ALPHA 0.8.7: Controlling Interest

This update includes a couple of major mechanical changes that I'd like to explain briefly, since they may not make a lot of sense in isolation. First, arcology ownership shares are now modeled. The player starts with a narrowly controlling interest in their new arcology, and there are a variety of different effects of buying and selling parts of the arcology. This is something I've intended to add for some time, since this is the way such things often work in real life: modern captains of industry have usually sold a share of their big project to someone or other, and how they manage that relationship is a potential source of benefit or danger. In isolation, though, this may seem like an unnecessary complication. However, this is going to become a way to assimilate neighboring arcologies by hostile takeover. In any case, the system has been balanced to reproduce preexisting gameplay if the player chooses to ignore it. The starting position is safe. Selling ownership interest is dangerous but profitable, while reaching for total control gives bonuses.

Second, slave population mechanics have been updated and tightened. This is another change that's been on the list for a while, simply because the penthouse was an absurd Dormitory of Holding that could house an infinite number of slaves immediately. The new mechanics put soft limits of slave populations by making successive population limit upgrades increasingly expensive on a simple linear scale. There's a fine tradition in games design of using soft caps to disguise coding or hardware limitations, and this is an example of that. Huge numbers of slaves will slow the game down, and this update makes it more expensive to keep huge numbers of slaves.

Download: Dropbox, Mega. Saves from previous versions are incompatible, but 0.8+ saves are eligible for New Game Plus. Latest hotfix is 0.8.7.1 (1920 PST October 5), completely save compatible.

0.8.7.1 fixes

• Bugfixes and minor updates from CornCobMan, mostly focused on the RA
• Tutorial for the new RA functions, from CornCobMan
• Fixed application of mammary intercourse demand weight
• Removed surgery outcome duplication
• Fixed slave selection issue in the date request random event
• Removed erroneously visible debugging variables
• Addressed issues in the Market Assistant logic that could produce negative results
• Fixed application of cellblock capacity upgrades
• Minor description issues
• Corrected version number to 0.8.7

0.8.7 Changelog

Slave housing

• All facilities now use the same capacity system.
• Overcrowding facilities other than the Arcade is no longer possible: facility capacities serve as a hard cap.
• Subsequent capacity upgrades become more expensive each time one is purchased.
• The penthouse dormitory now has a capacity, and exceeding it will cause escalating penalties for slaves there.
• The individual rooms now have a capacity, which is a hard cap on the number of slaves that can be given luxurious living standards.
• Slaves in committed relationships will automatically share a room, reducing the number of rooms required to keep them in luxury.
• Updated the RA so that it will do its best to obey instructions while respecting this system.

Arcology ownership

• All arcologies now use a percentage ownership system, with arcology leadership being the party that controls the largest percentage.
• As a new owner, the PC starts with a safe controlling interest in the arcology, and can buy and sell ownership by the percentage.
• The ownership price is determined by the arcology's current prosperity.
• The percentage owned by the largest single minority owner is tracked, and if this rises over the PC's, the game is over.
• Minority shares in arcologies rise more slowly with increased arcology prosperity.
• Neighboring arcologies use a simplified version of the ownership system.
• Changes of government in neighboring arcologies now occur when the largest minority owner controls more of the arcology than the current leadership.
• Added ownership and other economic information to the sidebar.

Personal assistant upgrades

• Split computer core upgrades into their own tree, which is currently limited to two upgrades only.
• The first computer core upgrade provides all the benefits associated with the old upgrade in the arcology upgrade tree.
• The second computer core upgrade enables a subsidiary Market Assistant, which can play the menial slave market automatically.
• Provided an announcement event that introduces the new capability as soon as it becomes available.
• Highly characterized personal assistants' avatars can simulate a sexual relationship with the Market Assistant's avatar.

Other updates

• Pit fight support for sightless slaves, by Anon.
• More pregnancy descriptions in random events, by Anon.
• Split some options off the excessively long Manage Arcology menu into a new Manage Penthouse menu.
• Boosted the cost of policy upkeep to make certain policies less overpowered.
• More slave introduction options, including convenient options that place slaves directly into the Industrial Dairy or the Arcade.
• Added ballsacks to the organ fabricator.
• Code revisions for better performance.
• Bugfixes, with powerful assistance from Bane70.