On top of all the regular improvements and fixes we are making significant changes to the army balance. Each unit should better fit a unique identity while coming together as the Human faction.

Human army rebalance

The highlight of these patch notes is a rebalance of the Human armies that goes live when these patch notes are up. Taking lessons from both Beta 1, the early game and the changed balance on the NPC faction, we are making some significant changes to improve unit identity for the Human faction.

Speed is the first big change. We reduced the speed of siege and objective attacks to 3 fields per hour, and with that lowered the speed of most units. Relative to the siege speed they move faster now, giving a bit more response time to defenders.

The second big change is to three units. The archer and horseman will become viable offensive units throughout the game. The longbow becomes a lot cheaper, making it more viable to stack it alongside the spearman.

We hope that this offers more opportunities for early PvP through lower requirements on early offensive armies, and that it provides each units with a more distinct identity.

All unit changes

Melee units

  • Militia
    • Small buff to attack to fit with NPC strength changes.
    • Speed 7 (was 8)
    • Attack 14 (was 12)
    • Costs: wood 50, stone 85 (was 75), iron 60, food 25 (was 35)
  • Spearman
    • Small buff to ranged defenses to make it a better all-round unit with cavalry defense as its strong point.
    • Speed 7 (was 8)
    • Ranged defense 16 (was 12)
    • Costs: wood 120 (was 110), stone 210, iron 150, food 60 (was 70)
  • Swordsman
    • Speed 6 (was 8)
    • Costs: wood 250, stone 420 (was 400), iron 320, food 120 (was 140)
  • Halberdier
    • Made Halberdier more expensive to set them apart from the spearman more. Unlocking Halberdier made the spearman mostly obsolete because their cost per defense was too similar, while being a much better defense per food unit.
    • Speed 6 (was 7)
    • Attack 45 (was 36)
    • Costs: wood 430 (was 380), stone 680 (was 570), iron 520 (was 480), food 200

Ranged units

  • Archer
    • Rebalanced to become a slower attacking unit. Still cheap, but now also powerful enough to mass for an offensive army. The tradeoff is their slower speed and higher food consumption per attack compared to the cavalry archer.
    • Requires Archery Range level 5 (was level 1)
    • Speed 7 (was 8)
    • Attack 20 (was 9)
    • Melee defense 14 (was 9)
    • Ranged defense 12 (was 9)
    • Cavalry defense 6 (was 9)
    • Production 4 (was 3)
    • Costs: wood 160 (was 100), stone 120 (was 70), iron 80 (was 50), food 50 (was 30)
  • Longbow
    • The longbow was much too expensive for the role it's supposed to play. A significant cost reduction and leaving out the early research requirement should make it more accessible when it matters. These changes should also solidify its role as the cheaper ranged defender but of lower quality than the crossbow.
    • Requires Archery Range level 10 (was level 5)
    • No longer requires Armory (was level 1) and the Smithing research
    • Speed 6 (was 8)
    • Ranged defense 28 (was 24)
    • Costs: wood 220 (was 320), stone 160 (was 180), iron 120 (was 140), food 70 (was 80)
  • Cavalry Archer
    • The cavalry archer is a challenging unit to balance. It's high speed and ranged attack style make it both a powerful farmer and attacker. At the start of this beta it was locked behind the city tier, but it was still the only ranged attacker. With the changes to the archer we expect that the cavalry archer will sit in its own niche, with its power offset behind a significant infrastructure investment (City + Military district).
    • Speed 14 (was 18)
    • Attack 140 (was 144)
  • Crossbow
    • The crossbow is a little more expensive to justify the quality and strength of the unit in comparison to the rebalanced longbow.
    • Speed 6 (was 7)
    • Costs: wood 680 (was 620), stone 520 (was 480), iron 360 (was 340), food 200

Cavalry units

  • Horseman
    • The horseman saw no use outside of the early game. With this change it becomes the fastest offensive unit. This should make it viable as a cheap and fast farmer, but with a high food consumption for its overall attack strength. The knight and cataphract remain the powerhouse cavalry units they are.
    • Speed 16 (was 14)
    • Attack 58 (was 36)
    • Ranged defense 42 (was 45)
    • Production 11 (was 10)
    • Costs: wood 320 (was 260), stone 260 (was 200), iron 380, food 160
  • Lancer
    • A small change to round out its defensive profile a bit more.
    • Speed 14 (was 18)
    • Melee defense 60 (was 48)
  • Knight
    • A reduction in attack power makes room for the rebalanced horseman while still offering a good place for the knight compared to the cataphract.
    • Speed 12 (was 14)
    • Attack 140 (was 156)
  • Cataphract
    • Speed 10 (was 12)

Special units

  • Scout
    • Speed 18 (was 20)
  • Settlers and Noble
    • No changes. Keep in mind that Nobles are now faster than siege attacks.
  • Siege and Objective attacks
    • Not a unit, but seems relevant to this list.
    • Speed 3 (was 4)

Features added

  • An overview page was added displaying all trade routes in the Kingdom

Balance changed

  • Combat events now reward Aether based on the size of the event. This makes clearing larger events more worthwhile.
  • The NPC Human faction has seen some changes to their defensive profile, making it more consistent in defensive strength across the board.

Overview page for Kingdom trade routes Overview page for Kingdom trade routes

Improvements made

  • The left sidebar now shows a countdown for when the storage is full, rather than a time when it's full.
  • The maximum number of troops to be queued was increased from 500 to 500 x server speed, so 1500 for x3 speed.
  • Your own Kingdom is now highlighted in the Monument contributions list.
  • Empire members are now highlighted in the statistics.
  • The new Icons now show the correct title when hovering over them.
  • All unit building requirements now link to the Help page of that building, making it easier to find the relevant information.
  • Disabled Safari's auto zoom on selecting a form element.
  • The Empire Incomings page is now open to all members.

Bugs squashed

  • Losing a defensive event no longer rewards full aether regardless of the number of kills.
  • Loyalty now updates based on the army speed (x2 on x3 speed). This was still x1 speed.
  • Scouting losses are once again processed for the attacker.
  • The under attack swords icon once again appears on the Kingdom button.
  • Trade and Kingdom total production stats are now tracked properly.
  • Implemented a fix for several duplication bugs.
  • Calling back partial reinforcements works properly again, instead of always calling back the entire reinforcement.
  • The total reinforcements for an Objective now displays the troops properly with the new faction changes.

Hope to see you in game! Play Aether Kingdoms now!