Hello everyone,
Dmitry here.
With this update, we’re rolling out our "Damn Big Update" to the main branch, along with all the changes from the beta branch based on the testing results we’ve worked on over the past few days. We’d like to thank everyone who played it and contributed to the game’s development.
There are a lot of changes, and the main highlight of the Big Update was the overhaul of the following mechanics:
- Migration
- Scaffolds
- Crime
- Alcohol
- Church Sermons
- Lord Interactions
- Character Needs
Based on the beta testing results, we’ve brought back the old instructions but significantly upgraded the chancellery, so it now provides a similar streamlined experience as the experimental mechanics.
Additionally, following the beta testing, we’ve made changes to:
- Archers’ combat algorithms
- The knowledge system on the global map
- The sudden attack system
- And improved optimization
The full detailed changelog, combining all updates from the beta, is below.
Share Your Thoughts
Big thanks again for all the beta feedback – it made a real difference for this update. Keep the thoughts coming as you play! If you feel like it, putting that feedback in a Steam review is super helpful. We read all of them and use them to help decide what's next for Norland.
Major Update #35 - Full Changelog
Changes specifically added today (compared to the latest beta branch version) are marked with an asterisk like this: `(*)`
All saves are compatible.
Show details
Major Changes- Migration Reworked: Migration now directly depends on the average mood of peasants throughout the day: Plus one migrant for every 10 points of average mood per day (starting from 30 mood points). The "Hopes for the Future" thought for immigrants has been reduced to prevent an early-game population surge. Once a large population is reached, a negative thought appears about overcrowding and the stench of medieval cities.
- Scaffolds Reworked: Scaffolds now function automatically without requiring instructions. They now operate in the evening. Executioners no longer conduct investigations—they now focus solely on executing criminals from the prisoner population. Each scaffold is now assigned a single executioner, who can carry out one execution per day. The rest of their time is spent intimidating vagrants.
- Crime Reworked: Criminals caught in the act by patrols now surrender after three strikes. Once subdued, patrolmen tie them up and turn them into prisoners. The next day, executioners arrive to carry out executions in the manner of your choosing. Executions can be disabled at the scaffold, keeping them alive as a workforce. You can now buy prisoner-criminals from caravans purely for entertainment purposes. Crimes now have a greater impact, lowering the average mood of all city residents.
- Alcohol Reworked: Removed the "Fatigue" thought, which was automatically generated after work and relieved by alcohol. Now, alcohol simply provides a lasting mood boost.
- Church Sermons Reworked: The mandatory morning service has been removed. Sermons now take place in the evening and require rings, which go directly into the bishop’s pocket. To hold agnostic sermons, you’ll need to purchase a separate book.
- Lord Interactions Reworked: The type of spontaneous interaction lords choose is now less random and primarily influenced by their mood. Small talk has also been added.
- Character Needs Reworked: The "Character Needs" tab has been removed. The number of thoughts from these needs has been reduced, and they now appear directly in the main character menu tab.
- Chancellery Revamped: We’ve revamped the Chancellery mechanics: Now it requires 1 hour of the lord’s time to operate. It only needs 1 paper to function. There’s now a setting that automatically connects new buildings to the chancellery. Tools are no longer required for construction Chancellery. The number of buildings that can be connected has been limited to 15.
- Combat with Archers Improved: We’ve improved combat, specifically the algorithm that determines how units, especially archers, engage in battle. Now, when entering combat, archers will only switch to melee if they are directly attacked by a specific enemy unit. Additionally, if an enemy unit targets your archer, it can be intercepted and engaged in combat by your melee unit standing in its path.
- Knowledge on Global Map Reworked: We’ve reworked and fixed the knowledge generation algorithm for cities on the global map. Now, there shouldn’t be any knowledge that you’ve already learned, and the knowledge will primarily be selected from the unique knowledge of cultures.
- Surprise Attacks Algorithm Changed: We’ve changed the surprise attack algorithm. Now, only deadly enemies (with a relationship below -50) will launch such attacks, and when such enemies appear, a hint will pop up explaining what you can do about it.
- New Enemies Added: Ragged Bands: Ragged Bands are weak, lightly armed enemies, but their numbers grow over time. Their goals are raiding peasant homes, taking prisoners, and setting fires. You will learn about their approach 12 hours in advance and they attack from multiple sides. You can disable them when creating a game, in the Modifiers section.
- New Strategic Considerations for Map Movement: Entrances and exits are now placed on all four sides of the map, and characters leave in the direction of their geographical target on the global map. Enemies also come from different sides.
- Traveling Marauder Squads Added: Starting from day 5, a marauder squad will periodically travel from one mountain point to another on the global map. They can be attacked, and if victorious, the player will receive a good thought from the Matriarch. Marauder squads occasionally travel across the entire map; they don’t attack anyone on their own but can be attacked. We’ve slightly buffed them.
- Bishop Interaction Added: A new action in the Bishop's menu - "Bishop's Reward." Now you can bribe the Bishop.
- New Advice Added: New advice "Mortal Enemy."
- (*) New Game Modifier Added: Added a new game modifier: "No Ragged Bandits."
- Game balance overhauled, guest behavior, puppet mechanics, worker distribution, and hunting logic modified.
- Balance of Power on the Global Map Adjusted: Armies in other provinces on the global map have been weakened (except in hardcore mode), and the army sizes of ambitious kings have been capped.
- Recruiting Peasants Improved: You can now recruit your own peasants, not just the desperate ones. Fanatics still require the ruler’s blessing, but all recruits now demand an advance payment based on their combat skill, just like regular warriors.
- Diplomacy Changes on the Global Map: You can now burn other kings' vassals to the ground. Peace treaties now allow for dark dealings. Hunting on the global map has been reworked. Wolves are now level 10 and forced conversations after a hunt have been removed. You will now see the success probability of a hunt when assigning a character—this depends on their Combat skill.
- Controlling Puppets with Purpose: The king now has a "Make Puppet" button, providing a clear explanation of the requirements. The puppet threshold for children has been lowered to 50, with stronger ties to their parents. Young brides from foreign cities are likely to be puppets of their parents.
- Seduction as a Political Weapon: Seduction now occurs under the king’s orders, meaning the executor manages the seduced target. The target not only loses loyalty but also becomes deeply enamored with the king. Interest logic has been refined.
- Schemes and Social Intrigue Among Guests Improved: The system assigning roles to visiting guests has been fixed. You’ll encounter puppet masters, seducers, and other schemers far more often. A new "parental visit" role has also been added.
- "Economical Construction" Book Availability: The book "Economical Construction" is available from the start.
- AI Bride Puppet Mechanics: AI bride becomes a puppet of one of her parents after marriage if she is under 24 years old.
- Chancellery Construction Cost Changed: The resource requirements for building the Chancellery have been changed to 30 wood and 5 iron.
- Warrior Patrol Priority: Day patrols is now in priority for warriors.
- AI Surprise Attack Threshold Standardized: The relationship threshold for surprise attacks on the player by AI is now always -50, regardless of whether the AI king is ambitious.
- Wall Section Cost Reduced: The cost of one wall section has been reduced from 14 to 7 wood.
- Ragged Bandit / Beggar Attack Condition Changed: Ragged bandits / Beggars will no longer show up / attack if you have reinforcement armies / reinforcements from AI are heading to the player's city or already in the city.
- Archer Combat Engagement Logic: When attacking a squad, the nearest archers will engage only if the number of enemies exceeds the number of defenders in close combat, and a specific enemy will target the archer.
- Melee Interception Logic: The attack order will be redirected to the nearest enemy soldier from the same squad when the fight begins.
- AI Squad Targeting Consistency: AI squads will no longer change their attack target between archers who are firing at them if all those archers are from the same squad.
- Lord Wish Generation Timing: Added a limit of 1 new wish per lord per day. Wishes will now be issued at 21:00, not at 8:00.
- (*) Gambling Guest Interaction Limit: The gambling guest will only play with characters from the player's faction. Gambling guests now choose lords dumber than themselves as targets for dice games.
- (*) Mace Availability and Quantity Adjusted: Maces will now be available at the caravan with 0+ relations with the Matriarch, and the number of maces for sale has been increased.
- (*) Early Game Bow Availability Added: Now neighbors can sell bows in the early stages.
- (*) Bandit Camp Destruction Relationship Impact Changed: Destroying bandit camps in foreign territories no longer worsens relations with our most hated neighbor on the global map, and destroying a camp in our province no longer improves relations with a random neighbor.
- (*) Caravan Captive Combat Skill Standardized: The combat skill of caravan captives is now set to 1.
- (*) Bishop Combat Skill Range Adjusted: The Bishop will now arrive with a combat skill of 8–14.
- (*) Hardcore Difficulty Starting Conditions Adjusted: On hardcore difficulty, at the start of the game, AI cities will have a tower built and 3–5 archers added.
- (*) Starting Equipment Adjusted by Difficulty: The starting equipment given to the player has been adjusted based on difficulty. On easy: swords, heavy armor, and clubs; on medium: clubs and light armor; on hardcore: only clubs.
- (*) Hardcore Difficulty Village Defenders Added: On hardcore difficulty, 3 archers have been added to villages as defenders.
- (*) Ragged Bandit Attack Size Capped: The maximum number of ragged bandits that can attack your city has been limited.
- (*) Duel Initiation Requirement Changed: You can now start a duel without hatred, but this will result in a negative thought from the Matriarch.
- Bandit Arrival Chance Increased: The chance of bandits arriving with migrants has risen from 15% to 25%.
- Tree Growth Speed Increased: New trees grow almost twice as fast.
- Farming Balance Adjusted: Fertility penalties have been removed, allowing fields to be placed on any soil. Fertile plots now provide a 20% yield bonus, but overall yield has been reduced by 20%.
- Production Speed Adjusted: Production speed has been slowed down across most production buildings.
- Building Levels Removed: Level 4 and 5 buildings have been removed.
- Initial Trade Contract Values Increased: Initial trade contracts on the global map now provide larger quantities of goods.
- Blind character can now work in production buildings.
- Inspector Notification Fix: The "requires inspector" notification will no longer account for scaffolding.
- Lords' Rivalry Advice Fix: Children are not considered in the Lords' Rivalry advice (flag on top left).
- Marauder Equipment Ratio Fix: The equipment ratio of marauders bands has been changed from 25% axe-wielders and 75% archers to 75% axe-wielders and 25% archers.
- Surprise Attack Relationship Penalty Fix: If the player launches a surprise attack on their mortal enemy, relations with the Matriarch will only decrease by -5 instead of -25.
- Global Map Knowledge Distribution Fix: Changed the algorithm for distributing knowledge to cities on the global map.
- Global Map Label Visibility Fix: Geographical labels on the global map will appear when zooming out further.
- Event Message Spam Fix: Identical messages can no longer spam the event display at the top of the screen. Fixed a bug where all displayed messages remained in the game's memory.
- Puppet Gift Demand Fix: It is no longer possible to demand a gift from a puppet if the puppet does not have rings.
- Hall Relocation Fix: The hall can now be relocated again.
- Character Equipment on Arrival Fix: Fixed a bug where characters could come to the local map with weapons and equipment they shouldn't have during long gameplay.
- Save Game During Wolfpack Attack Fix: Fixed a bug where the game couldn't be saved during a wolfpack attack.
- Load Game with Auto-Battle Crash Fix: Fixed a rare crash when loading a game with active auto-battle.
- Bleeding Removal on Arrival Fix: All actors arriving at the local map now automatically remove bleeding.
- Statistics Menu Mood Dynamics Display Fix: Fixed a bug where mood dynamics were incorrectly displayed in the statistics menu (up/down arrows).
- Tutorial Bandit Squad Attack Fix: A bandit squad in the tutorial will no longer attack the player's squad by itself, blocking the tutorial progression.
- Gift Rings Hint Fix: Fixed the number of rings in the hint from the thought of gifting rings to the king.
- Enemy Attack Pause Fix: After the game pauses due to the start of an enemy squad's attack, subsequent attacks from other squads will not pause the game again. Each new squad’s attack won’t pause the game anymore.
- Sermon Change Ring Return Fix: Fixed a bug where rings were not returned when changing the sermon.
- Order Executor Availability Fix: If a lord dies of old age or cannot walk soon, they will not be available as order executors.
- Dropdown Menu Visibility Fix: Fixed a bug where closing the menu with ESC while the dropdown list was open caused the dropdown to stay visible on the screen.
- Lord Dice Playing Location Fix: Lords now only play dice in the hall, and only if they are not far from it.
- AI Troop Retention Fix: If the AI has been suddenly attacked by the player and relations with the player are <= -50, the AI will no longer leave 30% of its troops at home when attacking the player's city.
- Old Save Mill Display Fix: Fixed a bug where after loading an old save with a level 5 mill, it would display incorrectly.
- Night Raid Cancellation Fix: The decision for a night raid on another lord will be canceled at 8:00 if no attempt was made.
- (*) Inspection Display Fix: Fixed the display of the number of inspections in the top menu.
- (*) Nectar Intoxication Effect Changed: Nectar intoxication now speeds up characters by 30%.
- (*) Hall Servant Behavior Improved: Improved the behavior algorithm of hall servants to ensure there’s always alcohol and food in the hall if they’re available in the warehouse.
- (*) "King is Cursed" Thought Persistence Fix: Fixed a bug where the "King is Cursed by the Matriarch" thought didn’t disappear after the player’s king changed, and the Matriarch relationship panel didn’t update until the next hour.
- (*) Global Map Manual Combat End Condition Fix: Fixed a bug in manual combat on the global map where, if the attacker was the player, the battle wouldn’t end as long as the defenders had towers, even if the player had no squads left.
- (*) Global Map Battle Notification Fix: The notification about the start of a battle on the global map (at the top) will now disappear when starting a manual battle.
- (*) Bandit Camp Ring Quest Location Fix: The quest to buy stolen rings at a bandit camp will no longer appear in the player’s province.
- (*) Felled Tree Positioning Fix: Fixed a bug where felled trees ignored the height at which the tree was before being cut down, causing them to appear in the wrong location (though felled trees are still clipped by the terrain).
- (*) Fog Display After Loading Fix: Fixed a bug where fog wouldn’t display after loading a game if it had fully appeared and hadn’t yet started to dissipate.
- (*) Rain and Fog End Behavior Fix: Fixed a bug with the end of rain and fog.
- Refactors: Optimized day scrolling speed in the statistics menu.
- Hint Memory Optimization: Optimizing memory consumption by hints
- New Music Added: The soundtrack has been reworked.
- Sound Effects Modified: In-game effects have been modified.
- New Trees Added: We also reworked trees on the local maps.
- Main Menu Art Updated: And main menu art.
- Fog effect added
- Mill Visual Redesign: The mill's appearance has been redesigned; at level 3, it becomes a large mill with blades.
- (*) Mountain Texture Changed: Changed the texture of mountains on the local map.
- Tutorial Updated: The tutorial has been updated.
- (*) Ring Inheritance Event Added: Added an on-screen event for inheriting rings after a lord’s death.
- (*) Puppet Notification Condition Changed: The notification about a puppet appearing will now only show if the participants are in the player’s family.
- (*) Lord Action Menu Reorganization: Some actions in the lord’s action menu have been moved to Intrigues.
- (*) Encyclopedia Hint Behavior Changed: All encyclopedia articles now "freeze" their hints on long hover.