[2023] Path of the Ocean Changes!

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

Hey Polytopians!

You spoke, and we listened! We’ve made some changes to the Path of the Ocean update in the beta, and we’d like to see what you think!

If you haven’t seen the previous post or just want to be reminded about what we’ve added, we encourage you to take a look at it by clicking this link.

Let’s Start with the Important Changes We’ve Swapped Fishing and Sailing

As you can see, we’re playing around with an interesting change that we think should slow down everyone’s want for naval just a little. We’ve swapped the positions of Sailing and Fishing, as you’ve gotta get onto the water in order to get the delicious fish that are out there. Fish can now be found in the ocean, and as you can see, Kickoo has been adjusted to accommodate. Naval is still really powerful, but we think this change will adjust the dynamics of when everyone starts getting onto the water a little, hopefully slowing things down and giving you more options.

We’ve Adjusted the Naval Units We’ve heard your feedback on the new naval units, and while most of it was positive, we learned a few things needed changes. The biggest of our changes was to shift around how the naval units countered each other. Originally, Scouts were designed to beat Rammers, Rammers beat Bombers, and Bombers beat Scouts; but now, we’ve realized that reversing it seems to feel more natural. Now, let’s talk more about each unit’s individual changes. On top of this, we’ve also nerfed Rammers, who we felt were far too strong.
Rammers
Now, with more spikes!

Rammers are now meant to close the distance on Scouts, making them good for defending your Bombers from the pesky boats. Rammers are still good at assisting a land invasion, and can still tank damage, but are less able to threaten Bombers now that they’ve lost the “Sneak” ability.

Bombers
Bombers didn't get a visual change, but it'd be weird if there wasn't a picture here

Bombers have now gained the “Stiff” ability, preventing them from doing retaliation damage. This should make it much easier for your Scouts to deal with them, as they’ll have no defense against anything that can get close to them. Bombers have also been given a movement of 2 (instead of 3), as those massive cannons are super heavy and hard to maneuver. Let’s hope you’ve given them a good escort!

Juggernauts
Do you think the Giants blow on the sails to get it to move?

Juggernauts got the biggest change in the update, as not only did they get new art, but they’ve also got a whole new job! Juggernauts have lost the “Dash” ability and the ranged attack, but have now gained “Smash”, which will damage all surrounding tiles whenever they move. That ability even applies when they land, so you can now use them to help hold a beachhead. This more melee-focused rework should make them feel more like “Giants on the water”, and help them better fulfill a role as part of your navy. Of course, they’re still vulnerable to ranged units, so keep them protected.

And Now For Small Changes Lighthouse
They're usually much taller than this.

Lighthouses have gotten new art, but also give your capital 1 population when you first find them, which is a nice little incentive to hunt them down.

Aqua Farm Aqua Farms are now less plentiful, but can be used in conjunction with Windmills. Farms are farms, and the people who man the Windmills are now aware of that.

Market Markets now get 2* per unique production building adjacent to them (Forge, Windmill, or Sawmill), and the income is doubled if you have them next to a Port. We hope that this makes planning around them more impactful, as well as making them more useful overall.

Villages Burning in the Fog So, technically, this was us testing out a new idea. We heard what you thought of it, and have removed it for good. You can now go back to capturing villages “peacefully”.

And Lastly, Important Bug Fixes AI Improvements While yes, we did make the AI smarter, we accidentally made them defend their cities improperly. They shouldn’t make Cloaks anymore when being attacked, making it harder to siege them.

Map Generation We’ve added some additional checks to keep capitals from spawning on map edges and corners. We’ve also looked into the beta features bleeding into games made in the live version, and think we’ve solved that, as well. Of course, if you happen to see these oddities happen again, please let us know, and we’ll give the map generator another stern talking to.

How Do I Get Into the Steam Beta? If you haven’t done so already, you’re always able to get into the Steam beta by following these steps:

1. Right-Click Polytopia in Steam
   
2. Click “Properties” on the dropdown
   
3. Head to “Betas” in the new popup that appears
   
4. Use the code “polytopiabetatesters” to get into the beta!

Should look like this. So, come join us in the beta, as there’s room for everyone!

If you have feedback on these new changes, please head to our Discord by clicking this link, where you can find other people playing the beta![discord.gg]

We look forward to hearing what you have to say!
-Zoythrus

Changelog:

• Swapped Fishing and Sailing techs
  
• Fish now spawn on Ocean
  
• Reduced Aqua Crop rate
  
• Rammers lost “Sneak”
  
• Bomber got “Stiff” and movement is reduced to 2
  
• Gaami got back the ability to manually freeze an area
  
• Juggernaut got “Smash” instead of a ranged attack, and lost "Dash"
  
• Lighthouse give 1 pop to your capital when discovered
  
• Windmills multiply Aqua Farms
  
• Adjusted Market logic: Produces 2 stars for each unique type of nearby production building (Sawmill, Windmill, Forge). Income is doubled if next to a Port.
  
• Improved AI (no longer build Cloaks to defend)
  
• Improved spawning of cities (no more edge spawns)
  
• Villages no longer burn when being captured
  
• Improved graphics for Juggernaut, Rammer & Lighthouse

Known issues:

• Kickoo Explorers won't travel on Coasts until you have Sailing, creating weird behavior. We'll fix this later.