Demo updates continue today! If you have thoughts on any changes, please share them freely. We carefully read every single comment—thank you!
This balance update brings a mild upheaval for trains. Since this is a demo, we’re taking an aggressive approach to updates to gauge “what works best.” Specifically, we’re redistributing synergy effects that were overly concentrated at high levels toward lower levels, so we can observe how it feels to split investment across multiple synergies rather than over-committing to just one. Please leave feedback here in the comments, on the Discussions page, or via email at [email protected]. Thank you!
Balance
Trains
Education
(3) Education: Bonus Happiness becomes 5× → Always produces bonus Happiness.
(4) Education: Always produces bonus Happiness → Bonus Happiness becomes 5×.
Culture
(2) Culture: +1 → +2
(3) Culture: +3 → +5
(4) Culture: +7 → +10
(5) Culture: +12 → +14
(6) Culture: +21 → +22
(7) Culture: +36 → +32
Food
(2) Food: Gain 1 passenger. → Gain 2 passengers.
(3) Food: Gain 3 passengers. → Gain 4 passengers.
(4) Food: Gain 7 passengers. → Gain 8 passengers.
Media
The Press synergy still shows high win rates, and structurally it doesn’t feel particularly “fun,” so we’re considering a rework. For now… we’ll proceed like this:
(2) Press: +8 → +5
(3) Press: +16 → +12
(4) Press: +36 → +26
(5) Press: +88 → +56
Artifacts
Tropical Globe
Happiness +81/cycle → Happiness +100/cycle
Elitism
Your base passenger count is halved. Train Happiness output +80% → Your base passenger count is halved. Train Happiness output +70%.
Hot Wallet
Happiness −60~+90 → Happiness −50~+100
Birth Certificate
Gain 3 passengers → Gain 4 passengers.
Rose
Happiness +9/cycle → Happiness +11/cycle
Missing Nut
Movement speed +4% → Movement speed +3%
Jury-Rigged Engine
Movement speed +6%, Happiness −9/cycle → Movement speed +4%, Happiness −11/cycle
Turtle
Happiness +14/cycle, Movement speed −6% → Happiness +16/cycle, Movement speed −4%
Engine Failure
Movement speed −5% → Movement speed −4%
Events
Swarming Rats
Chicken without Wings: Gain 2 passengers, Happiness −11/cycle → Gain 2 passengers, Happiness −24/cycle
Preparation for the Future
Choice 2 “For now, keep watching”: now also Receive 1 Artifact Drone Supply.
Relief Policy
Power Diversion: Movement speed −7% → Movement speed −6%
Harnessing Unstable Energy: Happiness −14~−44/cycle → Happiness −16~−66/cycle
Rat Remedy
Choice 1 “New rat poison, you say?”: EXP +1 → EXP +2
Gameplay
As part of visibility improvements, card designs have been updated: slightly longer aspect, thinner borders, and wider background areas.
As part of visibility improvements, the brightness of the train-space alert UI has been adjusted.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where the “×2” text for Backlash displayed in green in tooltips.
Fixed an issue where the number “1” was not highlighted in green on Philosopher’s Stone.