Hi everyone,

That's right, it's the random map generator update!


You can now procedurally generate maps to play on! There's a core random game mode which includes optional victory conditions as well as the ability to create a map in sandbox mode. You also have the following customisation options when generating a map:

• Map Size: Small (160), Normal (200), Large (240) or Huge (300)
  
• Biome: Default, snow or desert
  
• Water: Little, some or lots
  
• Natural Resources: Few, some or lots

Please let me know how you get on - we have a dedicated #proc-gen-maps channel in our Discord server for feedback and further ideas.

• Random Map Generator! Procedurally generate maps with various settings in either main random map mode or in sandbox mode
  
• New mission info panel - better contextual information about the mission or map you're playing, including an option to edit sandbox settings mid-game
  
• Fixed some instance of auto terrain adjustment not working correctly when placing road and paths over broken terrain
  
• Fixed placing harbours over existing roads causing issues
  
• Top left buttons now have a selected state
  
• Few more localisation fixes

Once again, huge thanks to everyone providing feedback, bug reports, suggestions and reviews, it's massively appreciated and really helps support continued development of the game.

Next month will be the first phase of testing for mod support for the game, so if that's your thing please join in on the #mod-support channel on Discord!

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Help And Bug Reporting: http://codebyfire.com/colonists/help

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

A patch has gone just out with some small tweaks and fixes as well as Czech language support!

• Added Czech localisation
  
• Fixed en route counts (number in green circles) not always decreasing correctly when a resource arrives (from V1.4.3)
  
• Tweaked bakery production numbers up slightly and added another stackbot
  
• Fixed resource demand urgency not always being calculated correctly for boat construction
  
• Fixed list of residences not being filtered by level on Energy storage panel
  
• Fixed enemy AI bug when trying to upgrade road layer
  
• Fixed being able to place a harbour outside your territory
  
• Fixed constrained cursor setting not working correctly
  
• Fixed a few missing localisations
  
• Fixed rare instance of not being able to load a savegame on mission 4

Help And Bug Reporting: https://www.notion.so/The-Colonists-Help-0f8b20f71a96426490fbfbff5511e3bb

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

A small patch with the following fixes and improvements has just gone out:

• Fixed bug when loading a savegame with user-generated map which had territory turned off and it removing some territory from around your colony ship
  
• You can now have a building's construction paused immediately if you place it while holding [Alt]
  
• Building overlay construction icon now displays paused state
  
• Priority layers at lumberjack hut, forestry and surface mine now auto clear if occupied by a road, path or building
  
• Fixed bug where road/path placement would highlight an invalid route using tiles that were partially under water
  
• Fixed small bug with priority tile settings where releasing Shift key and mouse button could set invalid tiles

Thanks for all the feedback!

Help And Bug Reporting: https://www.notion.so/The-Colonists-Help-0f8b20f71a96426490fbfbff5511e3bb

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Hi everyone,

Here's a look at what's new and improved in this month's update:

• New military campaign map - The Three Hills
  
• Game now auto-adjusts the land when you place roads and paths over steps in the terrain
  
• Watchtower Ownership Overlay - when you select the info panel on watchtowers it now shows you an graphic overlay indicating which tiles would be lost if you destroyed that watchtower
  
• Option for free resource creation at storage yards added to sandbox mode
  
• Various small improvements to enemy AI
  
• Fixed scores not being submitted for non-military custom maps from the Workshop
  
• Fixed bug where boat could leave early if only resources to unload were using harbour as a transitory stop
  
• Fixed resources sometimes going to storage yards that are under construction
  
• Fixed potential bug when road posts are modified that are connected to expedition harbours that are under construction
  
• Fixed shaft minerbot appearing out of the back of the mine
  
• Fixed watchtower damage smoke effects not clearing when upgrade completes
  
• Fixed a couple of inaccurate building descriptions
  
• Fixed bug where enemy bots would not appear correctly if they went into then came back out of fog of war
  
• Fixed leaderboard button incorrectly showing on military maps
  
• Added warning message for adding an import rule to a building under construction

Thanks to you all for your continued feedback, it's massively appreciated. Remember to check out our Discord for the latest builds and chat, and we'll be back with another update soon!

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Help And Bug Reporting: https://www.notion.so/The-Colonists-Help-0f8b20f71a96426490fbfbff5511e3bb

Hi everyone,

Here's what's new in this month's update:

• Added challenges panel so you can keep track of your progress and a notification screen for when you complete a challenge
  
• Added option for x8 speed (use at your discrection, your framerate may suffer a bit)
  
• Added option to invert zoom
  
• Added extra sub-panel on boats and trains resource panel to show which resources are being unloaded and added details to harbour's boats panel to show a boat's status with that harbour
  
• Added visual to show upgrade range of a watchtower when on upgrade panel
  
• Improved performance a bit when rendering wheat fields
  
• Fixed bug when pressing Escape on the 'unsave progress' window
  
• Fixed error when storage yard sourced resources beyond capacity, caused by having a combination of rules which exceeded capacity
  
• Fixed bug where demand groups couldn't be reordered in resource category panels (e.g. fuel)
  
• Fixed edge case where enemy colony ship would self-destruct if entrance tile was captured but none of the main tiles
  
• Fixed an issue with very busy harbours where incoming resources could potentially get sent to the wrong storage pile and eventually bring everything to a halt
  
• Fixed bug where if a boat's transport route is cleared whilst it's heading from the queueing location to the dock then the next queued boat wouldn't be triggered
  
• Improved resource movement behaviour on very busy large harbours with multiple road posts
  
• Added extra stackbot for harbour
  
• Some small AI improvements
  
• Turned default ambient occlusion setting for linux to off

Thanks to everyone for all their suggestions, bug reports and feedback. Look out for more updates next month, including some new maps.

Help And Bug Reporting: https://www.notion.so/The-Colonists-Help-0f8b20f71a96426490fbfbff5511e3bb

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Hi everyone,

A small patch for The Colonists with the following fixes:

• Fixed bug where, when a boat is docked, changing its route whilst a stackbot was fetching a resource to load onto it could cause the boat to become stuck at the harbour.
  
• Fixed bug where on a rare occasion resource might not be sent on from a storage yard
  
• Fixed issue where resources at a storage yard were not always correctly being sent to another storage yard
  
• Fixed rare instance when storage yards weren't requesting all the resources for their rules
  
• Fixed final determining factor of resource exports judged to be equal (same 'prioritised' destination building and same resource type) to use oldest assignment instead of newest
  
• Fixed bug where some tooltips, such as a boat status on the harbour panel, wouldn't clear if the panel was closed using right-click
  
• Fixed VSync settings not being saved between sessions

Help And Bug Reporting: https://www.notion.so/The-Colonists-Help-0f8b20f71a96426490fbfbff5511e3bb

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Thanks for all the continued feedback!

Hi everyone,

The Achievements update for The Colonists has just gone live! Here's all the info including new mechanics, fixes and tweaks:

There are 27 achievements to collect including special speed-run challenges based on four of the campaign missions. Each challenge has a unique goal and each has three levels to achieve, Expert, Champion and Legendary, the last of which will require the smartest and most efficient colonies to complete!

Storage yards now creates 'demand' in the same way as other buildings. These demands are visible resource demands panel and can be moved up or down the priority list, again like demand types. The 'weight' of a storage demand is based on the fill percentage of the resource at the storage yard. For example, say you have a lumberjack hut and two storages yards ('A' and 'B') and 'A' has a rule for 5 Logs and 'B' for 10 Logs. The first Log will go to 'B' (wherever it is located), the second Log to 'A', the third to 'B', the fourth to 'B', the fifth to 'A' etc.

So in summary, the weight for each storage destination is determined by 1) fill percentage 2) total potential storage 3) distance. This new behaviour gives you a more even and controllable distribution of resources to multiple storage yards around your colony.

Utilising the new demand mechanic above, resources can now be sent from storage yard to storage yard. You can set this up by creating import or export rules on the relevant building.

• Hotkeys (default [C] & [V]) for copying and pasting settings of buildings (export & import) and road posts (blacklists and whitelists)
  
• Small Storage Yard now only requires logs to build
  
• Added multi-selection to resource selection panels
  
• Added resource group presets to blacklist resource selection panels
  
• Added expedition resources to demand panels
  
• Changed idle port and station stackbots to prioritise load and unloads of vehicles first
  
• Items waiting at harbour or train station are now rechecked for optimal routes when a new route is added
  
• Adding an import rule now forces an resource export check at the targeted building if source building already had an import rule
  
• Fixed issue with resources being incorrectly routed in and out of large harbours
  
• Fixed salt being able to mined with L2 surface mine
  
• Fixed bug which occurs when placing a watchtower when the logs demand panel is open
  
• Fixed export from space port bug when selling rule is removed and resource are waiting to be loaded
  
• Fixed bug when clearing a boat route and assigning to an expedition while boat is docked at harbour
  
• Fixed bug with vegetables in vegetable plots displaying weirdly after a little while
  
• Fixed bug with vegetables not showing up on game load
  
• Fixed hit box on vegetable resource
  
• Fixed issue where sometimes a train wasn't created due to miscalculation of train route limits
  
• Fixed lumberjack pathfinding not being completely accurate in finding the nearest tree
  
• Fixed bug where, when a building's panel is open, the green in-world highlight markers weren't being created when a new resource was assigned to the building
  
• Fixed issue where multiple top left panels could be overlaid after entering and leaving the research or map screen
  
• Fixed not being able to set fuel consumption buildings as export on storage yards
  
• AI enemy can now cancel research if project has been idle for too long
  
• AI enemy has smarter placement of fletchers
  
• AI enemy has smarter upgrading of watchtowers
  
• Fixed bug with en route resource highlighters not always showing up correctly
  
• Fixed order of medals in mission goals panel
  
• Fixed internal tree count when if lumberjack chops a tree which leaves your territory during the chopping process
  
• For export and import building lists, disabled already existing options
  
• Vegetable Farm construction time and resources now same as Sheep Farm
  
• You can now sculpt tiles with trees on
  
• You can now sell Logs at the Space Port for a small amount of money
  
• Small storage yard and steel mill have an extra stackbot
  
• Bots are now printed in the order of oldest first instead of most recent first
  
• Improved accuracy of distance sorting for priority layer buildings (lumberjacks, foresters, miners)
  
• Removed rogue underwater clay deposit on 'Island Hopping' mission
  
• Added option to show the game tick alongside the day

Help And Bug Reporting: https://www.notion.so/The-Colonists-Help-0f8b20f71a96426490fbfbff5511e3bb

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Thanks to everyone for all the continued feedback, bug reports and suggestions!

Hi everyone,

A special Winter update of The Colonists is available! Here is all the info for V1.4.0:

Give your colony a festive feel with Christmas trees (plant them near monuments), snowbots (created by the Foresterbot) as well as presents and candy canes!

The enemy AI has been reworked and improved and now includes a new Hard mode which also gives enemies a 25% bot boost. There's also a new military mission in the campaign with more to come in the future.

• Fixed an issue in some instances with resources that are waiting at harbour not getting rerouted
  
• Fixed storage yards not showing in storage panel for resource categories (food etc)
  
• Fixed an error related to rerouting a boat that is currently queueing to same harbourissues not being able to set export whitelists from/to buildings under construction

Help And Bug Reporting: https://www.notion.so/The-Colonists-Help-0f8b20f71a96426490fbfbff5511e3bb

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Thanks for all the continued feedback and happy holidays!

Hi everyone,

A small update for the weekend, here what's new in 1.3.6.4 patch for The Colonists:

• Added VSync option
  
• Linked mouse button 4 and mouse button 5 linked to rotate/flip
  
• Improved height collision detection for rocks on steep slopes (principally affecting Mission 11)
  
• F12 should now work again for directly capturing Steam screenshots. F10 is the hotkey for Postcard Mode.
  
• Fixed bug with loading a game and if a train was queuing at a station it would not move
  
• Fixed being able to incorrectly select small harbours for lugger routes
  
• Fixed issue when losing territory tile with a path and it potentially not recalculating connections for affected buildings
  
• Fixed incorrect message for when trying to place watchtower too close to other military buildings
  
• Fixed bug allowing you to place watchtower anywhere in tutorial
  
• Fixed quality settings panel not behaving correctly from V1.3.6.3

The AI updates are still available to preview on our development branch: https://www.notion.so/Development-Branch-d73d417d8c944d8c98a19be0a9d7d929

Help And Bug Reporting: https://www.notion.so/The-Colonists-Help-0f8b20f71a96426490fbfbff5511e3bb

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists

Thanks for all the continued feedback!

Hi everyone,

The 1.3.6.3 patch for The Colonists is now available - here are the changes:

• Added ability to pause building upgrades
  
• Added track buffers to indicate end of track
  
• Added skippable warnings for cancelling upgrades and research
  
• All resources waiting for assignment are now rechecked immediately when an export rule is added
  
• Upgrading buildings can now be added to export whitelist
  
• Fixed Printing Press II research not affecting Printing Press production time correctly and changed to 50% increase
  
• Fixed mining rates on Shaft Mine construction panel not increasing with relevant research boosts
  
• Fixed export whitelist filtering for buildings under construction or upgrading
  
• Fixed incorrect storage counts for Food, Alcohol and Fuel
  
• Fixed Residence upgrades not updating previous Energy storage count correctly
  
• Fixed idle workshop check not being trigger when using 'free construction'
  
• Fixed idle workshop check not being trigger when research was cancelled
  
• Fixed resources bought at Space Port showing creation building as 'unknown building'
  
• Fixed graph not clearing when switching from multiple output resource buildings
  
• Fixed two random crash bugs
  
• Tweaked Glassmaking, Scaffolding III and Construction III, Wheat Farming, Breadmaking and Brewing requirements

If you'd like to preview the AI updates that will be coming soon then head over to our development branch! https://www.notion.so/Development-Branch-d73d417d8c944d8c98a19be0a9d7d929

Help And Bug Reporting: https://www.notion.so/The-Colonists-Help-0f8b20f71a96426490fbfbff5511e3bb

Discord: https://discord.gg/thecolonists