We've been hard at work making sure the systems we have are in good shape as we move towards adding in Skirmish AI! Here are the latest changes.

Worker Changes

We’ve made some pretty big changes to workers this update. First; we’ve made workers a bit tougher, as we believe that they died way too easily beforehand. We’ve also removed the iron and lumber cost on workers while slightly increasing the food cost.

Harvesting

We’ve made across the board improvements to harvesting. We aren’t quite done yet; but at least this will make harvesting feel a lot better until we put more love into it.

• Workers will now always move to the closest resource to the drop off on returning to a
  resource patch

• New particle effects on harvesting impact

• Added a new satchel to the worker, so they are better identified

• Fixed visual and animation errors regarding dropping off and resource loads

Construction

We are in the process of completely revamping construction as well. The previous system wasn’t satisfactory; and building structures felt tedious instead of a part of the strategy sandbox. The new system will add a bit of depth, fixes, and accessibility; along with other mechanics we’re going to add in the near future.

• Multiple workers can now build a single structure

• Upon finishing construction, workers will automatically move on to the next unfinished
  structure.

• When placing a new structure, if workers are sitting idle with the builder role, the
  workers will automatically move to build the newly placed structure

• Increased the build time for structures across the board to reflect this change

• Fixed bugs with construction; distance construction, client multi building with one
  worker, not being able to select your worker while constructing, losing workers during
  construction, etc.

Equipment

In preparation for a new tier of weaponry, we’ve made some changes to better balance the Agacite and Bromnium equipment. The agacite blunt weapons were a bit underwhelming, so the primary changes go to them. The longsword seemed to struggle against the damage of the pike, so we slightly closed the gap there as well.

• Agacite Cudgel - From 45 Force to 60 Force

• Agacite Bludgeon - From 60 Force to 70 Force

• Agacite Longsword - From 35 Damage / 20 Force to 38 Damage / 20 Force

• Bromnium Mace - From 80 Force to 90 Force

• Basic Bow - From 20 Damage / 18 Force to 21 Damage / 15 Force

Resource Adjustments

We’re trying to make resources a bit more specific; one thing we’re doing is raising the food cost on units, while decreasing the Iron and Lumber costs.

Guardsman -

• Decreased Lumber cost to 25 from 75

• Decreased Iron cost to 25 from 75

• Increased Food cost to 175 from 125

Vanguard -

• Decreased Iron cost to 25 from 50

• Decreased Lumber cost to 50 from 100

• Increased Gold cost to 15 from 8

• Increased Food cost to 300 from 200

• Increased training time to 30 seconds from 18 seconds

Sergeant -

• Decreased Wood cost to 100 from 200

• Decreased Iron cost to 100 from 200

• Increased Gold cost to 30 from 15

• Increased Food cost to 500 from 400

• Increased training time to 45 seconds from 28 seconds

To account for the cheaper units, we’ve decided to increase the Lumber cost of structures as well. Hopefully, this will make it easier for the player to decide what resources to focus, as opposed to just getting the right amount of workers on every resource type then forgetting about it.

Sawmill -

• Increased Lumber cost to 400 from 150

• Decreased Iron cost to 100 from 200

Refinery -

• Increased Lumber cost to 500 from 350

• Decreased Iron cost to 75 from 150

Granary -

• Increased Lumber cost to 500 from 250

• Increased Iron cost to 100 from 50

Barracks -

• Increased Lumber cost to 400 from 300

• Decreased Iron cost to 150 from 200

Blacksmith -

• Increased Lumber cost to 350 from 250

• Decreased Iron cost to 200 from 250

Home -

• Increased Lumber cost to 250 from 100

• Removed Iron cost

Storehouse -

• Increased Lumber cost to 200 from 150

• Increased Iron cost to 50 from 30

Town Hall -

• Increased Lumber processing rate to 500 at 100% efficiency from 500 at 75% efficiency

• Increased Iron processing rate to 500 at 100% efficiency from 500 at 75% efficiency

• The Town Hall will now generate 200 Food per minute

The Town hall felt painfully slow when compared to the Lumber mill or Refinery; this should make it a little more useful in the earlier stages of the game. Also, adding a small amount of Food production should make it less catastrophic if the player forgets to produce a Granary early on.

Unit Rebalancing

After playing with the units for a few weeks, we have decided the choices between training different unit types doesn’t feel meaningful enough. To address this, we’ll be doing some pretty big adjustments to the Vanguard and Sergeant. The goal is to have the Guardsman feel like a weaker, almost fodder like unit; while the Sergeant and Vanguard will be significant drops that require more time to train, and more gold. This will help separate the advanced units from the Guardsman; at least until we finish up work on the abilities we’ve designed for them.

Vanguard -

• Increased Health to 300 from 175

• Increased Stamina to 150 from 140

• Increased Stamina regen rate to 10 from 6

• Increased Poise to 150 from 75

• Increased Strength to 42 from 35

• Increased Agility to 30 from 22

• Increased starting weapon Force to 65 from 40

• Increased starting weapon Damage to 23 from 21

Sergeant -

• Increased Health to 400 from 200

• Increased Stamina to 200 from 150

• Increased Stamina regen rate to 10 from 6

• Increased Poise to 250 from 150

• Increased Strength from 40 to 50

• Increased Agility to 60 from 42

Hidden Ruins

Added a bit of detail to certain spots on the map; we’ll continue to update our maps visually when we have the time to put into it.

Bug Fixes -

• Previously mentioned construction and Harvesting bug fixes

• Fixed the hammer slam attack to have a second attack that loops correctly

• Archers will now correctly aim when attacking a new target for the first shot

• Made updates to animation; specifically switching attack types mid swing now has a more clear
  Animation. This will be improved when we revamp combat in the near future

• Structures should display fire level correctly on the info card

• You no longer can change attack type mid swing when bridging between attack types

• Structures will display the fire level on their info card when on fire; keep in mind this still needs
  to be fixed a bit and is incomplete

• Fixed a crash on the server when players would leave the game; or on defeat