Hey Polytopians!

In this new beta, we're going to test out some pretty interesting changes, and we'd like your feedback! We've made some general balance changes, some reworking of Cymanti, and some adjustments to Polaris, and we'll go in that order.

Note: This Beta is just that, a Beta. Everything is subject to change, nothing is finalized, you may find bugs that don't belong to Cymanti, and your feedback does actually matter!

Yes, we're making some adjustments to the base tribes and game systems, hoping to make some of the weaker tribes a little more competitive. We're going to list this tribe by tribe, so you can see how your favorite tribe has been changed.

• Ai-Mo now starts with Philosophy and a Mind Bender instead of Meditation

• Xin-xi now starts with 7 stars instead of 5

• Hoodrick now starts with 7 stars instead of 5

• Oumaji now starts with 6 stars instead of 5

• Quetzali now starts with 7 stars instead of 5

• Yădakk now starts with 7 stars instead of 5

• Luxidoor now starts with 7 stars instead of 5

• Luxidoor always begins with 3 fruit in their capital

• Polytaurs now cost 3 stars instead of 2

• You can now research "backwards" from a T3 technology, so Vengir can get Mining and Ai-Mo can get Meditation without needing Climbing first

• Forges now grow 2 levels (one pop per level) per Mine instead of giving 2 pop per Mine (and one level). This is so that they synergize better with Markets. Forges are now buildable on Forests and Mountains, as well

• Temples give 100 Score per level of growth instead of 50 Score

• The cost to use Burn Forest reduced from 5 to 3 stars

• The cost of new Embassies increases based on the number of Embassies you have. You want more friends? Spend more

• The maximum level for Markets is now 6 down from 8

The moment you've all been waiting for! A rework of Cymanti! After all these years, we're finally doing something to hopefully make them a little more fun to both play and play against. We've given them some new units, reworked old units, and adjusted their personality a little bit. A lot of the changes were to adjust them better around the Path of the Ocean content, but there's plenty of general balance changes, as well.

Boomchi

We sliced the Raychi in half, turning the Raychi into a more general naval unit, while giving its more explosive properties to the new Boomchi. Want to spread Algae more effectively on the water? The Boomchi is the solution, a 5 star unit that is designed to be more expendable than the Raychi. Go, blow up your enemies without breaking the bank! You can find the Boomchi in Sailing and the Raychi now in Ramming.

Living Island

The Cymanti aren't exactly the best at crossing the oceans, so they came up with an idea. "What if we could infest a sea creature and have it spread Algae for us automatically? And that's just what this unit does. As it moves, it creates Algae for free! It's analogous to the Juggernaut, causing area of effect damage, also. The Living Island has the Stomp, Algae, Static, and Stiff traits.

Any resemblance to units that were removed in the past are completely coincidental. Don't become attached, people.

• Algae is now a tile feature, not an improvement, so buildings like Mycelium can be built on them. They spawn with a free fruit on them, and no longer slow down naval units

• Fungi now start at level 0 and will decrease in level whenever they're stepped on by an enemy unit

• Cymanti Explorers can now move on the water, just like other tribes

• Units with Explode can attack and then explode, giving them more punch!

• Hexapod attack has been reduced from 3 to 2.5

• The Clathrus is now a land building more analogous to the Market, growing from adjacent Fungi instead of Algae. It now Poisons units that step on it, but no longer makes trade connections (since Mycelium do that job even on Algae).

• Poison now slows down units

• Boomchi and Raychi have been given the trait "Crawl", allowing them some ability to slowly work their way on land. "Amphibious"? Well, kinda? They're not exactly land-dwelling critters

Not nearly as extensively as what Cymanti has gotten, but changes, nonetheless. We'll keep this as a simple bullet list, as the changes aren't exactly Square-shattering.

• Glide now gives +1 Movement, not double movement

• Skate has been adjusted so Battle Sleds now have 3 movement, not 4

• Ice Fortresses now have Escape and Static traits

• Ice Archers now have 1 Attack

• Attacking a frozen unit will unfreeze that unit

All players on Steam are eligible to join the beta by doing these simple steps:

1. Right-click on Polytopia in your Steam library

2. Click "Properties" from the dropdown list

3. On the new popup window, click the "Betas" tab

4. Use the access code "polytopiabalance" to join the beta!

It should look something like this:

Note: We're using a new backend for this, so it will look like you have lost all of your friends. You have NOT lost your friends, they'll re-appear if you leave the beta.

And that's it! Hop on the beta, give your feedback on our Discord[discord.gg] or in our Steam Discussions! We look forward to hearing what you have to say!

-Zoythrus