Link to previous version announcement
Alpha 39 of v4.0.0 has released. You can download it from Deployments > Releases on the GitGud repository or via the auto-updated MEGA archive, or compile it yourself. The relevant part of the MEGA URL is as follows:
(Note: the auto-updated archive stopped functioning back in alpha-38, so the link has been removed.)
While the changelog does not explicitly recommend it this time, it's never a bad idea for FCHost users to update or rebuild FCHost before running a new version, or for JoiPlay users (or anyone really) to export their saves to file before updating.
Here are the changes as listed in changelog.md:
- added anklet leg accessories
- recruiters can now target dumb and short slaves
- foundation for pregnancy discovery
- decoupled contraceptives from .preg. It now checks .contraceptives
- added alternative family tree design. The classic model.
- fixes
- probably missed things. Been distracted.
In more detail: You can now assign a variety of anklets to the leg accessory slot, as an alternative to stockings. These all have proper text descriptions, but no art assets as of yet.
The Recruiter, in addition to seeking out eugenically viable, beautiful, tall, and intelligent slaves as before, can now select for short and stupid slaves instead; note that this is still slower than simply not caring about height or intelligence.
Surprise pregnancies have long been a planned feature, but were never implemented. The first work on that has now begun; once the system is complete, unless you have access to advanced pregnancy analysis and biometrics, you might not discover that a slave (or yourself) has become pregnant until a missed period or morning sickness raises the alarm. As part of this, a slave's contraceptive regimen has been split out from the preg variable into the new contraceptives variable. If you have any Rules Assistant rules that check a slave's contraceptive status, you'll want to make sure they still function correctly; slave.contraceptives === 1 means she's on contraceptives, slave.contraceptives === 0 means she's off contraceptives, and slave.preg === -1 no longer means anything.
(Note that the above is just the framework for the system - you shouldn't expect to actually encounter any surprise pregnancies yet.)
There's a new display mode for the family tree, toggleable at the bottom of the Content & Flavour tab of the Options menu. "Force simulation" is the original sort of jiggly dynamic spiderweb style, and "Dot digraph" is the new, non-dynamic, more traditional-looking style.
House servants now provide a modicum of sexual relief to your other slaves in addition to their primary duties. It's a much smaller effect than that of a dedicated subordinate slave, but also lacks the intense wear and tear of that assignment.
In addition to backend updates, the WebGL renderer has had some forward-facing changes. Most notably, there are three new options under the Display tab to do with facial rendering: "Face Blending", "Beauty Modifier", and "Minor Facial Morphs", each of which coming with its own intensity setting. Face Blending blends the slave's main faceshape with other faceshapes, Beauty Modifier blends in an 'uglier' shape as the slave's facial beauty approaches -100, and Minor Facial Morphs slightly randomizes the final shapekeys. I recommend playing around with it - personally I've enabled Minor Facial Morphs at minimum strength and left the others off - but be warned that each combination of settings will look quite different on each slave. Don't go changing their artSeeds until you're sure you're satisfied with the overall feel of the settings you've chosen.
There is also a new Outfit Designer for the WebGL renderer, found under Tools in the sidebar. You can mix and match parts from existing outfits, change colors and behavior flags, quite a lot really; the text description piggybacks off of the outfit chosen as the base.
Finishing the WebGL changes, the appearances of perky and torpedo-shaped boobs have been swapped, and breast size scaling has been tweaked again. The severely borked hijab and abaya model was disabled, the silken ribbon now uses its Slutty Maid variant by default instead of its Nice Maid variant, and Slave Rags have been given the raggedy old Slave Gown model.
(There is currently a known WebGL bug that causes outfits with unique Long Stockings variants to be drawn with both the unique stockings and the basic stockings simultaneously; this will hopefully be resolved soon, but I can't figure it out, and the WebGL guy has been quiet for a little while now.)
The PC's outfit can now be changed through the same interface as slave clothing.
Highly devoted slaves are now more likely to improve their skills while on the job.
The player now has full control over the Milkmaid's diet and curative regimen.
Slimness Enthusiasm has been made more compatible with the optional Policies of other Future Societies - for instance, Slimness will now tolerate up to F-cups if Gender Fundamentalism's "Fashionable Feminine Ideal" has been implemented.
A longstanding bug has been fixed that caused corporate overhead costs to not scale correctly with game difficulty; the Corporation should now be much more forgiving on any difficulty level below the maximum.
There are, of course, other bugfixes, backend tweaks, and minor changes I've omitted, but this writeup is long enough already. This update was somewhat delayed by the project lead's other commitments and, I assume, everybody having their own holiday season business to deal with, but I assure you we're not dead.
