Rise Of The White Sun News

Hello,

I have been shipping fast a lot of updates these days.
Now all China except the North West is playable.
(North West China lived a life on its own at that time, but I plan to add huge parts of it nevertheless)

[h2]What is new?[/h2]

• Manchuria & the Chinese Eastern Railway
  
• Beijing government
  
• More save game sots
  
• Extented scenario length
  
• New cheat codes
  
• New characters' special events
  
• New treason mechanisms
  

[h3]Manchuria & the Chinese Eastern Railway[/h3]

Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian faction is now available, along with the Manchurian provinces.
It is a very powerful faction with a huge economical power and many supply sources to get modern weapons.

In the Little Model China, that faction just took over the Presidency and the security of the China Eastern Railways. As the Russian civil war is raging, you can expect troubles all along the railway line.
Bolshevik agents will try to create troubles to prevent allied supply from Vladivostok to reach the White Forces, and retreating White Forces will have to be disarmed before they turn to banditry.

The Fengtian character roster is filled with able characters, so the player will be able to turn his domain into an economical powerhouse.

That faction does not control the Beijing government, but have powerful armed forces in the vincinity, and taking over the power won't be so difficult (facing the Zhili Clique counter-offensive, may be less easy)





[h3]The Beijing Government[/h3]

Who controls Beijing controls China's government.
That position will give you extra bonuses.

The Finance ministry will receive the income from China's customs (they are in the hands of Foreigners, who collect the taxes and give back China its share).

The Foreign ministry has a bonus to actions involving Foreign Powers (like buying modern weaponry or requesting a loan)

Needless to say that controlling Beijing will give you a clear edge on the competition for supremacy in China.

[h3]More game save slots[/h3]

You now have 3 saved game slots. This is ertainly enough at the moment. Adding some more would not be a problem anyway.

[h3]Extended scenario mechanism[/h3]

I am testing this new feature in the "Little Model China" scenario.
At scenario's end, provided you scored a victory, you will offered the possibility to play for 50 more turns with new victory conditions.
(the new victory conditions are "global domination" style)

[h3]New cheat code[/h3]

For those who forget how to open the cheat console: just type "c".
There is a new code available:
-"sepuku" will kill your selected character. This may be useful to get ride easily of one of your characters.
Cheat codes are creating for playtesting purpose: it is obvious that killing key characters in heavily scripted scenarios may produce clunky effects.

[h3]Characters special events[/h3]

I added many mini personal events to your character's life.
Some of them will impact the character's loyalty.

You may also spot a new character's role: playboy.
That just means that one of this character's main occupation is partying in smoking all night, drinking champagne with Foreigners.
(I am not sure this is super useful, but it gives some bonuses and maluses here and there)


[h3]Treason mechanisms[/h3]

Now, characters' loyalty is really a thing.
A character position in your clique may have an effect on his loyalty, and now some AIs will try to bribe your men away.

Circular telegrams may be the occasion for such characters to switch side, but they also may choose to leave your faction and stay neutral.


[h2]What's next?[/h2]





Yeah, these guys are what is next to come.


Have fun!

Maestro Cinetik

Warning: that patch will kill your old saved games.

The Little Model China scenario has been extended to include 3 more provinces, 2 more factions and 6 more characters.

The Shanxi clique is a nice pick for players who want to practice province building. (that faction characters roster also contains some interesting characters)

Other improvements:

-Large screens (>3000px) had ridiculously small action buttons, it is fixed now
-Scenario screen now have icons to indicate which factions have scripted events.

[h2]What's next?[/h2]

The next big content patch will turn the Little Model China scenario into a complete big campaign, with 7 to 9 new provinces, the Fengtian Clique and the Beijing government mechanisms.

That could come quite quick, as the work on the provinces is already done.

That scenario will have an option in case of victory to extend the game (for 100 or 200 more turns, I don't know yet) with new map painting victory conditions.

Have fun!

Maestro Cinetik

Many cool new things in the last patch:

-An army list screen reworked toi manage all your armies easily from one screen
-The Little Model China scenario has been extended to include Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi
-6 new factions and 14 new characters
-Many AI have been reworked
-Some new events added
-Some bugs killed...

But the most interesting addition in my opinion is a new type of faction:

[h2]The Spirit Soldiers[/h2]

Did you ever dream of playing as a mystical sect, whose aim is to defend the peasants against bandits and rapacious warlords?

That dream came true!

You certainly encountered these guys before as a neutral faction in Guizhou.



The spirit soldiers have distinct game mechanisms and actions.

Gain Magical Immunity to bullets and other battle charms

Spirit Soldiers units can be trained to gain magical powers (not for real, but it has a real impact if you believe in them).
It is possible to maintain areally high morale and loyalty level among Spirit Soldiers, through magical ceremonies and superstition.

Bullets and rifles are not your kind of weapons: don't expect to inflict the same huge damages as Northern Warlords armies do.
Yes, Spirit Soldiers have a bonus to hand to hand fighting, as they master the sword and the spear, but let's be honest, that will never match the damages of artillery fire.

Raise impressive armies of peasants in no time

Spirit Soldiers are able to summon impressive troops of peasants.
The only drawback is that these gatherings are temporary (they last 1 turn before disbanding).
Also, they have the same problem as any other peasant troops: they tend to vanish as they venture far from their home village.

Like fish in the sea

Spirit Soldiers troops have bonus to ambush their opponents, and to their supplying capacity if they are in a friendly district.
Playing as this faction, most of the time, you won't have to worry about supplying your troops.

Ages old feuds

As you extend your influence in nearby districts, you will certainly face rival secret societies, and struggle to maintain your sphere of influence.



[h2]Next steps[/h2]

Short Term

I will now spend some time on some small but nice features, like adding special actions for Feng Yuxiang, the christian general, or some more content to the Old vs Young Guizhou Cliques.

Then I will go for something bigger:

What about a scenario about the 1927 CCP soviets and uprisings?

Medium term

The "Little Model China" and "Guangdong Revolutionary Base" scenario will be extended.
"Little Model China" will include most of China provinces.

The "Shanghai Uprising" scenario will certainly be reworked.

[h2]Little Model China[/h2]

August 1920.

As the Northern militarists are fighting each other, Sun Yat Sen seized that opportunity to make his come-back in Guangdong.
The province is in the hands of a military government controlled by the Guangxi Clique, but it is undermined by internal dissents, and its power is crumbling.

In Fujian, Chen Jiongming experimented with success with self-government policies.
He is now ready to implement his ideas on the whole Guangdong province.

Even if Chen Jiongming and Sun Yat Sen are allied, their vision for China's futur will soon conflict!

This is the first really long scenario

This new scenario is the larger one so far in the game, and will serve as a basis for the great 1920 campaign featuring all of China.
At the moment, this scenarios features:

• 9 Provinces
  
• 14 playable factions
  
• Sun Yat Sen!
  
• 103 turns! (3-4 times more than the other scenarios)
  

You will have time to build, conquer, and expend to other provinces!

I made that scenario with all the Chen Jiongming's enthusiasts that asked for more Chen related content.
If you play as Chen, you will have access to the powerful federalist special actions, and to many dialogues and events related to your fratricidal fighting with Sun Yat Sen.

Beware: the AI now uses the assassination actions!

Among the new features:

• Better resolution maps
  
• Possibility to recruit new characters from personal links (mostly for high profile characters like Sun Yat Sen)
  
• less bugs
  

I added some new cheat codes:

• "bluecanton" : Guangzhou will be controlled by the Guomindang faction
  
• "chencanton" : Guangzhou will be controlled by Chen Jiongming's faction
  
• "oldsouth" : Activates the Guangzhou government in its 1920 form
  
• "hongkongstrike": Activates the strike committee in Guangzhou (and reset its vitality to 5)
  
• "shenornothing": switch sides to play as Shen Hongying (leading his own independent faction)
  

[h2]Some good places to watch a Twitch stream about Rise of the White Sun[/h2]

https://www.twitch.tv/wafioy_gaming

https://www.twitch.tv/nomadicjam

https://www.twitch.tv/mordredviking/video/1670061863


[h2]Whats' next?[/h2]

Next important patch will add 1 or 2 provinces to the current scenario (and some new factions/characters)

Have fun!

Maestro Cinetik

The development of the next "big" scenario is well underway, I want to share with you some of its content in this update:

[h2]What's new in the game?[/h2]

• A better looking China map
  
• You can now bribe characters and make them join your faction!
  
• You can organize deadly banquets
  
• You can now assassinate characters
  
• The who's who panel has been reworked (that was long due and really necessary)
  
• You can now turn your bandits into regular troops (they will still be called bandits until I find a better name)
  
• News will stop popping madly in the district management screen
  
• You will now always know how many turns they are left.
  
• Small bugs and typos have been corrected here and there (the kind you probaby did not even notice)
  

[h2]Assassinating and bribing characters[/h2]

Here are some things to know about these 2 actions:

They may change the balance of the game because they are really powerful.
Characters have a secret trait: they can be main protagonists, legendary characters or just historical or created characters.

Legendary characters and main protagonists will be harder to assassinate and costlier to bribe.
That's unfair, but will let important characters the chance to live up to their historical destiny.

Bribery and assassinations are disabled in some scenarios like the Shanghai uprising to keep them balanced and interesting.

Bribed character will be in your character's reserve pool: to play them as active character you will have to buy them from there.

Bribing a powerful character will cost a lot more . Indeed it will cost so much that there will be no opportunity compulsive bribing: players will have to chose carefuly their targets and patiently bring them to their side.

A character switching sides, comes with all his troops and territories! (I am sure you were wondering if that was the case)

I did not code yet any AI able of using these actions or to prevent them: have fun while it lasts!



Have fun!

Maestro Cinetik