After a very long few days, we had a breakthrough today that allowed us to fix the performance issues across the board for mid to high-end video cards. An update is now live - and on average players should experience at least double the FPS in all busy towns, villages, during any scenes with fire etc.. There are still a few problems - but we hope the majority will be playing with smooth 60 FPS.
A question you are probably asking is why was this not fixed before release? And I`m cursing myself - how in the world we could have missed this. Thing is during EA we had a very limited number of players, and this bug wasn`t affecting/or noticed by any of us on the team or our helpers... and we play the game a lot. We are truly sorry to all of those who might have given up on the game over the past few days due to the lousy performance.
We are continuing to prioritize performance fixes this week, as well as Diplomacy (Thanks for Voting!). And you can expect a lot more performance improvements later this week. Also, a massive Diplomacy update on the horizon!
Also, if you are having a performance issue with lag spike every few seconds, please check this post, we need your help fixing it: https://steamcommunity.com/app/499660/discussions/0/1744482417437863273/
And once again - thanks for all your forum posts, reviews, and in-game feedback! Looking forward to getting the game in an amazing shape for you within a few days.
And so presenting Update 1.03
FIXES AND ADDITIONS
Major performance boost on medium to high settings with mid to high range video cards. On average going up from 30 to 120+ FPS.
Fixed lag during combat scenes when a fire was used - fire arrows or wildfire for all settings or systems
Fixed massive lag during Chapter 2 tutorial fire scene
Update 1.02 - Time to Vote
Hey Everyone,
Thank you for supporting MKW during the launch week, your reviews and forum feedback greatly help our small indie team. Now we need your advice - what should we work on first? Performance, CoOp, Diplomacy?
With update 1.02 we are adding a poll feature, so now you can cast your vote right in the main menu using the new poll feature. You`ll get to vote in the new poll every couple of weeks. And our follow your lead.
Bellow, I`m re-posting our roadmap for 2019 that you`ll get to vote on in the near future. Today`s update also fixes some common player complaints, from Alt-Tabbing to OP archers, and issues in the tutorial.
And we are aware of a number of players experiencing visual lag/FPS performance issues. We can confirm that this is an issue with windows specs and video card settings. So in essence - this is a bug and not an optimization issue. However, this is proving an extremely hard bug to catch, but we are working on this and will keep you posted.
With regards to lag during large battles, especially in large towns - this is a matter of optimization, and also being prioritized.
And so presenting Update 1.02. We are planning at least one, or two more updates this week.
FIXES AND ADDITIONS
Added Poll feature to the main menu - where players can vote on big projects for the dev team
Improvements to alt-tab behavior, game properly recovers the full screen when going back
Alt-Tabbing changed to minimize the game when alt-tabbed
Fixed bug with impossible to kill Crossbowman battalion
Fixed rare bug with peasant stopping work due to error
Fixed wrong enemy player color in Tutorial chapter 2,4,6 and 8
Fixed Tutorial Chapter 6 not completing capture flag victory
Fixed issue with large stone gatehouse sometimes having double gates
Fixed rare issue with gatehouse getting double gates
Fixed issue with email prompt constantly showing when playing in offline mode
Munich now properly belongs to Austria
BALANCING
Rebalanced ranged units - fixed some OP issues - less damage, less armor
Fixed issue with HRE, Papacy and Venice crossbowman having super high pierce armor
Greatly increased the price of a large gatehouse upgrade it was brokenly low
Retreated units will no longer auto attack and target enemy units but will passively wait by the flag
Retreated units will no longer be able to protect the flag from capture
MKW POST-RELEASE PROJECTS
Now onto the roadmap... Our plans are big. In a nutshell - release is not the end, but only the beginning. We want to do a lot more with MKW.
Please keep in mind that expansions are not in any order, as You will decide the order using the in-game Poll Feature.
And we I only listed big projects. There are nearly 200 other smaller things and improvements across the board that is still planned.
Adding CoOp to the campaign - including attacking friends or random players towns, armies, or inviting friend or random player to attack AI in your campaign
Workshop support, opening up all game files for modders
Religion - Chaplain Adviser that oversees religion, elections of Pope, various religious actions that benefit the player`s campaign
Complex Trade System - Merchant Adviser that oversees trade - conclude trade agreements, setup trade routes between towns and nations, earn silver, trade goods and reputation
Updated victory and information screens - showing all the changes in diplomacy, standing and reward
Being able to recruit Lords into your Kingdom
Customization of player colours and nation colours
Overlay on all unit battalions - that show their portrait, health, status and much more, optional can be turned on and off
Several new Diplomatic actions - trade agreements, various alliances, claims
Some of the starting lords become female Ladies instead, option to choose Male or Female character
New random map terrain sets (fir forests, rural areas, dry lands, desert and more)
Expanding tech tree to add another 25 technologies
Several new Large town levels (Lisbon, Cagliari, Rome, Florence, Milan)
Being able to issue orders to AI Lords during battle, depending on their relations and allegiance
Being able to issue orders to AI lords on the world map
If release goes very well, to be added later in 2019
Creating unique unit art for each nations unit roaster
Creating new town building and wall styles for different nations (including Muslim style, Italian style e.t.c)
Expanding world map to feature North Africa, Asia Minor
Adding 12 new nations to the game, complete with 50 new lords
Expanding tech tree to feature gunpowder advances - allowing recruiting cannons and musketeers in the late game
Zombie Mode - a secondary campaign mode, where dead do not stay dead - and armies of undead roam the world map, forcing rules to unite against the Undead plague
World Map quests - various random quests to complete on the world map for rewards
Town Development Quests - various optional random quests to complete while building up your town
Loans - take loans from different factions and characters, or become a banker yourself. Be warned - they will come to collect the debts.
Major events during campaign - including Black Death
Update 1.01 - Lets get started
Hey Everyone,
Thank you for all the support with the launch! The countless feedback we got from you in-game... all the steam reviews, and forum posts - really helps our small indie team with continuing development.
Now that the first 24 hours are behind us, we are starting to actively polish and add to the game. Bellow, I`m re-posting our roadmap for 2019. Also within 24 hours, we will enable a new Poll feature in the main menu - that will let our players vote on what projects and expansions we should prioritize.
Meanwhile, presenting a small yet very important Update 1.01. A much larger update 1.02 is coming up soon.
Fixed rare issue with the game not showing correct resolutions for the player to select
Fixed rare issue with the graphics looking really bad as it`s uses very low resolution
Fixed rare issue with the game not scaling the screen correctly
Potential major performance improvement on some laptop systems
MKW POST-RELEASE PROJECTS
Now onto the roadmap... Our plans are big. In a nutshell - release is not the end, but only the beginning. We want to do a lot more with MKW.
Please keep in mind that expansions are not in any order, as You will decide the order using the in-game Poll Feature.
And we I only listed big projects. There are nearly 200 other smaller things and improvements across the board that is still planned.
Adding CoOp to the campaign - including attacking friends or random players towns, armies, or inviting friend or random player to attack AI in your campaign
Workshop support, opening up all game files for modders
Religion - Chaplain Adviser that oversees religion, elections of Pope, various religious actions that benefit the player`s campaign
Complex Trade System - Merchant Adviser that oversees trade - conclude trade agreements, setup trade routes between towns and nations, earn silver, trade goods and reputation
Updated victory and information screens - showing all the changes in diplomacy, standing and reward
Being able to recruit Lords into your Kingdom
Customization of player colours and nation colours
Overlay on all unit battalions - that show their portrait, health, status and much more, optional can be turned on and off
Several new Diplomatic actions - trade agreements, various alliances, claims
Some of the starting lords become female Ladies instead, option to choose Male or Female character
New random map terrain sets (fir forests, rural areas, dry lands, desert and more)
Expanding tech tree to add another 25 technologies
Several new Large town levels (Lisbon, Cagliari, Rome, Florence, Milan)
Being able to issue orders to AI Lords during battle, depending on their relations and allegiance
Being able to issue orders to AI lords on the world map
If release goes very well, to be added later in 2019
Creating unique unit art for each nations unit roaster
Creating new town building and wall styles for different nations (including Muslim style, Italian style e.t.c)
Expanding world map to feature North Africa, Asia Minor
Adding 12 new nations to the game, complete with 50 new lords
Expanding tech tree to feature gunpowder advances - allowing recruiting cannons and musketeers in the late game
Zombie Mode - a secondary campaign mode, where dead do not stay dead - and armies of undead roam the world map, forcing rules to unite against the Undead plague
World Map quests - various random quests to complete on the world map for rewards
Town Development Quests - various optional random quests to complete while building up your town
Loans - take loans from different factions and characters, or become a banker yourself. Be warned - they will come to collect the debts.
Major events during campaign - including Black Death
Update 1.00 - Post-Release Plans
Hey Everyone,
We are finally here... Medieval Kingdom Wars is out! Thanks to your help and support - development of the game continued for over 3 years, and we are grateful for every extra day, and all of your help during production!
Moving forward - our plans are big - release is not the end, but only the beginning. We want to do a lot more with MKW...
Let me show you what we have planned for the rest of 2019. Please keep in mind that expansions are not in any order, and You can vote on what you think we should be working on.
MKW POST-RELEASE PROJECTS
Please keep in mind - this only lists big projects. There are nearly 200 other smaller things and improvements across the board that are still planned.
Adding CoOp to the campaign - including attacking friends or random players towns, armies, or inviting friend or random player to attack AI in your campaign
Workshop support, opening up all game files for modders
Religion - Chaplain Adviser that oversees religion, elections of Pope, various religious actions that benefit the player`s campaign
Complex Trade System - Merchant Adviser that oversees trade - conclude trade agreements, setup trade routes between towns and nations, earn silver, trade goods and reputation
Updated victory and information screens - showing all the changes in diplomacy, standing and reward
Being able to recruit Lords into your Kingdom
Customization of player colours and nation colours
Overlay on all unit battalions - that show their portrait, health, status and much more, optional can be turned on and off
Several new Diplomatic actions - trade agreements, various alliances, claims
Some of the starting lords become female Ladies instead, option to choose Male or Female character
New random map terrain sets (fir forests, rural areas, dry lands, desert and more)
Expanding tech tree to add another 25 technologies
Several new Large town levels (Lisbon, Cagliari, Rome, Florence, Milan)
Being able to issue orders to AI Lords during battle, depending on their relations and allegiance
Being able to issue orders to AI lords on the world map
If release goes very well, to be added later in 2019
Creating unique unit art for each nations unit roaster
Creating new town building and wall styles for different nations (including Muslim style, Italian style e.t.c)
Expanding world map to feature North Africa, Asia Minor
Adding 12 new nations to the game, complete with 50 new lords
Expanding tech tree to feature gunpowder advances - allowing recruiting cannons and musketeers in the late game
Zombie Mode - a secondary campaign mode, where dead do not stay dead - and armies of undead roam the world map, forcing rules to unite against the Undead plague
World Map quests - various random quests to complete on the world map for rewards
Town Development Quests - various optional random quests to complete while building up your town
Loans - take loans from different factions and characters, or become a banker yourself. Be warned - they will come to collect the debts.
Major events during campaign - including Black Death
Update 95 - Combat & Game Balancing
Hey Everyone,
Another solid update today. You will find a lot of balancing changes. The goal was to make entire campaign experience fun - from the first hour to the 50th. A lot of work went into completely rebalancing all the techs, both the effects and the cost, as well as difference between nations units. A lot of costs always went up across the board. In addition we started working on making our melee combat look better. As a big step forward - units no longer swing swords from few meters away, but battalions meaningfully engage, with front line units dueling each other, while soldiers behind them are holding the line and supporting their comrades. This update comes with many more balancing and gameplay changes, including player request for selling and buying multiple items at Stewards menu.
In a coupe of days we`ll be releasing a big master plan of all the free expansion pack and updates for post-release, covering entire 2019. Can`t wait to share this with you - to show our players amazing plans that we have in mind for MKW.
And few more big updates on the horizon, as we are gearing up for the release in January.
And so presenting Update 95:
BIG CHANGES
Major improvements to combat - units no longer swing swords from a distance, but engage in active fighting mostly in the front line of the formation
New approach to campaign army limit. Each town or hamlet can only support 1 army. Total limit of 10 armies per nation.
Completely reworked cost of all research in towns, different approach to balance for a better experience
Added buy and sell amounts for Steward, with options to sell or buy 1, 5 or 20 at once
Completely reworked Stewards tech tree - rebalanced for mid to late game, a lot of fixes, and much higher prices for unlocking elite units and global implements
Rebalancing techs will make sure player doesn't`t get stuck with hundreds of trade goods in the late game
FIXES AND ADDITIONS
Updated English description of some techs to clearly describe what they do
If player is King, the cost of diplomatic gifts and insults is doubled
If player is King, and attacks another nation he`s not at war with - relations with all other nations drop -15, even more of a drop with attacked nation
Fixed rare bug with gates staying alive once gatehouse has been destroyed by siege
Catapult regular projectile flies a bit shorter, and flamed flies longer reaching far away targets
Adjusted all tutorial levels to work with the higher cost of buildings, techs and units
BALANCING
Adjusted cost for Nations unique troops - a lot more difference from nation to nation in the cost of units.
Buildings price increased by 30%-50%
Peasant gathering rate for slaughtering reduced by 25%
Price to upgrade hamlet level increased by 30%
Greatly increased starting trade goods for a new campaign
Majority of Stewards techs tree increased, especially unlocking units and global implements
The Manor tech that makes basic units cheaper, reduces their price less
Increased the cost of a lot of town research and techs
The cost of diplomatic Gift and Insult increased by 30%
Ballista, Catapult and Trebuchet significantly more expensive
Oil pot price doubled
Price of mounted siege weapons is not the same as for ground version
Significant reduction to gestation time of all units
Siege and elite units gestation time reduced even more
Update 94 - Reworking Auto-Resolve
Hey Everyone,
A small update today, finally addressing a long time player complaint with auto-resolve. We have reworked it from the ground up, adjusting it for all possible scenarios. You will finally see armies take absolutely no damage when dealing with highly inferior forces. We also resolved a good number of exploits vs AI. In addition we polished the tutorial, and made Vsync optional, which greatly increases performance on higher end video cards, just make sure to disable it, if it`s already on.
Later this week, we`ll be releasing a big master plan of all the free expansion pack and updates for post-release, covering entire 2019. Can`t wait to share this with you - to show our players amazing plans that we have in mind for MKW.
Also more great updates on the horizon in the coming days.
And so presenting Update 94:
FIXES AND ADDITIONS
Completely reworked auto-resolve, much better calculations
When attacking significantly weaker armies - victor doesn`t take any damage
Attacking weaker armies results in a lot less damage
Fixed exploit with sending weak armies with livestock to attack larger AI towns to weaken them
Sync is now made optional, as most Nvidia cards get huge benefit in performance with no V sync
New sound loop for the main menu, really brings the town to live
Chapter 6 Tutorial - fixed being unable to win it
Chapter 6 Tutorial - fixed bugs with objectives not advancing
Chapter 6 Tutorial - fixes bugs with AI not closing it`s gates
Reduced the cost of healing units on the world map
Update 93 - Performance and Pre-Release
Hey Everyone,
We hope everyone had a great Christmas, and allow us to wish everyone an amazing New Year ahead! But we`ll still get to catch you before then - planning another two updates before 2019:)
It`s time to advance our game version count as we are getting closer to releasing MKW this coming January. Hope you forgive the confusion, with the game version changing from 73 to 93.
And we hope you like today`s update. While it doesn`t have an impressive list of changes, you should feel the difference right away, as our main area of concern was performance. There were quite a few bugs that greatly slowed down the game, especially on the world map, that we finally were able to track down and fix. In addition we have done some major balancing moves - making the early game fun and easy with small groups of Militia fighting it out, while also rebalancing the mid to late game - it`s no longer a walk in a park, with more expensive elite units and AI keeping paste with player advancements.
More great updates on the horizon later this week, and soon we`ll also show off the list of our post-release content, as well - the only thing that changes with release - is we`ll see more players. We planned months and months of work ahead of us adding amazing new features to MKW, as free updates.
And so presenting Update 73...err, I mean Update 93:
BIG CHANGES
Major improvement to performance all across the game
Fixed various major performance issues on the world map
Fixed performance drain when playing the campaign for a long time
Reworked balancing of mid to late game to be a lot more challenging, even if player holds a lot of land
Early game re-balanced to be a lot easier, and more about low tech units
FIXES AND ADDITIONS
Fixed German localisation not working right and not showing text in many situations
Fixed issue with some palisade walls having no collision on the map
Chapter 2 significantly easier, too many new players would loose
Fixed common tutorial bug, when your own gates open for no reason
Fixed a bug where during the siege, your gates might open when AI is attacking them
Polished up German translation of the game courtesy of Alex
BALANCING
AI attacks with lower tech armies during first 3 years of the campaign
Significantly reduced the cost of healing units on the world map for silver
Looting and Raizing towns give more silver for low level hamlets, but 30% less for larger towns
Taxes now generate 50% more silver
Increased taxes cap by 30% per town level
Increased the cost of cow and sheep by over 50%
Livestock generates 30% less silver on the world map
All regular and unit prices greatly increased, to make basic units be cheaper in comparison
Slightly increased upkeep of basic units like maceman, bowman and billman
Update 72 - Let Play a Game
Hey Everyone,
The Beta is now in full swing with the majority of features in, but a fair deal of polishing and balancing is left to do before MKW goes live early next year. And now is the time when we really need your help to make sure MKW is in great shape for release. Today we are inviting all of the MKW players who ever purchased the game - in the hope of getting badly need feedback and bug reports over the Holiday season.
If you haven`t played the game yet - it`s a great time to get started. You get to experience a nearly complete game, but, there`s still room to leave your mark – perhaps there`s a feature you want us to add, or comment on balancing?
From tonight, we are starting daily interactions with our players in-game, with either a developer or a mod available around the clock. And if you have a spare moment – please support the development by leaving your feedback on the forums, talking to us in-game, leaving a review, or catching us on discard. Every form of feedback helps.
We are forever grateful for your support!
Post-release content
Oh and as some of you might have questions about some big features, that we not making it into release. Well - Rome wasn't built in a day, and the majority of grand strategy games on the marker - from Europe Universal to Crusader Kings only got their awesome feature sets a year or two after release. Our plan with MKW is the same - but with one big difference - we will not be milking our players, and all the upcoming updates will be free. We`ll be adding religion, new towns, coop battles in the campaign, complex trade system between towns, expanded world map and so much more. All in all, we are looking at several major expansion - completely free for our players!
And now onto today`s update - we are happy to present the new MKW pathfinding system.
And so presenting Update 72:
BIG CHANGES
Reworked unit path-finding
Units can now perfectly navigate tight passages and streets
Fixed unit behavior with all units walking through a single point
Fixed game breaking bug when using ESC key to close adviser window
Reworked AI siege combat
AI Belfry will now properly attach to walls and detach from walls
AI will now quickly advance through multiple defenses with Ram always finding gates
FIXES AND ADDITIONS
Fixed various issues in starting Diplomacy, with Kings or Lords stating with missing or incorrect towns
Once again reworked starting towns for various lords - a lot more interesting starts now
Austria gets another big province in the Alps
Fixed various diplomacy errors where HRE or Austria King or Lord can`t be killed
Fixed various issues with AI looting towns
Fixed resolutions menu only showing low resolutions on some systems
Orleans level - fixed new cavalry being stuck on spawn
Aberdeen and Orleans tutorial levels - much harder with AI now properly attacking
Update 71 - Same Rules for AI
Hey Everyone
Another solid update today as we`r getting this week started. We have once again completely reworked the world map AI. No more cheats, unique rules or special treatment for AI. It will advance through the years same way the player does. So if you invest into techs you can now be the one fielding army of swordsman and Templars while AI only has basic militia units defending it`s towns. Best of all different AI Kingdoms will advance at their own speed.
Aside from this headliner, there`s plenty of other great stuff in this update. Check the patch notes - for more awesome additions this week, quite a few changes and balancing as well.
Also now that MKW is really starting taking shape ahead of next month`s release, we want to start increasing the player population. So tomorrow, after a quick follow up patch - we`ll be sending our an email invie to all of our players back - to come back and experience our progress. We also hope to see some new faces during the upcoming winter sale.
And so presenting Update 71:
BIG CHANGES
AI now progress through campaign same as player with researching techs and new units
AI starts campaign only with basic units and unlocks new units over the years
Each AI nation depending on size will invest into techs, some nations advance faster than others
Completely rebalanced few early years of the campaign - player has a chance to advance ahead of AI
AI armies will use massive attacks with up to 4 armies vs other AI players
AI will now capture, loot, and raze settlements by other AI lords
Reworked starting position for different Lords and nations - a lot more starts with just 1 or 2 Hamlets
Improved Peasant performance greatly in all areas
Fixed various OOS issues in multiplayer
FIXES AND ADDITONS
Start It Up achievement doesn't require player to be online
Disabled a few techs in buildings that will be added in later on expansion packs
Disabled the techs in the Steward window that will be added in later on expansion packs
Disabling loading screen music, if volume music is less than 5
Fixed major issue with AI not attacking player units right on tactical level
Fixed peasant moon-walking issue
Don't show building banners in naval combat
Fixed AI trebuchets not firing on other AI players
Fixed some Lords starting the game with very high renown
TUTORIAL POLISH
Chapter 2 - made easier with extra resources
Chapter 2 - Fixed trebuchet not firing in intro cinematics
Chapter 2 - Fixed stone walls not being walkable
Chapter 4 - Fixed catapult objectives not completing
Chapter 5 - fixed some objectives about collecting taxes not showing
Chapter 5 - fixed objective about building church appearing too early
Chapter 6 - made easier with extra resources
Chapter 8 - made easier with extra resources
BALANCING
Stone mines and peasants are twice as productive
AI armies and garrisons been reduced by 50%
Units are 50% more expensive, and have 50% higher upkeep
The game is about smaller armies now, with his 50% reduction, but expands towards late game to see full stack armies
Livestock is 50% more expensive, but twice as productive from silver to food
Sheep is now nearly useless as a food resources, mainly for silver on the world map
Reduced training time for all units, especially for higher tech units
Auto
healing of armies on the worldmap increased by 25%
Ranged units take longer to kill other ranged units
Slightly increased silver drain during battles
Update 70 - The Follow Up
Hey Everyone,
As you might have noticed - yesterdays big update came with a few minor issues, that we rushed to address today. We also finished a dozen more fixes, to turn a hot fix into a full on update.
Changes of note include completely reworked archers targeting that makes ranged units a lot better at killing infantry. In addition by popular demand we have re-balanced AI army spawn time on the world map and unhappiness from visiting AI towns. And of-course, a lot more other fixes across the board.
We`ll continue with another major update next week, bringing you more of diplomacy, new terrain sets, and pathfinding improvements.
And so presenting Update 70:
FIXES AND ADDITIONS
Redesigned how archers target enemy units - a lot more efficient now with archers picking individual targets
Fixed issues with tower ballista hanging outside of towers
Fixed issues with wall mounted ballista not positioning itself right on wall bastions
Fixed some conflicting Hotkeys reported by players
Retreating units don't count towards town flag capture defense or quickly capturing the flag
Fixed a rare issue where hunters would completely stop attacking
Potential fix for new lag issues during combat
Slightly expanded Southern border of the world map - can now see North Africa, and easier to navigate at the Southern edge
Faster army position update allows to better invite army to battle if armies are on the move
AI builds up Hamlets much slower through the years, takes twice as long to upgrade all hamlets on the world map - up to 5 years
BALANCING
AI will attack about 30% more often now, pushed it a bit too far apart in the last update
Happiness goes down while being inside a city by 30% less now
Looted towns now stay looted for 1 year instead of 4 months
Slightly increased the chance of less damaged battalions routing
Increased bowman and hunter walk and run speed, perfect hit and run unit
Looting and raising low-level hamlets give proportionally a lot more silver
Slight boost to silver income from looting and razing all level hamlets and towns
Price of base buildings like a barn, storehouse - up 50% or so, other buildings 25% increase
