Dev's Diary: Colonies and PvP

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Colonies and PvP - Dev's Diary - Information about the new Colony / PvP mode.

The new Colony (including PvP) mode brings a lot of new features to "The Settlers Online".
The first iteration will be available on Tuesday, November 25th.

First things first: Don't worry - your island stays safe!
PvP won't affect your home island. It's an optional feature.

What are the new features?

• A PvP mode (Conquer Colonies)
• A new and interactive combat system (only on Colony islands)
• Gathering resources by conquering Colonies
• Automatically generated Colony maps
• PvP Colony maps with player defenses
• New buildings, generals, units and items
• Valor Points: Reward for defeating player units on Colonies;
• Can be used to get items for the Colony mode (i.e. special defences, units, etc.)
  

The Colony mode comes with a new Battle System: However, the new system is only used on Colony maps.
Hence, the current system will stay in place.
However, there will be some changes. They are listed here .

Exactly what is changing?
While the current Battle System will be rebalanced and optimised, the game mechanics will stay the same.
The new feature "Colonies" will be based on a new additional Battle System. PvP is part of "Colonies".

Let's get started with a general overview of the new Colony feature.

Colonies are special adventure islands that can be found through explorer search.
They have to be conquered, can be defended and may be stolen by other players.

• The Combat Academy and Combat Armory are used to produce the new Colony soldier weapons and units
• 6 new weapon types and 7 new unit types can be produced with these new buildings
• In order to adjust the home island for the new production chains, it will be temporarily possible to move buildings free of charge

Bandit camps and their positions on Colony islands are generated randomly. It's possible to conquer a fresh Colony adventure island or attack an existing one that belongs to another player. After a Colony island is conquered, defences can (and should ) be built. An island is safe from attack by other players until the "Make it my Colony" button is clicked and confirmed. It will however not produce any resources until then.

After claiming an island as the Colony and confirming the warning pop up, defences can't be adjusted and it cannot be visited by the owner anymore. The reward production will start. A cooldown period follows to make sure that the new Colony cannot be stolen immediately. During the first 12 hours the island cannot be attacked by other players. Defences are rebuilt automatically.

Additional Battle System (in Colony mode)

The current Battle System will stay in place. There will be some changes though, but the mechanics stay the same. The new Battle System will be additional and only be available on Colony islands.

As mentioned above, the new system will consist of many new items. For the first time players will be able to influence the fight directly. Each combat can be watched while it's happening on the map. It is also possible to change the attacking unit type during battle.

Each enemy type should be attacked with the appropriate unit type. I.e. Cavalry attack Archers, Archers deal most damage to Infantry etc. Bandit camps and Marshals can carry different types of units. During a battle, the attacking unit type can be changed; the change will take place only after one of the previous battling units is defeated (and the next one in line is up).

For the first time, Blocking will be a featured tactic and 4 special block units (3 x "Heavy", 1 x "Special") are introduced with the new Battle System.

This is how the battlefield looks like:

1) The Battlefield
The blue units are attacking units, the red ones are the defending units.
On both sides stacks represent the number of units currently fighting.
The red number above the stack indicates how much damage a stack has received.

2) Unit selection
The center of the piece shows the unit type that will be deployed with the next batch.
Clicking on it opens a circular menu to choose the next unit type from the units the general is carrying.

3) Enemy deployment
This indicates which unit type is currently deployed and which unit type will follow.

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Two new buildings belonging to the Colony mode will be added to the game:

• The Combat Armory
  The Combat Armory works much like a Provision House, using the same mechanics and interface.
  It can be found in the Buildings menu.
  Level requirement: 30
  Limited to: 1

• The Combat Academy
  The Combat Academy works like the Barracks, using the same mechanics and interface.
  It can be found in the Buildings menu.
  Level requirement: 30
  Limited to: 1

The new unit types need different weapons. These can be produced using regular resources with the Colony Armory.

Attack Pike
Heavy Mace
Attack Bow
Heavy Crossbow
Heavy Lance
Attack Sabre

The Combat Academy is used to produce the 7 new attack unit types (described below).

Name: Attack Infantry
Type: Melee
Upside: Deals most damage against Cavalry
Description: Attack unit

Name: Attack Archer
Type: Ranged
Upside: Deals most damage against Melee
Description: Attack unit

Name: Attack Cavalry
Type: Cavalry
Upside: Deals most damage against Ranged units
Description: Attack unit

Name: Heavy Infantry
Type: Melee | Block
Upside: None
Description: Unit with many hitpoints. Intended for blocking.

Name: Heavy Archer
Type: Ranged | Block
Upside: None
Description: Unit with many hitpoints. Intended for blocking.

Name: Heavy Cavalry
Type: Cavalry | Block
Upside: None
Description: Unit with many hitpoints. Intended for blocking.

Name: Guardsman
Type: Special | Block
Upside: None
Description: Deals more damage than regular "Heavy" units. Intended for blocking. Available through Valour Points.

For building defences, even more new unit types are available.
They don't have to be produced, they are available in the "Colony Defence Mode".

Name: Mercenary Duelist
Type: Melee
Upside: Deals most damage against Cavalry
Downside: Lower base damage

Name: Mercenary Infantry
Type: Melee
Upside: Constant higher base damage
Downside: None

Name: Mercenary Sharpshooter
Type: Ranged
Upside: Deals most damage against Melee
Downside: Lower base damage

Name: Mercenary Archer
Type: Ranged
Upside: Constant higher base damage
Downside: None

Name: Mercenary Charger
Type: Cavalry
Upside: Deals most damage against Ranged
Downside: Lower base damage

Name: Mercenary Cavlary
Type: Cavalry
Upside: Constant higher base damage
Downside: None

Marshals (Colony Generals) are needed to conquer a Colony.
They have unique skills and are capable of transporting new units to Colony islands.
Some are transporter Generals and can move huge amounts of units.
Others can attack aswell but cannot carry as many units as a transporter General.

Name: Marshal
Max. units: 100 (transport + attack)
Availability: Tavern
Limit: 4

Name: Expedition Supplier
Max. units: 500 (transport only)
Availability: Shop
Limit: 1

Name: Expedition Quartermaster
Max. units: 1.000 (transport only)
Availability: Shop
Limit: 1

A new shop category called "Colonies" will be introduced. Colony related items are listed in this section.
Besides special Marshals, buffs and defence items will also be available.

Name: Boot Camp (Buff)
Description: Speeds up production of weapons in the Combat Academy
Availability: Shop
Costs: Gems

Name: Overdrive (Buff)
Description: Speeds up production of weapons in the Combat Armory
Availability: Shop
Costs: Gems

Name: Cavalry Stronghold (Colony defence building)
Description: An additional defence building. Can be placed on Colonies while setting up defences. Won't be counted against the colony’s defence point limit
Availability: Shop
Costs: Valour Points

Name: Melee Stronghold (Colony defence building)
Description: An additional defence building. Can be placed on Colonies while setting up defences. Won't be counted against the colony’s defence point limit
Availability: Shop
Costs: Valour Points

Name: Ranged Stronghold (Colony defence building)
Description: An additional defence building. Can be placed on Colonies while setting up defences. Won't be counted against the colony’s defence point limit
Availability: Shop
Costs: Valour Points


Name: Medipack
Description: Heals a Marshal on a Colony island. Can only be used a limited number of times per Colony.
Availability: Provision house
Costs: Resources

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Some elements of the old Combat system had to be changed. The list below provides a brief overview of the adjustments.

Important: Basic combat mechanics, adventure unit deployments and low level units were not touched!

• Adventure loot adjustments
  The loots will be changed completely. Instead of weapons, raw materials for producing weapons will be included and the loot will be adjusted to the losses of the particular adventure.
• Epic Raid unit Rebalancing
  Some of the units used in the Epic Raid adventures were rebalanced.
  Hitpoints and Attack damage were changed, some units can deal out Splash Damage.
  Also, the amount of XP for defeated units was adjusted in some cases.
• Unit production times
  The production time of the Elite Soldier, Crossbow Men, Cannoneer and the Cavalry was decreased.
• Resource adjustments
  The production time of the Steel Sword, Titanium Sword, Canon, Gunpowder and Carriage was decreased. Furthermore, the Production costs of Titanium Swords and Canons were decreased as well.
• Adventure Types and Icons
  The adventure types were adjusted and a feedback with concrete icons and colours
  for type and difficulty was added for each adventure.
• Adventure Loot Button
  "Add to Star Menu" and "Add to storage" buttons were implemented for adventure loot mails as well.
• Adventure Searches
  The Adventure searches were adjusted.
  Possibilities were changed and some adventures added / removed.
• Adventure Shop prices
  The shop prices of adventures in the shop were adjusted.
  The selection in the shop was changed as well.

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PvP (player versus player) Video Tutorial - Learn how to become a successful conqueror


The new feature is quite big and Game Design team created a tutorial video to provide you
with a comfortable introduction. So just lean back and watch the video. You can activate subtitles by clicking "settings" button on the lower right of the YouTube control panel.
Select the according language in drop down menu afterwards (see picture on the right).

• Watch the entire video

Jump to different sections of the tutorial:

• Getting Started
• New troops
• Getting an Expedition
• About Expeditions
• The Maps
• New Combat
• End of an Expedition
• Defence Mode

Tipp: Watch the video in high resolution & fullscreen mode