A couple of balancing changes and a minor quality of life addition.
Changelog for 1.2.0.25
Added a +5% chance to hit for you, and a -5% chance penalty to hit for the enemy, on 'Beginner' combat difficulty. Other difficulty levels remain without any such bonus or penalty.
Added additional line to combat log to clarify things in case a ranged attack goes astray and hits another tile than intended, both for you and the enemy.
Changed efficiency vs. armor for all bows to be 10% lower.
Changed maximum amount of Alps in a single encounter to 10, down from 12.
Changed size of Alp parties roaming the land outside of contracts to be slightly smaller on average.
Update 1.2.0.24
This update brings a rework of everyone’s favorite opponent, the Alp, and fixes a couple of more obscure bugs.
The Alp
In reworking the Alp, we wanted to have fighting them feel more varied and interesting than up to now, but at the same time not compromise their theme or identity. The Alp is a nocturnal predator that haunts you with nightmares and feeds off of it, and fighting it is supposed to have a puzzle-esque aspect to it as you navigate a maze of nightmares. In order to achieve the above, we’ve changed the mechanics of the Alp quite fundamentally.
Alps no longer inflict the ‘Sleeping’ or ‘Nightmare’ status effects – those are gone. Instead, they cast the new ‘Realm of Nightmares’ spell on ground near your men. Any tile such affected has the boundary to the world of dreams erased for two turns, which allows living nightmares to manifest and haunt your men.
Nightmares are a new type of opponent that goes down with just one hit, but whose attacks always hit and ignore armor. The more resolve a character has, the less damage they’ll take from these attacks. A single hit doesn’t do terribly much damage in any case, but nightmares can slowly eat away at your men’s sanity, health and morale. If the ‘Realm of Nightmares’ effect runs out, the living nightmares will also fade from the world.
With the new Alps, you’ll have to face off against nightmares holding you in place and damaging you a bit more literally, but you’ll also be able to get use out of more skills, perks and equipment than with the previous incarnation, and battles should end up feeling more varied and faster-paced. They’re also a bit less unique than before, which is a price to pay, but should still feel unique enough compared to fighting all other opponents in the game.
Changelog for 1.2.0.24
Changed mechanics of Alp. See above for details.
Changed AI to perform better when defending with and against ranged units.
Changed Black Monolith to always drop the Emperor's Countenance as loot again when destroyed. It's no longer dropped as loot by the Conqueror himself, as players might retreat from battle without realizing that this meant that the armor would be lost forever.
Fixed some legendary locations potentially getting sucked into nearby combat without the player having to first unlock them properly via event dialog. Requires a new campaign to take effect.
Fixed game potentially not continuing as characters with equipped wardogs get devoured by a Kraken.
Fixed Kraken sometimes not dropping loot.
Fixed issue with necromancer twist of 'Root Out Undead' contract.
Fixed player strength calculation for scaling purposes not always updating properly.
Fixed another cause for combat between AI parties on the worldmap potentially not ending.
Fixed issues with characters retreating without properly taking into account all opponents that can catch up with them, and thus taking improper routes.
Fixed potential issue with contracts not continuing properly after losing your entire deployed roster in battle, but still having people in reserve to carry on with.
Fixed various minor issues.
Update 1.2.0.23
Bugfixes!
Changelog for 1.2.0.23
Fixed crash on destroying a greenskin siege engine with a two-handed mace.
Fixed potential timing issue with twist of 'Siege Fortification' contract.
Fixed player figurine on worldmap staying invisible when cancelling 'Rebuilding' contract during escort phase.
Fixed Lindwurm Scale Coat attachment not protecting body armor against acidic blood. Only works with attachments applied after this update.
Fixed AI with Quick Hands perk switching between weapons even if stunned.
Fixed issue with ranged AI sometimes moving back and forth instead of attacking.
Fixed various minor issues.
Update 1.2.0.22
Bugfixes for things reported over the holidays.
Changelog for 1.2.0.22
Added new 'Hardware Sound' option to audio options menu. This is enabled by default, but can be disabled if you experience any issues with sound such as sound effects missing or playing abnormally quiet/loud. Requires restart of the game to take effect.
Changed tools to be available more often and in higher quantities in larger cities and settlements with surrounding manufacturing locations.
Fixed Kraken head not showing properly on its assigned tile in some cases.
Fixed combat between AI parties on the worldmap not resolving in some cases.
Fixed characters not deserting the player when they should.
Fixed news about conquered towns and random events sometimes not firing during civil war late game crisis. You may get spammed a bit with events upon loading an existing save until the event queue is unclogged.
Fixed Potion of Oblivion not properly removing skills and effects gained from perks.
Fixed combat freezing on AI turn under specific circumstances.
Fixed issue with 'The enemy is retreating' dialog sometimes awkwardly appearing when the next round has already started.
Fixed various minor issues.
Update 1.2.0.21
As a small christmas gift, this update adds a new blood red variant of all common helmets. They're available for purchase in shops and as loot for everyone, and owners of the 'Beasts & Exploration' DLC can also dye helmets in red. No new campaign is required, but it'll take a couple of days for the new helmets and paint item to show up in shops around the world.
The update also brings another adjustment to the balance of the Nimble perk. Alps are on our list of things to look at, but they'll have to wait until after the holidays. Until then, merry christmas and happy holidays to you!
Changelog for 1.2.0.21
Added blood-red variants of all common helmets.
Added new recipe for crafting red paint.
Changed 'Nimble' perk to grant damage reduction to hitpoints up to 60%, down from 66%, lowered exponentially by the total penalty to maximum fatigue by head and body armor after the first 15 points.
Changed three-headed flails to no longer potentially lose durability with each connecting strike, but only once per skill use.
Changed 'Lunge' skill of fencing sword to no longer calculate its damage bonus after fatigue from current skill use is applied, but before. Effectively, the skill will do more damage now.
Changed events for legendary locations to now automatically dump the lowest value item from your inventory, if the inventory happens to be entirely full, in order to make room for legendary item rewards.
Fixed 'Famed Explorer' achievement not registering as completed.
Fixed crash on fleeing Lindwurm dying while attempting to leave a zone of control.
Fixed crash on Irrlichts dying to bleeding damage right while they're ensnaring someone.
Fixed issue with ambitions to discover legendary locations not working properly.
Fixed issue with combat in 'Raid Caravan' contract not working properly.
Fixed issue with loot not working properly as Wiedergangers reanimate right after clicking to end the battle via dialog.
Fixed issue with Saplings and Wiedergängers potentially showing as stuck in the ground if attacked during their initial raising-from-the-ground animation.
Fixed permanent injury visuals still showing on characters after being cured with a certain item.
Fixed named two-handed flails having no improved values over their common counterparts. The fix only applies to weapons generated after the update.
Fixed various minor issues.
Update 1.2.0.20
Bugfixes and a balancing change for the Nimble perk.
Changelog for 1.2.0.20
Changed 'Nimble' perk to now grant damage reduction to hitpoints up to 66%, but lowered exponentially by the total penalty to maximum fatigue by head and body armor only after the first 15 points. In effect, this should encourage wearing light/medium armor over cloth.
Changed Alps to no longer use the 'Sleep' skill when the player has ordered a retreat, as to make retreating from large numbers of Alps always a possibility. They still can use the 'Nightmare' skill on anyone already sleeping when the retreat is ordered, though.
Changed Alps to have a penalty to initiative at the very first round, as to give the player more of a chance to spread out at the start.
Fixed ambition success events triggering more than once in some cases.
Fixed ambitions for discovering legendary locations not working properly.
Fixed visuals for armor attachments sometimes not updating immediately when replacing one attachment for another.
Fixed 'Lunge' skill not doing the same damage as displayed in tooltip.
Fixed AI not using the 'Prong' skill of the Spetum.
Fixed crash on killing a Kraken if the deathblow was to destroy one of its tentacles.
Fixed game freezing on opponents dying to the 'Riposte' skill.
Fixed game potentially freezing as Schrats take damage from Miasma.
Fixed game potentially freezing if losing a city to the undead during the 'Last Stand' contract.
Fixed game potentially freezing when falling back from attacking objective in 'Raid Caravan' contract.
Fixed 'Patrol' contract not starting when spawned while the faction still has 3 settlements to patrol between, but accepted shortly after one of them has been lost.
Fixed 'Haunted Woods' contract not starting when spawned at settlements with tiny woods only.
Fixed various minor issues.
Update 1.2.0.19
Another update to address issues that you guys reported.
There's likely to be some balance adjustments over the coming weeks, but we'll wait until everything has settled a bit and people have learned to deal with the new opponents using all the many new tools available.
Changelog for 1.2.0.19
Changed 'A Pact with Witches' contract to be slightly easier.
Changed rewards in 'Big Game Hunt' contract to be a bit higher for bigger beasts.
Fixed training hall effects not lasting for the correct amount of battles.
Fixed two-handed weapons potentially disappearing from bags for a charmed character.
Fixed issue with 'Break Siege' contract.
Fixed 'Hunting Lindwurms' and 'Big Game Hunt' contract sometimes changing their skull rating when opening negotiations.
Fixed characters dying from a hex not showing up in obituary.
Fixed issue with ambitions not triggering.
Fixed various minor issues.
Update 1.2.0.18
Here's a first update to take care of most issues that have been reported over the weekend.
Changelog for 1.2.0.18
Changed how random seeds are handled to solve some issues. Unfortunately, this breaks map seeds once more. This has no effect on existing saves.
Changed settlement situations to have a higher chance of filling the roster with specialized backgrounds.
Changed some things to make retreat from combat play out faster.
Changed tooltips of legendary items, as well as some rare items, to better explain their special effects.
Changed saves to no longer compress fog of war data, as to improve saving times on weaker computers.
Fixed clipping issues on world map after loading an older campaign, quitting to main menu, and then starting a new campaign.
Fixed potential crash during combat with Alps.
Fixed wardogs making human sounds when being woken from unnatural sleep.
Fixed potential crash with AI using the three-headed flail.
Fixed famed three-headed flails and spetums not being shown on character busts.
Fixed objectives in 'Find Location' contract sometimes being too far away.
Fixed player potentially having to wait a long time in 'Defend Settlement' contracts for enemies to arrive when having destroyed their intended origin just prior to accepting the contract.
Fixed game potentially freezing on world map.
Fixed wrong inventory icon for 'Masterfully Preserved Rations'.
Fixed hiring costs changing when loading a save.
Fixed kraken cult location not working after first task is completed.
Fixed 'Nimble' perk protecing against damage from 'Hex' status effect.
Fixed dialog to select new ambition not appearing under specific circumstances.
Fixed Kraken ambition not registering as completed.
Fixed combat between parties on the world map sometimes not ending.
Fixed various minor issues.
Beasts & Exploration Release
The ‘Beasts & Exploration’ DLC for Battle Brothers has been released into the world!
You can find a detailed explanation of what is contained in the DLC here.
The new music tracks by Breakdown Epiphanies have been added for free to the soundtrack on Steam and GOG for every current and future owner.
Enjoy!
Update 1.2.0.17
With the ‘Beasts & Exploration’ DLC comes a big free update that improves the game in many aspects. Below you’ll find a list explaining the most important changes and additions.
Note that all of this is in addition to the many additions brought by the DLC which you can read about here. You can purchase and wishlist it here.
If you’d like to continue your current campaign with the previous version of Battle Brothers, or continue to play it altogether without the DLC, you can do so as well. Find Battle Brothers in your Steam library, right-click it and select ‘Properties’. Navigate to the ‘Betas’ tab and select the ‘1.1.x’ branch from the dropdown menu. Steam should now update Battle Brothers, and once done, you’re ready to go.
Starting a new campaign is very much recommended. You may continue your current campaign, but if you do, expect some glitches.
Note that most mods probably will not work anymore until they've been updated by their authors to work with the new version of Battle Brothers. Make sure to remove them, as otherwise the game may crash.
Changelog
Added new main menu background.
Added icons to the main menu showing what DLC are installed or missing.
Added 24 new settlement situations for a more dynamic economy.
Added 16 new character traits.
Added ability to pay for a tryout and uncover a potential recruit's traits before hiring them.
Added button to end the current round and have all your men skip their turns until the next round starts.
Added ability to give potions, strange mushrooms and antidote to other characters in battle without having to drop them on the ground first.
Added 'Free Ally' skill to free adjacent allies from nets, webs and vines.
Added 'Grant Night Vision' spell to Goblin Shamans.
Added lots of new event and contract illustrations.
Added more names for characters, settlements, regions, items, locations and opponents for more variety.
Changed world map to be 25% larger and include two additional settlements. New campaign required to take effect.
Changed map seed to use words made up of characters from a to z, and no longer exclusively numbers in hexadecimal notation. For example, the word "overhype" is now a possible map seed.
Changed XP required for veteran levels to increase by 1000 for every level. In effect, the first levels are attainable roughly as fast as before, but attaining the following levels takes longer as to cut down on the attribute inflation for very long campaigns. Also, with a linear increase in XP cost, there's no longer any sudden roadblocks where one veteran level would require twice as much XP as the previous one did. And because enemy strength scales in part with the levels of your characters, having the average level a bit lower in long campaigns will also reduce the number of enemies a bit, leading to quicker combat and less pressure to replace everyone with superhumans as time goes on. Note that when loading old campaigns, veteran level characters may seem to need excessively much XP to level again - this isn't the case when starting new campaigns.
Changed starting size of stash to 99, up from 90.
Changed named shields to always have either the same or better fatigue penalties than regular ones.
Changed strength of roaming beasts to scale more depending on distance to civilization, and less on campaign time.
Changed enemy bases to be more proactive in sending out parties to intercept enemies threatening them, but also have a weakened garrison while doing so.
Changed all end game crises to start slightly later, to take slightly less time to defeat, and to fade out more smoothly.
Changed greenskins and undead to be a bit less active in destroying settlements, as to make using the 'Permanent Destruction' setting more viable.
Changed chance of any human dying during the Undead Scourge crisis to return as a Wiederganger to be lower.
Changed 'Escort Caravan' contract to give better directions, an approximation of the time required (e.g. two days), pay slightly more per tile of distance, to support payment per head, and to have a cap on distance, especially in the early game.
Changed 'Armed Courier' contract to have a cap on distance, especially at the start of a campaign, to pay slightly more, and to give an approximation on the time necessary for travel if going by road.
Changed 'Defend Settlement' contract to make sure that there's bases of the attacking faction near enough to not have the player need to wait for too long for the attackers' arrival.
Changed contracts to be more readily available at the very start of the game.
Changed renown to decrease by -2 each passing day, as stories about your company will slowly fade from people's memories unless you continously create new ones.
Changed effect of different training regimes at Training Hall to be slightly stronger and made them stay for a certain number of battles, and no longer a certain number of days. Also, they're more affordable now.
Changed costs and stats for various character backgrounds to some degree, and introduced a random +/- 10% factor for all daily wage demands, so you'll find cheaper and more expensive recruits also within the same background.
Changed how daily wages for mercenaries employed by the player are calculated. Instead of a flat +2 crowns for every level, it's now a cumulative 10% on the wage for every level until the 11th, and then 3% on the wage for every level afterwards. In effect, there's less wage pressure in the beginning, low tier backgrounds have become cheaper to employ in the longterm, and some backgrounds have become more expensive to keep around if they reach veteran levels.
Changed how retreating works. If your men are already on the edges on the map, you'll safely retreat as before. If they aren't, they'll now attempt to move to the edges of the map by themselves until either they succeed or die. While this is going on, they'll get a defense bonus for moving through zones of control, the amount of which scales with the chosen difficulty level.
Changed enemies and player characters to make no more than 2 attempts to flee from a position in a single turn.
Changed morale checks to always have a 5% chance to succeed or fail, just like attacks do.
Changed dropping items to the ground, or switching between hands and bags, to no longer grant effective fatigue to spend in the same turn.
Changed polearms to have a -15 chance to hit targets directly adjacent, reflecting how long and unwieldy they are in close combat. Picking the 'Polearm Mastery' perk will remove this penalty.
Changed 'Polearm Mastery' perk to reduce the action point cost for using skills of polearms from 6 to 5. The 'Repel' and 'Hook' skills now always apply the 'Staggered' effect, even without the mastery.
Changed 'Hold Out' to be called 'Resilient' and have a new effect; any negative status effect with a finite duration (e.g. Bleeding, Charmed) has its duration reduced by -1 turn, to a minimum of 1 turn.
Changed description of 'Shield Expert' to include the fact that picking it grants a +15% bonus to hit chance to the 'Knock Back' skill. This was already true in previous versions, but the game neglected to mention it.
Changed 'Killing Frenzy' perk to count the turn the effect first triggers as part of its 2 turn duration.
Changed 'Reach Advantage' to provide a bonus of +5 to melee defense per stack, with a limit of 5 stacks, instead of the +20% of total melee defense per stack it provided before.
Changed 'Nimble' perk to now give consistent damage reduction to hitpoints up to 75%, but reduced exponentially by the total fatigue penalty of body and head armor. Fatigue penalty from other equipment does not affect the damage reduction, but neither do the 'Brawny' perk or traits.
Changed 'Battleforged' perk armor damage reduction to be based on current total armor value, and no longer maximum total armor value. Also, a status effect now displays details on the effect as with 'Nimble'.
Changed 'Underdog' perk. The defense malus due to being surrounded by opponents is negated, as was previously the case. However, if an attacker has the Backstabber perk, the effect of that perk is now negated, and the normal defense malus due to being surrounded is applied instead.
Changed 'Brawny' fatigue reduction to 25%, down from 30%.
Changed 'Bags & Belts' perk to no longer entirely remove the fatigue penalty for two-handed weapons and shields.
Changed Lindwurms to have slightly more hitpoints, and to give significantly more XP. Their 'Tail Slam' skill now has an equal chance to either stun, daze or knock back their target. Also, they're a bit less rare now.
Changed out some assets for updated versions.
Changed AI of many enemies to perform better in a variety of situations.
Changed AI to make better use of parallelization for faster turn processing times.
Changed savegames to use compressed fog of war information for smaller file size and faster cloud synchronization.
Changed lots and lots of smaller things for the better.
Fixed game sometimes not continuing when a Lindwurm retreated from the battlefield.
Fixed game sometimes not continuing when a character that used the 'Taunt' skill died in the same turn.
Fixed rare issue with frenzied direwolves not dying properly.
Fixed issue with 'Reset Equipment After Battle' option not working properly under very specific circumstances.
Fixed issue with 'Last Stand' contract where the game would potentially freeze when defending settlements isolated on small islands.
Fixed 'Caravan Escort' contracts failing without battle in some cases.
Fixed combat slowing down in very long campaigns for some people.
Fixed player banner bonus not being updated immediately after moving.
Fixed wrong damage values displayed in tooltip of 'Knock Out' skill.
Fixed morale chain events being displayed in the wrong order in the combat log under certain conditions.
Fixed 'Nine Lives' perk not properly resetting after triggering once combat is concluded.
Fixed coastal settlements not being reachable by boat in some cases.
