Hi everyone!

Today, we’re having a second look at how badwater and pollution spread across the map, and what the player can do about it. This update adds several new buildings and structures which should address the feedback we’ve been receiving since Update 5 first dropped and after our most recent patch. As a bonus, we’re removing a certain irritation-inducing tower.

Let us know what you think about today's changes - either below or on our Discord in the #experimental channel.


Many of our players have been vocal about the ability to stop the contamination at its, ahem, source. With this update, we’re allowing you to do that, provided your beavers can access sufficient resources. On an even more important note, droughts now disable badwater sources.

• Badwater sources are now disabled during droughts, similar to regular water sources.
  
• Tweaked the RNG a bit so that the same season of pain (a drought or a badtide) doesn’t trigger too many times in a row.
  
• New building: Badwater Dome (2000 SP; 100 Planks, 200 Gears, 100 Metal Blocks; Folktails only; ground only). Built on top of a Badwater Source, this heavy-duty structure allows you to manually open and close the source.
  
• New building: Badwater Rig (4000 SP; 400 Gears, 200 Treated Planks, 150 Metal Blocks; Folktails only; ground only). This even more advanced building seals a badwater source for good but allows employed beavers to gather and store large amounts of badwater right there.
  
• New building: Badwater Discharge (4000 SP; 300 Gears, 200 Metal Blocks, 50 Explosives; Iron Teeth only; ground only). The Iron Teeth counterpart works similarly to Folktails’ Badwater Dome with one important difference: keep it open during a drought, and the badwater will continue to flow!

We may have gone overboard with the recent change to levees, dams, and floodgates so we’re reverting their behavior to the previous state. However, we’re also adding new structures that should give you more control over pollution and badwater in general - so much so that we felt compelled to delete a certain building from the game. Oh, and there’s a cool new pump!

• Levees, dams, and floodgates no longer prevent irrigation and contamination spread.
  
• Water (and badwater) bodies with bottoms and sides entirely built with levees no longer irrigate (and contaminate) surrounding areas.
  
• Patch highlight: Removed Irrigation Tower from the game. We believe the current set of irrigation-related tools is enough for you to not miss the memiest of Timberborn buildings.
  
• New building: Contamination Barrier (400 SP; 5 Planks, 1 Metal Block; Folktails only; ground only). This structure doesn’t stop the water flow but stops pollution from passing through all the tiles below it. Simply wall off the areas you want safe. It’s super effective!
  
• New building: Irrigation Barrier (400 SP; 10 Logs, 5 Treated Planks; Iron Teeth only; ground only). This barrier blocks both contamination and irrigation. Sure, this may be a heavy-handed approach, but you can still use it to separate an area from a river that may get contaminated. You can then irrigate the terrain with water from sources officially approved by the Water Purity Committee.
  
• New building: Large Water Pump (400 SP; 20 Logs, 5 Gears, 10 Treated Planks, Folktails only). Effective farming relies on access to clean water - simply find it, and with this bad boy, you’ll get enough in no time.
  
• Renamed Barrier to Blockage. It just made sense to us to shuffle these names around.
  
• Contamination now spreads diagonally, similar to irrigation.

After a brief disappearance, everyone’s favorite - apparently - garden plant is back. And it’s stronger than ever.

• “New” building: Herbalist (300 SP; 20 Planks, 5 Gears, 5 Treated Planks; Folktails only). In a blatant asset flip, we’ve repurposed and renamed the previous Healer building to use dandelion. It now creates antidotes - a new good that’s stored in tanks. It heals contaminated beavers at a slow rate.
  
• Decontamination Pods are now Iron Teeth-exclusive.

• Updated map thumbnails with new badwater visuals.
  
• Updated particles for Double and Triple Dynamite.
  
• Improved the visibility of Badwater Sources.
  
• In certain scenarios, beavers now get to work right after reaching their destination rather than idling.
  
• Large Science Points costs are now shortened (10,000 becomes 10k etc.)
  
• Updated descriptions for several buildings.
  
• After the game is over, it acknowledges that in a subtle way.

• “Contaminated” status no longer disappears from the event log after the affected beaver gets tired and heads home.
  
• Fixed power connectors for Wind Tunnel and Bot Assembler.
  
• Fixed beavers delivering goods to Advanced Breeding Pods so eagerly they’d clip through.
  
• Fixed an issue with floodgates partially clipping through terrain.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by exiting Timberborn directly from the game.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by clicking Rubble.
  
• Homeless beavers will now sleep at a building’s doorstep if they can’t find better spots. :(

Hello everyone!

We want to thank you for the great feedback shared since Update 5 hit the experimental branch two weeks ago. Badwater is a huge change that was bound to require some tweaks, and today, we’ve got the first batch ready. Please let us know what you think!



You’ve made it clear that the colors of badwater and extract should change. We’re happy to oblige.

• Toned down the hue of badwater to make it look less like lava more like the toxic waste it is.
  
• Changed the color of extract to red so that it better corresponds with badwater’s.

You asked for more ways to control how the pollution spreads, so from now on, Dams, Levees, and Floodgates stop the ground’s contamination. This change also applies to irrigation, though, so plan carefully.

• Dams, Levees, and Floodgates now prevent irrigation and contamination spread.

While badwater does well as a new threat, its positive side has been lacking. We sought a way to improve that, and we’ve found bots to be a good choice.

• New building: Grease Factory (2000 SP; Gear x30, Treated Plank x20, Metal Block x10; 2 workers; Iron Teeth-only). Boasting Danny Zuko’s seal approval, this building turns extract into a new, oily resource.
  
• New good: Grease (Extract x1, Canola Oil x1 gives Grease x2). Stored in tanks and consumed by Iron Teeth bots, grease increases their condition by 1.
  
• New good: Punch Cards (Paper x2, Plank x1 gives Punch Card x2; Folktails-only). Containing more precise instructions, punch cards are an extra paper sink and a new, earlier boost to Folktails’ bots. Produced at Printing Press (which is now a Folktails-exclusive building, remember?) and stored in warehouses, cards are consumed by Folktails’ bots to increase their condition by 1.
  
• Updated recipe: Catalyst (Maple Syrup x1, Extract x1 gives Catalyst x3; Folktails-only). With extract added to its recipe, we’re making catalyst the second, more advanced boost available to Folktails’ bots.
  
• The maximum condition achievable by bots is now 2. A bot with access to both faction-specific boosts enjoys +80% movement speed and +120% working speed.

In light of Update 5 changes, we’re tweaking the game’s balance and difficulty levels.

• Small Windmill: maximum power output is now 150, down from 200.
  
• Large Windmill: maximum power output is now 300, down from 400.
  
• Wheat flour recipe: now takes 0.5h to complete, down from 0.78h.
  
• Cattail flour recipe: now takes 0.25h to complete, down from 0.66h.
  
• Bread recipe: now takes 1h to complete, up from 0.42h.
  
• Maple pastry recipe: now takes 1.5h to complete, up from 0.55h.
  
• At hard difficulty preset, it now only takes a single guaranteed drought cycle before the game starts randomizing your plight between droughts and badtides.

• Updated the Diorama map to remove a visual glitch causing water to clip through the terrain.
  
• Updated icons for several water- and badwater-related buildings, as well as the icon for the injured beavers.
  
• Updated descriptions of difficulty levels to mention badtides.
  
• Updated the welcome screen so that it no longer refers to the ancient alpha, beta, and demo times.
  
• When selecting a good in a storage building’s panel or via the storage overlay, its extended tooltip - the same as the one used in the top bar - is now used.

• Fixed a crash caused by using the layer hiding tool (again).
  
• The “It’s dying” progress bar is no longer displayed for partially collected crops.
  
• Fixed the map editor’s “Hide resources” icon behaving incorrectly.
  
• Fixed the missing injury chance in Dirt Excavators and the incorrect injury chance in Explosive Factories.
  
• Fixed the “Empty storage” status icon being displayed under range lines.
  
• The units’ movement speed bonus is now correctly displayed.
  
• Fixed a bug with goods’ icons on barrels sometimes having the wrong color.
  
• Fixed a bug with water pumps partially disappearing while in preview mode.
  
• Fixed a bug with Water and Badwater Sources setting the contamination of the water tiles above them to 0% and 100%, respectively.
  
• Fixed numerical input fields crashing the game when trying to use certain character combos.
  
• Beavers now only become contaminated right after finishing their current task. Illness is an illness, but finishing work takes priority.

• Saves with dandelions marked for demolition will no longer crash while loading.
  
• Using layer hiding tool will no longer cause a crash.

• Fixed a crash caused by corrupted maps and saves.
  
• Fixed badwater leaking through dam corners.

Hello everyone!

Today, we’re happy to unveil the next big thing coming to Timberborn. With Update 5, the gameplay gets deeper, post-apocalyptic Earth grows more hostile, and your beavers become even more eco-friendly. All thanks to the addition of the volatile pollution - badwater.

The full patch notes, also covering new attractions, decorations, QoL changes, and more, are at the bottom. But first, let’s don our hazmat suits and dive into the update’s main feature.

In Timberborn’s world, humanity disappeared and left ruin behind. As of Update 5, that legacy also includes toxic pollution, colloquially known as badwater. Accumulated in the Earth’s crust in mankind’s final days, these deadly chemicals flow down the rivers and erupt from the ground, threatening all life and making restoration of the planet even more challenging.



Badwater is the first extra fluid we have on the maps. It uses Timberborn’s water physics system, so it behaves similarly to, um, the good water. It has a varied current’s strength, flows across the land, fills up basins, interacts with dams etc. But when it reaches a regular river, the two water types start to mix, with the good water becoming increasingly polluted. The two fluids are distinct visually, and you can easily see how the pollution spreads.

This will happen to you because we’re adding badtides - a new in-game season type on top of the existing temperate seasons and droughts. Every time you would expect a drought to begin, a badtide may trigger instead (so there always comes a normal temperate season after either a badtide or a drought). When that happens, badwater begins to flow from all water sources.

On top of that, we’re updating built-in maps to include Badwater Sources. These large cracks in the ground spew out the chemicals all the time, no matter the season. As you can probably imagine, that’s not good news for neighboring beaver colonies, at least not entirely.

First, badwater gradually reduces the irrigation range of polluted water bodies until they no longer irrigate. On top of that, at a certain threshold, it starts contaminating the nearby terrain. Any plant growing in the affected area - be it a regular crop, aquatic crop, or a tree - will quickly wither and die. Fortunately, the contamination disappears rather quickly after you get rid of badwater. We’ll get to that in a moment.



Badwater also affects the beavers and their operations. It reduces the efficiency of water pumps, turns off several extra buildings, and traversing through it is dangerous. Prolonged exposure, especially when in high concentrations, may contaminate your colonists. After a few days, the affected beaver becomes a zombeaver burden - it moves slowly, refuses to work, and continues consuming resources. This applies to kits too. Bots, to no surprise, are not affected - this allowed us to improve their functionality (and also unlock terraforming for beavers, yay!).

Your best bet may be to prevent badwater from reaching the colony altogether. To do that, you will use levees, floodgates, and all your other hydroengineering tools. We’ve also added a new badwater-specific pump, as well as updated the water dump to be toggleable and work with either fluid. To accommodate badwater, we’re updating built-in maps - you’ll need some serious engineering skills to flush it away. That’s a cool thing about badwater as a constant threat - it’s a new tool for map creators who can use it to craft entirely different challenges.



And what to do when your beavers do get contaminated? We know what you’re thinking - yes, you could force-migrate sick beavers to a shadowy place, i.e. a very special and sad district. Ethics aside, you should probably fight for your valuable workers instead. You can cure the contaminated by placing them in Decontamination Pods. Oh, wait, what’s that green thing?



We didn’t want to introduce just a new threat you’d avoid, but rather something you would like to play with. Badwater can be gathered and then turned into extract - a new good that has several beneficial uses. It is now needed to produce two new, more explosive Dynamite variants, and in Dirt Excavators. And since we can go a little crazy with it, we also have a new Breeding Pod variant that, to Folktails’ justified disgust, churns out adult Iron Teeth. Finally, badwater powers up water wheels just the same, which some map makers are bound to make you exploit.

We believe adding badwater makes Timberborn’s gameplay deeper, and answers recurring requests for a new season type. With two different fluids appearing - or even competing - on the maps, the player must be far more conscious about the water physics and irrigation mechanics. You probably don’t want the “waters” to mix freely, as green farmlands now become even more precious, and some underwater paths are suddenly dangerous.

Timberborn’s signature dams and vertical architecture help big time here. You have the tools for the job, and with the removal of district limits, you can find a perfect solution for the particular map setup. Essentially, both map makers and players get more scenarios to play with.


Concept art created for Update 5

With badtides and badwater sources in place, we expect players’ playthroughs to become more varied. When there is no fully predictable pattern and the game world doesn’t just swing back and forth between wet and dry seasons, you shouldn’t be able to “solve” the map a few cycles in. And because badwater’s effects don’t follow the basic pattern of “irrigated or non-irrigated”, your efforts may also have a different effect on the colony’s survival.

The new feature we’re introducing today is the biggest change we’ve ever had, making it a perfect Experimental Branch material. We treat badwater as work-in-progress content and expect to iterate on it, both while it’s still in the experimental stage for Update 5, and in the future. We look forward to hearing what you think about it (and the rest of Update 5, of course). Please let us know what works and what doesn’t - either here on Steam or on our Discord.

Please note: Update 5 should be compatible with Update 4 saves and maps. However, the existing maps were not created with badwater in mind. There are no Badwater Sources there, obviously, and even though badtides do come, their effects can be unpredictable on an unmodified map. Please start the new game on one of the updated built-in maps.




Toxic waste of hooman origin now flows across the maps. It taints water, contaminates beavers, disables irrigation, and kills plant life. Its addition is the biggest change to the game since launch so we’re asking you for your feedback - we’re ready to make changes if necessary. Once you have played in with badwater for a while, let us know what you think!

• New feature: badwater. This noxious liquid spills using the in-game water physics, and will mix with regular water. Like its not-deadly counterpart, badwater powers up Water Wheels, disables buildings with flooded entrances etc.
  
• New season: badtides - on top of droughts and temperate seasons, you may now encounter badtides. During these seasons, badwater flows from water sources. By default, badtides randomly replace droughts after the three cycles. On custom difficulty, you can adjust that number as well as badtides’ duration and chance of occurring.
  
• New object: Badwater Source - these new 3x3 structures added to (most) built-in maps and available in the map editor pump out badwater constantly, regardless of season.
  
• Beavers walking or swimming in badwater may become contaminated. After three days, the contaminated beaver will receive a severe Well-being penalty and refuse to work while continuing to eat, drink, and occupy a household. If it’s a Folktail, it will not reproduce, and if it’s Iron Teeth, it will not care about the colony’s breeding pods. The higher the concentration of badwater, the higher the risk of contamination on contact.
  
• Bots are unaffected by exposure to badwater. Go, bots!
  
• Badwater gradually decreases the irrigation range of regular water. At 100% concentration, water no longer irrigates nearby areas.
  
• Badwater gradually contaminates the area, quickly killing all plant life. The size of the affected area depends on badwater concentration, and the continamination persists for some time after the pollution level drops.
  
• Added new categories for contaminated adult beavers and kits to the Settlement Panel.

Badwater is harmful so we’re giving your beavers tools to handle the new threat. At the same time, we’re also exploring ways of turning it into something useful. (That’s what producing adult Iron Teeth beavers is, right?) Since this is the first time we have two types of free-flowing liquid on the maps, we’ve also made some changes to existing buildings.

• New building: Badwater Pump (250 SP; 20 logs, 10 gears, 5 metal blocks; 1 worker; Folktails-only) - this building only pumps badwater. At lower badwater concentrations, it works less efficiently.
  
• New building: Deep Badwater Pump (250 SP; 20 logs, 10 gears, 5 metal blocks; 1 worker; Iron Teeth-only). You know the drill - this one reaches six tiles deep.
  
• Updated buildings: Water Pump and Deep Water Pump. Their effectiveness now drops as the badwater concentration increases.
  
• New building: Centrifuge (600 SP; 60 planks, 40 gears, 30 metal blocks; 2 workers; 200 HP to operate). This mechanized building turns badwater into a new good - extract.
  
• New good: extract. This beautifully green liquid is stored in tanks. Right now, it has several uses such as the new pods described below.
  
• New building: Advanced Breeding Pod (1000 SP; 5 treated planks, 2 metal blocks; Iron Teeth only). That’s right - if you invest a bit more in your breeding efforts, you can use extract to produce new beavers that are “born” adult. Slightly sad and very efficient!
  
• New building: Decontamination Pod (400 SP; 20 planks, 5 metal blocks, 20 extract; requires 100 HP to operate). Badwater contamination is far too severe to be treated in a regular bed - you need this special, powered-up variant to ensure your beavers survive.
  
• Updated building: Water Dump. This building was renamed to Fluid Dump and can now, uh, dump both water and badwater. Use the new toggle to pick what you want dumped.
  
• Renamed (Deep) Mechanical Water Pumps to (Deep) Mechanical Fluid Pumps as they now transfer both water and badwater. Use the toggle to choose what should be pumped.
  
• Updated building: Stream Gauge. It now also displays the current pollution level.
  
• Several buildings relying on access to pure water (Lidos, Showers, Fountain ) are disabled as soon as the Beaver Environmental Agency detects any signs of pollution.

Our efforts towards making factions more unique continue! After the all-new monuments in Update 4, today’s update brings much more variety to the attractions and decorations.

• New building: Lantern (100 SP; 2 logs, 4 planks) finally, you can light up the colony’s dark alleys at night. Each faction’s model is slightly different.
  
• New building: Hammock (120 SP; 2 logs, 2 planks; Folktails-only). Now, that’s how you rest.
  
• New building: Bulletin Pole (600 SP; 20 planks, 2 metal blocks; Folktails-only). Here’s where Folktails post their nekker bounties friendly messages and announcements.
  
• New building: Beaver Bust (200 SP; 3 metal blocks; Iron Teeth-only). Ol’ Kazko has finally gained some solid recognition.
  
• New building: Clock (600 SP; 10 planks, 8 gears, 2 metal blocks; Iron Teeth-only). Time is money, friend. Yeah, okay, this is a money-free world but you get the idea.
  
• New building: Brazier (150 SP; 12 planks, 2 metal blocks; Iron Teeth-only). Because nights can be cold out there in the desert.
  
• New building: Scratcher (5 logs, 5 planks; Iron Teeth-only). This one truly scratches that itch.
  
• New building: Swimming Pool (250 SP; 40 logs, 30 planks; Iron Teeth-only). Replacing Lido for the Iron Teeth, this is a more competitive variant of the submerged attraction.
  
• New building: Exercise Plaza (400 SP; 150 logs, 60 planks; Iron Teeth only). Continuing the fitness theme, your Iron Teeth workers will now work out after work. We highly recommend joining them during extended Timberborn sessions.
  
• New building: Wind Tunnel (700 SP; 50 planks, 50 gears, 40 metal blocks; requires 400 HP to operate; Iron Teeth-only). You wanted to be able to send your beavers flying, so we’ve listened… kind of.
  
• Updated building: Carousel. It received a new, more compact model and is now exclusive to Folktails.
  
• Updated the Beaver Statue (Iron Teeth) to stand out more after adding the new Beaver Bust.
  
• Updated building: Lido. It is now exclusive to Folktails.
  
• Shrine and Temple are now exclusive to Folktails.
  
• Lowered Shrine’s building cost to 10 logs.
  
• Paper Mill and Printing Press (and by consequence paper and books) are now exclusive to Folktails.

…are gone. While the Medical Beds remain in the game to treat injured beavers, medicine is no longer needed. Just like many players, we didn’t like how this extra production chain worked and rarely used either Dandelions or Healers, so we’ve removed them.

• Removed Dandelion and Medicine from the game.
  
• Removed Healer from the game.
  
• Rebalanced the natural healing time and the injury chances to account for the above.

With bots granted a new trait in the form of badwater immunity, we can finally allow beavers to work in the terraforming business. Speaking of which, cool beavers don’t look at explosions but with the new, badwater-powered dynamite in place, they may reconsider.

• Terraforming Station and Dirt Excavator are no longer bot-exclusive.
  
• Updated building: Dirt Excavators now consume extract.
  
• Updated recipe: Explosive is now made out of 5x badwater.
  
• New “building”: Double Dynamite (1x explosive, 1x extract). This 1x1 dynamite blows two tiles deep rather than just one.
  
• New “building”: Triple Dynamite (1x explosive, 2x extract). You guessed it - this one removes three tiles.
  
• Updated Dynamite’s model.

Gone are the days of guessing what that particular “asdasdad” save contains. Now, whenever you save the game, a screenshot is taken to be displayed on the load game screen. The load game screen has also been overhauled to improve its usability.

• Added screenshots to save files. This change is not retroactive - only saves made after this change will contain screenshots. Older settlement files will show a beautiful placeholder image until you save the game on the new update.
  
• Updated the load game screen to display screenshots, saves’ timestamps and the cycle-day data.
  
• The default save names are now more hooman-friendly.

Whenever you start a new game and pick the map, you will see a thumbnail and the map description set up by the map’s creator within the map editor.

• Updated the map selection screen for the New game / Edit map to include map thumbnails and descriptions.
  
• Maps’ names and descriptions are now localized.
  
• Added icons for beginner-friendly and custom maps to the map selection screen.

With this update’s additions, the editor also needed some love.

• Added Badwater Sources to the toolbar.
  
• Added “Map thumbnail” button to the Map editor’s toolbar. It allows you to set a camera position - whenever you save the map, the screenshot will be taken to act as its thumbnail.
  
• Added “Map description” button to the Map editor’s toolbar. It opens a simple box where you can enter a map description.
  
• Added new water (and badwater) simulation speeds.
  
• Added a warning to inform you that the map you loaded is incompatible with the current game version.
  
• Added the Settings Panel, similar to the one available in the regular game mode. so you can, for example, edit game settings inside map editor now

We have updated most built-in maps to accommodate the presence of badwater. Changes range from minor to dramatic so make sure you let us know how they play for you. We’ve even created dedicated threads on Discord to discuss the updated maps.

• Updated nine out of twelve built-in maps to account for badwater’s presence and add Badwater Sources. The three missing maps - Mountain Range, Helix Mountain, and Thousand Islands - require significant reworks and remain unchanged for now.
  
• Updated resources on all maps to make up for Dandelion’s removal. Good riddance, we know.
  
• Patched up weird 1x1 holes that were hiding on Lakes, Waterfalls and Canyon.

YES, it only took us two years since launch to add customizable key bindings to the game.

• Replaced the old key bindings list with a customizable key bindings window, accessed through the game menu, map editor menu, and settings.
  
• Added primary and secondary key bindings. It is possible to use key combinations such as Ctrl+Shift+K.
  
• Added multiple new bindings for settlement panel sections, priorities, and even dynamite detonation. We’ve got quite a few of those.
  
• Added extra info to buttons that work differently when clicked with a pressed key (the “Eye” tracking button in the building/unit panel and +/- buttons in the migration tab).

• Folktails now need at least two adult beavers with no critical needs (such as Thirst) in a single dwelling to reproduce.
  
• Increased effectiveness of all water wheels by 50%.
  
• Smoke and other similar particles now react to the wind. :O
  
• Needs will now deplete at a slower rate on Easy difficulty.
  
• To teach kits how aging works, becoming a responsible adult no longer erases a kit’s consequences of reckless behaviour status effects.
  
• Withering plants now have a slightly depressing progress bar. There’s also a status that displays the withering’s cause so that you act fast and save the innocent flora’s life.
  
• Lodges, Barracks and Rowhouses now display the number of occupied and available slots.
  
• Water Pump pipe dynamically adjusts its length to surrounding terrain and buildings, so it’s now possible to build water pumps with a levee at the bottom of the pipe.
  
• Added the missing Water Source and Barrier flavor texts.
  
• Removed the default 0,0 saved camera position as that usually caused you to gaze into the void.
  
• Added the new Eager Beavers, Masterful Architects, and the new trailer creators to the in-game credits.
  
• Removed “Unique to this faction” notes from buildings. At this point, more buildings should have it than not.
  
• Sitting and standing animations for beavers and bots are now consistent.
  
• Builders will no longer abandon a construction site in the middle of their task, as long as they have materials to build.

• Fixed a bug with workers not heading to their idling spots after finishing work.
  
• Fixed the erratic behavior of the lights in Temple, Shrine, and Rooftop Terrace.
  
• It’s no longer possible to grow crops directly under Water Fluid Dump’s pipe.
  
• Fixed bugged water wheels’ animations.
  
• Fixed a crash occurring when saving the game.
  
• Fixed 1x1 Roofs and Power Wheels that could clip with other objects.
  
• It is again possible to select Gravity Batteries by clicking their weight.
  
• Fixed a bug with the path preview being drawn incorrectly while rotating stairs in the construction preview.
  
• Fixed some clipping in the Grindstone.
  
• Fixed the clipping paws of sleeping haulers.
  
• Fixed beavers that would fly between bridges. They now have a Wind Tunnel for that.
  
• Units no longer perform kickflips when stepping onto stairs after leaving a building.
  
• Fixed Floodgates placed on the edge of the map’s lowest level that would stick out.
  
• Fixed a bug with long, weird names such as Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar clipping with the avatar.
  
• Fixed a bug with negative well-being values displayed on green.
  
• Units are no longer stuck sitting in attractions when stranded. No more free rides.
  
• Fixed skips in builders animation.
  
• Injured beavers will go eat or drink before their need is in critical state.

Hello everyone!

Two years ago, on September 15, 2021, our incredible beaver journey began with the release of Timberborn Early Access. It’s our studio’s debut title and back then, we had little idea what reception to expect. Today, we’re very proud to announce that over one million players picked up the game so far!

We thank you for your continued support, as it allows us to polish the gameplay and add more cool new features ahead of Timberborn’s full release. You’ll get a taste of that in the near future, as the work on the game-changing Update 5 is well underway.

To celebrate today’s milestone, we’ve prepared a new gameplay trailer. Timberborn has evolved a lot in the past two years, after all! Beaver bots and terraforming are now a thing. Both Folktails and the Iron Teeth received lots of unique buildings, and their food production chains are now completely different. There are many new crops and trees. The game had its share of reworks and tweaks, too - districts are now unlimited, the storage system was fully replaced, and the framerates are up to 80% higher. The fresh trailer allows us to show at least some of that!

By the way: in our headcanon, the launch video was narrated by Ol’ Kazko, so this time, it was Ma’ Ngonel’s time to shine. And it happened, thanks to the amazing Elle Newlands! You might recognize her voice from Diablo 4 or Apex Legends, among other titles.

Enjoy!



Once again, we thank you for these exciting two years and all the feedback you sent us. We’re looking forward to sharing with you what comes next, in Update 5.

Until then,
Mechanistry a.k.a. Team Timberborn

Hello everyone,

We're proud to say that our second map-building contest on Mod.io generated quite a buzz! With 250 entries, picking the winners was a difficult task, but thanks to the people’s vote held within the studio, we managed to narrow the selection with some extra insight from our Game Designer Adrian!

The three maps we liked most will earn their makers 1000 EUR each (as well as an eternal place in the game's credits). The competition was fierce, with single votes deciding victors, so we’ll also have three honorable mentions in each category.

On top of the usual criteria of originality, visuals, and gameplay value, this competition had a theme of verticality. We opened that to interpretation and saw the creators develop many different approaches. We’ve seen height jumps that required investing in stairs, the verticality revealing itself after water levels dropped, steep hills that encouraged building on platforms, and all kinds of narrow valleys with cascading rivers where stacking buildings helps expand across limited space.

Without further ado, here are our favourite maps of Build-a-Map Contest 2! Follow the links to download them from https://mod.io/g/timberborn?tags-in=Build-a-Map+Contest+2 (or check out the Mod Manager to do that within the game).


This map creator has taken verticality to their heart, filling the limited map area with extreme height differences and allowing for interesting water circulation using the aqueduct-like walls. We have seen several similar designs across all map sizes, but this one came ahead in the team's voting session with its varied, semi-symmetrical setup that turns out to be quite a challenge with weak water sources.


Described by its author as simply as "the map I've always wanted to play", the canyon features a flat oasis-like starting area and a waterfall that leaves a trough behind when all else dries out. The relaxed vertical expansion will be rewarded aplenty, however, with metal deposits, irrigated farmlands, and more.


Images of the Colosseum spring to mind here, with the round central structure surrounded by columns and slopes that resemble seats for the audience (and roofs outside). It's great to see in-game objects used in such a creative way, especially when it's more than just for looks.


This is one of the best Diorama-like creations from the contest - we really like how the water spirals down over an uneven riverbed, covering a wide area. The metal sources are also on elevated areas, requiring some climbing.


After being placed on the list honorably mentioned in the previous contest, Aniqua88 returned to conquer our studio's hearts with this rectangular map of unusual dimensions. With limited room at the start, your beavers must climb upstream and push forward, immediately prioritizing green land for crops and placing buildings on the raised parts. Just don't break the barriers to guarantee your beavers are being fed!


The Pit Cave's "get yourself out of this pit you dug" scenario splits the playthrough into two stages. First, you must stack the buildings and stairs to escape the chasm with limited access to arable areas. This opens up access to multiple more beaver-friendly sections of the map, with extra challenges from reaching new metal sources.


We love this highly detailed setup inspired by a real-life national park in China. The meticulously placed plant life, the deep canyons, and rivers cascading down over dead trees toward the open water area at the far end enable city building with a massive dose of exploration (and deforestation).


Beavers will indeed test their climbing skills here. The contained starting area with a small spring opens up to several possible expansion routes. The narrow, deep, and walled riverbed behind the hills becomes a prime target, leading to an even more tempting set of underground sites in the desert.


Like in the previous contest, the biggest challenge on the large maps proved to be using the space to its fullest potential - this time, with the need to go vertical. Terrace Valley shined here by offering a landscape with multiple spread-out points of interest and enchanted us with different takes on the titular terraces. You will start in a reasonably peaceful corner where you can set up your settlement before exploring further, naturally gravitating towards the eye-catching ruined isle in the center.


Pillars upon pillars with dried trees are scattered across this map, one acting as the starting area. On top of encouraging some hardcore bridge-building, Vargares has managed to build a rich, realistic landscape with rocky riverbeds and naturally formed stairs not just for descending.


We appreciate the concept behind this map (be sure to read the description!). Instead of going for a typical river starting at the map's edge, totrider opens up with three adjacent wells in the starting area. They're dammable at different heights, gradually " unlocking" further sectors of an otherwise dry map. By demolishing barriers scattered around, you can control the otherwise natural navigation across the varied landscape.


With a name like this, we expected three giant pillars with a forest of Fangorn between them. The "towers" however are the elevated areas that freely spill water onto the areas below, leading to an exciting challenge. Once you take care of the initial area, the further damming business should require some clever planning/

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Once again, congratulations to the winners and the honorably mentioned, and big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the contest. There will be more in the future, that's for sure, but in the meantime, https://mod.io/g/timberborn/r/build-a-map-contest-2 to check the full selection of participating entries.

Hello everyone!

With the launch of Timberborn’s Mod.io hub, a lot has changed in the world of Timberborn mods! Today, we’d like to take a fresh look at the beautiful - and sometimes quirky - add-ons created by our talented players. Expect a custom rat beaver faction, a random map generator, ladders, and more.

Please note that modding Timberborn is not officially supported, and all add-ons we show today are community-made. According to our limited testing, they should work on the current main branch version (a.k.a. Update 4) when installed separately, but every new patch has a chance of breaking them. Also, launching the game with too many mods may easily crash it, so we suggest you go slow.

In other words, install the mods at your own risk, preferably one at a time, after you back up your saves. And if you’re still unsure how to start, visit the #modding-basics channel on our Discord first.

With that out of the way, here are some of our favorite Timberborn mods!


Here’s where you should begin. The three mods above unlock access to most other creations, and make it possible to modify the game. (For that, we want to give their creators a big shout-out: you never cease to impress our coders).

After you install BePinEx and the Mod Manager manually as described here, adding mods and custom maps becomes a matter of a single click. Simply open the Mod Manager available from the main menu, install TimberAPI, and you'll be ready to go deeper.


Easily the most expansive mod on the list, this one adds an entirely new playable faction. It also plays with the game’s mechanics and aesthetics in a big way. As soon as you start a new game and find your Labrats Whitepaws around a broken cart rather than a regular district center, you know you’re in for a ride. Browse the toolbar, and you will get dizzy.

Whitepaws use all their workshops and storage as dwellings, adding to the population control challenge. Many of their buildings, lodges included, are “Watertight” - they act like levees. Some buildings can now be upgraded. Food production chain and factory workings are all changed, with tens of new resources requiring figuring out - how about feeding your beavers sauerkraut, growing brambles, digging up salt in the mine, or penning multi-resource blueprints to build advanced structures? Round that up with other additions, such as billboards or the balloon landing pad used to “trade” with other factions, and you have a monstrosity of a mod.

Water Beaver Overhaul quickly makes for an entire new playthrough or more, although with the sheer amount of content included, be prepared for creatively reused assets, work-in-progress iconography, and some balance woes - but hey, that’s what makes it beautiful!


Right now, this is the closest you can get to randomly generated maps. With the mod installed, open the map editor and click the new “Random Map” button. Then, adjust several settings such as the map’s size, terrain amplitude, native flora, or how “bendy” the included river body will be.

After the map is generated, you will probably want to iron out some kinks such as interestingly placed water sources prone to overflowing - but R-T-B’s tool is an excellent way to get the initial work out of the way if you don’t want to start by staring blankly at the empty canvas.


Can’t decide whether our studio favors Folktails or the Iron Teeth? That’s not a problem! Simply download this mod to unlock several faction buildings to be used by both factions. Canola and corn grown with the help of Folktails’ bees? Sure. Gristmills powered up by smoking engines? Right on. This only applies to the buildings and resources that are of use to the other faction, though - your Folktails won’t taste the eggplants, and the Iron Teeth will not craft Biofuel.

Curiously, this mod depends on Water Extension which is an excellent pick by itself. It adds several buildings expanding on interactions with water such as pipes with integrated pumps (regular and underground), levees that transform power, and stackable water tanks. There's even an Irrigation Tower variant that fixes the building’s issues in a big way.


While the above mods are separate, you probably want to go all-in on Tobbert’s creations that turn your settlements even more vertical thanks to more space-efficient tall designs. If you go with all proposed mods, you’ll see additions such as ladders and spiral stairs. And with overhangs, you can build on structures attached to a cliff or the new reinforced platforms.

You will probably also want to use vertical power shafts. As part of the mod, Tobbert also created a universal shaft module that changes its setup depending on what it connects, no matter the axis.

Spoiler: these mods will probably come in handy on the maps created for Build-a-Map Contest 2: Vertical Edition. Submissions closed yesterday with 250 (!) entries so expect the winner announcement in a few weeks.


We often create time-lapses ourselves, so we can see Yurand2000’s tool is extremely helpful. All you need to do is pick a desired camera position and set a screenshot interval measured in in-game time. Then, without you noticing (sans for micro stutter when a shot is taken), the add-on will start taking UI-free pictures as long as it’s daytime. Then, you can convert them into a timelapse using any external tools such as Ezgif.

All shots are taken as high-quality PNGs, and it’s easy to forget about the add-on, so don’t set the interval too low, or you may discover that the screenshots folder has grown too much. It’s better to use a higher interval and just take extra shots manually using a dedicated button.


This modification is of greatest use for the Iron Teeth enjoyers (or those with Faction Exchange installed). With Smart Power, Engines’ operators are more clever about burning logs, and can be told to charge gravity batteries only to a set degree. This add-on also updates the Charging Stations not to consume energy when there are no bots inside.

Both factions benefit from the mod’s Power Saving Mode added to powered attractions and factories. When there are no visitors or the factory cannot work (either because it’s missing ingredients or its workers are out for lunch), the energy usage drops to 10%. This is a great QoL mod if you do not mind why something similar was not added to the vanilla game - it makes it more difficult to gauge the current power consumption and usage spikes.


Enabling these two add-ons doesn’t add any extra UI elements… but whenever a new in-game day begins, things get optimized, especially in large settlements. Auto Recipe, as the name suggests, updates the recipes in multi-recipe buildings such as Fermenters. To pick an optimal recipe, the mod checks for resources that would allow production to be started, and if the yield could be stored. If yes, it selects whatever currently occupies the least storage. It also auto-picks a recipe whenever a relevant building is attached to a district.

House Optimization is also self-explanatory - each morning, the mod’s greedy (author’s own words!) algorithm relocates the beavers to houses closest to their workplaces. Don’t shuffle the workforce too often, and your colonists will probably be quite thankful for shorter commuting.


If you feel like turning Timberborn into Beaver Train Tycoon, you’ll find the components here. This mod adds train yards, customizable train models, stations, and a set of tracks, including crossings for pedestrians and an elevated track that enables rollercoaster-like setups. The trains can simply turn back on the spot, but you can also set up the tracks to only allow movement in a single direction, effectively setting up a rail network across the map.

Other than being dam addictive, the two basic usages of trains are transporting passengers and resources between stations, including between districts. Sadly, based on our experience, these features often bug out on the current iteration. That’s why, despite the mod's popularity, we only include Choo Choo! as a bonus. As soon as the fixes are in, go get it!

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You can find all mods (as well as custom maps) on the https://mod.io/g/timberborn. From all of us at Mechanistry, we want to thank our fantastic players for creating so many incredible add-ons... and we can't wait to see what you come up with next!

Hello, everyone!

We hope the dry season is treating you well because it's time for a new map-building contest! This time, we’re going with a specific theme - the goal is to create a cool new map that encourages players to use Timberborn's signature verticality!

The stakes are high so you'd better floor us with your ideas. Scroll down for details.




If you don't own Timberborn, don't worry. It's an excellent time to fix that mistake.

Until July 24 (10 AM PST), Timberborn participates in this year's Sim Fest, an event full of amazing simulation-themed games, and you can get ours 20% off. How convenient, you get Timberborn for less and have plenty of time to participate in the contest!




The contest's goal is simple - use the built-in map editor to create a cool new map, and upload it on https://mod.io/g/timberborn by August 20, 2023 with a "Build-a-Map Contest 2" tag. On top of the usual originality, playability, and appearance criteria, we will also consider how the entries adapt Timberborn's verticality.

What this means is up to you. Timberborn features stackable architecture, stairs, platforms, and bridges. In-game water uses physics to adapt to the terrain's topography. The player can terraform the land further, even putting extra land blocks above the map editor’s height limit. And as part of this Build-a-Map Contest, you need to create a map that encourages the player to think vertically.

Our team will pick three winners - one per map size category, 1000 EUR each. You have a full month to participate, so remember - make your submission great, the sky is the limit! uhh

Before participating, please read the updated Terms & Conditions and Frequently Asked Questions, linked below.

🌍Terms & Conditions🌍
🌎Frequently Asked Questions🌎

Most importantly, note that we now require a minimum of three screenshots as part of your submission, including at least one that shows the entire map. And since this contest has a theme in place, we encourage you to put the description field to good use. Feel free to explain your idea behind the map, possible gameplay scenarios you had in mind and so on.

And if, after reviewing the above documents, there are still any unanswered questions, let us know in the dedicated channel on our Discord server.

Good luck!

Hello everyone!

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been collecting your Update 4 feedback, and testing tweaks on the experimental branch. And now, we’re in a position to push them live onto the main branch for everyone to enjoy.

• Fixed the "Reset all to default" button in the distribution tab not resetting all to default.
  
• Added and fixed some Update 4 translations.
  
• The distribution tab now properly includes Breeding Pod, Engine, and Irrigation Tower.
  
• Goods in factory buildings no longer disturb the fill rate in the distribution tab.
  
• Buildings that are not connected to districts no longer display the “Vacant” status.
  
• District Crossing no longer has one half blocked from use when the other half is not connected to a district.
  
• Made several minor optimizations.
  
• Bots no longer use benches. :(
  
• Wandering beavers, for example at the start of the game, are now less scared of the grim future and do not aggressively hug each on the same tile.

• The Timbermesh documentation now features a Timberborn-specific section. If you’re a modder, check it out.
  
• Timbermesh files are now loaded with IAssetLoader rather than Resources.Load.
  
• It is now also easier to specify a new faction thanks to the new BotId and SoundId fields added to the faction specification.

• Fixed farmers sometimes getting stuck while harvesting the last plant in a field.
  
• Deleting settlements no longer causes a crash in certain scenarios.
  
• Deleting District Center no longer triggers a crash in Settlement Panel.
  
• Closing the Entity Panel with the tooltip displayed over the dropdown no longer results in a crash.
  
• Renaming a beaver no longer provokes the Settlement Panel to crash.
  
• Buildings highlighted in the tutorial no longer stay highlighted if clicked at the wrong time.
  
• Fixed the deconstruction tooltip that wouldn’t scale correctly.
  
• Fixed a crash related to building statuses.
  
• Beavers once again eat the food stored in a Gatherer Flag even when there's a bouncer bored beaver sitting at the entrance.
  
• Fixed the “Entrance blocked” warning on Underground Pile not appearing when the entrance was actually blocked by another building.
  
• Made minor tweaks to icons and tooltips.
  
• When the player sets a Warehouses to “Empty” and selects a new good, that good will now be correctly accepted from other warehouses being emptied.
  
• Fixed a bug with Mangrove Trees not self-spreading onto adjacent tiles.
  
• Fixed the water particles in the Mechanical Water Pump.
  
• Fixed a bug with buildings disappearing from finished terrain blocks.
  
• Fixed a rare crash occurring during an autosave.
  
• Fixed a bug with Chestnut Tree to Pine conversion on pre-Update 4 Iron Teeth saves which resulted in twisted Pines-but-with-Chestnuts hybrids.