Timberborn 1.0 goes live tomorrow (March 12, 5 PM CET - mark your calendars)! This calls for the final part of our little countdown, which we began with a look at the two beaver factions and continued, covering the unique aspects of beaver city-building. Today, let’s take a peek at life in the post-human (or, as a beaver would say, post-hooman) wasteland.
But first... have you clicked that very tempting "Wishlist now" button below?
In case you haven’t figured that out by now, in the world Timberborn, humans are but a faint memory - it is evolved beavers fighting for survival and a better tomorrow for the entire planet. Just watch our lore trailer - also serving as the game’s intro in Timberborn 1.0 - to set yourself in the proper mood.
We’ve always envisioned post-apocalypse as a setting for Timberborn, but in Timberborn 1.0, we’ve expanded that theme further, and the remnants of humanity are even easier to spot. On top of the human Ruins and Underground Ruins that your beavers scavenge for metal, you may also find Relics of the old human technology - which grant you a hefty amount of Science Points - as well as the dangerous Unstable Cores that eventually explode, possibly wreaking havoc.
The disastrous human influence on the environment can also be seen in nature’s hostility - your beavers better avoid the newly added Thorns! - and, most importantly, the two dreaded dangerous seasons that hit the wasteland time after time. The danger involved depends on the difficulty setting you choose - here’s to you, Pressure-on-Hard enjoyers.
With access to flowing water and irrigation being such important factors in the game, droughts are devastating without proper preparation. Becoming increasingly severe over time, they force the player to find ways to grow crops and power up factories even after water sources go dry. Will you build a huge reservoir to release extra water as needed? Can you figure out how to store enough water to keep all kits from ever going thirsty? Have you secured alternative energy sources so there’s no blackout even when there is no flowing water or wind?
Badtides, on the other hand, do not mean water stops flowing. Instead, it turns red and, just like badwater already found on the map, it becomes a deadly danger. When exposed, beavers can become contaminated, and the plant life on the contaminated soil withers even more quickly than when left with no water at all. In Timberborn 1.0, we also added the Badtide Drains - the old rusty pipes humans left behind that spew out badwater every time a badtide hits.
Fortunately, the crafty beavers have countermeasures. You could cover the Badwater Sources with Badwater Domes (if you’re on Folktails!), use Irrigation Barriers for protection (that’s one of the Iron Teeth solutions), or get creative with the many water-related tools to redirect the upcoming waves of toxic waste before the damage is done. Plus, there are ways to utilize badwater - it powers up water wheels just fine, and you may even turn it into helpful resources such as Grease. That’s how the Iron Teeth power up their bots, for example.
There’s a good reason to call the Timberborn beavers “lumberpunk” - as you can see across these countdown posts, their post-apocalyptic toolset is quite advanced. In the game, science is an important resource for unlocking new technologies. Having harnessed kinetic energy - transferred with modular, adaptive Power Shafts, and stored in physics-defying Gravity Batteries - our beavers get to use a variety of sophisticated wooden and metal machinery.
Over time, you gain access to many beaver-themed production chains. As is tradition in the genre, the beginnings are humble: your settlers cut trees with their bare teeth, then turn the Logs into Planks in the Lumber Mill. But give them some time, and you will find yourself collecting metal and smelting it to create the multi-part, autonomous bots. Or, working towards the end-game monuments and wonders. Or, taking steps towards the full and complete…
This is a surprise addition to the game and probably the greatest game-changer in the entire 1.0 mega-update. Last week, we introduced over 20 new buildings that allow you to make your settlement - or part of it - run on its own. To quote our last week’s announcement, automation naturally extends Timberborn’s city-building mechanics, deepening the gameplay, reducing micromanagement, and allowing you to increase your beavers’ efficiency. And the best part is that automation is extremely scalable, making it a great tool for all players.
The simplest automation setup could involve a single condition that turns a building on or off. As an example, a Depth Sensor activates when the water level rises above your selected threshold. Then, you select a pausable building, such as a Water Pump, click “Automate”, and select that Depth Sensor. As long as the Sensor stays active, the Water Pump works. When the water level falls below the threshold, the Depth Sensor becomes inactive, and the Water Pump pauses, freeing up its worker again. And that’s the gist of it!
Take it a step further and pause your Lumber Mills when you are running low on logs. Go crazy and build a fully automated utopia run by arrays of Relays, Gates, and Valves - just make sure you hook them up correctly. Your beavers’ lives might depend on it.
Or, you could build an in-game computer or construct an LCD display - who are we to judge you?
Of course, it’s not just crazy automation setups where the hoomans playing this beaver game shine. While Timberborn is about what can will happen if mankind’s wrongdoings continue, we put our human players first, and with 1.0, we’re tipping our hat to all of you. We added features that have been in demand for a while, such as Spiral Stairs, customizable Banners, automated Clutch and Gate, building duplication, and, of course, the Steam Achievements - 59 of them, no less. Now that your in-game successes are properly recognized, will you be able to catch them all?
Last but not least, Timberborn 1.0 brings a ton of updates to the modding pipeline. Thanks to these changes - both under the hood and visible after meddling with the developer tools for a moment - creating mods is easier than ever. Just click Mod -> Create Mod in the main menu, and see that for yourself. Or… simply browse Steam Workshop or Mod.io for tons of player-made creations - from new factions to quality-of-life tweaks! There are many options available, and with 1.0 releasing so soon, we look forward to an even greater surge of jaw-dropping human-made creations. Exciting times indeed!
We’ll see you all at the Timberborn 1.0 launch - in less than 24 hours. YAAAY!