Age of Fear: The Free World news & patch notes

Hi all, after a long while, we’ve finally managed to squash a few bugs and implement several optimizations. Nothing critical, but the UI should now feel noticeably more responsive, especially on Windows and during AI turns. Almost everything has been moved to a few simple arrays, reducing overhead when dynamically creating collections.

We’ve also introduced a global battle state system, where the AI evaluates whether it should act more aggressively or defensively. This is a new subsystem, so your mileage may vary - in some battles, the impact is quite noticeable, while in others, it might make little to no difference.

We are starting to patch all games, please let me know if you have any suggestions or notice anything unusual!

Take care, Les

• Gesture scrolling has been added to listings, e.g. team units, items' list, bestiary, etc.
• Items have been consolidated into fourteen themed sets (from the previous thirty one) which should make the crafting interface easier.
• Required attributes like Alchemy, Blacksmith, etc. display hints about units that provide them.
• Resource items provided after battles will be geared towards craftable items (i.e. ones which you know and also have all needed attributes).
• Blood Sacrifice is a new skill for Blood Mage which allows you to gain a bit of MP in exchange for HP (it's to balance Meditate which the good side enjoys).
• AI for finding hidden units has been almost completely reworked and its actions should reassemble what a human player would do.

• Chaos Demons and Greenskins campaigns now have battle tasks and we are working on adding them to Dwarves and Forest campaigns too (thanks to Willisama).
• Resource items given are more targeted at craftable (known) items.
• Barkskin gives +2 Defence - combined with Bear Form and Nature Wisdom makes Dryads into a formidable melee unit (but time-limited).
• Dispel Magic is more reliable and burns a fixed amount of MP
• Disintegration damages a fixed amount of HP.
• Escape key can be used to close most of the dialogs.
• Bugfix for spawned units overlapped themselves (this is still being worked on).
• Bugfix for occasionally non-exploding Gunpowder Barrels.
• Bugfix for static objects blocking units with Hit-and-Run.
• Bugfix for Burning units not-detonating.
• ...and many more (including re-balance of several units).

• Natural Wisdom also gives +1 base HP when morphed (Cave Bear, Dire Bear, etc.)
• Divine Intervention is a new skill for Paladins and Inquisitors and gives them extra chance to auto-resurrect after battle
• A number of helmets and armors were made unavailable to spellcasters (also description was altered)
• Berserker's Rage is a boost for melee units (with Berserker attribute) which lasts while unit is in melee
• Bugfix for multiple attacks (in melee) - sometimes the range of consecutive attacks is reduced. We fixed it to be the same value.
• Multiple text edits (thanks to BobbisandLouis)

• we have tested it on Proton Experimental as of 2022/08/19 (not Proton default!)
• go into Compatibility mode and set it to Steam Linux Runtime

• Traps (as well as a few other special objects, e.g. cauldron, barricade, explosive barrel, etc.) can be placed without using turn. We are still tuning AI for this logic update.
• Slippery is less potent (10% slip chance and 30% chance of pushing away in melee).
• We track a few last triggered Global Events and make sure the same ones won't be triggered.
• AI moving invisible units is much faster (previously animation time was the same as normal move).
• Holy Protection attribute for Inquisitors and Valkyries. This attribute makes units immune for Necromancy and Death spells.
• Units with Hit and Run aren't able to attack again after retreat.
• Poisoned invisible units won't be revealed (till they die).

• Further optimisations for AI processing speed - we took advantage of several Java 17 features and managed to speed up some AI routines. This is still work in progress, but I hope the effects are noticeable already.
• The above changes to the Sea People base where advanced units must be unlocked by buildings.
• 'Taunt' skill for Sea Divers, which makes AI focus attacks on a poor chap. It opens quite interesting tactical possibilities.
• New trait 'Wanted' which units can earn after scoring 25+ kills. Similar to 'Taunt', it makes AI to focus attacks on that unit.
• In the shop units' list, units can now be inserted between other units. Hover your mouse in a small space between units, then confirm with a right click.
• New trait 'Dragon' for well... dragons ^^ It makes Dragons resistant to a number of tactics and hopefully will eliminate cheesing those mini-boss fights.
• New spell 'Force Push' for mages. Who doesn't want to be a Jedi?
• Detector is a passive detection mechanism for Totems and Evil Eyes, and also heroes (via All-Seeing Eye amulet). It completes the existing detection skills like Clairvoyance, Scan (Sensors), Dark Vision and Sharp Eyes.
• Regrowth costs 100exp per use (exception: Mandrake Root).

• We upgraded to the more recent Java 17 (previously we embedded Java 10 with our games). That gave us access to many new features and optimisations. In our tests, the game engine is working around 40% faster.
• Complete attack types are displayed in the lower part of the screen. Our items system often results in layered effects for an attack, for example, a strike could be Fire- and Cold-based (at the same time), could be causing a Stun and also reducing Defence. With this version we display all effects a given attack has.
• Open World battles feature a Retreat option where you can abandon battle for a small gold penalty. This feature was requested quite long ago, but we finally got to it.
• Fog and Slippery are new battle conditions to be found in Swamps and Winter levels respectively. Fog is reducing the range of projectile-based attacks and spells, Slippery occasionally causes units to slip and lose an action.
• Disease was refactored significantly and now infected units will happily spread it around. This is a part of tactics coming in new games in the series.
• Polymorph spells and skills are also moving effects to and from morphed units. For example, poisoned Dryad changing into Bear will carry over the poisoned status.
• Lamp of Blood (in Krill) campaign is working as a pre-battle action (to be used during Deploy Turn). We hope to add more skills like that which allow players to modify the battlefield before battle.
• A few new detector-like skills were added, for example Scan for Guardians. The AI is also more efficient with the use of Invisibility.
• Angela received a secret (and very powerful!) weapon. It's hidden in her campaign - who will find it first?

• Pushing units around it the major mechanics we introduced about two weeks ago. Many explosive spells will now move units a bit, just enough to make space for your units to squeeze between and reach those vulnerable shooters and mages. Several units also received Pushing attacks due to their size, e.g. Ogres, Troll Throwers, etc. A few existing skills like Shield Bash or Power Attack are also moving enemy units upon hit.
• Knights have now a more effective Greater Charge upgrade where their charges cause more damage (and obviously push enemy units out of the way!). The Charge ability can be disabled for one turn, for example when you want to engage a spellcaster in melee (and block him from using spells).
• We have introduced enemy heroes as mini-bosses in campaigns and random battles. So far a few enemy units were considered special thorough campaigns, but those were just like ordinary units with names (and more chatty!). We have upgraded those to hero status (which gives them a few extra Hit Points and several resistances) to give that extra challenge to players.
• A dozen new resource items were added, e.g. Fire Opal, Black Gold, Moonstone, etc.

• Cerberus is a new fast-attacker for Chaos Demons. Just like Wolves, it can be upgraded to a hit-and-run unit, however Cerberus also deals extra Fire damage.
• Elder is yet another upgrade for floating Evil Eyes from Chaos Demons faction. We have packed it with anti-magic skills, therefore all spellcasters beware!
• Crabman joins the Sea People as a durable blocker with Power Strike ability. It's definitely a nice addition to your line of Sea Divers.
• Cows also join the ranks of all monsters and beasts. Just like fearsome Pigs and Chickens, those slow land cruisers can completely decimate all grass around.

• Bard has its own unique skill Ballad which adds experience points to units not participating in a battle.
• Polymorph spells were added with a cooldown which triggers after the unit comes back to its original shape.