Sep 12, 2023

Conan Exiles - Jellyfoosh

Greetings Exiles,

As the Stygian Empire slithers ever deeper into the Exiled Lands, blades quiver in anticipation of spilled blood.

Age of War – Chapter 2 arrives on September 21, with a ground-up revamp of the purge system, improved loot across the entire game, a new Battle Pass, and a bunch of other improvements and bug fixes.

In today’s deep dive into the new purge revamp, we’ll walk you through a purge from start to finish and show you everything you need to know to head into the new update with your weapon swinging.

The Path to a new Purge

For those new to the feature, a purge, currently, is when a group of NPCs attack your base when you reach certain thresholds of activity in the game. In Chapter 2, we’ve completely redesigned and significantly expanded purges.

We’ve had our eyes on this feature for a long time, knowing it didn’t live up to its full potential. But to truly do it justice, we needed more than a single update. To improve purges, we needed to introduce additional new supporting features.

With the Age of War, we saw our chance. In Chapter 1, we introduced clan hoards, an integral part to the purge system. For a primer on clan hoards, you can take a look at the blog we released on the subject.

War on Demand

Your personal trove serves as the centerpiece to the purge. It’s entirely up to you when you want a purge to begin. By speaking to your treasurer and proclaiming your wealth to the world, you attract the attention of the invading Stygians. The bigger your hoard is when you make your proclamation, the more challenging the purge will be, which will in turn improve the potential rewards.

Threat level currently ranges from 1 to 10, but we might expand this in the future. Other factors, such as how many players are defending and how many followers you have, also have an effect on difficulty, but won’t be reflected in the threat level. In harder difficulties, you would do well to bring allies into the fight.

Before you go proclaiming your wealth, you may want to consider your base defenses. Build strong walls, funnel attackers into a kill zone, shoot at them from parapets, lay traps... it’s all up to you, and we’ve added some new tools into the mix. For the truly wicked among you, use the new burning siege cauldrons near gates and doors to give attackers as a neat skin-sizzling surprise.

We’ve also added a new type of thrall placement, making them guard a gate or door. The benefit of this is that they will no longer run off and leave the area unprotected. In Chapter 3, we plan to expand this to allow you to station archers on top of walls, effectively turning them into turrets.

Once you’re satisfied with your defenses, it’s time to spill some blood.

The Stygian Wave Rises

As soon as you’ve proclaimed your wealth, a Stygian war camp will form in the vicinity of your base. Since this camp is rather large, keep in mind that certain base placements may prevent purges from working, such as configurations which don’t have the necessary space for a nearby camp to form.

Waves of attackers will immediately charge from the camp. Thanks to the Stygian invasion of the Exiled Lands, purges now have a narrative foundation. In the lower difficulties, you’ll see more troops which have been forced into battle by the Stygians, such as Khitan Headhunters or even pirates. It’s only once you reach the higher difficulties that you’ll see more elite Stygian troops get involved.

With clan hoards introduced, purge attackers now have a meaningful purpose: your hoard. Should any of them reach it, they will pick it up and try to carry it to their camp. An armful of treasure means they aren’t prepared for an axe to the head however, so cut them down quickly and bring your treasure back before you are overwhelmed. Should they steal enough to be satisfied, the purge will be lost.

Although their goal is to plunder your hoard, they will still destroy anything and anyone that stands between them and their prize. Stay on the lookout for those that carry battering rams as they will make short work of even the stoutest of walls.

The waves won't stop until they steal enough, or you cut off the head of the snake. After defeating enough waves, the Hand of War emerges from the camp and challenges you. He’s not one for honor, so the waves will keep coming as you try to deal with him.

If you can defeat the Hand of War, victory is yours.

The Spoils of War

During the purge there is no loot, letting you focus on the battle instead. Looting comes only with victory. Make sure to get the key from the Hand of War and unlock the chests in their war camp. Overall, the rewards for defeating a purge are significant, and with higher difficulties, they only get better.

Keep a lookout for Stygian prisoners, those who refused to fight for the empire. Among them is Isscar the Sellsword, a new NPC vendor that takes treasure as payment. Stock up on valuable traps, arrows, explosives, and more for future purges. Most notable is the new mercenary banner, a consumable item which lets you summon various mercenaries to temporarily fight for you wherever you place it.

Giving You Control

Thanks to these changes, purges can now be triggered when and if you like. They are entirely optional and their difficulty is adjustable. Overall, they are now an entire reward loop, a source of valuable loot and thralls that you can repeat whenever you like.

The goal is for purges to be an activity you want to repeat, for two reasons: they’re consistently fun, and they have compelling rewards.

Chapter 2 and Beyond

We haven’t even released Chapter 2 yet and we’re already excited about Chapter 3. We briefly mentioned stationary archer placements on walls, and we also plan on introducing more siege equipment, variety, and other features which weave into both clan hoards and purges.

Purges are only part of the Chapter 2 update coming September 21. We’ve also improved loot across the entire game, making it more immersive, logical, and rewarding. We’ve sprinkled in several additional improvements, such as a smoother combat experience with improved stagger consistency and fluidly adjusting the direction of your attacks.

We also have a brand-new pyramid building set and a boatload of other cosmetics coming in the Battle Pass and Bazaar.

We look forward to seeing all sorts of crazy base setups and desperate defenses when the update comes out on September 21.

Until next time, Exiles

Sep 12, 2023

Community Tales #2

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord - Piconi

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Before we jump into another edition of the Community Tales, we wanted to address some of your questions regarding the 1.2.x version series. To begin with, we made the Beta v1.2.0 publicly available earlier and are keeping the series in beta longer than usual - in order to more effectively collect and respond to a broader range of community feedback. Thanks to your help, many important issues were addressed in the hotfixes v1.2.1, v1.2.2 and v1.2.3.

We are currently working towards v1.2.4, which will be followed by another testing round. Naturally, the preparations for the cross-platform live release are ongoing as well - our priority, however, is to ensure a stable release.

Without further ado, let’s jump right into the #CommunityTales.

Artisan's Atelier

Sturgia's last bastion by BL4RT4CT

Khuzait Whirlwind by Asote

Knightly Vistas

Brutal bussines by ǝʞᴉdS ✪ Spike ツ

Walls by bassguitar2345

Crafting Marvels

Customizable Titles by Galadnir
This mod adds customizable titles for lords, villagers, caravans, and armies. The titles can be based on kingdoms, cultures, clans, and lord tiers. Modders can easily export configurations for inclusion in their mods.

Dismemberment (Plus) by The_Schwarz
Satisfy your bloodlust by dismembering your enemies - adding on top of the Bannerlord’s already deadly battles.

Minor Faction Recruits by traver
This mod allows you to recruit troops from all minor factions. Simply acquire regular recruits from the various factions, battle test them to expand on their experience and then upgrade them into the unique minor faction troops.

Chronicles in Motion

Console Tips (2023) by The Critically Clueless

World Conquest in v1.2.3 by Flesson19

How to Fight Sturgia and win by Bim94

Chivalrous Assemblies

Bannerlord Native League #3

The Bannerlord Native League is a community skirmish tournament where teams are split into divisions - with six teams in each division. One match is played per week against the other five teams. This leads to some epic competitive fights with teams on similar footing, with more skilled players in higher divisions!

This iteration of the tournament also comes with a heavy prize with more than 200.000 Loot up for grabs.

Thinking of signing up? You have until the 17th of September to sign-up as a team or you can alternatively sign up as a free agent here.

P.S. We’ll be joining in on the fun with our own TaleWorlds team so make sure to take part for some whack-a-dev!

Senatorial Wrath - Bannerlord Calradic Campaign #19

Calradic Campaign is a community-driven multiplayer event that involves organized large-scale battles and lore-inspired campaigns, often with role-playing elements, shaping the outcome of a shared narrative in a continuous stream of events.

Bannerlord Calradic Campaign #19 is taking place on Saturday, September 16th, 4:00 PM EST.

You can check all the details, including how to join, on their Reddit page.

Arnas, Harry & Neil played Bannerlord at Insomnia!

Our friends at Nowalls attended the Insomnia gaming festival in Birmingham, UK which took place last Saturday. Actors Arnas Fedaravicius, Harry McEntire, and Neil Newbon clashed their swords in two Captain matches with the Sturgian side ultimately taking the battlefield and vanquishing the Vlandian troops.

We had great fun watching the stream. Which team were you on - Sturgia or Vlandia?

You can watch the VOD of the stream here.

If you would like to suggest content for the next #CommunityTales, make sure to tag @Mount_and_Blade on Twitter or @mountandblade on Facebook with the #CommunityTales. Alternatively, you can reach out on our forums to Piconi or Dejan.

Sep 12, 2023

Patch 1.04 is Here!

Goodbye Volcano High - princxporkchop

Hey, y'all!!

The team's been hard at work squashing bugs, and we're happy to share that patch 1.04 is here! Thank you so much to everyone who shared their bug reports; we appreciate your work!

We're also excited to announce that we'll be able to retroactively award trophies on PlayStation 5 beginning in our next patch! :)

All Platforms

Fixed a bug that would cause music minigame cameras to zoom in and out by extreme factors in system regions that don't use . as a decimal point
Fixed a bug that caused character animations to glitch when pausing the game, changing settings, or encountering a tutorial
Updated UI in Photo and Flashback tutorials so that the text shows the correct button based on the player’s controller
Localized UI prompts during credits sequence
Fixed backgrounds loading in blurred in episode 7
Fixed a bug where the settings menu loses its overlay
Fixed Reed and Trish t-posing in episode 3
Fixed a bug that allowed persistent audio to continue playing upon exiting to main menu
Fixed a bug that prevented certain variables from saving correctly when reloading the game
Updated the credits

PlayStation 5 Only

Fixed an error handling issue that could prevent trophies from unlocking

Please feel free to send us any bug reports at support@ko-op.com! Thanks so much for playing!

Sep 12, 2023

Total War: PHARAOH - Journey to Launch

Total War: PHARAOH - ca_pingu

TOTAL WAR: PHARAOH

JOURNEY TO LAUNCH

Greetings all!

We're super excited to announce that Total War: PHARAOH releases digitally on 11th October 2023 at 3PM BST / 10AM EDT / 10PM CST!

If you pre-order Total War: PHARAOH now, you will be able to take part in an exclusive Early Access Weekend before the game is released, as well as getting your hands on two awesome cosmetic packs for the full game.

Speaking of the Early Access weekend...

EARLY ACCESS WEEKEND

As part of your pre-order bonus, the Early Access Weekend allows you to venture into the stunning world of Total War: PHARAOH from Friday 29th September to Monday 2nd October before the full release of the game on 11th October.

The Early Access Weekend is an exciting opportunity for you to enjoy a carefully curated presentation of the game that includes two playable factions from two different cultures, a selection of Ancient Legacies, the full campaign map as well as all battle mechanics and most campaign mechanics. The game is playable for up to 60 turns, which can be replayed as often as you like during this time period.

This is the first time we’re offering a pre-order bonus like this and we’re proud to give you the chance to try part of the game a little earlier! We’re currently focusing all available energies on polishing and delivering a smooth and enjoyable launch, so the Early Access Weekend is not a beta test. Of course, if you should happen to encounter a serious bug or issue, please do let us know.

We would be thrilled to hear what you think of Total War: PHARAOH’s Early Access Weekend! Come share your thoughts and join the discussion on the Total War Discord server.

During the Early Access Weekend, you will be able to play:

Up to 60 turns, which you can replay as many times as you like
Two playable factions: Egyptian Faction Ramesses and Canaanite Faction Irsu
Two Egyptian Ancient Legacies (from a total of four): Khufu & Akhenaten
Two Hittite Ancient Legacies: Tudhaliya & Muwatali
Egyptian and Hittite Royal Traditions
All battle mechanics available
Full campaign map
Full photomode capabilities
Custom battles

The Early Access Weekend is available on both Steam and Epic Store PC platforms for Windows only. It won’t be available for Mac.

Please note that online multiplayer will not be available and save files are not transferable to the full release version of Total War: PHARAOH.

Please see the details below about how to gain access:

If you have pre-ordered Total War: PHARAOH, the Early Access Weekend application will be automatically added to your respective Steam or Epic Store games library prior to the event starting.
The application can be downloaded once the event begins on Friday 29th September at 13:00 BST / 08:00 EDT / 20:00 CST.
An internet connection will be required to download the application and 50GB of storage space will be required for installation.
The event will end on Monday 2nd October at 13:00 BST / 08:00 EDT / 20:00 CST after which time the application will no longer be playable.

For any issues relating to the Early Access Weekend when it rolls around, please contact SEGA Customer Support.

SYSTEM SPECS

Minimum:

OS: Windows 10 64-Bit
Processor: Intel i3-2100 / AMD FX-4300
Memory: 6GB
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 / AMD R9 270
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 50GB available space

Recommended:

OS: Windows 10 64-Bit
Processor: Intel i5-6600/Ryzen 5 2600X
Memory: 8GB
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti / AMD RX 480
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 50GB available space

ADDITIONAL INFO

A physical standard edition of Total War: PHARAOH will launch on 23rd October 2023 at select retailers in Europe. It will include a digital download code for Total War: PHARAOH (Steam only), the Avatar of the Gods Cosmetic Pack and the Heart of the Shardana Cosmetic Pack, plus a printed double-sided poster.
Although Total War: PHARAOH will not be available on Mac at launch, we are working with our friends at Feral Interactive to bring the game to Mac in the future, so watch this space!
You can find more information about Total War: PHARAOH in our handy FAQ article.

CAMPAIGN MAP FLYOVER

Lastly, we're super excited to share our campaign map flyover! (This is my absolute favourite video we've shared so far! - Community Manager KingGobbo)

Soar like a falcon over Total War: PHARAOH's map, as Merneptah tells the tale of what lies in store for the future ruler of these lands...

We can't wait for you all to join us in unearthing Ancient Egypt when Total War: PHARAOH launches on 11th October! Until then, head to our official social channels below to keep up to date with all things Total War and join the discussion with other Total War fans!

See you on the battlefield!

—The Total War Team

For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our official social channels. Steam Discussions Twitter Facebook Instagram Discord