“Update 1 – The Colony” patch notes

Greetings, survivors!

We just released the first update for Surviving the Aftermath, called The Colony! This update focuses on the Colony management aspect of the game – let us know what you think of the changes by using the in-game reporting tool.

After downloading the new content, your game version should be 1.1.0.5107 on PC and 1.1.027 on Xbox.

General

• FMOD updated to 1.10.17 version.
• The loading process now supports Multithreading.
  • This implementation will prevent the game from blocking during the loading screen – an issue that caused undesired behaviors when the game is running in parallel with certain streaming software.
  • The loading indicator now rotates properly during the loading screen.
• Gamepads can now be connected while the game is running.
• Added an option to disable the gamepad controls.
  • Sometimes, connected wheels or pedals cause gamepad mode to be constantly turned on. The new option allows players to prevent this from happening.
• Added hotkey options for the Radio, Statistics, and Help Menus.
• Pressing the Tech Tree hotkey while in the Tech Tree menu will now close it properly.
• Players can now zoom out of the Colony view to the World map, and zoom in from the World Map to the Colony.
  • We added an option to disable this feature.
• Statistics menu now shows production and consumption per resource. The Graph view will be implemented in a future update. [Community request]
• The top bar happiness tooltip now only shows five most affecting Needs.
• You can now rename colonists and specialists.
• Patch notes will now be shown at the first startup.

Gameplay

• [Community request] World map combat now shows a prediction and damage range of the outcome that helps to estimate how dangerous it is to engage in combat. 
• All storages now have an option to define what resources should be stored there.
• New buildings:
  • Maintenance Depot – automate colony repairs within its work area.
  • [Community request] Metal Extractor – scavenge Metal from barren soil.
  • [Community request] Concrete Extractor – scavenge Concrete from barren soil.
  • [Community request] Plastic Extractor – scavenge Plastic and Fiber from barren soil.
  • Nuclear Waste Storage – stores dangerous waste from Environmental Station.
  • Large Battery Rack – Store massive amounts of Energy.
  • Gate Level 2 – Shows more information about incoming survivors.
• Tech tree updates:
  • Battery Stacking: Unlocks Large Battery Rack (Production)
  • Industrial Mining: Unlocks Metal, Plastic and Concrete Extractors (Production)
  • Reinforced Gate: Unlocks Gate Level 2 (Reinforced gate) (Security)
  • Centralized Repairs: Unlocks the Maintenance Depot (Security)
• [Community request] Science Points added as a tradeable resource for new and existing events. This increases the availability of science points.
• Work area improvements:
  • The efficiency of the work area placement is now shown in the placement info UI, and it affects production.
  • Soil types, trees, and water tiles affect building efficiency.
  • Wells can no longer be placed close to each other.
  • Added different indicators for the Work area circle to indicate resource availability.
  • Arrow indicators added to Work Areas to indicate the resource movement direction.
• Tutorials updated to match the latest features.
• Pregame selections (Environment) now affect the amount of Energy and Water generation.
• Solar panels no longer produce Energy during the night.
• Corpses lying on the ground now cause a happiness penalty in the colony.
• Destruction/demolishing of a (not empty) burial pit inflicts a happiness penalty to all colonists.
• The Area of influence is now shown for all buildings while constructing a new building of the same type.
• Educated state for Colonists is now handled as a Trait. This will make it visible.
• Added a new notification that tells if there are resources on the ground, but no storage to store them.
• Fixed an issue that occasionally caused Bandit health to be shown with a negative value.
• Fix for issue where bandit health was sometimes shown with a negative value.
• Meteorites, Lightning, Falling satellites, and Overcharge now cause splash damage instead of targeted damage to a single building.
  • They also harm the colonists and not only buildings.
  • Catastrophes involving Falling items do not always hit buildings after this update, but they cause damage inside a larger radius.
• Nuclear waste deposits on the ground sometimes eject a toxic cloud of radioactive waste that causes damage to nearby buildings and colonists.
• The Tech tree Menu now shows more detailed information about the requirements and unlockable features of each technology.
• Events and Tech tree now show resource icons within the tooltip.

Graphics

• Improved terrain materials in the World Map.
• Improved look and performance of the volumetric fog effect during catastrophes and night/morning.
• Added visuals for destroyed Med Lab, Electronics Factory, and Auto Extractors.
• Fix to an issue where colonists sometimes used tools from a previous stage of their animation path.
• Corpses now decay over time and are eventually removed.
  • More visual improvements will come with a future update.
• Improvements to the visual effects for the following buildings: Radar, Mess Hall, and Movie Theater.
• Events now have exit animations (like cars properly leaving the Gate after an event).
• Heightmaps around the colony now generate more blocking geometry, to make the colony area look more isolated.
• Survivor groups are now visually shown at the gate.
• Sped up several world map animations.
• Introduced new flag symbols inspired by notable members of the Paradox community.

UI

• Improved readability for the Build menu category icons.
• World Map button has a “return to colony view” image while in the World Map view.
• The colors for placement restriction in construction mode have been changed.
• Added dividers between resource types in the top bar.
• Firewood and Junk tooltips added to the top bar.
• The World Map now shows combat damage after the damage has been applied.
• Increased readability for the Combat prediction menu in the World Map.
• Improved visualization of the remaining event time in the event floater.

Balancing

• Reduced the maximum impact of Nuclear Fallout and Pandemic.
• You now need 2 Fibers to produce 1 Clothing, down from 3.
• Tool and Clothing production is now 20% faster.
• Specialist Scavenging, Research, and Recovery rates boosted by 25%.
• Amount of resources increased on the World Map, especially on the outer edges
• School capacity raised to 10 children.
  Schools now require a teacher to work in the building.
• Added variety to distant locations in the World Map.
• The Merchant now offers better value deals.
• Reduced the cost of the Blackmail and Slaver events.
• Reduced the Component cost for Solar Panels.
  • This change is implemented to compensate for the lack of Energy production during the night.
• Removed early game events from late game.
• Improved the clarity of Happiness building differences.
• Location hazards should no longer be able to one-shot a full health Specialist.
• Reduced maximum survivor group size in most instances.

Modding

• Building ID ranges no longer overlap with the game buildings
• Implemented fixes to address the issues occurring when loading savegames with mods active