Mar 31

Argentum Online - Plus

Server:
- Bug fix in clan member list by @aledg994 in #732
- StabbingNPCsBalanceProperty by @acolote1998 in #733
- Do not send LimitLevel in WriteQuestDetails by @aledg994 in #731

Client:
- Improved tracing by @morgolock in #455
- Fixed broken messages and added missing ones by @RecoX in #458
- Fix: Clean up PlayerView when selecting a map without an NPC by @aledg994 in #459

NPCs:
- Updated Medusa NPC stats (8000 HP / 11200 EXP / 250 GLD)
- Leviathan NPC no longer summons Scylla

Mapping:
- Added 1 Kadru NPC and 1 Lynn NPC to Map 597 (Nagas Cave)

Tailoring:
- The Brown Bear NPC has increased its skin drop chance to 25% (20% >> 25%)
- The Tiger NPC has increased its skin drop chance to 25% (20% >> 25%)
- The Polar Bear NPC has increased its skin drop chance to 20% (10% >> 20%)
- The Bengal Tiger NPC has increased its skin drop chance to 20% (10% >> 20%)

Quests:
The number of required NPCs and the rewards given for the following quests have been updated:
- HELP RETURNING
- TIME TO SPRAY
- CREATURE PLAGUE
- REST FINAL

Assassin Class (PVE)
- When Backstabbing an NPC, the damage modifier now varies between 1.6 and 1.9 (previously the modifier was a fixed 1.35)

Balance Changes:
1) Evasion has been changed for the following classes:
- WARRIOR to 0.9 (1 >> 0.9)
- HUNTER to 0.7 (0.9 >> 0.7)
- PALADIN to 0.7 (0.85 >> 0.7)
- BANDIT to 0.7 (0.75 >> 0.7)
- ASSASSIN to 1 (0.95 >> 1)
- CLERIC to 0.65 (0.8 >> 0.65)
- BARD to 1.1 (1.2 >> 1.1)
- WORKER to 0.55 (0.6 >> 0.55)

2) The Shields mod for the following classes has been modified:
- WARRIOR to 0.9 (1 >> 0.9)
- PALADIN to 0.85 (0.9 >> 0.85)
- BANDIT to 1.1 (1.3 >> 1.1)
- ASSASSINS to 0.7 (0.85 >> 0.7)
- CLERIC to 0.8 (0.75 >> 0.8)
- BARD to 0.7 (0.8 >> 0.7)
- WORKER to 0.75 (0.6 >> 0.75)

- All Evasion + Shield values for classes in the game have been recalculated, as it was found that with 100 skills the average success rate did not exceed 30% (warrior), reaching its lowest point of approximately 7% (cleric). This was creating frustrating gameplay for all classes.

3) The Weapon Accuracy of the following classes has been changed:
- BARD to 0.85 (0.75 >> 0.85)
- DRUID to 0.7 (0.65 >> 0.7)
- WORKER to 0.9 (0.8 >> 0.9)

- These three classes receive a slight buff to their weapon accuracy, as they had been falling below expectations.

4) Weapon Damage has been changed for the following classes:
- HUNTER to 0.8 (0.85 >> 0.8)

5) Unarmed Damage has been changed for the following classes:
- WARRIOR to 0.8 (0.4 >> 0.8)
- PALADIN to 0.6 (0.4 >> 0.6)
- ASSASSINS to 0.55 (0.4 >> 0.55)
- CLERIC to 0.5 (0.4 >> 0.5)
- BARD to 0.45 (0.4 >> 0.45)
- MAGE to 0.25 (0.4 >> 0.25)
- DRUID to 0.45 (0.4 >> 0.45)
- WORKER to 0.5 (0.4 >> 0.5)

6) Missile Hit has been changed for the following classes: Classes:
- WORKER to 0.9 (0.8 >> 0.9)

7) Projectile Damage has been changed for the following classes:
- WORKER to 0.9 (0.75 >> 0.9)

Mar 31

Bandit Buffs and Talent Tree Vision

Talented - TurtleFox Games

Greetings Talented Gamers!

Thank you for all of the feedback on Discord and the Steam Discussion Forums. We've taken some time to address two of the most common requests.

Bandit

There has been quite a bit of discussion about Bandit's power level, particularly in the early game. We've given him some substantial early game buffs and also powered up some of the underperforming Talent Packages. In local playtests this has given him a lot more potential routes to power, without needing to rely entierly on Reload Speed Up.

Starting Gold increased to 50 (up from 20)
Base Reload time to 1.75s (from 1.9s)
Base Time between attacks to 0.6s (from 0.75s)
Helping Hands to 15% Activation Chance (up from 7% chance)
Healing Hands, Mystic Hands and Rapid Hands talents to 10% Activation Chance (up from 7%)
Fortunate Spree grants 20% Luck (up from 12%)
Bargain Hunt now increases chance of Legendaries appearing in the shop if you have Black Market
Notorious Spree grants 30 kills on the combo meter (up from 20)
Work for Hire grants 15% Luck per combo Level (up from 10%)
Pick Pocket has 20% Activation Chance (up from 5%)
Smoke Trap now deals 8 damage (up from 3)
Smoke Trap cooldown reduced to 10s (down from 20s)

Talent Tree Vision

We firmly believe in the Talent Tree Fog of War as a mechanic that's both fun and solves the problem of getting overwhelmed at the start of every run.

Having said that, the current Vision Distance was very limited and often made running into dead ends/unexpected disconnects easier than we would like. We've made some substantial changes here, so we're definitely interested in your thoughts!

Increased the light generated by all Talented by 33%
Increased the light generated by special revealed Talented (e.g. Epic Talents within 10 connections) by 100%

Keep the feedback rolling in and..

Stay Talented

Mar 31

The A6M5 Ko and A6M2 (USA) Temporarily Return for the A6M’s First Flight!

War Thunder - Blitzkrieg Wulf

On April 1st 1939, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero made its first flight. This plane became the most widely produced Japanese aircraft during World War II. At the beginning of the war, its incredible maneuverability was unrivaled, and coupled with its powerful armament, ensured Japan achieved many aerial victories.

The A6M5 Ko and A6M2 (USA) are temporarily available for Golden Eagles!

These two fighters are available for 3,850 and 1,300 Golden Eagles respectively.

When: From March 31st (12:00 GMT) until April 4th (12:00 GMT).
Where: USA / Japan > Aviation > Premium vehicles.

About these aircraft

The A6M2 (rank III, USA) was produced throughout 1940. In June 1942, one of these aircraft crash landed in Alaska, allowing the USAF to capture and inspect it. This highly maneuverable fighter is armed with two 20 mm Type 99 Model 1 cannons with 120 rounds in total and two 7.7 mm machine guns.

The A6M5 Ko (rank IV, Japan) was a modified variant of the aircraft carried out in late 1942. It received two 20 mm Type 99 Model 2 cannons with 250 rounds in total. The speed and climb rate were also improved and a 250 kg bomb was added.

Mar 31

Ogre Update Patch Notes and Giant Kings Highlights — All info in one place!

Age of Wonders 4 - Pdx_Tauriel

Dear Godirs,

The Giants Kings and Ogre Update will be released tomorrow! To make sure you have all the important information, we are putting all the videos, links, streams, and details in one place for your convenience. Enjoy!

Ogre Update Patch Notes

Feudal Authority
The Feudal Culture has been updated and now supports two different forms of Authority. Feudal Monarchy is the default Feudal Subculture and provides the most direct system of control, the Ruler is undisputed and grants powerful benefits to their accompanying force. Feudal Aristocracy must maintain a balance of power disseminated between the player’s cities, in doing so each house can field their own army effectively and exceptionally cheaply as long as the units in that army belong to that house.

Siege Update
The Siege System exists to ensure players cannot rush the conquest of cities and grants defending players time to assemble armies to defend. It was also designed to grant an epic conclusive battle to conquest in the form of a siege battle. Throughout the game’s life, the system has achieved its goal of stopping rushing, but has not achieved its goal of creating epic conclusions of conquest, and has been met with plenty of frustrations.

We’ve given Sieges a pass with the main aim to increase the amount of battles being fought on the city siege map with siege projects and defense effects active, reduce the max amounts of Fortification Health and Fortification Damage players can accumulate and lower the average time sieges take.

Lava Gameplay
We hinted at it when discussing the post-release Road Map back in 2023 but with this Update we’re introducing Lava Gameplay. Lava in Age of Wonders 4 used to be identical to the Void hexes: completely unpassable and unusable for empires and units, having the role of being a dead space. However, there are plenty of fire related fantasies a player can create with their race and empire, therefore we wanted to make lava into something that could be explored and exploited, just like a forest or a mountain!

Underground Generation
We’ve taken another look at the way the Underground is generated and determined that it wasn’t providing the desired gameplay experience. Originally we tried to achieve an Underground generation that would work both for players that started on the surface and wanted to explore the underground for treasure and for players who wanted to build an empire in the network of caverns in the Underground. By trying to go for 2 target experiences at once. We instead landed on a generation that couldn’t comfortably achieve either, so we’ve changed course.

Quality of Life and more
With each Major Update there’s always more to share then we have space to dedicate to. Everything we’ve covered above is only the tip of the Lithorite Peaks. Giants are natural world shapers and terraformers, so we found it only appropriate to send some love to the World Map with a ton of Visual Improvements, brand new Combat Maps and brand new Ancient Wonder Events. In the realm of Quality of Live improvements we offer features such as Outpost Renaming, Combat Banner Resizing and To-Do Event Improvements.

Faction Creation Updates

Added custom Horse Visuals - These visuals are available to the default Horse Mount and can be adjusted separately for (Mortal/Godir) Rulers and Army units. The first tick functions as a random option.
Added Voice (emote-) Overrides - T can be adjusted separately for both (mortal/godir)rulers and army units.
Added a Lighting button - This setting alternates the Lighting while customizing your appearance to showcase what your Ruler/Race looks like in different environments.
Expanded Body Customization Options
Added Body Shape selector
Added Head Size Slider
Added Hand Size Slider
Expanded Banner Customization Options

Pantheon Update

Added 13 new Pantheon Rewards to unlock.
2 Mounts for your Race & Ruler
6 Hero Starting Loadouts
Added 4 Banner Icons
Added 1 Society Trait - Subterranean Society [Materium]

Item Forge Update
Item forging has a few issues that impact the balance of the game. Chief among these is the ease of access for high tier items, particularly weapons which benefit significantly more from the tier increase due to gaining damage based on it. With this Item Forge Rebalance we’re addressing both the accessibility and the speed at which items can be crafted.

And much MUCH MORE!

Read the full patch notes here

Read Ogre Update related Dev Journals for more details:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1669000/view/802308936293157383?l=english
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1669000/view/508450241724285193?l=english

Giant Kings Content

Dev Diaries:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1669000/view/532092240505340446?l=english
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1669000/view/802308936293154907?l=english
Dev Streams:

Feature Highlights by Guthuk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Ih1SZmHPg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v7rsgK8Ryw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB0zVKnaCh4

Moreover, do not miss your chance to get the Watcher Plushie on Makeship!

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Mar 31

Public Alpha Test signups closing

Crosswind - Bambino

Ahoy, captains!

Since launching our Steam page on March 19th, we have been overwhelmed by the incredible amount of attention and Alpha Test applications. We’re humbled, grateful, and honestly a bit stunned. Your enthusiasm and anticipation mean the world to us.

With the rapidly increasing number of applications, especially over this past weekend, we have made the decision to temporarily close public sign-ups for the Alpha. The number of applicants has already far exceeded what we initially expected, and it keeps rising fast. While we can’t say for sure how many will participate just yet, it’s already clear that the interest is far greater than what our Alpha server infrastructure can comfortably support.

Having so many people eager to test the game is absolutely amazing—but it also comes with a greater responsibility. That’s why we’re taking some time to thoroughly prepare the current Alpha build. Even though there is a long road ahead, we want to make sure that those who get in will first have a solid and enjoyable experience. We’ll be back soon with more details on the testing schedule and what kind of content you can expect in the Alpha.

Make sure to follow us on Steam so you don’t miss any updates—we can’t wait to share more with you as things unfold!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3041230/Crosswind/

Once again—thank you all for being such a huge inspiration. We couldn’t ask for a better crew to sail with on this long and thrilling journey toward release. And just a friendly reminder: this is Alpha—so the seas ahead might be a bit rough, but that’s all part of the adventure.

— Crosswind Crew