The fortress has been activated on all worlds and we would like to use this opportunity to explain our intentions for implementing the balancing changes that accompany the launch of the fortress:

Fortress:

Creating a fortress is a massive investment that should be equally rewarding.

Once the fortress has been fully upgraded, it will be 68% stronger than 5 individual villages thanks to its increased unit capacity. Furthermore, its resource production is 38% higher.

It also enables researches that increase the speed and strength of the fortress troops. Experienced tacticians will be able to use this power both offensively and defensively.

Units:

New units: the siege units are supposed to act as a useful addition to the existing units. The battering ram and the catapult are offensive units, while the ballista is a defensive unit.

We also saw the necessity to adjust the existing units to create a proper balance in the distribution of the recruitment and in oder to integrate the siege units into the existing combat system.

Unit adjustments: The units have so far been recruited in a rather unbalanced manner. The axe warriors made up the bulk of the offensive troops, which is why the costs in resources, the upkeep and the recruitment time of all units had to be adjusted. This gives each unit their individual value (resource cost efficiency, upkeep efficiency or high mobility)

Training area adjustments: the recruitment time in the early levels of the training area have been reduced by up to 30%.

Spies: The adjustment of the units have made the use of spies more meaningful again. The daily production of infantry, artillery and cavalry is now balanced, so that it will make sense to scout the composition of the enemy army in order to adjust ones own army accordingly.

Costs of buildings:

The costs of some early levels of buildings have been increased in order to allow new players to more easily grasp which buildings they should upgrade first. We have observed that the chief house, instead of the important resource buildings, was often the first building upgraded.

List in the rune research:

The rune research has been changed to match the building upgrade list and the unit recruitment list in order to merge the systems and to show that the runes will be researched one after the other.

Market:

The current balancing granted villages an exchange rate of 1:1, which made sure that there were few improvements that could have been possible in a fortress. The new balancing will force players in the early stages to work more closely with their tribe and exchange resources. The perfect rate of 1:1 will be achievable later in the fortress and will still give more advanced players a simple way of exchanging resources.

Druids and silver:

Druids and silver were abundantly available to a lot of players and the only shortage that they might have experienced in conquests were the offensive units. The goal of the adjustment was to create a better balance between offensive units, druids and silver, by making it a little harder to gain druids and silver.

Especially in the early stages of the game, players should have access to fewer druids and silver in oder to provide a more consistent game flow. The later game with the fortress’s high resource production and the maximum silver exchange rate of 1:80 will allow for a good and efficient silver production. This allows players with a fortress and upgraded King’s Keep to drastically reduce the costs for silver since the resource is globally available.