Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated. Make ready the guns as the all-new teamplay oriented artillery mechanics are here! Move artillery on the field of battle, carry ammunition, bring a quick end to nearby infantrymen with grapeshot and support the fight from the rear with the new Cannoneer class.

There’s plenty to look out for in this update. Better spot enemies at the distance with the improved spyglass, another map to continue adding to an already vast selection of game levels, user interface additions and more.

Before you have a read at the blog post, check out the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jztiwMnY5gc

Assemble the artillery crew and support the fight from the rear! Well trained crews will triumph over others as the new artillery mechanics have been designed from the ground up with teamplay at the forefront.

With plenty of mechanical changes centred around artillery, we’ve sectioned the blog post into several steps that one must go through to operate a moveable field gun. You’ll also find some of these mechanical changes present on various stationary guns.

Moving The Field Gun - Stage 0
Nearby the spawn locations for each faction, you’ll now find field guns that can be moved around on the battlefield. Look at either of the gun’s wheels, press the ‘E’ key and you’ll be able to move the gun around.

Moving an artillery piece isn’t restricted to a specific team. Want to go for the rather risky endeavour of stealing the opposing team’s cannon? You can very well do so with these new mechanics.



Assist Move The Field Gun - Stage 0
A secondary player can interact with the other wheel enabling the gun to move at a faster rate. Each and every class in the game is able to assist with moving the field gun so your chances of finding someone willing to help out is greater.



Selecting Your Shot - Stage 1
After you’ve moved the field gun to your desired position, you should look for an ammo box close to your vicinity to select a shot of your preference. Press the ‘E’ key once and select either the round or the new anti-personnel grapeshot.



You can also carry ammo boxes around the field of battle. As you can imagine, it’s going to be especially convenient not having to constantly run back to your spawn to pick up ammunition. Find a fellow Cannoneer willing to do the task and work together to operate the gun.

Ammo boxes can be carried around by pressing the ‘E’ key once and selecting the ‘Carry Ammo’ option. To drop the ammo box, scroll up or down with your mouse wheel or press one of the number keys to switch to another weapon.



Loading Your Shot - Stage 2
Go to the front of the gun and look directly at its barrel with ammunition in hand. Keep hold of the ‘E’ key until the round user interface indicator fills up to load your shot in the cannon.



Guns loaded with ammunition will cause an explosion if destroyed. Be sure to stay out of harm’s way! Moveable field guns will also respawn after two minutes if destroyed.



Ramming Your Shot - Stage 3
Now that you’ve loaded your cannon, you need to ram your shot down the barrel. Keep hold of the ‘E’ key until the round user interface indicator fills up to ram your shot. You’re now ready to fire the cannon.



Firing The Gun - Stage 4
Head to the back of the gun, look at the barrel then press the ‘E’ key once to aim the cannon. Pick your target well then fire away! It is highly recommended that you have another player assisting with ranging targets using a spyglass.



Upon firing, the field gun will recoil backwards. Moveable field guns are intended to function in this manner instead of being automatically pushed forward to promote teamplay.



By now it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there’s a new shot that players can choose from. Swivel guns, field guns, carronades and various long guns can be loaded with Grapeshot which is especially effective against infantry.



The go to class for dedicated artillerymen! Cannoneers have a priority over the operation of field guns and indeed all of the other artillery pieces present in the game. These range from various long guns, carronades, mortars, as well as swivel guns.

They also come equipped with a spyglass which is especially useful to range targets at long distances. There’ll be more coming to this class in due time when development of the class system update begins.

French Empire


British Empire


Kingdom of Prussia


We’ve given the spyglass a well-deserved overhaul! First and foremost, we significantly increased the viewing distance when looking through a spyglass. It’ll come in especially handy for the artillery crewman in charge of ranging targets.

The underlying code-base that makes this system function has also been re-designed to prevent various instances which caused players to get stuck viewing the spyglass. We’ve also cleaned up most of the interface while using a spyglass and improved its looks.



Bring out the guns and batter Fort Pierre’s walls! Make good use of moveable field guns to open multiple entry points for the assaulting infantrymen by pouring led into the wooden palisades.

It does indeed seem quite fitting to introduce a siege map along with this update. Join one of the official Army Front servers to check it out.



As the number of objects that you can interact with on the map increases, we required an additional feature to help players better identify their location. Once a player gets close to an interactable object, they will be presented with an icon marking down its location.

For the scope of this update, we’ve placed interaction icons on all moveable and stationary artillery pieces as well as ammo boxes. We’re planning on expanding this system for various other points of interaction present on various maps including lanterns, pianos, sitting, climbing rigging and more.

We’ve also made sure to provide players with the option to disable interaction indicators. You can find this in the game options under all the other user interface settings.



After we iron out any issues that may have slipped through the cracks due to the latest introduction of the artillery update, we’ll be splitting our development efforts between quality of life additions and the next major update.

Let’s head off with the most exciting of announcements. Player built defences will be making an introduction into the game with the release of the next major update! Well placed defences will turn the tide of battle in your favour.

In the near future, we’re planning on providing players with the option to vote for their own maps after the round ends. Even though this is a relatively smaller addition compared to the gameplay-oriented features that’ll be coming in the next major update, it has been highly requested by the community so we’ve set our sights on doing just that.

There’ll also be other updates besides the ones we’ve mentioned coming to the game leading to the release of the next major update. As always, we’ll keep you up to date on our progress.



Looking for a good bunch of fellows to play the game with? Do join our Discord! Linebattle events were players are encouraged to play in formations relevant to the Napoleonic era are hosted by the community through the week.

We look forward to seeing you there! Stay in touch.

https://discordapp.com/invite/holdfastgame



There are plenty more additions to go through but the blog post is already getting rather lengthy. Have a look at the list below for the entire list of additional features, bug fixes, improvements and content that you’ll find in this update.



Changelog 24 - Game Version 0.22.6925.42022

New Game Features
• New Artillery Mechanics! Well trained crews will triumph over others as the new artillery mechanics have been designed from the ground up with team-play at the forefront.
  » Move field guns on the field of battle. Assist another player to move the gun at a faster pace.
  » Cannoneers are able to carry ammo boxes. It’s extremely convenient to have this present nearby a field gun to use at a moment’s notice.
  » You are now required to hold down your ‘E’ key to load a shot.
  » Guns must now be rammed after a shot is loaded.
  » Moveable field guns will recoil back once they are fired. You can no longer automatically push the cannon forward on the field guns to encourage team play.
  » You are now required to go through the same process of loading and ramming while operating a stationary artillery piece.
  
• Artillery Respawn. Moveable field guns will respawn back to their initial spawn location after two minutes. They will also be repairable in a future update.
  » Server administrators can configure the time it takes for an artillery to respawn after it gets destroyed by inputting the following command in the server configuration file: artillery_fieldgun_respawn_timer 130
  
• Grapeshot! A new artillery shot that is especially effective against infantry.
  
• A New Class! Cannoneer. The go-to class for dedicated artillerymen. They have a priority over the operation of field guns and indeed all of the other artillery pieces present in the game.
  » Cannoneers also have their own chat channel to communicate in.
  
• Spyglass Overhaul! You are now able to view players at a much greater distance while looking through the spyglass. This will come in especially useful for ranging targets.
  
• A New Map! Fort Pierre. Make good use of moveable field guns to open multiple entry points for the assaulting infantrymen by pouring led into the wooden palisades.
  » Input the following parameter to play this map on your community server: map_name fortpierre.
  
• Interaction Indicators. Once a player gets close to an interactable object, they will be presented with an icon marking down its location.
  » You can disable these indicators from the game options under all the other user interface settings. Look for Interaction Indicators.
  
• Dutch Canals. This map has received quite the overhaul with bridges being added to create pathways over canals and additional houses and trees to serve as cover. We’ll be re-visiting other maps to improve their playability in future updates.
  
• Most of the maps present in the game received various iterations to support moveable artillery. A hefty bunch of work!
  
• We’ve made sure to include two moveable artillery pieces on every map specifically designed for organised play.
  » You’ll also find additional stationary artillery pieces present on some of the maps.
  
  Quality of Life
  
• We implemented a system that ensures the order of classes in the spawn menu remains consistent with the exception of the Training Grounds map were classes from both the Navy, Army and Coastal branches are present.
  
• Changed the font used for all interaction labels in the game so it becomes more readable and added a slight fade to all of the interaction labels.
  
• Included additional sounds to all artillery pieces.
  
• The list of official servers available to join in the ‘Join Other Server’ panel has been updated.
  
• Changed the colour of the recruitment channel to make it more distinguishable from the rest.
  
  Game Balance
  
• Implemented a system that restricts players from loading specific shots in certain artillery pieces. You are no longer able to load round shot in swivel guns. Instead, they can now be loaded with a smaller iteration of the grapeshot.
  
• Upon firing an artillery piece, the gun’s barrel will slightly recoil. This is being done to further increase the skill gap.
  
• You’ll now find more ammo boxes on the 8-Gun Schooner. These contain the smaller version of the grapeshot to load swivel guns with.
  
  Other Additions
  
• Included additional spawns near the barn on Highlands when played on the Army Conquest game mode.
  
• Change the spawn limits for the Garrison Arena map when played on the Army Conquest game mode.
  
  Optimisations
  
• Solved an instance which was causing a dip in framerate when an explosion was caused.
  
• Optimised various particle effects in the game.
  
  Bug Fixes
  
• Fixed a bug which caused the sound when pushing a cannon forward not to play.
  
• Fixed a bug which prevented firearm trajectories from showing when a server administrator set the drawFirearmTrajectories to true.
  
• Fixed a bug which caused players to get stuck in an animation after using a spyglass.
  
• Fixed a bug which caused players to get stuck looking through a spyglass forcing them to respawn.
  
• Fixed a bug with the wheels not animating correctly when a cannon is being pushed forward.
  
• Fixed a bug which caused the particles produced when a shot from a firearm hits a snowy terrain to be not very visible.
  
• Fixed a bug which caused players to get stuck behind the rowboat passage on King George.
  
• Fixed a bug which prevented players from using any weapons while walking on one of the rowboats present on King George.
  
• Fixed a bug on Fort Sallettes which prevented players from going in certain rooms.

We’re working on the next update. Once again, thank you very much for your support and until next time, may good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War - BETA has been updated! As the upcoming major update is nearing its release, it’s now due time to host the very first BETA Test for the Artillery focused update. We won’t be going into all the fine details just yet as development is still ongoing but here are some of the things we’ve been up to.

Moveable field guns, a new artillery shot type, carriable ammo boxes, a new class, multiple adjustments to most of the existing maps and more! This new gameplay mechanic has been designed with team-play in mind.



Would you like to have an early go at what’s to come? Come join us in the BETA! Simply hop in on our Community Discord to do so. You'll find all the details in the #announcements channel.

It’s a great chance for you to provide us with feedback before the update sees a full release and help us make sure that everything is working as intended while you’re at it.

https://discordapp.com/invite/holdfastgame



Everything present in this BETA is still a work in progress and bugs are to be expected. We’ll be working on stabilising and balancing all the new features throughout the coming week.



Once again, thank you for your support and until next time, may good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated. Named after King George himself, we’ll be introducing yet another map in this week’s release! Join the rank and file as Holdfast: Nations At War is now 50% Off for the duration of Steam’s Black Friday sale.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/589290/Holdfast_Nations_At_War/

It would be great if you can help us spread the word around about the sale to bring this genre of Musket Warfare games that we all love in the limelight. We want to continue strengthening the following behind the game as it grows and develops.

More about what’s to come in our latest blog post.

Strive for control over two war-thorn camps. Situated near the coastline, a lighthouse stands to overlook the possibility of an invasion. Along the paths leading to these camps, you’ll find plenty of opportunities to outwit your enemies as you attempt to break through their defensive positions.

Designed with the intent to promote quicker more action paced gameplay, King George is playable on the Army Battlefield and Army Conquest game modes. Join one of the Army Front servers hosted in various regions to check it out!

Here’s a first-hand look at the map.







We’d like to once again affirm our ongoing dedication towards pushing forward frequent game updates. To this effect, we recently introduced two developers, Dylan ‘Wrexial’ Abela and Alistair ‘PingPong’ Azzopardi to help produce content at a faster pace. We have also optimised our development pipeline to allow us to bring more members into the team as the game grows.

Here’s a very brief list of what we’ve been up to during the past few months.

Game Updates

• Army Front! Battlefield, Conquest and Siege game modes all in one rotation.
  » Multiple improvements to the Army Conquest game mode based on community feedback.
  
• 8 New Maps! King George, Ernest Ridge, Fort Salettes, Fort Schwarz, Snowy Plains 3 (L), Grassy Plains 3 (L), Desert Plains 1 (S) & Snowy Plains 1 (S).
  
• Melee Combat Mechanics! Direct improvements towards melee combat. More work will follow on this mechanic in a future update based on community feedback.
  
• Melee Arena Game Mode! Come up with new strategies on how to best your opponents before the arena gates open throwing you in a single-life team-based battle to the last man standing. Melee weapons are your only arsenal.
  »6 new maps specifically designed for the Melee Arena game mode.
  
• End of Match UI! Strive for the very top before the match ends to boast about your standing.
  
• Game Engine Upgrade. This was one of the largest undertakings that the team has undertaken to date.
  
• Server Optimisations. Multiple server optimisations to stabilise performance over long periods of run time and reduce latency when a lot of players are in close proximity.
  
• Customisable Crosshairs. A much-requested quality of life addition that gives players full control over their crosshairs.
  
• Recruitment Channel. A dedicated chat channel that regiments (game clans) can use to advertise their own group.
  » If you aren’t too keen on seeing recruitment messages, we’ve also included an option that allows you to disable this channel through the ‘Game’ options.
  
• Quality of life additions, performance optimisations, bug fixes, gameplay balancing and a whole lot more.

Expect more updates to follow soon.



We’re going to stick to our plans and focus on artillery mechanics for the upcoming major update. The majority of the groundwork required that will allow players to move field guns around on the battlefield is already in place. Our sights are set on having a BETA up in the next few weeks.

Until then, have a good look at a couple of uniforms for the Cannoneer class that will be introduced in the same update.

Prussian Cannoneer


British Cannoneer


French Cannoneer


Looking for a good bunch of fellows to play the game with? Do join our Discord! Linebattle events were players are encouraged to play in formations relevant to the Napoleonic era are hosted by the community throughout the week.

We look forward to seeing you there.

https://discordapp.com/invite/holdfastgame



Here’s the entire list of additional features, bug fixes, improvements and content that you’ll find in this update.



Changelog 23 - Game Version 0.21.6899.27024

Game Features
• A New Map! King George. Now playable on the Army Front official servers.
  
  Quality Of Life
  
• The official server list found in the ‘Join Other Server’ panel has been updated. If you are unable to see servers in the lobby, you can use this to connect to any of the official servers.
  
• You will now find a link to the official Holdfast Discord in the game’s ‘Escape’ menu. We wanted to make sure that joining the community on there is more easily accessible.
  
• Re-designed a section to the top right of the main menu that re-directs players to various places were our community resides.

Game Balance
• Capturing all flags in the Army Conquest game mode will no longer end the match.
  
• Re-positioned the spawn points on Snowy Plains 2 for the Army Battlefield game mode.
  
• Reduced the time it takes before the Army Battlefield and Army Conquest game modes end in the official Army Front rotation from 25 to 20 minutes.
  
• Reduced the number of reinforcements on the Army Battlefield game mode to balance everything in accordance with the above-mentioned change.
  
• Re-visited the rotation of the Plains maps in the Army Front rotation so the maps that can more easily encourage line battle engagements to occur are rotated more frequently.
  
  Bug Fixes
  
• Confirmed fix for a bug which reduced firearm accuracy over long periods of server runtime.

Once again, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the regiments and indeed the entirety of the community for their support.

We’re working on the next update and until next time, may good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated! During the previous week, we set our sights on upgrading the game’s engine and in this update, we’ll be doing just that. There’ll also be various bug fixes and quality of life additions being added.



Changelog 22 - Game Version 0.20.6895.29194

Core Development
• Holdfast: NaW's underlying game engine has been updated to the latest stable release. We’ve done this in an effort to improve both server and client-side stability.
  
  Features
  
• A dedicated ‘Recruitment’ chat channel that regiments (game clans) can use to advertise their own group has been added into the game.
  » Player’s advertising their regiment in the chat channel will be displayed in a different colour to help distinguish them from the rest gathering greater visibility.
  » If you aren’t too keen on seeing recruitment messages, we’ve also included an option that allows you to disable the channel through the ‘Game’ options.
  
  Quality of Life Additions
  
• The ‘Round’ chat has been renamed to ‘All’ chat.
  
• You will now always find chat channels in the same order irrespective of the class you are playing.
  
  Bug Fixes
  
• Fixed a bug which caused all players to become invisible forcing everyone in the match to re-join the server.

More game updates to follow soon.

Once again, thank you very much for your support and until next time, may good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated. We have a new map for everyone to check out in this week’s update! Ernest Ridge.

Situated atop a hill lies a small village where we expect a lot of mayhem to ensue as both teams push one another back and forth for control over the position. If you’re not looking forward to a frontal assault, there’s plenty of natural cover that will allow for flanking manoeuvres.

Have a go at the map yourself by joining one of the Army Front official servers! Ernest Ridge is playable on the Army Battlefield and Army Conquest game modes.







Do you have any ideas for maps that you’d like to share with us? You’re more than welcome to do so. Post in the thread below and we’ll get back to you. We’ve taken inspiration from a community-designed game level for one of our upcoming maps.

Map Concepts - Share with us your Ideas!

Once again, we’ve spent a good majority of this update’s development time on plugging leaks that degraded client-side performance over long periods of play time. Here are a few more details on what we’ve been up to.

List of Optimisations

• Optimised various instances which were causing framerate to plummet when a lot of players spawn at the same time.
  
• Optimised client-side VoIP performance.
  
• Optimised an instance that occurred when a player switches their weapon.
  
• Optimised the scoreboard.
  
• Optimised player name tags.
  
• Optimised the terrain shaders.

Optimisations targeted toward improving frame-rate will be ongoing throughout Holdfast’s full release.

Looking for a good bunch of fellows to play the game with? Do join our Discord! Linebattle events were players are encouraged to play in formations relevant to the Napoleonic era are hosted by the community throughout the week.

https://discordapp.com/invite/holdfastgame



Here’s the entire list of additional features, bug fixes, improvements and content that you’ll find in this update.



Changelog 21 - Game Version 0.19.6893.28555

Game Features
• A New Map! Ernest Ridge. Now playable on the Army Front official servers.
  » Designed by Harper.
  
  Optimisations
  
• Optimised various instances which were causing framerate to plummet when a lot of players spawn at the same time.
  
• Optimised client-side VoIP performance.
  
• Optimised an instance that occurred when a player switches their weapon.
  
• Optimised the scoreboard.
  
• Optimised player name tags.
  
• Optimised the terrain shaders.
  
  Bug Fixes
  
• Attempted a fix towards solving more instances were players experienced bad quality audio when other players spoke using VoIP in the game.
  
• Attempted a fix towards an issue which sometimes causes the server to hang.

Expect more map releases to follow in the next few weeks as we progress through the artillery focused update.

Once again, thank you very much for your support and until next time, may good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated! We’ll be pushing forward fixes for issues which prevented players from selecting custom names, adjusting audio, graphical and game settings. There will also be a whole lot of underlying changes in preparation for the artillery focused update to follow in the next few weeks.



Changelog 20 - Game Version 0.18.6887.27221

Bug Fixes
• Fixed an issue which prevented players from selecting a custom name.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented players from adjusting audio, graphical and game settings.
  
  Optimisations
  
• More optimisations to improve stability.
  
  Preparation
  
• A whole lot of underlying changes in preparation for the artillery focused update to follow in the next few weeks.

Once again, thank you very much for your support and until next time, may good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated! Game Version 0.18 will bring with it the much-requested multiple rounds for the Melee Arena game mode, an announcer that broadcasts your glorious achievements in the arena, multiple bug fixes, optimisations and changes based on community feedback.

After the release of the Melee Arena game mode, we received plenty of requests from our community asking for this mode to support multiple rounds. A match can end relatively quickly especially when skilled players are involved!

The victor in the Melee Arena game mode is now determined based on the number of rounds won before the match ends. Players will play a total of 15 rounds before switching to the next map significantly reducing the wait time between rounds.

We’ve also made sure that the number of rounds played is configurable by server administrators. It’ll certainly come in handy for all those good folks hosting melee oriented tournaments.

Melee Arena Official Servers

• Anvil Game Studios Official EU4 - Melee Arena
  
• Anvil Game Studios Official NA4 - Melee Arena

Let others know of your glorious achievements in the Melee Arena game mode! As you ramp up your kill streak, an announcer will broadcast your name to everyone in the match. This feature wouldn’t have been fully complete if it wasn’t voice-acted so we made sure to get that in with this update as well.

Here’s a look at what the announcer will broadcast based on the kill streak that you gather. It is going to be quite a challenge to achieve some of them!

Announcer Kill Streaks

• Kill 3 Players In A Round - Killing Spree!
  
• Kill 4 Players In A Round - Dominating!
  
• Kill 5 Players In A Round - Unstoppable!
  
• Kill 6 Players In A Round - Oh, That’s Brutal!!

A good majority of this update’s development time was invested into plugging leaks that degraded performance over runtime, fixing an issue that negatively impacted accuracy when players fired in third-person and a variety of VoIP related problems.

Optimisations targeted toward improving frame-rate will be ongoing throughout Holdfast’s full release.

If you are still experiencing issues with VoIP after this update, kindly let us know of this by posting a thread in the ‘Tech Support & Reports’ board.

Go to the Tech Support & Reports board



Are you looking to participate in one of the many public line battle events hosted by the community? Share with us your feedback and suggestions about the game? Or perhaps even searching for a good bunch of like-minded players to join or form your own regiment (clan)? Discord is a great place to do just that.

We look forward to seeing you there!

https://discordapp.com/invite/holdfastgame



Here’s the entire list of additional features, bug fixes, improvements and content that you’ll find in this update.



Changelog 19 - Game Version 0.18.6886.26661

Game Features
• Multiple Rounds! The Melee Arena game mode now supports multiple rounds. Reduce the wait-time. You can find the new server configuration commands for this game mode below. These need to be set per map rotation.
  » round_spawn_close_timer_seconds 35 - Set the time it takes before the arena gates open for the first round. Set this higher than the timer below to allow some time for players to load the map.
  » round_spawn_close_timer_seconds_between_rounds 20 - Set the time it takes before the arena gates open for all the round to follow after.
  » amount_of_rounds 15 - Set your desired number of rounds to play before the match ends. The value that you set here must be an odd number to ensure that there is always a victor.
  
• Announcer! Let others know of your glorious achievements in the Melee Arena game mode. As you ramp up your kill streak, an announcer will broadcast your name to everyone in the match.
  
• VoIP quality has been improved.
  
  Optimisations
  
• Plugged several leaks that were degrading performance over long periods of play time on the client.
  
  Quality Of Life Additions
  
• Renamed the ‘Listen Locally’ option to ‘Test Microphone’ so players have a better understanding of what this feature does.
  
  Bug Fixes
  
• Fixed an issue that negatively impacted accuracy when firing in third-person.
  
• Fixed a bug which was causing certain players to hear robotic-sounding audio when other players spoke through VoIP.
  
• Fixed a bug which was causing certain players to be unable to hear other players speaking through VoIP. If you are still experiencing the issue after this update, try installing the redistributable linked below.
  » Click on the following link to download the redistributable
  
• Fixed a bug that was causing the End of Match screen to disappear very quickly in the Melee Arena game mode.
  
• Fixed a bug were an incorrect faction would be displayed as the victor at the end of match screen.
  
• Attempted fix towards a bug that sometimes causes players to spawn on a ship of the enemy faction whilst playing on the Naval Battlefield game mode.
  
• Attempted fix towards a bug that sometimes causes an incorrect number of ships to appear in the spawn menu whilst playing on the Naval Battlefield game mode.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused an incorrect faction icon to show in the top bar if you spectate a match without joining the round.
  
• Fixed an error that was being outputted when hitting an enemy player.
  
• Fixed an error that was being outputted when playing on Fort Salettes.
  
• Fixed an error that was being outputted when playing on Caribbean.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to go inside the well on Fort Winston.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused an incorrect particle to show when players hit a snowy terrain.

We’re working on the next update. Development on the artillery focused update is ongoing.

Once again, thank you very much for your support and until next time, may good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated! We’ll be pushing forward a hotfix for Game Version 0.17 before we head over to the next one. You don’t have to update your community game servers as this hotfix is backwards compatible with the previous update.



Changelog 18 - Game Version 0.17.6879.25959

Bug Fixes
• Solved an issue which prevented death and hit sounds from playing.
  
• Solved an issue that was degrading client-side performance when a player starts swimming in the Naval Battlefield or Coastal Siege game modes.
  
• Solved an issue that caused the enemy faction’s deaths not to be visible for the top five players at the end of match screen.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the text of players which achieved over 100 kills to be split into two lines during the end of match screen.
  
  Quality Of Life Additions
  
• Your character will now continue to auto-run if you minimize the game. The escape menu will only become visible when you hop back into the game.

Look forward to the release of multiple rounds for the Melee Arena game mode next week.

Once again, thank you very much for your support and until next time, may good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated! Sticking to our promise to change the way we deliver updates, here’s another one. This time around we’ll be fixing issues that cropped up with the previous update. You’ll also be seeing various additions targeted towards balancing the new mechanics that were added into the game.



Changelog 17 - Game Version 0.17.6878.28706

Game Balance
• Reflective damage is no longer present on the Army Front official servers. You will not receive damage for striking or firing at a friendly player. You are still unable to strike or shoot through friendly players with melee weapons or firearms.
  
• Melee strikes with muskets now deal more damage.
  
• You’re now able to finish off an enemy player in a single strike if you correctly factor in the strike’s duration and the distance between you and the other player. You will also increase the damage you deal if you're running forward instead of backwards. Use the musket’s weapon reach to your advantage!
  
• Melee strikes with swords now deal more damage.
  
• Up strikes with swords are inherently more difficult to land but you’re now guaranteed to end your opponent in a single hit. Lunge attacks can also kill an enemy player in just one blow given that you properly factor in the strike’s duration, the distance between you and the other player and the momentum. Right, and left sword slashes are easier to land but you will not end your opponent in a single strike. Use the sword’s four-way attack directions to your advantage!
  
• You are still guaranteed to kill opponents with a single strike if they are aiming or reloading.
  
• The stun timer preventing you from attacking after you hit a friendly player, an object in the map or the ground with a melee weapon has been significantly reduced.
  
• Rifleman now accumulate much fewer points for kill streaks compared to other classes.
  
• Reduced the pulsating effect on the dynamic crosshair for all weapons.
  
• Included an additional ladder leading to the top of the barn on Dutch Canals for balancing reasons.
  
  Quality Of Life Additions
  
• Players now have the option to disable the dynamic crosshair through the ‘Game’ options. Once again, this has not changed the underlying shooting mechanics nor did they change with the previous inclusion of the dynamic crosshair.
  
• The icon representing Infantry Officer class has been re-coloured from yellow to green so players can more easily distinguish between players in the server and their Steam friends.
  
• We’ve included a unique icon for the Surgeon class. This is present on the minimap.
  
  Bug Fixes
  
• Fixed a bug which caused certain players to be unable to join the round.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused rounds in every game mode to end too quickly.
  
• Fixed an issue that was being outputted when a player moved around. This was causing the game to briefly stutter.
  
• Fixed a bug which was causing players to be unable to switch to another weapon or spawn without any weapons. This was also sometimes causing the hotkey for a particular weapon to be incorrectly assigned.
  
• Fixed a bug were when a player fired with a Blunderbuss on a friendly player and reflective damage is enabled, they appeared multiple times in the kill feed.
  
• Fixed a bug were when a player fired with a blunderbuss on a friendly player and reflective damage is enabled, they heard multiple hit sounds play on their person.
  
• Attempted fix towards a bug that caused VoIP quality to degrade.
  
• Fixed an error that was being outputted when a player joined the Melee Arena game mode as the time to start the round was ticking down.
  
• Fixed an error that was being outputted due to the minimap.
  
• Fixed an issue were players could sometimes see text overlaid in the spawn menu when playing on the Melee Arena game mode.
  
• Fixed a bug which was causing kill streak bonuses not to work.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused players to be able to only open one of the sides for various double-sided doors present in all maps.
  
• Attempted fix towards an issue that allowed players to go outside the doors before they open in the Melee Arena game mode.
  
• You are no longer able to jump on the towers in Watchtower Arena anymore.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from passing through one of the tunnels in Fort Salettes.
  
• You are no longer able to go outside Fort Arena’s playable area.
  
• Fixed an issue with one of the ladders on Fort Salettes clipping inside the fort.
  
• Fixed an issue were you could clip inside walls on the Highlands map.

There’ll be more updates featuring bug fixes, quality of life improvements and other additions to address the feedback we received from our great community.

Just a heads up, multiple rounds for the Melee Arena game mode will be released next week.

Once again, thank you very much for your support and until next time, may good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated. Sound the drums of competitive fervour as the much-anticipated melee combat update is here! Test your might in the all-new Melee Arena game mode with the improved combat mechanics.

Expect to see an end of match score breakdown screen to boast about your standing, a whole lot of server-side and bandwidth optimisations for smoother gameplay, configurable crosshair styles, new maps, reflective damage to encourage team play and more!

Check out our latest blog post for how we’re going to change the way we deliver updates and what’s next in line for Holdfast: Nations At War. We’ll also be going into detail about our future plans for melee combat mechanics. We’re not done just yet.

Before you have a read of our rather lengthy blog post, take a quick look at our release trailer for this update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kY_xlsmrSs

Holdfast: Nations At War is now 30% Off for the duration of the Halloween Sale to celebrate the update’s release. It would be great if you can help us spread the word around about the sale to bring this genre of Musket Warfare games that we all love in the limelight. We want to continue strengthening the following behind the game as it grows and develops.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/589290/Holdfast_Nations_At_War/


The 1st melee combat focused update is here! Direct improvements towards feinting mechanics, unrestrictive movement, new damage mechanics, fixes to a whole lot of glaring bugs which impacted high-level play and an unprecedented amount of underlying code-base iterations had to be undergone by the development team to make all of this a possibility.

Here’s an overview of what we’ve done for melee combat in this update.

- Fluidity & Responsiveness
As we were investigating various causes of what caused a severe lack of fluidity and responsiveness in the melee combat mechanics, we discovered several instances were an extra amount of delay was being added way over and above the player’s latency. Since the engagements are fast-paced, the delay will throw off the player breaking responsiveness. We made sure to tackle these issues during the development of this melee combat update.

Transitions between going from a block to a strike and a strike to a block were also improved upon. You can find more detail about this in the section detailing feinting mechanic changes.

There are a lot of factors that play into ensuring fluidity and responsiveness whilst engaged in melee combat. Everything from optimisations, sounds, animations and the mechanics that make this system work tie into one another. We’ve already gathered a few great ideas for what we can do to continue improving upon this in future updates.

- Movement
It wasn’t doing melee combat any good that as soon as you try to move backwards, you’re suddenly restricted to the walking speed. This was preventing players from being able to evade enemy strikes using this specific movement as well as ensured a very sudden death whilst engaged in melee with multiple opponents. There was no way for players to get out of a sticky situation and position themselves better before once again engaging their opponents.

Therefore, we’ve increased the rate at which you move backwards as well as while strafing. Movement still remains the same whilst moving and aiming or reloading.



- Glaring Bug Fixes. High-Level Play
It’s going to be a tad too long to list all the bugs that were previously present in the other game version’s melee combat mechanics. Players killing one another without an animation, strikes blending between one another whilst blocking becoming impossible to block, inconsistencies between strike speeds from the same direction, players speeding up when feinting between melee strikes and the list goes on.

Ensuring consistency is of the utmost importance for high-level play.

- Damage Mechanics
We’ve also changed the way damage works. Several modifiers that either increase or reduce your damage depending on how close the enemy is, the duration the strike stays in flight, the direction you are moving and if the other player is aiming or reloading will determine the number of strikes you have to land on your opponent before they meet their end.

It was specifically designed to provide players with an additional mechanic within the melee that players can learn and employ to kill their opponents more effectively. If done right, for instance, a musket can kill an opponent within two strikes.

Here’s an explanation of the various modifiers we’re using to calculate damage.

Base Damage - This defines the base damage a strike deals for each and every weapon depending on the direction the strike is coming from.

For instance, striking an opponent with an up strike from a sword to the player’s head will deal the most damage of all the strikes. Then we configure this value in a way were the right and left swings deal an equal amount of damage but less than that of the up strike and lastly, the lounge attack deals more damage than the left and right swings but less than the up strike. Up strikes with a sword are difficult to land, but if you do, you’ll deal enough damage to kill your opponent below two strikes.

Duration Multiplier - Then, the duration multiplier either increases or decrease the damage that you deal depending on how long the strike stays in flight. Slashing weapons aren’t affected as much by this multiplier.

Distance Multiplier - This multiplier either increases or decreases the damage that you deal depending on the distance between you and the other player. Don’t stay up close and ‘face hug’ other players if you want to end your opponent quickly. Stay a good distance away from your enemy as you slash or stab towards them.

Momentum Multiplier - Momentum. Striking while going forward will deal more damage than doing so while strafing or going backwards.

Fiddling Multiplier - If you spot an enemy aiming or reloading his firearm, be sure to hit him with your melee weapon. You can very easily end them with a single blow.

Damage by flag bearers has been significantly reduced. It is now used as a support weapon to keep enemies at a distance rather than it being the greatest offensive tool in the game. The flag bearer still retains his usefulness as a support class by buffing friendly players.

There will be several changes to balance out this new addition to melee combat as we progress forward with the development of Holdfast: Nations At War.



- Feinting Mechanics
Feinting mechanics offer an alternative way of landing a strike on an enemy by quickly changing your strike to another direction. Besides fixing a whole lot of bugs that were present in the previous version, we’ve also engaged with the community to figure out ways on how to make the mechanic feel more responsive.

One of the most significant changes is that you can now cancel a strike and change to another at any point during its ‘flight time’. There are two styles on how you can employ feinting as well.

Tap Feinting - If you tap between an attack and a block or a block to an attack to feint, you’ll get the most out of the mechanic. It is harder to get the right timing than the feinting style described below but you’ll be rewarded for it.

Hold Feinting - Players can also feint from one strike to another by holding left click then using the block button to switch from one direction to another. This is easier to employ than the style mentioned above but is less effective.

- Melee Related Game Options
We highly suggest that you customize the below settings to your liking to get the most out of melee combat. As the skill gap increases, even the slightest of differences will impact gameplay. All these adjustable settings can be found by going to the game’s settings then selecting the ‘Game’ tab.

Melee Combat Mouse Sensitivity - This mouse sensitivity slider has a direct impact on how fast your turn whilst meleeing.

Same Attack Sensitivity - This slider directly impacts the movement you need to make to switch between one block and another. We highly recommend you set this value to 1.

Melee Cam Distance - The camera distance when in melee combat. Some players prefer having this a bit further away or closer to the player whilst in melee. Adjust this to your liking from the Game options menu.

Auto Bayonet Switch - If this setting is turned on, you can go into melee mode from firing mode by pressing left click when equipped with a musket. Some players prefer having to always press the ‘X’ key to go into melee and this option allows you to do so.



- Hit Reactions & Stuns. Favouring The Blocker
We’ve spent a good deal of development time in this update ensuring that blocking is mechanically responsive. There were several instances in the previous updated which restricted the player from blocking which have since been removed. It is always best to favour the blocker.

With this update’s release, you’ll notice a hit reaction animation being played when your character receives damage. This serves as an indication that the next move you should be making is to block the opponents strike. Strikes will also no longer go through the terrain, other friendly players or objects in the world map.

Latency always plays a role in responsiveness. You’re better off hopping on a server that reflects the region you’re from.



- Hitboxes
We’ve also made sure to start looking into the hitboxes issues that sometimes occurred whilst engaged in melee combat. Development on solving the entirety of the hitbox issues is still ongoing but a great majority of your strikes should land pretty much on point.

It is highly recommended that you join a server that correctly reflects the region you are from. Hitboxes and even melee combat itself will feel less responsive as your latency (ping) increases.

- Optimisations
This is also yet another factor that impacts responsiveness on melee combat. Due to the unprecedented amount of changes done in this area, we decided to dedicate an entire section further down in our blog post specifically for this.

We’ve spent the last few weeks of this update’s development optimising the game server to reduce latency when a lot of players are in close proximity. Servers are now running at a solid framerate even when those glorious massive charges are happening.

We’d like to put our promises up front and once again state that our dedication towards continuing to improve upon the melee combat mechanics still stands. We’re on the lookout for community feedback. More on this up next.

We’re not done just yet. We’ll be giving the community some time to get accustomed to the improved melee combat mechanics before once again engaging in another discussion to plan and design yet another melee-combat focused update. As always, the community will be involved in this process.

The introduction of secondary attacks to break an opponent’s block, increase the fluidity between certain animation transitions, looking into ways on how to further improve upon hitboxes, and increased damage when striking at an opponent’s back are some of the early suggestions that we’ve gathered on how we can continue improving on the mechanic.

If you have an avid interest in this mechanic, we highly recommend that you join in on our Discord. DM one of the developers or use the feedback channel to let us know your thoughts. We’ll be there listening to your feedback.

https://discordapp.com/invite/holdfastgame



Charge into battle in the all-new Melee Arena game mode! You will only come equipped with a bayoneted musket or a sword as you attempt to fend off your enemies. Come up with new strategies on how to best your opponents before the arena gates open throwing you in a single-life team-based battle to the last man standing.

As the all-new arena game mode kicks off in its popularity, you’ll be seeing more and more maps designed for this specific purpose get into the game. For now, we have nothing less than 6 maps for you to check out!

Sacred Arena


Palisade Arena


Castle Arena


Watchtower Arena


Fort Arena


Garrison Arena


This game mode will also set a great precedent for us to continue refining melee combat when multiple opponents are engaged in a group fight. We’re also open to hosting servers in other regions depending on the demand.

We’re sure that having this mode support multiple rounds will come forward as a suggestion from our community. We’ve already started developing a system that’ll do just that. It’ll be introduced in a smaller update. You can have a read on how we’re changing the way we deliver updates further down below.

Melee Arena Official Servers

• Anvil Game Studios Official EU4 - Melee Arena
  
• Anvil Game Studios Official EU5 - Melee Arena
  
• Anvil Game Studios Official NA4 - Melee Arena
  
• Anvil Game Studios Official NA5 - Melee Arena

What greater way is there to reward those players who have been investing a lot of time and effort into refining their skills than to have their names displayed at the very top? We’ll be providing you with a damned great way to boast about your standing.

The top five players at the end of every match will find their names neatly presented in a dedicated screen when the match ends. If you didn’t do well enough to find yourself placed amongst those few, we reserve a dedicated section to inform you of your standing for that particular match.

Oh yes, indeed. You will be able to find this screen present at the end of the match of each and every game mode in the game. Army Assault, Army Deathmatch, the new Melee Arena, Naval Battlefield and all the other modes in the game. It’ll certainly become a very handy tool for competitive play.



Along with the addition of Grassy Plains 3 (L), we’ll be introducing two new other variations of plains maps in this update. The regimental community expressed that the existing plains maps weren’t suitable for regiment vs regiment line battle play due to their sheer size so we’ve designed two smaller variations to rectify this. Snowy Plains 1 (S) and Desert Plains 1 (S) are now playable in the game.

Grassy Plains 3 (L)


Desert Plains 1 (S)


Snowy Plains 1 (S)


In an effort to encourage more team play on public servers, we’ve introduced a system that inflicts a certain amount of damage to the aggressor when hitting a friendly player with melee weapons or firearms.

We’ve also made sure that reflective damage is configurable through the server configuration file so players can host events with the settings that suit them best. You can either completely disable reflective damage or adjust the reflective damage received to a value of your liking.

We’re sure that players will find the chances of getting shot at reduced whilst engaged in a melee combat duel or a group fight as a welcoming addition.



Optimisations are of the utmost importance to ensure smooth gameplay. The team here has spent an unprecedented amount of time and effort during this update’s development optimising bandwidth to improve responsiveness, solving performance issues with 3D VoIP and improved its quality while we were at it, plugging leaks which were causing server-side performance to degrade over time and re-writing various parts of the code-base for game servers to run more efficiently.

We’ve also done a lot of work to fix performance issues with servers when a lot of players are in close proximity. It’ll certainly come in handy for those maps designed with the intent of promoting closer engagements. Not to mention the glorious all melee charges during line battle events.

We’re fully aware of the importance of optimisations. Development on this will be ongoing throughout Holdfast: NaW’s full release.



We’ve heard time and time again that the community would like updates delivered in smaller but more frequent batches. Don’t you worry however, we’ve gone ahead and done something about this as well!

We’ve optimised our development pipeline to allow for more flexibility. For instance, while development on a time-consuming update is taking place we will fill those gaps up until its release with other updates containing new maps, quality of life and other smaller additions to keep a constant flow of content going into the game. We will also be hosting more public BETAs leading to those larger game update releases.

The content being produced by our development team will be delivered more efficiently. This was also a necessary step forward for us to make sure that we can grow the team even more so than our recent introduction of ‘Wrexial’ and ‘PingPong’ as the following behind the game grows larger.



We’re going to stick to our plans and focus on artillery mechanics for the upcoming major update. Moveable artillery pieces, a new class and additional shot types are but some of the things that you’ll be seeing introduced. It’s going to be a blast developing this update.



Here’s the entire list of additional features, bug fixes, improvements and content that you’ll find in this update.



Changelog 16 - Game Version 0.16.6874.36461

• Melee Combat! Direct improvements towards this core mechanics of the game. More work will follow on this mechanic in a future update based on community feedback.
  » Improvements towards feinting mechanics, unrestrictive movement, new damage mechanics, fixes to a whole lot of glaring bugs which impacted high level play and more.
  » Read the 'Melee Combat! Game Mechanics' section further above this blog post for an in-depth explanation.
  
• Melee Arena Game Mode! Come up with new strategies on how to best your opponents before the arena gates open throwing you in a single-life team-based battle to the last man standing. Melee weapons are your only arsenal.
  » 6 maps specifically designed for melee arena.
  » Input the following parameters to host these maps on your community server: map_name palisadearena, fortarena, castlearena, sacredarena, watchtowerarena or garrisonarena.
  
• End Of Match Screen! Strive for the very top before the match ends to boast about your standing.
  
• 3 New Line Battle Maps! Grassy Plains 3 (L), Snowy Plains 1 (S) and Desert Plains 1 (S).
  » Input the following parameters to host these maps on your community server: map_name grassyplainsiii, snowyplainssmall or desertplainssmall.
  
• Reflective Damage. In an effort to encourage more teamplay on public servers, we’ve introduced a system that inflicts a certain amount of damage to the aggressor when hitting a friendly player with melee weapons or firearms.
  » Input the following parameters to configure reflective damage. Setting the value to 0 will completely disable reflective damage: damage_split 0 to 100.
  
• Server Optimisations! Ensure servers remain stable when a lot of players are in close proximity. Plugged several leaks which were causing server performance to degrade over long periods of run time.
  
• 3D VoIP Quality & Optimisations! We’ve optimised various instances which were causing performance to degrade when players used 3D VoIP. We also updated the coded being used to transmit voice while we were at it to improve its quality.
  
• You can now switch back and forth running and walking while reloading and aiming.
  
• The bullet trajectory will now originate from a correct position when firing in third-person. This will solve various instances which caused players to un-intentionally kill friendly team mates when standing in a line formation and firing in third-person.
  
• You will now find a counter in the ‘Round Players’ panel that counts the number of players depending on what you input in the search bar. This will surely be of help to all of those event hosts when balancing teams before an event starts.
  » Input the regiment’s tags in the search bar and you’ll get the exact number of players attending an event from that particular regiment.
  
• Customisable Crosshairs! This updates also bring with it the much-requested crosshair customisation. Go to the ‘Game’ settings menu to adjust the colour of your crosshair, select a crosshair style to your liking or even adjust its transparency.

• Dynamic Crosshairs! You will now find that the crosshair pulsates as you move around with your character whilst aiming. Stand still to get the most out of your shooting.
  
• Fixed a bug which caused the crosshair to flicker when crouching.
  
• We’ve included a run and walk stance indicator underneath the player’s health bar. This will aid regiments keep their men in line whilst in formation.
  
• You will now find the Infantry Officer class being displayed with a unique icon in a different colour to distinguish it from the rest.
  
• The size of the compass bearings have been increased.
  
• Players will now find a latency indicator above the health bar to the top left.
  
• The default chat channel is now set to ‘All’ instead of ‘Team’ making it easier for new players to communicate.
  
• We’ve now included several messages in the spawn menu to inform players why they cannot spawn. Be it if the faction is full, all class slots have been taken and various other instances.
  
• Fixed a bug that was making the ‘Join Round’ button found in the spawn menu difficult to click on. This was also preventing players from selecting certain shouts in the ‘Voice Acting Panel’.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused the ‘Back’ button in the faction selection screen to be difficult to click on.
  
• An additional tip has been included in the game informing players that they can auto run by pressing the ‘Num Lock’ key.
  
• You can now reduce your mouse sensitivity below 0.50 from the ‘Game’ options menu.
  
• Download size for updates following this one will be significantly smaller in size. As we’re going to be changing the way we deliver updates, this was a necessary step forward.
  
• We’ve included a large and small indicator behind each and every plains map in the game so players can easily distinguish the size.
  
• Server administrators are now able to set a server to either use high accuracy or low bandwidth through the server configuration file. We recommend that you set your melee focused server to high accuracy for increased responsiveness in competitive scenarios.
  » Input the following parameters in the server configuration file: network_broadcast_mode lowbandwidth or highaccuracy
  
• Changed the text used in the ‘F1’ console to make it significantly more readable. This font now also supports various languages other than English.
  
• New sword and hit reactions animations to compliment the melee combat update. We are open to take a look at the musket animations as well depending on the feedback we receive from our community.
  
• Fixed the position of the sword.
  
• Fixed a variety of issues specifically related to fist combat.
  
• Attempted fix towards an issue that causes other players to appear to be stuck in an animation.
  
• Changed the text style of the ‘Join Other Server’ and ‘Refresh’ buttons in the server browser.
  
• Palisade Arena, Fort Arena, Castle Arena, Sacred Arena, Watchtower Arena, Garrison Arena and Canyon now support all of the Army Front game modes. Conquest, Battlefield, Assault, Melee Arena and Deathmatch.
  
• More defences have been added on Dutch Canals, Highlands, Sharpton and Spanish Farm near the capture points on the Army Conquest game mode.
  
• Rotated one of the stairs on Fort Winston leading up to its walls for balancing purposes.
  
• We’ve introduced more ladders leading to the right side of the fort as well as other locations when Fort Salettes is being played on the Army Battlefield game mode.
  
• You’ll now find more defences placed near the mortars in both spawn locations on Fort Winston.
  
• Fort Salettes has undergone several balancing changes when played on the Army Siege game mode.
  
• Placed another artillery battery on Fort Imperial to cover more of its blind spots. An additional secondary capture point has also been added to the map.
  
• Fort Salettes have been optimised to improve frame rate.
  
• Fixed an issue with a texture flicker on one of the gates used on several maps.
  
• Attempted fix towards a bug which caused players to fall underneath the terrain on Fort Salettes when the doors open.
  
• Fixed issues with incorrectly placed rocks on Desert Ruins.
  
• Fixed several instances were you could fall through the firing slits on Fort Salettes.
  
• Fixed an issue were you didn’t move smoothly up the planks near the attacker’s spawn point on the Army Siege game mode whilst playing on Fort Salettes.
  
• Fixed an issue with incorrect looking textures on the furnace found in Fort Salettes.
  
• Fixed several instances of floating props on Fort Salettes.
  
• Improved the looks of the main entrance area on Fort Salettes.
  
• Changed Fort Salettes’ loading screen to display more of the area were combat takes place.
  
• Fixed several errors being outputted on Fort Imperial.
  
• Fixed several errors being outputted when Crosshills is being played on the Army Conquest game mode.
  
• Fixed an instance with stretched textures on Fort Salettes.
  
• Fixed an issue with players floating in the air when moving above a set of rocks on Snowy Plains 3 (L).
  
• Fixed several instances of floating props on Fort Schwarz when its walls are destroyed.
  
• Fixed several instances with objects disappearing when looking through small holes on various maps.
  
• Optimised the lanterns present on most maps in the game.
  
• Optimised all the trees in the game for better framerate.
  
• Fixed instances on Palisade Arena were particle effects didn’t appear when hitting objects on the map.
  
• Players can now more easily move up the stairs on Fort Winston.
  
• Increased the distance players can roam around when using the free-flight camera on Palisade Arena.
  
• Fixed an issue with the starting position of the free-flight camera on Grassy Plains 2 (L).
  
• You now spawn facing the correct side on Fort Imperial.
  
• Fixed an issue with Desert Plains playing an incorrect set of ambient sounds.
  
• Fixed instances with incorrect spawn icons appearing on Tahir Desert whilst played on the Army Conquest game mode.
  
• Fixed errors being produced when players moved around specific areas on the Training Grounds map.
  
• The ‘holdfast_naw_public_servers’ folder listed in the server documentation now contains an updated collection of pre-set server configuration files. Rotations for line battle events, the new Melee Arena game mode and much more.

Once again, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the regiments and indeed the entirety of the community for their support. It has been great listening to your feedback as we developed the melee combat update and are looking forward to more.

We’re working on the next one. Until next time, may good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios