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Steam News3 May 20262mo ago

Rise of the Settlement – Dev Diary Community Update #23

Greetings, Settlers 🏛️ This update brings important improvements to the core systems of your settlement, focusing on population dynamics and trade improvements. Social Classes A while ago, in version 0.0.

In this update5

Full notes

Full Rise of the Settlement update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

What changed

7 fixes3 additions14 changes4 removals
  • Gameplay
  • Balance
  • Performance
  • UI and audio
  • Fixes
  • Server
changedGreetings, Settlers 🏛️This update brings important improvements to the core systems of your settlement, focusing on population dynamics and trade improvements.
addedSocial ClassesA while ago, in version 0.0.9, a social class system was introduced behind the scenes. With this update, that system has been significantly improved and is now fully visible to the player.
changedSocial ClassesThe population is organized into groups of social classes , each with its own capacity based on the total population allowed in the settlement. Every group is divided into three tiers — Low, Mid, and High — each occupying a percentage of that group.
changedSocial ClassesEach class has its own set of needs, including food, drink, fuel, and tools , and these requirements are now clearly visible. Managing these needs becomes essential for maintaining stability and encouraging upward mobility.
addedSocial ClassesThe lowest class currently has no capacity restriction , as all new villagers join at rank 0. This will change in future updates.
changedSocial ClassesChildren are not counted toward social class capacity and inherit the social class of their father.

Rise of the Settlement changes

changedThis update brings important improvements to the core systems of your settlement, focusing on population dynamics and trade improvements.
addedA while ago, in version 0.0.9, a social class system was introduced behind the scenes. With this update, that system has been significantly improved and is now fully visible to the player.
changedThe population is organized into groups of social classes , each with its own capacity based on the total population allowed in the settlement. Every group is divided into three tiers — Low, Mid, and High — each occupying a percentage of that group.
changedEach class has its own set of needs, including food, drink, fuel, and tools , and these requirements are now clearly visible. Managing these needs becomes essential for maintaining stability and encouraging upward mobility.
addedThe lowest class currently has no capacity restriction , as all new villagers join at rank 0. This will change in future updates.

Greetings, Settlers 🏛️

This update brings important improvements to the core systems of your settlement, focusing on population dynamics and trade improvements.

Social Classes

A while ago, in version 0.0.9, a social class system was introduced behind the scenes. With this update, that system has been significantly improved and is now fully visible to the player.

The population is organized into groups of social classes, each with its own capacity based on the total population allowed in the settlement. Every group is divided into three tiers — Low, Mid, and High — each occupying a percentage of that group.

Your population will always strive to improve their social rank.

Each class has its own set of needs, including food, drink, fuel, and tools, and these requirements are now clearly visible. Managing these needs becomes essential for maintaining stability and encouraging upward mobility.

  • The lowest class currently has no capacity restriction, as all new villagers join at rank 0. This will change in future updates.

  • Children are not counted toward social class capacity and inherit the social class of their father.

Population evolution is now strongly tied to wealth:

  • People spend their wealth daily to satisfy their needs.

  • They can advance to higher classes only if there is available capacity in the next tier.

  • If needs are not met, or if people can no longer afford their lifestyle, they will demote to a lower class in search of better living conditions.

This creates a dynamic system where economy, supply, and social mobility are deeply interconnected.

Barter Hall

The Barter Hall has been completely reworked to improve usability and clarity.

It is no longer a building, but a dedicated tab under the Trade panel.

Its purpose remains the same: to make goods tradable by establishing agreements with traders across the realm.

Key improvements:

  • The UI now clearly shows which goods have enough quantity to begin trade promotion.

  • Only resources that are unlocked through technology can be promoted, even if they are not yet produced locally.

  • The required amount for promotion is now dynamic, based on the value of the resource:

    • Higher value goods require smaller quantities

    • Lower value goods require larger quantities

  • The system no longer requires workers, simplifying the process.

Known Issue: People can still develop Trader perks, which are now obsolete. These will be removed in a future update.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where caravan experience was reset to 0 after loading a save game

  • Adjusted upgrade costs for several buildings that were too high at certain levels

  • Fixed an issue where auto-assigning workers to livestock buildings did not increase animal capacity

  • Fixed trader stats not updating correctly on the Export Rules page

  • Fixed an issue where dead people were paying taxes. Taxes are now paid only by adults.

  • Fixed an issue where dead character portraits were not loading correctly after loading a save

  • Fixed a typo in the resource header on the Overview page

Improvements

  • Person perks are now always visible in the population list (not only on hover)

  • Caravan Overview now displays active boosts per caravan

  • Updated coal icon to better distinguish it from iron ore

  • Copper and iron ingots now share a more consistent visual style

  • Added tooltips for resources to clearly display their names

  • Fixed objective text referring incorrectly to the Trade tab instead of the Barter tab

  • Life expectancy has been updated and is now set to 35 years.

Final Note

There is still more work to be done on the settlement systems, especially regarding population and social classes.

Next, I will focus on improving:

  • The recruitment system

  • The organizational structure of the settlement

I’m also not yet fully satisfied with how needs and class progression behave in all cases. The foundation is strong, and I’m very happy with the direction — but it still needs tweaking and balancing to reach its full potential.

As always — thank you for supporting the journey.

Your feedback shapes every update.

🎮 Join our community: 👉 Discord Server

See you in the settlement. — Luki

Source

Steam News / 3 May 2026

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