My Lords, My Ladies
Today we proudly present the big October update for Diplomacy is Not an Option. Without further ado, let's explore some of its key features.
One more themed section has arrived in challenge mode, dedicated to battles against a new faction. Halloween is approaching, so we thought the time's right to introduce you to our Undeads. We're talking not just about zombies or horses risen from their graves, but about a far more dangerous enemy.
Meet:
- Drake of doom.
- Dreadful ghoul
- Shepherd of horrors
- Machine o'flesh
The Undeads' roster presented in the update is incomplete, after leaving Early Access their troops will become a bit more diverse.
In both new challenges you will face Nightmare Generals as well. It's a mini-boss of some sort (that's right, there will be some bigger bosses someday) - armored, can hit multiple enemies at once, regenerates health and dodges strikes. In other words, it won't let Diplomacy is Not an Option veterans get bored.
We've promised a long time ago that mission objectives are going to be different from each other in the future. In the "Kill it before it's too late!" challenge there's no need to wait for the main enemy forces to arrive. All you have to do to win is to kill all the Nightmare Generals on the map. We've even delicately marked them on the mini-map. However, given the General's characteristics, it still won't be an easy task.
In a recent announcement we told you about changed explosions. Just in case, let's say again exactly what has changed. Previously when Meteorite or Catapult and Trebuchet projectiles hit, the damage was evenly distributed between enemies, with the October update everything in our game will explode in a more realistic way. Each explosion has its own epicenter, and the farther away from it, the lower the receive damage. Enemies are still being thrown into the air by blast waves, so stay vigilant. The chance of getting an almost undamaged enemy behind your line of defense has increased.
Also, if you remember, there was a post about UX metamorphosis. We'll duplicate it in this article as well. By popular demand, in Diplomacy is Not an Option we added... some options to display:
- attack range of all ranged units, war machines and Trebuchet
- player and enemy troops, as well as civilians that cannot be seen behind obstacles.
Some players have complained about the behavior of war machines. Well, good news: we finalized the logic of the parabolic trajectory attacks. As a result, Trebuchets and Catapults learn to hit targets more cheerfully. Improvements have also been made to Ballista. Before the October update it often happened that while attacking the enemy, Ballista hit obstacles standing between it and targets. From now on Ballista will shoot at enemies only if they are in the path of its projectile, taking into account both: the altitude difference and the presence of obstacles.
Since we are talking about war machines, it is worth to mention that from now on they hot their own type of armor. We have a tradition to call a spade a spade. Therefore, the new type of armor was named "War machine". As for its attributes, you can try for yourself already today.
Axe warrior hasn't escaped the enhancements too. Now he has a new active skill, temporarily accelerating him and giving him a chance to dodge an enemy's strike. As a consequence, another research has been added to unlock the skill.
We continue the visual polishing of Diplomacy is Not an Option. With the October update the game got:
- Redesigned icons
- New cursors
- Arrow and projectile trails
Also, your troops automatically turn to face the specified direction when they reach the endpoint of their route.
A minor detail, but pleasant, you must agree.
To conclude our story, we want to say a few words about the balance. In response to your feedback and suggestions, we increased the airship's capacity, removed gold from the cost of Horseman and Mounted Archer, increased the cost of the Trebuchet. Additionally, to avoid provoking the Player to use the "human shield" tactics, which we consider inhuman even for a game with a potentially colossal number of deaths per second, now attacked buildings cannot be repaired. Made a lot of other changes, but we will not describe them in detail here. Hopefully, we are moving in the right direction in terms of balance. Don't hesitate to share your opinion with us.
This concludes our presentation of the October update. Thank you for being with us. Thank you so much for your support. Traditionally, the full list of changes is attached below.
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Update 0.9.67Features
- Five new enemy types from the Undead faction: Drake of doom, Dreadful ghoul, Shepherd of horrors, Machine o'flesh and Nightmare General;
- New section for the challenge mode about fighting the Undead faction that contains 2 missions;
- Added the ability to see enemy soldiers, your troops and civilians through obstacles (you can turn on this option in Settings, by default it's disabled);
- Added the option to display attack range for ranged troops, war machines and Trebuchet (If the effect distracts you, it can be turned off in Settings, by default it's enabled);
- Explosions in the game now have epicenters. The closer to the epicenter, the higher the damage. Accordingly, all damage values associated with explosions have been changed. In-game descriptions contain the damage value at the epicenter of the explosion;
- New research that unlocks the active skill "I am the blue hedgehog!" for Axe Warrior. This ability temporarily increases movement speed and gives him a chance to dodge an enemy strike.
General
- In the collision logic appeared the effect of enemy onslaught. When dealing with crowds of enemies, Player's troops will be gradually pushed back;
- Troops, citizens and enemies thrown into the air by explosion from now on can: 1) Receive damage from other explosions 2) Restore health via Mass Healing spell (the second does not apply to enemies);
- War machines now have a separate armor type;
- All the enemies from the Undead faction, except Machine o'flesh, have their own attack type: "Undead Weapon";
- Consecutively clicking on the "Some of your workers can't reach the building" icon on the building selection panel focuses the camera on each worker from the building who encounters this problem;
- While enemies are attacking a building, it cannot be repaired;
- Increased game performance.
Improvements
- Ballistics in the game became more realistic. We've improved the calculation of the parabolic trajectories. In addition, Ballista takes into account the presence of obstacles standing in the way between it and targets before opening fire. (Ballista will no longer shoot at mountains or other objects in an attempt to hit the enemy);
- When reaching the end point of their route, Troops will automatically stand facing the specified direction;
- After executing a "Move out" order, all troops who left the fortifications are automatically added to the current selection;
- When a friendly target is attacked nearby, units 'Holding position' will join the fight;
- When choosing the target for Catapults and Trebuchettes ("Attack Point" order), their kill zones are displayed;
- Added new cursors identifying possibility/impossibility to attack a target;
- Added color indication to parameter changes of troops and buildings. If for some reason the parameter deteriorates, it is highlighted in red, if it improves - in green;
- Added the option to change the fog of war refresh rate in Settings. You can always lower the rate to increase the game performance;
- A number of visual improvements. This includes adding traces for arrows and projectiles, some 3d-models refined;
- Some SFX improvements and additions;
- Numerous UI improvements. In particular, hints have been added to evaluate enemy properties in the mission selection menu.
Balance
- Zeppelin's capacity has been increased (400 units instead of 300);
- Astral Ray (especially when upgraded) deals much more damage to enemies with the "Hardy" passive skill (those that can't be thrown in the air by an explosion). In addition, Ray's kill zone has been expanded. Both of these innovations significantly increase the effectiveness of the spell;
- Stone and iron amount has been reduced for all maps (to counterbalance the opportunity to extract more resources by upgrading mines);
- In the missions with lack of resources at the start, at least one stone deposit will always appear near the Townhall;
- Difficulty slightly increased for "The return of lunatic peasants" and "Royal army strikes back" challenges. Difficulty slightly reduced for "The day of lunatic peasants";
- Reduced the cost of Horseman and Mounted Archer (their training does not require gold anymore). Also, their health slightly lowered;
- Trebuchet cost increased (Among other things, you need 2 gold to produce it instead of 1);
- Increased training time for Mounted Knight;
- Health lowered for Hammerguy and Royal ram. Rebel Catapult's and Royal Siege Machine's health increased;
- "Berserk" skill is rebalanced;
- "Keep tight" skill now protects against cavalry attacking bonus;
- From now on Fishermen produce food faster.
Bug Fixes
- When several projectiles or explosions hit the target at the same time, their damage is added up (there were cases when only one of the hits was counted);
- Trebuchets (and other troops) are no longer going to the point where they recently killed an enemy. From now on it is not necessary to build fences for out-of-control war machines);
- Incorrect work of the attacking wave indicator, preventing mission completion (the situation when the attacking wave is repulsed, but the victory over it is not counted);
- Bug that prevented one of the mission objectives from completion when multiple objectives are completed simultaneously;
- Research that expands the kill zone of Catapults and Trebuchets now work as intended;
- A bug that caused workers to "stuck" at certain points on the map;
- Walking corpses now always attack the Townhall after being resurrected;
- The Fountain's effect no longer affects the Townhall and House if they are out of range of the Fountain;
- Enemies no longer die standing;
- Bug with incorrect switching of MSAA and FXAA settings. Incorrect operation of the "cancel" button in Settings (sometimes some selected settings were saved instead of being reset);
- Worker employment priority loads correctly after save;
- Rebel catapults can now execute the "Attack Point" order while being placed on defensive structures;
- Some crash cases fixed;
- Multiple localization fixes.
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Yours, Door 407 team.
