It is the most worked-on version of the Knights Province yet (except for Alpha 1, of course). Last release was 7255 and this one is going to be at least 8930. Means that a whole 1600+ bits of changes and improvements went into it.
Main features of the new version are:
- Manned towers. Now each tower can be manned with 1-3 warriors who will pick up bows inside and shoot from atop at the enemy. Warriors will request food to be brought in by Serf when hungry, otherwise they will stop "working" and walk out, just like citizens do. It is yet unclear how warriors specialization will affect his performance in the tower, or if warriors inside could take a fraction of damage from enemy archers. At the moment, all warriors shoot with the same strength, distance and frequency and stay 100% protected inside.
- Buildable fences. Now you can build and destroy your own fences (and enemy fences too, of course). Fences cost wood to build and block passage for citizens. Warriors can break fences on their way with several blows. So far it is quite a weak obstacle, but with more playtesting that can change. In the future fences are also planned to be used for cattle.
- Real Fog of War. From now you can see only what you have surveyed. This is how fog behaves in the majority of the games. Implementation was quite tricky, but the end result is well worth it.
- Early stages of multiplayer accounts. Registration and mission highscores allow you to compete with other single-player players. More on that is covered in the previous article.
- New and updated campaign missions. Campaign scripting and persistent script storage between missions, customizable icons and maps. Now allows for more varied custom campaigns. Check updated tutorial, Intro and Hostages missions.
- Added Russian localization as a test of a text translation engine. More localizations can be made later on.
- Configurable shortcuts/hotkeys are finally here as well. Almost everything is configurable and Ctrl+Alt+Shift are supported as well.
- Restyled fish count calculation and display in water bodies. Now it is smooth and informative.
Smaller features are:
- Return of the fraction of building materials on house destruction. Nice bonus or last chance at building a Stonecutter’s - you decide.
- Revised several house models (still temp).
- Finally added some leather background to in-game forms. It’s still a work in progress though.
- Added cinematics and speech bubbles support in missions.
- Allowed to make terrain highlights (invoked from script).
- Decal and Objects palettes for the MapEd. As well a couple of new objects.
- Added support for Buttons in dynamic script messages. Your choice can now directly affect mission flow.
- Changed how coalmaker’s house works, now the coalpiles need to be set outside.
- Made AI to attack animal dens
- A lot of effort went into refactoring alliances. Neutral hands. Players instantiation and mission setup
- Reiterated and improved AI in Skirmish (GDP +17%, Starvation -30%)
- A whole lot of bugfixes and improvements
- New music by Juan (Dark Banner, Harvest, Over the Hills)
- Campaign Builder tool is included with the game now.
Join the Discord server and try it out - https://discord.gg/cEwJFSY
Please report bugs and feedback on Discord too!
If all goes well, Alpha 11 will be released this month.