War of Rights News

[h3]Hello everyone,[/h3]

Today, we’re happy to be bringing you another alpha update to War of Rights! Update 191 primarily features a sizable processor usage optimization pass within the game, resulting in up to a 20% overall FPS gain between update 190 and update 191 if you happen to be bottlenecked by your CPU in your setup.

Other notable features of update 191 include a complete hair and facial hair overhaul for much improved character-details, especially up close. This addition also paves the way for future character specific updates.

Lastly, we’d like to highlight a few new anti troll measures making their way into the game; carried flags and artillery rounds will now drop to the ground if a player disconnects while carrying them, thus making it much harder to disrupt flag bearer or battery play.

The update also includes several quality of life additions, tweaked rainy weather environment visuals as well as numerous bug fixes. For a complete list please read the patch notes below.

[h2]Update 191 Patch Notes[/h2]

• Optimized the CPU usage of the game by a considerable amount:
  
• Benchmark results in update 190: 84 FPS
  
• Benchmark results in update 191: 105 FPS
  
• Overhauled all of the hair and facial hairstyles in the game for much improved details up close.
  

• Disconnecting from the server while carrying a flag will now drop the flag at your last position.
  
• Artillery rounds will now be dropped on the ground when artillerists are killed or disconnected while carrying one.
  

• Knockdowns caused by artillery rounds now result in varying lengths of recovery: the closer to the round going off you are, the longer duration the resulting knockdown will last.
  
• Knockdowns now cause suppression at a varying degree.
  
• Small caliber rounds such as pistol rounds and the buckshot pellets in buck and ball loads are no longer lethal at extreme ranges. Instead, they are lethal up to a distance of roughly 40 yards and will then gradually lose the damage caused per additional yard traveled. The ball contained in buck and ball loads remains lethal (however inaccurate) at long range.
  
• Implemented a potential fix for some of the instances where a user’s level would be falsely shown as 1.
  
• Fixed the wobbling soldier animation issue.
  
• Fixed a glitch caused by picking up a dropped flag while reloading your musket resulting in a ghost flag spawn point on the terrain.
  
• Added the remaining missing weapon images to the class selection and deployment UI menus.
  
• Added support for more letters and symbols in the game chat and name tags.
  
• Optimized the main menu of the game.
  
• Added an additional grass type to the game.
  
• Updated the lingering smoke particle effect and increased its visibility and lifetime for added immersion on the battlefields.
  
• Updated the bullet trail, bullet water impacts and artillery round trail particle effects.
  
• Updates to the R. Miller Tenant house model.
  
• Fixed the broken texture on twigs.
  
• Updated the Mumma graveyard stonewall model.
  
• Several minor fixes to Pry grist mill, Piper barn, R. Miller spring house and Pry barn models.
  
• Updated the model of the Sherrick summer kitchen.
  
• Hand fixes for various artillery animations.
  
• Updates to the visuals of the rainy weather environment: the terrain will now darken much more realistically as it gets wet.
  
• Darkened the name tags of the players that are not within your company to easier be able to tell them apart at a glance. This setting can be disabled in the gameplay options menu.
  
• Coloured the name tags of your Steam friends green in order to be able to easily meet up in-game. We suspect this addition is going to be useful for new players in particular who will now have the chance to be green in more ways than one! This setting can be disabled in the gameplay options menu.
  

That's all for today's update. See you on the fields of glory!

[h3]- The Campfire Games Team[/h3]

[h3]Hello everyone,[/h3]

We’re excited to bring you the 190th alpha update to War of Rights today! With the update comes the end of the grace period of class and rank unlocks tied to the experience level system debuted recently. We’d also like to remind you all that the time to redeem your loyalty bonus is nearing its end, the feature is being removed on the 31st of May. If you are in doubt as to how to redeem your earned experience points, click HERE to read a detailed guide on how to do so.

The main focus of today’s update is a general cleanup of long-time issues present in the alpha, as well as adding some more quality of life additions for a more polished and fun experience for everyone.


[h2]Update 190 Patch Notes[/h2]

• Crowdfunding backer names are now shown within the credits section of the main menu.
  
• Added a “Join Battle” button to the main menu for an easy way to join the most populated server with open slots (locked servers and drill camp mode excluded) without having to enter the server browser.
  
• Updated the in-game player name tags to a new font in order to resolve an issue that would result in flickering name tags.
  
• Updated the saved battle reports to be using the recently added automated overview maps.
  
• General UI cleanup passes in the various menus of the game, resulting in less unsupported characters being present.
  
• Added a preview image of the battle flag tied to the selected regiment/company when selecting the flag bearer of said unit in the regimental/class selection menu.
  
• The text chat now supports more characters.
  
• Fixed the overtime mechanic to match its old, intended, setup. This means that a complete recapture of the point by the team trying to stop overtime is no longer required in order to cancel it. Instead, a short amount of time with the majority of players on the point will be enough to stop it. This in effect, means that overtime as a mechanic will be harder to game as the risk of it getting stopped is considerably greater now.
  
• Artillery has gotten a much needed polish pass, resulting in:
  
  
  • The added ability of being able to move the trail spike while the piece is moved forwards or backwards. This should greatly help in the overall control of the pieces during movement as you can now reliably steer them using the trail spike (or the pole for the limber).
    
  • Fixed elevation screw seat camera behavior glitching out when someone is moving the trail spike at the same time.
    
  • Fixed the elevation screw becoming off-center of the rest of the geometry of the cannon whenever the trail spike is picked up.
    
  • It is now possible to freelook during the sponging/ramming and insertion of rounds.
    
  • Carried artillery rounds are now shown in first person as a visual reminder of which round type you are carrying and why you cannot sprint.
    
  • Holding the sprint key (shift) when carrying a round while at the quicktime movement speed will now put you into double quick instead of doing nothing.
    
  • Artillery pieces now ignore the shot up fence posts in the ground when pushed for easier navigation across destroyed fence lines.
    
• Fixed the long-standing issues with the rifle behavior in third person during the reload animations that would cause it to jitter.
  
• Improved the first person fix bayonet animation.
  
• Added new flags: 20th New York Infantry National and Regimental colors; 52nd New York Infantry National and Regimental colors:
  • Photographic evidence shown above reveals that during the Maryland Campaign, the national flag of the 20th New York Infantry featured a luminary pattern sewn on the canton and the regimental flag was a painted contract flag. For some years, the regimental flag of the "Turner Rifles" has been represented in War of Rights and other Civil War games and mods as yellow silk. Not only did we find no evidence of this regiment bearing a yellow flag, but all surviving contract flags in the New York State Military Museum are blue.
    
  
  • The 52nd New York Infantry’s new national flag replaces a generic placeholder texture. The updated texture is the same historical pattern as the placeholder, however the new texture features an embroidered unit designation matching the regimental flag. The new regimental flag replaces the last of a number of community-provided textures in our collection of flags. This new texture is fully embroidered to match the still extant artifact shown above. This new regimental flag also differs from the old texture in that it features no battle honors, as originally presented to the “Sigel Rifles” and as carried during the Maryland Campaign (all of the regiment's battle honors, which include Antietam, were applied after the campaign). Lastly, the dimensions of the flag more closely match the artifact.
    
  • We owe special thanks to the assistant curator and staff of the New York State Military Museum for their assistance in researching and recreating these flags. For the last four months, the conservators of these treasured artifacts have patiently endured countless phone calls and emails, supplied us images of these and other artifacts, and provided helpful feedback over several drafts of the textures.
    
• Reworked several of the barn roofs to feature wooden shingles, a far more likely, and often documented, roofing material used in the era than metal sheets.
  
• Added randomized splash screens to the game.
  
• Added more Steam achievements.
  
• Possible fix for the weapon locking up when getting knocked down while reloading it.
  

That's all for today's update. See you on the fields of glory!

[h3]- The Campfire Games Team[/h3]

[h3]Hello everyone,[/h3]

Today, we’re happy to be releasing Update 189 featuring a loyalty bonus for every player that has logged playtime hours in War of Rights!

Due to several technical restrictions, the loyalty bonus is redeemable for a limited amount of time. It can be redeemed starting today, the 21st of April and until the 31st of May.

The loyalty bonus can be redeemed via the in-game menu (accessed by pressing the escape key after joining a server).



In order for us to be able to grant you experience points for your logged hours, you will need to make sure that your steam profile is set to public.

This is done via “View my profile”:



Then “Edit Profile”:



Then “Privacy Settings”:



And then lastly setting My Profile and Game Details to “Public” (also make sure that the “Always keep my total playtime private even if users can see my game details” option underneath it is unticked):



When setup correctly, your privacy settings should look like this:



After this is done please allow the steam account servers 1-2 minutes to properly update your settings before trying to redeem your loyalty bonus in-game.



Once redeemed you will be shown your new level as well as the amount of experience points awarded to you:



Click “OK” and enjoy your new level in the game, befitting someone of your experience!

While the main focus of today’s update is that of the introduction of the loyalty bonus system, update 189 includes a handful of additional fixes and additions:

[h2]Update 189 Patch Notes[/h2]

• Fixed a rare edgecase where the flagpole of Conquest/Contention could get stuck in an uncapturable state.
  
• Player names on the TAB menu no longer get cut off, leaving out half letters.
  
• Tweaked the rain environmental visuals in order to make characters less slimy.
  
• Fixed the rain effects not blending properly between a wet and dry environment.
  
• Fixed the floaty blood particle triggering above water bodies.
  
• Minor updates to the Roulette Farm model.
  
• Updated the Pry Farm stonewall model.
  

That’s all we have for now. We look forward to be seeing you on the fields of glory!

[h3]- The Campfire Games Team[/h3]

[h3]Hello everyone,[/h3]
We received a lot of strong feedback from the community regarding the level system after we rolled out Update 188. Most of the negative feedback we received was about the lack of a reward for hours previously played. While we thought that starting all players on a level playing field with a grace period would be more enjoyable, we now understand that this is not how the community feels, and we hear you. As a result we have decided to issue a loyalty bonus for our veterans.

[h2]Loyalty Bonus[/h2]
To ensure that the loyalty bonus for veteran players is distributed fairly, we have calculated the average in-game playtime against hours played. As a result, we will issue approximately 1600 XP for every hour played. The loyalty bonus will be available to anyone who has purchased and played the game before the release of Update 188. However, players with private Steam profiles will need to temporarily make their profiles public to retrieve their rewards. This is due to technical limitations imposed on us by Steam, and unfortunately, there is no way around this. It is the best compromise we could achieve.

We expect the loyalty bonus to go live within the next week or two.

The above is a breakdown of the unlocks as well as the experience required to level up one time within each level bracket (symbolized by its own unique wreath).

[h2]Balance Tweaks & Fixes[/h2]
We have also released a potential fix for the issue with experience not saving correctly. However, we are still in the process of migrating our back-end away from Steam for a more secure and reliable system.

Finally, we have already implemented several balancing changes to the experience earned in a match:

• Increase the base rate of experience gain by 90%.
  
• Reduce the formation bonus from 50% to 25% to make it more consistent with skirmishing and reduce the impact on artillery players.
  
• Lift the staging zone restriction on XP gain for artillerists.
  
• Add the option for server owners to disable progression restrictions for passworded events, but at the cost of disabling experience payouts.
  
• Tweaks to Hookers Push, Piper Farm & Pry Ford staging zones in order to better facilitate the new xp system.
  

Going forward, we will continue to make adjustments to ensure the experience system is fair and just for both veteran and new players alike.

[h3]- The Campfire Games Team[/h3]

[h3]UPDATE:[/h3] Thank you all for your highly vocal feedback, we have taken your suggestions into consideration and will be implementing the following soon:

-Fix the experience-saving issue.
- Give veteran players with a long history a proportionate amount of initial experience by backdating.
- Increase the base rate of experience gain by 90%.
- Reduce the formation bonus from 50% to 25% to make it more consistent with skirmishing and reduce the impact on artillery players.
- Lift the staging zone restriction on XP gain for artillerists.
- Add the option for server owners to disable progression restrictions for passworded events, but at the cost of disabling experience payouts.

[h3]Hello everyone,[/h3]

Today, we’re pleased to be releasing Update 188: “Veterancy” for War of Rights!

This update brings exciting new features that allow players to track their progress across multiple matches and provides a more rewarding experience by unlocking ranks and roles that match their proficiency level.

Your earned experience, in the form of a growing wreath, will be prominently displayed alongside your name, providing a clear indication of your level of expertise to other players. This feature will make it easier to establish a quick overview of the competency of your fellow comrades when coordinating strategies on the battlefield.



NOTE: New and existing players will have a 30-day grace period starting from today to reach the required experience level to play their preferred soldier classes. After this period, class restrictions will be enforced. However, rank restrictions will be in place starting today. We hope this resolves some long standing disputes with Officer and NCO selections in relation to new players trying to lead without much grasp of the mechanics of the game.



While the various class unlocks are relatively quick and easy to get, the individual ranks of said classes are not. From today, the in-game rank of the NCO and officer standing in front of you will be directly tied to the amount of experience levels gained by said individual. Gone are the days of Sergeant Major or Colonel spam.



To ensure a fair and equal playing field moving forward, we have opted not to reward initial experience based on playtime or time of purchase. This decision means that all players will start at the same experience level and have an equal opportunity to progress through the levels and ranks.

When designing the experience system, we were careful not to have its introduction cause a sudden change in the way players behave. Unlike in other games where experience points are earned by killing and capturing, such actions do not grant experience in War of Rights. Instead, we focus on the time spent being "In Formation" or "Skirmishing" while outside of the spawn area, as this is what matters most in the game. We also added a minor experience gain for being "Out of Line", although this provides a negligible amount. We may expand this in future subject to community feedback. The experience points are rewarded at the end of a match only, so be sure to stick around until the round has finished!

We are absolutely thrilled to introduce this new mechanic to War of Rights. It's a bold step outside the norm in our game design, and we are eager to hear what the community thinks about the Veterancy update. We want to make sure that the system, and any future changes, stay true to the War of Rights experience that we all cherish. In the coming weeks, we'd love to hear from you about how, or if, you'd like to see the system expanded to include other types of rewards.

[h2]Update 188 Patch Notes[/h2]

• Added an experience-based level system to the game featuring class & rank unlocks and updated player nametags.
  
• Rewrote the achievement/stat integration.
  
• Added new steam achievements.
  
• Potentially fixed the Skirmish overtime game mechanic not working as intended.
  
• Overhauled the Piper Cave house model.
  
• Made tweaks to the rainy weather in order to make puddles more clearly visible.
  
• Changed the 7-rivet bayonet scabbard into the period correct 2-rivet one.
  
• Removed the blue trouser option from the 3rd Arkansas customization in order to lessen the amount of uniform trolling.
  
• Added a left-sided feather for the Hardee hat.
  
• The LeMat revolver is now only available for Confederate Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels.
  
• Minor Harpers Ferry level polish work.
  

That's all for now, we look forward to be hearing your feedback about the new experience system!

[h3]- The Campfire Games Team[/h3]