Hey everyone! Today, the Stonehearth team is proud to announce the arrival of Stonehearth ACE, the Authorized Community Expansion (Pre-Release version 0.9). Helmed by Dani Angione, this intrepid group of community modders have added some truly magnificent features to the game, including but not limited to:
- A brand new Highlands Biome
- Farming and irrigation (yes, at last a use for water!)
- Water gates and pumps, made by the Engineer
- A fuel economy adds gameplay depth to firepits, ovens and more
- An overhaul of the Blacksmith class
- Updates to nearly every other class and a number of new recipes
- Fish and algae
- Military gear progression overhaul
- A better patrolling system
- A training option for combat classes
- Ways to specify equipment preferences for combat classes
- Locking mechanisms for doors
- New heatmaps for wilderness and ore veins
- Unique workshops and outfits for each kingdom
- Special critters and plants for each biome
- ...and a lot of other things!
For a full set of ACE's features and release notes, see this post.
Great so how do I get ACE?
If you’re playing on Steam, the game automatically subscribes you to the ACE mod the first time you open Stonehearth 1.1. The mod will then automatically download itself either the first time you go to the mods screen from the main page, or the next time you exit and reload the game. Once the mod is downloaded, you’ll then get a popup asking if you’d like to enable ACE. If you choose to opt in, your next new game will see the new features described above. If you choose to opt out, the game will play as it always has. Thereafter, you can turn the mod off or on again from a new UI widget directly on the main screen of the game.
Pre-Release 0.9, you say? What does that mean?
Pre-Release means that this is ACE’s initial release! After this update, the ACE team has a number of other additions planned, so keep an eye out for more updates. You can find out more about their roadmap and planned future features here.
Pre-Release also means this mod is in active development, and so may introduce additional bugs and performance issues, such as game lag, hitching, stuttering, and slow loading times. To minimize issues in this early phase, play on normal speed and with a modest number of hearthlings. The build may also conflict with some existing mods. To report issues and potential mod conflicts, hit up the ACE discourse thread here.
All this said, Team Stonehearth is really excited. Ever since the beginning, we hoped that Stonehearth would be a place where we could all contribute our modules and stories. With this release, we thank everyone that has brought life to the mods on Workshop, and we look forward to playing with you all in this world we’ve created together for years to come.
FAQ:
Help! I’ve opened 1.1 and I still don’t see ACE or the popup or the new UI to enable the mod! What should I do?
If you’re playing on Steam, try exiting the game, waiting for a bit so the mod can download, and starting it up again. Alternatively, go to the mods page from the main screen, let the mod download, and then save and quit to main menu. The mod can only download when the game is being loaded or on the mods page, so if you don’t see it, it’s because you’ve already subscribed, but haven’t downloaded it yet.
I want to turn ACE on or off! How do I do that?
After ACE has downloaded, there will be a toggle on the main UI screen. The wallpaper will toggle too, so it’s super clear whether you’re playing ACE or vanilla Stonehearth.
I have other ACE related questions!
Find ACE’s amazing developers on discourse.stonehearth.net at this thread.