Hey everyone!
Last week saw a decent amount of bug fixing and world building, but we are still missing some assets to finalise the jungle and the lake plateau, so you’ll need to wait a little longer to see pictures of them. In the meantime, I want to talk a little about the pirate fortresses that will be one of the bigger focuses of the new map.
Before now, there were a range of pirate camps distributed around the island(s), which served as both small groups of pirates that would protect an area, as well as being the spawn points for pirate waves. Some of the camps were placed strategically to defend certain areas or things (for example the artefact that needs to be collected to win), while others were spawned randomly. Between both types, we hoped the place the pirate waves spawned would be sufficiently random that players would need to defend from all sides, and that progression would be slowed down by them.
With us doubling down on PvE and a stronger focus on progression, we decided to upgrade the pirate camps and their role. Instead of just placing multiple camps next to each other to increase the amount of pirates and having potentially dozens of spawn points across the world, we decided to create much more interesting, hand-crafted fortresses that will be waiting for you in strategically placed locations across the island, and will present challenges according to your current level of progression.
The first fortress will be found in the stone valleys. You can expand into the stone valleys in a way that allows you to circumvent the fortress, but that means you will continuously have to deal with pirate waves spawning behind you if you don't take care of it. The fortress is down a little inclined, which means that you have a advantage when assaulting it, but there is a formidable force in the fortress, so don't take the assault lightly.
The second (above) and third fortress (main image today) will be found around the metal plateaus, blocking your advancement and providing further possibilities to get attacked from behind if you don't take care of them.
The last fortress will be at the end of the island and will contain the artefact. This one will be the most heavily fortified of them, so prepare carefully before you attack it! I will not include a picture of it here so you will have to scout to find it for yourself.
Until next week!