Changelog: 0.3.5 - Sanctuary in Time

Greetings, one and all!

Version 0.3.5 of Sanctuary in Time is about to go live! Love is in the air at the citadel, and we've got major changes coming to the game because of it. We've got infatuation, romance, love, and yes, even marriage! And a whole host of new side story events to support them. But I won't spoil too much here in this preamble. So, keep reading below for all the juicy details.

These updates are coming to the Patron Edition first, then 30 days later they'll be released for the Standard Edition as well. 

Above all else, have fun!

Max (Novus Operandi)

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 forces that seek your death!

Save files from previous versions of the game should be compatible w/ this version. See installation instructions on the File Download page for details on how to transfer save files.

New Feature: Love stat!

• A new stat has been added for followers: Love! This determines their level of romantic interest in you. Click ‘Manage’ on a follower’s file card to see their current level. It’s displayed between Health & Devotion. Value ranges include ‘Platonic’, ‘Fond’, ‘Infatuated’, ‘Passionate’, and ‘Unconditional’, with a few slight variations in between.
• Bringing a follower to orgasm now increases their Love for you, as well as their Devotion.
• The number of orgasms per turn a follower can experience is now based on their Love stat, rather than their Devotion stat. The higher their Love, the more orgasms they can achieve before reaching exhaustion.
• A new cheat menu option is available (in the Patron Edition) for setting the starting Love stat value of followers at maximum.
• If a follower’s Devotion falls below a certain threshold (currently <= ‘Uncertain’), then drops in their Devotion will also cause drops in their Love for you.

New Feature: Relationship stages!

Now that love is in the air at the Citadel, you can pursue romantic relationships with your followers and see those relationships evolve over time.

• Your relationship with a follower can now progress through various stages, based on how intense their feelings for you are.
• Each time a follower’s love for you hits a certain threshold, it will stop advancing until you complete a special event during which you can choose to either encourage their love (further advancing the relationship) or discourage it (lowering their affections).
• Courting: The courting stage of a relationship is the first and least intimate, where you and the follower try to get to know each other through shared activities.
• Girlfriend: The girlfriend stage of a relationship is more intimate than merely courting. A variety of sexual events become available that only ‘girlfriend’ (or higher) followers are willing to participate in.
• Wife (Reserved for the Patron Edition): The wife stage of a relationship is the most intimate. The majority of ‘girlfriend’-related events remain available for this follower, plus new events become available that are exclusive to wives.
• Polyamory! You can have an unlimited number of girlfriends and wives, as befits a time-traveling god. Really, they don’t mind. In fact, they kind of expect it.

New Side Story Event: A follower becomes infatuated w/ you.

A brief, new side story event in which the player notices a follower is trailing behind and watching him. Upon realizing she’s been seen, she blushes & quickly walks away. The player then realizes the follower might be developing a crush on him.

• From time to time in the settlement, a random follower (who is not already in love) will now develop a crush on the player & become ‘infatuated’ with him. But this event will be suitably rare.

New Side Story Event: A follower wants to be ‘courted’ by you.

A brief, new side story event in which a follower approaches, confesses that she sees you as more than ‘just her commander’, and asks if you would like to begin courting her.

• Requires a follower’s Love stat is ‘Infatuated’ (or higher) & gives the player the opportunity to encourage the follower’s feelings (thus advancing the relationship) or discourage them (thus reducing her feelings).
• Unlocks the ‘courting’-related date activity.

New Side Story Event: Going on dates!

A new side story event that allows you and a follower in the ‘courting’ phase (or higher) to spend quality time together though engaging in various shared activities.

• 12 activities are available at present, which are variations on 3 main categories; Share a Meal, Watch a Movie, and Exercise Together.
• You can participate in two different activities per date, and a follower’s response to those activities will be either positive, negative, or neutral, depending on various factors (such as her skill levels, personality-based limitations, etc).
• At the end of the date, you can simply ‘Say Goodnight’ or try to ‘Kiss Her Goodnight’, and depending on her mood (as determined by her Love stat & how well the date has gone so far), she’ll respond to these choices differently.
• After both activities have been completed & you’ve said your “goodnights,” a final summary of the date will be displayed which lets you know how well it went, and what effects (if any) the time spent together had. These results can either increase, decrease, or leave the love of a follower unaffected, depending on the outcome.
• At the ‘girlfriend’ stage (or higher), these dates can even end with a trip back to your private quarters for more intimate time alone.

New Side Story Event: A follower wants to be your girlfriend.

A brief, new side story event in which a follower approaches, confesses she wants to do more than simply ‘get to know you’, and asks if she can become a ‘girlfriend’ to you.

• Requires a follower’s Love stat is ‘Very Passionate’ (or higher) & gives the player the opportunity to encourage the follower’s feelings (thus advancing the relationship) or discourage them (thus reducing her feelings).
• Unlocks girlfriend-related, erotic side story activities.

New Side Story Event: A follower wants to be your wife.

(Reserved for the Patron Edition.) A new side story event in which a follower approaches, confesses she wants to be more than just a ‘girlfriend’, and asks if she can become a ‘wife’ to you now. A brief, impromptu wedding ceremony then takes place, in which either a courtship-assigned follower officiates as priestess or Eva fills in if none is available.

• Requires a follower’s Love stat is ‘Unconditional’ & gives the player the opportunity to encourage the follower’s feelings (thus advancing the relationship) or discourage them (thus reducing her feelings).
• Unlocks wife-related side story activities, some erotic & some simply “affectionate.”

New Side Story Event: A new wife asks to call you “Husband”.

A brief, new side story event in which a wife approaches and asks if you wish to be called “Husband” from now on, or if you prefer the existing title she uses.

• A brief, new side story event that is exclusive to wives.
• Only occurs once for each new wife, and afterward, she’ll either address you as “Husband” or continue using the existing title you’ve set for her.

New Side Story Event: Player wakes up in bed & finds wife sleeping next to him.

• A new erotic side story event that is exclusive to wives.
• The player wakes up and finds one of his wives asleep next to him. She wasn’t there when you went to sleep, so she must have come in sometime after you drifted off. She seems to be quite peaceful. So, should you leave her be and go back to sleep, or gently wake her for a bit of quality time beneath the sheets?

New Side Story Event: Wife leaves a token of her affection on your desk.

• A brief, new side story event that is exclusive to wives.
• The player enters his private quarters and finds something left for him on his desk. It’s a token of affection from one of his wives. Possibilities at present are a plate of food (b/c you forgot to eat), a gift that made her think of you, or a love note. Each scenario includes multiple randomized elements for a sense of variety.

Feature Update: Changes to side story events.

• Placed a limit on how frequently the same side story event can occur. Now a minimum of 3-5 turns must elapse between occurrences of the same side story (depending on event type).
• Implemented system by which side story events are now launched according to different priority levels, rather than purely random selection. So now certain types of events are more likely to occur than others, so long as they meet their requirements to be run. This results in events feeling timelier and more appropriate to what’s currently happening in the settlement, rather than purely random.
• Increased the chance for side story events to launch at end-of-turn report by 10%, while decreasing the chance for no event to occur. The chance for recruitment events to run remains unchanged.
• Increased the chance for short side story events to launch secondary events afterward by 5%.
• The ‘special title’ events (in which a follower makes an “unusual request” to call the player by a special intimate title, such as “Father”, “Big Brother”, etc) have been updated. Previously, a follower only needed a certain level of devotion + possess the right personality combo to make said request. Now, they instead need a certain level of love + they must have entered the ‘girlfriend’ relationship stage or higher + possess the right personality combo. So, from now on, these requests should only be made by women you already have an intimate relationship with.
• In the voyeuristic idle activity in which you observe a follower showering, the requirement for the option to ‘Join Her’ has been changed from Devotion to Love + they must have entered the ‘girlfriend’ relationship stage or higher.
• In the follower inspection dialogue, the requirement for unlocking the ‘Take to Private Quarters’ option has been changed from Devotion to Love. Additionally, rather than just announcing a follower’s Devotion level at the start of the dialogue, it will now display her Devotion level + her level of ‘feelings’ / ‘love’ for the player + her relationship w/ the player (if a girlfriend or wife).
• Updated requirements for events in which follower requests feedback on her diet / exercise progress, so that now the follower must have either a Devotion of ‘Very Trusting’ (or higher) or a Love of ‘Very Passionate’ (or higher). This matches w/ the requirements now in place for conducting a ‘hands on’ inspection of the follower, which shares similar elements with these events.
• Minor edits to scenes and choices have been made for all erotic side story events (the random weekly narrative events that can occur after the turn report). These events are now reserved for followers who possess a certain level of love for the player + have entered the ‘girlfriend’ relationship stage or higher. So, the narrative tone of these scenes has been changed to be more appropriate for two people in a romantic relationship. The starting arousal level for followers in these scenes has also been increased from ‘minor’ to ‘moderate’, to better reflect their romantic interest in the player.
• During erotic events, rather than just having a follower’s starting arousal level displayed (near the beginning of the event), they will now display her level of ‘feelings’ / ‘love’ for the player + her starting arousal level + her relationship w/ the player (if a girlfriend or wife).

Interface Updates:

Removed the default window bordering / controls from many of the interface areas, such as the progress bars, Gene Lab and Outfit Shop windows, etc. I think this gives the game a more streamlined appearance.

Gameplay Balancing Updates:

• The player can now (optionally) start the game with a small, semi-random amount of energy & silver available. Just enough to afford the recruitment of two more followers, but not enough to afford any settlement upgrades. These resources will be offered to the player by Eva during a brief, narrative event that occurs in the first few turns of the game (whether the main story is enabled or not). Eva informs the player that a locked box of abandoned valuables has been discovered in a disused portion of the settlement, and asks if a drone should retrieve the contents. The player has the option to accept or decline the resources. [This was implemented to speed-up the process of adding more followers to the settlement & make the early game more interesting.]
• Reduced the cost of enabling surveillance on a follower from 25 to 15 Energy.
• Reduced the energy cost of most Gene Lab customization options by approx. 50%.
• Increased rate of recovery for followers who are ‘Resting’ or ‘Patients’ by 10%.

Misc. Updates:

• Fixed issue causing ‘Activate Surveillance’ button to sometimes be displayed, even if surveillance for a follower is already activated.
• Fixed issue causing Options Menu to disappear if another part of the interface was clicked while it was open.
• Fixed issue causing text output in weekly turn report to be indented incorrectly if follower’s diet / exercise routine hit minimum / maximum values allowed.
• Fixed issue causing weekly activities of Caretakers to sometimes describe them as being on a ‘floor’ and ‘scrubbing tiles’ when working in the outdoor gardens. Now more appropriate verbiage will be used for an outdoor area.
• Removed full orgasm outcomes from Coaching activities. Now that orgasms are more closely tied to increasing the Love stat & advancing romantic relationships, they felt out-of-place in coaching scenarios. However, followers can still become aroused during these events, they simply don’t reach full peak.
• Increased procedural variety for Coaching activities tied to reducing a follower’s ‘disdain for caretaking’. These now include gardening activities as well as cleaning.
• The ‘fit’ category of muscle development has been renamed as ‘firm,’ to better contrast with the ‘soft’ category below it. (Plus, it sounds better in scenes.)
• Added a new, higher category of muscle development beyond ‘sculpted’, called ‘highly-developed’ with ‘Olympian strength’, which depicts a follower with even more powerful musculature. (As suggested by Ninjafirevax.)
• Followers with ‘nurturing’ personalities can now offer to call the player by the special titles of ‘Young Lord’ or ‘Little Brother’, just as ‘confident’ and ‘reserved’ personalities already could.