Kingdom Wars 2: Battles
Major Update - Soon...
We are just a d away from the biggest update KW2B have seen so far. The team is working overtime to finish and polish this update, with ETA is for this week, of 28th.
UPDATE: As we continue to finalize patch we`ll bring you updates on the ETA. Still a few unknown - bugs we could fix in the next hour, or in the next day. Sorry for the earlier mistakes with the ETA, it`s always a guesstimate when it comes to out game engine:)
As we are putting finishing touched on this game changing patch, and as it looks like we still could use a day, or two, we wanted to post a full preview. But first lets start by listing what we are working on right now, and reasons for delaying the patch.
=======WHAT WE ARE STILL WORKING ON======
-Polishing Chapter 2 - this two hour long epic, with a lot of optional objectives requires a lot of testing
-Crash bug - there`s a new crash bug that we introduced into the game, we are close to fixing it, no point to patch until it`s fixed
-Archers behavior - there`s one more problem left, where archers positioned on walls don`t respond to orders well, we might as well fix it
-Pathfinding: units not separating - still need some time to make sure this is working right
-Pathfinding: units not walking through collision and mountains - needs to be polished better
-Rams sometimes ignoring task orders to attack - since we have a bit more time, we wanted to fix this as well
-Units sometimse getting stuck in a loop if the ladder they were using gets killed - also something we are working on due to the patch delay
Now, presenting patch 1.17 - THE GAME CHANGER.
========Major Fixes and Additions=======
-Added Episode 1 - Chapter 2 of the singleplayer campaign - 2 hours of gameplay
-Added Singleplayer AI that gathers, defends, builds and attacks
-New singleplayer menu with full game customization
-CoOp mode now features aggressive AI
-Reworked item trading interface, with it`s own menu, visual interface
-Adedd offline trading - accept offers from players who are offline
-Added Day and Night clock
-Added unit to unit collision - great for holding choke-points against superior forces
-Greatly improved ranged units - will not chase enemy units, fixed all around
-Building foundations can now be attacked and destroyed by melee units
-Fixed common crash during sieges, when ladders would be killed while units are using it
-Fixed common crash during Chapter 1
========Minor Fixes and Additions=======
-Fixed bugs with ranged units being unable to fire after a while
-Gatehouse construction no longer shows Rush Construction button
-Destroyed buildings no longer leave flags, or lights
-Fixed common issue with build layer of walls button being greyed out
-Fixed weirdness when the game was paused
-Greatly improved Chapter 1 AI attack sequence
-Added various checkpoint and saved game notifications - hour glass icon, and sound
-Add countdown sound effect for all campaign timers
-New main menu cinematic screens for singleplayer and trade sections
-Units who can`t reach enemy due to unit collision, will stay in aggressive animation
-Trade window statistics on previous trades
-Fixed art for various buttons in the main menu
-Fixed player chat colors in 2vs2 and FFA
-Help messages for Cards, Techs and Trade menus
=======Balance Changes======
-Reduced duration of the wild fires, especially how long the corpses burn
-Palisade gates can now be opened if under attack by melee units
-Archer fire will no longer be suppressed if they are defending walls, with melee units under them
-Ranged unit Volley ability can now be used almost anywhere - including walls, mountains
-Market building trading of resources not not as exploitable, goes down to 100 per 500 as the worst rate
-Lootable Good Carts can now be looted by several peasants at a faster rate
-Mounted units are much larger in size, effects both combat and their collision
-Wizards can pick up Treasure Chests
-Fixed all singleplayer reward exploits
-New Trade Interface - brand new item trade interface, with it`s own screen and menu. Also supporting offline trading - players can accept your offers while you`r offline.
-Campaign Chapter 2 - two hour long episode that shows last remnants of humanity escape burning Dagbor and fight their way to the ships stationed in Welgeth
-Fixed and improved ranged units - no more errors, don`t stop shooting, don`t leave walls to chase enemies, more fixes all around
-Unit to Unit collision, Well placed battalion at a tight passage like gateway, can briefly hold off entire army
-Various pathfinding improvements - battalions don`t separate, units don`t get stuck or walk on mountains
Major Update Reshceduled for Mid September
Due to various events our plans for updates in August felt through. However, work is on-going on all fronts, and we are well on schedule. But as far as the the next update release - we are looking at the middle of September. At that point we`ll release massive update 1.1.7, and will continue with our regular update schedule.
Patch 1.1.7 will feature everything that we planned to release in August and much more, making the game mostly feature complete.
Also due to personal unfortunate reasons, I will not be able to take part in forum discussion until September 10th. Meanwhile our moderators are still here to answer your question.
Thanks for your continuing support, and looking forward to bringing you a massive update next month.
Patch 1.1.6 Omega - HOT FIX
Next week we`ll continue with another massive update introducing new campaign chapter 2. To be followed by more campaign chapters and aggressive AI.
1.1.6. Omega Includes:
-All the levels now feature lootable resources defended by NPC AI Creep units. These are carts loaded with gold, stone, food or wood, and can be looted by peasants, after killing AI defenders
-Fixed sync issues in CoOp. CoOp should never go out of sync now
-Fixed Elven towns not loading on the Ruins Conflict level. That caused OOS and Crashes as well on that level
-Archers will now use Arrows Ammo system, and will quickly run out of Arrows. Arrows recharge when Archers are not in combat
-Siege exploit with Ranged Siege Weapons like Trebuchets firing too often
We ask everyone to restart Steam to download the new update.
Check your main menu - if at the top middle of the screen it says Build 1.1.6, and not Build 1.1.6 Omega, you need to restart Steam and download the new update
Patch 1.1.6 - CoOp, Combat Updates & Fixes all Around
- Click on Library, then Downloads, and click Que/Download button next to KW2B on the right
- Right click on Kingdom Wars 2: Battles in your library, and select Properties
- Switch to Updates tab, and select - Always keep this game up to date
- If it still doesn`t work turn Steam completely off and restart
Our team continues to make solid progress this summer, with another big updated today.
Today`s update features new CoOp game mode, that will see random players, or your friends, matched against two AI opponents. In addition we completely reworked ranged combat, and added new volley ability that greatly changes combat gameplay. You`ll also see dozens of fixes across the board.
Next update will include continuation of singleplayer campaign, and is expected towards the end of next week.
Thanks for your continuing support - and we can`t wait for the next patch, to finally feature unit to unit collision, as well as fixing battalion member separation for good. And yes, we know, it has been promised before - but we need to make sure it works right and smooth. Sorry for the delay!
Here`s the details of today`s update:
-CoOp mode added VS two AI opponents
-CoOp invite can be sent via Social Window
-Ranged combat greatly improved
-All Ranged units gain Volley ability - long range bombardment
-Ranged units now fire in volley and don't spread out
-Fixed exploit with all buildings accessible for Peasant and Laborer
-Ranged units are now useless at close range
-Fixed Elven units not using Rally Points
-Opening menu during singleplayer and campaign pauses the game
-Esc button now also closes the menu
-Fixed unit stats menu getting stuck on screen
-Workers are a little bit smarter now with dropping off resources
-Added Gate Control button to Elven Settlement
-Zombies are smarter - will not attack open gates
-Decreased duration of wild fire
-Wild fires are quickly put out by rain now
-Wild fires happen less during winter
-Corpses can now be burned by any type of fire attack
-95% complete Russian localization of the game
-Improved how news is displayed on the main menu
-Players can no longer disable shadows
-Buildings now properly save their level in singleplayer
-Social Tab now auto updates, to show status of all players busy or not
-Fixed annoying thunder sound when someone gets defeated
-High armored units like Knights are vulnerable to crash damage now
-Destroyed building flags are removed
The State of Kingdom Wars 2
After four months in Early Access, we have covered a lot of ground, and as of now - we are well into Phase 2 of Early Access, more than half way towards finishing and releasing KW2B.
We just got a nice player population boost this week, and we hope everyone can now easily find someone to play with. So this should address the biggest problem we had thus far.
This month we have several massive updates coming your way that will greatly improve the game and add a lot of new content. After we finish bellow list, we should enter Phase 3 of Early Access. Here`s a quick look on what we are working on:
1st Update
-This week we are adding CoOp, allowing players to team up against AI players. You can search for a random players to join you, or invite your friend using the Social tab.
-We have also completely reworked ranged combat - archers will have great accuracy mid-range with predictive targeting, as be smart enough to shoot around obstacles, like walls. We also made archers useless as close range vs Melee. The best addition though is a long-range volley ability - that allows archer to target ground, and shoot up to two screens away, but with very low accuracy.
-Reworking pathfinding will see units finally gain unit to unit collision, where you could hold a small pass with just 1 battalion against an entire army
-And various pathfinding fixes will also see units never get stuck in terrain again, or battalions separating
-And last but not least we are fixing connection issues, all the PvP matches will now connect
2nd Update
-Our second update should include the first version of an aggressive AI for singleplayer, while it might not be very smart yet, it will build up and attack players base.
-In addition we should have Chapter 2, and maybe Chapter 3 of singleplayer campaign ready for you.
-Latency will play role in match-making, only matching players with relative ping, this will eliminate laggy games from multiplayer
3rd Update
-The following updated should bring the rest of Episode 1 Chapters 4 and 5
-We are also planning large number of balancing and small bug fixes across the board
4th Update
-And in the final update this month - our goal is to eliminate all remaining PvP lag and add Zombie Survival game mode.
This is an epic plan which will see game play extremely well, and be mostly feature complete. We`ll do our best to stick to our schedule, and thanks for your continuing support.
Zombies, Traders, Guilds & Ranking
Other new features include technologies taking time to research, and Kingdom Wars favorite - Wild Fires - making a come back.
We also took our time to address the issue of not being able to find players. New notification system will flash the Chat if someone`s looking for a game, as well as shown what type of the game someone`s searching for.
You`ll notice several improvements to the core game as well - archers work much better, units will get stuck less and units will not go through walls and gates, and last but not least another big increase to multiplayer performance.
Zombies also got some love. You`ll get to face twice as many of them, and they will be twice as strong, and with updated AI. However - players now have great ways to counter them. First Zombies are harmless during day time, and will go around their business eating corpses and tanning - perfect time to use them to level up your troops. In addition you can now use all forms of fire to decimate hundreds of zombies in seconds, so research these fire arrows, and let them burn. Zombies spread fire from from one another, and are highly combustible.
Thanks for your continuing support - and we can`t wait for the next patch, to finally feature unit to unit collision, as well as fixing battalion member separation for good.
-Researching technologies now takes time
-Huge improvement to online multiplayer performance and latency
-Fixed units being able to pass through Palisade gates
-Added player ranking, sort by game type, or race - WIP
-Added player trading, place and accept offers - WIP
-Added basic Guilds features - WIP
-Guilds add daily items
-Archers are much better at hitting their targets
-General chat flashes with activity in the main menu
-Made it much easier to find players for PvP games
-Players searching for games add Chat entry
-Wild fire feature is back from KW2B, spreads well
-Max zoom in is much lower now
-Battle Tab only shows if you're in Battle
-Fixed various broken Steam Achievements
-Goblin hitpoints and attack decreased 20%-35%
-Goblin Tent price, and spawn time increased 35%-50%
-Zombies spawn twice as much
-Zombies are twice as strong
-Zombie fire vulnerability implemented
-Zombies catch fire from everything and spread to each other
Polite Zombies, Dragons, Survivial and Loot
This patch makes everything about the game play and feel better; we are also adding a lot of new and original gameplay. We are expecting our next patch by July 6th, that should include some big pathfinding and performance projects.
And so we are proud to present patch 1.1.4. This patch includes dozens of our players suggestions - from making Zombies work right, and countless fixes across the board, to some cool gameplay additional - from Dragons guarding treasures around the land, that can be unlocked by your Hero Units, to being able to capture NPC locations around the map.
As always - thanks for your great feedback! We couldn`t have balanced Zombies without it. We hope you`ll continue to enjoy the game, and please let us know on the forums - What projects you would like us to work on next.
========Zombie Changes=======
-Updated Zombie textures, and animations
-Zombie balancing: health 20% lower, health point regeneration lowered by 50%
-Zombie balancing: Zombies spawning strategy will no longer work
-Zombie spawn changes: Take longer to spawn, spawn in waves every 2 minutes, perish after 8 minutes
-Zombie spawn changes: Number of Zombies depends on quality of the dead unit, higher cost - more Zombies
-Zombie spawn changes: will no longer spawn in the town area, unless there`s a lot of corpses
-Zombie spawn changes: only humanoid units will not spawn Zombies. Large units, and siege doesn`t
-Zombie counters: Zombies vulnerable to fire, will catch fire and spread to other zombies
-Zombie counters: Zombies will leave stronghold of defeated player
-Zombie AI changes: Zombies will consume corpses daytime
========Major Fixes and Additions=======
-Major update to ranged unit - greatly improved accuracy
-Potential fix for the combat CTD crash (set Sound quality to low or medium)
-Units attack much better, with less standing around
-NPC camps with walls can now be captured
-Each level now has a Dragon protecting a treasure
-Added new craftable item treasure, can be opened by Heroes after killing Dragon
-New art for lootable NPC treasure - food, gold, stone, wood
-Russian Translation, updated, courtesy of Kyzuyrin Daniil
-German Translation, major update, courtesy of Max Huber
========Minor Fixes and Additions=======
-Small increase to maximum camera zoom in
-Reworked Dragon flying - very fast, and works across entire level
-Several World Editor fixes
-Added new achievement on completing Chapter 1
-Fixed lagspike during intro cinematic for Battle levels
-Livestock visual for growing overtime corrected
-Fighting Fires for Peasants not works properly - will use water from wells and rivers
-Fixed Dragon Slayer hero not having a name tag
=======Balance Changes======
-Reduced starting resources
-Siege Ladders hitpoints greatly reduced, easily killed, makes Siege Towers more useful
-Default Elven wood income increased by 100%
-Forest Spirit wood income increased by 30%
-Forest Spirit training time decreased by 60%
-Elven Deer training time decrease by 70%
-Elven Warden Stone and Gold gathering rates increased by 50%
-Looting corpses provides 40% more resources
-All palisade gates hitpointed increase by 100%
-Nurfed Human Cavalry Scouts card - now gives only 2 Cavaliers
-Unit Speed decreased - cavalry by 10%-20%, formation bonus by 10%
-Livestock movement rates greatly reduced
-Major buff to Dragons and Hydra - increase all stats
-Major buff to Dragon abilities - great for hit and run
-Dragons now have to apply twice as many points to increase their resistance
-Major buff to Heroes - increase hitpoints, resistance and damage
-Hero attack is now not interrupted by any other attacks
-Halbedier cost changed to Food and Wood only
Medieval Zombie Survival Strategy
This weekend we`ll finally start some minor marketing moves to increase our player population to acceptable levels. At the same time, we are increasing the price to $24.99 ($5 more), which we`ll continue to do as we reach EA development milestone. We hope to continue development with our community and continue to add new features to the game from your feedback through our next two milestones of early access.
Now onto the patch - oh it`s a good one! First of all we are proud to announce a new major game mechanic, Zombies! Leaving the battlefield full of dead can be very detrimental. This is now a truly a Medieval Zombie Survival Strategy game. Additionally, we have reworked and optimized almost all the textures in the game to not only increase FPS but also to increase quality. Besides these two huge updates, there are numerous bug fixes and other optimizations added in this patch. Those of you with a good ping and internet connection will also enjoy absolutely lagless multiplayer, we are still working on getting it optimized for lower-end connection, or high pings.
-Zombies horror survival feature added to gameplay
-Dead bodies that are not looted turn into Zombies in 5 minutes
-Zombies are harmless by day, aggressive by night
-Visual update to game textures, clean and crisp
-Visual updates to terrain textures - more details
-Reduced client download size by nearly 1 GB
-Fixed major bug with singleplayer sometimes giving no items reward
-Reworked networking code - fix for extreme lag in some matches
-Greatly improved pathfinding and combat performance, fixing combat lag
-Various fixes and improvements to Chapter 1
-Units gain experience in combat up to 5 times faster
-Fixed major bug with some of the level being revealed
-Major addition to Russian localization - translated 1/2 of the text
-Russian localization courtesy of Kyzuyrin Daniil
-Greatly reduced hitpoints - 70% less, of the escalade and siege ladder
-Fixed building human stone walls before palisade construction is complete
-Fixed major issue with singleplayer campaign showing no corpses
-Fixed corpses not saving in singleplayer skirmish
-Fixed many minor bugs
-Additional camera controls - Camera Left/Right, Q/E
-Additional camera controls - Zoom In/Out, R/F
-Holding Shift allows multiple building placements
Patch 0.1.2 - You asked for it
This time around we concentrated on player requested features, as well as features that you`ve voted for. Keep in mind - that we are NOT ignoring Pathfinding & Combat fixes, but these are complex projects, that will be included later this month.
Some of the player requested features include - expanding the singleplayer with 3 AI towns to fight against, ability to place multiple buildings by holding down shift button, long-requested multiple click attack fix, as well completely reworked Item reward system based on your feedback.
Thanks for you continuous support, and we are happy to say we are expecting a lot more players this weekend, so it should get much easier finding games.
Wishing everyone a great weekend!
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==MAJOR FIXES AND ADDITIONS==
===========================
-Singleplayer expanded to feature 3 AI players
-Place multiple buildings by holding Shift while placing a building
-Fixed major issue of players attacking something multiple times
-Fixed all issues with Rewards not being given, or not random enough
-Greatly improved terrain texture quality
-Reworked sound notification system - only one player hears notifications
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=SMALLER FIXES AND ADDITIONS=
============================
-Saved game now properly saved technologies
-Fixed all buttons being unlocked in buildings on reloading the game
-Saved Game now properly saves corpses
-Low resolution terrain textures now look much better
-Removed Peasants Repair Siege button
-Improvements to the main loading screen
-Inside the battle - Exit button changed into Menu button
-Improved text positioning for Battle Queue text
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======BALANCE CHANGES======
============================
-Singleplayer reward increased 3X on beating all the AI players
-Greater chance of Rare and Epic cards on victory (Common 50%, Uncommon 25%, Rare 15%, Epic 10%)
-Winners can get Common cards as well now
-Daily Reward increased to 3 items
-Decreased Wizard buildings upgrade costs by 50%
-Decreased Dwarf buildings upgrade costs by 50%
-Added upgrade building button to Elven Magic Guild
-Added 40 wood to hut cost increasing it to 60 wood, 50 food.
-Increased House wood cost from 50 to 80.
-Increased Breeding Ceremony by 100%
-Increased all techs by 30% gold. Added gold cost to all techs.
Patch 0.1.1 - In Sync, Saved, Smooth
The main accomplishment is adding several player requested features, from singleplayer saving, to showing battle search Que. We also did our best to fix last remaining out of sync issues in 2vs2 and FFA. In addition players with older video cards should also experience significantly better performance.
With this patch milestone, and all the new players who are joining us this week, we should be well set for the weekend ahead.
During the next two weeks we have two goals ahead of us - first is to improve pathfinding, and combat performance, another is to greatly increase multiplayer performance with ping checks, and other additions. With this complete KW2B will be in amazing shape by mid May, finally ready for us to start adding new features and content.
Thanks for you continuous support.
===========================
==MAJOR FIXES AND ADDITIONS==
===========================
-Fixed all out of sync issues effecting majority of 2vs2 and FFA games
-Major improvement to GUI button response. Every mouse click on buttons detected
-Major improvement to visual performance on various options
-Singleplayer Save Option - one save at a time only
-Added low terrain quality option - saves up to 15 FPS on low end systems
-Reward items fix - items given will always be random now
-Reward items fix - victor gets at least 2 items, and of better quality
-Fixed exploit with exiting PvP to get reward items
-Fixed rare game breaking issue with GUI disappearing
============================
=SMALLER FIXES AND ADDITIONS=
============================
-Added tooltip to the Battle menu that shows how many player are searching for PvP
-Fixed issue with unit tasking arrow getting stuck on screen
-Improved object draw distance, doesn`t cut off objects on screen
-Fixed flickering shadow bug on medium settings
-Fixed walk-through human and elven palisade bug
-Corrected Human Barracks position and collision
-Fixed units jumping from one wall to another in Elven towns
-Fixed wall issues in Orcish towns
-Reward and Defeat reward items are only earned in PvP if there`s actual battle
-Added sound notification for multiplayer game starting
-Fixed Send Items issue with player having to have 2 items to send
-On reload campaign checkpoints workers no longer have all buildings available
-Prevented various singlelpayer saving exploits
-AI town in singleplayer now spawned randomly
-Fixed units getting stuck in a human barn building
-Fixed minor issues with units getting stuck in buildings
-Fixed Elven Magic guild tech unlock
============================
======BALANCE CHANGES======
============================
-Fixed looting corpses giving huge amounts of gold for high level troops
-Cavalry counter units - Halberdier, Sentry, Impaler are now much more effective
-Rebalanced elven deer - Max population decreased to 25, with income greatly increased