Feudums News

Noble ladies and lords,

I thought you would like if I'd release a quick update to the demo before Christmas, probably the last one this year. This one didn't require a game server update (we did do a minor update to other parts of the server before the current game started though), so it won't interrupt any game.

Thanks for being with us on our journey, and I hope you'll also stay with us in 2024!
To everyone who celebrates, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, on behalf of myself and every contributor! :)


Please find the changelog at the bottom of this post.

[h3]What else is on the horizon?[/h3]

We're currently running an important poll on the possible single player content and it is super important that I understand what interests you most. So please, take the opportunity and participate in the dialogue, vote even if you don't care about single-player!

Link (Google Forms): Feudums: Single-Player Poll (https://forms.gle/PYYpqymkrsxYQK4r7) Depending on your answers, it will take only 20 seconds to 3-4 minutes to complete.

As there have been questions about it, I would also like to clarify that a possible single player version would not be to the detriment of multiplayer, but to complement it - like I would prioritize features and contributors' works that can be used in both versions, and both would maintain their own unique features (and yes, of course single player would be turn-, and not async tick based! ;) ).

I was originally going to put out the poll on the next multiplayer milestone before Christmas, but unfortunately there have been fewer responses to the single-player poll than I'm comfortable with, so we'll have to wait a little longer - so if you haven't yet casted your vote on that topic, this is a perfect moment to do it!

As always, I invite you to play the early versions, join our discord and help to refine the game as we progress. Take advantage of this regularly updated demo, our transparent and interactive developer diary, provided for early collaboration with you to make Feudums the game you want it to be!



[h2]Changelog[/h2]
[h3]Notable Gameplay Changes[/h3]

• Garrison tactics have been slightly rebalanced.
  
• Expansion costs now follow a bit more of an exponential curve.
  
• Diplomacy upkeep costs are reduced to make formal diplomatic relations more attractive.
  

[h3]UX/UI Changes[/h3]

• Major Needs: The "stockpile" of major needs has been moved from the labourers section to the feudal indicator section and now also shows the supply/demand balance of the last tick in addition to the stockpile. A detailed breakdown has been also added (in the expanded section of the tooltip).
  
• Feudum indicator tooltips have also been updated.
  
• Added better handling and visual clues for abandoned feudums.
  
• Integration: You can now log in to our website using your Google or Steam account (authentication will be handled by the appropriate provider, just like in the client). This will become important for the community poll for the next multiplayer milestone.
  

[h3]Bugfixes / Optimizations[/h3]

• Fixed: several NREs on Feudum Card / Labourer section / Indicators when the player has unsubcribed
  
• Fixed: Buttons weren't properly masked in the Dashboard/Settings scroll area.
  
• Fixed: Terrain-based labour output was ignored for major needs tooltips (they were calculated and reported correctly, just not shown in the tooltip breakdowns)
  
• Several smaller glitches / UX inconsistencies
  

There's more coming soon, so make sure you clicked Follow on Steam and joined our discord to stay in the loop! :)

If you can afford it, please consider supporting the development on patreon, so I can continue to devote my time and resources to the project and complete the remaining milestones in a shorter timeframe.

Until the next update and the next year... Enjoy Feudums!

Noble ladies and lords,

Our demo has been updated and should be available on Steam in any minute.
Thank you for your patience, and please find the changelog at the bottom of this post.
(But please also read the next paragraph!)

[h3]What else is on the horizon?[/h3]

We're currently running an important poll on the possible single player content. As this is still mostly a one-man show which I don't monetize at all, it is super important that I prioritize what interests you most - and for that I have to understand your priorities! :).

So please, take the opportunity and participate in the dialogue, and please vote even if you don't care about single-player! It is also a totally valid opinion, but without casting your vote on it, it won't be visible.

Link (Google Forms): Feudums: Single-Player Poll (https://forms.gle/PYYpqymkrsxYQK4r7) Depending on your answers, it will take only like 20 seconds to 3-4 minutes to complete.

Once the single-player poll is over, the next milestone priority vote on the next set of persistent multiplayer features will follow.

In the meantime, I'll continue to add features that many of you have asked for throughout the year, but have not yet been included.

As always, I invite you to play the early versions, join our discord and help to refine the game as we progress. Take advantage of this regularly updated demo, our transparent and interactive developer diary, provided for early collaboration with you to make Feudums the game you want it to be!

[h2]Changelog[/h2]
[h3]Notable Gameplay Changes[/h3]

• Garrisoned Improvements are no longer impassable. Since it is not yet possible to siege improvements (will be part of the milestone poll!), a garrison exploit allowed ungarrisoned improvements to be used as a wall. Now, however, an empty garrison can be crossed, and garrisoned improvements can of course still be attacked and cleared, thus, opening the way for invading armies. You can also walk through your own garrisons without having to temporarily exchange units between the company and the garrison.
  
• Garrison & Company stances/tactics have been slightly rebalanced.
  
• Commands will now not start, or hang at finish if the command tile is a garrison that is in a battle on another tile.
  
• Companies' pathfinder logic has been updated.
  
• Farmland change: if a farmland improvement has 0% area for crop fields or pastures, it will not take labourers for it (farmers / herdsmen) so it can't be used to suppress unemployment.
  
• Guide: I have added some new topics based on your feedback, changed the order of topics in some cases, and corrected or expanded every reported inconsistency / missing content.
  

[h3]UX/UI Changes[/h3]

• Command costs are now reported in your dominion queue and appear in the treasury badge breakdowns
  
• Several reports have been merged in Feudum, Dominion and Company Reports (labourer reports, company health + morale reports, etc.)
  
• Fresh water source now also explicitly tells the amount of health bonus it provides to your feudum.
  
• New military stances have received their final icon sets.
  
• Diplomacy has received it's own icons, and the diplomatic proposal dialog has been updated and additional hints were added for extra clarity.
  
• You can now see a banner on your dashboard whenever there is an active community poll, and by clicking on it, the poll will open in a browser. Please participate!

[h3]Bugfixes / Optimizations[/h3]

• Upgraded the terrain generator's code for better river handling.
  
• Refactored Command definitions and validators in the moddable rulebook
  
• Fixed: Abandon Tile reported FeudumMaxTiles Exceeded instead of Wasteground MaxTiles.
  
• Fixed a bug that would report river branches (and fresh water sources) incorrectly in a specific case.
  
• Fixed the terrain builder being unable to generate mountains and deserts in specific cases/regions.
  
• Fixed: Bug Report newline normalization had extra newlines
  
• Fixed several potential issues with LabourOptions validations (Rulebook validation)
  
• Fixed: HexCoordinates deserialization can return (0,0) instead of Undefined on failure.
  
• Optimized several allocation-heavy scenarios.
  
• Remove rarely used debug caching from treasury/yield/upkeep/shortage calculations
  
• Updated admin layout for rulebook editing.
  
• Updated several commands to prepare for coming updates.
  
• Updated the labourer roster to prepare for coming updates.
  
• Updated our site for the coming multiplayer priorities poll.
  

There's more coming soon, so make sure you clicked Follow on Steam and joined our discord to stay in the loop! :)

If you can afford it, please consider supporting the development on patreon, so I can continue to devote my time and resources to the project and complete the remaining milestones in a shorter timeframe.

Until the next update... Enjoy Feudums!

Noble ladies and lords,

I told you November would be a busy month, and it was, just not quite the way I expected. The end result was that the promised polls had to be pushed back a bit... but only until now!

Our first, long overdue poll topic is single-player content, which many of you have asked for on our different channels over the past 6 months. So I would like to take the opportunity to get some additional guidance on your preferences. As this is still mostly a one-man show, it is super important that I prioritize what interests you most. So please, take the opportunity to shape this story!

Please vote even if you don't care about single-player! It is also a totally valid opinion, but without casting your vote on it, it won't be visible.

And stay tuned, because the multiplayer milestone poll is coming next.

[h2]Link to the Community Poll[/h2]
Since I know that some people follow the game for the single-player content and are not interested in persistent online multiplayer (yet?), this time I have used google forms, so it can be filled out without a Feudums account.

Link: Feudums: Single-Player Poll (https://forms.gle/PYYpqymkrsxYQK4r7) Depending on your answers, it will take only like 20 seconds to 3-4 minutes to complete.
[hr][/hr]
As always, I invite you to play the early version of Feudums, join our discord and help us refine the game as we progress - and now also to give us additional feedback and join the dialogue about single-player! If you can afford it, please also consider supporting Feudums' development on patreon, so I can devote more time and resources to the project. Thank you!

Noble ladies and lords,

The moment has finally arrived - with the recent update, the first version of the in-game guide has been added to the client, along with several UX and bugfixes. The changes are not game breaking, so there is no mandatory downtime for server updates this time - however, I hope that some of the changes will be "game changing" for many of you. :)

The update should be already available on Steam.

Thank you for your patience, and please find the changelog at the bottom of this post.

[h2]What else is on the horizon?[/h2]

November will be a busy month - there will be a community survey on the single player experience, and you can also vote on the next milestone feature set later this month.

In addition, we'll continue to patch the UX and guide content - any feedback on either is greatly appreciated - and I've got some exciting additional features and content planned for before Christmas.

As always, I invite you to play the early versions, join our discord and help to refine the game as we progress. Take advantage of this regularly updated demo, our transparent and interactive developer diary, provided for early collaboration with you to make Feudums the game you want it to be!



[h2]Changelog[/h2]
[h3]Notable Gameplay Changes[/h3]

• In-Game Guide is a new per-game guide (progress will reset for each game). The content was created in close cooperation with the community - I would like to especially thank player Aggamemnon for his help. The guide keeps track of the topics you've already read in a game and, depending on the settings, continues with the next topic whenenever you enter the game or open it manually. Each entry also keeps track of "point of interests", which are shown in the UI (when they are currently visible - otherwise you'll get a note that they are hidden) when you hover over them in the text. This hopefully will help you to get familiar with the UI much easier. Note: For experienced players, the feature can be turned on and off under Settings/Preferences.
  

[h3]UX/UI Changes[/h3]

• Feudum Reports: Labour resource decays are merged into a single report.
  
• Added new client settings under preferences to (a) Disable Guide, and (b) Disable Weather effects (note: will add more granular settings later).
  
• There is a new report in battles for events where a (severely damaged) unit inflicts 0 damage to the opponent.
  

[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]

• Fixed: TerrainBuilder mountain generation. Sea and Desert generation logic have been also updated.
  
• Fixed: The Last Seen value for a Company's composition is not set properly in the tick update sent to the client.
  
• Fixed: Garrison labour safety output report was missing in the tick update sent to the client.
  
• Fixed: Lance Origin was not set properly in subsequent Rally Troops.
  
• Fixed: Don't calculate empty garrison LoS (and some other data)
  
• Fixed: NRE in dashaboard listview (during tweening) in some edge cases
  
• Fixed: (Regression Bug) Labour outputs are not shown in Indicator tooltips.
  
• Fixed: Cannot resolve SwingAndAMiss report during battle
  
• Fixed: Food Ration display doesn't show the appropriate icon on Feudum Card.
  
• (Fixed/Updated various issues on the backend (admin) layout and logic).
  

I hope that you will appreciate and enjoy the changes. There's more coming soon, so make sure you clicked Follow on Steam and joined our discord to stay in the loop! :) If you can afford it, please also consider supporting the development on patreon, so I can devote more time and resources to the project and complete the remaining milestones in a timely manner.

Until the next update... Enjoy the games!

Noble ladies and lords,

it took longer than I thought, but finally everything is updated. An exciting new map / game world is already prepared on the server - the updated procedural map generator is producing increasingly interesting results - and the demo client should be available on steam any moment now.

Thank you for your patience, and please find the changelog at the bottom of this post.

[h2]What else is on the horizon?[/h2]

November is going to be a busy month with important updates, community surveys and polls, including some topics that many of you have been patiently waiting to hear about for a while, so be sure to follow us! We'll soon be taking part in the Turn Based Carnival, and you can probably expect to vote on the new milestone feature set later this month. With the wonderful help of the community, the in-game help/tutorial material is almost ready and will be available soon. With a bit of luck, there will also be talk of the single player version - I'll be interested to hear your feedback and needs on that too.

As always, I invite you to play the early versions, join our discord and help me refine the game as we progress. Take advantage of this regularly updated demo, our transparent and interactive developer diary, provided for early collaboration with you to make Feudums the game you want it to be. If you can afford it, please also consider supporting the development on patreon, so I can devote more time and resources to the project and complete the remaining milestones in a timely manner.

[h2]If this is your first time playing Feudums[/h2]

Please note that our demo focuses on multiplayer and, at this time, is only in English. and, unlike traditional demos, is rather a continuously updated interactive developer diary, provided for full transparency and close cooperation with our players. It's a long journey, so this demo is nearly not as polished as an almost finished commercial product, but in return, you have much more say in Feudums development. Use it!

As Feudums is pre-early access, there are no in-game guides at the moment, but it can change in any minute now. Please hold on just a little longer.

While there is no in-game tutorial yet, the game is more newbie-friendly than you might think. You start with an economic grace period, so you have hours to decide what to do first. Take your time and check out the short guides here on Steam, on YouTube, or just join our Discord to read the FAQ or ask for general advice. You can find all the info and links under Discussions.

[h2]Changelog[/h2]
[h3]Notable Gameplay Changes[/h3]

• Rebalancing: It's been a few weeks again, and we've tweaked the rules and settings again, mainly based on your feedback. Labourers have received the most love, but units and expansion have been also changed. Auto-encamp rules have been also finetuned for the better survivability of units.
  
• Attrition rules have been revised: as long as the military company has more than a given morale, all damage is done on morale, and only then the damage is split between health and morale. Generally speaking, this allows companies with high morale units to withstand attrition much better.
  
• Attrition now also considers friendly diplomatic relations so a strong administration on a friendly land protects friendly companies from attrition.
  
• The importance of garrisons is further increased, as now they increase the attrition level for hostile units inside their feudum (diplomacy rules apply), and in addition to specialized labourers, they themselves also contribute to the safety major need.
  
• More importantly, garrisons can now also use their very own tactics / stances, and a new edge is also introduced that gives specific units some bonus to passive protection abilities if they are put in a garrison. Military companies also received a new stance for scouting / surveillance.
  
• New lance rules: from now on, the houses of the locals assigned to a lance will remain occupied for the duration of the service, or until the lance falls in battle. The family can still leave the feudum, in which case their dwelling will be available for birth or migration, but in all other cases the family will continue to live there, should be fed, will pay the taxes, but cannot contribute to local works. This will prevent the exploit of raising lances and then quickly refilling their empty houses with new people, who are then available for field works.
  
• Area of Control and Line of Sight are now properly separated and each can be modified separately by tactics. Tile Lockdown is now also an attribute that can be modified by tactics. All tactics have been modified to make use of these changes.
  
• Updated battle logic, making it harder for rosters to hit and run away before their target roster could strike back (routing and disengagement rules have been overhauled).
  
• The Last known unit composition data and detailed company info is now preserved after battles or in the appropriate diplomatic stances. Last Seen labels and their tooltips have been updated on Cards to show whether the player has full composition data (and from when) or not.
  
• Food Rations and diet rules have been changed and made fully moddable. Related labels and layouts have been updated. If a feudum cannot reach the targeted ration, the tooltip now also informs the players about the overall amount the desired ration would require.
  

[h3]UX/UI Changes[/h3]

• Overhauled the diplomatic entries layout - added proposal expiration and updated several contextual tooltips for clarity.
  
• Updated the Merge Tiles command with extra labels, hints and pictograms to make it clear to which region tiles will be merged.
  
• A feudum will now receive reports when a lance originated from there has returned or perished in battle.
  

[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]

• Fix: Lance's overtime penalty was not applied when the company was in battle.
  
• Fix: Couldn't add a NAP clause to a Truce proposal when the players were at war (validated against the current diplomatic relation instead of the proposed one).
  
• Fix: Multiple tweening errors.
  
• Fix: Rulebook's MinimumAutoEncampThresholdPercent was not enforced in command.
  
• Fix: OOB exceptions for birds/flocks in some cases
  
• Fix: Flock's tweening in autoplay mode ignored disabled state.
  
• Fix: Border not placed correctly in some cases when there are hidden segments
  
• Fix: Opening a Create Feudum command in view mode doesn't disable the tile list.
  
• Fix: Waypoints had the wrong tooltip (the tooltip for houses on improvements)
  
• Fix: removed extra colons from the resource tooltips on Tile Card & the upkeep segment of Company Card.
  
• Fix: Resource breakdown on Tile details for another players showed Reduction-XY instead of correct improvement type.
  
• Fix: World Market bounds would become invalid in some high volume trades.
  
• Fix: Dominion reports list layout has collapsed in edge case
  
• Fix: Movement path sometimes rendered incorrectly for companies.
  
• Various Terrain Builder fixes and improvements
  

I hope that you will appreciate and enjoy the changes. There's more coming soon, so make sure you clicked Follow on Steam and joined our discord to stay in the loop! :)

Until then... Enjoy the games!