The holidays are over and it’s back to work! This week we started putting all the pieces we have been creating over the past months together so that we can start playtesting and balancing all the new additions for the update in February.
Populating the world
Reworking the worldmap feels a bit like taking a machine apart and putting it back together. We started again at the beginning, improving the layout and terrain of the world, adding more interesting and unique settlements, and creating a more complex web of different factions. Now is the time to populate the world again and let the inhabitants roam the world.
Speaking of population, the world now has more clearly defined regions than before. There’s the densely populated areas between settlements that belong to noble houses – you’ll find bandits there every now and then, and the odd beast may find its way there, but it’s a lot safer than the regions bordering on the wild. The wild is largely covered in fog at the beginning of the game and for you to explore. It’s home to Orcs, Goblins and worse, and not somewhere you should venture out to before you got some experience under your belt.
Hostile locations on the worldmap received a graphical overhaul, and some, like the large camps of Goblins and Orcs, got redone. This is because we want to give both Orcs and Goblins more identity in accordance with their lore in the world of Battle Brothers. Orcs, for example, are now actually the nomads they’re supposed to be; they live in tents because they may at any time pack their things, migrate as a large horde to somewhere else (hopefully not near human settlements!) and put down their tents there to raid anything in the vicinity.
Another change is that there is no real distinction anymore between inactive and active hostile locations, as was the case in previous versions. Every location now can send out parties for hunting, raiding and similar, although smaller locations do so less and in fewer numbers, and some factions may be more passive than others. You may find Ghouls hovering around old battlefields and graveyards, or Vampires taking a stroll at night, but the undead are generally content sitting in their crypts and guarding their treasures.
While parties roaming the world will feel familiar if you’ve played previous versions of the game, there have been some improvements and additions. Caravans, for example, now actually carry the produce of the settlements that send them, it can get taken by raiders (from which you in turn can take it) or unloaded at marketplaces of the settlements that caravans reach, for you to buy there. Noble houses patrol their roads and shuffle troops between their outposts, and they’re generally more formidable than the generic Landsknechts of old. Ships now also sail between coastal settlements, transporting goods and passengers.
Loot & Treasure Locations
Because looting golden chalices, ornate tomes and gemstones feels more satisfying than mundane money every time, we’ve added a number of loot items for you to plunder. Those are largely cosmetic, but they also serve another feature we’re introducing: treasure locations. You may find treasure at all kinds of locations, of course, but there’s now a few locations well-hidden and littered around the world that contain vast amounts of treasure, including pieces of unique equipment.
You may stumble upon these locations by yourself, or you may follow rumors and leads you pick up around the world. We’ll talk more about treasure locations and rumors in a future update together with the introduction of taverns.
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Good stuff as usual. Looking forward to see how the game will be after the next update.
10/10 as always.Thank you.
Looks great! I was wondering if you could give us a more solid answer regarding the release date of the update, it may very well be the beginning or the end of February, thank you in advance!
Looks awesome as always, but I have a little suggestion.
The text telling the actions of the characters in the worldmap take a little more space than necessary, so these pieces of info (“preparing ambush”, “moving”, etc) could show only when we hover the cursor over the icons.
Looking forward to hear about the exact date of the update and if there will be any changes over the perks and skill systems.
This is debug text for developing purposes only. It’s not something you’ll see when playing the game. The update is for overhauling the worldmap only; changes to perks or combat are not a part of it, but remain things we’ll look at in future updates.
Oh ok, thx for the clarification.
I love to see these reports of progress. Amazing like always.
Good evening/morning and a happy New Year, everyone!
I like these changes very much.
Here are some ideas I’ve had, while reading:
Are the „old battlefields“ actual locations one can visit?
If not, I suggest to make them be temporary locations(a raided caravan could be the same type of location, the player can stumble upon), that are created every time at the spot, where a battle took place and if approached by the player one of the following could happen via the event system(an improvable scouting mechanic would be necessary to distinguish between entities still around or not, their numbers of healthy and wounded units and if it might be a trap):
options
1. approach
2. send scout to check the situation
3. retreat
1.1 entities(of unknown quality, quantity, sympathies)
1.1.1. enemies=battle
1.1.2. allies/neutral=contract/trade/help(escort back to safety, give/trade supplies/food) or attack(battle)
1.2 no entities
1.2.1. loot
1.2.1.1. chance to find supplies, equipment, gold depending on the type of enemy, that won the battle
1.2.1.2. chance to find a badly wounded survivor(who can be nursed(costing food+medicine) and recruited or escorted back, if he survives, but will most likely die; interrogated, giving info; killed; could be the start of really interesting events depending on his noble house and the noble house you want to support)
1.2.2. burn the dead(make it unusable for the undead) + see 1.2.1.2.
1.2.3. retreat
1.3 a trap(=battle with enemies starting in attack range and all your mercs are moved to the end of the attack queue)
2.
2.1 scout reports back(revealing quality,quantity, sympathies)
2.1.1. if hostile, approach stalking
2.1.1.1. enemies=battle with your mercs starting in attack range and all your enemies are moved to the end of the attack queue
2.1.2. see 1.1.2.
2.1.3. retreat
2.2 scout is seen by enemies
2.2.1. scout reports back(revealing quality,quantity, sympathies); enemies=battle
2.2.2. retreat
2.3 scout is caught by enemies
2.3.1. help him; normal battle except for enemies starting in attack range of the scout
2.3.2. retreat, losing your scout
If it comes to a battle on a battlefield-location it would be cool, if dead bodies would already lie scattered over the battle map.
As for the entities, one can meet at such a location, I can imagine practically anybody.
The battle is just over and the victors are still present looting, in the case of humans/orcs/goblins, feasting on the corpses, in the case of ghouls, werewolves and wiedergangers or summoning the dead, in the case of necromancers, who are about to enlargen their army.
Reinforcements arriving too late for battle and are now looking for survivors.
Some time after the battle scavengers might come, to look if something of value has been left over.
Relatives of the fallen, who want to bring their loved ones home and give them a decent funeral and ask you to acompany them to their village not far off for fear of being attacked and slain themselves.(„How again did you say they’ve died?“- „We don’t know, we found most gutted or ripped to pieces – wolfs most likely.“ For a short moment you thought you have heard a long-winded, breathed, deep groan form the back of the cart. Bad dreams plague you this night. Screams in the dark. A grip is slowly tightening around your neck. Suddenly you are awake your eyes wide open gaping, staring at the foul teeth of a – „May God help us.“…)
Gravediggers taking care of the anonymous beings, lest they fall victim to the undead and and strenghten their ranks.
At night ghouls are gravitated towards the corpses followed by a necromancer who exploits their sense to find an easy replenishment source.
Since „ships now also sail between coastal settlements, transporting goods and passengers“ is the travel by ship for our battle brothers still skipped?
If not, events could there happen, too. A merc could go overboard in a storm. Sea raiders could try to seize the ship. A soldier of a patrol that happens, to be on the same ship, feels more and more confident with every passing day, that one of your mercs is a wanted thief/poacher/deserter/rapist/raider. Corpses that are supposed to be transfered to the next harbour rise one night.
Another thing, that comes to my mind right now: There could be locations along the coast, where goods or (dead) people have been washed ashore or ships have run onto ground, where one may find loot or a contractee.
So long!
Sounds good, i like this one :)
Sounds awesome. Eagerly waiting!
I like the idea of treasure and treasure locations. It’s a good way to get some money without doing contracts and that was something the previous version of the game was lacking. It also gives people reason to go out and explore.
Know, the guys, before I bought your game, I felt like a man completely calm and patient, and even a little phlegmatic … now I’m waiting for the update as a small boy a new toy car :)
So excited! Can’t wait. Keep up the good job