Greetings, Companions of the Edain
We've been quiet for a little while now, so we wanted to provide a quick update to everyone who's been wondering what we're up to. Version 4.8 is shaping up to be a big release, so we're quite busy making sure it all works.
Belfalas
While we were mostly happy with Belfalas we believe the faction lacked in unique identity. Both Arnor and Gondor have very heavy focus on late game elite infantry but Arnor also has its own focus on hero synergy. Belfalas on the other hand was too much a copy of Gondor in our taste.
(https://i.imgur.com/0nxUGXH.jpeg)
We have therefore decided to leverage its existing strengths and pivot Belfalas into being more cavalry focused. After all, they are the only Gondor variant to be able to recruit heroic cavalry in their stables. We explored that niche further by changing some of the heroes and shuffling some of the units to external settlements.
- Echirion, who was previously recruitable in the Archery Range, can now only be obtained from Signalfires and Lighthouses. The Sailors are no longer recruitable from a level 2 Archery Range but exclusively from Lighthouses that have been targeted by Echirion's new level 3 "Archers of the Shore". Additionally, Echirion now provides support for the fiefdoms through his leadership and level 10. A real hero of the external settlements!
- Imrahil now focuses very heavily on buffing and supporting cavalry. His leadership has been moved to his stance and now only provides buffs to cavalry units. He gains new abilities to help him better control the battlefield, and cavalry now heals twice as much from Discipline.
The summary of these changes is that Belfalas now has a much harder time gaining access to the Gondorian Elite Pike/Archer combo. They must have access to an outpost for the elite pikes and to a hero for the elite archers. As compensation, their cavalry game is now much stronger. We believe this will give Belfalas a unique niche as a cavalry-oriented Gondor.
If you're interested in some gameplay footage, check out Naodline (https://www.youtube.com/@Naodline2627)who made a few videos about Belfalas or have a look at our recently released beta showcase by clicking on the image below:
(https://i.imgur.com/NmhEVLW.png) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAg3fcgg45Y)
Isengard
We've been working quite hard on the second part of the Isengard rework, in which we aim to improve the faction's play style diversity while also improving the models of basically all structures of Isengard. And while we cannot reveal all the details just yet, we will give you a hint - Isengard will receive both a new heroic unit and a new outpost in 4.8.
FreeBuild
The FreeBuild gamemode has been consuming a huge amount of our time. Here's a little preview of our timeline of working on this mode:
- Late November 2023: The idea of a freebuild gamemode is first seriously discussed. At the time, the idea is to create a gamemode in which the player can build "internal" buildings in a range around the citadel and "external" buildings only outside that range.
(https://i.imgur.com/h3qOFj0.png)
Early days
- Late January 2024: A proof of concept using Gondor is finished, the concept has now evolved to be closer to vanilla. Buildings, including outposts, can be constructed anywhere. At this point, the idea of Walkable Walls is also mentioned.
- Late February 2024: Every faction functions to some extent in freebuild. Discussion continues on the finer points like CP, economy upgrades, free units, etc...
- Early March 2024: The matter of outposts is brought up again, after a short discussion it is decided to keep them fixed. They will serve the same roles as the Inns and Outposts of vanilla ROTWK.
- Late March 2024: The tedious process of adding farming templates to every map is done. Work on citadel extensions and walkable walls continue.
- Early April 2024: The gamemode is revealed, first through the April's Fool article and then with a follow-up confirming it for real
(https://i.imgur.com/c0rFYJ8.png)
Ready for release methinks
- Late May 2024: A second iteration is done over both Lorien and Misty Mountains, different concepts are implemented for their build systems.
- Early July 2024: The AI bases are done, Freebuild can now be played against both other players and AI. The citadel extensions are finalised. Actual playtesting begins!
- Also early July 2024: Our testers are immediately overrun by the AI, who seemingly waited for this day. This will need some serious work...
(https://i.imgur.com/psEUE2y.png)
Brutal AI always finds creative ways to cheat...
- Late September 2024: A third review of the MM and Lorien concept is done. More changes are made. Testers are managing to beat the brutal AI.
So this is where we're at now. Playtesting continues, especially with Lorien and Misty Mountains. We have made many more changes. Command Points are now once again obtained from building farms, Lorien can now build additional citadels to be able to recruit more troops and Misty Mountains now starts with a "wild" builder, who can only build wild lairs. Their Moria buildings have been moved to the pioneer, with the tunnels.
We have also been working quite a lot on the walkable walls and the citadel expansions. Initially, we were simply planning to use the existing expansions from vanilla and 3.8.1 but the textures and models simply did not match with the new citadel. Our courageous modellers got to work and pumped out a dozen of new extensions models that we used for each of the factions.
(https://imgur.com/i8fDWzA.png)
The new citadel extensions only available in the freebuild gamemode
Misc
While our focus remains on these three big projects we have not been idle on the side. We've been working in making many small and big QoL changes to the mod and fixing as many bugs we can find. Here is a taste of a few of the interesting ones we've been making:
- Thrallmasters, Orc Overseers, Rohan Captains now appear on the hero bar. This means you always know if you have one running around.
- Black Riders now have a cooldown and a cast time on their mount/dismount
- Special Outposts (Minas Morgul, Dale, Steelworks, etc...) now allow access to the spellbook similarly to citadels
- Lumbermills now reduce costs of buildings and machines again
- The AI can now recruit fiefdom units, Guardians of Lindons and makes use of Evil Men reinforcements.
- A new horde map has been added...
That's all for now, we hope this post has sufficiently informed you on our current progress, and we hope you look forward to learning more about the 4.8 Isengard rework and 4.8 as a whole.
Your Edain Team