Hello everyone,
This is Dmitry.
It’s been quite a while (two weeks? three?) since we released a meaningful update, so this one will be rather large (BETA though). The post will be large as well, but this time it comes with pictures.
Note: As always, all saves are compatible.
In this version, the tutorial is also disabled, so if you haven’t played the game before, we recommend not downloading this BETA.
New Progression System
Below is some theoretical design discussion for those interested in designing complex game systems; you can skip it and move on to the actual content.
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Why We’re Changing It
So, the current system has long been outdated, but we never quite got around to remaking it properly. Now, with the steady flow of new art and an expanding economy, we realized we could no longer postpone this reform. Otherwise, the situation with piles of books and knowledge would turn into a mess.Two Possible Approaches
We had two options: a tech tree, typical for 4X strategies and colony builders, or population‑based progression, typical for city‑builders. In the first scenario, progression happens parallel to city development and is largely independent of it. In the current version, that’s roughly how things work: you research one technology, then it unlocks access to the next. In the second scenario, new knowledge is unlocked as the city reaches certain development levels, usually expressed through population.Why We Didn’t Expand the Tech Tree
We could have complicated the first system. For example, a new building would be researched by a lord who spends time and resources on studying it (regardless of books). Or for another example: a lord uses 10 units of Beer studying it at the Brewery, eventually unlocking Ale. Burns 10 logs at the Sawmill. He “invents” coal. And so on. The problem is that this system becomes detached from what’s happening on the map.Why Population-Based Progression Works Better
The second option felt more organic for our hybrid genre. The idea is that as a city grows, it attracts more trouble. Bandits, greedy neighbors, the church, diseases, etc. And the church offers you knowledge to help deal with these problems, in the form of books.Balancing Challenge Through Migration Control
With strict migration control added (You don’t need walls. Migration can be stopped with one button), we get a more balanced system that avoids a common scenario: players already in a difficult situation get more and more problems piled onto them, feeling that the game punishes them unfairly. Now, if the player is not ready (meaning they aren’t doing well enough to keep their population happy and reach a new population tier), they won’t receive new challenges, but also won’t receive new knowledge. This should make the gameplay more balanced and prevent the situation where players get “buried” under problems that appear regardless of whether they’re ready for them.How Population Tiers Unlock Knowledge
As you hit clear population thresholds— 20, 40, 60, 75, etc. —the settlement advances to a new level. The Matriarch will kindly inform you which challenges now threaten you, and the caravan will bring new books to help deal with them. In the caravan’s book menu, you will also see which books will become available at the next stage.
You’ll keep control over when to progress, since migration can now be stopped with a single button. Or sped up by purchasing prisoners.
We removed many starting buildings from the initial tech set so that players unlock them themselves. At the start you will now have far fewer things—buildings, resources, technologies—but you will unlock and build them consciously and only as needed.
The old ambition system has been disabled as outdated.
New Resources and Art
We’ve added a stonecutters’ camp, stone and steel tools (needed for mining it), a sawmill (the old sawmill is now the woodcutter’s camp), wooden blanks, firewood, and the fletcher’s workshop. Stone is needed for constructing high‑level housing. Here we extract stone from so‑called spolia — the most common method of quarrying in the Dark Ages.
This required new crafting recipes. For example, tools are now made from Iron and blanks (not coal), and the Workshop now crafts maces instead of bows (bows have their own dedicated building).
We also updated the environment. Dirt patches under houses now look nicer and match the actual footprint of the buildings, making road planning easier. Roads have also been redrawn, with special attention to how they connect to plazas and buildings. The world now looks more organic, in our opinion.
Balance
We reduced the fertility of fields (and pig farms), especially carrots, which were cannibalizing flour economically. But now vegetables can grow anywhere. They no longer require fertile soil. With safe carrots, you can afford that. Tree growth speed has been decreased (so woodcutting is faster), but the price of wood and wood‑based products has risen significantly, so early in the game, you can make good money on it. Drought now raises food prices, so it’s no longer only a punishment. It’s also an opportunity. Wolves now yield 7 meat (and their price has increased). And we made Mines infinite. Well, their production drops to one‑third when depleted, but not to zero.
Politics and the Bishop
In the new system, the first politician appears at a population of 40. At the same time, we disabled the Bishop’s ability to become a politician since he already has plenty of tools. Now he can also be turned into a puppet. Politicians will no longer immediately trigger unrest when you ignore their demands—they will first worsen their relations toward your king. We will be revisiting their mechanics more seriously soon; we like this direction. We also made the Bishop more useful: at good relations, he can preach Joy and Loyalty sermons in favour of your king. It’s easier to build relations with him—he improves his attitude toward repentant sinners, and you can now invite him to go hunting (helpful if he annoys you).
Cultures
Cultures now differ more strongly.
- Makha migrants will have twice as much money.
- Kaiden peasants will carry a dagger, and their Combat skill is at least 4–7.
- Tanaya have double the chance to become fanatics after a sermon, and their prayer‑related thoughts are twice as strong.
- Varna residents cannot be poisoned by Rutabaga and wolves do not attack them.
Prisoners
Prisoners’ escape chance is now higher and heavily influenced by their mood. However, after living in your city for 10 days, they gain the Humility trait, which prevents escapes and increases their value.
World Map
Provinces of the same culture are now grouped by regions on the map. Conquering provinces of a different (especially hated) culture will be harder, as the kings of these provinces will be more hostile to the suzerains of foreign cultures. Meanwhile, ambitious kings will always be of any culture except yours (meaning *you* are the ambitious king). So at first it will be relatively easy to unite your own cultural region before moving on to tougher neighbours. Bandit camps now very rarely appear without reason, but have a 70% chance to appear in neighbouring provinces as a consequence of war. Their growth algorithm has been reworked so they no longer grow uncontrollably in your territory, but they will send Cutthroats to you along with migrants.
Common Knowledge
Economic knowledge known in your province for 10 days now becomes common knowledge. That means everyone knows it: it no longer needs to be taught, transferred, etc. This should greatly reduce micromanagement in the late game. We also considered the idea that if you stop producing something or a building stands idle for too long, widespread knowledge may become unique again and be lost. Tell us whether you like this idea, or if we should keep the simpler system—knowledge becomes common forever.Urban Planning
Level 1 and 2 houses now give a comfort bonus based on spaciousness (residents like having fewer people living with them). Higher house levels reduce this bonus, and levels 4 and 5 again increase comfort (though level 5 requires stone). This gives low‑level houses more purpose. Residents now dislike when their workplace is too far away (and it also wrecks efficiency because they spend too much time commuting). You’ll see an icon over a house where such a worker lives. Move buildings (which is cheap and fast in our game) or build a tiny hamlet near important resources like a Mine.
Army Morale
Squad banners now display morale, and its factors are visible in the squad interface. We also reworked the morale system: for example, losing a friendly squad will now hit morale hard. This may add tactical depth to battles, but will certainly make them more transparent.
I think I didn’t forget anything. Please try the new version and tell us what you think, since there are many changes and some things may have turned out too sharp.
By the way, if you’ve read this far, you have no choice but to leave us a review on our Steam page.
Thank you.
Full Changelog
Events & Problems
- Disabled the “Invasion of Vagabonds” and “Yellow Fanatics” calamities.
- Disabled early‑game sequential tutorial advices in the top flag, as they are outdated.
- Added threat display in the tooltip for reaching a new settlement level; added triggers for settlement level‑ups — arrival of the Scriptonic, and a bandit camp at 20 population
- Disabled the “no food/alcohol production” problem indicator
- Removed alcohol‑related advice from the citizen tooltip
- When a problem (flag indicator) is resolved, a top‑screen event and an animated checkmark now appear on the flag
- A child’s coming of age now clears the “child not studying” problem
Politics, Kings & Vassals
- A lord can become a politician if they have the highest knowledge and there are no other politicians in the town except the king.
- Ambitious kings will no longer appear among AI kings whose towns share the same initial culture as the player.
- Bishop can no longer be a politician; if a lord stops being a politician, their active political demand is removed.
- Removed the “King’s Ambition” selection; the ambition hint (top panel) is now replaced with a settlement progression hint. Added display of progress toward the next settlement level
- Reworked the “Lord Marriage” advice — it now lists all lords who qualify for the recommendation
- The “An enemy is plotting” advice will no longer appear while the player is protected by the Loving Family
- AI lords on the global map now start the game with fake parents, making initial AI families properly recognized as relatives
- Politicians will no longer start riots if their relationship with the king is above 0
- Clicking on “Politician Gave a Gift” and “Politician Flattered a Lord” events will now centre the camera on the participants
- Player’s politicians will no longer demand attacks on the player’s unfriendly vassals
- Fixed a bug where a new AI king, if he had +25 or higher relations with the previous king, would receive the “Sworn Enemy” thought toward the player’s king even if the player was not responsible for the previous king’s death
Cultures, Migrants & Religion
- Cultural technology hints now show the culture name in colour with the corresponding icon.
- A child born from a father who is already dead or already an ex‑husband will no longer generate the sin “Forbidden Child”
- Removed culture happiness display from the citizen tooltip
- The Bishop can now hunt and can be invited to hunts
- The Bishop can now perform “Sermon of Joy” on player command
- Province cultures are now distributed differently at the start of a new game; the player can now see cultural distribution during province selection
- Bishops will now improve relations when performing sermons and granting absolution
- Culture names now have unique icons and colours in tooltips
- Religious fanatics in rebellions now gain the “Joy of Rioting” thought, boosting their morale during the uprising
- Migrants from Makha now bring twice as much money; Kaiden migrants carry daggers and have combat skills between 4–7; Tanai residents are twice as likely to become fanatics after sermons and gain double the thought strength from prayer; Varna residents cannot be poisoned by rutabaga and are never attacked by wolves
- Peasants will no longer gain sin for fighting during riots started by a politician
Bandits & Crime
- Bandit camps in the player’s province now spawn and grow by the same rules as in AI provinces. Unhappy departing residents and soldiers will no longer populate the bandit camp.
- Fixed a bug where the number of peaceful residents shown in the top UI panel incorrectly counted bandits as well
- Fixed a bug where unique visitors leaving the player’s city were treated as escaped peasants and could join bandit camps (most common with pilgrims)
- From “war consequences” in a neighbouring province, there is now a 15% chance that a migrant will turn out to be a vagrant. While a bandit camp exists in the player’s province, there is a 50% chance that one of the migrants will be a thug
- Bandit camp spawning reworked: in AI‑controlled regions, camps now have a 5% base spawn chance; if a neighbouring AI city is successfully attacked, there is a 70% chance a bandit camp will appear (triggering a “Consequences of War” notification). The camp may appear in the attacked or a nearby region
Army, Squads & Combat
- Fixed a bug where hourglass icons did not appear on soldiers whose contracts were about to expire
- Fixed an issue where the army list did not refresh after hiring soldiers with expired contracts
- Fixed a bug where enemy squads with an active capture order (e.g., vagrants capturing peasants) did not fully cancel the order and looped between old and new orders
- Recruitment tooltips for peasants and prisoners now indicate that recruitment is permanent
- Soldiers and knights with expired contracts will only appear in the recruitment menu after returning their equipment and joining the mercenary faction
- If squad editing is currently unavailable, the “Edit Squad” button will now be disabled
- Prisoners with the “Humility” trait will no longer attempt to escape
- Switching between lords in the family setup menu during new game creation, adjusting skill levels, and setting talents now happens on mouse press instead of release
- The “Commander Not in Battle” thought now appears as a squad morale modifier in the squad menu when the “Hold Back” option is enabled
- Fixed a bug where it was impossible to select an immobilised soldier by clicking their card in the army menu
- Soldiers who are currently surrendering or retreating can no longer be added to a squad
- Fixed a bug where soldiers added to an existing squad (e.g., via “Modify Squad”) did not receive the commander’s morale bonus or the “Loyalist in Battle” thought if they were loyalists
- Updated the squad menu — it now shows special thoughts that affect squad morale, such as “Squad Losses,” “Enemy Losses,” and others
- Added a new squad morale display method: a numerical morale value now appears near the squad banner
- In simulated battles, archers now shoot slower, and damage to gates and towers is dealt twice as fast — making results closer to those of manual combat
- Characters in a squad can no longer catch fire or take burn damage from burning fortifications (gates, towers, etc.)
- Fixed bugs where the calculation of victory chances and power ratios against the enemy did not account for the city garrison and other factors
- Fixed a bug that allowed lords to be dismissed in the army menu
Thoughts, Morale & Mood
- The “Enemy of My Idol” thought was weakened to ‑15 and now detaches if the lord stops being a puppet or if the idol stops considering someone an enemy.
- Squads will now receive proper “loss” thoughts when soldiers die not in melee (e.g., from enemy archers)
- Updated the condition for showing the “Citizens are unhappy” advice — now it checks only the current average mood instead of a 2‑day average
- Fixed a bug where fleeing a battle did not apply loss thoughts to squads and did not trigger traits that depend on escaping combat
- Reworked the algorithm for determining the strength of “average thoughts” (top‑left population tooltip). For example: if a thought lasted only 1 hour out of 24, it will appear as 24× weaker
- Improved the citizen tooltip (top‑left): advice text now uses full width; cultures have their own colour and icon
- Trait tooltips from talents now include a line explaining how to unlock the trait
- Fixed a bug where a character’s romantic attachment faded from a deceased person before the grief thoughts were attached, causing them to miss the “Lost a Loved One” thought
- Grouped various morale thoughts about fleeing, capture, or death into categories: “Squad Losses,” “Enemy Losses,” and “Commander Loss”
- Thoughts about the destruction of friendly or enemy squads are now applied only to nearby squads
- Added thoughts for witnessing the destruction of friendly or enemy squads
- Added a new prisoner thought: “Caught During Escape”
- Removed the thought “Foreigners are pushing us out!”
- Removed the reduction of negative thought strength for vassals
- The “Handsome” trait now gives +20 to interest instead of +30
- The “Charismatic” trait no longer provides an interest bonus
- Fixed a bug where the strength of the “Hated Culture” thought was lower than intended on peaceful difficulty
- Increased the strength of the thought “Ignored political demand” to ‑18
- Removed the “Malnutrition” trait and thought, which were applied if the hidden hunger parameter fell below 20
- The thought “Obsessed with Desire” will no longer weaken over time
- Fixed a bug where strong positive thoughts were selected incorreсt
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