This has been a huge work: a lot of game mechanisms have been added to portray warfare and policies in the steppe. Main additions to game are:
3 new factions
Ungern's Asian Cavalry Division
The Chinese Northern Defence Army
The bloody Ja Lama
The Mongol People's Party and the Red Army
The later one not being playable for the moment. They appear in the game but are AI controlled. The plan is to make them part of a playable multifaction including the Komintern and the Young Chinese Communist Party.
A lot of new game mechanisms
Trucks
Cavalry
Mongol Banners
Desert & Steppe
Cattle
Some things have also been reworked
The GMD victory conditions in the Little Model China have been changed
A lot of ingame Aid and context texts have been added
I realize that you love to know the historical outcome/aftermath of a faction ad that giving you that information often greatly helps you. I may add some more "spoiler" panels with historical information.
Game Development Road Map and ETA
1) Featuring all the province and all the factions in the Little Model China. They are 3 big content patches to come: -Xinjiang & Gansu* -Tibet -The birth of the CCP
2) A great map painting -sandbox- no stress scenario. Once we have all China in the game, nothing opposes to creating that kind of more relaxed scenario.
3) Extenting the Guangdong Revolutionary Base to include the Northern Expedition
4) Completing the Chinese Translation. It is 65-70% done. It may seem to stall, but as I keep adding tons of texts every day, a 65% done translation is actually encouraging.
And that will be done!
Have fun!
*I struggle to get enough documentation about Gansu in 1920. Feel free to help
Into the steppes!
What's new?
As you may know, I am currently working on the Mongolia content patch. I had a lot of new mechanisms to add to the game system, to portray Mongolia as it deserves.
Mongol banners have now special management actions. You will need to buy the loyalty of Mongol Princes and Lamas in order to do anything worthy in the Mongol steppes. If you prefer, you can also start a long and costly policy to bring Han settlers in Outer Mongolia.
Into the steppes
You will find that your coolies and habits of living on the land won't be of any help into the vast void steppe. You will soon learn to seize cattle and move surrounded by your own herds.
Cavalry
Cavalry units are now included in the game! Bandits riders are now common in North China, and Mongol Rebels my harass you from time to time. Cavalry units have many advantages, including not having to rely on coolies, but they are also more fragile and costly.
Of course, cavalry grants many bonsues to an army: -More loot during plunders -More fleeing enemies killed -Less chances of being ambushed -No move maluses into the steppe etc...
Maps new look
I started to experiment with new better looking maps. Heilongjiang is my "model province" to do so. I'd love to have your feed back!
What's next?
The order of the incoming patches may change, but for the moment my road map is:
April *Mongolia, and the mad baron's last ride (April, first weeks) *Sinkiang (Xinjiang), and the last White Russian stand of the Civil War (April) *Tibet & Gansu (April-May)
May *Maps redrawn (May?) *Guangdong Revolutionary Base scenario extended (more provinces, more game turns), to cover the Northern Expedition *Some sand box, map painting, scenario (I don't know the starting date yet)
June *Red Bases: A scenario starting in 1927, just after the Guomindang-Communist split
July *polishing, fine-tuning *More wiki, more tooltips *Texts proof reading
The final release will only happen when the chinese translation will be done. Unless it takes way too much time. I don't know when...
August
If all goes according to the plan, I should be working on "Cold War 2" for PC by August.
Have fun!
Wild Manchuria
Hello,
I have been shipping fast a lot of updates these days. Now all China except the North West is playable. (North West China lived a life on its own at that time, but I plan to add huge parts of it nevertheless)
What is new?
Manchuria & the Chinese Eastern Railway
Beijing government
More save game sots
Extented scenario length
New cheat codes
New characters' special events
New treason mechanisms
Manchuria & the Chinese Eastern Railway
Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian faction is now available, along with the Manchurian provinces. It is a very powerful faction with a huge economical power and many supply sources to get modern weapons.
In the Little Model China, that faction just took over the Presidency and the security of the China Eastern Railways. As the Russian civil war is raging, you can expect troubles all along the railway line. Bolshevik agents will try to create troubles to prevent allied supply from Vladivostok to reach the White Forces, and retreating White Forces will have to be disarmed before they turn to banditry.
The Fengtian character roster is filled with able characters, so the player will be able to turn his domain into an economical powerhouse.
That faction does not control the Beijing government, but have powerful armed forces in the vincinity, and taking over the power won't be so difficult (facing the Zhili Clique counter-offensive, may be less easy)
The Beijing Government
Who controls Beijing controls China's government. That position will give you extra bonuses.
The Finance ministry will receive the income from China's customs (they are in the hands of Foreigners, who collect the taxes and give back China its share).
The Foreign ministry has a bonus to actions involving Foreign Powers (like buying modern weaponry or requesting a loan)
Needless to say that controlling Beijing will give you a clear edge on the competition for supremacy in China.
More game save slots
You now have 3 saved game slots. This is ertainly enough at the moment. Adding some more would not be a problem anyway.
Extended scenario mechanism
I am testing this new feature in the "Little Model China" scenario. At scenario's end, provided you scored a victory, you will offered the possibility to play for 50 more turns with new victory conditions. (the new victory conditions are "global domination" style)
New cheat code
For those who forget how to open the cheat console: just type "c". There is a new code available: -"sepuku" will kill your selected character. This may be useful to get ride easily of one of your characters. Cheat codes are creating for playtesting purpose: it is obvious that killing key characters in heavily scripted scenarios may produce clunky effects.
Characters special events
I added many mini personal events to your character's life. Some of them will impact the character's loyalty.
You may also spot a new character's role: playboy. That just means that one of this character's main occupation is partying in smoking all night, drinking champagne with Foreigners. (I am not sure this is super useful, but it gives some bonuses and maluses here and there)
Treason mechanisms
Now, characters' loyalty is really a thing. A character position in your clique may have an effect on his loyalty, and now some AIs will try to bribe your men away.
Circular telegrams may be the occasion for such characters to switch side, but they also may choose to leave your faction and stay neutral.
What's next?
Yeah, these guys are what is next to come.
Have fun!
Maestro Cinetik
Content patch: Shanxi, Zhejiang and Anhui
Warning: that patch will kill your old saved games.
The Little Model China scenario has been extended to include 3 more provinces, 2 more factions and 6 more characters.
The Shanxi clique is a nice pick for players who want to practice province building. (that faction characters roster also contains some interesting characters)
Other improvements:
-Large screens (>3000px) had ridiculously small action buttons, it is fixed now -Scenario screen now have icons to indicate which factions have scripted events.
What's next?
The next big content patch will turn the Little Model China scenario into a complete big campaign, with 7 to 9 new provinces, the Fengtian Clique and the Beijing government mechanisms.
That could come quite quick, as the work on the provinces is already done.
That scenario will have an option in case of victory to extend the game (for 100 or 200 more turns, I don't know yet) with new map painting victory conditions.
Have fun!
Maestro Cinetik
Spirit Soldiers!
Many cool new things in the last patch:
-An army list screen reworked toi manage all your armies easily from one screen -The Little Model China scenario has been extended to include Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi -6 new factions and 14 new characters -Many AI have been reworked -Some new events added -Some bugs killed...
But the most interesting addition in my opinion is a new type of faction:
The Spirit Soldiers
Did you ever dream of playing as a mystical sect, whose aim is to defend the peasants against bandits and rapacious warlords?
That dream came true!
You certainly encountered these guys before as a neutral faction in Guizhou.
The spirit soldiers have distinct game mechanisms and actions.
Gain Magical Immunity to bullets and other battle charms
Spirit Soldiers units can be trained to gain magical powers (not for real, but it has a real impact if you believe in them). It is possible to maintain areally high morale and loyalty level among Spirit Soldiers, through magical ceremonies and superstition.
Bullets and rifles are not your kind of weapons: don't expect to inflict the same huge damages as Northern Warlords armies do. Yes, Spirit Soldiers have a bonus to hand to hand fighting, as they master the sword and the spear, but let's be honest, that will never match the damages of artillery fire.
Raise impressive armies of peasants in no time
Spirit Soldiers are able to summon impressive troops of peasants. The only drawback is that these gatherings are temporary (they last 1 turn before disbanding). Also, they have the same problem as any other peasant troops: they tend to vanish as they venture far from their home village.
Like fish in the sea
Spirit Soldiers troops have bonus to ambush their opponents, and to their supplying capacity if they are in a friendly district. Playing as this faction, most of the time, you won't have to worry about supplying your troops.
Ages old feuds
As you extend your influence in nearby districts, you will certainly face rival secret societies, and struggle to maintain your sphere of influence.
Next steps
Short Term
I will now spend some time on some small but nice features, like adding special actions for Feng Yuxiang, the christian general, or some more content to the Old vs Young Guizhou Cliques.
Then I will go for something bigger:
What about a scenario about the 1927 CCP soviets and uprisings?
Medium term
The "Little Model China" and "Guangdong Revolutionary Base" scenario will be extended. "Little Model China" will include most of China provinces.
The "Shanghai Uprising" scenario will certainly be reworked.
Little Model China
Little Model China
August 1920.
As the Northern militarists are fighting each other, Sun Yat Sen seized that opportunity to make his come-back in Guangdong. The province is in the hands of a military government controlled by the Guangxi Clique, but it is undermined by internal dissents, and its power is crumbling.
In Fujian, Chen Jiongming experimented with success with self-government policies. He is now ready to implement his ideas on the whole Guangdong province.
Even if Chen Jiongming and Sun Yat Sen are allied, their vision for China's futur will soon conflict!
This is the first really long scenario
This new scenario is the larger one so far in the game, and will serve as a basis for the great 1920 campaign featuring all of China. At the moment, this scenarios features:
9 Provinces
14 playable factions
Sun Yat Sen!
103 turns! (3-4 times more than the other scenarios)
You will have time to build, conquer, and expend to other provinces!
I made that scenario with all the Chen Jiongming's enthusiasts that asked for more Chen related content. If you play as Chen, you will have access to the powerful federalist special actions, and to many dialogues and events related to your fratricidal fighting with Sun Yat Sen.
Beware: the AI now uses the assassination actions!
Among the new features:
Better resolution maps
Possibility to recruit new characters from personal links (mostly for high profile characters like Sun Yat Sen)
less bugs
I added some new cheat codes:
"bluecanton" : Guangzhou will be controlled by the Guomindang faction
"chencanton" : Guangzhou will be controlled by Chen Jiongming's faction
"oldsouth" : Activates the Guangzhou government in its 1920 form
"hongkongstrike": Activates the strike committee in Guangzhou (and reset its vitality to 5)
"shenornothing": switch sides to play as Shen Hongying (leading his own independent faction)
Some good places to watch a Twitch stream about Rise of the White Sun
Next important patch will add 1 or 2 provinces to the current scenario (and some new factions/characters)
Have fun!
Maestro Cinetik
Traitor Annihilation Corps update
The development of the next "big" scenario is well underway, I want to share with you some of its content in this update:
What's new in the game?
A better looking China map
You can now bribe characters and make them join your faction!
You can organize deadly banquets
You can now assassinate characters
The who's who panel has been reworked (that was long due and really necessary)
You can now turn your bandits into regular troops (they will still be called bandits until I find a better name)
News will stop popping madly in the district management screen
You will now always know how many turns they are left.
Small bugs and typos have been corrected here and there (the kind you probaby did not even notice)
Assassinating and bribing characters
Here are some things to know about these 2 actions:
They may change the balance of the game because they are really powerful. Characters have a secret trait: they can be main protagonists, legendary characters or just historical or created characters.
Legendary characters and main protagonists will be harder to assassinate and costlier to bribe. That's unfair, but will let important characters the chance to live up to their historical destiny.
Bribery and assassinations are disabled in some scenarios like the Shanghai uprising to keep them balanced and interesting.
Bribed character will be in your character's reserve pool: to play them as active character you will have to buy them from there.
Bribing a powerful character will cost a lot more . Indeed it will cost so much that there will be no opportunity compulsive bribing: players will have to chose carefuly their targets and patiently bring them to their side.
A character switching sides, comes with all his troops and territories! (I am sure you were wondering if that was the case)
I did not code yet any AI able of using these actions or to prevent them: have fun while it lasts!
Have fun!
Maestro Cinetik
Weekly Bug patch + ETA
Nothing spectacular here, but annoying bugs killed.
I want to thank a lot the players who took the time to do a proper bug reporting.
A bug reported with enough details on the Discord has a life expectancy of 20 minutes vs. forever for bugs poorly described or not reported;
So which ones of these nasty little beasts have passed away?
The Supervise district action will no more make all policies progress: but only the ones you are currently implementing.
Soviet weapons aid is now properly taken into account. (previously, rifles were not provided)
When attacking a spot with 2 units, including a friendly one, there was a bug creating a ghost unit and an overstacking: this should happen no more.
Other news
-Dec 14th at 3pm CST (today), a live Twitch stream will take place on this chanel: wafioy_gaming
Another new recent twitch is still on display here : NomadicJam
Chinese Translation ETA : 50% of current content done. I am adding new texts every day, so until final release, there will be a game version where chinese and english version will cohabit. And i will add further translations as they are ready.
Next scenario ETA: 80% I have some more dialogues to add, the victory conditions to set for each factions and some new AI to write.
New scenario and quality of life features
While I am working on a big dense scenario (+26 more characters +3 new provinces and 14 factions ), I didn't want to let you without some smaller updates.
The game is quite bug free now, so I can focus on adding quality of life features instead. Please tell me what feature you want to see next.
Here are the changes in the last patch
The zoom-in zoom out system has been reworked. It now slows down before you jump out of the province map. And if it does, zooming in again will bring you back to the province map.
When you hover your character in the bottom bar, it now not only displays its name, but also its location.
Province capitals have now a distinctive golden icon (Province capital will be useful for futur features)
The options screen menu can now be accessed from the landing screen (useful to set the sound and the screen resolution for exemple).
A movement arrows bug from the Guizhou capital has been fixed
A new scenario
Sichuanese scrum
The new scenario features the wild 1920 fighting in Sichuan provinces with no less than 6 factions with important armies!
Needless to say that the situation is totally chaotic and there will be no way of doing proper province building.
I suggest you simply avoid this scenario if you are new to the game (the difficulty level for all factions is rated High or very high)
That scenario is here only as a showcase for some new factions and for one of the new provinces that will be in the next "big" scenario I am working on.
Some nice playthrough
There have been some nice Twitch streams recently, here are the links:
PS: Please, tell me what cool features you want in the game.
Fixed bugs and some preview about what is under development
Ok,
So I was stupid enough to make a quick patch to fix a saved game issue that broke the game... All is fixed in this new patch.
-No missing actions after loading your game -No funky traits for some units after loading a game -Someone mentionned me that some units disapeared when a game was loaded: this is an old bug that has been fixed long ago. I could not reproduce it again, so if it is your case: please, just make sure to download the latest version.
-Idle Ai: after the quick patch, some AI inter-turn actions were broken: this is fixed now.
Next scenario preview
A bug fixing patch is nothing fun, so I will take that opportunity to tell you more about the scenario to come.
It will feature Chen Jiongming driving the Old Guangxi Clique out of Guangdong (and even out of Guangxi).
It will be the occasion for the players to try some of the Anarchist/federalist actions.
Chen Jiongming will be for exemple able to give more autonomy to the districts, teaching a trade to his soldiers (so they desert less, I turn to banditry less than soldiers from other factions), but also to disband parts of an army.
3 more Provinces will be added in this scenario:
Messy Sichuan
A coalition of all playable Sichuanese warlords teams up to oust Yunnan and Guizhou Armies from Sichuan.
Jiangxi
That one won't be playable, but a Guomindang player may invade this province with his Northern Expedition
Fujian
Chen Jiongming's faction starts there
Sun Yat Sen (Sun Wen)
In the wake of Chen Jiongming advance, Sun Yat Sen makes a political comeback and create a Southern government. Of course, the rivalry between Sun Yat Sen and Chen Jiongming will be portrayed in the scenario, with a lot of dialogues and events.
That quite big scenario with a lot of faction and provinces is a stepping stone toward a big "1920 Whole China " map painting scenario. A lot of you sked me for that kind of sand box - map painting scenario: so this will be what I will do next.
Southern China is in m opinion more difficult to portray, so working on the northern factions may certainly be easier.
Once all Chinese provinces would have been added to the game in that giant scenario, I will be able to resume my work on the Northern Expedition ( Basically another giant scenario, but starting in 1925 or 1926).
