Apr 3, 2024

Freaked Fleapit - Harry Fink

Hey, guests of the Fleapit!

Glad to have you with us again - not that you can really leave or anything but! As promised, we’re gonna talk about our resident best girl bartender — Bellboy! So grab a drink, snag a seat, and enjoy the show~

Quick facts:

EN VA: TBA 👀
JP VA: Ami Koshimizu
Age: 21 (at the time of death)
Height: 174 cm (5′ 8)
Nicknames: Bell, Ginger, Kid
Favorite movies: Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, noir, and road trip movies. Secretly might have a thing for doramas as well.
Hobbies: Everything high-stakes and extreme; mixing drinks and saving lives
Favorite drink: Poitín

One might say Bellboy is one of the more ‘normal’ regulars in the Fleapit, and that’s not exactly untrue. See, she isn’t a child of Inferno, but rather a run-of-the-mill human born in Dublin, Ireland.

You might be wondering, what brought her to the Fleapit, not to mention made her the bartender of the joint. Well that story goes a little something like this:

Young Bellboy had to learn to stand on her own pretty quickly. Having to run away with her family from her home country to the States only to lose her parents afterward… The world was unkind to the poor girl indeed. This kind of experience could be soul crushing to pretty much anyone, but little Bell wasn’t raised to be weak.

A *somewhat* accurate representation of Bellboy during those days

Day after day, she did all she could to keep on going, no kind of job was off-limits. By the way, have we mentioned that she was born in the early 1900s yet? Oh yes, the poor soul ended up right in the middle of the Roaring 20’s… and the Nationwide Prohibition. The whims of fate swept Bell deep into the underground world of bootlegging and, quite unfortunately, to her inevitable demise.

That should have been the end of her, but while adrift in the sea of souls, she found a guide — a sentient mantis who bound himself with Bell and helped her escape certain doom.

Thus a new friendship was born, and Bellboy’s second, slightly more cheerful life began. These two ended up at the gates of Fleapit, and its owner took them in. When it comes to selecting staff, that sly fox always has a hunch for incredible talent, so Bell became the bartender at his theater. Or perhaps, even the best bartender in all of Inferno.

Bellboy is truly special. Many rightfully believe that she’s the soul of the Fleapit. She’ll always be there for you when you need to drink your problems away, but maybe she could use someone who’d do that for her too?

*insert sad violin refrain*

Aaaaaaaaaaaand cut!

How’d you like the show, guests of the Fleapit? Did you expect our fiery bartender to have such a turbulent past? Let us know in the comments what you guys think, and we’ll see you next month in our regularly scheduled devlog (available one week early on Patreon, yadda-yadda).

Byyyyye <3

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1840880/Freaked_Fleapit

Apr 3, 2024

1.3.5: Progresses in AI Rework, announcement for new campaigns, and more!

Easy Red 2 - Marco Amadei [Corvostudio]

Hi everyone,

In this post we are going to show huge news about AI rework and announce a new work-in-progress campaign

But first, here are the latest changes to Easy Red 2.

Recent changes

New features

•Complete rework of the Pathfinding system (Changes are described in the AI rework section of this post).
•Reworked US Marine uniform (vests will come later)
•Reworked Italian SS uniform (vests will come later)
•Reworked Italian Infantry uniform (vests will come later)
•Reworked French uniforms and vests.
•New TPS animations.
•Added new ammo types.
•Added new system to easily find correct ammo type in squad editor.
•Added new grenade types for Italian and Soviet troops.

Fixes

•Fixes with music slider.
•Changes in sound FXs.
•Fixes in some icons.
•Fixes in Map Editor.
•Fixes in FPS uniforms.
•Fixes in Steam invite system for MP.
•Improvements in scroll views for both mouse and gamepad.
•Fixed scroll view issues with the server list.
•Resolved a bug where switching seats in a vehicle or selecting ammo was possible while the game was paused or the inventory was open.
•Fixed a bug allowing faction switching in the shooting range during a multiplayer session.
•Corrected a bug where units spawned in T-Pose on vehicles when the vehicle was spawned far from the camera.
•Further improvements in various translations.
•Continued UI reworks.
•Fixes applied to squad loadouts, maps and missions.
•Rectified a bug where the enter vehicle animation sometimes played when taking control of planes already in the sky.
•UI Blur enhancements.
•Fixes applied to UI navigation.
•Adjustments made to fog issues.
•Several other smaller changes and fixes suggested on the Discord server.

AI Rework

Finally a big aspect of the AI rework have been completed: The Pathfinding system have been remade from scratch.

The new system will bring:

•Much better performance for AIs, so probably the maximum AI count in battles can be increased soon by increasing squad sizes to more correct numbers and possibly also bringing more squads into missions (for console version as well).
•Less zig-zag paths; In the screenshot below you can see the new paths (white) compared to the previous system (yellow). This will allow units to move in a more natural way, and will help avoiding vehicles getting stuck and will make them reach the objective faster.
•More precise paths that should avoid vaulting over unexpected objects or ending on top of sandbags or other strange positions.

We plan to expand the pathfinding system even more, potentially rewriting the way AIs choose their covers, and allowing the introduction of a ladder system that AI can use as well.

This is a huge step up, but it's just the beginning of the AI rework. Once pathfinding is 100% reworked, we will move more into the actual logic of AIs for soldiers and vehicles. Remember to let us know your suggestions for this rework in the dedicated AI-suggestion channel in our Discord server.

Tunisia and Second Sino Japanese War

We have been already announcing that we are working on Tunisia campaign, which was selected by polls run with our community, in fact North Afrika campaigns appeared to be the most requested campaign.

However today we are announcing another campaign that will be worked on this year: The Second Sino-Japanese War!

Here we have already some of the clothing that will be used for Chinese infantry.

The work on the two campaigns is not going to slow down AI rework or other general improvements and fixes in the game as those are works made by different parts of the team.

We already confirmed Tunisia as free campaign, and we will try to bring Sino-Japanese camapaign for free as well, however this will depend on the financial state of the project by the time the campaign is nearly complete, as we would like to keep developing the game as long as budget will allow us. Also notice that it is too early to determine whether those campaigns will be ready, but they should easily be released both this year, with a bit more priority over Tunisia campaign.

We have been teasing Tunisia campaign in the trailer we recently launched:

Xbox and Nintendo Switch updates

Last week we updated Xbox and Nintendo Switch versions. However today's PC update already brings some new features that will come to consoles during their next update cycle.
Currently consoles are updated to the version released on the 29th of March (2024).
You can see the changelogs up to that date in the usual changelogs post.

TPS Animations Rework

We're continuously enhancing the game by incorporating new and reworked third-person shooter (TPS) animations on basically every update. If you'd like to stay in the loop on our upcoming animation improvements, you can find a detailed list on our Discord server.

Previously released campaigns

We can keep developing this game mostly thanks to people that are supporting us getting the base game and the DLCs. As we are doing with Tunisia, last year we developed three campaigns based on polls directed to our community, where Normandy, Battle of the Bulge and early war France Invasion were within the most requested campaigns.

You can get Battle of the Bulge and France Invasion here

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2617770/Easy_Red_2_Ardennes_1940__1944/?beta=0

You can get Normandy campaign here

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2317930/Easy_Red_2_Normandy/

Extra informations

In case you didn't know we have defined a precise roadmap for the next months of development and you can read it here.

We keep improving all features of the base game and as always we will be going on listening to suggestions from people inside the Steam Discussions and the Discord server.

Thank you all,
Marco

Apr 3, 2024

Millennia | Future Ages & Update 0

Millennia - Firefly

Hello, everyone. Ian Fischer of C Prompt Games here.

It somehow seems like it was a long, long time ago, but we launched Millennia just last week. It might feel more distant to C Prompt, as we had several weeks of the team testing the release build (and thanks again to everyone playing and reporting bugs during that time – it was immensely helpful) but, regardless, we are only recently live.

This means it is time to chat about what comes next. :)

The most immediate “next” is Update Zero. Once the release was handed off to QA for testing, C Prompt shifted over to working on items we had on our list and things that were reported on the forums or Discord. Our intent for this was to knock out things that didn’t make it in time for the release build and to address whatever we could that had come up in the first few days of being live. Update Zero is out today (notes for it are at the end of this).

To talk about things that are just a bit farther in the future, I want to briefly cover two points about how we approach things.

Now that we’re done, let’s get started.

First up, it is important to understand that we see release as a milestone in Millennia’s development. It’s an important one, but it isn’t the last one.

Iteration is fundamental to how we view game development – you get something, you start playing, you make changes, and repeat. This doesn’t end once the game goes out the door. On the contrary, getting to the stage where players are playing is a starting point for future iteration.

We are a deep, systems-rich game. There is a lot of interaction between the pieces, a lot of theorizing about how different systems could be played, and a lot of discussion about what we should add or expand. We play our game a lot, and we have a lot of perspectives on these things, but starting to get players playing and adding player perspectives to the design questions makes it easier to see how things are working and to think about the direction we should be moving.

We are very happy to be at the point where we have Millennia out in the world being played, where we’re getting feedback from players, and where we can continue making Millennia a better and better game.

Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way … turn.

In the near future, we’ll release a roadmap for Millennia. That will cover some of the larger items we have in the plans, including both free and paid content.

(Speaking of, I thought it was assumed but I guess it is worth calling out – we generally consider new systems to be things that are updates to the base game. For example, some details about upcoming DLC have been mentioned, and there’s a Strategic Warfare system planned as part of the Atomic Ambitions DLC. The Strategic Warfare system is planned as part of an update – the DLC will have specific content that works with this system, but everyone will get the new system in a free update.)

Those larger items are, well, larger, so they require more up-front planning, which is why we’re confident putting them on a roadmap.

In addition to these, there are myriad items that we could not possibly schedule or promise. Remember that C Prompt’s motto is “Embrace the Chaos” – we are very comfortable with the idea that we’re going to discover things as we go and that we are going to decide that some of those things are important to go after.

As an example, this Developer Diary will probably be released along with Update Zero. The next update for Millennia is already being worked on. I don’t want to ruin anything, but that update will include a few things like the ability to get rid of Vassals, options for managing how the Combat Viewer presents combats differently, and some updates that make the unique Capital Buildings you get from Innovations more interesting. Those were not items that were on a plan somewhere, those are things we saw in player feedback or (in the case of the Capital Buildings, because it was something we said we wanted to do and a designer here grabbed the task and ran).

I’d love to be able to share a complete when and what for every update we’ll do, but that’s not possible.

I can share that our general plan is to work on the larger roadmap items while also continuing to release regular updates.

Thanks!

I hope this provides a little insight into our plans for the future of Millennia.

Again, thanks to everyone who has been playing, who played pre-release, and who shares feedback with us – it’s essential to what we do and we appreciate it.

(If you are interested in continuing to see Millennia develop, we plan to have a public beta branch up shortly and we’d love to have players checking out new features and content while they are in progress.)

MILLENNIA UPDATE ZERO

Balance

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT BALANCE CHANGES WILL ONLY APPLY TO NEW GAMES.

Increased the cost of rushing Production by 20%.
Rebalanced Upkeep costs of Units starting in Age 4. Previously, the baseline Upkeep curve was linear, based on the Age when a Unit was introduced – that is, a Unit unlocked in Age 5 typically had an Upkeep of 5 (there are Units that don’t follow this pattern, but this was the baseline). The Upkeep curve remains the same for Units of Ages 1 to 3 but is now based on a non-linear curve for Units starting in Age 4. The adjusted base curve is now:

Age 1 Units – 1 Upkeep
Age 2 Units – 2 Upkeep
Age 3 Units – 3 Upkeep
Age 4 Units – 5 Upkeep
Age 5 Units – 7 Upkeep
Age 6 Units – 9 Upkeep
Age 7 Units – 10 Upkeep
Age 8 Units – 12 Upkeep
Age 9 Units – 14 Upkeep
Age 10 Units – 16 Upkeep
Increased the Upkeep cost of Mercenaries from 24 to 40 and Privateers from 20 to 40. These Units, from the Age 6 Mercenaries National Spirit, are intended to have a substantial Upkeep that makes you want to disband them when they aren’t needed.
Changed the Spawn Mercenaries Power from the Age 6 Mercenaries National Spirit to not scale in cost when used (it remains at 20 War XP per use).
Capped the value of Compound Interest from the Age 8 Banking National Spirit at 500 per turn.
Changed Ingenious Monuments in the Transcendence Victory Age from providing 1 Ingenuity per 10 Improvements to providing 1 Ingenuity per 100 Improvements.
Changed Utopian Welfare in the Transcendence Victory Age from providing 1 Organization Social Fabric per 25 Population to 1 Organization Social Fabric per 75 Population.
Theater now generates 5 Wealth (in addition to 1 Arts XP it previously provided).
The Unification Tech in Age of Conquest (Age 5) generates Warfare XP per Vassal Population multiplied by Vassal Prosperity. The base value for this was 1 Warfare XP per Vassal Population, it has been changed to .0625 Warfare XP per Vassal Population.

Gameplay

When an AI player unlocked Deforestation (Age 9), it was disabling Clear Cut (Age 5) for all other players – fixed.
Updated the Sahara Expedition (it was possible to be unable to choose any of the options presented).
The Age 4 and 5 Rival to the Throne and Anticolonials Events now spawn Rebels instead of Barbarians.
Some Domain and Culture Powers unlocked by National Spirits were set to expire after a certain Age. This was intended to prevent outdated Powers, like using Warrior Elite’s Spawn Spartans in late Age games. In practice, player feedback frequently mentioned confusion at losing the Powers, so we disabled the expiration on all Domain and Culture Powers derived from National Spirits.
The Address Grievance and Non-Violent Protest Powers, from the Age 8 Age of Dystopia, no longer have expirations, allowing them to be used to deal with remaining riots after exiting the Age.
Changed Photon Tanks and Elite Heavies from Age 9 Age of Visitors to have upgrade lines (thanks, @RedDeath).

Fixed an issue that was frequently causing AI players to delay founding new Religions until Age 5.
Made AI players more likely to found a new Religion when there are few already established.
AI players who have chosen the Theologian or Crusader National Spirits but do not already have a religion will choose to found one.
The AI was having problems managing high levels of Unrest caused from being at war. They now handle this better.

UI / Art

Changed Early Tank portrait to match model.
Updated Drill portrait.
Updated Jet Fighter portrait.
Updated the Age of Ignorance Age information panel to use the correct art.
Updated Milling Factory Improvement.
Added a new tent for future era so that Units wouldn’t appear to be resting in animal hide tents in 2050.
Changed Heroes to use correct idle animation.
Fixed issue with Mounted Rifle holding weapon incorrectly.
Updated Spawn Envoy Power to use correct portrait.
Updated Jet Bomber and Supersonic Lancer, models and portraits.
Adjusted camera in Combat Viewer to prevent Units taking action from moving out of frame.
Updated Medieval era House model and portrait.
Updated Computer Lab.
Updated School District.
Adjusted Government UI to be more consistent with other UIs and to fix an issue with text overflow in some languages.
The tooltip for the Khan Unit now makes it clear that it is a limited lifespan Unit and shows the number of turns remaining.
Adjusted Victory / Defeat UI to prevent text overlap in some languages.
Adjusted Infopedia UI to prevent National Spirit text from being cut off in some languages.
Updated the Outbreak effect to make Plague Outbreaks easier to spot.
Updated the Organization Government icon so that it is easier to tell the difference between available and on cooldown.
Updated art in the Veterancy Infopedia entry to not be blurry.
Updated the Age Notification for the Age of Bronze.
Fixed an issue with how the Stationary Machine Gun was setup that could cause the destroyed version of the Unit to be shown when it was not destroyed.
Updated animation on the Knight Unit’s idle.

Multiplayer

Fixed Cloud Hotseat behavior if an upload to the cloud fails and you had to repeat the turn. Now, if an upload fails, when returning to the Cloud Hotseat games list, you will see an Upload button in the UI for that game. Clicking on the Upload button will attempt the upload to the cloud again. You can try until the upload is successful and then the game can continue.
Added details in the Cloud Hotseat menu to step through troubleshooting (currently only in English).
Fixed an issue in cloud hotseat where turn text would appear twice.
Fixed an issue with Unit skins not displaying correctly for players in multiplayer games.
Fixed an issue with incorrect text appearing when a multiplayer save was deleted.

Bugfixes

Fixed an issue with Needs calculations in Cities with Regional Efficiency Modifiers producing incorrect values in the sim. This could produce situations where, for example, you were 100% meeting Sanitation Need but the Plague Crisis was still increasing or where your Capital claimed population was growing but the actual population of the Capital decreased.
When the nameplate for a Capital City appeared over a Goods icon, the Goods icon was prioritized, so you’d get a tooltip for the Good instead of the City – adjusted this to give the nameplate priority.
Fixed an issue causing a missing letter for players in Türkiye (or any players with Turkish region settings in Windows).
Corrected description of Cultural Excellence.
Corrected typo in Blood Age Crisis warning message.
Adjusted Town Specialization UI to fix text overflowing the UI in some languages.
Fixed an issue with attempting to rebuild a ruined town and getting an incorrect failure message in cases where you cannot support another Town.
Fixed typo in a number of Diplomatic messages.
Fixed incorrect translation in Commission Research Project tooltip that was causing no value to be displayed.
Fixed a typo in Ingenuity Social Fabric tooltip.
Fixed display of total Research cost showing too many decimal places of precision.
Fixed display of Ideology showing too many decimal places of precision.
Fixed display of value of Recent Actions showing too many decimal places of precision.
Fixed typo in Faction Victory tooltip.
Fixed duplicate wording error in Diplomacy tooltips.
Combat modifiers of x1 are no longer displayed.
Barbarian Unit tooltips no longer show Unrest Suppression value.
Fixed an issue with notification not appearing when save / load screens are processing.
Fixed an issue where the time to complete a Technology that would finish in one turn displayed incorrectly.
Fixed the tooltip for Royal Court in Monarchy Government to display correct value.
Updated Welfare State from Political Science to function as intended.
Fixed an issue where it was possible to enter the Technology UI for another player in the game.
Fixed Abbey and Monastery to require Religion as intended.
Fixed an issue where the Age of Singularity Crisis Charge could show incorrectly in the Research UI.
Fixed an issue with some overlays displaying incorrectly.
Fixed an issue where camera movement when jumping to specific locations would sometimes cause a stutter and make clouds flicker.
Fixed an issue where razed Improvements were being incorrectly added in Needs and Resource displays.
Updated the tooltip for the Plague Doctor Unit to include that it clears Outbreaks in a radius around the Unit with the Cleanse Ability.
Updated the tooltip for the Call Reserves Power in the Age 2 Warrior Elite National Spirit to include that this Power heals an Army fully.
Updated the description of the Tinkerer Improvement, from the Tinkerer Ideal in the Age 4 Machinery National Spirit to clarify that the Improvement converts Tools into Machines.
Fixed several places where Culture Powers were referred to as “Cultural Powers.”

Hey there! Just a quick reminder from your friendly neighborhood Community Manager, Katten. If you're experiencing difficulty connecting with your friends in Multiplayer, you can follow THIS guide or watch the video below, which contains steps on how to resolve the issue.

We're actively working on future solutions for multiplayer, but they're still some time away. We'll be sure to provide more information about them in the upcoming Roadmap!