Hello everyone!
This is the last patch in BETA chanell before the main branch update, which we are planning for Friday.
It includes the system of intimidating lords through terror, farming adjustments (thanks to our Discord community for pointing out the issue), changes to AI behavior on the global map, and much more.
Farming
The growth cycle of Rye and Hops has been reduced to 4 days, and vegetables to 2 days. This allows you to harvest up to 3 times per season, providing more balanced gameplay and reducing the risk of losing crops unfairly.
Intimidation system
Now punishing a lord instills fear thoughts in all others. This greatly increases their relations with your ruler but lowers their mood. You can try playing as a tyrant.
Notification system rework
We have reworked the notification system, removing many unnecessary and distracting ones. In particular, the top notifications about deep communication have been removed (you can still see what is happening in the status under the lord’s name).
New character traits
Seven new character traits have been added. More are coming soon.
Honest Trader
Iron Fist
Benefactor
Combat Teacher
Intimidating
Bookworm
Friend of the Scriptonics
Global map
Hostile and strong neighbors will now demand vassalage from you more aggressively.
Other changes based on your feedback
Clay pottery no longer requires technology and is available immediately after building the Clay Workshop
Seduction system nerf - consequences for the initiator have been increased, preventing it from being used too frequently
At least one faction on the world map will sell Rye
The Scriptonic will bring books of the ruler’s culture instead of the culture dominant among adult lords. It will also always bring language dictionaries
Once again, thank you very much for your feedback and participation. We continue working - the most interesting things are just beginning!
Full list of changes
Characters and social mechanics
Added character trait “Honest Trader”
Added character trait “Iron Fist”
Added character trait “Benefactor”
Added character trait “Combat Teacher”
Added character trait Intimidating
Added character trait Bookworm
Added character trait Friend of the Scriptonics
Intimidation
Added loss of half of a lord’s direct followers when punished on the scaffold
Added display of all consequences of punishing a lord on the scaffold — changes in relations with the player ruler, changes in lords’ mood, and more
Added accusations against a lord by fanatics, which are applied when a fanatic religious uprising is declared (not the bishop)
Added restriction on possible punishments when accusation traits are present
Added traits Accused of Crime and Accused by Bishop for lords. These traits allow punishing a lord on the scaffold without mood penalties for other lords. Traits are applied when committing crimes (murders, attempted murders, poisonings, attempted coup) and when accused by the bishop before a religious uprising
Player lords and junior player lords (excluding hired free lords) will receive the fear thought “Intimidated” toward the ruler and the mood thought “Terror” from punishments on the scaffold. Thought strength depends on the type of punishment
Balance
The inventory of a free lord will be destroyed when the body is burned instead of being transferred to the player; the thought about the death of a faction member has been removed
The player ruler will no longer receive sin for ordering seduction
Punishing a lord on the scaffold will give a 3x stronger and longer-lasting thought to execution witnesses - commoners
The negative thought from seduction will last 10 days instead of 3
The seducer will not receive the thought “Good sex”
The social thought that a lord played dice with someone increased to +14, the mood thought from winning dice increased to +16
Farm growth settings updated - growth duration reduced
“Soft” vassalage removed (where a neighbor offers vassalage without threat), but the chance of “hard” vassalage increased
The heavy tribute demand variant (where a neighbor threatens attack) removed - but the light tribute variant now has higher amounts, higher chance, adjusted relation thresholds, and stronger relation penalties when refusing to pay
Clay pottery can now be produced without researching technology
At least one neighbor will sell Wheat
The Scriptonic will bring books of the ruler’s culture instead of the culture dominant among adult lords
The trait from the death of a close one (like grey hair) is now given to only one random character
The Depression trait now applies a -5 penalty to skills
Interface, notifications and UX
Added ability to specify hint context for reasons of skill level changes in the character menu
Notifications about results of unique guests are now normal, not important / they are removed after reading letters
Added a single notification for political changes (X is no longer an ally of the politician) instead of separate ones
Reinforcement transfer notifications are grouped into one
If a faction is destroyed by a horde, only one destruction notification is shown instead of two
The hint reset option is now unavailable during gameplay
When a soldier uses painkillers, it does not create a notification; instead, at 20:00 a summary notification appears with total usage
The dice game notification moved to the top
Removed knowledge study status from bottom right / it is now shown in lord hints in the top panel
The game no longer pauses due to mountain marauder attack notification
Conspiracy threat notification now has a 24-hour cooldown
Buildings constructed after 15:00 will not appear as uninspected in the evening notification
The game no longer pauses when hunters fight a flatwolf
Removed deep communication notifications (top)
Removed “child is not studying” notification
Removed war consequences notification
New energetic residents notification moved to the top
Added display under the lord’s name showing what they are saying (joking, insulting, etc.) during communication activity
Added name separation when characters stand close to each other
Fixes and stability
Fixed character trait “Duelist”
Fixed a bug where prisoners got pneumonia while sleeping in the barracks during winter
Fixed game freeze when saving if a character had a seduction task
Fixed a crash that could occur when destroying the alliance leader’s city
Fixed a bug where seduction on the global map could fail if the seducer was acting under another lord’s order
Fixed a bug where seduction could end without starting
Fixed a bug where ending one trade agreement removed another one in the same city
Fixed infinite loading for some old saves
Fixed a possible crash when moving a building
Fixed a bug where any resident becoming loyal to a lord was counted as loyal to the ruler in statistics
Fixed talent assignment without required level
Fixed a possible crash when closing menus
Fixed a crash when starting a new game with a family with children
Fixed a bug where the tutorial froze when exiting to the main menu
Graphics
Fixed shadow rendering when zooming camera over water
Added lakes and rivers to some maps
Flower and mushroom decals will no longer appear on clay and mud
Added new ground decals. Decals will no longer render on sand (except stones). Forests will have mushrooms and sticks