Hi everyone,

I'm super happy to announce that the first expansion pack for The Colonists is now live!

New Lands brings new ways for your robots to move around the map and expand their colonies. Bridges can span gaps short and large, train tunnels let you access cut off areas and there are various new buildings as well as a priestbot to give your colonists a productivity boost!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2784480/The_Colonists__New_Lands/

There's a new challenging campaign where your goal is to find and rescue the crashed colony ships of your anthrobotic cousins and unlock some snazzy new custom colours for your colonies along the way too.

All these new features can also be played with random maps, in sandbox mode as well as enabled in the custom maps you make in the map editor and that can be published to Steam Workshop. I'm looking to forward to seeing all the new maps and mods!

Multiplayer will be coming to The Colonists on May 9th! There'll be PvP and co-op modes as well as different game types for long or short games so stay tuned for more updates on that.

V1.8 brings a few updates to the base game, some QoL tweaks, UI improvements and gameplay tweaks. Also the details are listed in the Release note below.

Once again thank you to all the community members providing invaluable feedback and to everyone doing amazing work on the translations. If you're like to make a suggestion, or have spotted an issue, head over to the Discord server or email me at dev[at]codebyfire.com.

I hope you enjoy it and I'll be back with April's Frontier and more multiplayer news soon!

Thanks!

New Lands DLC
• Bridges - Allow your bots to traverse over small and large distances using wooden, iron and steel bridges
  
• Train Tunnels - Reach previously inaccessible locations or create shortcuts by tunnelling through hills and mountains
  
• Floating Watchtower - Claim territory on usually inaccessible shorelines and use to attack enemies from the sea
  
• Church & Missionary Outpost - Generate Holy Energy which can be used by the priestbot to give blessings to buildings, increasing the worker bots' productivity
  
• Fishing Station - Send a fishing boat out to fishing spots to harvest fish and lobster, a new luxury food for L3 residences
  
• Mint - Produce gold coins to use at the workshop to research repeatable technologies
  
• Repeatable Techs - Research the same tech multiple time for cumulative boosts
  
• New 6 Map Campaign - Four peaceful and two military maps in new campaign
  
• Unlockable Colony Colour Schemes - Unlock colourful new schemes for your colonies through the campaign
  
  Base Game Updates
  
• Gameplay - Significantly boosted output of L2 & L3 lumberjacks huts and L2 & L3 surface mines
  
• Gameplay - Added fadeout to trees when placing roads, paths or building nearby so you can now more easily see what you're doing
  
• Gameplay - New terrain type: mud - allows road and path placement but not buildings
  
• Gameplay - New terrain type: prairie - allows animal grazing but not crop placement
  
• Gameplay - New victory condition type - locate crashed colony ship(s) that are placed somewhere on the map
  
• Gameplay - Rewrote cost calculation system for roads to allow better spreading of resources over alternative routes
  
• Gameplay - When calculating transport route for a resource to a building, it now searches all possibilities from solution road post, avoiding a potentially slightly longer route
  
• Gameplay - Fixed particular instance where, when placing a road over a kink in the terrain, it would break an adjacent road tile connection
  
• Trains - Rail track can now be placed outside your territory
  
• Trains - Train stations can now be placed onto existing track
  
• Trains - Train stations now show potential track when placing
  
• Trains - [Ctrl] and click a track section to starting building from it
  
• Trains - Improved track height overlay graphics when placing track
  
• Trains - Fixed floor graphic of 'Slope In Out' section
  
• Game UI - Split food buildings into two separate sections
  
• Game UI - Added sub graphic for arrived resources to bar progress to boatyard panel
  
• Map Editor - New market panel allowing custom settings for any resource
  
• Map Editor - New map panel showing top down overview and list of all resources on the map, similar to the in-game version
  
• Map Editor - Added sandbox options when testing a map
  
• Map Editor - Significantly improved edges when terrain painting (still not 100% perfect but a lot better!)
  
• Map Editor - Added a contour mode back in
  
• Map Editor - Improvement visuals for player colony ship placement with option to show initial territory
  
• Map Editor - Much improved victory condition panel
  
• Map Editor - Much improved players panel
  
• UI - New main menu layout
  
• UI - New save/load game panel with thumbnails, metadata and improved performance
  
• UI - Improved performance when loading local scenarios
  
• UI - Improved placement of individual tech info panel on research panel
  
• General - improved loading time when opening the game
  
• General - improved loading time when loading a savegame

Hi everyone!

It's that time of your again and this year the pumpkin harvest is plentiful! For this month's Frontier map your bots have landed on a planet without Iron Ore, but luckily there's a high demand for pumpkins at the Space Port. With some new larger farms at your disposal, grow pumpkins as far as the eye can see and trade your way to the goal of a Medium monument in this month's frontier - good luck!

As well as the upcoming multiplayer feature, there's also some new content coming your way...
Here's a tiny sneak peek:


Stay tuned for more news soon!

There's an extra special custom map this month from 7up, who has created a map to celebrate the fifth anniversary of The Colonists. It contains all sorts of cool custom buildings and resources, go and check it out!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3044110070

• October Frontier
  
• Pumpkin season has arrived 🎃
  
• Fixed bug where if a resource was destroyed from using "Destroy All Resources" at a storage yard and it had a destination building, it wouldn't trigger the building to redemand it
  
• Fixed a potential miscalculation on the space port resource demand count when adjusting a selling rule
  
• Fixed dark blurriness effect when trying to scroll beyond the bounds of the game world
  
• Fixed "hole" in sawmill footprint
  
• Small visual tweak where bots will now turn faster at higher game speeds
  
• [Mods] Fixed localisation not resetting after being modified from a mod
  
• [Mods] Custom building icons (and other UI icons) no longer create mipmaps (which was making them blurry)
  
• [Mods] Fixed a bug with loading a save game which was started with a mod which included a custom PlantableFieldInfo (edit: new games only)
  
• [V1.6.9.1] Fixed bug when loading an October Frontier game
  
• [V1.6.9.1] Fixed bug when opening the boats panel if a boat was on an active expedition and hadn't built a harbour yet
  
• [V1.6.9.1] Fixed bug when trying to play Anniversary Workshop map

Big thanks for everyone's continued feedback and input! If you'd like to give some feedback on the game, discuss frontier strategies or experiment with mods then head over to our Discord Server! 🚀

Hi everyone!

If you've always wanted to play The Colonists against your friends then good news, multiplayer is coming! There's a beta now available for anyone to try, just switch to the 'multiplayer' beta on Steam. The beta is still in development and is currently PvP only. Co-op modes along with further gameplay tweaks to be added soon. Please let me know any comments, feedback or bug reports in our Discord server or to http://mailto:dev@codebyfire.com - thanks!

This month the brewery bots have gotten creative and brewed up a special concoction - chocolate stout! This beer is so powerful it can power L3 miners and lumberjacks instead of L3 Energy. It's a race to mine and sell salt, quartz and gold - good luck!

Here are this month's five specially selected player-created maps - go check them out and let the creators know if you enjoyed them!

Impact Site by Stenny127
7Ups - 7 Golden Tickets by 7up
Season 3 by Omodox
Stranger Danger by giffen
Geolocus by SeniorSpooky

• Fixed a savegame not loading properly if a wheat field had previously burned due to territory loss and had not been removed
  
• Keycodes Mouse2-Mouse6 (extra mouse buttons) now supported in custom hotkey window
  
• Added custom upload image option added for custom maps as alternative to screenshotting the map
  
• Fixed two field vegetables not matching farmbot visuals when returning to vegetable farm
  
• [Modding] Now supports a higher number of custom textures (internal atlas sheet can now go beyond 4196x4196)
  
• [Modding] Now supports custom expeditions
  
• August Frontier
  
• [V1.6.7.1] Fixed No Icon showing up on Storage Yard resource selection panel
  
• [V1.6.7.1] Changed August frontier description to include Space Port limit change
  
• [V1.6.7.2] Fixed frontier bug when a chocolate stout resource was produced and a L2/L3 residence had a demand waiting
  
• [V1.6.7.2] Chocolate Stout now shows up as separate resource in bottom left resource list
  
• [V1.6.7.3] Fixed fish icons in map editor

If you'd like to give some feedback on the game, discuss frontier strategies or experiment with mods then head over to our Discord Server. Thanks to everyone there for their continued testing and feedback! 🚀

Hi everyone!

This month's frontier is all about mega powerful monuments! Each monument has a 4x increase to their boosts to super-charge nearby bots. Your colony ship also comes with the resources for a small monument so use that early boost wisely!

Amongst this month's five new featured custom maps a special shoutout goes to 7up who's modded in some excellent new buildings and resources in their Willy Wonka themed map - check it out!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2991719135
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2985915106
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2961896941
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967220443
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2945365266

• July Frontier
  
• Fixed a few recent Workshop maps not playing correctly
  
• Fixed custom plot growth tooltips
  
• Added filter for available mod selection
  
• [Modding] Custom space port ships now supported

Thanks again to everyone on the Discord Server for all their continued suggestions and feedback! 🚀

If you do find a bug or have an issue please use Bug Reporting information page.

Back with more news soon!

Hi everyone!

A new month means a new frontier! This month's frontier shakes your early strategies up as L1 residences produce Energy twice as fast and lumberjack huts use twice as much. Upgraded roads work twice as well though so good luck!

Good news if you've always wanted to play The Colonists with or against your friends, we'll be announcing a multiplayer open beta soon, keep your eyes out!

Here are five more excellent Steam Workshop maps from players - a mix of old and new, peaceful and military.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2977297621
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2965727984
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2151517242
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2900486435
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2708748079

• June Frontier
  
• Fixed fog of war not applying to fixed scenario games where it should (custom maps)
  
• Fixed proximity boost UI panel bug
  
• Fixed [Tab]bing through building levels
  
• Fixed selected map panel disappearing when subscribing to a Featured map
  
• [Modding] Special storage component now supports startingItems going beyond outgoing storage limit

Huge appreciation to everyone on Discord Server for all their ongoing testing and feedback! 🚀

If you do find a bug or have an issue please use Bug Reporting information page.

Thanks!

• Fixed occasional issue with construction button not responding when starting level
  
• Fixed specific version-related load game issue
  
• Fixed close button on expedition selection panel

Hi everyone!

A new month means a new frontier! This month's frontier brings a new twist - all mines only require Level 1 Energy and there are natural resources everywhere. Plan your strategy and build that large monument as fast as you can!

Here are this month's five great Steam Workshop maps that you can also find in-game under Custom Maps - a mix of old and new, peaceful and military. We'll feature five more next month!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967220443
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2961896941
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2809456141
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1728517177
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1911765928

When creating custom maps you can now embed mods as well as linking to existing Workshop ones, so it's now a whole bunch easier to create maps with your own custom settings and content!

For more information on making mods check out the Community Wiki

• May Frontier
  
• Local mods are now embedded in custom maps and will upload along with the map when published to Steam Workshop
  
• Fixed AI building excessive storage yards
  
• Rebuilt terrain overlay graphic system for modability and improved performance
  
• Added ability to set a market resource to be sell only or purchase only in market.json
  
• Added ability to set players starting money with players.json
  
• Added ability to easily set preresearched tech in techs.json
  
• Reworked boat expedition code for future updates

Thanks to everyone on Discord for their support & ongoing feedback! 🚀

If you'd like to be first to hear about major updates to The Colonists and about new games from codebyfire, you can follow us on Steam, subscribe to our newsletter or join our Discord server.

Codebyfire on Steam

Codebyfire Newsletter

Discord Server

See you soon!

Hi everyone,

The April Frontier is live! This month's challenge is all about mega sheep farms - 3x production but 2x pasture size - you'll need new layouts to best optimise all that resource flow. Good luck!

Also, thanks to the brilliant community translators, The Colonists now officially supports Turkish!

• Added support for April fronter
  
• Added Cancel Expedition button for boats assigned to an expedition
  
• Fixed Cursor Constrained not being remembered properly between sessions
  
• Fixed techs not preresearching when testing custom maps with mods
  
• Terrain graphic overlay system rebuilt for modability
  
• SetTerrain now sets terrain categories
  
• On tech tree panel, a researched technology icon no longer shows padlock if completed but doesn't have required techs researched (only relevant when using preresearched techs)
  
• Enabled Turkish language

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

A few tweaks and fixes from the last couple of of patches:

• Fixed boats not docking correctly at flipped harbours
  
• Fixed bots auto-destructing after printing if there was a terrain kink in a road on the route to their building
  
• Fixed resources disappearing in certain situations where a 'Banned Except Storage' rule was on the road post of the target storage yard

• [Modding] New terrain types can now be added in a terrain.json file
  
• [Modding] Added ability to customise categories in the global storage section in the bottom left of the UI
  
• [Modding] Now handles invalid meta.json more gracefully
  
• [Modding] Added directory name as ID to local mod info panel
  
• [Modding] Custom victory conditions in maps with mods can now show correctly
  
• [Modding] When creating a custom map, it now remembers mods you select to a different list than the mod list used for playing random or sandbox games
  
• [Modding] Fixed fog causing blackout issue with mod prefabs using the standard shader in map view
  
• Fixed scaffolding not showing for upgrading buildings
  
• Fixed captainbots not appearing on clippers
  
• Fixed Road Layer L2 floor not showing
  
• Fixed "Infinity" showing occasionally in resource rate production stats
  
• Fixed production rate values not showing correctly for a few buildings
  
• Fixed text rendering of building limit section in construction panel
  
• Fixed error when monument boost is off map
  
• Fixed Korean font issue
  
• Stackbot pick up and put down animations now take into account road and path speed multipliers
  
• Added rating buttons to game complete screen for workshop maps
  
• Added water and wheat to 'Alcohol' resource preset

Thanks!

Happy New Year!

Like every month, January brings a new frontier to compete in, but this one comes with a new twist. Starting with no territory limits, how much money can you make inside 4 months?

Good luck!

• Added Featured tab for workshop maps panel, showing a selection of the best old and new player created maps
  
• Fixed train engine being offset when created at train station with certain orientations
  
• Maps with mod dependencies now auto download the mods when starting a game
  
• Fixed error when returning to main menu after playing a custom map with victory conditions