[previewyoutube=vcAeD7GUhXk;full][/previewyoutube] [h2][b]Salutations, Industrialists![/b][/h2] In today's Dev Diary, we are excited to share a first look at Technology in Gilded Destiny! We'll walk you through the basics of the UI and some of the core features of technology. Also, in this video, we'll show you an updated look at the foundational map rework to improve performance. However, please keep in mind that it is far from finalized in terms of how it looks. We intend to change many of the features you currently see displayed on the map. Performance has been significantly improved, resulting in higher fps, lower processor and GPU load, and more. Stay tuned! We will share more once the map artwork has been more finalized. Also, Check out our sixth Alpha Roadmap Update: https://steamcommunity.com/games/2189430/announcements/detail/4677641741939045767 [i]You can find the full script for the Dev Diary below.[/i] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Let us know if you have any questions or feedback over on Discord. And be sure to wishlist us to stay up to date! [b]Join our Discord community today![/b] https://discord.gg/3d77T9gxDF Speaking of Discord, we have started rolling the Discord roles to our Kickstarter backers! If you have not yet completed the Kickstarter survey we sent out, please do so. If you have filled it out, and are not yet in our Discord server, join and say hello in the main channel to let us know you're there to claim your role! Our Kickstarter officially ended in April, and brought in a total of £31,974 GBP, which is 159% of our goal! We offer the most gilded appreciation to all of our backers and our community. Your support, positive feedback and encouragement, and our growing vibrant community of industrialists motivates more than ever to make Gilded Destiny the most moddable, immersive, fun, and grandest GSG out there. You can access the survey on the Kickstarter website: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gildeddestiny/gilded-destiny-a-grand-strategy-game?ref=bjurrh Finally, if you are interested in what we do and want to join us but do not see a relevant job, send us your resume at jobs@aquilainteractive.io! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [h2]Script for Dev Diary 21:[/h2] Salutations Industrialists Today, we are going to talk about Technology! If you haven't already, be sure to check out the latest Alpha Roadmap for October, showing what we completed in September. Also, in today's video, you'll see that we have already made some changes to the map compared to last month. I want to reiterate that again, the map is far from finalized and will undergo significant change still to the map artwork. We intend to change many of the features you currently see displayed on the map. We have been working on a foundational rewrite to the map to improve performance. Performance has been significantly improved, resulting in higher fps, lower processor and GPU load, and more. Stay tuned, and will share more once the map artwork has been more finalized. OK, without further ado, let's chat about the main features of the Technology System in Gilded Destiny! Mechanics In Gilded Destiny, technology is split into three trees: Academia, Industry, and Military. Each of these "disciplines" has its own separate research point type, which are generated from special research buildings and from Pops (different Professions will generate different amounts of research points for each discipline - for instance, Officers generate Military research points, while Bureaucrats generate Academic research points, and Intellectuals generate a lot of research points for all three disciplines). When selecting a new tech to research, you'll get a random selection of three from that discipline to choose from. Sometimes a tech may already have some points contributed to unlocking it (we'll get to that in a moment). Once the tech has been picked, all the research points you're generating for that discipline will start contributing to unlocking that tech until it's completed, after which its effects will be applied to your country. Sometimes those effects are straightforward bonuses to things like production, or unlock certain buildings or policies or what have you. However, sometimes there's a bit more to it - a good example is something like the Needle Gun, for which we'll need to provide a bit of historical context. So prior to the American Civil War, the US army did a report on the breechloading needle guns that were being produced in Europe. They were aware that these guns could be fired and reloaded much faster than their muzzle-loading counterparts, and yet they didn't adopt them. Even when the war began, neither side took much advantage of the new technology (they bought plenty of other firearms from Europe, but that's a whole other thing). One of their primary reasons for not adopting the new gun was, in fact, to do with its main advantage: since it could fire more quickly, soldiers would expend ammunition more quickly, and it was felt that poorly trained or panicking soldiers would be much more likely to "waste" ammunition in this fashion. The ammunition costs and the logistics required to equip regular infantry with these weapons was enough to make them hold off until after the Civil War. Of course, we can represent all that pretty easily by having one of this tech's effects be to significantly increase the ammunition consumption of all regular infantry, even as it increases their combat stats. We also said in a previous dev diary that you'd be able to influence the political opinions of your population - well, one of the ways you'll be able to do this is through technology. Some techs will make certain political views or certain policies more attractive, and the effect will be more significant for the first few countries that research those techs before decreasing as more countries research it (the notion being that the birthplace of an idea often - but certainly not always - becomes something of a hotbed for that idea). So there are some techs that you may end up trying to avoid for as long as possible, depending on the kind of nation you're trying to foster. However, you won't always be able to keep some techs at bay indefinitely - and this is where Research Diffusion comes into play. Research Diffusion So, Research Diffusion is essentially something that happens automatically - a tech that you've unlocked but haven't yet researched will be randomly selected and start getting research points contributed to its progress, providing another country you're interacting with has already researched that tech. The random selection isn't totally random, though, because the types of interaction you're having with other countries will impact which discipline you're more likely to receive a diffusing tech from. If you're in a lot of wars, you're more likely to get a Military tech; if you've got a lot of trade partners, you're more likely to get an Academic tech; and if you're receiving a lot of immigrants, you're more likely to get an Industry tech (it's a bit more complex than that, of course - this is only in a very broad sense). Also, which countries you're at war with or trading with or receiving immigrants from may affect the techs you can receive - if more of them have it, you're more likely to get it. Ultimately, this means that if you're desperately trying to prevent an idea from spreading to your country, you may need to take some pretty drastic diplomatic measures to keep it from being fully researched. Likewise, if you're at war with a country while you have a technological edge, it's possible that advantage won't last forever. The diffusion cycle refreshes every month or so to respond to changes, so you're not just stuck with a particular diffusing tech indefinitely - but if a lot of other countries have it, and you don't, it's increasingly likely to be the one that's selected. Of course, Research Diffusion also acts as one of the ways countries can "catch up", technologically speaking. At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, there was a pretty significant difference between countries in terms of industry, military, and politics, so countries will, of course, start at different positions within the tech trees. However, countries will have a chance to close, or at the very least reduce, that gap through diplomacy, diffusion, policies, population management, buildings, and events (especially given two of the event chain goals reached during our Kickstarter Campaign). Research Progression To go back to the tech trees for a moment, it's worth mentioning that not all techs are created equal. For one thing, to preserve at least some level of historical accuracy, techs from later decades are harder to get the further away from them you currently are. So, even if you try to make a beeline for the Internal Combustion Engine in 1830, the chance of it actually turning up as a tech to research are pretty slim. What's more, later techs usually cost more research points to unlock, so even if it does turn up, researching it too early might prove to be incredibly inefficient. Of course, the whole point of a tree is also to lock techs behind other techs, and in some cases, techs are locked behind techs in other disciplines. Take Celluloid, for example: the first man-made organic plastic, made from cellulose. That's in the Industry tree, and it gives you a decent boost to Industry research point production for your Intellectuals as they become excited about all the new possibilities that this new material opens up (camera film eventually being one of them). To get Celluloid to appear as an option for Industry, though, you'll first need to have developed Cytology and the Theory of Chemical Structure, so that your Inventors understand both cell biology and the arrangement of molecules. Both of those are in the Academia tree - they are, after all, theories awaiting practical application. Ultimately, the interaction of the disciplines means that focusing on just one discipline may eventually put you in something of a bind (and plenty of the academics and inventors of the period also certainly didn't just stay in their lane). However, while going wide has its advantages, there is also an advantage to getting to a tech first. As already mentioned, some techs have diminishing effects each time they're researched, but all techs also decrease the amount of Prestige they give each time they're researched. Leading the way in any technological field is, after all, a position of prestige in and of itself, so sometimes it'll be worth grabbing a tech that you're perhaps not that interested in just for the satisfaction of getting ahead of your rivals. Research Leaders Speaking of getting ahead of your rivals, you'll want to pay attention to your Research Leaders: the Academics, Inventors, and Military Theorists you can appoint to lead your research institutions. Each discipline can have one Leader appointed to lead the field, some of whom will grant considerable bonuses. In particular, actual historical persons who created or discovered certain technologies will contribute a large amount of points to unlocking those technologies when in the corresponding research leader position, while some will also confer other benefits on your research establishments. You'll need to take care, though - your Research Leaders will have a chance of developing both favorable and unfavorable traits the longer they stay in office. They could become brilliant mentors, lecturers, or publicists that advance the entire field and usher in a new generation of scholars and inventors - or they could end up burnt out, narcissistic, regressive, overprotective, and a downright menace to the establishments they are supposed to represent (this is a historically inspired game, after all). That's probably a good note to end Dev Diary on. We hope you've enjoyed it, and as always, if you have any questions or comments, let us know below. Lastly, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and, if you have not done so already, add Gilded Destiny to your Steam wishlist. Until our paths converge once more, we bid thee farewell! May your destiny be a gilded one. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [h3]Also:[/h3] Be sure to listen closely to the backing tracks in all our videos—they are the pieces you will come to hear in the game, composed by John Skoog. Also, the solo clarinet on this track was performed by yours truly, Marc. Listen to some of John Skoog's other work on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3PGd3lmURa72oFasqK3N7N?si=nDl4DUTRQGKKLaDtGcHBJw John Skoog Music: https://www.johnskoogmusic.com/