Balancing Patch 7 - July 2021

Originally posted by author

Happy Tuesday Vikings!

Today, we’re releasing a yet another MASSIVE balance patch that brings a plethora of changes to Northgard and each of the clans that inhabit these mysterious lands.

With this update, we've made a number of changes and additions, heavily balancing the clans based on your wonderful feedback over the last few months and fixed a multitude of issues that have been reported in the time since our last major update!

You can find the whole list of what’s been addressed below!

Recipe

• Fish fillets :
  
  • +1 month cost: 200 vegetables 200 fishes
    
  • Mining / Forging Bonus 25% / 50% / 75% / 100% => 50% / 75% / 100% / 125%

Fishes were accumulating too much. We want you to use meals other than Venison & Ratatouille and Meat Stew.



Prices of meals in Food is increased depending on the number of clan you share the meal with:

• 1 clan : population x 2 food
  
• 2 clans : population x4 => x 6 food
  
• 3 clans : population x 6 food
  
• 4 clans : population x 8 food
  

Clan's Description

Special Squirrel Win Condition → Special Fame Victory for the clan of the Squirrel is removed and replaced with a new Fame 1500.



Fame 200 - A Helping Hand

( +5 Fame per player affected by a meal)



Fame 500 - Plot of the Thrones

You gain Fame based on your extra population compared to your most populous opponent. Arrival of new villagers increases by 5% every 100 Fame.

Increased amount of Fame earned from extra population based on your most populous opponent.



Fame 1500 (3rd level) - Most Beautiful Banquet

• Unlock a specific new recipe at the Stove
  
• 1.000 Meat, 1.000 Fish, 1.000 Vegetables, 1.000 Mushrooms
  
• It takes 3 months to prepare
  
• While preparing this recipe, all other recipes are not available
  
• Every clan is notified and invited at the great Banquet
  
• When the preparation is complete, the game is won
  

Allowing or not Fame Victory have no more relations with Special Squirrel Win Condition.



Rumor-mongering

No other clan can befriend any neutral faction which has become your ally. This faction gains +20% defense against all your enemies. It also becomes more aggressive towards them (this also affects Jötnars).

If neutral factions are befriended and you have Rumor Mongering, they will attack as soon as possible.

Your units gain Cloaked within these factions' territories.




Economics

You gain +4 krowns during meals and all meals gain +2 Happiness (Only Happiness bonus is shared with ally clans)




Relic Yggdrasil's Root

The chances of being disturbed are reduced.

In some cases we saw that the discord effect of Eldritch zones turning enemy units against one another was too efficient, so we reduced its defensive power slightly.








Fame 500 - Oskoreia

Oskoreia ability:

• Cast time : 0 => 1.5 sec
  
• Oskoreia spirits disappear 10% faster
  

Relic : Gleipnir

The Trap no longer triggers the instant the player clicks on the skill.

It triggers in 2 steps : First, the trap appears on the area with no effect, then after 3s the trap inflicts damage.

It lets the enemy react and leave the zone to decrease the effects on its army.



Sharp Eyes

You can now use Lynx with Sharp Eyes like Scouts.



Hunting paths

Double arrows:

• 30% => 20% damage on the second arrow.
  

Ox is a late game clan, but it was a bit off the curve compared to other clans: too weak in early game and too strong late game. We increased early game power and reduced late game power.


Torfin

Attack power 15 => 14



Torfin's Throne

Torfin's Throne now produces +2 Lore when Torfin is not summoned.



Military Training

Military units in territory produce military XP.

Upgrade cost for Training Camps -50% => -30%



Ferocious Charge

Warriors gain +50% => +30% damage on a charge attack.







The Clan of the Kraken was too map generation dependent and we wanted to give it more control.


Starting Bonuses

Fresh fish tech is removed and become a starting bonus

+20% fishermen production.



Valkyrie Units

Valkyries produce +1 Happiness.

Valkyries regenerate Health near Horgr.



Knowledge From Beyond

Trade routes with neutral factions +20% krowns and relationships.



Foresight replaces Medicine => Colonization



Valhalla’s reinforcement - replaces Legendary Hero

You will have 1 Valkyrie at your Town Hall and you can control +1 Valkyrie. Valkyries also regenerate Health on High Tides tiles and outside combat. Passive regeneration increases by 100%.



Wyrd - High Tides

Now makes fish appear in lakes if there are none.



Army of the Dead (new conquest bonus)

No more Happiness penalty when specter warriors are in your territory.







We’ve heard that Fame 200 Craftsmen became less impactful. We buffed it.


Fame 200 - Craftsmen

Improved tools for civilians get an additional +5% => +10% production bonus.

Selling Stone or Iron earns +20% krowns. Allies receive double resources.







The relic was weak, we improved it.


Skull of Hrungnir

Zombie Giant has its move speed increased.

Zombie Giant costs 200 Food 100 krowns => 200 Food







The Clan of the Snake is complicated to balance. We are reinforcing Skirmishers to encourage some early-game interactions.


Skirmishers

Dodge +10%

The way the dodge is effective has been overhauled.



Black Market

Trading with neutral factions no longer reduces relations with them.



Relic Gungnir

All military units Dodge + 10%

Unlocks the Stealth ability for all your military units.

Stealth : Can’t be targeted by Watch Towers for 5s until attacking it







Majority of complaints for this clan were about the weak Gullinbursti relic. “Pay food to get food”, we changed that and gave a bit of control over the Giant Boar.


Bartering

Trade routes with neutral Factions +20% krowns and relations +1 happiness per trade route.



Osmosis replaces Trading Caravan Negotiation



Relic Mask of Gullinbursti

+10 Food (even if the Giant Boar is not summoned)

Reveals all forests.

Pay 200 Food Lore to summon one non controllable Giant Boar.

Giant Boar is not controllable while in combat.







Relic was a bit too strong, so we’ve changed the way it works to avoid the perma freeze.


Relic Scabbard of Gram

Your Warchief wields the sword Gram. Enemies hit by Gram are frozen, along with the area around them. Gives +10% attack +10% defense to shield maiden.

Apply Chilling Aura : freeze enemies hit and adjacent and apply penalties:

• -15% attack speed
  
• -15% move speed
  
• effect lasts 2s
  → 5s cooldown

Kaija

When on a tile with lake fishes (neutral or ally territory), Kaija regenerates Health and produces +2 Food.







Very strong in rush builds, good everywhere with a strong economy, the Clan of the Stag was more powerful than all the other clans in Northgard.


Value of the Great Deeds

Skalds produce 1.5 krown (+2 when upgraded)

Skalds tools are free and -50% forge time



Food Preservation

+3 Food for each Silo (+5 if upgraded)

+1 => +0.5 Happiness per silo (+1 if upgraded).



Fame 200

Gain +150 Food +150 Wood +150 Krowns +75 Lore +10 Stones

You gain +50 Food, Wood and Krowns, +25 Lore and +5 Stones for each completed year, and again at the start of every subsequent year.







The Clan of the Raven is very dependent on beach tiles and thus map generation. We tried to give the clan more control by reducing this dependence. We also redesigned Mercenaries to make them more central to the Clan identity and rebalance their impact, which was too strong against beginner players and too weak against experienced ones.


Negotiators (replace Shipbuilding instead of Mining Efficiency)

Unlock the lighthouse.

Gain +2 Kröwns production and 10% Commercial Influence.

Increases Sailors’ resource production by 20%.



Mercenaries from Homeland ( Fame 200)

You can hire Mercenaries from your Harbor and send them to raid coastal areas without a Town Hall on it. Allow to trade with your Homeland at better rates.

+3 Villagers, +3 pop max, +1 happiness

Upgrades for your raids are available at the forge.



Sea Supremacy ( Fame 500)

RavenPort can hire mercenaries for krowns

You can send your Mercenaries to coastal zones with a Town Hall.

More upgrades for your raids are available at the forge. You can assign 3 more Sailors in your Harbor with a Lighthouse.



New upgrades availables in the Forge

Upgrades available in the Forge at Fame 200 →

• More Mercenaries : Add 2 mercenaries to the raid.
  
• Better Preparation: Reduce the time it takes to recruit by 1 month
  

Upgrades available in the Forge at Fame 500 →

• You can upgrade your mercenaries at the Forge
  
• Up to 3 times for 2 more mercenaries per Raid and a maximum of 8 mercenaries per Raid
  
• Better Preparation: Reduces the time it takes for Mercenaries to approach the coast 1 month
  
• Fire Javelins: The mercenaries fleet throws fire javelins that damage and burn the zone’s buildings.
  

Mercenary unit

Attack power : 10 => 8

Mercenary tool forge upgrade : +20% projectile defense +40% Attack power.







Lots of changes to the Goat. We want to give him back his identity.


Clan description

Goat units get -20% military XP



Fame 500

You gain 1 free feast per year. Your Defense Towers gain 25% resistance when feasting.



Amenities

Costs 80% => 50% less to develop a zone.

Periodically, a sheepfold containing 2 sheeps makes a new sheep appear.



Industrious

Upgraded food-producing buildings and brewery have 4 slots instead of 3.



Barricades removed

Civils +20% defense per building in the zone



Wool trade replaces Erudition

Sheep in Sheepfold earn +0.5 krowns

Sheep can be sacrificed for 40 krowns



Food Trade

Trading food earn +50% krowns

+50% Relationship with Jotunn








Veiled Threats

Trade Routes +50% => +75% if you have a Berserker,

+100% for trade route in the same tile as Berserker

After Berserker died at least once, -50% krowns costs and no Iron to recruit him again.












Mining Efficiency

Miners extract ore from deposits 50 => 30% faster.



Wyvern projectiles

Wyvern projectiles’ impact is still reduced by projectile resistance and can be dodged.

Wyvern projectiles make splash damages that can’t be avoided or dodged

Every target damaged by splash damages becomes burnt and suffers burn damages over time.



Wounded units

A wounded unit suffers 20% production penalty

A unit is wounded only if it goes under 75% HP

A unit stays wounded until it reaches 100% Health

Adding a white bar to the Health bar to see when your units will be wounded.



Neutral Factions

The conditions and the turn over that allow Myrkalfar attacks are reworked to make them more regular and more fair.

Relationships increase time no longer scales with teamsize.

Myrkalfar and Kobold no longer spawn indefinitely



Jotunns

Eradicating the Jotunns faction give 150 Fame => 100 Fame



AI improved

Less Warchief and armies suicides

We’ve corrected a bug that makes Warchief abnormally recruited too soon



Port and Longship Dock - (Quality of Life)

When assigning a sailor, the raid starts directly ( Lore selected by default)



Monster Slayer (for every clan)

+10% attack power vs Dragonkin, +30% attack power vs other mystical creatures

+50% XP from mystical creatures



Expeditions

You can now claim rewards for completed achievements.



Scripting

Added the VMealSquirrel victory condition for scripting (to disable the squirrel victory)



Others changes

Townhall can now be hit by Mjöllnir and Fire javelins, and it can burn.

It’s now possible to copy / paste in text zones












Minimap

New buttons to filter icons

• Food
  
• Lore
  
• Stone / Iron
  
• Wolf / Draugr Camps
  
• Special / Fame
  

Build menu

Add a little icon to show which resources are mainly produced by each building.





Expeditions

The weekly completion reset time/day now remains visible once you completed all weeklies












Alternate team Spawn

Same teams are scattered across the map.



Free Teams

Can’t be combined with Balanced games, Alternate Team Spawn games and Ranked games. Players can freely build teams











New skins :

Signy Ceremonial




Signy Brutal




Valkyrie Ceremonial




Norn Brutal




Dragonkin Ceremonial (man)




Dragonkin Ceremonial (woman)




Dragonkin Brutal (woman)




Dragonkin Brutal (man)










Fixed several performance issues with Torfin’s ram ability. Please report any issues.

Fixed several UI issues

Silos now raise notifications when building is complete

Torfin’s Ancient Battleground can not longer spawn on poisonous swamp

Fixed special rule from “The Cursed” conquest mission

Fixed relic Gefjun’s bar : Required happiness for population wasn’t reduced

Fixed “negative” life bar for Vedrfolnirs in Story Mode

Remaining time before next ranked season is displayed

Fixed Bodyguard visualisation.

Fixed several crashing issues.

Fixed Eldthurs stuck in Story Mode

Fixed Horse fame 500 deposit which was giving 29 iron or stone instead of 30.

ESC key now works in the editor with an active brush

Mythical Lure no longer displays hunter icons in the tooltip.

Fixed the sword of Odin in conquest. Forge button was disappearing.

Fixed Sharp eye cursor issue

Fixed blocked Lynxes after Sharp eye being used.

Fixed no Sheepfold limit exploit

In the editor, changing tile elevation no longer regenerate map and no longer override changes on the terrain texture

You can no longer exceed Sheepfold limit by using the transfer zone feature. If you have already reached the limit, the sheepfold from the transferred zone will be destroyed.

Military XP gain for expedition quests are no longer multiplied by 10

Balanced map generation improved

Originally posted by author

As always, thank you all so much for your support and feedback these last few months.
Keep the feedback and suggestions coming, stay awesome and we’ll see you all out there in Northgard!

- Shiro Games