We would first like to say a big (belated) welcome to 2024! This year the game marked its 5th year in Early Access and we have come a long way in those 5 years. There have been big changes to the game and we are powering through the final stretch to the full release of Foundation!
What we are working on right now
What are we working on is always the question we like to answer. The answer to this is nearly everything! The main theme of course is getting the game and all the planned content complete and ready for the full release and end of Early Access.
Some of the things we are currently working on include:
Map Edges – time to remove those hard-on-the-eyes map edges
The Castle – We know this is the one you are all waiting for!
Walls and Fortifications – Walls will have a cost to build like everything else but will also be part of the wider gameplay mechanics
Military Gameplay Improvements – Tied into the walls and fortifications, several changes are being worked on, such as setting patrols and creating “companies”
The Whole Art Direction – including fully overhauled buildings as well as major environmental improvements
Monument Design Experience – Adding capabilities such as the ability to replace parts and move an entire monument, as well as a full user interface revamp
Oh! And of course Housing and Residential improvements and changes. A lot of work is going on to get the Housing visuals where we want them to be, as well as bring in the 3rd tier high-density residential. The biggest factor is having the housing look authentically medieval within our style setting but ultimately give housing that wow factor!
Due to the work-in-progress state of current development, we aren’t quite ready to show too much of what we have been working on, partly to not spoil a bigger reveal announcement but also due to things just not being polished and ready quite yet.
We are aware that you want to hear more and you will soon! Look out for a big announcement coming in the next few months!
Early Access Updates
Some of you may be wondering when the game will receive a new update. As previously announced, the next major update will be the end of Early Access and the Full Release of the game. We do not plan to release any more updates between now and the full release.
With the final development at full steam ahead, the whole team is dedicated to completing the game, polishing the rough edges and presenting to you the Foundation that we imagined and that you want.
We can’t wait to show you the result of all the hard work and share the date of the full release.
Watch this space!
Steam Spring Sale: Buy Foundation at a Discounted Price!
If you haven’t got the game yet why not take advantage of the Steam Spring Sale?! Get Foundation with a 25% Discount, right now!
Medieval Foundation Bundle
In a first for us, we are proud to announce our first-ever Bundle offer in the form of the Medieval Foundation Bundle.
We are honored to collaborate with the team behind Medieval Dynasty to offer an additional 10% OFF when you buy the bundle or complete the set.
That’s all for now but we’ll be sharing more news in the coming months and in the meantime please keep sharing any feedback and bug reports on our official Discord server.
We are excited to announce that the 1.9.7 QOL update is now available on Steam & GOG!
1.9.7 is the first of our Quality of Life (QOL) updates as we work toward the game’s Full Release. For more information on the recent change to our release plan, check out the link at the bottom of this announcement.
Your feedback is very important to us and we have looked to address some of the most requested QOL features in this update, as well as further improvements we have been planning. Let’s dive right in and take a look at what you will find in the 1.9.7 QOL update…
Interior Access
Previous to 1.9.7, some monument buildings required a separate door, which could limit creativity and also did not make sense for a monument as a whole. Now, with 1.9.7 buildings will check interior access to the whole building, meaning that a single door could be enough. For example, an entrance to your treasury could be part of an attached Great Hall.
Furthermore, so that you can check that your buildings are accessible, we have added a handy toggleable tool that will clearly show when your buildings have interior access, letting you know if they are fully navigable or not.
Buildings Function Status
Buildings now have a clear function status with feedback to the player that will indicate when they can no longer work if one of their construction requirements is missing. Restoring the condition will resume the workplace.
Ghost Construction Preview
Another much-requested feature was the ability to see your ongoing construction sites when placing new buildings. Now in 1.9.7, all other buildings under construction will show as ghost visualizations, making for much easier placement of new construction projects or when editing Monuments.
Improved Construction Flow
One issue frequently raised in the community centered around how builders were affecting the construction flow. Previously, builders would be sent to construction sites based on their proximity to a site. This could cause projects to be completed in an unexpected order making it hard to plan.
With 1.9.7, builders will now prioritize constructions based on the order in which they were started making it easier to plan your projects. We have also improved the algorithm so that builders will be dispatched more evenly between different types of construction projects so that all your builders don’t get tied up on any mega-projects.
Traveling and Work Time
We have now removed the villager’s travel time from their overall work time, enabling your villagers to use their work time more effectively. For instance, crop yields and production cycles will be more consistent, despite any long distances your villagers may have to walk to get to work.
Villagers require to fulfill their needs of course, so efficiency can still be lost with large work-to-needs fulfillment distances.
Improved Map Generator
We have made some major improvements in 1.9.7 with an overhauled Map Generator. You’ll find improved visuals and shaders making it much easier to identify elevations on the Map Gen minimap.
Additionally, we have addressed a couple of bugs and implemented further improvements, so that you should no longer encounter any micro-territories or broken territories on your maps nor find any inaccessible mineral deposits.
Resource Favorites
This one has been at the top of many of your feature requests… It is now possible to choose your favorite resources to add to the Resource Bar! Mark as many favorites as you wish in the resource window of the Book.
The Monastic Emissary & Mandate Window
A new building function has been added to the Monastery! The Emissary Office will employ a Sister or Brother in the role of Emissary (similar to the Bailiff role), dealing with Clergy privileges and mandates. Consequently, we have also revamped the Mandate Window to take into account the new Emissary role.
Housing Upgrades/Downgrades
When a House is upgraded or downgraded, it would previously revert to its foundation construction stage and could easily be mistaken for a brand-new house. To remove this potential confusion, houses will downgrade or upgrade to a later construction step, making it more clear what tier of housing it is, as well as no longer looking like a fresh construction.
And More!
Indeed! There’s more! We have a bunch of bug fixes coming with the 1.9.7 QOL update. You can check out the full changelog below.
Changelog
New
Added Interior Access visualization and construction toggle
Players can now specify their favorite resources in the top resource bar
Added a Bailiff option for the Monastery: The Monastic Emissary, a Brother/Sister working at the Emissary Office
Ghosts of buildings under construction are now displayed when you are in Construction/Edit mode
Update
Construction sites are now prioritized by start time, not by closest distance
Workers should go to their workplace before starting their work time
Display attach node only when snap mode is toggled or part needs to be mandatory attached
The Market Monument has been turned into a building with parts instead of a Monument with sub-buildings.
Moved the Clergy Privilege and Clergy Influence mandates to the Monastic Emissary
Overall improvement of the Mandate window & tooltips
Improvements to monument attach nodes
House Upgrade/Downgrade transition improvements to show construction steps and not new build
Tavern Kitchen – worker quantity now scales with building capacity
Treasury – Gold coins are no longer lost when the maximum treasury limit is reduced
Various UI improvements
Fix
Soldiers – soldiers using the barracks as their houses could not fulfill their needs when the monument is being expanded.
Bailiff – Changing the bailiff resulted in the edict “contractual wage” to not be applied until reload.
Book – Logs – Newcomer notification was not updated “live”
Monument Editing – Display all possible attach nodes when a part is being placed / moved.
Cloister – Could not start construction if function was switched
Monument Editing – Prevent parts from being attached to house attach nodes.
Building Highlight – Sometimes, a building would remain highlighted even if the window is closed and the cursor is not on the part.
Mandate Window – The window did not close when the Great Hall was destroyed.
Deliver Wood Quest – Displayed requirement was 50 but required 100 to complete
Unlockables – Show part’s description when there is no building function
Missing Unlockable descriptions on Candle & Commonware extension
Map generator
Update
Improved elevation texture visuals
Fix
It was possible to have a broken territory on specific generated map seeds
Some territory regions were too small
Some maps had unreachable village path exits
Some setting changes could create unwanted bumps on islands
Modding
Expose – COMP_BUILDING:getEditMode
Expose – Mandates
Territory Tooltip – Always shows “coins / week” even if resource is changed
Support buying from trade routes with certain condition
We look forward to hearing any feedback and please let us know if you find any issues. Feedback and bugs can be posted on the Steam or GOG forums, or come and join us on our official Discord server.
Also, check out the recent announcement of a change to our release plan here.
We have some important news to share with you today about the ongoing development of the game.
The final gameplan and core game is now at a stage where we can work towards a full release of the game. All of the major features still to come are being worked on simultaneously and are in most cases intertwined. Due to the way these features are reliant on each other it no longer makes sense to continue with our previous plan of releasing smaller updates that ultimately won’t work well as standalone features.
Due to this we have decided that the next major release will be the full release. This will allow us to focus on integrating all remaining features into the game and delivering a more polished, higher quality game. It will also have the added benefit of reaching the full release sooner so that you can get the best gaming experience and enjoy Foundation to its fullest.
We know you will all want to know how soon, however, we don’t have a release date to announce at this time as we still have plenty of work to do, but do know that development is progressing well. Foundation is an ambitious game, and we will of course keep you updated with any news as soon as we have more to share.
Early Access Adopters
For all our Early Access backers, this doesn’t mean we won’t be releasing any updates before the full release. On the contrary, we will continue to work on bug fixes as well as Quality of Life (QOL) features and improvements, based on community feedback, so that we can improve on the core game experience in preparation for the final release. With this in mind, we will be announcing our next QOL update soon!
A BIG Thank You!
Foundation’s development journey has been an unbelievable experience made so much better by all of you, the fantastic community, that has helped us along the way. We would like to thank every Early Access adopter for supporting us and helping us deliver a high quality game that we wanted to create and also one that you want to play for many years to come. We continue to welcome all feedback from the community and we can’t wait to unveil the full release of the game for you all to enjoy!
This version brings forth significant changes to the game, including a brand-new Desirability and Beautification experience. We’ve also implemented multiple Quality of Life (QOL) improvements in response to community feedback such as the sub-building flow. Without further ado, let’s get down to the details!
New Desirability System
Desirability represents the overall attractiveness of an area within your village and is at the heart of this update. In the past, the Desirability of an area was quaternary: low, average, high or very high. We’re changing this formula to a more binary approach where you have a better control over housing quality.
Housing Quality
The first thing you’ll notice when clicking on a house are new Housing Quality details, the first one of which is to be located within a Residential Area. Furthermore, in order to upgrade, a house will need the following:
Desirable Neighborhood (away from noisy and dirty environments)
Beautification Area (close to buildings or decorations that provide a Beautification bonus)
Villagers of Commoner status or higher looking for such a house
Village Embellishment
As part of the new Desirability system, you’re now encouraged to beautify your village with the help of decorations. Decorations contribute to the creation of Beautification Areas, which are needed to upgrade houses from low to medium quality.
Each decoration applies its own Beautification radius according to a combination of their visual footprint and quality. Adding multiple decorative elements next to each other will increase the Beautification Area by merging their area of effect.
A new Beautification visibility layer has been added so that affected areas can be easily identified.
Housing Degradation
Housing Degradation is a new mechanic introduced in Update 1.9.6. Rather than being only able to upgrade, houses can now also degrade in quality. This happens when one of the criteria under Housing Quality is no longer met. Note that this is something you are able to control, when you decide if an area has the requirements for higher house quality or not.
Changes to Needs
Foundation was always meant to remain a calm and pleasant experience where you can play at your own pace, so it was important for us to ease down a bit the pressure of filling the needs of your villagers, especially when you have your first Commoners. As such, we’ve separated the Needs in two main categories:
Essential Needs – must be fulfilled, else they trigger a shortage leading to a Happiness penalty
Additional Needs – will not trigger a shortage unless they’ve been fulfilled once
This will allow you to progress at your own pace, without the pressure of your villagers leaving because of unfilled needs. Note that once filled once, the additional needs will trigger a shortage if they are not met anymore.
In the same vein, we’ve reduced the amount of information displayed in the villager window, to keep the most relevant information.
Other Improvements
Improved Monument and Sub-Building Experience
Following player feedback, we’ve made a number of changes taking aim at monuments and sub-buildings’ navigation.
Resources and Progression Tabs Modifications
The Resources tab (F3) from the Book has been simplified for easier identification of tradeable resources. Icons to purchase and sell resources are now disabled by default and only enabled if players have access to a trade route that either purchases or sells said resource.
You will also notice that the Splendor cost of each Estate unlockable from the Progression tab (F5) is now displayed in their tooltip, even if the requirements have not been reached yet.
If you haven’t already, give our latest Devlog a read if you want to learn more about what’s next for Foundation.
Changelog
New
Houses now have House Quality requirements to upgrade, which are displayed in their building window:
Desirable Neighborhood
Beautification Area
Villager of Commoner (or above) status looking for such a house
Tooltips have been added to the the house window UI
Buildings providing Beautification now have a Beautification Area. The range is based on the decoration’s Beautification value and its visual footprint
Noisy or filthy buildings can create an undesirable area, which affects Neighborhood Desirability. Such is the case for the following:
Brewery
Butchery
Cheesemaker
Charcoal Hut
Dairy Farm
Fisher’s Hut
Gold Smelter
Hunter’s Hut
Iron Smelter
Quarries
Sawmill
Sheep Farm
Stonecutter Camp
Stonemason Hut
Upgraded houses can now revert to a prior level if their Desirability requirements are not met. This happens after reaching a deadline and only if players don’t remedy to the situation
Added the following visual filters:
Beautification
Undesirable Neighborhood
Needs are now split into two categories:
Essential Needs (must be fulfilled)
Additional Needs (facultative)
Contextual help
Housing Quality
Beautification
Prosperity
Help menu:
Beautification
Important notification : Equipping your soldiers
Update
Renamed the “Comfort” need to “Housing”
Localization
Help menu
Desirability
Housing
Balance
Legacy Desirability (House Placement)
Pre-1.9.6 Desirability (Legacy Desirability) has been specialized into a system that dictates Villagers where to settle
Beautification no longer provides Legacy Desirability
The following buildings provide Legacy Desirability:
Village Center
Churches (except Chapel and Abbatial Churches)
Market Stalls
Tavern’s Service Counter
Well
Villagers now follow these rules:
They settle in Residential Areas
They settle close to the Village Center
They aim to settle close to Need providers
They aim to settle close to their Workplaces
The Desirability Visibility layer has been removed
Decorations’ Costs & Effects
As Beautification Decorations no longer provide Legacy Desirability; costs and Beautification values have been modified:
Village Tree Beautification value has been increased from 1 to 2
Village Tree upfront cost has been increased from 7 to 20 coins
Tall Banner upfront cost has been reduced from 25 to 20 coins
Fountain upfront cost has been reduced from 330 to 320 coins
Plant Arch upfront cost has been reduced from 82 to 80 coins
Knight Statue upfront cost has been reduced to 320 coins
Sheep Statue upfront cost has been reduced from 325 to 320 coins
Cypress upfront cost has been reduced from 47 to 45 coins
Large Wall Banner upfront cost has been reduced from 90 to 80 coins
Polished Stone Arch upfront cost has been reduced from 50 to 45 coins
Stone Gateway upfront cost has been reduced from 85 to 80 coins
Stone Arch upfront cost has been reduced from 25 to 20 coins
Grand Fountain upfront cost has been reduced from 730 to 720 coins
Elegant Fountain upfront cost has been reduced from 255 to 245 coins
Marble Basin upfront cost has been reduced from 415 to 405 coins
Elegant Stone Arch upfront cost has been reduced from 130 to 125 coins
Polished Fountain upfront cost has been reduced from 135 to 125 coins
Elegant Tree Planter upfront cost has been reduced from 82 to 80 coins
Large Tree Planter upfront cost has been reduced from 127 to 125 coins
Elegant Post upfront cost has been reduced from 47 to 45 coins
Polished Basin upfront cost has been reduced from 135 to 125 coins
Large Font Beautification value has been decreased from 6 to 4
Large Font upfront cost has been reduced from 190 to 80 coins
Small Font upfront cost has been reduced from 190 to 180 coins
Elegant Balustrade upfront cost has been reduced from 47 to 45 coins
Simple Tree Planter upfront cost has been reduced from 22 to 20 coins
Polished Planter upfront cost has been reduced from 22 to 20 coins
Wall Fountain Beautification value has been increased from 2 to 5
Wall Fountain upfront cost has been increased from 25 to 125 coins
Quatrefoil Basin upfront cost has been reduced from 50 to 45 coins
Masterpiece Beautification
Masterpiece parts now yield Beautification in addition to Splendor at no extra cost
Automated Fountain
Automaton Tower, Columns yields 1 point
Marble Basin yields 1 point
Marble Steps yields 1 point
Automation Tower, Spire yields 1 point
Automaton Tower, Fountain yields 1 point
Bird Automaton yields 1 points
Jacquemart yields 2 points
Fountain Sculpture
Fountain Pedestal, Quatrefoil yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
Fountain Pedestal, Hexagonal yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
Axe Lady, Gold yields 3 points
Laborer, Gold yields 3 points
Shoveler, Gold yields 3 points
Pickman, Gold yields 3 points
Axe Lady, Marble yields 2 points
Laborer, Marble yields 2 points
Laborer, Gold yields 2 points
Shoveler, Gold yields 2 points
Quatrefoil Basin yields 2 points
Octogonal Basin yields 2 points
Gem Encrusted Cross
Large Pedestal, Hexagonal yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
Small Pedestal, Hexagonal yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
Small Pedestal, Square yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
Large Pedestal, Square yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
Cross of the Faith yields 10 points
Stepped Base, Hexagonal yields 2 points
Stepped Base, Square yields 2 points
Knight Statue
Octogonal Plinth yields 2 points
Octogonal Pedestal yields 1 point
Small Octogonal Pedestal yields 1 point
Alcoved Pedestal yields 1 point
Square Plinth yields 2 points
Large Pedestal, Square yields 1 point per tiling
Blue Banner, Swallowtail yields 1 point
The Vainquisher, Gold yields 5 points
The Peacekeeper, Marble yields 3 points
Small Bowmen, Marble yields 2 points
Small Knight, Marble yields 2 points
Blue Banner, Round yields 1 point
Lush Garden
Stone Pillar yields 1 point per tiling
Stone Basin yields 1 point per tiling
Bush Pergola yields 1 point
Royal Balm Bush yields 1 point
Stone Planter, Quatrefoil yields 1 point
Pear Tree yields 1 point
Plum Tree yields 1 point
Almond Tree yields 1 point
Stone Planter, Diamond yields 1 point
Almond Espalier yields 1 point
Plum Bush yields 1 point
Stone Fountain yields 1 point
Ogive Bush yields 1 point
Oval Bush yields 1 point
Roses Pergola yields 1 point
Round Bush yields 1 point
Stone Planter, Round yields 1 point
Stone Bench yields 1 point
Officinal Garden
Sunvines Planter yields 1 point
Tailor’s Tongue Planter yields 1 point
Treillis Fence yields 1 point
Royal Balm yields 1 point
Cleansing Fountain yields 1 point
Sunvines Pergola yields 1 point
Crossmint and Pennybane Planter yields 1 point
Cattlegold Planter yields 1 point
Rainmilk and Tailor’s Tongue Planter yields 1 point
Knightworth Planter yields 1 point
Seeling Planter yields 1 point
Royal Balm Planter yields 1 point
Crossmint Planter yields 1 point
Rainmilk Planter yields 1 point
Shrine
Stone Alcove, Wide yields 1 point
Stone Alcove, Narrow yields 1 point
Marble Altar, Wide yields 1 point
Marble Alter, Narrow yields 1 point
Votive Candle yields 1 point
Votive Candles yields 1 point
Indigo Spire Flower yields 1 point
Fragrant Bouquet yields 1 point
Pleasant Bouquet yields 1 point
Cardinal’s Robe Flower yields 1 point
Sunvines Cluster yields 1 point
The Mother of Peace, Marble and Gold yields 10 points
Stone Steps yields 1 point
Stone Bench yields 1 point
Votive Stone yields 1 point
Majestic Stained Glass
King and Monk, Stained Glass yields 15 points
Mother and Child, Stained Glass yields 15 points
Giant Gate
Buttress yields 1 point
Fortified Gatehouse yields 5 points, plus 1 point per tiling
Round Turret yields 1 point
Great Tower, Rounded yields 3 points
Great Tower, Squared yields 3 points
Watchtower yields 1 point
Wooden Brattice yields 1 point
Stone Brattice yields 1 point
Wooden Hoarding yields 1 point
Stone Gate yields 1 point
Small Window, Closed yields 1 point
Small Window yields 1 point
Small Window, Fortified yields 1 point
Wall Banner, Blue yields 1 point
Wall Flag, Blue yields 1 point
Wall Heraldic, Blue yields 1 point
Wall Heraldic, Spliced yields 1 point
Wall Heraldic, Splits yields 1 point
Wall Heraldic, Striped yields 1 point
Lancet Window yields 1 point
Porticullis yields 1 point
Stone Bridge
Beautification values have been removed from the Stone Bridge structure (its decorations still yield Beautification)
Masterpieces’ Costs, Splendor & Ordering
Golden Cross
Large Pedestal, Hexagonal base Splendor yield has been reduced to 2 Splendor
Large Pedestal, Hexagonal base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
Large Pedestal, Hexagonal base Upkeep value has been reduced to 2 Coins
Small Pedestal, Hexagonal base Marble cost has been reduced to 10 Marble
Small Pedestal, Hexagonal base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
Small Pedestal, Hexagonal tiling Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
Small Pedestal, Square base Marble cost has been reduced to 10 Marble
Small Pedestal, Square base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
Small Pedestal, Square tiling Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
Large Pedestal, Square base Splendor yield has been reduced to 2 Splendor
Large Pedestal, Square base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
Large Pedestal, Square base Upkeep value has been reduced to 2 Coins
Stepped Base, Hexagonal base Marble cost has been reduced to 40 Marble
Stepped Base, Square base Marble cost has been reduced to 40 Marble
Stepped Base, Hexagonal and Stepped Base, Square have been reordered before the other bases.
Knight Statue
Octagonal Plinth base Splendor is set to 2 Kingdom Splendor
Octagonal Plinth base Upkeep is set to 2 coins
Octagonal Plinth base Marble cost has been reduced to 30 Marble
Octagonal Plinth base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
Octagonal Pedestal base Splendor is set to 1 Kingdom Splendor
Octagonal Pedestal base Upkeep is set to 2 coins
Octagonal Pedestal base Marble cost has been reduced to 10 Marble
Octagonal Pedestal base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
Small Octagonal Pedestal base Splendor is set to 1 Kingdom Splendor
Small Octagonal Pedestal base Upkeep is set to 2 coins
Small Octagonal Pedestal base Marble cost has been reduced to 10 Marble
Small Octagonal Pedestal base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
Alcoved Pillar base Marble cost has been reduced to 20 Marble
Square Plinth base Splendor is set to 2 Kingdom Splendor
Square Plinth base Upkeep is set to 2 coins
Square Plinth base Marble cost has been reduced to 30 Marble
Square Plinth base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
Removed Costs and Yields from Large Square Pedestal as it is stored in the Tiling part
Fountain Sculpture
Fountain Pedestal, Quatrefoil base Splendor has been reduced to 2 Kingdom Splendor
Fountain Pedestal, Quatrefoil base Upkeep has been reduced to 2 coins
Fountain Pedestal, Quatrefoil tiling Marble cost has been reduced to 5 Marble
Fountain Pedestal, Hexagonal base Splendor has been reduced to 2 Kingdom Splendor
Fountain Pedestal, Hexagonal base Upkeep has been reduced to 2 coins
Food Grace Period Delay
Increased Villager Food first consumption Grace Period delay to 180 days
Increased Monastics Food first consumption Grace Period delay to 180 days
Improvements
Monuments
Monuments now have their own category filter in the Build menu
Monuments’ building windows have been cleaned in a bid to enhance the player experience:.
Down to two tabs: Monument Overview and Sub-Buildings
Upkeep and effects have been moved below the monument’s description
The Edit Building option now shows all Sub-Buildings with their respective Upkeeps and Effects
Players can change the functions of existing Sub-Buildings
Players can add more Sub-Buildings
The list of parts in Preview mode has been simplified to only show the size and the action buttons
The Sub-Building back button has been simplified to only show the Parent Monument’s name
Free Build is now found at the end of all available Sub-Building functions
Book
Resources tab (F3): label icons used for the Buy from them and Sell to them sections have been modified to up and down arrows in an effort to convey trading feedback more efficiently
Progression tab (F5): Influence cost information for Estate unlockable elements is now displayed in the tooltips
Main menu
Players can now sort mods using a Date Updated filter
Other Fixes and Tweaks
Advanced Onboarding Starting Conditions
In addition to previous conditions, the Commoner Promotion Advanced Onboarding now checks for either:
You have at least 30 population
You have a job that requires a Commoner
You have a Serf is ready to be promoted
Decorative Advanced Onboarding now checks for either:
You have unlocked the first Decorative unlockable
You have a Commoner
The quest for the Decorative Advanced Onboarding now requires you to unlock the first Decorative unlockable.
In addition to previous conditions, the Monastery Promotion now checks for either:
You have 10 Manuscripts
You have a job that requires a Monk/Nun
You have reached the Tier 3 Clergy
Fixed incorrect notifications in the the Monastery Promotion Advanced Onboarding
In addition to previous conditions, the Second Food Advanced Onboarding now checks for either:
You have at least 30 villagers
You have a job that requires a Commoner
You have reached the Tier 3 Common Path
Bug Fixes
Churches could only have one masterpiece part
Rare crash with a monk visiting a Hospitium
The ‘Near Riverside’ masterpiece condition wasn’t updated when removing or adding an individual part
Workers didn’t fetch additional resources if they were missing some during a work cycle
Hello everyone and welcome back to Devlog’s! Today we present you with Devlog #17 and news from the team. We know it’s been a while since the last Devlog but now is a perfect time to update you all on the current progress of upcoming updates and what we have been working on.
First, we would like to take a moment to thank everyone for their feedback on the recent updates. There have been a lot of changes to the game which we have been happy to see very positive feedback for. We are aware of some needed quality of life (QOL) improvements highlighted by the community, such as the sub-building flow which we are working on improving for the next update. Please do keep your feedback coming as it helps us improve the game as we continue development.
Fall Plan
With the now expanded team we are working on multiple updates concurrently. These are namely the upcoming 1.9.6 update which focuses on Housing Desirability & Beautification, the new Safety system and the Kingdom update. Let’s take a closer look at what we have been working on…
Though not a major update, calling it a minor update doesn’t do it justice. Update 1.9.6 brings some significant changes that will pave the way for the Kingdom update. More on the Kingdom update in a moment.
This update will bring a change to the Desirability system. Where currently houses will be allowed to upgrade if a housing area is desirable enough based on a single factor, with the new system houses now have different requirements in order to upgrade to the next tier. Essentially, Beautification will be an additional and separate factor when it comes to housing upgrades.
With the new system, houses will only upgrade from low to medium quality if all of the following criteria are met:
Desirable neighborhood – Build away from undesirable buildings
Beautification – Build within a Beautification area
At least one villager of Commoner status or higher looking for medium-quality housing
Note: Removing a house requirement will eventually result in the house being downgraded or its occupant moving away.
These changes will allow you to have better control over where you wish housing to upgrade as well as potentially downgrade housing.
Desirable Neighborhoods
Houses need to be built in pleasant neighborhoods, away from noise, bad smells and grime and hence undesirable environments. Some buildings will now have a clearly defined undesirable area based on the building’s footprint. These will include buildings such as the Lumber Camp, Sawmill, Gold Smelter and all types of Quarries. Medium-quality housing needs to be outside of this undesirable area.
Beautification
Beautification is now becoming a Desirability factor in its own right. For houses to upgrade they must be in an area of Beautification, i.e. within a clearly defined Beautification area created by decorations or buildings that provide Beautification.
The range of the Beautification area will be based on a decoration’s Beautification value combined with its footprint. The overall Beautification area will increase if placed next to another similar area.
Information Layers
In order to accommodate the above changes we will be updating the visibility layers.
The Housing Desirability layer will now show residential areas, undesirable areas as well as any medium-quality housing areas.
A new Beautification layer will show Beautification areas, items supplying Beautification and housing affected by Beautification.
Other Improvements
Update 1.9.6 will also come with more QOL improvements to the game as a whole including an improved Monument experience with improved sub-building flow and a new dedicated Monument tab in the Build menu, and more. You can check out the full changelog on release.
The 1.9.6 update is very close to an experimental deployment, so keep an eye out for further announcements if you would like to try it out before its full public release on the main branch.
Also In The Pipeline…
As mentioned earlier, we are working on multiple updates concurrently, so what else is in the pipeline?
Safety System
The Safety system will be a new way to control Housing Density via Patrols and Fortifications. The system itself requires a number of changes to integrate it into the game and work is progressing well. We will bring you more news on this in a future communication.
Walls
The current system for walls has always been a temporary measure and we are now working on incorporating walls into the construction flow. Walls will be integrated into Monuments with their own construction costs and visual building steps.
Kingdom Update
The Kingdom update is also being worked on and it is going to be huge! We won’t go into too much detail here but progress on this update is now well under way. The new Castle Monument is under construction (hype!) as well as a new system to create Companies and Battalions to send your Army off to war. Stay tuned for more news but we will leave you with this teaser…
Don’t forget to follow us on social media to keep up-to-date with future developments, teasers and more!
The main focus of this new version is the inclusion of a new, scalable system for quests and events. We are also introducing an important transport algorithm improvement, event snoozing, Hospitium pausing and villager portraits for all available jobs in the game. Without further ado, let’s get down to the details.
Scalable quests and events
Ever wished quest and event rewards would adjust according to your progression? With Update 1.9.5, we’re introducing scaling to Foundation: a new way to keep things engaging from the very beginnings of your village to the realization of a fully-fledged medieval wonder.
Here’s how it works: requirements and rewards associated with events or quests will now increase based on different progression tiers. For instance, a quest asking you to deliver wood would have a low resource objective early on and scale later—in tune with your Prosperity.
Here, tier 0 (floor) is available from the start, whilst the last tier is activated upon achieving a specific Prosperity threshold. The low, standard and high rewards are linked to negotiation opportunities with traders in this specific example.
Event Snoozing
Events now have snooze delays when a player dismisses them. Such delays are added on top of their recurrence factor, which have also been slightly reduced. You can expect snoozed events to add between 50-100% more days before they pop up again.
Hospitium Pausing
Update 1.9.5 also includes a new pause function for Hospitiums. When paused, such locations won’t welcome new guests anymore. Think of it as an added safety valve to better control your food supply as visitors tend to be quite hungry. You can resume Hospitium functionality—thus further guest waves—at any time.
Transport Algorithm Improvement
In addition to the three functions that have just been discussed, we took this opportunity to include our newest improvement with the transport algorithm. You may have noticed that previously, transporters would reserve specific amounts of resources before reaching their destination. The problem, however, was how this reserved quantity never adjusted to take into account fluctuations in availability.
From now on, transporters are able to dynamically adjust how many resources they carry before reaching their destination, all synced with workplaces. You will notice an immediate effect on productivity as transport becomes even more responsive.
New Villager Portraits
Our artists added villager portraits for every available job in the game. Before, villagers could have a mismatched portrait as we randomly picked one from the handful available. This will no longer be the case and should benefit the game’s coherence.
That’s it…for now!
We hope you enjoy these new features as we continue to work on the next milestones from our roadmap. You’re always welcome to share feedback here or on our official Discord server.
Changelog
New
Scalable quests and events
Event snoozing
Villager portraits for all available jobs
Update
Localization
Improvements
Newcomer notifications are now merged into a single, dynamic notification
Trade route: added a tooltip to the unlock button when the condition is fulfilled
The Hospitium sub-building now has a Pause button
Transporters dynamically adjust carried quantities according to availability fluctuations from workplaces
After weeks of testing and refining, we are happy to merge Foundation’s latest experimental version to the main game. This update brings significant changes in the form of game balance and added features. As such, it is advisable to start over; while previous saves will indeed load, some of the work introduced in this update will undoubtedly disrupt villages’ productivity, happiness and more. That said, there’s a lot to be excited about with 1.9.4. Read on for all the details!
New Meat Production Chain And Additional Food Need
The Butchery, a brand-new building unlocked in the first tier of the common progression path, has been added to the game! This means boars are now much more useful as a resource: after placing Hunter’s Huts near dense forests, you will be able to capture the animals. Then, butchers will turn them into meat to be consumed at your markets or sold to traders.
Such a change fits nicely with the fact that villagers—including Serfs—now require two different food types to be happy.
Tavern Overhaul And New Entertainment Need
The Tavern has undergone significant changes in this newest version of the game. You are now able to create berry brews—a special drink made of berries and water—at the Berry Brewery. Served alongside a delicious meal, this is sure to be a hit among your people!
Introducing a new drink serves two main purposes: adding variety and perhaps more importantly, letting you deal with the fact that commoners, citizens and soldiers now require to be entertained! This new need affects happiness, so you want to make sure concerned villagers can quench their thirst.
Progression and Balancing Changes Overview
Update 1.9.4 features a trove of progression and balancing-related changes. Here’s a quick glance at what you can expect:
New Features
Butchery workplace and meat resource
Entertainment need, berry brews and berry brewery workplace at the Tavern
Levy mandate
Kinstone Abbey trade route
Discoveries
New advice
New action bar shortcuts for mandates and village aspirations
Quick promotions
Resources linked to some workplaces are now displayed on click
Balancing Changes
Tax Office was moved to the Labour progression path
Additional food need for villagers
Villagers have a chance to leave starting at -25% happiness
More workplaces now require higher villager statuses
Removed residential availability from immigration factors
Trade routes have added resources to buy and sell from
Adjusted plenty of building construction costs
Events have been improved across the board
Several unlockables have been moved around
Your second territory no longer has an upkeep cost
The exhaustive list of changes can be found in our game design changelog at the end of this post.
Levy Mandate
Update 1.9.4 adds a new way to access “emergency funds” with the Levy mandate. Activating this mandate grants you a large quantity of coins at the cost of villagers’ happiness. The debuff is applied for a set duration (currently: 30 days) and stacks should you activate the Levy multiple times. Use with caution!
The Levy mandate has been added as a result of the Tax Office function now being exclusive to the Labor progression path. Our design goals with this change is to further associate taxes with this estate and encourage better decision-making regarding early to mid-game profit.
New Trade Route: Kinstone Abbey
A new, Clergy-allied trade route has opened! Merchants from Kinstone Abbey sell a variety of useful and rarer resources such as gold bars, gems or marble. They’ll be looking for herbs, honey and planks to name a few. Unlocking this trade route requires you to produce manuscripts at the Scriptorium.
Enhanced Transport
Our engine team has been hard at work developing behind-the-scenes optimizations for Foundation. Chief among them is our rebuilt transportation system that is being rolled out as part of this update.
Before, villagers sometimes had to travel long distances to satisfy their needs and seek resources, which was more obvious while facing shortages. This led to scenarios where villagers would cross the whole map—so to say—just to reach a market or specific building like a warehouse or a church. Not good.
From now on, our transport algorithm further favors local management of resources and needs. To put it in more concrete terms, villagers will associate with markets or buildings near where they live. The same principle applies for production chains: a weaver hut requiring wool will get it from the closest available warehouse stocking some, itself linked to the closest sheep farm—effectively giving a whole new meaning to “hubs” within your villages. They will operate in a much more satisfying and natural way.
Map Generator Improvements
We are pleased to share an updated version of our map generator. When we first released this feature, we got a lot of feedback about terrain that felt a bit too bumpy, so we started iterating on a new version of this tool that would allow for flatter topographies. We took this opportunity to add several new configurable parameters as well, in order to have maps feel even better than before.
Each map type has its own set of parameters you can adjust to your wishes. For instance, the Fluvial map type lets you modify the following parameters:
River
Island
Slope
Cliff
Promontory
Hill
If you are particularly happy with one of the procedurally generated creations, here’s another bit of good news: you will be able to easily share them thanks to a unique map code system! Input the alphanumeric code into the designated space, click the confirmation button and voila: you have a new world to settle in!
Adjustments to Job Requirements
Several jobs now require more advanced villager statuses. In previous iterations of the game, you could (mostly) ignore promotions and still manage to get all production chains going. However, we feel like some jobs should require a bit more investment and decision making before your villagers can access them.
Two examples of jobs adjusted to the new reality of higher status requirements are the Tax Collector and Bailiff, which now require Commoners at a minimum.
Important Changes to the Promotion System
As you will now spend a lot more time dealing with promotions, it no longer made sense to limit this function to once every 30 days. Hence why with 1.9.4, we’re introducing two important quality of life changes regarding promotions:
You can now use the promotion mandate at will
You can now promote villagers directly from their detailed information window
Advanced Resource Tracking
This update also introduces easy identification of resources in the world from select workplaces such as the Hunter’s Hut. In this example, selecting the building reveals where boars live on your map. Using the Extraction paint tool produces a similar result, displaying available berry and stone sources, so you can plan your village accordingly.
New Take on Immigration
Immigration waves will now feel more rewarding and steady across the board. Previously, passersby would take into account multiple factors before deciding whether or not to join your village. One such factor, housing, has been completely removed from the equation, effectively softening the difficulty associated with immigration.
Another change we made is that unless your immigration rate is nil or disabled, you will always get a minimum of one newcomer per immigration wave.
Discoveries
Foundation is a city-building game with quite a lot of interconnected systems that you learn to master over time. We want to make sure this doesn’t hamper your fun nor prove too daunting, so we thought of an additional tool to help you learn the ropes: discoveries.
Crucial systems or concepts are now accompanied by one-time notifications whose stated goal is to provide assistance in a concise way. We are confident this new feature, in addition to help topics, will answer most questions that may arise while playing.
General Changelog
New
Meat production chain with the Butchery
Entertainment need
Berry Brews at the Tavern
Levy Mandate
Discoveries
Environmental Resource Display
Berries
Fish schools
Stone nodes
Boars
Advanced onboarding
Food diversity
Enacting the Mandate Levy
Leaving villagers
Improvements
Auto-assigning higher status villagers to workplaces will not demote them anymore
Transport behavior has been enhanced, a change that will be most noticeable with larger villages. The algorithm now focuses more on local ‘resource hubs’, which should fix workers traveling great distances to do their job
A new update has just been released. The two main features are decorations availability and action bar (HUD) improvements. Without further ado, let’s see what this means for Foundation.
Common Decorations
Starting with 1.9.3, common decorative parts are made available for all monuments regardless of their previous limitations. In other words, you can now customize monuments with more freedom. Decorations have been grouped into different categories in the build panel for better understanding. The intended goal is to open up more customization possibilities for your villages.
Common Decorations in the build menu
Decorations grouping in the build panel
As a reminder, common decorations are not only for looks either: they provide a very useful desirability bonus, encouraging villagers to upgrade their houses. Furthermore, common decorations provide beautification, which is taken into account for prosperity—a score that represents your overall progress in the game. Estate and monument-specific decorations, on the other end, provide splendor instead of beautification and desirability.
In summary:
Common decorations are available for each monument and from the build menu
Estate decorations are available across all monuments from the same Estate
Monument decorations are for parts that only work for a specific monument
Action Bar (HUD) Improvements
In past versions of the game, mandates were enacted at the Manor House with the help of a special button. Alternatively, you could click on a specific opportunity in your quest module to enact mandates. Starting with 1.9.3, a shortcut for mandates has been added to the action bar at the bottom of the screen. Clicking this icon will bring up all available mandates, allowing faster access to this feature.
While on the topic of action bar improvements, we also added a shortcut to village aspirations. Clicking on the trophy icon brings all available village aspirations—optional objectives you can aim for while building your medieval village. Village aspirations will appear in the quest module once you start tracking at least one of them. Please note that the Village Aspirations shortcut previously found in the system menu has been removed.
Illustrations Galore
Update 1.9.3 features plenty of updated–and in some cases, completely new–colorful illustrations to breathe life into Foundation events.
We hope you enjoy your time with this newest update. Stay tuned for more details on upcoming content for Foundation.
Changelog
New
Common decorations are now accessible for all monuments
An extensive collection (100+) of new and improved illustrations for events
Added two buttons to the action bar
Mandates
Village Aspirations
Added help topics in the Help (F10) menu
Hunting
Bridges
Motion sickness
Useful shortcuts
The game now has its own icon
Game Balance
Moved tombstones (decoration) from tier 2 to tier 1 of the Clergy progression path
Improvements
Advices from the quest module now display a New prefix, for example New Advice: Increase Taxation
When using more than one monitor, players can now choose which one will display the game (fullscreen mode)
Updates
Batch of unlockables’ icons
Localization
Modding
Villager statuses and profiles now have gendered fields. Therefore, we removed statuses and profiles related to nuns. To convert your mods, read the official documentation here
GAME_ACTION_DELIVER_RESOURCE now has a BudgetCategory property
Fixes
Removed a line from the Book which was displayed before Estates were unlocked
Switching tabs of the Book after deleting a privilege reactivated it and stopped players from removing it again
Death finds a way: right-clicking on tombstone window wouldn’t close it
Dead soldiers were listed as newcomers and still counted for the village’s total population
Bailiff selection window wasn’t closing on a right-click