KARDS - The WWII Card Game News

Thrilling news from the KARDS development front: New cards and other excitement will arrive in KARDS much faster and more continuously!

Enter World at War.

[h2]The World at War Series[/h2]

With World at War, we introduce a new series of updates that stretches over the next half year and brings regular updates rapidly: A new update will arrive almost every month now!

Let’s go over the why and the what: Why are we switching to the World at War update cycle, and what will you get from it?

With the World at War updates, we want to satisfy several demands:

• Release new cards more often
  
• Provide strong, coherently themed, and history-aligned bundles to ease access to KARDS
  
• Deliver regular exciting content for new and veteran players alike
  
• Trying out new methods to deliver exactly defined content (additional to the current card draws from packs)

Each of the World at War updates focuses on a specific historical theme and comes with a bundle of new and existing cards to support each theme.

The reason to also include already existing cards in the World at War bundle is twofold.

1. KARDS already has a good variety of cards that align well with a historical theme. Providing these cards strengthens the theme and supports the bundle.
   
   
2. A strong bundle with a mix of new and existing cards will help especially new players (but not only those), a lot more than a bundle with only new cards. We want players to be able to see a specific theme, fall in love with it, and then get the cards for that theme without the need to look through all the various different sets one by one and pick all the individual cards one after another. This should also help with getting competitive decks more efficiently..

World at War bundles will be available in different flavors: A standard version (available for gold) with all the cards, and a premium version that includes all the cards plus exciting additional goodies like new board decorations and alternative art.

The reason to offer standard and premium versions is also straightforward:

1. The standard version is perfect if you just want the cards (you can either use gold or real currency to get the standard version).
   
   
2. The premium version is ideal for those who love to have exciting extras to further enjoy KARDS and stand out from the crowd with exclusive decorations and items. Additionally, the premium version comes with a sizable number of wildcards providing additional value.

If this got you excited, then there is even more good news!

[h2]World at War: Battle of Britain[/h2]

Our first World at War update is themed around the famous Battle of Britain and focuses on air operations - just like its historical counterpart.

This first World at War update comes with 18 unique cards (35 in total), which are 7 completely new (18 in total). Included in the premium version will also be the first alternative art in KARDS!

We will reveal World at War cards in the coming days as we get closer to the release date. You can find spoiler cards in various places; we recommend especially keeping an eye on our popular KARDS Discord!

World at War: Battle of Britain will be released on November 18.

Let us know what you think of our new World at War updates in general and the update with the Battle of Britain on the 18th of November!

Best KARDS community,

Following our recent update and the bug fixing bonanza on October 29 with more than 60 resolved bugs, we noticed a keen interest to learn more about our War on Bugs. How did we prepare for this major assault?

We would like to provide some insight here, especially since a significant share of our success stems from community bug reports.

Let’s together inspect the troops and arsenal ready at our hands to continue the war on bugs and the various stages, which involve the gathering of intel on the enemy, secret operatives, our war machine, and of course, glory.

Let’s dig in!

[h3]Long Range Intel[/h3]

As in any war, the first step to success is gathering intel about the enemy and actually knowing what is going on. Therefore, we first must watch out for and collect bug reports.

We have several channels for reporting bugs, and we continuously monitor all of them. Think of internal reports within the team (we have recently expanded our QA team) and external channels such as Discord, QQ, Customer Support, Social Media, direct messages, etc.

Yet, missing in this arsenal is the ability to report bugs directly in the game client and some standardization. This is something we are looking into.

[h3]Secret Operatives[/h3]

Even though we at 1939 Games have our own descent QA capabilities, bug reports from you, the player community, are invaluable!

Over time, we have received thousands of reports and reviewed them all. The most popular reporting methods are via the KARDS Discord #bug-reports channel and our QQ group, both closely monitored by our QA team. The next most popular method is via customer support tickets.

Not all reports there, however, are pointing to actual bugs. Sometimes, good gameplay gets mistaken as a bug (e.g., Countermeasures not triggering due to a C6N Saiun on the battlefield). But even in cases when a report was not pointing to a bug, we still get valuable information as those reports point us to general improvements (e.g., making players better aware of what is going on).

Many thanks to all of you for your constant support and passion for helping improve KARDS by reporting bugs and perceived issues.

[h3]The War Machine[/h3]

Once we have received a report about an issue, the war machine kicks in!

In the first step, we examine the report and see if it actually points to a bug or, as mentioned above, is a misunderstood regular game mechanic.

Then, if the report describes a real issue, we categorize it and compare it with our internal list of unresolved bugs. If the bug hasn’t been reported before and is new, we prioritize it according to its potential severity and reach.

Investigating the bug (reproducing in a controlled environment such as a test server is a good step) and finding the root cause can be challenging. At other times, the investigation is straightforward. Each bug can be quite different and could lead down a rabbit hole (or not).

After a bug fix has been developed, it goes through several test cycles to ensure its correctness. All these individual bug fixes then get bundled together into a release to resolve all those issues.

[h3]For Glory[/h3]

We earlier mentioned that many bug reports originate from within the community; they were not idle words. We are truly grateful for all the reports and the various pointers we receive.

The ideal bug report includes:

• A screenshot of the issue (if possible)
  
• A short description of what the situation was at the moment of the bug manifestation
  
• The expected outcome, and
  
• The actually observed outcome

A bug report doesn’t need to be long or complicated; it can be very brief and to the point. But even if you don’t write an ideal report, we still encourage you to join our War on Bugs.

Keep the reports coming!

We hope this short overview gave you some exciting insight into our ongoing War on Bugs. Our recent breakthrough effort with more than 60 resolved game issues left us with only a few more known bugs to wrangle with.

Keep an eye open for more info!

Attention soldiers!

The round-robin in the KARDS 2021 World Championship has now concluded, and 32 elite players have reigned supreme! These players will now face off in a Double Elimination bracket to find out who among them will be one of the four to make it for the final face-off in Reykjavík, Iceland!

[h3]Your 32 contenders[/h3]



Out of the field of 2000 players that played the open qualifiers, only 32 contenders remain fighting for their spot in the Grand Finals! These are your first-round matchups for the double-elimination bracket!

We congratulate them all on the incredible achievement of making it this far and wish them good luck for the rest of their journey!

[h3]Decider broadcast - October 31st[/h3]



This Sunday, October 31st, we will broadcast all 4 deciding series for spots in the Grand Finals live for your viewing pleasure! This will be an extremely intense series as the winners will continue to compete in Iceland while the defeated player will exit the tournament.

Join Olikrummi, Admirable, Spooz, and Bubbles for all of the exciting World Championship action on our Twitch channel, www.twitch.tv/kardsccg starting at 13:00 GMT on October 31st!

Make sure to follow us on the following channels to never miss a beat!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KARDSccg
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KARDSccg
Discord: http://discord.gg/kards
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kards_game/

This year's Halloween in KARDS has something special for everyone: Test your resolution with unique challenges on the Halloween-decorated battlefield between October 28th and November 1st!

Are you in for a treat, or will you get tricked?

Read on and dive into the details!

[h3]KARDS during Halloween[/h3]

To honor the efforts at the homefront during Halloween (more about this below), we have a special battlefield ready for you and extra challenges.

We dare you to try the unique Halloween challenges between October 28th and November 1st. These challenges are fun and exciting tasks to complete for a yummy prize at the end. Check out the Mission tab and snatch your treats!

The Halloween challenges are, of course, sweetened by some fantastic offers available only during the Halloween festivities. Check out the KARDS Store and give yourself some extra treats!

As Halloween also marks the end of the month, you can further benefit from climbing up the ranks and earning bigger rewards from the ladder.

[h3]Historical background[/h3]

Traditionally, Halloween is a night of great mischief from young and old alike.

The wartime Halloween, however, was very different. Halloween's focus changed during the critical period when all efforts were towards out-producing the enemy and surviving the harsh realities with food shortages and rationing of essential goods.

Some people considered the Halloween mischief to be sabotage and treason, helping the axis powers. Treat-or-trick activities were considerably reduced. Evening ringing doorbells to collect candy was not welcome: Government reasoning for this drastic change was that tired factory workers needed all the rest they could get; war efforts should not be disturbed by pranks.

Instead, there was a surge in organized activities, and the movies ran double shifts. Costumes and parades were wildly popular.

We hope you can join this extravaganza from October 28th to November 1st. There is a lot of fun waiting!

PS:
The second round of the Community Emote event is live. Cast your vote!

Best KARDS community!

Welcome to the latest KARDS patch and our Bug Fix Bonanza!

With great delight, we have released this newest patch full of bug fixes on October 28th. The team has waged a full-fledged war against bugs and rooted out a massive amount; more than 60 bugs of all sorts were crushed. We also made some minor improvements to the backend system.

Additionally to the bug fixes, we have made preparations for Halloween. More about the Halloween activities will follow shortly in a separate article.

All feedback is appreciated and most welcome. Please either use the comments below or join us on the KARDS Discord.

[h2]Important Changes[/h2]

[h4]SAIUN DEPLOYMENT[/h4]

We have changed the deployment process of the C6N SAIUN. Until now, any activated countermeasure could trigger during the deployment process of the Saiun. This has changed. Now when you deploy the Saiun, it will disable the triggering of active countermeasures.

[h4]Example of the change[/h4]

Your opponent has an active CARELESS TALK countermeasure. You play Saiun in an attempt to deploy it.

Old behavior
Careless Talk triggers. The Saiun gets damaged and destroyed, never reaches the battlefield.

New behavior
Careless Talk doesn't trigger. The Saiun will get deployed and reaches the battlefield.

[h2]IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]

• When your opponent is choosing between 3 cards (e.g., using A FEW GOOD MEN), you will now see that he is choosing something (not what, of course).

[h2]BUG FIXES[/h2]

[h3]Card and gameplay mechanics[/h3]

• 39TH BOLOGNA REGIMENT + CONFUSION + URAL FACTORIES weren't correctly working together. Fixed.
  
• Playing TYPE 98 KE-NI and ENCIRCLEMENT was incorrect. Fixed.
  
• LONG RANGE DESERT GROUP wasn't working correctly when affected units were attacked by a No 1 COMMANDO. Fixed.
  
• LONG RANGE DESERT GROUP was sometimes not triggering on affected units that dealt damage on destruction. Fixed
  
• FIRST TO FIGHT effect was removed when the affected unit was being taken control by its enemy. Fixed.
  
• When IMPERIAL STRENGTH was countered by ULTRA, the rest of the active countermeasures would still act as unactivated through the turn. Fixed.
  
• YAMATO's effect would damage the wrong HQ when the affected unit was destroyed while being taken control by the enemy. Fixed.
  
• 845th RIFLES was adding the wrong amount of defense when attacking 756th REGIMENT. Fixed.
  
• STUKA's and LANCASTER B.III's effect was triggering when ROYAL ULSTER RIFLES redirected all damage from the HQ. Fixed.
  
• OBICE's was triggering cancel deployment effects but shouldn't. Fixed.
  
• GROUNDED would put the card in the wrong deck if being controlled by the enemy. Fixed.
  
• 2nd CALIFORNIA's effect was being triggered by damage orders while affected by OUTMANUEVER. Fixed.
  
• 175th MOTORIZED was not working correctly with spawned tanks. Fixed
  
• P-40 K was not correctly working when destroyed at the same time as a bomber. Fixed.
  
• P1Y GINGA was triggering when removed by SENDAI REGIMENT. Fixed.
  
• PARADE was not duplicating costs correctly in some cases. Fixed.
  
• SPITFIRE MKII buff not removed when taken control of. Fixed.
  
• RAF GROUND CREW was sometimes not lowering the cost of cards drawn in enemy turn. Fixed.
  
• RAPID ENGAGEMENT effect sometimes did not leave the unit as intended. Fixed.
  
• ROAD TO BERLIN was sometimes counting damage at the start of an enemy turn. Fixed.
  
• The hand target selection of the PBY CATALINA was bugged when its owner was disconnected. Fixed.
  
• Fury wasn't working correctly when given to non-tank units that can move and attack during the same turn. Fixed.
  
• T-70 with "Destroyed at the end of the second turn on the battlefield." are no longer discarded when sent to hand and will not be destroyed until the end of the next turn after being played back from hand.
  
• In some cases, after a card was played from hand due to another card's effect (for example, with Special Assignment), the next card that takes a target on deployment would target an incorrect card. Fixed.
  
• Units that had attacked twice with Fury then lost Fury and gained it again, all during the same turn, could attack once more. Fixed.
  
• JUGGERNAUT's death effect was being removed when the unit was taken control by the enemy. Fixed.
  
• SENDAI REGIMENT returned the card it had removed when taken control by the enemy. Fixed.
  
• There was an issue with EMBARGO and spawned units. Fixed.
  
• There was an issue with Destruction and the T-28 Soviet tank. Fixed.
  
• The tooltip of the T-60 didn't show the card it spawns on destruction (a T-34 1942). Fixed.
  
• Countermeasures that had been activated while SAIUN was on board would not trigger the turn it was removed from the board. Fixed.

[h3]AI-specific[/h3]

• 22. INFANTRY REGIMENT and Ki-83 were sometimes triggering when they shouldn't. Fixed.
  
• STUKA and LANCASTER B.III were triggering when damage was redirected to ROYAL ULSTER RIFLES. Fixed.
  
• LONG RANGE DESERT GROUP wasn't triggering on affected 152mm HOWITZER GUN's destroyed effect. Fixed.
  
• In rare cases, the destruction effect from AKITA REGIMENT was triggering twice. Fixed.
  
• When the AI attacked with No. 1 COMMANDO and killed it purely with the attack, it could sometimes trigger the destruction of the killed card twice. Fixed.
  
• ARGYLLSHIRE HIGHLANDER did not lose its bonus attack immediately after guarding unit lost guard from T19 HOWITZER's attack by AI. Fixed
  
• AI's damage orders weren't dealing damage to GLADIATOR ESCORT when it was defending a STIRLING. Fixed
  
• QF 40mm Mk III wasn't correctly working on AI's turn. Fixed.
  
• 125th RIFLE REGIMENT's trigger effect dealt damage equal to its defense while ROYAL WEST KENTS was on board. Fixed.
  
• YAMAGATA REGIMENT was not getting its passive effect when played by the AI as the last card in hand.

[h3]Visuals (gameplay function worked correctly)[/h3]

• The MIKAWA REGIMENT had a tooltip for Fury. Fixed.
  
• The operation cost reduction of PANZER 35(t) didn't show after fast playing. Fixed.
  
• The visual location when retreating multiple targets was sometimes wrong (e.g., guarded units not appearing adjacent to guards). Fixed.
  
• When the opponent had connection issues, the "move to top of deck" visual was bugged. Fixed.
  
• There was a visual bug on STARS & STRIPES. Fixed.
  
• Countdown on Double XP events was showing the incorrect time. Fixed.
  
• The WELLINGTON had a trigger icon. Fixed.
  
• The 48e 48E RÉGIMENT D'INFANTERIE lacked the icon for passive effects. Fixed.
  
• The frontline disappeared in some cases in lower graphic settings. Fixed.
  
• Fixed match history bugs. For example, Countermeasures not showing or their actions, damage/destroy multiple units from indirect actions, and play directly from hand action not showing.
  
• Some actions were shown multiple times. Fixed.
  
• No. 3 COMMANDO's effect on AI's turn wasn't correctly working. Fixed.

[h3]Localization[/h3]

• The title and text of the Polikarpov PO-2 were incorrect. Fixed.
  
• Polish dates in the World Championship were incorrect. Fixed.
  
• Some cards of the recent balance patch showed Polish text instead of Portuguese. Fixed
  
• Card reward images for Theaters of War for Spanish and Italian used the English version. Fixed.
  
• Various localization bugs for French and Polish have been fixed.

We welcome your feedback! Please either use the comments below or join us on the KARDS Discord.




We deployed a hotfix on October 29th to address some issues with the previous update. Here is what we worked on.

[h2]BUGFIXES[/h2]

• In rare cases, the game crashed at the end of the match. Fixed.
  
• The effect bubble from cards like LONG RANGE DESERT GROUP was still showing when the card had retreated to hand and then got replayed. Fixed.
  
• There were some issues with the card animation in hand. Fixed.
  
• In some cases, the new animation for selecting 1 of 3 cards got stuck on the enemy; the three cards on screen then did not disappear and blocked the battlefield. Fixed.
  
• In some cases, the drawn cards went to the wrong position in hand. Fixed.
  
• Using Countermeasures left a blank space in hand where the countermeasure card initially had been. Fixed.