Bulwark Evolution: Falconeer Chronicles News

Hello everyone - it has been a hell of a week, with our first community roundup and 3 patches culminating in Wednesdays first 'Large' update, and as we've hinted at a few times now there is PLENTY more to come, and reasons to be excited about the future of Bulwark.

Today I'd like to share with you the currently planned roadmap for what we are going to add to the game, spanning at very least the next year of development, before we begin though, a little look at the launch and what Bulwark means for me.

I have dedicated three years of my life to 'Bulwark,' and it is the incredible support of this community from the announcement, all the way through the evolving demo that has fuelled my journey every step of the way. The launch has surpassed my expectations, and I am delighted to pledge my commitment to furthering my work with Wired Productions on the game, inspired by the passion of you. My journey has been shaped by the collaborative spirit of our players, whose feedback and aspirations have guided the evolution of the game – it has been a spectacular launch, and we’re only just getting started.

So let's take a look at the Roadmap, and I'll break down what is included in the first two months in a little more detail :



The first two updates consist of feedback and requests from the community on launch for more ways to interact with the game world and its inhabitants, as well as providing additional challenges and combat scenarios for players to tackle - let's take a look at what is coming this month!

[h3]April - Trade, Tribute and Spoils Update[/h3]
An update that allows players additional ways to secure and spend resources and interact with settlements in the Ursee which includes :

3 new captains
Specialised in trading with other factions and then providing buffs on the output.

3 new diplomacy events.

• Request Tribute (angry factions will reduce their unrest if you pay tribute)
  
• Demand Tribute (a peace offering but at a price for the settlement)
  
• Offer Tribute (a peace offering to other settlements)
  

Spoils
After each victorious combat or certain world encounters players will receive spoils . Spoils are collected in the inventory and can be used to make a new extractor or repair your battlegroup. Spoils may also be gained from certain world events.

This is likely to be be released towards the end of the month, not pinning a specific date yet (after all, still plenty of patches and bug fixing and feedback to process too!) But as soon as I can see a suitable lock in date - you'll be the first to know.

Following this, we'll look at giving you some more challenges in May, and some new ways to tackle them...

[h3]May - Naval Command Update[/h3]

The Naval Command Update adds the ability to create an independent naval task force of battleships and give it a destination independently of your surveyor taskforce - whilst also allowing players to declare a 'Total War' scenario.

The central core of this is a unique harbour, the Naval Command harbour to which you can assign up to three combat captains who will execute on your orders - it includes :

1 unique harbour
The Naval Command HQ, that comes with mechanics to set a destination for your naval task force.

4 new carrier ships
These come equipped with their own aerial escorts to protect the Naval task force from threats.

3 new naval events

• Blockade (factions with high unrest might blockade an area near you, restricting access to trade routes.
  
• Naval Fortress (an enemy takes up a fortified location at a strategic location)
  
• Naval Manoeuvres (an enemy fleet takes up station at a strategic location)
  

Total War Scenario
All out war comes to the Ursee, everyone is hostile, diplomacy holds no sway here - shore up your defences - utilise you new naval task force and attempt to strategically take out blockades, fortresses and raids as you attempt to expand your settlements.

[h3]The Future[/h3]

This is only just the start of the continuing evolution of Bulwark, some of these concepts born from your feedback and requests, some of it long term additions that I've wanted to add to the game for a while. Whilst I'd love to break down every single update on the list (and show you the rest!) I feel like it's always fun to have a couple of unanswered questions on the horizon. What is a Mad Lector? What kind of modding will be supported? (This ones a bigger question I'm still figuring out at the moment, more on that later).

Don't take this as the ONLY updates coming though - as I'm sure you're all aware of with Bulwark - both with my own way of working and coming up with ideas, and of course interpreting your feedback, there is always the chance that other things not mentioned now could find their way into life!

Anyway - that's all for now, please keep your reviews and suggestions and feedback coming - tell your friends about the game and share your creations, and I'll be confirming the date for the first update on the roadmap very soon.

Bye!

Hello Surveyors!

It has been 9 days already since you began to build your settlements in the Great Ursee, and we've been taking your bug reports and getting some early patches in (the latest which went life yesterday if you missed it ) and making notes about what you like about the game, and what you would think would make it even better (More on this INCREDIBLY soon)

We've also been keeping an eye on all of your creations too, from epic map spanning constructions set to Daft Punk, to wallpaper worthy screenshots (and would you believe one particularly pacifist minded discord user even modded the game to allow all commanders to have a neutral allegiance, essentially unifying the Great Ursee).

It's been overwhelming seeing everyone fall in love with the Chaotic Creativity of Bulwark, so we've collected some of the things that have made us laugh, smile and applaud at your efforts.

[h3] Around The Wor... Ursee [/h3]

Youtuber 'FearTheViking', asked the question nobody else thought to pose (except one INCREDIBLY dedicated QA member here during development), "What if I built in one continuous structure across the entirety of the map?"

The results speak for themselves, with a long chain of bridges linking the two furthest landmarks on the map, and crossing the mighty maw itself - interrupted with suitable clustered settlements on anything that would house a population - all synched to the head bopping beats of Daft Punk and (thankfully) sped up.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Cheers for your efforts Viking, (and for the earworm)

[h3]Let's do the Time Lapse again [/h3]

One of the most satisfying features in Bulwark (besides, y'know - watching the little towers get LARGE) is the time lapse feature you can use in photo mode - and seeing creator 'MaddMilliner' discover it for themselves live was a joy unto itself.

Time Lapse Short

Also, this is totally your reminder to go and do this on your biggest creations for that good Dopamine!

[h3]Peace Out[/h3]

The Ursee is a tough and at times downright hostile place to try and rebuild a population. But that doesn't mean there aren't moments of peace to be found amongst the strife! If you've found yourself calmly watching a giant whale breaking the waves during sunset as the clouds disperse and your tower flags billow gently in the wind - then you'll know what we mean!

Bulwark Zen

Creator 'Dracsfantastic' certainly understood the assignment, and after a lengthy first lets play session stream they took it upon themselves to put a little short together celebrating the peaceful moments between all the raiding parties and resource gathering.

[h3]Worth a Thousand Words[/h3]

You know what they say about pictures - you should take them as often as possible and share them where we can see them on our socials!
The photo mode built into Bulwark allows for some spectacular shots (especially when you can control the pass age of time, time of day, depth and all those other fun little things).

We've collected a handful of shots here taken from virtual photographers and hobbyist gamers from Tomas home in the Netherlands, China, and all over the rest of the world for your viewing pleasure.


(From Tegank)




(submitted via Arcus)


(From Cyber2084)


(From TheEpicDude)




(From The Bulwark Discord)






(From GeekNamedMike)

Alright, that's enough for now - but PLEASE continue to submit your creations at our socials or discords all over the internet, we are watching and want to share your passion and creativity with the world - and please remember to drop a follow on any of the linked channels and creator accounts tagged above to let them know you appreciate their efforts as much as we do!

We'll be gathering and sharing these community round ups regularly as we find your creations - so whether it's fan art, live streams, clips from streams using the twitch integration, screenshots, impressive builds / artistic shots - or simply a youtube video sharing your own unique settlement - be sure to upload and tag us across the internet where possible on the links below.

As Tomas hinted at in yesterdays patch notes, there's plenty of reason to be very excited about the future of Bulwark, which we'll share very soon - but until then - thank you for a fantastic launch week! We can't wait to see what you do next :)

Have a great week!

- Gary from Wired Productions

Wired Facebook | Wired Twitter | Wired Youtube | Wired Discord | Wired Instagram | Wired Twitch | Wired Tiktok | Wired Instagram

Hey everyone,

Today I have released Patch #3 , and it's a big one.

This is more or less a combined patch that fixes some bugs and reported issues, it rebalances things a bit and changes some mechanics and guidance to be clearer. These range from more resource capacity at wood sites, a lot more defending units on other faction settlements and stuff that was confusing folks.

The little red minus number above your command tower for instance is gone, replaced by a more elegant set of red bars atop a tower's resource situation in the bottom left overlay window. Less confusion , less urgency.

These are the type of changes in this patch, this also includes a few new guidance items, such as a spot for tips 'n tricks during the pause menu and some improvements to the tutorial end screen to point folks in the right direction.

Another thing to note is that the soultree now shows you the commanders and captains greyed out that you haven't unlocked yet. This so new players get a sense of what they can unlock over time.
This patch is more or less all the low hanging fruit from reading all the user reviews and chatting with you on discord. The stuff that could be handled in the first week as it were.

But more content is coming and I've tried to move forward on the roadmap the items most requested in the new content and mechanics category, but more on that (and sharing some of the spectacular creations you have all made) later this week.

Enjoy this patch, those of you that tried the beta patch that will now feature new updates and fixes as they get done. You can still try that out but it's always at a risk of beta testing something fresh.

Cheerio,
Tomas

[h2]Patch Content [/h2]

[h3]Guidance:[/h3]

• Added text at the end of the tutorial end-screen to include prompts about extractors and the soultree.
  
• Added a tips and tricks section to the pause menu, which will be updated over time.
  
• Rearranged the Map/Soultree/Inventory menus to be more visible.
  
• Soultree button added to the pause menu.
  
• Inventory button added to the pause menu.
  
• The Soultree now shows locked Captains and Commanders.
  
• Freebuild now has a spoken intro.
  
• When an outpost or extractor is targeted by the enemy, a warning is given.
  
  

[h3]Features:
[/h3]

• Moved the command tower worker cost from above the towers to within the building overview UI.
  
• The max amount of tower floors in Freebuild is now always 20.
  
• If a faction is fully defeated, no more random combat events or big raids are spawned from them.
  
• Even if a Captain is unhappy with the dominant faction, he will still accept trade routes that connect to settlements of his own faction.
  
• Leaders can only be assigned if their faction is the dominant faction unless they're near an embassy.
  
• Added additional map markers to the pool for giant settlements.
  

[h3]Balancing:[/h3]

• Gun towers now have more hit points.
  
• Improved the range and safety impact of the lighthouse which now also affects endpoint harbors.
  
• Settlement defending parties have been buffed significantly with more units.
  
• Outposts and extractor hit points have been increased.
  
• Top level raids have increased in strength.
  
• Added more refugee encounters.
  
• Most resource areas now have a little more supply and range, especially wood.
  
• Hostile raid scenario setting now also controls shipping raids.
  
  

[h3]Bugs:[/h3]

• Fixed when you save during the loss of a surveyor, you will now get a new one at load.
  
• Fixed when you try to assign Captains during the loss of a surveyor, the menu won't lock.
  
• Fixed the menu overlap on max UI scale.
  
• Commanders now don't infinitely spawn units if your battlegroup reaches its cap.
  
• Faction influence per building now correctly appears in the flow for command towers, harbors and outposts.
  
• The Bannerless capital airship now has a proper name.
  
• Definately have now removed the Discord sound (updated the wrong file previously).
  
• Prevented a lone null-ref if the surveyor crashed.
  
• Removed all achievement error logs completely.
  
• When an outpost or extractor is destroyed by the enemy, it's connected walkways are now also destroyed.
  
• You can no longer wipe the tutorial progress even if you haven't done anything.
  
• Removing a mawspring or Oberon's gate will no longer grant you an outpost in your inventory.
  
• Prevented an exploit which allowed you to start with many units.
  
• Minimal postprocessing setting now turns off bloom.
  
• Fixed selecting fast travel on the map when over another clickable item would prevent the button from being used.
  
• 10 Killcount achievement updated so it doesn't unlock at 50.
  

Hey Everybody,

I thought I would go into greater detail about Soul-Trees, the Tech trees within Bulwark.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

If you haven't jumped in to Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles yet. Now is the time as we have a demo and you can also save 10% off the price.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/290100/Bulwark_Falconeer_Chronicles/