Total War: Warhammer 2 – Das alles steckt im großen WAAAGH!-Update

Parallel zu The Warden & The Paunch ist das große WAAAGH-Update erschienen und überarbeitet die Grünhäute grundlegend. Dazu kommen viele weitere Änderungen.

Das heutige WAAAGH-Update tut viel mehr, als bloß das neue DLC zu aktivieren. Die Grünhäute, die seit dem letzten Patch von Total War: Warhammer 1 kaum Zuneigung von Creative Assembly erhalten haben, bekommen ihre große Generalüberholung. Heruntergebrochen bleibt bei ihren Fraktionsmechaniken nichts beim Alten. Es gibt sogar kostenlose neue Spezialeinheiten, die es nur in für sie in ihrer Kampagne gibt.

Abgesehen von den tiefgreifenden Änderungen für die Grünhäute baut Creative Assembly (abermals) die Weltkarte der Mortal Empires-Kampagne aus. Als Folge daraus verschieben sie die Startposition alter Unterfraktionen und führen neue Unterfraktionen ein, um die Lücken zu füllen. Selbst wer bereits hunderte Stunden Total War: Warhammer 2 gespielt hat, kann sich also über die deutlich veränderten Grünhäute und neue Gebiete zum Erobern freuen.

Darüber hinaus hat das britische Studio grundlegende Spielmechaniken wie den Munitionsverbrauch von Volley- und Salvenfeuer-Waffen, Charateristiken von legendären Kommandenten und Friendly-Fire-Regeln überarbeitet.

Für die Veröffentlichung des neuen DLC gilt wie immer, dass selbst wenn ihr euch The Warden & The Paunch nicht kauft, werden die beiden neuen Fraktionen Yvresse unter Eltharion und der Broken Axe Tribe von Grom dennoch in euren Kampagnen unter KI-Kontrolle auftauchen. Sich von diesen neuen Fraktionen verhauen zu lassen oder sie selbst verhauen zu können, ist also Teil der Basis-Erfahrung von Total War: Warhammer 2.

Alles neu für die Grünhäute

Jede der alten Fraktionsmechaniken der Grünhäute funktioniert mit dem neuen Update nicht mehr so, wie gewohnt. Dazu kommen aber auch neue Mechaniken. Ergo lohnt es sich, die Neuerungen etwas genauer zu betrachten. Zuvor sammelten Fightiness durch Schlachten und Erobern von Siedlungen. Ab einer gewissen Menge von Fightiness löste dies einen WAAAGH! aus, durch den eine KI-kontrollierte Grünhaut-Armee spawnte.

Sammelt Ruf, um einen WAAAGH! ausrufen zu können

Nun weicht Fightiness der neuen RessourceRuf, die man durch Siege in Schlachten ansammelt. Im Gegensatz zu Fightiness sinkt Ruf nicht mit der Zeit, wenn man länger keine Schlachten schlägt.

Allgemein hat die Füllung des Rufmeters Einfluss auf die eigene Fraktion. Bei zu niedriger Füllung gibt es Mali und bei höherer Füllung Vorteile. Erreicht man den maximalen Ruff von 100, kann man einen WAAAGH! per Klick auf den dazugehörigen Button rechts an der Rufleiste ausrufen. Als Nächstes gilt es eine Fraktion beziehungsweise deren Hauptstadt als Ziel des WAAAGH! auszuwählen. Hierbei zeigt einem das Spiel an, an welchem Platz in der Rangliste in Sachen Fraktionsstärke die einzelnen Unterfraktionen stehen. Je mächtiger die Fraktion ist, desto höher sind die Belohnungen, die für einen erfolgreichen WAAAGH! winken. Daraufhin besteht die Wahl, ob dieser Mork oder Gork gewidmet sein soll, was je nach Wahl andere Boni gibt. Ein erfolgreicher WAAAGH! endet mit der Eroberung der Zielhauptstadt, bevor das Zeitlimit für das Event abgelaufen ist.Anschließend gilt es die Stadt noch einige Runden zu halten. Aternativ gilt er auch als erfolgreich, wenn die Stadt während des WAAAGH! niedergerissen wurde.

Alle eigenen Armeen erhalten beim Start des WAAAGH! in einem zweiten Tab einen WAAAGH!-Mob, der mit der Zeit wächst und mit zufälligen Einheiten gefüllt wird, die durch die jeweilige Region und den Fraktionsanführer beeinflusst werden. Kommt es zu Schlacht eilen sie der Hauptarmee als Verstärkung zur Hilfe. Dies ist nur dann nicht der Fall, wenn die Hauptarmee in einen Hinterhalt verwickelt oder abgefangen wird. Nach dem WAAAGH! verschwinden die Mobs sofort. Zudem setzt sich die Rufleiste wieder auf 0 zurück, wenn der WAAAGH! endet. Auch die WAAAGH!-Schlachtfähigkeit wurde überarbeitet und funktioniert jetzt anders als zuvor.

Grünhautschrott zum Upgraden von Einheiten

Alle Grünhaut-Fraktionen können mit der neuen Ressource Schrott Einheiten upgraden, was über das neue Upgrade-Panel geschieht. Ebenso verlangen bestimmte Technologien eine gewisse Menge Schrott. Sammeln lässt sich diese neue Ressource durch das Schlagen von Schlachten und durch Eroberungsoptionen für Siedlungen. Jede Grünhauteinheit kann individuell ein Update erhalten. Dabei hat jede Einheit verschiedene Auswahlmöglichkeiten für Upgrades, die jeweils die bestehende Stärken verbessern oder neue Funktionalitäten freischalten.

WAAAGH-Konföderation

Besiegt eure Grünhaut-Fraktion den Anführer einer anderen Grünhautfraktion in der Schlacht könnt ihr sein gesamtes Herrschaftsgebiet über Konföderation euch einverleiben. Alternativ lässt sich der Anführer exekutieren, sofern er nicht legendär ist, oder freilassen.

Mortal Empires-Kampagne – so ändert sich die Weltkarte

Die Weltkarte der großen Mortal Empires-Kampagne, die die Alte Welt und Neue Welt vereint, wächst abermals weiter. (Zugriff auf diese Kampagne erhalten alle, die sowohl Total War: Warhammer als auch Total War: Warhammer 2 besitzen. Spielbar sind dann sämtliche DLC-Inhalte, die man besitzt.

Gerade die Badlands, das Gebiet im Nordosten der Karte und Heimat vieler Grünhautfraktionen, bekommt ein größeres Update. Die Marshes of Madness kommen als neue Provinz mit den zwei Regionen Floating Village und Morgheim hinzu und erhalten mit dem Strygos Empire einen neuen Besitzer zum Start der Kampagne. Gleichzeitig hat das Strygos Empire jetzt enen namhaften Anführer, den Meister-Nekormanten Kadon. Die alte Startprovinz der Fraktion Zandri gehört jetzt den Top Knotz. Darüber hinaus wurde viel der Gebiete, die vorher den Red Fans und Karak Azul gehörten, an neue Fraktionen übergeben. Die Region Karak Azgal wurde vom großen Drachen, Graug dem Schrecklichen, niedergebrannt und ist daher zum Kampagnenstart eine Ruine. Besser erging es Krak Eight Peaks, das ein Upgrade zu einer Zehnslot-Siedlung bekommen hat.

Darüber hinaus tauchen vier neue Skavenklans tauchen neuerdings in der Alten Welt auf:

• Clan Volkn startet jetzt in den Eastern Badlands
• Clan Ferrik verfügt über tgeile der Zhufbar-Provinz
• Clan Spittel hat sich in Fester Spike eingegraben, eine Region die zuvor Grimhold hieß.
• Clan Kreepus wurde vom Clan Eshin entstandt, um einen bestimmten Warpstone-Meteor nachzujagen.

Auch eine neue Zwergenfraktion gesellt sich dazu – Klan Helhein suchen in der Plain of Bons nach Drachenhorden, was dem dort ansässigen hochelfischen Drachenprinzen Imrik nicht gefallen dürfte. Da der Misty Mountain nun leer ist, hat der Skull Crab-Stamm ihn als seine Hauptstadt angenommen. Als Randnotiz interessant – es gibt mindestens drei neue Landmarks und mehrere neue Regionen für bestehende Provinzen.

Highlight-Video von Creative Assembly

Die großen Highlights des Waaagh-Updates fasst Creative Assembly auch in einem 5 Minuten Video zusammen mit Gameplay zusammen. Das Video geht auch genauer auf die Änderungen am Friendly Fire und dem Munitionsverbrauch von bestimmten Fernkampfeinheiten ein.

Patchnotes zum WAAAGH-Update

Es dürfte nicht überraschend sein, dass ihr oben nicht jede einzelne Änderung am Spiel findet. Dafür listen die Patchnotes sämtliche kommunizierten Änderungen an Total War: Warhammer 2 aus dem WAAAGH!-Update auf. Darunter sind auch viele Balancing- und Spielmechanik-Änderungen für die Fraktionen, die nicht zu den Grünhäuten gehören.

Call to WAAAGH!

The old WAAGH! Mechanics, where a Greenkins army would hit peak Fightiness and spawn a second, AI-controlled companion army, are gone for good. A WAAAGH! is now a huge, factionwide event which mirrors those of legend.

A WAAAGH! is now something players can strategise and plan around, where expertise nets you bigger rewards the bigger the challenge. You now have full control over all aspects of the WAAAGH!

Reputation

• Greenskins now have a factionwide resource called Reputation
• Reputation is generated by fighting battles. Hard-fought defeats grant more Reputation than easy victories
• Reputation does not deteriorate and builds up to a maximum value of 100
• From 0 to 100 the Reputation meter will affect the faction. The more Reputation you get, the more bonuses your faction gets
• Once 100 Reputation is reached, a Call to WAAAGH! can be triggered by the player.

Call to WAAAGH!

• When the player hits 100 Reputation, a Call to WAAAGH! button becomes available
• Clicking this allows you to target an enemy faction’s capital city
• You then choose between following either Gork or Mork, who grant you specific benefits for the duration of the Call to WAAAGH!
• When a Call to WAAAGH! is called, all owned armies will get additional mobs attached to them that will be filled with units up to the number of units in the primary army at that point. WAAAGH! mobs will grow to their full potential over several turns as da boys get ter musterin’!
• Mobs are populated with appropriate units for the region as well as specific units according to the faction leader
• The new WAAAGH! battle ability (see below) is upgraded to a more powerful version during a Call to WAAAGH!
• The Call to WAAAGH! has a set duration.
• Success is achieved if the target capital is player-occupied at the end of the Call to WAAAGH! duration, or razed during the Call to WAAAGH!
• Depending on the culture and strength of the selected enemy, a reward trophy will be granted if successful

WAAAGH! Mobs

• These armies are available for use for the duration of the Call to WAAAGH! and will disperse when it ends
• WAAAGH! Mobs are not led by characters and cannot exist on their own. They will reinforce their primary army in all battles, with the exception of interceptions and ambushes
• At the end of the Call to WAAAGH! the Reputation meter will reset to 0.

A successful Call to WAAAGH!

• A successful Call to WAAAGH! is achieved by either razing the targeted capital or owning it at the end of the duration
• Depending on the success of the Call to WAAAGH! a specific trophy based on the performance of the WAAAGH! will be granted
• If a stronger foe was selected and defeated, the reward is greater
• Trophies are flavoured around different racial groups (Elves, Humans etc.).
• A successful WAAAGH! will also grant you some Reputation straight away instead of leaving you at 0, to continue the momentum towards another future WAAAGH!
• Depending on the strength of the enemy faction you defeated, special WAAAGH! units will be awarded as well.

WAAAGH! Confederation

• Similar to Norsca, if a Greenskin faction leader is beaten in battle his faction can be absorbed through confederation
• Alternatively, the leader can be executed (if not legendary) or released.

WAAAGH! battle ability rework

• Previously Greenskin Lords had a Waaagh! battle ability granting a variety of bonuses to their army, but the ability took too long to unlock in Single Player, and in Multiplayer Quick Battles it encouraged the opponent to snipe the Greenskin Lord thereby removing the ability from the battle.
• To address this, WAAAGH! is now an army ability. Every entity engaged in melee combat generates WAAAGH! points, until the meter is filled and the ability is unlocked for use. The effects have changed from speed and charge buffs to bonus melee attack and damage, plus the Immune to Psychology effect, all of which are more useful for units already engaged in melee.
• The threshold for unlocking the ability scales with army size, so the more units you bring the higher the threshold. It also encourages you to bring larger entity-count units like Goblins; more entities means you generate points quicker (even if Gobbos don’t always survive long enough to see the ability used!)
• In campaign, each Legendary Lord has their own unique WAAAGH! ability that either increases one of the existing effects or adds an additional effect to the normal WAAAGH!. These unique abilities are not available in Multiplayer Quick Battles.

Greenskin Scrap

All Greenskins factions have access to a new resource called Scrap, reflecting their tendency to scavenge items from battles or settlements to inventively improve their gear.

• Scavenge Scrap from battles or through occupation options
• Use Scrap to unlock special technology nodes
• Use Scrap to upgrade units.

Unit Upgrades

Each recruited Greenskin unit can access a new panel where they can benefit from one of several upgrade options

• Upgrading a unit will cost a certain amount of Scrap
• Each unit in your army will be able to choose and keep an upgrade individually
• Each unit will have several different upgrade options, improving unit’s existing strengths or adding new functionality

Greenskin Legendary lord abilities

We also looked at the Greenskins Legendary lords’ abilities and decided some of them needed some love. We added the following abilities to these characters:

• Grimgor
  • Best of Da Best: New defensive ability when enemy characters are near by
  • You’re Next!: Targeted slow and debuff on enemy characters
  • Blood Forged Armour: Magical explosion on himself that also grants Grimgor some armour for a short time
• Azhag
  • Azhag’s ‘Ard Armour: Defensive buff for Azhag and allies nearby
  • Slagga’s Slashas: Passive morale and offensive buff for Azhag and allies nearby
• Skarsnik
  • Fermented Fungi: Targeted debuff on enemy that can cause Rampage
• Night Goblin Warboss
  • Fermented Fungi: Targeted debuff on enemy that can cause Rampage
  • Da Boss’ Loons: Summon some Night Goblin Fanatics to spin into the enemy
• Orc Warboss (also available for other Lords in campaign)
  • Smash ‘Em Faster: Morale and offensive buff for himself and allies nearby
• Goblin Great Shaman
  • Don’t Even Try It: Damage ability that targets an enemy and increases their ability cooldowns
• Goblin Big Boss
  • They Needs Stabbin’: Defensive debuff for targeted enemy character. Also answers the age-old question of “Who needs stabbing?”.

Greenskins Campaign Balance Changes

Grimgor

• Adjustments to initial army placements and diplomacy to improve early-game flow
• New abilities added to skill tree
• Ambush at Thundering Falls quest battle now rewards a Night Goblin Shaman instead of a Goblin Big Boss.

Azhag

• Azhag is now leads a separate faction, the Bonerattlaz, starting in Karak Ungor
• Unique skill line and items have been revamped with new effects
• The first part of his Death Magic line no longer requires the Crown of Sorcery to unlock.
• Now has Suitable Climate: Temperate
• Diplomatic relations bonus with Vampire Counts factions has been improved to +40, and now also applies to Arkhan the Black
• Gains access to a new unique building in Nagashizzar.

Wurrzag

• Jungle and Desert are now Suitable, while Frozen is now Uninhabitable. Even Wurzzag’s vigorous dancing can’t make up for his lack of clothing
• New unique skills
• Adjustments to initial army placement to improve early-game flow

Skarsnik

• Adjustments to initial army placement to improve early-game flow
• New unique skills

All factions

• Raiding Camp stance no longer requires movement points to enter.

General bugfixes and improvements

Quality of Life Changes

• Rites that spawn agents (such as the Pestilent Scheme and the Incantation of Ptra) now spawn the agent at the faction leader, rather than the capital, and can move and act on the turn they are created
• Healing effects now display their total healing (for active abilities) or their healing per second (for constant passives)
• The fast forward option now remembers its state between end-turns
• Preset unit colours given to Lord and Hero unit variants in battle now display on the campaign too
• Confederated lords will now skip directly to the final stage of their quest chains when they reach the required level for their items. This should dramatically reduce the number of cases where quest chains would fail or become uncompletable due to differences in faction mechanics.

Mortal Empires Map Updates

Badlands Update

• Much of the territory previously belonging to the Red Fangs and Karak Azul has been distributed to new factions
• New Province: Marshes of Madness, with two new regions (Floating Village and Morgheim)
• The Strygos Empire has relocated to the new Marshes of Madness province. Its former holdings in Zandri are now occupied by the Top Knotz. In addition, The Master Necromancer leading the faction has resolved his identity crisis, and is now named Kadon
• Karak Azgal has been burned to the ground by the great dragon, Graug the Terrible, and now starts the campaign abandoned
• Karak Eight Peaks is now a ten-slot settlement.

New factions

• Four new Skaven factions have appeared in the Old World!
  • Clan Volkn have emerged from their warrens beneath Fire Mountain, and now control parts of the Eastern Badlands
  • Clan Ferrik have claimed parts of Zhufbar province
  • Clan Spittel can be found in Fester Spike, the region of the Grey Mountains previously known as Grimhold
  • Clan Kreepus have been dispatched by their masters, Clan Eshin, in pursuit of a certain Warpstone meteorite…
• The Dwarfs of Clan Helhein, exiled from their home in the Dragonback Mountains, have headed to the Plain of Bones in search of dragon hoards – much to the distaste of a certain Dragon Prince…
• In the absence of its former rotund master, the Skull Crag tribe have claimed Misty Mountain as their capital.

New Landmarks

• Fortress of Vorag – Tower of the Bloodytooth
• Darkhold – Graves of the Dragons
• Ka Sabar – City of Bronze
• …And more to find!

Other

• New region in Northern World’s Edge Mountains: Karak Raziak. Khazid Irkulaz has moved to Peak Pass province
• Two new regions added to Yvresse: Shrine of Loec and Tralinia
• New Port region in Gnoblar Country: Shattered Cove
• Dragon Isles: Dread Rock, Shattered Stone Isle, and Dragon Fang Mount are all now port settlements.

Campaign Balance Changes

High Elves

Teclis

• +5 recruit rank now applies to Loremasters and Archmages
• Diplomatic relations bonus now also applies to Wood Elves, Lizardmen and Dwarfs
• Now receives -25% recruit cost for Phoenixes and Swordmasters of Hoeth
• Now receives -25% building cost for Mage-related buildings
• Teclis now starts with a Loremaster hero in both Vortex and Mortal Empires
• Teclis now starts at war with Clan Fester in Mortal Empires campaigns
• Teclis’ Manifold Sorcery skill is no longer factionwide, Archmages have their own flavour of cost reduction!

Alarielle

• Now receives a -25% cost reduction to Intrigue at Court actions, in addition to previous effects
• Alarielle’s ‘Power of Nature’ bundle now grants 1 influence per turn for each region under its effects
• Alarielle’s rites have been revamped:
  • Rite of Lileath
  • -30% cooldown to all spells (all armies)
  • Enables ability: Channelling Spire (all armies)
  • +50% magic item drop chance (all armies)
  • Invocation of Isha
  • Replaced by Greater Invocation of Isha, which provides Regeneration to all Tree Spirit units, in addition to existing effects

High Elf Influence Rebalance

• The ‘Secure Influence’ agent action now provides Influence per turn for 5 turns, rather than a single lump sum
• This is intended to make constant use of agent actions less necessary for optimal Influence generation
• The Embassy building now grants +2 influence per turn
• The ‘Release Captives’ bundle now provides +1 Influence per turn from armies on which it is active
• Most 60-cost Influence traits have been rebalanced. Certain stackable campaign effects (notably Administrator and Entrepeneur) have had their effects reduced, while others – particularly character-only battle effects – have been strengthened
• The +1 Influence per turn effect on the Court of the Phoenix King has been replaced by a 10% cost reduction to all Intrigue at Court actions
• Generic characters now never start the campaign with a negative influence trait

Unit unlocks changes

• Spearmen and basic Archers are now available from tier 1 of the main settlement chain.
• Lothern Sea Guard (unshielded) are now additionally available from tier 3 Elven Colony buildings and tier 3 ports
• Archers (Light Armour) are now available from the tier 1 version of the Barracks (was tier 2)
• Shadow Warriors recruitment time reduced from 2 to 1

Other

• The Gunnery Wight’s Cacklefruit skill no longer replaces bomb throw. You can have both!
• Miners with blasting charges now count as melee units instead of missile units for bonuses.
• Blood Voyage armies now receive army-wide Frenzy
• If Har Ganeth is an AI faction, only the Lord of a Blood Voyage army will be Unbreakable, not the entire army
• Channeling Stance (as well as variants such as Blessing of Lileath) now requires less movement to enter
• Ungrim no longer grants +30% casualty replenishment for slayers in his army, this has been replaced by a unique passive “Journey’s End” which prevents slayers from dying until they lose at least 50% of their HP
• Tier 3 Tomb King Barracks now grants an additional +2 unit capacity for Nehekharan warriors
• Ravenous expansion skill for Skaven: Reduced factionwide settlement income from 20%/40% -> 2%/4%

Battle Balance Changes

Contact effects and friendly fire

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… You’ve recruited a fresh-faced group of Chameleon Skinks to support your Saurus push. The lines clash and the Skinks start volleying the enemy, then you realise you’ve poisoned your own troops… again!

Poison and other contact effects on ranged weapons have long been a double-edged sword. Friendly fire meant you could poison your own troops just as readily as the enemy’s, leaving you with a zero-sum result. With this update friendly fire will still cause damage, but will never inflict debilitating contact effects on your own units. This also applies to vortices, bombardments and other sources of friendly fire debilitation… all except for Poisoned Wind. Because Skaven!

Strider Rework

Strider has long been an estranged attribute, providing niche benefits that were hard to take advantage of.  We’ve significantly expanded its behaviour with this rework.

Old Strider:

• The unit ignores forest penalties if it is large and water penalties if it is small.

New Strider:

• The unit ignores terrain-inflicted stat penalties (same as the old behaviour)
• Units aren’t slowed down by hills and other slopes
• Units don’t take a penalty for fighting uphill
• Units don’t tire quicker when moving up slopes
• Units can pass through trees.

Woodsman Attribute

The Woodsman attribute is an offshoot of this Strider attribute that grants only the ability to pass through trees, this attribute is available on all ground units belonging to the Wood Elves and Beastmen, as well as these additional units:

• White Lions of Chrace
• Alastar The White Lion (on foot)
• Markus Wulfhart
• Huntsman General
• Huntsmen
• Amber Wizard (on foot/warhorse/barded warhorse)

Strider units now feel more snappy and responsive. Being able to rocket up the hills that dot almost all maps without losing pace while passing through trees allows them unparalleled mobility within densely forested areas.

As part of reworking strider, we’ve also re-evaluated where it is available. It is now granted by certain ancillaries, and the following units now gain Strider:

• Dire Wolves
• Maws of Savagery (Skin Wolves – Armoured)
• The Direpack (Dire Wolves)
• Norscan Ice Wolves
• Skin Wolves
• Skin Wolves (Armoured)
• Chaos Warhounds
• Chaos Warhounds (Poison)
• Norscan Warhounds
• Norscan Warhounds (Poison)
• Beasts of Tashnar (Norscan Warhounds)
• The Claw of Nagash (Mortis Engine)
• Mortis Engine
• Death Runners
• Eshin Triads
• Eshin Assassins
• Master Assassins
• Deathmaster Snikch
• Eshin Sorcerer

Volley/Burst Fire Weapon Ammunition Consumption Rework

Previously, if a unit was interrupted during a volley or burst fire attack, they would lose any remaining ammunition in that volley or burst. This was especially punishing for units like Warpfire Throwers and Ratling Guns.

These units will now correctly retain the ammunition that they didn’t fire when they were interrupted, so they don’t lose out on any damage potential.

This change affects the following units:

• Red Crested Skink Chief
• The Thunderous One (Ancient Stegadon)
• Ratling Guns
• Teeth-Breakers (Ratling Guns)
• Death Dealers (Ratling Guns)
• The Noble Sons Abroad (Pistoliers)
• The Black Lions (War Wagon – Helblaster)
• Razordon Hunting Pack
• Amaxon Barbs (Razordon Hunting Pack)
• Razordon Hunting Pack (Summoned)
• Master Assassin
• Tiranoc Chariot
• Skink Chief
• Skink Priest (Beasts)
• Skink Priest (Heavens)
• Ancient Stegadon
• The Sunmaker (Helstorm Rocket Battery)
• Skyhammer (Gyrobomber)
• Organ Gun
• Gyrobomber
• Helblaster Volley Gun
• Helstorm Rocket Battery
• Pistoliers
• Gallows Giant (Necrofex Colossus)
• Ikit Claw
• The Doombringers (Warpfire Throwers)
• Warpfire Throwers
• Irondrakes

Splash Damage Calculation Fixes

We’ve addressed two important bugs with our Splash Damage system relating to how damage is calculated.

• The first bug was that during a single attack animation, if there were multiple splash attack zones, an entity could be damaged twice. This was unintentional and a single entity should only be able to take damage once from a single attack animation. This has now been fixed and entities that are damaged during an attack animation are immune to any other damage from that same attack.
• The second bug was that attack animations with multiple splash attack zones would do multiplicative damage in correlation with the number of splash zones. So a unit which deals 100 damage but has 2 splash zones could deal up to 200 damage (100 for each zone). This has now been altered in order to mitigate the extra damage provided from additional splash zones. Each subsequent splash zone now has diminishing returns by dealing less damage than the previous one (but only if the previous zone did damage to an entity).

Bug Fixes

Campaign

• Fixed multiple end turn crashes
• Fixed a crash when loading particular save games when playing as Malus
• Fixed a soft lock that could occur when pressing escape with a dilemma open
• Fixed a crash that occurred when rapidly mousing between Tzarkans Whisper and normal mission elements
• Loading time for the Empire Minor Settlement Crossroads map significantly improved. Middle forest restructured – now consists of 3 thin strips. Sigmar statue and cliff sizes drastically reduced
• Improved load times and performance of the Lord Kroak quest battle / Lord Kroak’s Temple subterranean (custom) battle. Smoothed cinematic transition to gameplay in the quest battle.
• Upkeep penalty is now updated correctly when disbanding the first recruited army
• Fixed several characters and units missing attrition immunities
• ‘Diplomacy with all factions’ now actually includes all factions
• Fixed several instances of missions not accepting Regiments of Renown or equipment-variant units for completion
• All settlements in the vortex campaign should properly grant ritual resources for the relevant factions
• Teleport to quest battle can now correctly be used from the events panel
• Fixed an issue with the event feed display for battle results which included a faction that has been confederated after that battle
• Fixed an issue with list indentation in the recruitment panel
• Fixed an issue where some lord recruit rank bonuses weren’t applying when replacing legendary lords
• Fixed several instances of buildings granting extra benefits when damaged
• The fast-forward end-turn button will now remember its setting
• Character rank-up button will now correctly open skills tab in character details panel
• Rites can no longer be performed while characters are moving
• Fixed an issue that allowed the AI to keep attempting Vortex rituals despite the player already having finished the final battle and conquered the vortex
• The Cunning trait now also grants its ambush success bonus in enemy territories
• Removed requirement for a faction to not be allowed to capture territory and yet be far from capital to allow the Lazy and Far From Home traits to be unlockable
• Sword of Khaine now displays the correct values for its diplomatic penalties in all situations
• Dilemmas will now update correctly when influence changes as they are triggered
• The High Elf ancillary Advisor to the King can now be correctly assigned to any High Elf lord
• Intrigue at Court drop-downs will no longer have text extending outside of them
• Invocation of Hoeth now correctly applies its experience effects to Mages with the Lores of Shadows and Heavens.
• Alith Anar’s Hand of the Shadow Crown hero can now search ruins and now correctly shows that he increases the discoverability of local Under-Cities
• Loremasters of Hoeth can now equip Arcane Items
• Greenskins can no longer build two versions of the Beast Lairz building in major settlements with the Pastures resource.
• Dark Elf version of the Tower of Hoeth landmark now allows recruitment of Medusae and adds a Sorceress to the garrison
• The Skaven Brightstone Mine landmark at Mount Gunbad now also applies its benefits to Doom-Flayers
• Black Ark Admirals can now gain traits and the Sword of Khaine
• Greenskin Big Bully trait now correctly applies its effects when on a hero
• The landmark port on the Dragon Isles no longer provides tradable resources for Greenskins since they don’t trade or extra money for Tomb Kings
• Battle site markers should now correctly increase the Raise Dead pool-size
• Vampire Counts can no longer raise dead at sea immediately after attacking and occupying a coastal settlement
• Fixed several Vampire Coast unique settlements missing advanced wall tower projectiles
• Bloated Corpse now has terror to match the bullet point
• Vampire Coast recruit rank effects now longer reference Unit Experience instead of Recruit Rank
• Luther Harkon’s leadership bonus version Lizardmen is now correctly displayed in the Lord Effects category in the faction select screen
• Heroes can no longer gain the Sea Legs trait, which provided them no benefit
• THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE CHIEF DOOMCLAW
• The Skaven skills Dictatorial and Corruptive now correctly lock each other out for Shadow & Blade characters
• Snikch will now automatically equip the Whirl of Weeping Blades on mission completion
• Warlock Engineers should no longer be able to equip Doomwheel Assembly Module as this was never intended
• Black Hole Flayers now have access to the Brass Orb ability in campaign
• Under-Empire discoverability tooltip will no longer stick around when rapidly mousing on and off the discoverability bar
• Clan Eshin’s buildings in El-Kalabad will no longer be overwritten by Empire buildings when playing as Tiktaq’To
• Adjusted short campaign victory objectives for Clan Eshin
• Other Skaven no longer steal-take unique landmark at Eight Peaks from Clan Mors
• When mousing over the contract available icon on the Shadowy Dealings HUD bar, the clan reputation tool tip will no longer appear
• Clan contract button for Clan Eshin will now close the panel if it is already open
• UI will no longer snap back to the top after scrolling down and upgrading a unit in Ikit’s Claw’s Forbidden Workshop.
• Skrolk’s Liber Bubonicus now correctly reduces the cost of the Clan Pestilens version of the Pestilent Scheme
• Skaven Warp Grinders no longer count as Missile Infantry
• Fixed issue where Skaven factions confederating with each other couldn’t remove undercities from settlements which they have newly acquired
• Fixed an issue where unclickable man-thing appeared in settlements after Doomsphere detonation!
• Red Crested Skink Chiefs no longer lose all their attrition immunities when mounted on an Ancient Stegadon
• Reinforcement events for the Empire will no longer incur a trespassing penalty
• Amber Wizard now uses Green Griffon mount in both campaign and custom battles
• Wulfhart’s Hunters no longer have a chance to have their unique traits replaced by vanilla ones
• The Huntsmarshal’s Expedition will now start with Wulfhart’s Hunters when an AI faction
• Volkmar no longer has a hidden 75% discount on elector units
• Fixed an issue preventing The Red Duke from benefiting from certain technologies and effects when confederated
• Fixed the vampire hero trait Master of the Black Arts not granting Spirit Leech as stated
• Vampire Lore of Shadows casters now gain bonuses from corruption effects (leadership)
• Black Knights with lances and barding now properly display Armoured and Shielded instead of just Armoured in their bullet points
• Norscan characters will now use the updated WARHAMMER II character traits
• Fixed an issue causing many effects that stated Warriors of Chaos to also affect Norscan factions
• The trait Maimed Arm now provides its defence benefit for heroes as well, instead of just providing a flat penalty
• Hellebron’s Palace no longer grants -1 recruitment duration for Witch Elves
• Beastmaster skill Sorceresses of Ghrond now applies its recruitment time reduction to Bloodwrack Shrines.
• Beastslaver and Whiplash are now swapped on the Beastmaster’s skill tree
• Unique items in the Mortuary Cult panel no longer state that they are repeatable
• Arkhan the Black’s The Tomb Blade of Arkhan quest battle now has Arkhan the Black as the lord leading the battle
• Fixed the Regiment of Renown variants of Nehekharan Warriors, Nehekhara Horsemen and Necropolis Knights not gaining the bonuses that apply to their base unit
• The Bretonnian technologies that affect Norsca should now function correctly
• Grail Reliquaes no longer count as war machines
• Awakening of the Wood skill now has a spell ability on its tooltip
• Armies can no longer clip into the mountains on Dread Rock island
• Elector counts tooltip will no longer cut off in multiple languages.

Battle

• Fixed an issue that could cause abilities to persist indefinitely if they granted healing and a unit hit their maximum healing capacity while they were ongoing
• Vortex spells damage calculation no longer uses missile damage defense from target
• Fixed an issue with army spell targeting for vortex when the unit target is over buildings
• Projectiles should no longer fall short of their target when shooting from extreme ranges
• Fixed an issue where units would not fire on targets when shooting from extreme ranges
• Fixed some instances where projectiles and firing arcs did not match
• Ammo counts will now take into account burst size
• Artillery engine base missile damage is now being modified correctly
• Decoy units will now use their parent’s leadership value for their leadership bar
• Fixed instances where Dark Elves ability Guardian could stack
• Durkit’s Squigs (Night Goblin Squig Hoppers) no longer count as melee infantry
• Repanse’s Halo of Maidenly Wrath is now classified as an Explosion rather than an Augment (Area)
• Henri Le Massif (Hippogryph) is no longer missing the Siege Attacker trait
• The Virtue of Duty now works when applied by a Hero character
• Fixed an attack animation on Malus that causes him to slide after performing the attack
• Fixed an issue where Deck Dropper Gunners didn’t appear to be holding pistols when idle
• Fixed an issue where a variety of mounted units were not producing blood effects when hit
• Depth Guard will no longer dismember
• Malus’s transition into Tz’arkan is now visually smoother
• Fiery Convocation’s Phoenix model no longer vanishes when zoomed out
• The intro cinematics for Hand of Gods, Sunfang and Dragon Armour of Aenerion quest battles will no longer incorrectly show blood and gore stumps
• Fixed an issue where Norscan Marauders with Great Weapons weren’t animating correctly when fighting as part of a Rogue Army
• Fixed an issue with the training level of all units in the game. We figured out that there was some undesirable behaviour that was occurring as a result of the training level of units in the database being set to various different values. All units have been set to the same value so that the field no longer subtly alters unit behaviour behind the scenes.
• The ability Spinning Loons is no longer visible for enemy players, which means that it’s a lot trickier to find out whether a unit of Night Goblins contains Fanatics. This realises the original design intention of the unit
• High Elf Dragon Mounts, Lothern Sea Guard and Phoenix Guard units now have faction colours
• Empire Archers and the Deathjacks now have different textures to distinguish them from one other
• Fixed a few instances of selection banners clipping into units
• Fixed an issue where High Elf Mages riding Ithilmar Chariots were incorrectly scaled.

Multiplayer

• Fixed an instance where the Chaos invasion in multiplayer campaign would not occur correctly until the game was reloaded
• Players can no longer use campaign-exclusive units in custom or multiplayer battles using the unit cap option.
• Certain combinations of players and difficulty settings in Vortex campaign will no longer result in one player starting with additional armies and settlements
• Loading a mutliplayer save game will no longer show the host’s faction name as blank on the client’s screen.

Unit Balancing

Bug fixes

Fixed several instances of RoR being subtly different from their base unit at rank 9.

• Da Rusty Arrers (Night Goblin Archers): Morale 45 -> 50
• Soulcrusher (War Mammoth): Base Reload Time Reduction 10 -> 30
• Skyhammer (Gyrobomber): Base Reload Time Reduction 20 -> 30
• The Shredder of Lustria (Dread Saurian): Base Reload Time Reduction 10 -> 30
• The Black Spot (Zombie Pirate Gunnery Mob – Handguns): Base Reload Time Reduction 10 -> 30
• Chosen of the Gods (Ushabti – Great Bow)Base Reload Time Reduction 10 -> 30
• Ekrund Miners (Miners – Blasting Charges): MA 26 -> 27
• The Tattersouls (Flagellants): MD 16 -> 17
• Blackhole Flayers (Doom-Flayers): MD 28 -> 29
• Dwarf-Thing Menace (Doom-Flayers): MD 28 -> 29
• The Doombringers (Warpfire Throwers): Base Reload Time Reduction 15 -> 30

Unit Name Adjustments

• The names of all Chariot units have been pluralised to better reflect the fact that chariot units are comprised of more than one chariot on most unit sizes.
• Chaos Knight (Lances) found his mates and is now Chaos Knights (Lances).

Visual Improvements

• The Coming of Grom has prompted Alastar the White Lion to wield a flashy new axe that he actually had the entire time, but simply didn’t tell anyone about.

Beastmen

• Razorgor Chariots:

Cost decreased from 1100 to 1000

Now have a slightly different unit category icon

• Razorgor Herd:

Cost increased from 550 to 600

• Minotaurs (Shields):

Decreased Melee Defence from 46 to 45

• Butchers of Kalkenguard (Minotaurs – Shields):

Decreased Melee Defence from 57 to 56

Bretonnia

• Royal Hippogryph Knights:

Now have their own unit category icon

• Questing Knights:

Increased Melee Defence from 37 to 38

• Companions of Quenelles (Questing Knights):

Increased Melee Defence from 45 to 46

Cost increased from 1500 to 1550

• Green Knight:

Cost decreased from 1900 to 1800

• Pegasus Knights:

Increased Melee Attack from 32 to 34

Increased Anti-Large from 10 to 12

Dark Elves

• Scourgerunner and Cold One Chariots:

Can no longer hide in forests

• Ravagers of Rakarth (Scourgerunner Chariots):

Reload reduction reduced from 30 to 10

• Scourgerunner Chariots and Ravagers of Rakarth (Scourgerunner Chariots):

Added both units to the Units with 360 Degree Fire Arc cap

• Sisters of Slaughter:

Decreased Melee Defence from 59 to 57

• Slaanesh’s Harvesters (Doomfire Warlocks):

Cost increased from 1400 to 1450

• Darkshards:

Cost reduced from 600 to 575

• Darkshards (Shields):

Cost reduced from 675 to 650

• Bloodwrack Medusa:

Increased Melee Attack from 30 to 34

• The Siren of Red Ruin (Bloodwrack Medusa):

Increased Melee Attack from 38 to 43

• Malekith (mounted on Seraphon):

Decreased Physical resistance from 20% to 15%

• Kharibdyss:

Increased HP from 9458 to 10400

Cost decrease from 1800 to 1700

• Witch Elves on Cauldron of blood and Bloodwrack Shrine:

Riders now use corrected Weapon Profiles, so their daggers will no longer deal the same damage as the vehicle does when ramming into enemies

Dwarfs

• Flame Cannon:

Cost decreased from 1350 to 1300

• Rangers (Great Weapons):

Ammunition increased from 8 to 12

• Gyrobomber:

Added contact effect Suppressed to projectiles

Increased missile projectile explosion radius from 1m to 2m

• Skyhammer (Gyrobomber):

Added contact effect Suppressed to projectiles

Increased missile projectile explosion radius from 1m to 2m

Empire

• Griffons:

Attack metadata reworked to make Griffons more effective against large groups of enemies

• Empire General’s (mounted on Griffon):

Cost reduced from 900 to 800

• Demigryph Knights:

Now have their own unit category icon

• Boris Todbringer (mounted on an Imperial Griffon):

Gained innate ability Bloodroar.

• Crossbowmen:

Cost reduced from 500 to 475

• Helstorm Rocket Battery:

Cost reduced from 1100 to 1050

• Helblaster Volley gun:

Cost reduced from 1100 to 1050

• Reiksguard:

Increased Melee Defence from 28 to 29

• Zintler’s Reiksguard (Reiksguard):

Increased Melee Defence from 36 to 37

• War Wagons:

Increase Base missile damage from 3 to 5

Increased AP missile damage from 15 to 25

• War Wagons (Mortars):

Increased Ammunition from 16 to 22

Increased Range from 340 to 380

• Luminark of Hysh:

Increased Armour from 40 to 60

Increased HP from 4228 to 4648

• Templehof Luminark (Luminark of Hysh):

Increased Armour from 40 to 60

Increased HP from 4228 to 4648

Greenskins

All Lord characters have 150 cost increase now that WAAAGH! has been built into the faction and no longer needs to be taken as a separate ability.

• Night Goblin Warboss: 400 → 550
• Night Golbin Warboss on Great Cave Squig: 850 → 1000
• Skarsnik: 1050 → 1200
• Wurrzag: 550 → 700
• Wurrzag on Spleenrippa: 850 → 1000
• Azhag the Slaughterer: 800 → 950
• Azhag on Skullmuncha: 1600 → 1750
• Goblin Great Shaman: 300 → 450
• Goblin Great Shaman on Giant Wolf: 500 → 650
• Grimgor Ironhide: 1250 → 1400
• Orc Warboss: 850 → 1000
• Orc Warboss on War Boar: 1150 → 1300
• Orc Warboss on Wyvern: 1500 → 1650
• Black Orcs:

Colours overridden for all factions so that the unit appears more lore-friendly

• Skarsnik and Night Goblin Warboss:

Now have Vanguard Deployment by default

• Grimgor Ironhide:

Increased entity size

• Skarsnik:

Increased speed from 34 to 35

Increased Base Melee Damage from 110 to 115

Increased Armour-Piercing Melee Damage from 275 to 300

• Azhag (mounted on Skullmuncha):

Melee Defence: 24 -> 32

• Arachnarok Spider:

Decreased Armour from 150 to 120

Increased HP from 9124 to 10029

Increased Melee Attack from 54 to 58

• The Arachnarok Queen (Arachnarok Spider):

Decreased Armour from 150 to 120

Increased HP from 9124 to 10029

Increased Melee Attack from 66 to 70

• Night Goblins (Fanatics):

Cost increased from 450 to 500

• Night Goblins Archers (Fanatics):

Cost increased from 525 to 575

• Da Eight Peak Loonies:

Cost increased from 600 to 650

• Night Goblin Squig Hoppers:

Increased Melee Attack from 23 to 25

• Durkit’s Squigs (Night Goblin Squig Hoppers):

Increased Melee Attack from 30 to 32

• Deff Creepers (Forest Goblin Spider Rider Archers):

Cost decreased from 650 to 600

• Moon-Howlers (Goblin Wolf Riders):

Cost decreased from 450 to 425

• Doom Diver:

Cost increased from 950 to 1000

• Orc Boar Boyz:

Increased Armour from 55 to 65

• Savage Orc Boar Boyz:

Increased Armour from 25 to 35

• Orc Boar Boy Big ‘Uns:

Increased Armour from 75 to 85

• Savage Orc Boar Boy Big ‘Uns:

Increased Armour from 25 to 35

• Broken Tusk Mob (Orc Boar Boy Big ‘Uns):

Increased Armour from 90 to 100

High Elves

• Chariot Model & Metadata Fixes:

We have made adjustments to the metadata of the following units because it was observed that they were over-performing in combat:

• Noble on Ithilmar Chariot
• Mage on Ithilmar Chariot
• Ithilmar Chariot Spearman

We discovered that the metadata zones that dictate the area where the unit can logically attack and hit targets in melee were scaled and positioned incorrectly. These issues have been fixed so that the logical attack areas (splash attack zones) of these units are much more in-line with the visual attack animations performed in melee combat.

Also, in battle, these units now use a new variation of the chariot model in that has the banner moved over to the side, in order to prevent the mounted characters from clipping into it.

• High Elf Mages – New Lores of Magic:

Added new spell lore options for High Elf Mages: Beasts, Death, Fire & Metal

The Fire Mage has a Sun Dragon mount which no other Mages get

All Mages now have preset colours that match their associated lore

• New Mounts:

Added a White Lion Chariot mount for Alastar the White Lion

Added an Arcane Phoenix mount for Teclis

Added a Griffon Mount for both the Prince and Princess

• Princes, Princesses and Alastar the White Lion:

No longer gain Martial Prowess when mounted on a Great Eagle

• Princesses and Handmaidens:

Can now fire on the move in a 360 degree arc when on foot

• Noble:

Great Eagle mount cost increased from 400 to 550

• Tyrion:

Replaced Martial Prowess with Martial Mastery

• White Lions of Chrace:

Increased HP per entity by 2

Increased Melee Defence from 24 to 28

Decreased Charge Bonus from 22 to 18

• The Puremane Company (White Lions of Chrace):

Increased HP per entity by 2

Increased Melee Defence from 32 to 36

Decreased Charge Bonus from 22 to 18

• Ellyrian Reaver Archers:

Cost decreased from 750 to 700

• Heralds of the Wind (Ellyrian Reavers – Bows):

Increased Melee Defence from 29 to 31

Cost decreased from 1000 to 900

Lizardmen

• Ripperdactyl Riders:

Increased Melee Defence from 22 to 23

• Colossadon Huntes (Ripperdactyl Riders):

Increased Melee Defence from 29 to 30

Norsca

• Frost Wyrm:

Increased Melee Attack from 44 to 45

Increased Melee Defence from 40 to 41

• Skin Wolf Werekin:

Cost decreased from 1200 to 1150

• War Mammoth:

Cost reduced from 2200 to 2100

• War Mammoth (Warshrine):

Cost reduced from 2300 to 2100

Gained attribute Encourage

Skaven

• Plague Monks:

Increased Melee Defence from 24 to 25

• Plague Monk Censer Bearers:

Increased Melee Defence from 24 to 25

• Blightscab’s Plaguepack (Plague Monk Censer Bearers):

Increased Melee Defence from 24 to 25

• Stormvermin (Sword & Shield):

Increased Melee Attack from 36 to 38

• Stormvermin (Halberds):

Increased Melee Attack from 24 to 25

• Council Guard (Stormvermin – Halberds):

Increased Melee Attack from 31 to 32

• Poison Wind Mortar:

Poison Wind contact effect: Max number of entities lowered from 32 to 28

Accuracy increased slightly

Tomb Kings

• Liche Priest (Shadows):
• Now available for Custom Battles in the Campaign-Exclusive Units section
• Nehekara Warriors:

Increased Melee Defence from 21 to 22

• Necrosphinx:

Increased Leadership from 45 to 50

• The Spinx of Usekph (Necrosphinx):

Increased Leadership from 55 to 60

• Necropolis Knights:

Increase Base damage from 20 to 21

Increased AP damage from 38 to 40

Increased Melee Defence from 38 to 41

Decreased cost from 1500 to 1450

Vampire Coast

• Bloated Corpses:

Now have a new tooltip that explains their ability

• Rotting Prometheans:

Cost reduced from 1100 to 1050

• Deck Droppers (Bombers):

Cost reduced from 550 to 500

• Deck Droppers (Handguns):

Cost reduced from 750 to 700

• Salt Lord Scuttlers (Deck Droppers – Bombers):

Cost reduced from 800 to 750

Vampire Counts

• Vargheists:

Increased Melee Defence from 24 to 25

• The Devils of Swartzhafen (Vargheists):

Increased Melee Defence from 31 to 32

• Hexwraiths:

Increased Melee Defence from 22 to 23

• The Chillgheists (Hexwraiths):

Increased Melee Defence from 31 to 32

• Terrorgheist:

Increased Melee Attack from 26 to 36

Reduced Anti Large from 35 to 25

Increased cost by 50

• Strigoi Vampire Lord (mounted on Terrorgheist):

Increased Melee Attack from 37 to 42

Reduced Anti Large from 35 to 25

Increased cost by 50

• Strigoi Ghoul King (mounted on Terrorgheist):

Increased Melee Attack from 32 to 40

Reduced Anti Large from 35 to 25

Increased Melee Defence from 40 to 42

Increased cost by 50

Warriors of Chaos

• Gorebeast Chariots:

Now have their own unit category icon

• Chaos Sorcerer Lord (all lores & mounts):

Leadership increased from 65 to 70

• Chaos Trolls (Armoured):

Cost decreased from 1000 to 950

• Hellcannon:

Increased artillery piece HP from 1700 to 1950

Accuracy increased slightly

• The Soul of Damnation (Hellcannon):

Increased artillery piece HP from 1700 to 1950

Accuracy increased slightly

• The Daemonspew (Forsaken):

Increased Melee Interval from 3.6 to 4.3

Decreased base Melee Damage 46 to 44

Increased Armour-Piercing Melee Damage from 12 to 14

Wood Elves

• Dryads:

Increased Melee Defence from 24 to 25

• Treekin:

Increased Melee Attack from 25 to 26

• Firebark Elders (Treekin):

Increased Melee Attack from 32 to 33

Spells and Abilities

Projectile spell damage reliability

Previously these abilities had a hidden rule which prevented them from causing friendly fire for the first 2 seconds of their lifetime and shrunk them for the first 3 seconds of their lifetime. Both of these rules have been removed as they were unintentional. The net result is that the following abilities should feel more reliable when cast at short ranges, with moderate increases to the size of their projectiles:

• Bloodwrack Cauldron
• Sky Cauldron
• Brazen Cauldron
• Chalice of Potions
• Comet of Casandora
• Arrows of Aqshy
• Fire arrow
• Storm Daemon
• Bow of the seafarer
• The Amber Spear
• Lamentation of despair
• Soul Quench
• Fireball
• Frost breath
• Hydra breath
• Dragon Breath (all types)
• Hunting spear
• Spear of Kurnous
• Skarsniks Prodder
• Copious Vomit
• Venom staff
• Volley of Dark arrows
• Volley of High arrows
• Arrow of Kurnous
• Shems burning gaze
• Gaze of mork
• Vindictive glare
• Gaze of Nagash
• Pyromaniac
• Big boom
• Reaver bow
• Hail of Doom arrow

Summoning spells army capacity limit

Previously some summoning spells could not be cast if the army was already at its 20-unit cap. This was inconsistently rolled out and negatively impacted gameplay. This cap has now been removed and all summon spells can be cast regardless of if the army is at capacity or not.

Quick Battle and MP Winds of Magic change

Previously Winds of Magic followed the same rules as campaign and the starting amount was randomly rolled between 2 numbers. This has now changed in MP and Quick battle, where the starting amount should now always be 15.

Spells rebalance

• Flesh to Stone:

Winds of Magic cost reduced from 7 to 6

Overcasted Winds of Magic cost reduced from 11 to 10

• Windblast:

Overcasted AP damage reduced from 5 to 4

• Brain Bursta:

Overcasted range increase removed from spell.

• Okkam’s Mindrazor:

Winds of Magic cost reduced from 10 to 9

Overcasted Winds of Magic cost reduced from 18 to 16

• Warp Lightning:

Explosion radius reduced from 6m to 5m

• Savage Dominion:

Winds of Magic cost increased from 15 to 18

Summoned Cygor Stable Binding duration increased from 66 to 72

• Transformation of Kadon:

Winds of Magic cost increased from 13 to 14

• Vermintide:

Reduced number of uses from 6 to 5

Abilities

Existing Ability changes

• Boris Todbringer’s Crush the Weak:

Lowered rarity from Rare to Uncommon (cost of ability reduced too)

-4 leadership effect removed

• Everqueen’s Court Guards (Sisters of Avelorn) Banner of Avelorn:

Fixed ability not detailing the Improved Wind of Magic power reserves

• Felix’s Blood Oath:

Now only affects himself and 1 other friendly character. (closest valid friendly character is chosen)

• Spinning Loons and The Loons of Eight Peaks:

Changed targeting behaviour of abilities to make them easier to use

• Spite of Da Bad Moon:

Now an anti-large and damage buff for allies in an area

• Alith Anar’s Mislead and Iksha’s Triads Doppelgang:

Units spawned by these abilities will now be spawned at the same health as the parent unit.

The entities in the unit spawned by Doppelgang also had their mass significantly reduced in order to reduce the ability’s effectiveness as a makeshift snare/slow.

• Sword of Teclis:

Old effects removed, now grants +20 WoM reserve and 0.3 regen mod

Proving Grounds beta changes

We recently ran an experimental beta called the Proving Grounds to test some more extreme changes to in-game systems and mechanics. We’ve implemented a few minor changes based on our learnings from beta feedback and may look at implementing more in future.

• Malus AI confederation frequency reduced
• Frequency for AI to use offer to join war reduced
• Falloff for diplomatic events reduced
• AI Vampire Counts are now using basic strategic behaviour instead of defensive behaviour
• Auto-resolver specific system to ensure unit losses disabled (units are generally less likely to be killed in the Auto-resolve)
• Auto-resolver bonus against minor factions adjusted for Greenskins, Dark Elves, Skaven and Vampires
• Skaven AI unit recruitment and construction improved
• Updated AI victory region setup which the AI will prioritize a little more (Mortal Empires):
  • Minor factions generally try to keep the regions out of another subculture’s influence
  • Major factions want to own it all
  • Vampire Coast focus on Coastlines
  • Dwarfs focus on Mountains
  • Tomb Kings focus on Southlands Desert
  • Empire territory focus for Empire and Vampire Counts (Mannfred and Vlad)
  • Bretonnia focus on Bretonnian territory
  • Belegar, Skarsnik and Queek keep their Karak Eight Peaks objective
  • High Elves and Dark Elves focus on Ulthuan
  • Dark Elves and Alith Anar focus on Naggarond

Diplomacy changes

• Vampire Counts starts at war with Stirland
• Schwartzhafen starts at war with Averland
• Removed war between Eataine and Cothique in Mortal Empires
• Reduced confederation likeliness for Greenskins through diplomacy (as they have the Norsca-style confederation option now)

Quelle: totalwar.com