Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga News

-Steam Achievement issue addressed

Hello!

We're finally here - major update to Version 1.02 is complete and now live! This update comes with some new game features, as well as a large amount of fixes and balance/economy changes that we believe will enhance the Symphony of War experience. Notably, as has been often requested, Warlord difficulty feels significantly more challenging!

New Game feature: Resource Exchange
-At Bazaars and at Home Base, you will now have the option to trade Iron, Gems, Horses, Obsidian, Sunstone, and Pyrocite on the Resource Exchange! It is automatically unlocked at the Chapter 5 Home Base.
-There is no net loss or fee for using the exchange, you have total freedom and flexibility to invest your resources however you want without risk.
-Exchange rate is the same regardless of which direction you're trading.
-The "fire and hire merc to gain resources" meta was never intended as a primary source of upgrade materials. Now, new Mercenaries will no longer come with resources, but rather, there will be no resource cost for the class they start as. This is exactly how the new Apprentice conscripts work in that they don't cost Gems
-You can also exchange arena tokens for other tiers of arena token

Graphics
-Replacing legacy text with proper text strings to both clean and align certain pieces of in-game text, but also to prepare the game for full translation
-In Chapter 7, changed the ship's steering wheels colors (red/blue) to indicate who owns them, player or enemy
-A huge swath of pictures with text in them have been replaced by actual dynamic text
-Added color and contrast to the "Bazaar" map objective to increase visibility
-Fixed a background association with heat wave weather + desert tiles
-Zanatus Mage graphic has been updated to more closely match the character sprite during cutscenes
-Critical Hit number pop-ups have been slightly increased in size, and displayed in yellow
-Glancing Blows have been slightly decreased in size, and displayed in grey
-Barnabas now has a unique battle sprite
-Increased the visibility of full Nephilim Powers in the HUD

Music/SFX
-Changed the "Alex" theme
-Adjusted the sound effect for loading a save to be more pleasant

UI/UX
-You can now rename individual units. Do so by going to "Use Item" and using a Rename Scroll on that unit.
-You will now have the option to display "Ambush Terrain" in the tactical map, which displays both which terrain is Ambush terrain, and which tiles are adjacent to those tiles and thus also subject to Ambush attacks
-You will now see which tiles, if moved into, constitute a Charge attack by your melee cavalry with a different colored movement tile
-You can now adjust the volume of Voice SFX
-All Unique Mercenaries now display in Orange text to delineate their status as a Unique Mercenary rather than their power or rarity
-Tutorial entries have been added for several unique classes
-Using multiple codexes, stat up items, trait books, and affinity scrolls now much faster as animation lock removed, allowing the player to "spam" these items
-Skip button has been added to the ending cutscenes and ending credits

General Changes/Fixes
-Protagonist now properly displays graphic based on gender selection during ending credits
-Narima now gains maxed Swordfighter CP on legacy saves where she started as archer to facilitate transition into her Blademaster class
-Narima's "Gilded" class graphic now has more gold trim
-Chapters 14 and 15 now offer a Deploy Phase, though the Squad limits remain the same
-Trait List has been greatly improved, updated, and reinstated back into the Tutorial list
-Impassible wall tiles in Chapter 27 have been fixed
-Fixed the unintended flying tile access in Chapter 30
-Restricted access to the enemy reinforcement tiles in Chapter 8
-Clarified class description for Paladin
-A new Bond is now potentially available between Lysander and Beatrix. Complete chapter 29 to unlock, both must be un-bonded
-If you missed Chapter 20E, you will now be granted its 2 ultimate rewards upon starting Chapter 29
-All Bazaars starting from Chapter 6 and on will feature one extra slot with a guaranteed unique Artifact available for purchase. This Artifact will be priced at double the normal cost

Gameplay/Balance
-Enemy HP, Magic, and Weapon Power has been slightly increased on Warlord Difficulty past Chapter 14
-Enemy formations in Chapter 25 and 26 made larger and more formidable
-The large enemy Cavalry army in Chapter 26 is now 5 levels higher, and starts with very high Morale
-The appearance of the enemy reinforcements in Chapter 26 has been deferred to the beginning of the next turn, rather than immediately
-Chapter 30's walls have been reduced by 1 tile in certain places
-2000 Max HP has been added to the final boss on Captain and Warlord difficulty
-Enemy Morale has been slightly increased starting from Chapter 11, with the exception of chapters in which the story dictates the enemy have lower Morale
-Added a large patch of "Wheat Field" terrain to Chapter 15, allowing ambush strategies by the player, without slowing down movement
-Kuroda has received a massive increase in starting LDR, now starts at 84
-Barnabas now starts Fire Affinity (requires fresh save)

--Artifacts/Items--
-Medal of Valor has been changed to further help low LDR stats - you now get 3 LDR under 50, 2 LDR under 60, and 1 LDR under 70
-4 Medals of Valor have been added to chests in early chapters
-Several artifacts have had their STR/MAG toned down by about 20% in a continuing effort to rein in single deathball play
-At max Faction Rank, gain Proofs of Merit instead of Medals of Valor for continued faction rank ups

--Conscripts/Mercenaries--
-All Conscripts start with 2 learnable trait slots instead of 1
-All Conscripts no longer naturally roll traits
-All Mercenaries naturally roll 1 trait
-A new Unique Mercenary joins the lineup: Lord Carnith. A capable Zweihander who starts with max Loyalty to your cause, decreasing his capacity cost immediately
-A new Unique Mercenary joins the lineup: Calvor the Tireless. A Ranger who is just about as beefy as a heavy infantry and then some, with all the perks of light infantry

-- XP/growth--
-We found that accumulating faction XP via Surrenders was slightly too high a proportion of player growth compared to chapter rank, challenge missions, and objective captures. To adjust the proportion, we have increased the Faction rank requirements by 50%, but adjusted cumulative faction rank potentially gained from Objective capture also by around 50%.

--Affinities--
-Slightly reduced the max leadership roll for Light affinity
-Removed LDR malus from Fire affinity

--Traits--
-"Thievery" Trait Tome has been made significantly more rare and expensive, and the Thievery trait has been made more rare for randomly-generated units. To make up for this, the Rogue and Assassin class all now possess the Thievery Trait.
-Stefan now starts with the "Treasure Hunter" Trait.
-Kuroda has a new, unique Leader Trait: Shadowchaser. Ignore Zones of Control, extra movement in Ambush Terrain
-The "Counterattack" Trait has been made into a learnable leader trait via Tome, does stack effect with the Black Belt Artifact

--Classes--
-Dragon damage tune slightly back up in response to slight over-correction in 1.01.1
-Red, Silver, and Blue Dragon variants made more distinct by increasing Silver HP, Red MAG, and Blue SKL
-Stefan's "Mirage" upgrade class now has a free attack in every battle
-Skirmisher and Ranger classes now have a 35% damage bonus when attacking Firearms
-Armor growth for all Heavy classes increased from about 0.8 per level to 1 per level
-Armor growth for all Dragon classes increased significantly
-Weather no longer prevents Gunner, Dragoon, or Siege Cannon classes from firing. This malus has been changed to a flat -50% damage modifier, and is active during Rain, Snow, Blizzard, and Storm weather. This is still offset by the "Breech Loading Rifle" tech.
-Militia can now class change into Archers
-Crossbowman class now has the same STR modifier as Archers, allowing the promotion to Warbow option regardless of which base class
-Paladins now require 5 additional STR (now 35) to promote
-Sorceress damage increased slightly
-Siren damage increased significantly

--Other--
-"Shadow" terrain has been added to most indoor maps. This terrain acts as Ambush terrain, as though it were woods or swamp, but otherwise is identical to normal indoor terrain. This gives Light squads an additional role in indoor maps
-Several Techs have been made standard to all enemies on all chapters. These include: Zones of Control, Polearm Mastery, Advanced Flanking, Psych Warfare
-Uncapped Resources from 99 to 999
-"Ambush Trench" terrain has been added to the final chapter, giving Ambush squads a role in the final battle

Short term Roadmap
-New Game Mode: Post game extra difficult final boss fight and/or some form of NG+
-Expanded difficulty settings
-Additional artifacts
-Main character will get more customization options from game start questions
-Far more robust interaction between Affinity and Weather and Day/Night
-Renaming Squads
-Continued UI and QoL improvements with each update
-Replayable past missions

Long term Roadmap
-Endurance Trial
-Translation to French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean
-Porting SoW1 to Nintendo Switch, macOS, Linux
-New DLC campaign
-Additional character classes
-SoW2

As always, thank you so much for supporting Symphony of War!

Welcome to the Symphony of War 1st Battle Screenshot Contest! Show off your photography prowess, try to win Steam Keys to gift to a friend, and get your name in the list of Random names for units in game!

You may participate via Discord, or Steam.

Discord submission instructions
Join Discord: https://discord.gg/rmvmGPaKgK and post your submission in the #screenshot-contest channel. Just the picture please.

Steam submission instructions
Post in this thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1488200/discussions/0/3430074255274364904/ with an embedded image or link. Just the picture please.

Rules
1) One screenshot permitted per entrant
2) Screenshots must be of a battle scene. Doesn't matter where, when, or how, just an in-game battle scene. Show the whole game window so we can see your squad setup as well.
3) No story characters allowed - all generics and unique mercenaries are fair game!
4) Any enemy target is allowed
5) Please follow the submission format strictly. One screenshot, no edits other than cropping to screen size, no words in your post, no story characters - any deviation will make your entry ineligible.

Schedule
The submission period will last one week, ending on Friday, August 26th, at 5pm PST. Winners will be announced after judging has finished, hopefully a day or two at most after the submission end date.

Criteria
Your screenshot will be judged on beauty, creativity, coolness factor. Scores will be rated from a 1 to 10 scale. All the scores of the judges will be averaged out to a final top score. Judges are not eligible to participate. Judges are not obligated to explain their reasoning.

Prizes
1st place: 5 Steam Keys for SoW1, and a lore-friendly name of your choice added to the list of random names
2nd place: 1 Steam Key for SoW1, and a lore-friendly name of your choice added to the list of random names
3rd: place: A lore-friendly name of your choice added to the list of random names
All 3 top placements can be featured in the Steam Page screenshot carousel!

Starting these small, will do more contests, but for now, let's see those screenshots! Donar watch over you!

Sincerely,
Phil

There's a simple delight to JRPG character customization. Extend that to an entire squad of characters on a tactical grid? Now you've got your classic strategy JRPG, like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. Extend it to an entire army of several dozen squads? That's the rework you get in Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga. Setting out a buffet of customization around your army and its generals is just enough to shake up a genre that was quickly becoming one-note—even if the otherwise generic story does it no favors...
Read more.

Version 1.01 brings a huge haul of UI/UX upgrades, fixes, adjustments to balance/economy, and some graphical updates as well! Thanks for hanging in there as we develop and test these updates to make the process as seamless as possible for both your in progress saves and your name games.

We’re happy to announce that your Bond relationships with the main character matter more. Every possible pairing now triggers a special cutscene in the “good” epilogue between just your hero and that character, and each one is different. There is even a consideration for a situation in which you did not pair the hero with anyone. As a follow up to this change, a very difficult decision was made to remove the “bad ending” from the game. The reasoning here is several fold - it presents a disjointed story continuity, especially in regards to the future, is kind of depressing, it cannot involve multiple outcomes based on how the main character’s Bond relationship as the good ending now does, and the way to trigger it is not an impactful or meaningful gameplay mechanic. We hope the new epilogues more than make up for it!

We were not able to implement and properly test the new "Endurance" game mode for this patch. We will include the feature in Version 1.02, along with Lunatic difficulty.

[h2]Highlights[/h2]

• Item attack type resistance fixes, artifact evasion formula fixes and improvements
  
• Changes to a key late game cutscene depending on the Relationship status of the Hero to better reflect the reactions and feelings of the in-game events
  
• Each “Bond” relationship with the main character now has a special cutscene after the ending credits of the game to properly wrap up that part of the Epilogue. There is also one in case the Hero did not Bond with anyone.
  
• “Bad Ending” entirely removed, see reasons above
  
• Many bug fixes and balance changes, details below
  

[h2]Art/Graphics[/h2]

• Narima’s Blademaster class now has a brand new unique sprite - existing saves can class change into it
  
• All of Jules’ class sprite graphics are unique to him
  
• Sybil and Abigayle’s classes now display their proper hair color
  
• Corrected a minor HP redraw glitch
  

[h2]UI/UX[/h2]

• You now have the option to move squads already deployed during Deploy Phase
  
• Additional info is now available when hovering over enemy or ally squads on the tactical map
  
• In most cases, removed cursor restrictions while making selections for move, attack, or other targeting
  
• Small squad preview window will appear during more operations
  
• When map healing, full HP bars will be greyed out
  
• You can now toggle on/off Permadeath in the System Options
  
• Tech tree: The "Locked" graphic persists for any tech that is currently not available, affecting techs with prerequisites and the "Capstone" techs
  

[h2]General Changes/Fixes[/h2]

• Having a squad be completely defeated now continues to count against your deploy limit
  
• Fixed an issue where damage reduction for [damage type] from artifacts wasn’t working
  
• Fixed: Exemplar damage reduction rate corrected from 75% to 50% (as description states)
  
• Fixed: St. Teresa’s Tiara strength and magic modifiers now count as item stats rather than base stats
  
• Fixed a rare crash associated with viewing the tutorial before chapter 2 base.
  
• Fixed: Crash associated clicking on the scrollbar activation area in Reserves window when the window has exactly 11 rows of units
  
• Fixed: Field Marshal and Barek Tor Savagery are now correctly flagged as Leader traits.
  
• Fixed: The trait “Hand of Zanatus” now correctly prevents enemies from surrendering
  
• Fixed: Final boss additional HP adjustment and achievement unlock not functioning for some players on Warlord
  
• Fixed an issue in Chapter 12 with 2 tiles that overlap with enemy reinforcements
  
• Added a dialogue in Chapter 15 from Imperial soldiers to better convey the narrative and stage challenge
  
• If you defeat all enemies in Chapter 12, you automatically succeed all challenge missions
  
• (spoiler) in chapter 29 can no longer fly.
  
• Increased visual distinction between the Ranger and Skirmisher tactical map sprites
  
• Fixed cannons showing their Jammed animation in a few instances where the enemy was simply out of range.
  
• Removed "Hire Barek Tor Mercenary" Challenge mission on Chapter 8
  
• Fixed Phalanx trait and associated tech not working correctly
  
• Fixed: “Surround” mechanic now correctly triggers starting at two adjacent enemies. Morale malus has been slightly reduced to compensate.
  
• Day/Night cycle and Weather fixed to actually function
  
• Various updates to tutorial
  
• Various typo fixes
  

[h2]Gameplay/Balance[/h2]

[h3]Artifacts/Items[/h3]

• Fixed [damage type] reduction not working on artifacts. Landis's Mirage, Hulking Pavise, Aldor's Tower Shield mitigation reduced given functionality fix
  
• Fixed: St. Teresa’s Bulwark’s damage reduction will now correctly apply to the front row rather than everyone
• but* the front row.
  
• Evasion% granted from artifacts now confers a separate chance for an attack to be adjusted to a Glancing Blow or Dodge outright regardless of the SKL and terrain disadvantage. Evasion numbers on artifacts have been reduced to compensate
  
• +Hit% granted by artifacts now confers a bonus chance to entirely overcome enemy skill gaps and terrain advantages.
  
• Iblis Family Signet can no longer drop randomly or be sold in shops, and its unique effect only applies once per army.
  
• Added "Cloak of Cunning" which greatly reduces a squad's chance to be critically hit
  
• Blood Staff HP reduction toned down from 80 to 50
  
• Dragonslayer (the Artifact) now stacks with Dragonslayer (the Trait)
  
• Temporal modulator can now be triggered only a max of three times per Player Phase
  
• Everlasting Potion now suffers from the effects of healing fatigue (gets weaker with repeated uses within the same round)
  
• Repeated purchases of Arena Token in Chapter 30's Home Base shop will increase in cost by 1.25x per purchase
  

[h3]Conscripts/Mercenaries[/h3]

• Spellweaver Tier 1 tech has been replaced by “Apprentice Training”, which will grant a permanent slot to hire Apprentices.
  
• Light affinity now affects the starting LDR roll of mercenaries and conscripts.
  
• Bonus levels added by Professionalism and Standing Army are now considered “homegrown” levels for the purpose of calculating stat growth
  
• Several Unique mercenaries have been altered:
  
• Clarimonde - HP, Str, mag, SKL modifiers have been slightly reduced. Field Marshal trait replaced with Beacon and Arcane Barrier. Rarity and cost reduced.
  
• Renalyn - reduced STR and SKL mods
  
• Domak - reduced SKL mods
  
• Klok - reduced MAG mod
  
• Other mercenaries have had their rarity and cost adjusted according to their overall ability, but have not had any other parameter changes.
  

[h3]XP/growth[/h3]

• Experience gained for combats where no enemies are killed has been marginally increased
  
• Experience gained in combats versus lower level enemies has been decreased
  
• You can now change the Affinity of story characters and unique Mercenaries
  
• Combat experience gain bottom cap has been reduced to 1-per-combat (down from 1-per-kill)
  
• Experience modifiers are calculated before caps are applied
  
• Corrected an error where some Tier 1 conscript growths for some stats were slightly lower than intended (medic: mag, fighter: skl, bowman: skl). These have been updated and they are now identical to the T2 and T3s from the same Archetype, as intended.
  
• Homegrown stat growth bonus slightly reduced (for future playthroughs)
  
• A few story characters have had their stats adjusted (for future playthroughs)
  
• Sybil starting LDR increased to 45
  
• Diana STR growth has been reduced, and her SKL growth has been improved
  
• Beatrix MAG growth has been reduced
  
• Kuroda's Affinity changed to Dark (retroactive)
  
• Stat mods Proof of Merit reduce from +20% to +15% (retroactively)
  
• Medal of Valor now grants +2 LDR under 50 LDR, remains +1 from 50 to 70, and can no longer be used to raise LDR beyond 70
  

[h3]Affinities[/h3]

• str/-skl malus for Water affinity has been reduced slightly (retroactively)
  
• Dark affinity now has a minor -HP malus (retroactively)
  
• Affinity situational bonus no longer confers chance to crit or dodge. Instead, it confers a small bonus to damage and resistance while active. This should reduce the amount of variance in interactions.
  

[h3]Traits[/h3]

• Overpower has been reworked. Now applies a modifier to morale lost from the target(s) taking damage based on strength rather than direct destruction on every target hit regardless of damage. (Note: the most extreme interactions from this trait reduced to about a third of what they were before, but it should still be possible to take significant chunks of morale off any enemies falls)
  
• Hit and Run (Light cavalry innate) now confers evasiveness bonus while on open terrain OR attacking (rather than on open terrain AND attacking)
  
• Lithe Assault Reworked: Bonuses to Hit confer a partial bonus to critical chance. (Note: The trait should be harder to trigger versus things already capable of dodging you, but easier otherwise.)
  

[h3]Classes[/h3]

• Narima now begins as the unique Blademaster class, a versatile Light Infantry type with both a bow, and a sword double-attack
  
• Armor value for the final boss increased significantly
  
• Ranger crossbow attack has been improved to defeat cover a bit better
  
• Siege Cannon Threat Rating has been greatly reduced
  
• Fire mages should no longer target empty rows in any circumstance
  
• Priestess, Swordfighter, Hopsitaller, Acolyte, and Siren can now class up into Gunner and Siege Cannon when tech is unlocked
  
• Hospitaller can now also class up into Templar
  
• Hospitaller can now class up into Dragoon when tech is unlocked
  
• Magician, Support, and Dragon Archetypes have now been correctly assigned as blockers for melee (including stealth attacks)
  
• Templar MAG requirement increased from 50 to 56
  
• Swordmaster SKL requirement increase from 50 to 60
  
• General Ragavi’s starting LDR decreased to 74
  
• Diana’s “Titan” form now cancels Flying squad movement
  
• Diana’s “Titan” form can now directly attack from ground to walls
  
• The 25% damage reduction from Archery attacks of the Knight has been extended to the Cavalier.
  
• Knight’s attack has been given a small amount of splash damage. If used in conjunction with Cavalry Charge, the splash damage can also inflict shock.
  
• Class bonuses for HP and STR increased for Zweihander, Champion, Centurion, Knight
  
• Heavy and Light Infantry classes now gain a bit more armor per level (retroactively) and have slightly better per class bonuses
  
• Damage scaling decreased on the attacks for all dragons, Fire Mage, Ice Mage, Lightning Mage
  
• Double Attack (Sword Master/Champion/Blademaster) has had damage scale reduced slightly
  
• Polearm’s innate Phalanx trait improved, but now only affects adjacent in the same row
  
• Heavy classes from the "Fighter" group of classes increase base MAG and MAG growth
  

[h3]Other[/h3]

• Final Boss map/tile-based attacks now do far more damage to player
  
• Several Map Objectives have had their Faction XP gain reduced
  
• Starting from Chapter 24 and on, the enemy team now has every available firearms tech unlocked
  
• You now have 4 more turns to let Chapter 12 play out before it automatically ends
  

[h2]Short term Roadmap[/h2]

• New Game Mode: Endurance - train up your weaker squads
  
• New Game Mode: Post game extra difficult final boss fight
  
• New, highest difficulty, "Lunatic", with hardest possible options locked in, crueler AI and enforced Ironman save rules
  
• Additional artifacts
  
• Main character will get more customization options from game start questions
  
• Far more robust interaction between Affinity and Weather and Day/Night
  
• Renaming Squads
  
• Renaming Units
  
• Major UI/UX pass for reducing clicks, drag and drop, and more
  
• Replayable past missions
  

[h2]Long term Roadmap[/h2]

• Translation to French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean
  
• Porting SoW1 to Nintendo Switch, macOS, Linux
  
• New DLC campaign (Planned, long term goal, no specifics yet)
  
• Additional character classes
  
• SoW2
  

Thank you to everyone for following and supporting our game, we want you to know it doesn't go unnoticed, and certainly pushes us to make this game and future games everything they deserve to be!