1.9.4 Progression & Balancing Update

Released May 11, 2023 on Steam & GOG. Read full news post on the Foundation blog. See Changelog for other changes.

General Changelog

New

• Meat production chain with the Butchery
• Entertainment need
• Berry Brews at the Tavern
• Levy Mandate
• Discoveries
• Environmental Resource Display
  • Berries
  • Fish schools
  • Stone nodes
  • Boars
• Advanced onboarding
  • Food diversity
  • Enacting the Mandate Levy
  • Leaving villagers

Improvements

• Auto-assigning higher status villagers to workplaces will not demote them anymore
• Transport behavior has been enhanced, a change that will be most noticeable with larger villages. The algorithm now focuses more on local ‘resource hubs’, which should fix workers traveling great distances to do their job

Updates

• Help topics
  • Housing
  • Generating revenue
  • Immigration
  • Markets
  • Promotions
  • Trading
  • Trade routes
  • Villager Happiness
• Localization

Modding

• Exposed missing unlockables
• Exposed Butcher-related assets (job, building, etc.)
• Exposed Tavern buildings
• Exposed Master Builder job (Crafter Workshop)
• Exposed Kinstone Abbey (trading village)
• Exposed Jeweler’s workshop building part
• Exposed Entertainment need
• Exposed missing Happiness factors
• Added members to GAME_RULE_MODIFIER_WORKPLACE_RECIPE
• GAME_ACTION_APPLY_GAME_RULE: OptionalDescriptor field no longer optional (renamed to Descriptor)

Fixes

• Common Resources mod interfered with housing placement and prevented them from being placed
• Masterpieces couldn’t be added to Churches
• Crash when selecting a Monastery with a Modest Facade

Game Design Changelog

New Features

Levy Mandate

• This new mandate lets you instantly earn coins in exchange for a temporary villager Happiness malus
• The Levy Mandate is unlocked when you build a Great Hall
• The Levy Mandate can be performed once every 7 days
• The Levy Mandate reduces every villager’s Happiness by 30% for 30 days, then decays to 0% for another 30 days
• The Levy Mandate instantly gives this many coins:
  • 3 coins per Serf
  • 4 coins per Commoner
  • 5 coins per Citizen

Entertainment Need

• Commoners, Citizens, Soldiers, and Knights now have an Entertainment Need
• The Entertainment Need can be filled by consuming a drink resource (Berry Brew, Beer, or Wine) at the Tavern
• The Entertainment Need cause a negative Happiness Factor if left unfulfilled for 300 days

Butchery Workplace & Meat Resource

• A new building, the Butchery, can produce a new resource, Meat, from Boar
• The Butchery is accessible from an Unlockable on the Common Path, Tier 1, for 25 coins
• The Butchery can employ up to 2 Serf workers
• The Butchery cost 3 Tools, 10 Planks, and 10 Stones
• The Butchery has a base upkeep of 1 coin, plus 1 extra coin per Worker
• The Butchery produces 4 Meat resources from 1 Boar
• Set Meat value to 3 coins on sell, 6 coins on buy
• Meat resource can be consumed as Food at the Market

Berry Brewery Workplace & Berry Brew Resource

• A new sub-building, the Berry Brewery, can produce a new resource, Berry Brew, from Berry and Water
• The Berry Brewery is accessible when purchasing the Tavern Unlockable
• The Berry Brewery requires a Room, a Door and a Chimney
• The Berry Brewery employs 1 Commoner per 5 Room Size
• The Berry Brewery has an upkeep of 2 coins per Worker
• The Berry Brewery produces 3 Berry Brews from 3 Berries and 1 Water
• 1 Berry Brew can be purchased for 5 coins
• The Berry Brew can be consumed as Drink at the Tavern
• The Taverner will directly pickup Berry Brew made within the same Tavern

Kinstone Abbey Trade Route

• A new Clergy Trade Route made for Monastery-oriented playthrough
• The Trade Route can be unlocked with 20 Manuscripts
• The Trade Route can be further improved using Coal, Coins, or Clergy Influence
• The following resources are available for trade with Kinstone Abbey:

Buy from them

Barrel	Common Clothes	Polished Stone	Marble
Gold Bar	Gem	Iron Bar	Cheese

Sell to them

Herbs	Honey	Wax	Wine
Berry	Hops	Planks	Meat

Discoveries

• Discoveries offer practical information and direct links to game features
• All Contextual Help, located in the top-left corner, has been improved into Discoveries
• Discoveries are located in the Notification section, at the bottom-left corner of the screen
• Discoveries trigger under specific conditions
• On top of existing Contextual Help, New Discoveries were added:
  • Set Your Taxation Rate in the Book!
  • New Progression Paths Unlocked
  • How to Generate Wealth
  • Trade Routes Can Be Improved!
  • Minerals Prospection
  • About Territory Management
  • How to Promote Your Villagers
  • You Can Now Undertake Mandates
  • How to build your monastery
  • How Taverns Work
  • How to Increase Your Treasury Capacity

New Advice

• Three new Advice were added to the game:
  • Advice: Food Diversity
  • Advice: Enacting Levy
  • Advice: Leaving Villagers
• Each piece of Advice has a specific triggering condition, narrative panel, and quest

Action Bar

• Mandates and Village Aspirations can be accessed from the action bar, at the bottom of the screen

Quick Promotion

• Promotion can be done at any time, there is not a 30-day cooldown anymore
• Promotion can be done from the Mandate window or from each villager’s detailed window
• The Quick Promotion button will be displayed once the villager meets the promotion criteria
• Only the first villager of a Status has a Need requirement
• Promotion costs stay the same as before

Environmental Resource Display

• The following environmental resources now display resource trackers upon certain conditions:
  • Berries
  • Fish School
  • Stone nodes
• The environmental resource tracker is displayed when selecting the Extraction or Hunting paint
• The environmental resource tracker is also displayed when selecting the following workplaces:
  • Gathering Hut
  • Stonecutter Camp
  • Fisher’s Hut
  • Butchery
  • Hunter’s Hut

Balance Change

Need duration

• Increased all Needs durations to 630s

Progression

• Increased Tier 3 Common Path Prosperity requirement to 75
• Increased Tier 4 Common Path Prosperity requirement to 150
• Increased Tier 5 Common Path Prosperity requirement to 300
• Increased Tier 3 Estate Path Prosperity requirement to 100
• Increased Tier 4 Estate Path Prosperity requirement to 200
• Increased Tier 5 Estate Path Prosperity requirement to 400

Taxation

• The Tax Office has been moved into an Unlockable found on the Labor Path at Tier 2
• The Tax Office Unlockable costs 5 Labor Influence
• The revenue of Housing Taxation has changed:

Status	Minimum Revenue per Villager	Maximum Revenue per Villager
Serf	0	5
Commoner	0	16
Citizen	0	27

Second Food Need

• A second Food Need has been given to Serfs and Militia, and each of their promoted Status
• The second Food Need can be filled by consuming a second, different Food resource at a Market

Tavern Building

• The Tavern building has been moved to Tier 2 of Common Path
• New parts have been added to the Tavern building
• The Public Lounge of the Tavern building fulfills the Entertainment Need, if there are Drinks resources available at the Service Counter.
• The Tavern’s job has been renamed to Taverner
• Added Desirability to Tavern parts
• Adjusted capacity of certain Tavern sub-buildings and parts
• Tavern Splendor parts are unlocked on Tier 2 Labor Path, for 5 Labor Influence
• Base Tavern parts do not yield Labor Splendor

Job locked by Status

• Additional jobs now require advanced villager statuses:

Job	Status
Tax Collector	Commoner
Bailiff	Commoner
Stonemason	Commoner
Weaver Hut	Commoner
Tailor	Commoner
Miller	Serf
Baker	Commoner
Iron Smelter	Commoner
Blacksmith	Commoner
Brewer	Commoner
Cheesemaker	Commoner
Sculptor Workshop	Citizen
Stained Glass Workshop	Citizen
Cooperage	Citizen
Common Wares Workshop	Citizen
Candle Workshop	Citizen

Wood Production Pipeline

• Slowed down the production of Wood and Planks to encourage territorial management
  • Increased time per Woodcutter cycle to one cycle of 20 seconds
  • Increased time per Sawmill cycle to two cycles of 20 seconds
  • Increased Input Storage of Sawmill to 20 Wood

Stone Production Pipeline

• Synched both workplaces to improve the fluidity of the stone pipeline
  • Increased time per Stonecutter cycle to two cycles of 20 seconds
  • Reduced time per Stonemason cycle to two cycles of 20 seconds
  • Increased Input Storage of Stonemason to 20 Stone

Fish Production Pipeline

• Increased the Fish production pipeline to match the Meat production
  • Increased output resource of Fishing Hut to 8 Fish per cycle
  • Increase the maximum amount of Fish per Fish School

Clothing Production Pipeline

• Balanced the Clothing production to ease visualization of the flow
  • Reduced Sheep Farm’s Output to 2 Wool
  • Increased Weaver’s Hut Input to 3 Wool
  • Increased Input Storage of Weaver’s Hut to 30 Wool
  • Increased Input Storage of Weaver’s Hut to 40 Cloths

Bread Production Pipeline

• Improved the Bread pipeline to be a reliable source of Food throughout most of the game and to be easier to visualize its resource flow
  • Increased the amount of Wheat gathered at once
  • Doubled time per Windmill cycle to 30 seconds
  • Doubled Windmill Input to 8 Wheat
  • Doubled Windmill Output to 2 Flour
  • Increased Input Storage of Bakery to 60 Flour
  • Increased Input Storage of Bakery to 20 Water
  • Increased time per Bakery cycle to 30 seconds
  • Increased Bakery Input to 3 Flour
  • Increased Bakery Output to 12 Bread

Commonwares Production Pipeline

• Improved the Commonware pipeline to be a practical, relatively cheap next step for Planks
  • Removed Tools from the recipe
  • Increased time per Commonware Workshop cycle to 30 seconds
  • Increased Commonware Workshop’s Planks Input to 3 Planks
  • Increased Commonware Workshop’s Planks Output to 3 Commonware
  • Increased Input Storage of Commonware Workshop to 30 Planks
  • Reduced Worker Upkeep to 2 coins

Immigration

• Halved Immigration penalty due to unemployment status
• Removed the Residential Factor from Immigration Factor
• Improved the way Newcomers are spawned on the map
  • Nil Factor – 0 Newcomer
  • Low Factor – 1 Newcomer
  • Average Factor – Between 1 and 2 Newcomers
  • High Factor – Between 2 and 4 Newcomers
  • Maximum Factor – Between 3 and 5 Newcomers
• Newcomers stay at the Village Center for a maximum of 3 days

Trade Route Resource Offer

• Increased Trade Routes volume per resource to 25 units
• Lowered Trade Routes Improvement cost factor
• Increased Trade Routes’ Trade per month requirement factor
• Added resources to buy and sell for each existing Trade Route:
  • Northbury:
    • Buy from them
      • Tools, Cloth, Berry Brew, Honey, Wax, Candle, Commonwares, Barre
    • Sell to them
      • Berries, Polished Stone, Planks, Wine, Herbs, Gold Ore, Gold Bar, Meat
  • Myddle:
    • Buy from them
      • Berries, Coal, Iron Bar, Wheat, Grapes, Wine, Hops, Beer
    • Sell to them
      • Glass, Barrel, Clothing, Sword, Fish, Marble, Jewel, Cheese
  • Davenport:
    • Buy from them
      • Fish, Herbs, Polished Stone, Sword, Gold Ore, Quartz, Glass, Marble
    • Sell to them
      • Boar, Tools, Honey, Wax, Candle, Bread, Beer, Gem
  • Trotbury:
    • Buy from them
      • Boar, Gem, Iron Ore, Iron Bar, Hops, Marble, Grapes, Jewel
    • Sell to them
      • Candle, Gold Bar, Quartz, Glass, Wine, Fish, Herbs, Tools

Resource Trade Value

• Reduced Boar value to 2 coins on sell, 4 coins on buy
• Increased Bread value to 3 coins on sell, 6 coins on buy
• Set Cheese value to 4 coins on sell, 8 coins on buy
• Set Wheat value to 1 coin on sell, 3 coins on buy
• Increased Cloth value to 2 coins on sell, 4 coins on buy
• Reduced Commonwares value to 4 coins on sell, 8 coins on buy
• Reduced Beer value to 2 coins on sell, 5 coins on buy
• Set Berry Brew value to 2 coins on sell, 5 coins on buy
• Reduced Herbs value to 3 coins on sell, 6 coins on buy
• Reduced Hops value to 1 coin on sell, 2 coins on buy
• Increased Planks value to 3 coins on sell, 6 coins on buy

Villager Leaving

• Villagers might leave starting at -25% Happiness

Building Construction Cost

• Decorative
  • Roofed Stable: 15 Planks, 2 Tools
• Tavern
  • Stone Cabin: 15 Planks, 15 Stones, 3 Tools
  • Tatched Cabin: 22 Planks, 12 Stones, 3 Tools
  • Plaster Cabin: 27 Planks, 6 Stones, 3 Tools
  • Tatched Hall: 10 Stone, 15 Planks, 10 Wood, 5 Tools
  • Wooden Cabin: 8 Planks, 1 Tool
  • Welcoming Entrance: 7 Planks, 3 Wood, 1 Tool
  • Service Entrance: 5 Planks, 1 Tool
• Manor House
  • Stone Hall: 25 Stones, 18 Polish Stones, 12 Planks, 6 Tools
  • Stone Terrace: 40 Stones, 25 Polish Stones, 25 Planks, 12 Tools
  • Stone Passageway: 10 Stones, 5 Polish Stones, 5 Planks, 4 Tools
  • Stone Gate, Simple: 5 Polish Stones, 5 Stones, 2 Tools
  • Stone Gate, Elevated: 10 Polish Stones, 10 Stones, 3 Tools
  • Wooden Tower: 4 Wood, 4 Planks, 5 Stones, 1 Tool
• Monastery
  • Rustic Chimney: 20 Stones, 2 Tools
  • Rustic Hall: 35 Stones, 15 Planks, 4 Tools
  • Rustic Passageway: 35 Stones, 15 Planks, 3 Tools
  • Rustic Quarters, Major: 30 Stones, 10 Planks, 3 Tools
  • Rustic Gallery: 25 Stones, 5 Planks, 2 Tools
  • Rustic Hut, Stone: 15 Stones, 8 Planks, 2 Tools
  • Rustic Quarters, Minor: 25 Stones, 5 Planks, 3 Tools
  • Rustic Facade: 25 Stones, 15 Polished Stones, 3 Tools
  • Rustic Bell Tower, Wooden Belfry: 25 Stones, 11 Planks, 2 Tools
  • Rustic Bell Tower, Open Belfry: 30 Stones, 5 Planks, 2 Tools
  • Rustic Bell Tower, Enclosed Belfry: 30 Stones, 5 Planks, 2 Tools
  • Rustic Gallery: 25 Stones, 5 Planks, 2 Tools
  • Rustic Tower: 25 Stones, 5 Planks, 2 Tools
• Rustic Church
  • Tatched Nave: 32 Stone, 15 Planks, 4 Tools
  • Wooden Chapel: Windowed, 10 Planks, 2 Tools
  • Wooden Chapel: Inclined, 12 Planks, 2 Tools
  • Tatched Chapel: 21 Stone, 5 Planks, 3 Tools
  • Tiled Chapel: 15 Polished Stone, 28 Stone, 3 Tools
  • Wooden Bell Tower: 20 Wood, 5 Planks, 2 Tools
  • Stone Bell Tower: 25 Stone, 6 Planks, 2 Tools
• Wooden Keep
  • Wooden Quarters: 33 Planks, 4 Tools
  • Wooden Keep: 41 Planks, 4 Tools
• Workplaces
  • Bakery: 4 Tools, 20 Planks, 25 Coins
  • Berry Table: 10 Wood, 10 Coins
  • Brewery: 10 Tools, 15 Polished Stones, 15 Planks, 200 coins
  • Fisher’s Hut: 20 Wood, 10 Coins
  • Hop Farm: base upkeep of 12 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Hunter’s Hut: 2 Tools, 20 Wood, 10 Coins
  • Sheep Farm: 2 Tools, 10 Stone, 10 Wood, 25 Coins
  • Stonecutter Camp: 2 Tools, 10 Wood, 10 Coins
  • Stonemason Hut: 8 Tools, 10 Wood, 5 Cloth, 25 Coins
  • Tailor’s Workshop: 8 Tools, 15 Stone, 20 Planks, 50 Coins
  • Weaver Hut: 6 Tools, 5 Stone, 10 Planks, 50 Coins
  • Wheat Farm: 4 Tools, 20 Planks, 25 Coins
  • Windmill: 6 Tools, 15 Stone, 15 Planks, 50 Coins
  • Woodcutter Camp: 2 Tools, 10 Coins

Building Upkeep

• Tavern
  • Stone Cabin: Base upkeep of 3 coins
  • Thatched Hall: Base upkeep of 3 coins
  • Thatched Cabin: Base upkeep of 2 coins
  • Plaster Cabin: Base upkeep of 2 coins
  • Roof Chimney: Base upkeep of 1 coin
• Monastery
  • Rustic Chimney: Base upkeep of 1 coin
  • Berries Planter: Base upkeep of 1 coin
• Mineral Deposits
  • Stone Quarry: Base upkeep of 2 coins, plus 1 coin per worker
  • Iron Quarry: Base upkeep of 5 coins, plus 1 coin per worker
  • Quartz Quarry: Base upkeep of 5 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Gold Quarry: Base upkeep of 10 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Marble Quarry: Base upkeep of 10 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Crane: Base upkeep of 10 coins
• Workplaces
  • Hop Farm: Base upkeep of 12 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Wheat Farm: Base upkeep of 4 coins, plus 1 coin per worker
  • Bakery: Base upkeep of 7 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Brewery: Base upkeep of 14 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Commonwares Workshop: Base upkeep of 18 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Fisher’s Hut: Base upkeep of 2 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Hunter’s Hut: Base upkeep of 1 coin, plus 1 coin per worker
  • Sheep Farm: Base upkeep of 5 coins, plus 1 coin per worker
  • Stonemason Tent: Base upkeep of 8 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Tailor’s Workshop: Base upkeep of 8 coins, plus 3 coins per worker
  • Weaver’s Hut: Base upkeep of 5 coins, plus 2 coins per worker
  • Windmill: Base upkeep of 6 coins, plus 2 coins per worker

Event Improvement

General

• Added new illustrations to all narrative panels
• Fixed wrong Trade Route Conditions across different events
• Adjusted Prosperity Conditions across different events
• Forced the following “Welcome” events to happen once their waiting time was done:
  • KingdomWelcome
  • LabourWelcome
  • MonasteryTrade (initial welcoming event)
  • MonasteryWelcome

Initial Onboarding

• Initial Onboarding’s Quest Happiness requirement has been reduced to 75%
• Removed Taxation Quest from the Onboarding sequence

Monastery Welcome

• Swapped the Wood and Stone reward for Planks and Polished Stones

Monastery Trade

• Changed the Fish option for Barrels

TownTale

• Added Meat check for NoFood

LabourFair

• Increased Happiness check to trigger the Event
• Increased the Low Happiness’ Quest objective to 50%
• Increased all Fair Quest’s Happiness objective to 75%

Advice

• Removed the MonthlyTax Condition from the two taxation’s Low Coins and Low Happiness
• Removed the Prosperity Condition to the Decorative Advice
• Lowered the Prosperity and Population requirement for the Commoner Promotion Advice
• Changed the Labor Specialisation Quest’s objective to build a Roofed Stable
• Removed the No Tool’s starting condition to not have Tools assigned at the Warehouse
• Reduced the No Tool’s objective to 3 Tools to purchase

Bad Weather

• Pushed back Bad Weather to Prosperity 75
• Reduced Bad Weather to 40 days

King’s Welcome

• The King’s Welcome Narrative Panel will now start when the Manor House is built

Mission Board

• Added Berry Brew, Beer, Boar and Meat rewards to Military Missions

Territory Upkeep

• Made the first and second territory cost 0 upkeep
• Increased the cost of all further territories:
  • Territory 1-2: 0 coin
  • Territory 2-3: 10 coins each
  • Territory 3-4: 20 coins each
  • Territory 5-6: 30 coins each
  • Territory 7-8: 40 coins each
  • Territory 9-10: 50 coins each
  • Territory 11-12: 60 coins each
  • Territory 13-14: 70 coins each
  • Territory 15-16: 80 coins each
  • Territory 17-18: 90 coins each
  • Territory 19+: 100 coins each

Other Fixes and Tweaks

• Added new Help Topics:
  • Work Restrictions
  • Mandates
  • Sculptures
  • Entertainment
  • Resource Flow
  • Maintenance Cost
• Added the Tax Office Unlockable as a requirement to all Taxation-related Unlockables:
  • Milling Taxes
  • Drinking Taxes
  • Mining Taxes
  • Smithing Taxes
  • Tithe Privilege
  • Protection Taxation Privilege
• Moved Kingdom’s Decoration 1 Unlockable into Tier 1 of Kingdom’s Path
• Added new icons to certain unlockables
• Differentiated visuals from the Builder’s Workshop from Master Builders at the Sculptor’s Workshop and Stained Glass’ Workshop
• Increased grace period from lack of Goods
• Increased starting Tools inventory to 25
• Rearranged Unlockables order within a Tier
• Moved Bailiff Office to Tier 2 of the Common Path
• Moved Fisher’s Hut to Tier 1 of the Common Path
• Lowered Tavern Tax revenue to 0.5 coins per Tavern consumption
• Lowered Market Tax revenue to 0.15 coins per Market consumption
• Moved Rustic Cloister to Tier 2, reduced cost to 5 Clergy Influence
• Made the second territory cost 0 upkeep