New playtest coming soon.

[h3]Hey,

More progress has been made in the last 4 months. The new playtest and demo are getting closer.[/h3]

Only units with exploration speed can now be sent to an unexplored province. For now, that is the scout squad.
Once the scouts reach the new territory they go into stealth mode. Their walk speed is greatly reduced.
A multi-threaded algorithm gets the best exploration points on the province which are currently not explored.
Each squad in the scouting formation gets one of the exploration positions and starts sneaking towards it.
Once a scout squad reaches its assigned exploration position, the exploration % increases.
If no valid exploration points are found, the exploration is concluded and the province is fully revealed.
The exploration can be more time-consuming with different terrain, a lot of forest etc.
Sending more scouts will speed up the exploration but will make detection more likely.
Once the province has been fully explored, a message is generated, a revealing sound is played and the player can send other units.
The send dialogue and the formation UI have been adjusted accordingly.
If multiple formations of scouts are sent to the same province they are automatically merged into one formation as it would be very ineffective and confusing for the player to have multiple scouting formations in the same province.
A message is sent to the player if the scouts have been detected and started fleeing.
If several players explore the same province, they might detect each other. The detector can keep scouting, the other scouts will flee.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Scout formations automatically flee when their stealth is broken during the exploration.
The bigger the formation of scouts, the higher the detection probability, as each scout has to make a successful stealth check every game tick.
Stealth units (like scouts) can now be detected by the buildings and stationed units depending on their perception attribute.
Each building and unit type now has a stealth and a perception attribute.
Added the new parameters exploration speed, stealth and perception to unit/building tooltips and made icons for them.
If a scout stands inside a forest, the stealth value is increased during stealth.

Added all animations and icons for the scout.
Added several research options for armour, daggers and the special ability back-stab.
Back-stab can only be executed from behind and is a guaranteed critical hit with up to 300% more damage.
Added a position requirement for special abilities to make sure e.g. a back-stab is only used when the enemy is attacked from behind.

Added all apprentice animations and icons.
Added a special arcane spell similar to the arcane missile for the apprentice as its standard spell.
Apprentices have a weak magic shield from the start, 4 units are in a formation.
Added Apprentice Fireball, Ice Sphere and Poison Missile upgrades (Epic) which can be researched depending on the magic realm books available.
Added the special ability Magic Protection (Rare) which buffs the unit with some protection against realm magics like fire, water etc.
The apprentice is the first unit using ranged spells, more units like this will be added over time.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The temples will get a random aura when spawning.
Fire and Nature temples have a chance to drop realm books when destroyed.
Arcane and Water temples will be added soon.

This is probably one of the most important features for this update as it helps to make tooltips smaller and gives the player a lot more information on buildings, units, spells, research etc. I took a lot of inspiration from Crusader Kings III, as I liked the tooltip system.

Better positioning of tooltips
Tooltip manager which can trigger a multitude of tooltips over another.
Tooltips will trigger with a configurable delay. (Gameplay settings)
Tooltips which will lock after a configurable amount of time. (Gameplay settings)
Tooltips slightly changing their frame when locked, also progress when the tooltip locks. (Gameplay settings)
Tooltips which can be locked via a configurable key press instead of time. (Gameplay settings)
Locked tooltips can be hovered over and trigger another tooltip.
Tooltip triggers via marked words or text.
Fading out below tooltips, when a hovering level of x is reached.
Most of the tooltips will show less info, but hovering over icons/words will reveal more details.
Rework and improvements of all tooltip types in terms of layout and readability.
A more reliable DPS calculation for tooltips including mods, critical hit chances etc.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The Empire UI supports navigation by double-clicking on an entry; the camera will jump to the position of the object.
This is especially useful for squads which are inside tents, which can't be easily selected via mouse.
Reworked Research Selection UI and added it to the Empire UI
Added wizard character UI to empire overview
Provinces, Buildings, Resources, Squads, and Formations are listed in the new menus giving the player a much better overview of their empire.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

To make sure the borders look good, I decided to go with decals.
Created a texture generator which generates all 64 possible hex borders as texture masks.
Added a decal to all provinces to show the border when necessary applying the mask depending on neighbors' owner.
Borders are updated for the provinces and all neighbours when the owner changes.
Improved the look of the selection decals.
Replaced the hex grid drawing with decals.

Squads/units can now be selected and a squad UI appears, which shows similar information as a squad tooltip.
The squad UI now has an additional button to disband the squad.
Disbanding will show a requester and tell the player how much of the resources they will get back when disbanding the unit. Currently 30%.

Added an epic research "Magitech Siege Mastery" to unlock the special ability "Spellstorm Bolt".
Once unlocked the ballista receives a StormboltUpgrade behavior.
The behavior is triggered every x seconds shooting a bolt causing an Arcane explosion anytime the bolt hits something, doing additional splash damage.
Added a ballista projectile and several icons for siege armour, damage, arcane bolts etc.

Added a legendary research "Volatile Siege Engine Alchemy" to unlock the special ability "Firestorm Finale".
The research needs a certain amount of fire realm books to get unlocked.
Once unlocked the ram receives an ExplodeOnDeath behavior.
The behaviour is triggered as soon as the hit points are below a certain threshold.
The explosion can trigger burn DoTs and start forest fires.
The explosion hits all enemy targets in a certain radius but spares allied units.

Added an epic research "Burst-Fire Mechanics" to unlock the special ability "Scatter Shot".
Once unlocked the catapult receives a ScatterShot behavior.
The behaviour is triggered every x seconds and shoots multiple stone fragments at a target within a specified radius.
The positions are calculated with a "Poisson Disk Sampling" algorithm to make sure they are evenly scattered.
Added an icon as well as 4 different stone fragment projectiles which are used randomly.

Added an epic research "Lethal Precision Mastery" to unlock the special ability "Precision Shot".
Once unlocked the archer receives a PrecisionShot behavior.
The behaviour is triggered every x seconds and increases the critical hit chance to 100% doing 200%-300% extra damage, depending on the currently researched bow.
Added an icon for the precision shot skill.

Added an epic research "Advanced Defensive Posturing" to unlock the special ability "Iron Stance".
Once unlocked the pikes receive an IronStance behavior.
The behaviour is triggered every x seconds increasing the melee and projectile protection for the shield by 300% lasting for y seconds.

The map was created in less than two days. However, adding and testing quests took a bit more time.
The new map features swamp, desert and ice biomes, which are currently achieved using mainly decals and specific props; this will change once more map tiles are added.
It has 144 provinces to conquer and can host up to 4 AI players, which are placed randomly.
Playtime for several hours.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The new AI is currently in development.
As the old design wasn't as complex and demanding as the new design is, I decided to work with a different approach.
I am using a framework called Fluid Hierarchical Task Network (HTN), which enables tree-like planning structures for complex decisions.
The old budget system has been adjusted to work with all the new resources.
I have also incorporated a fuzzy logic library to create linguistic variables for scoring certain decisions, e.g., which building to pick, which unit to train etc.
Budget system, HTN domains and decision scoring work well together, as the budget system constrains the AI to certain goals, the HTN makes the plan and the decision scoring leads to more interesting AI behaviour as the values are influenced by personality data definitions.

Reference

Added Faster Tree Chopping upgrade (Rare) which increases the wood chopping speed but decreases the tree yield.
Added Efficient Tree Chopping upgrade (Rare) which increases the tree yield but decreases wood chopping speed.
Both upgrades can be researched and are mutually exclusive.
When trees are chopped, tree decals are automatically removed.
When trees grow after planting, tree decals are automatically added depending on the density of the forest.
The navigation mesh is updated when a certain number of trees have been chopped or grown back.
Added a multi-threaded "Poisson Disc" sampling algorithm to plant trees for better tree distribution.

Added a vegetable garden (adds X amount of food per cycle) upgrade for large residential houses (Uncommon)
Added beauty upgrade to all residential houses (Epic)
Added population space upgrades to all residential houses. (Epic)
Added research options for all upgrades.

Additional training slots (Uncommon) upgrade is now available for Town Hall when researched.
Added a Town Hall Community guard upgrade (Epic) which increases the militia ratio for the hamlet, but reduces the hamlet's population space bonus.
Added a Town Hall Population Efficiency upgrade (Epic) which increases Hamlet's population space bonus but reduces the militia ratio.
Added additional training queue upgrade (Legendary).
Added research options for all upgrades.
The Town Hall can recruit scouts for exploration. No research is necessary.

Added Overflow trading upgrade (Legendary) which automatically sells harvested food (only at the province of the marketplace), which does not fit into the food storage.
Added Efficient Trading upgrade (Uncommon) increasing the gold income of the market
Trading and overflow trading income is shown in the gold resource tooltip.
Added research options for both upgrades.
Introduced a global resource market which controls the prices for all player marketplaces.
Selling and buying resources now adjust the buy and sell prices no matter if the AI or the player makes a transaction on the market.
Adjusting means buying increases prices, and selling decreases prices. There is a minimum and maximum price.
Selling and buying comes with a 30% tax. The tax can be reduced by research options.
Resource exchange rates are persisted when the game is saved.
Added persistent statistics of how much a player is buying and selling resources.
Added quest types for selling and buying resources.

Generates a small amount of research points.
Armor for all units can be repaired immediately by spending resources. Armour repairs cost ore and wood.
Upgrade Iron Anvil (Uncommon) - Armor repairs are 50% cheaper.
Upgrade Hotter Furnace (Rare) - Research points are increased by 50%.
Upgrade Magic Forge (Epic) - Add a fire aura damage effect to all melee units in the province. The effect wears off after a certain amount of time when leaving the province.
Each of the upgrades has to be researched first.

Generates a small amount of research points.
Increases the overall beauty of all buildings in a province. (Standard aura)
Upgrade Aura: Optimize Storage Space (Uncommon): Increases the amount of storage space for mills, food silos etc. decreasing the beauty of all affected buildings.
Upgrade Architecture Research (Rare): Increases the research points by a certain amount.
Upgrade Aura: Optimize Living Space (Epic): Increases the amount of population space, and decreases the beauty of all affected buildings slightly.
Upgrade Aura: Optimize Beauty (Legendary): Increase the beauty of all buildings of a province, reducing either storage or population space accordingly.
Added new icons for auras and upgrades.
Added a building category to aura data to filter special types of effects to certain building categories.

Static building auras can now also handle guarding squads.
Added Small Tavern upgrade (Common) which slightly improves the morale of all squads in the province.
Added Reinforced Walls upgrade (Uncommon) which adds decent armor to the building.
Added Deadly Spikes upgrade (Uncommon) which hits enemies attacking the building with melee weapons.
Added Magic Wards upgrade (Rare) which gives guarding units decent magic protection.
Added all research options and made new icons for all upgrades.

Generates a small amount of research points.
Added vegetable garden upgrade which generates food (in spring and summer, as soon as seasons are in).
Added greenhouse upgrade which generates food all year round.
Added library upgrades which increase the number of research points generated.
Added the corresponding research options.
The missing units for the monastery (Warrior Monk, Shaolin Monk etc.) will be added before the EA release.

Building auras can now also affect units/buildings inside an influence or sight radius of a building independent from the province the building is on.
Watch Towers have a physical defence aura, protecting all units in its sight range.
Add Watch Tower upgrade Reinforced Walls (Uncommon) - Adds armour plating to the tower.
Add Watch Tower upgrade Hawk's Gaze (Rare) - Increases the sight range of the upgraded tower
Add Watch Tower upgrade Warden's Bastion (Epic) - Increases the physical damage output for all units in the sight radius of the building.

Added Wind-Lance Extension upgrade (Rare) - Increases the range of the ballista arrows.
Added Arrow-Storm Winches upgrade (Epic) - Decreases the load time for ballista arrows.
Added Steel-clad Bulwark upgrade (Legendary) - Adds excellent armour plating.
Added research options for all the upgrades.

Added Expanded Archer Platform upgrade (Common) - Increases the amount of arrows shot from the tower.
Added Eldritch Range Expansion upgrade (Uncommon) - Increase the range of the arrow shot from the tower.
Added Ironbark Battlements upgrade (Epic) - Provides a decent armour plating for the building.
Added Fire/Ice/Poison Arrow upgrade (Epic) - Improves the projectile shot from the tower.
Added research options for all the upgrades.

Added "Power Experiments" upgrade - Converts research points to wizard's magic power.
Added "Extended Laboratory" upgrade - Increases the research point output.
Added corresponding research, buffs, behaviours and icons for new upgrades.

Previously the whole rectangle of tiles were blocked, this has now been optimized.
This was especially important for big rotated props (map editor) and buildings.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Reworked the UI to make space for more tabs.
Added headers to sort options properly.
Added the first gameplay options.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Improved the research selection algorithm as this is needed for certain building upgrades (blacksmith, architect etc.)
Added global probability table for research categories and subcategories.
Probabilities can change via building upgrades and additional research.
Research selection now works with probabilities for categories and subcategories.
Research options for building upgrades only appear if the building is available in the empire.
Added about 150 additional research options.
Renamed most of the old research options to fit the new design.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Add player messages for quest solved, quest solved with reward and quest failed.
Added a scroll view to the Quest UI, so that it can handle a large number of quests.
Quest UI: now shows the number of solved quests in one item, clicking on it will open the quest details UI with all solved quests.
Quest details UI: solved quests are filtered out, but can be viewed with an on/off toggle.
Added new quest types to introduce new game mechanics: Searching ruins, founding hamlets, population size, population happiness, province beauty and safety, exploration, picking up loot, realm books, temples/shrines - auras, troop morale, food production and more.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Bases are now called Provinces.
Provinces have a beauty ranking, depending on the "theme" of the province.
The following themes have been introduced: Hamlet (Roads), Desert, Swamp, Ice, Forest, Grassland, Ridge, Mountain, Mountain Path, Mountain Forest, Mountain Desert, Mountain Ice, Coast, Ocean. More might be added later.
The calculation of themes uses navigation data and height to identify, which theme the province has.
The nature calculation has changed; only 75% of the area needs to be covered with props to have 100% beauty.
Themes add or remove additional beauty: E.g., a swamp reduces the beauty by 50%, a grassland increases it by 25% etc.
This change makes it more interesting to find provinces where a hamlet should be built.
Separated navigation area costs and theme travelling costs for units. Crossing a swamp-themed province is now less likely if there is a better way, for example.
Added a new navigation layer for mountain ramps.
All units can walk those ramps, just a little slower than normal terrain.
No buildings or resources can be placed on those ramps neither in the editor nor in the game.
Road decals now change the navigation mesh and add a road navigation layer which is faster to travel on for all ground units.
Swamp decals now change the navigation mesh to add a swamp navigation layer, which increases the travel time.

Improved performance by around 20%.
My rig is old: 2060 RTX + I7-6700k CPU with 4GHz, game runs above 60fps most of the time.
Optimized how decals are pre-culled and drawn.
Optimized the layers used in post-processing effects.
Removed a lot of unneeded lights from the scene.

Hamlets now generate a certain amount of research points depending on the size of the population.
Hamlet's name will not change the name of the province as this could lead to problems for quests.
Adjusted several UIs to show the hamlet name instead of the province name if there is one available.
Wizards generate a certain amount of research points now, but only when they are active.
Resource Tooltip now shows where the research points are generated (Wizard, Hamlets, Buildings)
Added research points as a stat to the wizard selection UI and wizard character UI.
Improved how research data checks if unlocked/affected data types exist while adding them.
Removed decimal places for gains in player resources UI for better readability.
Building UI now shows upgrade icons with a tooltip trigger to display the corresponding upgrade tooltip.
Enchantment/Curses data can now have a modifier for each effect, so they are a lot more flexible.
Removed buff displays from the small tent squad info as they are now shown in the tooltip.
Node attributes for arcane, fire, water and nature magic resistance are now working as intended.
Added a bunch of new console commands for better debugging.

Province layouts can now save all objects at a province including props.
Props are not spawned on water or over buildings, resources or other props.
Loading a layout checks if a building can be spawned in terms of constraints, e.g., provinces can only have one market, army tent etc.
Loading a layout removes props around buildings and resources.
Improved how props, which block buildings and resources, calculate their blocking cells.
Improved the look of map details dialogue.
Reworked how the player editor is displayed, as it took up too much space in the map editor.
Reworked the map settings dialogue and gave it a bit more space.
Map settings dialogue can now be moved out of the way for even more space when editing the map.
Now allowing up to 7 players, 1 human player, 1 neutral player and 5 AIs.
All hexagons now have the same size no matter what map size.
Map sizes small, medium, large and huge have been adjusted - 6x6, 9x9, 12x12, 15x15 hex cells.
Adjusted camera settings to new map sizes.
Adjusted province border, frame and selection sizes.
Hexagon cells are now slightly bigger, and can now fit more buildings.
Improved hex grid/cell settings to make testing of map sizes faster.
Prop placing randomly scales and rotates the selected prop after placing, enter key resets to defaults.
Provinces would not show the correct beauty and safety when adding or removing props. This can now be fixed by running a navigation update.

The content editor helps me to improve data entry for buildings, units, spells, research, building upgrades, buffs, weapons, projectiles, shields, worker tools, bags etc.
Data entries can be copied, renamed, or removed and it also provides a far better edit experience, improving the speed at which I can add content to the game.

Basic AI.

Decent AI.
Reworking all old spells and adding 20-30 new spells.
Preparing Localization.

[h3]Missing features for the demo - In a few months[/h3]

Official Steam Demo.
Random map generation.
Localization in 8 languages.

Seasons, a variety of crop fields, pests, droughts.
Seasons influence province temperature and population growth.
More Spells and research options.
A bunch of new units and buildings.
NPC hideouts and gates.
Hamlets can annex bordering provinces.
More shrines and temples.
Configurable key shortcuts.
More localized languages.
Polish and bugfixes.

Thanks for reading

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1368160/Heart_Of_Muriet/