Great Houses of Calderia News

A new regular update [0.8.1.1136 (b13020394)] is now live with the following changes:

Added

• Right mouse button to close the Ranks of Calderia screen
  
• Tradition - Dozen Peers
  
• Tradition - Holy Knowledge
  
• Spy investigation events now have costs associated with them
  
• Bandit spawn UI
  
• Bandit appearance speeds
  
• Bandit ‘army’ consistencies
  
• 7 Bandits-related events
  
• Bandits movement AI
  
• Bandits conflict resolutions
  
• Scholar Winning Condition Path
  
• Scholar Winning Conditions steps
  
• Scholar Winning Conditions events
  
• Conquered and Truce icons on the world map: Fiefdom Banners
  
• Three new courtship events
  
• Diplomatic delegation cooldown counter
  
• Tradition tree connection to Light Mathemagic and Law Unites Us All
  
• Safety increase winning effects in Conflicts
  
• Highlight the character icon when hovering over notifications
  

Updated

• Siege Defender gets more and better units from garrison
  
• Tweaks to AI plans
  
• New Event illustrations
  
• Conflict planning layout
  
• Improved Tutorial window positioning with UI scaling
  
• Tradition view
  
• AI won’t cause social conflict in Lesson in Negotiations event
  
• Safety Level shown also for the player’s fiefdom in World Map
  
• Improve drag and drop in delegation
  
• New graphics for the Winning Condition view
  
• World map border and road changes
  
• Character customization reverting selects original objects
  
• Safety production changes: Bourg 2->4, Fort, Fortress and Citadel bring -1, Stone Walls 0->1
  
• Show negative Safety production correctly in Fiefdom upgrade info
  
• All military units are cheaper to recruit and upkeep
  
• All starting Safety Levels in Fiefdoms 0 -> 2
  

Fixed

• Game crash when dragging workers on scholars profession with Holy Knowledge tradition
  
• Game crash when loading a save from the previous version
  
• Mercantilism Tradition has “Not implemented” text
  
• Event outcome text padding
  
• Impossible to pillage buildings with an army
  
• Units do back-and-forth movement instead of capturing a spot in conflict resolution
  
• Misaligned male head icon in customization view
  
• Diplomacy Window transparency issue with opposing Family Character
  
• Rank delegation stuck on own fiefdom
  
• Relation to count objective not counted after becoming the count
  
• Tradition progress bar shows correct progression when finished
  
• No house member on the screen to send peace delegation
  
• Intrigue tutorial closes the menu
  
• Problem with trade duration if player laces too many resources in the balance
  
• Trade gold amount overlaps caravan information with four or more resources
  
• Conflict end screen text overflows victory screen
  
• Voice of Calderia not counted in Winning Conditions
  
• Marriage notification view issues
  
• Fundamentals of Feudalism event wording
  
• Missing text when attacking a city
  
• Poleaxer military unit noted as tier 3 in Military Conflict
  
• Counselor has the wrong icon in Social Conflict
  
• Traits are not counted towards character skill value checks in events
  
• Courted character message never disappears if a courted person dies
  
• Scholar Winning condition texts back
  
• Courted character message never disappears after a courted person is dead
  
• You can move on the map with the war window open
  
• You can move on the map with an event open
  
• Participants stuck in rank selection state indefinitely
  
• Courtship delegation for house members of the same rank indicates a superior rank
  
• Fortress notification in Chronicle
  

Known Issues

• UI scaling might cause some buttons to go outside the screen on some resolutions. To fix this, adjust the UI scaling percentage in Video Settings.
  
• Character customization images might fail to load occasionally. The UI still works, and reopening the menu sometimes fixes the issue.
  

- Great Houses of Calderia Team -

Oy rulers!

Today, we would like to describe the House and character relations system in more depth. Everything in Calderia revolves around relationships, characters’ reputations and traits. Despite the stakes, it all comes down to interpersonal connections. Your deeds and your personality are pivotal in events and in negotiations.



[h2]The role of Heads of House and personal relationships[/h2]

The relationships between the Heads of Houses, as leaders and representatives of their families, are at the center of all House relations. The official stance between two families is shaped by the mutual liking of their leaders. Your Head of House is the biggest influence on the way your House is perceived in Calderia. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Specific deeds by family members can also add penalties or bonuses, affecting how Houses view one another on an individual level. The numeric values between Heads of House and individuals also have an impact on many actions and decisions that you will take. Of course, the Head of House holds influence, but it's not the only character you get to play! Each family member of your House is a playable character, and they have their own connections to all the other families.



These personal relationships between families can spill over, affecting all members. We decided to intertwine these relationships to add depth to the narrative, making family ties a more impactful aspect of gameplay. Talking about relationships inevitably leads to alliances, wars and conflicts in Calderia. Alliances aren't arbitrary—they're forged through marriage. It is a means to an end, more than a candid connection. Allies are useful assets to call upon in times of war.



[h2]Relationships based on personalities and reputations[/h2]

In most events, whether diplomatic or trade-focused, relations between participants play a pivotal role. House relations, in addition to personal relationships, can influence outcomes. Some actions, like declaring war, require extremely negative House relations. Your Head of House must have bad relations with the Head of the House you want to start a war against. When it comes to trade, it isn't simply an economic activity in Calderia; it's a diplomatic tool and lever. Trading can improve or deteriorate relations between Houses. Fair deals foster goodwill, while exploiting others can strain relations. It's a nuanced system where every trade decision has consequences beyond material gains.



Relations with the Viceroy aren't just a formality or to be ignored—they impact the selection order of the Ranks of Calderia. As the game progresses, House relations with the Viceroy gain more and more meaning, influencing your standings in the Civil War, which we will add in the coming months.
Character traits play a fundamental role in interacting with one another and developing relationships. From personality and mood to the character's reputation, these traits establish basic relations between individuals, even when meeting for the first time. The dynamic interactions based on the personalities and other traits of the characters contribute to the intricate connections that Houses and families form in Calderia.



As demanding and complicated relationships can be, they cannot be overlooked when you are a noble seeking greater power and influence in Calderia.

This marks the end of this devblog on House and character relations. Want to contribute to the game's improvement? You can do so by sharing your feedback and suggesting what you'd like to see in the game on our Discord or Steam forums!

- ❄️ Great Houses of Calderia Team 🎁 -

Oy rulers!

Game development is quite an adventure! We're really happy and thrilled by the thorough feedback and support we get, it helps us move forward and improve the game. Many of you requested information on our roadmap, and here we come with this early Xmas present: our new updated roadmap!

Because we are in Early Access and game development is an organic process, we've made a few adjustments to our initial roadmap. We adapt to your input, and there are a few things that we decided to prioritize, like the "Siege" feature, reinforcing the family's traits and traditions, and new winning paths.

Since the game's Early Access release, we've implemented new elements such as more traditions, traits, character customization portraits, conflict resolution adjustments, AI improvement, community suggestions, polish, and balancing based on your feedback.



Throughout the development process, your feedback is incredibly important to us. We value actively connecting with you and carefully assessing the ideas you share with us. We will still answer any questions you may have while working on adding more depth and content to the game.

[h2]Updated Roadmap[/h2]



New major features are coming very soon, like the "Bandits", who will bring trouble with incidents on the map, affecting your trade delegations and causing diplomatic matters to be solved with other Houses. A new winning path is on the way to let you win with a more pacifist route (we know you love that too!). We still have new traditions and family traits in store to reinforce the identity of your noble family and the impact of your choices. In the coming months, we're planning to add the Civil War, which, as you can expect, will disrupt the seemingly peaceful land of Calderia and let the rivalry between Houses boil even more. It will add not only a new winning path but also more events related to Civil War. As for war (and not only the Civil War), we're adding the Siege feature that you'll be able to implement in your strategy to subdue your enemies.
Many rounds of balancing and polishing will be pushed, as we've continuously been doing so far. This also includes AI and other features.

We will keep on sharing our progress and highlight the biggest additions and modifications in our Monthly Development Update as we work towards the full release of Great Houses of Calderia.

Stay tuned for more updates as we strive to craft the best version possible of our take on the grand strategy genre. We want to thank you, your support fills us with determination, and we are confident that we can succeed with your help.

- ❄️ Great Houses of Calderia Team 🎁 -

Oy Rulers!

Start your rule now! Save 20% off Great Houses of Calderia from December 8 to 11.

[h3]20% Discount - Weekend sale[/h3]
Calderia calls for new rulers, settle your House and start your legacy! Enjoy a special 20% discount on Great Houses of Calderia this weekend, from today to December 11. Grab your copy now and enjoy the latest upgrades and features!

The Emperor entrusted you with great responsibility, answer his call and settle your House in Calderia! Noble Houses stand as pillars of power, each requiring a leader to make crucial decisions. Whether it's arranging alliances, waging war, scheming, trading, or determining resource allocations, your objective is to expand your power and rise in the ranks of Calderia.

Buy the game on discount now:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1812910/Great_Houses_of_Calderia/

[h3]Player-driven development - Share your feedback![/h3]
Your support makes our world go round! Share your feedback and suggestions with us! Your contribution plays a major role in the game's development. Thanks for helping us create the best version possible!

- Great Houses of Calderia Team -

Oy rulers,

This month has been quieter, but for a good reason! The team gathered to review and rework on a deeper level several aspects of the game, like the AI and UI, but also add more depth to the family legacy based on Traditions and traits. This is a long and complicated process, but we believe that it is for the better. Our objective is to make Calderia more and more vivid and dynamic.

We thank you for your support and your contribution to the discussions, which allow us to improve the game based on your feedback.

[h3]Design & Balancing[/h3]

Family traits: With the family traits comes their inheritance. There is a small chance to receive traits from the parents at birth. They are meant to strengthen the family identity and influence their behavior based on Traditions, choices and event outcomes.

Traditions: New traditions have been implemented and tested, including the « Calderian Mysteries » of the Schemers path (which can influence Viceroy's relations against the House of any Duke or Count) and the « Celebrating Life » of the Peacemakers path (every summer season worker's crop consumption is doubled, but every worker's happiness gets +1).

AI: November marks a milestone in the AI’s rework, especially in short and long-term fiefdom management. We have been improving AI’s plans to take action on many elements: war, fiefdom management, and resource production. Trade is left untouched for now, but it will be tackled in the coming weeks. The point of this deep rework is to make you feel like Calderia is vivid and dynamic.



[h3]Visuals & Interface[/h3]

User Interface scaling: This month, the team has led research and experiments for wide screen resolution. UI scaling is still a long, ongoing process and we welcome feedback to help us optimize it during the whole Early Access phase.

Tutorial: We’ve also added new steps to the tutorial for features such as the Intrigue and Trade.



[h3]For more information, read the full aggregated patch notes below:[/h3]

Added

• Bandit Crest
  
• Family Traits visible in Character View
  
• 8 new Family Traits that influence everyone in the House
  
• Some Family Traits can be earned by secret Tradition combinations
  
• Events can now give Family Traits, few possibilities to do so have been added
  
• Events can give Experience points to skills, quite a few added
  
• All war events gained GainExp effect on Military skills.
  
• Skill tooltip has a new tooltip about experience points, which also explains where to get those experience points
  
• Crest hover and War FX
  
• Tradition: Calderian Mysteries
  
• Tradition: Celebrating Life
  
• Traditions screen has a legend
  
• Tradition Pan Functionality
  
• AI condition check: 'Does House have storage for resources?'
  
• AI condition check: 'Is House consuming a resource?'
  
• AI condition check: 'is House producing a resource?'
  
• AI action: move worker to the building that is currently upgrading
  
• AI condition check: 'Does fiefdom have a profession that is building something but doesn't have any workers?'
  
• All AI Houses manage workers every 30 days, regardless of their plan status
  
• AI won't declare war unless it has a good amount of crops and materials in storage
  
• AI condition 'Has a plan to upgrade a building but has no workers in the profession'
  
• AI action: Move worker to Plan Target Profession
  
• AI: new conditions and actions put to AI trees
  
• Tooltip for military unit and companion skills
  

Updated

• AI ‘Handle Plans’ checks building upgrade situations better
  
• AI's 'Handle Plans' removed a lot of additional weights that sometimes made War planning the only thing specific AI families would do.
  
• AI condition 'Is resource balance positive' doesn't return true on 0, has to be above 0.
  
• UI fit on screen with UI scale
  
• Noble Advisor illustrations
  
• Notification and Event UI Frames
  
• Several Building costs changed
  

Fixed

• Ascetic Worker Tradition doesn't count work effort impact right
  
• AI: ‘Upgrade Buildings’ returns false from Build into Fiefdom even when it shouldn't
  
• AI's 'Aim for Population Growth' plan should take more action now
  
• AI Fix Food Shortage now focuses only on crops. It also stops if a shortage has led to famine. It also has the right condition to check for past actions.
  
• Graphical glitch in World View Portraits
  
• Settings Menu not working on widescreen resolutions
  
• Problems caused by high UI scaling
  
• UI fit on screen with UI scale
  
• Intrigue Tutorial layout
  
• Trade Tutorial
  
• Ordo Vita and Fortis units are the same
  
• Mason's Regulated Training is supposed to be a Citadel level building
  
• Impossible to do diplomatic actions with At Arm's Length tradition and delegation house relations
  
• Losing side now has the intended disadvantage in peace negotiations
  
• Some playgrounds showed different winning effect text in tooltip than the actual effect (a few might still do so)
  
• Conflict Resolution Setup now wraps long texts
  
• Problems around the Can Marry message prompt
  
• Battlefields are called Negotiation Fields in battles
  
• Typo in Can be Accused event
  

As always, thank you for all of your comments and feedback. Keep an eye out for more updates on the game's development and content!

- Great Houses of Calderia Team -


PS: SplatterCat recently shared his video on Great Houses of Calderia! Go watch it!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]