New online maps for Quickplay division which are designed better for faster games
Forestwalk and Waygate teleport actions no longer appear prior to moving a unit, only after
Bug Fixes
Zombies spawned from Deathknights should no longer occassionally retain the existing combo points on the Deathknight
Harbors now heal ships as per their tooltip
Fixed state glitches that could arise from the guided tutorial moves
Balance Changes
Another major switch up of leader powers, too many changes to list, be sure to reread leader power descriptions
Fae
Sprite level up benefits swapped
Ranger no longer has Forage
Druid swapped out Protection aura for Heal aura which works as Forage did, max hp increased from 7 to 8
Gladerider hp reduced from 10 to 8, now only suffers half damage when Withdraw is successful
Undead
Crypts no longer heal units
Ghoul Consume Corpse now heals for 8 health (up from 4)
Wraith base attack reduced from 6 to 4, attack bonus from Reaper trait now capped at +8 additional attack. Hp gain per level reduced from 2 to 1
There have been quite a range of changes to units over the last several weeks. The Empire faction has been in a good state for a while, and with this week's changes, I believe the Fae faction joins them as being pretty close to finished. The Undead are nearly there as well.
Weekly update notes
Gameplay
Campaign Scenario 10 tweaked
Campaign Scenarios 11-13 redone
New Reoccuring flag when setting event triggers
Setting the turn number on a "Turn Start" trigger will attempt to tigger the event every turn
Added total star count display to Online screen
Bug Fixes
Move bonus and penalties on level up now actually take effect
Maps with more than one "Turn Start" triggered event will now trigger all events, not just the first one found
Balance Changes
Forage heal reduced from 2 to 3 and updated tooltip to detail that this heal is triggered on both player turns
Effect of RangeUp effects now rounds up, effects of RandDown effects continue to round down
Charity now works on any gold producing settlement, not just villages and towns
Tradepost now gives 2 gold per neutral or enemy town, instead of 3
Blind and Poison conditions now last 1 less turn
Librarian leader Major power switched to Silence damage enemies
Empire
General leader Minor power switched to "Move Out"
Prince leader passive switched to reduced unit cost
Galley range reduced from 3-5 to 2-3 and cost increased from 60 to 70
Undead
Reaver gains new Plunder trait and cost increased from 45 to 55
Ghoul paralysis level up trait now lasts into opponents turn
Fae
Stormlord leader passive power is now heal and refresh on level ups
Stormlord leader minor power is now increased range
Stormlord leader major power is now Inspiration (xp grant)
Archdruid leader minor power is now decreased enemy range
Unicorn max health increased from 14 to 16, attack reduced from 5 to 4, level up traits changed to new Blur trait and Attack Bonus
Druid attack increased from 1 to 2, now has fast level up rate, range of forestwalk increased from 12 to 16
Treant level up trait changed to Forestwalk
Glade Rider level up trait Forage changed to Camouflage and max health boosted from 8 to 10
Destroyer cost increased from 45 to 55
Ark cost decreased from 55 to 50, Attack increased from 3 to 4 and level up bonuses swapped
Weekly update notes
Gameplay
Campaign maps 9 and 10 have been updated
Steam Game Notifications for online games has been partially added. Currently there can be an issue after submitting a turn that you can get an error message about it not being your turn. I hope to have this solved within a couple days (is on server side). Until then, please return to the main menu and then back to the Online screen. Despite the error message, the turn was sent successfully.
Bug Fixes
Selecting a random faction when starting a new Skirmish or online game will now properly also set your leader to random as well
Balance
Fae
Druid: Changed Barkskin for Protection Aura, granting a stacking +1 Defense to nearby allies
Sprite: Changed Weaken for Revenge, which damages a unit that kills the Sprite for the same amount that was inflicted upon them
Bladedancer: Cost increased to 25
Ranger: Forage now also heals nearby allies
Unicorn: Changed Heal aura to new ability to swap positions with an ally within 12 spaces
Undead
Skeleton: Level up trait Spite replaced with Weaken
Ghoul: Switched out Diseased trait for Consume Corpse, which grants the Ghoul a heal whenever a nearby unit is killed
Deathknight: switched to be the Undead Support unit, HP reduced to 10, Attack reduced to 4, cost reduced to 40, loses Overrun and Determined, gains Attack Aura and Drain Life
Necromancer: no longer has Armor Piercing trait and has had his level up benefits switched up
Banshee removed, new unit in Shock role. Will eventually be a Mummy but due to new graphics being a few weeks out, is currently named Spectre and uses the Banshee graphics. But do not be fooled, this is an entirely new unit which has some interesting interactions with existing Undead units.
United
Defender unit is now Guard instead of Sprite
Support unit is now Druid instead of Priestess
Lamia now Banshee and stats and traits updated for this change
Feedback trait renamed to Torment
Weekly update notes
Content
Campaign scenario 6 rebuilt to be more interesting and provide tutorial for upgrading settlements
Campaign scenario 7 tweaked to be more new player friendly
Campaign scenario 8 rebuilt to provide a more interesting play experience with scripted events
New event trigger in Map editor for "When Unit at location killed" intended for immobile units such as banners
Bug Fixes
Fixed leaderboard overlapping row bug, for reals this time
Can once again start new online games, very sorry that this one slipped past me to begin with
Prince's Charge power now properly applied to Mounted units as intended
Experience bar tooltip now shows negative health gains for Lamia unit
Gameplay and Balance
Seraph's Chain Strike now works on diagonals
Cathedral radius increased from 8 to 10
Can now drop off transported units on all terrain except water, reef, and void
Further terrain cost adjustments. Wastelands are now cosmetic only.
Weekly update notes
General
Campaign scenarios 4 and 5 reworked to be more user friendly and smooth out learning curve
Academies now grant 4xp per turn (up from 2) and cost 25g to upgrade into, rather than 30g
Waygates now allow transport to any owned settlement, not just to other Waygates
Cathedrals now restore units to life with full health, and heal all surrounding units at the start of the turn. Their upgrade cost has also been reduced from 40g to 30g
Mounted and Foot move costs for various terrain types has been adjusted somewhat
Prince and Alera's minor powers swapped
Bug Fixes
Edit trigger in Map editor now properly shows current trigger settings
Leaderboards should no longer occasionally show all rows stacked in same location
Banshee aura once again visible
Balance Changes
Poison and Regen now tick for 3 health (up from 2)
Alera's minor power "Mercy" cost updated to 3 (from 5) mana
"Move Out" power for Elf leader cost increased to 5 (from 4)
Empire Units
Squire move increased to 12 (from 10)
War Engine move increased to 5 (from 4) and regains Siege trait
Seraph cost reduced from 75 to 65, gains Vengeance, loses Spite
Frigate move increased from 5 to 6
Galley move increased from 4 to 5, Health increased to 14 (from 12)
Fae Units
Sprite cost increased to 15, regains Haste
Bladedancer, Ranger, and Druid move increased from 6 to 8
Unicorn move increased from 9 to 10
Treant move increased from 5 to 6, loses Siege, regains Sunder
Gryphon move increased from 4 to 5, cost dropped to 70 (from 75), becomes slower as levels up, instead of health loss
Destroyer move increased from 6 to 7, Health increased from 8 to 10
Ark move increased from 5 to 6, Health increased from 12 to 14
Undead Units
Skeleton Poison level up trait changed to Spite
Deathknight move increased form 8 to 9, replaces Vengeance with Overrun
Necromancer speed increased from 5 to 6, Energy Overload now grants increased attack blessing
Reaver move increased from 5 to 6 and attack from 3 to 4
Ghost Ship move increased from 5 to 6, Health from 8 to 10
United Units
Lamia move increased from 6 to 8, Health increased from 12 to 14, now loses Max Health on level up, and gains Lifesteal at gold rank
Early Access Progress Update
It has been about 3 months since entering Early Access. This was originally my intended time frame for this period. Great progress has been made, but Shattered Throne is still not quite ready for full release.
Below is the list of planned updates that I originally published at the start, updated to reflect progress to this point. Most of the major features have been completed, with the majority of what remains being content in the form of new/updated maps for all game modes.
Along with the normal balance tweaks and bug fixes, the next several weeks will be heavily focused on map design. Beginning with a pass over the existing campaign maps. Completing the in game map editor has provided me with a much better tool and options for designing interesting maps, and I plan to take full advantage of this.
My current outlook and goal is to have the full release take place before the end of November. Thank you everyone for the support, interest and great feedback, and keep it coming!!
EARLY ACCESS PERIOD
[DONE] Custom Map Editor
[DONE] Steamworks support for custom maps
[DONE] Ensure camera moves to show teleport action destination
[DONE] Update scoring algorithm
[DONE] Show grid overlay option
[DONE] Full rework of online game display
[DONE] Multiple online game options with leaderboards
Display new Steam names when changed by user in online matches
Send Steam notification when online game turn is available
Add music to Skirmish setup display
Allow saving and loading of Skirmish games
[DONE] Additional Tile Flavors (plains with flowers)
POSSIBLE EARLY ACCESS ITEMS (may be pushed to post release)
[DONE] Switch Camps to Banners with improved graphics
Show attack outcome on hover over target
Show undamaged unit HP (as optional setting)
Reset Campaign progress option
Add music and turn change indication to replays
[DONE] Added graphical effects on campaign map (glow on banner hover)
[SEMI-DONE] Adjust or remove zoom effect on campaign map
Gamepad Support
POST RELEASE UPDATES (potential updates, contingent on sales/interest)
Upload/download replays
Additional factions and leaders
Seasonal online game leagues
Boss battles
Private online game leagues
Player created custom campaigns
Bug and balance changes will be scattered throughout as identified.
Weekly update notes
Features
Each online division (except Beginner) now has its own leaderboard. Click on the division and bottom middle button will display the top 20 players (as the different divisions were only recently added, only "Standard" has any finished games to display)
In order to get some playtesting in, several items which will eventually be unlockables are now unlocked for everyone (until the unlock system is finally put in place in a few weeks). This includes the following:
United Faction: made up of a mix of units from the other 3 factions with a unique Warlord unit (Lamia) and settlement upgrade (Mana Capacitor). The art for these two items are currently in progress, so they are currently borrowing the Wraith and Way Gate images respectively.
Historian as a playable Leader
Traitor Leaders, any leader can be matched up with any faction
Bug Fixes
Players who are unable to play Online games due to lack of a Registration option should now be able to Register and play online
Upgrading villages which are occupied will no longer sometimes cause the wrong village to be upgraded
Balance Updates
Banshee Power aura now only grants +1 Attack (instead of +2) and no longer affects the Banshee itself. However, multiple auras will now stack
Banshee base attack value increased from 2 to 3
Banshee level up ability "Drain Life" now heals based on total damage caused rather than just half
Druid Barkskin no longer applies regeneration and has been reduced in duration by 1 turn
Unicorn Resist Aura changed to Heal aura, healing all surrounding friends by 2 at the start of each of their turns. Multiple heal auras stack.
Unicorn loses Magic Strike, and instead gains Resist
Unicorn cost reduced from 55 to 50
Vampire now has the Blind trait
Bladedancer base movement increased from 6 to 7
Bladedancer level up Spite trait, replaced with new trait "Ripost"
Deathmarks are no longer removed when next turn starts
Great Leader Power shuffle has taken place. Numerous small and large changes to Leader powers, too many to list. The goal being to make all leaders more formidable and have powers that better match their theme and personalities. Existing online and saved games are not affected, though there may be a few glitches in which online/saved games have missing powers. I apologize for this inconvenience.
Just a reminder that the listed Unit changes above do not affect saved and online games in progress.
Weekly update notes
Features
Multiple divisions added for online games: Beginner, Quick Play, Epic, and Expert. Currently there is only 1 map available for each of these additional modes, but more to come as well as leader boards.
Players can now gain Stars from playing online games (except in Beginner division) Stars will eventually be the key to unlocking game features.
Zoom in distance on campaign map reduced
Bug Fixes
Reduce Enemy Banners victory condition now properly saved and available from game editor
Weekly update notes
Content
Campaign scenarios 1-3 reworked to provide a tutorial and gradual introduction of key gameplay concepts. This will continue onto the next set of scenarios next week.
New event action supported in editor to give the current player mana
New key location icons added to game and editor
Gameplay
Camera will now scroll to show teleport arrival actions
Banners and battles on campaign map now have a glow when the mouse hovers over them
Scroll and zoom on campaign map smoothed out to be less jarring
Stars earned now shown on campaign map
Adjacent mountain display corrected, which came at the cost of variety, which should improve in future updates
No Update this week
This weeks changes have been mostly behind the scenes setup for future updates, and as such there is nothing worth posting for this week.
