Diplomacy is Not an Option News

Good Lords! Fair Ladies!
As you may have noticed, in a few previous updates we made some changes to the in-game economy. Meanwhile, the balance of the Endless Mode map layouts remains untouched.
So we have been contemplating - what is the best way to find the needed changes? What would make the challenge fair and tough at the same time?
The answer is obvious! We need to see how our fans play those maps!
Thus, once again, we ask for your help. We need your videos! When you happen to play Endless Mode (except for the latest - "Under Pressure"), please do, make a Youtube video, and share the link with us! It doesn't matter whether you survive a few days or a hundred! If it’s not difficult for you, it would also be great to make a note about your level so that we can roughly understand who is playing in the video .
Your videos can help us make the Endless Mode better!
You can send your links to the video both in the comments and via these contacts (whichever is more convenient for you):
Discord: moto_kattie or kirilles
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Yours, the Door 407 dev team

Good Lords, Fair Ladies!

We continue our story about the wildlife of the Uncharted Continent. Last time you met giant bugs. And today we'll be talking about more advanced forms of life.

!Caution, minor spoilers ahead!


Let's start with crustaceans. Like the local insects, they're a bit bigger than we're normally used to imagining similar species. Still, rather cute creatures, don't you think? Colonies of these clever, swarming animals stretch all along the coast of the mysterious continent along the Halimatyan Sea.


Giant crabs are fairly peaceful until someone trespasses on the Crab's abode, the place where they lay their eggs. Both the Sarranga and the Undead consider crab eggs a delicacy, so they try to pillage Crab's abodes remarkably often...


Sooner or later, the protagonist of Diplomacy is Not an Option will reach the shore of the Halimatyan Sea. When that happens, he will face a choice: get rid of his dangerous crustacean neighbors or leave them be. The crabs won't stand in his way, at least they certainly won't join any attacking wave. At the same time, to be cut off from the seashore when you need to get there badly, with only pathetic overgrown shrimps standing in your way... Well, the choice is yours.

Let's move on to the more exciting wildlife.


Many of Alexander Milne's readers probably wonder from time to time what a Heffalump looks like. By a strange coincidence, the Sarranga tribe uses the same word to name a very specific mammal. So to say, we have an answer for Milne's readers.


What do we know about these majestic giants? The only more or less credible information can be found in the writings of Master Physalis, a citizen of Samreignia who was the first to cross the Halimatyan Sea, and who generally has been everywhere across the world.
According to his journals, Heffalumps can only be seen on the Uncharted Continent. Their area of habitat is very limited. Apparently, it has been reduced as a result of the expansion of the Undead's zone of influence and the expansion of the Sarranga civilization as well. To put it simply, for intelligent beings, Heffalumps were a source of bones and flesh for dark magic or a valuable hunting trophy. Which dwindled the mammal's population and eventually led to them inhabiting a tiny piece of land that neither the Undead nor the Sarranga have reached yet.


It is difficult to say how long a Heffalump lives. However, at a certain age, they grow to a truly impressive size and maturity. Sarranga call them "Ancient Heffalumps".


Heffalumps are herd animals. They have families and they keep very close to each other. They have a well-developed intellect and a high degree of empathy towards their kin. Master Physalis described in great detail how the herd takes care of the elderly. Younger individuals bring them food, help them get up on their feet after sleeping, and accompany them to the watering hole. Physalis was touched by a scene he witnessed: Heffalumps surrounded the body of a relative who had died of old age and mourned for an hour. These creatures have an incredible memory: they remember everyone who has ever shown aggression towards the herd. Normally peaceful, majestic, and slow, Heffalumps are completely transformed when someone attempts to take the life of a kin. Their eyes become bloodshot and the whole herd pounces on the enemy, and none of them will rest until the enemy is trampled to death. This information will likely be useful to you if the game's protagonist finds himself in a place where Heffalump are during your campaign walkthrough.

This concludes the story about the most colorful representatives of the fauna of the Uncharted Continent. Thank you for your time, see you soon!

Yours, the Door 407 dev team

Bug Fixes:
- Single destroy building button behavior restored.
- Small fixes.

Good Lords, Fair Ladies!

Tonight we're talking about bugs. Not about the ones you may accidentally notice and report, but about the ones that are in the game for a good reason. Namely, about extremely rare insects that you can find in Diplomacy is Not an Option, if the protagonist is "lucky" to pay them a visit during your campaign walkthrough.

You can judge the size of these amazing representatives of the Coleoptera by the picture above. We are not entomologists, just humble game developers, but we'll try to tell you everything we know about these wonderful creatures. At this point, six species of Giant Bugs are known. However, there is a hypothesis that there is only one species, and the difference in appearance is explained by polymorphism. Therefore, let's take a closer look at them.

1) Bug larva. Fairly harmless if not disturbed.

2) Bugs. The most common form of giant insects on the mysterious continent. You can usually find packs of them near nests.

3) Poisonous Bug. An extremely dangerous form of a giant insect. It has a special reservoir on its back that contains acid from its venom glands. When its life is in danger, the Poisonous Bug can splash out a significant portion of the accumulated caustic substance on its enemies.

4) "Runner" Bug. Notable for its very fast movement. Dealing with one of these will not be a problem, but when there are many of them, they are quite capable of spreading panic among a group of unfortunate scouts.

5) "Gargantua" Bug. It has an incredibly tough chitinous shell and impressive size. If you engage Gargantua, rest assured the fight will be long and grueling.

6) Bug Queen. The highest form of giant bug. As dangerous as it is gracious. An extremely aggressive insect, taking the approach of any stranger to its nest for an attack.

Bugs from the mysterious continent live in the cold highlands. Rumors are some people honor giant insects as sacred animals. There are some signs of a connection between the Sarranga tribe and the Giant Bugs...

That's all we wanted to share today. Next time, we'll continue to talk about the wildlife of the uncharted continent. Thank you for being with us! See you next time.

Yours, the Door 407 dev team

Features

• Sandbox mode is redesigned. Cheat codes and Enemy Spawning Tool added. Significantly improved UI. Attacking wave presets and map selection filters added;
  
• New "Ultimate Alchemy" technology to discover in the Research tree. Unlocks access to building the Alchemical Transgressor. Also required for "Soul Steal" research;
  
• New building: "Alchemical Transgressor". It allows you to produce soul crystals. No more than one Transgressor is available for construction in your settlement at a time. It may be built in a specific location on the map with the shimmering blue cracks on the ground;
  
• The new "Under Pressure" map layout, the Endless Mode version of high difficulty. You will fight the combined forces of the Undead, the Royal Army, and the Rebels on a large map;
  
• Added the ability to repeat the construction of a selected building using 'Ctrl+C' hotkey.
  

General

• The width and density of your troops' formation from now on can be changed;
  
• New animals added to the "Rusted wastelands" surrounding;
  
• Wood, food, stone, and iron that are scattered on the map by Undead got a new look (carts have been replaced with carefully stacked piles of resources);
  
• Additional victory condition for the "Children of the Revolution" mission from the campaign preview: Scott the Bloody must not die.
  

Improvements

• Ranged troops don't shoot cliffs and rocks when enemies are hiding behind them;
  
• Improved enemies' collision. Enemies with low movement speed no longer block the way for faster enemies from the attacking wave (for example, enemy infantry can walk through catapults that took up a firing line);
  
• Fixed the enemies’ behavior: now they are less likely to be distracted by lone melee troops. Instead of engaging in battle, they continue moving towards the Townhall. As a consequence, it is now more difficult to hold off an attacking wave with dispersed forces;
  
• Enemies no longer jostle each other in their camps. (Although it did look funny);
  
• Added visual effects of projectiles hitting the water;
  
• Added a notification in the center of the screen informing you that the Townhall upgrade is complete;
  
• Citizens now starve to death throughout the day, rather than a short time after the starvation has begun;
  
• Skipping cutscenes requires holding "Esc" (rather than single-press);
  
• HDR is always enabled when Anti-aliasing is enabled;
  
• To destroy a constructed building, you should hold the appropriate button (a single press is not enough);
  
• Some SFX improvements and fixes (e.g. attack notifications in the on-screen visible area of the map are disabled even when the camera is zoomed out);
  
• Multiple UI and UX fixes and improvements;
  
• Multiple visual improvements.
  

Balance

• ‘Power of Darkness I’ research:
  
  1. Price: 250 wood → 10 gold;
     
  2. Time: 90 sec → 120 sec;
     
• ‘Power of Darkness II’ research:
  
  1. Price: 100 stone → 20 gold;
     
  2. Time: 120 → 150 sec;
     
• ‘Healing magic of nature’ research:
  
  1. Price: 200 wood → 150 stone;
     
• ‘Wide astral channel’ research:
  
  1. Price: 40 iron → 60 iron;
     
  2. Time: 150 sec → 90 sec;
     
• ‘Soul Steal’ research:
  
  1. Can only be done after the ‘Higher Alchemy’ research is complete;
     
  2. Enemy cavalry units killed in a battle don’t drop soul crystals anymore (except for Scotts the Bloody);
     
  3. Price: 6 gold → 10 gold;
     
• ‘Free dinners’ research:
  
  1. Food consumption reduction in the area affected by Tavern: -15% → -10%;
     
  2. Price: 6 gold → 10 gold;
     
• Tavern:
  
  1. Reduces food consumption in affected areas: -15% → -10%;
     
• House I:
  
  1. Can accommodate: up to 6 → up to 5 citizens;
     
  2. Price: 25 wood → 20 wood;
     
• House II:
  
  1. Can accommodate: up to 12 → up to 8 citizens;
     
  2. Price: 30 wood + 14 stone → 25 wood + 10 stone;
     
• House III:
  
  1. Can accommodate: up to 18 → up to 12 citizens;
     
  2. Price: 45 wood + 34 stone + 4 iron → 35 wood + 25 stone + 5 iron;
     
• City Fountain I:
  
  1. Buildings’ capacity in affected areas: +2 → +1 citizens;
     
• City Fountain II:
  
  1. Buildings’ capacity in affected areas: +4 → +2 citizens;
     
• Farm I:
  
  1. Production speed: 2 food in 20 sec → 2 food in 25 sec;
     
  2. Price: 40 wood + 12 stone + 4 iron → 35 wood + 10 stone + 3 iron;
     
• Farm II:
  
  1. Production speed: 2 food in 16 sec → 2 food in 23 sec;
     
  2. Price: 60 wood + 26 stone + 12 iron → 50 wood + 20 stone + 8 iron;
     
• Engineers Guild I:
  
  1. Price: 70 wood + 40 stone + 15 iron → 70 wood + 20 stone + 10 iron;
     
• Stables I:
  
  1. Price: 200 wood + 30 stone → 120 wood + 25 stone;
     
• Townhall III:
  
  1. Price: 500 wood + 350 stone + 80 iron → 600 wood + 450 stone + 100 iron;
     
• Granary I:
  
  1. Price: 18 wood + 4 stone → 22 wood;
     
• Catapult:
  
  1. Accuracy: low → medium;
     
  2. Increased damage at the periphery of the damage zone;
     
• Healer:
  
  1. Abilities’ range: 9 cells → 8 cells.