Hi guys, it's Dmitry.
I have a few updates for you about Norland. Unfortunately, we won't make the scheduled deadline, May 16th. We've done what we could, but the game needs additional testing and debugging; it doesn't perform as well as it should. I’d like to postpone the release for a few more weeks to ensure we deliver a well-functioning game. Norland’s new launch date is set for July 18th.
I'm sorry about the additional wait, but we will continue to open up the demo version and conduct regular playtests so you can see how the game is evolving and getting closer to a state we can be proud of.
Let me tell you what we've been up to for the past few months.
After the playtest ended, we'd been quite silent for a while, and we signed the game with the folks from Hooded Horse. I’d like to share what we've been doing during this time.
In short, the extra time has been beneficial for the project. We wrapped up adding new mechanics a couple of weeks ago and are now focusing on optimization, bug fixes, interface improvements, and polishing the overall gameplay experience.
Economy
Enhanced World Map Trading
Trading is now possible only through contract negotiations. Neighbors will offer simple resources for sale, such as rye, wood, and iron, and buy more complex ones like tools, weapons, and medicine. As cities develop, demand will change — if small settlements want to buy tools, developed cities will be interested in heavy armor or swords.
We have moved foreign trade to a special interface where all contracts, status, and automatic trade servicing options are visible for convenience.
We've also slightly changed the conditions of foreign trade — contracting requires friendly relations (above 25) with the neighbor. However, if the neighbor is part of a state hostile to you, the relationship threshold is even higher (since they risk their relations with their sovereign). On the other hand, if your trading partner is in the same state as you — a union of cities or a vassal state — trade is possible at any level of relations. This speaks of a common trade area and is an important advantage of states that will motivate you to unite or go to war.
The volume of goods a city offers to sell or buy is influenced by its size and the integrity of its villages. Moreover, war in its territory raises the prices of its goods and causes migration to neighboring provinces.
You will need to make contracts not with the king, but with the most skilled trade lord of the neighboring city — the Trader (after all, it's fair, as you can also send your skilled trade lord for this). Neutralizing this lord can be very profitable in terms of trade revenue.
Province Ecology
Soil Erosion
Agriculture and farming are central to Norland as reflects their fundamental importance to medieval lords. As happens in nature, soil fertility in a province will depend on deforestation, which prevents soil erosion. Starting from 80% deforestation, fertility will gradually decline and fall almost to zero if the trees are completely cut down. However, trees grow back (and the more there are, the faster), so you can find a balance between the fertility of the fields and the flow of timber — and compensate for the shortage through foreign trade.
For those interested in reading about how this process affected real civilizations, I refer to Jared Diamond's book Collapse.
Limited Iron
Now, the iron in mines is finite. You can extract 100 units for each level of the mine (and the cost increases with each level). Caravans also bring less iron and steel. Thus, the only infinite source will be the predefined five provinces on the world map selling iron. Controlling them will be very important from the middle of the game (in conjunction with the trade reduction conditions I wrote about earlier. It may come to the point where you have to fight bandit camps in neighboring territories so that iron supplies do not decrease).
Market Saturation
You could previously set up one production chain and earn money for the rest of the game, but now you can't. Each product has a natural demand in the world, and if you sell too much to a caravan, the market becomes saturated, and the price begins to drop. Over time, saturation decreases, and the price returns to normal.
Demand also grows when you enter a common state with neighbors. Also, by selling goods on the world map, you do not saturate the market, and thus, you can sell much more.
Market saturation, foreign trade reform, iron shortage, and soil erosion work together to balance the early and late stages of the game and add an additional strategic level of planning to the world map.
Local Map Changes
Reform of the Chancellery
The chancellery now employs three clerks, but they give 100% of the Lord's management skill, who manages the chancellery when issuing instructions (and 80% if the chancellery is managed by another clerk).
Paper usage is now more logical — one paper per instruction. However, paper production now requires tools and therefore consumes iron (which is now in deficit).
Day Patrols
By deploying patrols near buildings where prisoners work, you prevent their escapes during the day. Also, a daytime patrol will rush to help if a worker is attacked by a fleshwolf. By the way, fleshwolves now contain three pieces of meat — if your lord suddenly wants a fresh steak, you know where to get it.
Crime
Bandits will more frequently break into peasant dormitories and have a greater chance of successful robbery. After stealing 40 coins, they will leave the settlement.
Executioners work slower — both in investigation and in intimidation (since inspecting the scaffold now does not require the whole day).
Speculation
This isn't quite the right word, but overall, the idea is that if your price on the internal market is lower than the price at which goods can be sold to a caravan, it attracts vagabond speculators, who buy your cheap goods in significant quantities and take them out of the province (to sell profitably elsewhere).
Of course, you can fight this through terror, but in general, "drying up" the money supply in the peasants' pockets is now significantly more difficult, increasing the importance of crime.
Increased Needs
Lords and warriors now get more upset when they have to eat rutabagas and drink moonshine than peasants, and meat and ale please them less.
Character Reactions to the Ruler's Actions
Now, characters of different cultures react not to abstract numbers but to the specific actions of your king. The Kaidens are pleased when you wage war, the Makha when you trade with neighbors, the Tanaya when you engage in intrigue, and the Varnas are happy if you have not participated in conflicts for a long time.
Characters also rejoice when you terrorize a culture they dislike.
Knowledge
Revised Menu
The knowledge has been categorized and centralized in one place. We also added about 10-15 more items.
Level Restriction
A lower level of intelligence is no longer an insurmountable barrier to reading a book. However, studying and writing a book above the lord's intelligence level will incur a significant time penalty.
Wise Conversation
Some knowledge can be passed between lords during regular deep conversations, but now we have added the social action "Wise Conversation," which greatly increases this likelihood. We have also reworked the mechanism of knowledge generation among lords on the world map, so some will acquire significantly more knowledge than others. Invite them to gain rare knowledge from other cultures (or kidnap them).
Aging
With the onset of aging, lords not only begin to degrade their skills, but they also gradually forget knowledge. Additionally, older lords have a chance of developing senile dementia.
However, older lords have a significantly higher chance of passing on knowledge through Wise Conversation, so they have something to share with their grandchildren.
Prophecies and Disasters
Starting from mid-game, disasters may strike your province. This could be a crop failure due to an infestation of weevils, a migration of nectar-obsessed fanatics, an epidemic, a large group of aggressive fleshwolves, and so on. Some of these can be profitable – for instance, a drop in rutabaga yield also causes a rise in its price, and if you stock up in advance, you can make a decent sum.
Currently, we have designed 9 disasters.
Sometime before a disaster, you will receive a letter from the Matriarch herself, warning you of the impending trial, so you will have time to prepare (although, if your relations with Her Holiness are not good, there will be no prophecy).
Battle Tactics
We spent a couple of weeks improving AI behavior in battle.
- When attacking bandit camps, they do not rush at you en masse but wait in place. Thus, the defenders have the advantage of several volleys from archers.
- Archers predominantly target unprotected soldiers.
- Enemies know how to divide their forces into several groups. They create a support melee squad that, at the right moment, flanks and attacks your archers. You will also need to create several armies to counter this tactic.
- When the enemy attacks your town, they do not run to the center but first fire arrows at buildings on the edge of the settlement to lure your troops into their archers' fire.
- The enemy's support squad may run to loot the hall when a fight breaks out.
Tutorial
The initial tutorial has been reworked, and illustrations have been added to most articles in the help menu.
Other Changes
- Slander has been significantly strengthened. It's the best way to destroy alliances safely.
- The opinion of the king's spouse matters. Communicate with her, too.
- Most diplomatic tasks in other cities can be performed not by the king but by a lord envoy.
- Your vassals think less of you if your army is weaker. They also know how to revolt if their attitude towards you is hostile, and they know how to do it together.
- Your enemies will nibble away at your kingdom piece by piece rather than trying to attack your capital all at once.
- The tax on the army is now calculated based on the combined combat skills of your fighters. Thus, the size of this tax and the need to maintain a large army to keep your vassals peaceful balance the tribute they pay you.
Roads now cost money but speed up characters' movement by 30%. This adds an additional level of city planning, motivating you to create more natural cities with street-oriented exits.
- The path to gaining loyalists has become clearer, as now an individual peasant's house provides a significant mood boost but also requires iron for construction.
- Statistics menu revamped
- New decorations, music, and videos added at the beginning of the game
Thank you for understanding the need for this delay. As of today, Norland now has over 500,000 wishlists on Steam. With so many of you waiting for the release, it's important that these extra weeks be spent refining the game and ensuring we deliver our full vision of what Norland can be.
~Dmitry