Norland News

Hello everyone!

In today’s update, we are introducing Archer Towers.

• The knowledge to build them will become available after the Workshop (since it’s needed to craft bows).
  
• You can assign up to 5 warriors to the tower and equip them with bows (and later crossbows, once we implement them) and armor for them to wear.
  
• You can summon the warriors to the tower with a button, or they will do it automatically when the enemy is at the gates.
  
• A warrior in the tower shoots farther and more accurately (their combat level, which affects accuracy, increases by 5).
  
• To destroy a tower, it must be bombarded with torches. In fact, this is how all buildings will be destroyed for now—by torches.
  

Next week, we’ll roll out save speed optimizations, further combat improvements, and balance updates that are currently being tested. The rest of the team continues to work on special guests and the dynasty tree interface.


[h2]Full list of changes:[/h2]

[h3]New:[/h3]
- Added a new building "Archer's Tower."
- Added a mid-level knowledge "Archer's Towers."

[h3]Balance:[/h3]
- Changed the attack targets of wolves from the prophecy — they will no longer attempt to attack those in towers and will now choose the nearest target for attack instead of a random one. When no targets remain, the wolves will disband their units.
- The priority of the "Spend time together" activity has been lowered, while the priority of knowledge study has been increased (so that study proposals are not interrupted).
- Activities that restore needs will now launch with higher priority if the need is urgent.

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]
- Fixed a bug where lords with manually changed names to "Wolf" would die after loading the game.
- Fixed a bug where a character who wanted to eat would not bandage their wounds.
- Fixed a bug where the unholy horde would self-destruct at the start of the hour if their leader was killed.
- Fixed a bug where characters would display blood from old wounds after loading the game.
- The current economic value for the production ambition will now show the value from the previous day, not the current one.


We’re looking forward to your impressions, feedback, and reviews on the page. Thank you!

- Fixed a bug where the "Lone Hero" achievement was granted after losing in a bandit camp.

Hi guys,

Today’s patch introduces the first 25 Steam achievements, many of which were created by our players on our Discord server.

Additionally, in response to player requests, you will now be able to move the Hall, allowing you to change the layout of your village right from the start.

A small but nice addition is that lords will now receive nicknames, for example, as a result of their bad habits or outstanding behavior (113 nicknames currently added).

Regarding the content of the patches, I would also like to emphasize that we are developing according to a roadmap that was created based on the most popular requests from players, as well as our vision for the development of the project.

The three areas we are focusing on in September and October are narrative mechanics, combat mechanics, and optimization, along with balance and bug fixes.

Many of these tasks, such as nicknames, have a short development time, while others, like archer towers, take longer. The fact that you don’t see immediate improvements in this area just means it’s a large feature that requires a long development and testing period. For example, archer towers are in the final stages and will begin testing next week. We will likely release them then as well.

Thank you for your patience and respect for other players’ requests!

[h2]Changes list:[/h2]

[h3]New[/h3]

• Achievements have been added.
  
• Added the ability to relocate the central hall to another location.
  
• Nicknames for player lords have been added, which will attach based on events they have experienced.
  
• A screen event has been added when the chancery is left without inspections while an inspector is assigned.
  
• Buildings can no longer be relocated while there are enemy units in the city.
  

[h3]Balance[/h3]

• Each ambition can now only be completed once for the current king. If no more ambitions are available, the ambition selection window will not appear.
  
• The ambitions for increasing the number of allies and the number of vassals have been combined into a single ambition.
  
• The frequency of dark deeds committed against the player on the local map should increase.
  
• The Duelist Guest will now choose lords for duels who are not stronger than them, instead of those who are at least 7 levels weaker (which previously made this event extremely rare).
  
• The Dice Player Guest will receive additional rings when visiting the player's city to ensure they can play at least once.
  

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• Guards no longer patrol around empty houses.
  
• A relocated patrol flag retains its set parameters.
  
• The game will no longer be saved when pressing Ctrl+S if the pause menu is open or a textbox is active.
  
• Fixed the condition for fulfilling the marriage desire for a child.
  
• Fixed a bug where it was impossible to apply the resolution change setting during the tutorial.
  
• The ambition hint for production growth now shows progress not only in percentages but also in gold.
  

As always, I remind you that your reviews and feedback are always valuable and directly impact the project. Thank you.

Hello everyone!

In this patch, besides the fixes, we are introducing the last of the promised August features, plus a significant overhaul of the desires system and balance adjustments.

[h3]Graves[/h3]

• After a character's death, you will be able to build their grave for a modest fee in gold. This will also be desired by their loved ones.
  
• The grave interface preserves the character's biography and provides an epitaph appropriate to their status.
  
• A portrait of the deceased character is displayed on the gravestone
  
• Loved ones and enemies will visit the grave, receiving a positive thought from comforting memories. When a grave is visited, a candle will light up.
  
• Enemies, however, will not mourn but will rejoice at the current state of affairs and may even literally dance on the enemy's grave.
  
• Over time, graves will age and become overgrown with ivy.
  

[h3]Desires and other stuff [/h3]
We have changed the odd situation where the desire to eat meat and the desire to kill an enemy affected characters in the same way. Now, the old desires are called "obsessions," and a new type of desire has been introduced called "dreams." Unlike obsessions, dreams do not disturb the character much, but fulfilling them provides the character with inspiration. We have divided the old desires into obsessions and dreams, and added many new ones.

Regarding balance, the important changes are that we have increased the value of chanceries by making them stronger and removing the penalty for second-order chanceries.

We have also simplified the micromanagement of children, making them less demanding of parental care and reducing the lesson duration.

Finally, we have optimized battles and, at last, resolved the issue of starving lords.

Thus, we have already started working on the planned tasks for September, and we will soon delight you with more new content.

[h2]Full list of changes:[/h2]

[h3]New[/h3]
- Graves for the player's lords.
- Activity for visiting the graves of former friends and enemies.
- The player's lords will be displeased with the terror of their own culture.
- Scars will be displayed on characters' faces.
- A new option "Display Scars" has been added to the settings menu.

[h3]Desires[/h3]
The lords' desire system has been reworked. Desires are now divided into much less harmless dreams and obsessions:

New dreams for lords:
- Go on a journey
- Drink Fragrant Ale
- Try Nectar
- Learn a language
- Win at dice
- Happiness for a close one
- Title desire for a child
- Family desire for a child
- Desire for terror
- Victory in battle

New obsessions for lords:
- Grave for a loved one
- Desire for divorce

[h3]Balance:[/h3]
- Traits for minor bruises have been replaced with minor cuts for slashing and stabbing weapons.
- The maximum number of buildings managed by the chancery has been increased from 20 to 25.
- The penalty for managing a chancery with another chancery has been removed.
- The number of buildings initiated consecutively by one clerk has been increased from 3 to 7.
- The number of trade agreements on the global map is now limited to 12.
- Combat skills of wolves have been increased to 5 on medium difficulty and 7 on hardcore. On hardcore, the wolf is "armed" with a spear equivalent rather than a dagger.
- The duration of teacher-led training has been reduced from 2 hours to 1 hour while maintaining the amount of experience gained.
- The rate at which children's care needs decrease has been reduced by 3.5 times.
- Each soldier's training session will now reduce their rest by 10 points.
- The priest working at the temple will leave work at 6 PM instead of staying without food or drink until 11 PM. The temple will continue to accept visitors until 11 PM as before.
- Any AI attack intent after three days will be deemed outdated and canceled.

[h3]Optimization:[/h3]
- A more optimized method for rendering blood on characters.
- Optimization of melee combat activity, most noticeable during battles with a large number of characters.

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]
- Fixed an issue where the player's lords could start dying of hunger when the city produced insufficient food for everyone.
- Servants will account for resources still in building stockpiles or ripening in the fields to bring them later to the lords in the hall.
- Hall servants will reserve food and medicine for lords who cannot walk.
- Homeless lords who cannot walk will still receive medicine from the hall's stockpile.
- Fixed a bug where AI archers would not engage in combat even if the player attacked their squad.
- Fixed a bug where large tooltips would not fit on the screen and would constantly disappear and reappear at certain GUI scale and resolution combinations.
- Fixed a bug that prevented the Emperor's coronation if the player had only one lord.
- Fixed a bug where a quest to defend against a rebellion against oneself could appear over the player's city.
- Fixed a bug where the player could not make a trade agreement with an AI if the player's king's relationship with the AI king was hostile.
- Fixed a bug where the number of prisoners was not updating in the finance menu.
- Fixed a bug where the "Decline in Trade" modifier stopped working correctly after the first game load.
- Fixed a bug where an AI lord with low loyalty could spontaneously join the player's faction.
- The music in the ending cutscene has been replaced.
- Battle music will now play during manual battles on the global map.
- Pop-up messages about gaining experience during combat will no longer appear.
- Soldiers will no longer receive thoughts about the commander or enemy soldiers fleeing or dying if the enemies are animals.
- The value of resources ripening in the fields will update once an hour.
- After an AI city is destroyed, all its plans to attack other settlements will be canceled.



As always, we welcome your comments, suggestions, and reviews on the game’s page!

Thank you!

Hello everyone,

We are rolling out our weekly patch, which primarily focuses on bug fixes and gameplay improvements.

[h3]New:[/h3]

• Quest to defend the player's village from a bandit attack.
  
• Quest to defend the player's village from an attack by an AI lord faction.
  
• The Inquisition will now travel across the global map to the player's city instead of teleporting to the city entrance as before.
  
• Added the ability for lesser lords to settle abandoned cities.
  
• When hiring soldiers from a bandit camp, they will receive the "Former Bandit" trait.
  
• If a character in rage attacks their mortal enemy, the enemy will use a weapon to defend themselves.
  
• Added an icon and tooltip for the "Shame Mask" trait.
  

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• Weapons will become more lethal against unarmored or unshielded targets.
  
• Traits for minor bruises have been replaced with minor cuts for slashing and stabbing weapons.
  
• Bandits will not attack the player while the "Loving Family" protection is active.
  
• The game will no longer pause if a lord starts a fight with a character in a shame mask.
  
• Beating a character in a shame mask will no longer add the "Fight" sin.
  
• During "Rage" and "Beating" tantrums, a character in a tantrum will not flee from battle or surrender.
  
• The player can no longer declare an attack on an AI city where their troops are present as a support army.
  
• Armor is no longer required for hunting—only weapons are needed.
  
• Buildings that are on fire or have enemy squads in the player's city can no longer be demolished.
  
• Marriage quests will not be created if the only lords in the player's faction without partners are hired free lords.
  
• The "Auto Trade" option is now enabled by default.
  

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed a bug where, during soldier training, the last strike in training could deal real damage.
  
• Fixed a bug where all workers could quit in the player's city.
  
• Fixed a bug where messengers could not be sent (including for automatic or manual trade) if the player's king was on a campaign or insane.
  
• Fixed a bug where the player's and AI's reinforcements could remain in the AI city even after the threat was over.
  
• Fixed a bug where the "Decline in Trade" modifier stopped working correctly after the first game load.
  
• Fixed a bug where an AI lord with low loyalty could spontaneously join the player's faction.
  
• Fixed a bug where a lord could get the desire "Meet a loved one," who was permanently sent to the church, making the desire impossible to fulfill.
  
• Fixed a bug where a lord captured during a battle in a bandit camp was immediately killed instead of creating a ransom quest.
  
• Fixed a bug where the letter informing the player of their exclusion from the city alliance was written as if by the player's king.
  
• Fixed a bug where killed but not burned characters still considered a building their home, which could lead to issues.
  
• Fixed a bug where the player's king, after proclaiming himself Emperor, did not immediately wear the Imperial Crown after the ceremony.
  
• Fixed a bug where an enemy squad going to set a building on fire and getting attacked could walk back to the start of the map before continuing to attack the player.
  
• Fixed a bug where the prophecy hint about a wolf attack could display different numbers of wolves at the first and second warnings.
  
• Fixed a bug where faction banners consisting of a background and details of the same color displayed with artifacts.
  
• Fixed a bug where, when settling an abandoned city, the new faction could choose a banner symbol that was not normally available.
  
• Fixed a bug where a manual battle on the global map would cause a crash when a quest result window was open.
  
• Fixed the functionality of enemy orders to set houses on fire with arrows.
  
• There should no longer be situations where the player's ally or vassal is attacked or neutralized without a visible quest.
  
• After an AI city is destroyed, all of its plans to attack other settlements will be canceled.
  
• If an AI lord who wants to leave a faction changes faction prematurely, the quest will be canceled.
  
• If an army arrives at a target that is already in battle, the encounter between the army and the target will occur after the battle ends. Previously, the army would freeze in place.
  

[h3]GUI Fixes:[/h3]

• Resource quantity numbers in building menus now have shadows for better readability.
  
• The damage tooltip has been made wider.
  
• The tooltip for faction relations has been made wider to fit all content.
  
• Fixed the layout of the lord tooltip—now all traits and skills will fit within the tooltip.
  
• Fixed the layout of the top panel in the character menu and the character tooltip.
  
• Fixed the layout of the city menu—relations that occupy two lines now fit correctly in the menu.
  
• Punctuation marks and brackets will be more accurately moved to a new line.
  

[hr][/hr][h3]We are also continuing to work on the bigger features promised in August, and many of them will be released next week.

Your reviews, as always, are greatly appreciated![/h3]