1) Season Units
4 new units will be available this season and they can be unlocked by completing their corresponding [Challenges]. Seasonal bonuses are in effect for these units.
Seasonal Bonuses:
Requires 10 less Leadership
Resupply cost is reduced by 50%
1. Barcyan Wildflame
Tier: 3
Background Info:
The Barcyan Empire had plentiful fuel resources, and they soon learned that fire could be wielded with terrible results upon the battlefield. Around that time, the army fitted their troops with kerosene canisters to be used when the need arose.
Those that took to using these held no fear toward death——even with this as their only weapon. Having drawn near their enemy, they would set ablaze Narfan and toss it toward them. Where it landed the ground turned into a wild inferno, and when it landed upon a person it would seep beneath their armor and begin burning ferociously.
Enemies set ablaze would howl and howl, yet with the ground and their armor burning too, their howls continued until nothing remained of them but ashes and dust. Having seen such terror, even the bravest of warriors fled at the sight of these Narfan-throwing soldiers.
Unit Characteristics:
The Barcyan Wildflame is a unit where timing is everything, to at the right time deal damage against a certain area from mid-range. As they pose little to no threat in melee combat, carry a rather low supply of ammo, and are weak defensively, they required to constantly be on the move and to resupply. However, their kerosene canisters are powerful and deal massive damage against light-armored units that are weak against fire.
2. Barcyan Narfan Guard
Tier: 5
Background Info:
Narfan, a very special type of fuel, and one of the Barcyan Empire's greatest secrets. Its formula is known only to the craftsmen who are the most loyal and fervent supporters of the royal family. Should Narfan be set aflame, it will continue to burn bright as day even when it meets water: so potent is it, that it may burn on the very sea itself. Narfan is also the reason for the Barcyan navy's dominance in Bartholia.
Within the annals of history, a famed general attempted to overthrow the throne. Yet, as the rebels stormed the palace in an attempt to claim victory, the imperial craftsmen and their apprentices stopped them dead in their tracks. In their hands they held strange devices capable of spewing out lethal Narfan flames: turning the courtyard into a veritable inferno. Nothing remained of the rebels and the great pool that once existed turned into a smoldering pile of rock.
The rebellion having ended, the imperial family was now short of craftsmen, but had gained a legendary troop called the Narfan Guard.
Unit Characteristics:
The Narfan Guard carry devices capable of spewing out Narfan flames, and they are unaffected by both wind and rain. Narfan flames can set ablaze enemies and continues to burn where it lands, creating a more or less impassable wall of fire. Their attack range is limited, so they must be used careful to avoid both enemies with greater range, or to be attacked in melee.
3. Loyal Guards
Tier: 4
Background Info:
The Loyal Guards where initially comprised of descendants from low and mid-ranked houses. They were trained in the military arts since a young age, which resulted in them having a firmer faith and greater skill in combat than the Spear Sergeants.
During the beginning of the Expedition, the Monastic Knights were hard pressed keeping the powerful nomadic tribes in check. Yet, with the Loyal Guards at their side the tides of war changed: Compared to the ordinary Spear Sergeants, they could withstand greater assaults from the enemy while also striking home with precise counter attacks. They landed deadly strike after deadly strike on any enemy that dared charge their formation.
The Loyal Guards wield their shield and spear with great skill and are lethal upon the battlefield. While retaining their formation, they are capable of quickly pushing the enemy backward, driving them before their spear tips. Faced with this veritable walking hedgehog, the nomadic tribes proud of their archers and light cavalry were at a loss. Instead of advancing, they were forced on the defensive.
As the Great Campaign continued, these Loyal Guards began teaching the other troops. The Loyal Guards increased in size as they trained more troops and honed their skill in battle, their fame spreading throughout all Bartholia.
Unit Characteristics:
The Loyal Guards wield shields and spears and traverse the battlefield as a tight group. They are quick to change formation and excel at using brace to resist charges from other units.
Their shields and their steady advance make them great units in close combat.
4. Expedition Knights
Tier: 4
Background Info:
They were the first knights to join the expedition. They honed their skills through endless battles and over time they grew mighty and powerful. While not just better equipped than the other knights, they had also honed their skill with the sword to perfection, gaining expertise far above that of your average warriors.
Their focus is on the union of offense and defense: with their kite shields they deflect enemy attacks, and while doing so, they stab their enemies' weak points with their swords. A lethal combination attack indeed. Enemies often find them incredibly difficult to deal with and their enemies tend to suffer much greater losses than they as a result.
Unit Characteristics:
These steadfast shieldbearers are still capable of dealing enough damage to fearlessly face any foe in melee combat. However, they are somewhat vulnerable from behind and have a hard time dealing with strong charges that diminish the usage of shields.
Their strong faith enables them to quickly recover from wounds in battle to continue fighting.
2) Hero Balance Changes & Improvements
1. Bow Combat Mechanic Changes:
Idea Behind Changes:Bow heroes have the following issues in the current version:
Insufficient Stamina to really work well: It requires Stamina to draw ones bow, and the bow requires much more Stamina than other types of weapons. What's more, seeing as the bow is a ranged weapon one is required to constantly roll and sprint to dodge melee attacks, all of which requires even more Stamina. These two aspects combined leads to a conundrum: you only have Stamina to either run or fight.
To remedy this, we've decided to add a feature enabling bow users to replenish Stamina upon hitting an enemy. Hopefully this will aid in making those that take to the bow be able to stand toe to toe with their foes.
When aiming with the bow your entire focus is on actually hitting your shots, which means that it is more difficult to keep an eye on the Stamina bar at the bottom. This then makes it so that one often fails to notice the Stamina bar depleting fully.
To make it easier to keep an eye on your Stamina in battle we've added a Stamina bar to the right of the crosshair, hopefully you will find it useful.
Marksman skill: In the current version, the Marksman skill grants you a piercing damage and armour penetration buff for a certain time when used. All in all, it has felt somewhat lackluster, so we've decided to rework it. Our aim has been to make it a more fun and impactful skill to use, simply than just being a buff.
The skill will now instead affect your next non-charged up shot within 15 seconds (including half-charged ones), and boost its power to that of a fully charged shot. This will be elicited via a UI prompt.
Changes:
Bow attacks that hit an enemy will restore a certain amount of Stamina, with headshots restoring a greater amount.
When aiming with the bow, a Stamina bar will be displayed to the right of the crosshair.
Reworked the Marksman skill: Enter a state of focus becoming one with your bow. The next non-charged up shot within 15 seconds will gain the effect of having been fully charged up. This effect will be displayed with an UI prompt while aiming.
Improved hit checks.
2. Short Bow Combat Mechanic Changes:
Idea Behind Changes:The short bow in the current version has a few shortcomings:
- Normal shots feels rather lackluster: While wielding a short bow you can more or less continue to shoot without end, but as there are no differences between the shots it feels rather monotone to use. Which is why we've opted for changing it up.
Normal shots will now instead be fired in sets of three. I.e. every third shot will have increased power, and the third shot's damage, trajectory and animation have been improved.
Dodging with the short bow comes with a unique aspect: that dodges add a stacking Armour Piercing buff which increases piercing damage and armour penetration, stacking up to 3 times. Each skill usage then consumes one stack to deal increased damage and armour penetration. As this buff can currently be stacked up simply by using dodge, players tend to dodge even when not in melee combat simply to gain stacks.
Which is we've made the following changes: The third shot of the new short bow will also grant one stack of Armour Piercing.
- Shoort Bow heroes has had an overtuned blunt damage multiplier for their melee basic attacks, and this led to them dealing more damage than expected at higher levels. This led to them being overly powerful in melee while being ranged, which is why we're making the following changes:
We've reduced the blunt damage multiplier for melee basic attacks but added some bonus blunt damage. This will allow short bows to have more or less unchanged damage on lower levels, but keeps their damage on higher level to a number more in line with our design expectations.
Changes:
Each third short bow shot will be more powerful, dealing increase piercing damage and having a more stable trajectory. Hitting a target will also grant a stack of Armour Piercing.
Improved the UI, adding a UI display for the number of stacks you currently have.
Improved the roll animation for male characters wielding a short bow.
Reduced the blunt damage multiplier for melee basic attacks and added some bonus blunt damage.
3. Other Balance Changes:
Improved the animation for when heroes are downed.Resolved a bug where the shortsword & shield skill Shielded Charge would knock enemies back when it shouldn't.
Resolved a bug where the warhammer skill Combat Grapple where enemy heroes could still be grappled while behind enemy soldiers.
3) Unit Changes
1. Adjusted the damage range of spear-type units while in Brace formation:
In ancient warfare each weapon where of a particular length based on the use, which made the spear somewhat weak when in too close range. So, the Brace formation of spear units have a minimum distance required equal to the size of two persons, and they may no longer attack and deal damage within this range;Affected units:
Village Watchmen;
Demesne Pikemen;
Pike Militia;
Imperial Pike Guards;
Fortebraccio Pikemen;
2. Fire and Burn Mechanics
Idea Behind Changes:Currently, fire and burn debuffs are only applied by certain fire skills, and can only be offset by having fire-resistant units. Fire and burn effects currently have no effect on fire-resistant units, and heroes can simply roll to reduce the duration of burn effects. In the end, this makes it rather easy to deal with. Seeing as the new seasonal units are fire related, we've decided to redesign how fire and burn works. Hopefully these changes should make it more interesting.
Changes:
Burn debuffs will no longer be simply "burning or not burning" but it can be stacked to increase potency:
If a unit or hero is attacked by a fire attack, they will take minor fire damage as well as damage over time.
Once they have been the target of repeated fire attacks, the damage over time effect will intensify, dealing massive damage as they are set ablaze.
The previous [Fireproof] will be changed to [Fire Resistant], and fire-resistant units will be capable of withstanding a greater amount of fire attacks before being set ablaze.
Naturally, after a hero is set ablaze, they can roll to reduce the burn DoT's duration.
It will be more difficult for normal fire damage to set ablaze enemies while it is raining.
4) Stage Improvements
Supply Point Hotkey Interaction:We've added a hotkey for interacting with Supply Points. You can now interact with Supply Points you have occupied by pressing the CTRL key. This will enable players to resupply units quicker than before.
Minimap Level Segment Display:
While underground on the Continopolis map, the minimap will change to reflect the underground segment of the map, making it more interactive and easier to navigate.
5) New Region—Bartholia
Conqueror's Blade: The frontlines of battle have remained more or less unchanged for over a year, but now we are for the first time opening up a new region—Bartholia.Bartholia is situated to the south of Ungverija, part of it bordering The Borderlands. Once made available, you may access it from Border Posts in either Ungverija or The Borderlands.
Upon this region new game modes will be available, featuring naval transportation, trade, and Territory War. At the end of the season, you can gather up with your fellow Warlords and contend for Continopolis—the throne of Barcyan, and to claim victory in the season.
What's more, we will in this season be closing off the Ostaria and Maoyang regions, as well as the northern half of The Borderlands. You may select to start this season's journey in either Liangyun or Ungverija.
Harbors
The region of Bartholia is divided by a vast ocean and many areas are difficult to reach by land. However, you can cross the ocean by visiting the many harbors to quickly reach your destination.
Harbors are unique fiefs on the World Map, and the routes available to and from each harbor differs. To use these, you simply have to pay the fee in Bronze Coin, and then select your destination. There are three parts to the fee: seafaring, docking, and transport. The seafaring and docking fees depend on the harbors you sail from and sail to, whereas the transport fee depends on the amount of resources and units you bring as well as the length of the journey.
There are currently two types of harbors:
Trade Ports:
Trade ports are mainly used for trading and large-scale transport. Traveling from one of these enables you to avoid many of the dangers at sea, and you therefore will not lose any resources or units on the journey. Trade ports also have an abundance of routes to choose from, making it easier to reach the destination you want to go to.
Each trade port belongs to a specific city, and will belong to the house that currently occupies that city. The occupying house may adjust the ports settings, method and resource collection fees for seafaring and docking. Part of these fees will be added to the city's dividends. What's more, the house may also choose whether or not non-house members can use the port.
Fishing Ports:
Fishing Ports are small ports mainly used for smuggling. They tend to have few destinations available, and embarking from a fishing port comes at a risk. You may lose resources and units may die on the journey.
However, Fishing Ports cannot be occupied by players and will always remain neutral, available for all to use.
Trade Posts
Sea trade and transport is highly developed in Bartholia, which has given rise to a unique type of fief: Trade Posts.
Trade posts tend to appear near and around cities in Bartholia. While at one of these, you can spend Silver Coins to procure extremely rare commodities available only in limited quantities: exotic trade goods, rare kits, and valuable artilleries from other regions among some.
Owing to how trade works, each trade post will host its own unique stock of commodities, and should the same commodity appear in different trade posts the price is likely to differ. There is also a great difference in the time it takes for different trade posts to restock their goods.
New Season Maps
Within the new region of Barcyan, the towns, forts, and villages will be of a difference style from previous regions;
Towns:
Forts:
Villages:
6) Territory War Changes
1. New Territory War Availability
Following the opening of the new region Bartholia, things are changing in how battles within regions work, which is why we have made the following changes to Territory War:Territory War in this season is made up of six phases:
The Barons' War:
The Barons' War will run through October 3rd 12:00 to October 12th 12:00. During this time, Military Exercises will be running as normal and Territory War will be available in Liangyun and Ungverija, but not in Bartholia or The Borderlands.
Court in Danger:
Court in Danger will run through October 12th 12:00 to October 26th 12:00. During this time, normal Territory War battles will be available in Liangyun, Ungverija, and The Borderlands, whereas a special Eclipse Exercise will be available in Bartholia at a certain time.
*During the Eclipse Exercise, all fiefs of the region will be available, and if players occupy certain fiefs during this time, they will occupy it once the exercise end, with the other fiefs once again falling into the hands of NPCs.
World in Chaos:
World in Chaos will run through October 26th 12:00 to November 9th 12:00. During this time, normal Territory War battles will be available in all regions.
I'm the King:
I'm the King will run through November 9th 12:00 to November 23rd 12:00. During this time, battles for safe zones in Liangyun and Ungverija will be available, and Territory War will be temporarily unavailable in Bartholia.
War for the Throne:
War for the Throne will run through November 23rd 12:00 to December 7th 12:00. During this time, Territory War will once again be available in Bartholia, and during this phase, Alliances that meet the criterions may assault and occupy Continopolis.
2. Battles for Safe Zones
During this season there will be battles to claim safe zones. During the [I'm the King] phase, alliances that meet the criterions may declare war against safe zones. At the end of the season, should an alliance have captured a safe zone, if they meet the criterions, the liege of the ruling house will be granted the title of King and receive attire rewards. Alliances that manage to capture a safe zone, may during the [War for the Throne] phase declare war against Continopolis.3. Battle of Continopolis
With a new region, the means with which to attain eternal glory changes: To receive the title of Hegemon one must no longer occupy Conqueror's City, but occupy the everlasting bastion of Continopolis. The battle for Conqueror's City will be unavailable during this season, and it will instead focus on the Battle of Continopolis.Much like Conqueror's City, declaring war against Continopolis requires you to meet a few criterions: You must occupy a certain number of fiefs within Bartholia or be in possession of a safe zone. At the end of the season, should they meet the criterions, the liege of the ruling house of alliances who have occupied Continopolis will be granted the title of Hegemon and receive a special Hegemon attire.
4. Commanding House Promotion Improvements
During previous seasons, stalemates on the various fronts have detracted from the Territory War experience at large. Part of the reason is because of something we had overseen in how commanding houses worked, which is why we've made the following changes:By declaring war against and capturing small fiefs or camps, houses may gain Influence in that area. The house with the highest Influence will become the house in command. If two houses in the area have an equal amount of Influence, the house which first declared war will command the battle.
Area Influence can be gained in the following ways:
Creating a Ruler's Flag or Field Camp
Creating a Ruler's Flag grants tons of Influence, and you can only create one per area.
Field Camps grants a small amount of Area Influence, and no matter how many camps a house builds in an area, they may only gain the influence of one.
Occupying Small Fiefs
Refers to functional fiefs within the area, and mainly include Resource Sites, Trade Posts and harbor;
Fiefs grant a different amount of area Influence depending on their size;
The types and quantity of small fiefs also differ for towns, forts, and villages.
The battles for small fiefs follow the same rules as those of Field Camps: 15v15 battles with one battle front.
During Territory War, the ownership of small fiefs is set apart from fiefs: capturing a fief will not grant you ownership of small fiefs in that area.
Once Territory War has ended, the ownership of small fiefs will fall to the house that owns that fief.
Should a house's camp be destroyed or small fief be captured in the area, a corresponding amount of Influence will be deducted.
What's more, when your camp (Ruler's Flag/Field Camp) is occupied by anyone who did not construct it, it will be destroyed.
What's more, there is half an hour of preparation time before Territory War begins (between 19:30 and 20:00. During this time only small fiefs and camps can be contested for. Cities, forts, and villages cannot be contested for during this time.
Commanding House Duration:
Once the war preparation is over, the house with the highest Influence in the area take command over the first Territory War fief battle.
Thereinafter, the house with the highest Influence in the area after each battle will assume command in the following battle.
5. Improved the Territory War maps of the Ostaria and Ungverija regions.
We've added a destroyable wall to the Town and Fort Territory War maps of Ostaria and Ungverija. Attackers may now also choose to launch assaults toward these new walls to gain the upper hand;Territory War Town Map:
Territory War Fort Map:
7) Tutorial Improvements
Tutorial Stages & Quest ResetsWith the new season we've also reworked the tutorial by simplifying it in its entirety, and giving more focus on combat.
What's more, we've reworked the main quest line and better differentiated the tutorial quests. This makes it easier for new players to work toward their goals, and makes it easier to understand new functions and game modes.
Hero's Path
So as to aid novice Warlords in familiarizing themselves with the game and to grow at a more rapid pace, we're making Hero's Path available in the new season.
New Warlords will be required to pass four trials: [Bravery], [Faith], [Justice], and [Strategy]. Once these have been completed, new corresponding challenges will become available.
During the challenges, each Warlord will gradually get access to the various functions and game modes within the game. What's more, Warlords will also get heroes, units and more to grow at a more rapid place so that they too can place among the elite one day.
Naturally, old seasoned veterans may also walk upon the Hero's Path and complete the challenges to reap the rewards.
8) Seasonal Doctrine Changes
It has come to our attention that the acquisition and usage of seasonal doctrines wasn't well received during the Blood of Empire season. Which is why we have decided to improve upon seasonal doctrines starting from the Legacy of Fire season.New Additions
The way in which seasonal doctrines' take effect is now similar to permanent doctrines.
Should a unit not have a permanent doctrine with the same ability as the seasonal doctrine, the following will take effect: Seasonal doctrine and permanent doctrines with the same effects have the same requirements.
Should a unit have a permanent doctrine with the same ability as the seasonal doctrine, yet with a weaker effect, the following will take effect: Equipping this doctrine will grant the same bonus as is given when equipping the seasonal doctrine (even without equipping the seasonal doctrine). This increased effect will last for as long as the seasonal doctrine is valid.
Should a unit have a permanent doctrine with the same ability, and of an equal or greater effect than that of the seasonal doctrine, the following will take effect: Equipping this doctrine will grant the bonus effect of the doctrine's next level (even without equipping the seasonal doctrine). This increased effect will last for as long as the seasonal doctrine is valid.
New Seasonal Doctrines
For the Legacy of Fire season, we've also improved upon seasonal doctrines, making them more akin to an improvement of existing doctrines. We've also added unique doctrine abilities for some units. As we continue to improve the game, we will doing our best to further improve seasonal doctrines, but some of these you might have to find out yourself.
Seasonal Doctrine Drop Changes
During the Legacy of Fire season, seasonal doctrines can now be obtained from some daily quests, weekly quests, war point gifts, season challenge progress rewards, weekly Ranked Battle win rewards, and weekly title rewards. We'll be keeping an eye on seasonal doctrine drops to ensure that it works as intended and that it feels enjoyable.
9) Legacy of Fire Challenges
Promotion Challenges Legion Promotion Challenges
Promotion challenges will be coming together with the season. Promoting a unit will require them to undergo arduous training, by in doing so they gain increased abilities;
Completing a unit challenge unlocks the ability to promote that unit;
Promotions are all final and promoted units cannot be reverted back;
After a promotion, the unit will retain its level, career data, doctrine pool, and all spent Veterancy Points;
Promoted units will gain a new appearance and new a new training tree;
In this season, Warlords will be able to complete challenges to promote [Men-at-Arms] to [Expedition Knights], and [Spear Sergeants] to [Loyal Guards].
Four new seasonal challenges will be added in this season, two of these being unit challenges and two being promotion challenges for seasonal units.
Barcyan Wildflame (Chivalric Era Unit)
Loyal Guard (Unit Promotion Challenge)
Expedition Knight (Unit Promotion Challenge)
Barcyan Narfan Guard (Heroic Era Unit)
Challenges
10 weeks' worth of weekly challenges will be available in Season 4, with each fully completed week granting additional rewards.
10) Titles and Title Rarities
In the new season, we've made changes to how titles work, and improved how they are displayed. We've also added rarities to titles, with their appearance changing depending on the rarity.What's more, we've also added descriptions where titles may be obtained, making it easier to go after the ones you're missing.
Changed files in this update