Afterworld Dev Diary #4 - The First Steps (Part 2)

Welcome back Dustlanders! Today we continue the adventures of the Bunker Cats. Last time they had gotten their first settlement running and food and water processing too.

Having progressed further in the quest chain for Shelterborn, our band also gains enough pride for another custom (we will go into bands in the next diary), where we conveniently have the choice of “Wolf Wardens”, because of our workers harvesting the paw-paw fruits. This adds both combat abilities and skills in cultivation to our band. We are now quite broadly skilled! At the time of upgrade we also had a choice of deepening our skills with machinery and craft, or doubling down for more survival.

This is probably a good choice because we are all alone and aren’t quite sure what can lay in wait.

Scouting further it turns out that just one province further up the river is pretty good so we move our settlement upstream where the fertility is looking better.

We’ll set up there, build some basic farms and start growing grain. I have also set up an outpost here to expand our borders.

Our new location seems worth sticking to so it is time to start researching Settlement Development in the Idea Tree to allow us to upgrade our main settlement.

While this is researching our rangers have been exploring across the river to the south - and made an exciting discovery! The second shelter we lost contact with is located here!

Not only that, they also discover some Factory Ruins. These can catapult us into midgame technology-wise if we settle there and repair them (as well as do the right research)!

As we build an outpost to make use of the ruins, our rangers continue exploring and make our first contact with other humans. A bit of an unfortunate encounter, as they rob us :D

We swear revenge on the Iowa 80s! As soon as we are armed and ready! But as we are not ready yet we continue exploring :D The second tribe (to the north) we find are much more friendly and welcome us warmly. Their use of slave labor does give us a bad feeling. Our neighbor situation seems quite sinister right now. More reason to arm!

Our rangers finally reach the second shelter - but it looks like the inhabitants have already left. We get ready to prepare an expedition to explore and see if there are any clues…

Expeditions are a mechanic in Afterworld where rangers go on special adventures often with skill checks and other requirements barring their way. It is a way for us to bring more classic post-apocalyptic stories into the game and to create cool narratives. Of course it's also a great source of powerful relics, information and various loot! We will talk more about how they are constructed and work in a future diary.

With the people gone, we bet on activating the shelter's emergency beacon hoping they will notice this and contact us. This starts up a longer event chain…

While we wait to see if anyone picks up on the emergency beacon it is time to get ready to deal with our neighbors! To do that we construct the ability to start producing weapons, through an Improvised Warworks.

Blades should be enough at this stage.

While we doubt the friendliness of those slavers to the north, the more immediate threat is probably the people who robbed us to the south! Our rangers have already mapped out their home, so we are ready to strike!

Our War Party rolls out.

I would like to believe the Iowas are not beyond redemption (and I also worry about their connections to the Highway Brotherhood) so we absorb them as a new underclass for now. They will need to prove themselves in the future

This means that we now have two bands - which means we can finally form a full tribe! We have also been unlocking some options for government forms during all this and make our first steps into a more formal society outside the shelter as an Administrative Fiat. We could have formed a more democratic society here putting the Iowas up in a ruling position, had our run-in been more fortunate.

It's worth pointing out that through becoming more accustomed to the dustlands and building up their skills in farming, the Bunker Cats now have taken on more of a look of farmers and cast off their ill-suited shelter overalls (Justin is even sporting a proper tan)!

Forming a tribe is an important moment, so here you can decide your tribe's crest and name for the first time! For origins that start with multiple bands, this is part of the prologue.

This is a perfect spot to stop our story for now. The bunker cats have formed a larger tribe by oppressing the Iowa 80s and have established themselves outside a larger city while waiting for the beacon. Our next step is probably to decide what to do about our Northern neighbors as well as pushing into the city proper…

So, what has been happening with the Turns Expedition , let’s see below in their next excerpt.

Next time you see us in a Dev Diary will be in two weeks time, where we will move to talk about specific mechanics, with Bands first out!

Turns Expedition - Interview Excerpt.

Subject: pop-cultist priest, Marina Bay Cinema Temple.

Subject is wearing dozens of religious icons hanging from a sash. They are plastic figurines, likely pre-Fall in origin, each representing a character of pre-Fall popular culture.

Each hero is a reminder. I wear Arnold, and remember that great strength requires great effort. I wear John McClane, and remember never to yield to wicked men. I wear Bugs, and remember that there is no design of man that chance and trickery cannot frustrate. I wear James Bond… you’d better ask your parents why I wear James Bond. Ha!

Clever folk say to me: “Don’t you know these heroes are only tales the Ancients told each other? You must be a fool, praying to old stories.” And they are very clever, so maybe I am a fool. But I see the power of the Ancients all around me. The wealth of their cities, the scars of their weapons. They knew these heroes were worthy of honor. They poured themselves into their tales, and live there still.

When you think you are alone on these lands, you are not alone. This world teems with the Ancient dead, watching what we do from beyond the silver screen. Here is my blessing, friend: may you live a life worth watching.