Timberborn (Part 1/2) Updated to
0.6.8.4-e18214b for Windows and Mac.
Changelog from
SteamDB:
Update 6 - Wonders of Water is live!
Hello, everyone!
Our colossal content patch, Update 6 - Wonders of Water, is now live on the main branch. Update 6 greatly changes the game, so for a quick rundown, watch the trailer below.
As you can see, water physics is now 3D, allowing you to build aqueducts and underwater cities. Automated sluices make your beavers’ lives easier. With overhangs and vertical power shafts, your settlements grow taller than ever. Wonders add faction-specific end-game goals with tangible rewards. We’ve added a new map and reworked the rest. Official mod support is also in, with tons of player-made content already live on Steam Workshop. And how about customizable beaver tails? More animations? New in-game languages? Oh my!
PSA - Upcoming price increase
Before we dive into the dam big patch notes, we’d like to announce that on October 24, 2024, we will increase the game’s base price from 24.99 USD to 34.99 USD. We believe that with how much Timberborn has grown since its Early Access release, after three years of development, this change is justified. Our team has also more than doubled in size, allowing us to pump out cool new updates - such as the one we’re releasing today - on our way to v1.0 and beyond.
At 7 PM CEST today, the game goes on a two-week 20% discount. Until October 24, this is your final chance to grab Timberborn at a lower price with a discount on top.
Patch notes: 2024-10-10 (Update 6)
NOTE: Saves created on Update 5 will load fine. However, Update 6 replaces some buildings. This includes the old Metal Platforms or the deprecated High Power Shaft. If you load a save with those, they will be there, but you won’t be able to add more. The map you played on will not be updated. Also, if you started the save before the February hotfix, the flexible start won’t unlock.
Three-dimensional water physics
One of Timberborn’s hallmark features is water physics. Yet, until now, we’ve used a cleverly designed 2.5-dimensional system. Our water had variable depths and formed waterfalls, but it was like a sheet thrown over the map’s topography. With Update 6, we’re finally implementing the real, three-dimensional system, which allows way more complex interactions with fluids.
Under the new physics, it is possible to run layers of fluids atop one another and over buildings. As Levees and Dams can now be placed everywhere, the most obvious application is the long-requested ability to build aqueducts. Thanks to the newly added Impermeable Floor, water can also flow over platforms or the roofs of all Solid buildings. Pair that with the new ways of building vertically, and you may even build an entire underwater city!
• Fluids now use three-dimensional physics. This, among other things, means it is possible to have horizontal layers of water or badwater atop one another, with buildings in between. Also, the new water physics respects the laws of communicating vessels.
• New building: Impermeable Floor (200 SP; 1 Metal Block). Put this on any Solid surface (could be a platform, a lodge’s roof etc.) and water will not pour through. You can still run your paths on the Impermeable Floor.
• It is now possible to build and stack Dams and Levees anywhere, for example on platforms or on top of buildings (think: aqueduct walls). This also means you can now form a wall with lots of Levees and a Dam block in the middle.
• Reworked the way water is rendered. Fluids now spill over more fluidly, and no longer look like their edges could cut through one’s tail. Falling water now looks better. We also removed these visible but not real “leaks” in the corners of dams and terrain.
• The layer tool now uncovers layers of water in addition to buildings.
• Water Wheels no longer slow the water flow. While this seemed a little more immersive, the water wheels would sometimes stop working as a result. This was causing way too much confusion.
Automated sluices
The new water physics system finally allowed us to add one of the most often-requested building blocks to Timberborn, the Sluice. And it’s automated!
• New building: Sluice (400 SP; 5 Planks, 5 Metal Blocks; Solid). This 1x1 building passes water through in one - unchangeable - direction. Notably, sluices may be used at the bottom or in the middle of a larger dam. Adjacent sluices can be synchronized, just like floodgates.
• Sluices can be set to be open, closed, or automatically operated. The automation opens or closes the sluice depending on contamination levels and downstream water levels picked by the player. This should remove lots of typical micromanagement headaches!
New platforms
Three-dimensional water physics just asked for cool new toys! So, we’ve remade the existing Metal Platforms and added Overhangs - including natural ones available in the map editor. Use these tools to raise multi-layered airborne cities and save space on the ground.
• New buildings: Overhangs (available variants: 2x1, 3x1, 4x1, 5x1, 6x1; costs include increasing amounts of SP, logs, planks, and metal blocks). These platforms need to be supported from one side, similar to suspension bridges. You can build on them, and they’re not ground-only, which means you could chain them almost ad infinitum.
• Updated buildings: Metal Platforms. These are now equally available to both factions, and available in two sizes (3x3, 5x5; costs updated to 1000/2000 SP and 30/90 Metal Blocks, respectively). They now have much shorter “legs” but are no longer ground-only, so you could put them on platforms or even pile them one atop another, up to the map’s height limit. Just do not ask us how this doesn’t collapse. That’s beaver engineering!
• Updated buildings: Suspension Bridges. Because of the addition of overhangs, we’ve rebalanced costs for all six bridge sizes. In short, they’re all much cheaper than before, and they no longer use metal.
• Updated buildings: Mechanical Water Pump and Deep Mechanical Water Pump: max pipe length increased to 5 and 8 tiles, respectively. With all the aqueduct shenanigans now possible, it made sense to give beavers more freedom in creating their water transportation setups.
• New objects: Natural Overhangs (2x1, 3x1, 4x1). These are available in the map editor. It is possible to build on them, but crops won’t grow on them, and they do not transfer irrigation and contamination. Builders can destroy them, just like the Blockages.
Vertical Power Shafts
No beaver city is complete without an efficient power grid. With the Vertical Power Shafts we’re adding today, you’ll save lots of space when connecting areas on different elevations. For extra efficiency points, you can even put a building directly on top of them.
• New building: Vertical Power Shaft (40 SP; 2 logs, 2 planks, 1 gear; Solid; must be placed above ground). Use this shaft to build vertical power lines and, thanks to its integrated platform, to power up buildings through the floor.
• New buildings: Upward Power Shaft and Downward Power Shaft (20 SP; 2 logs, 2 planks, 1 gear each). These are used in connection with Vertical Power Shafts but since they’re separate buildings, power lines now turn in any direction without wasting space.
• Updated buildings: Mechanical Fluid Pump and Deep Mechanical Fluid Pump. Power shafts can now connect from front and back (or even bottom!), and not just from the sides. Also, the Pump’s lower part now acts like a three-block levee, blocking water.
• Updated buildings: Windmill, Large Windmill, Engine, Large Power Wheel. When placed on Vertical Power Shafts, their power output is transferred directly downwards. They can also directly power up Solid buildings placed below.
Wonders
Timberborn is a highly replayable sandbox experience with self-imposed goals - and we stick to that! However, we’ve also heard your requests for more clearly defined end-game objectives. Hence the addition of faction-specific wonders - large, expensive buildings that can be activated to “complete” the run if you wish. Launching a wonder comes with a reward, too.
• New feature: wonders. These very advanced structures are larger and more expensive than anything else in the game, and because of that they even go through five visible construction stages. A finished wonder can be activated for an extra cost, resulting in “completing” the map. You can build multiple wonders on the map.
• After the first activation of the wonder on the map, the game displays a congratulatory pop-up with statistics of the current playthrough. After that, you can continue playing.
• When a wonder is activated for the first time, a faction badge is added to the current map on the map selection screen. The flexible start is also unlocked - see below.
• New building: Earth Recultivator. (20 000 SP; 2000 gears, 2000 treated planks, 1500 metal blocks; Folktails-only). Our expert farmers’ primary goal is to turn the entire planet green again - and this huge seed bank helps achieve that!
• Earth Recultivator can be activated for 500 Extract and 500 Paper. When activated, it sends out balloons with extra-durable tree seeds. This effect is visual and lore-bound only. On top of that, a huge boost to well-being is added to all beavers in a large area.
• New building: Earth Repopulator (20 000 SP; 1500 Gears, 2000 Treated Planks, 2000 Metal Blocks; Iron Teeth-only). Our industrious faction uses this war machine mechanized beaver ejector to rebuild civilization across the troubled globe.
• Earth Repopulator can be activated for 500 Treated Planks and 500 Berries. The building’s workers hop into gliders and fly away to start new settlements elsewhere in the world. This effect is visual and lore-bound only… but the pioneers are not coming back. There’s also a huge boost to the well-being of all beavers in a large area.
Flexible start
Your playing experience on a map may differ vastly depending on where you start. Now, after you complete a wonder, you can change the starting location for future runs on the map.
• Activating the wonder for the first time on a map on any faction unlocks a flexible start for both factions. Further playthroughs on that map will allow picking a different location for the initial District Center.
Modding support and Steam Workshop
Update 6 adds official mod support and marks the public launch of Timberborn Workshop on Steam with the in-game integration. Find it here!
We’ve also remade the modding system to make the most common modding tasks easier to accomplish, less prone to errors, less prone to compatibility issues, and overall, make the game more fun to experiment with. If you’re a mod creator, read the documentation on Timberborn Wiki and check out the GitHub repository with some sample mods and tools.
Now that Workshop and the mod support are available to everyone, we’d love to hear your feedback - whether you’re a mod creator or a mod user.
• Launched Timberborn Workshop on Steam.
• Added new tools and made multiple changes to the game's architecture to make modding easier. If you're a modder, you can find the details in the documentation and the GitHub repository.
• Added a built-in mod manager accessed via the main menu that allows you to turn mods on and off, and to rearrange their launch order. If you have any compatible mods installed, the manager also launches before the game.
• Added an in-game console. By default, it’s accessed with Alt+`.
• It is now possible to upload maps to Steam Workshop directly from the map editor.
• The built-in mod manager also enables uploading mods to Steam Workshop directly from the game.
• Added an official sample mod to the Workshop called Shanty Speaker. This is a simple, not-very-serious Iron Teeth building that continuously plays “Shores of Beaver Bay”, the song we recorded with our community back in 2022. Find it here.
Tail customization, a.k.a. detailing
High fashion finally arrives at Timberborn thanks to the most punny building, the Detailer! You can pick from a few default faction-specific designs and have them temporarily tattooed on the visitors’ tails. Or, you can add your own custom images! (Just the SFW stuff, please).
• New building: Detailer (1000 SP; 15 gears, 5 treated planks, 10 metal blocks). This new attraction satisfies Fun while making your beavers’ tails prettier with floral-ish designs.
• Custom images can also be used in Detailer. Transparent 1024x1024 PNGs are preferred, but the game also accepts JPGs and lower resolutions.