The new content update is out! It was a lot of fun diving back into the code and working with the little heroes again. So much fun, in fact, that I'm happy to announce I'll be making a sorta sequel to the game! I say sorta sequel, because the game will be doing a little genre switch. I wanted to make the games last longer (much longer), increase the activities that the heroes can do (especially during peacetime), and dynamically craft epic story arcs for heroes to take part in. After a lot of thought, I think this new game resembles a colony sim more than an RTS. The autonomous heroes greedily responding to bounties won't change, haha. Enough about the future - back to the present! Here's what you can look forward to in the new version. -- New Hero: The Dwarf. High HP and high attack values, but slow and low defense. (Think more berserker dwarf rather than armored tin-can dwarf.) Dwarves also are able to repair and improve buildings. -- New Hero: The Noble. The noble has pretty medium stats, but has a few special abilities. First, the noble is allowed to insist that monsters fight him one at a time. When the noble activates his Duel ability, then only a single monster will attack him as long as he is Dueling. If another monster had already targeted him, that monster will change missions. Second, the noble is allowed to gather taxes from trading posts. Note that he just keeps these taxes for himself, but it can come back into your economy when he spends it. (Although, note the Noble's Level 10 ability below.) Finally, the noble loves dogs. If he has at least 200 gold and he's nearby a dog, then he will commission a custom set of armor for the dog. This will allow dogs to get to the first level of gear upgrades. -- These two heroes can replace all the functions of the merchant! Well, mostly. When the noble gets taxes, it'll take longer for that money to trickle back into your coffers. (Hint: make sure to bring a dog or two along.) Also, Dwarves might be out adventuring when you want them to repair your burning buildings, since they'll respond to reward flags. (Merchants don't, and repair jobs don't pay particularly well.) So it'll be a little bit of a different game when you go without Merchants, but the Challenging difficulty is quite beatable without them. -- All heroes gain a new ability at level 10. They must first purchase spellcasting at a Wizard Tower. -- Warrior: Taunt. Causes an enemy to target the Warrior. -- Ranger: Multishot. Shoot out 3 arrows at 3 different monsters. -- Wizard: Meteor. A bigger, better fireball. Like the spell cast by the player. -- Cleric: Cursade. Increase the attack, defense, and speed of nearby heroes. -- Bard: Sleep. Puts all nearby enemies to sleep. Monsters will sleep for 5 of their turns or until damage. -- Thief: Backstab. A melee attack that deals massive damage. -- Dog: Howl. All nearby dogs increase their attack and speed. Requires at least two dogs in order to activate. -- Dwarf: Rage. Increases the dwarf's attack and speed. -- Noble: Donate. If the noble has at least 100 gold, then donate all gold to the Guild. -- New building: The graveyard. Once a Guild reaches Lvl 3, it can build a graveyard. This building allows the player to pay 1000 gold and resurrect any hero that has died. This action will anger the old gods - expect reprisals. -- Removed Lore. Research now costs gold instead of lore. All spells are now casted using the scrolls system (this was used for the spells Meteor, Tax Heroes, and Fortify Towers in the previous version). In order to acquire new scrolls, you can do one of four things. -- Explore Ruined Towers and Ruined Libraries. Both offer spell scrolls as one of their drops. -- Build buildings. Certain buildings give scrolls when they finish construction. Alchemist Shop: Heal. Blacksmith: Stoneskin. Trading Post: Tax Heroes. Guild Hall upgrade: Town Portal. -- Build a Wizard Tower. Each wizard tower generates one random spell per day, or two spells once fully upgraded. -- Build a trading post near a Books rare resource. This will generate three random spells per day. -- The warrior's price has increased from 100 gold to 110 gold. -- Heroes that are supporting other heroes or dueling now have tiny icons that pop out to help let you know. -- Research Advanced Spells has been removed. All spells are castable once you get the scrolls. -- The game mode's objective is now displayed in the top right corner of the game screen. -- Support missions gain a small priority bonus for the Bard and Cleric -- There is an additional cooldown upgrade for the Wizard. At level 7, Teleport moves from a cooldown of 120 turns to 100 turns. (Before, it wouldn't improve until lowering to 80 turns at level 10.) -- The campaign map has an exit button