Greetings Lords & Ladies,

We are happy to release our February Update which completes the Foundations of the Realm milestone and introduces major new systems for Durability, the Lords Ledger, Animal Husbandry, World Map as well as major Economy, Traits, and Progression Balance. This Update also introduces the ground work to our Global Quest System which are a series of categorical quests that are generated based on a players progression. There are a lot more features which are provided below in detail. 

Features Highlight

Kingdom Mode – A Steward’s Charge

Kingdom Mode now begins with the onboarding quest “A Steward’s Charge.”

This introduction overhauls our old opening alignment, establishes the political structure of the realm and introduces the Six Barons whose influence will shape the future of your settlement once we introduce the Kingmaker System.

Players can now choose from six deployment locations across the world map when beginning their journey.

Features included in this system:

• Opening cinematic introduction

• World map deployment screen

• Six starting regions across the realm

• New quest dialogue and quest flow for “A Steward’s Charge”

• Scenario summary and alignment introduction

World Map and Deployment

A fully interactive world paper map has been implemented.

Players can now view the world map with (M), track their location, and choose settlement deployment locations at the start of Kingdom Mode. We will be expanding on the world map to balance locations and resources between tactical view and filtering mechanics in the future. 

The Lord’s Ledger

The Lord’s Ledger is now the central interface for tracking your realms bu

The ledger records and generates quests, events, and kingdom activity across multiple systems.

Ledger features include:

• Correspondence - Quest tracking and offers that are generated. This system will be filled out in future updates as more quests and events are added.

• Milestone Progression Tracking

• Chronicles - a Historical Logging of Key Events in your Kingdom.

• Diplomacy (Coming Soon) - Future diplomacy systems to be incorporated here

• Edicts (Coming Soon) - Future Edict systems to be incorporated here

Global Quest System

A new Global Quest System tied to the Lord’s Ledger, now powers narrative events and gameplay triggers throughout the world. Our initial implementation has a few events and quests which will be expanded upon as we move further into development.

Durability and Repair System

Tools, weapons, and equipment now have durability and degrade during use.

Items can now be repaired at crafting stations.

• 100% durability items are stackable and are separated when needing repair.

• Upgraded Tools degrade when used (Does not impact basic tools)

• Repair interface added to crafting stations

• Items can now be restored through repair actions by the Blacksmith

Toolbar and Hotbar Expansion

The player inventory has been updated with a new toolbar and hotbar system.

Players now have improved access to equipment and tools during gameplay. The toolbar is now located in the players inventory which automatically preserves the players basic tools. In addition we have opened up the entire hotbar for players to assign items in any of the hotbar locations. 

Cloaks and Outerwear

Players and villagers now have an outerwear equipment slot.

Outerwear provides protection against weather conditions and expands character customization. This sets up the groundwork for cold weather gear as we recently incorporated temperature tracking - and as we move further into development we will be fully expanding equippables with stats and modifiers in respect to weather and other various conditions.

• Outerwear slot added to equipment UI

• Fur collar and cloak crafting recipe added

Animal Husbandry

Animal husbandry systems have been introduced, allowing players to manage livestock. This is a preliminary implementation which will provide players with animals, new job assignments, and resources for crafting. In our next update we plan to introduce the Animal Trader. 

New livestock and buildings include:

• Barn building

• Pasture

• Chicken coop

• Cows, Sheep, Chickens, and Pigs have been added. (Goats will be coming soon as well)

Additional systems include:

• Crafting recipes using animal byproducts (milk, wool, pork)

• Animal research and production chains

• Livestock management through pasture systems

Guard Duty System & Raid Mechanics

Guards can now be assigned to defensive roles within the settlement. This has been added to the Garrisons Details Panel, allowing more granular control over assignments - allowing players to assign directly to guard duty stations and patrols.

Additional raid improvements include:

• Directional markers showing where bandits will attack from

• Bandits prevented from spawning inside settlement boundaries

• Lowered frequency of Raids

Combat readability and AI behavior have been improved.

Updates include:

• Archers now switch to melee weapons when enemies are close

• Archers will no longer attempt to shoot through buildings

• Incapacitated Villagers will show an Icon and reflect their state

In our next update, we'll be expanding a lot on bandit raids which will introduce new raiding logic, that prevents bandits from entering villager homes, focusing on infrastructure such as the storehouse to drain resources and wealth as opposed to chasing villagers. Stay Tuned.

Villager Systems

Villagers now have expanded systems for behavior and interaction. We have incorporated additional animation support systems allowing players to visibly notice their villagers carrying logs, crates, baskets as they are working. In addition we have overhauled villager traits and removed building requirements.

New features include:

• Villager job animation support system

• New carry poses for working villagers

• Removed building requirements from the recruitment pool

• Overhauled traits that align more closely to various jobs

Temperature and Weather Foundations

Initial systems for temperature and weather effects have been implemented. These systems lay the groundwork for upcoming afflictions and villager survival mechanics. A temperature gauge is now displayed in the HUD - and systems now track temperature based on seasons. This has no significant impact on gameplay as of yet, but will be so in our future update as we expand on gameplay mechanics revolving around weather events.

Economy and Progression Rebalance

Major balance changes have been applied across the economy and progression systems.

Rebalanced systems include:

• Item values & weights adjustments

• Taxation system allowing players to control taxes in Kingdom Menu

• Building upgrade costs

• Recruitment costs

• Kingdom tier progression

• Balance crafting speeds

These changes aim to improve pacing and settlement growth during early and mid-game progression.

Settlement Additions

Several new structures and decorations have been introduced.

• Floral boxes and decorative vases

• Kingdom banner

  • The kingdom banner now displays your settlement icon on the map and tactical view.

Quality of Life Improvements

Several improvements have been made to usability and player feedback.

• Container UI now shows what items are allowed in storage

• Storehouse management connections improved

• Horse whistle keybind added to settings

• Hotbar assignments added to keybinds

• Unlocked interaction with villager storages

• Interactive water systems have been implemented, allowing water to react to player and environmental interactions.

Tutorial Updates

Both existing scenarios have received improvements.

Scenario updates include:

• Quest dialogue fixes

• Narrative flow improvements

• Updated quest triggers and progression

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue where the build menu could become unresponsive, preventing players from selecting or placing building parts. This was commonly caused by controller input conflicts and has been disabled until we can refactor controller support.

• Fixed cases where controller devices or controller emulation software interfered with mouse and keyboard input, preventing UI interaction.

• Fixed an issue where villagers could fail to access their assigned storage containers, preventing normal job execution.

• Fixed cases where porters or transport workers could become stuck inside buildings and fail to deliver resources.

• Fixed multiple issues where villagers could wander far outside the settlement boundaries or become stuck in incorrect behavior states.

• Fixed combat AI behavior that caused raiders or enemies to chase villagers far outside the village, making raids difficult to manage.

• Fixed several cases where guards would fail to assist during combat encounters due to assignment or progression issues.

• Fixed cases where characters could become stuck in buildings or terrain, requiring a reload to escape.

• Fixed an issue where horses could become lost, invisible, or fall through the map after certain save or world events.

• Fixed a rare issue where player characters could change appearance or identity after loading a save file, sometimes switching to a default character.

• Fixed various issues where UI elements such as milestone progress or event logs would not update correctly.

• Fixed cases where bandit raids could feel excessive or difficult to track, including improvements to raid warning visibility and directional indicators.

• Fixed several environment and placement issues where objects could snap incorrectly or misalign when building.

• Fixed minor rendering and environment issues across ruins, buildings, and quest locations.