Constructor - Spare Parts And Servicing! Update

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6vU5V1zPvA Hello wonderful fans of Constructor. It is I, BrightPaw, with another announcement for the latest update that should be reaching your screens right… about… now! Let me welcome you to the Spare Parts And Servicing! Update. *Welcomes* What an almost month it has been since the last update that saw Nigel Plasterboard working with some of the best Constructors this side of Steam. Oh, and let’s not forget the heated leaderboard struggle between the wonderful Ashfall, and Dmitry – well done to the two of you for breaking the leaderboard! Yes, we've also slipped in a quick adjustment for the bank balance since yesterday so that you can continue to keep track of your money on the main screen even when it's worth at least... carry the four, subtract the square of a... a lot of money!

Well, enough stalling for time… Firstly, thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the missions – it is wonderful to see everyone enjoying them and we’re happy to say that you’ve exceeded the expectations of the ever-unhelpful foreman, Nigel Plasterboard. This patch will add a few changes to the text based on the feedback received, as well as hopefully sealing any of the remaining methods for creating impossible to pass stages… we hope. As always, if you have questions about the missions and require assistance please don’t hesitate to open a thread in this subforum. We would also like to thank the Non-English fans for their patience and understanding whilst we are waiting for the final versions of the translations. It is no doubt very frustrating to not always understand something immediately, but we believe in your ability. 😊 We are hoping that the translations will reach us within the next few weeks so stay tuned for a follow-up patch.

So What's New?

In addition to the usual fixes, we have made corrections to the missions as well as a few other changes such as allowing you to set your rent using the mouse-wheel. Snappy! However, there is one change I would really like to talk about which is the automatic replacement of tenants. Constructor is, and always has been, a game of micromanagement. Keeping track of tenants, replacing them, reassigning their production/rental payments, making sure that the Major has the right type of tree, replacing that tree because it was the wrong type of tree, are all part of the process. Therefore, we have been averse to completely automating the process in the past. However, it is a new year (well, if five months can be considered new…) which means looking back at some of the other things which can be toned down a little. We are happy to say that it is now possible to automatically replace tenants provided you have spare ones available! But what is the catch? Surely it must degrade them in some way – there is no way you’d add this without making it worthless or annoying to use. Well, if upgrading to Deluxe Kitchens is annoying then you’ve got us! Based on feedback, we understand that later in the game things become very tedious when it comes to replacing the moaning Majors or Smelly Slobs every other year. If you missed the announcement yesterday, here is a quick demonstration of how it works! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzOGvLTRamw We therefore feel that targeting this feature towards the mid to late game stages with the pre-requisite of a Deluxe Kitchen tones down the amount of micro-management late game, whilst also allowing some of the early game concerns such as squatting hippies to remain relevant during the time’s you might often see them. Understandably, this may not be to everyone’s taste, but the principle is very simple: it rewards you for doing well and charging tenants through the nose to live in your up-market properties! Of course, it is important to remember that this functionality only extends so far as replacing tenants who die of old age. Therefore, if they are killed by other means they will not be replaced automatically so that some amount of decision making is still involved once things heat up. Of course, this adds yet another use for the loveable hoodlums… the erm… Thugs! Want to disable this against a rival? Simply send your Thugs to throw a party the likes of which would make even the Hippy blush. Once the Deluxe Kitchen is ripped out it will need to be replaced before replacement will take effect once again. Another difficulty with the auto-replacement of tenants is making sure enough information is conveyed to players so that whilst they are focused on other things, they can always know that the game has got their back. Therefore, we have created a set of new notifications which convey the following information:

• When you are running low on tenants of a specific level.

• When your tenant could not be replaced due to a lack of available tenants.

• When a tenant becomes a Super Tenant as part of the auto-replacement.

Each notification has a handy Go-To button that takes you to the affected property, too!

Okay, What's The Plan Going Forward?

Good question! First, a tea break. That’s a given. After? Well, it’s not so simple. The short of it is that we have many more things that we will adding to the game throughout the year based on feedback from fans, as well as various additional quality of life improvements because, well, the quality of life can never be too high, right? The key changes and additions still to come are:

• Mission localisations

• Remapping keys

• Video mode improvements

• Learning Missions

• Even more quality of life changes

• Miscellaneous UI improvements

• Multiplayer saves

• Constructor Plus

Once again, thank you all for your support and patience! Oh, and for those who might have missed yesterday’s announcement… here are those blasted patch notes again.

BrightPaw’s Recovered Patch Notes

New Features And Quality Of Life Additions Added timer countdown for missions which have time limits. Multiple instances of the same message will not spam the screen if they occur within 30 seconds of each other. Swapped Total Rent Leaderboard to a new one that can hold much larger numbers. Halved volume of crying sound effect that plays when one of your tenants die. Rent increase/decrease button now accepts mouse-wheel input for quicker rent-setting. Rent can be increased/decreased by mousing over the rent value in the data screen and using the mouse-wheel. Tenants can now be automatically replaced at a per-home level. This functionality requires a deluxe kitchen at all times and only applies to tenants that die of old age. Borderless video mode added – Play Constructor and stream the latest episode of your favourite series on Netflix. Netflix and build, anyone? Achievement pop-ups can be disabled in the Message Options. Adding -Q to launch options not only skips the introduction, but also speeds up the loading sequence where previously it would wait for the audio to finish playing. Added a digit and removed spacers once the bank balance exceeds 9,999,999. Missions Corrected wrong audio for Basic Job in stage 5 and stage 6 briefing. Implemented additional logic checks to ensure certain things cannot be done out of order to prevent impossible to pass stages in the following missions: Basic Job Salvage Operation Managing Expectations Full Circle Mission text that was previously ambiguous such as “Carbuncles”, “Solid Brick Housing” now have bracketed identifiers. Example: ”Build Carbuncles (Tenement Blocks) of your own…” General Fixes Guard dogs will no longer attempt to bite policemen or tenants from other teams. Fixed a crash which could occur due to player-controlled policemen being bitten, and the player then trying to interact with them. Fixed an issue where council workers lured to the Arcade by the Killer Clown would leave the building and become permanently stuck. Fixed an issue with the classic building placement method and pause mode. Fixed an interaction between Street Parties and Police Helicopters trying to get their groove on. Fixed a crash that would sometimes occur when loading saved games. Fixed an issue where Supertenants stopped being triggered when more than 128 of a tenant type were already on the map. Fixed animation when changing gangster weapon repeatedly.

Right, well, that’s a wrap. Now, where are those biscuits… Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! :lovekami_heart: System 3