[2021] Ideology and 1.3 release date, plus Gauranlen trees

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page [url=https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/294100/announcements/detail/5512953038615552890]here[/url].

RimWorld - Ideology is available on Steam now!
Hi again! Tia here, your resident bug whisperer and announcement bringer.

First, the big announcement. We’ll be releasing RimWorld - Ideology on Tuesday, July 20! At the same time, the free 1.3 update (which is currently in public beta) will become the default version.
You can wishlist Ideology now on its Steam page here! And also look at the original Ideology/1.3 announcement and the social roles update.

If you want to continue on 1.2, you can do that using the Steam betas feature. To do it: Right click RimWorld in the Steam library, click Properties, then on the Betas tab select the branch called version-1.2. This will stay on version 1.2 forever.

For modders: No need to break 1.2 support while adding support for 1.3! Keeping 1.2 support is as easy as leaving the old files in a folder. This document[docs.google.com] explains how to do it.

As for savegames, saves from 1.2 (and before) will load on 1.3 (assuming no mods break anything). In addition, non-Ideology savegames will load with Ideology. (However, if you do this you won’t be able to customize or randomize your belief system on startup, since the game is already started.)

Let's talk about another feature of Ideology!

Gauranlen trees
Every now and then, a unique Gauranlen pod may sprout near your colony. From this pod you can harvest a Gauranlen seed, and in turn plant a Gauranlen tree wherever you like.

Gauranlen trees are unique because they produce creatures called dryads. The tree nourishes the dryads and, in turn, the dryads protect the tree from predators and fire. These dryads are born from a dryad queen who lives inside the tree (and isn’t seen in gameplay). Each dryad says attached to its mother tree for life.

The first dryads your colonists ever see will be immature dryads. While adorable, these aren’t very useful. They become much more useful after they transform into their various specialized castes.

For this to happen, though, a human must influence the tree. This means carrying out a special ceremony to connect with the Gauranlen tree. While others look on, the connector will approach the tree, touch it, speak to it, and generate a subtle psychic link. This psychic link allows the connector to control which caste the dryads will grow into.

Choose your caste according to your needs. Some castes focus on combat:

• Clawer dryads are extremely vicious, with high damage output from their long claws. However, they are also quite fragile.
  
• Barkskin dryads a chunky and well-armored to soak up incoming damage for your soldiers.

Both kinds of dryads will dutifully enter battle to try and protect your colonists with their lives. The connector can command them like trained animals.



Not all dryads are suited for battle. Some are more useful at home.

• Carrier dryads are big and gentle, and good at tidying up by hauling items for you.
  
• Woodmakers produce wood for you over time. This is important if you worship trees and hate to chop them down!
  
• Medicinemaker dryads have large bulbs on their backs that sprout herbal medicine.
  
• Berrymaker dryads gradually shed piles of ripe berries.

The tree-connector must maintain and strengthen their bond with the tree by pruning it now and then. A stronger connection means the tree can support more dryads at once - up to four for the strongest connection.

Beliefs matter! Any human can create the above dryad castes. However, some people venerate trees in a special way. For these people, destroying any tree is a crime, and trees have important spiritual significance. This creates challenges - it’s hard to find wood without chopping trees down. However, this belief also has advantages. Tree-lovers can connect with the Gauranlen trees more deeply than others and gain several unique bonuses.

First, a tree-believer can prune faster and better, and thus maintain more dryads in less time.

More importantly, though, only tree-believers can specialize dryads into the gaumaker caste. Gaumakers can come together and produce new Gauranlen pods, which can be planted to create even more Gauranlen trees.

In this way, a colony of tree-venerating nature lovers can grow their Gauranlen orchard over time and become powerful from it, both economically and militarily.



Dryads are awesome. They make quirky ribbit noises, they get tuckered out and fall asleep like other animals, they work hard, and they care about your colonists.

But trees live and die, like everything else. So what happens when a Gauranlen tree dies? The screams of the queen and her children will haunt you…

Bug you later!

Tia

Links:

• Wishlist Ideology on its Steam page here!
  
• For more info on the expansion and 1.3 update, read the announcement of Ideology/1.3 and the preview of social roles
  
• I’m on Twitter as @TiaPixel and you can follow Tynan at @TynanSylvester.
  
• Discuss this post on Reddit here!