Dev Journal #1: Preview of the "Living Strategy" v1.4 Update

[The_J]

The developers of Ara posted a new update on Steam, writing about the next patch, which is scheduled for June 18. They plan to address 6 points in total, among them UI, AI, map generation and more.
In this update they specifically write about the UI, and that they plan to make all interactions possible via the main map, in contrast to e.g. the city screen.
You can read about the update here on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2021880/view/507328146461163889

 

[KayAU]

There's a preview of this update available to play on the preview branch right now.

I need to sleep now, but will probably be posting about 1.4 tomorrow. It is, in my estimation, going to be massive. Stardock has promised to increase the development pace, and they are delivering. Just have a look at the changelog for the preview:

(PREVIEW BUILD ONLY) v1.4 Update Changelog :: Ara: History Untold General Discussions

Welcome to a sneak peek of Ara 1.4. We’ve made some dramatic changes to the game visuals, including making units much more visible on the map. We have also made significant improvements in performance. Lastly, we have significantly improved how the AI harvests resources from regions and manages...

steamcommunity.com

It's already enormous, and the full 1.4 release is going to be even bigger.

 

[KayAU]

I am really happy with the direction the game is taking. Ara always had a lot of potential, but 4X games are tricky to get right, and Ara has a fair number of problems as well. For those of us who have been following the Discord though, it is clear that Stardock/Oxide are serious about taking in player feedback and realising the game's potential. The changelog for the latest preview version is clear evidence of this. I dropped the log into a text editor, and it came out at whopping 33 pages. A lot of it is balance changes, which are important of course, but there is also a lot that has happened to the game core, like substantial changes to AI, map generation, visuals and performance. Here's a screenshot of my latest start:

The highlights of this update for me are:

• The smaller region size. There are a lot more regions now, making the map both effectively much bigger, but also more readable. Readability overall is improved by several other factors as well, including the more distinct resource markers, the scaled up unit models, and the way things are rendered.
• The improved visual quality and performance.
• The numerous balance changes. Usuaully I wouldn't get too excited about some numbers increasing here and decreasing there, but when you have 30 pages of rebalancing, it is going to mean something.
• UI improvements, like having those important Quality of Life stats right on the city banner.
• AI improvements, this is such an important area, but also one which is often neglected, as I guess it is not as marketable as more surface level things.

We're still a month out from the full 1.4 patch, which will have even more changes and improvements. This is looking good.

 

[KayAU]

I've been playing this update for a while now, and if you haven't already, I would encourage anyone to try out the 1.4 preview. The game has improved significantly, and I'm having an awesome time with it. I will be posting some screenshots in the screenshots thread.

 

[KayAU]

The more I play, the more I love this update. The balance changes have really made a significant positive impact, more so than I had predicted.

The early game was always good, but it is excellent now. Admittedly, these types of games usually manage to make a good early game though.

What's more impressive, is that I am currently in the mid game, where I have a lot to manage, and I am still having about as much fun as I did in the early game. After the update, resources have become even more important than they were before, and they are also a bit more scarce and spread out. This means that although I am in the midgame, I am still chasing them. It has become more challenging to develop your cities and setting up a good economy, and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I am curious to see how well things hold up in act 3. Ara is a long game, so it will still take me some time to get there.