This is our first significant content update since early access launch one week ago.

We want to keep a high tempo and continue building the game as fast as we can. We will keep these content boosters coming.

We are experimenting with extensive patch notes this time. It’s a lot to read and some may prefer to find these changes and additions on their own by exploring the game, instead of getting it spoiled here.

Early Saturday there will be a new patch with bug fixes, new features, optimizations and ui improvements to the game.

Thanks and hope you are enjoying the game!

General Updates

• AI combat spell decision making has been improved for caster units, with better target picking. Spellcasters are now less likely to pick targets outside their range (thus needing to move), and less likely to hit allies with friendly fire aoe spells. It is always risky to bring area of effect damage spells to a fight, but now slightly less so. This update makes spellcasters very effective in performing their various roles in battle.

Incarnations

High Shaman

• Added new ritual spell Summon Wolven Fenrir - the Wolven Fenrir is a strong close combat werewolf commander with the Undying trait, so as long as you win the battle you get him back even if he dies. The ideal friend for the High Shaman to roam around in werewolf form with
• Summon Wolven Guard ritual spell sacred herb cost reduced from 16 to 10 - summoning lesser werewolves was not an effective use of limited resources. This will help make the spell see more use
• Ancestral Wereform ritual spell sacred herb cost reduced from 24 to 18 - turning into a werewolf and running around terrorizing the countryside feels very rewarding. We are making it cheaper, so the High Shaman can jump between human and werewolf form more often

Older Earthmother

• Call Animal Allies summoning ritual results slightly improved, making it overall more valuable to cast
• Summon Lesser Stone Golem cost reduced from sacred herb 22 to 20

The Older Earthmother is currently considered one of the weaker Incarnations by our community. We are planning more help for her, but these changes make her a better strategic summoner and overall slightly stronger.

Wraith Lord

• Wraith Lord got updated model visuals - from wearing old dirty rags to having a more epic look fitting an undead Godking candidate

Harbinger of Chaos

• Both Reaver ritual spell summons have been given humanoid (full) item slots. This makes using artifacts with his self made armies easier. It also makes him stronger as a direct result

Player Factions

Mercia

• Added new unit Mercian Hellfire Warhulk - an elite siege unit that can move faster on the world map than most other siege units Mercia has access to
• Mercian Heavy Cavalry got +1 armor to be more comparable to other human heavy cavalry

We feel Mercia is in a really good place. They have no apparent weakness and they are resistant to even an especially unlucky start. They have a large range of units and viable options, and we feel Mercia is the faction all other factions need to measure against. Right now they stand as a class of their own.

Blackbog Goblins

• Added new unit Blackbog Spiderknight - a fast forest goblin mercenary riding a spider and armed with lance and shield. It is unlocked by the Spider Catching upgrade
• Gather Slave Troops summoning ritual has been toned down. For 1 food and some AP, it is still very cost effective and can give up to six slaves on a good roll. To compensate somewhat for these changes, the AP cost has been changed from 3 to 2, allowing two potential casts in a round
• Advanced Slavecraft ritual spell has been normalized, with a higher guaranteed minimum, and a lower maximum potential. Despite this semi-nerf, this is still one of the most cost effective rituals in the game at the moment
• Added new high level ritual spell Slavecraft Mastery. This spell can yield ogres, dark ogres, forest goblin Spiderknights and Witchen support healers
• Blackbog Dark Queen gained new ritual spell Slavecraft Mastery
• Ogres available for the Blackbogs to recruit in ogre holdings out in the world, have been made overall cheaper. The ogre commanders have been made significantly cheaper
• Ogre Hexworker and Ogre Spellworker mage commanders are now available for recruitment in Ogre Caveborgs for currently Blackbogs only. Ogre holding recruitment is under consideration for more factions
• Ogre holding max recruitment caps increased from 1 to 2 for Ogre Stonespike Camp and from 1 to 3 for Ogre Caveborgs
• Fixed incorrect Spider Slaveling AP from 3 to 4
• Blackbog Dark Queen now requires Spider Catching upgrade to unlock
• Blackbog Dark Queen recruitment gold cost reduced from 42 to 38, a small discount to reflect that she now needs the Spider Catching upgrade to be available

The Blackbogs are strong. Most of their early game strength comes from the enormous amount of cheap slaves they can generate, their ninja spy cat scouts that give excellent cheap vision and scouting power. For late game once their economy is running well, they can transition into ogres and caster commanders with enslave spells, and no one likes fighting those.

United Tribes

• United Tribes now starts with a Barbarian Ritualist commander instead of the previous chieftain. This makes their early game stronger, and gives them access to their totem based economy option faster
• Added new holding upgrade Trade Agreement: Iron - with a new guaranteed source of iron income, the barbarians are less dependent on lucking into iron to access their advanced units early
• Barbarian Beastmaster ritual spell Ceremony of The Moon casting cost reduced from sacred herb 12 to 9, making it more cost effective
• Panzer bear recruitment costs reduced dramatically - Panzer bears can be recruited from their various world holdings by United Tribes. They are strong but still expensive, and now a more viable end game strategy for the barbarians
• Panzer bear recruitment per turn caps have been increased from 1 to 2 at Panzer Bear Outpost, and from 1 to 3 at Panzer Bear Stronghold - this makes it easier to recruit large numbers of bears
• Panzer Bear Ancestralite caster commanders now available at Panzer Bear Strongholds for United Tribes
• Barbarian Sorceror (sic - barbaric spelling!) gained Remove Conditions combat spell
• Barbarian Sorceror ritual spell Call of The Ancestors sacred herb casting cost reduced from 22 to 18, making it easier to build a ghost army sooner
• Barbarian Axethrower recruitment gold cost reduced from 4 to 3, to make it a more competitive choice versus the barbarian skirmisher
• Barbarian Duelist food recruitment cost reduced from 3 to 2
• Barbarian Duelist has been rebalanced so he hopefully becomes a more interesting alternative in barbarian armies. His dodge skill has been improved, and he now attacks twice per round although with reduced damage per attack
• Barbarian Shield Master has been made slightly cheaper to recruit, and has gained +2 hitpoints. This makes it a more cost effective unit, with improved durability

The United Tribes has had the misfortune of being regarded as the weakest faction currently in the game. We think these changes and additions will make them both a bit more competitive with other playable factions, but also they feel more intuitive and more fun to play now. We would like to hear what you think about the barbarians with these new changes in place.

Scaleborne

• Combat Shaman gained Remove Conditions combat spell
• Horned Priestess gained Remove Conditions combat spell
• Feral Lizard Stoner has moved from a front to a front support position. This makes them easier to keep alive and overall more effective in lizardman armies

Scaleborne is fun to play, and they feel reasonably resistant to a bad starting position. They are a food intensive faction, but you can get a food economy going with them by creating Lightning Serpent Stones. These give +1 food and double as stationary defenders. Lizardmen armies are small but durable - with good defenses and tons of healing. Being able to slip in and out of the water is a massive strategic advantage for them. They are no Mercia, but they can hold their own and feel overall balanced.

The Returned

• Added new ritual spell Raise Tribunus Militum. This will summon one out of two non-mage commanders, either the Bone Captain or the mounted Decurion. Both are useful for ferrying items or troops, or as cheap scouts on the world map. They have in turn been removed from the more expensive ritual spell Raise Legatus, as it felt like an unlucky result for such a high soul cost. The new ritual can be cast by the Nekrosage starting commander, as well as by the Lord Strategus
• Raise Equites ritual spell cost reduced from 8 souls to 6
• Raise Legatus will now only give caster commanders, and the two non-caster commanders that felt disappointing to get, have been moved to a new cheaper ritual summon called Raise Tribunus Militum

The Returned got an extensive balance and quality of life pass this week. Some of the randomness to the faction has been limited, ritual spell tooltips have been updated with more accurate information of what to expect, and some of the weaker commanders have gotten their own cheaper ritual spell to summon them, instead of showing up as underwhelming high cost results. The Returned now feel stronger and less at the mercy of random results, but we would love to hear what you think of them. We suspect they still need some help to be comparable to stronger factions such as Mercia and the Blackbog Goblins.

Khaoset

• All versions of the Reaver line of mutations now have humanoid (all) artifact slots. This is both a big quality of life and power boost improvement as they now can take a more active part in the artifact min-max game, and gear up armies much more freely

Other Content

Artifacts

• Added rare artifact Divine Breastplate
• Added common artifact Ring of Heroism
• Added rare artifact Ghost King’s Robe
• Added common artifact Ring of Water Walking
• Added uncommon artifact Water Breathing Helmet
• Added common artifact Snow Shoes
• Added common artifact Swamp Hag Boots
• Added rare artifact Ritualist Boots
• Added rare artifact Bear Shaman’s Necklace
• Added rare artifact Serpent Amulet
• Added very rare Wartroll Guardian Amulet
• Added rare consumable artifact Creator Soul
• Added rare artifact Nimble Ring of Initiative
• Superb Ring of Quickness gave -1 initiative, now improved to -2 initiative. Lower initiative is better, as you get to act sooner in combat
• Obediah's Heart consumable artifact has been moved from rare to common drop chance
• Visionary Helmet now gives Scouting trait instead of +1 mana, as that feels more appropriate for the name

We added a good batch of new artifacts this week. Three of these give the holder the Combat Spawner trait, which summons one or more free units at the start of combat. The Wartroll Amulet is especially epic, giving you a free essentially immortal wartroll every battle. Combat spawner items are usually best placed on center frontline units, so the free summons get straight into battle.

Independents

• New wandering encounter Elven Hunting Party
• New wandering encounter Blackrose Platoon
• Panzer Bear Ravager now has a cleave attack, potentially hitting up to three enemies at once
• Panzer Bear Ancestralite and Panzer Bear Linebreaker have shields, but were missing Block traits. Also given +1 AC each to reflect carrying large shields.
• Neutral humans offering their services in cities and holdings with recruitment options for Mercia and United Tribes, will now ask for a minimum of 2 food to join, in addition to any gold cost.
• Veteran Swordsman was missing Block trait. Now has 25% chance to block attacks
• Scout was missing arrow projectile
• Battle Priest gained Remove Conditions combat spell
• Panzer Bear Shaman gained Remove Conditions combat spell
• Elven Spellsinger gained Remove Conditions combat spell
• Gaian Lifematron gained Remove Conditions combat spell
• Quanta Lifebringer gained Remove Conditions combat spell

These changes are now live - Next patch coming Saturday!