Good Lords and Fair Ladies!
Meet the December Update! Allow us to tell you about it in detail immediately, without further ado.
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Improved Sandbox
The Sandbox mode was designed as a field for experiments. This is where you define the conditions and enemies for battle to come. This is where experienced players can test various strategies. Playing the Sandbox mode is also the easiest way for newcomers to master the basic mechanics. And don't forget about the main goal of any DiNaO mode - to entertain players. That being said, it is clear that setting up the game session should be as quick and as easy as possible.
With the December Update, the Sandbox's functionality is expanded. We wanted to achieve several objectives at once. Firstly, to provide you the opportunity to customize the map settings more finely. Secondly, to give you more tools to take your experiments in different directions. Finally, it was important for us to make the Sandbox mode simpler, more illustrative, and a bit more entertaining. And here's what we came up with.
In the game session setup window, the filters appeared to help you sort map layouts by size, by faction you are fighting against, as well as by enemy density. In other words, you won't have to spend much time searching for the map with the desired conditions in the list.
We added a brand new 'Cheats' tab.
The features revealed in it have been available only to the developers so far. From now on you can get your hands on cheats too! By adjusting the offered options, you will be able to:
- Construct buildings and hire troops immediately
- Construct buildings and hire troops for free (in the case of troops, you won't have to pay for training, although the person who must become a warrior is still required).
- Clear Fog of War
- Remove the requirements for building construction. Build whatever you want whenever you want, as long as you have resources for it.
- Cast spells for free
- Manually add any number of resources
- Play without hunger or disease
- Make research of any level complete right at the start of the game session.
All of the above allow you to save time on modeling the desired game situation. Cheats also provide players with a level of freedom that you just expect, when it comes to Sandbox modes in general.
Innovations came to the attacking wave box. To speed up the setting up process, we added presets. Each preset is called after the enemy faction that you're fighting against. There are several presets for the same faction that differ from each other by the number of enemies in the attacking wave. After selecting a preset, you can further edit the attacking wave: add any enemy (even one not belonging to the faction from the preset), as well as remove or reduce the number of enemies already declared in the wave.
Another important tool has appeared in Sandbox Mode. With its help, you can spawn enemies right on the map, wherever you want. Just select the icon of any enemy and the place where you want it to appear. Then click your mouse and... voila. If you hold down LMB, enemies will appear continuously, following the cursor. And if you press "Shift" in addition, the number of enemies spawning on the mouse click increases, multiplied by a set coefficient. You can control the behavior of the enemies that appear this way. It is up to you whether they will attack the Townhall or stand still awaiting their fate.
We hope that with the new features, you'll be able to do whatever you just might want to do in the Sandbox Mode. Explore how our game is made, experiment with battle tactics, and have fun. In a word, create.
Renewed Market
In Diplomacy is Not an Option, the market plays an important role, as trading resources allows you to manage the economic balance of the settlement. Until now, the Market was not very convenient. Some players complained about forgetting about the order completion and the monotony of trading in general.
The December Update brought changes to solve these problems and make resource exchange more convenient.
We added animation to the Market box. From now on you can track the path of a trade Zeppelin. You don't even have to open the Market to do this: when there is an active order, an additional indication is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
We also brought you two additional options to the Market:
- To open the Market box when there are not enough resources for trading.
- To open the Market box when an order is completed.
With one or both of these options on, the Market box opens automatically, and the game is paused, so it is impossible to forget that you finally got needed resources or to miss that an order placed on repeat cannot be fulfilled.
New building. The Alchemical Transgressor
The Alchemical Transgressor is a building where you can produce soul crystals, the resource needed to cast spells in our game. Until now you could get crystals only for killing certain types of enemies or for destroying enemy camps. Yet still there was a chance to get none. To ensure that the abundance of soul crystals, which are usually quite rare to find, doesn't break the game balance, we developed the following solutions:
- Only one Alchemical Transgressor can operate at a time. To build a second one (for example, in a new location) you'll have to destroy the first one.
- We've expanded the research tree (again), adding the "Ultimate Alchemy" required to unlock an Alchemical Transgressor.
- Producing a single soul crystal is a rather costly and time-consuming process. At the current balance, it takes 4 iron and 40 secs to create one.
- The Transgressor can be built at a specific location, that looks like shimmering blue cracks on the map. There are very few such places on the map, so it'll take time to find one.
All these limitations make the Alchemical Transgressor a worthwhile investment at the late game. After all, when the map is cleared of enemies, there may well be a shortage of soul crystals.
New Endless Mode map layout
Meet "Under pressure". A new version of the Endless Mode with a large map layout! You've been asking us for one for a long time. We heard you and responded, in a way... Yes, the map is large, but it'll hardly please everyone because of the high difficulty.
You'll be surrounded by enemies belonging to the Undead, the Royal Army, and the Rebel factions. You'll be surrounded. So the expansion of your settlement can only come with a cost.
The interval between attacking waves is short, there is almost no time for troop relocation and defense recovery. Opponents of all factions will attack you from different sides. In addition, you won't always be warned about the upcoming attacking wave.
Adjusting formations
A nice addition to the improvements listed above: the ability to change the width and density of the battle formation of troops united in a group. This is just the first step towards delivering more options. This feature will get an improvement in one of the future updates.
A few words in conclusion
That's it for today. The full list of the December Update's changes is under the cut as usual. Thank you for your time, see you soon!
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Update 0.9.107Features
- 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:
- Price: 250 wood → 10 gold;
- Time: 90 sec → 120 sec;
- ‘Power of Darkness II’ research:
- Price: 100 stone → 20 gold;
- Time: 120 → 150 sec;
- ‘Healing magic of nature’ research:
- Price: 200 wood → 150 stone;
- ‘Wide astral channel’ research:
- Price: 40 iron → 60 iron;
- Time: 150 sec → 90 sec;
- ‘Soul Steal’ research:
- Can only be done after the ‘Higher Alchemy’ research is complete;
- Enemy cavalry units killed in a battle don’t drop soul crystals anymore (except for Scotts the Bloody);
- Price: 6 gold → 10 gold;
- ‘Free dinners’ research:
- Food consumption reduction in the area affected by Tavern: -15% → -10%;
- Price: 6 gold → 10 gold;
- Tavern:
- Reduces food consumption in affected areas: -15% → -10%;
- House I:
- Can accommodate: up to 6 → up to 5 citizens;
- Price: 25 wood → 20 wood;
- House II:
- Can accommodate: up to 12 → up to 8 citizens;
- Price: 30 wood + 14 stone → 25 wood + 10 stone;
- House III:
- Can accommodate: up to 18 → up to 12 citizens;
- Price: 45 wood + 34 stone + 4 iron → 35 wood + 25 stone + 5 iron;
- City Fountain I:
- Buildings’ capacity in affected areas: +2 → +1 citizens;
- City Fountain II:
- Buildings’ capacity in affected areas: +4 → +2 citizens;
- Farm I:
- Production speed: 2 food in 20 sec → 2 food in 25 sec;
- Price: 40 wood + 12 stone + 4 iron → 35 wood + 10 stone + 3 iron;
- Farm II:
- Production speed: 2 food in 16 sec → 2 food in 23 sec;
- Price: 60 wood + 26 stone + 12 iron → 50 wood + 20 stone + 8 iron;
- Engineers Guild I:
- Price: 70 wood + 40 stone + 15 iron → 70 wood + 20 stone + 10 iron;
- Stables I:
- Price: 200 wood + 30 stone → 120 wood + 25 stone;
- Townhall III:
- Price: 500 wood + 350 stone + 80 iron + 10 gold → 600 wood + 450 stone + 100 iron + 35 gold;
- Granary I:
- Price: 18 wood + 4 stone → 22 wood;
- Catapult:
- Accuracy: low → medium;
- Increased damage at the periphery of the damage zone;
- Healer:
- Abilities’ range: 9 cells → 8 cells.
Bug Fixes
- Pressing Spacebar while loading does not interrupt the loading of the save;
- The increased vision range of troops placed on a fortification is not kept after they are removed from the fortification;
- Fixed incorrect calculation of the soul crystal numbers dropped by enemies after completing the "Soul steal" research. (Crystals will now drop significantly less, as intended);
- No more problems with repositioning ranged troops placed on the Barracks' roof when other troops are training there;
- Troops thrown up and killed by an explosion can no longer collect resources on the map;
- The ‘Last Stand’ ability of swordsmen now kills them even if they are thrown into the air by an explosion while the ability is active;
- A bug with the number of corpses scattered around the map could decrease after loading a save. (Was relevant for "They are Legion" and "Served up for dead");
- A rare bug with workers could exit a building into an enclosed area without being able to return to their duties;
- A rare bug where an indicator light could flicker in the center of the screen;
- Multiple crash case fixes;
- Multiple localization fixes.
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Yours, the Door 407 team
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.
