Hey everyone, major update #12 is now live. The City Council update adds a few new mechanics, some of which are random in nature to increase replayability and add some more interest to the game. It's been longer than usual since update #11, and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1076750/view/3726208759112084999]as you know[/url], that's mainly because I released a new update and free DLC to Suncrash's 5-year-old debut title - [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/455980/Judgment_Apocalypse_Survival_Simulation/]Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation[/url]. Read on below about some of the larger changes in this update. You can find the full list of changes on the [url=http://www.dream-engines.com/patchnotes/]patch notes[/url] page. [h1]City Council[/h1] Once your population is high enough, your people will start electing a city council. Every time an election takes place, you, as overseer, will get the chance to select a Head of Council from within the councilmen that were elected by your people. In terms of gameplay, this means that whenever elections take place you will be able to choose one out of several randomly generated options to head your council, and every option has different bonuses and penalties. These bonuses and penalties will often have a significant impact on our choices, economy and military, so choose wisely. The bonuses, however, only last until the next elections, so even if you regret your choice it's not forever. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35033187/e30f1b7ff729ea65ff16831630858f1975312c9c.jpg[/img] [h1]Political Factions[/h1] Three political factions were added to the game. Your interaction with these factions is through the council elections. When you select a head of council, your options will include members of different factions, and your choice will influence your relationships with these factions. If your relationship with a faction becomes high enough, or low enough, you will start enjoying (or suffering) bonuses/penalties specific to that faction. This adds another variable, that will have a longer-lasting impact, to your choice of councilmen. [h1]Traps & Mines[/h1] You can now defend your city by building traps & mines! Once you unlock the relevant research, there are three types of traps - high damage / low area of effect, low damage / higher area of effect, and a slowing trap. Mixing up traps with your regular defenses can make a big difference. You can place them inside or outside your city (within your construction area), and they only activate when enemies are nearby, neither Tiny nor your resource carts take any damage from these traps. For me, balancing these traps can be a tricky thing because they don't have any upkeep costs. You can theoretically fill the whole map with traps which will turn the defense game to something too easy. Finding the correct sweet point of price to build them vs their impact may take some tweaking, so please do let me know if you have any feedback. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35033187/63870cb70b4930e08426350d2ce911de53ffd66c.gif[/img] [h1]New Tribe - Plague Hunters[/h1] A new tribe option was added when starting a new game. The Plague Hunters are an ancient military organization, from when civilization was at it's peak, and the dream plagues just started appearing in the world. Today, they live a lowly nomadic life just like the other tribes, except that they maintain the old traditions of hunting and exploiting the Dream Plagues. This tribe excels at fighting with Tiny, they get more drops from enemies they kill, and they have some unique crafting recipes to generate resources from Drep remains. Their industry, however, is somewhat lacking. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35033187/e8474ba333f233b0538f9e106984f9c7f422b979.jpg[/img] [h1]Status effects on enemies[/h1] I've implemented the ability to apply status effects (such as slow, reduced damage, etc) on enemy units. These open up some interesting possibilities for the future. At the moment, this is only being used by the slow trap, but more content around this like consumables and abilities are in the works. Those of you who enjoy playing around with mods can already use this new system to create interesting new content. [h1]Landing Sequence[/h1] I've added a new landing sequence animation that will take place after you make your daring escape and choose a new safe zone to land in. No more teleporting directly to the ground. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35033187/043402d6bf60ad847e6d6c26fe17cacdb8724ec3.gif[/img] [h1]New Content[/h1] While this is not primarily a content update, I did add some new equipment (a sniper weapon, advanced version of the snipe bow), and some new alternative recipes such as producing Acidstone without actually needing access to acid shards. [h1]Saves from previous builds[/h1] Saves from the previous version are supported and should work without any issues. If your population is high enough, you can expect to see an elections as soon as you load your game. [h1]Future Plans[/h1] Here's our latest roadmap as work continues towards Dream Engines 1.0. There's not a lot left before 1.0, I'll share more information about this when I know for sure. [url={STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35033187/9a1c46e643288aa2df8baf156d1982fcdde62000.jpg][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35033187/9a1c46e643288aa2df8baf156d1982fcdde62000.jpg[/img][/url] As always, I'm listening to all feedback channels, and your feedback is very much appreciated. A lot of the changes in this update originated from your suggestions. I invite you to hop onto our [url=https://discord.gg/dreamengines]discord server[/url] and chat with us directly, leave your feedback in the [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1076750/discussions/]Steam discussion forums[/url], or in-game feedback form. Lastly, a reminder to check out my previous game, if you enjoy Dream Engines you may enjoy it as well and it recently got a new update. https://store.steampowered.com/app/455980/Judgment_Apocalypse_Survival_Simulation/ I hope you enjoy all these latest changes, and once again thank you all for your support. I couldn't have done any of this without you all. Tomer @ Suncrash