It’s been almost a year since we released the first multiplayer build for The Fertile Crescent. That was version 0.4.0. We’ve quietly uploaded new versions since then. Today, we released version 0.4.8!
Bear in mind that there have been so many small changes and improvements that we are only including the most important ones in this feature.
Unit behaviour
Pathfinding has been optimised so that groups of units find their way to their target without affecting performance too much. Group movement also looks better. In addition, groups of units find their way through each other, and they will ask idle units to make way. Lastly, groups of units always travel the speed of the slowest unit in the group.
Ranged units
It was too easy to kite with ranged units against melee units. This has partly been addressed by adding a delay that resets each time a ranged unit finds a new target. Another annoyance was that projectiles would not always hit moving targets, favouring zigzag movement against ranged units. This has also been addressed. Every projectile fired will now hit its target.
Watchtower
This was an important addition to make your base less exposed to enemy raids. It functions like a shield for garrisoned units, in addition to increasing their vision and attack range.
Updated art
We've redrawn environments and buildings, in an attempt to make the game world feel more vibrant.
Bricks and clay pit
Buildings now require bricks for construction. They still require wood, but not as much as before. Bricks must be harvested from a clay pit. You need to construct a clay pit on at least one marshland tile (which is also a new addition).
Removed wealth
We have completely removed wealth as a resource. This has made farming food even more important, since military units now cost food to train (and they still consume food over time in addition).
Larger armies
One important feedback that we have received from the community is that it has been too hard to train and maintain a large army. Players became too preoccupied in just making sure they didn’t starve. Therefore, after testing, we decided to slightly increase the speed of foraging and farming. With the addition of Watchtower, which can increasingly deter and cope with enemy raids, players now have a better opportunity to build up their economy to sustain a larger population. Focusing on research is also a more viable option now.
Longer battles
We have decreased the attack speed of all units. This makes battles less of a click-fest that can end almost instantaneously, like in Starcraft II, which has never been our aim. We want players to have time to react and think strategically.
Map changes
The map generator has been balanced and spawn rates for resources changed. For example, your tribe will always spawn next to some fertile land, and at least one marshland tile, so you can easily construct a clay pit.
Game balance
All units have had their roles redefined and most of their stats tweaked, and there are now 2 tiers of units. The most basic, tier 1 units, can be trained right off the bat. To train tier 2 units, you now have to research Organised Warfare.
Multiplayer regions
In the first multiplayer build you were restricted to the region you automatically connected to, based on your ping. Now you can connect to any region (AU, EU and US). We're also showing some extra data on the connection screen, like the game version, the region you're connected to, and your ping to the connected region.
Other important improvements include
- Menu theme
- Explore the map after a game ends
- Units regenerate health over time
- Better support for 4K monitors
- Automatic villager training
- You have to construct your tribe center
- New food production indicator
- Rock-throwing villagers
- Added sounds controls
- New unit: militia
- New technology: baked clay bricks
The focus has really been on streamlining and polishing the game, and not so much on new content. From here on though, we will slowly focus more and more on new content.
Join our friendly community
Looking for someone to play against? We have a friendly community on Discord with channels for matchmaking:
Interesting, will give it a try.
Let us know your thoughts!