Salutations, Colonisers!
The new patch is ready for playtesters. It’s been a while since the last time you played the game and we are happy to report that we have some significant performance improvements and bug fixes this time. Here are some notable features that await you:
New Defeat Conditions
There are two game modes you will be able to experience, based on the server you choose.
Extinction is the same as before - Players lose if EACH of these conditions is met:
They have no units alive.
Their Capitol is destroyed.
All other production buildings are destroyed (any building that can be used for recruiting units).
Conquest is a bit more challenging. Player will lose if both these things happen:
Their Capitol gets destroyed.
Their Justiciar gets defeated.
There are still no special notifications when your Justiciar/Capitol is attacked, so keep your eyes on them. We have more info about them in the QoL section.
For the purpose of this playtest, all servers are played under Conquest condition.
High Table
We’ve replaced our old leaderboard and diplomacy screen with the new art and better functionality. The High Table is the central diplomacy system in Coloniser. It fulfills two roles:
Leaderboard - Players are ranked by the total cumulative Valor since their last death, providing a transparent measure of prestige and dominance.
Diplomacy Hub - From the leaderboard, players can initiate diplomatic state changes, send tributes, and demand resources.
The High Table' can be accessed via two methods: Pressing the appropriate shortcut key (default V button) or pressing a button on the HUD located next to the mini map.
There are three core diplomatic states available for all players:
Peace - This is a formal non-aggression pact. Must be offered and accepted by both players before it takes effect. Right now this means that a player that accepts this state will not attack you if they encounter you, but you will not see their units and buildings under the fog of war.
War - Open hostilities. Can be declared unilaterally by either player; no acceptance required.
Alliance - Oath-bound cooperation between two players. Must be offered and accepted by both players before it takes effect. An Alliance is strictly between two players, but players can hold multiple Alliances simultaneously (e.g., Player A allied with B and C separately). This also grants limited map visibility of ally’s Capitol and markers.
We’ll tie more features and systems to this section, but more on that in one of our dev blogs when the time comes.
Tech Tree
By selecting the symbol in the top right corner (or pressing default button F3 on your keyboard) you will open the Tech Tree window that will show you all the available technology of the tribe, what it does and where to research it.
We plan to add more flavor to it, to show what current bonuses are active, what has been researched, etc.
Pillaging
When an enemy building is destroyed, you will gain resources equivalent to x% of the original costs (defaulting at 25%). For example, destroying an Exchange, which costs 500 ore to build, would gain the attacking player 125 ore on its destruction. Any player that dealt damage to the building within 10s of its destruction will gain this same bonus. Destroying Gampha nests and hostile npc camps will also give you resources.
Quality of Life Improvements
Various improvements when it comes to server stability.
Spatial Partitioning and Interest Management were implemented for better performance. You can read about it here and here.
Capitol and Homestead are separate buildings now - you can only have one Capitol in the game and only Justiciar can build it. Within the Capitol you can research all related upgrades and spawn Colonists and Rangers. With Homestead you can only spawn those units.
Justicar can be spawned - you can spawn Justiciar only within the Capitol and you can have only one Justiciar during the match. If he dies, you can respawn him again, but every time he dies it will cost you more resources.
Era regression feature has been removed - you will not revert to Era I once your Capitol building gets destroyed. It didn’t feel fun nor good, design-wise, and felt like a massive punishment for something that could easily happen.
Hostile units and buildings will now reappear after some time.
Units move slowly as the slowest unit in that selection.
Forests are impassable now - no more cheaty shortcuts and sneaky ambushes. Plan your cutting areas.
Sentinel is no longer a ranged unit. It also has a new model.
Bladeguard and siege units have new models, too!
Gampha’s AI (elephant like creature) is improved and more reactive.
Colonists go idle after depleting a resource and there is no such resource nearby.
Colonists go idle after finishing construction if there is no other available construction nearby.
Several audio improvements.
New Main Menu.
Art improvements when it comes to icons and symbols.
Balancing
Increased the Capitol’s attack from 19 to 20.
Increased the Capitol’s cost to 800 wood, 500 stone, 200 Valor.
Starting resources increase to 850 wood, 500 stone, 200 Valor.
Homestead HP reduced to 1,000, Armor to 22, Attack speed to 0.5 and attack range to 7.
Killing Gampha will get you 100 Valor now.
Colonist Armor changed from 15 to 5.
Increased the Stronghold attack from 23 to 30.
Increased the Stronghold armor from 30 to 32.
Increased the Stronghold range from 14 to 15.
Bowman Attack speed decreased from 0.9 to 0.8.
Longbowman attack speed reduced from 0.9 to 0.8.
Crossbowman attack speed reduced from 0.4 to 0.35.
Bolt Launcher attack increased from 32 to 50.
Bolt Launcher bonus damage vs units increased from 20 to 30.
Bolt Launcher attack speed reduced from 0.3 to 0.2.
Sentinel costs 40 food 40 ore.
Sentinel’s armor increased from 15 to 17.
Bastion’s health increased from 150 to 250.
Tech stat changes
Quick bolts (Bolt Launcher) -Attack Speed Increase from 5% to 50% (looks big - is actually 0.2 to 0.3 per second)
Steel Crank (Crossbowman) - Attack Speed increase from 5% to 25% (actual output is still lower than before)
Elite Defensive Training (Footman) - Armor decrease from +2 to +1
Alloy Research - reduced from 1 to 1
Scientific Breakthrough - reduce from 3 to 2
Superior Reinforced Shield - decrease from 3 to 2
Reinforced Shield - Decrease from 2 to 1
Calm Nerves & Steadfast Resolve are removed from the game- outlier of bonus armor was unnecessary, and these upgrades would break the triangle rules of combat (melee > mounted, mounted > ranged, ranged > melee) somewhat.
Bug fixes
Fixed the issue where sometimes players would spawn incorrectly and get blocked from playing the game.
Fixed the issue where ranged units would move closer to their targets, despite targets being within their range.
Fixed the issue where sometimes units in combat wouldn’t re-target to a hostile unit/building in their range if their previous target couldn’t be reached.
And that would be all for this round of updates and improvements! Let us know how it goes and share your impressions in the comments and join our Discord server for the additional feedback and a chance to talk to the devs.
If you have any questions, be sure to check our previous post, where we answered some frequently asked questions.
We’ll have more improvements next week, so stay tuned!
Cantos Games
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