Hey everyone,
The march to 24 leaders continues, and this week Magnar the Mammoth and Woody enter the battlefield.
Circle Empires 2 launched with 12 unique leaders, and since then we’ve steadily expanded the roster with new arrivals. With Magnar and Woody joining the game, only two leaders now remain to be revealed before the total reaches 24 unique leaders, each bringing their own strengths, weaknesses and strategies into the circles.
Magnar the Mammoth
Magnar leads the Animal faction, bringing mammoths, elks and other mounts into battle.
His faction introduces the Lance weapon, which deals significantly more damage depending on the speed of the bottom-most unit in the stack. Put a lance on an elf, place him on a fast mount and fight on ideal terrain and the damage becomes devastating!
The opposite is also true. Wander into a swamp and your damage drops dramatically. It turns out jousting is much less effective when your mount is barely moving, and somehow still just as committed.
Magnar rewards mounted combinations and careful terrain usage, turning speed-points into a weapon.
Woody
Woody leads the Wooden faction, a civilization built around contraptions, stationary logistics and an increasingly concerning relationship with trees.
His faction introduces weapon launchers capable of throwing melee weapons across long distances. Swords, torches and even fish can all become ammunition, which has led to several engineering discussions that start serious and end with someone saying “yeah that should work” for no clear reason.
Woody has no natural workers. Instead, he relies entirely on Trap Workers, stationary units that collect resources from adjacent tiles and deliver them to any storehouse that they can reach without moving. To compensate, Woody receives a harvesting bonus and gains a large number of storehouses in every circle for free.
He can also construct Foresters, steadily generating new trees and helping his wooden empire continue spreading across the battlefield. At this point, the trees are less a resource and more a long-term negotiation.
Unit List Improvements
Managing custom units should now feel much clearer overall. The Unit List Editor button has been renamed to "Remove Units" with updated placement and clearer explanations. Saving a unit now explicitly confirms that no duplicates have been created, after players expressed a reasonable fear of accidentally designing identical units.
Newly created units are also highlighted more clearly in the UI.
Circle guards can now start at up to level 90
This matters the most when playing on high difficulties or co-op. Previously the guards could not spawn strong enough after a point because they couldn't gain that high levels.
Tutorial and Unlock Changes
The tutorial has been expanded and now includes a dedicated button in the start menu, along with added tips for storehouses, workers and military.
Game mode unlocking has been restructured: only Full Conquest is unlocked by default. Monster Hunt and Daily Challenge unlock after your first win, while the remaining modes unlock after playing on a larger map.
Balance Changes
Some of the biggest balance changes:
Resource sending now includes a 50% tax.
Basic Bob XP bonus increased from +70% to +100%.
Skeletons reduced from 60 wood to 50.
Celestial harvest bonus reduced from 2.5x to 1.8x.
As always, thank you for all the feedback, balance discussions and wonderfully strange strategies.
With only two leaders left to reveal, the road to 24 is almost complete.
See you among the circles!