Lot's of exciting stuff is coming to KARDS with the next patch later this week (Week 21)! Let's go over the top changes and then dig into the details.

Please share and use the comments below.

• New: Non-scoring games for Officer Club members
  
• Improved: Daily Missions
  
• Improved: Rewards for entry-level achievements
  
• Improved: Max Kredit slots
  
• Nerfed: Discard decks

Thanks to feedback from the community (and our own stats and insight), we have identified several issues that requires improvement.

Issue
Members of the Officer Club (OC) are scored on the OC leaderboard according to their match results. This imposes a hard stop for everyone in the OC on experimenting with new decks. Any experiment and fun stuff would lead immediately to a drop in the OC score.

Solution
Introduce non-scoring games for the OC.

Details
As member of the OC, you can chose if you want to play a scoring or non-scoring match. Non-scoring matches will have no impact on your OC score. Keep in mind though, you still can lose stars in the nation you are playing if you lose the match etc. Matchmaking tries to match non-scoring games.

Issue
Daily Missions take too long to complete.

Solution
Make Daily Missions easier to complete.

Details
As Daily Missions are supposed to give some rewards even if you don't have that much time for completing achievements. Currently, the Daily Missions can take too long to complete so we make them a bit easier and faster to accomplish. Mission rewards stay the same, but most missions will become 20-30% easier with the same payout!

Issue
Early in the game you do not know which cards are good and which not. Earning resources as achievement rewards early in the game doesn't add much value and is often useless.

Solution
Change the rewards for Early Achievements from resources to specific, useful cards that can be used in many decks.

Details
Completing the early nation achievements will now yield useful cards from that nation. These cards are being considered cornerstones of many decks and will guide new players towards successful deck building.


Issue
If you had already the maximum 12 Kredit slots, cards that were supposed to increase your Kredit slots didn't have any effect.

Solution
Change the Max Kredit slot handling so that you can go beyond the maxium 12 Kredit slots if you play the according cards.

Details
Cards like The War Machine will now give you additional Kredit slots even if you are already at 12 Kredit slots. This does not mean that your Kredit slots will automatically increase during game play beyond the maximum 12 Kredits. This will allow for interesting new card designs.


Issue
Discard decks are still too strong.

Solution
Reduce the number of discard cards and their power.

Details
We want to have Discard as a viable game-play element in KARDS, especially because it feels so thematic to the economic/strategic warfare part of WW2. However, Discard should not be a top-tier strategy as it currently is.

We are completely changing the German Elite 158. Nachschub. Additionally, we are changing various other Discard cards.

Everyone who has spent resources to create the 158. Nachschub can rejoice! We are turning that card into a Gold card so that you can decide either to keep it or to get your full resources back you used for creating that Elite card (simply recycle that Gold card). This is only fair as we are fundamentally changing an Elite card here.

Check Discord for the full details of the card changes.


The end-of-match screen is improved so that you can immediately see your progress towards your three next closest Achievements and claim completed Achievements right away.

Of course we will also have bug fixes arriving with this patch.


What do you think? Do you like any of these changes in particular?
Please share and comment below!

Gamescom 2019, one of the annual highlights for gamers, is approaching fast and the KARDS development team will be present there!

As we are all excited about this, we would thought this to be a perfect opportunity for a player gathering and meetup with the devs:

Are you interested in a player gathering with the devs during Gamescom?

We have thought of having a nice, fun player meeting with an open bar, good chats, and great fun with the devs. The event itself would take place on Friday, Aug 23, in Cologne not too far away from Gamescom.

We have some ideas how to spice up the event, but we would like to ask for your input as well and if there is anything you would like to see (battle a dev, real life swag, T-Shirt etc.).

That being said, keep in mind that this wouldn't be an expensive, crazy huge party as we prefer spending our main resources on KARDS itself. ːsteamhappyː

We are looking forward to your ideas and feedback!

This patch is about fixing bugs and some visual improvements. We welcome all feedback and thank for the bug reports we have received!

• Fatigue damage was applied incorrectly if player with empty deck drew card in enemy turn. Fixed.
  
• Units that give other units attack boost (like TYPE 93 and M8 GREYHOUND) sometimes removed their boost incorrectly. Fixed.
  
• Cards that target failed sometimes in resolving their target effect (for example M16 HALF-TRACK). Fixed. Please let us know if you see this still, as it is difficult to test.
  
• FOR FREEDOM, KITTYHAWK and SKUA could target incorrect targets. Fixed.
  
• SHTURMOVIK did not apply damage correctly to units with Heavy Armor. Fixed.
  
• G4M1 BETTY could not be attacked by ground units. Fixed.

• Changed the image of a few cards.
  
• Adjusted the wording on a few cards.
  
• The Kredit negate of ADMIRAL HIPPER is now shown correctly.
  
• Players can now see how many wins they still need to be eligible for seasons rewards (5 wins needed in a season as minimum).

KARDS Early Access Patch (Build 0.9.11)

This patch is to complete the base KARDS set of 350 cards, to balance existing cards and to bug fix.

We have introduced the following six new cards to complete the base set of 350 cards:

• 93rd GUARDS
  
• SUPPLY CHAIN
  
• UNCLE SAM
  
• G4M1 BETTY
  
• EMPIRE OF THE SUN
  
• HOME DEFENSE

We continue to balance cards as we get more stats and feedback.

• DAYLIGHT BOMBING - now costs 4, deals 3 damage and destroys kredit slot
  
• SHTURMOVIK IL-2M - now has Heavy Armor 1 and deals excess damage to HQ
  
• U-375 - now only discards 5 cost or less and no HQ damage
  
• M36 JACKSON - now costs 5
  
• ULTRA - now costs 3
  
• GRENADIER GUARDS - now has attack 5
  
• 1st AIRLANDING BRIGADE - now has defense 5
  
• PANZERZUG 61 BP42 - now has attack 5
  
• STIRLING Mk I S3 - now has defense 4
  
• CORSAIR F4U-1D - now has defense 4
  
• BLADE OF THE SAMURAI - now costs 6
  
• B-17 FLYING FORTRESS - now costs 9

Check out the dev blog The Final Countdown: KARDS base set completed! for full details on the new cards!

• Units attacking an immune unit/HQ were able to attack more than once. Fixed.
  
• Tutorial messages sometimes showed twice. Fixed.
  
• A rare crash occurred when one player surrendered at the same time the other player triggered an event like ending turn. Fixed.
  
• Cards sometimes got stuck on board after an invalid target was chosen. Fixed.
  
• Help bubble text sometimes blocked history text. Fixed.

• Changed animation for cards played from enemy hand.
  
• When dragging to attack an enemy unit, you now see the damage each unit will do.
  
• National packs received in achievements are now visualized better.

Join us on Discord!

We just finished the first ever KARDS season at end of April and what a blast it was! Let’s celebrate the winner, go over some info, and have a look at Season 2.

The winner of Season 1, Number One of the elite Officer Club, is SoraTsukishima! The reward for this amazing feat is an original Kards survival bag with a Kards flask, a real Kards booster card pack, and a special 1939 Games certificate (we keep a twin of that certificate at the 1939 Office on display). We also have some in-game reward.

Congratulations, SoraTsukishima!

We handed extra packs as reward for Season 1. Depending on the amount ranked unlocked, you got various rewards with extra rewards for Field Marshals and members of the Officer Club: Season 1, Gold Cards, and Physical Items … OH MY!.


At the end of the season and with the start of the new season on May 1, the in-game rewards have been directly added to your Kards account. Enjoy!


Now, that we have successfully closed Season 1, it is time to look ahead to Season 2 which started May 1st.

As part of our ongoing improvements, we clarified the UI so that you can easily see what you need to do to get to the next level of rewards at the end of the season.


We have adjusted all ranks to provide new challenges and to justify the good rewards that are waiting for you at the end of the season.

Except for Field Marshal rank, all ranks for all nations were lowered by 1 with start of Season 2. All stars earned in the rank so far were retained (e.g. a German Major with 3 stars became a German Captain with 3 stars).

The Field Marshal rank was lowered by two ranks down to Major 5 stars.

Directly after the end of Season 1 and with the start of Season 2, we have removed everyone from the Officer Club as none matched the prerequisites of being Field Marshal in at least three nations (see above). We already see top players arriving joining the Officer Club for Season 2, are you one of them?


Welcome to Season 2!

KARDS Early Access Patch (Build 0.9.5)

This patch is to prepare the rewards for Season 1 and to be ready for Season 2 starting May 1st.

• Gold versions of existing cards are now available! Gold cards can be received as rewards and in packs. More about Gold cards.
  
• Packs opened until now will be retroactively checked for gold versions, and if applicable, the normal version in players collections will be swapped for the corresponding gold version.
  
• Tweaks to collection and deck builder to support gold cards.
  
• Added backend support for the end of Season 1 and start of Season 2: More about rewards for Season 1.
  
• An Officer Club leaderboard history has been added for previously completed seasons.
  
• After analyzing our data and feedback from the player community, we’ve implemented several changes to our matchmaking system that should pair players more appropriately and thus improve the experience for new players and veterans alike. Note that this may result in slightly longer queue times for some players as a better match is found.
  
• Feedback indicates that showing the national rank titles and icons when playing, is causing confusion instead of being helpful. As the national ranks is basically a part a progression system that doesn’t dictate matchmaking, we have decided to remove the ranks from being displayed in Battle to avoid confusion.

• The Officer Club leaderboard showed a mismatch between top 100 position and points and player information below line. Fixed.
  
• The 85mm D-44 FIELD GUN pinned attacking bombers and artillery units. Fixed.

• We slightly changed the animation for cards being played from the hand.
  
• We changed / swapped a pictures on a few cards.
  
• Preparations to change the main menu background image with the start of Season 2 on May 1st.

Let’s talk about the rewards for KARDS Season #1: Gold Cards, Packs, and physical items!

Read on for the juicy details and reserve your weekend for KARDS!

The first ever Season in Kards ends on Tuesday, April 30th, at 23:59:59 UTC.
Then, you will receive rewards based on the number of ranks you have gained.

The more ranks you have climbed up, the better the rewards

We look at the total number of ranks you have climbed up combined for all nations. The more ranks you have climbed up, the better the rewards - with a special twist for the Officer Club members and the Top-10 players.

For each of the five nations in Kards, you can gain up to six ranks up to a total of 30 ranks. Part of the reward are special Gold cards that we are going to introduce. Before we talk more about Gold cards, first the reward distribution.



For each Field Marshal rank, you get an extra National Pack for that nation!

Members of the elite Officer Club (you need to be Field Marshal in at least 3 nations) will receive a special reward and one extra pack!

Members of the Officer Club will get Gold Cards that are one rarity better

The regular Gold Card reward for members of the Officer Club will be buffed up by one rank. For example, if a member of the Officer Club has received 27 rank promotions, they will get an Elite Gold card instead of a Special Gold card.

The best five players of the first ever Season in Kards will get a special, physical reward! Make sure that you have your emails updated so that we can contact you.

The best players gets a real swag bag of Kards goodies, including a canteen and a pack of physical game cards

The first place will receive a bag of Kards goodies, including a canteen and a pack of promotional physical cards from the game (plus several more cool things). This player also gets an aluminum plaque with the player’s name engraved on it and the season. We will hang a duplicate plaque up in our office on our Wall of Fame, where the winner of every season will get a place.

The second to fifth place will receive the canteen and the pack.

The top ten players will get 5 extra packs.


With the start of Season 2 on May 1, 00:00:01 UTC, we will adjust the ranks.

For each nation, you will drop one rank, retaining any stars you already had at your previous highest rank (e.g. you were a Major with 3 stars for Germany then in the new season you will be a Captain with 3 stars).

The exception here is that for those nations you reached Field Marshal rank you will go to Major at 5 stars.

With the start of Season 2, the Officer Club will be initially empty (no one will be Field Marshal).

We are introducing Gold Cards! Gold cards are gold version of existing cards. Cards of all rarities have Gold versions. Their stats are exactly as their non-gold counterparts, but they are more rare - and can be recycled for resources!

Gold cards are special variants of existing cards and can be recycled.

The resources from recycling Gold cards allow you to create exactly one other card of the same rarity. Breaking down a Gold card is irreversible - so be careful!

You can get Gold cards as Seasonal reward, or (rarely) by opening packs.

When you open a pack, you have a slight chance of getting a Gold card instead of a typical non-Gold card.


Gold Cards are new and can be received when opening a pack (as well as a Seasonal reward).

We are going to retroactively award you Gold cards based on how many packs you have already opened so far.

The more packs you have opened, the higher the chance for Gold cards

The Gold cards you might receive from this retroactive award will be added to your collection by converting existing cards in your collection.
Keep an eye on your collection of cards with the update at the end of April.

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

We are full steam ahead with Early Access and would like to share what we have been working on since our last update. We also want to thank you for your continued great feedback which helps to improve and polish Kards - thank you!

Let’s have a look at the immediate future and the next steps. As usual, we categorize them into major and minor points.

• End of Season 1 and rewards.
  Seasons in Kards go for a full month, and our first Season will end on April 30. Since this is our first season, we are working hard to ensure that you have a great experience collecting your well-deserved rewards and that the system will flawlessly start Season 2 on May 1. Keep an eye on the news for more info about the rewards for Season 1.
  
  
• Player strength and ranks.
  We continue our work on the matchmaking system and its visualization. We want to avoid confusion and address concerns when players of different ranks are matched against each other due to their similar strength: Strength is based on an ELO rating system, Ranks are based on winning games per nation. Ranks cannot be lost during a season. However, we only show you the Rank (unless you are in the Officer Club), but the match-making is based on ELO. This can lead to the perception of an unfair matchmaking, for example when Privates are matched against Generals (which can happen if both players have similar strength). We would like to get your feedback!

• Continued bug fixing.
  We have received bug reports (additional to our internal tracking) ranging from small spelling mistakes to issues with game play itself. Thank you for all the reports, please continue that good effort!
  
  
• Ramping up the Support Help Center.
  We are adding game info and self-help articles to the Support Center. We also want to have a look at the Guides on Steam and start populating it, but maybe you would like to join that effort too?

That’s it for now. Keep an eye on the news and join the amazing community and Kards developers on Discord!

KARDS Early Access Patch (Build 0.9.4)

This patch is to address several issues we've seen in the first week of Early Access, among some minor balance changes.

• Matches would suddenly end at the very start (rare). Fixed.
  
• The end-of-match screen displays a white box (rare). Fixed.
  
• Popups in the tutorial were duplicated (rare). Fixed.
  
• Blockade would not change Kredits of cards (rare). Fixed

• Match-making has been improved to match players of similar strength more preferably.
  
• Starting decks have been slightly tweaked.

• Tweaks to the destruction timing.
  
• Improved the frontline timing.