Hello everyone, this is Dmitry.
[p]We are also releasing this patch to the beta branch, since it contains many features that build on the previous update and require your attention and testing. Nevertheless, we plan to push it to the main branch this Friday (it will also include a few more things, such as the updated Wise Conversation system).[/p][p]I also want to reassure you that work on level generation has not stopped, and I believe we will finally release it to beta before the end of the year.[/p][p]As always, saves are compatible, and we need your reviews and feedback.[/p][p]So, in this patch we reworked the unique cultural books, changed building and resource production recipes, added the rumor system, made many balance adjustments, and overall tried to make the game more enjoyable.[/p][p]I believe all these changes have brought the game into good shape (as much as possible), and over the next couple of months we will focus on developing large features that truly change the gameplay experience.[/p][p][/p]Rumor System
[p]You will now see a set of rumors in the daily global map report. They give you an idea of your opportunities in terms of intrigue. Somewhere a lord might be ready to be seduced, somewhere a politician has poor relations with their king and just needs a nudge to start a conspiracy, and so on. In general, you will better understand where to start and where you can apply pressure.[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/41807986/f5e8abd227ebd495f65e7f0feaab316c3620a43a.png"][/img][/p][p][/p]Politicians on the Map
[p]Speaking of politicians, they are now more likely to rebel when the king changes (especially if they dislike the new one). Meanwhile, bribing them now initiates a conspiracy rather than a rebellion (otherwise it was too easy).[/p][p][/p]Reworked Global Map Conspiracies
[p]We redesigned the conspiracy success formula. You can now send a helper lord who increases the success chance. This depends on their combat skill, so combining brains (the persuasion skill used for slander to turn a politician against their king) and brawn (the helper during the conspiracy) is especially effective.[/p][p][/p]New Books
[p]In beta, the Scriptonic now brings new cultural books every time you upgrade your town level. We are moving toward a system where you will be able to buy only one of them (and next time he will bring different books). For now, we have reworked the sets, removed poorly used books, and added new useful ones. The Tanaya culture got especially lucky. I think they became particularly strong.[/p][p]By the way, did you know that the Scriptonic buys books at double price? A good way to make money by selling him old books whose knowledge has already become common.[/p][p][/p]New Recipes
[p]Many resources and buildings now require wooden blanks. This moves us away from the iron dictatorship and makes the game more varied.[/p][p]By the way, we added iron to the mine on medium difficulty (150 per level), and when it depletes, it no longer completely stops producing iron. Its output drops by 70 percent, which gives around 10 units per day, still livable.[/p][p][/p]Building Storage Overflow
[p]We discovered that many players do not realize that your peasants do not eat everything you give them. They consume one food per day, and all the excess is stored in the basements of their homes. We added a couple of notifications about this and will add more.[/p][p]Rain Effect [/p][p]Rain now increases crop yield for the day, but your residents may get their feet wet if they walk off-road, slowing them down a bit.[/p][p][/p]Balance
[p]Overall, we continue working on making the early game easier and the late game harder. Vassal tribute has been reduced, and market expansion now happens only for alliances. On the other hand, we reduced annoyance from dealing with vassals. They now more reasonably assess your strength as suzerain and will not constantly spam you with demands to cancel tribute.[/p][p]After being defeated, kings on the map now hire troops and recover noticeably slower, giving you more opportunities during military conflicts.[/p][p]Unique guests will now appear more often. Previously, a bug caused their arrival to be blocked by the Scriptonic.[/p][p]In fact, in the next roadmap we plan to revisit guests more thoroughly. I want to make them not passive bonuses, but active story agents your lords will interact with.[/p][p][/p]Crime System Adjustments
[p]Another reason this patch is going to beta is that the new settlement level system disrupted crime balance, causing criminals to almost disappear. Previously they appeared due to excess unemployed people, but with migration control this has become easy to prevent. [/p][p]So we added vagrants who arrive in your city when your neighbors are at war. You can generally stop them together with migration, but then you also lose regular migrants. Full elimination of crime is possible if you gain control over your neighbors and establish peace on all your borders.[/p][p][/p]UI Improvements
[p]We made navigating and understanding the opportunities for intrigue in foreign kingdoms more convenient by placing all intrigue actions in a separate section.[/p][p]In the relations menu we added a checkbox that lets you invert the direction of displayed relations from a character to others (as it worked before).[/p][p]We also added a set of problems that help you understand when something is going wrong, and improved their triggering conditions.[/p][p]In the army menu, mercenaries now have a yellow clock icon if their contract is about to expire, and a red one if it has already expired and needs renewal. When hiring warriors, icons on their portraits will quickly show what they are armed with.[/p][p]Sawmills now show the radius within which they efficiently cut trees, and when trees in this radius run out, you will receive a problem flag. It will be easier to monitor their efficiency.[/p][p]Buildings prioritized for warriors now have an icon in the King’s Eye mode, so you can easily see who lives where.[/p][p]All in all, there are many improvements and no fewer balance changes.[/p][p][/p][p]So play, share your thoughts, and report bugs. We are fixing them too, of course. Thank you to everyone who sends us emails.[/p][p][/p]
Full Changelog (122 changes total)
[p][/p]New books
[p]Varna[/p]- [p]Special spice. Alcohol effect duration x2 in whole province[/p][/*]
- [p]Good fame. New settler positive thought x2 duration[/p][/*]
- [p]Land knowledge. +30% iron mining bonus[/p][/*]
- [p]Church history. Bishop opinion req for teaching/sermons down to 0[/p][/*]
- [p]Closed eyes. On dark deeds fail Matriarch upset much less[/p][/*]
- [p]Approval sermon. Allows player-ordered approval sermons[/p][/*]
- [p]Secret history. Dark deeds cost x0.5[/p][/*]
- [p]Hunting traditions. All residents +7 combat skill vs wolf[/p][/*]
- [p]Secret fire. Defensive structures burn damage +50%[/p][/*]
- [p]Weapon glory. Victory thought x2 strength and duration for all residents[/p][/*]
- [p]Herb gathering. +30% forest herb gathering bonus[/p][/*]
Interface and QoL
- [p]Improved display of the hint about knowledge that has become public[/p][/*]
- [p]The technology hint label "The book is written in the language ..." will include a culture icon[/p][/*]
- [p]Trade table capacity for exchanging in the caravan trader trade menu reduced from 9 to 7 goods[/p][/*]
- [p]Added warrior icon in king view mode, displayed above residential buildings where warriors are prioritized for living[/p][/*]
- [p]Added problem flag issue, ragged ones will attack soon[/p][/*]
- [p]If the marriage quest disappears from the global map, the corresponding issue will also disappear[/p][/*]
- [p]Changed "Prisoners are poorly guarded" issue, it will disappear if no prisoners have escaped recently[/p][/*]
- [p]Added problem flag issue, lots of food accumulated in peasant houses[/p][/*]
- [p]Added problem flag issue, many empty job slots[/p][/*]
- [p]Added problem flag issue, sawmill far from trees[/p][/*]
- [p]Added number of homeless soldiers in the soldiers hint (top left)[/p][/*]
- [p]"Enemy awaits the moment" advice will not display while the player is under Loving Family protection[/p][/*]
- [p]In the "Seduction" order executor hint, current and required interest will be shown as numbers[/p][/*]
- [p]In "Abduction" and "Assassination" action hints in dark deeds on the global map, Treasurer's name is added[/p][/*]
- [p]Clicking on a lord's portrait in an AI city will open that lord's interaction menu nearby[/p][/*]
- [p]Added "Political Intrigues" category in AI city menu orders, some actions moved there[/p][/*]
- [p]If a soldier has rutabaga typhus, corresponding icon will show near the portrait[/p][/*]
- [p]Scriptonik will have 100-200 coins[/p][/*]
- [p]Technology names in caravan trade menu will wrap to multiple lines if long[/p][/*]
- [p]Now can rehire a soldier with expired contract without waiting for him to return equipment to storage[/p][/*]
- [p]Changed algorithm for forming list of possible resources for sale in caravan menu, [/p][/*]
- [p]Added display of new rumors in "World Summary" hint, now can click faction name in hints to go to that faction's city[/p][/*]
- [p]Added line to lord hint explaining why this lord is unavailable for interaction in "Lords" category selection menu on global map[/p][/*]
- [p]Added rumor system hinting important city events, e.g. AI city politician has bad relations with king and it can be exploited[/p][/*]
- [p]Added new modifier "Knowledge does not become public"[/p][/*]
- [p]Mercenary cards show their weapon icon[/p][/*]
- [p]Added context to approval sermon hints, sermon now available only to politicians, not bishop[/p][/*]
- [p]Added job slot recalculation at 21:00[/p][/*]
- [p]Woodcutters now show effective radius, issue displays if no trees inside[/p][/*]
- [p]Updated advice on lord hatred when attaching/detaching thoughts[/p][/*]
- [p]Added sawmill radius display during construction[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed missing text in Matriarch's letter about inquisition attacking player[/p][/*]
- [p]Soldier hint shows number needing medicine, not those with inflamed wounds[/p][/*]
- [p]Added reverse relations mode toggle in relations menu[/p][/*]
- [p]"Close" label appears when opening side menus in army menu[/p][/*]
- [p]Building hints in construction menu pin on hover to view required resources[/p][/*]
- [p]Red cross on peasant icon when migration disabled, hint shows hall menu button icon[/p][/*]
- [p]"Buy dog" task starts instantly after assignment[/p][/*]
- [p]Mercenary contract expired notification shows only if mercenary on local map, if on global - after return[/p][/*]
Balance
- [p]Tanaya culture will strengthen any prayer thought, not only in temple[/p][/*]
- [p]Market volume for carrots increased[/p][/*]
- [p]Joy sermon price reduced from 150 to 100 coins[/p][/*]
- [p]In AI possible resources buyable from player at 0-, ale replaced with wooden blanks[/p][/*]
- [p]AI army evaluation in city menu excludes lord-commander[/p][/*]
- [p]Removed "Idol's death" thought[/p][/*]
- [p]AI lord visit invitation now checks relations between that lord and executor, not kings[/p][/*]
- [p]AI no longer counts forces twice in "Suzerain's army might" thought calc if vassal city has walls[/p][/*]
- [p]Changed algorithm for lord money appearance and spending on global map, lords should have more money on average[/p][/*]
- [p]AI spends less money on army[/p][/*]
- [p]AI lords up to 90 residents in their city equip light armor with spear and shield[/p][/*]
- [p]Residents won't buy ale and meat directly from caravan trader[/p][/*]
- [p]Prisoner uprisings disabled[/p][/*]
- [p]Iron amount in mine at medium difficulty increased from 100 to 150 per level[/p][/*]
- [p]Changed thoughts attached after "Flattery" and "Slander" orders on local map[/p][/*]
- [p]Changed light armor and shields production recipes[/p][/*]
- [p]AI demands remove tribute only at -15 relations to suzerain or lower, not from 0[/p][/*]
- [p]AI demands remove tribute only 5 turns after conquest, not 3[/p][/*]
- [p]Some production buildings removed negative effect on neighboring residential houses[/p][/*]
- [p]Rain wets feet of residents walking off roads and improves field fertility[/p][/*]
- [p]Neighbor kings can't bribe non-politician lord with highest army support anymore[/p][/*]
- [p]Changed unlock thresholds for some knowledge[/p][/*]
- [p]Player's neighbors can now request help not only direct province neighbors but also empire neighbors[/p][/*]
- [p]Changed bishop faith sermon thought strength and duration[/p][/*]
- [p]Increased chance of unique guests arriving[/p][/*]
- [p]Market volume increases only if player in city alliance, not vassal state[/p][/*]
- [p]Vassal tribute halved[/p][/*]
- [p]AI won't attack player territory bandit camp[/p][/*]
- [p]Teacher XP for lesson and knowledge study XP halved[/p][/*]
- [p]King gift amount increased from 150 to 300 coins, character poor and gift works better if money < 100[/p][/*]
- [p]At game start and after lord aging, 0 to 500 coins[/p][/*]
- [p]Slander strength reduced on local and global map, global praise strength reduced[/p][/*]
- [p]War consequences happen even on successful defense by neighbors, increased vagrants from war consequence migrants[/p][/*]
- [p]Global map conspiracy success chances now based on initiator and player lord total combat skills, on fail player lord captured not executed[/p][/*]
- [p]Global map politician bribe now causes conspiracy not uprising[/p][/*]
- [p]AI politician can rebel only after king change, rebel chance 50%, or 100% if <0 to new king, army support random 30-70%[/p][/*]
- [p]Global map conspiracy can only be started by politician[/p][/*]
- [p]Healing ointment produced from 2 flowers, not 1[/p][/*]
- [p]Puppet on creation transfers 80% gold to master[/p][/*]
- [p]Ring prices increased from 30/15 to 100/50[/p][/*]
- [p]Removed market depth doubling on peaceful difficulty[/p][/*]
- [p]Changed some building construction recipes[/p][/*]
- [p]Removed "Learn new language" desire[/p][/*]
- [p]Added rutabaga to resources AI can sell player on global map[/p][/*]
- [p]Increased chance marauders target player city[/p][/*]
- [p]Player can't attack other lords' vassals if peace treaty with their suzerain[/p][/*]
- [p]For "Gift" order lord rich and reduces relation bonus only if >700 gold[/p][/*]
Fixes
- [p]Fixed "Comfort" order unavailable hint due to bad bishop and player king relations[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed tutorial block at resource sale to caravan stage[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where player army cost evaluated lower[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where repairing some burned buildings didn't remove negative effect on neighboring residential[/p][/*]
- [p]Faith sermon hint accounts for max total thought strength bishop can get[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed frequent "Culture residents unhappy" notification[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where global map city couldn't be selected at max zoom out if army/character nearby[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where global map "Gift" action returned money after execution but not on cancel[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where politician rebellion aid send hint showed two honor debt messages[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where mine depletion notification appeared every resource mine[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where lord mood 25 had yellow portrait background not red[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where global map city menu third tab missing order button and sprite transparency worked wrong[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed possible crash on popup messages[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where player lords suddenly got heavy gear and peasants knives after 90 residents[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed error on showing article popup during tutorial[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where mine depletion notifications reappeared on building upgrade[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where Scriptonik set cooldown on unique guests arrival making them rarer[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed error on saving non-existent knowledge[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed crash when married lord tried seduce commoner to sex and targeted barrack prisoner[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed bug where low relations guest invite impossibility hint showed kings not lords[/p][/*]
- [p]GUI memory optimization[/p][/*]
