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Ratatoskr - The Clan of the Squirrel





Led by Andhrímnir, the Clan of the Squirrel knows better than most how to enjoy the present moment but not at the expense of being farsighted and expert at managing resources.

Their talented cooks are able to prepare delicious meals that improve the abilities of the clan and their allies. For all that, their warriors and prowess on the battlefield should not be underestimated!

Furthermore, with Ratatoskr as their totem animal, the clan is also adept at using manipulation and sowing discord in order to further their goals!





Named after the Æsir’s cook, Andhrímnir displayed unprecedented skills in the culinary arts from a young age, despite fierce competition within the clan. As fearless and authoritarian in the kitchen as he is on the battlefield, Andhrímnir has everything one would expect from... a “warchef”!




  • The clan hoards greedily in anticipation of winter 2 months before it begins and can count on a +30% increase in production during this period. However, they have a harder time during winter itself as they consume more Food and Wood (+15%).

  • The Squirrel clan gathers ingredients in its territory, depending on the zones’ types.

  • The Stove replaces the Brewery, where Cooks can prepare meals, providing massive bonuses.

  • The clan can achieve the unique Ratatoskr Victory: reach Fame 1500



A Helping Hand - Fame 200

  • You receive a set of random ingredients by boat and you increase your ingredient storage by 200.

  • You can prepare Meals for your allies, for an additional Food cost.

  • You unlock Gift Routes at the Trading Post.
Gift Routes allow you to share your resources with other clans. It is the best way to build good relationships with potential allies. It also works very well with Northgard neutral factions (3 times better than normal trade routes).



Plot for the Throne

  • You gain Fame based on your extra population compared to your most populous opponent.

  • Arrival of new villagers increases by 5% every 100 Fame.
With this, you will have all the tools you need to achieve your unique Ratatoskr Victory by outclassing any enemy that dare to face you.




As your clan pushes its borders, it has access to more Ingredients for each new zone it exploits that can be used for creating great Meals :
  • Meat: Meat is a good source of protein and iron, harvested from big mammals such as deer and wild boars.

  • Fish: Fish is a source of protein and phoshorus harvested from both freshwater and saltwater specimens.

  • Vegetables: "Vegetable" is an umbrella word which covers pretty much every edible vegetal organism, including roots.

  • Mushrooms: Mushrooms refer to any type of fungus that was found to be edible through painful-to-lethal trial and error.

Cooks can be assigned to any Stove. They bring Happiness to your clan, and more importantly, help produce Ingredients. If need be, Andhrímnir can also help produce Ingredients by being assigned to the Stove.

Gather as many Ingredients as possible to ensure you’re always ready to prepare powerful meals.




The Squirrel clan knows how to cook 6 recipes that will help you conquer Northgard:


  • Food, Wood, Lore, Krowns production bonus


  • Forge speed bonus
  • Mining speed bonus


  • Winter resistance bonus
  • Scouting speed bonus


  • Health regeneration
  • Scouting speed bonus


  • Defense unit bonus
  • Projectil resistance bonus


  • Attack power bonus
  • Military XP bonus


Each Meal must be prepared with enough common Food as an additional cost. This Food cost increases sensibly if you wish to include your teammates to your table!



Each clan can benefit from one meal per Squirrel clan. New meals replace the previous one. But having many Squirrel friends means taking advantage of multiple meals at the same time!




Ratatoskr is famous for scurrying from Yggdrasil's branches to its roots, instilling doubt and discord in the mind of its enemies. The Squirrel clan perpetuates this legacy to keep itself out of harm’s way.

The zone where Yggdrasil's Root is built becomes “Eldritch." After every period of one year, one zone in your territory adjacent to an eldritch zone also becomes Eldritch.

  • Units in Eldritch zones benefit from periodical production bonuses.

  • Enemy units in an Eldritch zone have a chance to fight against their own kin for 5s.


If an Eldritch zone becomes neutral, it reverts back to normal.





- Replaces Colonization -
  • +1 Food / Wood production bonus for each 100 Food / Wood in stock (max +10). Not affected by winter malus.

  • Your Silos do not require building slots.





- Replaces Hearthstone -
  • Meal bonus level: +1

  • Meal Food cost: -20%





- Replaces Weaponsmith -
  • Your next warchief recruitment is free. (no Krowns, no Iron)

  • Reviving warchief cooldown: -50%.





- Replaces Mining Efficiency -
  • Every Krowns incomes gets +10%.

  • Meals gain additional effects : +2 Happiness +4 Krowns.





- Replaces Negotiate -
  • 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 Jötnar).

  • Your units gain “Cloak” within these factions' territories.



1st Battle
  • Ingredients production +20%

  • You can benefit from multiple meals at the same time.


6th Battle
  • Stoves can hold one more Cook.


11th Battle
  • +1 level for Meals






[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]






Aggressive Negotiations
  • Win with the Clan of the Squirrel
Squirrel Master
  • Achieve 50 Victories with the Clan of the Squirrel
The Root of our Clan
  • Build the Relic of the Clan of the Squirrel
Squirrel Conqueror
  • Finish a Conquest with the Clan of the Squirrel


Just a little help for my friends
  • Win a game having shared all your meals with all teammates.
Unlimited Flower
  • Control a territory of at least 10 Eldritch zones.
I’m a Generous God
  • Gift 1,000 resources in one game






4 news skins are available in the treasure window:


















  • Cooldown time for each ability is now displayed

  • Jörmunr relic no longer displays your teammate’s lore

  • Military XP is no longer displayed when hovering enemy military icon

  • “Losing control” is replaced by “taking control” when you are taking an enemy tile

  • Units are automatically selected when you recruit a warchief (Instead of warrior camp)

  • You can no longer build an altar, then give it to your ally and build another

  • Boar colonization cost for tiles containing foes now depends on the number and type of foes on the tile.

  • Conquest battle “befriend jötnar” can no longer be played with the clan of the snake (Black market tech prevents this battle from beign feasible)

  • Oskoreïa can now be used even if Mielikki is fighting

  • Relations with neutral factions now scale with the amount of resources you trade with them.

  • Befriended neutral factions now give 50 Fame even if they were befriended by another player.






  • Fixed several text issues with chinese localisation

  • Fixed several display issues

  • Double shot from the Clan of the Lynx can no longer target sheep

  • Fixed year counter in conquest. Some of them were broken in several battles

  • It’s now possible to build a mythical lure on a thor wrath

  • End-game stats will no longer be displayed in story mode

  • Bartering in story mode is fixed.

  • VFX from the relic of the clan of the horse is fixed. It gets removed with warchief death.

  • Trades routes without merchants no longer produce happiness and lore

  • Fixed several issues with the giant Boar from the relic of the clan of the Boar

  • You could no longer use your relic if you built one and took the same relic you built from an enemy.

  • Conquest Myrkalfar’s Uprising: you were sometimes not spawning in Ragnarök biome

  • In Inner sea conquest battle AI units were sometimes able to walk through the inner sea



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1644210/Northgard__Ratatoskr_Clan_of_the_Squirrel/

Balancing Patch 6 [MARCH 2021]

Originally posted by author
Hello Vikings!

Today, we’re releasing a huge (possibly even our biggest yet) balance patch that will bring widespread changes to Northgard and all of the formidable clans that inhabit it!

We’ve made a number of massive changes across the board, introducing new ways to approach the game and manage your people as you strive for conquest and you can see the whole list of what’s new below!




The Guardian Military path is still considered to be too weak, and as the vast majority of players usually choose between Tactician and Conqueror, it is being buffed:

⇒ Militia behavior
  • Militia is now controllable by player
  • Militia still cannot leave the player’s territory
  • Militia cannot be assigned to any other role
  • The Militia respawn frequency has been increased
  • The maximum of Militia is back to 2 / 4 / 6
⇒ Suppressing Fire
  • -50% WatchTowers upkeep



The objective here is to give more space to other military units and give more value to warband upgrading:
  • Warrior recruitment cost: 20 krowns => 30 krowns
  • Each new military unit increases the next cost by +5 => +6 krowns .
  • The Watch Tower building cost : 60 => 50 woods , upgrade remains unchanged.


Values change:
  • -5% attack power and defense penalty for each zone away from your territory beyond the first.
  • Malus is lowered by 2 for each year passed since the beginning of the game.


  • +50 => +30% attack power versus Mythical Creatures.
  • Dragonkin are Mythical creatures.


  • Defense 4 => 3







The Jotunn neutral faction always appeared a little too binary for us. With these changes, we’re trying to add a bit more depth to the trading with Giants:
  • Players will now have the possibility to trade with two Jotunn Factions: the Skrymir and the Fjolsvin.
  • Each of those factions can be befriended and grant the players a giant hero : Lög & Jafnadr.
  • The Skrymir and the Fjolsvin are rivals: each player can only trade with one of the two factions, and befriending one will lock the possibility to trade with the other.
  • When befriending a faction, you don’t colonize their zone anymore.
  • You can still trade with the befriended faction.


Jafnadr

The powerful Champion of Jötunnheim's workers, here to help you overthrow the lords who have inherited the land. Seize the means of wool production!



Lög

The dreaded Judicator of Jötunnheim, supreme enforcer of the lords' inherited authority and defender of private property. I am the law!





When clicking on a Jotunn camp, players will now see the relation progression of every other player.




The needed value to befriend neutral factions is scaled on team size: food requirement will be lower in FFA than in team games.










Warchief Recruitment Cost
  • Mielikki costs 80 => 150 krowns
Lynx
  • Both lynx Move speed -15%
Trackers
  • Arrows don't cost wood anymore.
  • Trackers now defend themselves in close combat as previously intended.
  • Trackers in close combat no longer profit from special arrows advantages.
  • Trackers 11 => 10 attack
Trophies & Mythical beast waves
  • Sacred Ram, Sacred Wolves and Sacred Bears stats have changed.
  • Spectral animals now have the same stats than sacred animals.
  • Sacred Ram:
    • PV 37.5 / att 5 / def 5 / militaryXp 5 / HuntTrophy 5 / Meat 30
  • Sacred Wolf:
    • PV 50 / att 11 / def 2.5 / militaryXp 15 / HuntTrophy 15 / Meat 15
  • Sacred Bear:
    • PV 62.5 / att 10 / def 13 / militaryXp 50 / HuntTrophy 50 / Meat 80
  • Waves increment is changed. Waves come every 2 => 3 months.
  • Sacred wolves and sacred bears don't have special attacks anymore.
Relic
  • Placing Gleipnir’s traps in a zone in combat is no longer possible.
  • Traps must have been set before the fight starts, they can then be activated.
  • You can now put 1 trap each year.
Conquest
  • First Bonus:
    • Townhall zone starts with deers. Hunters +10% production.
  • Second bonus:
    • Archery Range give +3 max military pop (instead of +2) and Trackers are 10 krowns cheaper.
  • Third bonus:
    • No change : Oskoreia calls the 2 last waves (not only the last one).
Fame 200
  • Unlock SacredLure ability for Mielikki. Once placed, it periodically attracts Mythical beasts to the zone, more and more as time passes.
  • Cost feast reduction by 5% (up to 50) for each animal killed.
Fame 500
  • Mielikki won’t die anymore by casting Oskeria.
  • While casting Oskeria, wave max isn’t reset.
  • Spectral animals last longer.



  • They are now 3 different Hunting Paths.
  • The Hunt Trophy “Path Completed” can be chosen multiple times while one path is complete.
  • Special arrows effects can stack.
  • Trophy costs unlock have changed.


WAY OF THE CUNNING

Sharp Eye
  • Brundr & Kaelinn scout and use camouflage.
Nature Takeover
  • Decolonization Speed +10% if Mielikki is in the zone. Same for Brundr and Kaelinn.
Fire Arrows
  • +50% damage on Watchtowers.
  • Target unit has 30% chance to burn.



WAY OF THE HUNTER

Caring Siblings
  • Brundr & Kaelinn slowly regenerate when they are together in ally territory.
  • Brundr +30% att if it is with Kaelinn.
The Great Hunt
  • Get trophies on all Mystical creatures.
  • +20% Attack power on Mystical Creatures
Wild Hunter
  • Military Units don't suffer supply malus nor winter attack power penalty



WAY OF NATURE

Sibling Rivalry
  • Brundr & Kaelinn produce food in territory.
  • Kaelinn gets +40% defense if it is with Brundr
The Wise One
  • Mielikki produce +3 lore outside combat in your territory
Double Shot
  • Trackers fire 2 arrows with 30% damage for the second
Path completed
  • Trackers +5% att speed, +5% range, +5% move speed.
  • Can be bought many times.




Spoils of Plenty
  • Your Warchief can put two Standard Lures in a zone to attract Savage Deer that gives +10% food
  • You can assign 2 Hunters to a Standard Lure.
  • Hunter’s tool is free and 50% forging time.


Archery Mastery (replace Fur Coats)
  • Your first Tracker is always free.
  • Upgrade cost for Archery Range -50%.


Poaching
  • +15% merchants' production.
  • Hunting trophies can be sold on the Market for krowns
  • Allows trading routes.


Nimble Paws
  • Lynx Max health increased by 35%.
  • Dodge 30% of the attacks.


The Wild Hunt
  • +1 Mythical Lure
  • +20% attack on spirits.

At Mystical Lure, Myelikki can summon up to 3 different Spectral Beasts to defend her. The number of invocable beast depends on Mythical Waves cleared :
  • Wave 1:
    • 1 Spectral Ram for 5 Trophies.
  • Wave 3:
    • +1 Spectral Wolf for 20 Trophies.
  • Wave 6:
    • +1 Spectral Bear for 75 Trophies.

Beasts have a cooldown before being summoned again.






Starting Bonuses
  • 1015% attack power and defense bonus .
  • Specialized civilian units have a 3040% production bonus, except Loremasters.
  • +10+15% Food consumption
Unstoppable
  • +10%5% attack power and defense for each discovered Artifact.
Torfin’s hitbox
  • A bit lowered.





Starting Bonuses
  • Added +1 base Wyrd production.
Lore Changes
  • Fresh Fish now replace Colonisation.
  • “Knowledge from Beyond” gives +2 lore per merchant in the Trading Post while trading a neutral faction.





  • Dragonkin recruit cost 5040 krowns .
  • Dragonkin Incremental cost +1015 krowns .
  • Dragonkin are considered as mythical creatures. They trigger Monster Slayer ability.
  • Their spinning attack triggers more frequently.





  • Under Pressure 0.51 Food production
  • Skirmisher recruitment cost: 15 krowns => 20 krowns





Starting Bonuses
  • The player is allowed to colonize zones containing only neutral wolves or bears, at the exception of wolf caverns. Colonization cost +20% in this situation.
  • Wolves and bears in colonized tiles become non aggressive for Boar clan and allies. They cannot be controlled. They defend the zone if it is attacked.
Lay of the land
  • Adds: the player can colonize Wolf Caverns if it contains only neutral wolves. This closes the Cavern as usual.
Mender
  • While Menders are not healing, they produce 1 lore and enough food to feed themselves.





  • Kindred Spirit bonus 10%15%.





Cost of coastal exploration
  • 1020 Krowns .
Fame 200
  • You can trade with Homeland even if “Coinage” isn’t unlocked.
Negotiator
  • Commercial Influence +20% => +10%





Lore Changes
  • Swap position between Hero emblem and Food preservation.
  • The Value of Great Deeds: Skalds produce +1+1.5 krowns , +1.5+2 if upgraded.





Relic Changes
  • Gefjun's Jar becomes a generic relic. No more additional Sheepfold. No more sheep can come with new villagers.
  • Eldhrumnir becomes the Goat specific relic. It now allows building an additional Sheepfold.
Jarl bonus
  • Tower and military units gets +20% => +15% defense when feasting





Spoils of War
  • Enemy warriors loot 1015 krowns .
Veiled Threats
  • Trading bonus with the Berserker in the Trading Post zone : +125%+100%





  • Already GREAT.








Each clan starts with +50 woods .
Woodcutter lodge is no more mandatory to build other buildings (except campaign).

A building becomes greyed if no woodcutter lodges, and player will have less than 50 woods after building it.



  • Brewer, Skalds and Norns produce +25% resources.
  • Upgraded Brewery, Hall of Skalds and Horgr gets +50% => +20% production bonus for Happiness , Fame & Wyrd.
  • Brewery, Hall of Skalds and Horgr building cost is now 60 woods and 10 krowns . The yearly upkeep cost has been decreased by 30%.

The value of happiness now displays the full decimal value.




The amount of resources you can trade with a Trade Route depends on the number of merchants assigned to this Trading Post.

Trade routes cost more resources.
  • With 1 merchant, you can trade 2 Food , 2 Wood , 0.1 Stone , 0.1 Iron for 1 krowns .
  • With 2 merchants, you can trade 4 Food , 4 Wood , 0.2 Stone , 0.2 Iron for 2 krowns .
  • With 3 merchants, you can trade 6 Food , 6 Wood , 0.3 Stone , 0.3 Iron for 3 krowns .

Relationship between players (ally and enemy) no longer exists. Relationships will only impact neutral factions (for trade).




Increases Sailors’s resource by 20% => 25%




It now takes +20% time to unlock the lore .



  • Brewery, Hall of Skalds, Horgr: 60s => 40s.
  • Forge, Völund's Forge => 40s.



Jotunn stats: 100 hp110 hp.




A new option allows Fame and Military Path level up to be notified by a simple notification, in a more discreet way than usual.




Nerf of AI teams in Conquest.




Increases Villagers’ build and repair speed by 15% => 50%.




They are slightly lowered.




Originally posted by author
Thank you all for your support and all of the incredible feedback you’ve provided in the last few months that has contributed towards this update. Keep the feedback and suggestions coming, and we’ll see you in Northgard!

- Shiro Games

Viking strategy game Northgard releases the free Expeditions expansion

Offering up a new way to play the game and unlock some cosmetic items, Northgard Expeditions is the 5th major expansion to the Viking strategy game and it's a free update too.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/02/viking-strategy-game-northgard-releases-the-free-expeditions-expansion

Viking RTS Northgard gets new 'Expeditions' content in free update

Viking-themed RTS game Northgard has been quietly dominating since its full release in 2018 (after spending a year or so in early access before that). It received some pretty positive reviews, and the team at Shiro Games has been slowly making the game even better over time.


In the years since, Northgard has received several major free updates that have added new content and game modes, such as the Conquest mode, the Ragnarok map, even a map editor. Now, the game is set to get a fifth major update.


Expeditions is not a new game mode, but it represents a new way of interacting with existing Northgard content. They're essentially quests, and these missions are broken up into steps. One step might see you colonise a specific tile, or reach another milestone connected to gameplay. Once you've done the first step, the next is revealed. There are two types of expedition - recurring ones in the form of daily and weekly quests, and 'master expeditions' that are one-time missions relating to existing content. There are expeditions related to the original story mode - Rin's Saga - as well as quests for the Conquest mode, and ones tied to Steam achievements.


Read the rest of the story...


RELATED LINKS:

Northgard clans - a quick guide

Northgard's newest DLC adds a clan with giant attack lynxes

Northgard prepares to raid its way out of Early Access

Northgard Expeditions

Originally posted by author
Hey Everyone!

We are proud to announce and release our 5th major expansion for Northgard: Expeditions!


This patch introduces a new way to enjoy Northgard content and free cosmetics you can craft with in-game rewards! (And only ever via in game rewards, you will never have to pay money for these cosmetics)




Expeditions are small quests structured in a few hidden steps. Each step asks you to accomplish in-game objectives such as Colonizing a specific tile, Producing resources or Reaching a certain amount of Happiness. Completing a step reveals the next one. Your actions are taken into account for every visible steps, so you can complete multiple objectives at once.

There are two types of expeditions:


DAILY TRIP

It is an expedition you can complete every 24 hours that reward your first games of the day!


WEEK-LONG JOURNEY

This expedition is given out each week, that selects its objectives within a difficulty-based pool. The first step will always be Easy, the second one is a Normal type, the third id Hard to complete and the last is Extreme. Of course, they offer rewards accordingly.




These expeditions reward you for completing Northgard content. They can only be achieved once.
  • Rig’s Saga expeditions focuses on the main story,
  • Conquest expeditions help you follow your progress in the game mode,
  • Achievements expeditions cover Steam achievements. As there are now included in-game, you can easily track them and get rewarded each time you unlock one. (available in a few days)








You bring back treasure chests from your expeditions. With each objective completed, you can open a chest revealing silver. The chest generosity depends on the objective difficulty. Conquer with peril and triumph with glory!



You can use your silver to craft cosmetics in the Treasures menu. You will find new Warchief skins and Townhall skins, offering you alternative in-game appearance for your Warchiefs and Townhalls. We also introduce a new type of cosmetic, the Decorations, to embellish your Townhall zone.

Each skin has its own Rarity, from Common to Legendary.



You can craft up to 57 different cosmetics:
  • 12 Warchief skins, split in two collections: Brutal & Ceremonial.


  • 20 Townhall skins.


  • 25 Decorationss featuring banquets, fireplaces, gates and totems.
Completing all expeditions assure you to grasp the entire collection!


Your previous inventory remains untouched. Players who already own warchiefs skins from Rig’s Saga and townhalls skins from Conquest will keep them.

Rig’s Saga warchief skins and Conquest townhall skins are now part of the Treasure menu. They still require to complete Rig’s Saga on Extreme difficulty and to finish clan Conquests to unlock. Their initial requirements remain unchanged.



Equip skins and decorations directly from the Treasures menu.
Initial options to equip skins have been deactivated.






We are entering Season 6, The Sons of Sigurd, with this patch.

We brought some changes to the Ranked system.

From now on, a season now lasts three months and a new one automatically starts when the previous ends. Ranked totems are no longer buildings but Decorations you can acquire in the Treasures menu. They still require to get the according rank, thus getting Ranked totems remains the ultimate way to show off your rank.




Originally posted by author
With this update, we also bring you another BIG surprise: The official Northgard Artbook!

With the french publishing house Omaké Books, we have created the first and only official Northgard Artbook: The Art of Northgard.

Within these pages, we'll be sharing an in-depth look at the development journey of Northgard. From the conceptualisation, research, and trial and error that led to our initial 2D prototype, all the way to the final release that our players have sunk mil-lions of hours into.

And as you guys come to everywhere in the world, we decided to make The Art of Northgard a bilingual Artbook. It then includes french and english in the same book!



You can now pre-order the Collector's Edition of The Art of Northgard artbook, which includes:
  • The Art of Northgard 178 page artbook
  • An exclusive A3 poster
  • A cardboard display stand with its 3 collector lithographs of the Clan of the Wolf, Boar and Stag
  • An exclusive Townhall to use in-game - only for the PC version
  • A numbered certificate of authenticity - limited to 1000 copies




The Collector's Edition is now available on pre-orders only for a delivery within the end of March.

Pre-order The Art of Northgard Collector's Edition here!




The Standard Edition of The Art of Northgard artbook will be available within the month of June. You'll be able to get your copy on the biggest distribution's websites as Amazon (and FNAC and Cultura for France) and independant libraries (only in France).

Originally posted by author
We hope that you'll enjoy this update as much as we enjoyed developing it, we're incredibly excited to see some of the ways you will all customize your territory and to hear how you all feel about Northgard's latest (and definitely not last) update.

And of course, let us know your thoughts on the Official Northgard Artbook!

Shiro Games