Hey Everyone,

We hope everyone had a great Christmas, and allow us to wish everyone an amazing New Year ahead! But we`ll still get to catch you before then - planning another two updates before 2019:)

It`s time to advance our game version count as we are getting closer to releasing MKW this coming January. Hope you forgive the confusion, with the game version changing from 73 to 93.

And we hope you like today`s update. While it doesn`t have an impressive list of changes, you should feel the difference right away, as our main area of concern was performance. There were quite a few bugs that greatly slowed down the game, especially on the world map, that we finally were able to track down and fix. In addition we have done some major balancing moves - making the early game fun and easy with small groups of Militia fighting it out, while also rebalancing the mid to late game - it`s no longer a walk in a park, with more expensive elite units and AI keeping paste with player advancements.

More great updates on the horizon later this week, and soon we`ll also show off the list of our post-release content, as well - the only thing that changes with release - is we`ll see more players. We planned months and months of work ahead of us adding amazing new features to MKW, as free updates.

And so presenting Update 73...err, I mean Update 93:

BIG CHANGES

• Major improvement to performance all across the game
  
• Fixed various major performance issues on the world map
  
• Fixed performance drain when playing the campaign for a long time
  
• Reworked balancing of mid to late game to be a lot more challenging, even if player holds a lot of land
  
• Early game re-balanced to be a lot easier, and more about low tech units

FIXES AND ADDITIONS

• Fixed German localisation not working right and not showing text in many situations
  
• Fixed issue with some palisade walls having no collision on the map
  
• Chapter 2 significantly easier, too many new players would loose
  
• Fixed common tutorial bug, when your own gates open for no reason
  
• Fixed a bug where during the siege, your gates might open when AI is attacking them
  
• Polished up German translation of the game courtesy of Alex

BALANCING

• AI attacks with lower tech armies during first 3 years of the campaign
  
• Significantly reduced the cost of healing units on the world map for silver
  
• Looting and Raizing towns give more silver for low level hamlets, but 30% less for larger towns
  
• Taxes now generate 50% more silver
  
• Increased taxes cap by 30% per town level
  
• Increased the cost of cow and sheep by over 50%
  
• Livestock generates 30% less silver on the world map
  
• All regular and unit prices greatly increased, to make basic units be cheaper in comparison
  
• Slightly increased upkeep of basic units like maceman, bowman and billman

Hey Everyone,

The Beta is now in full swing with the majority of features in, but a fair deal of polishing and balancing is left to do before MKW goes live early next year. And now is the time when we really need your help to make sure MKW is in great shape for release. Today we are inviting all of the MKW players who ever purchased the game - in the hope of getting badly need feedback and bug reports over the Holiday season.

If you haven`t played the game yet - it`s a great time to get started. You get to experience a nearly complete game, but, there`s still room to leave your mark – perhaps there`s a feature you want us to add, or comment on balancing?

From tonight, we are starting daily interactions with our players in-game, with either a developer or a mod available around the clock. And if you have a spare moment – please support the development by leaving your feedback on the forums, talking to us in-game, leaving a review, or catching us on discard. Every form of feedback helps.

We are forever grateful for your support!

Post-release content
Oh and as some of you might have questions about some big features, that we not making it into release. Well - Rome wasn't built in a day, and the majority of grand strategy games on the marker - from Europe Universal to Crusader Kings only got their awesome feature sets a year or two after release. Our plan with MKW is the same - but with one big difference - we will not be milking our players, and all the upcoming updates will be free. We`ll be adding religion, new towns, coop battles in the campaign, complex trade system between towns, expanded world map and so much more. All in all, we are looking at several major expansion - completely free for our players!

And now onto today`s update - we are happy to present the new MKW pathfinding system.

And so presenting Update 72:

BIG CHANGES

• Reworked unit path-finding
  
• Units can now perfectly navigate tight passages and streets
  
• Fixed unit behavior with all units walking through a single point
  
• Fixed game breaking bug when using ESC key to close adviser window
  
• Reworked AI siege combat
  
• AI Belfry will now properly attach to walls and detach from walls
  
• AI will now quickly advance through multiple defenses with Ram always finding gates

FIXES AND ADDITIONS

• Fixed various issues in starting Diplomacy, with Kings or Lords stating with missing or incorrect towns
  
• Once again reworked starting towns for various lords - a lot more interesting starts now
  
• Austria gets another big province in the Alps
  
• Fixed various diplomacy errors where HRE or Austria King or Lord can`t be killed
  
• Fixed various issues with AI looting towns
  
• Fixed resolutions menu only showing low resolutions on some systems
  
• Orleans level - fixed new cavalry being stuck on spawn
  
• Aberdeen and Orleans tutorial levels - much harder with AI now properly attacking

Hey Everyone

Another solid update today as we`r getting this week started. We have once again completely reworked the world map AI. No more cheats, unique rules or special treatment for AI. It will advance through the years same way the player does. So if you invest into techs you can now be the one fielding army of swordsman and Templars while AI only has basic militia units defending it`s towns. Best of all different AI Kingdoms will advance at their own speed.

Aside from this headliner, there`s plenty of other great stuff in this update. Check the patch notes - for more awesome additions this week, quite a few changes and balancing as well.

Also now that MKW is really starting taking shape ahead of next month`s release, we want to start increasing the player population. So tomorrow, after a quick follow up patch - we`ll be sending our an email invie to all of our players back - to come back and experience our progress. We also hope to see some new faces during the upcoming winter sale.

And so presenting Update 71:

BIG CHANGES

• AI now progress through campaign same as player with researching techs and new units
  
• AI starts campaign only with basic units and unlocks new units over the years
  
• Each AI nation depending on size will invest into techs, some nations advance faster than others
  
• Completely rebalanced few early years of the campaign - player has a chance to advance ahead of AI
  
• AI armies will use massive attacks with up to 4 armies vs other AI players
  
• AI will now capture, loot, and raze settlements by other AI lords
  
• Reworked starting position for different Lords and nations - a lot more starts with just 1 or 2 Hamlets
  
• Improved Peasant performance greatly in all areas
  
• Fixed various OOS issues in multiplayer

FIXES AND ADDITONS

• Start It Up achievement doesn't require player to be online
  
• Disabled a few techs in buildings that will be added in later on expansion packs
  
• Disabled the techs in the Steward window that will be added in later on expansion packs
  
• Disabling loading screen music, if volume music is less than 5
  
• Fixed major issue with AI not attacking player units right on tactical level
  
• Fixed peasant moon-walking issue
  
• Don't show building banners in naval combat
  
• Fixed AI trebuchets not firing on other AI players
  
• Fixed some Lords starting the game with very high renown

TUTORIAL POLISH

• Chapter 2 - made easier with extra resources
  
• Chapter 2 - Fixed trebuchet not firing in intro cinematics
  
• Chapter 2 - Fixed stone walls not being walkable
  
• Chapter 4 - Fixed catapult objectives not completing
  
• Chapter 5 - fixed some objectives about collecting taxes not showing
  
• Chapter 5 - fixed objective about building church appearing too early
  
• Chapter 6 - made easier with extra resources
  
• Chapter 8 - made easier with extra resources

BALANCING

• Stone mines and peasants are twice as productive
  
• AI armies and garrisons been reduced by 50%
  
• Units are 50% more expensive, and have 50% higher upkeep
  
• The game is about smaller armies now, with his 50% reduction, but expands towards late game to see full stack armies
  
• Livestock is 50% more expensive, but twice as productive from silver to food
  
• Sheep is now nearly useless as a food resources, mainly for silver on the world map
  
• Reduced training time for all units, especially for higher tech units
  
• Auto
• healing of armies on the worldmap increased by 25%
  
• Ranged units take longer to kill other ranged units
  
• Slightly increased silver drain during battles

Hey Everyone,

As you might have noticed - yesterdays big update came with a few minor issues, that we rushed to address today. We also finished a dozen more fixes, to turn a hot fix into a full on update.

Changes of note include completely reworked archers targeting that makes ranged units a lot better at killing infantry. In addition by popular demand we have re-balanced AI army spawn time on the world map and unhappiness from visiting AI towns. And of-course, a lot more other fixes across the board.

We`ll continue with another major update next week, bringing you more of diplomacy, new terrain sets, and pathfinding improvements.

And so presenting Update 70:


FIXES AND ADDITIONS

• Redesigned how archers target enemy units - a lot more efficient now with archers picking individual targets
  
• Fixed issues with tower ballista hanging outside of towers
  
• Fixed issues with wall mounted ballista not positioning itself right on wall bastions
  
• Fixed some conflicting Hotkeys reported by players
  
• Retreating units don't count towards town flag capture defense or quickly capturing the flag
  
• Fixed a rare issue where hunters would completely stop attacking
  
• Potential fix for new lag issues during combat
  
• Slightly expanded Southern border of the world map - can now see North Africa, and easier to navigate at the Southern edge
  
• Faster army position update allows to better invite army to battle if armies are on the move
  
• AI builds up Hamlets much slower through the years, takes twice as long to upgrade all hamlets on the world map - up to 5 years

BALANCING

• AI will attack about 30% more often now, pushed it a bit too far apart in the last update
  
• Happiness goes down while being inside a city by 30% less now
  
• Looted towns now stay looted for 1 year instead of 4 months
  
• Slightly increased the chance of less damaged battalions routing
  
• Increased bowman and hunter walk and run speed, perfect hit and run unit
  
• Looting and raising low-level hamlets give proportionally a lot more silver
  
• Slight boost to silver income from looting and razing all level hamlets and towns
  
• Price of base buildings like a barn, storehouse - up 50% or so, other buildings 25% increase

Hey Everyone,

It`s time for a second major update this week, and once again it`s a good - greatly changing the way battles play out. Get ready for a number of new features - from units routing to all new formations, as well as brand new unit combat pathfinding. We also reworked a lot of things under the hood - from adding V-sync, to reworking a lot of our world map gameplay code. And of-course - the bug list is getting shorter by the day, with a few dozen issues resolved.

Please keep in mind that with update of this magnitude, there might be some follow up work needed, but we are here this weekend and will take care of any issues that might arise.

Also now that MKW is really starting taking shape ahead of next month`s release, we want to start increasing the player population. To this end we`ll be inviting all of our players back into the game next week. We also hope to see some new faces during the upcoming winter sale.

As always - we really appreciate your feedback, and forever grateful for your support!

And so presenting Update 68:

BIG CHANGES

• Added combat unit routing gameplay mechanic
  
• Routed units flee to the Manor building, and try to regroup there
  
• Completely redesigned Formation system
  
• Unique startup formation for each unit type
  
• Four unique formations for each unit class
  
• Added VSync option to fix screen tearing to the options menu
  
• Fixed resolution menu showing wrong resolution for players on laptops and some desktop systems
  
• Potential fix for a rare crash when returning to world map after battle
  
• AI on the world map redesigned to attack a lot less, but stronger
  
• Unit location during town defense battle is now saved, if these units are on walls
  
• Armies on the world map properly interact with towns or armies - resolves all problems with healing, adding units e.t.c
  
• Redesigned inviting armies to battle - now works properly, extending range, and always finding your army to invite
  
• Improved terrain graphics on most large towns during winter
  
• Corrected various localization errors, or empty text after the last update

PATHFINDING CHANGES

• Completely reworked combat pathfinding
  
• Fixed pathfinding problems when tasking archers on units, and they walked to their location instead
  
• Fixed pathfinding problems when taking melee unit on units, and units were not obeying orders
  
• Entire ranged battalion now properly lines up to fire at the enemy from safe distance
  
• Melee battalions now hold formation when advancing and attacking enemy units
  
• Major improvements to unit behavior on walls
  
• Units on wall will no longer try to climb into the towers
  
• KNOWN ISSUE: Melee sometimes refuses to attack buildings, to be fixed in 48 hours

FIXES AND ADDITIONS

• Fixed major issue with 2nd AI army taking no damage after being defeated by the player in town defense battle
  
• Fixed issue with Oil Pot often not auto triggering
  
• Added various gameplay messages and voice dialogues for routing
  
• Various improvements and fixes to siege weapons on towers
  
• Paris level fixed some building locations where town houses were too close to buildings
  
• Towns front gate now always properly close
  
• Fixed issue with players gates constantly closing when enemies are nearby
  
• Fixed various issue with World Map GUI remaining on screen when returning to the main menu
  
• Fixed various issues with world map GUI, or adviser windows being on screen when getting attacked by enemy army
  
• Fixed major issue with world map GUI sometimes appearing during a battle
  
• No longer have to reselect an army for option to Heal units to show up near a town
  
• Increased the delay before showing Back to the World Map button on victory, fixes various issues
  
• Fixed common issue with world map remaining paused after auto-resolving a battle
  
• Fixed major issue with players army sometimes switching sides to the AI
  
• Fixed view cutting of on player ships in naval combat and in naval combat tutorial
  
• Silver counter no longer shows decimal points

DIPLOMACY CHANGES

• World map icons that show war or peace status of towns now update on the world map in realtime
  
• Updated description for new King diplomacy abilities
  
• When you are King - attacking someone without declaring War will result in big diplomatic penalty
  
• Declaring War using Kings diplomacy - reduces standing within your Kingdom by -20
  
• White Peace doesn`t effect relations with other Kingoms, but reduces standing within your Kingdom by -20
  
• White Peace requires relations of at least -30
  
• Offering Terms is cheaper, but reducing diplomatic relations with all Kingdoms by -10

BALANCING

• World map upkeep for Higher level buildings increased significantly
  
• Even remote Kingdoms like Scotland or Ireland can now be attacked by far away nations from entire world map
  
• AI gets more time to conquer large player town - 30 minutes
  
• Wildfires damage to units greatly reduced, only kills lower tier units now
  
• Doubled the price in iron to start construction of stone walls
  
• Slightly increased the price in iron to start construction of palisade walls
  
• All melees and cavalry units are now much better vs archers in close combat
  
• Fixed issue with Mantlets taking melee units very long time to kill them
  
• Archers, and especially Crossbowman now do very little damage to Mantlets
  
• Mounted wall siege weapons are twice as expensive
  
• Happiness goes up or down twice as fast as before
  
• Techs that effect happiness going up or down faster/slower are 2X as effective
  
• Looted towns now have 30% smaller unhappiness penalty
  
• Captured towns from same nation, now have much smaller unhappiness of ~-60
  
• Captured towns from other nations, now have small unhappiness penalty of ~-90
  
• Soldiers inside the town increase happiness by 40% more.
  
• Pricier building upgrades do not affect world map as much
  
• Storehouse storage increased to +300, base storage increased to 500
  
• All buildings prices nearly doubled, doesn`t effect world map silver price as much
  
• Building level up price almost doubled, doesn’t effect world map silver price as much
  
• On the world map - units cost less silver

Hey Everyone,

With release date approaching, we continue to make great progress and today have an exciting new update for you.

Today`s update covers many areas, with well over a hundred changes, but what truly stands out is the new reworked AI. Get ready to be surprised. Nothing says 'Game Over' like several full stack AI armies landing on your shore at once, or the gates of Paris opening and a dozen Hospitaller battalions rushing your siege camp. AI is out for blood, so get ready!

Our next update will bring more diplomacy options, as well as finally unveil reworked pathfinding and much better unit behavior in combat. And yeah - we got a bit a delayed with this pathfinding update, but we are almost ready, just fixing the last issues and bugs.

And so presenting Update 68:

BIG AI CHANGES
-New town defense AI - will employ different tactics, and often ride out to meet weaker opponent
-Town Defensive AI will launch a counterattack vs weak besieger, or if it sees an opportunity
-In Battle AI units react to player attacks much faster, charging at archers or other melee units
-New smart world map AI - will look for weakness, and try to go after weak towns and armies
-AI armies on the world map will work together a lot more
-Tough new world map AI - in later years will utilize 2, 3 and even 4 armies when assaulting the player
-Weak or damaged AI armies will retreat to gather new units, or pursue new targets, or await reinforcement
-AI will only attack if it believes it can win a battle - no more suicide attacks
-Fixed various issues with AI armies standing still on the world map
-AI armies will now properly position them on the world map and not bundle up all in one place
-AI will now attack from further away on campaign map
-Having remote enemies will no longer be as forgiven on the world map - AI will come after you
-Completely reworked how AI progresses through the years on the campaign Map
-AI stars campaign slower with lower tech armies
-AI will never send powerful armies to attack players in the first year of the Campaign Map
-AI is a lot more challenging in later campaign years


OTHER BIG CHANGES
-Major Auto-Resolve change - if attacking army or armies have 3x more strength, they will never loose a unit, only health
-Buildings now show player owner colors on them
-Added first part of King diplomacy - ability to directly declare war, offer terms or signing a white peace
-Diplomatic relations changed to one way - no longer displaying two sets of relations icons
-Translated all the recent text, still waiting for Chinese translation - couple more days
-Fixed lag issue when assaulting large towns like Nantes or Paris


FIXES AND ADDITIONS
-Fixed major bug during civil war, allowing player to attack his own towns
-Fixed another civil war bug with player army defending AI town
-Fixed a civil war bug with player unable to attack his kings armies
-Fixed a rare civil war bug where player army would join the enemy
-Fixed extremely bright textures on heavy armored unit shields
-Improved the look of winter ground textures
-Greatly improved the look on world map mountains during winter
-Fixed a bug with selecting world map army sometimes showing ugly portrait in the left corner
-Town Hall starts at level 1 for both attacker and defender, fixing various bugs
-Manor now shows correct building level
-Every morning a rooster will sound to mark the end of nighttime
-Added ice and mini icebergs to naval combat during winter
-World map campaign quests now pause the game
-Fixed rare bug when entering battle just as relations with King drop, breaking the game
-Fixed bad shadowing issue on the pig
-Improved the pigs visual
-Added additional tutorial at the 1st campaign dialogue
-Cleaned up localization files
-Chicken portrait no longer covers buttons
-A lot of polish to camera scrolling and zoom in speed
-Camera scrolling and zoom in speed is now different for world map and RTS views
-Snow and rain is now well visible on all zoom in and out levels
-Rain and snow now don`t disappear when scrolling the camera
-Improved the look of snow and rain FX
-Corrected description of sheep and mines not to mention gold
-Music volume reduced less during tactical pause or pause on the world map
-Ballista bolts will no longer fall way short of the target unable to ever reach it
-Fire Cart is not longer just unlocked by constructing Storehouse, but by Liquid Transport tech
-Fixed Academy being unlocked too early by an incorrect tech


LEVEL DESIGN CHANGES
-Major change in Paris - just 1 outer gatehouse now
-Major change in Nantes - just 1 outer gatehouse now
-Nantes, Caen and Paris - palisade barricades only have 1 gatehouse
-Norwich - removed excessive bastions, with 12 per wall, max 6 now
-Caen - cleared the ground by the middle stone walls to make easier to assault
-Dover - fixed problem with ultra bright sandy beach
-Dover - added more eye candy to the level, ship harbor and so on
-Aberdeen on the world map now uses correct level, also changed Glasgow town design
-Nantes - player can now easily use attacker camp, without map edge getting in a way
-Updated tutorial menu background in the main menu
-Updated main menu background
-Fixed a bug with AI towns replenishing units fastest on easy, and slowest on hard - other way around
-Orleans reworked the central keep in the middle of the town
-Nantes, Dijon e.t.c levels - fixed missing wall segment and added more staircases
-Fixed various problems when rebuilding iron gates on stone gatehouses
-Fixed all mounted and tower siege weapons crew members twitching when attacked by archers
-Fixed wall mounted trebuchet having 4 tiny crew members, instead 2 proper size crew members
-Main menu now works great on ultra wide monitor


BALANCING
-Ranged units gain experience in combat twice as slow now
-Loosing and Winning auto-resolves with even odds, now removes a bit more units, on average 1 extra unit more
-Looting and Raising gives a lot more silver
-Other battle types give a lot less silver
-AI and player units are healed about 20% slower overtime on the world map
-AI armies that drop down from 20 strength will get defeated and removed
-Cost to upgrade buildings re-balanced to consume a lot more stone
-Increased Palisade wall and palisade tower hit points by up to 40%
-A bit more starting resources for battles, enough to start building a palisade wall
-Hospital is a lot more effective at healing units
-Monks healing spell is less effective
-Removed Healing Potion from Templar Knight
-Hospitaller Knight healing potion is more effective, but costs more stamina
-Palisade towers and stone towers take significantly longer to build
-Increased world map view for towns and armies
-Tech upgrade that increases world map view is more effective
-Changed starting enemies for Burgundy, Aragon and Spain,

Hey Everyone,

With January release fast approaching, we are pushing hard to wrap up all the features and fix remaining bugs. And today`s update is a big step in that direction...

Update 67 finally gives campaign some meaning - with numerous victory and defeat conditions. We also start implementing adviser quests, campaign cinematics and notifications that help a great deal to emerge players into the game world. In addition a lot of work went into improving performance, as well as implementing a number of player requests. And of-course - dozens of other fixes and improvements across the board.

Next week we are continuing with adding more diplomacy options and unveiling reworked pathfinding and much better unit behavior in combat.

Thanks for your continuous support, and hope you enjoy this update!

And so presenting Update 67:

BIG CHANGES
-Adjusted all LOD settings to improve performance and visuals
-Major visual performance boost across all systems and specs
-Manor has been added to the world map buildings menu
-World Map buildings menu acts as a map – showing building distance away from Manor
-Reworked all building positions in town – note that current towns will be effected
-Silver and town Happiness now shown in the city view
-Added Gift Land feature diplomacy feature – increases relations and standing
-Added "European Union" victory for uniting all nations under your rule
-Added "Emperor" victory to eliminating 7 nations
-Added “Rivals” victory to eliminate historically rival nation
-Added “Usurper” victory to take over the throne
-Added cinematics with text for all four new victory conditions
-Added cinematics with text for a player getting wiped off from the campaign map
-Added cinematics with text for the player or other lords becoming King
-Added cinematic with text for the 14 nations getting destroyed on the world map
-Added new quest window for player becoming an outlaw and being forgiven
-Added new quest window for civil war in a Kingdom, and end of the civil war
-When player King his Lords can start a civil war if relations drop through player actions
-The player can regain lords trust and end a civil war through defeating armies or gifts
-Deleting campaign on a player loss
-When a player becomes King, if effects diplomatic relations with other nations
-AI will no longer use suicide attacks, and will look for weaker towns
-Fixed major bug with AI attacking player towns that recently been captured by player


FIXES AND ADDITIONS
-Standing/diplomacy after battles now updates without opening chancellor window
-Gifting land to own nation lord increases standing
-Gifting land to other nation lord improves diplomatic relations
-Victory conditions added to Marshal window
-Player can now raze his own town by clicking on Manor on the World Map town GUI
-Campaign now remembers unit position much better, even from building spawn
-Fixed various bugs with the first quest dialogue in the grand campaign
-New multiple branching quest dialogue when starting a new Campaign
-New branching campaign intro Dialogue
-On loading a level, scroll chat down
-Using renown instead of standing to choose a new king
-Minor adjustments to Camera distances
-Fixed market building buying resources
-Fixed campaigns now showing the current date
- Fixed HRE bowman having price in iron as well as wood
-Improved the look of the fog FX in game
-Added level up button to the Market building
-Removed the tooltip about building tents
-GUI improvement - Multiline centered names in unit GUI
-GUI improvement - Fixed building HP and text positioning
-GUI improvement - Adjusted world map region banners to fix the text
-GUI improvement - Large world map region banners to fix the text
-GUI improvement - Show a silver counter in all battles, town management, etc.


BALANCING
- AI now first trains melee units and only then archers, making it a lot more effective when attacking.
- Fix to AI armies attacking after diplomacy change says they shouldn't
- The player starts with renown of their chosen lord divided by Campaign Difficulty
- Adjusted AI lords renown values
-Renown increased faster through victories and decreased through defeats
- Adjusted Standing/Relations of gifting towns
-Gifted Town forms its own garrison instead of using player one
-Player defeat if no city and no army above 20 strength
-Adjusted world map time to be a bit slower
-Higher price on militia and hunter units
-Greatly reduced unit upkeep with just 10%-15% difference for some units
-Building level reduced level cost only by 5% per level instead of 10%
-Selling trade resources at steward gives significantly more silver
-Cavalry trample does 30% more damage both to the enemies and to self
-Increased passive food income from cow and chicken by 3x
-Improved Voulgier and Billman to be much better vs archers
-Increase food cost to train majority of military units
-Slighter lowered wood and animal gathering rate for workers
-Battering Rams 20% less resistance to pierce, and 20% less hit points

Hey Everyone,

After spending last week working on reworked video trailers (to be released soon) and improving MKW`s store page, we are back into action. It`s time for another epic update that yet again changes the way you play the game. But before we get into the details, we have an announcement to make...

After nearly 3 years in development, we are almost ready to make the big move and graduate from Early Access. And the date is... Nth of January 2019. We`ll reveal the exact date soon.

There are two more months of work ahead, and we are confident MKW will be released in a solid shape. However, the official release is only a beginning... We already have 2019 all planned out - providing a constant stream of big updates post-release.

Also - if you own our previous game - KW2B - some good news. We`ll be releasing a definitive edition - a free update - that changes the game engine to DirectX 11, greatly improves many areas of the game and fixes the majority of leftover bugs in KW2B. We`ll have a full announcement and preview in December.

Now back to today`s update - the main feature is updated pathfinding and the new Epic camera mode. Let us know how it plays out...

And so presenting Update 66:

BIG CHANGES
-New Epic and Performance camera in the options
-New Epic camera is well - Epic - with extremely high zoom out
-Completely reworked world map camera, for a much closer view
-Adjusted the minimal zoom in a good way to play the game, and not just zoom in for details
-Pathfinding update - Battalions stay together in formation, without some units breaking formation
-Pathfinding update - tasking units - battalion now goes exactly to where it was tasked
-Pathfinding update - various fixes and improvement when tasking battalion to walk or to run to a location
-Visual update - greatly reduced bloom and blurring on all levels
-Performance boost of about 3-6 FPS on all graphics cards
-On town capture, reduce happiness by 70 if the same nation, by 150 if a different nation
-On town looted, reduce happiness by -150
-On town razed, diplomatic relations with all nations reduced by -5
-On town razed, razing player standing with his King drops by -5
-Building upkeep cost now increases with building level, instead of decreasing
-Raising now gives very high silver loot - a game changer
-World map game time goes by 50% faster
-Entering to manage towns deducts a lot more happiness, the longer you stay


FIXES AND ADDITIONS
-Game view now starts at max zoom in, instead of max zoom out
-Improved visual performance on high and highest game settings through LODs
-Update all infantry formations to be more evenly spread out
-First game run language prompt - now has a title, not to confuse new players
-Much quieter sounds of peasants chopping trees and dropping off resources
-Fixed major bug preventing cavalry passing through stone gates
-Fixed piked infantry unable to destroy Mantlets
-Fixed "Heal All" showing different cost depending on what unit was selected
-Less brightness in the campaign map
-When launching scenarios from the editor, it now uses the DX11 engine, and not 9
-Added world map borders to tutorial scenarios
-Fixed odd shadow on the ship in the skirmish screen
-Regular and fire arrows are a lot better visible
-Fixed naval combat level spawning units within range of enemy bowman
-After capturing the town the action screen shows up right away and not a few seconds later
-When the game is action paused the music is not as quiet as before
-Fixed odd shadow on the ship in the Skirmish screen


BALANCING
-Combat AI trains more rams and less siege of other types
-Combat AI creates new units significantly slower
-AI gets a lot less time to conquer player hamlet or town, making these battles go by a lot faster
-Ballista now consumes iron when firing
-Siege weapons now consume 0.2 stone/iron when firing instead of 1
-Destroying buildings on the world map gives more of their cost back
-Buildings that generate income, have their income significantly increase with high levels
-Buildings that generate happiness, generate more at higher levels
-The market now sells and buys resources by 100, and not 700
-Looting gives a little bit more silver for low-end hamlets and more overall
-Silver drain when attacking significantly reduced
-Increased the price of Serfs by 30%
-Reduced Serfs animal slaughter income by 25%
-Stone and Iron Mines level up cost increases 50%
-Stone and Iron camp 50% more cost, but 50% more productive
-Piked infantry now a lot more effective vs siege weapons
-All infantry is much better at killing mantlets
-Increased unit upkeep by 30%
-Increased building upkeep by 15%
-Blacksmith and Armoury now provide a lot less income
-Academy comes with an upkeep
-Price of all RTS mode techs increased 2X

Hey Everyone,

As a follow up to yesterday`s update, we have another game changing patch for you today. We have reworked all the price tags in game, from livestock to research, both in RTS and World Map mode. You`ll find that all the income and expenses have went down greatly - up to 12 times lower. For example if before a unit could cost 1200, now it`s just 120.

These changes go far beyond simple math though, as relation between world map silver prices and RTS prices has been completely reworked as well. In addition this update is complete with the usual lengthy list of changes and fixes. We are breaking for the weekend, but you can expect another massive update next week.

And so presenting Update 65:
-All RTS mode prices reduced by 8x to 12x
-All World Map prices reduced from 2x to 4x
-Adjusted every single income or expense in-game to work with the new numbers
-Fixed the last startup crash issue, when clicking on Options window
-Fixed various issues with too much blurring in-game
-Adjusted in-game brightness and overwhelming bloom values
-New portrait for Serf, holding a pitch fork
-It is not significantly easier and more affordable to play on the world map
-Rebalanced income from Mines and Serfs to be significantly higher
-Reworked how AI trains units on the world map
-AI will no longer send overwhelming armies in the first couple of years
-AI progress through the first 10 years of campaign is significantly slower
-Reworked tutorial level 2 and 8 - AI assault force s a significantly larger now
-Reworked all tutorial levels with new light values and new unit cost
-All cavalry unit stats have significantly increased
-Archer attack significantly reduced - no longer op
-All the prices in-game are now even multiples of 5
-AI hamlet garrisons for level 4 and 5 are much weaker now

Hey Everyone,

And we continue with massive weekly update - allow me to present our biggest gameplay update so far. The changes go beyond a simple patch, instead you can call this a total gameplay conversion - or as we like to say - The Game Changer.

Our main goal was to simplify controls - with fewer but much larger battalions, and to create more realistic combat. Almost every game stats has been changed for this update - and just in case there are some issues - we will iron it our by next week.

In addition we made a big step in improving the game`s graphics, as well as stability. We also started to work on updated unit pathfinding - you can expect a lot more improvements in this area next week.

As you discover the new approach to gameplay we recommend starting a new campaign. If you want to continue an old campaign, you might need to remove 2/3rds of yours military units to work with the new gameplay format.

And so presenting Update 64, it`s a long list:

BIG CHANGES
-Major visual update - might be a bit too bright though...
-Fixed the last startup issues
-Total Rebalance of the game, including all gameplay modes
-Gameplay changed to controlling fewer units, but of bigger size
-Battalion size increased with twice as many soldiers in each group
-Unit scale greatly increased - easy to tell units apart
-Battalions now fight as one unit - not separating nearly as much
-Battles last twice as long with units surviving much longer
-All units stats are doubled or tripled - cost, strength
-Reworked starting player garrison, starting payer army, and AI garrison for each city
-Ranged units reworked - new animation takes much longer to reload, but deadly
-Siege ranged weapons reworked - cinematic kills with knocking units down
-Starting Diplomatic relations for each nation redesigned - more historical, and better gameplay
-There is a lot more difference in stats between units of different nations
-Greatly slowed down movement speeds of all units for slower more realistic gameplay
-Completely reworked Serf resources gathering - big battalions, efficient, doesn`t get stuck
-A lot of improvements to the Tutorial with over 40 changes and fixes


AI CHANGES
-Combat AI - major improvements to AI laying sieges faster and more efficient
-Combat AI - AI will not use multiple Rams to attack the same gate
-Combat AI - disabled AI advantage where it would deal more damage to the player
-Combat AI - AI creates units a lot slower now to work with the new balancing
-Unit AI - there`s now an actual AI script controlling their individual behavior
-Unit AI - units now attack building that they feel threatened by - like Barracks
-Unit AI - units now advance to attack archers shooting at them
-Unit AI - units will often stand ground, or advance based on the situation
-Unit AI - units a lot smarter when it comes to choosing opponents
-World Map AI now replenishes dead units in Hamlets and Towns
-World Map AI now upgrades Hamlet garrison as the time goes on - for large garrisons
-World Map AI now gives player more peacetime at the start of the campaign


FIXES AND ADDITIONS
-World map clouds less shiny and interfere less with the line of sight
-Polished up a lot of building and unit descriptions in English
-Peasants will no longer automatically slaughter not fully grown sheep
-Fixed boats having texture issues
-Fixed naval combat level not working
-Tutorial now uses national troops and not defaults
-Fixed issue with bad looking extra large or small GUI icons
-Fixed national unit names not showing in RTS mode
-New idle animations for Knights and Ranged units
-Removed some ridiculous idle animations from billman and voulgier units
-Reduced volume of music track on winning or losing a battle
-World map clouds less shiny and interfere less with the line of sight
-World Map army larger
-World Map army less brightly lit
-Unlocking sheep moved further down in the economy tree
-Arrows look a lot better and more noticeable
-Crossbowman now properly holds crossbow with both hands
-New Crossbow shooting animations
-Defending the town no longer gives huge amounts of silver on the world map
-When AI captures player towns it no longer gets an odd garrison of mixed units
-On capturing AI town in auto-resolve players get a basic garrison, not a strong one as before


BALANCING CHANGES
-All unit battalions double in size - including livestock, serfs, and military units
-All unit cost, training time and upkeep increased 200%-300%
-All unit and building cost and build time increased 150%-200%
-Increased the strength of all units 200%-250%
-Increase starting resources in skirmish and in campaign battles and enter town mode
-Wall construction time, especially towers is greatly increased by up to 250%
-Increased resources cap to 4000 on default
-Income from building and livestock greatly increased up to 300%
-Income from mines, Serfs, and livestock increased 200%-300%
-Level up cost for buildings greatly increased - up to 400%, not effected on the world map
-Cow and sheep less passive food income 25 per minute chicken, 50 per minute cow
-Rams take significantly longer to known down the gate
-Each tree, especially small one has 30%-50% more wood
-Townhouses hold 400% more wood
-Fog of war reveal distance expanded for all units
-Cost of building blockading palisade decreased
-Livestock starts with more resources and bigger in size
-Archers can take a lot more arrow damage with higher piercing armor
-Piked units made to have a big bonus vs archers, now that archers have high piercing armor
-Archers now shoot 2x-3x slower and are but deal 2x-3x more damage
-Archers shooting straight at a shorter distance, preferring to shoot high flying arrows
-Peasants no longer generate silver income on the world map
-AI will use 3x fewer units everywhere
-Increased the price of hamlet upgrade by 40%
-The reward for looting and raizing low-level hamlets is increased by 300-600 silver
-Building give 25-30% more silver income on the world map
-Moved the Cow unlocking research to 1 position later in the Economy tree
-New Sheep unlock in the Economy tech tree, on the 7th position instead of second