Before we jump to the patch details - we wanted to give a warm Thank You to all the new players who joined us this week, thanks for your feedback, reviews and bug reports. And most of all for supporting our small indie company on a quest to create a new worth Grand Strategy game!
Now... it`s another solid update today - introducing fighting battles with up to four armies in the campaign. Sure the second army for now is AI controlled, but we`ll address this in the next update. Today`s patch also includes a lot of new player requested features - from new Cheats menu, to Heal All Units option, and a lot of other quality of life improvements.
We should have the next update 56 the week of June 11. That update will enable controlling both armies in battles (right now AI controls the other one), as well as introduce huge number of new diplomatic features.... and hopefully finally bringing you the first part of Direct X 11 engine update
And so, presenting Update # 55:
-Multiple armies in RTS battle mode enabled for Naval and Army vs Army combat
-Multiple armies in RTS battle mode enabled for Town and Hamlet combat
-During multiple battles in Hamlets or vs Army - additional armies spawn in supporting Army Camps
-During town battles additional armies spawn inside the city or in the second army camp
-AI controls the second army - to be changed in the next update
-Added Heal All option when clicking on damage soldier in the army
-Greatly improved camera centering on the world map - back to the last position before a battle or game exit
-On the World Map selected multiple armies will now march in close proximity to each other
-Destroyed nations are no longer selectable in Diplomacy window and have a death symbol over their portrait
-In Skirmish when selecting Hamlet battle added options for various random map terrain
-Cheat Codes can now be entered by clicking F7 key
-Cheats are: /merchant and /silver on the world map, /food, /wood, /stone and /iron on the battle map
-Skirmish Hamlet battle now has up to 4 players, with 2 other players having supporting Army Camp
-Victory and Defeat cinematic for large town battles
-Military Alliance and Trade Agreement icons show in Diplomacy/Chancellor
Summer Roadmap & 50% off Weeklong Sale
Hey Everyone,
With Beta milestone just three months away, MKW is shaping up into the Kingdom Wars game we always wanted to make. With nearly 55 updates and Summer finally here, it`s time to celebrate with a massive -50% off Weeklong Sale.
Here`s a nice video to introduce the game to the new players joining us today https://youtu.be/uK3SsiqEfUY
And it`s just as well that we reveal or plans for the next 3 months, leading onto the Beta Milestone. Things are about to get very interesting as we nearing completion on several huge projects that`s been in the making for months. And as soon as we get through this, it`ll be time to rework and polish, including long overdue work on interface and combat.
So without further introduction lets take a look into production plans for the next four months. Bellow list only includes the biggest features of each update.
And if you have any questions or need clarifications - please don`t hesitate to ask:)
And so - off to work, to make this beautiful 4 months plan happen. Thanks for all your continuous support, and here`s to the Beta milestone.
SUMMER 2018 DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP
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Update 54 - Multiple Armies & More
Hey Everyone
It`s been a busy Spring for us, as we are wrapping up work on the massive visual game engine update, about to switch the game to DirectX 11 later this month, and same time making a lot of progress towards bringing you multiple army and coop experience in the campaign.
Today`s update is a great step forward in this direction, and while a lot of work still remains behind the curtains, we are finally ready to give you multiple armies functionalities in auto-resolve.
Together with many other battle related changes on the campaign map, this update really transforms the army management, and how the campaigns are thought on the campaign map.
We should have the next update 55, completing the multiple armies fighting on actual battlefields, ready for you towards the end of May and (fingers crossed) - bringing you the first part of Direct X 11 engine update.
And so, presenting Update # 54:
-First part of the multiple army project complete
-Attack Screen now supports two armies per side (more to be added)
-Fight button is disabled for more than 2 armies in battle (until the next update)
-Player and AI can invite armies to join the battle in provincial range
-Army standing near the city becomes the city garrison for auto-resolve
-Auto-Resolve now uses battle difficulty instead of campaign difficulty
-Completely reworked Auto-Resolve victory or loss calculation
-Superior armies can win auto-resolve without any losses
-Player army that`s weak or has just a few units will get removed on defeat
-Fixed exploit with repeating auto-resolve vs stronger army over 10 times
-Fixed common issue with horse cart ignoring orders
-Only the selected building banner is hidden (was part of the an earlier update)
-Livestock will be fully fattened on reload of the city
-Building Name banners are much smaller and neater
-Fix major bug with gatehouse upgrades producing two gates
-Fixed other bugs with gatehouses
-New main menu music track
-New music for world map
-Added main menu Early Access letter
Summer Roadmap and Upcoming Updates
Hey Everyone,
It`s time to reveal or plans for the next 4 months, as we are starting work towards the Beta milestone. With nearly 55 updates since launch 11 months ago, things are about to get very interesting as we nearing completion on several huge projects that`s been in the making for months. And as soon as we get through this, it`ll be time to rework and polish, including long overdue work on interface and combat.
So without further introduction lets take a look into production plans for the next four months. Bellow list only includes the biggest features of each update.
And if you have any questions or need clarifications - please don`t hesitate to ask:)
And so - off to work, to make this beautiful 4 months plan happen. Thanks for all your continuous support, and here`s to the Beta milestone.
SUMMER 2018 DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP
--Completed--
Delay with Update 54
Hey Everyone,
Having released the major update 54 earlier this week, we encountered couple of problems, that unfortunately were not easy to hot-fix, so for a few days we will revert this update, until May 15th. Sorry for the delay with this, but we want to make sure that such a big update is properly polished and completely stable.
Update 53 - Menu, Banners, Balancing
Hey Everyone,
Another solid update today addressing more of our player requests. Together with an overdue update of the main menu, we have included a long requested feature of adding banners to buildings. In the near future we also plan something similar for the units. In addition to work on various game pause issues, and world map army creation fixes we spent a bit of time improving the balancing on Happiness and Storage.
Meanwhile we are still working on the multiple armies in battle and auto-resolve feature... Yes it`s taking us quite a bit, as complexity of the whole feature, and how it then ties into upcoming CoOp is not to be underestimated. We are confident about getting the multiple army attack feature ready for you next week though.
We are aiming to have our next update 54 early next week.
And so, presenting Update # 53:
-Updated main menu scene and music
-Added name tag banner to all buildings
-Added banner to construction plots
-Citizen mood icon now changes color based on happiness level
-Cities now properly create armies on the world map if game is paused
-Fixed various issues with getting attacked on the world map while game is paused
-Creating a new campaign shows world map in background, centered on current nation's capital
-Barn and Storehouse Buildings no longer reduce happiness
-Academy, Church and University buildings improve happiness a lot more
-Default Town Storage limit reduced to 4,000
-Storehouse adds 2,000 to storage
-Starting standing with the respective King reduced for all starting lords
-Fixed last instances of speed controls not showing in battle
Update 52 - Massive Update & Price Change
Hey Everyone,
After two busy weeks its time to present another massive update # 52... and for the lack of any better ideas we called it just that - a Massive Update. With over a dozen major new features and additions it`s one of the biggest updates we had so far: Over 50 new starting Lords (increased from 14), population happiness with lots of gameplay effects, first round of interface updates, renown implemented, cheats enabled and so much more.
And seeing how far MKW has come since Early Access launch earlier in 2017, we feel that the time is right for a price increase, to represent all the additional value. This is also fair to our early adopters and these who supported the game during the Pre-Alpha period. So... after careful consideration, we have decided to set the new price of the game to 30 USD (or your regional equivalent). If you have any questions or concerns about this - please let us know.
And as the Spring continues, we have several truly exciting updates on the way. In the next update 53 we`ll be presenting the long awaited multiple armies feature. Next up in 54 we`ll be wrapping up Diplomacy and reworking campaign AI. And finally in 55 we`ll implement first of campaign CoOp features. Around this time we should also see the first installment of the long-awaited DirectX 11 update, as well as four new major towns, and new terrain sets (desert, forests e.t.c)
Best wishes for the weekend ahead, and for now, presenting Update #52:
New Starting Lords -Campaign Creation screen now has entirely new layout
-Over 50 different starting scenarios now for each Lord on the world map
-Each Lord comes with its own starting settlements, renown, standing and so on
-Player will get to play as that particular Lord, and not a generic minor Lord
Other Major Changes -Towns and Hamlets should gain +6 combat strength for each level
-Constructing each layer of palisade wall will add +4 combat strength to hamlet/town, +8 for each stone wall
-New way to limit RTS city management - as it decreases population happiness on entering the city, and on continuously staying there
-Hamlets and cities produces a lot less trade goods every month (only effects new campaigns)
-Kingdom that has been defeated is now properly disabled, but for now remains in the Chancellor list
Population Happiness -Enabled population Happiness
-Adjusted relation between happiness and taxes - system now properly works
-Happiness value changed to % instead of descriptive words
-Added a positive/negative indicators for Citizen Mood and which way it`s progressing
-Very Happy cities (+75) produce 2x trade goods
-Unhappy cities (-25) don't produce trade items
-Very Unhappy citizens (-50) deny entry to town (view/manage)
-Rebellious cities (-75) stop producing taxes the month after they become rebellious
-Constructing Church, Academy, Market, Hospital improve Happiness
-Constructing Barn, Storehouse, Blacksmith, Stone Mine, Iron Mine, Armorer decreases happiness
-Military Units add to the happiness in the city
GUI Updates -GUI Updates - changed how much windows fade out the screen when opened - easier to see the screen behind them
-GUI Updates - completely redesigned black transparent window for all GUI windows
Renown Enabled -Enabled Renown system
-Starting renown for players Lord
-Renown is gained or lost through battles: +/-1 for Army vs Army
-Renown is gained or lost through controlling or loosing town assets +/-City Strength/Level of the town/hamlet gained or lost
Cheats Enabled -Added Cheat Commands, can be used in the campaign or skirmish in chat:
/merchant - gives 10 of each trade item (only on the world map)
/silver - gives 5000 silver (only on the world map)
/food - gives 1000 food (only in RTS mode)
/wood - gives 1000 wood (only in RTS mode)
/stone - gives 1000 stone (only in RTS mode)
/iron - gives 1000 iron (only in RTS mode)
-Campaign menu will permanently display a white♥♥♥♥♥by the campaign where cheats were used
-Campaigns that have been cheated in can't gain Achievements
Other Fixes and Changes -Greatly increased the cost of some buildings: market, blacksmith, armory, church, hospital, academy
-Pre-made unit groups show better - increased transparency for unused groups, overlay only shown on active groups
-Significantly reduced healing cost, about 40% less now and healing makes a lot more sense
-Fixed major bug constantly disconnecting some players from the game
-On server lost connection offline mode activated without kicking the player out
-Fixed bug with units walking through walls in Calais and some other hamlets
-City name shows in View/Battle over Day/Night clock
Update 52 - Massive Update
Hey Everyone,
After two busy weeks its time to present another massive update # 52... and for the lack of any better ideas we called it just that - a Massive Update. With over a dozen major new features and additions it`s one of the biggest updates we had so far: Over 50 new starting Lords (increased from 14), population happiness with lots of gameplay effects, first round of interface updates, renown implemented, cheats enabled and so much more.
And as the Spring continues, we have several truly exciting updates on the way. In the next update 53 we`ll be presenting the long awaited multiple armies feature. Next up in 54 we`ll be wrapping up Diplomacy and reworking campaign AI. And finally in 55 we`ll implement first of campaign CoOp features. Around this time we should also see the first installment of the long-awaited DirectX 11 update, as well as four new major towns, and new terrain sets (desert, forests e.t.c)
Best wishes for the weekend ahead, and for now, presenting Update #52:
New Starting Lords -Campaign Creation screen now has entirely new layout
-Over 50 different starting scenarios now for each Lord on the world map
-Each Lord comes with its own starting settlements, renown, standing and so on
-Player will get to play as that particular Lord, and not a generic minor Lord
Other Major Changes -Towns and Hamlets should gain +6 combat strength for each level
-Constructing each layer of palisade wall will add +4 combat strength to hamlet/town, +8 for each stone wall
-New way to limit RTS city management - as it decreases population happiness on entering the city, and on continuously staying there
-Hamlets and cities produces a lot less trade goods every month (only effects new campaigns)
-Kingdom that has been defeated is now properly disabled, but for now remains in the Chancellor list
Population Happiness -Enabled population Happiness
-Adjusted relation between happiness and taxes - system now properly works
-Happiness value changed to % instead of descriptive words
-Added a positive/negative indicators for Citizen Mood and which way it`s progressing
-Very Happy cities (+75) produce 2x trade goods
-Unhappy cities (-25) don't produce trade items
-Very Unhappy citizens (-50) deny entry to town (view/manage)
-Rebellious cities (-75) stop producing taxes the month after they become rebellious
-Constructing Church, Academy, Market, Hospital improve Happiness
-Constructing Barn, Storehouse, Blacksmith, Stone Mine, Iron Mine, Armorer decreases happiness
-Military Units add to the happiness in the city
GUI Updates -GUI Updates - changed how much windows fade out the screen when opened - easier to see the screen behind them
-GUI Updates - completely redesigned black transparent window for all GUI windows
Renown Enabled -Enabled Renown system
-Starting renown for players Lord
-Renown is gained or lost through battles: +/-1 for Army vs Army
-Renown is gained or lost through controlling or loosing town assets +/-City Strength/Level of the town/hamlet gained or lost
Cheats Enabled -Added Cheat Commands, can be used in the campaign or skirmish in chat:
/merchant - gives 10 of each trade item (only on the world map)
/silver - gives 5000 silver (only on the world map)
/food - gives 1000 food (only in RTS mode)
/wood - gives 1000 wood (only in RTS mode)
/stone - gives 1000 stone (only in RTS mode)
/iron - gives 1000 iron (only in RTS mode)
-Campaign menu will permanently display a white♥♥♥♥♥by the campaign where cheats were used
-Campaigns that have been cheated in can't gain Achievements
Other Fixes and Changes -Greatly increased the cost of some buildings: market, blacksmith, armory, church, hospital, academy
-Pre-made unit groups show better - increased transparency for unused groups, overlay only shown on active groups
-Significantly reduced healing cost, about 40% less now and healing makes a lot more sense
-Fixed major bug constantly disconnecting some players from the game
-On server lost connection offline mode activated without kicking the player out
-Fixed bug with units walking through walls in Calais and some other hamlets
-City name shows in View/Battle over Day/Night clock
Update 51 - Attack Window and Weeklong Sale
Hey Everyone,
It`s amazing to see that so many of you are enjoying MKW, especially now that we have hundreds of players online at once. We want to take a moment to thank All of You for all the support and encouragement. Your feedback, reviews and suggestions mean a world to us, and really do inspire us to pull more and more overtime as we work on new features.
This and next week we have really great updates for you...
This week - introducing the long overdue attack window, which was sorely missed and really adds to the game. We also added a good way to capture these large strong AI towns - without 2 hour long battles - by using multiple attack auto-resolve, as garrisons now take damage. Same time we included several highly requested bug fixes and improvements.
Also next week (around April 3rd) - is a monumental step forward, as we plan to increase the number of playable factions to ~50. Instead of selecting a Kingdom - player will be able to choose to play as any of the Lords on the world map. Each Lord comes with very different starting conditions - from 1 hamlet to several hamlets, some even start with couple of large towns. Aside from different starting position, we are working to add as much difference as possible to these play-through, through starting resources, ranking with the king, and relations with other nations. Personally can`t wait to try it our next week:)
Best wishes for the weekend! And for now, presenting Update 51:
-New attack window layout
-Lords, army and other details added for the attack window
-Auto-resolve attacks on AI towns will result in AI garrison taking damage
-A way to capture large town through auto-resolve with several armies
-Fixed major issue with hamlets sometimes appearing empty
-Fixed major out of sync problem in multiplayer games with pressing Space
-Fixed bug with healing units in armies resulting in red health
-Re-balanced how much damage AI garrison takes in auto-resolve
-Fixed issue with renamed armies/towns not showing in Transfer units dialogue
-Fixed common error with Steward crafting window
Our 50th Update - Alpha Milestone
Hey Everyone,
We never shy away from admitting that we have really ambitious plans with Medieval Kingdom Wars, and that we still have months and months of work ahead of us. And well - at the moment - MKW is as far from perfection as ....well, it`s just far.
But, with that said - I think we can allow ourselves a little 'pat on the back', and maybe a month long vacation (fine, fine - just the back pat thing) - and celebrate the 50th update, and finally reaching the Alpha milestone of production, yay!
None of this would be possible without our player support - so please accept our never ending gratitude for believing in MKW! Special thank you to so many of you who`ve been here with us from Day 1:)
And to celebrate the 50th update, the 50% off discount just seemed right! We hope to see a lot of new players join us this week.
Alpha to Beta plan Now that at least the majority of the core features are in, we are very excited to see what the next few months will bring as we work towards the Beta milestone, with ETA - later this summer.
First of we plan to wrap up last five core features this spring
-Final Diplomacy features,
-Merchant Trade Menu
-Chaplain Religion Menu
-Multiple Armies in battle
-CoOp and PvP campaign battles.
And last but not least - we are finally wrapping up a total upgrade of our game engine, switching to DirectX 11/12 tech - expected later this spring as well. Not only will it get MKW to look much better, but should also resolve the majority, if not all, performance issues.
With all of this done we`ll start working on polishing and adding to the content - unique units for all nations, more towns, new tutorial, a lot of polish to the combat and so much more.
But all of this is still to come, for now lets look at today`s Update # 50 II and 50 part III:
-No refund for replacing/removing unit/building on the world map
-Auto Restoring Health greatly increased to 50%,40%,30% per month/difficulty
-Reward for victory in battle or auto-resolve, lower by ~30%
-Trade Good Buying price for all - lower ~30%
-Healing troops in town should be 40% cheaper
-Return from selling Items based on Campaign Difficulty: 35%/28%/20% for Easy/Normal/Hard
-Fixed rare startup crash effecting small number of players
-Fixed terrible lag when attacking large towns
-Fixed all game crashes when attacking large towns
-AI defending large town is not as good as before now
-Trade Good requirements to unlock Steward Techs reduced by 40%
-Fixed major bug with Tutorial pausing and not unpausing
-Enabled Auto-Saving campaign battles on default, saving every 10 minutes
-Removed Norwich from the map list, the level is not ready yet
And of-course the bigger part of this update - Update # 50, part I:
[B]New Features[/B]
-Trade Goods production added to various buildings that players can construct in towns, production stacks up with more buildings of the same type
-Auto Trade Goods production added to various town and hamlet locations
-Added ability to sell Trade Goods with right click on the goods in the Steward window
-Added auto-healing to armies near friendly towns
-Added manual healing option to army units near friendly towns - click on a unit
[B]Fixes and Improvements[/B]
-Fixed various bugs with units spawning with damaged battalions
-Changed the font used by the Chinese translation
-Updated the smallest game fonts to appear much larger
-Fixed various issues with Chinese translation fonts
-Solution for rare crash issue effecting very small number of players - requires game reinstall
-Winning battles reward greatly increased
-Removed trade goods reward for loosing battles
[B]Balance Changes[/B]
-Re-Balanced prices for each technology, prices are greatly increased towards 400% boost
-AI will heal units significantly faster depending on difficulty
-Auto-healing player units is now depended on difficulty
-Ranged units gain significant boost, up to 30% higher attacks values
-Nerfed low tier infantry including Maceman and Billman - less protection vs archers, or high tier melee
