Hey Polytopians!
We’re back with a brand new major beta update for you, the aptly named “Path of the Ocean” (formerly known as “the Naval Rework”)! We’ve taken some time to pretty much fully rework how the naval game is played, adding new units, mechanics, and poking everything that merely
looks at the water! Battleship Spam™ is dumb, and we can promise you that it’s now a thing of the past!
To keep things simple and quick on our side, the beta test will only be available on Steam, and you can find instructions on how to join the beta at the bottom of this post.We’ll be laying out this post like this:
- Tech Tree Changes
- New Units
- New Buildings
- The Special Tribes
- Other Important Changes
- How to get into the beta
- Changelog
Remember, this is a beta, and you things will most likely change before release, like some of the unfinished/unimplemented art. So, without further ado, let’s talk about the new things we’ve added, starting with the changes to the Fishing branch of techs.
As usual, this is going to be a long post, so buckle up.Let’s Get on the Water!
You get a boat! You get a boat! Everybody (but Aquatism) gets a boat![h2]Fishing[/h2]
If you’ll look at this picture, you’ll notice that we’ve put Ports into Fishing! Yes, that means that everyone has access to the water far faster than before. Putting Ports in Fishing gives us the possibility to use the whole Fishing branch for naval stuff, instead of just the Sailing branch. To help you get into the naval game from the start, Ports have also had their costs reduced to 7*, but their population brought down to 1. Putting a unit onto a Port will turn it into a defenseless Raft, which makes for easy transporting across shallow water. We’ll talk more about the Raft and other units in a bit.
[h2]Sailing[/h2]
Sailing is now home to the nimble Scout, a fast and observant unit that replaces the Ship. You’ll also be able to take any of your Naval Units on the Ocean when you get this tech.
[h2]Navigation[/h2]
Navigation gives you access to the new mighty Bomber, a ship that can cause massive collateral damage, but is quite slow and clunky. In addition to that, we’ve added Starfish as a replacement to Whales. To harvest them you need to move one of you units to the tile they are on. This new mechanic also means that you can harvest Starfish in neutral or enemy territory, so make sure to gobble them up before your opponents do!
[h2]Aquaculture[/h2]
And now on the other side of the branch, “Whaling” has been changed to “Aquaculture”. Since Ports no longer make 2 Population, that job has been handed to Aqua Farms, which are simply Farms on the water. They cost 5* and give you 2 population, just as a Farm would. This tech also adds the Rammer, a sturdy melee assault ship that’s good for taking over coastal cities.
[h2]Roads[/h2]
Not just roads anymore!“Wait, Roads isn’t in the Fishing branch,” is what you probably just said. "Yeah, and?" is our response. Roads still gives you…Roads, but it also allows for Bridges! Bridges will help you get over those small gaps in the land, and might allow you to bypass the need for naval on some maps!
New Units, You Say?!
If you read the previous section, you’ll notice that yes, we did add new naval units! Gone are the Boat, Ship, and Battleship, and in come the Raft, Scout, Rammer, Bomber, and Juggernaut! When placing a unit into a Port, they’ll become a Raft, but a Raft can be upgraded into any of the other naval unit types (barring the Juggernaut), assuming you have the proper tech and
you’re in friendly territory. Also worth noting is that Pirates and Dinghies are still in, they just haven’t been adjusted any and don’t factor into this update.
[h2]Raft[/h2]
A simple naval unit that does a job and it does it wellThe Raft replaces the Boat, functioning as a defenseless means of getting on the water and transporting your land units. Flimsy, but free, they function as the base unit that can be upgraded into a Scout, Rammer, or Bomber when in friendly territory.
[h2]Scout[/h2]
A boat so cool you’ll ship yourselfThe Battleship did a lot of things at once, so we chopped it up and spread it around into the new units. The Scouts got, you guessed it, Scout! They speed around the waters, exploring new lands and using their ranged attack to whittle down units. Quite fragile, but still a good, all-around unit that can get you a quick advantage over your opponents.
Traits
Float, Carry, Dash, Scout
[h2]Rammer[/h2]
Rammers like to get up close and personal...Rammers are melee ships designed to work their way through a crowd and assassinate targets or capture a city. They’re strong, durable, and speedy. Think of them like Swordsmen on the water, more or less.
Traits
Float, Carry, Dash, Sneak
[h2]Bomber[/h2]
It won’t hit just the Defenders, but the Archers, and the Catapults, tooThe Bomber is effectively a retooled Battleship, one put into more of a “bombarding” role. Functioning similarly to Catapults, Bombers are 3-range units that also have “Splash,” allowing them to hit not just a target, but also any adjacent targets! Fantastic for weakening a land defense and letting your Rammers establish a beachhead. Of course, this extreme power comes at a cost. They don’t have Dash and they’re fairly expensive. Much like Catapults, Bombers need time to set up before they can dish out their tremendous damage, in that time they’ll need help defending themselves.
Traits
Float, Carry, Splash
[h2]Juggernaut[/h2]
Always make sure to give your Juggernauts a proper escort...unlike us...So, we didn’t want 40HP Bombers being a thing, and that meant we had to get creative. Meet the Juggernaut, which is what happens if you put a Giant onto a Port! Poof, no upgrading required! They’re strong, they’re durable, and they’ve got some range! So, what’s the catch? They have the new trait “Stiff,” which prevents them from doing any retaliation damage when hit. Juggernauts are designed to fill a similar role to Giants on land - breaking stalemates, tanking damage, and dealing pain to their enemies, but since they can’t defend themselves well, they’ll need support from your other aquatic units to get the most out of them.
Traits
Float, Carry, Dash, Stiff
New Buildings? In My Naval Rework?!
In short, yes! We’ve already talked about Ports getting updated, so let’s talk about the updates to other buildings.
[h2]Bridges[/h2]
Good for giving a landlocked enemy a path right to your capitalAdded in Roads, Bridges cost 10*, and are built on 1-tile water gaps between landmasses. They’ll function as roads for movement and city connections, and they can be sailed underneath. No, you can’t daisy chain bridges together - they can only be used to connect landmasses in one direction, and that direction can’t be diagonal. Much like roads, they can also be built in neutral territory.
[h2]Market[/h2]
As if we needed to give you more reasons to only play Drylands...Markets cost 5* and are the new Customs Houses. They will give you +1* per turn for every adjacent port, but also for any Windmill, Forge, or Sawmill! Yes, you can now use Markets on Drylands maps - no Ports necessary! Markets should allow you to squeeze out a few more stars from some clever city planning. 🙂
Let’s Talk About the Special Tribes
We’re now going to talk about the changes we’ve made to each of the Special tribes to accommodate the new features. Since the Regular tribes have gotten new units and have all been given faster access to the water, we’ve ensured that each of the Specials have gotten the same treatment or something equivalent.
We plan to properly rework each of them in the future, so consider these changes to be “semi-temporary, bare-minimum changes" until we can properly deep-dive into each of them and give them the reworks they properly deserve. With that being said, let’s examine each one.
[h2]Aquarion[/h2]
Sound the alarm! Aquarion has been given some love for the first time ever!THIS IS NOT THE AQUARION REWORK. Okay, now that’s out of the way, let’s discuss the changes we’ve made to keep them playable. We have finally given them a starting tech, and one that should allow them to start taking coastal villages fairly early.
- Aquarion now starts with the Riding tech and an Amphibian
- Crabs now have 2 Movement in the water and a thicker shell giving them 5 defense
- Tridentions now have 10hp instead of 15hp
- Amphibians and Tridentions have lost the ability to use Roads on land
[h2]∑∫ỹriȱŋ[/h2]
Something is missing…If you’ll look at this picture, you’ll see this navy no longer has any Navalons. With the replacement of Whales with Starfish, the Navalon has gone the way of the Dodo and has been removed. ∑∫ỹriȱŋ is still able to harvest Starfish, as the Star-harvesting process does not harm the Starfish. Scraping the valuable stars of the skin is actually a joyful experience for them (if you're concerned about the lore reasons for this process).
- Removed Navalons
- Can harvest Starfish
[h2]Polaris[/h2]
Ice, Ice, Baby!Out of all of the Special tribes, the Polaris have gotten the most dynamic and drastic changes. In order to get them “on the water” as fast as the other tribes, we’ve done a big thing - given the Mooni Auto-Freeze. Every time a Mooni moves, you’ll freeze water, land, and units around it, kinda like a Gaami. They’ve been nerfed in other ways to compensate, but this change should overhaul how you see Polaris. Not to be outdone, though, the other tribes have discovered how to Break Ice as part of a Dash action, so the ice spread should be a more dynamic push and pull between everyone. We’ve also adjusted their tech tree, as you can see in the picture.
- Mooni gained Auto-Freeze, and have lost the power to manually freeze and now have a Defense of 1
- Gaami have lost the power to manually freeze
- The Frostwork tech now replaces Fishing, which allows for Mooni
- Ice Fishing replaces Aquaculture, allowing for harvesting Fish and building Outposts
- Battle Sleds are now in Sledding, which replaces Sailing
- Ice Fortresses are in Polar Warfare, which also allows for harvesting Starfish
- The Ice Bank now makes +2* for each level up instead of +3*
We’d love to hear what you think of the new Polaris!
[h2]Cymanti[/h2]
I got these Raychi slightly earlier than usualThe Cymanti haven’t gotten much in the way of major changes, only putting the Raychi in their equivalent of Sailing instead of Navigation, which should make it easier to spread Algae or assault navies. The placement of Algae has changed as well. Don’t worry, we’ll be examining the Cymanti properly later on.
- Raychi are now in Pescetism, which replaces Sailing
- Algae are in Hydrology, which now replaces Aquaculture
- Oceanology replaces Navigation, and grants the ability to harvest Starfish
What Else has Changed?
While we’ve covered most things that have been added in this update, there’s a few last things we’d like to share.
[h2]Lighthouse[/h2]
Yep, that’s a lighthouse on the edge of the worldA common complaint was how the Explorer Task (reveal the map) was too difficult and often ignored, so we changed it to “Find All Lighthouses”. Each of the 4 corners of the map will have a Lighthouse, and each Lighthouse will grow every time another player discovers it (and show who has seen it). You also don’t need Navigation or an equivalent tech to get this Task, as it will start the moment you find one.
[h2]Network Task[/h2]
The Network Task (connect 5 cities to your capital) is no longer tied to the Roads tech. Instead it will start automatically when you connect your first city. This is a tiny change but it will make it possible to get that monument even on maps where roads are not needed, such as through ports.
[h2]Continents Overhaul[/h2]
Ooo, look at that!If you weren’t joking about Aquarion, you were probably joking about Continents, everyone’s favorite map to dislike. Well, we’ve completely rewritten the terrain generator for Continents, hopefully turning it into one of your favorites! You’ll now find that this map type will try to give everyone their own continent or divide everyone evenly on a few continents (on top of a handful of other possible configurations). You’ll also see some continents that are divided by 1-tile “rivers”, which are good for Bridges. There’s a lot of variety in the new map type, and we hope you have a lot of fun!
[h2]Pangea[/h2]
Pan-jee-ah. Yeah, I was saying it wrong, too.Pangea is a new map type! Simply put, it’s a large landmass surrounded by water! Like, if you shoved Drylands and Archipelago together! Expect tons of fighting on the continent, but never be surprised if your opponent hits you with naval units. Both Continents and Pangea will prioritize placing capitals on the coasts to hopefully balance out the need for both land and naval forces.
[h2]AI Improvements[/h2]
We’ve made the AI smarter and able to use the new fancy water stuff! More importantly, they’ll be smarter with their tech choices, and you should notice a much more difficult Crazy difficulty. We’d love to hear what you think!
[h2]Some Small Balance Changes[/h2]
We’ve heard your complaints about Bardur and Rider/Road meta, so we’ve made both Lumber Huts and Roads cost 3*. Changing Lumber Huts should slow down Bardur a little, and the change to roads now follows our philosophy of ensuring that you think a little before plopping down a road on every single tile.
On top of that, we’ve also removed Fortify from Swordsmen, further differentiating them from Defenders, which are now the definitive “defensive unit”.
Last, but not least, Parks now make +1* in addition to their 250p score bonus! So, you now have a valid reason to take a Park instead of a Giant in Domination or Might!
How Do I Play the New Beta?
Simple! Just hop onto our open Steam beta! No mobile access at this time, but all Steam users can join by using the code:
polytopiabetatesters
Should look something like thisIf you don’t have the Steam version of Polytopia you can get it at a great beta -70% discount price.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/874390/The_Battle_of_Polytopia/
You can also join our Discord to discuss it with other Beta testers by clicking this sentence!We’re actually really interested in hearing your feedback, and will most likely make small changes, like unit stats, art adjustments, or tech placement, based on what you have to say! Expect an extra long beta process with occasional patches, and remember to stay flexible and constructive. :)
-Zoythrus
Changelog
Naval changes:
- Removed Boats, Ships, Battleships, and Navalons
- Ports moved to Fishing and now costs 7 stars and make 1 population
- Sailing gets Ocean movement and Scout ship
- Whaling has been replaced with "Aquaculture" and gets Aqua Farms and Rammer ship
- Navigation gets Bomber ship and ability to gather stars from Starfish resource
- Bridge building in Roads lets you connect two land masses
- Market replaces Customs Houses and gives 1 star for each nearby Port, Windmill, Sawmill and Forge
- New Pangea map type
- Improved Continents map type
- Giants turn into Juggernauts when embarking
- Find 4 Lighthouses for Explorer task (instead of revealing the whole map)
New naval units:
- Raft - Defenseless transport
- Scout - Fast and fragile exploration vessel
- Rammer - Sturdy naval melee ship
- Bomber - Slow but powerful long range destroyer
- Juggernaut - Powerful but rare battleship
New resources:
- Starfish - Replaces Whales. Must have a unit on it to harvest it for 10*, even in neutral or enemy territory
- Aqua Crop - make farms on water
General Changes:
- Swordsman no longer has “Fortify” ability
- Lumber Hut costs 3*
- Roads cost 3*
- Parks give +1* per turn
- Network task unlock automatically when connecting your first city
- Improved AI
- Killing a unit with a Cloak will ensure that a Dagger will spawn in the city
Aquarion:
- Start with Riding and an Amphibian
- Crab get 2 movement on water and 5 Defense
- Tridentions now have 10hp
- Amphibious units can no longer use roads
Polaris:
- Moonis now have Auto-Freeze and 1 Defense
- Gaami now only freeze when moving
- The Frostwork tech replace Fishing, which allows for Mooni
- Ice Fishing replaces Aquaculture, allowing for harvesting Fish and building Outposts
- Battle Sleds are now in Sledding, which replaces Sailing
- Ice Fortresses are in Polar Warfare, which also allows for harvesting Starfish
- The Ice Bank now makes +2* for each level up instead of +3*
Cymanti:
- Raychi are now in Pescetism, which replaces Sailing
- Algae are in Hydrology, which now replaces Aquaculture
- Oceanology replaces Navigation, and grants the ability to harvest Starfish
Now, with more spikes!
Bombers didn't get a visual change, but it'd be weird if there wasn't a picture here
Do you think the Giants blow on the sails to get it to move?
They're usually much taller than this.
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