Progress continues to be made on the Soviet Union, our fourth faction, and in that spirit we’ve got some units to share with you. Please keep in mind that these are first drafts and, like all first drafts, they can see a lot of tweaking between now and being published! We haven’t started testing the balance yet and that is when the changes happen.
The Union Transit Officer is an early game Union unit, combining support and free unit features. For 1 MP, you place the Transit Officer who has 1 HP and an ability to move allied units above or below him 1 tile forwards. At the same time, he has Charge and you draw two Conscripts when you place him. This means if you play him on the first turn, you can then play one or both of the Conscripts, which cost 0 MP, and then use his ability to shift one of them forwards. He can then either remain in the first column, speeding the movement of new units to the front, or he can advance with other units to quickly get them into Domination Damage tiles.
The Battery Commander is a 4 MP range 2 unit who has 2 HP and 1 Attack by default. He also doesn't retaliate. However, he has a special ability where he gains +1 Attack for 1 turn every time another allied unit is deployed. For other factions, this might not be the best ability, but in the right Union deck you can be deploying a lot of cheap or free units, and it should be easy to buff him up to 3 or more damage as needed.
The Union also have a few cards which cause their opponents to draw cards - if played right, and in numbers, you can put serious pressure on your opponent's hand, keeping them near their limit and potentially discarding as they draw. The Komdiv Adjutant is a 3 HP 1 Attack vertical attack only unit, with diagonal movement, for 5 MP - but the real value is in their ability which causes both you and your opponent to draw an extra card while they are in play. Obviously there is a risk that making your opponent draw more cards could backfire, but given that you have the power to decide when your opponent will be drawing and you can build your deck to handle double card draws, it could give you the advantage.
Do you like the idea of forcing your opponent to draw so that they might have to discard at the end of their turn? Fatigue Damage might make an appearance more often in that case. For the players who have never encountered Fatigue Damage it’s what happens when you start your turn and your deck is empty. If you cannot draw a card you receive one damage for the first turn, two damage for the second, and the damage continues to rise until the game is won or lost. Exciting!
Also, we’ve been populating our Pinterest Link with card art, concept art, and all of the art that we can get our hands on. It’s worth a look through to see some of the card art up close, the ideas before they became units, etc! See you on the battlefield!
Android, M, XL and Previews
So I have good news and I have bad news.
We’ll start with the bad: Face Off won’t be launching on mobile today. This delay is because we’ve been drastically improving the new player experience. We’re looking at an early next week launch for Android tablets instead.
However –
Android is not all we’re working on. We’ve alluded to something else coming soon, and today I’m excited to announce what that something is:
MoW: Face Off XL.
What most people don’t know is that Face Off is currently optimized to perform on tablets. That means the graphics have been limited up until this point. We made a decision recently to go in two directions (eventually three) with the game instead. The mobile version (or the version you have currently been playing on) is going to be known as March of War: Face Off ‘M’. This version of the game will keep the graphics you’re used to with some small amounts of polish and improvements.
So what is XL? XL is the version of the game optimized to perform on desktop and big screen. The new version of the game features significant graphical improvement and better details on the 3D side of things, although this is at the cost of being heavier to run and load. Players will be able to choose which version of the game they play and run. If you’ve got a lower end computer, you can play M, but if you have a higher end one, you can play on XL. You will be able to use your account for both, and you will also be able to play on the tablet with the same account.
Our plan is to launch XL later this week, along with some improvements to both games. Here’s a preview of what’s coming:
New menu & store screen
Many frontend/visual improvements
Brand new tutorial (with rewards)
At least 2 new cardbacks
3D game improvements including but not limited to better identification of the enemy’s units on the board.
Better localization and language support, including new languages: German, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian.
Of course there will be more, but these are our biggest changes to make the game more enjoyable for everyone. We’ll also be launching our website within the next couple of days, which will have a lot of Union promotional material as well.
We’re sorry for the delay, but we’re excited for what’s coming and we know it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, we recently revealed the upcoming limited ‘XL/Android Promotion’ cardback as well as our new logo on Facebook. For those who missed it – here they are again!
Spotlight Preview: Android Tablet Release
We recently made a big announcement, but in case you missed it:
Face Off is going mobile.
After these five words, a lot of people have been asking for details, and we’re happy to tell you more. First and foremost, mark the date on your calendars! November 16th!
So what does a ‘mobile launch’ entail? Well, the specifics are simple: we’re launching on Android tablets on the 11th. But apple users, never fear: the iPad launch won’t be too far behind! One of the most frequent questions has been, “But my account is on Steam – what then?” The answer should please everyone: people with existing accounts will be able to link them to their devices, so yes, you will be able to play your characters on the go.
Our plan is to eventually release the game on phones as well, though that’s at a later date, as we’ll need to optimize the UI for the smaller screen.
We’re treating this launch as a party, too. We’re planning to do all kinds of in game events, including hourly ‘Guess the Card?’ games that will end in tickets, Facebook and Twitter events, as well as at least one new cardback for the Android release. On the weekend, we’ll also be doing some Streaming events where you’ll have a chance to ask the devs whatever questions you want and even play against us in a tournament for tickets. Other major features that will be included will be an entire redesign of the tutorial and the new front end we previewed recently.
We’ll be posting more details on the play against the devs tournament on the 11th. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!
Changelog, Hotfix, Thursday November 5th (22.3250)
Build #: 22.3250 Fixes
Minor AI fixes that affect the way the AI moves its units.
Fixed a problem with card crafting that resulted in getting too many or too few cards.
Corrected the background not scaling properly.
Corrected a problem with challenges not working correctly.
And the winners are!
The design a unit contest ended on the 30th at 7pm EST (GMT -5) and we’re announcing the winners today! It’s a little late, there were some Halloween mishaps, but we got them sorted out. There were a lot of entries, a lot of participants, and we wanted to thank everyone that took the time to throw in their submissions. Hopefully everyone enjoyed thinking them up as much as we enjoyed reading them. For the results!
In THIRD PLACE and recipient of 100 tickets is TaigaM
Strategic Redeployment – Neutral – Iron / command – MP 4, Move ally unit to any unoccupied square in the same column. Art could be a train loaded with equipment, like a flatcar with a tank or carriage, with lots of troops traveling across the countryside.
In SECOND PLACE and recipient of 250 tickets is Astartes
Saboteur – European Alliance – Iron / organic – MP 3, HP 2, Damage 1, Range 1 (diagonal forward), Speed Normal (omni 1), Overrun: adjacent enemy units are pushed back one tile
And, in FIRST PLACE receiving 500 tickets is Darkagma
SNLF Paratroopers – Shogun Empire – Silver / organic – MP 4, HP 2, Damage 2, Range 1 (cross), Speed Normal (omni 1), Deploy in first three columns, Assault: adjacent enemy units suffer -1 attack for one turn. Art is footsoldier wielding type 96 light machine gun with two white sashes crossed on the chest connecting to their parachutes. Sandy area early in the morning with two crouched soldiers in defensive stance with one in the back still falling from parachute. Blueish uniform for SNLF themed cards with shanghai unit skins.
A hearty congratulations to all of our winners and thanks again to everyone that participated. Your tickets have already been given out. This is the third contest that we’ve run and, as always, we plan to do more. Keep an eye out on the forums, facebook, and our twitter for updates on that. See you on the battlefield!
Spotlight Preview: The Soviet Union (Part II)
We recently announced our fourth faction, the Soviet Union. Our hope is to release it sometime in late November, so as we build up toward it, I’m excited to show you some more of what’s coming in that release!
In our first release, we explained that Union has a set of cards which are added to your hand by the usage of other cards, similar to how you get Lesser Devoted when you kill a Devoted, etc. Typically, this isn’t a last stand ability, it’s usually an assault (although there’s at least one with an over-run that also draws these). As with Lesser Devoted, these cards don’t exist in your collection; they are only acquired when you play a different card. The ones we’re featuring today are very iconic of our Union faction and will be very familiar to March of War veterans.
We’ll start by introducing you to Conscripts. They are 0MP 1/1 Organics and you usually get them in groups of either two or three. They have 1 range and normal movement costs.
The second of these units is Red Soldiers. These come with other cards in amounts varying from one to three. They are 1MP 2/1 Organics with Advanced Deploy. They have 1 range and normal movement costs.
The prices and stats are not 100% set in stone yet, as they’re still in the works, but what do you think of these units so far and the concepts they bring with them? Should make Union pretty different from the other factions, right?
We also have another major announcement today – an announcement that many of you have been waiting for. We are excited to tell you that November 11th is the official date we will be launching on Android tablets – and yes, you will be able to log in with your existing Steam accounts through it. Set your clocks and begin the count down!
Changelog, Hotfix, Wednesday October 28th (22.3062)
Build #: 22.3062 Fixes
Clarified Ability trait text - it does not ignore Shields (so for instance Empire Doomsayer is working correctly if she targets a unit with a Shield and the Shield is removed rather than the ally taking damage).
Destroyed vehicles should no longer play any kind of attack FX as they die.
Balance Changes
Alliance MG42 Section Move cost reduced to 1 from 2 (is no longer Slow).
The 2MP move cost made this awkward to use in the intended early game role.
Alliance Heavy Recon Panhard Cost reduced to 1 from 3. Health reduced to 2 from 3. Intimidate reduced to -1 from -2.
Alliance Sturmtiger AVRE Cost reduced to 3 from 6. Health reduced to 3 from 7. Move cost reduced to 1 from 2 (no longer Slow). No longer has Advance Deploy. Intimidate increased to -2 from -1.
A slow, low damage unit with short range was often of limited use later in the game, and the Intimidate (-1) was less likely to be useful against more powerful mid-game enemies. It’s now cheaper to use earlier on. The adjustments to the Heavy Recon Panhard make it the cheaper, earlier Intimidator (and provide Alliance another much needed 1MP card), while the Sturmtiger AVRE is now close to the role the Heavy Recon Panhard had before, but with the ability to attack.
Alliance Afrika Korps Cost reduced to 2 from 3.
Alliance Panhard Cost reduced to 2 from 3.
Alliance Panzergrenadiers Cost increased to 6 from 5. Attack increased to 2 from 1. Can now move diagonally.
Alliance Desert Rats Move reduced to 1 from 2, Range increased to 2 from 1.
Alliance Rearguard Cost reduced to 4 from 5.
Needed a little boost.
Empire Treetop Sniper Move cost increased to 2 from 1 (is now Slow). No longer draw a card when killed.
For a 3MP card, Range 2 combined with a Shield and Anti-Organic makes it extremely powerful early on. It maintains this power, but will now cost more to manoeuvre around the board. The card draw was simply unnecessary to the main function of the unit.
Full Disintegrate
Alliance Heavy Recon Panhard
Alliance Sturmtiger AVRE
Alliance Desert Rats
Alliance Panzergrenadiers
Empire Treetop Sniper
Changelog, Hotfix, Friday October 23rd (21.2900)
Build #: 21.2900
New
Friends now are blue in the chat.
Fixes
The friends list is finally fixed! You can now view the whole friend list, instead of just a portion of it.
Fixed a problem with the AI where it would not move on its own.
Spotlight Preview: The Fourth Faction
Back in August, we released our third faction. Although there were (and still are) some balance kinks to work out, Empire has mostly been well-received as offering a different and interesting gameplay experience. The faction pushed the limits by introducing a lot of combos and unique cards with different features, and it shook the meta up completely.
That was two months ago, though, and we’re over-due for a new addition to the Face Off family. Many players have asked us what order we’d be releasing factions in and we’re still very reluctant to reveal the exact details of this because we like a little mystique, but today I’m excited to tell you about our fourth.
The next faction is The Soviet Union.
Veterans of March of War will recall that Union’s gameplay is based heavily around mech tanks, walkers, support and propaganda units. That’s the general theme we’re going with in Face Off, too. Our plan is to implement a lot of ‘support cards’ that draw more cards when played. In other words, if you deploy a Bear Tank, you get two Red Army Infantry added to your hand – similar to the way that Devoted, or Eye in the Sky work. Red Army Infantry are decent value average cards, but since Union is all about support units, you can boost them to be something great.
Union doesn’t have a solid set release date, but in the coming weeks we’ll be releasing more about the faction, including doing some previews of upcoming cards (including gold cards) as well as new traits that Union is bringing to the table. In the meantime, you can learn more about what’s coming by checking out the March of War Wiki. Enjoy the preview images and feel free to speculate about what they might belong to for Face Off!
Contest: Design a Unit
Hello MOW: FO players! Some of you are aware that in the past we’ve had contests to see what kind of creativity you guys have going on. This one is a design a unit contest. The rules are pretty simple. You pick a faction, any faction you like, and create a unit that you would like to see be part of that faction. Once you have designed the unit, remember to include all relevant stats and effects, you’ll need to email it to jayme@isotx.com. The limit is five entries per player so if you’re planning on using all five then try to bundle your emails for ease of putting all the entries together.
Limit 5 entries per player
Name it
Include attack, range, movement, and health
Include effects, abilities, etc
Optional: Description of the art and suggested card rarity (bronze, silver, gold)
Put all of this information into an email to jayme@isotx.com
- Contest closes on 10/30 winner announced 10/31
The prizes, for winners selected, will be tickets! First place will receive 500 tickets (that's enough for a gold card), second place will receive 250 tickets, and third place will receive 100.
We’re really looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with. Have fun with it but let’s see what you’ve got. See you on the battlefield!
