Battle Brothers - a turn based strategy RPG mix for PC, Mac and Linux.

New year new dev blogs! The big worldmap update is planned for February by the way ;)

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Dev Blog #66: Progress Update – Putting the Pieces Together
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.

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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.

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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.

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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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I hope the port this to ios. This would be perfect for my ipad.
 
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Porting will be a bit tricky as we have to come up with a completely new input-mechanic to replace keyboard and mouse but it can be done given enough resources ;)

Here is the latest Dev Blog on specialized shops:

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Dev Blog #67: Progress Update - Specialized Shops

A centerpiece of how individual settlements will feel distinct on the new worldmap of Battle Brothers is different buildings with a unique gameplay function. This week we’ll be taking a closer look at some specialized shops that are coming with the update in February.

Specialized Shops

If you’ve watched our Update Preview Video you’ll already know that every settlement now comes with a marketplace. The marketplace works as an amalgamation of what a variety of smaller traders peddle throughout the settlement. That is, all kinds of different goods and equipment that are regionally available. Apart from supplies, such as different kinds of food, this may also include weapons, armor and shields. However, the selection on the marketplace is limited to what those traders bought themselves and are now reselling, the quality is limited to what is commonly available to and affordable by the people living there, and the equipment may have been used before and look the part. You may even find the occasional great deal here, but to outfit your growing mercenary company you’ll eventually want to look elsewhere.

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For those who have the crowns, there are specialized traders available for weapons and armor which have a much larger selection of quality equipment, brand-new but also quite a bit more expensive. These traders are the weaponsmith, the armorsmith and the fletcher. You are more likely to find these in the settlements surrounding fortifications than small fishing villages, and while the smithies are more likely to be found in settlements with good access to metal, you’ll find the fletcher in settlements with good access to wood.

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Whereas the weaponsmith will have a large variety of melee weapons on offer, with a few throwing weapons thrown in, the fletcher specializes in ranged weaponry. The selection of ranged weapons in the game is still limited at this time, of course, but we’ll eventually add more of them that will then make their way to the fletcher as well. To make browsing specialized shops more interesting and also worth it later in the game, you’ll now be able to sometimes find unique named weapons on offer - for kingly prices, of course.

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An even more specialized shop than those three is the kennel. You can pick up a wardog or two all over the land, but if your tactics happen to rely heavily on man’s best friend, you’ll want to head out to go to the source: one of only a few kennels across the land where the best dogs of war are bred and sold in large numbers. Kennels are usually part of smaller fortifications, so they’re worth visiting for reasons different than large castles. Dogs and their handler are yet to be added to the image you see above.

There’s a bunch more buildings coming, including one that will allow you to customize the appearance of your Battle Brothers to your liking. Return here, as we’ll be revealing them in future progress updates!
 
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This looks super neat! There clearly aren't enough strategy RPG games on Desktop!

I'll be keeping an eye out for this one!
 
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Jan 15, 2016
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Very excited about the upcoming update, with one exception though: "food will spoil in XX days"… OMG, I did hope that "feature" would never show its boring face into _this_ game. :(
IMNSHO, That's falling into micro-management a bit too much, even for a game as deliberately complex and subtle as Battle Brothers. I want to manage a band of mercenaries… the freshness of my fish provisions (probably dried/salted anyway) is a puny merchant concern!
 
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Hi there,
the food spoilage will be very balanced and we make sure that it does not take a lot of management to take account for or distract from the core of the game. The main reason is to add immersion and flavour to the world by adding different kinds of foods. The foods will usually be durable for 10 days which is a pretty long time in the game.

We now have a release date for the big worldmap update which is the 29th of February so in about one months time you will be able to test out all the new stuff in the game! Here is the announcement:

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Dev Blog #69: Update Date Announcement, Pretty Pictures
February is almost upon us, time to announce a date! The worldmap update will be released exactly one month from now, on February the 29th. We’ll use the time until then for adding some more minor features and more content, as well as for bugfixing and balancing. As the release draws closer, Jaysen will also start a new Let’s Play series to give you a tour of how the game now plays.

Bugfixing and balancing doesn’t make for good content in blog updates, sadly, so this week we’re a bit short on material. Let’s look at some pretty pictures instead!

Pretty Pictures

Most of the worldmap visuals are finished now. There’s a few settlement locations left to be done, like the harbor, but at this point it’s more polishing than creating new assets. Take a look at one of our new environments, the steppe. It’s modelled after terrain you’d find in some southern European countries, like Spain. With a drastically different look from the tundra and snow you can find in the north, it makes for more distinct regions in the world and more variety as you travel it. How much steppe there is, and where it is exactly, changes with each world you generate.

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Swamps also received an overhaul. Looking more dreary now, they can be found in small to medium stretches more or less all over the world. Traversing them has become slightly faster, but travelling on dry land is still preferable. That ground fog is actually animated, and they have quite a lively sound ambience.

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Mountains are still not something you want to cross regularly, as it takes a long time and is costly in terms of supplies. To make it easier to distinguish them from hills, all mountains now have snow caps. Should you make it to the top, you’ll be able to see far across the land - useful perhaps if you’re looking for something.

Hills are now a common terrain that can be crossed at decent speeds. Settlements at hillsides often have an economy based around mining, like the one in the picture below. Goats are held here as a source of food, and you’ll be able to purchase goat cheese in the settlement. The gem mine will also likely make caravans from here juicy targets for bandits, which in turn means good job opportunities for mercenaries.

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Noble houses are quite a bit more active than the Landsknechts of old, especially when it comes to defending their territory. This picture shows a company of soldiers led by a knight battling against a horde of marauding orcs. Speaking of orcs, they had all their sounds redone and a lot of new ones added to bring them to the same level as goblins.

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Time for a new progress post, this time we have the long awaited visual character customization in the mix:

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Dev Blog #70: Progress Update - Customizing Appearances, Nighttime Vista

Work continues on balancing, bugfixing and adding more content to the game for the update on February 29th. We’re also adding some more minor features, one of which we’ll take a closer look at today: the ability to customize the appearance of your Battle Brothers.

The Barber

The barber offers his services in a building you’ll be able to find at the larger cities around the world. Whether you’re looking for someone to cut hair, trim beards or sell you dubious potions to lose weight, the barber has you covered for a modest fee.

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With the barber we’re adding the ability to customize the appearance of any characters in your roster to your liking. Getting to know your Battle Brothers and bonding with them as they accomplish heroic feats or flee like cowards is part of the fun, and now you’re able to grow that axe guy who saved everyone a suitably majestic beard, or shave clean the head of the coward who runs at every battle. Some players have expressed that they’d like to mold characters to their likeness, or to that of characters from their favorite book or movie, and that’s possible now as well. And like all buildings in the game, the barber, too, helps settlements feel more distinct in the services that they offer.

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Nighttime Vista

As the sun sets and the moon rises, as your men drag through the snow in the dark, settlements are now visible as beacons of civilization from afar, for they light torch and candle.

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In this weeks update we have the new tavern building and also parties lieaving tracks on the worldmap:

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Dev Blog #71: Progress Update - Taverns & Tracking
Two more features join the list for the update on February 29th this week. Taverns are a hub for information and mood management of your men, and tracking allows you to follow or avoid other parties on the worldmap more easily. That leaves us with only one more feature left following these that we really want to include in the update, and that’s a better tutorial as you start a new campaign. But for now, let’s take a look at taverns and tracking!

Taverns

Taverns with the capacity to serve a mercenary company can be found in larger settlements, cities and castles, and the odd small village along trade routes. Laughter can be heard coming from it pretty much around the clock, as it’s one of the few buildings that can be entered both day and night. It’s also the first instance that we’re using small atmospheric images in the UI, as you’ll see below, and the idea is to have a whole bunch of them complement the events in the game as we skin the UI later down the road.

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Although taverns aren’t the most critical of buildings, they nevertheless fill with the services they offer what was previously a vacant spot in the world of Battle Brothers. These services revolve heavily around beverages, and they’re talking to the patrons for news and rumors while sharing a beer, and paying a round for your own men in order to get their spirits up. We’ll look at each of them in detail.

As you enter the tavern, you’ll immediately pick up some talk amongst the patrons. What they talk about comes in different categories, and we may add additional useful ones as the game progresses in development.

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Patrons can talk about potential work for you that they’ve heard about - as the world has become a bit larger now, it’s quite useful to get directions to people that are looking to hire sellswords so that you have a better idea of where to head next.

Patrons can also talk about nearby hidden locations. If you’ve played previous versions of Battle Brothers, you may remember contracts that have you find locations based on vague directions. Those type of contracts aren’t in the game anymore, but that same mechanic is now used for entirely optional locations, potentially full of treasure, you may head out to plunder on your own. The level of directions that individual people can give will differ, so it’s sometimes useful to get directions from several people in order to better pin down where a location might be. You can pay a round for everyone in order to loosen their tongues and have them share more news and rumors with you.

Finally, patrons will also give you flavor responses that tell you more about their situation, the lore of the world and the settlement you’re in, and news about what's happening in the realm. They may also share light gameplay tips, such as soldiers explaining the advantage of high ground or talking about their experience of fighting goblins and how best to approach it. These types of responses depend heavily on where you are, so you’ll more likely be talking with soldiers at castles, and fishermen at fishing villages. We want the world to feel more lively, more lived in, and this is another step towards that goal.

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The other service available at taverns is paying a round for your own men. This will generally lift everyone’s spirits and make them forget the horrors of battle for a while, but it comes with its own risk and reward.

Every time you pay a round and the men cheer to different things, there’s a chance that the mood of people improves, but also of them getting drunk. Mood is more important now as we attached additional benefits and penalties to it, and it should become more interesting in general as we do a minor rework of how the mood system works in the future. Being drunk, on the other hand, is a new status effect quite detrimental to combat effectiveness, although it does make people more brave. It doesn’t persist for long, but is succeeded by a hangover, which is a more mild debuff. Whether people get drunk or not heavily depends on their traits. For example, strong and tough characters don’t get drunk easily, whereas tiny and fragile characters do. All this then comes down to the decision of how many rounds you want to spend for your men in order to increase the mood of the company vs. the increasing risk of them getting drunk and being severely handicapped the following day.

Tracking

All parties now leave tracks for you to follow that look like footprints on the map. Different factions use their own footprints so that you can see at a glance whether it’s humans, orcs or beasts who moved though. Footprints also scale with the size of the party, so you’ll have a rough idea on how many individuals it is that you’re tracking. Note that we’re still experimenting with the visuals right now, so it may end up looking slightly different in the game.

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We’re adding the tracking mechanic in order to give you a better idea on what’s happening around the limited radius of vision you have on the worldmap, and to introduce new gameplay opportunities. Even if you lose sight of a party now, you’ll still be able to follow their tracks. You can also potentially follow the tracks of the bandit raiders you just bested back to their camp, and you have more options to both find and avoid parties on the worldmap. Don’t follow large orc or goblin tracks if you aren’t prepared for what lies ahead!
 
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I just love how you guys are expanding the main theme of the game by making its world come even more alive and interactive, from the little ambiance touches to feature adding new choices (love the track and patron/inns as rumors mills ideas!).
 
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Mar 29, 2015
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10 days to go i'm genuinely excited! Big fat patch, gonna start a new game the very moment it will be released.
 
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We are almost there! Just 10 days until the worldmap update so here is a final progress update:

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Dev Blog #72: Progress Update - Tutorial, Music, Experienced Mercs

With the finishing line in sight, this will be our last regular progress update before the big update on the 29th. Today we’ll cover some more changes to the game and our reasoning behind them: A new introduction and tutorial, new music and the ability to hire experienced mercenaries.

Over the course of next week, our very own Jaysen will start a new Let’s Play series to showcase and explain all the new features, additions and changes made to the game. But for now, read on!

Introduction and Tutorial

What's the first thing you're greeted with when starting a new campaign right now? A big wall of text. And then an even bigger one as you pick up the tutorial contract. Being dropped into an open world with little idea of what to do and what the game even allows you to do can be daunting. In fact, the tutorial contract was actually missed by quite a few people in the beginning as they attacked the nearby bandits without hiring a single man, only to get slaughtered. That makes for an odd first impression. What the game needed was a proper introduction that gradually helps the player get into the game and gives context to their role in the world, without being overbearing.

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The above is the new very first thing you see when starting a new campaign. This leads into a first battle and a short story about how you end up being the commander of a mercenary company, sets a suitably grim but not hopeless mood, and gives you a tour through the core gameplay loop. It’s presented as a short contract involving several steps and a series of events and dialogs with manageable bits of text and pretty pictures. And it also gives some explanation as to why you aren’t fighting on the battlefield yourself.

During the tutorial the player is introduced to basic combat mechanics without the danger of being instantly slaughtered, learns about hiring new men and buying equipment, camping and repairing, as well as other important aspects. It’s presented as individual characters explaining things and giving their opinions, and it’s all things specific to this game and doesn’t tax your patience with basic stuff like moving the camera. Although we recommend playing through the introduction at least once, it can be skipped after the first few minutes and you’re free to go anywhere in the world you want.

Raid Battle Track

While working on all the new features you’ve read about these past months, our talented musicians from Breakdown Epiphanies haven’t been lazy, either. We’re happy to say that several new music tracks will come with the update, among them one you can listen to right now.

RAID BATTLE TRACK YOUTUBE

This one is titled the ‘Farm Raiding Battle Track’ and is intended to play when slaughtering peasants and burning down their farmsteads, which is a new thing you may be asked to do with contracts now. It sets a dark and somber mood fitting a scenario like this, and it’s a great track in its own right that will play on various occasions throughout the game - including the very introduction you’ve just learned about.

Hiring Experienced Mercs

Here’s a dilemma: Battles are supposed to be deadly and you’re supposed to be losing men every now and then, yet losing men can hurt a lot in the late game because of the difference in power between fresh recruits and veterans, and because it takes a long time to train up again starting from level 1. We’ve talked about an extended roster as a way to cushion the impact of this in the future, but there’s another thing we’re introducing with the upcoming update: Hiring people that come with a few levels already.

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Depending on their background, recruits may now come with higher starting levels. Finding a fisherman or farmhand with combat experience is pretty much out of the question. Not so with a raider, a retired soldier or a sellsword. These backgrounds can be found with some or even a lot of combat experience under their belt, but they’ll ask to be paid handsomely for it. It’s generally cheaper to build up people on your own than to hire ready-made veterans, and you won’t be able to afford any higher level hedge knights in the beginning. In order to not take away too much from the progression of characters, the maximum level at which recruits may come is currently at 5, and that’s already only for a select few backgrounds.

You’ll be able to distribute the attribute points and pick perks yourself upon hiring one of the more experienced recruits. By alleviating the severeness of losing an experienced man and having to start with a new one, we’re hopeful that players are more open to living with the consequences of their men dying in battle.

 
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Here is something to shorten the wait:

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Let’s Play - Worldmap Update, Episode 1
Here we go again! In anticipation of the big update hitting next Monday, the 29th, our very own Jaysen starts a brand new Let’s Play series with developer commentary to explain all the new additions and changes to the game. You can expect the second episode to hit later this week. Also, spoiler warning.

Let's Play Battle Brothers Worldmap Update, Episode 1
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We’ll have a written summary of all the new things together with the update itself.

Preview Twitch Stream with ZiggyD

Youtuber and Streamer ZiggyD will do an exclusive preview live stream of the update this Saturday, the 27th, around 8:30pm GMT / 7:30am AUS / 12:30pm PDT - exact time will follow!

At least one of us developers will be hanging around in the Twitch chat as well, so if you want to talk to us or ask us anything about the game, this is a great opportunity. You can find ZiggyD’s Twitch channel here: http://www.twitch.tv/ziggydlive

Important Reminder

The upcoming update will break savegames! If you want to keep playing your current campaign you should disable automatic updates on Steam for Battle Brothers!
 
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Finally it's out! The Worldmap Update:

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Worldmap Update Released

Finally, the big worldmap update has arrived!

Battle Brothers has made a huge step towards completion and to how the finished game will play. Below you’ll find a list of all the major changes and additions to the game.

And we're not done yet! Once the dust from the update has settled, we'll return to smaller and more regular updates again so that you're likely to find something new in the game every week. There are several more features (yes, including formations!) and loads of more content we'll be adding until the game leaves Early Access later this year.

As a very small team we depend on your feedback to make this game as good as possible. Please leave us your thoughts and feedback on balancing, progression and gameplay in the forums!

With so many changes, introducing new issues is also pretty much inevitable. If you encounter any bugs, problems or crashes, please let us know in the forum following the instructions there.

Have fun with the update!

New Worldmap

A bigger and all-new procedurally generated worldmap comes with new terrain, oceans and shores, and wild and unexplored parts covered in fog. It’s teeming with life as peasants, caravans, ships, hunters, beasts and many more pursue their goals.

New Settlements

Settlements differ vastly in appearance, size, services they offer, men to hire and goods to buy. Fish is cheapest at fishing villages, more metal-based products can be found at mining settlements and you’ll find men with combat experience at castles.

New Contract Mechanics

Contracts are completely redone. You can now negotiate the terms of payment, and every contract comes with twists to spice things up and keep you on your toes. There’s 9 contracts in the game right now, double the amount of before, and we aim to have several times that for the finished game.

Factions & Relations

Noble houses vie for power and cities are ruled by corrupt councils. Meet the leaders of factions on and off the battlefield, make powerful allies or betray them and feel their wrath. All this in contracts we’ll be adding over the coming months now that the system is in place.

Tracking

All parties travelling the world now leave tracks for you to follow or avoid. Different factions use their own footprints so that you can see at a glance whether it’s humans, orcs or beasts who moved though.

Camping

Make camp to have your men recover from their wounds, repair their equipment and have time pass faster. But be careful, the camp fire will be seen from afar and may attract unwanted attention.

A Proper Introduction

The game now comes with a proper introduction and story to set up the mood and ease you into the open world gameplay with useful advice from other characters.

Additional Music & Sound Effects

Five new music tracks join the already hour-long orchestral soundtrack. Orcs got all of their sounds redone, and the game now has a rich ambient soundscape, from birds, to the wind howling, to people in the streets as you visit one of the many cities of the world.
 
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Hey there, we have been working a lot on bugs, balance and progression since the update. Now we came back around to start adding more content. Here are the latest two updates to the game including a changelog:

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Worldmap Update 0.6.0.16[/size]
This update adds a reimagined version of the 'Escort Caravan' contract to the game. You're now part of the actual caravan and don't have to manually travel alongside it anymore. While the caravan travels, controls are locked from you, but time will pass faster until the destination is reached. The contract doubles as a way to fast-travel around the world and may also give you added safety with the caravan hands and guards in the beginning of the game. Be sure to take ample provisions before you start your journey!

The contract system has seen a general change. Contracts now vary in difficulty and payment as indicated by a rating of between one and three skulls. If you've taken some losses and need to rebuild your company, taking on easier contracts with a one-skull-rating might be a wise decisions. On the other hand, if you don't feel challenged enough, take on a contract with a three-skull-rating and get paid handsomely. Note that the skull ratings are rough estimations and don't necessarily mean that a contract has to always be easy or hard for you. In an open world you can always run into roaming enemies, and how you fare against certain opponents will depend heavily on your equipment, leveling and tactics.

Finally, this update also adds our first all-new combat environment: the dry and flat steppe. Here's how it looks in the game.

steppe2.jpg


Changelog
Added new 'Escort Caravan' contract.
Added two new events.
Added steppe combat environment.
Added more debug output to logfile in order to help track down some remaining issues.

Changed contracts to vary in difficulty (and payment) as indicated by a rating of between one to three skulls.
Changed larger settlement factions to potentially offer more than one contract at a time.
Changed Orc Line Battle scenario to take place in the steppe.
Changed Riposte appearing as a negative factor in the hitchance breakdown only when the opponent is actually in range to execute a counter-attack.

Fixed potential crash on worldgen.
Fixed destinations for 'Armed Courier' contract not being uncovered on the map in some cases.
Fixed issue with AI of Withered Vampires that prevented them from using the Darkflight skill in some cases.
Fixed issue with AI of Orc Warriors that had them use the Line Breaker skill when they shouldn't.
Fixed armor for helmets displayed as floating point value in some cases.
Fixed wrong effectiveness vs. armor of pitchfork.
Fixed various text errors.

Worldmap Update 0.6.0.14
We close the second week after the big worldmap update with a larger update.

There are a few changes of note: We now support Steam Cloud saving, direwolves have finished their transformation from the werewolves of old to a new identity with visuals of their own, balance and progression has been smoothed out a bit to make for less rocky gameplay, and the level-up system for attributes has changed.

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The change to the level-up system isn't necessarily permanent, as we'll look at leveling as a whole again together with going over all the perks later on during development, but we felt that this was a change we needed to make now. The system previously in place lacked transparency and thus led to some confusion and ultimately frustration as people misinterpreted how it worked. The new system should be easier to understand and offer a better strategic choice on levelup on how to best develop your Battle Brothers. It works like this: You can now see all levelup rolls right from the start (without going through the pick/cancel motion like most players did) and pick three values you want. Levelup values are re-rolled for each level and no longer stick until picked.

We'll continue to work on any technical or balancing issues that may pop up, but with most now out of the way we'll transition to adding new content to the game again come next week. What new content is that?

Our next major milestone is redoing all the combat environments already in the game, as well as adding new combat environments for every terrain type found on the worldmap. Here is an early preview.

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While we're at it, we'll also look at some usability issues in combat (primarily with forests) and add some quality of life improvements (like an option to end combat early once all enemies are fleeing). Finally, we'll keep adding additional contracts to the game. There are 11 more already written and waiting to be implemented, and we have plans for even more.

Changelog
Added automatic synchronization of savegames on Steam Cloud.
Added a chance for Withered Vampires to carry named weapons.
Added new visuals for Direwolves.

Changed level-up system for attributes. You can now see all levelup rolls right from the start and pick the three values you want. Levelup values are re-rolled for each level and no longer stick until picked.
Changed chance to get drunk on paying for rounds in the tavern to be lower.
Changed opposition in contracts to better match player strength throughout the campaign.
Changed roaming enemies to be slightly easier to take on in the early game and scale better into the lategame.
Changed treasure items to be sold at full value, like trading goods are, and be somewhat more valuable than before in order to make exploring and looting locations on your own more worthwhile.
Changed 'Patrol' contract to have the player be more likely to face opposition on the road.
Changed 'Patrol' contract to have a time limit of ten days and show both the time remaining and the number of heads collected in the objective panel.
Changed a few perk descriptions to make things more clear.
Changed name of 'Fletcher's Hut' on the worldmap to 'Arrow Maker's Shed' to avoid confusion about its relation to the 'Fletcher' building inside settlements.

Fixed issue with payment when at negative renown.
Fixed issue with cancel/engage potentially leading to fighting the wrong enemies.
Fixed issue with entities spawning on unreachable tiles in combat.
Fixed poor relations leading to better prices when selling items than with good relations.
Fixed money counter in UI not updating properly when buying food.
Fixed provisions counter in UI not updating properly when selling food.
Fixed direwolves looting other AI parties when they shouldn't because they're animals.
Fixed several issues with location placement at worldgen. Requires starting a new campaign to take effect.
Fixed cause of the game potentially slowing down on the worldmap because of poorly placed harbors, and ships unable to reach them. Requires starting a new campaign to take effect.
Fixed goblin camps spawning orcs in rare cases.
Fixed display issue in 'Armed Courier' contract negotiations.
Fixed issue with AI burning down locations while the player is tasked to destroy them in 'Raze Location' contract.
Fixed missing information on additional fatigue use for named orc weapons in tooltip.
Fixed action point bar not updating properly after picking up or dropping items during combat.
Fixed Goblin Wolfriders potentially becoming untargetable if their mount was killed using the 'Knock Back' skill in combination with the 'Shield Bash' perk.
Fixed issue with ranged AI potentially hanging in combat.
Fixed Arbalesters not having a backup melee weapon.
Fixed mood status effect sometimes not showing on characters after loading a game.
Fixed drunk debuff duration resetting on loading a game.
Fixed issue with change of master volume in the game's audio options not immediately affecting the volume of music currently playing.
Fixed wrong inventory icon for named greataxe.
Fixed various text errors.
 
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We are slowly getting there, not many environments left. This week it is the Tundra:

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Worldmap Update 0.6.0.18
This week’s update adds a new combat environment: the tundra. Flat and stony plains, sparse vegetation and a unique look make it stand out among the growing collection of different environments to do battle in. Here’s how it looks in the game.

tundra.jpg


Next up is a reimagined version of the forest environment. We have a pretty good idea now on what we want to do in order to have fighting there feel unique but at the same time get rid of some of the usability issues currently haunting it. While the new forest didn’t quite make it in this week, a related quality of life improvement did. You can now find an optional ‘Always Hide Trees’ setting in the game’s option menu to always hide the top part of trees, whether they occlude a character or not.

A large chunk of the last two weeks was spent discussing where we want to take the game from here, budgeting and planning things out. You can expect the result of this, a detailed blog post about what we’re going to add to or change about the game during the remainder of Early Access, right here next week.

Have a nice weekend!

Changelog

Added tundra combat environment.
Added optional ‘Always Hide Trees’ setting.

Changed smaller trees and boulders to only have their top part translucent when a character is positioned behind them, and no longer turn translucent as a whole, in order to make things more clear.
Changed noble house contracts to be bound to a single settlement once they’ve been fully negotiated in order to avoid some potential issues if the player accepts them at a different location later on.
Changed durability of some two-handed weapons and bows to be slightly higher.
Changed ‘Wolfriders’ scenario to take place on tundra terrain.

Fixed rare crash after loading a game from the worldmap.
Fixed potentially wrong ‘Bought for’ values in the tooltip of food and trading goods after looting them or loading a game.
Fixed issue with ‘Armed Courier’ contract.
Fixed another issue of characters sometimes appearing as injured after loading when having certain character traits.
Fixed barber missing a hair style.
Fixed various text errors.
 
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We have come a long way with developing Battle Brothers but there is still a lot to do. However, we are now ready to present you the final roadmap to the finished game!

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Roadmap to the Finish Line

Battle Brothers has come a long way since it entered Early Access over a year ago, in April of 2015. Every update has brought it a step closer towards being a finished game - and there’s still a few more steps to take. Read on to learn what changes and additions are yet to come!

What’s still to come?

With the perk & injury update live and stable, we’ll now start working on the last big update to the game before it leaves Early Access. This is going to be the second-biggest update after the big worldmap update earlier this year and will take us several months to complete.

Here’s the list of major points we’ll be working on:

- Three different ‘Greater Evil’ end game crises for you to get involved in - a war between noble houses, a greenskin invasion and an undead invasion. Each will come with its own set of contracts, events and changes to the world.
- An overarching goal to work towards throughout your campaign, and the ability to retire at any point to receive an illustrated ending screen telling of your accomplishments.
- A more lively and dynamic world, with more opportunities for you to shape it, and more relation between what is going on in the world and contracts on offer.
- A memorial wall screen where your fallen Battle Brothers are listed with their deeds.
- An overhaul of the mood and desertion mechanics on the worldmap.
- An overhaul of the undead faction with new visuals and lore, unique lootable weapons and armor, and the introduction of new enemy types with their own fighting style.
- An overhaul of ghouls as independent beasts that are more interesting and challenging to fight.
- More contracts and events to change things up.
- Various improvements to usability in both combat and on the worldmap.
- Steam achievements.
Not included in that list are the countless smaller additions and improvements we'll be doing along the way. As usual, all the major points and most of the minor ones will be explained in detail in future dev blogs as we go along, so you’ll always know what we’re working on and why.

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This big update, once published, will then be followed by a couple of smaller updates for balancing, bug fixing and further improvements based on your feedback until the game is ready to be released.

So does that mean…?

It means that Battle Brothers will not be released in 2016. We’re looking at a release in early 2017 and you’ll be the first to know once we have a set date - most likely to happen when the last big update is live. It’s important to us that the finished game feels complete, polished and well worth its price, so we’ll take the time necessary to ensure just that and won’t rush anything.

It also means that some features that were considered at one point in development or another have been cut and will not make it into the game for now. While some concepts simply won’t fit anymore with how the game has evolved, others would still be cool to have but also require a lot of time to do right. Time that we then couldn’t spend working on other things. Game development is often about hard choices and setting priorities - what feature best to spend our limited time on? What feature will benefit the game the most? Our choices on what’s most important are reflected in the list above. If ever there is an expansion to Battle Brothers, we may revisit some of the concepts that didn't make it into the game at first.

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Also, the game has been updated

That’s right. The game has just been updated to version 0.7.0.10 with a new contract, balancing changes, a multitude of AI improvements and a couple of bug fixes. Find the changelog below.

- Added new 'Defend Settlement' contract type.
- Added '-nosound' command line parameter to start the game without any sound or music.
- Changed loot in lootscreen to be sorted by type.
- Changed amount of ammunition and medicinal supplies dropped by enemies as loot to be lower.
- Changed 'Spear Mastery' perk to have spearwalls inflict full thrusting damage on a hit, and no longer give a bonus to hitchance.
- Changed mechanics and cost of 'Rally the Troops' skill to better synergize with everyone's resolve, as well as the 'Sergeant' perk.
- Changed 'First Aid' and 'Drink Antidote' skills to be usable only when bleeding or poisoned, respectively.
- Changed AI to make more intelligent use of the 'Puncture', 'Lash' and 'Decapitate' skills.
- Changed AI to better handle engaging into enemy spearwalls when equipped with a shield or throwing weapons.
- Changed AI of more intelligent opponents to be less prone to gift the player free attacks by charging without any action points left on arrival.
- Changed AI to better handle range advantages and disadvantages when deciding whether to engage or hold a defensive position.
- Changed AI to make use of the wait function in more situations as to waste less action points.
- Fixed wardogs not being affected by night time.
- Fixed issue with dead wardogs that could result in other things not working properly down the line.
- Fixed 'Sprained Ankle' injury not lowering initiative like it is supposed to.
- Fixed 'Shoot Stake' skill being able to knock back rooted targets.
- Fixed issue with contract-related footprints not appearing if accepting a contract immediately after traveling by ship.
- Fixed contract-related worldmap parties sometimes not being attackable by other factions even when they should.
- Fixed behavior of worldmap parties not being properly saved and restored in some cases.
- Fixed various minor things.
 
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