Dogs Of War Vu

Sim/Strategy/War => Games Discussion => Topic started by: Asid on July 07, 2020, 02:32:37 PM

Title: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on July 07, 2020, 02:32:37 PM
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/header.jpg?t=1593621226)

In a time of plague and war, it's your task to lead your people through the deadliest pandemics in history. In this historical grand strategy and RTS hybrid with optional undead hordes mode, you play as a minor lord or a king of a great nation across medieval Europe, Africa or Middle East.


Home page  (http://reverieworld.com/)
Steam  (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1300700/The_Plague_Kingdom_Wars/)
Steam forum  (https://steamcommunity.com/app/1300700/discussions/)


Single-player


The Plague: Kingdom Wars - Launch Trailer

https://youtu.be/NtxyMXFUqg4


About

It`s 1347, the time of the Black Death Plague and Hundred Years' War. You take on a role of one of 200 Minor Lords or Kings from the time period. Be a minor noble in Ottomans court, an earl in Ireland, or Emperor of Byzantium, and rewrite history by fighting to preserve your empire and prevent the spread of the Black Death across Europe.

You bear the burden of leadership, and must decide how to keep your people safe. Act swiftly, using diplomacy or military might, but do not hesitate or the consequences will be dire. History has shown the critical importance of sound leadership in times of great crisis, even as we face these dangers now.

When we began development on 'The Plague', we never expected history to repeat itself. We're sensitive to the danger and harm of the epidemic we all face right now, but are taking this chance to help fight back against COVID-19. A portion of the proceeds from 'the Plague' will go towards bolstering our health care networks, including donations to the CDP COVID-19 Fund.

From the makers of Medieval Kingdom Wars
The Plague: Kingdom Wars builds upon the success of Medieval Kingdom Wars and takes things further. As we enter Early Access, however, almost everything has been redone from the ground up, and gameplay has completely changed. Only some of the art and level assets remain (for now). A greatly expanded world map and new plague mechanics are just the beginning, with hundreds of new lords to play as and many new nations and cities to conquer and control.

Redefining the Genre
The Plague: Kingdom Wars is the first historical strategy game to feature a full scale pandemic, as well as the optional undead mode, with millions of infected and undead potentially roaming the world map. Gameplay is ever evolving from lordship or kingdom management, to fighting a pandemic, or stopping an undead apocalypse.

Build an Empire
Build your cities and hamlets, engage in trade, economy and diplomacy, and in this time of great conflict in Europe – partake in almost non-stop warfare – from epic sieges to naval combat and bloody field battles.

Battle the Plague
The black death is here, and as it sweeps through your empire your focus will quickly shift from conquering your rivals to surviving the pandemic. Utilize primitive medieval medicine, quarantine your cities, cut trade with distant lands, whatever it takes to stem the tide of death. Millions of people across Europe will get infected and die, and very soon it's the human resources and not silver coins that will become the most sparse resource.

Undead Mode
In the optional Undead mode, the millions infected will soon turn into an even deadlier plague, hordes of undead aimlessly roaming Europe, destroying everything in their path. Will you isolate yourself on one of the islands, or attempt to unite Europe through diplomacy as you try to stop thousands of undead at your castle walls?

Brutal Epic Battles
Battles are truly epic - with several thousands units on all sides of battle. Bloody sieges, pitched field battles, and naval warfare unfolds with brutal historical realism and survival elements. When the battle is won, loot corpses or take apart towns to replenish your much needed resources.

Enormous World Map
The entirety of greater Europe and beyond is your playground – from the sultanates of North Africa to Byzantium, the Russian states and the Golden Horde, and all the Kingdoms of the Western and Central Europe. You can start the game as a minor noble with a small demesne or as a King ruling a great nation. There are dozens of Kingdoms for you to choose from and over 300 Lords and Kings whose role you can play.

Manage Towns Up-close
You have the freedom to manage everything up-close and personal by entering towns in RTS mode. Construct buildings and walls, and position your troops. At the same time, you can also manage everything on the world map.


(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_95ce743f84737bbc663ca9f11417b93238640761.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_9bbbbd47840b6325a7f3b411a649d082913b150f.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_dd75c46afca47f1847d98da7fdeb4e41f557e815.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_ef397c6ceb8c31106b8a0be61fdff2bcf8d48745.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_423f057ac56831bce35d4a449bff7b0d21e5d77b.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_7a29e33eeeab0a8229c109fb22b255a521f5f825.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_97eba73688661914a5e765a448026ab4d845ec02.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_64e90a99d0d28d80b11beb1f6d52a410bb84773e.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_64e90a99d0d28d80b11beb1f6d52a410bb84773e.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_11a7fa4aefe2807204cd23707dca7788734040cb.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1300700/ss_6c40bac1409ada3d3be5b6724a70e9fc466c6e67.1920x1080.jpg?t=1593621226)

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on July 07, 2020, 02:34:32 PM
The Plague - EA Roadmap
29 June 2020

The Plague: Kingdom Wars is a sequel to Medieval Kingdom Wars, that was build on the foundation of the original game. With our current Early Access build, bigger half of the game has been remade from the ground up, and gameplay has evolved in new directions. A greatly expanded world map and new plague mechanics are just the beginning. There are hundreds of new lords to play as, and over 30 new nations to conquer and control.

However, since we wanted to focus on changing gameplay during production, some of the art and level assets remained from the original MKW. Our main priority during Early Access is to create brand new art assets and city levels, with unit and building variations by culture, and so much more.

The final goal is for each nation to play differently, and have four distinct cultural sets, with their own unit and buildings, spread across the greater Europe, including Western, Southern, Slavic and Muslim culture sets.

Please keep in mind that we`ll be using in-game poll, to get players feedback on what projects we should be prioritizing.

This list only includes big projects. There are nearly 350 other smaller things and improvements across the board that is still planned.

THE PLAGUE POST-RELEASE PROJECTS

Summer 2020
•   Diplomacy reworked to include various anti-Plague actions
•   Playing as King instead of minor lord unlocked
•   Towns and regions effected by the plague get new atmosphere with burning corpse piles, empty streets and other props
•   Switching to new Hamlet system that`s unique and bigger compared to MKW hamlets
•   English voice acting added for all quests and cinematic dialogues
•   Unique art for each of the 4 national cultural sets for most of the town and village buildings, palisade and stone walls
•   Unique unit response dialogues for the 4 national sets
•   Unique unit art for the 4 national sets
•   Unique combat, and world map music for the 4 national sets
•   Unique build orders, and some unique techs for the 4 national sets
•   Updates to pathfinding and combat control GUI
•   Optional Undead campaign mode DLC unlocked

Fall 2020
•   Unique art for buildings for each of the 4 cultural sets
•   Unique art for all building, tech, unit and ability icons that are currently used from MKW
•   All nations gain unique units, unique starting techs, and several unique gameplay advantages
•   All towns are now unique, with no art or level assets reused from MKW
•   Religion is implemented, with Catholic Christian, Muslim, Pagan and Orthdox Christian systems
•   Complex trade system implemented
•   Expanding tech tree to accommodate Gunpowder units in later ages, and new gunpowder units added to the game

Winter 2020
•   TBA

Spring 2021
•   TBA


Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on July 08, 2020, 12:39:59 AM
Beta Access for MKW Veterans
Sun, 5 July 2020

Hey Everyone,

With release fast approaching, we are starting an open-ish beta today.

We have just finished sending out free game keys to these MKW veterans who emailed us. These keys also give immediate access to the game. Just in case you missed this offer, to provide some feedback: We wanted to give a chance to MKW veterans to get The Plague for free. So we sent several thousands MKW veterans emails with invitation.

As we start to let public into the game, myself and other developers will be spending quite a bit of time in-game over the next couple of days, and hope to catch some of you in the chat to answer your questions.

Any type of feedback or bug reports that these with access can provide will be extremely useful. Even if its just a few words on what you like, and don`t like about The Plague.

Keep in mind - we are still in active development and there will be daily updates and we polish up and add last content before release in 5 days.

Thanks for your help!

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on July 08, 2020, 12:41:41 AM
Beta Test Updates + Gameplay Footage
Mon, 6 July 2020

Hey Everyone,

We would like to thank everyone who have joined our beta test. We really appreciate the feedback, and glad to see the game is leaving a good impression!

Over the next 4 days we`ll be updating the game once or twice as day as you report more issues, and we are adding the final content.

The new update 1.2 just went live with a lot improvements and fixes. Including citizens, livestock, first part of the tutorial and so much more.

Also keep in mind that there`s no embargo on posting screenshots or videos, already some pretty good gameplay videos have started popping up.

One of the youtube heavy hitters have made this video earlier today, shows unedited gameplay of the campaign.


The Plague: Kingdom Wars Gameplay (PC HD) [1080p60FPS]

https://youtu.be/_SZDsaxvWVw


Hope everyone is staying safe, we can`t wait to launch the game this Thursday!


Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on July 09, 2020, 11:46:32 PM
The Plague is Coming... tomorrow 3pm EST
Thu, 9 July 2020

Hey Everyone,

We are glad to say that we are all systems go for to launch The Plague: Kingdom Wars tomorrow (Thursday) at 3pm EST.

We can`t wait to share the game with you! We do have a lengthy journey through Early Access with the game, and what`s even more exciting is all the new content, new art and graphics, new gameplay features that we plan to add.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/38140505/94b0b58e4102f3b1754d8d0ba39d1c408a458b54.png)

We hope you will join us tomorrow for the launch date. Myself and other developers will be in-game chat around the clock, as well as be replying to every discord and forum post. Can`t wait to speak with many of you over the next few days.

For the players who already have the access, we just released a major update that completes our launch build. Last thing is we`ll enable Undead Rising DLC zombies tomorrow.

Thanks for all the support guys! See you tomorrow:)


Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on July 10, 2020, 12:51:22 AM
The Plague is here!
Thu, 9 July 202

Hey everyone,

The Plague: Kingdom Wars has just been released to Early Access. Thank you for joining us on the launch date, and supporting our small indie team.

We can't wait to share the PKW with you. We’re embarking on a long journey together as the game will be in Early Access for a while. We’re really excited to show you all the new content, new art and graphics, and new gameplay features that we plan to add.


Speaking with Developers
If you are new to our games, you might be surprised at our approach. We do things a little different from other indie studios, and spend a lot of time talking to our players. This is the best way to get feedback, figure out what we should be working on and also to support our player community.

Our entire development team will be on the in-game chat around the clock. We’ll also reply to every discord and forum post. We’re looking forward to speaking with many of you over the next few days and hearing your perspectives!


Daily Updates
We plan to work through the weekend and into next week with daily updates, to add new content. Please try to keep the game up to date, and if you encounter a bad bug, let us know about it. Please don’t judge us too harshly for the first couple of days - we will get any glitches fixed quickly. Though for the most part the game should be in pretty solid shape for this launch.


Undead Rising DLC
We are giving the Undead Rising DLC to everyone who purchases the game on launch. However, we are waiting for the page to get approved by Steam (there were some delays due to COVID-19 and the summer sale) and we need to finalize a few more things. So, while you can already select to play that version of the campaign in the menu, you won't encounter Zombies until the DLC officially goes live. We’ll keep you posted, it won't be that long.


Early Access Plans
The Plague: Kingdom Wars is a sequel to Medieval Kingdom Wars that was built on the foundation of the original game. With our current Early Access build, a greater part of the game has been remade from the ground up, and the gameplay has evolved in a new direction. A greatly expanded world map and new plague mechanics are just the beginning. There are hundreds of new lords to play as, and over 30 new nations to conquer and control.

However, since we wanted to focus on changing gameplay during production, some of the art and level assets remained from the original MKW. Our main priority during Early Access is to create brand new art assets and city levels, with unit and building variations by culture, and so much more.

The final goal is for each nation to play differently, and have four distinct cultural sets, with their own unit and buildings, spread across the greater Europe, including Western, Southern, Slavic and Muslim culture sets.

You can read more about this and our roadmap here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1300700/discussions/0/2570942124843493287/

Thank you for your continued support! We really think you’ll enjoy PKW and we can’t wait to hear your thoughts.


Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on July 14, 2020, 12:54:59 AM
Update # 1 - Post Launch Fixes
Mon, 13 July 2020

Hey Everyone,

First of all we would like to thank everyone who have joined us on during the launch weekend! Thanks for all the feedback in-game and on the forums. We are happy to have such a great bunch of players with us.

Also thanks for your patience with the game, as we are just starting early access and expect for everything to be ironed out and working nicely within two weeks. Admittedly there were some bugs and issue on release, though luckily not that many.

We are continuing work on enabling undead armies in-game, and hope to bring you this free DLC in the very near future. We have also just released the music DLC.

We are also finishing translations - and full Chinese, Russian, German and French translation will be added this Wednesday. It would take a bit more time to complete other languages.

With that said, lets take a look at our first update, we expect couple of more solid updates later this week.

Introducing Update # 1

Visual and Performance Improvements
•   Major performance improvement during battles, especially in big cities
•   Reduced the size and scale of all battalions, they are smaller, but easier to manage and control
•   Major visual update to the world map and battle maps
•   Fixed various visual artifacts in terrain textures on world map and battle maps
•   Game lighting has been adjust to be a lot brighter
•   Added small blurring effect to in-game light
•   New art design for western stone wall set

Gameplay Changes and Fixes
•   New unit response voice dialogues for elite foot knights
•   When starting a new campaign there are now arrow showing towns that player controls
•   Fixed rare issue where entire tech tree resets
•   Fixed various issues with techs not saving right
•   Fixed tech unlocking elite foot knights not working

Balancing Changes
•   Rebalanced the prices of techs in the Steward menu, they are now significantly higher
•   Completely rebalanced food and silver drain while in battle, it`s now a lot slower
•   At the start of a new campaign AI garrisons in villages have been significantly reduced
•   At the start of a new campaign player now gets significantly stronger town garrisons


Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on July 16, 2020, 12:07:17 AM
Update # 2 - Translation
Wed, 15 July 2020

Hey Everyone,

And we are back with our second update. Today there are two main additions. First we have reworked how Hamlets work. Before Hamlets would only get palisade wall at level 3, and double palisade walls at level 4. This has been changed to first palisade wall at level 1, and second palisade wall at level 3.

In addition we have corrected a lot of mistakes in localization, and added full translation into German, Chinese, Russian and French.

Work is ongoing on Italian and Spanish localization, and we hope to have them in-game later on in July. Unfortunately there will be a small delay completing Portuguese translation, we apologize for the delay.

We will continue with another great update early next week, fine tuning balancing and world map AI, as well as really creating difference in how AI garrisons it`s cities on different difficulties.

Introducing Update # 2

Additions and Changes

•   Corrected hundreds of mistakes in various translations
•   Hamlets now have palisade walls at level 1, and double palisade at level 3
•   Added full German translation
•   Added full Chinese translation
•   Added full French translation
•   Added full Russian translation


Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on July 29, 2020, 12:03:33 PM
Update # 3 - Major GUI Revision
Tue, 28 July 2020

Hey Everyone,

As we continue we have a great third EA update for you today. In today`s update we completely redesigned the scaling and presentation of the GUI. Everything has been redesign to be much smaller, sleeker yet still usable. Please let us know what you think, and what else should be improved.

In addition this update completes the major Hamlet expansion as well as reworks early game combat gameplay. AI will not always finish at least basic walls in it`s Level 1 hamlets, so need to have that Battering Ram handy. In the next update we`ll also make AI much better at defending the small hamlet walls (right now it`s lacking a little bit)

In the next update we`ll finally include Spanish and Italian localization, as well fixes for last noticeable bugs remaining across the board. And hopefully we`ll have Dead Rising free DLC done or nearly done.

Meanwhile, lets take a look at Update # 3 (v0.18)

Additions and Changes
•   Redesigned combat GUI with much smaller scale
•   Updated and re-positioned campaign creation GUI
•   Redesigned world map GUI with much smaller scale
•   Additional GUI changes with smaller scale and/or positioning across the board
•   Hamlets both for player and AI can now have full surround wall at level 1
•   Early game gameplay evolved, with siege combat becoming a lot more important
•   World Map AI will rush to upgrade hamlets with level 1 right at the start
•   A number of small scale performance inprovement


Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on September 03, 2020, 02:58:49 PM
Update # 4 - Combat Reworked
Wed, 2 September 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/38140505/6dfa8bcf19cb60eba258bcc9c0491381f279beb7.jpg)

Hey Everyone,

As the summer is nearly over we are back to active Early Access development on the Plague, with regular updates planned for every other week.

First of all - we have to apologize for the delays with release of the Dead Rising DLC. We hit a few snags and very busy August production schedule. Right now we are looking at finally releasing it later in September. And to confirm it will be automatically added to everyone who owns the game.

Now lets take a look at today`s large update. First and foremost we have finally redesigned the combat to address a lot of player complaints. Units now fight each other instead of swinging weapons in the air while standing meters apart.

This update also brings some solid improvements to GUI, improves various diplomacy issues, and also completes Spanish and Italian translation.

We also re-balanced the early game making it a lot easier to get started.

Meanwhile, lets take a look at Update # 4 (v0.19)

Additions and Changes
•   Major improvement to how units fight in melee
•   Units will no longer slash into the air and do damage, but will fight close quarters
•   Fixed major issue with Cavalry units fighting several meters apart from their target
•   Various polish and improvement to interface and GUI scaling
•   Fixed various bugs with too many remote nations declaring war
•   It`s now easier to setup trade agreements with remote nations
•   Fixed issue with all nations declaring war at certain point during campaign
•   Fixed world map army narration using incorrect cultural set voice lines
•   Fixed player not being always fully see his attacking army or city due to map view cutoff
•   Earlier game is a lot faster and easier for build up now
•   Wood income is improved for both lumber camp and sawmill
•   Improved wood income from lumber camp and sawmill
•   Rebalanced range damage by siege weapons they are not nearly as deadly and OP now
•   Minor rework of fog of war, darker and hides things better
•   Completed Spanish Translation
•   Completed Italian Translation


Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on October 11, 2020, 01:42:50 AM
Update # 5 - Major Improvements
Sat, 10 October 2020

Hey Everyone,

Today we have a major update for The Plague. As work still continues on the Undead armies and Dead Rising DLC, we have made a lot of progress in other areas.


Today`s update greatly advances the world map presentation - with a lot of new details and visual improvements. Performance was also improved in this update. Starting from quicker loading times to much better FPS both on the world map and battles.

And finally we have started the big push towards rebalancing the gameplay. Once this project is complete in the next update, we`ll have a much faster and evolving game, where it`s easy to quickly build up and expand, but same time, mistakes can cost dearly through the survival aspects of the game.

Our next update can be expected by October 25th


And so, lets take a look at Update # 5 (v0.20)

World Map Redesigned
•   Reworked appearance of clouds on the world map - a lot thicker and higher altitude
•   Added various birds including eagles, seagulls etc flying at different altitudes
•   Trade-ships will not sale between different port cities
•   Hamlets on world map now show various tiny towns instead of just farmland
•   Increase world map loading time by 25%-30%
•   Removed thousands of objects from the world map for a much cleaner look
•   Improved FPS on the World map on average by 40%

Major Gameplay Changes
•   Campaign gameplay difficulty overall increased by up to 25%
•   New approach to personal time, it`s greatly limited now, especially on harder settings, getting player to prioritize when to use it
•   Military and town buildings are a lot more expensive now, up to 3 times more
•   AI attacks player faster during the start of the campaign, with hard difficulty even right away
•   Plague doesn`t start spreading uncontrollably unto 1349
•   Reworked how the plague spreads in the first two years - it`s historical now
•   Plague starts by spreading along naval trade routes and according to the quest notifications

Performance and Presentation
•   Player color is now green, and AI players changed from green to shades of white and grey
•   Fixed various issues with flags not being well visible
•   Fixed issues with part of the edge of the battle map being cut off
•   New combat epic and performance cameras - bring much better performance
•   Lower quality of unit models for combat units - much better performance on all settings
•   Increase game speed up during town build up mode from x1.5 to max x3
•   All URDs for armies now play, before only 3 played out of 6
•   URDs are good deal quitter for armies and units
•   Faster zoom in and scrolling on the world map
•   Better GUI scaling and various GUI improvements

Fixes and Additions
•   Fixed Personal time being added more on hard settings then on easy or medium settings
•   Temporary removing Slav campaign army lines, they weren`t working well
•   Fixed presentation of campaign quest windows - no lag, and audio que
•   Call to Arms now only activated with middle mouse button and no longer double click
•   Palisade gate is now clearly visible and different from the wall
•   Speed of ships on the world map increased by additional 30%
•   Fixed town on Nablus not showing on the world map
•   Fixed town of La Aquila not showing on the world map
•   Fixed ships being unable to pass off the cost of Italy on the world map
•   Adjusted monthly healing on the world map, both player and AI heal a bit less per month
•   Less self damage to cavalry when running over units
•   Changed “Time Limit” into sentence, telling player he`s out of personal time
•   Larger citizen icon on the army window
•   Paris and Desert Paris map removed Notre-dame and add houses
•   Fixed some layout issues on new campaign screen


Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on November 15, 2020, 12:47:45 AM
Update # 6 - War Economy Reworked
Sat, 14 November 2020

Hey Everyone,

We are happy to bring you the next Plagues update. This update changes the gameplay dramatically as we looked to streamline the world map and war economy, as well as to open up new strategies. This update also changes the flow of battles, making them faster and smoother.

We continue with our 7th update as early as next week - as some of the bigger projects that we have been working are nearing completion.

We will also have a major announcement about the future of The Plague on November 25th (spoiler - it`s a very big move, that ends up in a muuuuch bigger and better game for all our fans)

Meanwhile, lets take a look at Update # 6 (v0.21)

Changes and Additions
•   Major revision of economy - units no longer required food to create, only silver and wood
•   Units consume food a lot faster no, making strong food economy essential to sustaining an army
•   Units are cheaper to recruit now, allowing strategy of quickly creating and then dissolving an army
•   Rebalanced cavalry - they are a lot stronger now, and truly dominate the battlefield
•   Cavalry units require food resources up-front to train them, for horses
•   Combat is much faster now, about 30% faster fights between melee battalions
•   Fixed issues in naval combat where units will keep on fighting for a very long time
•   Reduced the protection bonus to units that are on walls, speeds up the sieges a little bit
•   Range units now do a lot less damage, and are less OP - all ranged armies will no longer work
•   Siege weapons can now survive a bit longer vs ranged fire, making sieges less dead locked
•   All unit hitpoints reduced by about 30% that rebalances melee battles together with other changes
•   Balancing for piked units to perform better in many stations
•   Rebalanced horse carts and other economy unit prices and functionality
•   Fixed rare crash when returning to the main menu


Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on December 22, 2020, 04:40:46 AM
Plague evolves into Renaissance Kingdom Wars!
Tue, 22 December 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/38140505/e87d46896ab759fe77788d65135c32fbef1219f9.png)

Hey Everyone,

We have a very exciting announcement today... But before we get to the big news let me provide some background on the situation with the Plague.


Bad timing for the Plague themed game
As some of you might know we have started brainstorming and designing The Plague a while back. The first conversation about "MKW with undead and blach death pandemic" started two years ago. When nCov hit - The Plague Kigndom Wars was in full production and on it`s way for launch in June 2020. We did not foresee nCov and the terrible effect it would have on all of our morale and social situation, especially pandemic lasting that long...

So we ended up with a game that covers a very depressing topic - too true to life with what`s going on now. From loading screen showing plague victims to in-game quests revolving around the plague.

The Plague has a lot of cool game mechanics unrelated to pandemic, in fact I would say 80% of the gameplay has nothing to do with a pandemic, and we want players to discover and play the game that we worked hard on creating, instead of passing on due to depressing subject matter.

With that said - we have decided to rebrand and rework the base game. Keeping all the good, and expanding on that. Allow me to introduce...

Renaissance Kingdom Wars
The basic premise is that we take PKW and make it bigger and better, giving our players an awesome experience, while doing away with all the focus on the depressing elements - pandemic, millions dying etc...

RKW will still include Plague event, and later on to be added an optional Zombie mode - to honor our commitment to players who might have been interested in that take on the game, but as far the gameplay goes - it would be more of a historical game, with larger historical scope. The only downside for some of the current players is that we will need to push back addition of Zombies to later stages of Early Access.

And so lets take a look at the new features that Renaissance Kingdom Wars brings.

Larger Scope
With greatly accelerated game speed typical campaign will take around 100-150 years instead of current 20-30. This brings 'Civilization' like element to the game, with a lot of historical events and technological advancements covered during campaign. These historical events will still include black death plague, but also feature advancement such as printing press, invention of gun-power, discovery of the New World and so on.

Historical Events Advancing Tech Tree
The big historical events like the once described above will also unlock portions of tech tree and abilities, be it ability to research new gunpowder units and constructing cannon once gunpowder is invented, quarantining cities during black death or getting trade route income from the new world once it`s discovered. Player will also get a chance to speed up certain discoveries - with options like getting gunpowder introduced in Europe a bit earlier through vigorous research.

New Units and Buildings
RKW brings several new units and buildings that have very strong effect both on the world map and combat gameplay. Introduction of printing press and further advancement and construction of printing press buildings can do wonders for the world map trade and diplomacy, and getting the best cannons and gunpowder units ahead of other nations can make you unstoppable on the battlefield, and reduce unbreakable town walls to minor annoyances with strong artillery train.

Renaissance presentation style
RKW also comes with new bright style - Renaissance styled loading screens, updated main menu and other scenes, reworked music e.t.c - stepping away from depressing set of The Plague.

We are also reworking a lot of art, and last bit of GUI and icon art to make RKW be completely different from Medieval Kingdom Wars.

Production Timeline
We are hard at work on making the first presentation build of the game, with some of the new gunpowder units and buildings, reworked gameplay, faster timeline and research, and hope to have this ready towards mid January 2021. We can`t wait to share the new visions of this game with you.

Access to Medieval Kingdom War players
Seeing how Renaissance KW is maturing into a game that`s more of a successor to Medieval Kingdom Wars, we had to revisit our plans for the map expansions for MKW, while still giving MKW players the same deal as was planned originally.

So instead of doubling the work for our small team, we will focus on just one project, and do it right. So as we release Renaissance KW update for The Plague this January - we will be offering it to all the players who already own Medieval at a price of the MKW DLC. So instead of charging MKW players for the world map expansions DLC, they would get the full Renaissance Kingdom Wars with expanded world map, for the same low DLC price.

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on January 14, 2021, 03:21:26 AM
Major Update #7 - This Week
Wed, January 13, 2021

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/38140505/493882005e370fcfee3c6986df166550075775d3.png)

Hey Everyone,

We are back after the Holiday break and are back to work. We have a very exciting few weeks ahead with several big updates, minor rebranding as well as finally adding Undead.

Update # 7
Right now we are putting finishing touches on the 7th major update that we expect towards this weekend. This update includes full rewrite of the combat AI - making it much smarter in all types of combat - defending, siege, field. It also makes large battles lag much less, and finally makes Skirmish fully playable and a good challenge.

This update also includes a lot of corrections and updates to the Hamlet level, with proper positioning and myriad of other fixes. We also focused on correcting the biggest issue in-game right now - major performance issues during World Map gameplay.

Undead in the 8th Update
A week later we are finally starting to add first element of the Undead mode. With Undead units rising in combat as units die or in towns succumb to the Plague. After that the final step will be making Undead have a presence on the world map as well, and not only in combat or town views.

Minor Rebrnading
You might also notice some minor changes to the store and library look. We are working on a lighter look for the game - as far as the logos, loading screens and marketing materials go. There will be no changes to any aspects of the gameplay though - with Plague and Undead features all as planned. We also updated the naming to Kingdom Wars: The Plague

Thanks for the continuing support - and we can`t wait to share the new updates with you!

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on January 17, 2021, 01:21:46 AM
Update # 7 - Reworked Combat AI
Sun, 17 January 2021

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/38140505/493882005e370fcfee3c6986df166550075775d3.png)

Hey Everyone,

As we have mentioned earlier we have a very exciting month for the Kingdom Wars: Plague with 3 major updates and finally starting to add the Undead. But before we get there, we are starting with a major update that completely rewrites the combat AI. You will also notice a major improvement to performance in large combat missions.

This update also greatly improves level design in hamlets and larger cities, as well as includes couple of dozen commonly requests fixes by our players that we collected on our forums and discord.

This update was also ported to MKW and KW2DE to bring the improvements achieved while working on the Plague.

You will also notice update to the game`s logo and loading screen. A bit of a face lift to lighten things up a little bit, and help with branding.

We`ll continue next week with another major update for Kingdom Wars: Plague - adding first Undead features and fixing World Map lag. And now lets take a look at what changes our 7th update brings

Major Additions and Revisions
•   Major performance improvement during combat
•   Major performance improvement especially during large town sieges
•   All hamlets redesigned for the gates to face middle of the map and potential enemies
•   Total rewrite of the combat AI - much tougher and smarter
•   Citizens will not get killed during town sieges – does not distract units though
•   AI attacks in much larger and better prepared waves
•   AI uses siege weapons a lot better
•   Defensive AI will now place defenders on walls during battles
•   AI will now correctly build large armies, and not stop at only max of 15 units
•   Fixed major issue with AI getting stuck when attacking Hamlets and not progressing
•   Fixed major issue with AI getting stuck when attacking some of the large towns
•   Fixed various instances where AI will not do anything after one attack
•   Defensive AI will eventually build siege weapons
•   AI will now build walls in campaign hamlet battles
•   Defensive AI will leave defenders on walls when launching attacks
•   AI will build a lot more siege weapons
•   AI will now build units and buildings in army vs army combat
•   AI army vs army AI will not just blindly attack, but also defend and flank
•   Fixed issue with AI not having stone for siege weapons
•   Fixed issues with second AI on the same team usually not doing anything

Changes and Additions
•   Fixed text in Skirmish menu overlapping
•   It`s now a lot more expensive to rebuild gates
•   Much faster to capture town flag, especially if defender almost has no units
•   Fixed issue on the Paris type map with attackers camp not building walls correctly
•   Level design update to some of the larger towns
•   In large towns relocated some of the wall markers, to group them better - makes AI work better
•   Fixed tax rate string in Spanish overlaping
•   New flyby cinematics for hamlets
•   Various fixes with Hamlets level design
•   Easier to see if player can afford the tech or not on the Stewards window
•   Foot Knights and Swordsman will no longer have super long bad looking formation

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on January 20, 2021, 02:28:45 AM
Update # 8 - World Map Performance
Tue, 19 January 2021

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/38140505/493882005e370fcfee3c6986df166550075775d3.png)

Hey Everyone,

And we are back with the next very important update. Today`s update focuses on improving World Map performancep, fixing the lag spike, stutters and frame rate. And while we still have another round of improvements to do - you should finally find world map playable and enjoyable.

Update also improves AI, and fixes a dozen of bugs across the board, as well as improves several features and UI.

We`ll continue next week with another major update for Kingdom Wars: Plague - adding first Undead features and a few more fixes and improvements.

World Map performance improvements
•   Major performance improvement on world map
•   Fixed lag spikes every few seconds on the world map
•   Fixed major lag spikes every minute
•   Fixed lag spike when changing tax rate
•   Fixed lag spike when making major purchases on the world map
•   Fixed issues when scrolling the world map during lagspike teleporting the camera
•   Added objectives that show how soon enemy force will retreat
•   Battle AI now only trains units that it has researched in the campaign
•   Battle AI now uses appropriate units in early campaign on harder difficulties
•   Skirmish Battle AI now uses higher tier units

Other Changes and Additions
•   Load campaign button now really stands out and easy to click
•   Delete campaign button move to the side, harder to click by accident now
•   Only 1 ram from battalion will attack the gate now
•   Battle AI spawns units much slower spawn in campaign battles -accounts for citizens
•   Greatly increased storage for armies and towns
•   Increased storehouse and horse cart storage by 30%
•   All hamlets now start the game with gates closed
•   Indicator for food and silver drain is very well visible now
•   AI will no longer stop attacks due to having too much siege
•   Keep Building is now correctly scaled
•   Other polish to the Keep building
•   AI now correctly uses correct time to spawn catapult and ballista
•   Fixed gates repair taking forever
•   Reworked nation leaders orders in the Diplomatic tree
•   Reworked nations in the new campaign screen
•   There`s now cultural and geographical logic to the sorting of kingdom list
•   Added cinematic when entering and exiting battles
•   Early game tech research is significantly cheaper
•   Fixed major bug with return to the main menu not showing loading screen

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on March 29, 2021, 11:49:38 PM
Update #11 - Major World Map Updates
Mon, 29 March 2021

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/38140505/493882005e370fcfee3c6986df166550075775d3.png)

Hey Everyone,

We are happy to present a major update that greately improves KWP experienced on the world map. We have seen a lot of comments on how slow the gameplay can be at times, and about various performance and unit control issues on the world map. With today`s update we set out to fix all these issues once and for all.

To start things of we changed the flow of time on the world map - months go by a lot faster now, armies move faster, and overall there`s a lot more urgency, and occasional need to slow the game speed down.

We also worked on the technical aspects of world map time change. The world map speed can be greatly increased or slowed down now, as before values mostly effected performance, but not actual gameplay. Now on 2x or 0.25x the game will play and feel very differently. We also looked into fixing majority of performance issues when increasing the gameplay speed. In addition we also fixed all the UI slowdowns when decreasing the game speed.

We also reworked the flow of the plague events - with the whole story arc, events, spread and receding of the plague taking longer and not overwhelming players as much.

We`ll continue with another update in early April. Thanks for continuous support - and we can`t wait, to get the last of the gameplay issues and polish out of the way so that we can focus on the Tutorial campaign and undead.

Major Fixes and Additions
•   Eliminated majority of world map lag on higher game speed
•   Fixed issues with slow responding UI on lower game speed
•   World Map months are now much shorter
•   World map month duration now properly scales on faster or slower game speed
•   Fixed issues with scrolling around the world map on different game speeds
•   Fixed issues with jumping camera when scrolling world map on slower game speeds
•   World Map gameplay speed greatly increased on 2x speed
•   World Map gameplay speed is now much slower on lowest 0.25 game speed
•   Changing game speed no longer changes animation of the game world or clouds
•   Moving world map decor units like birds, ships now effect their speed based on the world map speed
•   Armies move much slower or faster depending on the world map speed
•   Campaign plague news events are a lot more spaced now now
•   Plague spreads significantly slower on the world map
•   It now takes few more years for the plague to recede and end

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on August 12, 2021, 11:32:02 PM
Version #30 - Resuming Updates
Thu, 12 August 2021

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/38140505/493882005e370fcfee3c6986df166550075775d3.png)

Hey Everyone,

After quite a bit of a delay we are back to regularly updating PKW, all the way until the game is expected to be complete and ready for release later this Fall. You can expect weekly or bi-weekly updates from now on. Once again apologies for the delay.

Today`s update includes some major new features and improvements with various areas of the game, lets take a look at everything this updates brings.

New Features
•   Chancellor Window interface reworked with various improvements
•   Chancellor window now shows diplomatic relations with each nation right on the nations portrait, instead of forcing player to click on each nation
•   Chancellor window now shows relations value with each nations, with colour code with on the nations portrait
•   Towns that have infected citizens with them now represent this on the world map with various visual effects, like smoke coming of the infected towns
•   Towns that are under quarantine now display a locked down symbol on the world map banner (only shows after world map is reloaded for now)
•   Added happiness icon to player towns. Towns with low happiness don`t produce new citizens
•   Added "+" indicator on player town population icon if population is growing/going to grow if population is happy

Fixes & Improvements
•   Improved handling for rapid selection of armies on the world map
•   Fixed issue with CivPop not showing on city banners
•   Fixed issue with loading screen tips on large GUI setting
•   When player receives resources it`s now shown as a round value, without decimal points
•   Fixed a bug with training window opening up when healing/removing units
•   General performance improvements
•   Fixed various issues with town banners on the world map
•   
•   Fixed various issues when playing for St. John faction, like King player being unable to become King
•   Some performance improvements for checking faction removal, that helps speeds up end of the month lag

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on October 20, 2021, 11:33:41 PM
Kingdom Wars: The Plague to be released this Friday!
Wed, 20 October 2021

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1300700/ss_64e90a99d0d28d80b11beb1f6d52a410bb84773e.1920x1080.jpg)

We are excited to announce that we’re set to launch Kingdom Wars: The Plague this Friday, October 22nd, 1pm EST!

Hey everyone,

We are excited to announce that we’re set to launch Kingdom Wars: The Plague this Friday, October 22nd at 1pm EST! After many months of hard work, the game is finally ready and it’s looking better than ever.

We’re looking forward to sharing our labor of love game with you! During our time in early access, we’ve listened to community feedback and have made many changes in response to your requests. As a result, this is the best Kingdom Wars title yet! Get ready to enjoy a vastly expanded world map, hundreds of new lords, improved gameplay, and new game mechanics.

This isn’t the end of the journey, either. We will continue to update, improve, and add new content to The Plague over the coming years. These updates will also be ported to Medieval Kingdom Wars. We stand by our games and our players!

We’ll provide more information on Friday when the game is released. We’re so excited for the next evolution in Kingdom Wars and we hope you are as well!

Discounts for MKW Veterans
As a thank you to our loyal players, we will be giving all veteran MKW players 25% off Kingdom Wars: The Plague-- this discount stacks with the launch sale of 25% off. If you buy the game within the first week of its release, you get a total of 50% off! We really appreciate our veteran players-- thank you for sticking with us and supporting our studio.

Final Build Available Now
We have just uploaded the final build of the game, including dozens of new features that weren't part of early access, a 7 chapter tutorial campaign, and so much more. In addition all buildings, research, and upgrades are now fully implemented. We'll add some finishing touches over the next couple of days, but overall, the game is ready!

We're very excited for Friday, and looking forward to seeing you in game. The moderators and myself will be available during the launch weekend in the game chat to meet players, collect your feedback, and answer any questions you might have. We can't wait to hear your thoughts!

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on November 29, 2021, 11:42:21 PM
Update 1.11
Mon, 29 November


-Corrected Spanish language not showing properly
-Players can now select Spanish language in the main menu language menu accessible by clicking British flag icon in the top left corner of the main menu screen
-Stability improvements

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on December 24, 2021, 11:49:30 PM
Update 1.14 - Major Updates for Christmas
Fri, 24 December 2021

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/38140505/5674d6e765136fb74dae7ac14de9af149cbead69.png)

Hey Everyone,

We have a major update today that improves large number of features - from world map diplomacy to combat and AI. You`ll also find 8 new achievements that are now available. We also did a big round of balancing to make the game much smoother to play. Mid to late game got a lot of attention as well. We`ll continue with another major update closer to New Years.

Thanks for your continuous support, and all the best wishes for the Holidays!!!

And now, lets take a look at whats today`s update 1.14
has to offer:

    8 new achievements added
    Fixed issues where all nations would declare war all the time
    Waging a defensive war against another country will quickly raise relations
    Waging offensive war against another nation will worsen the relations
    AI nations will often sign peace with each other now, instead of only declaring war on each other
    Ceasefire is now declared when relations are at 0 and not at +30
    A lot of improvements to diplomatic system
    AI is a lot better at using diplomacy on the world map now
    Updated all player heraldry
    Player towns and armies now show their own heraldry
    Polished campaign intro cinematics for all nations
    Siege gameplay is now faster as it`s easier to break down gates
    Melee units do more damage to palisade gates
    Smaller army representation on the world map, with less units
    Changed how world map armies look - much easier to navigate with multiple armies in one location now
    Polished all campaign cinematics like becoming king, defeating a kingdom etc
    Fixed major timing issues with all campaign cinemaitcs playing extremely slow
    Updated a lot of tooltips
    Rewrote and improves a lot of the tooltips
    Fixed conquer half of all nations and conquer all nations victory conditions from not working
    Corrected the victory condition counters that count how many nations have been defeated
    Campaign victory goals now give much higher reward in silver
    Fixed major issue on world map where player would get a new AI army attacking him every minute
    AI attacks on the player is a lot more balanced and realistic now
    Fixed battle rewards being extremely low in some cases
    Razing and looting towns now gives a lot more resources as reward
    Balanced out battle rewards in all situations
    Much smaller diplomatic penalty for military and defensive alliances with other nations
    Slightly extended victory cinematic in RTS battle
    Fixed issue with reward window getting stuck on the loading screen after a battle
    Fixed visible lag at the start of the intro cinematic for town battles
    Reduced the level up price of the siege workshop as it`s not as important as other unit producing buildings
    Resolved major balancing issues with cavalry units - they are a lot weaker now vs infantry units
    Major balancing adjustment fixing issues with cavalry units that could not be killed
    Piked units are now a lot better vs Cavalry units
    Piked units are a bit better at attacking other units now
    Increased the cost of recruiting new lords when King
    White Peace requires relations to be at -30 to higher to sign, and only upsets lords by -10
    Suing for Peace only decreased relations with all other nations by -2
    Becoming King upsets other nations a bit less
    Player gets extra 2 minutes of personal time at the start of campaign on all difficulties
    Fixed some lords having a very high starting renown, making it very difficult for player to become King

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on January 04, 2022, 11:31:28 PM
Update 1.15 - GUI and Visual Improvements
Tue, January 4, 2022


Hey Everyone,

Wishing everyone Happy New Year! And we are starting 2022 right with another sizable update. This update brings some much needed polish to the GUI, unit pathfinding, camera scrolling and more. In addition we worked on making world map look much better with better visuals, updated level design, and more eye candy.

Thanks for your continuous support and we`ll continue with another major update next week with a lot more improvements and additions.

With that said lets take a look at whats update 1.15 includes:

Big World Map update - a lot more eye candy and terrain features now
New improved world map lighting setup and better visual effects and shader use for the world map
Pathfinding and combat update - reduced delay when tasking large number of troops on the battlefield by 50%
Rescaled all the game interface on the default game GUI size without large GUI enabled
Majority of game font sizes have been increased on default GUI size
Fixed issue where game text was impossible to read on lower resolutions
Greatly improved Italian translation of the game thanks to our player contributor - Maggioriano
Map scrolling is now much smoother and faster
Zoom in and out is now much faster
Camera scrolls and zooms at the same speed on all game speeds now
Fixed a lot of issues with game camera jumping around on scrolling
Greatly improved scrolling and zoom in on the world map
Improved the look of world map armies and navies
Improved the look of world map town banners

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on June 23, 2022, 09:30:01 AM
Updated 1.9 - Lots of Fixes and Balancing
Thu, 23 June 2022

Hey Everyone,

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer. We have another solid update for you just in time for the summer sale. We`ve looked into fixing some of the remaining bugs, though happy to see we are getting less and less reports as the game is really starting to take shape. In addition we continue work on balancing, and making sure each of 50 factions and hundreds of possible starting Lords is fun to play and get good starting conditions. Work continues and we expect another update towards the end of June, it`ll be a big one.

As always - thanks for your continuous support!

And sorry for the delay with the patch changes list, will update this post tomorrow morning with all the details

Title: Re: The Plague: Kingdom Wars :historical grand strategy/RTS
Post by: Asid on October 18, 2022, 12:02:58 AM
Update 23 - Performance & Co-Op Sieges
Mon, 17 October 2022

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/38140505/1e54286d4ea8ae82e68888e26e6d7681246a8b6d.jpg)

Hey Everyone,

We are back with another major update. In our 23rd update we looked to completely redesign Skirmish battles to make it more engaging and co-op oriented experience. From the new interface to matchmaking. Co-op battles work best with other players in multiplayer, with shared control of walls and buildings, but it also works quite well with AI teammates.

In addition this update brings major improvements to performance on the world map, as well as some art updates – like new world map army design and GUI improvements. A lot of code cleanup also helped fixed some of the rare bugs. We also fixed the crash some players have experienced on changing between world map and towns.

Can`t wait to share something special with our players this Halloween - guess we all know what is finally coming...

Bellow are the patch notes for our Update 23rd update. To make it easier to process the changes we have combined a lot of the changes into general categories – like ‘improved performance.’

•   Complete rework of the Skirmish battles menu
•   Added CoOp sieges that replaces skirmish battles
•   New design of the battle window all the GUI
•   Removed unused buildings for CoOp sieges
•   Defender and attackers in CoOp sieges get different set of buildings
•   Only showing relative icons in the CoOp siege mode for resources – no infected or happiness
•   Reworked auto-resolve in the campaign – now requires multiple rounds to defeat AI army
•   Fixed various issues with trade not working right in the campaign
•   Allied kingdoms will now share view with player on the world map
•   A lot of performance improvements for the world map
•   Redesigned the look of the world map armies – much higher quality and now hold weapons
•   Fixed crashing issues effecting some players when switching between world map and towns or battles.