Diplomacy is Not an Option News

Greetings. Today is the day to talk about the further development of Diplomacy is Not an Option.

In the recent announcement we've mentioned the 'Single wave' mode. In this mode, you will have to survive a single, but extremely powerful strike. As we continue to work on this mode, we decided to add the Unique Missions section to the game. Over time, it will include not only maps for the Single Wave mode, but much more. We want to diversify mission objectives and victory conditions to compensate for the short duration of the campaign, as we understand that for some players it is important to win. (And one can't win in Endless mode). As for Campaign itself, let us remind you that it will be fully available once the game leaves Early Access. We will not be adding story missions piecemeal. We won't be adding story missions piecemeal to keep the narration intact.

In the post that came before the last announcement we promised you a photo mode. Many of you have asked for this feature, so it'll definitely be added to Diplomacy is Not an Option soon. The photo mode completely removes all the UI elements, so that nothing will distract you from picturesque views on screenshots.

We continue to work on the visibility of what is happening on the screen to make life easier for newcomers and anyone who has not yet figured out the game basics. The Tutorial will soon include more steps; also we will create a special panel with detailed economic statistics.

Increasing performance is always one of our main goals. We expect the upcoming improvement of the crowd's motion processing to make the frame rate slightly higher.

We've received a significant number of complaints about difficulties and broken balance in the late game. For example, when all the iron and stone is mined, resource management becomes a frustrating task. This problem will be solved; you are not going to do any more inappropriate micromanagement with Market anymore. Both, Market and University are now being revised. Sooner or later we will provide you with some new branches of improvements. Many have noted the ability to hire a large number of Trebuchetes as a balance failure. Yet we came up with a solution: it will soon require more than 1 of your citizens to produce any siege machine, greatly limiting the number of troops in the late game.

The "Shift" key will finally be implemented in queued commands control, as it is in many of our favorite strategy games. Based on your feedback, we are also fixing input issues (both, keyboard, and mouse).

For a dessert, a purely visual improvement: the appearance of mountains. Right now our team is remodeling them, so that the terrain on the map becomes more diverse and interesting.

That's not all we are currently working on, and it's unlikely that all the described features will be there in the nearest update. However, since we're getting requests about the roadmap, we felt it right to share with you what we're up to. Thank you very much for your attention.

- Stuck (spinning around) workers fixed
- Two major crashes fixed

Diplomacy is Not an Option was released in Early Access on February 9th. Before going on a short vacation a month ago, we've been actively supporting the game, releasing hotfixes and patches. Lately we shared our plans for the future. As for today, we want to reveal the details about what changed in Diplomacy is Not an Option with the latest update. Besides fixing bugs and solving a lot of crash cases, we've prepared tons of features and improvements. But first things first.

To begin with, an exceptional visual metamorphosis happened to the game. It became possible thanks to the new render core implementation (the technology known as Universal Render Pipeline). Instead of talking about the wonders of modern graphics processing, we'll show you how this technical solution affects the perception of what is happening on the screen.
From now on the grass is greener and the light is brighter (metaphorically), or, to put it directly, the grass grows thicker and seems much prettier. The light actually has not changed, but we made the shadows more believable. Lakes and rivers shine in new colours. The sharpness of image increased by an order of magnitude, which is especially noticeable when camera zooms in on objects on the map, no matter buildings or people. Naturally, there may be legitimate concerns: whether all this pleasant, yet redundant glamour affects the performance. The answer is yes. The performance of the game is increased. Of course we added antialiasing, rendering, and other graphical options to the settings menu. So those, for example, who will be distracted by our beautiful updated grass, can turn it off. With that, let's move on to the second package of changes related with endless mode.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We created four new endless mode versions. The first one was designed according to a lot of user requests. It's called 'Troublesome valley', and it is a bit harder than 'Born to chill' but easier than 'Labyrinth of Pain'. There is more. Previously, versions of Endless Mode differed from each other solely by their difficulty. You always fought against rebellious peasants, and the key factors were the amount of resources and, obviously, the number of enemies. In the May update we offer you two endless mode versions in which you play against royal forces and another one with zombies as your main enemy. We also experimented a little with landscapes. In 'Of lakes and hulks', besides common troubles, players will have to deal with the problem of rugged terrain. In addition to a brief description, users will see an infographic that gives an impression of the size of the procedurally generated map and of enemy types they are to fight. The personal record also shows up, indicating how many days the player managed to survive in a particular endless mode version. For certain, this will raise your sporting interest.


There is also a whole list of other improvements. In this article, we dwell only on the main ones, focusing on the changes, which fans of 'Diplomacy is Not an Option' especially asked for. It happened occasionally that players could not realize which workers were attached to the selected building. From now on, this problem is a matter of the past. After selecting a building, all the workers assigned to it will be highlighted.

We took a responsible approach to the burdens of newcomers to the genre as well. To help them get acclimated, we've provided the loading screen with useful tips on basic mechanics.

We also simplified economic planning by adding information on the amount of production and consumption for each type of resource.


Requests from more experienced players were also not left unheeded. Previously, you had to spend a lot of time placing troops on defensive structures. With the May update, you'll be able to deploy squads on multiple walls at once with a single mouse click.

In addition, you can place Rebel catapults under your control on Towers. We also improved Tavern and Workshop: from now on the strength of their effects depends on the number of workers assigned to them.
Changes also affected troop management: "Hold" order now works as a mode that can be toggled on or off. This innovation significantly eases the relocation of forces from one front to another, and also allows you to temporarily "forget" about the problems in this or that section of your lines of defense. In case you did miss enemy units, a notification would appear for each enemy strike. Pressing Enter will automatically focus camera on the location of the attack.

This concludes the story of the May update. After all, we want to say that we keep on supporting and refining the game. Adjusting the balance, improving the interface, polishing the visual part, so the big update after the team vacation is just the first step. There is a lot more to be made before "Diplomacy is Not an Option" leaves Early Access.

Yours, dev team.

Version 0.9.39 patch note:

[expand]
[h3]Features[/h3]

• Major graphics and performance improvements due to the new render core implementation
  
• New graphics settings to change (SSAO, Anti-aliasing, fidelityfx super resolution, image sharpening - render scale setting)
  
• 4 new endless mode versions: now you can choose to fight peasants, royal army, zombies and lake hulks in the endless modes. Various difficulty layouts has been added.
  
• Workers highlighting added (you can see all the workers attached to the selected building)
  
• Improved troop deployment: you'll be able to place soldiers on multiple walls at once with a single mouse click
  
• 'Loading screen' tips added
  
• Improved interface: you can tell from info-graphics about the attributes of endless mode versions; personal record shows up.
  

[h3]General[/h3]

• Detailed resource extraction statistics added
  
• From now on rebel catapults can be placed on Towers
  
• From now on Tavern and Workshop work as intended to. In particular: their effects depend on number of workers; Workshop speeds up foresters)
  
• Camera can be quickly focused on the location of the attack by clicking on the poped-up notification or by pressing [Enter] hotkey
  
• Major group control improvement
  
• Hold order works as a mode (can be toggled on/off)
  

[h3]Improvements[/h3]

• 'Close' option added to the Tutorial pop-up screen
  
• Improved map generation (no more isolated isles, no more overlaying for different resource extraction points)
  
• Orientate camera to the North works more smoothly and rotates faster. Also, a hotkey [\] has been added for this action.
  
• UX improvements (double-click, cursor)
  
• Minor UI fixes
  
• Visual improvements
  
• Sound system improvements
  
• Selection system improvements
  
• Hotkey sytem improvements (Alt can be reassigned; right Ctrl, Shift, Alt work just fine)
  
• Localization improvements
  
• Order response improvements
  
• Balance improvements (E.G. Some of 2nd and 3rd tier buildings cost increased; farms and lumbermill productivity reduced; Between a rock and a hard place medium difficulty decreased; Feat of the resistance's late game became harder)
  
• From now on, training troops management is available via the mouse button holding
  

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Impossible to win a mission bug (false wave counter)
  
• Negative wave timer bug
  
• 70% on loading screen freeze
  
• Inability to deploy troops on towers (especially wooden ones)
  
• Incorrect work of 'Some of your workers can't reach the building' indicator
  
• Cursor stuck when auto-placing walls (with the whole inability to build as a consequence)
  
• Workers aren't doing a thing after being cured from disease (didn't become free workers without a reason)
  
• After-match stats screen bug in endless modes (some waves didn't count before the fix)
  
• Incorrect 'Esc' key work on the Research screen
  
• No iron in 'Children of the revolution' and 'Between a rock and a hard place' missions
  
• Game crashes when building in certain spots
  
• Unexpected hunger amongst newcomers to the settlement bug
  
• Workers fear the enemy in a proper way (Unseen enemies don't frighten them anymore)
  
• The disappearance of arrow that reduces the number of buildings/ troops in selection
  
• Game freezes when saving to an existent slot
  
• Multiple crash fixes
  
• Indication system bugs (like false appearance of “No builders nearby”)
  
• Workers slow down after loading a game
  
• Construction menu glitch (spontaneous reset to the previous menu state)
  
• Sick people bug: (when they stand still instead of going to Hospital)
  

[/expand]

Greetings, friends. Today we'll tell you about the improvements of Diplomacy is Not an Option that we are currently working on. Some of them will be presented in the very next update which should arrive within a month at max. So, apart from fixed bugs and solved crash cases, you're going to get:

- New endless mode layouts, with which we hope to bring some diversity to the gameplay
- A brand-new "single wave" mode, designed to help you experiment with defensive tactics
- New render core implementation to improve the game's performance
- Improved troop deployment: you'll be able to place soldiers to multiple walls at once with a single mouse click
- 'Hold' order will work as a mode that can be switched on or off
- Indication system will warn player about enemy attacks, the camera can be quickly focused on the location of the attack
- Amount of resources extracted during the day will be displayed for players to judge the efficiency of their economics
- Workers will be highlighted to show their belonging to the selected building
- Tips on the loading screen to help newcomers to get the hang of the core mechanics
- The effect of the Tavern and the Workshop buffs will depend on the number of their workers
- Major UI improvements

There is more to come. As usual, each update will be published alongside with a detailed patchnote. See you soon!

Come one, come all! Diplomacy is Not an Option has made it to the Top 20 games of February on Steam! It came as some surprise for us, although we are more than happy that our desire to make a true strategy game is already paying off at the EA stage.
This achievement would be impossible to unlock without your support, without your ideas, without your positive feedback on the Steam page. We are deeply grateful to all of our fans and to the community. Thank you so much for being with us!
We won't rest on our laurels. Together we can make Diplomacy is Not an Option even better. Ladies and gentlemen, after a short and emotionally stressful vacation, the Door 407 team is back on track. The development continues.