Ancient Warfare 3 News

Content

• New model for future swords (Plasma sword)
  
  
  
  • With more damage, a high chance to set units on fire and custom sound
    
• Redesigned the wooden and metal guard towers and added ladders to them
  

Features & Improvements

• Added terrain painting to the environment editor
  
  
  
  • Allows to paint areas of the terrain with colors from all biomes or custom RGB colors
    
  • Paint can be applied with different strength, speed and shapes
    
  • Paint does work across different biomes, but will be reset when changing the terrain seed
    
• New road rendering
  
  
  
  • Roads are part of the terrain and dont cause collision problems
    
  • Grass and rocks will not spawn on roads
    
  • Railroads are outdated (old maps still work, but you cant create them anymore)
    
• Added new options to select no grass and no rock areas on the terrain
  
• Grenade/support equipment slot for custom units
  
  
  
  • Custom units with melee weapons or firearms can now be equipped with different grenades or support items like shield fields
    
  • Usage in combat depends on the unit skill, the surroundings and the target distance
    
• Added a small tooltip that shows the terrain height below the mouse while having a terrain height tool selected
  
• Added swing sounds to melee weapons
  
• Equipment items are now sorted alphabetically in the player equipment and custom unit creation windows
  
• Players will now keep their inertia while running down stairs
  
• Dying after starting control a unit will now always show the spectate notification instead of switching to spectate mode instantly
  

Bug fixes

• Fixed player damage effect
  
• Fixed that certain control characters in texts would cause battles to not load
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to glitch through doors with the leaning mechanic
  
• Fixed 4x WW scope model
  
• Fixed a bug that caused directories in the file browser to be sorted incorrectly
  
• Fixed various reasons for error spamming and error displaying in the debug console
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause weird camera movement after spectating a unit
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed the throw indicator to stay visible
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the player to shoot after starting to control a unit
  
• Fixed crosshair and ammo HUD after starting to control a unit
  

Next update
The next update will most likely be a quality of life update with some gameplay improvements, fixes and performance improvements

Content

• Added door frames with an offset door hole
  
• Added a beret, german steel helmet and full balaclava
  
• Added a crowbar (WMC reward)
  
• Added a WWII machine gun (MG B)
  
• Added a coat clothing object
  
• Added static versions of the ships which can be placed as objects
  
• Added 4 animal pelt carpets
  
• Added 10 wall mounted banners (blue + red variant for each)
  
• Added 2 battle banners (blue + red variant for each)
  
• Added a bar counter object
  
• Added 7 book stack variants
  
• Added 3 wall mounted plant pots with more than 20 plant variants
  
• Added a metal brazier (on/off versions)
  
• Added 3 different candle sticks (on/off versions)
  
• Added a chandelier
  
• Added a chopping board
  
• Added cinder roof parts in 3 color variants
  
• Added 2 decorative concrete columns
  
• Added a concrete planter box
  
• Added horses and elephants as objects
  
• Added 3 fancy wood tables
  
• Added an old fireplace (on/off versions)
  
• Added 5 different hay bales/stacks
  
• Added a horse hitching post
  
• Added a king's bed
  
• Added 4 medieval bed variants
  
• Added 3 different thrones
  
• Added a wood log beach barricade
  
• Added a medieval stick lantern (on/off variants)
  
• Added a medieval shelf
  
• Added 4 medieval stools
  
• Added 8 medieval tent variants (3 color variants for red and blue each)
  
• Added 3 medieval chairs
  
• Added 6 paper map variants that show a map of the current battle
  
• Added a war planning table that shows a map of the current battle
  
• Added 6 different plant pots with 20+ plant variants each
  
• Added 6 generic sack variants
  
• Added decorative versions of the spear trap and wood spike barricades
  
• Added a stacked barbwire object
  
• Added a stone and a wood lectern
  
• Added 2 medieval stone tables
  
• Added 4 stacked stone wall objects
  
• Added modular thatch roof parts
  
• Added 3 wall mounted torch variants (on/off each)
  
• Added 2 wall mounted wood shelves
  
• Added 3 burn wood pile variants
  
• Added various wooden table variants
  
• Added 3 wood bench variants
  
• Added a wooden planter box
  
• Added modular parts to fill the side of roof parts
  

Features & Improvements

• Improved the performance of barbed wire and various other traps
  
• Added ammunation starting options for the player
  
• Enabled the debug console again (F9 to open it)
  
• Long names in the placement list will now scroll through
  
• Added a respawn time option for conquest & KOTH
  
• Added color settings and adjusted the default material of sandbag barricades
  
• Added color settings to the cyborg eyes and doctor mask
  
• The evac zone in the hostage mode can now be placed on objects
  
• Angled roof parts can now be stacked to create long roof lines
  
• Some alien planet plants will now be aligned with the terrain slope
  
• Added support for wall mounted objects
  
• New objects will now show a "new" tag in the placement list
  
• Removed ambient environment sounds from most biomes
  
• Distance lights will now render at low quality instead of being culled
  
• Changed the ambient music in the main menu, custom battle and custom unit creator
  
• Removed ambient music while playing battles
  
• Added an apply button to the window and resolution settings
  
• Performance Improvements
  
  
  
  • Improved the memory efficiency of pathfinding which results in less stutters
    
  • Improved the AI pathfinding communication to remove some stutters
    
• Added new main menu backgrounds
  
  
  
  • Low end computers (< 4 cores or
  • Other systems will show a medieval, high culture, future or world war background
    

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that prevented propane tanks from being despawned
  
• Fixed squad unit symbol for tall custom units
  
• Fixed player bayonets with friendly fire enabled
  
• Fixed elimination mode end results to work with campaigns
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the UI system to stop working and become invisible in the editor
  
• Fixed red player spawns in random battles
  
• Fixed that helicopters wouldnt use their weapons
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented units from attacking the player while using siege weapons
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented units from moving towards the player in some areas
  
• Fixed initial health when starting to control a unit
  
• Fixed that notes couldnt be placed on future buildings
  

Squad system Summary in 100 seconds: https://youtu.be/IPAnO3M2GQE

• Improved the squad system to create a better experience
  
• You can now choose up to 8 squad units (previously 4)
  
• To control units, there is a new menu that you can navigate by using the F1-F5 keys (adjustable in the settings).
  
• Squad units are no longer affected by pathfinding delays of the regular AI to make them more responsive
  
• List of controls Movement
  Can be used to send units to a position, follow the player, advance individually or stop at their current position
  Facing
  Can be used to set the look direction of squad units to match the player direction, look away from the player or a specific direction
  Formation
  Can be used to set the formation of the units around the player or before sending them to a position.
  Available options: Line, Loose, Circle, Square, Wedge
  Attack
  Decide if units are allowed to attack or not
  Distance
  Decide how close the units will stay next to each other in formations
  

Other improvements
* The pathfinding will now use multiple CPU cores
* If you have cpu with more than 4 cores, you will notice less movement delays in large battles
* AI units will try to not push the player around
* Debug console key can now be adjusted in the settings (default backquote)
* Improved spectate button UI when the player died
* Fixed displaying of errors when there were problems while loading a battle

Bug fixes
A lot of bugs got fixed in the versions 0.35.0.1 - 0.35.0.6.
Some more bugs got fixed in this version, I will spare you the details. Thanks for reporting them!

In the upcoming days, there wont be quick updates for problems, so if you notice any gamebreaking problems, the old version is still available as the steam beta branch "0.35.0.6"

Next update
This is going to be the last update for 2020, unless there needs to be a patch for some bugs.
The next regular update is scheduled for early 2021, it will contain some content and suggestions from the community.
Thanks to everyone for all the support, feedback, moderation, suggestions, bug reports and for playing the game!

Merry christmas and a happy new year :)

[h3]Special Weekly Map Competition[/h3]
Starting on December 17th, 2020 at 18:00 UTC (10:00 PST) you got time until christmas eve to create the best winter themed map.
The winner gets to choose an item or object that will be added to the game.
Just like for the regular weekly map competitions you can upload your map through the popup in the main menu. The competition is hosted by Desert-Mammoth.

[h3]Snow update[/h3]
To help with the winter theme, there is a new option in the environment settings called "Coverage" that allows you to a layer of snow in each biome. The option got added in the latest version 0.35.0.3 which is available now!

The full patch notes are below. In case you prefer a video, here is a quick summary of the most relevant features and improvements in version 0.35.0: https://youtu.be/QLXG4AloM4Y

[h2] Alpha 0.35.0 patch notes[/h2]
Content

• Added M2 flamethrower
  
• Added flamethrower backpack (required for M2 flamethrower), but can be used as decoration on custom units
  

Features & Improvements

• Added anti aliasing (can be enabled in the graphics settings)
  
• Melee system improvements
  
  
  
  • Reworked some of the melee animations
    
  • Melee weapons will stop when hitting another weapon/shield
    
  • Players can now defend in 4 directions
    
  • Attack/Defend directions now work based on mouse movement (indicator and sensitivity adjustable in the game settings)
    
  • Skill setting is now working for AI melee units
    
  • Melee AI units will now block melee attacks
    
  • Melee AI units will now use their shield when they are getting shot
    
  • Melee weapon attack speeds depend on the weapon weight now
    
  • Blocking an attack will result in a short stun for the attacking unit
    
  • Improved melee weapon hit detections
    
  • Added blood splashes for melee weapon hits
    
  • Added dismemberment probabilities for each weapon
    
• AI targeting improvements
  
  
  
  • Units will now prioritize units that they can see
    
  • Guard/patrol units will only target units they can see
    
  • This will help to prevent targeting through walls in close quarters if other units are visible
    
• Other AI improvements
  
  
  
  • Improved visibility of ranged units
    
  • Improved navigation around corners (fixed jittering)
    
  • Melee units will no longer attack buildings
    
• Navigation features
  
  
  
  • You can now draw preferred and avoided areas for the AI in the editor
    
  • Added path preview tool the navigation preview
    
• Character body and head animations will now play in 3rd person
  
• Players can now sneak behind other units
  
• Jumping and running will now cause noise
  
• Noises are now related to a position in the world
  
• Arrows now have a chance to get stuck in shields
  
• Large bullet calibers can now penetrate shields
  
• You can now choose unlimited patrol points for units
  
• Added options to enter default or guard mode after the patrol path ended
  
• Units will now skip non traversable patrol paths
  
• Updated game settings save model (Will reset all game and audio settings)
  
• Added a light culling option to the render settings to improve the performance with many decorative lights
  
• Heavily increased flame thrower damage
  
• Battles, prefabs and campaigns are now stored in a compressed format to allow more advanced features to be stored in the files in the future
  

Bug fixes

• Fixed some problems with prefab placement
  
• Fixed problems with ladder climbing
  
• Fixed the functionality of the battering ram
  
• Fixed too many units warning when placing a lot of corpses
  
• Fixed that crouching could prevent the player from getting targeted in some cases
  

Next update
The next update will improve and expand the functionality of squad units. I will try to release it before christmas. Between christmas and new year, I will implement suggestions from the community to prepare a content update for early 2021.