Prime & Load: 1776
Listen Servers - 09/06/2021
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* Servers hosted by players in game are now visible and can be joined from the server browser
* A new server menu option has been added to choose between public and private servers. Public servers are dedicated servers, private servers are ones hosted directly by players
Patch Notes
- You can now change your name and choose a custom banner at any time from the character menu
- New banners to choose from
- Added inverted mouse option in the controls menu
- Fixed getting stuck in a melee primed attack sometimes when quickly spamming attack/block
- Voting reimplemented, allowing for round restarts, change map, enable/disable bots, and kick players
- Fixed bots sometimes getting stuck, roaming around aimlessly towards the end of a battle
- Fixed banners not showing above players' heads sometimes
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Post Patch fixes - How to video included
Here's what new
* Fixed some people dropping from the server during map changes
* Fixed cannons being deployed at strange angles if someone is in the way
* Fixed the hair on horse artillery changing at a distance
* The key that needs to be held when choosing which rank should perform an action is now bindable in the options menu
* The current troop order in the HUD now correctly displays
* You can now stop playing music from the command menu
Also a video from me showing you how things work!
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Arty comes to Commander!
Here are our fixes & changes
* Fixed spyglass on horseback
* Artillery limits are enforced at the troop selection menu, so you know if the limit has been reached
* Overhauled menu and in-game UI
* Added artillery to commander mode, with AI that can reload the cannon for you, and the ability to toggle between round and grape shot
* You can now designate target companies for line infantry to focus fire on, or prioritise in melee
* Reduced the range at which your soldiers will automatically engage in melee with nearby enemies, and reduced the distance they will pursue before returning to their line
* Overhauled the sounds for all small arms and artillery. All weapons can be heard across the battlefield, and will play distant sounds if you are far away
* Tweaked the blood effects a bit to make them more noticeable
* Created a new key-based menu system for issuing commands (previous mouse-based menu is also still available in the control options)
* Corpse persistence is now configurable in the graphics options, default is 2 minutes, but can be set to 0 for permanent
* Soldiers no longer get in each others way or get stuck when forming up
* More death animations
* Voice commanders for British & American Commanders
* Units now visible in Unit select menu
* Smaller Mouse cursor
We really changed a lot in this, one of our best patches. Adding a level of polish to commander battle.
Server & Player patch.
Here are our fixes this patch.
- Texture improvements on some props
- Lighting improves on all maps
- 3 New Commander mode maps (Seasalt, Port, Hold position)
- Improved bot system (admins / server rotation)
- Spyglass crash fix (player)
- Bots now have the same hand colour as troop face
- Correct error messages for player interactions with server (player)
- Creating a new name no longer allows players to input incorrect symbols (server / player)
- Highlander officers now have spyglasses
- Shorten Musket firing cues (sound pops should be reduced) (player)
- Admin actions show in kill feed
- Spectators no longer counted in "waiting for player stage" in matches (server)
- Server password padlock tool tip when hovered over for easier selection (player)
- Musicians now play while slow marching
- Musicians stop playing music at the end of rounds
- Musicians will stop playing music if you press play music command again
Balance
- Fire at will accuracy reduced
- Running backwards speed reduced
Enjoy!
Commander Mode is here!
Working best with teams of 5 players controlling 20 AI each (200 Troops in play), this game mode is only limited by your own CPU, most people will enjoy a smooth experience thanks to the power of Unreal 4!
Recommended specifications can be found on our Steam store!
Here's a video of the action!
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- New game mode, Commander, giving you control of a company of infantry with full bot support
- Complete overhaul of game mode systems, fixing issues of map changes and round ends
- Complete overhaul of the admin panel, giving you full control of the server from within the game
- Various quality of life improvements
- Map cycles for dedicated servers can now be configured within the ini files, and servers will run the appropriate maps on startup
- Overhaul of Skirmish single player menu
- RSE.
Future Update
We wanted to give you an update on the state of the game and where we are in development. We appreciate things have been quiet for the past 6 weeks or so since our last update which introduced offline bot matches and siege support for AI.
As a team, we have been working on Prime and Load without a break for over 3 years now while also balancing it with university, jobs, family and so on. We have been using the last few weeks to step back, take a bit of a break and re-evaluate the game and the direction it needs to go. Fundamentally, we know that the game has not been a success and a lot of this has been down to us: awful technical problems at launch, naivety in handling communications, mistakes made in our project management, and just a general lack of experience and resources.
The question now is: where do we go from here? This has been a difficult decision to make, but we are planning to release a final content update for the game early next year, exact date TBC, which will include the following:
* Commander mode, giving players command of a company of AI soldiers which they can lead against other AI or player-controlled companies
* Allow for players to host their own listen servers within the game to remove dependency on dedicated servers for online play
* Additional small requests from the community, full list to be decided
* Additional bug fixes
This will allow people to enjoy the game competitively, but with a game mode better suited to the low population. After this content update, we will not be doing any further development on the game, other than bug and crash fixes.
For all those who have contributed to the discussion, posted ideas and generally supported us: we are really grateful for all that you've done, and we are sorry that we couldn't make the game what we hoped it would be.
Regards,
RSE
AI & Quality of Life Update.
- Some crash fixes for both server and client
- Disabled debugging, performance should be significantly improved for all users, especially those with weaker CPUs
- You can no longer use the debug console
Single Player
- New single player menu for setting up offline bot matches
- Bots now support siege mode
- Bots in siege mode will raise/lower ladders and gates
- Bots in siege mode will work in squads, lead by an officer
- Bots in siege mode will use artillery and attack walls
Menu UI Improvements
- There is a new tutorial explaining the menu when first starting the game
- Inviting players to your regiment no longer sends you to the main menu
- Edit highest and lowest rank name-notification UI looks better
- You can set a custom question for your regiment application process
- Can search for regiments in the browser (which now can be viewed by people in regiments)
- When returning to the main menu from a session, you don't need to leave and re-enter the server menu
- A dialog box will appear letting you know when you're attempting to connect to a server
- If you fail to connect to a server, or lose the connection during an existing session, a dialog box will inform you of the problem
Gameplay UI Improvements
- Fixed chat colours
- Chat messages also display the channel, so you don't need to remember what each colour represents
- The scoreboard now scrolls
- Gamma is now applied correctly across cavalry and artillery
- It no longer displays the respawn countdown if you run out of lives or have switched to spectator mode
General Gameplay Improvements
- Gates in siege can now be destroyed
- Dueling is easier and the killfeed tells you who is dueling whom
- Suiciding or switching team when mounted on a horse properly kills you and the horse
- Spectating a player correctly follows them when they mount or dismount a horse
- Added an "automatic" bot mode: this will set the minimum number of players to an amount determined by the map, so smaller maps won't become overcrowded or large maps too empty
- New useable boats in certain maps
- Fixed bots being counted in voting
KNOWN ISSUES:
- There is a tricky to resolve problem with banning players from a server, so this feature is temporarily disabled until we can resolve it
Price Reduction!
Due to Steams rules during Covid the free weekend was not allowed! boo! So to keep to some kind of ease of access the game is now very cheap. We will continue this price if it proves popular. Not only have we reduced the price our 10% discount is still running until the 9th of July! Happy gaming - RSE
Steam store page - https://store.steampowered.com/app/926540/Prime__Load__1776/
June Patch 2020
New Content.
* AI Bots for Battle, TDM & Deathmatch. (Infantry Only)
* New Bot manager tool for Admin Panel
* Community Button to replace Discord in menu
* New Linebattle Map - Muggy_Matchland
* Player Names displayed - "Left Alt"
* 3 New Highlander Regiments + Bagpipes (71st / 42nd / 74th Lights)
* Amazing Grace added to Drummer list of Americans.
* Environment Graphical Improvements + Foliage
* Server Passwords now persist across Map changes
* Slightly reduced the delay from feinting into launching an attack
* All stabbing animations now play a recovery animation after hurting an enemy player.
* Notify for when holding a cannon ball or any other cannon item.
* Suicide Button
* New Community hub for new players - https://rsegames.com/
Fixes
* Fixed the issue of strange-looking corpses in certain situations, and of horrible deformed hands in other cases
* Ladders fixed for Siege
* Battle round not ending fixed