Timberborn Update 5 - Iron Teeth Hard Mode - Nice

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STHedgehog

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2,950

Published on April 13, 2024 11:00:35 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIuUrEP7XTE

Game:

Timberborn (2021)

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Vlog

Duration: 28:25

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9

Beavers reap what hoomans sowed
In Timberborn’s world, humanity disappeared and left ruin behind. As of Update 5, that legacy also includes toxic pollution, colloquially known as badwater. Accumulated in the Earth’s crust in mankind’s final days, these deadly chemicals flow down the rivers and erupt from the ground, threatening all life and making restoration of the planet even more challenging.

Badwater is the first extra fluid we have on the maps. It uses Timberborn’s water physics system, so it behaves similarly to, um, the good water. It has a varied current’s strength, flows across the land, fills up basins, interacts with dams etc. But when it reaches a regular river, the two water types start to mix, with the good water becoming increasingly polluted. The two fluids are distinct visually, and you can easily see how the pollution spreads.

This will happen to you because we’re adding badtides - a new in-game season type on top of the existing temperate seasons and droughts. Every time you would expect a drought to begin, a badtide may trigger instead (so there always comes a normal temperate season after either a badtide or a drought). When that happens, badwater begins to flow from all water sources.

On top of that, we’re updating built-in maps to include Badwater Sources. These large cracks in the ground spew out the chemicals all the time, no matter the season. As you can probably imagine, that’s not good news for neighboring beaver colonies, at least not entirely.

There’s something in the water
First, badwater gradually reduces the irrigation range of polluted water bodies until they no longer irrigate. On top of that, at a certain threshold, it starts contaminating the nearby terrain. Any plant growing in the affected area - be it a regular crop, aquatic crop, or a tree - will quickly wither and die. Fortunately, the contamination disappears rather quickly after you get rid of badwater. We’ll get to that in a moment.

Badwater also affects the beavers and their operations. It reduces the efficiency of water pumps, turns off several extra buildings, and traversing through it is dangerous. Prolonged exposure, especially when in high concentrations, may contaminate your colonists. After a few days, the affected beaver becomes a zombeaver burden - it moves slowly, refuses to work, and continues consuming resources. This applies to kits too. Bots, to no surprise, are not affected - this allowed us to improve their functionality (and also unlock terraforming for beavers, yay!).

What to do about (and with) it?
Your best bet may be to prevent badwater from reaching the colony altogether. To do that, you will use levees, floodgates, and all your other hydroengineering tools. We’ve also added a new badwater-specific pump, as well as updated the water dump to be toggleable and work with either fluid. To accommodate badwater, we’re updating built-in maps - you’ll need some serious engineering skills to flush it away. That’s a cool thing about badwater as a constant threat - it’s a new tool for map creators who can use it to craft entirely different challenges.

And what to do when your beavers do get contaminated? We know what you’re thinking - yes, you could force-migrate sick beavers to a shadowy place, i.e. a very special and sad district. Ethics aside, you should probably fight for your valuable workers instead. You can cure the contaminated by placing them in Decontamination Pods. Oh, wait, what’s that green thing?

We didn’t want to introduce just a new threat you’d avoid, but rather something you would like to play with. Badwater can be gathered and then turned into extract - a new good that has several beneficial uses. It is now needed to produce two new, more explosive Dynamite variants, and in Dirt Excavators. And since we can go a little crazy with it, we also have a new Breeding Pod variant that, to Folktails’ justified disgust, churns out adult Iron Teeth. Finally, badwater powers up water wheels just the same, which some map makers are bound to make you exploit.

#timberborn
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1062090/Timberborn/

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