Northgard News

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Originally posted by author

Hey Vikings!

Sword & Solace, addresses numerous aspects of the game, with a particular focus on UI, Multiplayer experience, Military aspects of the game, and clan balancing.

We would like to kick off this patch note by saying a big thank you on behalf of all the Northgard team to those of you that took the time to take part in our very first Open Beta!

Here is a quick introduction as to why we have made some of the changes.


UI

Northgard menus had some inconsistencies regarding the way information and choices were presented depending on the game modes.

This prevented certain things such as, but not limited to: playing in Extreme difficulty on a classic map, playing in co-op with an AI clan in single player mode and being able to search the existing lobbies whilst being in one.

The aim of this version of the UI is to unify the different options and elements of the different game modes, thus adding new game options and providing the player with complementary information about those options.


Multiplayer

Here are the first steps towards, what we hope, will be a fairer system that will distribute players more evenly.

We are now using the full scale of our GP system, which means that you will be able to go from 0 GP to 1000+ GP, and no longer get stuck in your progression after hitting 400GP.

As we have previously stated, this is the first iteration of our new multiplayer & GP system. Improving it further will take time, experimentation, and cooperation.


Military

Previously, strategic choices offered by the military path weren’t all as viable from a competitive point of view.

Thanks to player feedback, we decided to shuffle things around and give you the possibility to choose a Military Path, much earlier on in a game, that best suits you, or your clan's playstyle.

We know that forging a weapon is a big investment, so we decided to reduce the cost allowing players to forge more than one weapon.

We changed the weapons forge effects for almost all the units and they will all gain an ability now (warriors are no longer the only cool kids on the block!).

Read on to find out more…

Global

More contextual information about the different game options and their impact on the games.


Profile

Player rank is now displayed on the main menu, and both profile and multiplayer rank can be accessed from this new entry display.





Single Player

New Custom Mode - allow for more customization options, such as setting each AI difficulty level, and coop with and/or against AI clans.


Multiplayer

It is now possible to check the list of existing lobbies after creating/joining one.

You can now filter games based on all the settings of a multiplayer game.


Clan Selection

Animated backgrounds for each one of the different clans!

More information about the unique aspects and overview of each clan.





Conquest

Completed Conquest clan icon now also indicates the highest level of difficulty at which the Conquest has been completed.


Other minor adjustments








A new tier has been added between Gold and Rimsteel: Gemstone.

We have reworked how GP is calculated at the end of the game.

All players will start this new season at 300 GP.

In the first 10 games, you will win or lose more GPs, this means that you should reach a rank closer to your skill level faster.

At the end of future seasons, GP will be recalculated based on the player rank in the previous season.





New tier ranges





You will only be able to enter in a lobby if you are in the same GP range as the host. GP range is currently set to 150 GP difference.

Family share accounts are no longer able to play ranked games.

As we have previously stated, this is the first iteration of our new multiplayer & GP system. Improving it further will take time, experimentation, and cooperation.









Leadership Path




Bodyguard: 50 Military XP

Your Warchief can recruit a Bodyguard.

This unit will taunt nearby enemies in order to protect your Warchief.

Your warchief produces Military XP for each military unit in the same zone (10 max)

The cooldown to recruit a Bodyguard has been reduced to 3 months.


Armed Wing of the Clan: 500 Military XP

Your warchief benefits from all weapons forged.


First Line of Defense: 1500 Military XP

Your chief gives a 10% defense bonus for all your units in the zone.


Rally: 3000 Military XP

Your Warchief can use the Rally ability: Your military units gain 30% attack speed and movement speed bonus for 5 sec.




Guardian Path




Oversight:50 Military XP

Access to a new building: Watch Tower.

Watch Tower: Scouts nearby zones and produces Military XP. Their upkeep is less expensive than Defense Towers.


Call To Arms: 500 Military XP

Call to Arms is a passive ability placed on your Town Hall. Every six months, the homeland sends you Militias in order to help you defend your territory.

The militia is a defensive military unit that cannot leave allied territory.

You can have a maximum of 4 Militia in your territory.


Suppressing Fire: 1500 Military XP

You gain a free Watch Tower upgrade each year.

Human units within a zone that contains an allied Watch Tower or Defense Tower gain +10% defense.

Each Watch Tower adds +1 to your maximum warband (+2 if upgraded).


Hold The Line: 3000 Military XP

You can place spike walls in a zone that will deal damage when an enemy tries to engage.




Legions Path




Military Base: 50 Military XP

Your Warchief can recruit a Bodyguard.

When there is more than 1 military building in a zone, they produce Military XP.

Reduce the cost of military buildings by 20%.


War Effort: 500 Military XP

Reduce the base cost of military units by 25% (does not affect the cost per Warband).


Veteran: 1500 Military XP

Bonuses from upgraded military buildings are 50% more powerful.


Call of Valhalla: 3000 Military XP

While in the Battleground zone your units have 30% attack power and attack speed bonus.

Battleground zone: In a zone where 10 clan units die, the zone becomes a battleground. You have 10% bonus Military XP.




General Changes

Weapon cost

50 Krowns & 10 -> 5 Iron, takes 6 -> 3 months to forge.


Weapons

We removed all the stats from the forge, now if you want to improve it you have to upgrade camps (except Mercenary).




Warrior

Charge -> Increases run speed when the engaged target is close enough and applies Breached Armor (10% less defense) on the first hit.


Shield Bearer

Shield Wall -> When entering a zone with enemies, this unit will have 40% bonus defense during 5 seconds.


Tracker

Feral Instinct -> When Trackers kill an enemy, they have a 20% chance (50% against animals) to summon their spirit animal.


Axe Thrower

Double Attack -> The second attack of this unit is quicker.


Skirmisher, Dragonkin, Valkyrie, Shamans, and Mercenary are unchanged.



With the removal of stats from the weapon improvements, some units were at a disadvantage, such as the Trackers and Axe Throwers (due to their range) so we adjusted them accordingly.


Axe Thrower

Their range has been greatly increased.


Tracker

Their range has been greatly increased and their attack by 15%


Bodyguard

Increase their health by 10%


Shield Bearer

Increase their defense by 1 and their projectile resistance by 10%



Unit recruitment cost

The cost of recruiting units has changed.

Rather than each unit recruitment costing +6 more Krowns for each military unit you already own, the cost increases by +6 for each military unit of the same type, and only by +3 for each military units of a different types. Allowing for a more diverse warband at a reduced cost.










Horse was too spawn dependent and only had one playstyle, going for Excavation -> QoL then full mid tree. We tried to change this by giving the clan more flexibility, allowing for other playstyles.





Starting Bonuses

Villagers build and repair 30% faster -> Eitria & Brok can build, repair, mine, and forge 20% faster.

Eitra has an additional +30% bonus for builds and repairs.

Brok has an additional +30% bonus for forges.


Fame 200: Craftsmen

Upgraded tools get an additional +10% production bonus

When in the same zone, Warchiefs mine and forge 50% faster.

Selling Stone or Iron earns +20% Krowns. Neutral factions will accept Stone and Iron.

Allies and neutral factions receive double resources.


Fame 500: Earth Legacy

You discover 2 Stone and 2 Iron deposits in your territory.

You can build a second Relic -> Zones with or adjacent to an active relic gain +15% production.


Lore Tree

Metalcraft has been removed.

Quality of Life replaces Erudition.

Völund Fire (New) replaces Mining Efficiency:

Each Warchief mining Stone or Iron earns +4 Lore -> Warchiefs produce 5 Lore for each ore extracted.

Ancestral Influence:

Relics don't use a building slot. Zones with or adjacent to an active relic gain +5% production. -> Relics don't use a building slot. You can build a second relic (max 1 relic per zone).

Forging a relic takes 50% less time.






We felt Stag was a bit underwhelming so we tried to redefine its personality and give it some cool tools to play with, mostly based around Fame and expansion.





Fame 200: Supplies

Each year a boat brings you +50 Food, Wood and Krowns, +25 Lore and +5 Stone. -> Each 200 Fame a boat brings you +50 Food, Wood and Krowns, +25 Lore and +5 Stone.


Fame 500: Dedication -> Annexation

Upgraded buildings gain an additional 10% production bonus.

All productions get +1% per 100 Fame. -> For each 200 Fame, the Colonization price is decreased by 5% and unit production is increased by 3%.


Fame 1000: Valorous Leader (New)

Your warchief gains the Valorous Leader ability. His base defense also increases by 100% and his health by 60%.


Lore Tree

Food Preservation

For each Silo, gain +3 Food and +0.5 Happiness, +5 Food and +1 Happiness if upgraded.


Young and Proud

Increases your military units' attack power by 3% for every positive Happiness you have. -> Increases your military units' attack power by 2% per zone you control (30% max).


Glory of the Clan

Increases Fame gains by 20% -> 30%

Increases gains from Trade Routes and Great Trade Routes by 20% -> 10% each 200 Fame.


Relic: Hlidskjalf

Gives your Warchief the Annexation ability. Whenever your Warchief decolonizes a zone, you colonize it for free. -> You can train Einherjar by assigning them to Hlidskjalf.

Einherjars are proud warriors that want to partake and die in the most glorious battles possible.

Their base attack power increases with Fame and they benefit from all Warrior upgrades.

They cost more Krowns and consume 50% more Food.





Draconic Frenzy

Bodyguard is no longer counted in the effect.


Dragonkin

Dragonkin recruitment price increases by 15 > 10 Kröwns for each Dragonkin you already own.





With the Military Path reworked, we wanted to adjust the hunting path to give the clan of the lynx a bit more versatility.

Sharp Eyes and The Great Hunt swapped positions.

Nature Freedom has been removed.


Experienced Hunters: replaces Nature Freedom

Military units that participated in killing a foe permanently gain +5% attack power (max +25%). Lost upon death.





Ferocious Charge

Forged melee units can use Charge ability and gain 30% damage on a charge attack.

Weapons are 100% faster to forge and cost 50% less.





Shield Mastery

ShieldBearers' weapon is free.

Increases the resistance of all military units by 5%





Banquet of Valhöll

The special victory of the clan of the squirrel has been decorrelated from the fame. Now it must have at least 8 active Cooks to prepare the meal, even during the preparation.

Preparation time has been increased to 6 months.





Overwork

Overworking gives a 30 -> 40% bonus to your unit's production at the cost of their health.


Shamanic Care

When healed by Eir, your units consume 50% less Food. -> While being healed your units consume -30% less Food.


Purification Pyres

When the clan units kill foes or die, all your Shaman Camps pyres ignite.

While active you produce +1 > +0.5 Lore and new villagers arrive faster.







Stats at the end of the game display more information.

Improved KeyBindings. Complex key combinations can be used, like Ctrl-Alt-Shift-3. Extra mouse buttons can also be bound.

Building a Training Camp is no longer required to build other camps.

You can now recruit your Warchief in other military Camps except for clans: Snake, Dragon, Horse, Ox, Rat, and Lynx.

The supply malus has been reworked.

Continuing conquests is now done via the load game section .







Bear spawn correctly prioritizes spawns with fish nearby.

Lorestones spawning in the second circle from a Townhall should be less frequent.

If a Townhall is destroyed by the burning effect, the player will be defeated.

Clan of the Dragon scouts will no longer trigger attack notifications while going through a neutral faction.

Player units will no longer make side steps when trying to attack another unit.

The second Stag bonus from Conquest has been fixed, Villagers are now correctly affected by silos.

Rally point behavior has been fixed.

You can now transfer zone with a tower on it.

Rat can no longer use houses.

Cooldown of Ancient Spirit ability is now correctly triggered.

Killing Wolf's unit with Mjolnir should not trigger Spoil of War.

Dwarven Operatives are now affected by Breaded Fish Filets.

Fixed Fame 500 Kraken: Spectral Warrior can't spawn in allied territory.







Current game saves aren't compatible.

Epic Games Store and GOG can be disconnected from game servers.

Ohoi Vikings!

We are proud to announce that our latest 4X/RTS Dune: Spice Wars has entered into Early Access and is available to buy now on Steam!

After over 2 years of work, Dune: Spice Wars has finally launched into Early Access and we are unbelievably excited to have the opportunity to share our game with you all and work alongside you to develop and improve it over the coming months.


[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]




For the initial stages of the Early Access period we are going to focus on working alongside you all to identify which areas of the game need improvement, expansion or iteration and from this we plan to outline a developmental roadmap that will detail exactly what's is to come and when you can expect it. We'll keep you updated on this front!

While Spice Wars launches with more than enough content to sink hundreds of hours into, we have so much more in the pipeline and we can't wait to share it with you all.





All feedback and bug reports are absolutely invaluable at this time and will be paramount in our efforts to ensure that Dune: Spice Wars not only meets, but exceeds the lofty expectations of the community that has grown around this legendary franchise and will continue to grow alongside our game.

As such, please submit any bug reports to our dedicated bug reporting platform HERE

And provide your feedback either on the Steam Forums or via our Discord which can be found HERE.





https://store.steampowered.com/app/1605220/Dune_Spice_Wars/

Over the next week (or so) we will be testing a new multiplayer lobby and rank system, which will involve close cooperation between ourselves and our wonderful community to understand and improve the current balance of the Northgard multiplayer systems and we'd like you all to get involved.

How do I access the Open Beta update?

1. Right click on Northgard in your Steam Library.
2. Select Properties, then the Beta Tab.
3. Enter the password - ezHZkuze5zaqe4
4. Select beta-new-update in the drop down.
5. Download the update and launch the game.

Patch notes can be found here (You will need to copy and paste this into your browser as Steam is flagiing the link as potentially malicious for some reason) - https://docs.google.com/document/d/10hwsOUYrj9aUTVymPtajucLEF8YdO_Db7q04QlntIuQ/edit?usp=sharing

Provide your feedback over on Discord - https://discord.gg/C5EzXsHvvg

Key points to focus your feedback on:

• Impact of the first 10 games on your rank
  
• Your rank progression
  
• (Player) skill balance in lobbies
  
• Military paths
  

Originally posted by author

Hello everyone! Today we have released an update that addresses a number of issues that have arisen since the release of the Clan of the Rat.

Whilst this update doesn't directly address the loss of progression some users are reporting, it does include implementations that will ensure that this does not happen again in the future and we are continuing to look into ways we can resolve the issues of those affected.

Read on to find out more...

• Sickness: Sick clan members regain 50% less health from healing.
  

Overwork

• Production is increased by 50% > 30%.
  

Enrollment

• Your wounded units cost -50% > -30% Kröwns to train as military units.
  

Pain Suppressant

• Wounded units move and attack 30% > 20% faster.
  

Last Stand (Shaman forge upgrade)

• When killed, the Shaman will reduce all nearby enemies' defense by -30% > -20% for 5 seconds.
  

Eir (Warchief)

• Health: 75 > 80
  
• Attack: 15 > 12
  
• Defence: 10 > 9
  

Garm Incarnation (relic)

• Move speed has been reduced (-33%)
  
• Defence: 20 > 16
  

• Garm’s Incarnation heal and decay now properly affects the unit.
  
• Garm’s Incarnation active bonus display now reflects the right value.
  
• Eradicating a neutral faction now grants the appropriate reward.
  
• Missing SFX added.
  
• Achievement progress should now be correctly tracked.
  
• Missing houses notification does not trigger anymore when playing the clan of the Rat.
  
• Offering well icon doesn’t appear as influencing a neutral faction when separated from this faction by a cliff.
  
• Rat conquest bonus transmitting sickness to enemy units now correctly attributes the kill of units dying from the sickness to the Rat clan.
  
• Rat can build Skirmisher’s camps during “Hostile Lands”.
  
• Players can build two different relics in conquest if they play the same clan.
  
• Ancient Graveyard research progression can no longer be seen through the fog.
  
• Display of eradicated neutral factions in the Diplomacy screen has been fixed.
  
• Chapter 8 secondary objective colonize Jötnar camp can be validated.
  
• Heal icon no longer displayed over mouse cursor when Shamans or Eir selected.
  
• New expeditions related to rat clan achievements have been added.
  
• Update no longer overrides and deletes current Stats and Conquests progress.
  

• The “Continue” option for a mission in a conquest may not work (restart the mission is still available)
  
• Border scrolling may not work in Borderless or Windowed
  
• Issue with Overwork sound that stop too soon
  
• Blood Ties : No SFX and VFX
  

Originally posted by author

Hey everyone!

We are proud to present to you our eighth clan, the clan of the Rat, which brings some exciting new mechanics and units to Northgard.

Read on to find out more about what makes the clan of Dodsvagr so unique.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1876990/Northgard__Dodsvagr_Clan_of_the_Rat/






Welcoming wounded and outcast villagers who have been forced out of their original clans without hesitation or prejudice, it is understandable why the many followers of the Rat dedicate their life, and sometimes their death, to the clan.

The clan doesn’t have time for feasts, or even sleeping in houses, only hard work is worth celebrating, but if you have enough energy to celebrate, then you could, and should have worked harder….

The clan will work and fight tirelessly to get what they want, and to survive.





Powerful shaman and merciless warrior, Eir leads the clan of the rat with an iron fist. She taught her clan the ways of the shaman, so they could survive even the most severe injuries, and ensure their enemies do not.

Some say that her mastery of dark practices goes as far as being able to bring back dead beasts from the depths of Helheim...





The shaman, trained by Eir, are powerful units that will fight fearlessly during the heat of battle, and take care of the injured in its aftermath. They can also lend a helping hand to their allies by healing them as well.

• The clan starts with more villagers but they arrive wounded. Wounded units are exempt from Happiness requirements.
  
  
  
  
  
• The clan doesn't have access to Houses, but all non-mystical buildings provide housing. Once max population is reached, extra villagers stack in a Population Reserve.
  
  
  
• The Shaman Camp replaces the Healer Hut and trains Shamans able to fight and heal multiple units and allies even outside your territory.
  
  
  
  
  
• When the clan’s units kill foes or die, the corpses are cremated at the Shaman Camp, producing Lore and attracting new villagers faster.
  
  
  
  
  
• Overwork replaces the Feast and boosts all productions at the expense of your worker's Health.
  
  

Fame 200

Your units consume -50% less Food while being healed by Eir.


Fame 500

The max Population Reserve increases by +4 villagers.
The maximum duration of Purification Pyre is extended to 6 months.



Enrollment

Wounded units cost -50% Kröwns to train as military units.


Overcrowding

You can place up to two buildings of the same type in a zone, except Defense Towers.




Invasion

When killing neutral faction units, you gain some of their favorite tradable resources. Neutral faction buildings can house additional population.


Pain Suppressant

Wounded units move and attack 30% faster.


Blood Ties

Eir can sacrifice part of her Health to heal all your units in the zone over the next 5 seconds.






You can summon Garm’s Incarnation at a Shaman Camp.





1st Battle

When killed, your units inflict Sickness on their attacker.


6th Battle

Wounded units do not suffer production malus when Overworking.


11th Battle

When the Purification Pyre is ignited, all your units heal.





The Rat King

• Win with the Clan of the Rat
  

Rat Master

• Achieve 50 Victories with the Clan of the Rat
  

Just Want to Watch the World Burn

• Build the Relic of the Clan of the Rat
  

Rat Conqueror

• Finish a Conquest with the Clan of the Rat
  

Can I go home now?

• Overwork the same worker 5 times.
  

Lord of Cinder

• Keep the Purification Pyre burning for 12 months without interruption.
  

It’s Free Real Estate

• House 10 Villagers or more in neutral faction houses in a single game.
  

Megastore

• Have 10 Merchants working in the same zone.
  

Fields are no longer snapped to a specific placement on a tile and can be placed like other buildings.




The event now lasts 1 month and consumes the clans Food progressively.




Relation gain with neutral factions via trade-routes has been reviewed.

Each neutral faction now has a favorite resource which, if traded with, improves the relation with this faction (indicated on the trade-route UI with a star).

Dwarves now accept Food trade-routes.

Kobolds - Befriend status:

• The Kobolds will now accept to sell their additional territories for Kröwns to the clans they befriended.
  

Sheepfold

• Cost 60 ⇒ 80 Wood
  

Relic

• Your clan gets a 20% increase to production through feasts, -50 ⇒ -40% Feast cost.
  
• You can build an additional Sheepfold.
  
• Your units regenerate Health during a Feast.

Fame 500

• Your Defense Towers and your units gain 15% resistance in your territory when feasting.
• Your units regenerate Health during a Feast.
  

Trackers

• Health = 55 ⇒ 50

Caring-Siblings

• Buff to heal speed when Brundr and Kaelinn are together.
  

Venison & Ratatouille

• Effect: Produce 3/5/7/9 ⇒ 4/6/8/10 to Food, Wood, Kröwns, Lore.
• Cost: 100 Meat, 100 Mushrooms | 200 Vegetable(Duration) | 300 ⇒ 200 Meat (Power)
  

Fish Soup

• Effect:
  
  • New villagers will arrive at the Town Hall 10%/20%/30%/40% ⇒ 30%/60%/100%/130% faster.
    
  • Units in your territory or neutral zones will slowly regenerate their Health over time.
  • Produce 4/7/10/13 Lore.
    
• Cost: 200 ⇒ 100 Fish, 200 ⇒ 100 Vegetables | 200 Mushrooms(Duration) | 200 Fish (Power)
  

Meat Stew

• Cost: 200 ⇒ 100 Meat, 100 Vegetables 100 Mushrooms | 300 Vegetables(Duration) | 300 ⇒ 200 Fish(Power)
  

Stolen-Lore UI has been reviewed.



Medicine

• The behavior and wording has been reworked to include all healing-units and not just Healers.
  

Carpentry

• Reduces your buildings' upgrade costs by 20%.
  
• Reduces upkeep from upgraded buildings by 20%.
  

UI Town Hall

• Addition of a tooltip displaying the current pop-growth bonus on the gauge of arrival of the next villager.
  

• Refund on upgraded Altar has been fixed.
  
• An “adjacent” zone means that it is connected (not separated by a cliff etc) so Ancestral Influence and Offering Well have been adjusted.
  
• Kaija’s passive ability is fixed.
  
• In singleplayer, you can now have multiple Jotnar factions.
  
• Fixed issue during Jotunheim campaign mission: attacking enemy prevented you from trading with the other factions - it now works as intended.
  
• Fixed issue in Map Editor when adding neutral factions.
  
• Fixed achievement Dances with Wolves.
  
• Fixed issue where burning building from Raven Raids can’t be repaired.
  
• Permafrost is now available.
  
• Stones from Ragnarok are correctly displayed on the minimap.
  
• Sometimes units could walk under the lake, it has been fixed as well as High Tides not giving fish.
  
• Both Lynx don’t cross zones after using Sharp Eyes.
  
• Breaded Fish Fillets affect Dwarven Operative.
  
• Freeze when clearing Naströnd zone has been fixed.
  
• Bug on chapter 9 of the Campaign preventing units from attacking has been fixed.
  
• Conquest bonus reducing Relic cooldown by 50% now also works for Yggdrasil Root.
  
• Achievement requiring you to mine 150 Stone in a single game now triggers correctly.
  
• Problem with placing Fields on some zones has been fixed.
  
• Rock Golems from eruption event are correctly displayed on the minimap.
  
• Boar can no longer colonize neutral faction zones like zones with wolves.
  
• Achievement for 500 victories no longer triggers at the same time as the one for 250 victories.
  
• Free upgrade for unupgradable units can no longer appear as Conquest bonus.
  
• Erudition knowledge now correctly allows a free Lorestone construction.
  
• Bifrost bridge no longer blocks unit selection underneath it.
  
• Multiple UI fixes.
  
• A couple of optimizations have been made.
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1876990/Northgard__Dodsvagr_Clan_of_the_Rat/