Kingdom Crier #34: Fantastical Architecture!

Kingdom Crier #34 is here. Introducing Fantastical Architecture, a Content Update that dropped today!

Fantastical Architecture

Hey, let's make it easier to build awe inspiring structures!

All Reachable without scaffolding!

Expanded Reachability

All Props that are touching one-another are now considered part of the same Structure under the hood. Operating (Building, Repairing, Rebuilding, Refueling, Depositing, Cleaning, Researching, Uncrating, and Fire Fighting) on any exterior Prop that is part of that Structure can be done if any part of the exterior of the Structure can be reached. Operating on any interior Prop that is part of the Structure can be done from any space in the same Room (or Rooms in the case of Walls and Floors).

Dismantling and Crating use a special, cached, version of their Structure and Rooms that maintain reachability for the duration of the Command even if the intervening pieces have already been removed.

This means that they can build a giant wall as long as they can reach the base of it! They can attach awesome decorative pieces to the highest point on your Castle from the closest point they can get to. They can repair that tattered Flag on the roof from below! You throw down the Blueprints and your people make it happen.

Attacking and Using a Prop still require direct access using the previous System.

Stepping back, the aim is to take the guesswork and logistical headache out of Building (and maintaining!) awesome Buildings. We're intentionally hand waving over the fine details of how (I like to think they're adept climbers :P) to save us a great deal of development time and maximize your creativity and freedom of expression.

if you'd prefer to stick with the old system, there's a set of Options for Building, Repairing, and Rebuilding that you can disable to return to the prior mechanisms for any of them. You could make Building require scaffolding, while maintaining the benefits for Repairing and Rebuilding, for example.

From our perspective, this fits right in with our Fantasy driven Kingdom Builder - right along with the intentional decision to not include a stability system. We want to enable you to lean into the Fantastical Architecture when it comes to building - preferring cool looking buildings and maximizing expression to absolute realism.

Planning

As you may surmise, calculating the fine details of this can require some horsepower - but we put a lot of work into ensuring it's even faster than the prior system.

The plan for any given Prop is refined over time. This may mean that they choose a suboptimal point if they go to work on it right away in favor of Reachability, but the access point will be refined over time. The longer the plan is outstanding, the better the plan.

Cyan - usable points on the Structure

In addition, you may rarely see a Prop marked as Planning - this means they haven't surmised a workable position yet - but they're working on it! Check back in a bit.

Angled Walls

Oh hey, new toys!

Logistically, they work like Parapets, meaning they can be hopped (well at least the are now after we fixed Mantling...).

They can overlap with true Short Walls as well as Portcullises...? Portcullisese...? Portcullisi...? Portculi... pines...? Portcullises.

Arches Braces

We expanded on the Arches category and added options for Wood.

In addition, we made these no longer block Movement.

Also, they're now allowed to overlap with Short Walls.

Water

Previously, it was impossible to build below the surface of Water.

Now, leveraging Expanded Reachability, they can operate on Props below the surface as long as they can reach something above the waterline.

Use this to make cool Bridges!

Quality of Life

Finally, we resolved a number of issues related to Building - improving Cursor placement, Exhaust Building, Multilayer Roofs, and more.

Oh and we fixed the Blueprint Sorting issue with Particles.

Bulk Work Tools

Next, we expanded the Work Menu and added the long asked for Bulk Work Tools.

Get to Work!

Cancel

Use this to Cancel individual Commands (including Constructs) by clicking on them, or Marquee Select to Choose what to Cancel!

Cut

Use this to Cut Trees, Grass, Bushes, whatever.

Hint: Use Sustainable Trees option to select a subset of the Mature Trees, leaving room for others to fill in the gaps

Hint x2: Sustainable is also great for 'caps!

Dismantle

Use this to bulk Dismantle a structure.

Forage

Use this to Forage those yummy Octoberberries.

Gather

This one will Gather Wood, Stone, or Metal from things laying about.

Other Stuff

Temperature

We increased the accuracy of the interior Temperature Sim - especially for large Kingdoms and at high speeds.

Any Schedule Slots

Any Schedule slots were always choosing Work over Relaxation. oops!

Beware the completely unrelated increase in casual Yodeling!

Marquee Selection

Marquee Selection now includes a Search Box that is highlighted by default, start typing and it'll filter the options.

Active Abilities

We greatly decreased the frequency of Active Ability audio Pings.

Animal List

We made the Animal List always include animals you've seen before.

Conquests

Conquests are now a little more fair.

Opinion Tooltips

Opinion Tooltips now have width limits and support multiple lines for those of you with big Kingdoms and long names.

Camera

The Camera will now behave better over Water.

Performance

A good deal of performance work was tackled while we worked on this update. You should see gains in most scenarios.

Patch Notes

Noble Fates 0.29.3.7 Released!
Content Update

Crash Fixes
    Fix rare crash when Loading
    Fix for crash with Mod Props that Modify Move Speed

Building
    Add Expanded Reachability
        Optional (on by Default) for Building, Rebuilding, and Repairing
        Always on for Researching, Uncrating, Refueling, Cleaning, Fighting Fire
        When on, a Prop is Reachable
            From any tile within any room it's touching
            By reaching any Prop it is touching
        Examples
            The top of large wall...
            A Flag attached to a wall 10 levels up...
            A Chimney poking through the center of the roof...
            A Pipe poking out ten stories up...
            A Chest sitting on an inaccessible, decorative only Balcony...
                can all be worked on from the base of the external of the building
            A Roof can be worked on from...
                the floor below, no matter how far below if it's in the same room
                or any touching prop outside
            An exterior Wall can be worked on from...
                any tile in any adjacent room
                or any touching prop outside
        Basically, a Prop can be worked on if they can reach something connected to it.
        Reasoning
            Building scaffolding for reachability is not a terribly interesting interaction...
                and mostly serves to limit creativity in favor of realism
            Rebuilding scaffolding for Rebuild or Repair is an awful experience
            We want to see more cool buildings...
                and to minimize the fiddling with pathing to get them!
            This also means you can build cool things like bridges...
                without waiting for reachability to update at each step along the way
            Optional so you can disable it to retain prior functionality if you'd prefer
            NOTE: this does not affect Using, Resupplying, Storing, or Attacking Reachability
        
    Add Cached Reachability
        Persistent version of Expanded Reachability for Crating and Dismantling
        Caches all available interaction points when the Command is queued
        Allows for all pieces of a building to be reached for the duration of a Dismantle Job
    
    Structure -> Add-ons
        Renamed to Accents

    Add Angled Walls
        Block characters but can be Mantled
        [Q] and [E] cycle orientations
        Variants
            Wooden
            Hollow
            Stone
            Fine Wood
            Fine Stone
        
    Add Braces
        Do not Block characters
        [Q] and [E] cycle orientations
        Types
            Wooden
            Hollow
            Fine Wood
        
    Fine Stone Arches
        Now under the Accents -> Braces category
        No longer Block characters
        [Q] and [E] cycle options   
        
    QOL
        Doorways can now intersect with the Terrain
        Props can now be placed under Water
            Use this (and Expanded Reachability) to add Posts and Arches to your Bridges!
        Exhaust Pipes can continue on to the next Layer up when Building
        Roofs can be placed on top of other roofs
        Improve selection of Column Positions
        Improve selection of Doorways
        Build the thing we're researching after we research if no one else is
        Detect when someone else is Delivering Resources
        Take over and deliver them yourself when Ordered to Build
        Refund Resources when you Cancel a Supplied Prop
        Add Dismantle Button
        Expand Expanded Reachability options
        Prefer Neighboring tiles when working on Roofs or Floors
        Fix Sorting issue with VFX
        
    Crating
        The Crate is Dropped next to the Crater... The Mortal who crated it.
 
Bulk Tools
    Add Work -> Cancel Tool
        Click to Cancel
        Click and Drag to choose what to Cancel
    Add Work -> Cut Tool
        Click to Cut
        Click and Drag to choose what to Cut
        Separate things by Maturity, Wild Status, and Type
        Sustainable Option to leave enough for the Foliage to fill back in
    Add Work -> Dismantle Tool
        Click to Dismantle
        Click and Drag to choose what to Dismantle
    Add Work -> Forage Tool
        Click to Forage
        Click and Drag to choose what to Forage
    Add Work -> Gather Tool
        Click to Gather
        Click and Drag to choose what to Gather
        
Selection
    Add Filtering to Marquee Selection Dialog
        
Tools
    Update Work Icon
    Update Stockpile Icon
    Add Icon to Work -> Dig Tool
    Add Icon to Work -> Farm Tool
    Add Icon to Work -> Pasture Tool
    
Dig Tool
    Fix bug that prevented the tool from Canceling when you chose another Tool
    
Opinions
    Limit the width of a line of Opinions on a Tooltip
        Fixes the Plant Meal Bean Tooltip in Large Kingdoms, for example
    
Babies
    Fix bug with Babies who think they are in Bed but are not
    Prevent Baby Party Leaders
    Babies are included in Helpless Abandoned when Abandoning an Adventure
 
Temperature Sim
    Improve accuracy of Temperature Sim on large maps
    Improve accuracy of Temperature Sim on high speeds
    
Abilities
    Only ping for a given Active Ability once per Minute unless enlisted

Commands
    Path Failed is now a Soft Block
    Decrease delay before trying again when a Path fails
    
Autonomous Schedule
    Fix bugs that prevented Relaxation
    
Animal List
    Always list Animals that have been Discovered

Mantling
    Fix bug that prevented Mantling (hopping over short walls)

Performance
    Lower frequency of updating aspects of Character Simulation
        Especially improved at 2x, 3x, 4x speed!
    Improve performance of Temperature Sim
    Improve performance of evaluating Building Commands
    Improve Background Kingdom Simulation Performance
    Improve Physics Performance
    Improve performance of Portrait capture
    
Raids
    Prevent unfair Conquests
    Fix bug that caused Raids to continue to rally point after being Discovered

Breach
    Improve Mage Arrival Behavior
    
Sitting
    Fix bug when Sitting down from a different spot in the Tile
    
Coolers
    Now Block access to the Tile they are in
    
Water
    Fix camera Jitter when centered over Water
    
Workbenches
    Don't Cancel associated commands when a Workbench is Crated
    
Pathing
    Fix bug that caused Characters to be Unreachable when Jumping
    
Hauling
    Don't mix Rushed and Unrushed Hauling commands  

Mortals
    Update Portrait when Name is Randomized
    
New Game
    Iterate on Heavy is the Crown text

Restart the game and steam to make sure you're up to date!

Experimental Branch

Minor Updates like this arrive on the Experimental Branch first.

If you have the stomach for brief bouts of instability and want to help us out - switch to (or stay in) the Experimental Beta on Steam and participate in discussions here or on discord.

Expect occasional issues - but know that we appreciate you helping us make the game better!

Community Corner

cypr' building intensifies...

Discord

Join the Official Discord to participate in Development! [

](https://discord.gg/HeAaQcS)

Reviews

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Thanks for reading and thanks for playing! The Noble Fates Team