Good day Eco Citizens,
we have a big announcement today: after over a year in the making, Eco 10 will be released on December 12th 2023!

This is our biggest update ever, and will be a huge addition to the game. We’ll have some more blog posts giving details about what’s in it, but today I’m going to give you a look at our new Towns/Countries/Federations system.



Overview of past and coming up blogs:
- Boats and Trade
- Coastal construction
- Face tracking avatars
- Photography/painting
- New graphical improvements
- Expanded tech tree
- Twitch plugin
- Towns, Countries and Federations (This blog)
- Culture

Prior to Eco 10, there was a single global government, and laws and decisions it made affected everyone globally. No longer. With this update, the world starts with no governments, and you must band together with your fellow Citizens to create them.

Each Citizen begins with the ability to create their own homestead. This is essentially a Tier-0 settlement, population 1. It allows a Citizen to claim a small amount of property around them, with no other government’s laws or taxes able to apply them. While this gives you total freedom to do as you wish (pollute up a storm if you like), it comes at a cost, because you’re limited in how much land you can claim. There’s only so much land that can be managed by a singular person.

Every Citizen can run their own independent homestead.

To take the next step up and start claiming more land and create laws and taxes, a Town must be formed. To do so, you’ll need to find fellow Citizens who wish to create a Town with you, a minimum of 3. You’ll need to build a Town hall on new property to form the center of the Town, and you’ll need to ratify a Town Constitution which the majority of the initial Citizens agree to. From there, you can found your Town with a flourish:

A Town is founded!

Once founded, a Town will carve out an area of Influence, which is a new concept in Eco 10.

Settlements cast influence into the world, which represents the location where its government applies and where property can be claimed.

Each settlement casts a base level of influence based on its tier (Tier 1: Town, Tier 2: Country, Tier 3 Federation). This influence can be seen on the map and designates where the settlement’s laws and taxes take effect. As Citizens band together and Towns start cropping up around the world, you’ll see pockets of influence with different laws, taxes, and styles of government. Each settlement also maintains a Citizen list, and once you’re a Citizen of a settlement your homestead falls under its influence, and thus you must follow any laws that apply. When two settlements are next to each other, the influences will push against each other, like so:

Towns near each other will compete over influence range, with laws that could be very different between them.

Towns also allow you to claim much more property and start new claims using spawned claim stakes. Citizens joined together are more than the sum of their parts, and the more Citizens a settlement has the more land it can claim. These can be distributed by the Town mayor (or others, depending on how the Town constitution is configured). The caveat is that the additional claims can only be used under the influence of the settlement (however, there are ways of expanding influence further using a new Culture system, which will be described in a coming blog).

New claim stakes for homesteads, towns, countries, and federations. Place one of these to start claiming land under different settlement types.

Eventually, Towns will start to feel cramped as they reach their max level of influence or push up against neighbor’s influence. The next step, once the required tech tier is reached, Citizens can start a Country.

A Country can be formed when member Towns bond together.

The process of forming a Country is similar to founding a Town, with the difference that instead of requiring a base number of Citizens to start, they require a base number of Towns. This means that in order to form a Country, you must get at least 2 Towns to agree and ratify a Constitution. You additionally must have a minimum amount of Culture to form a Country (see next blog). Getting Citizens agree enough to start a Town is enough of a diplomatic challenge, but getting multiple Towns to agree to form a Country is a huge achievement.

Multiple Towns can ratify a Constitution together to form a Country.

The country has a separate government, which is not part of the member Town’s governments; rather, it lies atop those town governments. Both governments will continue to exist, with their own influence radii, and their laws and taxes only impacting their influenced land. This means that within a Country’s influence, you may have many Towns with different laws, and a set of federal laws/taxes that apply throughout.

The influence of a Country overlaps with the influence of its member Towns, with both Country and Town laws/taxes applying together.

The final tier of settlements is a Federation, which is akin to a United-Nations-like collection of countries. A Federation must have a minimum of 2 member countries ratify its constitution, and if getting several Towns full of Citizens to agree to form a Country is a huge achievement, getting several Countries, full of Towns full of Citizens to agree requires some superhuman diplomacy.

A Federation is a collection of Countries that has agreed on a constitution binding them.

Once formed, the influence of a Federation can become large enough to cover the entire globe. At this advanced stage of a world, the ability to enforce laws globally may be critical to survival, preventing rogue Towns/countries from polluting and destroying the common resources shared among the many societies of the planet.

However, for those settlements that just won’t listen to reason, there is a way to enforce agreement once diplomacy fails.

A higher-tier settlement can annex a lower-tier settlement, meaning force it to become a member Citizen or settlement. Homesteads can also be annexed, forcing a Citizen to begin abiding by the rules of the settlement who may have been flouting them before.

Annexation does not come cheap, however. To do so a settlement must have a base level of Culture, plus more Culture than the target, more citizens, and must overlap the influence of the target by a significant amount. Additionally, a cost of goods must be paid to perform the annexation, with half of these goods going to the annexed settlement, and the other half being destroyed. In this way, annexation is always going to be more costly than arriving at a diplomatic solution, but sometimes necessary when diplomacy fails.

Rogue settlements can be forced to cooperate through the process of Annexation.

Federations can also annex fellow Federations, meaning there is no top of the pyramid where you’re totally safe from annexation. And abandoned homestead or towns are very easy to annex, making it easier to collect and reapply resources from Citizens that haven’t been playing.

As a defense against annexation, settlements can increase their culture, making it harder for them to be annexed. A future blog will explain how culture works in detail, but the short of it is that Citizen creativity has a place in civilization now.

Super excited to get this update out to everyone and see all the dynamics play out with the other new features of 10. For example, boats can make the value of an isolated island town high as it becomes a trading hub, but perhaps applies a harsh tax, triggering annexation pressure from neighbors looking to drop taxes.

Also exciting is that this update will bring government features to a much wider set of Citizens: now you can start a Town with just three people, making each Citizen potentially a major part in the decision making process of the Town, drawing them into global affairs among Countries and Federations as the world grows.

More updates coming soon. Thanks all and can’t wait to share it with you.

-John K, Strange Loop CEO

Hey! Phil here. Thomas couldn't make it because I locked him in a closet and usurped power from him. MUAHAHA!

Actually, he needed to head out on a last minute trip on Friday of last week, so that's why there was no Dynamic Quest update on Friday, and there will be none this week, but it'll make it's return next week when he is back.

With that out of the way, onward to what the team is up to this week!

• Michel continuing work on flow of combat / event sequencing.
  
• Zach is continuing work on Combat Buffs/Debuffs.
  
• Josh is continuing work on Spell Casting UI and UX.
  
• Tyler is continuing to work on spell school progression.
  
• James / Mark are starting to implement the updated spell designs and data with the new tech.

Lots of progress has been made on the Dynamic Quests front. I got to see some great work done on the first iterations of incorporating dialogue into the quests being dynamically generated. It's still a little rough around the edges, but Nolan and Thomas have been making rapid progress!

With Thomas out this week, Nolan will be riding solo on Dynamic Quests this week. When needed, Nolan may also help out with some other needed writing tasks this week.

The first version of the dynamic quests will come in Update #3 Exploration.


Jessi and I have been hard at work looking at our UI and working some magic at not only unifying the UI more, but also creating a clean design language that makes sense in context of the game. We're excited with what we've come up so far, and will continue making progress on this project this week.


Thanks so much to everyone for all of the great feedback and suggestions! We're continuing on the QoL train this week, along with some priority bug fixes. Here's a few of the things we're working on for the upcoming patch at the end of the week:

• We’re going to make tracking tracks easier at night: Light spell +2 , torch +1 against -4 at night (still on our list from last week)
  
• Fixing an issue with books being stuck in the inventory
  
• Using spacebar to skip intercession animations (like sleeping at the inn or a bard performance for example)

• Resolved an issue causing Slasher outfit not unlocking after completing Apex Rush mode.
  
• Resolved an issue causing some dialogs from normal mode to trigger in Apex Rush mode.

Another small update with some minor fixes:

• Achievements completed in the demo build will now be given to the player directly when launching the standard version.
  
• Fixed situations where holding special items over the incorrect tutorial placement outline would show as a valid position when it shouldn't.

- Bug fixes
- Balancing

We're thrilled to unveil our brand new story trailer, a first proper glimpse into the gripping story of HeistGeist.

Just to recap: HeistGeist unfolds the gripping tale of Alexandra, a seasoned thief for hire battling for survival after her last job in Venice spiraled into chaos. Pursued by relentless corporate assassins and facing a dire ultimatum from a very unhappy client, Alex must recruit a team of specialists to orchestrate the heist of a lifetime.
The unforgiving streets of Istrocity, a cyberpunk rendition inspired by futuristic Bratislava, set the stage for an authentic cyberpunk narrative in a distinctly European backdrop.

So, without further ado, here's the trailer:



If you want to take our most recent demo for a spin, you can try it out at any time

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2255200

Let us know what you think in the comment, on Twitter (I refuse to call it X) or Discord

If you liked the demo, please be sure to add the game to your wishlist.

HeistGeist is also being part of the Czech and Slovak Games Week. Be sure to check out all the cool released and upcoming games!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1982940/HeistGeist/

Fixed

• Fixed status effect turrets targeting enemies immune to status effects
  
• Tweaked the shape of laser arrows (should hopefully reduce mining issues)
  
• Fixed some issues with enemies dying with several status effects on
  
• Fixed issue with player glitching into the Colossus: the boss spawn position is now shifted a bit if necessary

In this latest edition of Designer's Notes, we'll go into detail about the balancing changes that'll come with the Y8S4 Update and give you some insight into the reasons behind them.






Please note that we are using presence to gauge the popularity of an Operator. This notion had to be introduced to reflect the implementation of the pick & ban.

Presence definition: pick rate of an Operator when not banned. Win Delta: The Win Delta is aggregated from Operator's Win Deltas per Bomb Site.








GADGET STATS

• Fuse system: Removed ability to cook the grenade. Added fuse time reduction after the first bounce.
  
• Initial fuse time: 4 seconds (from 5).
  
• Reduced fuse time: 2 seconds.

We want to bring down the power level of the Frag Grenade to be in line with all the other Secondary Gadgets. Like all the others, it should be a weaker version of a Primary Gadget, such as the Hard Breach Charge for the Hard Breachers or the Bulletproof Camera for the Intel Gatherers. The secondary utility should not compete with or drive more attention than the main ability of an Operator. This change will put the spotlight back on Operators' abilities, and we will have more margin to make them excel in their roles.

We also want to increase the population of Frag Grenades, so more operators can get them without severely affecting their presence. We won't keep this utility as limited as it is right now forever because it conflicts with our intention to give as many options as possible to players to foster creativity.

To that end, we will remove the ability to cook grenades. This change removes a skill component when using them, but this aspect has been identified as the main reason why they are too powerful. Player ability can turn Frag Grenades into a better version of most operator abilities. Skilled players have reached a level that even ignores the correct counters for grenades, by killing defenders from below without warning.

We have not taken this decision lightly because of its impact on the skill ceiling when learning and mastering the use of Frag Grenades. We have adopted the fuse system from the Stun Grenade which means that the fuse time will be reduced to 2 seconds after the first Bounce (if the time is higher), so you'll still retain some control over the gadget. Reducing that skill ceiling is our last resort when tweaking a gadget, as we generally aim for the opposite.

We have tested multiple ideas looking for the right solution for the Frag Grenade's power level while keeping its identity intact. Here are a few of the changes we explored but ultimately did not implement:

• Damage through surfaces: Here, we wanted to fix the competitive issue with a direct approach. We tested several options, from only reducing the damage below the lethal threshold to completely removing it along with the destruction. This solved the usage from the floor below against operators, but it didn't affect their power level for the majority of the population, so we wouldn't be able to give them to more operators.

• Non-lethal: The most appealing aspect is the lethality, so we tried to reduce it directly. We tested reducing the base damage to non-lethal, so you'd have to land several Frag Grenades to kill your target. Not being able to guarantee the kill with a single throw achieved most of our objectives, but it also destroyed part of gadget's personality.

• Reduce amount: We evaluated reducing the amount to only 1 per operator to see if it was enough to make the other options more appealing. Unfortunately, this change made them too binary; we only removed the ability to try again if you missed the target. If you were accurate, you could still achieve the same results, and this potential was deemed enough to favor selecting a single Frag Grenade over any other gadget.

• Random fuse time: With this prototype, we tried to add a bit of uncertainty to discourage players from cooking the grenades too accurately. They are super dangerous, so it is not a device you should want around when the detonation mechanism is triggered. We changed the fuse time to be between 3 and 5 seconds. This version achieved several of our goals because the players weren't as accurate with them as they were with the live version and gave defenders time to react, which made them more interactive. But despite being a fun prototype, adding more randomness into the game while we are trying to remove it from other areas didn't convince us.

LOADOUT

• Secondary Gadgets: Added Frag Grenades.

552 COMMANDO

• Damage: 43hp (from 47).
  
• Stronger vertical and horizontal recoil.

Finally, IQ gets Frag Grenades back. We will see if she can keep them depending on the power level of the new version and how her having them affects other interactions in the game. She is an intel gatherer, and her intel can help attackers use resources and time more efficiently. We don't want her increased utility to overshadow the team play.

We love her relationship with the EMP Impact Grenade. Having her on the team avoids putting drones in danger or wasting EMPs trying to hit an electricity source. She can also help the team use anti-utility gadgets more efficiently by seeing which ones are protected. She can find electronic gadgets that are normally hard to locate and track enemies using them.

Because of the increased utility and versatility, we must reduce the 552 Commando's fire power. We will reduce its damage to make the Extended Barrel combo weaker. With the new damage, 1-armor operators will take 3 bullets instead of 2 to get downed. We've also made its recoil more challenging to control, which will bring it in line with other Assault Rifles.

IQ is a team player. She helps the team be more efficient and is one of the best representations of the essence of Siege.

LOADOUT

• Secondary Weapons: Removed Gonne-6.
  
• Secondary Gadgets: Added Frag Grenades, Removed EMP Impact Grenades.

Lion and Frag Grenades were previously incompatible as the EE-ONE-D forces defenders to stay still giving the defender no options against a cooked grenade.

We are reconsidering his candidacy now because of the new synergy with the detonation system. The new Frag Grenade will force targets to move instead of killing them right away, pushing defenders into the EE-ONE-D's detection. The defender will have to think fast to evaluate the different options and decide the best course of action.

We are swapping them for the EMP Impact Grenades because they are the least picked option, and of course, removing the Gonne-6.

LOADOUT

• Secondary Weapons: Removed Gonne-6.
  
• Secondary Gadgets: Added Frag Grenades.

You must master the R.O.U. Projector and the new Frag Grenade to make use of Sens' full potential. They have the ability to block multiple lines of sight, pressure enemies out of strong positions, and even force them to cross the light screens. This will increase Sens' skill ceiling even more.

Sens has a projectile as their main ability, and it goes against a rule we broke with Gridlock in Y8S3.3 (allowing both a throwable unique ability and Frag Grenades). We will test if this rule should remain in place with the updated Frag Grenade, or if it allows more flexibility with the distribution.

LOADOUT

• Secondary Gadgets: Added Frag Grenades. Removed Smoke Grenades.

The new Frag Grenades will replace Osa's Smoke Grenades, as it was her least picked secondary gadget option (only 15% of the rounds).

Osa allows attackers to create a setup, something that was exclusive for defenders until she arrived. She approaches the assault in a more methodical way, gaining terrain from defenders, but she cannot do it without help. This makes her a good candidate for this extra utility, as it is gameplay we want to encourage, but she still has good synergy with all the other secondary options, so we hope all of them will remain interesting.

LOADOUT

• Secondary Gadgets: Added Frag Grenades. Removed EMP Impact Grenades.

Blackbeard is the last attacker receiving Frag Grenades. His low presence made him an easy selection and since the Claymore is still a good option, we hope choosing between the two isn't easy or at least depends on the way you intend to play the round.

LOADOUT

We have decided to give Capitão EMP Impact Grenades to compensate for their removal from other operators and make choosing between him and Osa a bit tougher. Having Hard Breach Charges and EMPs to choose from can allow him to fit into more attacking compositions.

LOADOUT

• Secondary Gadgets: Added EMP Impact Grenades. Removed Breach Charges.

552 COMMANDO

• Damage: 43hp (from 47)
  
• Stronger vertical and horizontal recoil.

We are pretty happy with the results of all of Grim's buffs. Unfortunately, he shares the 552 Commando with IQ, so the changes made to it will also affect him. To compensate for that, and recoup some of the EMP Impact Grenades removed, he will also get them, replacing the Breach Charges. We believe it is a fair exchange; losing some frag potential but gaining flexibility now with the Bailiff 410 for soft destruction.


BULLETPROOF GLASS

• The bulletproof glass will be shattered if a Drilling Projectile explodes successfully after drilling into it.
  
• This change affects all bulletproof glass: Black Mirror Window, Evil Eye, Talon Shield, Bulletproof Camera, Deployable Shield.

ASH'S BREACHING ROUND

• The Breaching Round is considered a Drilling Projectile.

KALI'S V-LANCE

• The V-Lance is considered a Drilling Projectile.
  
• Note that the V-Lance doesn't drill through gadgets; it only drills through surfaces (the Black Mirror Window is considered part of the wall).

Mira is a game-changing operator. If you spot her during the Preparation Phase, you know that something will have to change in the way you execute the attack. We love the effect she has in game, but we believe the reason for her high ban rate is purely strategic. You don't want to deal with her in situations where she alone defines the pace of the round.

We introduced the Shattered Glass system back in Y6S3 to give attackers more ways to deal with the Black Mirror Windows and penalize bad usage. We are very happy with the results, so we are going to expand that system by adding new sources, so attackers have more flexibility when spotting a Mira.

We have defined a new projectile category; "Drilling projectiles". These projectiles drill into the surface they impact to apply their effect. They'll explode from the inside of the surface to deal more damage and will now shatter bulletproof glass. For instance, if Ash's Breaching Round sticks to the Black Mirror glass and explodes successfully, the glass will be shattered.

LOADOUT

• Main Ability: 3 Evil Eyes (from 2)

EVIL EYE

• Battery: 6 seconds (from 5)
  
• Overheat: 6 seconds (from 5)

Maestro has been indirectly nerfed repeatedly since the release and introduction of new systems (Shattered Glass, Outside Cameras), new operators (Flores, Brava), new gadgets (Gonne-6, EMP Impact Grenades), and tweaks to operators (Dokkaebi) and now again with the increased population of Frag Grenades. Because of all this and the current meta, his presence has understandably gone down to be one of the least-picked defenders.

The changes to Evil Eyes should make attackers treat them with more respect. The new battery will allow Maestro to kill 1-armor operators with a single turret and down 2 to 3-armor operators. Increasing the number of Evil Eyes to 3 will increase his flexibility, requiring at least two operators with the proper secondary utility to deal with all of Maestro's utility, helping him become the master of intel that he should be.



We feel confident about the Quick Match changes introduced last season. The faster match time provides players a much faster paced experience. Attacker Vanguard allows players a safer approach to the action and Pre-Setups let defenders play fast without having to forfeit the strategic element of reinforcements.

Having said that, we are aware of the community's concerns regarding the new playlist ecosystem, and we realize that we made changes to the Standard mode before having the completed map pool available in Quick Match. Therefore, we are making the Standard map pool the same as Ranked while we dedicate our efforts to adding all the maps back to Quick Match as soon as possible. Once the map pool is completed, we will allocate some time to revisit Standard's map pool and provide more options for players to enjoy the maps that they want. We are working on a proposal to bring back player agency by allowing you to enjoy Standard's map pool with some control over it.

QUICK MATCH MAP POOL UPDATE
ADDED:

• Hereford Base
  
• Presidential Plane
  
• Yacht
  
• Fortress
  
• Emerald Plains
  
• Stadium
  
• NightHaven
  
• Lair

STANDARD MAP POOL UPDATE

• Oregon
  
• Club House
  
• Consulate
  
• Bank
  
• Kanal
  
• Chalet
  
• Kafe Dostoyevsky
  
• Border
  
• Skyscraper
  
• Coastline
  
• Themepark
  
• Villa
  
• Outback
  
• Emerald Plains
  
• NightHaven
  
• Lair

Follow us and share your feedback on Twitter and Reddit.

In this update you'll find out a brand new features added into the game, a list of fixes and an announcement.



Join the growing community on Discord 👉 Discord

• Mutants now look like mutants more then ever and their names suggest some interesting info about their past
  
• We've added a Bug report button for straight bug reports from the game and we will improve it to be able send you an answer – Right now, please add your Discord nick or email address to the bug report so that we can reach out to you
  
  
  
  
• New players can find a new tutorial on mutants explaining how to take care of them
  
• the Main menu received a fresh and clean design
  
• In-game HELP system is improved continually thanks to your suggestions and insights
  
• We've added tabs and explanatory icons in the buildings and factories’ right panels to have better overview about production, power and resources
  
• You can use keyboard keys for game controls, in the settings you can find this list of all of them
  
  
  
  
• You can open Settings straight from the gameplay to adjust audio and video
  
• You may have experienced an inability to place an object on top of resources lying on the ground where your mutants left them – this is now solved and you can place an object on top of resources
  
• Power Plants show you the amount of produced energy through simple graphs
  
• Mutants and golems carry resources in fancy backpacks
  
• We've changed colors for the whole menu and all the buttons

• Fixed characters flying above the ground instead of walking
  
• A funny glitch with mutant becoming giant
  
  
  
  
• Fixed bg on metal belts, creating non-continual belt line
  
• Fixed mutants stuck while consuming on a slope
  
• Fixed trains' "arms" not getting back

This week is Czech and Slovakian Games Week event going on Steam so you can watch the devs streams of revive & Prosper showing you all the new features and advacned base-building.



Watch the streams on this link ➡️➡️Revive & Prosper Stream⬅️⬅️

Have a great week and Revive & Prosper!
~Team

The Cursed Trial just launched in Steam Early Access!

Will you find love or treachery? (Let's not kid ourselves, there will be some treachery.)

Find out more about the game here and join the unholy hunt: