Shared Coop-Mode (Part 1)

Hi everyone,

a new update is out (v0.8.015) , which finally introduces the first part of the shared coop mode . This part includes the possible share of many colonists jobs, zones, the items system, the building system, and many systems regarding shared constructions and their related functions.

In addition, AColony goes in a custom sale with a -35% discount for this event. (Actually, I wanted to add this 2 weeks sale directly to the end of the summer sale, but unfortunately the update needed a bit longer than expected)

Important

Even if I (and other players on the experimental branch) tested through the new functionalities, the shared coop mode is still highly experimental. All players which want to enable the mode need to enable it in the regarding menu (otherwise the game runs in the default and known separated coop mode).

Even when all checkboxes are marked and all is shared, there are some aspects of the game which run in the default mode (some of them will be sharable with the second part of the update, for others I need to look if and how a shared way would work). This includes the following points:

Each player must build his own beds, prison beds and animal cages to use them correctly. (They are directly related to the personal colonists / pets and ways to get new ones)

Each player must build his own boards for the community room, hospital & prison to use them. (Otherwise the colonist expectation system will not see them. But the furniture in the rooms is detected as shared)

The research system is not shared (so each player still needs to research his own tech tree)

Relations to factions & also events are still reacting to the individual players (but attacks and attack targets for raids detect the shared system and try to act accordingly)

Even if the radio station can be shared and used by all players, the menu and setups inside the menu are individual for each player. (so player 1 sees the requests of player 1 when he open the menu and player 2 sees the ones of player 2)

The end event / space program is not shared, each player needs to build his own spaceship (but resources, power and other things can be shared)

Note: If you encounter any errors, or colonists refusing a shared job which should actually be done, you can share them here in the comments, in the community hub / discussion or the AColony discord server.

Shared Coop Menu

The shared coop menu can be found ingame on the upper right corner of the screen. For the mode to work, all players who want to share their settings must enter the shared co-op mode. There you can select which aspects of the game you want to share with which player. A specific point is only shared when 2 green checkmarks appear. (Which means both players agree with the setup).

Shared Terrain Jobs

At first I added the option and background system, to share the colonist jobs & control of the following terrain jobs:

Cut Trees

Harvest Plants

Mine Blocks

Hunt Animals

While the option for jobs allows that your colonists will also cut the trees, harvest the plants, hunt the animals & mine the blocks which the other player has selected - with the option for control you are also allowed to edit / remove the jobs the other player has set (the icons as well as the visualizer for mining appears then as your one)

Shared Zones

Next there is also an option to share the core parts of the following / all zones:

Storage Zones

Plant Zones

Trading Zones

The option for jobs allows your colonist to seed and harvest plants on zones of the other player, transport and restack items on the zones of the other players and also treat the trading zone as one of their own. Is also the control enabled you can edit, remove & expand the zones of the other player (the system treats them in the same way as yours and colors them accordingly)

Shared Building & Blueprint Management

This was a trickier part to implement, but it's finally possible to share all jobs & control regarding the building & blueprint system too. The jobs include the ones for transporting items to the blueprints, clear the blueprints & build them. With the shared control you also become (like with zones) the full owner of the blueprints of the other player, which means both player can edit build & stack buildings at the same time and order they want.

Shared Power System

In connection with the shared building, I have also reworked the power system to support a shared coop mode. So when you enable the option for a shared power system, all power cables of the different players (which have the shared option enabled) will connect automatically and work as 1 large unit.

Of course I need to say here - this makes the MP Power Connector (which is used to share power systems in the separated coop mode) completely useless.

Shared Mineral Resource System

It is also possible to share the complete mineral resource system now. With that option enabled, the shared mode treats the discovered areas of the sensors of the other player as yours and you can place pumpjacks & drillers at these spots.

Shared Item System

If the shared item system gets enabled, all items of any player which has the mode enabled will become yours (and vice versa). This means all jobs regarding items & resources will work in the same way like if they are yours, the resource overview menu (on the left upper corner) will also show these items if they are in any zones + you can also trade with all items when traders or wanderer communities appear. (the panels with the count over the items will get your color too).

In addition, all actions for forbid & mark with priority (also from the area select menus) will work on the shared items.

Shared Constructions & Tables

Shared Crafting

Shared Crafting shares all colonist jobs & the control of the crafting tables between the players. You can edit, add and remove jobs from the queue of the other players tables like on yours.

Shared Power Components

With this option enabled, all generators, batteries, switches and other components related to the power grid, will be shared in control and colonist access.

Shared Defence

This point enables that player in shared mode can use and control the same ballistas, artillery & turrets. (includes reloading, aiming and transporting new ammo to them)

Shared Science Tables

If the science tables are shared, your colonists can also use the tables of other players to research your science points. Important: The science system itself is still not shared, so your colonists are still researching your individual science points only.

Shared Trading Tables

With shared trading tables the trading caravans can use any trading table of the shared players. Important: Traders are still assigned to the individual player they come for, but with shared tables all players can trade with them (at the tables).

Shared Furniture & Others

This options enables at the moment all other things from constructions which can be shared, including entertainment, dining tables, community room & hospital furniture share, animal feeders & more!

Shared Repair / Move / Clean

This simply enables that all basic maintenance jobs are shared between players.

Shared Influences

These options are getting automatically set and are more a notify or debug setup for me. It tells with which options shared medical treatment or shared impacts on expectations & traits are enabled. It also looks for events and when the "factions (search / attack") algos are impacted. This means for example, that a raider attack will target the constructions of both players (even if they only come for 1 player) if their goal is destruction and shared buildings are enabled.

Note: this system is still very experimental

What's Next?

In the next weeks I will update and add the shared coop functions to the remaining aspects of the game. The first focus will be a shared science & research system with an extra option in the shared coop menu :)

Patch Notes

Last but not least, here are all patch notes for this update:

added shared coop mode (part 1 / experimental)

added shared mode for terrainjobs (control / jobs)

added shared mode for zones (control / jobs)

added shared mode for blueprints (control / jobs)

added shared mode for item system

added shared mode for crafting system

added shared mode for science tables

added shared mode for artillery & turrets

added shared mode for basic furniture

added shared mode for training targets

added shared mode for animal feeding

added shared mode for lighting rods, sprinklers & lights

added shared mode repair, move, clean

added shared mode for power system

added shared for mineral resource system

added some shared influences on medicine, expectations & traits

added copy & paste for furnaces

fixed coop bug where host reset craft job ids on load

fixed rare coop error on deleting a plantzone with active worker

fixed ballista ammo trails too bright

fixed some smaller things

I hope you all have an awesome day and fun with the first part of the new shared coop mode, Cheers!