Great Houses of Calderia News

Oy rulers,

We can't thank you enough for your active role in Great Houses of Calderia. Your participation in discussions and feedback sharing had a significant impact on the game's development. This summary shines a light on the changes, improvements, and system adjustments that have been made, all thanks to your invaluable input. We're excited to keep shaping the game with your feedback. Enjoy!

[h3]Design & Balancing[/h3]

Game ending and further: As requested, we added the possibility to pursue your rule even after the end of the game, whether you completed the objectives of “Road to Victory” or not.

Ranks: The Ranks of Calderia feature wasn’t working as intended. It has been reworked and improved, it should now be working as designed. Rank appeal social conflicts no longer provide skill increases to avoid save-load scumming to rapidly grind skills.

Conflict Resolution: We added more outcomes to the social conflicts to make them more impactful and meaningful. Failing or winning a conflict now has consequences for each character.

AI: This month allowed us to iterate and rework the AI in several aspects. We improved its behavior and plans for long-term play. This is part of our ongoing balancing and one of our main focus points during the whole Early Access phase.

War: Warscore has been revisited, as has army behavior on the map. The work on AI has an impact on war. It does more checks before considering starting a war or taking a decision during a war. This includes assessing the strength of its enemies and adapting to the course of the war. Regarding UI, there are new war icons for the Fiefdom Widget, making it easier to know what is happening in the game. If you click on a Crest icon during a war, the camera will focus on the Fiefdom related to it.

Traditions: A set of new Traditions has been added to expand the Tradition tree. You can choose from a larger set of perks to customize your family and rule. On top of this, the AI and its behavior are now more influenced by its Tradition.

Events: There was a problem with the Marriage Action Prompt, but it has been fixed now. We added new event text and added results to make it more diverse. Building "Schools of Wisdom" in other fiefdoms now provides better events connected to them. When appealing for a higher rank or dealing with trade events, you will sometimes face social conflicts, if you successfully solve them, you can get free spies as a reward.



[h3]Visuals & Interface[/h3]

Character customization: In September, we added the Character customization feature. More portrait pieces have now been added so that you can customize your characters even more! We also added more tooltips regarding this feature.

User Interface scaling: We kept working on the UI scaling. This is a long, ongoing process and we welcome feedback to help us optimize it during the whole Early Access phase. UI scaling might cause some buttons to go outside the screen on some resolutions. To fix this, reduce the UI scaling percentage in Video Settings.



[h3]Technical fixes & optimization[/h3]

Crash fixes: You reported crashes could occur when loading a save and when setting the day/night cycle. These crashes have been fixed. If you encounter any crashes, please use the Unreal Engine Crash report window and don’t hesitate to inform us on Steam or Discord.

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

Added

• Continue game after Game Over
• New portrait pieces
• Tradition: Smoothsayer
• Tradition: Lovers of Wisdom
• Tradition: Hundred Schools Of Wisdom
• Tradition: Mercantilism
• Tradition: Whose land, his rule
• ‘Decrease Skill’ effects on Social Conflicts
  
• Bread and Circus has tooltip in Fiefdom View
  
• Faux pas and Rejected Help relations
  
• AI measures enemy strength before declaring war
  
• Social conflicts can provide free spies
  
• Marriage negotiations gained more depth and more things to negotiate
  
• AI behavior can be conditioned based on traditions they have
  
• War icons for the Fiefdom Widget
  
• Clicking on Crest icons in war state center camera on Fiefdom
  

Updated

• Character customization tooltips
  
• UI Scale Curve to linear instead of stepped
  
• "Not Implemented" texts removed from Bread & Circus and Light Mathemagic
  
• Crest texture aliasing
  
• Warscore accumulation increased for capturing a fiefdom, decreased for killing units
  
• Slander actions are no longer automatically successful
  
• Slander actions have longer but milder outcomes
  
• Custodian’s skills better impact the amount of experience points ward or squire gets to their skills
  
• Event text fixes and added outcomes
  
• Building School of Wisdom in other fiefdom has better related events
  
• Rank appeal & trade events can spark social conflicts that reward with a free spies
  
• Dishonored an Alliance reputation now also has diplomacy skill penalty
  
• AI’s ‘Handle Plans’ probability less drastic
  
• AI's ‘Select Plan’ has right Wars for AI to select
  
• AI Plan 'Fix Low Resources' made more eager to fix the situation by trading
  
• AI Plan 'Upgrade Building' checks resource situation
  
• AI appreciation of higher end resources increased in selecting what to produce
  
• AI Plan ‘Optimize Workers’ check on Steel shortage
  
• AI’s ‘Plan for War’ has higher probability of declaring war and it ends other plans better
  
• AI’s ‘Diminishing Enemy Power’ has more weight on recruiting spies
  
• AI’s War Weariness checkup improved
  
• AI better checks if they are already in a war before considering declaring a war
  
• Resource widget
  

Fixed

• Crash when loading the save
• Clicking day/night cycle setting crashes the game
• Marriage Action Prompt missing
  
• Clicking on a character in Character Details Screen sometimes also opens the next character
  
• Cementation process upgrade increases Crop production
  
• Slow Production spy mission missing description
  
• House member stuck in delegation for months at a targeted fiefdom
  
• Character with Recruit Spy title in Send delegation screen
  
• You can select to play the tutorial by pressing right mouse button
  
• Tutorial points to button that doesn't exist
  
• Gameplay settings not saved
  
• Army doesn't stop to intersection
  
• AI Plan 'Handle Idle Characters' gets stuck
  
• One war reparation playground had “End War” outcome, causing null reference
  
• Ranks: Back button moved off screen on some resolutions
  
• Rank appeal social conflicts no longer provide skill increase
  
• Ranks doesn’t happen
  
• Ranks Back button not visible on all resolutions
  
• Cannot Drag&Drop the crest in Ranks of Calderia Event
  

Once more, we appreciate all your comments and feedback. Stay tuned for further updates on the game's development and new content!

- Great Houses of Calderia Team -

A new regular update [0.8.1.1091 (b12596110)] is now live with the following changes:

Added

• Bandit Crest
  
• 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, a 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 to 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
  
• AI action - move worker to building that is currently upgrading
  
• AI condition checks if the fiefdom has a profession that is building something but doesn't have any workers
  

Updated

• AI ‘Handle Plans’ checks building upgrade situations better
  
• AI 'Handle Plans' removed a lot of additional weights that sometimes made War planning the only thing specific AI families would do.
  
• UI fit on screen with UI scale
• Noble Advisor illustrations
  

Fixed

• AI - ‘Upgrade Buildings’ returns false from Build into Fiefdom even when it shouldn't
  
• UI fit on screen with UI scale
  
• 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
  
• Graphical glitch in World View Portraits
  

Known Issues

• UI scaling might cause some buttons to go outside the screen on some resolutions. To fix this, reduce 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!

Great Houses of Calderia is on discount to celebrate Halloween!

[h3]20% Off - Limited discount during Halloween[/h3]
We released Great Houses of Calderia two months ago already! To celebrate this achievement and express our gratitude for your support, we're offering an exclusive 20% discount on Great Houses of Calderia during the Halloween Sale from today until November 7! This is excellent timing to get your hands on a copy of the game and experience the most recent upgrades and features.

Buy the game on discount now:

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

[h3]Player-driven development - Share your feedback![/h3]
Contribute to the development of the game by sharing your input with us. We hope to make the best version of the game possible thanks to you.

- Great Houses of Calderia Team 🎃 -

A new regular update [0.8.1.1075 (b12476167)] is now live with the following changes:

Added

• Bread and Circus has tooltip in Fiefdom View
  
• AI measures enemy strength before declaring war
  
• Faux pas and Rejected Help relations
  
• Social conflicts can provide free spies
  
• Marriage negotiations gained more depth and more things to negotiate
  
• AI behavior can be conditioned based on traditions they have
  
• War icons for the Fiefdom Widget
  
• Clicking on Crest icons in war state center camera on Fiefdom
  

Updated

• Slander actions are no longer automatically successful
  
• Slander actions have longer but milder outcomes
  
• Custodian’s skills better impact the amount of experience points ward or squire gets to their skills
  
• AI better checks if they are already in a war before considering declaring a war
  
• Event text fixes and added outcomes (related to this patch note)
  
• Building School of Wisdom in other fiefdom’s has better related events
  
• Rank appeal & trade events can spark social conflicts that reward with a free spies
  
• Dishonored an Alliance reputation now also has diplomacy skill penalty
  
• AI’s ‘Plan for War’ has higher probability of declaring war and it ends other plans better
  
• AI’s ‘Diminishing Enemy Power’ has more weight on recruiting spies
  
• AI’s War Weariness checkup improved
  
• Resource widget
  

Fixed

• One war reparation playground had “End War” outcome, causing null reference
  
• Rank appeal social conflicts no longer provide skill increase
  
• Crash when loading the save
  
• Cannot Drag&Drop the crest in Ranks of Calderia Event
  
• Ranks doesn’t happen
  
• Ranks Back button not visible on all resolutions
  
• Marriage Action Prompt missing
  
• Clicking on a character in Character Details Screen sometimes also opens the next character
  

Known Issues

• UI scaling might cause some buttons to go outside the screen on some resolutions. To fix this reduce 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 delve into the intricate art of war, linked with diplomacy and economy, in Great Houses of Calderia. War is motivated by the influence of feudal politics and the pursuit of nobility ranks in Calderia. Let's explore the key features of how war works.

There are specific steps and thresholds to meet the conditions for wars to be declared, they are shown at the war tooltip in military delegation view. You must have negative relations with the House you want to attack.



Here are the current war types and their requirements:

• Humiliation war: You must have House relations lower than -40. Winning this war allows you to either have a claim on their title or vassalize them.
  
• Vassalization war: You must have House relations lower than -60, have the right to vassalize and have a higher rank than the opposing House. Winning this war allows you to vassalize this House, which will then pledge allegiance and pay taxes to you.
  
• Title war: You must have House relations lower than -85, have the right to claim the title of the opposing House. Winning this war grants you the title of the defeated House, which will then go down to your previous title. For instance, you had the Baron rank before winning the Title War. The House you attacked had the Count rank, you then become a Count and they become a Baron.
  
• Tax war: This war can only be declared to vassals who are refusing to pay taxes they owe you. Winning this war will resume the tax payments the House owes you.
  

[h3]Units and warfare[/h3]
Developing your fiefdom and making new buildings allows you to unlock new military units, each with its own unique strengths and roles on the battlefield. Units come with both a raise cost and an upkeep cost, requiring you to balance your military might with your resources. All units have attack, defense, health and attack speed variables. Some units can have special abilities that may be automatic, like ranged abilities, while others need to be activated. Defense reduces attack damage input and the attacker also takes some damage. Military units, once engaged, are caught up in the battle and require time to retreat before they can escape the fight. This adds dynamics to the ebb and flow of battles. Wounded units who managed to retreat in time join the reserve, where they can slowly heal so you can redeploy them again. On the other hand, units who died during the fight cannot be used again for future battles during the ongoing war. With this game mechanic, we wanted to encourage a thoughtful rotation of troops to optimize your strategy.



[h3]Rising in the nobility ranks[/h3]
You must first successfully make a claim to a higher title to advance in nobility. Wars are an effective way to rise in the nobility ranks. They allow you to take over the title of the House ruling over you. But first, you must declare and win a Humiliation War, then a Title War to obtain a new title. You can progress through nobility ranks one level at a time, from Baron to Count, Count to Duke, and from Duke to Viceroy. Marriage is a powerful asset for forging alliances between the families tied by the union. These allies can then be called to join wars, strengthening your military power. Growing your influence and military power starts at the court, the relationships you build are essential to your success.



[h3]Peace negotiations and war weariness[/h3]
Wars cannot last forever. Every war concludes with peace negotiations. The possible outcomes are determined by various elements based on how the war ended. It affects the terms that you can focus on during negotiations. However, total wins and total losses have automatic outcomes. Engaging in war leads to war weariness that accumulates at varying levels, each with its own cumulative impacts. Successive wars also increase your war weariness. War weariness takes time to wear off during peace, and peace treaties come with a truce period that prevents new wars from being declared right after a war ends. Winning a war grants you an advantage in peace negotiations, as the losing party will have fewer companions to bargain with. Be aware that refusing ally calls to aid them in war degrades your reputation and strains relations with all the other Houses. You have to balance your own interests with your reputation and relations with other Houses.



[h3]Resource management and war impact[/h3]
Because resources like crops, livestock, materials, metal ore, horses, and grapes are produced outside the city, they are easy targets during war. Blockades on roads to the city from resource locations disrupt the resource supply chain and prevent the fiefdom from receiving the resources. On top of the blockades that can affect your resources and economic sustainability, enemy armies can burn down your production buildings that won’t produce resources until they are repaired. Defending and repairing your production buildings is crucial to maintaining your ability to upkeep your armies.



[h3]Siege and warscore[/h3]
Losing a battle will have the remains of the army retreat automatically on the map for a while, giving a head start for the pursuing army. For now, siege has a static time period during which walls can be broken. Conquering a castle grants a significant amount of points in the warscore, and maintaining a siege also accumulates additional points over time, which greatly contribute to victory. All wars can end in five ways, from neutral peace to total victory or defeat, allowing for varied approaches depending on the most interesting outcomes for you. Reaching neutral peace negotiations will result in both Houses seeking to earn something from the deal. Battlefields provide temporary effects for battles. The warscore to aim for depends on the war type. Your tactical decisions should favor short and effective war resolutions rather than lengthy military conflicts.



Now that we have tackled these features, giving you a better look at the way war works in the game, may you increase your chances of success and prevail with this knowledge. The complex art of military strategy, diplomatic and economic acuteness will shape the fate of your fiefdom.

May your banners fly high and your influence leave a lasting mark in the tapestry of power as you rise in the ranks of Calderia!

Join our Discord and share your feedback with us!

- Great Houses of Calderia Team -