Release 1.7.0 is approaching so it is time to do some testing on it. The usual public test build for the new version is now available. This release focuses on starting to polish up the multicellular stage for the release of it planned by the end of the year. In this release there are achievements and tutorials for the multicellular stage, balance tweaks and other smaller changes and features for the multicellular stage. AI species can now also enter the multicellular stage by themselves. There’s also been some upgrades to the macroscopic prototype and an achievement for reaching it, if anyone wants to check it out. Also as a long-time request, it is now possible to edit the full layout of your multicellular colony rather than just relying on the automatic algorithm trying to lay it out in a sensible way. We’ll reveal the full set of changes in a devblog next week.
One slight problem is that the “perfectly packed” achievement is probably way too hard to get right now. We will adjust that to be easier before the full 1.7.0 release. And also the Vulkan caveat that appeared in the previous release about older GPUs still applies as there has been no new engine update to fix that.
To access the beta build, right click Thrive in the Steam client and in the beta versions tab select "beta" as the version to play.
Please provide any feedback you have on this test build. We are especially interested in feedback on how the multicellular stage feels now and if it feels like it is missing some key feature still.
You can provide feedback in the comments below or on our forums: https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/1-7-0-release-candidate-testing/9213