Changelog: 0.3.8 - Sanctuary in Time

Greetings, one and all!

We've got a nice big update this month, with a host of new stuff being added to the game: new dismissal options, outposts to build, balancing changes, a barber shop, and more! So, dive in and check it out!

These updates are coming to patrons first, then two weeks later they’ll be released for other editions and platforms (like the Itch storefront).

Above all else, have fun!

Max (Novus Operandi)

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Sanctuary in Time is a text-based, adult game with sci-fi & RPG elements! Your father's just been murdered. He was the God of Time. Now, it's your turn! Save damsels from dark corners of history; train them as warriors, courtesans, or workers. Build your forces. Expand & upgrade your citadel. And survive the enemies that seek your death!

Feature update: new dismissal options!

Previously, choosing to permanently dismiss a follower from the settlement was a very basic affair with no potential rewards in doing so. Now, however, this aspect of the game has been significantly expanded upon and several new options are available.

• The DISMISS FOLLOWER button on the follower management screen has been renamed as DISMISSAL OPTIONS and now launches a menu with multiple selections available.
• AMICABLE PARTING. This is a compassionate option, in which the player chooses to dismiss a follower to a friendly settlement offworld with ample supplies to ensure her safety. Depending on the follower’s relationship to the player, they’ll respond differently to this news. This option is always available, features no requirements, and produces no benefit.
• BANISHMENT. This is a cruel option, in which the player chooses to banish a follower to an uninhabited wilderness offworld with nothing but a modest shift, a pair of sandals, and a single water skin. Depending on the follower’s relationship to the player, they’ll respond differently to this news. This option is always available, features no requirements, and produces no benefit.
• ASSIGN TO AN OUTPOST. (See details below.)

New feature: building outposts!

Outposts are a new type of structure in Sanctuary in Time which can be purchased and then constructed over the course of several turns. Building them unlocks advanced dismissal options which grant benefits for permanently assigning followers to these locations. NOTE: followers cannot return from these assignments. They are permanently sacrificed.

• MISSIONARY OUTPOST. The missionary outpost allows the permanent assignment of followers to a field office offworld. The mission must first be built, and the follower must meet minimum requirements in health and devotion to be assigned, but afterwards, silver bonuses can be collected as a result of their efforts which increase by the number of followers assigned.
• COMMUNAL FARMSTEAD. (Inspired by suggestions from user Dark on the Audiogames.net forum.) The farmstead allows the permanent retirement of followers to a life of peace and quiet on a communal plot of land outside the settlement walls. The farmstead must first be built, and the follower must meet minimum requirements in health and devotion, but afterwards energy bonuses can be collected as a result of their efforts which increase by the number of followers assigned.
• Outposts can generate a small bonus per turn simply by existing, but their real potential won’t be unlocked until you start sending followers to live there permanently, as each one increases the size of the bonuses received. These bonuses (as well as the random activities that occur at the outposts) will be communicated in the BOONS section of the weekly turn report.

Feature update: tweaks to coaching system!

• Added text to the Coaching Menu drop-down selector which denotes the current severity levels of a follower’s various limitations (e.g. negligible, minor, moderate, or severe). (As suggested by Caccio72 on the Audiogames.net forum.)
• Placed an additional bookmark in the text output of the weekly coaching summary. Now, users of text-to-speech functionality can skip the multi-paragraph description of a follower’s coaching activities and go straight to the results at the end using the arrow keys. (As suggested by Caccio72 on the Audiogames.net forum.)

New feature: barber shop! (It’s raining hair!)

A new button has been added to the follower management screen labeled GROOMING OPTIONS, which unlocks when a follower reaches ‘Unquestioning’ devotion. This replaces the previous drop-down selectors for hair length and style as well as pubic style.

• This menu now encapsulates all previous hair-grooming options, plus new selections being made available in this update. Small amounts of silver will also now be charged for these changes, under the context of a female barber from offworld being summoned to perform the work.
• Two new customizable body hair regions have been added; underarms and legs.
• Options available for underarms and legs include hairless, waxed, shaved, wispily-haired, lightly-haired, amply-haired, and thickly-haired. (Though only hairless, wispily-haired, and lightly-haired will appear on new recruits.)
• Made slight revisions to several descriptive scenes in the game (where appropriate) to include mentions of these new body hair styles; in particular, when inspecting a follower’s arms or legs, or when watching them wash those regions while showering, or when their body is described as being fully nude.
• Pubic styles have also been updated to include a wider variety of natural options, all of which can appear on newly recruited followers; these include wispily-haired, lightly-furred, and moderately-furred. These join the pre-existing values already available. (Inspired by suggestions from player david_solomon1.)
• Updated the detailed descriptions of natural pubic styles to include a brief mention (where appropriate) for the presence of hair trailing back between the follower’s buttocks.
• Added new alternative scene that can randomly occur when performing inspection of a follower’s buttocks. This new scene describes her turning and then pulling her cheeks apart to reveal a more detailed view of the grooming between her cheeks and around her anus. This includes a new descriptive element for all pubic styles that describes how that style appears from the rear.
• Added new hairstyle to game of the pageboy haircut, with short and medium-length variants. (Yes, Jeanne d’Arc can now have the same haircut as Milla Jovovich from The Messenger.)
• Added new hairstyle to game of ‘in bun’, with short, medium-length, and long variants.

New feature: change a follower’s name!

When a follower reaches a high enough level of devotion, she will now become willing to allow changes made to her name. (As suggested by player feedback.)

• A new button is now available in the follower management screen of CHANGE NAME. It unlocks when a follower reaches ‘Unquestioning’ devotion.
• From here, you can make any changes you wish to her first or last name as it will be displayed in the settlement. But fear not, because her default name will be remembered, and if you wish to revert back to it, simply click the RESTORE DEFAULT button in this same menu.

Gameplay balancing updates:

• Stat checks for strength and persuasion have been updated so that a player’s chances for success (when fighting or persuading) can never equal or exceed 100%. Now, the highest success chance a player can have on such checks is ~98%. This was done to prevent less-interesting, overpowered scenarios and to ensure the player always has a chance to fail a stat check, even if only a slight one.
• Injuries suffered to a follower’s health & devotion on stat check failures have been increased in severity by 10%. This was done to help ensure that having multiple medics and infirmaries in the settlement feels more worthwhile.

Misc. updates:

• Fixed issue causing ‘Confirm’ and ‘Cancel’ buttons on Settings Menu to be inaccessible under condition of system text size being scaled very large. (Thank you to user Rico on the Audiogames.net forum for reporting this issue.)
• Fixed issue causing filecards to be improperly sorted (if sorted by follower age) after a follower’s age was changed in the Gene Lab. Now, filecards are automatically re-sorted after this change takes place.
• Fixed issue causing recruitable boss in end-game cycle of events to always be Middle-Eastern. (Their ethnicity is supposed to be random.)
• Updated first main story event so the explanation for why a portal can’t be used to save Lord Aion cites a time-period limitation of “100 years or greater” in the past, rather than 200 years. The previous value contradicted Mata Hari’s recruitment from 1917.
• Updated how height values are generated for new npcs, so that certain height categories are now limited by ethnicity (e.g. Chinese followers will no longer generate as being ‘very tall,’ while Nordic and African followers still can).
• Added brief pop-up window on confirming genetic changes to be made. This displays a small snippet of text describing the process of the follower morphing and mentions that she feels pleasure during this process rather than pain.
• Added new alternative scene that can randomly occur when performing inspection of a follower’s vagina. This new scene describes a partial penetration using fingers.
• Added new hair color to Gene Lab of ‘strawberry blonde’; a mixture of red and blonde hair. Can occur naturally in new recruits with a Nordic background.
• Added new hair color to Gene Lab of ‘golden chestnut’; a mixture of brown and blonde hair. Can occur naturally in new recruits with Nordic, Celtic, or French backgrounds.
• Added new breast size between current categories of ‘modest’ and ‘large,’ which is ‘ample.’
• Additional bookmarks have been placed in the text output of the weekly facilities report. Now, users of text-to-speech functionality can arrow between the construction status reports for the various major structures (i.e. buildings and outposts) without needing to hear the entire report.