Better Logistics
Hopefully, the New Year has started well for everyone! It has been busy on my side as always, but at least I took my first real vacation while working on Sweet Transit. It was good and provided some clarity together with motivation to finally finish the game. There have been many changes throughout early access and the game is unrecognizable from the early versions. Now I will be able to focus on QoL and content as almost all bigger features are already in the game. Due to there being so many new things I will write several blogposts that are more focused.
P.S. If you want to try out old versions you can access them in Steam Betas. For some versions to work delete .dat files in "%AppData%/Sweet Transit".
New Route Conditions
I have added several new route conditions to make sure that players have as much control with trains as needed. Cargo and passengers amount allows testing for exact numbers instead of percentages. The transferred cargo condition calculates how much cargo was loaded or unloaded. Probably the new favorite station cargo amount allows trains to see how many specific goods the station has. I bet some of you know where this is going...
Optional Destination
To make the most of the new conditions optional destinations have been reworked. Now they can reroute the train based on if conditions are met. For the most common example take a coal train. It will load coal and wait until one of the stations has less than 200 coal stored. If there is a station with a coal deficit, then the train will go and unload there. Smarter trains will improve traffic while making everything more satisfying to look at.
Landfill
The next game version will have multiple new production chains and structures that I will share later. But relating to logistics landfilling lakes using sand or digging out rivers is added to allow terraforming enjoyers to bend the world to their will or fix those annoying patches that block your building plans.
Couriers
Couriers have had so many improvements that it is hard to say that they work the same under the hood. For starters multiple filters were added based on the feedback I was reading everywhere. Next a balancing system under the hood makes sure that goods are distributed equally between structures that need them, no more one structure takes everything while others starve. Lastly, conditions on how goods are being taken are changed to maximize single-worker usage. For example, before a courier shack with 50 workers would carry 1-2 items making the whole process very inefficient. Adding more workers would lead to even worse results as nobody would use their potential. Now individuals take as much as they can and if needed wait for some time until they are fully stocked before allowing another worker to take goods. With this no matter how many couriers there are they will always be ready for any kind of workload.
Couriers Controversy
There has been some controversy regarding couriers and micromanagement, especially from long-time players. I am looking into making a more only trains mode with either automated couriers or the standard tycoon connect settlements and production facilities gameplay mode. While I am still unsure how to go about this I just wanted to let you all know that it is not being ignored.
Bonus Storage
Production facility bonus storage is now more limited to half a day's worth amount make sure that structures only take goods as they need instead of hoarding them.
Distribution Center
Distribution centers have internal couriers added to them to minimize the need for courier shacks in outposts. Workers amount can be controlled manually and set to 0 if no couriers are needed.
Combined Storage
There were several issues highlighted with storage in settlements, especially regarding storage tanks. Players are required to have a lot of couriers and separate storage tanks to supply bars or hold internal fuel buffers. To improve this I have implemented combined storages for all settlement storage structures that as the name says combine their storages into a single big one.
Name Requirement
Another smaller related feature is that the comma in name requirement will allow checking for multiple names, no more signals nesting.
Build and Unlocks
Most probably have noticed or written themselves that the UI is "unintuitive". It is hard to address such a general problem, but it seems that most can't put their finger on what is the problem exactly as well. Thanks to discord suggestions and people discussions for now I have added these features to it:
- Added expansion button that enables search bar and sample/copy button to make finding items easier.
- Build items will show settlement expansion structures automatically when the camera is in or near a settlement to minimize "why I can't build residences" confusion.
- Build items will have related goods or another icon next to them to allow for easier visual search.
- Unlocks when settlement in range won't hide global unlocks to communicate that there are two types more clearly.
- Already unlocked items always be on top to not miss what is unlocked.
As always leave feedback in Discord or Steam and it will find a way to my list. At the same time, it is sad to see such low review score. My goal was always the same - to make the game as enjoyable as possible. All problems, suggestions and opinions are being heard and considered, but being a solo developer it is hard to be everywhere. I encourage you to join our discord and discuss everything there so that I can have an easier time making sure that my time is being spent where it is needed the most. Until the next blog post!
