Hey Everyone,
And we are back! Before we get to today`s awesome and long awaited update, just a few words about our plans. After some delays in the past couple of months we are back to actively updating and growing MKW, expecting to have couple of updates per month, so the 18th and 19th updates will be coming this March. Priority will be given to balancing, improving AI, and performance.
And now lets take a look at today`s major update 1.17. It took us quite a while to complete this update, as we had to create over 300 new terrain segments used in random maps, hamlets e.t.c And you`ll notice the difference right away. Every hamlet, field battle, hamlet siege will look quite unique and different with 5 terrain sets that don`t only create unique battlefield conditions but also vary by resources and geographical locations. We plan to continue expanding this city, also making large towns have unique looks based on their geographical location.
Second major part of this update look at visual performance and visual improvements. Quite a bit of work went into it, and on average players should see 15-20 FPS improvement across the board, and the game now looks much better (though admittedly the changes will only be noticed by these using Epic camera and playing on higher end PCs)
We also completely re-balanced the game, making things a lot harder, so it`s no longer just a challenge during the first couple of years, and a total walk in the park after.
This update comes with a few other bug fixes and improvements.
And a word about the 18th update - we are finally reworking the world map fixing all these inaccuracies and other issues. Performance also takes the main stage as we work to make large scale sieges lag a lot less. Can`t wait to share this next update with you.
For now - introducing Update 1.17:
Major New Features
- Visual improvements and completely reworked game camera
- Added variety to random map and hamlets
- Added Hills, Desert, Dryland, Fir Forest, and Oak terrain sets that replace previous 1 default set
- New terrain sets are quite unique and presents various strategic differences – resources, chock points e.t.c
- Hamlets across the world map now use unique terrain sets that are geographically accurate
- Field battles and other battles now feature new terrain sets depending on location
Fixes and Additions
- Major graphical improvements across the board
- World Map camera has been completely reworked
- Improved visual performance on the worldmap by 15-20 FPS
- New close up battle camera that`s much more playable and shows more of the battlefield
- Greatly increased battle visual performance with new camera controls, up to 20 FPS more
- Ground view camera still available in cinematic mode
- Reworked both Performance and Epic camera settings for optimal gameplay and performance
- Zoom in and out scroll is much faster
- Disabled 8x anti-alliancing greatly increasing performance
- Fixed Nantes having sand yellow texture all over the map
- Replaced some of the worse looking loading screens
- Fixed Bush object constantly disappearing when moving the camera
Balancing Changes
- Significantly increased world map AI difficulty progression
- AI will especially be harder after couple of years
- AI will employ some new tricks on the world map when it comes to attacking player
- Small increase in happiness drain while inside the city - unchanged for Chill Mode
- Unit upkeep increased by 20% on average for all units
- Rebalanced a few campaign settings to increase overall difficulty in the first few years
- Minor rebalance to melee units damage to building and other units