ALPHA 0.9.6: A Thousand Words

"Free Cities: a text-only slave management game." I suppose I have to change the banner now.

This update adds support for an optional rendered imagepack for FC's slave girls, contributed by Shokushu. I'm grateful for the amount of effort that went into this contribution. When I've downplayed the likelihood of seeing slave girls in FC in the past, it's been because I doubted a satisfactory imagepack could possibly be created. This imagepack includes 768 .pngs, and could only be held to that exorbitant number by not modeling race or age, among other things. Genital configuration, asset size, muscles, pregnancy, obedience, and fetishes are all depicted.

If any of this disturbs you, I suggest you reconsider. Images aren't and never will be the primary focus of FC. Display of the imagepack can be toggled from the options menu, and it's my intent that with image display off, FC will look and play the same as ever. Downloading the imagepack is not even necessary if image display is off. Finally, the imagepack and the .html will be updated separately, so repeatedly downloading the imagepack won't be required unless it's updated.

Saves from versions before 0.9.5 are incompatible, but 0.6+ saves are eligible for New Game Plus. Latest hotfix is 0.9.6.5 (1700 February 3), save compatible.

0.9.6.2 download with imagepack: Dropbox, Mega. Please apply hotfix 0.9.6.5 by placing it in the game directory.
0.9.6.5 download without imagepack: Dropbox, Mega.

0.9.6.5 fixes

• Patched incestuous pregnancies under Egyptian Revivalism, again.
• Minor improvements to RA logic for growth injections.
• Minor UI and image display refinements.

0.9.6.4 fixes

• Fixed several passage links broken by the move to the new developer environment.
• Incestuous pregnancies under Egyptian Revivalism will no longer truncate the end of week report.
• Improved logic and descriptions for wearable dildo and plug effects.
• Corrected application of the obedience and devotion entrapment upgrades for the Corporate Market.

0.9.6.3 fixes

• Migrated development to a TweeGo-derived development environment for FC, by Spagetti_Code; GitHub integration is planned.
• Fixed the plot event sell all options again.
• Addressed several minor bugs located in the code by FC_BourbonDrinker.
• Applied a bugfix for an issue that was preventing chem damage, by FC_BourbonDrinker.
• Applied a bugfix for an issue that was preventing organic language learning, by FC_BourbonDrinker.
• Added an image option to display only basic poses in slave summaries while retaining fetish images for individuals.

0.9.6.2 fixes

• The Egyptian Revivalist bonus for incestuous pregnancy should no longer produce $rep issues.
• Fixed several bad breast fetish references that could break slaves' fetishes.
• Addressed yet another issue with the relative recruitment event.
• Rent from ownership in other arcologies will now be properly credited to the PC.
• Patched an issue with matchmaking by returning play to the main menu after discussing relationships with a slave.
• Reclaimed some wasted space when displaying large slave images.

0.9.6.1 fixes

• Addressed a nasty issue that was preventing most weekly skill gains.
• Restricted matchmaking to worshipful slaves as originally intended.
• Fixed errors in the standard punishment event.

0.9.6 changelog

Shokushu's imagepack

• Added a 768 file rendered imagepack, contributed by Shokushu.
• Provided code support for image display in many passages, with assistance from Shokushu.
• Implemented an image display toggle; the game can still be played from the .html file alone if images are disabled.

Other updates

• Emotionally bonded and emotionally slutty slaves can now be matched up with similar slaves to form relationships.
• Special descriptions will now appear in green when slaves pass skill milestones.
• Removed the green color from generic skill training descriptions to limit attention to skill milestones.
• Sexual energy gains from organic sources like Devotion, relationships, and health will stop short of nymphomania, requiring active intervention to maximize libido.
• Milk and cum production code improvements, by Anon.
• Bugfixes and future society balance improvements, from FireDrops.
• Bugfixes.

ALPHA 0.9.5: Side of Milk

I wasn't able to playtest, release, and support an update last week, but my usual coding and writing time was unaffected. So, this is at least a double update in terms of content. I believe timely updates are less important than content creation for a project like this.

This update fixes an inconsistency that's been bothering me for a while: the milk from lactating slaves with monstrous udders not assigned to get milked used to vanish, benefiting nobody. This was obviously unacceptable, so it's now possible to upgrade the penthouse with milkers hooked into the arcology's fluid systems, allowing all slaves living there to give milk. Milking efficiency varies by assignment, with the existing assignment to get milked being the only one that offers full efficiency. To prevent this from completely unbalancing the game, more powerful assignments have lower milking efficiency. Furthermore, it's now necessary to pay for slaves' food, and they'll need to eat more if giving milk.

I hope you appreciate your Head Girl. Head Girls work hard, and many of them are likely to work harder after this update, since keeping lactating slaves at top production now requires keeping them pregnant. Even the best Head Girl's ability to impregnate is now finite, but you can now give her help by directing an appropriate Milkmaid to breed the cows and a proper Stewardess to do the honors for the servants. 

Download: Dropbox, Mega. Saves from previous versions are incompatible, but 0.6+ saves are eligible for New Game Plus. Latest hotfix is 0.9.5.4 (1330 PST January 27), save compatible.

0.9.5.4 fixes

• Pruned obsolete debugging code that was resetting whore skills during whoring.
• Starting from a new slave after committing a starting slave should no longer produce an error popup.
• Applied the invasion event hang fix to the refugee raid event.

0.9.5.3 fixes

• Patched a widespread issue with skills that would produce $cash and $rep bugs.
• Selling or giving away prisoners during the invasion event should no longer hang the game.
• Fix for a breast growth issue with the new Dairy upgrade, from Princess April.
• Addressed an issue that prevented some Dairy assignment scenes from appearing.
• Fixed several issues with Stewardess impregnation.
• Vaginal and anal skills should no longer cross over during starting slave customization.

0.9.5.2 fixes

• Fixed an issue with the consolidated relative recruitment event.
• Giving a Stewardess impregnation orders will no longer redirect to the Dairy.
• Addressed an error message in the corporate slave market.
• Improved the checks before applying Stewardess and Milkmaid impregnation.
• Addressed an issue with family relation words.
• Fixed many bad applications of the updated Deadliness widget.
• Updated several obsolete training descriptions.
• Addressed a minor bug in the new libido overflow code.
• Corrected the sexual training from fucktoy duty efficiency calculations.
• Patched an issue that could cause problems when milking imported slaves.

0.9.5.1 fixes

• Addressed an issue with long form skill descriptions.
• Fixed several issues that caused the RA diet logic to lock up and do nothing.
• The RA will now prioritize muscle goals over weight goals if they conflict.

0.9.5 changelog

Milk production

• The generic penthouse milkers used by lactating slaves who aren't assigned to work as cows can now be upgraded to collect and sell milk.
• Milking efficiency varies by assignment: working as a cow gives full efficiency while strenuous jobs like whoring offer little milk production.
• The Servant's Quarters benefit from this upgrade; all other facilities do not.
• Working as a full time cow, being pregnant, and being implanted with lactation drugs all act to slowly increase slaves' milk production.
• Pregnancy now offers a direct milk production bonus.
• Reduced several existing milk production bonuses, especially the bonus from lactation drug implants.

Impregnation responsibilities

• Limited the number of slaves the Head Girl can reliably impregnate: high Devotion, libido, health, and testicle size increase the limit.
• Stewardesses and Milkmaids capable of impregnation can now be ordered to keep the slaves in their respective facilities pregnant.
• Improved the UI for clearer delegation of impregnation responsibilities.
• New random event for Head Girls who are tired out by all this.

Fetish changes

• Recoded fetish changes to make organic fetish switching less frequent and less performance intensive.
• The base chance of a fetish change is now based on Devotion minus the slave's existing fetish strength, if any.
• Smart piercings now suppress existing fetishes first rather than trying for an immediate fetish switch if the chance of a switch is low.

Future society approval

• Racial Supremacists now approve or disapprove of racially superior slaves who are pregnant by other slaves, depending on the race of the other parent.
• Racial Subjugationists now disapprove of impregnation by racially inferior slaves and approve of sterilization of racially inferior slaves.
• Egyptian Revivalists now approve of pregnancy within incestuous slave relationships.

Skills tracking

• Oral, vaginal, anal, whoring, and entertainment skills are have all been converted to a 0-100 scale.
• These skills now have unskilled, basic, skilled, expert, and masterful ranges, with each level requiring more training to reach.
• Rebalanced skill gains to be slower but completely nonrandom.
• Devotion and Intelligence are now greater factors in skills training efficiency
• The Slaver career now offers a bonus to skills training performed by the PC.

Other updates

• New Dairy upgrade for Slimness Enthusiasts, by Princess April.
• Focusing personal attention on having as much sex as possible will spread any surplus libido among all slaves in the penthouse, slowly boosting Devotion.
• It is now possible to buy arcology ownership with reputation if the player's reputation is very high.
• Slave food is now a separate upkeep category, with slaves' individual food costs affected by diet, weight, lactation, and pregnancy.
• Better RA diet logic, from Dej.
• Refreshment random event updates to handle different refreshment types, from Anon.
• New random recruitment event, from Flooby Badoop.
• Added mental effects for carrying an incestuous pregnancy.
• Recoding for better performance.
• Bugfixes.

ALPHA 0.9.4: Big Pharma

Mindless, repetitive grind is my least favorite part of games. If I start every turn or every fight by buying the same supplies or casting the same spell, give me a way to automate that. This is my one serious issue with Jack o Nine Tails, which remains my personal favorite h-game. Playing JoNT well requires close attention and careful strategy, which is incredible, but reaching those gems requires the player to dig through a lot of dross. In between carefully weighed decisions, there's a lot of mindless hammering of the same buttons, over and over. Punish, train, reward, train, train, bath. Ad nauseam (or ad carpal tunnel).

I mention this because I haven't mentioned JoNT in a couple of months, making it time to do so, and because this update is focused on removing one of the major annoyances in Free Cities as far as pointless micromanagement. (Yes, I'm aware I'm as guilty as any.) Previously, rapid drug-induced expansion, required switching the slave between growth drugs and curatives to boost health if the slave wasn't resting and maintaining health that way. This update moves curatives to their own drug slot, making it possible to apply both drugs at once, and adds a slot for aphrodisiacs, allowing addict slaves access to the usual drug options.

I've made minor balance tweaks to the drugs, but for now, it does not seem overpowered to allow slaves access to simultaneous expansion, health maintenance, and aphrodisiacs. First of all, such a regime is extremely expensive, and will quickly make slaves receiving the full spectrum individually unprofitable unless they're already of premium quality. Second, the full spectrum builds drug toxicity very rapidly. Of course, that can be addressed by applying curatives on a permanent basis, which makes this a good time to repeat that remains my avowed goal to make amoral use of slaves' bodies an advantage in game terms.

Finally, it's apparently time for me to repeat that comments using racial slurs, making personal attacks, or otherwise failing to be worth anyone's time will be deleted. I can't watch this blog closely all the time, so if such comments appear, please report them to me. If your feelings suggest to you that my not making this a safe space for childish misbehavior somehow impinges on your rights, I'd like to invite you to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut. There are many places on the internet that allow that kind of thing: please go to one of them and do it there. Get off my lawn.

Download: Dropbox, Mega. Saves from previous versions are incompatible, but 0.6+ saves are eligible for New Game Plus. Latest hotfix is 0.9.4.3 (1545 PST January 13), save compatible.


0.9.4.3 fixes

• Free range dairy assignment scene fixes, from that scene's author.
• Corrected a bad passage title that broke the industrial dairy assignment scene.
• Prevented aphrodisiac effect description code from firing without an effect to describe.
• Addressed an issue with facepussy Transformation Fetishist appeal that could seriously retard society progress.
• Fixed the corporate slave market errors associated with sex skill training.

0.9.4.2 fixes

• Addressed a bug in New Game Plus that misapplied backwards compatibility features, setting many imported slaves to hypermuscular.
• Patched associated issues with curatives and aphrodisiacs that could produce $cash bugs.
• RA muscle handling logic and corporate dividend improvements, by Hicks.

0.9.4.1 fixes

• Spelling corrections from Boney M.
• Removed the health check for the Rules Assistant to apply growth hormones.
• Restricted several events for slaves that don't fit them.
• Smart piercings should now properly commit to maximizing attraction values.
• Fixed an error with the vibrator torment choice in the new standard punishment event.
• Fixed an assistant appearance error in the invasion event.
• Fixed errors in the application of the new mental effects of relationships.
• Addressed various minor descriptive bugs.

0.9.4 changelog

Pharmaceutical changes

• Slaves now have three drug slots: preventatives and curatives; aphrodisiacs; and all other drugs.
• Increased the impact of aphrodisiacs on generic sexual performance and reduced the health impact of extreme aphrodisiacs.
• Broadened the range of aphrodisiacs' long-term effects, which are now generally similar to female hormone therapy.
• Aphrodisiac addiction provides an additional path for strong fetishes to grow into paraphilias.
• Reduced the direct health benefits of curatives, but added the existing effects of preventatives to curatives.
• Aphrodisiacs and curatives both cause minor genome damage; slaves on a full spectrum of drugs now accumulate damage rapidly.
• Preventatives and curatives now make genome damage effects less likely, but do not eliminate them.

Interslave relationship dynamics

• Removed the preexisting flat Devotion and Trust bonuses for being in a relationship.
• Slaves in a relationship will now move toward their partner's Devotion level, at a rate based on the relationship intensity and the difference in Devotion.
• Slaves in a relationship who are afraid of the PC will be frightened for their partner, but be more obedient to protect them from punishment.
• Slaves in a relationship who trust the PC will gain trust based on the intensity of the relationship.
• Slaves with enslaved family members will receive mental effects based on their and their relation's attitudes towards slavery.

Other updates

• Two random events written and coded by Princess April.
• Updated the muscles stat to a 0 to 100 scale, making the step from ripped to extreme musculature much more difficult.
• Added a set of six generic random events in which slaves can be punished for various minor sins.
• Reduced the imbalanced libido gain from orgasm rewards.
• Minor descriptive enhancements.
• Recoding for better performance.
• Bugfixes.