Shieldwall Chronicles: Swords of the North news & patch notes

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33977232/3bea45ad4e5586c4ffff475522c4e98c25d3cf3e.jpg Today's patch addresses some minor bugs such as the mind control achievement and some animation bugs for the dwarf bombardier class (among a few other tweaks). The update has been delayed because it was part of a major upgrade to the underlying Unity game engine. If you see anything odd, please let me know and I'll address it asap. It's possible the engine update broke something but it appears to be working well.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/41989a63220390711e7277ee21506013f83d4ad7.png Hi everyone, Today's 1.6 patch includes a significant amount of new content. - New playable character class: The dwarf bombardier is a heavily armoured warrior armed with a medieval handgun. The male variant is a close range fighter / shooter hybrid with a large shield. The female is a longer range marksman with a long rifle. Each has a separate set of skills and stat line to suit their role so play very differently from one another. - 3 new extra battle levels added set in the drakefang mountains. These feature large waves of higher level enemies including goblins, monsters and undead. - All playable characters (and most enemies) now have passive abilities. These include aura effects and abilities that kick under specific conditions (low health, surrounded, etc.). These abilities add a new layer of tactical depth to the game and help to further differentiate the player characters and enemy types. There are, of course, the usual round of bug fixes and minor tweaks. Please note that this update also coincided with a major upgrade to the underlying unity engine version. Therefore, if you notice anything strange, please report and we will do our best to fix asap.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/24f3bf0b555f25e4ecf686943277af3bc9d7632d.png Here is a quick WIP of the Dwarf Gunner class, tentatively called Dwarf Bombardier. However, we may change it to something more fantasy-esque such as "Gate Warden" or something similar. If you have a good suggestion, please share below or in the community discussion. The male version will be heavily armoured and armed with a hand-cannon and tower shield. It will be a front-line unit but one that relies on a powerful missile attack to actually kill his enemies. He will have various defensive buffs and artillery weapons such as oil bombs and perhaps be able to summon a mechanical ally of some kind. The design for the female variant may be a slightly longer range missile unit that replaces the tower shield for a long rifle. She will be designed to be a more mid-range shooter with greater accuracy. If you have thoughs, please share them as her design is still in the early stages.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/dd11c24db9a75f4265e6a59514dc50c2660fe124.png The 1.5 patch contains two new playable characters as well as several improvements and bug fixes. New Content:

• Male and female Centaur classes added to playable character list bringing the total character selection to 32.
• New combat mechanic called "Charge Bonus" for fast moving flyers and cavalry units (including the new Centaur class). This mechanic provides a combat bonus whenever these units move 5 or more tile in a single move.

Improvements:

• The shop instructions now appear only when you first enter the shop.
• Players can now close the game directly from the game menu.
• Players can now change the names of any of their characters in the camp site menu from the "Manage Team" menu.
• Increased the amount of magic items rewarded from winning a battle.

Bug Fixes:

• Players can no longer leave the shop if they have picked up an item.
• The game now rewards more magic items when the player completes a level on extreme difficulty.
• Fixed the incorrect text on the Book of Saric item.
• Fixed a bug where the music would play twice in the shop.
• Fixed several minor bugs.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/38e19d8070eff77bfe2ab806a6ad26d7c5602f0f.png Here's a WIP of the upcoming Centaur character class. It will be a hybrid archer / fighter and also the fastest of the character classes. Able to gallop across the battlefield in a single turn, the Centaur will be able to launch arrows from afar and charge into vulnerable wizards and archers at will. The male version will be more melee focused with tougher stats and more melee-focused abilities while the female will be faster and more focused on healing and archery. Hope you like the look of the new class. Feel free to share any feedback.

A small update today that includes a bug fix for the new draggable UI screens, a new ending cinematic and a new game mechanic. Here are the details:

• Bug Fix - The stat sheet and terrain information screens have been reset to a central position by default. Players can then drag them to their desired screen position and then save it by clicking the end-turn position. The "L" key now resets these screens to the default centre position. This change was made as some users were not seeing the UI windows on their monitors.
• Enhancement - If a character moves next to an enemy that is hiding behind a half cover obstacle, that enemy will be forced to stand up fully and no longer benefit from that half cover. This represents the fact that half cover is low on the ground and requires characters to crouch down to benefit from them. This also allows players to use melee fighters to disrupt half cover protection of an entrenched enemy line.
• New Content - A new cinematic scene has been added after the final battle at the end of the campaign.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/ef734e1f3464b224d75acbab183d93c64635967b.png New Content:

• 3 new random encounter levels added set in the ruins of the lizardmen temple. These are unlocked once the player reaches the lizardmen ruins in the campaign.
• Ambermage and Gatekeeper magic item set added. Each item adds a new ability for its wearer and other stat bonuses. These items are available as battle rewards and in the shop.
• Added a new cinematic scene that plays after the final campaign level.

Enhancements:

• Unit stat and terrain stat screens can now be moved to any position on the screen. The position is saved once the player presses the end turn button.
• Reduced the zoom out during the enemy turn.
• Reduced the size of close buttons so that they appear less blurry.
• Added names of character classes below the portrait on team re-select screen.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed the bug where overwriting an existing save slot and then creating a new team but not completing selection would result in a save slot with an empty team.
• Abilities that boost damage no longer reduce minimum damage below starting value once the ability's duration ends.
• Unit portraits in the inventory screen no longer overlap each other when all characters can use a selected / highlighted item.
• Removed incorrect information in Game Rules and Game Difficulty explanation text.
• Unit life indicators now project correctly on the carpets in the tavern and other interior levels.
• Panic labels no longer appear twice when panic is triggered.

Balance Changes:

• Increased Tree Spirit poison, stun and bleed resistance values.
• Increased Tree Spirit starting life values and life regeneration per turn.
• Reduced Tree Spirit armour value.
• Reduced the movement AP cost for Tree Spirits to allow them to move further per turn.
• Morale reduction from missile attacks to those units adjacent to the target reduced from 0 - 15 to 0 - 8 per attack.
• Removed the bonus XP awarded on Hard difficulty.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/e78bd1c17b72dcf2c357ca0b387b684977393874.png The next update will include some new magic items in one or more sets. The Ambermage item set has been completed and is a nature-themed set suitable for wizards and healers. The items have health and strength buffs and all grant one new ability. These abilities are nature-themed and consist of summoning wolves, heals, boosting melee strength and so on. Hopefully, the next update will include at least one more set of magic items that will be more suited for a warrior class. The next update will also include more random encounter levels and the usual round of improvements and bug fixes.

Here are the details for today's update:

• Fixed the bug where burning ground effects (e.g. burning arrow or oil bomb) would heal the damage they do to a character occupying the position.
• If a character’s life regeneration per turn became negative (due to an enemy debuff), the damage is displayed correctly and the character plays a damage animation at the start of the turn.
• Fixed a bug where hit chance was capped between 15% and 85% instead of 5% and 95%.
• Moved the attack summary window to the bottom of the screen so as not to obscure the active character’s HUD.
• Added counter attacks, morale indicators, and action point information on the tooltip displayed when you hover the mouse over an opposing faction’s character.
• Added the breakdown of the parameters that decide final hit chance in the attack summary. This now shows the impact attack range, target evasion, target cover bonus and surrounded bonus has on the final calculation.
• Added the % chance to hit, % chance of critical and damage range that would apply in the attack summary for an enemy’s counter attack.
• Added a rotating yellow indicator on the currently selected player character to make him or her easier to identify.
• Abilities now mostly use the caster’s attack skill to determine whether or not they hit instead of a base hit chance. They also now factor in all other range hit modifiers such as distance, target cover status, terrain effects, caster’s morale, etc.
• Reduced the increase to AP cost for movement and attacks in complex mode from 1.5x current level to 1 point per level (excluding level 1). For example, a level 2 character would increase their movement and attack AP cost by 1 point.
• Users can no longer click on various UI buttons while the tutorial windows are displayed.
• Ambiance sounds have been added to all levels. These are meant to play alongside background music to provide greater immersion. They can be turned off in the gameplay options if no longer desired.
• The game rules now explain the morale bonus / penalty applied at the start of each turn based on the number of allies and enemies with a 5 tile radius.
• The panic status is now removed if the character’s morale is raised above zero. This allows a panicked character to perform abilities if bolstered by the sight of an enemy being killed or a morale-boosting ability.
• The cleric class now has access to his healing touch ability at level 1.
• Reduced the range of healing effect from 10 – 50 to 25 – 35 for the cleric healing touch ability.
• Units affected by abilities that boost or reduce morale no longer revert to their previous morale value once the ability’s effects subside.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/7fb39e324a8162795ccf0fde520c58f3b4c43630.png The next patch will include several quality of life improvements. One of them is a full breakdown of hit chance and critical chance to explain why those values are what they are. In addition, the counter attack information will now give the player the % hit chance of the counter attack, the damage range it will do and the critical chance on it. In addition, the unit summary displayed when hovering over an enemy now includes more useful infomration. The counter attacks, unit's morale and remaining action points are also displayed. The next update should land tomorrow and includes several other improvements and bug fixes.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where critical damage was always set to maximum damage multiplied by 50% instead of a straight 50% increase to melee damage.
• Some minor UI bug fixes.

Changes

• Reduced the range of damage from melee and missile attacks to reduce the randomness of attack damage values during combat.
• Increased the starting life of the melee-focussed character classes by 4 points.

This is a minor patch that fixes a bug introduced in the previous update. It also makes some changes to arrive at the correct value of armour and critical hits.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/33227352034dd8b919e334094fb8f838813e780d.png New Content:

• 3 new random encounter levels added for the northern forest regions. These levels feature large, randomly appearing enemy patrols.
• New background music tracks added. These tracks replace most of the previous background music tracks used at launch.
• New circular indicators added to replace the life / AP bars for each character.
• Replaced the huscarle in the camp site menu with a higher resolution character model.

Game Balance Changes:

• Changed the minimum melee and ranged attack damage for all player characters and enemies to have larger range. Most attacks have a minimum attack value of 1 - 3 and a larger maximum damage value. This is to make the armour stat more relevant in the combat mechanics.
• Critical hits no longer ignore all armour. Instead, the armour stat is reduced by half for that attack.
• Critical damage multiplier now ranges between 25% to 75%. This is to reduce the effectiveness of melee fighters such as the assassin that relies on critical damage.
• Abilities that increase melee or ranged attack damage now only increase maximum damage rather than minimum and maximum damage values.
• Lowered the bonus armour value derived by several abilities that increase armour (such as Shieldwall). This is due to the fact that under the updated combat mechanics, armour has a more prevalent role.
• Increased the range of hit chances for melee and ranged attacks from 15% to 85% to 5% to 95%.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a bug where text would appear blurry on screens with resolutions of 1920 x 1080.
• Several minor bugs fixed.

Future patches will include more random encounter levels. Eventually, there will be 12 random encounters in total that will be unlocked as the player completes more levels in the campaign.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/c0cff9b9a3a4d30f9482dd8817b27cbbfcb715b9.png Here is a preview of the upcoming changes to the character life indicators. The existing life and AP bars will be replaced by these circular rings that will indicate remaining life. Please let me know your thoughts. Also, the screenshot shows one of the new random encounter levels that will be in the next update.

Changes:

• Added a new bonus for surrounding a target with 3 or more enemies. If attacking an enemy while it has 3 or more enemies in adjacent tiles, the attack receives a +25 attack skill bonus.
• New cinematic scene added before the level where the player confronts the mountain dragon.
• Various minor game balance changes.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixes a bug where on some levels the game would lock up during the enemy turn.
• Fixes a bug where cancelling the option to overwrite an existing save game would bring up the load menu rather than the new save menu.
• Fixed various minor bugs.

The latest patch includes some bug fixes and a new zone of control mechanic to allow players (and the AI) to prevent players passing through the tiles adjacent to an enemy unit without first engaging that enemy. Changes:

• New zone of control mechanic added where a unit can no longer move through the tiles adjacent to an enemy except to engage with that enemy.
• The mystic barrier hit points have been increased to 300 to allow sufficient time for players to rescue Osmod in the wizard's tower level.
• Reduced the number of lizardmen in the temple entrance level.

Bug Fixes:

• Huscarle's War Cry ability now correctly reduces enemy morale by 20 points instead of 200.
• The border around active effects in the unit stat sheet is now visible.

Please note that the zone of control mechanic is still experimental. If you have feedback or find any bugs in its implementation, please let us know. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/fc7c57eaa5d67278dcdf483633bc3976e46006c2.png

Here are the details for the latest patch: Bug Fixes:

• Fixed the bug where a character might run on the spot indefinitely if trying to get to a position on the map they have no way of reaching.
• The mystic barrier at the battle to save Osmod is no longer in the wrong faction. Golems on that level can no longer attack past the barrier to hit Osmod directly.

Changes:

• Added the character's level to the unit stat sheet.
• Reduced the increase of AP attack cost and move cost in complex mode from 2 x character level to 1.5x.
• Changed the AP and life gain per level up for fighters, wizards and missile characters to be consistent to allow a more uniform upgrade path.
• Improved the enemy AI to use defensive stance (when available) if on low health or low morale.
• Improved the enemy AI to use offensive stance more often when on high health and enemy are within attack range.

Here are details for the latest patch: New Content

• New cinematic cut scenes with dialogue added before the ghoul ambush.
• New cinematic cut scenes with dialogue added before the confrontation with the death mage.
• New cinematic cut scenes with dialogue added before the battle with the werewolf at the ruined temple.
• New cinematic cut scenes with dialogue added before the ambush of the dwarven caravan by the Ratmen.

Changes:

• In Complex mode, the cost of performing an attack and a movement is now increased by 2 x the character's current level. This is to prevent characters from becoming too powerful as they level up in this mode.
• Improved the AI to use heals more effectively.
• Improved the AI to not advance into melee range if the unit is primarily a missile unit.
• Improved the AI for spearmen units to try and retreat out of range of counter attacks where possible.
• Improved the AI for missile units to retreat out of melee and hide behind cover when possible (more likely to do so on low morale)
• Targeting tiles are now shown with a curly particle effect to make it clearer.
• Reduced potency of cleric's enchant weapons ability.
• Increased the stats of the lizardmen hero, lizardmen raider and fireborn.
• Increased the number of lizardmen archers on the temple entrance level.

Bug Fixes

• Various minor bug fixes.

Please note that this update includes a major change for Complex mode gameplay. The increase of AP cost for attacks and movement makes the game considerably slower paced than currently in the middle and late game. This is in response to the current situation where characters are able to move across the board and attack far too often once they reach level 6 and onwards. If you disagree with this change or feel that is should not as significant, please let me know in the community thread and we will continue to adjust it.

New Content

• New cinematic cut scenes with dialogue added at the start of campaign.
• New cinematic cut scenes with dialogue added before the confrontation with the bandit chieftain.
• New cinematic cut scenes with dialogue added before tavern brawl.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the return to Osmod’s tower level would not load if you chose to betray the dwarf king.
• Fixed a bug where the game would hang if you shot a fire arrow or threw a grenade at a point where the caster would also be caught in the blast radius.
• Mystic barriers are no longer difficult to target for attacks.
• Fixed a typo in the description for Potion of Rage item.
• Fixed a bug where the ability description screen would not disappear if you killed the last enemy on a map with an attack ability such as Sweeping Blade.
• Fixed a bug where a character would run on the spot and cause the game to hang if they tried to hide behind the skull statue in the bandit ambush level.
• The glow effect behind the inventory screen is now disabled if you choose to disable UI glow effects in the options menu.

Changes:

• Targeting tiles are now shown in blue rather than red to make them clearer for those affect by colour blindness.
• Text in campsite buttons are now clearer and easier to read.
• Increased range of cleric’s healing touch from 1 tile to 3.
• Increased movement speed of Dwarf character class from 3 to 4 in simple gameplay mode.
• Increased movement speed of Tree Spirit character class from 3 to 4 in simple gameplay mode.
• Increased size of campaign and replay mission screens slightly to make them easier to read.
• Adjusted position of clouds in bandit ambush level to stop them obscuring the battlefield.

Hi everyone, here are details on the first patch. These are a mix of bug fixes and feature requests from the userbase. - Fixed bug where overwriting an old save with a new campaign would prevent progressing in that campaign properly. - Fixed bug where the buttons in the camp site would not be easy to click on certain resolutions. - Fixed exploit where using buffs to reduce attack or move AP cost below zero would result in a character gaining AP when they moved or attacked in Complex gameplay mode. - Fixed a bug that was preventing the Heavy Hitter achievement from being awarded. - Fixed the reward backpack position so that it is not off screen when setting the UI scale option has been increased. - Fixed a bug that made the infobox explaining that units with unused action points will go on guard show up more than once. After the first time, it will not display again for the user. - Patrols are now more frequent on higher difficulty levels. - Difficulty slider added to Replay Battles screen. - Attacks and counter attacks are now displayed on the character's stat sheet in the inventory and in the shop UI. - Updated in-game credits with tester names. - Added an option to hide the glow effects in the UI. If you have any feedback please share it in the community hub or discord and we'll do our best to address any concerns. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/4cbb937b6d70e6ea1f07f8c5456253f208b1db56.jpg

Hi everyone, If you'd like to get a response to your question or talk directly in real-time, please join the discord with the link below. It's the quickest way to reach us and we post previews of upcoming games and will run future betas on it. https://discord.gg/3rT8Cua https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33977232/3bea45ad4e5586c4ffff475522c4e98c25d3cf3e.jpg