Oct 24, 2023

EU4 Dev Diary - Art and 1.36 Achievements

Europa Universalis IV - PDXRyagi

Hello everyone, and welcome to another EU4 dev diary!

My name is David Horler (SaintDaveUK), the art lead at Paradox Tinto, and today we will talk about two different topics; the artwork behind King of Kings, and also the new achievements of the 1.36 update.

Loading Screen

As our first piece of art, along with the patch we are adding the loading screen of Shah Ismail I of Persia (1487–1524), founder of the Safavid dynasty.

One of Persia’s most impactful rulers (and that’s saying something), he was a warrior at heart and is usually depicted engaging in activities such as fighting and hunting. Ismail’s reign is celebrated for his religious zeal, military prowess, and political cunning. His military victories and his patronage of the arts solidified his legacy, making him a significant figure in Iranian history.

His fiery red hair, unusual for a Persian, is attested in contemporary accounts and betrays his complex and oft-debated ethnic heritage as a child of the culturally diverse city of Ardabil.

In this loading screen, a youthful Ismail heroically leads the Qizilbash cavalry charge against the Uzbeks at the battle of Merv.

UI Art

As always, our artists have created a staggering amount of work, with around 300 brand new 2D assets including 83 new mission Icons, 20 government reforms, and 3 new government Mechanics to support the content that has been added to King of Kings and the 1.36 patch. Take a look at some of our favourite examples:

[expand type=details]Mission Trees

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Unit Models

Coming up with unit models for King of Kings has been a challenging task, as all the major countries in the region have already enjoyed one (or more) unit packs. As such we have largely fallen back on the minor countries to spice up your conquests in the DLC.

Early Georgians are well represented with lamellar armour and conical helmets. Later, the chainmail continues to make an appearance, even with the advent of musket and pistol shot. For the later periods, we drew inspiration from Ossetian costumes and Georgian cossacks, the most notable elements being the traditional jacket (chocka) with cartridge bags (gazyr).

The Armenians, also from the Caucasus, have a progression that is not so different. For this project, we were working with our Ukrainian friends in N-iX Game Studio, so as with the Georgian troops they had some unique insights into the aesthetics of Black Sea cultures.

The Kingdom of Tlemcen is provided with unique North African uniforms. The Tier 1 is a Tuareg warrior complete with his iconic shield. The following tiers display Tuareg swords, and other items inspired by the cultural clothing that evoke North African people. Tier 3 is inspired by Algerian janissaries, while the final tier is based on Algerians in French colonial service.

Israel is a rare formable, but with the unique Jewish history in the region, we thought it was a good opportunity to provide them with unit models. The ahistoricity of this tag in the context of the EU4 timeline lends itself a little to fantasy, which allowed us to have a little bit of fun with the designs, but we also were mindful of the complex situation surrounding Israel and Judaism so respect was always at the forefront of our minds.

The very earliest tiers are inspired by ancient Ammonite warriors, as we wanted to achieve a look that is uniquely Israelite without much inspiration from other medieval cultures, but also the Turkic Khazars, who converted to Judaism and may have sheltered Israelite refugees. The chained crossbelt of the Tier 3 is a nod to the Jewish people of Yemen, who became renowned as both great silversmiths and mercenaries.

Syria has been promoted from releasable to a starting vassal under the Mamluks, and as such we have created for them a set of units. Finding things which make them distinct from both the Turkish and Egyptian units was an interesting task for our research team, but we think we found a really compelling and unique look for them.

The Pontic Greeks of Trebizond developed a unique aesthetic, detached from their European brethren and forced to meld with their Anatolian neighbours who were growing in power.

The iconic polearm, as well as the Byzantine-inspired lamellar armour with the leather belts, shows the stronger Greek connection of the early years. Later we see a heavy brigandine melded with pileas hat, an undercurrent of Greek civilization that ran from the ancient era to that of revolutionary France.

A Crusader outpost in the outremer, Cyprus adopts an intriguing mixture of their Frankish lords and their largely Greek populace. The headscarf of Tier 1 protects the helmet from burning in the intense heat of the Eastern Mediterranean. Later we see further indications of East vs West; the final tier is inspired by Greek infantry who fought in British service during the Napoleonic wars.

The Karamanid units will be used for all Turkish minors (we have solved a bug that some of you noticed in the streams where these were showing up for the Ottomans as well). For these we wanted to evoke a uniquely Turkish vibe without relying on the Janissaries or other Ottoman-specific troops from the era.

As always, let us know what you think of the units, and if there are any unique models for countries you would love to see in the next DLC, let us know in the comments!

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Achievements

Now it's time for me, Pintu, to introduce you to the Achievements implemented in 1.36. But before I start with that, I want to talk a little bit about the previous iterations of achievements and what we changed in our approach to the achievements in 1.36. With 1.35 and Domination focusing on Great Powers around the world we decided to make challenging achievements for nations starting in a strong position and connecting them with other regions touched in Domination. This meant that one too many achievements turned out with a focus on conquest and less on utilizing Mission Trees and newly added content. With the achievements of King of Kings, we are trying to flesh these points out and have fewer outright conquest-reliant achievements, while still giving expansion some presence. With that being said, let’s get into the list of achievements!

King of Kings
Complete the Persian Mission Tree.

An old classic of Achievement types makes a return! This achievement will be completable with any of the branching religious paths and as any Nation forming Persia, regardless of which Legacy Missions they have access to.

Restore the Pentarchy
Starting as Byzantium, own Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.

While starting in a Union of Churches, Byzantium might want to restyle this so-called “Union” into something that fits their own ideas more. Make the necessary changes to restore the Pentarchy.

Mets Hayk
Starting as Karabakh, own, core, and convert to Coptic the borders of Great Armenia.

Greater Armenia was once a state controlling land from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea. Recreating that ancient kingdom will not be an easy task and will put you at odds with strong powers in the area.

Desert Power
Starting as an Arabian Tribe, have the Oasis privilege enacted, and more than 1000 development in the Arabian Region

The people of the desert are hardy and strong and with the right development, who knows what they can achieve? I was also told you can expand across two franchises if you really don’t like sand.

Breadbasket of the World
Starting as the Mamluks, export grain to every continent.

The fertile land of the Nile was already known as the breadbasket of the Mediterranean Sea. But why settle for that? It's time to feed the world!

The Last Crusade
Starting as Byzantium, control Venice, and make sure that the country doesn't exist.

Surviving as Byzantium is not an easy task. But to ensure your survival lasts it’s also necessary to settle old grudges. And who knows, maybe you will be able to fill a museum in the process?

A truly good maaa-tch
Starting as either Aq Qoyunlu or Qara Qoyunlu, have a royal marriage and an alliance with Ramazan.

Black Sheep? White Sheep? Make sure that your choice will not have any negative ram-ifications!

Legacy of Saint George
As Georgia, have Genoa, Aragon, England, and Trier as vassals, while controlling Wales.

As it’s a time-honored tradition for this game, you will have to make your way into England for at least one achievement per patch. While there are a few (lot) more countries with a connection to Saint George or the Saint George’s Cross, we decided to not go overboard too much with the required countries.

ZoroAustrians
Starting as Austria, convert to Zoroastrianism, and complete the Persian Zoroastrian missions.

This seemed like a natural fit between the Dynasty of the Habsburgs and this Religion.

I would also like to mention that we updated to older achievements. The “David the Builder” achievement received a rework, now being accessible via a (re-)formed Georgia. We made this change since Imereti was removed from the starting setup of the map and Georgia now owns the previous Imereti provinces directly. Furthermore, Mehmets Ambition is now updated in line with the reworked “Restore the Roman Empire” Decision, requiring 425 Provinces in the highlighted provinces.

And this concludes this week's Dev Diary and also the second to last Dev Diary for 1.36 and the King of Kings Immersion Pack. Next week Dargeths will talk about the Patch Notes for the 1.36 Update.

Which of achievement is your favorite? Let us know in the comments or join our Discord:
https://discord.gg/europauniversalisofficial

*Edit: Before you leave! Enjoy this FatherLorris comic hot off the presses. 1.36 UI is something many of us are looking forward to ;)

Oct 24, 2023

SpaceBourne 2 Early Access Ver. 3.0.1 Released

SpaceBourne 2 - DBK Games

Dear Community ;

I'd like to begin by extending my apologies for the recent delay in updates. Currently, we're tirelessly working day and night on a major update. However, since this update will take a bit more time, I plan to address the reported bugs during this period with smaller updates.

In the upcoming major update, the main storyline will be completed and thoroughly polished from start to finish. Additionally, there will be significant changes to the Faction system. But all of this takes time, so I want to express my gratitude for your patience.

SpaceBourne 2 Early Access Ver. 3.0.1

CHANGES :

• Mining earnings have been updated and rebalanced for a more equitable experience.
• A new multi-purpose mining ship has been added to the game.

BUG FIXES:

Reported by players as follows :

• In the second part of the same mission, even if I eliminate all the enemies in the landing pad cleanup objective, the mission does not update for about 2 minutes.• In the Clear Debris mission, at the point where Axa joins us, the crosshair remains fixed in the center of the screen after the screen fades.• In the Saving The Anka mission, the "Destroy Enemy Ships" objective appears in the Return to Izner city objective before the mission starts but completes immediately.• When landing on certain planet points, when the cockpit camera closes during landing, the 3D mesh of the cockpit is still visible.• In The Kold mission, during the section where we need to follow the ship, the ship we are following can sometimes become invisible.• After a System Jump, the jump effect sound remains in the game and continues to play until the game is closed and reopened.• When exiting the Molyax Ship, when I activate the warp drive, an effect occurs as if we were on the planet's surface, opening the navigation instead of the warp drive.• If we warp before the dialogues are finished when exiting the Molyax ship, the save feature remains disabled in the game.• There is a red square around the exit door of the Molyax ship.• There is a sequence issue when entering the Molyax ship. The fade ends prematurely, and the character hovers for a while. During this time, if we activate the jetpack, we start flying inside the station.• When the Warp Drive is active or there is an indicator, opening the Scanner or Space Atlas leaves the indicators on the screen, sometimes making it difficult to click on scanner points.• The scale of the NPC ship coordinator at the Morthra station is very large, and they often hover in the air.• There are meshes at Morthra station that do not belong to the level.• Sometimes, the jetpack thruster effect remains on the character, even when the jetpack is turned off.• If we press the weapon change keys in quick succession, sometimes the weapon disappears from the character's hand, but I can still continue firing.• In Bounty missions, if I save/load at certain points, the mission progress gets corrupted.• In some planet types, the collision on mountains and slopes is not updating. The player's feet can go through these surfaces, and sometimes even fall beneath the surface. (We couldn't reproduce this bug, but we've made some changes to prevent it. If you still encounter this issue, please report it.)• In the "Get your ship" section of Arkansan City, if I save/load the game before taking the ship, the ship disappears, and the game freezes.• In the Arkansans city, if I use the "call ship" feature before actually taking the ship, the ship doesn't come to me but continuously rotates in its position.• In the Alaysia mission, when talking to Alaysia, Drane doesn't appear by our side, but Drane's dialogues continue to play as if they were with us.• In the Kold mission, during the ship hijacking section, if my character is at a higher level, they cannot inflict any damage on enemy ships.• When leaving the Mothership and going to the deck, if I save/load before boarding the ship on the deck, I can see an unused ship in the Ship Interface located on the deck.• In some Camp dungeons, enemy AI only fires at me when I walk past them.
We have a new community manager on board! Please don't hesitate to contact them through Steam (@misirciogluece) , Discord(@melismisircioglu) , or via email at contact@dbkgames.com anytime you need assistance.

Oct 24, 2023

Update 0.10 - Specimen

Death Trash - talecrafter

Patch notes

Additions

- added test level with new combat enemies (Shift+F10 -> Playtest -> NewEnemies)

Improvements and changes

- increased default speed on world map
- map overview: added some NPCs to the map after having spoken to them
- made equipping weapon and armor slots take a bit of time
- improved UI while equipping weapons and armor and fixed a few usability issues related to that
- scroll wheel selection of weapons: added short delay before actually equipping (due to new equipment durations)
- updated NPC look directions: patrolling characters will turn around for a moment before beginning to walk in other direction
- updated some mutant animations
- updated some weapons

Bug fixes

- fixed healing over time getting discarded when leaving location
- fixed a few quest tasks not showing the relevant location name
- fixed PS4 Controller showing Xbox icons by default
- Steam Deck Co-op: fixed some UI issues
- fixed some UI issues with action selection
- fixed a few UI bugs related to equipment and inventory
- fixed a few issues with the German localization
- additional framework changes, bug fixes and improvements

Hotfix 0.10.1

- fixed "Combat mode is not available yet" message being stuck after using scroll wheel in tutorial area
- fixed UI issues with localization
- improved error handling for loading mods

Current state of things

1. Feedback wanted on new combat enemies

For the upcoming content we are also working on new combat enemies, of course. This update contains a test level with some of them, and we would appreciate some feedback now. (Are they fun to play against? Are they fair to play against? Etc.)

You can find the test level via the debug console. (There are, by the way, other playtest entries, too.)
Use Shift + F10 to open the debug console, then type and choose “Playtest”, then “NewEnemies”. (Controller: hold left thumbstick + hold left shoulder button + press Menu/Start button)
For writing feedback use F1 inside the game (Controller: hold left thumbstick + press Menu/Start button) or reply to this post or create a topic in the Steam Forum.

2. Version numbers

Since we changed this recently, I'll mention this again: We'll continue numbering our updates as 0.10, 0.11, and so on until we leave Early Access and the game becomes 1.0. The reason from going away from the previous numbering scheme like 0.8.7.10 was that these numbers were interpreted as percentage of completion, but they were not supposed to represent percentages.

3. Beta branch

We have a beta branch where we update the game more frequently.

You'll find more info about the beta branch and about testing in general over here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/941460/discussions/0/3427823001996731965/

4. Sale

Death Trash will be part of the Halloween sale on Steam, beginning October 26th.

5. Next Update

The next update (0.11) will be ready on November 20th.

Conclusion

We are currently working on new content (continuing the main story through the city) as well as adding more depth (narrative and gameplay) to the existing game, but I am not sure yet how much of that will arrive in the November as well as in the December update this year.

Thank you for your continued support. I appreciate your interest in Death Trash as well as your patience.

- Stephan