Northgard News

Welcome, Vikings!

We're very proud to announce that Northgard is free to play this weekend!


The Steam Free Weekend starts on the 29th and ends on the 31st of July so you'll have plenty of time to hone your skills and work towards conquering this mysterious, newfound continent! And if you want to carry on playing afterwards, you can pick up the game at a massive 75% off!

Northgard is a unique, immersive RTS based on Norse mythology where you control a clan of Vikings vying for control of a strange and dangerous new land.

Witness the epic tale that is Rig’s Saga, bring glory to your Clan of choice in Conquest and vy for control of Northgard by defeating your opponents and working with your teammates in multiplayer.



Happy conquering vikings, we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield…


https://store.steampowered.com/app/466560/Northgard/

Shiro Games

Hey Vikings!

After 5 years and nearly 3M units sold, Northgard’s story continues with Cross of Vidar, the follow up to Rig’s Saga.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The fight against Hvedrung united the six clans of Northgard, but it did not suffice to prevent the onset of Ragnarök.



Forced to escape, our heroes will set foot on a foreign land and get involved in the quarrels of its leaders.



The stage is set for their ultimate fight against the dark powers of Ragnarök.

This Northgard Expansion arrives this winter.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

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