The 1st Public BETA of Game Version 0.14 has just been released. Holdfast: Nations At War is now running on the latest version of Unity 2017! Developing this update has been one of the greatest undertakings that the team has embarked on to date with a code base of over 150,000 lines of code receiving iterations to make this all possible.
In this Public BETA you’ll also find the spawn menu user interface we’ve shown in our blog posts along with new maps, interactable doors and functionality for server administrators to switch the initial spawn positions for both factions. We have also re-worked the spawn mechanics so the game can support more than two factions in preparation for the upcoming Prussian faction.
It is crucial for us to ensure that the game is functioning as intended before an update sees an official release. With the unprecedented amount of changes that we have undergone in this update, we certainly appreciate your help with testing it out!
Do join us on Discord if you’re interested in giving us a helping hand. We’ll be there listening to feedback and receiving your bug reports.
Join The Holdfast: NaW Community Discord!
How Can I Join The Public BETA Server?
You need to download the Public BETA branch of the game through Steam.
This can be done by right-clicking on ‘Holdfast: Nations At War’ in your Steam game library, selecting ‘Properties’ from the drop-down menu, going to the ‘Betas’ tab, then selecting the beta version of the game from the drop-down menu.
After the download has been completed, join the ‘Anvil Game Studios Official EU8 - BETA’ or ‘Anvil Game Studios Official NA8 - BETA’ server to check out the update.
Our Plans. So, What’s Next?
Andreas, our Lead Programmer has been upgrading the game’s engine to expose and make available to the team newer and better technologies that allows us to improve melee combat. Now that the upgrade has been finalised, this will be our next step forward starting from the hitbox issues.
You’ll also be seeing more maps and destruction implemented into the game in addition to having doors and windows destructible by melee weapons. We're also working on the Prussian faction.
Multiple updates to the BETA will follow with bug fixes and additional content before Game Version 0.14 sees an official release on the main branch.
Check out the full changelog for the entire list of fixes, new additions and improvements.
BETA V1 Changelog - Game Version 0.14.6721.38543
- Game engine upgrade! Holdfast: NaW is now running on Unity 2017 - This will allow us to utilise new technologies to improve melee combat.
- New spawn menu! The spawn menu has been completely re-designed. We do certainly hope that you’ll take a liking to the new menu. It’s going to serve as a great stepping stone to provide players with more information about the class they’re playing in a future update. » We are also displaying a randomised set of ship names in the new user interface so you can easily determine which ship to spawn on if you’re playing with your crew mates. » The new spawn menu user interface also comes with interactive sounds. » The new spawn menu is still a work in progress.
- Spawn mechanics re-work! Holdfast: Nations At War can now support more than two factions. This has been done in preparation for the upcoming Prussian faction.
- A new map has been added to the game - Linburg! Capture the town and set up defensive positions. » Input the following parameter to host this map on your community server: map_name linburg
- A new map has been added to the game - Black Forest! Designed by Harper. You’ll be seeing this one on the official server map rotations. It’s suitable for both public and line battle play. » Input the following parameter to host this map on your community server: map_name blackforest
- Interactable doors! Players can open and close doors by pressing the ‘F’ key. Be sure to close those gates during a siege. » In order to add some strategic element to this, we have also restricted the functionality to open a door based on if your faction is controlling a capture point in the vicinity of the door object for the Army Conquest, Army Siege and Coastal Siege game modes. » Doors will also be made destructible by melee weapons before Game Version 0.14 is out of BETA.
- Now you’ll also get to play with the British Coast Guard class when the British are defending on the Coastal Siege game mode.
- Interchangeable faction spawn positions! There are plenty of players who are particularly adamant about always joining one particular faction. Be it for better or worse, they only get to see one side of map. This will all be changing in this update, however. » This functionality is supported on all existing game modes including Army Assault. It’ll certainly come in handy for competitive play. » Input the following parameter per map rotation to define the position where a particular faction should spawn at: faction_attacking french and faction_defending british
- Roleplay! Several chairs on various maps are now sit-able.
- Shadows have been improved.
- Fixed a bug which caused the server to disconnect all players after 254 rounds.
- You can now find mortars at both of the base spawns on Fort Winston.
- The cannons inside the siege camp on Fort Winston are now able to cover a greater area.
- Fixed an issue where players couldn’t spawn using the Rifleman class on the Highlands map.
- The Training Grounds map now has a unique loading screen.
- You can now find multiple spawn points on Training Grounds map when playing the Battlefield and Assault game mode. This will make it easier for players to travel around various locations on the map.
- Fixed an issue with an incorrect sound being played when hitting the wooden floors of the church found on the Training Grounds map with a melee weapon.
- The camp on Fort Christina has been filled with additional props.
- Fort Winston has received various optimisations.
- Fixed an issue where players could hide inside gabions on the Desert Plains map.
- Fixed an issue with objects disappearing at a close distance on the Desert Plains map.
- The snow accumulation on the Grassy Plains map now looks better.
- Fixed an issue with the snow accumulation on the Sharpton map looking too bright.
- Players will now find additional doors when traversing inside the South Sea Castle fortification. This was done so that the fort is more easily defendable.
- You can now play with all the in-game classes including the Naval and Coastal ones on the Training Grounds map.
- Fixed an issue where the Officer class showed twice in the list when spawning on the Windmill spawn point on Sharpton.
- Fixed an issue which caused players to spawn way too much above ground whilst playing on the Crosshills map.
- Arranged the order of a variety of spawn points on land-based and coastal maps in the spawn menu. This is so that the base spawn points where the greatest number of players can spawn will always show at the very top. We do hope that you join us in testing the BETA! Look forward to more updates from us in the coming weeks. Once again, we thank you and as always, may good health be yours. - Anvil Game Studios