Because of that, defending your colony becomes of utmost importance. Luckily, the update brings with it new combat mechanics, which includes the ability to use specialists to attack invading bandits while in the colony. 

Aside from dastardly deviants breaking through your front door, the world outside your settlement walls is now a bit more dangerous, too. Wild animals are more aggressive toward your colonists, and they’re far more intelligent, acting as roadblocks to critical resources. 

Colonists are a bit more autonomous, offering up advice and reacting to your decisions. As is the case with some other strategy games, colonists now have negative conditions, keeping them from working at full capacity while active. 

Update 6 also brings with it new buildings in the Outhouse and Gate Level 3, alongside improvements to the game’s barter and reputation systems. 

As expected, you’ll be able to leave the development team feedback so that these new mechanics can be tweaked for future updates. 

Surviving the Aftermath released into Early Access on the Epic Games Store and Xbox Game Preview in October for $19.99. Though the game was rather rough when we played it soon thereafter, we thought it might eventually turn into “a pretty fun colony builder.”  

The full Hostile World patch notes can be seen over on the Paradox forums.