Hi Crate, I love all the progress and content that was crammed into the 0.8 release. Since then we have not heard much about what you guys are working on 
Maybe you could consider releasing some kind of roadmap or «teasers» on what you are working on and where you want to take the game?
We may get a new State of Early Access thread perhaps. Otherwise it’ll likely just be the changelog for the next public playtest whenever that’s ready to start playtesting.
I’ll be happy to hear any news, but it would be nice to see what they are planning to achieve before going «live» with 1.0
Crate has always let us know what is coming (with their previous game, Grim Dawn) well before any update went live. There’s no reason to expect they’ll be treating FF any differently in that regard. In fact, they’ve been operating more or less the same already - the only difference with GD is that they were much more regular with the “news” posts and would always post a date at the bottom of those posts when we could expect to get the next development post.
With FF it seems that they are taking a more relaxed approach instead tho I admit I prefer the structured style they used in GD. Just keep an eye on the forums and you’ll be fine.
Also GD was very much a work in progress when Zantai started doing the Grim Misadventures whereas Farthest is a LOT further along in its development. It’s already pretty much content complete while GD was little more than the beginning of Act 1 when he started posting the GM’s.
We know from the State of Early Access threads done so far that a 5th tier of housing is coming, they’re looking at ways to make mineral resources infinite by adding quarries and deep mines, forestry and spiritual buildings are just some other things they’re working on.
I hope it’s already pretty much content complete is not an accurate statement, The game is still lacking any real reason to play it beyond the first 1000 population town you create. Once you reach 400 population there isn’t nothing to keep you playing. Maybe it’s my opinion but id like others to tell me what they think. Thanks
Dev stream of 24th June 2022
"FungusMouse: How feature complete will EA launch be? Or rather how long is EA anticipated to be?
Zantai: EA is anticipated to be I think it was 8 to 12 months we talked about. In terms of features the game is very complete. You can get through all the tiers we have right now from tier 1 to tier 4, all those buildings, all those reproduction modes, gather and produce over 70 resources so in terms of early access you’re getting a very complete experience. We want to keep growing that experience for you, but if you want early access I think in August you will have a game that feels very complete."
Of course we know there are some other things to be added and we don’t yet know what Crate may add from the ideas/feedback they’ve already had for the game. Some could be things that will be added after full release though.
You hit the nail on the head here. I would hope T4 would be “fleshed out” a bit more, and that there generally was a little bit “more to do” or experience between 400 and 1000 pop.
What could add more “things to do” is for example adding more resources, which you need to make more high-level products, and nclude more exothic and/or imported-only products to maintain tier 5 buildings (an example of what I mean is here). Also add more upgrades for some buildings like storages, some industries, etc. All this, for the mid-high level.
For high-level, I think the only way to extend the playability is to reach a point where your city is enough powerful to start exploring nearby regions to make colonies.
The best way to do so could be the need to establish a more defined form of government. A good tier 5 city should introduce high-level services like high schools and/or a university, then a place where justice is run, so a courthouse, a “tribunal” or something. And, most important and above everything, a government palace (no need to specify what form of government is - also an equivalent of this might be a real upgrade to the “town center” once reached the level 5, renaming it and giving it a new shape as a true grand government palace) which unlocks all these new high-service buildings. Also, a public bath house is needed, which uses wood to heat the water and keeps higher the health and especially the happiness. And a public street lighting (I suggested this times ago and also a possible way to implement it here).
Once you have all of this, an option to explore another map should be eventually given, which is “connected” to the city (meaning not physically, but as a “child map”, with which you can exchange resources and citizens, and which is generated in a way to include some special resources not available - or which were available in low quantity - in the main map).
I think this way you can literally double (if not more) the longevity of this game.
New game Manor Lords seems to have a lot of the features that people here are asking to be included in FF, hopefully developers will take a look at it to at least see what their competition is bringing to the table.
Agree that seeing a further road map for higher tier/end game content would be nice, but I personally am conscious of the coming holidays for some, so don’t expect to see much until after the new year. (Or maybe a surprise Christmas content?!)
Some interesting ideas for adding additional content have been shared. Things like a bath house adding happiness, street lights that would add +1 desirability, but I’m curious how other posters (@Ro84 for example) would further define the function of those additions.
Taken from the game guide, “Buildings offer valuable services, a place to live for villagers, or even act as decorations, but every structure serves a purpose that goes beyond cosmetic appearance.”
Meaning, if you’re adding a “more refined form of government” then what exactly would that include beyond just making more/different types of buildings available. How would adding a high school/university change the city? Higher education, sure, but what would the villagers do with that higher education? “A place where justice is run” - okay, and what function would that “justice” serve? And/or in turn, what function does the courthouse serve, and how does that add further changes to how the city functions? Does it degrade the function of the town center, current troops, towers, etc? Does the courthouse take the game into an era where the barracks and lookout towers would feel antiquated in comparison?
IIRC, the first courthouse was in the early 1700s, and the beginning of the industrial period came around mid-1700s, when production started moving away from hand-created and more towards machine development. My concern would be that some ideas would push the game’s aesthetic and function into something that would no longer be visually Farthest ‘Frontier’.
I would have liked to have seen the game sprinkled with a few ‘events’ that would require additional player input beyond just the threat of wild animals or invaders, although I’m not sure what that would include given what we already have in-game. Again, that’s the (cough) ‘beauty’ of EA, in that we could be completely surprised by content added later that would take longevity into account.
I’ve explained everything in more details here. This post will answer to almost all your questions about my ideas.
I did read that prior, but it still doesn’t answer how you see the actual function of those additions adding longevity to the game beyond just adding yet another place to build. If the acquisition of additional resources was the goal, then we already have the Trading Post.
I was looking to see if you had ideas on adding some deeper development to the game that would add more complexity.
A city builder game is a city builder game, meaning cannot be changed to something else (including rts games). So everything is about building, gathering resources, making products, defending, and developing.
We’re discussing about how a city builder playthrough can become more long-living. Well this can be done only using the same rules a city builder has to offer, meaning more development, and more complex dynamics.