- Added match start and end Discord notifications that send to the new #matches channel - Added spectator mode that automatically loads when you join a match in progress and shows live team stats
Reworked Tangling Vines, Drowsy, and removed turn order from Mending Chi which should not have been there. Also, re-worked a monster ability which used turn order. Similar to what I did in previous update for Daze, Hast, and Slow, I re-worked the effects to remove turn order but added initiative roll changes to simulate the effect.
I didn't see any other abilities or effects that affected turn order. The combat freeze should not happen anymore. Well, at least for Turn Order :DLLs
Fixed - Removed Turn Order changes on Tangling Vines, Drowsy, and Mending Chi effects to fix game freezing when these affects are applied
The Township Rework is almost upon us, so I thought now would be a good time to announce details about the changes, and what you can expect from the updated Skill.
This breakdown has been created to provide as much information as possible around the rework. I'll do my best to breakdown all of the changes so you can get a detailed understanding of what to expect. If I did miss anything, I will include them in the official changelog when the update releases.
The rework is due to release in the next few weeks. This post is for information purposes, and it not an official game update post.
The Issues
Township was one of the most ambitious Skills we had ever created which required 2 separate parts to fully complete. Part 1 was released alongside the Throne of the Herald expansion with Part 2 scheduled for release some time in the future.
Based on the vast community feedback, we came to the conclusion that the Skill in its current state did not suit the core premise of what Melvor Idle is meant to be. It took away from the core experience that we hoped to achieve with the game itself.
Instead of attempting to band-aid fix a lot of the issues that arose, we decided to rework the core mechanics of the Skill instead in hopes to bring it more in line with the game.
We greatly appreciate all the feedback we received since release on this, and I thank your for your patience while we worked behind the scenes to get to this point! One of the many great things about building a community-driven game is the feedback we receive on content like this, and it helps us shape the game for the better.
What’s Changed?
Removal of the risk of failure
The risk of failure was one of the most highlighted points made when discussing the issues around the Skill. The simple fact that a small decision by the player could lead to an entire Town dying, failing and requiring a restart was frustrating. It was extremely demotivating as a mechanic, and after one or two failures it became old very fast.
With the rework, we have removed the risk of failure entirely. It is no longer possible to fail in any way while training the Skill. The core premise of the Skill now is to grow your Town, and only focus on growth. Decisions you make will not impact your Town in a negative way like it did before.
Transitioning to a Passive “Tick” System
The removal of the risk of failure means that we will be transitioning to a completely passive “Town Update” system for Township. We have removed the manual “tick” function of the Skill, and it will now instead progress automatically alongside the game.
A Town Update functions the same way a tick does, enabling your Town to progress in the background without any worry.
Your Town will now update every hour. This period of time will allow you to spend the new resources gained, and provide necessary maintenance to your Town where required (more on this below).
The new Township is balanced in a way where you can check in once or twice a day without worry.
What happens to my stored ticks?
If you still have ticks to spend when the update hits - don’t worry! They will still be available to spend within the rework.
Your ticks will automatically convert to a “Legacy Tick” system where you can spend your ticks as you please until it reaches 0. Once your ticks reach 0, this system will disappear and progress will rely on the new passive Town Update system. It will not be possible to earn ticks to spend in the update.
The amount of ticks you have to spend will also be adjusted based on the new tick length (1 hour). For every 12 ticks you currently have, you will be granted 1 legacy tick to spend. It’s important to remember that Township is balanced based on time, not ticks. Spending 1 legacy tick is the equivalent of spending 12 normal ticks in one go.
Population, Happiness, Education and Health
These mechanics have been slightly reworked to fit in with the updated Skill.
Population (Earning Skill XP)
The XP you earn per Town Update is now equal to your Population.
At Level 99, this can reach around 120,000.
At Level 120, this can reach around 410,000.
Happiness
This now increases your population by (Happiness)%
Happiness can go over 100%.
Education
This increases your resource production rates by (Education)%.
Education can go over 100%
Health
Your population (after Happiness bonus) is then multiplied by (Health)%.
Health starts at 100%, and goes down by 1% each Town Update.
Spend Potions or Herbs to increase this back to 100%.
Producing Resources without Workers
Workers have been removed completely from Township. It was a system that fell flat quite a bit, and caused a lot of confusion and frustration with resource generation.
Resources are simply produced by constructing the respective building, without the requirement of Workers.
What we have removed
There’s quite a lot of mechanics we have removed from the rework in hopes to streamline the Skill and have it fit in line with the core premise of the game itself.
This is what has been removed:
Map selection
Biome land, and the purchasing of this land. Everyone will get refunded the total GP spent purchasing land when loading into the update.
Citizen age
Citizen death
Workers and Jobs
Citizens menu
Trader GP limit
Food, coal and clothing usage per tick.
“Product” resources no longer require raw materials to produce. For example, plank generation will not use wood anymore. These costs have been applied to the buildings themselves. It’s not possible to go into negative resource generation.
What’s new?
Updated Building System
We have updated the building system for Township to be more streamlined and straightforward.
The “Build” menu has been integrated directly into the “Town” menu. Buildings are constructed directly from the “Town” page now. No need to go back and forth.
Each biome now has a predefined list of Buildings that can be constructed in them. After constructing a certain amount of those buildings within their respective Biome, they will upgrade to the next tier. This continues until there is nothing new left to build.
If you are curious to know - this does mean that everyone’s Town will be the same by the end. The only difference will be the path everyone takes to get to a completed Town.
Unfortunately, that dynamic and unique playstyle does not exist with the rework. This will suck for those who enjoyed that aspect of the Skill, but this change was important to make in streamlining Township.
Building Repairs & Efficiency
Alongside the updated building system is a new mechanic called “Building Efficiency”.
Over time, your buildings will slowly degrade and require repairs to keep it operating at 100% efficiency. A building has a 25% chance to degrade by 1% per Town Update. The efficiency cannot be reduced below 20%.
You can repair individual buildings, all buildings in a specific Biome, or all buildings in all Biomes. The cost of repair is a fraction of the cost to build it, which is weighted against the efficiency of the building.
When a building loses efficiency, it also slows down in its production. Be sure to maintain these buildings when you get the chance.
New Feature - Seasons
A new feature that arrives with this rework is Seasons! This was originally planned for Part 2, but we decided to include it in this rework.
Everyone’s Town will now be on constant rotation of different seasons, each providing their own unique buffs and debuffs to your Town.
Each season will last for 3 days until it switches to the next.
Here is a breakdown of the seasons:
Spring
+50% Township Education
+50% Township Happiness
+25% Township Food Production
+25% Township Herb Production
+25% Township Potion Production
+25% Township Leather Production
Summer
+25% Township Education
+25% Township GP Production
-25% Township Ore Production
-25% Township Stone Production
-25% Township Coal Production
-25% Township Bar Production
Fall
+25% Township Wood Production
+25% Township Plank Production
+25% Township Clothing Production
Winter
+50% Township Coal Production
+25% Township Stone Production
+25% Township Ore Production
-50% Township Happiness
-50% Township Education
-50% Township GP Production
-25% Township Food Production
-25% Township Herb Production
-25% Township Potion Production
-25% Township Wood Production
-25% Township Plank Production
There are also some secret seasons to discover depending on certain Worships you have active.
Casual Tasks
We have added a new type of Task called “Casual Tasks”. These act similar to a Daily Task, but without the FOMO aspect of missing tasks if you don’t log in on certain days.
Every 5 hours, you will receive a new random “Casual Task” that you can complete whenever you want. They range in difficulty from quite easy to relatively hard. You won’t receive a Casual Task that you cannot complete at your current progression.
You can have a maximum of 5 Casual Tasks active at any given time. Complete these tasks to continue receiving new ones, or Skip it for 10M GP if you don’t like it. These tasks will stay available until you complete them or Skip them.
Casual Tasks are a way to earn Township XP and GP on the side while Township progresses in the background. The XP and GP you earn from these tasks are based on your Township Level.
Throne of the Herald Tasks
We have added a new Throne of the Herald Task category for those with the expansion. This provide 20 new unique Tasks for you to complete that relate directly to the expansion.
New Worship - The Herald
For those with the Throne of the Herald expansion, you can now select The Herald as your Worship after defeating them.
The Herald Worship Modifiers: Always active:
There is a 20% chance of a Solar Eclipse Season occurring in Township
-31% Township Building Production in Mountains Biome
-31% Township Building Production in Arid Plains Biome
-31% Township Building Production in Snowlands Biome
At 5%:
+42% Township Building Production in Swamp Biome
At 25%:
+42% Township Building Production in Jungle Biome
At 50%:
+42% Township Building Production in Desert Biome
+42% Township Building Production in Water Biome
At 85%:
+42% Township Building Production in Forest Biome
+42% Township Building Production in Valley Biome
At 95%:
+42% Township Building Production in Grasslands Biome
-25% Township repair costs
Reworked Trader & New Consumables
We’ve touched up the Trader yet again in hopes to provide a legitimate reason to use it when progressing throughout the entire game. The purpose from the beginning was for the Trader to act as a utility to the rest of the game.
Unfortunately, I feel we fell completely flat on how this was implemented and it made a lot of Skills redundant in the process. These changes are designed to make the Trader assist with other Skills, rather than replace them completely.
Here are the important changes:
The Trader no longer sells raw materials. Instead, they now sell unique consumables and crates filled with resources.
It is no longer possible to trade materials into your Town. Due to the reworked progression, this feature is no longer required.
Trading for items now have Skill level requirements attached to them. We have removed the arbitrary 10,000 item limit required for trading.
The Trader has 30 unique consumables that you can purchase, each providing some kind of benefits that will assist with your progression outside of Township.
List of new Consumables from the Trader
Fishing Scroll of XP: +3% Fishing Skill XP
Mining Scroll of XP: +3% Mining Skill XP
Woodcutting Scroll of XP: +3% Woodcutting Skill XP
Herblore Scroll of XP: +3% Herblore Skill XP
Runecrafting Scroll of XP: +3% Runecrafting Skill XP
Leather Crafter Scroll: +5% chance to double items in Crafting when making Leather or Dragonhide armour.
Gem Preserver Scroll: +10% chance to preserve resources in Crafting when making Jewelry.
Herblore Preservation Scroll: +5% resource preservation cap in Herblore
Burning Scroll of Gold: +5% Gp from Firemaking and -5% Firemaking Skill XP.
Burning Scroll of Stardust: +5% chance to receive Stardust when burning Magic Logs in Firemaking and -5% Firemaking Skill XP.
Burning Scroll of Ash: +2% chance to receive Ash per burn in Firemaking and -5% Firemaking Skill XP.
Slayer Deterer: +1% Damage Reduction when fighting a Slayer Task monster
Mastery Magnet: +1 Mastery Tokens gained when receiving another Master token.
Consumable Upgrades
The Trader also sells a new item called the “Consumable Enhancer”. This item can be used alongside some Consumables in the game to upgrade them into a more powerful version. List of new Upgraded Consumables:
Base Game:
Thiefs Moneysack II: +30% minimum GP from Thieving
Wizards Scroll_II: +15% Rune Preservation
Seed Pouch II: +6% Farming Yield and -1 seed cost to plant Allotments in Farming.
Alchemists Bag II: +15% Chance To Preserve Potion Charge and +8 Charges per Potion
Burning Scroll of Gold II: +10% Gp from Firemaking and -5% Firemaking Skill XP.
Burning Scroll of Stardust II: +10% chance to receive Stardust when burning Magic Logs in Firemaking and -5% Firemaking Skill XP.
Burning Scroll ofAsh II: +2% chance to receive Ash per burn in Firemaking and -5% Firemaking Skill XP.
Quick Burner II: -4% Firemaking Interval
Golden Star II: +0.4% chance to locate Golden Stardust in Astrology
Throne of the Herald:
Explorers Map II: +$25% Flat Slayer Area Effect Negation, +5% Slayer Skill XP and +8% Slayer Coins
Portable Rations II: +20% Auto Eat Efficiency and -8% Lifesteal
Blood Vial II: +8% Lifesteal and +8% Auto Eat Efficiency
Kindling Pouch II: +250% GP from Firemaking and -8% Firemaking Skill Interval
Artisan Pouch II: +15% chance to double items in Crafting and -0.3s Crafting Skill Interval
Adjustments and Balance
We have changed quite a lot in terms of numbers and progression curves. I’ll do my best to break down these changes.
Building Costs & Resource Generation
Every single building cost and resource generation number has been changed. This change is due to the new passive progression system and reworked mechanics.
All resource generation rates and buildings costs will have a completely different meaning of balance with the rework. When loading into the update, your resource generation rates will be far less than before. This is intended and goes in line with all the new balanced numbers.
Trader Ratios
All Trader ratios have been adjusted to suit the new building resource generation numbers. With the help of Trading Posts which improve the Trader rations, the new ratio is 1 resource to 1 base item GP price.
Eg. If an item is worth 150 GP then it would require 150 Food to trade for 1 of that item.
Building Tier Requirements
Building tiers now have the following requirements to suit the new population scaling system:
Tier 1: Population: 0, Level: 1
Tier 2: Population: 200 & Level: 15
Tier 3: Population: 2,500 & Level: 35
Tier 4: Population: 15,000 & Level: 60
Tier 5: Population: 40,000 & Level: 80
Tier 6: Population: 80,000 & Level: 100
Tier 7: Population: 175,000 & Level: 110
Worship Changes
We have adjusted the existing Worships to suit the new progression system.
Aeris
Always active:
-50% Township Building Production in Desert Biome
-75% Township Building Production in Water Biome
All positive Worship modifiers are increased by 2x during Spring
At 5%:
+25% Township Building Production in Mountains Biome
At 25%:
+25% Township Building Production in Valley Biome
At 50%:
+25% Township Building Production in Mountains Biome
+25% Township Building Production in Valley Biome
At 85%:
+25% Township Building Production in Mountains Biome
+25% Township Building Production in Valley Biome
At 95%:
+25% Township Building Production in Mountains Biome
+25% Township Building Production in Valley Biome
-25% Township Building Cost (Capped at -80%)
Glacia
Always active:
-75% Township Building Production in Mountains Biome
-50% Township Building Production in Desert Biome
All positive Worship modifiers are increased by 2x during Winter
At 5%:
+25% Township Building Production in Water Biome
At 25%:
+25% Township Building Production in Swamp Biome
At 50%:
-15% Township Building Cost (Capped at -80%)
At 85%:
+25% Township Building Production in Water Biome
At 95%:
+50% Township Building Production in Water Biome
+50% Township Building Production in Swamp Biome
Terran
Always active:
-50% Township Building Production in Water Biome
-75% Township Building Production in Desert Biome
All positive Worship modifiers are increased by 2x during Fall
At 5%:
+25% Township Building Production in Forest Biome
At 25%:
+25% Township Building Production in Jungle Biome
At 50%:
+25% Township Building Production in Forest Biome
At 85%:
+25% Township Building Production in Jungle Biome
At 95%:
+50% Township Building Production in Jungle Biome
+25% Township Building Production in Forest Biome
-15% Township Building Cost (Capped at -80%)
Ragnar
Always active:
-75% Township Building Production in Water Biome
-50% Township Building Production in Mountains Biome
All positive Worship modifiers are increased by 2x during Summer
At 5%:
+25% Township Building Production in Arid Plains Biome
At 25%:
+25% Township Building Production in Desert Biome
At 50%:
+25% Township Building Production in Desert Biome
+25% Township Building Production in Arid Plains Biome
At 85%:
-15% Township Building Cost (Capped at -80%)
At 95%:
+50% Township Building Production in Desert Biome
+25% Township Building Production in Arid Plains Biome
Bane
Always active:
There is a 20% chance of a Nightfall Season occurring in Township
-15% Township Building Cost (Capped at -80%)
At 5%:
+25% Township Building Production in Grasslands Biome
At 25%:
+25% Township Building Production in Swamp Biome
At 50%:
+25% Township Building Production in Snowlands Biome
At 85%:
+25% Township Building Production in Grasslands Biome
+25% Township Building Production in Swamp Biome
+25% Township Building Production in Snowlands Biome
At 95%:
+25% Township Building Production in Grasslands Biome
+25% Township Building Production in Swamp Biome
+25% Township Building Production in Snowlands Biome
GP Cost & Earning GP
With the reworked Township, the total GP cost of Township has been severely reduced. Due to this, we have also lowered the earning potential from Township.
Total GP Cost To complete your Town, the total GP cost required is:
Level 99 - 870M GP
Level 120 - 1.1B GP
Prior to the rework, it would require 7.4B GP to purchase all available land space.
It's important to note that 800M of the cost goes solely to constructing Town Halls, which is the only method of increasing Tax Rate to earn a passive GP income from the Skill.
Earning GP GP is now mainly earned from the Tax System, which is available to you at Level 99 which unlocks the Town Hall.
GP earnt is balanced against your current population. Higher population = higher GP per Town Update.
Here are the estimated new GP rates from tax:
Level 99, 126,000 population, ~22M-28M GP per day
Level 120, 415,000 population, ~140M-150M GP per day
Loading into the update - Town conversion
When loading into the new Township, your Town will automatically convert to the new format. This conversion will be based on your Skill level. This process is automatic and you won’t have to do anything.
The Town you have now will look completely different due to the new predefined nature of building a Town.
Conclusion
We are excited to share the new reworked Township with you all! We hope this detailed breakdown proved useful and you are also excited for the changes that are coming.
The update is still a few weeks away, so stay tuned for more information on an exact date of release!
There is a lot to unload here. I wanted to wait until there was even more but at some point the refinements were at a tipping point that I just didn't want known flaws out there in the wild. So this is two weeks earlier than planned - which just means another one will come in a few weeks.
NEW CONTENT
added Scenario 11: The Future is Plastic
added Quickplay Stage 22
added a new company, Peridot Fabrications, to Quickplay
added a new music track while playing as Peridot Fabrications
added Australian Dirt cosmetic option to Quickplay
added Australian Dirt cosmetic option to Bird Mode
added a new mouse cursor cosmetic
added Superior Effluent Red upgrade to the Research Lab
added a new stat to the Stats menu for Lifetime Plastic Unit production
added News Flash 18,19,20,21,22,23
added 1 new Steam Achievement
added a new window size option to adjust the size of the game window when not in full-screen
VISUALS
effluent animations on pipes now reflect the directionality of their placement
adjusted the coloring of the Superior Effluent Blue animation
dark sky during bad weather now fades in and out at start and end of event
added a small fade when transferring from a main menu to a stage
icon pop up on Financial Office at start of the month has a smoother animation
icon pop up on Trees when Environmental Health bonus occurs has a smoother animation
FEATURES
overhauled Plastic Manufactory
Plastic Manufactory description re-worded to be more succinct
Plastic Manufactory buttons no longer display when in production phase
Plastic Manufactory now displays how many units of plastic you've made over the total match
CONTROLS
can now use Right Click or Esc in any of the sub main menus to return to the main menu
can use the Z key to cycle between pipes in the Pipe hot-bar
OTHER
dirt type cosmetic is randomly chosen on the main menu
adjusted the cosmetic dirt type of several scenarios
increased the hitbox for selecting a mouse cursor in the Extras menu
set the default window size to 1280x720
re-ordered settings menu to put similar setting together
updated the games .ico file
pipe highlight no longer shows up on pipes that already have Superior Effluents added to them when buying effluents
fixed a typo in the Tree description
optimized Snow weather effect
general optimization and clean up of retired assets and code (the file size went down ~30MB!)
My partner has been finishing her dissertation and I've been coding a lot while she endlessly writes. This patch turned into a whole lot more than a new scenario and company which was going to be the focal point. Some wild optimizations happened behind the scenes, but that translated to so much more tightness on the front-end.
The main piece though, Peridot Fabrications, a science-focused company that excels at plastic manufacturing and effluents! Of course this meant looking at and passing over everything associated with that. So the Plastic Manufactory got tweaked a whole lot. By completing the new scenario you can play as Peridot Fabrications in Quickplay.
There were simply too many refinement bullet points for me to keep holding this patch back. I hope you enjoy! If you are having fun, please leave a review, or make a discussion post. Your feedback really feeds into real change. I appreciate you all, and see you next time!