We’ve been in public alpha for a little while now, updating about once a month (or sometimes more frequently). Alpha 44 is our latest build and has lots of big changes. We focused on improving survival mode, AI invasions, and finally the great hall can now host feasts! Here’s the full notes:
New Features
- Added a way to share save games with friends, try the ‘Share’ button in-game near the top right!
- Added grid that appears when placing a building
- Added more variants to the AI introduction conversations
- Great Halls can now throw public feasts for a happiness bonus
- Great Halls can now serve diplomats feasts if you have enough food
- During war AIs will demand surrender or try and ask for peace depending on the situation and their personality
- AIs can now build archers and catapults
Improvements
- Improved AI invasions to send more units at once
- AIs will not immediately rebuild in areas you are attacking
- Added ability for player to initiate making an alliance with AIs
- Granted shared fog of war visibility for allies
- Added ability for player to invite AI’s citizens to immigrate
- Added ability for player to request AI fight a common enemy
- Added multi-select support for units in the UI
- Tweak viking help mission to account for ogres and to give player more time to prepare
- AI will no longer ask for viking help if they are better prepared than player and instead will give advice
- Fire now can damage buildings as it burns (requiring a mason to repair)
- Some optimizations to city building AI
- Starting to add 3D advisor heads (WIP not done yet)
- Enabled 3rd AI slot
- Polished up AI trade conversation, their face changes based on how good a deal you give them
- Improvements to Survival Mode:
– Added intro screen
– Added new statue unlock if you survive 250 years
– Vikings come in larger numbers and stay to attack buildings
– Vikings can target any building - Changed archers to be a squad of 9
- Changed diplomats to be a squad of 5
Fixes
- Fixed issue where peasants and unusable stone couldn’t be deleted by creative mode delete brush
- Fixed issue where drawbridge would stay open for viking units
- Fixed issue where units moved slowly over sea gates
- Fixed barracks not restoring unit behavior after recooperation
- Fixed issue where diplomats could be attacked by soldiers
- Fixed issue where advisors were looking at AI granaries for their messages
- Fixed cases where AI ships could get walled in or stuck in buildings
- Fixed pink job category on loaded games
- Fixed masons not repairing buildings after load
- Fixed masons trying to repair rubble
- Lots of other small fixes
Giving it a Try:
We’ll be doing hotpatches and working on the next alpha build straight away. If you’d like to try this alpha, you can switch to it on steam. Here’s how:
- Right click on the game in the steam library
- Click properties, then choose betas
- Enter ‘alphatester123’ without quotes into the box, press enter
- Choose the newly available alpha-unstable branch