G’day Total War: WARHAMMER III fans! We hope you’ve been enjoying the first few weeks of Immortal Empires news coming your way! That said, there’s PLENTY more to come before August, including the NEXT actual release coming to WARHAMMER III:UPDATE 1.3—which is what we’ll be talking about today!
UPDATE 1.3 PREVIEW
Compared to its predecessors, Update 1.3 is going to be smaller than what Update 1.1 or 1.2 introduced to the game. As most of our development resources (and QA time) are focused on getting Immortal Empires (and the rest of Update 2.0) prepped and ready for its debut, 1.3 is aimed at addressing a variety of outstanding issues, player-reported frustrations, and other areas that will help lay the foundation for the release of the major update coming this August.
Here’s a *brief* (and far from complete) look at some of the key features—many of which are based on player feedback—coming to 1.3:
REGIMENTS OF RENOWN II
Seven new Regiments of Renown units are joining the roster in our second official unit pack. Like the first, units will be joining each of the game’s core races to provide new, elite variants for any army you field.
(We’ll take a closer look at each when 1.3 arrives. In the meantime, we welcome your guesses as to what units you’d like to see in the coming release.)
CHARACTER TRAIT & SKILL TREE REWORKS
A popular topic since the launch of WARHAMMER III: the traits received upon defeating Legendary Lords will be seeing some adjustments to feel more rewarding when you stomp a big baddie.
Several skill trees will also be seeing updates. This should not only improve the efficacy of your Lords and Legendary Lords, but will help factions who have historically struggled with replenishing their armies. We’ll share the specific changes in the 1.3 release notes, so watch for them then!
REALM OF CHAOS
As we continue to tweak the Realm of Chaos campaign, several new changes are being implemented to address some of the more frustrating aspects identified by players:
When an AI teleports to the Forge of Souls, players will now be prompted to teleport and confront them (if they are in a position to do so). This should counteract the need to proactively camp the Forge of Souls until the AI appears.
The final encounter with Be’lakor has been adjusted to be less time-consuming and punishing.
Several tweaks are also coming to Tzeentch’s realm, specifically:
Sigils will now be revealed when the player enters/exits a teleport locus.
Action points used to move and position your armies will no longer be lost by interacting with a point of interest.
The AI now must teleport eight times before accessing the final area.
AI USE OF ‘CHANGING OF THE WAYS’
The AI’s use of Changing of the Ways (Tzeentch) has been a notable pain point since the launch of the game. As such, two key changes are being made:
Minor Tzeentch factions will no longer be able to use Changing of the Ways.
The cooldown is being increased to prevent it from being abused by AI factions.
CATHAYAN FORMATION ATTACK
As promised earlier in the year, adjustments have been made to improve Cathay’s Formation Attack ability: both by adding additional melee defence and by updating the entity behaviour so that soldiers will more actively seek out engagements.
KURGAN SPAWN RATES
Several changes are being made to prevent Kurgan Warband armies from spawning continuously—offering vigilant Cathayan players a chance to enjoy some well-earned moments of peace.
MIAO YING NOW HAS “EYE OF THE STORM”
A much-requested fix, Miao Ying will now be able to access her Eye of the Storm ability when in dragon form, as intended!
UNIT RESPONSIVENESS
Several changes have been made to improve unit responsiveness in the game: from how units navigate settlement entrances and react to retreat orders, as well as how large units and heroes interact via synced animations.
AI FOCUS ON THE BACK LINE
An issue where AI armies would focus (almost exclusively) on backline units is being addressed to encourage more meaningful tactics on the battlefield. This should also address an issue during Siege Battles which would compel the AI to scale walls and march through defending units to enter the city.
AI USING ABILITIES WHEN THEY SHOULD NOT
There are a handful of instances where the AI would utilize abilities where the player could not; that is not intended, so we’re ensuring that abilities are limited in the same way as they are for the player.
PLAGUE ATTRITION
Plagues have been noted as exceptionally difficult to deal with, so we’re making some adjustments to the duration and strength of attrition effects.
LAND & DOMINATION BATTLES ARE NOW IN RANKED
Matchmaking will now allow for both Land and Domination battles in ranked: more variety to test your skills!
MOVED FROM 1.3
While there is plenty more fixes and features coming with 1.3 (all of which will be captured in the release notes) there’s one project noted previously which has been bumped from the release. As with any project, we will continue to work on developing, testing, and implementing it as soon and safely as possible:
INCREASING THE FREQUENCY OF FIELD BATTLES (CAMPAIGN)
We still want to ensure that there is a healthy mix of land, siege, and minor settlement battles as you play through the campaign—particularly based on player feedback about the number of siege and settlement battles. This will be fixed in a future update, and we’ll let you know when we have an updated timeline as to when it will be ready.
COMING JUNE 30!
Finally, it’s time to address the big question: when can you expect Update 1.3?
We promised that it would be kicking off Q3, and we are going to do just that: releasing it next Thursday, June 30th to usher in the new quarter!
Don’t worry: we still have plenty of news about Immortal Empires even as we prepare and release 1.3. We hope you enjoy these latest additions to Total War: WARHAMMER III as you wait, and we’ll see you next week as we share more about both Immortal Empires and Update 1.3!
Total War: WARHAMMER III – The Immortal Empires Map
Hello, Total War: WARHAMMER fans. In last week's blog, we not only offered our first look at Immortal Empires, but noted that the new game mode “represents the world-spanning vision that we’ve been driving towards” since first beginning our work on the trilogy nearly a decade ago. Nowhere is that better represented than the campaign map: the massive battlefield where your armies will be fighting, raiding, sacking, and conquering in search of immortal glory.
This is the quintessential sandbox experience of the Total War: WARHAMMER campaign; and today, we’re excited to not only offer a sneak peek at the beta version of the map, but provide a first look at the new Sea Lanes feature being introduced along with Immortal Empires!
THE IMMORTAL BATTLEFIELD
The Immortal Empires map is MASSIVE: the biggest map any Total War game has featured to date, and nearly twice as large as the Mortal Empires map first introduced in 2017 to Total War: WARHAMMER II. For perspective, the number of settlements has not only increased from 401 to 554*, but the number of starting factions has also increased from 183 to 278*.
[table] [tr] [th] [th]MORTAL EMPIRES[/th] [th]IMMORTAL EMPIRES[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]SETTLEMENTS[/td] [td]401[/td] [td]554*[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]STARTING FACTIONS[/td] [td]183[/td] [td]278*[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]LEGENDARY LORDS[/td] [td]74[/td] [td]86[/td] [/tr] [/table] * Note: These figures may change as we receive beta feedback
We’ve long said that the release of Total War: WARHAMMER III is only the beginning of the journey; to that end, you can expect the number of playable Legendary Lords and Races to continue growing as we release new DLC and free content to the game. This means that there will always be fresh new ways to approach Immortal Empires in the months and years to come as new forces join the battlefield.
While we won’t dive into the intricacies of start positions quite yet (...look for those soon...), you can also expect a variety of nifty changes which make the experience fresher, more challenging, and even more reverent to the Warhammer lore. You may just find a certain Krakenlord pillaging Grand Cathay...or a stealthy Skink taking the fight right to Chaos’ front door...
INTRODUCING: SEA LANES!
With the scale of the Immortal Empires map in mind, Sea Lanes have been introduced to add flexibility to your globe-trotting adventures. Interacting with them will provide the option to travel from the East of the map to the West and vice versa (with the exception of the Underworld Sea, which connects the Sea of Malice to the Boiling Sea), allowing for more exotic confrontations to be had, new allegiances to be formed, and unique roleplaying opportunities when once-distant factions meet for the first time. Any Lord or Hero will be able to move into the Sea Lane markers, allowing them to set sail and reach their destination after being at sea for a few turns.
BORDERS OF THE KNOWN WORLD
Though included within the map, not all landmasses and oceans will be traversable at the launch of Immortal Empires, such as Khuresh and Ind. Our focus for the Total War: WARHAMMER trilogy has always been on the races of Eighth Edition (with some exceptions such as Grand Cathay, Norsca, and Kislev), and the areas where these races reside remain our immediate design priority.
It’s also worth remembering that the Immortal Empires campaign map isn’t a simple ‘stitch and fit’ job. The Old World, Eye of the Vortex, and Realms of Chaos campaign maps are designed to be unique, standalone experiences. Simply put: they’re different shapes and sizes that don’t ‘fit together’ like a jigsaw puzzle. This is a sandbox mode first and foremost, so mechanics such as the Eye of the Vortex and Realms of Chaos invasion also won’t be present here.
UP NEXT
That’s all for today’s post, but as a teaser for our next news drop:
Now that the map of the world has been revealed, it seems like the perfect time to start pinning where each Legendary Lord begins their journey for conquest and glory. That's right: we're talking starting positions in the next blog, so stay tuned for more!
An Introduction to Immortal Empires
Immortal Empires is easily the most anticipated game mode coming to Total War: WARHAMMER III, and represents the world-encompassing vision we’ve been working towards since first partnering with Games Workshop nearly a decade ago. The combined battlefield brings everything we've built throughout the Total War: WARHAMMER series into WARHAMMER III: including the Races, factions, units, and Legendary Lords, all of which will find their home on a massive battlefield that spans the Warhammer world. In every respect, it’s the most ambitious project—and hands-down the most complicated one—we’ve ever attempted, and we're thrilled to begin sharing more about the game mode now and in the weeks to come.
For all of you looking to get your hands on immortal Empires, we're aiming to roll out the beta version of the game mode this August. Don't worry; we'll explain exactly what we mean by "beta" further below, but first, we want to spotlight some of what it'll be bringing to Total War: WARHAMMER III.
WHAT'S NEW IN IMMORTAL EMPIRES?
Immortal Empires is much more than the sum of each game’s content smashed together into a larger map. Rather, the new game mode offers a variety of new features and approaches to the combined battlefield:
Access all 86 Legendary Lords from all three Total War: WARHAMMER titles.
Be’Lakor is now a Legendary Lord with his own faction.
Dedicated factions for a number of the older Legendary Lords, including: Grombrindal, Helman Ghorst, and Volkmar the Grim.
New starting locations for 29 of the older Legendary Lords.
Improved personal faction mechanics for a selection of the older Legendary Lords (such as Volkmar the Grim).
A new ‘Sea Lanes’ feature, which allow you to move armies between distant lands and continents—from one side of the map to the other—without leapfrogging them all the way across the map.
New dynamic end-game scenarios: randomised mid- to late-game challenges we’re introducing to challenge the late-game steamroll—where the player is so powerful that there’s little-to-no challenge left and less of a reason to complete the campaign. Think Greenskin invasions or resurgences of the undead, as a few examples…
Revamped victory conditions. Most players don’t end up finishing campaigns, and we want to give them better reasons—and a greater level of satisfaction—for doing so. As such, we’ve simplified the victory requirements into more meaningful objectives while avoiding any arbitrary playstyle requirements.
Corruption rework. Players will have new tools for spreading (or reducing) corruption through more active usage of their armies. Small amounts of natural reduction will also be available to uncorrupted factions.
8-player multiplayer campaigns. And as a bonus, only the host of an Immortal Empires multiplayer campaign needs to own all three games. Friends who only own WARHAMMER III will still be able to join the campaign, though their Legendary Lord choices will (naturally) be limited to the ones they own.
As you can see, on top of the enormous collection of content, there are plenty of new features and improvements on the way, including a new lease on life for many of the older Legendary Lords! (We'll be talking about each of these points in the weeks to come, so watch out for more deep dives into them in the future.)
WHY WE'RE CALLING IT A "BETA"
When Immortal Empires arrives this August, you'll notice that it initially appears with a BETA tag until such time as we feel it no longer applies. When we first mentioned this earlier this year, we noted some of the concerns being raised within the community about the decision:
Will Immortal Empires be "finished" when it launches? Will it be implemented in smaller parts over time? How long do we have to wait until it's *fully* playable?
These are all fair questions in the absence of the proper context, so we want to take a moment to explain why we made this choice and what you can expect from Immortal Empires when it actually arrives later this year.
To begin, we need to talk a little about how Immortal Empires is built...
In order to create the game mode, the development team had to collect and combine the content, features, mechanics, systems, and code from three different codebases into a single mega-campaign. Now, taking big chunks of content, data, and code from one game and porting them into another is always a challenge—speaking from experience in this regard—and takes a significant amount of time and tailoring to get all the pieces to play nice with each other and work properly. Even after the technical implementations are done, there are still bugs to find and fix, as well as a significant amount of playtesting to ensure that (as an example) one race isn’t ridiculously under- or over-powered or that each race’s unique features and mechanics are working as intended.
In short: Immortal Empires isn’t just a "port" of content from one game to another; it’s a mountain of phenomenally change-sensitive, technical work. Here are a few examples of what's still being done as we speak:
Lighting across battle maps is more advanced in WARHAMMER III, so it takes time to get all the older environments re-authored to meet the same current standards.
Achieving parity across other details—such as the UI, character models, VFX, audio, and general game balance—will be a gradual process that continues over time.
Corruption is also a biggie. We changed how it works quite fundamentally in WARHAMMER III, and we’re doing even more to improve it in Immortal Empires. It’s a game system that touches every playable race: regarding how they exploit, react to, or suffer from corruption, so it's a system that will continue to evolve until it settles in a good place.
These are just a few of the more visible items that we have to contend with, and there are many, MANY more that could be a blog (or, frankly, a novel) of their own. We’re determined to get Immortal Empires into your hands, but we want to be realistic: it won’t be the "final," finished product on day one—just as Mortal Empires wasn’t at its launch in WARHAMMER II. Ultimately, this entire three-game project won’t truly be complete for years to come, which is why we're initially launching it under the banner of a "BETA."
It’s worth noting that it WON'T be an opt-in beta; we’ll add it right into the main game for WARHAMMER III, which means it won't divide the player-base across separate versions of the game or harm the multiplayer experience if you want to dive into the new mode.
IMMORTAL EMPIRES: DAY 1
So, what will Immortal Empires be like come August?
At present, our aim is for the mode to be fully "content-complete" in terms of the available Races, factions, Legendary Lords, units, and geography, as well as all the extra features and improvements noted in the "What's New" section, above. You’ll be able to start a full sandbox campaign to play and conquer however you wish, use any Legendary Lord accessible (based on your game ownership) from any of the three games, or experiment with the older Legendary Lords benefiting from their revamp (especially Ghorst, *ho ho*).
Given the sheer scale of the project, there are bound to be some visual and technical bugs, and we’ll be providing a known issues list when Immortal Empires does go live. Nevertheless, we're confident that game mode will be massive, packed with content, functional, and fun on day one!
THE EVOLUTION OF IMMORTAL EMPIRES
The moment the Immortal Empires beta goes live, its life truly begins! In the years to come, we'll continue honing and improving it, adding new features and improving existing ones, and introducing new content to help it grow over time.
Throughout this process, we'll want to hear from you about what you like and (yes) what you don't! We want to understand your impressions on things like the balance between factions, trends you’re spotting across the campaigns you play, or anything that just rubs you the wrong way. We’ll set up dedicated feedback channels for you to provide your thoughts and will also be keeping a keen eye on the popular community hangouts like the Total War subreddit.
Major patches will still arrive alongside new content packs as they did in WARHAMMER II, but we’ll also be releasing interim patches between the content packs, as well. When we start seeing trends around certain topics and features in Immortal Empires, we’ll bring those items to the forefront of the queue and react to your feedback as quickly and efficiently as we're able.
With all that in mind: when the Immortal Empires beta goes live, the best approach is to consider this "Phase 1." It’ll be the most enormous and varied strategic sandbox we’ve ever created—with all the content you expect and more—and we know it'll only get better over time.
More to come, so stay tuned for more about Immortal Empires and all the cool stuff coming to Total War: WARHAMMER III!
Total War: WARHAMMER III - Immortal Empires teaser trailer
Did you catch the Immortal Empires teaser during SKULLS? We have LOTS to talk about for the Immortal Empires beta—available to owners of all three Total War: WARHAMMER titles—and we'll be kicking off a series of info posts starting June 14th! Join us then for more!
Get up to 75% off the Total War: WARHAMMER trilogy
Hello everyone! Today's hotfix comes with a small adjustment for an issue that popped up following Update 1.2: a problem where the click-and-drag behavior was disrupting the ability to effectively position troops on the battlefield.
As always, the team is continuing to read through your feedback and take notes to help guide our development, so remember to visit one of our official discussion forums to talk about the changes you want to see:
That's it for now! We'll talk more about what's on the way in Update 1.3 next month, and will let you know when to expect it as we get closer to the date!
See you on the battlefield!
— The Total War Team
📃 HOTFIX 1.2
Fixed an issue which caused the unit formation orders (issued by right-clicking and dragging) to feel cumbersome and unresponsive.
Total War: WARHAMMER III - Update 1.2.0
Hello everyone! Today, we're excited to introduce Update 1.2.0 to Total War: WARHAMMER III! Today's build brings a variety of changes, fixes, additions, and even a handful of new features—including our first free DLC pack—to the game! Here are some of the big highlights hot off the press:
The first Regiments of Renown pack, which adds elite troops to the Campaign and Battles
Mounts now automatically unlock for all mounted characters—no skill points necessary!
Auto-resolve fixes for key Campaign issues identified over the first months of WARHAMMER III
AI improvements to address concerns with Siege Battles and an overbearing “anti-player bias”
Numerous improvements to Unit Responsiveness during Battles
Technology updates (and more) for every playable race
A long list of fixes for Campaigns and Battles based on player feedback
With an ever-growing number of *AMAZING* mods being created for WARHAMMER III, an important thing to remember with any new game build is that the custom mods you’re running may stop working (at first) if they rely on any of the systems we've changed. If you encounter issues following the update, it is recommended that you verify the integrity of the files and temporarily disable your mods until any compatibility issues can be resolved.
If, after that, your issues continue, then our support team is on call to offer guidance, work with you one-on-one, and get you in and playing!
UP NEXT...
Next up is Update 1.3, which will continue the game's growth with new fixes and features already in the works as well as additional changes based on the feedback we receive following today's release of 1.2. We'll provide more insight into the issues being fixed and updates on the way as we learn more over the next month, and will work to keep you updated as the list grows with new action items pulled from right here on the forum.
And as we work on the next release, development continues on the massive project due later this year: Immortal Empires. We know you want to know more about what's on the way, and we plan to talk about *everything* in the months leading up to its arrival. There's a ton to cover: including what it is, what's different, when you can get your hands on it, and a bunch of other cool details that we can't wait to share...
You'll hear more about Immortal Empires (and other content on the way) soon, but you can also read up on the first details in our recent look at what lies ahead for WARHAMMER III.
HAVE FUN!
We hope you enjoy Update 1.2! Remember to let us know if you encounter any issues, to check out the build overviews provided by some of our amazing streamers and YouTube creators, and to follow our social channels (below) for more information about everything to come.
We’ll see you on the battlefield!
— The Total War Team
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our official social channels.
Command the denizens of Chaos or the defenders of the mortal world, in the trilogy's cataclysmic conclusion.
Grab it now to jump straight into the action on release!
Total War: WARHAMMER III 2022 Roadmap
Good day, Total War: WARHAMMER III fans! We know that many of you have been eager to know more about what the future holds in store for the game—especially as the team continues to evolve the foundational systems, address feedback from the community, and work towards major new projects: including the addition of new content, new game modes, and the highly-anticipated return of "Mortal Empires"—known officially in WARHAMMER III as Immortal Empires.
So today, we're offering a look into what we have planned for the rest of 2022—the first of many years of support planned for the game! As with any timeline, projects may shift in scope or timing; this is normal and expected, and we will work to update you on any changes in regular STATE OF THE GAME posts year-round. These will allow us to revisit what we’re working on, update you with any moment-to-moment changes to the content or schedule, and look further forward to future releases as they are prepared.
But for now, let’s take a closer look at Total War: WARHAMMER III in 2022!
We appreciate all of you who supported us over the past six years—since the first Total War: WARHAMMER released—and to everyone just now joining us as we create our most expansive game to date. Thank you!
— The Total War Team
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our official social channels.
[previewyoutube="IODeKAX60Bk;full"] We are excited to bring you Update 1.1.0: the first major game update to introduce a variety of gameplay, mechanics, crash and bug fixes, balance changes, and the triumphant return of two Domination battlefields to Total War: WARHAMMER III.
As the first major release, we’ve packaged a ton of work into the build and highlighted all the changes we’ve made in the linked notes. For those of you who want an abbreviated version, here are the key features and fixes coming with today’s build:
Numerous crash fixes and performance optimizations
A major overhaul of the Realm of Chaos mechanics
A much-anticipated fix for a bugged interaction between the Everlasting Gift tech and Gift of Slaneesh upgrade
A fix to ensure that Supply Lines values update properly when disbanding a Lord
Fixes for numerous issues blocking players from completing the Prologue
A one-on-one training montage to bulk up The Daemon Prince (aka “Daniel”)
Major adjustments to the Daemons of Chaos Gifts and Gift Sets
The first improvements to unit responsiveness (with more coming later)
Units must now brace against a charging attacker for Charge Reflection to take effect
Balance updates for most factions and several faction-specific units
Two returning Domination battlefields: Arnheim and Battle for Itza
Major updates to the Domination multiplayer mode: including larger starting armies and an update to supply mechanics
As an important reminder: this is only the FIRST update for Total War: WARHAMMER III. There are still many, many years set aside to continue the growth and evolution of the game: including new features (Blood Pack, “Immortal Empires,” , etc.), ongoing fixes (auto-resolve, siege battles, unit movement, sync animations), continued adjustments to balance (the Realm of Chaos, existing and new factions), and more.
Even if you don’t see something included in today’s build, know that there are a variety of fixes, investigations, and projects still being worked on so they can be included in the game. Many of these are inspired by your discussions in the community, so continue to hold those discussions! We will keep working with you to paint a picture of what you’d like to see in Total War: WARHAMMER III and continue building a game that we can all enjoy!
We hope you enjoy Update 1.1.0, and we’ll see you on the battlefield!
— The Total War Team
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our official social channels.
