Here we go – the new and final major update is now live on the beta branch of Battle Brothers!

As this is the final major update, our focus was on general polish, balance and quality of life improvements as much as on the remaining major features. Here’s the shortlist.

• Three different ‘Greater Evil’ late game crises for you to get involved in – a war between noble houses, a greenskin invasion and an undead invasion. Each comes with their own set of contracts, events and changes to the world.
  
• The Ancient Dead – an entire faction with new enemies to fight, new lootable weapons and armor, and unique tactics on the battlefield.
  
• A new system for mood and desertion – your men will react to how things are progressing, and it’s your job to keep them content.
  
• Ambitions – set goals for your company to pursue on their way to become legendary.
  
• Obituary – honor the brave men that have fallen under your command.
  
• Retirement – retire from your mercenary company when you’re ready to start a new life, and see how the company and its members fare without you.
  
• A complete overhaul of Ghouls into the new and more challenging Nachzehrer.
  
• New mechanics for morale to make resolve and initiative more important.
  
• 11 new contracts.
  
• 54 new illustrated events.
  
• 2 new music tracks.
  
• 70 Steam Achievements.
  
• Lots and lots of smaller improvements, changes and additions.

Steam Trading Cards will be unlocked at a later time.

Note that this update is not compatible with older savegames. You will have to start a new campaign!

While this beta version is very close to the final release, there’s still things yet to come over the next few weeks.

• Bugfixes
  
• Balancing
  
• More events
  
• A few legendary items hidden across the world
  
• One more music track

Any saves created with the beta version will be compatible with the release version, but some additions or late changes may require a new campaign in order to take effect. If that’s a problem for you, don’t opt into the beta.

This update makes changes to many of the game’s core mechanics. Extensive changes like these will inevitably upset the game’s balance and introduce new issues. Participating in the beta is optional for everyone that wants to experience the new content now and doesn’t mind a few hiccups – we’re thankful for your feedback and bug reports! Everyone else may want to wait a few weeks until the game is more balanced and any issues that popped up have been ironed out.

Please report any issues you encounter in the forums following the instructions there. Do not leave random complaints as comments to this news post, they’d only get buried and lost.

In order to access the beta branch of Battle Brothers you need to do as follows:

• Go to your Steam library.
  
• Right-click on ‘Battle Brothers’ and select ‘Properties’.
  
• Go to the tab labeled ‘BETAS’.
  
• Select ‘beta’ from the drop down menu.

Steam should now download the beta branch and once it is finished you can normally run it via your Steam library.

Here we go – the new and final major update is now live on the beta branch of Battle Brothers!

As this is the final major update, our focus was on general polish, balance and quality of life improvements as much as on the remaining major features. Here’s the shortlist.

• Three different ‘Greater Evil’ late game crises for you to get involved in – a war between noble houses, a greenskin invasion and an undead invasion. Each comes with their own set of contracts, events and changes to the world.
  
• The Ancient Dead – an entire faction with new enemies to fight, new lootable weapons and armor, and unique tactics on the battlefield.
  
• A new system for mood and desertion – your men will react to how things are progressing, and it’s your job to keep them content.
  
• Ambitions – set goals for your company to pursue on their way to become legendary.
  
• Obituary – honor the brave men that have fallen under your command.
  
• Retirement – retire from your mercenary company when you’re ready to start a new life, and see how the company and its members fare without you.
  
• A complete overhaul of Ghouls into the new and more challenging Nachzehrer.
  
• New mechanics for morale to make resolve and initiative more important.
  
• 11 new contracts.
  
• 54 new illustrated events.
  
• 2 new music tracks.
  
• 70 Steam Achievements.
  
• Lots and lots of smaller improvements, changes and additions.

Steam Trading Cards will be unlocked at a later time.

Note that this update is not compatible with older savegames. You will have to start a new campaign!

While this beta version is very close to the final release, there’s still things yet to come over the next few weeks.

• Bugfixes
  
• Balancing
  
• More events
  
• A few legendary items hidden across the world
  
• One more music track

Any saves created with the beta version will be compatible with the release version, but some additions or late changes may require a new campaign in order to take effect. If that’s a problem for you, don’t opt into the beta.

This update makes changes to many of the game’s core mechanics. Extensive changes like these will inevitably upset the game’s balance and introduce new issues. Participating in the beta is optional for everyone that wants to experience the new content now and doesn’t mind a few hiccups – we’re thankful for your feedback and bug reports! Everyone else may want to wait a few weeks until the game is more balanced and any issues that popped up have been ironed out.

Please report any issues you encounter in the forums following the instructions there. Do not leave random complaints as comments to this news post, they’d only get buried and lost.

In order to access the beta branch of Battle Brothers you need to do as follows:

• Go to your Steam library.
  
• Right-click on ‘Battle Brothers’ and select ‘Properties’.
  
• Go to the tab labeled ‘BETAS’.
  
• Select ‘beta’ from the drop down menu.

Steam should now download the beta branch and once it is finished you can normally run it via your Steam library.

Time is about ready for some fresh eyes to take a look at the upcoming final update of Battle Brothers. During the course of next week, the update will hit the beta branch. Do understand that it’ll be in beta for a reason – there’s going to be bugs and balancing issues. We’ll post instructions on how to opt into the beta next week. If you prefer to wait instead until the game is finished, you can just keep on playing and don’t have to worry about any of this.

Until then, here are new episodes of our Let’s Play with a preview of the upcoming update. What new things can you spot this time?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XmrzAaJUrQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Oby0r4TsA

Time is about ready for some fresh eyes to take a look at the upcoming final update of Battle Brothers. During the course of next week, the update will hit the beta branch. Do understand that it’ll be in beta for a reason – there’s going to be bugs and balancing issues. We’ll post instructions on how to opt into the beta next week. If you prefer to wait instead until the game is finished, you can just keep on playing and don’t have to worry about any of this.

Until then, here are new episodes of our Let’s Play with a preview of the upcoming update. What new things can you spot this time?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XmrzAaJUrQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Oby0r4TsA

This week we start a new Let’s Play series with a preview version of the upcoming final update for Battle Brothers. Watch Jaysen race through the early game and point out new things in these first three episodes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wijL0MNazs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHDKfJkiSGU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo2QUTweUPs

We’ll be releasing new episodes every few days, so check back to see more new features in action. The update will be released to the beta branch of the game for you to play later this month.

This week we start a new Let’s Play series with a preview version of the upcoming final update for Battle Brothers. Watch Jaysen race through the early game and point out new things in these first three episodes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wijL0MNazs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHDKfJkiSGU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo2QUTweUPs

We’ll be releasing new episodes every few days, so check back to see more new features in action. The update will be released to the beta branch of the game for you to play later this month.

With all major features now in place, we’re making sure that everything works as it should and is properly balanced for you to play. At the same time, we’re squeezing in a few more quality of life improvements that you’ve been asking for, and our artist is adding some more polish to the game – such as an overhauled appearance of your employers. Let’s discover what more is new with the upcoming update!

Your employers now actually look like they have the money to hire a mercenary company, as they’ve received a bunch of new clothes and hats that make them look sufficiently spoiled and arrogant.



War between noble houses is one of the three upcoming late game crises. Because you’ll be fighting a lot more soldiers of those noble houses now, we’ve overhauled their units for more variety and challenge. They’ve become more specialized with dedicated users of polearms and greatswords, and they also got some new hats to have the individual units stand out more. Lootable, of course.



You may also recall that they got a second and new glorious music track playing when you fight them.

We managed to squeeze in a few more quality of life improvements this week. One of those is a feature many of you have been waiting for: the ability to speed up time on the worldmap.



Have you ever escorted a caravan, got attacked by overwhelming enemy hordes and decided that this really isn’t worth dying over? You’re now able to leave that caravan behind, quite possibly to die, directly from the worldmap. No need anymore to tediously move every one of your men to the edges of the combat map first.



Finally, the tooltip for any faction in the relations screen will now show you a log of all recent events, positive and negative, that influenced your relation. Makes it much easier to understand why someone’s hating your guts.



Our very own Jaysen will start a new Let’s Play series and guided tour through everything that’s new and yours to experience later this February!

With all major features now in place, we’re making sure that everything works as it should and is properly balanced for you to play. At the same time, we’re squeezing in a few more quality of life improvements that you’ve been asking for, and our artist is adding some more polish to the game – such as an overhauled appearance of your employers. Let’s discover what more is new with the upcoming update!

Your employers now actually look like they have the money to hire a mercenary company, as they’ve received a bunch of new clothes and hats that make them look sufficiently spoiled and arrogant.



War between noble houses is one of the three upcoming late game crises. Because you’ll be fighting a lot more soldiers of those noble houses now, we’ve overhauled their units for more variety and challenge. They’ve become more specialized with dedicated users of polearms and greatswords, and they also got some new hats to have the individual units stand out more. Lootable, of course.



You may also recall that they got a second and new glorious music track playing when you fight them.

We managed to squeeze in a few more quality of life improvements this week. One of those is a feature many of you have been waiting for: the ability to speed up time on the worldmap.



Have you ever escorted a caravan, got attacked by overwhelming enemy hordes and decided that this really isn’t worth dying over? You’re now able to leave that caravan behind, quite possibly to die, directly from the worldmap. No need anymore to tediously move every one of your men to the edges of the combat map first.



Finally, the tooltip for any faction in the relations screen will now show you a log of all recent events, positive and negative, that influenced your relation. Makes it much easier to understand why someone’s hating your guts.



Our very own Jaysen will start a new Let’s Play series and guided tour through everything that’s new and yours to experience later this February!

We’re beginning to wrap things up this week by finishing the last remaining items on our roadmap of things to make it into the final major update. The obituary is done, the veterans’ hall is now fully working, and we’ve added a whole bunch of smaller features. If all goes according to plan, you can expect the update to hit the beta branch of the game later in February. Let’s take a look at shiny new things!

Formerly known as the Veterans’ Hall, the Training Hall is now working fully in the game. Usually to be found at larger cities and castles, you can pay to have your men trained in various ways here to shape them into hardened mercenaries – especially useful for mercenary companies later in the game that take on new blood.



Also known as the memorial wall or graveyard, the obituary is a new screen that lists all of the men that have fallen under your command so you can properly honor their sacrifice. Aside from being reminded of their achievements and time with you, you’ll also get an unnecessarily colorful description of how they died in a column of its own.



Old dogs can in fact learn new tricks, as your men are now able to attain levels beyond the 11th character level. Any such level is considered a ‘veteran level’ and, for balance reasons, comes without a perk point and with limited attribute gain, but it does allow anyone living long enough to truly reach their potential, for you to continue to experience the leveling progression also in the very very late game.



Another new feature is the ability to attack anyone on the worldmap, no matter your relations, when turning your friendly glove mouse cursor into a threatening sword cursor by holding the Ctrl key and left-clicking them. This only works when you’re striking out on your own and are not currently employed, but it does allow you to go the route of banditry and make lots of enemies if you truly want to, without having to first annoy your employers enough to finally declare you hostile. Although there won’t be any new gameplay aspects to support banditry for now, there’s a new deterrent coming: competing mercenary companies that can also get hired by your enemies to hunt you down.



The coming update will add around a dozen new contracts to the game, and several dozen new events. We’re still busy writing more of them – more interaction with your mercenaries, new encounters as one of the late game crises ravage the land, and some hidden stuff to discover. We’re also creating new illustrations to go with these. Have a look!

We’re beginning to wrap things up this week by finishing the last remaining items on our roadmap of things to make it into the final major update. The obituary is done, the veterans’ hall is now fully working, and we’ve added a whole bunch of smaller features. If all goes according to plan, you can expect the update to hit the beta branch of the game later in February. Let’s take a look at shiny new things!

Formerly known as the Veterans’ Hall, the Training Hall is now working fully in the game. Usually to be found at larger cities and castles, you can pay to have your men trained in various ways here to shape them into hardened mercenaries – especially useful for mercenary companies later in the game that take on new blood.



Also known as the memorial wall or graveyard, the obituary is a new screen that lists all of the men that have fallen under your command so you can properly honor their sacrifice. Aside from being reminded of their achievements and time with you, you’ll also get an unnecessarily colorful description of how they died in a column of its own.



Old dogs can in fact learn new tricks, as your men are now able to attain levels beyond the 11th character level. Any such level is considered a ‘veteran level’ and, for balance reasons, comes without a perk point and with limited attribute gain, but it does allow anyone living long enough to truly reach their potential, for you to continue to experience the leveling progression also in the very very late game.



Another new feature is the ability to attack anyone on the worldmap, no matter your relations, when turning your friendly glove mouse cursor into a threatening sword cursor by holding the Ctrl key and left-clicking them. This only works when you’re striking out on your own and are not currently employed, but it does allow you to go the route of banditry and make lots of enemies if you truly want to, without having to first annoy your employers enough to finally declare you hostile. Although there won’t be any new gameplay aspects to support banditry for now, there’s a new deterrent coming: competing mercenary companies that can also get hired by your enemies to hunt you down.



The coming update will add around a dozen new contracts to the game, and several dozen new events. We’re still busy writing more of them – more interaction with your mercenaries, new encounters as one of the late game crises ravage the land, and some hidden stuff to discover. We’re also creating new illustrations to go with these. Have a look!