Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated. Make ready the guns as the all-new teamplay oriented artillery mechanics are here! Move artillery on the field of battle, carry ammunition, bring a quick end to nearby infantrymen with grapeshot and support the fight from the rear with the new Cannoneer class.
There’s plenty to look out for in this update. Better spot enemies at the distance with the improved spyglass, another map to continue adding to an already vast selection of game levels, user interface additions and more.
Before you have a read at the blog post, check out the trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jztiwMnY5gc
New Artillery Mechanics! Teamplay
Assemble the artillery crew and support the fight from the rear! Well trained crews will triumph over others as the new artillery mechanics have been designed from the ground up with teamplay at the forefront.
With plenty of mechanical changes centred around artillery, we’ve sectioned the blog post into several steps that one must go through to operate a moveable field gun. You’ll also find some of these mechanical changes present on various stationary guns.
Moving The Field Gun - Stage 0
Nearby the spawn locations for each faction, you’ll now find field guns that can be moved around on the battlefield. Look at either of the gun’s wheels, press the ‘E’ key and you’ll be able to move the gun around.
Moving an artillery piece isn’t restricted to a specific team. Want to go for the rather risky endeavour of stealing the opposing team’s cannon? You can very well do so with these new mechanics.
Assist Move The Field Gun - Stage 0
A secondary player can interact with the other wheel enabling the gun to move at a faster rate. Each and every class in the game is able to assist with moving the field gun so your chances of finding someone willing to help out is greater.
Selecting Your Shot - Stage 1
After you’ve moved the field gun to your desired position, you should look for an ammo box close to your vicinity to select a shot of your preference. Press the ‘E’ key once and select either the round or the new anti-personnel grapeshot.
You can also carry ammo boxes around the field of battle. As you can imagine, it’s going to be especially convenient not having to constantly run back to your spawn to pick up ammunition. Find a fellow Cannoneer willing to do the task and work together to operate the gun.
Ammo boxes can be carried around by pressing the ‘E’ key once and selecting the ‘Carry Ammo’ option. To drop the ammo box, scroll up or down with your mouse wheel or press one of the number keys to switch to another weapon.
Loading Your Shot - Stage 2
Go to the front of the gun and look directly at its barrel with ammunition in hand. Keep hold of the ‘E’ key until the round user interface indicator fills up to load your shot in the cannon.
Guns loaded with ammunition will cause an explosion if destroyed. Be sure to stay out of harm’s way! Moveable field guns will also respawn after two minutes if destroyed.
Ramming Your Shot - Stage 3
Now that you’ve loaded your cannon, you need to ram your shot down the barrel. Keep hold of the ‘E’ key until the round user interface indicator fills up to ram your shot. You’re now ready to fire the cannon.
Firing The Gun - Stage 4
Head to the back of the gun, look at the barrel then press the ‘E’ key once to aim the cannon. Pick your target well then fire away! It is highly recommended that you have another player assisting with ranging targets using a spyglass.
Upon firing, the field gun will recoil backwards. Moveable field guns are intended to function in this manner instead of being automatically pushed forward to promote teamplay.
A New Shot! Grapeshot
By now it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there’s a new shot that players can choose from. Swivel guns, field guns, carronades and various long guns can be loaded with Grapeshot which is especially effective against infantry.
A New Class! Cannoneer
The go to class for dedicated artillerymen! Cannoneers have a priority over the operation of field guns and indeed all of the other artillery pieces present in the game. These range from various long guns, carronades, mortars, as well as swivel guns.
They also come equipped with a spyglass which is especially useful to range targets at long distances. There’ll be more coming to this class in due time when development of the class system update begins.
French Empire
British Empire
Kingdom of Prussia
Spyglass! Enemies At The Distance
We’ve given the spyglass a well-deserved overhaul! First and foremost, we significantly increased the viewing distance when looking through a spyglass. It’ll come in especially handy for the artillery crewman in charge of ranging targets.
The underlying code-base that makes this system function has also been re-designed to prevent various instances which caused players to get stuck viewing the spyglass. We’ve also cleaned up most of the interface while using a spyglass and improved its looks.
A New Map! Fort Pierre
Bring out the guns and batter Fort Pierre’s walls! Make good use of moveable field guns to open multiple entry points for the assaulting infantrymen by pouring led into the wooden palisades.
It does indeed seem quite fitting to introduce a siege map along with this update. Join one of the official Army Front servers to check it out.
User Interface. Points of Interaction
As the number of objects that you can interact with on the map increases, we required an additional feature to help players better identify their location. Once a player gets close to an interactable object, they will be presented with an icon marking down its location.
For the scope of this update, we’ve placed interaction icons on all moveable and stationary artillery pieces as well as ammo boxes. We’re planning on expanding this system for various other points of interaction present on various maps including lanterns, pianos, sitting, climbing rigging and more.
We’ve also made sure to provide players with the option to disable interaction indicators. You can find this in the game options under all the other user interface settings.
What’s Next? Development Plans
After we iron out any issues that may have slipped through the cracks due to the latest introduction of the artillery update, we’ll be splitting our development efforts between quality of life additions and the next major update.
Let’s head off with the most exciting of announcements. Player built defences will be making an introduction into the game with the release of the next major update! Well placed defences will turn the tide of battle in your favour.
In the near future, we’re planning on providing players with the option to vote for their own maps after the round ends. Even though this is a relatively smaller addition compared to the gameplay-oriented features that’ll be coming in the next major update, it has been highly requested by the community so we’ve set our sights on doing just that.
There’ll also be other updates besides the ones we’ve mentioned coming to the game leading to the release of the next major update. As always, we’ll keep you up to date on our progress.
Community. Join The Discord!
Looking for a good bunch of fellows to play the game with? Do join our Discord! Linebattle events were players are encouraged to play in formations relevant to the Napoleonic era are hosted by the community through the week.
We look forward to seeing you there! Stay in touch.
https://discordapp.com/invite/holdfastgame
There are plenty more additions to go through but the blog post is already getting rather lengthy. Have a look at the list below for the entire list of additional features, bug fixes, improvements and content that you’ll find in this update.
Changelog 24 - Game Version 0.22.6925.42022
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New Game Features
- New Artillery Mechanics! Well trained crews will triumph over others as the new artillery mechanics have been designed from the ground up with team-play at the forefront. » Move field guns on the field of battle. Assist another player to move the gun at a faster pace. » Cannoneers are able to carry ammo boxes. It’s extremely convenient to have this present nearby a field gun to use at a moment’s notice. » You are now required to hold down your ‘E’ key to load a shot. » Guns must now be rammed after a shot is loaded. » Moveable field guns will recoil back once they are fired. You can no longer automatically push the cannon forward on the field guns to encourage team play. » You are now required to go through the same process of loading and ramming while operating a stationary artillery piece.
- Artillery Respawn. Moveable field guns will respawn back to their initial spawn location after two minutes. They will also be repairable in a future update. » Server administrators can configure the time it takes for an artillery to respawn after it gets destroyed by inputting the following command in the server configuration file: artillery_fieldgun_respawn_timer 130
- Grapeshot! A new artillery shot that is especially effective against infantry.
- A New Class! Cannoneer. The go-to class for dedicated artillerymen. They have a priority over the operation of field guns and indeed all of the other artillery pieces present in the game. » Cannoneers also have their own chat channel to communicate in.
- Spyglass Overhaul! You are now able to view players at a much greater distance while looking through the spyglass. This will come in especially useful for ranging targets.
- A New Map! Fort Pierre. Make good use of moveable field guns to open multiple entry points for the assaulting infantrymen by pouring led into the wooden palisades. » Input the following parameter to play this map on your community server: map_name fortpierre.
- Interaction Indicators. Once a player gets close to an interactable object, they will be presented with an icon marking down its location. » You can disable these indicators from the game options under all the other user interface settings. Look for Interaction Indicators.
- Dutch Canals. This map has received quite the overhaul with bridges being added to create pathways over canals and additional houses and trees to serve as cover. We’ll be re-visiting other maps to improve their playability in future updates.
- Most of the maps present in the game received various iterations to support moveable artillery. A hefty bunch of work!
- We’ve made sure to include two moveable artillery pieces on every map specifically designed for organised play. » You’ll also find additional stationary artillery pieces present on some of the maps. Quality of Life
- We implemented a system that ensures the order of classes in the spawn menu remains consistent with the exception of the Training Grounds map were classes from both the Navy, Army and Coastal branches are present.
- Changed the font used for all interaction labels in the game so it becomes more readable and added a slight fade to all of the interaction labels.
- Included additional sounds to all artillery pieces.
- The list of official servers available to join in the ‘Join Other Server’ panel has been updated.
- Changed the colour of the recruitment channel to make it more distinguishable from the rest. Game Balance
- Implemented a system that restricts players from loading specific shots in certain artillery pieces. You are no longer able to load round shot in swivel guns. Instead, they can now be loaded with a smaller iteration of the grapeshot.
- Upon firing an artillery piece, the gun’s barrel will slightly recoil. This is being done to further increase the skill gap.
- You’ll now find more ammo boxes on the 8-Gun Schooner. These contain the smaller version of the grapeshot to load swivel guns with. Other Additions
- Included additional spawns near the barn on Highlands when played on the Army Conquest game mode.
- Change the spawn limits for the Garrison Arena map when played on the Army Conquest game mode. Optimisations
- Solved an instance which was causing a dip in framerate when an explosion was caused.
- Optimised various particle effects in the game. Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug which caused the sound when pushing a cannon forward not to play.
- Fixed a bug which prevented firearm trajectories from showing when a server administrator set the drawFirearmTrajectories to true.
- Fixed a bug which caused players to get stuck in an animation after using a spyglass.
- Fixed a bug which caused players to get stuck looking through a spyglass forcing them to respawn.
- Fixed a bug with the wheels not animating correctly when a cannon is being pushed forward.
- Fixed a bug which caused the particles produced when a shot from a firearm hits a snowy terrain to be not very visible.
- Fixed a bug which caused players to get stuck behind the rowboat passage on King George.
- Fixed a bug which prevented players from using any weapons while walking on one of the rowboats present on King George.
- Fixed a bug on Fort Sallettes which prevented players from going in certain rooms.
We’re working on the next update. Once again, thank you very much for your support and until next time, may good health be yours.
- Anvil Game Studios