Hey Everyone,
Welcome to another big update. Actually - the biggest update we had so far. With over 50 changes and major additions, we are finally ready to present to you our vision for MKW.
With most of the foundation in place grand campaign is really starting to take shape and now provides long term challenge. Get ready to suffer crashing defeats, and face overwhelming odds at every step, as you slowly progress through the new research tree, waiting to unlock a higher tier unit that just might give you a chance to make it through the year.
The foundation of this update is the new research tree, with 120 technologies that will take your kingdom well into 1400s to master. In addition everything about MKW has been re-balanced - from the speed of combat, to all the prices and unit stats. AI is up to the challenge as well as it`ll progress together with you - learning and upgrading as the campaign years go by. And finally we fixed dozens of bugs including the long term MKW problems such as siege combat lag and occasional crashes.
Our next update will build up on this foundation - completing last of the techs (only around 90 currently work), fine tuning the balance, and including last of the core mechanics like transferring units between armies and towns, and unit upkeep.
Video Overview of the Update courtesy of Stephen Silverbeard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daewG3VsFTA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCH4bM0SlsM&t=44s
And so presenting Update # 29
New Features
-Research tree implemented with 120 technologies. 40% are currently locked
-Various techs, buildings, and units are now locked until researched in the Steward menu
-Add collect all Taxes button, comes with a 15% penalty
-Fixed lag issue in large cities large Nantes. Greatly improved in super large cities like Paris.
-Potential fix for the crash issue when switching between levels
-Changed army vs army combat to be more of a field battle with less emphasis on build and destroy
-Hamlets can you be upgraded to level 4 and 5, with larger walls, including inner stone wall.
-Hamlets start with 4 building plots on level 1, and can be expanded to 8 buildings plots by level 5.
-AI town garrisons are much larger and better organized - providing harder siege challenge
-In the Steward menu clicking on the Trade Goods now opens a purchase for Silver option
-Greatly scaled down Army and Town GUI on the world map
-Major change to combat - units survive in battle twice as long
-Major changes to the Nantes level
Fixes and Improvements
-Fixed game breaking bug - where screen would go black when defending some towns
-Fixed a major bug where during a battle units positioned in hamlets would be all over the place
-Fixed problem with unit description pop-up always getting stuck on screen
-Hamlets look more unique with it`s own level position for each hamlet
-Fixed a problem with town garrison not taking damage if wining an auto-resolve battle.
-Switched from 5 levels town size measuring system to a 10 level system
-In Army vs Army combat both armies now properly line up
-Hamlet will now always face attacking army with the front gate
-When army attacks another army, dialogue window properly shows army strength value
-Fixed random maps having empty terrain without trees, and added deer
-Units can no longer attack livestock, it won`t get in a way of targeting either
-Animals will no longer capture town flags
-Removed the silly looking Level up FX
-Completely reworked entire Spanish translation, courtesy of Alonso
-Greatly improved most of the German translation, courtesy of Alexander
AI Improvements
-AI unit composition changes as time passes and AI unlocks more unit types
-AI will use much large variation of armies
-AI will almost always bring siege weapons with it`s army
-AI now builds and uses Ranged Siege Weapons
-AI armies get a lot tougher and higher tech as the game years go by and AI progresses
-AI will level up it`s troops based on Battle Difficulty, up to level 5 on hard difficulty for starting troops
-AI in battles will actively defend the town capture flag
-AI will train mostly lower tier units on easy and medium difficulty while in battle
Balance Changes
-Greatly increased the cost of all buildings, in most cases the cost doubled
-Corpses stay on the battlefield much longer now - up to 10 minutes
-Cost to upgrade hamlets increased 30%
-Silver reward for winning battles reduced 30%
-AI sends armies to attack player 30% less often
-Level 2 to 5 pre-made armies that player can recruit now come with some siege weapons
-Removed neutral animals from Hamlets were giving too many free resources
-Corrected the price of recruiting pre-made armies, greatly reducing it
-Cavalry takes less damage while trampling units
-Cavalry boosted by around 30% all around
-Greatly increased iron cost to start wall construction
-Reduced animal slaughtering, Iron and Stone camp income by 30%
-Increased wood gathering rate by 30%
-Increased speed of looting corpses by 100%
-Level up buildings is a bit cheaper
-Leveling up buildings is a lot more beneficial
-Siege Army camps reduced to 8 buildings plots
-A lot slower overtime food income rate from cows