The next update is just around the corner and it's going to be PACKED! First, we'll be bringing back World Conquest mode, which enables large scale wars supporting hundreds of simultaneous players and multiple regions. In additional, we'll also be releasing both a brand new map and vehicle. I'm gonna give you guys a preview of some of these features today!
The tentative release date for the Conquest update will be November 2nd (subject to change).
Disclaimer: Any feature or piece of content shown here is a work in progress and subject to change in the future.
Gunboat
Ever since we introduced the Amphibious Update, players have been asking for ways to make shore landings more viable. One of the top suggestions has been to add a way to bombard a shore before a landing takes place. We all knew it was coming, but I'm happy to announce that the Gunboat will be the next vehicle in Foxhole and it will primarily be used to clear out coastal defenses before amphibious invasions.
The Gunboat has a forward medium range artillery that is effective at taking out stationary targets. At the stern, there is a dual barrel machine gun that is used to fend off raiding parties. While it's inevitable that players will use these vehicles to engage in ship to ship combat, there is definitely room for more naval warfare focused ships in the future.
Colonial Gunboat concept
Rear facing MG
Forward facing artillery
Colonial Gunboat early render (no materials)
Westgate
We spent a lot of time designing and executing the next map for Foxhole. West Gate will be the name of the new map and geographically will be located south of Farranac Coast and west of Upper Heartlands. In terms of layout, it will feature a large vertical coast, a long wall dividing the north and south areas, and a small neutral island to the west. Our goal with this map was to provide multiple strategic options for each side at the start of each game. It's definitely one of the more symmetrical maps we've designed, but after Farranac Coast we were ready for some change.
Initial mood painting for West Gate
The region of Westgate was inspired by the Scottish highlands, the rugged Irish coasts, medieval castles from history as well as fictional keeps like "Dragonstone" from Game of Thrones. Westgate sits at the far western edge of the Bulwark, a large, continental wall built by the Wardens to establish a border between the southern and northern regions.
The Keep will be a claimable structure that acts like an Outpost
Westgate will be the first map to have a unique structure that players can interact with. Near the center of the map there will be a large keep that players can claim like any other world structure. Once claimed, it will provide the same functionality as an Outpost (spawning and stockpiling), but will much more heavily armored and difficult to take down.
Map layout for West Gate (subject to change)
Ladders
We are working on putting ladders into the game that will allow players to climb to elevated areas and out of water. We already have a working prototype and hope to start introducing it into parts of the world soon. Our goal in the long term term is to not constrain players too much in terms of movement and provide more of an unrestricted sandbox environment across the board.
Ladder climbing animations
Ladder climbing mechanics
World Conquest & Campaign Changes
There are going to be two big changes coming in terms of game modes.
First, campaign mode will no longer be restricted to one server. All active servers will now run their own separate campaigns. This should give players playing on all servers a better sense of progress and narrative across wars.
Second, we are finally bringing back World Conquest! World Conquest is a game mode that allows hundreds of players to simultaneously participate in the same war that spans multiple regions. Players are free to travel from one region to another by walking or driving along a border crossing road (and eventually water passages). The war is won by holding all towns across every active region in the war.
This mode was pretty epic back in the pre-alpha days when we tested it out. I'm personally looking forward to seeing it's return. However, we are being cautious on reintroducing it into the game since last time it was a technical challenge in operating the mode. We will most likely start off with smaller scale conquests (3 regions) with minimal features and then work our way up from there. Conquest will initially be available as an event based mode, meaning it will be scheduled to start at a certain time and after it ends it won't restart immediately.
World Conquest is returning!
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