via the Epic Games Store, and Xbox, via Xbox Game Preview.
